The record-union., 1896-05-24
In RELIGIONS REALM.
Expressions From Various Religious
Newspapers.

The Religious Thought Of the Day as
Expressed in the Sectarian
Press.
| Nothing is more striking" says the
New York Independent, than the
| present development Of Thought, as re-
lated to religion and theology, than the
| return to the Christian view or the
reality of the supernatural world. we
have been passing through dreaTy pc
| Rod characterized by bold ana some
| times desperate attempts to get rid OF
the supernatural altogether, to remove
| it beyond the sphere oil human interest
| and recognition, or to extend the natu-
| raj so far as to remove uhe line Of de-
| marcation and make the two spheres
| one. The futility of these attempts to
solve the highest problems OF existence
| by denying their reality or their import
| ance is beginning to be asserted again,
and in circles of too much influence to
| be easily overlooked. one OF the most
| interesting examples we have briefly
| alluded to before, that OF the late Pro-
/ lessor Romanes, whose clear ana CHS
tinct return to the recognition OF the re-
| aDity of the supernatural has been
brought out With great point and full
| ness by Canon Gore. A similar testi-
nony comes 20 US from the eminent
W ritter on psychology, Professor James
| Of Harvard, who. though he has never
allowed himself to be counted among
slseptics, is a master of such strict and
rigorous methods of inquiry as to give
fals conclusions on this point more than
usual Importance. In recent volume
OF lectures, prepared for the students ait
| Cambridge, he comes out IN what we
must consider full agreement with MIR.
| kidd's proposition 1hat religion by ma
ture and definition, must assume the
reality of the supernatural world, and
that nothing can deserve the name or
meet the requirements of a religion
which fails of this"
THE fearlessness of broad minded
Christians in the presence OF truth
seeing and impartial science found ex-
preston" says the "COngregationalist'
Of Boston, ''in the u-terances at the ded-
| icati0n of the new site of Columbia Uni
Versity the other day when reverence
and research went hand in hand. Truth
| is truth wherever and hOWS0eVer it may
be found, said one Of the speakers, and
the same confidence IN the future, which
| is really confidence in God, was the un-
derlyng thought of the occasion. Why
should it ever be otherwise? Faith and
science are not Identical but they are
marching side by side. The thought of
modern science begins by postulating
law, as the thought Of Christianity has
always begun by postulating law
Giver In each case it is a beginning
| taken for granted and incapable of full
matherna tical proof. You cannot prove
the existence Of God to one who denies
| it as you can prove that the three angles
of a triangle are equal to two right an
giles, nor can you prove with the same
! formal demonstration that law Is uni
versal. In each case. however there is
presumptive proof raised to so high a
degree that doubt becomes an lmpeach-
ment of the doubter's common sense,
While experiment, carried as far as our
circumstances allow us to carry it,
helps to confirm the result which at the
| beginning is taken for granted. Thus
| far alt least, there is no contradiction
between science and religion. The as
sumption of law does not exclude the
belief in lawgiver, and the belief in a
| law-giver does not exclude the search
after the law by which he governs"
|
ct is quite impossible to meet the
question of education" says the New
York "Churchman" (P. Ed, without
taking into consideration the place re-
ligion should occupy in the training of
young people. If it were to put the diff
ference between intellectual and relig-
| ious education in a nutshell, we should
say that the one teaches human beng
| his place in the world, the other his
place in the universe. To teach child
| or a youth his place in the world is to
bring him to realize his position with
| regard to other men. A school or a col
| lege teaches the pupil his own mental
worth, in comparison with that of others
| with whom he has been thrown in COM
| petition. He learns his own powers
and how they may be supplemented by
| the acquisitions of literature and learn
| ing, and the appliances of art and
science He is enabled to do more than
| he could do before, and the place of
| active exertion in society for which his
! powers and attainments fit him he is
guided into discovering. This is all
| that mental training can do for anyone
). But human creature must come to re-
| cognize that the immediate environ
). ment of his life is not the whole en-
vironment. He is soon made acquain
| ted with such ideas as those of infinity
and eternity. Reason tells him that the
| universe is infinite, and that there must
| be something that abides while other
| things pass away and change. What
! is his relation to the permanent and the
| bcundless? He must either be, as far
| as all he is and does goes, merely one of
| the changing incidents in time and
| movement. or he must have a hold on
| that which outlives time and remains
| fixed in the midst of incessant move
ment Is he merely an irresponsible
| ephemeral who can know no will ex
| cepting his own, and no God except
| himSelf?"
| ''To doubt a final goal of good in the
outcome Of the universe, to act upon the
| presumption that some souls have been
| made only to be cast as rubbish to the
void is to impeach the wisdom and the
| goodness of the great Creator" OBJ
serves the Christian Leader" Oniv)
| cf poc+aY, .sP1,f Cod deals with times