Evening journal., 1893-02-21
NEWSPAPER oFINIoN.
whlther Are We Drifting 2

Can ye not discern the signs Of the
times Matt. xvi, 3.
There Is more popular interest In re-
ligious matters to day than at any time
during the present century. This may
seem TO be a curious, possibly rash,
statement TO those who are constantly
bemoaning the inddelity of the times.
but It Is nevertheless susceptible of
proof It Is true that organized creeds
or creeds which represent the various
shades Of Calvinism are being regarded
with more or less indifference This is
not because the people are irreligious or
even unreligious, but because the times
have changed and the church has not
changed with them. The public has
learned how to think for itself IL can't
be put into the stocks or the pillory for
exercising that right. II is perfectly will
ing to follow the pulpit If the pulpit
will keep in the lead, but If the pulpit
insists on bringing up the rear the public
simply goes on without it. The fault,
therefore, is not with the people, but
with the pulpit Perhaps nothing so
conclusively shows the general longing
for spiritual verities as the peculiar
developments of the last fifty years. To
an outsider. who is also critic, the
drift Of events has been instantly inter
esting Where this drift will end, what
It portends, what destruction Of old
notions Is to result what organization Of
new ideas is to mark the near future
these are matters for wiser heads than
ours TO decide. For example, what
could apparently be more ridiculous than
the so.called phenomena of the Fox
sisters away back in the forties2 If any
one had predicted that this thing could be
taken seriously by the community he
would have been sneered at; IL any one
had ventered the opinion that believers
would be numbered by the millions and
that the craze, or what not, would run
round the globe he would have been
| thought fit for lunatic asylum. Men
laughed at it, the comic papers had
| funny cartoons about It, the clergy
| thundered against IL, but somehow and
| for some reason IL stuck fast. Neither
our ridicule nor our arguments prevailed
against it. 10 spread very much as a
prairie fire does in a high wind, and
although at one moment you vowed that
IL would never reach you the next
moment 1t was blazing all about you. Why
IL didn't die out no one knew; but it
didn't. Then came a still more eccentric
phase of the movement. The rappings
and tippings fell into comparative desue-
tude and we heard of people who went
into frances They pretended to tell
wonderful things and everybody
listened. There was clairvoyance and
clairaudience and clair everything else
II seemed for while as though the
heavens had come tumbling about our
ears, that the dead had leaped from the
battlements of Paradise and were on
an excursion to the earth. We
were in wonderland and there were a
dozen folks within a stones throw
who could induce cata lepsy or something
else and tell you all about the far away
future Again we laughed and jeered
and ridiculed, and again the thing seemed
persistent. We tried to get rid Of IL, but
Il clung to us in spite Of our efforts w,
swore at ourselves as fools for being in
terested in It and yet continued to b'
interested. Well. after some years thii
second phase passed away, or at any rat'
dropped into the background, and w
were confronted with mind cure an'
Christian science and . the THOUSAND
and one forms of theosophy. We are nov
told that there is no such thing as dis
ease: that we must emancipate ourselve
from the slavery of these superstition
|
perfection, preserving our youth unit
we are summoned hence, and then quietl,
going from this country to the next a
willingly as we would 60 from New
York to Europe We rather lik
to be talked to in that wa,
It is agreeable to be assured that rheu
matism is a nightmare, and that all W
have 10 do TO get rid of II Is TO wax
up. Without doubt three quarters o
J the pangs that flesh is heir to are in
creased or lessoned by our mental atti
tude, and we are inclined TO let thes
mind cure folk loose 70 60 where the
please But the last stage of this neV
movement is the theosophicaL Whethe
theosophy is the end or not nobody ca
tell Perhaps there is something be
yond and perhaps not Looking upo
the whole affair broadly and withou
prejudice you can't help feeling encouI
aged. The present age is not lacking II
religion. but on the contrary is full o
IT, The era Of inhdelity is. gone
J while that OF faith bordering o
certainty is at hand. IL may not b
} the kind of fait h In which you wer
, brought up. nor yet the kind to whic
{ you can readily give your assent, but
is faith all the same, and II seems to
sufficient to make hosts Of people cor
I tented and happy. IL is not Calvinisti'
5 it is not wholly In accordance with tn
teachings of the pulpit, it repudiates
Q large part Of the creeds now extant, buf
5 and here is the important point, 1t ce
Z tainly does help those who accept it
o bear the burdens Of life cheerfully an
to look forward TO the future withot
e dread. That fact is undenied. Let it 4
= on, therefore II It has anything MOI
10 do let it do IL, or anything more
e say, let It say it. We are not afraid {
\ man because he has new idea or b
cause he is eccentric.
j. Lynch Law and tho Negro.
y Louisville Courier Journal.