Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-11-26
SOUND JUDGMENT
Continued from pAgc I

"Germany's first argument to maintain
her position was the biological argument.
She declared that all nature showed a
bitter struggle, fight for the survival OF
the fittest' But We who believe in God
find it strange to try to explain war as a
perfectly natural thing The n tural
biological instincts are egoistic instincts,
but we forget that there are also altruistic
instincts in man-love gentleness, meek
ness, goodness.
"But supposing all Gcrmanys posi-
tion to be true, what would he the posi-.
tion of the supreme function of tho
state as 10 private morality? How can
the individual be governed from the
standpoint Of principle while the state
is governed by convenience or necessity?
If the state is made up of individuals,
how can the state bold a theory in the
aggregate directly opposite to that
held by the individuals which compose
the state? But Germany has held the
theory of superindividual. Are
we not justified then IN supposng that
the supcr-indiyidual should show a
morality higher than even the individual
Yet not such with Germany. If tho
father steals, we cannot blame the boys
very much if they go out once IN while
and steal grapes from the nciRhbor 3
vineyard So when the supcr-indlvidual
teaches that she must pillage and murder,
for that is war, II Is not surprising that
the individual soldier should feel HIM
self perfectly at liberty to do all such
things.
Now we do not say there il no pri-
vate morality IN Germany There Is a
deal of it, But the logic Of the German
a III Al al
ity. To them there is no such thing as
interstate morality, though they may
have an interstate morality.
IF false philosophy has been II the
bottom of all this III Germany. let us
beware lest We too make the mist. Ike Of
being indifferent To our fundamental
view or philosophy Of life Let him that
thinkcth hc standcth take heed lest be
fall There is always great nvalry
between the sense of duty and the sense
of desire What are YOU going To do
with the man who has made conscience
an accomplice2 II is serious thing to
trifle with right and wrong and ought
and ought not II IS q scrous thing 10
tear apart the beautiful flower The
trouble with Germany has been that
she sold her hlrthright for q cheap mess
of philosophical pottage. | fear she Is
not the only one.
OUR OWN rERJI.s.
Herr DR. Patton began 20 point out
the perils confronting our country III the
matter OF our thinking or our philosophy.
The real issue with us today Is't the
trIthf,Ilnnsw Of truth and the worth Of
values How does IL fara with us2 We
talk of Germany as II she were . sort Of
pcSt-ho,rse Of corrupt thinking and corrupt
morals and we forget that there could be
snch a thing as indigenous false philosophy
in this land.
SO many of Our professors Of philosophy
10 not believe IN God that he thinks in
tho course of time there will come n change
IN our religious worship OF course there
will for who could worship God who I'D
not believe IN God any more7 Yet the
danger confronting our colleges and our
a teaching of false philosophy may be
going on. there Is no college president
who would I've able ~ orst any such false
teacher AZ once there would r~lly 10
the professor host oi sympathizcrs
and supporters But Whist is the effect
upon our young men and women Mule
tul fruits and blossoms. the metaphysical
teacher is hacking AT the roots Of the
tree Ii Will not do to say merely his
Christianity Will take csrc nf him
How can It., when the foundations arc
knocked from under him? II Is well 20
say seek truth for truths sske, but
YOU may not always have the truth with
y0u. The diamond may he revealed to
be mostly carbon The PLAIN man says
he finds science has done more for hm
than religion, for Religion has baked no
bread and philosophy has gwen no
But science has gwen HIM
comforts and convrnscnccS and the plain
man likes practical thinCs. Modern
has caught this contagon
and has allied itself with science But
science must come 10 find the answer TO
the question of the universe IN the spiritual
of the world The soul
still seeks things spiritual and the day
IS coming when the soul Will rGse above
the things material and viii seek for the
truth to be found only IN God.
As the audience left the church last
night after hearing his very remarkable
lecturer they left with the feeling Of
deeper desire 20 hear what the learned
man has further TO say as he applies
these thoughts to the problems that come
before us IN these days What will he
say about the modern civilization, about
he Church and about Democracy
DR. Patton showed unique power Of
seeing tendencies and tracing CAUSES
Il Is wondered what he viii tell us of the
present day tendencies in the economic
and he religious life OF the nation The
remark was heard more than once as
people left the church what a privilege
: gwen 70 Wilmington that tins man
MAS brought here He lectures there
zach night ms week on 9 different subject