The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1897-12-13

believe quarter of a century ago, and
show you how much greater my present
heretical beliefs are than my old ortho-
dox beliefs were in the case of some of
our chief topics of religious thought.
like the Bible. the Savior, Incarnation.
God, Man, Miracles. Heaven and He'll.
The Bible. was taught, was the word
OF God. and the only word he had ever
spoken to the human race, and it de-
scribed the history of the one chosen
people. Its history was sacred history,
its land the Holy Land. / was taught
to believe that God had been in that
land and had cared for that people. But
If any other people claimed that God
had been in their land and cared for
them or spoken to them and given them
Bible, / was told that such people
were mistaken. / was not to believe
them. I was to believe in one Bible and
one people and one sacred history, but
was to disbelieye in all other Bibles and
sacred histories. But now / have learn
ed much larger belief than this. !
still believe in the dear old book as /
never could believe in it then. because
/ see what it means and what 1t re-
veals to us. But / also believe in all
the other Bibles of the world. l believe
God has been speaking TO all men in
all times. and in all of these Bibles /
can find something that is helpful and
inspiring. / believe, too that God has
all-that all history is sacred history,
and every land a holy land-even our
own land and our own history.
/ was taught that there was but one
Sayior-Jesus of Nazareth-and that
whoever accepted him would win eter-
nal happiness, no matter what his char
acter might be; while all who failed to
accept him would go to eternal misery.
no matter how good they might be.
But now ! believe that God has not left
his children to be lost, because they
lived where they could not hear of
Jesus. Iebelieye God has sent saviors
into every land. I believe that every
noble martyr. every great teacher of
truth and righteousness-nay, every
kind and helpful human being that has
given SO much as a cup of cold water
even to one of these little ones, has be-
come a savior of his people.
/ was taught to believe that God was
the Father of only one Being, Jesus,
while / was told that / must disbelieve
all the other men and races who claim
ed that God was their Father. But now
| am sure that God was the Father of
Jesus, because l am sure that he was
the Father of us all. / believe he is in
carnate in every human being, and
therefore / am sure he was incarnate
in Jesus. Whether there was more of
God in Jesus than in anyone else is to
be settled in his sory. But If there was
it was not because God was unwilling
to give Himself to his children, but
simply because no other soul has been
as capable of containing him. For l
believe that he will fill everyone of our
souls to its utmost capacity.
And about God Himself-that highest
word of religion-what was / taught to
believe? / was told that there was only
one God in all this universe, and that
was Jehovah the God of the Jews, and
must believe in Him and Him alone
while ] must disbelieve in all the other
gods that men have Worshiped-the
gods of the Greeks and the Romans
and the Hindoos. But now, while
still believe in the God of the Hebrews,
and join with my Jewish brothers in
worshiping him as the great GOO of pur-
ity and righteousness, ] also worship
all the other gods that have been adored
and followed in the past. / worship
the noble god of the Greeks that led
them to such heights of poetry and phil
osophy and art. / worship, too. the
mighty god of the Romans that reveal
ed to them how to establish stable gov
ernments in this unstable world. and
commanded them to march through the
ancient world and give it the blessings
of law and order that made our modern
civilization possible. And / worship all
the other gods, even those of the bar
barrie and savage races. When the
American Indian worships the birds of
the sky, the beavers of the brook and
the corn of the fields. because these
things have wisdom beyond his own,
/, too, join in this worship. For | know
far better than the savage how myster-
ious divine is the wisdom and power
in all these things. l feer with with our
great poet Tennyson that If / could
understand what the flower in the
crannied rock is, | could understand
what God and man is.
In all these cases, then. and in others
that might be mentioned, it seems to
me that my heretical belief of to-day
is not less, but vastly more than the
orthodox belief of my youth, and the
belief of the creeds of the churches.
The hereto of to-day, like the heretical
Luther of four centuries ago, or the he
retical Paul of 20 centuries ago, though
called an unbeliever. is really the one
who has the larger and grander belief
of the two--a belief that the world is
rapidly adopting.
Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup
Has been used for over FIFTY YEARS by MILL
f.. 81. n