Los Angeles herald., 1908-02-10
SANE CREEDS
HIS SUBJECT
GLOVE MAN FIRST, GOD LOVE FOL-
LOWS" SAYS JORDAN
EMINENT SAVANT DISCUSSES RE-
LIGIoN OF AMERICA
President of Stanford University De-
ivers Impressive Analytical Ser
mon at Unitarian Church.
"Here and Now" Vital

"An Americans Religion" was the
subject of the address given by DR..
David Starr Jordan at the First Uni
tartan church yesterday morning. He
said:
mot long ago I was asked to give
for foreign publication some account
of the religion of sensible Ameri-
can. The title made it impossible that
the essay should be a personal confess
sion of faith. But among my intimate
friends was one, now not living-a SEN
sible Americana man whose influence
for good was profound and far reach
ing, a force for righteousness in the
lives of hundreds of his countrymen.
1.-THE religion of this friend L shall
briefly set forth. In the first place, on
the positive side, the sensible American
believes that this is Gods world-none
other more so. The God of things as
they are must have his throne within
, the confines of his creation, and no
condition of life and no place or time
can lie outside his presence.
"But whatever the extent of space
and time, two things are real with us
here and now. This is our day, and
here is the spot where our lives must
De IIldQG W GOuIl. LII ulSbOly OlbCi
men have had their other days, but
yesterday is already numbered with
the rest of mems seven thousand
years. or seventy million, if we choose
to count the whole of the period God
found necessary in the making of man.
yesterday has passed away, tomor-
row is unborn and may never belong to
us. We have today, and no day was
ever so inspiring, so glorious, so Wor-
shipful This is our time to act, the
hour for us to play our part 1t mat
tiers not what the part may be. 1t Is
for us to do our best, not our second
best, and to do it with good cheer
and with perfect cnfidence that In
Gods economy no good life is ever
wasted
"'God's errands never fall 1t is not
for us to cringe or whine, to grasp OF
grope, nor to beg any special recon-
pense for days of doubt, despair or
discomfort. Our part is a part of love
and helpfulness, love as translated into
terms of helping our neighbor.
Links in the Long Chain
I'm brief, the positive phase of this
religion is the feeling of being at home
in Gods universe. This is no alien
world Our fathers were born here and
our fathers fathers, and the same
Hand has led them on from he primor-
ulai SanOSlOneS Oh quebec 10 lHe lOuii-
datiOnS of our own republic. The
pledge of the future is adequate. We
are links in an eternal chain, and the
little part assigned to us is the con-
quest of here and now. Wisdom. as
have said on another occasion, is know
ing what one ought to do next. Virtue
is doing it, and religion is the feel
ing or attitude which justifies doine
ones duty when it is easier to stand
aside or to let the part assigned to us
slip by through default.
This may not matter in the LONG
run-the ages are patient and the eva
sion of man is no novelty with God
but it means everything in the makeup
of our own conduct of life, and that is
the main thing with us. For the world
is upheld by the presence of good men
They make the earth wholesome
Great men beat with the pulse and
breathe with the lungs of nations
I'm the notes of my friend L find
these words: 1T is a great event in a
father are one" 1t is greater when q
man finds that he can keep step with
God: that he wants to do, and can do
the things that God is doing.
"'Faith in self, faith that puts GOO
to the test, faith that links God and
man and is the key to all the riches oil
heaven is the result of experience and
is 10 DG WOll, ike dlly OllltI pOWSIg ny
persistent and constant exercise. You
and you alone, hold the key to your
heaven
my friend used the word freely ir
his talks to young men and women
With him God was not a mere abstrac-
ton, but a very potent element in the
trend of events, the great First Cause
and the Last Cause of things as they
are.
Sheer Not Justified
"This attitude does not justif,
Haeckels sneer at worship of "a gas
eous vertebrate for his God is moi
huge, hoary giant, angry, jealous
benevolent, a father, a judge, king
as pictured in oriental imagery.
ITO him God is immanent, 'numer
adest,' in the fine words of Linnaeus
His will is that which is permanent ir
time and space, in a world in which
using Huxleys words, nothing endures
save the flow of energy and the ration
al intelligence that pervades it, His
is that rush of force. His is that ra-
tional intelligence.
1.-THE warfare of human ambition has
centered itself In the warfare of creeds
The creed is we know it is historic
battle cry OF a contending host. 1t be-
longs to the war of words which sue.
ceeded the clash of spears and lances
To the American of today the creeds
are mostly harmless. They will no.
injure us If we do not read them
Without their historic background We
can hardly understand them. 1t is no
well to revise them too often. Theil
galvanized life may work injury tt
our spirits. AS DR.. Holmes said once
of old errors they die not because
they are refuted; they fade out because
they are neglected. Their place is IL
psychology and history, not In the re-
ligion of Jesus. The single wore
'credo' CT believeD, was adequate fol
him. 1t suffices for us, for it implie:
faith in the universe, in man and in al
the forces inside or outside ourselves
which shall make for righteousness
LAS his religion is not regulated by
intellectual assent to any proposition
in metaphysics. spiritual or biographi
cal, the average American. Sensible
or otherwise is not disturbed over tn,
results of the higher criticism.
"As he no believes in Jove, the high
est god, may despise all the LESSEE
gods in silence SO may he whose spiri
is filed with the greater faith lool
down on all the lesser creeds and mar
wells.
Not Bound to Institutes
TT is clear to the sensible Ameri
can that the religion of Jesus has NJ
necessary connection with church o.
state, except as church or state ma.
be permeated with it's spirit. 1t hal
no necessary connection with creed o.
ceremony, with litany or liturgy, will
,,riaet mr. nraacher with symbol or mir