Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1909-09-03
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THE LIFE OF FAITH.


i 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 Ia to prove your
fear rather than your faith. your ap-
prehension of some dread consequence
attendant on failure to conform. To
say, "I 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
credibility 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
/ end 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 religlous-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-
| fy 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; it Is confidence that life
holds better things farther on; it 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 &C
| Quiescence 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 al
trujsm?
The truth Is that "the faiths" are of
I yesterday, while faith is always of to-
day and tomorrow. Faith is forward
| looking; it is confidence that life holds
| better things farther on; it is LIES
| onward pressing in full assurance that
! there is a goal. that the universe does
| not mock us, that the hopes and aspi-
| rations that burn within are but re-
Elections and pulsations of the law of
| the fullness of life that runs through
all the creation.
The faith that there was once a per-
feet man is an empty thing unless 1t
! becomes the power that pushes me on
| to yet nobler projections; unless the
facts Of the past become for me the
prophecy of the future All the his
| tory Of the soul has value only as it
indicates the souls direction iowa, d
its promised country. l 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, Eacn age has it's vision; facing tho
future, looking forward with high
hopes, il sees the promised land; thin
come the photographers, who 4sre
| nothing about the land so long as they
make It's maps. They draw lines and
! lay on colors; they describe prescribe.
hound, and limit that which their fel
! lows Of larger heart and hope have
seen as living, glowing glory Thus
from the visionless minds we get our
creeds, our descriptions of yesterday
/ faith
That which has been can never be
enough for that which is. Religion is
to creed and forms of faith as life is
| to works on physiology and anatomy.
/ Religion Is the love of life, the faith
! in its fullness and meaning; it can
| onlv in of 60