The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-03-11

tributes to the religious life of man. A
true understanding of this world awakens
the motions and aspirations that reach
beyond the known into the unknown.
Evolution, the key that has unlocked the
mysteries of the physical world, will bring
religion down to earth.
"There is a common origin of science
and religion. Both were born out of curl
osity OF mind-a desire to know causes, to
account for things. This curiosity begins
to show itself far below the range of hui
manity. The curiosity of the monkey is
continually leading him into trouble. This
curiosity called forth the crude theology of
primitive man. Ghosts haunted him every
where. They were the available explanation
of every battling mystery. Thus rising
from the simplest ancestor worship
through the various stages of polytheism
religion has risen to that theism which
recognizes one controlling power and one
inclusive love. In the Aryan race this
same curiosity has led into an inquiry of
secondary causes, the study and vertical
ton of phenomena. And this is science
which eventually leads, no less than
religion, to the sense of an ordered uni
verse. The steps by which these conclu-
Sions are reached are very different, but
both suggest an unfolding destiny to man
and nature not yet completed.
''There are critical moments in the woods
as in the fortress. Thousands of combina-
tons in our atmosphere might happen but
do not. The difference between the limits
of heat and cold consistent with organic
life is only about 100 degrees fahrenheit
During at least a part of the year the tenn
perature must not fall below the freezing
point or rise 100 degrees above it, else life
becomes extinct on the face of the earth.
"Within five or six miles of this earth
there is always the death-line of cold and
still this narrow belt wherein life is alone
] I.
tending forces throughout the whole range
of the geological record of the earth's sur
face, which science shows US covers the
almost inconceivable period of 100, 000, 900
years. Science takes the devout man by
the hand, lifts him to an erect position and
places the crown of creation on his brow
and bids him wear it with regal dignity.
Science teaches progress. 1t joins hands
with religion in bidding man to go for
ward. 1t encourages man to believe that
the long vistas of the past are uncom-
pleted avenues projecting themselves into
! the future.
There is no difficulty in finding a sci
| entific foundation for the religion of SYM
pathy. Science finds it already beginning
! in the OK, the monkey and the elephant.
Professor Skater calls upon us to witness a
! self-sacrifcing sympathy beautiful to be.
hold among the much abuse d animals, our
pigs, who rally promptly at the cry of dis
tress and are willing to do battle for a
shrieking comrade.
When religion shall abandon its dual
istic world of spirit and matter, it's dualis-
tic theology of God and devil, and come
into cosmic relations with the invisible
unity that holds all in one mystery and
gives room to all forms of thought, and
when science will recognize the permanent
province of the preacher to be the enforce
ment OF the sanctions of the moral law,
then will the marriage of religion and sci
ence be consummated, and the renovation
and restoration of society may then begin
with some hopes of success