The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-04-14

It. This would make God in his revela-
ton of himself to man, without apparent
| motive subject himself to a physical or
quasi-physical law the knowledge of
| which has been withheld from man till
the present time An imperfect reveal
ton of the divine character, one, for ex-
ample, which should exhibit the justice of
God without his mercy, would be a de-
ception of man instead of revelation.
Besides evolution repels finaiity, and we
could have no assurance that the mani
festation of the divine nature in Christ
and the Gospel would be final
1t is needless to say how manifestly all
these theories have their origin in con-
troversial necessity, how totally alien they
are to the view taken hitherto by all
Christian Churches of the Scriptures, and
how unlikely it is that God, in revealing
himself to man for the purpose Of hui
man salvation, should have chosen
method such as would entail inevitable
misconstruction for many centuries and
postpone the true Interpretation of his
character and dealings to an age of hu-
man criticism and science.
The ethics of Christianity have hitherto
comparatively escaped systematic criti-
cism and are still generally and officially
professed. An appeal to the principles of
the Sermon on the Mount continues to
command formal respect. But Christs
view of this world as evil and his re-
nunciation of 1t for the Kingdom of God
have been practically laid aside by all but
specially religious men. ChTists moral
code was, in its direct bearing, only per-
sonal or social, politics and commerce not
having come within the view of the Teach
er of Galilee. In regard TO public and in
ternational concerns. the abjuration of
his principles is most striking. In that
sphere Christian meekness, mercy, and
self-sacrifice are being openly superseded
by maxims drawn from the Darwinian
struggle for existence and by avowals of
the right of the strong. Even the pro-
fessed ministers of Christ have been pan
dering to imperialism and the lust of war.
In truth, by a strange turn of events,
Christian ethics. in questions between ma
ton and nation and in questions concern
ing humanity at large, have been passing
out of the hands of the orthodox teachers
of supernatural Christianity into those of
men who recognize only the human char
acter and ethical teachings of life.
Prof Seeley in his earlier days had
made a great impression with his "Ecce
Homo" an attempt to bring the charac-
ter of Christ nearer to the heart of HUI
mainly The work was decidedly pietist;
yet a Tationalizing tendency was scented
in it by the Evangelicals whose leader,
Lord Shaftesbury, denounced it. It's au-
thor promised a theology. But when, af-
ter years of reflection and subsection to
the influences Of a moving time, the the
ology came, under the title of Natural
Religion" it was total disappointment.
Religion was reduced to mere enthusiasm,
not exclusively Christian or even theistic,
but of any kind, such as enthusiastic love
of country or of art
Minds of the finer cast have preserved
the religious spirit, while they have
thrown of the shackles of creed and even
regarded the whole religious question as
matter of doubt and suspense
There lives more faith in honest doubt,
Believe me than in half the 'creeds
This is the peryading spirit of Tenny
sons poems, and of such a work as
Amiers diary, but it must manifestly be
confined to a circle of minds such as those
of Tennyson and Amiel Agnosticism is
the condition into which a large number
of educated minds have been more or less
passing or drifting But
while in some Of them a religious spirit
still prevails and the hope is cherished
OF a new religious dawn, others seem to
be definitely settled in the conviction that
theological enquiry is hopeless and that
our knowledge must forever be bounded
Us about the laws or forces of our own
world
Reluctance to give up belief in the I'M
seen world and perhaps still more unwill
ingness TO think that the loved ones who
are lost by death are lost forever, have
given birth to Spiritualism. 1t will hard
ly be thought necessary to comment on
an illusion which has been SO often and
so decisively exposed Its very name is
belied when the spirits have to material /
ize before they can make their existence
known or hold converse with those who
evoke them. The alleged communications
from the spirit world through such
medium as planchette have been trivial, |
almost fatuous. 1t is now forgotten that
the movement began with table-turning.
as though spirits had a special affinity
for tables.
Among the anti-theistic. or at least the |
anti-ecclesiasucal, influences and the
solvents Of our religious system, may be |
reckoned the foundation of systems of
morality independent of the divine sane
ton. PaIey's definition of virtue is the
doing good to mankind in obedience to |