The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-06-10

mand 100000 years though 1S6,OO miles
was consumed every second before that
star was found.
II do not quote these statistics and
facts of authentic research to weary you.
but simply to enforce one thought that
the scale of measurement for things ma
terinal has grown in our own time to
gigantic proportions and this has been 4
healthy and reviving force for the ac-
acknowledgement Of God, both in its doctrine
of evolution and in its content so vast
The modern universe and its developments
have come to the aid of a splendid
| Theism. They have shown us that the
older atheism rampant in certain circles
only a period ago was weak and foolish
and vulgar, and / feel safe in saying that
all men believe in God today, because they
believe that behind these distances and
these orbs and this method of growth
there is a mighty soul, mind, a work
man, and they do not question his exist
ence so much as they dispute the exact
manner of it on the possibility of knowing
is as a personal knowledge.
''If you viii take from your shelves the
/ first edition of the Encyclopedia Britain
MICA you will find that monumental work
needs revision for every first class coa-
! tribution on scientific matters since science
no longer expresses itself in atoms and
molecules r. j. Campbell tells US that
! if Marie Corelh should rewrite her book,
entitled "The Mighty Atom" she would
be compelled to change the title If she
wished to be in harmony with the latest
verdict of organized knowledge. Science
now speaks of one universal substance il
which all is God and God is al, a sub
stance ever active and mighty in its
force Here it may be seen in the mud of
the streets and yonder in the man who
treads on the mud; here it is a vapor
floating in the air and yonder a prayer
ascending In the skies, and so we have the
spectacle in the beginning of this century
of science substituting for materialism
sort Of pautheistic doctrine.
Let us turn for a moment to tie
philosophic mind which approaches the
text from the standpoint of mental rela.
tions, and while science says that God IS
universal mind. Its Of universal presence.
philosophy says that God is universal
mind. It's record is a noble tribute to
the credit of man. 1t has made errors be-
cause it is a human history liable to the
faults OF its originators. 1t has been
noted for its vacillations but they have
not DeEn Il source OF WGdkUbS1 SO uluEu dS
a source Of growth, and the thcologian
has small room to accuse the philosopher.
lie has made seme sorry mistakes, has
the theologian. in interpreting religious
facts and religious life and he should not
forget that philosophy is a forerunner OF
theology and that it behooves us to see
that its work is well done, or theology
always suffers in the sequel.
IL Al L
and OF the philosopher concerning God,
speaking of him as universal presence and
universal mind The religionist adds the
.cFowning and encircling attribute WIN ne
says that God is universal heart. If be
hind these wonderful outflowings OF nature
and OF man there was an absolute blank,
so far as love is concerned, if no message
touching the personality Of the eternal
had reached us, then in single moment
God would lose his spiritual compulsion
upon the race. Men would regard Him
as a being whose presence and power were
awful and imminent, out of whose reach
none can move whose influence must be
vi suprm and who's wisdom and strngth
are beyond all our thoughts But they
would argue that the flame OF love burns
not in his heart or if il does its bright
ness has never shone on earth, and what
is his tendency toward us we may not
discover save through those dim inklings
and speculations which we obtain from
ourselves and from nature. During all
these years Of the past no guilty sou,
has received pardon, no agonized PRAYER
has been answered, no ntolerable burden
removed Man has long since dscerned
his spiritual necessities and in their AID
he has built inumerable affairs and covered
them with sacrifices, but they have Sc
cured no single response of answering
sympathy. His entreaties, His predictions
His vigils, His tears are simply a cumber
ing of the history of the race with wasted
power and misdiTected yearning.
1T is to face the unutterablc tragedy
of such atheistic unbelief that the Chris
tian faith taking up all the true ethics
and the unlawful tendencies and blessings
comes forward and teaches US the acknowl
edgment of God. Have no fear concerning
the course OF religion in the future: it is
the only Interpretation of the future.
Every age calls for its assistance, and
Jesus, who stepped forth from the heaven
lies. taught US one word about God which
outweighs all other words, when he bade
us say, God is love- He went forward
beyond his teachings and fulfilled it IN that
career OF patnaO5 anu purify anu poWSA
which eliminated ii tn resurrection and
made it possible for all men to believe
both in Him and in what He taught.
From first to last the life of Christ is a
challenge to unfaith, to prejudice and to
sin. And as the reality of God grows
upon us the religious value Of Jesus in
creases in us, his contribution to our life
and character, His knowledge of our need
is overwhelming and destined to pre-
dominate.
welcome every herald of a higher
civilization since =, but proclaims Christ. |
Welcome the new consciousness of which /
we hear so much, visiting the inhabitants
of the earth and lifting them up from
their present condition to higher develop |
ment. for it will seek Jesus.
And. hastily, when thus sought and
thus found God directs our course.
For the young and the careless, Tor
the weary and the burdened for the aged
and the infrm, for those who scarcely
sin have felt, there is the divine path OF
which Buddha spoke and which Christ
determined. 1t leads past a cross where
we die to selishness and beyond a grave
whose emptiness crowns love with life