The Topeka state journal., 1900-03-26

Z u
all the compIexity and perfection of the
( universe, can scarcely bean atheist,
| though he may we'll hesitate TO define
and give limits to the power behind and
through the universe. I ran across the
other day the argument from the per-
fectiOn OF the universe to the existence
Of God so neatly stated, though stated
IN different form. that I give it here.
It is q quotation that Mr. F'iske had put
at the end of his book, Through nature
to God"
Yesterday, when weary with writing,
/ and my mind quite dusty with consid-
esing these atoms, was called to sup
Fer, and q salad had asked for. was
4 set before me. Tt seems, then, said
/ aloud, that if pewter dishes, leaves Of
lettuce, drops of vinegar and oil, and
slices Of eggs, had been floating around
/ IN the air from all eternity, 1t might at
last happen by chance that there would
! come a salad Yes says my wife, but
not so nice and Well-dreSsed as this OF
mine is -
Apply the thought of evolution to re-
| IigiOn- Then all difficulties of reconcfl-
ing science with dogmas Of religion dis
/ appear. Then religion like everything
/ else is a growth No one will be trou-
/ bled because the se-called revealed re-
| Ilgion is found to be untenabIe in some
OF its doctrines. That certain religions
4 should consider themselves revealed
and infaIIihle at certain stages OF hui
nan development is but a stage of
/ SIOWLQ. W uCn you nave Q1SpTONCQ TIE
| infanibility of any religion you have
| rot destroyed that religion. you have
| Cnly broken the chains that bound 1t,
ard set it free to develop with new Wig
cr That one religion should be supe-
rior to another is no more strange than
that one thinker should be superior TO
| another. That the Scriptures of even
/ the highest form of religion yet attained
| should contain much that is crude, false,
and immoral, is likewise not strange
| It is the record of those who have not
| found, but who are seeking after the
I truth. Future generations Will accept
that which to them is good and helpful
and true, and reject the rest, precisely
1 as they do with the Bible, without much
realizing they do it For 1t is not true
that the Bible or any other scripture,
is of equal value in every part One
! has to separate the good from the bad,
/ the false from the true here, as in ev-
erything else in life. For there is no
| absolute truth in the world, ! believe,
so far as man is concerned But in the
teachings Of Jesus religion 1t seems TO
! me, has been stated it's ultimate form.
/ He has defined it as love to God and
| love to man. Henceforth progress in
religion will consist of finding out bet
/ ter what love to God and love to man
! means and applying it better; in the
same way in the process of the develop
menL of the species there came a time
when man appeared, and then the pro-
| cess of creation was at an end-and the
| effort henceforth was not to produce
new species, but to perfect mankind
And does the doctrine OF evolution
/ have no hint of immortality in it. To
/ be sure all the processes of physical life
and death go against belief in immor-
| taIity. But modern science teaches, I
/ believe, the doctrine of the conservation
| of energy, that not the least particle Of
force is ever lost, nor ever can be; that
no atom Of matter can be annihilated.
/ Can we not go a. step farther and say
| that there is a probability that mind,
I
Man is not wrong in thinking that he is
! different from all other animals He IS
| different. He is worth more than all
else in the world we live in Man did
not come here by chance, I believe. At
any rate I see that the highest of all
creations appeared at last I believe
| that man was Gods ultimate, the pur-
pose in the creation At least this is the
| result Of evolution, man 1t is not IN
/ due egotiSm for man to wish to be and
/ to hope to be immortal Some are
worthy of it; all, 1 believe, may be.
| The mystery of mysteries, the croWning
| miracle of all miracles is the miracle of
| life. Whence came it2 this life that
| pushed forward to eliminate in man?
That we should live again is not, to my
| mind, one whit more mysterious.
not so mysterious as that human life
or any life should ever have come to be.
| Man has the right to disbelieve in i'm
| mortality If that seems to him more
| reasonable, all facts considered. And
] he should not be abused IOr so DONG a
man has the right to believe in imnor-
| taIity if. all facts considered, it seems
to him more reasonable. And he, also,
should not be abused for his belief To
many excellent people belief in a future
/ life is little more than a hope Some
/ Just as excellent have given it up alto
I gether. But no one has a right to state
as a positive fact there is no future
( life. 1t is the SheereSC egOtiSm to say,
absolutely there is no life beyond what
we call death. Personally I believe in
another life because, all things consid-
| cred, it seems more reasonable to be-
| Iieve in it. I believe in it and hope for
it. not merely because the Bible and
| other scriptures of the world teach it,
! not merely because others have believed
| it, but because from my thought of God
| and man it is more natural and easy
I for me to believe than to disbelieve it
And I would that to others the thought
/ of Immortality might give the comfort
/ and the inspiration that it does to me
But while the lay sermons have the
very serious faults I have pointed out,
and others that might be mentioned,
while the statements are many of them
! far too sweeping, and there is mac
curacy, and bitterness in all too many
of the paragrap phs-yet let US not forget
/ there are things to be commended; and
while would remind you of the former
| in the interests Of truth. and that you
/ may not think there are good reasons
for statements that there are no rea-
/ sons for making; that you may realize
| that some things said to be facts are
not facts, while other statements as Of
| facts are as purely assumptions as those
/ they deny-T would rather you remem-
bered the good that has been said than
/ the bad
This certainly is a good creed: ct be-
/ ieve in everything that is right, polite,
fair, respectable and just I believe in
/ the home; in law and order; in truth;
/ in affection; in charity; in education:
in progress. believe in every good
thing taught in every church" And
this. IF I had the attention of the
world and knew that every living man
and woman would read what have to
say, it would be that every form of