The Anaconda standard., 1897-12-06

definition.
Mere acknowledgment of the word
God amounts to nothing. The agnos-
tic who does not use the word, or at
| least does not dare to define il. may
have a more vital conception of the
reality back of the world, than his
brother who piously utters the word.
For back of the word there is the eter-
nal fact. The larger God, transcending
all systems. the full-orbed truth of
which revelation gives only partial
glimpses.
God is i'm all that liberates and lifts,
in all that humbles, sweetens and con-
soles
Whoever has felt this power and
presence has felt God. whether the
| name was acknowledged or not.
Again. agnosticism strikes true
/ heroic note in its implicit reliance upon
| truth without claiming protection from
authority or tradition. In this respect
! il manifests something of the old spirit
| of primitive Christianity. Bravery #
/ thought and most sensitive scrupu-
! lousnesS in matters of intellectual and
! moral conviction characteriZes the be-
ginning of Christianity. To-day this
| earnest bravery i'm matters of belief,
! this fearless conscience in truth. is
/ found more often outside the churches
I than in them. Truth is being defended
/ by pulpit and theologian. Systems of
thought are being braced together, ~
/ resist the tlltfetttNnlent OF new ulSGDN-
/ cry. IoWelfs warning words ought 10
be heard in many a synod and presby-
| terry:
Nothing that keeps thought out is
safe from thought.
And truth defensive hath lost hold
or God
Simple allegiance to truth is quite
another thing from dying for refuge
to system of religious belief. There
are too many to-day who accept Chris
tianity in the spirit of Pascal. Pascal
reduced the whole matter to a question
of winning stakes in much the same
way that a bookmaker would calculate
his odds on the racer Here is his state
ment of the case:
" You must either believe or not be-
lieVe that God is-whch will YOU do?
Your human reason cannot say. "A
game is going on between YOU and the
nature of things which at the day Of
judgment will bring out either heads or
tails. Weigh what your gains and
your losses would be if you should
stake all you have on heads or Gods
existence: if you win in such case YOU
gain eternal beatitude; if you lose you
lose nothing at all. II there We're an
infinity of chances, and only one for
God in your wager, still you ought to
stake your all on God Now this may
be shrewdness prudence, but it is not
faith.
Pascal is the real agnostic. however
orthodox a creed he may profess. On
the other hand the man who is ready
to stake all on the truth Of which his
reason is convinced, is the true man of
faith. There is something heroic in the
man who stands without swerVing for
truth as he sees it. But the man who
buckles on his religion as a liie-pre-
server-in case the boat should sinks
coward, who does not know what
truth is.
e ~ ,t..t;
noble faith. said 70 His disciples, the
truth shall make you free orthodox
Christianity of to-day warns its disci-
pies in the spirit of these lines which |
clipped from recent magazine:
HAPPY there may come a time
When the truth shall make you free,
But until such light divine
Trust the harbor not the sea.
The agnostic, though he may dis
card the creed. has still material
enough out of which to construct for
himself a religion We have been so
long accustomed to the gorgeous pro
fusion of dogma and ritual that a first
ii seems strange to think of a religion
without them. Some insist that a
church is necessary to religion; many
cannot conceive of religion without a
Bible an infallble authority. We
need To learn that the real religion is
bound up in the very nature of things
SO that man cannot be Gods outlaw if
he would We must be very careful
ditions and nrorlaiu raIigion an imnos-
sibiIitv without them
Christ someone saws. was human
as we are.
No i,dpa ewes ms from heaven o,1r sin
to scan:
We live no more. when u.a have ,5ona
onr snan
...yyal tban for Christ thor anenyar-
ast .ubn can rarap
E,,or, Sin Which hest.en roeo,ds not
~ forhnarp 49,
i,.s - lii,a h,,,tos ON. Iifa ,,,i,bo,,t -
49, 49, "-N''e :"
O. ansm,orost tbo,, h.,t ,,-h,.n,+ ,.att,a,
-, - 80
.rIa,b n,a sooo,,d Iifoo pi+o, ri.
- higb,
ci.s thara na iuc.a II b,a,..,, o,,r It.,
- s,a.5
,ro,.a e,rfoti,. tlar tba in,.s,.1 i.,.r,.
~. - - - '"o7'