The Newtown bee., 1904-09-02
TOWN TOPICS. SOCIAL TOPICS.
SCIENTIFIC RELIGION.-BY o. O.
 WRIGHT.

tiOn and duty are products or the 1m- agination, and so the merest supersti- tions. But is not the imagination one of ,the noblest powers of our nature? Is it not one of the highest sources of our progress and happiness? Is it not of the greatest value here in this present world? And if it is an tmpor- tant faculty of our being shall we not honor it's services?
 What would our life be without this power to rise above the hard matter of fact, literal, realistic, material con ditions of the earth? We cannot rid ourselves of the imagination because 1t gives us spiritual ideals, and sense of moral obligations. Imagination serves us in many ways besides in mat ters of religion; and if it is such a potent faculty we ought to heed its promptings. John Fiske says: "The power of imagination, or ideal repre- sentation, underlies the whole of sci ence and art, and it is closely connect ed with the ability to work hard and submit to present discomfort for the sake of a distant reward. It is closely connected with the development of the sympathetic feelings. The better we can imagine objects and relations not present to sense, the more readily we can sympathize with other people. Half the cruelty in the world is the direct result of stupid incapacity to put ones self in the other mans place. So closely inter-related are our intel lectual and moral natures that the development of sympathy is very con- siderably determined by increasing width and variety of experience" . Whatever our theory, or faith may be, here stands the all-important fact, as expressed in the words of Theodore Parker: "Religion like society, friend ship and marriage, comes out of prin- ciple deep and permanent in the con. stitution of man." And the church of Christ has stood, as it now stands, in all the generations, as the embodiment of all that is w1sest and most benef. cent in all the institutions of earth. As W. Boyd Carpenter says: Religion will survive, because man everywhere shows invincible religious tendencies, and mans nature seems to be perma' nent."
 What then is our conclusion? That even from this purely temporal, scien' tific point of view, the church o1 Christ offers the highest, noblest, most complete and effectual culture there is among men. Read the New Testa ment, just as you do any other book ii you must, as so much of the literature of the world; but read it wisely, ano mark its meaning, and tell me truly ii there is any human production writer among mankind which inspires the heart and mind with such sweet ane perfect ideal of manhood and woman hood?
 If you want to do right can you fnt anywhere better motive, or highe example than that of Jesus Christ il the Gospel? If you are praying ant striving with all your might to be pur' and good can you expect to find in al the world more encouragement, ant spiritual help than there is in the re corded experiences and teachings o the Apostles? Do you know of an ideal of conduct and character in al the literature of the earth which more worthy of our imitation thai that which has ever been essentiall
 the same in the Christian church?
 Let us treat religion as we'll, at least
 as we do physical science, history, art
 philosophy and political economy, an
 see if the science of this life does no
 demand the church, and the minis
 tries of faith, hope and love, in all tn
 complex relations and interests (
 modern society.