Year: 1868

| Weare asked by correspondents to explain ma
! ny points which have puzzled the sharpest think
ers of the world Here is an instance. We are
requested to prove to the satisfaction OF the in
quirer that "religon is truth, and also two
| points of the gratest importance, viz: 1.-THE ex-
| istence of God, and the immortality OF man.
! We feel ourselves constrained to say something
| in response.


| The trouble with all skeptics in religious mat
! tiers begins in radical mistake, viz that re-
liQion is to be comprehended solely by the intel
lect Most skeptics are intellectual people who
deiy intellect or at least raise it above the emo
tional part of their being, and whatever can not


be recognized by intellect they deny the truth
Of; whereas the whole group OF the religious or
gans is located, not in the intellectual region,
| but in a special group above The samds rue
OF the social groun-, Issa.;7fior an Intellectual
but an emotional element Love OF man and
woman does not depend upon their strength of
intellect. Sometimes people love in spite OF the
teachings Of intellect, even against the sugges-
tious of reason. Is love, therefore, not truth
because it does not depend upon the intellect or
act according to the strength or weakness OF the
reason Everybody knows that we 90 not love
In proportion to our intellectual strength. Skep-
tics say, ''Here is great philosopher, he does
not believe in religion" Suppose we say, Here
is great philosopher,-he does not believe IN
marriage ~ would that be an argument against
marriage But suppose it were said, "Here is
man Of weak intelligence who thinks his wife
and children are the chiffes consideration OF lie


be will suffer and serve that they may enjoy"
shall we say wife and children are not desirable
because a very intellectual man ignores them ana
the weakminded man almost worships them 1t
is said, 'sHere is philosopher who is not Chris
tan" If men had to become philosophers before
they became Christians there would be few Chris
tains among men, Everybody knows that mans
love is not grounded upon the strength OF intel
lect and if you were to attempt to prove intel
| lectually the existence of mans love, you would
utterly fail No man can appreciate a logical
| statement relative TO il who has not the feellng
| nstinctively within him. We know that love
between the sexes depends upon certain organ
| c condition, the brain harmonizing with the
physical nature. Now let US suppose that the
physical nature las sometimes it is in animals)


was artiicially changed could poet so situa-
| led write of female beauty? Would he have any
conception Of it History tells us that eunuchs
| hate women that they are not destitute OF intel
lect. Why can not they reason out that woman
| is beautiful and lovely Show US a man who is
| destitute Of moral and religious organs, or mas
| them feebly developed, no matter how much IN
| tellect he may have, he will be eunuch In re-
spect to religion or religious ideas. But men


yery often defy the intellect and think they must
silence every emotion, especially IN religious
| matters until the reason can work out the prob
| lem.


You must see, in the light Of this argument,


the folly of reducing religion, which ia the pro-
| duct ofemotion, to the standard of mere intellect.
| True, reason helps man to appreciate the beauty


which emotion suggests and reason aiGs the re-


ligious man but the feeling must exist first, and
the reason must act secondariIy and under the
| inspiration and guidance of the feeling. In re-
gard to the existence of "a Supreme Being, the
| lower animals exhibit no recognition of such
Power. They never yield to any being as supe-


rior to themselves until after they have tried their


strength with him. Man, though he does not see


God, has in his nature sentiment or feeling


which leads him to look up to Supreme Power
and willingly confess his subsection to that Pow
er. Wherever man is found on the earth, how


ever debased, barbarous, or ignorant, he is found


with an idea of immortality and ola Supreme


Being and though among the lowest order of


men demology perhaps is more prevalent than


theology. the feeling of subserviency to supernat-


ural exisences is substantially the same ipstinc-


tive religious sentiment which is known 10 the


highest civilization Our inference is, that re-


ligion is not the work of priestcraft or Of nven-


ton, but that it is inwrought with the very es-


sence of our being The lower animals provide


for their offspring precisely what should be pro-


vided for their health and comfort, and do it the
first time without any previous example. This


we call instinct, and is it not truth Is not the


treatment adapted TO the necessities OF the case


Could reason alone teach the young mother--hu-
/. man or animal--to manage as well as she does


for her child The mother that is in her, insinc'
lively manages rightly with or without intellect
| Now we may understand what is meant by IN


stinctive sympathy toward God, toward immor-
tality. The lower orders of the human race ex'


bibit this instructive religious feeling. Rude


barbarous, though it may be- still they yearn fol


God and immortality and as true as the needle


noints TO the pole, so true does the heart of man
in spite of ignorance on other subjects, point to-


ward a Creator and an Immortality. 1t is par


of mans being to be religious as it is part o
his being to love and as love to God and love
among the human race are emotional instincts
, | NOT originating in or measured by reason, We


would thank those gentlemen who undertake Il


reduce everything to an intellectual standard tt


remember that all things can not be proved by


that standard This instructive feeling wheI


duly exercised leads one to go to his Lord ant
Redeemer in child-like manner, and say, "Her


I am.-do WITH ne as thou wilt !" and thus iint
peace. Phre, lgieal Journal


Mn- Punctuality is not large sounding word


hence not few of us are little inclined to un
, dervalue its importance ; yet this is wrong, 10
to punctuality we owe, in measure, our succes
in many an undertaking. Not few OF thos
: who have arisen to eminence, have attributed
!. their advancement TO punctuality And IN ina
character, which love best to cultivate we NM
itan adorning trait. The punctuality OF washing