The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-03-27
LIBERAL VIEW OF
 DOGMATIC TOPICS Or. Jenkin Lloyd Jones Ex- pounds Holy Scripture SOME POETIC THOUGHTS Bold But Beautiful Conception of the Deity - subIimated Thoughts
 Concerning Dogma and
 the Future State.
SOME POETIC THOUGHTS

preached at the First Presbyterian church yesterday morning on the "Besettng God" His text was taken from Psalms CXXXIx:5 "Thou hast beset me behind and before and laid thine hands upon me-
 The church was crowded to the doors and the closest attention was given to the eloquent words of Dr. Jones.
 The speaker said in part:
 In these days in many quarters there is a nervous apprehension lest Deity shall be dethroned in the hearts of men. The growth of science Is apparent every where, but many who would otherwise cordially welcome this growth have a secret dread lest by it the sanctities be | desecrated. The great case now being tried at the bar of human judgment, to many minds, seems to be God vs Science. The investigator, the student of nature, l is frequently summoned to court to an. swer the question, Where is thy God?' Even the humanities. the call to brother hood. is often challenged by the would-be guardians of religion who say, Morality. fellowship, justite. sympathy, cooper ation." Yes, indeed. all very good, but are we not in danger of leaving out the most essential thing? For without the thought of God in the minds and the love of God in the heart. all these things are i vain.
 Frequently this anxiety reveals itself In political ways; there is often an attempt to leglslate in the interest of piety; to enact God and Christianity into the con- stitution of state and nation.
 Lessenng of Reverence. The first thing to be said concerning this anxiety about God Is that in sense it is well founded. There is a great lessen- 1 ing of reverence for certain creed and from sanctities. Jerusalem is no longer the only holy city. even to the Jew. The most conservative among them ID longer identify it's battered walls with the battlements of the city of God So the mighty potentate throned afar of the Christian creed, arbitrarily dooming some to eternal perdition, some to everlasting joy, is no longer living reality to the multiture who once believed and trem- bled. The angry God demanding the ab- negation of more God-like son, the 1 world-makng God who in six days brought into being all the hosts of heaven and all living things on land and in water, resting on the seven, later repenting of His work, wiping most of it away in a deluge subsequently, revealing His will meagerly, only to certain people at eer- tain times and in certain book, not ade- quately published, not easily understood. is fading from the minds of men.
 Such a God is losing his Hold upon the hearts of the more intelligent. There is an astounding emigration out of these creed bounderies of Christendom, a turn ing away from the conventional altars of 1 piety by many of those who are tireless workers for philanthropy, interested stu- dents of nature, and giftey interpreters of l history. This tide of thought call 1t atheism if you will, is as resstless as the tides of the ocean. They who would stay 1t by denominational activities or legal enactments are engaged in a task as fruitless as King Canute who undertook to hold back the waves of ocean by his royal mandate. The ocean did not stop but King Canute did move his chair.
 Childish Remedies.
 Recognizing this anxiety and granting a certain cause for it. 1t is next to be said that many of the remedies proposed are pitiably childish. Mans faith in the in- finite canont be reassured by q resolu- ton; the throne of the External cannot be propped by a preamble. Chemistry cannot be made theistic by inscrltdng Bible texts on laboratory walls. or as- | tronomy be made devout by engraving hymns on the tube of the telescope. The government will be no more theistic or l Christian after Goodess senators have | lAfn | The church cannot protect It's faith by hearsay trials and expulsions. The God fearing spirit which seers have commend ed. which has made mellow the centuries, cannot be secured by traffic In pious phrases. The word God in the con- l stitution of the United States or Christian amendment to the same will not change the prayerless hearts of it's citi- zens The silver dollar is no more honest n coin because 1t bears the legend, In | God we trrst.'' It does not on that ac- | count sanctify the transactions at the | gaming table or over the bar of the dram shop.
 concerning Atheism.
 For arguments S sake let us admit for the l moment that atheism is the growing | creed of the student infidelity the ineyita- ble outcome of science. Let us not ado 10 | this skepticism, whatever 1t may be, the l crime of hypocrisy. Let not atheism be l vyhite-washed with damning pretense | God cannot be honored by verbal jug gling; he Is not a thing of words. The 1 soul of man cannot make love to the in- | finite soul in chorus. Like all true love- making, it is a thing of personal experi- ence private condolences; it is, as Frances Power Cobbe puts it. the flight of the | alone to the alone" Happy is he who Is ..iven ever and anon sense of commun- | ion with the Ineffable and the Supernal | Alas for him who mistakes wordy con- | fessions, easy recitations of great words | for such experienced Alas. no creed is ex- ecutiye; 1t cannot enforce its own man dates upon the mind or heart
 l But there is & third thing to be said | about this anxiety. viz, it is unnecessary, because 1t Is unfounded George Eliot was true to history and to the experience | of the human heart when she sald | Growing thought makes growing revela- | tIon." The besetting God is undisturbed | by philosophy; he Is secure from assaults | of skeptie or cynic This besetting God | lays his hands upon us from behind and | from before, and his touch comes with | increasing distinctness to the seeker after l truth and to the worker for the right. | How does this besetting God Jay his hands upon us?
 Inevitable Law.
 | First. as law. inevitable, memorable, unbending order. The ways of the uni