The New York herald., 1922-02-19


tin delivered a series OF lee
lures on 1.-The Worlds Great
Religions" which was 50 successful
that he received several hundred
signed requests for their publication.
AS they were given extemporaneously
this was a hard task. However, he
has gathered together his opening
and concluding talks, with those on
the Semitic religions. However,
these seem to contain the gist of his
thought and method.
DR.. Martin began his lectures by
saying: -Four great discoveries of
the modern world have left their
mark upon religious thought and
compelled the reconstruction OF many
an, old time belief. The discoveries
themselves were more or less prompt
ly acknowledged, but their bearing
upon inherited religious ideas was
only gradually perceived. Indeed, it
is no eSaggeration to say that even
to-day the great majority OF those
familiar with the discoveries are ut
teriy unaware of any resulting infiu-
ence upon religion. Only a very
small percentage OF the educated
people of the world realize that such
nm influence has been exerted upon
religious thought
The discoveries which DIR. Martin
says upset the old conjectures were
tho discovery of Copernicus in 1913
the cosmos" the discovery in 1857 of
the Scriptures OF the East, Sir
Charles Lyell's geological discover
les which disposed OF the Genesis
account of creation and Darwin's
revolutionary concept of the nature
and antecedents of man.
Dr. Martin gives ten results Of the
change produced by this widened
background. These are of varying
importance. He says: "rhe Golden
Rule did not originate with Jesus
nor even with Confucius, but ante
dates even tho latter by two CEN
turies." ''The old notion that there
aye moral precepts in the New Testa-
mont not to be matched in one or
another OF the nom Christian Bibles is
now proven to be mistake" '"The
science of comparative religion made
possible by the discovery of the
Bibles of the great religions has
brought to light still another sig
nifieant fact. 1t is that the relation
of these religions to one another is
not that of the steps of ladder, but
that of the branches Of tree"
"a comparative study of the Scrip
lures OF the great religious systems
of India, Persia, China and Arabia
has shown that while local, transient
elements are present in them all, yet
have they measures Of universal and
permanent worth, reminding us in
many instances of what we have read
in the Scriptures with which We are
most familiar"
DR.. Martin believes that the world
is ready to outgrow even tolerance.
lie says: ''Yet even this attitude,
noble as it is, cannot be regarded as
the acme of spiritual attainment.
For tolerance always implies meas
ure of concession. We tolerate what
we must but would suppress if We
could. Tolerance has an air of pa
tronizing condescension about it. He
who tolerates affects q certain often
sive superiority and exhibits spirit
ual conceit. Yet in the estimation
of many a thoughtful person toler
ance is looked upon as the very
zenith of spiritual attainment, the
ne plus ultra of considerateness,
the loveliest flower on the rosebush
of liberalism. What more, it is asked,
can there be expected of US than n
friendly, tolerant attitude TO beliefs
and systems with which we are not
in sympathy? Our answer is you
can appreciate them, be sincerely
eager to do full justice to them,
generously assume that they have
something Of worth which may en-
rich your own thoughts OF life, all
the while remembering that if the
belief or system contain error, it is
kept alive only by reason of the