The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1903-03-30
difficulties and aroused more questions
than have been solved.

|
Trust Bldg
This is one OF the perplexities involved
In our effort TO reach something positive
I'm our religious experience, the one thing
seems TO be lacking The psychology that
promises well leaves US in a maze
STANDS FOR NOTHING.
There is ms much question about the I.
The personal and individual point OF
view stands for nothing In modern
thought. In our conceptions OF men We
think OF society rather than the individ-
ual. From the standpoint OF sociology all
that Is left OF n man after the results of
heredity and environment have been ex-
tracted can only be discovered with a mi
croscope. License has utterly repudiated
the personal point OF view says a re-
cent writer. she catalogues her ele
ments and records her laws Indifferent
as TO wha~ purpose may be shown forth
by them, and constructs her theories
quite careless OF their bearing on human
anxietes and fates. Though the scientist
may individually nourish n religion, and
he a thest in his irresponsible hours. the
days are over when II can be said that for
science herself the heavens declare the
glory OF God and the armament showeth
his handiwork. Our solar system with its
harmonies Is seen now as but one passing
case OF certain sort of moving eouilib-
rum in the heavens realized by a local
accident in an appalling wilderness of
worlds where no life can exist. In a span
OF time which as cosmic internal will
count but as an hour. II will have ceased
to be-
There IL no place for the individual In
such n scheme. The God who lies back
OF II has no time 10 number the hairs OF
our heads or note the sperrows fall. He
is a God OF law, stern, hard cruel Our
lives are like bubbles which the wind Gre
ates and bursts.
In the sphere OF religion II is just our
own personal I In which we have the
deepest interest. That which interests us
most Is our own destiny. With this sci
ence has nothing whatsoever to do. To
presume that God watches over that des-
tiny must seem TO the scientific habit of
mind a presumption unwarranted by all
that science knows OF fact.
The doubts that science instals In our
minds concerning the personal element In
religion, contradicting our thought that II
shall profit US nothing II we gain the
whole world and lose our souls, Is only
equaled by the doubt and questioning in
! the Christian church about the positive
facts that may be reckoned upon in the
! Christian life
We may believe one thing and believe II
! with mind and soul. We may even come
| TO love God and ful1ll the first command
| But after all It IL questioned II We indi-
vidually can know any one thing as wo
| know that fire burns and frost cools. 1t
would be a long process, the description
/ as 10 how we have come to accept as
/ facts the things visible and tangible that
| lie outside our thinking processes and
have come to doubt as illusions the expe-
/ riences In the realm OF the spiritual. That
| we have arrived at such condition
/ needs no proof. Our visions and ideals are
| being cast into the limbo of night. God is
/ accepted as national intellectual basis.
| II is not that We are conscious OF the
presence OF the spiritual.
For how many OF US would a logical
and plain argument against the existence
OF God be immedia tely set aside by the
/ certainty In our hearts that I'm Him we
! live and move and have our being.
! Fnoch walked with God. What does II
mean? That God took Enoch for n walk
Az friend walks with g friend so God
walked with Enoch. Well that is absurd
! isn't It, 1--WE speak what we do know
and proclaim what we have seen says
Jesus about the things Of the spirit. The
pure In heart shall see God" We inter
pret this as a figure We would not II
we had seen God. 1t would then have
meaning.
WHAT THE TRUTH is.
The truth is that In the face Of the
| teachings Of psychology. the dictums OF
! science and our own doubts our text
seems doomed. This man after all was
speaking Of physical sight. II has no
reference 10 things Of the spirit. lie knew
/ one thing that his eyes had been opened
and that now he saw. Any blind man
today would know as much. But this
ma tier OF knowledge. this positive ele-
ment in religion Is quite a different mat
ter.
| Some things we learn from experience.
| however. and when we learn that the
experience Is general we arc warranted
In deduclng law. We shall grant that
this one thing was a fact Of physical ex-
perience and as such lay outside the
realm Of the religious me. There was no
faith in II. Yet we are struck with the
fact that he came TO know a great deal
more on the basis of this one fact. He
even arrived TO the conception that Jesus
was the Son Of God and believed In
. Him. This process by which We pro-
ceed from the one TO the many In the In
| tellectual life constitutes a law. In the
| preface 20 Dinsmores Teachings ~
Dante" occurs this interesting extract
from Mr. Lowell: zone Is sometimes
asked b. young men to recommend 10
| them a course OF reading Ny advice