Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1907-12-14

going to church, expects no human
welcome; his welcome comes from the
depths of the tabernacle" The writer
| adds:
He cares not whether his fellow
worshippers greet him on whether
courtesies are extended to him. He
goes to his church because te has II
right and because it is his duty. Bound
together by a common belief, attire with
the same love, urgent on the same
purpose. all the worshipers are broth
ren-brethren whether in the jungles
of Africa or in the stately ediiice in
the crowded city. There arc no strang-
ers."
The view OF the Protestant church
which the Catholic writer here pre-
sents is deduced from the spirit and
effect of the recent articles that have
attracted widespread notice:
1T must be evident by this time to
obscrvant men that the Protestant
churches have degenerated into mere
social clubs. They have 40 other
binding tie and seemingly have no
other Interior end than the social fea-
lures. There is no longer required
any unity of doctrine among the mem
HtIS VI iie iIoieSiiiIl 1liNttSIi, II Law.
doctrine Is rather considered the badge
of narrowness and illiberalism. Pulpit
and pew are without any positive doc
trine or the need of 1t. Modern Prot
estantism has lost all appreciation of
doctrine and the sweet tyranny or
truth. The Methodist ministers eX-
change pulpits with the Baptist, n
he in turn with the Presbyterian. with
delightful inconsistency as tho the
doctrines in heir official standards of
faith did not differ an iota from one
another, The teachings Of the minis
tiers within the same sect differ widely.
Each has his own d~octrine-plant. Each
breaches his opinions. ventilates
his own views. S~ensationalism, and
not doctrine, dominate the Protestant
pulpit. The minister breaches what
pleases his people and fills the rews
on Sunday morning. He ignores any
such duty as measuring his utterances
by the standard of his church's con-
fession of faith.
Reincarnation.
To the Editor of the Sun-Sir;
Many OF the most impartial and indus
trious students of the ancient faiths
and modern philosophy in this coun-
try m abroad will entirely dissent
from the views entertained by Sir
Oliver Lodge as expressed In the spec
ial cable dispatch to The Sun of Oct.
20 in relation to the theory of reincar-
nation. This was a cardinal doctrine
of the Buddhists 500 years before the
dawn of the Christian era. and is to-
day accepted by fully half a million
Of the devoted adherents of that mag
nificent religious system as one of the
essential truths promulgated by the
founder of the Buddhist order.
The statement that Sir Oliver Lodge
adduces as a well settled fact, that
Christianity emphasizes the material
aspect of religion" is true so far as
it recognizes the corporal existence of
man; but all the teachings of the early
founders of the Christian church n
the cultured t~heologians Of today agree
that the divine mind or entity is i'm
mortal and therefore absolutely indie
structible.
To my mind reincarnation is a ra-
tional solution of the most difficult
problem of human existence, because
it provides for adjustment Of the in
equalities and unfavorable circum-
stances of varied conditions.
The departed spirit does not become
a "homeless wanderer," but is reborn
as it passes out of the mortal body
and lives anew in another form. Death
is only the open door thru which we
pass into life again. This fact is dem
onstrated by all the changes which oc-
cur in the natural world, just as the
leaves hat fall during the autumn
season by one Of natures mysteries
return in other forms when spring re-
appears:
The fruitful seed beneath the sod
In infant bud and bloom may
rise;
But by the eternal laws of God
1t is not %quickened till it dies.
Strangely, Sir Oliver reaffirms a long
accepted fact of science, that material
substance only changes it's form and
cannot be destroyed, but he fails to
comprehend fully that the infinite
mind of man will survive all forms Of
corporal existence, and as the Budd-
hists believe when the ultimate condi-
ton of supreme happiness is cached
in the heaven Of the Christian as in
the Nirvana of the Buddhist there will
be a state of rest in which the immor-
tai mind will recover memory's lost
supremacy and looking down the long
vista Of forgotten years will recall all
the circumstances, conditions and ex-
periences Of previous lives.
New York, Nov. 1. D. B. S.
"sittinq Up and Noticing Things"
There is a remarkable tendency IN
the part of the liquor press to saddle
the retail end of the business with all
the blame for the present situation.
Thus Beverages CNew York; admits
thai various forms of ~viciousness
seem to fasten to the liquor traffic with
the tenacity of barnacles:". and it
adds: 'The reform of the saloon and
the elimination of the dive and such
like efforts may not head off the wave
of prohibition now spreading over this
republic, but these steps can certainly
help some." A saloon, says the same
Sporty headquarters than a grocery
store" If the new prohibition move
ment Ia done nothing else, 1t has
brought on the disreputable saloon
keeper the wrath of the better element
in his profession, says the New York
Evening Post, which goes on to quote
from a resolution formulated by the
Wholesale T,inuOr Dealers Association