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THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS. SATURDAY. JUNE 1, .1907.
:
"THE BASIS OF RELIGIOUS FAITH’
By REV. EVERETT DEAN ELLENWOOD,
Pastor Universalist Church
T HE above caption Is very , grate
fully appropriated from an Inter
esting editorial appearing Jn The
Atlanta Constitution of May 27. Inas
much as the writer of tills editorial
•umallv falls to discover for ills readers
the ••basis of religious faith," but de
votes himself to a discussion of the ne
cessity of creed maintenance and tho
defense of ‘'simple, straightforward or
thodoxy,” it would appear that some
virtue may still remain hidden in the
verv suggestive title with which he
heads his article
He sweeps off for us, once more, the
rapidly accumulating dust of forgetful
ness from the recently famous Crapsey
heresy trial, and then quotes a certain
bishop as having classed together, mor
al defection and intellectual dissent, by
having this bishop include in a single
sweeping arraignment a prophet of
pure mind, unquestioned morality and
tested ethics, who had dissented from
the theories of ills predecessors and his
contemporaries, and a moral pervert,
masking under tho guise of a man of
God. whoso theology was probably
without flaw, but whose religion was
so entirely wanting that lie could desert
his own family to wander in amorous
fields,'•new and more alluring. It would
appear that the bishop here mentioned
is himself somewhat hazy as to the
actual basis of religious faitli when he
could thus convey the Impression that
these two men are equally offensive and
dangerous to the cause of true religion
and the progress of society.
It Is Indeed remarkable that the men
and women who occupy positions of ed
itorial opportunity In the pages of the
public press should continue to read the
records of humanity's upward struggle
from savagery to civilization In so shal
low and inefficient a fashion os to so
frequently betray them into the confu
sion of cause with effect and the mis
taking of tho foundation for the super
structure. From tile frantic manner
with which multitudes of earnest souls
rush to the heroic defense of the
church, the creed and the Bible, the en
tirely unprejudiced observer might well
form the impressiun that Ood is pain
fully limited as to His means of com
munication with His children,,and that
with the loss or weakening of Uhy of
the products of human thought and
speculation, the voice of Jehovah could
no longer reach the soul of man.
Tho very evident hypothesis of the
writer of tho editorial referred to ts
that the church and its creed form the
basis of religious faith: that the soul's
entire knowledge of God, the Instinct
for worship and the aspirations after
righteousness, represent the product of
the church and Its credal statements.
If human history means anything more
than merely the characters by which it
may be written, then the very opposite
hypothesis is the correct one.
Let me here quote an illuminating
paragraph from the vigorous statement
in which the bishop anathematizes all
heresy heretofore attempted and utter
ly puts to rout all possible attempts
for the future: “If the facts mf the
church's creeds can be disproved, then
the church’s mission Is over, and It will
be all In vain by means of music and
• architecture nnd poetry and rhetoric
and money to keep alive a church
whose creed Is based on action.”
So here we have the question plainly
stated, the Issue definitely raised. Here
is tile sometimes disconcerting situa
tion which faces the young preacher,
flesh from the seminary. I say. ‘‘some
times disconcerting,” because it occa
sionally happens that among those who
answer, from time to time, the cull of
God to go forth and speak for right
eousness in the walks and In the homes
of men, there arises an individual so
hutural, so really original, that he con
ceives his mission to be that of an
apostle of truth, in whatever new and
atirnctlvo form sho may present .herself
to his constantly unfolding mind and
heart. To such a theological abnormal
ity ttie church, rich in traditions,
though not always honorable In history,
powerful In accumulated Influence, Im
pressive and Inspiring in ritual and
ceremonial, and sacred to the tfiemory
of many a hard-won battle for right
eousness, present herself merely os the
most available and therefore the beet
medium of service whereby he may
give himself unreservedly to humanity.
