Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1908-11-04
THE LECTURE OF VIM. ]. BRYAN THAT HAS
BEEN READ AND HEARD THE
WORLD OVER.
FULL OF BEAUTY AND TRUTH.
THE SOUND DOCTRINE OF CHRISTIANITY.
NO GROUNDS FOR THE INFIDEL.


Y. NJ. G. A. and other religious bodies
in ire United States, and at Toxic,
Manila, Bombay, Cairo, Jerusalem,
Montreal and Toronto.)
offer no apology for speaking
upon religious theme, for it Is the
most universal of all themes. IL l
law, j might interest the lawyers; IL
i discussed the science Of medicine, l
might interest the physicians; In
like manner merchants might be in
terested in a talk on commerce; and
farmers in a discussion Of agricul-
ture, but none Of these subjects ap-
peal to all. Even the science of gov
ernment, though broader than any
profession or occupation, does not
embrace the whole sum Of life, and
those who think upon 1t differ SO
among themselves that l could not
speak upon the subject so as to
please part without offending 9TH
ers. While to me the science Of gov
ernment Is intensely absorbing, l
recognize that the most important
things in life lie outside Of the realm
OF government; that more depends
upon what the individual does for
himself than upon what the govern
ment does or can do for him. Men
can be miserable under the best gov
ernment, and they can be happy un-
der the worst government.
Government affects but a part of
the life which we live here, and does
not touch at all the life beyond, while
religion touches the infinite circle of
existence as well as the small arc Of
that circle which we spend on earth.
No greater theme, therefore, can en-
gage our attention.
Man Is Religious Being.
Man is a religious beign; the heart
instinctively seeks for God. Whe-
ther he worships on the banks Of the
Ganges, prays with his face upturned
to the sun, kncels toward Mecca, or,
regarding all space as a temple, COM
munes with the Heavenly Father ac-
cording to the Christian creed, man
Is essentially devout.
There are honest doubters whose
sincerity we recognize and respect,
but occasionally | find young men,
who think 1t smart to be skeptical; (;
they talk as If it were an evidence
of larger intelligence to scoff at
creeds and refuse to connect them
selves with churches. They call
themselves liberal" as If Chris
tian were narrow-minded. TO these
self
Even some older people profess to
regard religions as Il superstition,
pardonable in the ignorant, but un-
worthy Of the educated-a mental
state which one can and should out
grow. Those who hold this view
look down with mild contempt upon
such as give to religion definite
place in their thoughts and lives.
They assume an Intellectual superior
tty and often take little pains to
conceal the assumption. TolstOy ad-
ministers to the "cultured crowd"
{the words quoted are his) severe
rebuke when he declares that the
religious sentiment rests not upon a
superstitious fear Of the Invisible
force Of nature, but upon mans con-
seriousness of his finiteneSs amid an
infinite universe and of his SinfulncsS,
and this consciousness, the great phi
loSophcr adds, man can never out
grow. Tolstoy Is right; man recog-
nizes how limited are his own pow
ers and how vast is the universe, and
he leans upon the arm that Is strong
er than his. Man feels the weight Of
his sins and looks for One who Is
Sinlcss.
Religion and Morality.
Religion has been defined as the
relation which man fixes between
himself and his God, and morality as
the outward manifestation Of this re-
Iatton. Every one, by the time ne
reaches maturity, has fixed some re-
Iation between himself and God, and
no material change In this relation
can take place without a revolution
in the man, for this relation Is the
most potent influence that acts upon
u human life.
Religion is the basis Of morality in
the individual and In the group of
individuals. Materialists have at
tempted to build up system OF NOR
ality upon the basis Of enlightened
self-interest. They would have man
figure out by mathematics that 1t
pays him to abstain from wrong do
ing; they would even inject an ele-
ment OF selfish;ess into altruism, but
the moral syTtem elaborated by the
materialists has several defects.
First, its viruues are borrowed from
moral systems based upon religion.
Second. as It rests upon argument
rather than upon authority, il does
not appeal 10 the young, and by
the time the young are able to fol-
low their reason they have already
become set in their ways. Our laws
do not permit a young man to dis
pose Of real estate until he is 81.
Why this restraint? Because his rea-
son is not mature; and yet man s
life is largely moulded by the envi-
ronmcnt OF his youth Third, one
never knows just how much OF his
decision is due to reason and how
much is due to passion or selfish in
terest. We recognize the bias Of
self interest when we exclude from