The San Francisco call., 1895-12-29

church? The Catholic as well as the Protestant
churches must undergo change; they are un-
dergO1ng 1t. The standards of the former
church are not what they were 100 years ago.
nor In America what they are in some portions
OF Europe to-day. Let education continue to
be the watchword and nothing is to be feared.
All aid to the spread of knowledge by all fair
means, but the stirring up of animosities and
hatreds should not be the task OF intelligent
men OF this age. The day OF taking statements rs
on authority is passing away. The implicit
blind obedience will disappear and men VIII
be religious, will be moral, because those
things appeal to high and noble sentiment
within, aud not because they are afraid OF
punishmentif If they do wrong.
The Development OF the theory OF evolution
has reached such a stage, that it claims the
assent of nearly all thinking men. For the
first time in the worlds history man has dis
covered his true relation to the universe; that
the laws OF nature govern him as weIl-lts
highest product-as the lowest and most in
significant. Man is not devoid of u moral
nature, some would have Us believe. 1t
existed in germ in his brute ancestors, and
through the formation of family and tribal
ties he learned to curb his natural selfish pro-
penslties in response to the needs OF the pr1m-
itive society, until altruism, the spontaneous
exhibition of unselfsh kindness, has come to
govern the conduct Of many of the race. In
this process religious ideals have played an
important part. Through the ages of gradual
development, when yet the idea OF law mad not
arisen and nature was conceived OF as ruled by
capriclOus powers, religion furnished rules OF
conduct, not appealing to mans reason. for
that was not awake, but rather to the emotions
and feelings.
1t is becoming more apparent every day that
the time has. come when religious thought
must undergo change, and while still oher-
ing standards OF moral conduct and guiding
the individual in his relation to the Infinite,
must at the same time recognize that man is
product of nature, and that he contains within
him germs of morality and natural nclina-
tions to unselfshness, which, properly devel-
oped and guided, will lead to his eternal we'll
being: 1t seems to me that the doctrine OF in
nate depravity has been terrible curse upon
the human race, placing man In an entirely
false Light in his relation to the universe and
TO God. Man he's come up from brute ances-
try through thousands of generations, grad
ualy being modified and having developed
within him, in correspondence to the laws or
nature, the germs of conscience and morality
germs which none can deny are present IN
nearly ali the races OF mankind, but which
under the stimulus of the golden rule, as ex-
pressed in the New Testament, have brought
the civilized portion OF the race to its present
The so-cailed terrible evil of the world is
but q part of the necessary order of things, and
mans evil inelinations but a legacy from the
brutes which becomes evil simply because OF
mans added intelligence, giving him the
power to misuse his position. III an ever
increasing number are the high ideals OF lite
being applied to the daily actions as the eth
ieal, moral and religious emotions gradually
gsin control over those OF the brutes. Looked
at from this standpoint, i'll this day and in the
light OF widening. intelligence; the mod1hca.
ton of religious views must take place, and it
is only the willfully blind who cannot see 1T.
What should be our attitude toward the chill
dren and youth OF our schools in order to ere
ate in them the highest degree of nobility? The
civilization of Greece is not TO be compared in
most respects to that OF the nineteenth century.
1t was one-sided and did not call for symmetri-
cal training as we understand II. Men did not
realize their relations to the universe nor the
laws OF nature.
Our present condition has necessarily been
approached through these antecedent stages
tions, until now the growth OF all the ages is
beginning to show signs of fruition. There is
an absolute standard of morals and religious
conduct given IN the New Testament which
can be used in our schools in such way as to
offend neither Catholic, Protestant nor atheist
and insist that il is on such fundamental
posi- tions that we must fall back in order to
get the support of all thinking people. am
sat tisfied that the earnest, sincere teacher who
knows something of human nature can do
more good by gentle, kind ways ana by ap-
pealiIg to the unselfish instincts existing in
all children, to elevate them 10 more noble
manhood and womanhood than all appeals TO
the supernatural, either as threats or COM
mands.
The law of love will accomplish what moth
ing else will-give us true teachers In the pub
lie schools who understan the proper object
of moral and religious training-and it can be
carried on in such a manner as not to offend
the most rank sectarianism and result in the
production of q type OF conduct as far ahead OF
that produced by fear as that of the present
time Is ahead of that of the ancients. OF vast
more worth the doing of noble actions spon-
taneously, from the heart, than that shriveled
piety which is assumed through fear of punish
ment in another world by an avenging God.
The science of the age is developing the idea
of an absolute moral standard, independent of
purely religious teaching, which will appeal
more and more to intelligence as time passes.
How untrue is the assertion that our schools,
and especially the higher state institutions
sertion that truth can never be irreligious,
using that word in its broad sense, that the
love of truth for its own sake cultivstes the
noblest in man. he majority of instructors
in our institutions of learning-I have special
reference to the secular schools and colleges
are men OF noble purpose, who are earnestly
seeking for the advancement and dissemina-
ton of truth in the various fields OF knowledge
including the moral and ethical as well as the
purely technical lines. To make the assertion
that the teaching and example OF such men
tends to the suppression OF religious ideals is
to me The grossest slander, and can come only
from superficial or biased thought. To be
sure, the widening of the horizon which in
yayiably comes with investigation, carried on
with impartial purpose, tends toward the
breaking down OF religious differences, sec
tartan dogmss and the separation of the wheat
from the chaff, process which to many minds
is productive of the difest calamities.
1t is stultifying to reason with which we have
been gifted to say that the knowledge OF our
true relation 10 the universe makes US less ap-
preciatiye OF the infinite which must lie be-
hind phenomena. The philosophy OF moral
conduct is bound 10 undergo radical change
ton.
The absolute moral standard with its broad
principles is not beyond the comprehension of
the most ordinary mind, while 1t is an ac-
knogl edged fact that, the so-called supernat-
uiai AZ sIich appeals With less and less force
10 thopgh htful men as time goes on
The statement that "natural perceptions as q
| tauiard oi morals is dim and uncertain does
aonis 10 the most OF the aneients, but the de-
| ye!op1eAt alongside the golden rule, OF the
modern ethical idea that society is q social or
gaaism, and that its needs.are to be studied in
! 4 manner similar to that of other organisms. is
pregnant cf the most far-resching results. AS
we caa spDro1imate those conditions which
ere necessary FOR he most heaithful growth of
the social organism in all its aspects, we can.
nos help but un aerstand the proper relations
| which must be maintained between the lndl-
/ ydueis eomposiug this organism.
Dr. Bovard makes the statement that "the
greatest nafura. moralist can show no reason
why L. lie is rot good as the truth II the
{, present purpose l. served as WELL" This state
Laeut is rather difficult OF al alysis, but in my
opinion is far from the truth. There Is an alb
so!uts standard for all time and places, and no
man " no has reached such position that he
eau understand what is meant by morals can
violate that standard without dulling his
moral susceptihi,ites. Ii DR.. Bovard means
By, .'natniel moralist' one who believes
that religion, like all other phenomena. is of
natural growth, that 1t has become more and
lnerc noble and elevating through the centuries
in response to mans needs, then say that In
the light OF the present, a lie, the using OF