Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1899-11-09
"VAflETIES OF KNOWLEDGE"
Fourth Sermon on "Agnosticism" at First
Congregational Church.

Congregational Church.
By Rev. B. J. H. Shaw.
The Sunday evening sermons at tht
Cong'l church grow more interesting
as Rev. B. j. II. Shaw progresses or
the different phases of "Agnosticism,'
and his audiences accumulate in mum
berS as the interest increases. His
hearers, Sunday evening, were atten
tive to catch every word SO that nc
bought would be lost to them in the
scourse. His address follows:
We begin to know, first, the physi-
cal world. We become aware of its
existence by a process Of action and
reaction. The child pushes out his
'mbs against it. lie feels after things
and comes into contact with them. He
opens his eyes and objects make an
impression. He listens and sounds
start vibrations in his ear. At first
he does not know accurately what it
is he feels and sees and hears, but the
more he uses his senses, the more he
trusts them and trusts the answers
that come back to him. the more per-
fectly does he learn what is outside of
him.
Now what is there in the physical
world that produces these sensations
and Impressions? There must be
SOmet hing more than dead matter or
it could not effect us as it does, it
behaves like life. it is brimful of in
telligcnCc, il quick"ns our curiosity,
it moves US to ask que, tiOnS about it's
nature, deeper and yet deeper queS-
tiOnS, seeking to get more closely to it
and read its secret. 1t does not repel
us, but attract u~-leads US on and on
into realms Of wonder and beauty.
even what we call The physical world
is always striking chords within us
which are more han bodily sensations
and for which physical cause is not
sufficient explanation.
Our next Srop is o try and ascertain
what knowledge is. When may we
say that We know anything? In
answering this quest ion we have to
consider two factS-the world to be
known and man. $ capacity to know it,
how extensive is that world and how
much can man know of it?
Let us take d flower for illustration.
What can We dist over in it? We can
pull it to pieces, name each separate
part, find Cul the tyniral parts in the
most battling forms, tell what class it
belongs to, how it grows, what COndi-
tiOnS will produce the best specimens;
that is scientific knowledge And
does that exhaust all that can be
known of the flower? Here is another
person claims to know more than that,
he says it is beautiful, he does not
analyZe it but looks at it in its COM
pletencSS, he sees all it's parts in
harmonious relation making the
lovelineSS of form and colOr-that is
aesthetic knowledge. But that is not
all, the poet comes and sings of the
truth it reveals to him of all it's rich
spiritual suggestiveness.
'There's not a flower can grow upon the earth
Without II flower upon The spiritual side:
All thar we see is pattern of wha shall be i'll the
mount
Related royalty, and built up to eternal sig
nlticanCe
There's nothing smnll:
No lily, mufled hum of summer bee.
But finds its coupling i'll the spinning stars:
No pebble your !eet bur proves Il sphere,
No chatfinch bui ilnplics cherubim,
Earth is full OF heaven,
And every common bush afre with Cod
Now we cannot dismiss that by say
ing ii is nothing more than poetic
fancy. for the beauty and spiritual
significance of the flower make large
part of its value to us. Is not the
beauty of the flower that part of it for
which we care most? Prof. Tyndall con-
fesSeS that half the interest in nature is
psychological. | believe we shall find
that is too low an Simate of what we
owe to the mind in our enjoyment of
nature that not half but the whole of
our delight in nature comes from the
power to see some thought there-the
revelation Of creative pOwer-the
wisdom and beauty of that power.
Those OF you who know the nature
described by the scientist and the
nature idealizcd by the poet, will ad-
nit, | think, that the poetic view has
the greatest charm. | value the
instruction given in Manual of
botany and yet | would rather know
the datfodilS as Wordsworth knows
them. prefer the ability to discover
such Il meaning as Emerson does in
the Rhodora than simply to know the
names and functions of its various
parts.
l prefer the knowledge of the poet
because it gives 4 higher, finer
pleasure and satisfies the minds de-
mand to understand the secret of the
beauty, the flowers then become far
more interesting, see they are more
than mere thingS-that they are
lovely forms of thought having a
language full Of m ,aniug. They had a
message for Wordsworth which he
endeavors to interpret:
"To me the meaueSt flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears"
That view is nearer the truth than
the scientific because it gives fuller
explanation of the flower than Science
does. The poet looks more deeply
into it. he is conscious of d mystery
he does not comprehend and longs to
know more of the meaning of that
wonder.
Flower in the crannied wall,
pluck you out OF the crannieS;
Hold you here in my hand, root and all,
Little flower; but if could understand
What you are. root and all. aud all in all,
] should know what God and man is.
Look at man as another illustration.
What do we know of man? What can
be known of him? You would not say
that his size and form. his animal
appetites and physical powers describe
him. There is an intellectual part. a
reasoning power, an imaginative
faculty. We know him as a thinking,
willing being, having hopes and fears,
qualities. good and bad. with a
capacity for Improvement. We can
not know man by looking at a part of
his nature, or if we isolate him from
the progressive life of the world. We
must get the historic view of him-see
what has been the dominant tendency
of his life-what he is at the highest
point of power and achievement
what, is his greatest thought and