The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-05-18

purely interior religion, one that will
 discard creeds, laws, rites, symbols.
 all that is visible tangible, external,
 and leave man to rise up to God and
 to worship Him silently, invisibIy, of
 and by and for himself. as to his own inclinations. impulses and reflections may suggest by virtue of his own un- aided strength. They tell us that the o1d religions are too materialistic; that they look too eagerly for help from outside of man, neglecting, per haps through total ignorance. perhaps through forgetfu1ness or indiffe ference. the mighty energy stored up within man himself; that they cling too fond ly to outgrown creeds and outworn ceremonies, much as little child clings to a battered doll; that they thrown aside by the race if it is to continue it's onward march.
 ! Like most, if not all incorrect sys- tenns of thought. this theory contains some truth, or at any rate recoils from certain errors, but in it's very essence, | 1t is unsound and false. It can never work out in practice, for 1t ignores the constitution of man, paying no heed to either his needs or his necessary ways of acting.
 Man. we all know is a composite being, made up of two inharmonious if not contrary clements One is hid | zdens spiritual-that we call the soul; !; the other is visible. palpab1e, mater ia1-that is the body. The Interior element as will be readily admitted is the nobIer It was meant to be and 1t ought always to be supreme. Yet 1t is plainly dependent on the body, and to a most remarkable ex- tent. So far as we can see. or even imagine. the soul can do nothing here on earth save through the body. All that it knows about the wonderful world in which we live it learns through the bodily senses.
 Try to picture to yourselves, so far as such a being can be imagined, a
 man who has never had the use Of those faculties. Sky and sea and land spread their wonders out before him in vains he has no Knowledge of light or shape or color Solemn pea1s of thunder. the wild rush of winds, the roar of mighty cataracts, the songs of birds, the wonderful harmonies of genius, the thrilling tones of the hu- man voice never stir him, for he hears no sound. Though a thousand plants fill the air with their varied perfum es though what we call sweet or sour or bitter be placed on his tongue, though gentle winds or tender hands caress  to which they appeal and on which they act are dead or unrasponsive within him-What is the life of such a mans soul? Can soul be said to live, can it really live in such state? To this latter question I will not now at tempt to answer. It would carry us, if not beyond our depth, at any rate far beyond the scope of our present in quiry. This much though can be said and it is enough for us here and now. that such a soul could not have the
 mental life proper to man in this world. So far as our experience goes, and so far as our reasonings reach, I mans whole mental existence and ac- stvity, his imaginations, ideas. thoughts, Judgments and projects are built up out of impressions that he has received from the world through his senses. But this is not all. Not only are the senses the gateways by 1 which the world enters into the soul and acts upon it, but they are like wise the paths and the instruments that the soul must use in reacting on the world. For all of It's operations l then, for every manifestation of it's life, the soul is at present wholly de- pendent on the body. Let that be- dis turbed or put out of gear the soul is proportionately the poorer or the more helpless. S
 This brief consideration of mans | constitution IS SuIHC1enI to snow In a general way that if a religion is to supply the needs of man, if it is to get a real hold on him, if it is to train, to develop. and to perfect his spirit ual powers, 1t must make its appeal offer it's suggestions, give it's counsels, and administer it's rebu4ces to the soul | through those faculties by which alone the soul is reached and nourished Both clements in man s makeup must be taken into account. We must be dealt with as he is. Religion there Isfore must put it's messages in some form which will be suitab to the senses They deal only with what is visible, audible, tangible, in one word, only with what is material, or at least comes to them in material garb. The truths and principles and inspirations of religion. must there fore of strict, absolute necessity, be embodied in creeds, laws, signs. sym bo1s or ceremonies. and so be carried into the sanctuary of the soul. That evident necessity, explains why every religions. the false as well as the true, has two elements. an outer and an l inner, a body. and a soul, external forms and an interior spirit.
 l Religion, in so far as it is a body is not an outgrowth of our mental ac- tfvity. It is not our own interpreta- I ton of our spiritual asiprations, du-
 ties or needs Its truths have an exist