Evening star., 1925-12-06

cups of misery and defeat and shame;
this earth whose davnS and sunsets
and variegated pageantries are nicely
suited to my eyes, and her harmonles
and discords exactly tuned to my ears;
this earth whose winds and angry
storms have buffeted me, but whose
blue skies and halycon days have re-
stored me--this very earth the only
place where my foot finds firm
standing and where my spirit feels
herself at home.
Only in the degree that any prom
ised or imagined Paradise offers TO re-
new the conditions and experiences
and activities of this present mortal
life and to restore its associations,
does ii win me to desire its hospital
ity, and then only as a last resort, a
refuge from dissolution, d chilly eX-
change from this pleasing anxious be-
ing, this palpablc breathing world.
where beating hearts make music TO
beating hearts. and where love and
friendship clasp no shadows, but
warm human flesh and blood. Still
will snatch as much as | can from
annihilation, and l shall find no para
disc intolerable If Arthur Conan Doyle
is there on it's threshold to welcome
me.
No Personal Revelation.
Meantime ! have had no slightest
personal revelation of anything out
side the everyday course of events,
nor am 7 inquisitive TO communicate
with loved ones who have gone from
me. / am disinclined to invoke agen-
cies that claim n power to bridge the
gulf that separates me from the dead.
I would rather imagine them to be
at rest, and not veXed about the hap
penings of this world. 1t would give
me no happiness to know that l was
certain to receive spirit OF communi-
cation tonight-rather ] should feel
uneasiness and discomfort. / am con-
tent to hold communion In my own
soul with their memories who have
been nv dearest earthly companions.
still | will accept all authentic evl-
deuce OF their continued existence
that is offered directly 10 my own
senses, and that / can subject 10
proof | will not 20 out of my way
to seek for it.
What then is my religion today?
What positive definite creed have |,
wherewith TO fortify and cheer my
self and light my feet in my few re-
manning years as l go down to the
grave? Descending to the shadows,
have ! any encouraging words to call
back TO them who are following me
down that same beaten path?
1t is only in late years that we have
learned from science that each of us
lives, not, as we supposed, in a tene-
ment of clay, but in i tenement of
electrons Matter has been resolved
into force. But this force is every
where intelligent. foreSeeing. orderly,
directly. purposeful in it's manifesto
tions, whether it majeStically swings
our earth around the sun in a mathe-
matically calculated orbit, or whether.
with the same unerring precision, 1t
commands the infiniesinal rings of
movement in every atom.
But is this force not blind and
malignant when it hurts, or Furnishes,
or destroys me? No. l must not
ascribe to it my purpose and prefer
ences. Whether the tiny phagocyte
eXpelS the poison from my blood and
saves me. or whether the deadly mi
crobe instills the poison and kills me.
there is alike purpose and intelligence
directing their microscopic activities.
How can L call that design" which
shapes and animates the clumsy work
Of man. and not call that design"
which shapes and animates the IN
finitely perfect forms and movements
in every Granny of this universe? How
can l call that spirit" which inhabits
my flesh and directs my movements,
and not call that spirit" which in.
habits this universal frame of things
and directs its movements?
What Is Determinism?
However we may name this pervad-
ing force, however we may imagine or
apprehend it, we cannot, without abol
ishing our conceptions of design and
intelligence. nay. without abolishing
the very words themselves. deny that
design and intelligence are the cre-
hn ,cfa hn
ereign dictators of this universe. 1t
is impossible to acknowledge that
there is design" in any part or sec
ton of this universe, in any work of
man or of nature, and then to rail off
that section as an oasis and a pre-
serve from chaos. If design and in
telligence operate anywhere and In