The church's creed, that composite
product of the study, the meditation,
the speculation of many minds in many
ages, is to such n man merely a con
venient expression of the hopes and
longings and aspirations of humanity,
to be used as a convenience, not to be
served and worshipped, and, moreover,
to be capable of alteration to meet the
changing demands of changing condi
tions of human thought and enlighten
ment, So goes forth many a true son
of God Into tho warfare with poverty,
disease and sin, filled with high hopes
nnd a yearning desire to reveal the Fa
ther unto Ilis Ignorant and suffering
children, and valiantly determined to
adapt and to use his church and its
creed In this offensive and defensive
warfare.
And right at the very outset ho finds
himself seriously handicapped. Ho
who has fondly believed himself n
prophet of truth and righteousness
makes the humiliating and discourag
ing discovery that he is merely a hired
‘nan. He has been employed by the
church to defend her creed and her
REV. E. D. ELLENWOOD.
traditions. The metal in these weap
ons which he had hoped to use so suc
cessfully In his Master’s conflicts la he
is warned, quite fragile and uncertain
in its temper, and liable to complete
destruction from vigorous handling. “If
the facts of the church's creeds can be
disproved, then the church’s mission
is over,” he is tolil. Since the life and
usefulness of the church are absolute
ly dependent upon the maintenance of
Its creed, inflexible and Inviolate In Its
original statement and interpretation,
then, very naturally, the creed must be
defended at all hazarda even though
the continual crying of God’s children
for spiritual food is not silenced by the
ready proffer of the old. tried and test
ed stones of dogma Since the church
exists mainly as a strategic battle
ground upon which the creed must for
ever be defended, then, of course. It
must follow that "God’s good men,"
who earnestly desire to become sa
viors of humanity, must cease from
their foolish and profitless study of
social science and political economy,
and municipal sanitation, and prison
reform, and must fit themselves to be
come Invincible theologians and dia
lecticians, that they may. on every
occasion which presents Itself, suc
cessfully cross swords with any hated
heretic who may assume to find a vul
nerable point In the logic and consist
ency of the church's formal statement
of belief.
80 much for the very common and
quite erroneous hypothesis regarding
“the basis of religious faith." The ac
tual facts of the situation as they cer
tainly appear to be established by hu
man history are directly opposed to
tills theory. Religious faith is not the
product, hut rather the producer of the
church. The church is a human Insti
tution, with a divine mission, and it
was the divine mission that brought
about the establishment of the human
agency. The creed was not the begin
ning. but is rather tile outgrowth of
tho soul’s Instinctive belief in Jehovah.
And this Is to say that the religious
Instinct is a part of man's original en
dowment. and is but another way of in
terpreting the opening ar.d intensely
prophetic statement of our sacred writ
ings, "In the beginning, God."
To the occasional Individual who
finds himself no longer contented to
be a theological hired man, with a
comfortable living and an established
position in society us his wages, hut
demands that tils soul shall be left ab
solutely free In order that he may
exercise the function of a prophet, the
frenzied anxiety and Indefatigable ac
tivity of the multitudes of creed de
fenders and church worshipers would
probably he only amusing were it not
so intensely pathetic. The pathOB of
the situation presents Itself In tho rev
elation that, for the most part, His
children, who. in accordance with cus
tom. assemble themselves at staled
times and places nnd call upon God.
are so very prone to forget Us Author
In the fervor and Intensity of their
worship, and to mistake religion for
tho forms by which It sometimes seeks
expression.
Too many of our religionists seem
prone to forget that “God dwelielh not
in temples made with hands,” but that
His sanctuary is the human soul, there
fore. we need have no fear that Ood
shall be loet. even though the church
should cease to be. He who led the
chorus of the morning stars when they
sang together for very Joy. has so
molded humanity In His spiritual like,,
ness that wo need have no fear that we
shall ever be able to forget Him, even
though we may so revise our theologi-
cal vocabulary aa to place upon tho ob
solete Hat very many of the term* and
phrases now rolled aa precious moreels
under many a prophetic tongue. The
creed. If It be rightly conceived and
rightly used, is nothing more nor lees
than the spiritual telescope through
which we have accustomed ourselves to
look upon the face of the Father. Bure
ly then we need notfear thatweshall
lose our blessing and our benediction If
we apply ourselves frequently to the
removal of the dust’and cobwebs of
bygone theological ages from the object
riaza of that Instrument, and constantly
readjust the eyepiece to meet the
changing requirements of individual
neeqp.
