The Washington times., 1920-10-27

Juchteu why can we, as lsdury
suggests, just continue to trust"
They are the more fortunate,
perhaps, Who can. mother" George
Bridges answered. with more Of
feeling in his voice than he was
does not come that way. II Roger
Bacon and Calico and Newton and
Darwin and Harvey apd the others
had Just trusted the worlds
knowledge would still remain as
stationary as IL was during the
thousand-odd years the hierarchy
OF the Church was supreme. when
theology was history. philosophy
and science rolled into one.
If God had not meant man to
know something of his origin diff
fering from the account in Genesis,
he would not have given us Darwin
and his successors. Practically
every great discovery since the Re
Vivar we owe to men who, by their
very desire for truth. were forced
into opposition to the tremendous
power OF the Church, which always
insisted that people should Just
trust, and take the mixture of cos
mogony and Greek philosophy, ira
dition and fable, paganism. Judiac
sacerdotalism and temporal power.
wrongly called spiritual, dealt out
by this same Church as the last
word on science. philosophy, his
tory, metaphysics and government" :"
stop" cried Eleanor. 'You
make me dizzy"
Nearly all the pioneers to whom
we owe our age of comparative en-
lightenment were heretics," George
ed
been headed OF, or burned, most of
us would still be living in mud
caves at the foot of the clin on
which stood the nobleman's castle:
and kings would still be kings by
divine decree, scientists-if there
were any workers in the black art.
and every phenomenon we failed to
understand. a miracle"
II choose the United States of
America" CALCULATED Evelyn.
Il gather. George" said Phil
Goodrich. that you don't believe
in miracles"
Miracles are becoming suspi-
ciously fewer and fewer. Once, an
eclipse of the sun was enough to
throw men on their knees because
they thought it supernatural. II
they were logical they'd kneel to-
day because il has been found
natural. Only the inexplicable phe-
nomena are miracles; and after a
while-if the theologians will only
permit us to finish the job-there
won't be any inexplicable phenom-
ena. Mystery, as I believe William
James puts it, may be called the
more-to-be-known."
I'm taking that attitude, George.
God?" said Mrs. waring.
How does it limit the power of
God, mother" her son-in-law asked.
ito discover that he chooses to
work by laws? The most suicidal
tendency in religious bodies today
Is their medieval insistence on what
they are pleased to call the super
natural. Which is the more mar
velous-that God can stop the earth
and make the sun appear to stand
stliI, or that he can construct a
universe of untold millions of suns
with planets and satellites. each
moving in it's orbit, according to
law; universe wherein every atom
is true to a sovereign conception?
And yet this marvel Of marvels-
that makes God in the twentieth
century infinitely greater than in
the sixteenth-wou,d never have
been discovered IL the champions of
theology had had their way"
Mrs. Waring smiled a little.
ELEANOR SPEAKS.
You arc too srong Tor me
George" she said. but you mustn't
expect an old woman to change"
Mother, DEAR" cried Eleanor, ris-
ing and laying her hand on Mrs.
Warnings cheek, I'VE don't want
you to change. It's ourselves we
wish to change. we wish for a re-
ligious faith like yours, only the
same teaching which gave it to you
is powerless for us. That's our
trouble. We have only to look at
you,' she added, a little wistfully.
Ito be sure there is something
something vital in Christianity, IL
we could only get at it, something
that does not depend upon what
we have been led to believe is indis-
pensble. George, and men like
him, can only show the weakness
in the old supports. 1 don't mean
that they aren't doing the world a
service in revealing errors, but
they cannot reconstruct"
THAT is the clergyman's busi-
ness" declared Mr.. Bridges. But
he must first acknowledge that the
old supports are worthless"
well" said Phil, 81 like your
rector. in spite OF his anthropo-
neutrality-suspicious.. as George
would say, because Of It. There is
something manly about him that
appeals to me-"
There" cried Eleanor, trium-
phantly, 1--WE always said Mr..
Holder had a spiritual personality.
You feel there is truth shut up in
side of him which he cannot COM
municate. I'll tell you who i'm
presses me in that way more
strongly than any one else-Mr.
Bentley. And he doesn't come to
church any more"
"Mr Bentley said her mother.
"is saint. Your father tried to
get him to dinner today. but he
had promised those working girls
of his. who live on the upper floors
OF his house. to dine with them.
One OF them told me so. or course,
he will never speak of his kind
nesses."
Mr.. Bentley doesn't bother his
head about theology" said Sally.
He just lives"
To he Contipu~d Tomorrow.