The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-04-05
mELIGIoNs AND u,,,,I,:,o>.

Jesus Christ. to whom be glory
forever and ever. Acknowledgements
xiii. -.
The religion of Jesus Christ is the
scorn of the infdcl. but when he seeks
10 overthrow it, it Is his despair. It
IN his scorn because he touches il from
the outside only. ana as Il speculative
thcorN; as the locomotive was the
scorn OF the English Parliament. when
they studied it only from George Ste
phcnson's rude sketches. or as Il
prince in the tropics exclaimed, when a
traveller told him of our frozen rivers:
II viii never believe so foolish "A thing
MS that men can walk on water 1t
is contrary To experience" The answer
to that would have been: Whose eX-
hcrience Thus. while Christianity
- Tie scorn of the inhdcl. ii is ut the
same time his despair: for though it
seems so easy for him to crush il out.
IL is like the children of Israel under
tho persecution of Pharaoh: The more
they afflicted them, the more they mul-
tiplied and grew
And the reason Of this is that he
forgets. or never has come to realize,
mat religion is nothing pasted on to
human nature from The outside. to he
easily dissolved and then blown away
by mans breath: but, like the sense
OF Justice, or the thirst for knowledge.
or the love OF music, it is an instinct
from the beginning. born into human
hearts. Like the makers name wrought
into the Damascus blade. YOU can only
get rid of ii by destroying tho human
heart itself. And so il is that these
iaitns of our higher nature remain
seems invalidating proof. and men
wait hopefully, like the Magi of oIdcn
times. when they seemed to he mockcd
by Herod, for the morrow, for some
larger Interpretation of their star of
Bethlehem: and in the morrow il AL
ways comes
And this Very fact is one reason ,,b<
no argument, however plausible :, may
seem, can over shake the wise mans
CONSCIOUSNESS concerning his need OF
religion. An instinct is always a pro
phecy OF a need fulfilled Whom se.
schooshouse in every village. know
'hat II Is natural FOR men 10 thirst for
KNOW ledge. When see a courthous,
IN every city, know that il is natural
for mon TO have a sense OF Justice Ana
wlen | see church on every hilton
N"oW mat II is natural for men in
ihis twentieth century afer Christ. as
IN the twenticth century before Christ
I" cNciaim with uplifted hands AMI
eyes AS the hart panteth after the.
water brooks. so pantcth my soul after
the", -. God And | can well uuder
stand the truth Of what Robesniar,.
ioid the French Jacobins: IF there
were no God 1t would lie necessary 20
me national well-beinr TO invent one %.
ne most unnatural thing in this
world is an atheist. and ono Of TN.
most natural things in This world is IN
hr a Christian
The undevoUl astronomers 10 ,,,d.
Learn 10 draw ii distinction ba,u.,,,
f"h3iohs and religion 1t is the Sam.
"'''" exists between astronomy ana
the stars. Religion Is as eternal ana
unchanGeabic as the considerations. h<,
our relig ions ore often only ON. air
tereht theories about religion There
mas been progress in theology. ana
the'e will he. as there mas been prog
ress in astronomy. and as there viii be
Tn" definitions OF II few decades ago
AZ" no more like the definitions
preached from our puIpits to-day than
the Ptolcma!c theory of yondcr blazing
sun is like the Copcrnican theory