The creed must be, in its final an
alysis. absolutely ah Individual ^natter,
if men and women are fo be allowed to
be intellectually and spiritually honest,
and are not to be forced to become piti
ful ecclesiastical parrots.
God has not made any two blades of
grass exactly alike, nor has He fash
ioned after an Identical pattern any
twi) forest leaves: neither does * He
mold in the same matrix any two hu
man souls. Correctly speaking, there
fore, there must be as many creeds aa
there are men and women with enougli
of actual divinity within them to know
what they mean when they say, “I be
lieve. We have no more moral right
to declare as false or Insufficient the
theological statement of any sincere
child of the One Father than we have to
criticise the color of his skin or the
lineaments of his countenance.
After ail, I suspect the bishop U
right, and, as he says, “It will be all In
vain, iby means of music and architec
ture 'and poetry and rhetoric and
money, to keep alive a church whoso
creed Is based on fiction.” Yes. If it
shall be discovered that the church's
creed Is based on fiction, it must then
undoubtedly go the way of all things
that are unable to bear the glaring
searchlight of truth.. Time has a way
of winnowing truth from error, and not
all the fervor and hysteria of tho most
zealous devotees of any system .may
finally avail against this inevitable de
cree.
But let the bishop and all the earnest
nnd anxious defenders of the "faith
onoo delivered to tho saints,” calm
their perturbed spirits and rest their
troubled hearts back upon the everlast
ing God. whose power to make Himself
known to His children has never known
the pitiful limitations of any human
creed. God lives, whether churches rise
or fall, whether creeds live or perisli.
And we may be reassured by the
knowledge that tho church's creed Is
not based on fiction, even though it be
gins to appear that the persistent ac
tivity of many of tho would-be believ
ers may discover that some elements of
fiction have crept in and mingled them
selves with the truth which forms the
basis of every statement of belief That
fundamental fact of the creed, in what
ever form It may be worded and how
ever grotesquely It may he distorted, la
tho fact of the existence of God, and of
the dependence of the human soul upon
Him,
Therefore, let us havo no fear that
religious worship shall ever cease or
that faith in God shall no longer have a
place in the heart of man, even though
it should come to pass that tho institu
tion which we now call the church may
go the way of all tho earth; to give
place to an institution which may more
practically minister.to the pertinent de
mands of coming generations, for,
though our creeds, us we have written
them in the childhood days of spiritual
knowledge, while still we "Ignorantly
worshipped tho unknown God," may
gradually cease to voice the enlarging
faith of our hearts, yet we shall never
outgrow the creed which I* Indelibly
graven upon the soul by the finger of
tho Living God.
SOCIOLOGICAL
STATE SOCIETY
President -Dnpont Guerry, Macon, Go.
Pint V.-P.-Dr. A. R. Iloldertiy, Atlanta.
8econd V.*P.—Dr. E. C. I’eete, Macon.
Sec.-Treat.—Dr. W. T. Joneg, Atlanta.
Annual Meeting la May, 1907* at Mtcoa.
ATLANTA SOCIETY
President D. Mnrvln Underwood
Vice Pret ...Dr. Tbeo. Tocpel
Sccietary Miss llnttlu K. Martin
Treasurer C. B. Folsom
Regular meeting second Thursday night
of each month at the Carnegie Library.
