The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1909-09-25

weaker in every 4 point which gives
strength to religion. We do not find
in the program Of the American
thinker any insistence on the spirit
ual and mystical type" which was so
important in the religion of his Eng
lish brother. On the contrary, the
more recent set of views marks a step
further towards the definite abandon
lnent of religious beliefs. Men whose
cultivation has consisted largely in the
development of the critical faculty ars
prone to mistake that the modicum OF
religion which they Ichoose to retain
after critical analyAt8 is going to per-
sist as the religion Of the future. But
they began wrong by excluding from
their investigation the very elements
which constitute. the religious nature
mility and simplicity, and the sense Of
sin and the instinct for prayer. AS a
result Of their methods, the residue O..
religion grows less and less, until It
threatens to vanish into thin air. The
gold of revelation, piled in huge in
gots in the Church's treasury, has
been beaten and ,rebeaten under tho
mallets of Protestant private judy-
ment and rationalistici criticism unt:l
nothing is left but the glitter. No
wonder that Newman speaks of "thc
all-corroding, dissolvng skepticis;n
of the intellect in religious inquiries"
and announces the need of divinsDy
constituted authority to repel it's raw
ages.
The fate of religion depends (hunan-
ly speaking)- on religious men. It, is
not a matter to be-settled by the leis-
ure speculations ofa retired professor.
1t depends on med of religious en-.
thusiasm like st. Paul, men Of SIM
plicity Of heart like st. Francis, men
Of meditative tpiety like Newman. IL
matters not how dark the clouds Of
unbelief may lower, or that there BE-
but one prophet left that has not
bowed the knee to- IA RI ! What pros
lessor. in .,,Antiochs gIS Athesis in tho
an obscure Jewish sect would in thr ;e
centuries dominate the empire? The
incipient rationalistic spirit Of tn"
twelfth century was met and overcome
by the religious revival of the mendi-
cant friars who finally. in the pe"-
sons of Aquinas and Ronaventure took
possession of the universities. In the
days of Shaftesbnry and Toland it
would have seemed an easy prophecy
that a form of Deism not unlike Eliot.
ism was destined to control the stream
of English thought. If there were
such seer, he failed to see the depths
of the human soul, or to foresee John
Wesley.
DR.. Eliot predicts new kind of re-.
ligion-What he should be able 20
promise first is new kind of man.
The old genus homo, as we meet T.!
in history books or on the street, is not
of sort to worship multiplication
Of inflnities Or look on surgeons as
sacred ministers performing holy rites
Mankind will have real religion, or
none at all. 1t wants God to love
and fear and pray to. It's religion
must be message from on high,
which will give light in dark places
and strength in temptation and con-
ISOLATION in the trials and losses of this
life. And it will have it's dogmas, too,
A creedless religion Is a thoughtless
religion. The only valuable religious
elements in DR.. Eiot's plan are dog
mas. His Fantastic God is a dox-
ma, his ideal of progress is a dogma,
his law of love is a dogma. Even
his denials are doEmas; but these arc
not valuable. 1t is true, as Chester
ton says, that "the modern world fs
filled with men who hold doRmas ~
strongly that they do not even know
they are dogmas"
The new religion will neither salts
fly the needs Of religious natures nor
hold the allegiance Of those who
through various causes. are forsaking
the ancient faiths. 1t ia a house butt
halfway down on steep and slip
perry hillside, and below it lie the
quag,nires of agnosticism and pess!-
mism. Those who would escape the
solid ground must rise on the wings of
faith.
Uncle Joe-""Yes, Teddy, it is quite
possible that there are neonle "a RI a