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THE .ATLANTA GEORGIAN.
JATL’ItbAY, OCTonnil 2\ 10
11
PHILOSOPHIC BASIS OF UNBELIEF
I
By REV. JAMES W. LEE,
• PASTOR TRINITY METHODIST CHURCH
W HATEVER Is assumed tn be true
In the realm of matter and mo.
■ tlon that uniformly answers to
, a- though It were true may be put
Jo»n a* physical science. If It is aa-
that hydrogen and oxygen In
ertaln proportions can be turned ititc
L compound called water, nnd If upon
,lon in accordance with tho formula
uj o water results, It may bo known
tMt the assumption was scientific. If
'.. I, assumed to be -true that one atom
Of hydrogen will combine with one of
chlorine to form hydro-chlorlc acid,
.ml action upon the assumption In ac-
JSrdance with the formula (HCL) re-
.alts In hydro-chlorlc add, then it may
i* known that the assumption eon.
formed to reality and Is scientific. If
from certain calculations It 1a assumed
Jo he true that there will be nn eclipse
", the sun at a particular hour on a
particular day S5 years In the future,
iail the action of the sun on that day
answers exactly to tho assumption,
then It may be known to be scientific.
II has been Inferred for a long lime
thtt all solid substances are permeated
hr s mysterious, colorless, odorless. In
tangible substance called ether. Hein,
rich Hertz discovered that ether not
only carried waves of heat, "light and
color, but also electric vibrations. But
ihe discovery of Iferts had not been
out to practical test until Marconi *on
{,!< father's farm. In Italy put up a
transmitting pole on one side of a gar
den and a receiving pole on the other
Bn d actually sent a message from one
to the other. "Herts caught the ctherlc
»»ves on a wire hoop and saw the an-
iwerlng sparks Jump across the un
joined ends," but this satisfied his own
m |nd, without Impressing or convinc
ing the multitudes. Marconi, hnwever,
demonstrated that the assumption to
the nnture of ether answered to act,
land now wc have knowledge of the
oo.L ,h ?i! have been sent
* ,he A 5t* * mlc by means of ether
tlbratlons. Hence, our knowledge of
, J,* * c i® n< ‘ e - 11 I* certain and
\ ci I flattie. The things assumed to be
true about It uniformly answer to act,
as though they were true, and hence
conform to conditions by which nil
! tom » of science are established. It
would be easy to assume that world
wide commerce would be Impossible If
all men were Inveterate liars and con
scienceless thfeves, and prove the truth
of It. Hence, to say that trade rela
tions are based upon honesty and
truthfulness Is scientific because the
statement Is sust&lnod by the facts of
practical commerce. . To say that so
cial existence would be Impossible If
all men practically and violently hated
ope another and never missed n chanA
to bite and devour one another, would
be scientific as. to say that a thing can
not be both white and black at the
same time, or as to say It would not be
red hot and zero cold at the same time.
Wo repeat, therefore, that whatever Is
assumed to be true In the realm of
thoughts, Ideas, conceptions, sensa
tions. feelings and emotions that uni
formly answers to act as though It
were true. Is science. If we assume It
to be true that God Is good, that He Is
on tho side of human progress toward
Ideal morality and that If our will sets
Itself on the side of His goodness, we
will rise In the scale of existence nnd
upon so acting wo do in fact And our
selves rising from a lower to a higher
level of life, we know that our assump
tion was scientific. If wo assume It to
be (rue that God Is against what Is
base and mean, nnd that If our wills
choose whnt Is evil we will fall to a
lower level than that of whiah wc are
capable, and ftiul upon actually choos
ing what Is bad* we do In fact fall to a
lowfcr level of life, then wo may know
that our assumption was scientific. .
' I.
The attempt has been made to limit
science not only by. confining It to ma
terial objects nnd to such knowledge
as tile mind can make out of Impres
sions from langiblo objects, but also to
limit It to the outside appearances of
objects. It Is said we can not know
what things are In themselves; we con
only know what they appehr on the
surface to be. It will appear to the
average reader a waste of time to dis
cuss this phase of the question, -but If
we are to establish a scientific basis for
religion, < we must be patient enough
to study the question at the founda
tions. It Is difficult work, but the
profit of It will be apparent when we
come to the ahpsratructure of religious
knowledge. I? as much effort had been
made tq disclose the fundamental pre
suppositions of materialism nnd ag
nosticism and atheism as has been
made In fighting them In their devel
oped form, there Would have been no
such miserable manifestations of the
abBurd Isms today. Their existence In
tho open light today Is a serious re
flection upon the mental powers of
those supposed to have the cause of
truth at heart, as the existence of
fortune-teller Gypsies In a community
Is a reflection upon the enlightenment
of Its people. We have been content t.i
fight agnostic linns and materialistic
tigers as they came upon our theologi
cal premises furious and full-grown.
