St. Tammany farmer., 1910-02-12

49, morning, full of wonder and
surprise, makes all things
new. Let this be for us parable of
the history of faith, in which there
have been many cloudy sunsets and
many golden dawns. Happy are we
who live in the morning radiance OF
a new day of faith, for the life OF the
spirit is as changeful as the sky and
as mutable as the sea.
Some have thought that religion
would finally fade out of the heart Of
man. But they forget fundamental
human fact. No reality is more deep
ly rooted in the nature of man, and,
II 1t has sometimes assumed forms al
Turing, terrible and fantastic, one who
looks over the long past knows that 1t
becomes every year more lovely and
refined. 1t is the life of God in the
soul of man, an Unsuitable hunger for
eternity, an unquenchable aspiration
for the perfect, and it is by such bread
that man lives. Little acquaintance
with history is necessary to show that
while religion is one, its shapes are
many. The very fact that it is a life
promises variety of form, for in same
ness there is death. 1t is not stag
nant pool, but flowing stream.
Lowell tells us in his poem in Am
brose" how the good saint learned this
lessor. Walking along a brook st.
Ambrose was Joined by an angel, who,
picking up a shell, dipped 1T into the
brook, and filled it with water. He
pointed out to the holy man the fact
that the water assumed the shape of
the shell did not contain all the wa
ter in the brook. Even so the good
man learned that heavenly truth flows
into the. intellectual forms OF each
age, but that those forms however
large and well wrought, do not exhaust
the stream of truth. Should an angel
visit us on such an errand. now, he
might quote the lines of Tennyson
which report the brook saying, with
it's silver voice:
Men may come, and men may go,
But / go on forever.
Our age is distinctly practical, if not
pragmatic. It's passion for reality is
itself religious. 1t has learned from
science to be at once critical and
teachable, to sit reverently at the feet
of truth and learn its secrets. In an
swer to the inquiry as to whether reli-
gion is declining, the reply of Sir Con-
an Doyle is typical of his age, coming
as it does from man of letters and a
man of the world-though not from
worldly man. He asserts that fig
| ures afford no data as to the real mind
of the age, or its faith. He says:
Never yet have | known a person
who was good because he went to
church, or evil because he did not
And yet such practices are taken as
tests whether religion is waning or
increasing. The real tests of the prog.
ress of religion must be sought else.
where. Is there kinder and broader
view of such subjects, enabling men
Of all creeds to live in amity and char.
| ity? Are the criminal statistics bet.
ter? Are the drink returns better
showing that man is acquiring greater
animal self-control? Is there more
reading, showing that the mind is gain.
| ing upon the body? Are the savings
bank reports better, showing thrift
| and self-denial? Are the trade re
turns better, showing greater indus
try and better efficiency? Are there
more human institutions, and does man
show more clearly his sense of duty
towards the lower animals?
Let no one think that the large and
| generous tolerance of our time is only
a good-natured indifference-that in
difference which is at heart skepti
cism; letting error be as good as truth
on the ground that inasmuch as no one
can know anything about such things
there is room in the infinite for eacf
man to fashion his own romance. Fal
from it. 1t has its basis in the insigh
which sees that in every form of faitf
there is some truth which can be seer
from no other angle, and the wish tt
| make that truth it's own. 1t also knows
that the truth is larger than all these
segments. No one has stated the feel
ing of our day better than the half-hu
morous, half-tender and always wise
philosopher who wrote the story O
Lady Baltimore?"
Forever and forever the human
race reaches out it's hands and shape;
some system, some creed, and declares
it to be the final thing, and 10 and be
hold, something flowing and eterna
| ~, 1V1 II
creed all to pieces. Truth is a mar
velous thing. We feel it, it can fl
our eyes with tears, our hearts witt
joy; it can make us die for it; bu
once our human lips attempt to formu
late and thus to imprison it, it be
comes lie and eludes us. You can
| not shut up the truth in any form o
words"
/ So, and quite naturally so, the wor'
Christian is comprehensive word il
our day, including many who wer
excluded in former time. Lincoln di
not profess that it included him, bu
Tolstoi, who looked at the life O
Lincoln rather than at his absence @
stated views, spoke of him the othe
day as "a Christ In miniature" L
1850 every minister in his city, excep
three, voted against Lincoln on tn
ground that he was not Christian
To-day men feel that if the quality c
character seen in such men as Lincol
and Emerson is not to be reckone
as Christian. then there is not muc
else that is worth while. More or les
the same feeling seems to be in mos
good men, no matter what their view
are. all now see that it is the spiri
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