Rev. C. B. Wilmer, J,
EDITORIAL COMMITTEE,
D. Cleaton, E. Marvin Underwood, Dr. R. R. Kime.
EXPERT TESTIMONY IN CRIMINAL CASES
By J. D. CLEATON.
Lost month The Altruist published,
by special permission, an able and
strong'edltorlal from the Journal of the
American Medical Association, upon
the custom, already so prevalent, of
employing expert testimony in the
trial of criminal cases in the courts.
In the same issue The Altruist had
the following to say, by way of com
ment, upon the editorial referred to:
“A Note of Warning.”
From The Journal of the American
Medical Association, wo reproduce a
most striking and able editorial upon
the question of expert testimony In
crlmlnat proceedings, which sounds, in
view of tlie widespread employment of
such testimony, a note of warning,
which Is, undoubtedly, timely.
"Human life has become too cheap.
Too easily may the murderer escape,
and too many are the loopholes pro
vided. Justice delayed, is a fatal de
fect of our laws. ‘In a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye,' the deed, which
sends a soul Into eternity, is commit
ted. There is no delay, when the slay
er starts out to kill; no forethought
and nq consideration of consequences.
Why? One reason, beyond question.
Is, that the public mind (shall we say
the criminal mind?) has, because of
long continued customs of courts, come
to regard that retribution, Justly due,
as a very remote possibility. Time is
a great healer; a wonderful pana
cea; it Is also an obstructionist, in va
rious ways, when long periods of delay
thwart the ends of Justice.
‘There seems to bo but one rational
mode of procedure, when law has been
violated, by the taking of a human life,
and that is luid down in the law Itself.
If there are pleas of extraneous Influ
ence, such us 'the unwritten law,' In
sanity or sudden impulse In the heat of
passion, which tend to mitigate the of
fense or entirely absolve tho offender
from Inability to punishment, he is,
under all rules of Justice, entitled to
an opportunity to establish it, but, aa
plainly laid down In the editorial re
ferred to. this is too often abused. Too
often the claim Is a trumped up one,
and the efforts are to circumvent the
vindication of the law, and, while we
can not see the way clear to quarrel
with the accused; and while we ac
knowledge his right to employ any
method that tho court may allow, we
Insist that great fault lies at the door
of the court; for certainly when prac
tice Is resorted to that is so plainly
designed to thwart Justice In the in
terest of the criminal that the ordinary
lay mind can discover It, surely a Judge
of law can see It. and be should be
empowered to protect hla court.
"It is difficult to reconcile the course
of eminent physicians, many times, In
their connection with criminal trials.
We can not understand how scientific
men, whose modes of Investigation are
identical, reach such widely contrary
conclusions regarding the same sub
jects. How, and by what manner of
reasoning docs It occur that an alien
ist, called by a defendant (or his fam
ily, for form's sake) to formulate an
expert opinion regarding defendant's
sanity, always adjudges him crazy?
Not only that, but crazy at the tlmo
he ought to. have been so, and perfectly
sane at such times as his interest de
manded? Then, let us change the ques
tion: HOw is it that equally eminent
alienists called by tho prosecution to
sustain Its claim. Invariably do so?
These are some things we arc dense
on, and want light. Wo do not believe
In this convenient type of insanity.
It Is true, wo bellevo that a person,
cool, well poised and 'at himself’ never
commits murder. There Is no murder
In the heart of such a person. Such
person never kills another, except un
der extreme pressure, and he has Just
cause. Every person who Is angered,
excited and reekless. Is, for the time,
unbalanced. He is just so crazy as hu
is thrown off his mental equlpose, but
does It excuse, or even mitigate, the
crime of deliberately taking life? t'er.
tainly not; yet upon such condition is
often based a plea of Insanity. Tho
Journal's editorial lays down a safe
rule in ail such cases, namely: ‘Men,
however, put themselves in the con
dition in which they know that impair,
ment may take place, and are conse
quently responsible for their acts,
though these may not bo done with
entire deliberate free will at the mo
ment.’ ”
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