Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1908-10-09

child must be discarded By the man.
and just as in large measure the science
OF to-day viii be the superstition o.
tomorrow. If men groyl 70 things how
Much more shall they grow in thought
Religion being mans attempt t. ex-
press in deed and word his thought o.
the highest and best 1t would belle its
name II each new height gained did
not show some yet greater height be-
Tore. An Interchangeable religion would
nor be religion at all.
Yet no other thing has so worried
mary good people as the fear that .heir
religion should change. Just as they
once believed that the uniyers, was
made finished, and fixed forever-.as
though such thing Wouic ever be
true OF a universe aglow with Iife-so
they thought of their religion as com
mitted to them complete like a set of
Interchangeable laws. Therefore their ut
most concern was to preserva its pre-
ciae form, and the great thing III re-
Lglon became not the spirit of its
teaching but the form of its text. Fail
tire to realize the vi.al and therefore
developing nature IF religion resulted
III tie guarding of the letter that kills
a. the expense of the life giving spirit.
And when faith forsook It's cErysalls
stage they wept such bitter tears over
hFnlxcn no har.
the fairer glory into which 1t has
grown.
III there be any ground for lament
as TO the condition of religion it lies
not in the failure to preserve the old
statements and the old customs. not In
the nnwillingness of the world to-day
to shrink itself into yesterdays OUT
worn forms of truth, but in the pitiable
sight or church that tries to keep ur
the old life with dead formulate, that
has so far forgotten its great teachers
revelation as not to know that religion
Is life and not logic, or laws, or Ian.
guage The saddest feature to day is
the unwillingness of the church to go
forward; instead of being the leader OF
science and Of civilization she is often
reluctantly dragged behind these cn-
moving powers.
The need now is not to go back to
Moses and to Paul, as though these
were our goal, but, taking some guild
ance from them, to go forward into
the new truth that is ever dawliing.
He who steps into the twilight OF new
truths ALWAYS finds the day breaking
shout him. If he stands perfectly stir
the full day comes and then the night
again. 1t is only the man who keeps
the light. The trouble is that so many
are standing fast in truth from which
the light has all died out, and they are
calling their darkness the only day and
denouncing those who prefer the light.
The ancient good ever stands OPP
posed to the new best. 1t says, better
stay in the old Egypt you know than
perish in desert untried But true
souls step forth. They find tie desert,
and often it IS drear; yet God is there,
and morns are bright and mama falls
by the way.
Then beyond the desert there Is
Canaan beyond the Alps, Italy; beyond
the doubt, the delight of larger, clearer
truth. Do not fear leaving the old do
not worry over theological unrest Us
rest is but the sign of life. Better tile
child's unrest than the senile placidity
of old age. Better the death in the
desert than decay in Egypt Better to
die in doubt than to mold away in the
empty tomb of truth. Consider him,
who for the joy set before him, despis-
ed the cross; forget the things behind
and press forward to the prize before,
the clearer light and larger life.