The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-04-25
Mind OF THE CHILD
JECT BEFORE THE CITY
PASTORS
SOME DANGERS THAT EXIST

cies of Modern Thought-Says
There Is Vanity and False Pride
in It-ProbIems That Confront
the Teachers of the Young and
How to Solve Them.
Supt. A. ]. Smith yesterday morning
delivered an address before the pastors
union in the rooms of the Y. NJ. c. A.
upon 'Pantheism and Materialism'' as
dangerous tendencies of modern thought
He said in part:
desire today to point out some posi-
Die dangers that seem to manifest them
selves; inst, in the spirit of modern
thought. and, second, in its subject mat
ter.
There Is vanity and false pride in mod
acceptance of certain views, the advo-
cacy OF certain doctrines, indicate
broad culture, progress, enlarge
nately. this is claimed by those who are
the leaders, the interested ones and is
not necessarily accorded by those out
side the learned circle
! believe that a danger exists which re-
CURES very serious attention, to which
teachers are giving earnest thought and
effort but the correction of which is not
possible without the cooperation of the
church and the home If. in passing
groups of school children, or if in view
ing ing them fa at play, You see actions or
not hastily conclude that the school is
to blame. The school is not to blame:
that responsibility must rest upon the
home primarily, and the church, as an
ally of both the home and the school,
must accept its share also. Whatever
may be the shortcomings of teachers, it
cannot be charged against them that
they are Indifferent to the hope, the eX-
pectatfon of the realization of the high
est morality; and in their daily life, their
lCf nxyhn r%o+s
their noble example, they present the
best possible influences for the highest
moral standard of daily life 1t is the
home that most truly, most Effectively ed
ucates 1t is to the home that we turn
when from the vantage ground of the
successes of life we consider the causes
looking backward, does not see, as the
central object the right thinking, the
bGnora a6'Lang mother, the strong, earnest.
character can rise is the home spring
There are those who have trusted too
Inuch to our public school system, who
listened to and
MISCONSTRUED THE EII,OGIEs
bestowed upon 1t until they have thought
II 10 be the sole but certain means of
making strong characters Of our bovs
ana girls; Let us turn baci;. Through
and mothers clubs study the actual con-
clifton of education in the home and the
means by which it can be made more eff
- ~ inns Is not wholly depression
lot the transfer of this entire RESPONSE
olhty 10 the public schools has been en-
couraSed by modern thought. and if ia
certainly one of the dangers
Modern thought has not only directed
ms traEsference of responsibility to the
PUBIC school. but has insisted upon maxi
ing ing the the I3undation or providing the basis
OF the child's education. You may not
Inlslntefpret my meaning if for modern
thought You substitute scientific thought
LOT II Is the proud claim of the recent
regarded. w 81
Let US then admit that modern thouebt
mas demanded of the teachers of youth
q rational view of the universe. and a
proper conception of mind unfoldment
ana me necessity of placing him in right
cations with his. environment. If this
petTue, me lime has gone by when we
can say that we need not concern our.
SSMeS WITH the origin of worlds and of
man bat will act upon what we have
CeEtainly the scientific will reject the
statement that we need not burden our
seiEes with questions relating to creation
growth and development.
And what expressions of rnodern
thought shall We accept2 First as touch
ing creation and. belief in God and re-
ngIon; TyndaH held that religion could
but also declared that the order, and
energy of the universe l hold to be in
herent and not imposed from without, the
bitrary will" which certainly offers an
easy reading of materialism between the
mes which is further, justified by his
own declaration that matter possesses
the potentlality, whereby every phenom-
ena Is to be accounted for" Huxley was
willing to concede worship of 'sthe silent
by no enc, which offered no hope, held
out no promise of Immortality The
statement of Buchner concurred in by
Haecl1el, matter is the original, self
existent, immutable, eternal; the atom is
Cod is urged by large following te~
day But | need not repeat the state
n hnI SO o,, l4a,.
you 1t is enough to say that If the
Genealogical theories of some of our mod
ern thinkers are to be accepted, then, in
deed, the dream of the eccentric German
dreamer was not ali dream. but the
foreshadoWings of the gravest deductions
Of modern science; when 1 looked up to
the unreasonable universe for the divine
eye there glared down upon me, an
empty, black bottomless eve socket. and
eternity lay upon chaos and Illuminating
1t" But do these elements enter into ac-
cepted educational theories today? Let
me simply repeat what leading education
al writer's assert One well known
sincere and learned, the editor of one of
our leading journals after referring to
the view formerly held of the dual ma
ture of the human being asserts with full
approval: German thought starting
from the standpoint Of mind, opened the
way to conception of the world that
denied this dualiSm and affirmed that
mind and matter are In essence one, and
that the creative process was and is
process OF eNOluuOn.
Scientists starting from the standpoint
OF matter discovered the unity of the
worlds of mind and of matter, and dem
onstrated that the process Of growth
from that of worlds to that of man is
evolution.
MIND AND MATTER.
Shall not leave 1t to you to draw your
own conclusion touching the statement
that mind and matter are in essence one.
. Perhaps the meaning is rendered clearer
by a statement made by the same author
referring to the above quotation. 1.-The
philosopher by a different process from
the formal cause or source of the uni
verse, both physical and spiritual is en-
ergy, or activity and agrees with what
IS implied in the conclusion of the Scien-
tist that 1t can have no other cause than
ITSELF 1t would appear to be matter
of little concern whether we call this
teaching material or spiritual the content
being the same in either case, but / pre-
fer that you should draw your own con-
illusions.
Another leader more largely and more
blindly followed than any other one in
America declares the true philosophy Of
education to be, 1.-The higher monastic,
Christian pantheism." | do not know
that this seems as startling to you as it
does to me! What does the expression
mean? To me the expression 1.-The high
er, dualiStic Christian atheism" would be
no more of q solecfsm, but answer me
truly; is a personal God possible to pan
theism? What is monism? The doctrine
of absolute identity. If 1t means any
thing, it stands opposed to dualism 1t