Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1899-11-02
Ices not satisfy the highest reason

does not satisfy the highest reason
and the finest feeling. IngersOll was
we'll aware of this need Of human
nature when he wrote his creed and
.claimed for it the power to satisfy
both brain and heart. And yet it did
not quite do that. 1t did not 60 far
enough to meet all the cravings of
human nature. IngerSOil had GER
tainly not sounded the depths of a
woman'S heart, nor taken the full
measure of its capacity. he had not
found out that WOman's love did not
die with the close of life on earth. and
that painfully pathetic scene in his
death chamber. that frantic grief of
wife and children, that refusal to
part with his body was the protest of
the immortal heart against the
negatiOn of a future life. 1t was the
agony cry of a life made for eternity
trying to shut itself up within the
limits of few short years, doctrine
of limitation had been 50 elOquently
preached to it as to deceive for awhile.
until life was brought face to face
/ with reality, to feel the unbearable
misery Of its sorrow when their is no
ray of light, no comforter present to
cheer the deSOlate heart. It was the
demand Of human nature for some
thing more that cremation, something
beyond what the eye could see.
Our escape from the authorities of
the past has not given us liberty to
believe anything, or nothing. Even
George Eliot says that 'ScepticiSm
can never be thoroughly applied else
! life would come to a StandStill. some
thing we must believe in and do"
Yes. faith is essential to life. We
must have a bright outlook or the
pressure of darkness will utterly crush
the spirit. Pessimism always settles
down on those who limit their vision
and where pessimism prevails life is
impossible, it is too miserable to con-
tinue long.
Our liberty then must lead Us to
| faith in what IS necessary to life.
We know how hayward man has
| been since he broke away from
deSpOtiSm. His reckleSSneSS, rebellion.
atheism, vice ana crime, all witness
! how far he has gone aStray, but in
spite Of these abuses of freedom he has
! always had to come back to himself
and confess that he was bound by the
law of his own nature. And it is tC
| this we have come after all our wander
ingS, to the authority of our own
nature. We cannot dispute that, and
there is no escape from it. We may
for time use the mind for secular
affairs only. We may try and ignore
the problems of life and refuse to be
troubled by its mysteries. We may
say we will make the best of this
world and never mind the next as it
is doubtful. We may even try tC
harden the heart SO as to become in
sensitive to pain, but it is all of nc
avail the effort to limit our nature
today is as futile as in the days OF
Medieval darkness and tyranny, ii
will assert its right to live and breathe
the pure air of the open world, it will
be no more confined within the narrow
limits of a materialistic theory of the
world than the mind would suffer
itself to be bound by the narrow and
cruel CreedS of the dark ages.
Through all the devious ways Of the
past, freedom has been leading us tC
this-tO the law of our own nature
That which the highest reason anC
! nobleSt feeling demand is what We
must believe, and there can be nc
peace within the soul of man SO Ions
as he seeks to live without such {
faith. He is doing violence to his
nature and nothing but evil anC
misery will be the result
We must have faith then--a faitt
which satisfies both brain and heart
as lngerSoll says with perfect truth.
And now the question cOmeS-hOU
shall we get that faith? What shall
the man do who has rejected the
fcreeds-who feels they are not true
for him?
Those of you who know GOethe'S
Faust may remember when Faus
utterS all his despair Of life in curse
in which he disOwn every faitE
which has been the support of man
kind, the chorus of spirits breaks il
with a song, in which the lament Owe
what has been lost is mingled with {
hint of the only possible restoration
The work of restoring faith must be
done by the nan himself.