The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-02-13

ing in the generation OF the human
soul
The human soul, therefore, is, and it
is a child of God. 1t has realized it.
self in time and space and begun its
great career. The first stages of that
career areto be passed in this world in
forms of human flesh. The individual
soul goes onward into another world;
the race goes forward in this world.
Through progression and retrogres-
sions, with many ups and downs,
the great movement of mankind is
forward. From the beginning until
now such has been the case. And
now the great question is, Has this
movement been purely natural? Has
God never directly touched this
movement with new light or new
impulse?
Are the inherent energy of the hui
man soul, accommodating, if you please,
from age to age, and its environment,
the only factors to be seen in that
movement? Is the whole of human
history to be interpreted in the light
of these great forces? Only through
these forces does God work? Does
he never work outside of and beyond
them? Does he never do anything
for which these forces cannot ac-
count? Do we always find the natu-
raj and universal, never the special
and the supernatural, in human his
tory?
The answer which the present
state of our knowledge gives to this
question is that any attempt to elimi-
nate either will prove abortive. As
in the history of the earth and its in
habitants the natural and supernatu
raj are both found, so in the history
of mankind. The natural is not in
question. 1t is conceded that the
great movements of human history
are governed by natural law. The
universal in history is to be account
ed for on the ground of hereditY and
environment, but the special cannot
be. There are events in mans his
tory that transcend the natural order,
that heredity and environment are
powerless to account for. That these
events are not many, that these spe-
cial divine impulses are not numer
Gus, furnishes no proof of their non ex-
istence. Because there are not many,
it does not follow that there are not
any. The argument drawn from the
once universal belief in the super
natural against the reality of the SUI
pernatural, is fallacious in the ex-
IRENE. That men once believed that
about everything in history was SUI
pernatural furnishes no argument
for the doctrine that nothing is SUI
pernatural.
We are often told how many mir
acles men once believed in, and are
expected to conclude from this fact
that there are no miracles. Most of
these miracles are now exploded,
therefore all miracles must be.
This is the silliest kind of reason
ing. Apply it to other things and it
will produce some very strange con-
illusions. There are a great many
more blossoms than fruit, therefore
there is no fruit. Tue great majority
of blossoms prove false, therefore
there are none good. When electric
ity was discovered it was thought
it would cure all diseases. 1t was
found to be of no value in many
cases, therefore it is of no value in
any case. This shows the absurdity
of this kind of reasoning. The fact
is that each one of these events
must be determined by the evil
dence in the case. Because many
are false it does not follow that
all are. A thousand may be false
and yet the thousand and one may
be true. Neither does the true give
any presumption in favor of the truth
of all. Because Jesus rose from the
dead, it does not follow that the
whale swallowed Jonah. Each fact
must be determined by the evidence.
Whether its origin be natural or
supernatural is to be settled by all
the facts in the case. II it cannot
be accounted for on natural grounds,
the only solution possible is the
supernatural. We will put this test
to Christianity in our next. S. G.