Hut have made no determined effort
to clean up and clear out and capture
the habitat where they breed, so as to
rid ourselves of further molestation
from them.
II.
In 1804 Immanuel Kant, the greatest
thinker since Aristotle, died. In the
last quarter of the eighteenth century
he published his Immortal work, "The
Critique of Pure Reason," a book
that has done \ more harm and
more good than any philosophical
REV. JAME8 W. LEE.
treatise ever published. In arresting
the sensattonlsm of John Locke, and
the nut nnd nut skepticism of David
Hume, his contribution was of untold
vnlue, but In reviving nnd giving form
to the view thnt we con know nothing
but phenomena, the appearances
things, and not things In themselves,
he arrested the progress of the human
mind In Its efforts to arrive at a ra
tional theory of the sum of tilings. He
proposed tu do In the realm of
metaphysics what Copernicus did In
explaining celestial movements. When
he found thnt he could mako no prog-
rees by assuming that all the heavenly
bodies revolved around the spectator,
he reversed the process and tried the
experiment of assuming that the slice
tator revolved, while the start re
mained at rest. Ki.nl proposed to make
the same experiment with r.egard in
the Intuition of objects. He said that
It had hitherto been assumed that our
perceptions conformed to objects, but
that all attempts to ascertain anything
about the essences of these objects
upon this assumption had failed. Sc.
he proposed to see If he could not be
more successful In metaphysics by as
suming that objects conformed to cog
nitions. The attempt to Introduce a
complete revolution In the procedure
of metaphysics, after tho example of
the geometrician* and the natural
philosophers, constituted, he said, the
aim of The Critique of Pure Reason
He proposed to overturn the experience
of tho human race, and rule out of
court the combined common sense of
mankind, by seeking to prove that
our notions do nut regulate themselves
necore'lt’g to the things we see and
touch and taste, but that things regu
late themselves according to cur no
tions. Thnt Is, where a tree stands be
fore a person, It Is not as the plain
farmer supposes, n tree out there as it
appears to be, but Is the tree tho no
tion of the farmer has made It. His
cognition of It does not conform to
the tree, but tho tree conforms to his
cognition. As to what the tree la In
Itsell. the farmer has no means of
knotting, he only knows the thing as
It appears In his cognition, yhat la.
the tree before him out there In th<
field he does not know at all, he only
I ih ■■■ .i mi-ntiil t Iff the powers of
hla thought have set up In his mind.
He knows nothing of the tree In Itself,
and nothing of the tnlnd upon which
the appearance of the tree Is lm-
pressed In Itself. He simply knows the
appearance, tho notion. So, in reality,
the tree Is nothing but his own notion.
It Is ths state of Ills o<Vn consciousness
during the time the object In question
Ik before his eyes. This will seem
trivial and absuid to common sense.
Rut, however ridiculous It may appear,
If Is well enough t> consider It. For
from this thickly set grove of word*
about the Impossibility of knowing the
mind In Itself, and the object that lm-
oreHses It in Itself, and nothing but tho
apic-ni-nncc of the object, etc., has come
the little foxes which have been spoil
ing the vines of thought for a hundred
yer.m. It may appear to some that in
tellectual fox-hunting Is a wasts of
time. Rut it Is not. All harmless onl-
mated forms of existence have n right
to Pvc, but such as prove themselves to
be pests should be tracked dotvn and
killed.
There are microbes that are useful
In the economy of life, and there are
others that cauae disease. Pasteur
used all the powers of his genius to
show the nature and hiding places of
distinctive germs, and he served the
interests of universal health.
III.
Religious science, and for that mat
ter any science, la Impossible with
Kant's theory of knowledge. Any
knowledge that gets hold of reality*
must presuppose three points as set
tled. If you are to have knowledge of
n tree you must take It for granted thnt
you perceive It and all there le of It,
thing. In Itself, appearanco and all, and
you must take It for granted thnt you
are the person who perceives the tree,
and that the mind with which you look
through your eyes to see the tree you
know In Itself as well ns the part of It
that appenrs, and you must take It for
granted thnt for the time you are look
ing at the tree you are in correspond
ence with It through the perception of
It. So In this simple bit of knowl
edge there is a perceivrr. a thing per
ceived, and a perception. The first
represents n person capable of seeing,
the second an object to be seen, and the
third the activity of the tnlnd In see
ing. Now, Kant denletl the possibility
of knowing the object in Itself, and the
mind that 1- holds 111<■ • t In Itself.
nnd enntended .that In knowing a tree
we really know nothing beyond the ap- i
pearance of It In perception.
