The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1910-02-28

schools teaching boys and girls to
nroy but 10 say prayers We arc
moi tojIjnr them about 4 Cod VINO IS
rl-bt nov and here, much legs arc
wc irving 10 make them acquainted
with nm actual living Cod We arc
eimnIy telling them about supposed
cod Who once was. That God Is q
stranger TO them and always will he
-son5atblng foreign TO their lives
They arc bound to think OF Palestine
as the HOLY Land. II they think OF any
epot az holy land. but not OF their
own home and nation In none of our
teaching today are We saving any
thing like what Jesus said: THE
, Kingdom of God is among you is here
change your minds, and believe the
| good tidinGs."
All Eternity Hero.
Is Il not worse than idle to try to
make men worship the so-called God
Of the Bible. the God OF history, the
God OF creation, the God of legends
and myths, or even OF the splendid,
potent, heroic lives OF long ago?
| There isn't any such God for us OF
today. only right here where We are,
right here In the world we know and
are lNlUS III, Il6hl uSic III lue plbSlub
days in the present drama of life in
which We have part-only In these
can you and | or any one know God
or realize religion. The Psalms Of
tho Hebrew scriptures were the spon-
taneouS uttcrance of men who looked
to no past. but felt in their own
present the reality OF God. So were
the sermons of the prophets and the
words Of Jesus. But we are not pro-
ducing that kind of literature today.
We are not doing 1t because We have
no consciousness out OF which that
can grow.
But. it may be said. may not men
and women now have just az good Il
chance to know God, to realize re-
lIeion, as did those men OF Israel and
Jesus. Here are the same skies
above our heads, the same everlasting
hills to which they looked up, the
same sun and moon and stars which
for them from day to day uttered
speech. the same wonder and beauty
of sunrise and sunset, OF river and
lake and mountain and sea, and all
the miracles of the changing seasons.
Is not the soul of man still oraculnr?
May it not, as in the past, read in
this book of nature the divine word
and by it inspired by the sense OF
God? l think not, and for many rea-
sons. For one thing, those men of
the past did not principally find God
by reading the book of nature. Be
sides. this is q time Of incomparably
greater knowledge. and what the men
of old time thought about the witness
of nature We cannot think. No man
of any time has more earnestly
sought In nature for an answer to the
deepest quest of life than the poet |
Tennyson, after death had robbed him
of his dearest friend. But he comes |
back from that quest with these |
words
Behold. we know not anything;
| can but trust that good shall fall
At last-far off-at last, TO all,
And every winter change to spring. |
So runs my dream, but what am II
An infant crying in the night.
And with no Language but cry.
That which we dare invoke 10 bless;
Our dearest faith; our ghastliest !
doubt,
He. the One, All. within without
The power In darkness which we
guess,
I found Him not in world or sun.
Or eagles wing, or insects eye;
Nor through the questions men may
try,
The petty cobwebs We have spun"
The world of nature gave not the
-aintest ray of hope or CLEAN of di-
vine vision to the seeking poet.
God Not Here.
Tho truth is. the God about whom
boys and girls are taught, to whom
hey say prayers. is stranger here.
He doesn't live here, This isn't his
nome. These human beings of today
ne not born into a world in which
hey became naturally, conscious of
God They do not see him or feel
him or are sensible OF him. God
loes not give meaning and worth TO
he world into which they have come,
nave their life And our so-called
l6Nuclt5 VI lElblOll uO hOl SGcIn "
rave the means with which to make
iod real The God about whom We
ire taught isn't running things, isn't
invine any sensible part in the ev-
Try day life of the world. The world
,oes on without him The notion OF
special providence may find a place
n the minds of the superstitious,
,ut never in the minds of those who
ecelye the education OF the public
chools You have got to take the
iod OF our so-colled religious teach
ng on faith or not at all But that
ort OF God will not do today at all.
No such God can create the sense OF
'elIglon. And religion Is nothing but
mems sense Of God-sense of actual
sacred. beautiful, inspiring meaning
or their own lives as q part OF the
World. That exactly describes the
spiritual consciousness of the Hebrew !
prophets. They said: I'VE are Gods
people The nation is Gods nation
t Is Gods agent. The king is not
he ruler-God Is the ruler and the !
ting serves under him" The only
possible government Tor them was
heocTacy-a divine government-just
Is was the case among the most po-
ent souls Of the Great Reformation.
every child born under that regime