The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-12-07

mighty? That candle of the Lord" which
shoulders in every human bosom burnt in
the prophets breast so bright that we call
it Revelation. And in our Savior this light
became a blaze, and SO. rightfully, in our
love and gratitude. we say. God made
flesh" In 1882 Tennyson wrote:
Here sits he shaping wings to fly;
His heart forebodes mystery;
He names the name Eternity.
Fifteen years afterward. when poet
came to write the larger poem, he, in the
same line of thought said:
What find I in the highest place.
But mine own phantom chanting hymns?
And on the depths of Death there swims
The reflex of a human face
And so with our God concept
He seems to hear Heavenly Friend.
labor working to an end.
What is this but the argument from de-
sign which half a century ago, elabor-
ated by Paley, was the universal theistic
proof? In fact God-making-that is.
framing God concepts, good, supreme, bad
and indifferent. is one of the great standing
industries of humanity. And so with the
doctrine of sin, of which the church makes
so much and perhaps over emphasizes:
He knows a baseness in his blood
At such strange with something good,
He may not do the thing. he would.
And so of this tumult in the human soul
which never has been and probably never
will be stilled:
Heaven opens inward, chasms yawn,
Vast images in gllmmering dawn.
Half shown, are broken and withdrawn.
All, sure within him and without.
Could his dark wisdom find IL out,
There must be answer to his doubt.
Here we have the origin of all the various
religions, living and dead, which now for
ages have blessed and cursed humanity.
They are each and all efforts to solve the
mystery of this life and answer the enigma
of the life to come. They all spring from
the same source. and all those which sur
vive survive because of the good in them.
1t is mistake to call false religion like
the Buddhist that has stood the test of $500
years and now numbers five hundred million
followers and was never more active than
to-day. And so with the Mohammedan.
which, in spite of a thousand years of con-
flict with Christianity. still holds undis-
turbed the sepulchre of Christ and the city
Of the Great King. Could wholly false re-
ligion do that? There has never been an
adult Mohammedan converted to Christian
ity. At least after years of search l can
find no proof of such a fact. And yet
believe, with all my heart, that our re-
ligion-that founded by the Nazarene-is
the best the world has ever seen. In fair
ness it should be said that Mohammedan
and Buddhist each passionately believes
the same to be true of their respective re-
ligions and each that it will ultimately
dominate the whole world. which scope and
vision their followers affirm constitutes
That far-on divine event
To which the whole creation moves.
We Christians ridicule the polygamy of
the Mohammedan and the Nirvana, or So
called aethism, of the Buddhist, but they
in their turn, ridicule the everlasting hell
and the three gods in one of Christianity.
If we hold up their moral shortcomings
to them they reply: Those who live in
glass houses must not throw stones"
Look to the universal drunkenness which
prevails in your countries and to your cor
porate and private dishonesty. The politi-
cal Christianity which dominates Asia-the
last outcome Of which is the looting of
China-would disgrace any heather ma
tion."
To begin implies to end. Upon this thesis
our poet discusses in 1.-The Two Voices
the Platonic doctrine of pre-existence as
well as the Irdian idea of the transmigra-
ton of souls:
II may be that no life is found
Which only to one engine bound
Falls of. but cycles always round.
Some draught OF Lethe might await
The slipping through from state to state.
But II 1 lapsed from nobIer place,
Some legend of a fallen race
Alone might hint of OF my , disgsace;
In gazing up an Alpine height,
Some yearning toward the lamps OF night;
nr trh n
Though all experience past became
Consolidate in mind and frame
/ might forget my weaker lot:
For first years forgot?
The haunts of memory echo not
Much more. if first hoated free.
As naked essence must 1 be
7 Incompetent OF memory.
Moreover something is or seems
That touches with mystic CLEANS.
Like glimpses OF forgotten dreams
OF something felt. like something here;
OF something done, / know not where;
Such no language may declare.
These ideas. while he did not believe in
them, always haunted Tennyson. Fifteen
years afterwards, in the "In Memoriam, -
| our poet taught the modern doctrine of
| spiritual communication with the dead:
| | shall not see thee Dare ] say
| No spirit brake the band
That stays him from the native land
Where first he walked when clasped in clay
| No visual shade of some one lost.
But he. the Spirit himself. may come
| Where all the OF sense is dumb
/ Spirit to Spirit-Ghost 10 Ghost
] o therefore, from thy sightless range
| With gods in unconjectured bliss.
| o f.om the distance OF the abyss
| or tenfold-complcated change.
] Descend, and touch and enter; hear
The wish too strong for words 70 mama: =.