Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1909-09-03
THE LIFE OF FAITH.

S JUST snail i've Uy i3llH. --ftO~
mans, l., II.
There can be no faith without free
dom. 1t Is not faith to attempt or
pretend to believe the things which
you are tod you must believe. Even
TO seek to comply is to prove your
fear rather than your faith. your ap-
prehension Of some dread consequence
attendant on failure to conform To
say, Il believe" lest a catastrophe
attend the honest denial of such be-
lief is to play the liar and the cow
ard.
1t weer better to have no faith at
all than weakly to submit to the doc
trine that the universe lies in the
hands OF creature so unjust as to
arbitrarily decree our eternal damna-
ton unless we subscribe to statements
We cannot indorse, or blindly to insist
on the historic accuracy of incidents
which we would discredit in any other
relation.
The real difficulty in religion for the
average man, however, lies not in the
credtbility Of the historic statements
Of the faiths, not in the logic of their
syllogisms; he is even willing to take
many such things FOR granted; the
difficulty lies In seeing any particular
value or use in such articles OF creed
and history; he cannot see why their
acceptance should be regarded as the
most vital thing In life.
AT heart every man who lives above
the brute is religious--that is, he de-
sires to realize in some way those soul
and character ideals that grow with
in him and shine before him. His
deepest need, one often unconscious
and seldom formulated. is TO discover
the agencies and aids which will clari-
fly his ideals, strengthen his resolves.
and secure their realization.
He will be satisfied with no faith
that fails heer or does less than this.
He cannot see how the perfunctory
acquiescence on his part with the for
NAL statements Of the creeds would
aid to this end. Suppose he throws
aside other considerations and accepts
the Mosaic cosmogony what light
will that throw on the struggle in his
own soul between the dust and the
divine? In what way will that help
him to altruism?
The truth is that the faiths" are
of yesterday while faith is always of
to-day and tomorrow. Faith is for.
ward looking; 1t is confidence that life
holds better things farther on; 1t is
life's onward pressing in full assur-
ance that there is goal, that the uni
verse does not mock us, that the hopes
and aspirations that burn within are
but reflections and pulsations of the
law of the fullness OF life that runs
through all the creation.
He will be satisfied with no faith
that fails here or does less than this.
He cannot see how the perfunctory ac-
quiescence on his part with me for
NAL statements Of the creeds would
ald TO this end Suppose he throws
aside other considerations and accepts
the Mosaic COMMONWEALTH light will
that throw on the struggle in his own
soul between the dust and the divipeo
In what way will that help him to al.
truism!
The truth IS that the faiths" are of
yesterday. while faith is always of to-
day and tomorrow. Faith is forward
looking; 1t is confidence that life holds
better things farther on; it is life's
onward pressing in full assurance that
there Is goal. that the universe does
not mock US, that the hopes and aspi-
rations that burn within are but re-
fections and pulsations Of the law of
the fullness Of life that runs through
all the creation.
The faith that there was once a Dar.
feet man IS an empty thing unless it
becomes the power that pushes me en-
to yet nobler projections; unless the
facts of the past become for me the
prophecy Of the future. All the his
tory o. the soul has value only as It
indicates the souls direction toward
it3 promised country. I believe the
past whenever the past shows the race
coming into the fuller present. rising
from lowlier levels.
The formal statements which men
call faiths are commonly but the dead
shells that once contained glowing
life; they are like photographs of a
sunset. the form is there. but the
glow, The color, The life has gone from
It. Each age has its vision, facing the
frture, looking forward with high
hopes. it sees the promised and: th-n
come the photographers, who ere
nothing about the land so long as they
make its maps. They draw lines and
lay on colors; they describe, prescribe.
bound, and limit that which their Eel
lows OF larger heart and hope have
seen as a living, glowing glory. Thus
from the visionless minds we get our
creeds, our descriptions OF yesterdays
faith.
That which has been can never be
enough for that which is. Religion Is
to creed and forms OF faith as life is