New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-01-21

THE REV. THOMAS r. sLIcER
Pastor Of All Souls Unitarian Church.
Photograph by Bradley studioz)
enough for inspiration. It is the commonplace OF
Snooern thought that there is one energy and al
great articles in the creed Of the modern thinker
the correlation Of forces TRANSLATED into terms
OF devout thought. get the immanence OF God
Of scripture we have in Him We i've and move
most des9y r OF t9 f some dis
appointment that DR.. Abbott should have found IT
in terms Of negation There was time when
every affirmation had to be introduced by denial
The higher criticism Of the Scriptures dealt largely
with the defects Of the record The higher mag
of the order s Isrger f5ctoS Of e the church
illuminated the inenectveness Of its institutions.
Of It's observance. But happily. that time has gone
by It was not necessary for the preacher at
longer believed in a Great First Cause. The ar
ginning and end passed away when cause be-
came datum Of thought OF equal value with
% evolution. The ever present God who hlisth all
things, whose presence appears in nature as law
require for His worship the chronology or His acts
Scientific theology is scientific. not because I
deals with science and religion, but because II
b What ia 1biiosonbicaIIy necessary
and no DEVELOPED mind is now content until it has
also demonstrated what is spiritually efficient
measure coincidsnt with the demands Of scientific
theology. The religion which used to sit apart
well equipped divinity school gives special honor
soul is not now so much what God thinks about
it as what it thinks about God, and revelation is
a new instrument to discover what is there
NBGATToN STAGE IS OUTGROwN.
One OF the most gratifying evidences of growth
in this direction is to be seen In the thinking o.
mind In Which denial and criticism and negation
ed TO be especial
TO say that there is not Unitarian preacher Of
influence who wishes this time TO antagonize the
position of any other man or who courts eontro-
r f f0T ngTv own 0 rs ih Is R & 6 ali f6
churches. found IN the constructive work when u
from the falling defences Of religion has been
cleared away. and the old material Is being ouLL
other than it but the new structure serves q
higher purpose than 6ne CD Inc na1 fi p t5 II
is impossible to prove. The man who insists upon
eternal PUN b o sas sun g 9e f e Who T6as
some intermediary between God and the soul N
told that. TO use DR.. Abbott's quotation, God is
,Isetions Of morality has TO be told that he IS
doomed TO be moral and that his business IS to
GeSe bSt fi5 We of Christi? must be referred to
the terms in which human nature may be Christ
pages of the SPIRITUAL Experience Of Jesus Of MAJ
areth. some such simple Offset 10 immature
thought has still TO be made, but, for the most
BBagi So of Religion lg Ths last Word personal
seems to be a stumbling block TO many thinkers
Of high rank During the controversy which has
been in progress Goodwin Smith has written TO one
OF Ihe orr! sin T1 sans sndfviduai which to
saw the least is not its philosophical import Person
ality is the BACKGROUND against which the indlV1Q-
ual is set and whatever God may be IN Himself. He
must be personal to that highest c9nsclousness IN
the infinite is infinitely more. but 10 the man what
carries it's pail Of sea water up the shore We md
ourselves In continual recurrence to the fine thought
God is in Himself let US know what He Is 70 u5;
Happily Cor the confidence OF the human soul ~
the fact that He is infinitely more than 1t can con-
WALLS OCCUPY VALUABLE ROOM
AS result Of this consensus Of thought among
those who think more and more appears tns p0sS 5
bIlty Of unity of action even sIn9ng those Th9
vel appear in lgmnated letters above 1 Ihs G0qE
OF the T9 thu bab Of bgn walls between fields
undoubtedly from the desire to bar out the
some slight barriers may stll be erected but where
cultivation is upon the a 6 t5a Vest heTe tho
sands OF undulate with harvest, thrOugh
ing conviction that walls which separate peaceful
souls occupy ground which ougnt 70 De & w j
That might bear fruit Serious men are filed with
Snne as TO the outlook for religion. The conflict
betwesn pbyscal science and theology has for the
most part subsidized except N renGte ol5Irlcts a.
disagreements between the opponents Of faith are
now seen 70 be Ene Van OF the 1verst IN
which DR. Abbott spoke has recently said; NO
catschisuI President Eliot did not say this be
cause he ia a Unitarian, but because he and all
thoughtful men know perfectly well that there Is
"yo religion in a catechisul and that the
csfecbfsuI which may very well be taught a child,
AZ The definition OF religion. less clear more
or less necessary To say that child never got re-
liei0n out of ii saying that the pangS OF munger
We're never satisfied by the perusal OF a cookbook.
THE reclpe IS not the food the prescription IS not
the medicine; the definition OF religion is not re-
iigfon itself In every community there is
steadily growing body OF serious thought which
cepts for the expression Of its sufficient faith the
phrase Of Robert Browning: 'IIe at least believed
In soul. was very sure OF God.