The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-04-28
PEASANTS AND RELIGION
TOPIC DISCUSSED BY REV. III. c. ME-
SERVE, OF PLYMOUTH CHURCH.
The Proposition that All Men Are
Religious Discussed in an In
teresting Manner.

corner Tenth and Delaware streets, spoke
on Peasants and Religion" DR.. Meserve
said in part:
1t is now many years since the explora-
tiOns of scientists into the strange peoples
of the earth laid down the proposition that
all men are religious, and the further ex-
plOratlOns of science down to the most re-
cent days have added their weight to the
testimony. From this point ii is not a
great step to say that mankind is intuitve-
ly religious. In fact It is hard to account
for the universally of religion upon any
other basis. BY this it is not meant that
man comes into conscious relation with an
other and higher power through some sys-
TEN outside himself and TO which he is
and knows not how he knows, that there
is power which is above himself, beyond
himself, yet within himself, and to this
power, to which he assigns personality, he
owes allegiance. 1t is the second step, al
most an intuition, which Descartes
triumphantly expressed when he said,
'COgito ergo sum- think therefore. am.
1t may be a process in a very limited sense,
but so limited is 1t that men subconsciouSly
realizing il for generations had not thought
1t to require formulation. With the dis
covery of the intuitive faculty there arises
at once the reasoning processes. Wherever
the religious sense is found there is found
some sort of religious development. 1t may
be, it often is, primitive in the extreme,
but no more so than the thoughts of one
generation of civilized men are to those
who succeed them. 1t may issue in the
fetish of the negro the taboo of the island
ers, the wooden and stone gods of the East
or the images of Rome 1t may be an.
cestOr worship or saint worship; the
thralment of a state church the liberty
of the Independent body. Whatever it is,
complex primitive, ornate or simple, il is
the eternal struggle of the reason with the
sentiment or religion The very genius OF
the religious sense is prOgressiveneSS; not
always upward, we are apt to believe, but
toward some goal which the eXpedency
of the moment or the seemingly eternal end
demands: The missionary spirit for in
stance, is an Illustration of such a de-
velopment Christianity is a missionary re-
igion because the religious sense, sane
toned in some degree by reason, furthers
development in this direction. 1t has to
fight the sentiments of fanatics it is true
1t thrusts itself where reason bids it wait,
but, driven by the mighty impulses of its
own strong life it must follow its bent and
carry out the purpose that for the moment
seems God ordered. That other men with
equally strong convictions are striving to
uphold religious traditions as dear to them,
but rouses the zeal of both, and round the
world the battle of religions, deplored by
reason but made necessary perhaps by con-
ditions has gone on. Why is it do you ask?
can only suggest. know men (have you
not met themO who have solved every
problem in heaven and earth which con-
Germs or may concern their own lives. AS
demi-gods they walk about the world which
lesser gods. or rather more humble men,
are striving to know But after ALL when
the truth is known we are all children land
egotism manifests itself early) and if some
of us do assume the garments OF manhood
it is but a masquerade which amuses but
1oes r not he story are the World
is the story Of reason con-
Quering childish sentiment and laying
broader ground for its faith. Jesus under
stood this we'll He spake Of matters of
worldwide Importance; truths which
should move the world when the story of
His own age save as it related to His own
life should be well-ngh forgotten He dis
tributed the essence of truth to the little
company which followed Him and then
said to them that they could not under
stand because they were children. Like a
child with an artists soul before some in
SEPARATION of genius, who gazes and feels but
does not comprehend, these disciples heard
and believed, yet wondered what IL all
meant.
REAL RELATION TO LIFE.
"And to-day the years are telling us, the
children of this day, not all but much
as we can bear of the real relation of truth
to the life we are living. The great Teacher
not only saw this in His disciples and in
the spirit of His own little day. He caught
! the foreshadOwings of it in the centuries
to come. There to be a distinct adj
/ vance in the intellectual processes before
all that He brought before men should be
/ appreciated and appropriated. The distinc-
! tons which lie often drew were real and
valid Now it was as to babes that He
was speaking They felt the glow of His
| presence and smiled at His words of love
| and affection but they did not comprehend,
| and with the passing of the Master the
words and the thoughts passed too, not TO
! be recalled till that day when reason,
| through experience, should demand hear
| ing. Now it was as if to children that the
word came They paused in their busy
! play. They turned ASIDE Tor moment TO
| hear what he had 10 say. They nodded i'm
/ patiently that they understood and then
/ turned eagerly to their old ways till tired
/ with the play and unsatisfied with the sport
] Al in n N ba
| ing of the aforementioned word of Him
/ who dealt with high things though they
/ had been commOnplaces of life. Now as
/ to men the Master spake. To those of
! riper powers, who held themselves to be
/ the cultured ones of the nation and who
were certainly the arbiters of its destiny.
/ Their reasoning, clear and acute to them
| as it seemed, looks to us like the veriest
! sophistry With them rested the power of
! choice For IL is difficult to believe that
to thinking men the truths which Jesus
/ held would not appeal with power. no mat
! ter how utOpian they may have seemed as
! far as their practical realization was con-
or men the Master threw down the gauntlet
/ of truth to the world of sin and error. 1t
! was reason versus sentiment merely. Mans
highest powers against all that is bestial.
! righteousness and peace through right
thinking and right living, against sin and
warfare caused by chaos of thought and
And the tile is still on This and the
| coming generation will decide whether the
/ vancement of reason as it reveals new fields
! of thought and uncOVerS new treasures of
! truth or whether it shall be the victim of
/ sentiment tossed to and fro by every wind
| that blows, hot or cold as the impulse of
| the masses shall be. But the ship APP
/ preaching land after the long voyage eau
tiously creeps in toward the shore till
| through the night and the fog the we'll
| known beacon CLEANS through the mist, so
| through all the cOntending forces of our
/ life the careless gloom of settled convic-
| tions or the rolling fog unregulated
| Thought there CLEANS the beacon of reason
| To which the world at last must come. This
| reasoning faculty is never an end in itself
| there TO show the way by which mankind
| advances and the inspiration by which it
| came Augustinian theology is not the per-
| lection to-day ii once was thought to be-
| Anselm's philosophy as matter of history
| is well enough. but as practical issue his
| work is not thought of. Calvin no longer
/ rules with a rod of iron the theological
| world nor does Luther as the author of a
! theological system appeal TO Yet as
| food assimilated passes into other forms
| and builds tissues and gives power so these
| men. the reasoning men of their days, have
| contributed to the reasoning life of this
| age Under every great movement for the
/ advancement of men are the thinkers who
/ consciously or unconsciOusly, prepared the
/ vvav and set I'm order the time. The thinkers
| of the generation not only stamp the age
| for what il is; they lead the van of the
I march In their wake follow all move
/ rnents civil. political and religious. This
| time in which we live has been variously
declared to be an age Of preparation, an
/ age of completion or the beginning of a