Professor Clifford said “the object la
a set of changes In my consciousness,
and not anything out of It." Upon the
basis of Kant's theory of knowledge
Fichte declared: "There Is nothing
lasting either within me or w ithout me.
but everywhere ceaseless change. I
know nothing whatever of any other
being, nnd nothing of myself. There
Is no being. I myself know absolutely
nothing, and 1 am nothing. Images
exist. They alone are. and they know
themselves nfl.r the manner of Images
—Images which flit by without theie
being anything before which they lilt;
Images which by Images depend upon
Images. I myself am ono of these Im
ages; Indeed, I am not even this, but
merely a confused Image of theso Im
ages. See reality becomea a myster
ious dream, without life ns an object,
or Intellect ns the subject of this
dronm—a dream which Itself depends
solely upon a dream.” Thus by Clif
ford nnd Fichte, we have Kant's theory
of knowledge reduced to Its lost an
alysis, one denied the renllty of the
object perceived, and the other, deny
ing both, regarded perceptions ns lin
ages Hitting by. without there being
anything before which they can flit.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••*
"HOME, SWEET HOME”
"When he came to himself He said,
'I will arise and go.’”
—The 14th chapter of Luke.
J L
By REV. JOHN E. WHITE,
PASTOR SECOND BAPTIST CHURCH
HAVE wished that I could gather
out nil the fragrant words of
language, and garland all tnt
invert flowers of rhetoric and weave In
all the tints of beautiful literature and
call m aid the genius of the poets and
lay under tribute all learning and cul
ture and refinement/ of thought and
be thrilled with the breath of true elo
quence, to make a lit eulogy of the
fart wrapped In the significance of the
great word "Home." But though ’this
were an achievement possible, there
would be some one to say, “You have
not told It all. More than that, my
home meant to me."
And I could not resent his disap
pointment, for 1 would disappoint my-
eelf.
More than I can tell, my home
meant to me. My boyhood's home, tho
home I threw kisses at when I drove
off on the day of the great Charleston
earthquake, to go to college, the home
thtt death had entered and sanctified;
the home that welcomed mo When I
enme "baric "after four years',' changed
end altered home, but home to me
still, because my father Is there and
1 am safer there than anywhere else
In all the world.
1 have known a man whn In mlddld
age came to crushing ruin through
fault and human weakness. He did
not wait to ask If the world wduld
despise him nor even to test the loyal
ty of his friends, but quickly threw all
behind him, and wounded though he
wos, and a prodigal's story to tell
though he had, he sought a straight
flight through the bitter, wretched dis
tance and found the hiding of his old
home and Ills father's house.
It was a true Instinct. Tho happy
heart heats happier nt home, but to
the miserable, home Is almost heaven.
There Is no place jlko home.
In the evening when the shapes are
forming about the corners of the
streets the belated child runs—home.
In his desolation and frlendlesaness
the young man who has come to grief
In Ihe rliy makes one plea, "I want
to go home," In her last moments a
poor, lest girl, dying In sin, begged
that we would bury her at home. The
ruined business man starts up from
the wreckage about him and goes
home for peace. The widowed dnugh-
colleges will be packing up, Joyful,
happy, hilarious. Where are you go
ing? Going home, aren’t you?
The Canter of Civilization.
The home Is the germinal nucleus
of civilization. Every problem of hu
man society has Its nerve center In
the home. It Is the seed of all the
harvests of all the upward evolution
of the race.
- If you will put an acorn under the
glass you will And rudiments of a per
fect oak. It Is all there, roots, trunk
nnd limbs.
If you will put tho home under tho
test of history It will yield every car
dinal fact of civilisation. The state Is
In the home, the church Is In the
home, social forces are In the home.
Industrial organisation is In the home.
Not more accurately does the acorn
prophesy.the great oak than the home
foretoken the manifold organisations of
Look back at that-earliest record of
home life. The grand old Patriarch
Abraham stands by his fireside In the
center of a home. Sarah sits in the
helpmeet's place by his side. The first
thing Is authority gathered to a. point
In the Patriarch. This foreshadows
political authority. He then builds an
altar and gathera his family about.
This foreshadows the church.
The children and the servants have
their allotted tasks. They drive the
herds forth In the morning and- bring
them In the evening. This Is the
first labor organization. Abraham
exercises a masterful and undisputed
sway over all. This Is government.
He gathers his family together and
pursuee the robbers who have kid
naped his son. This wps the 'first
military force. So also It Is In ths
horns that ths wondrous working of
family reduplication takes Its rise.
From the parent root grows nut other
homes nnd families, and In an orderly
progression humanity Is multiplied and
safeguarded. The tribe Is born out of
the process, having common Interest
and common cause. A chlof, chosen
bv consent as being stronger than his
kindred, assumes the place of leader
ship. Thus the nation follows the
tribe. People come to social conscious
ness. -Society has arrived. Civilian-
ter, nhatteml and lonely, back tlnn la society eapreialiiR In tho large
home to wear her weed* of obacurlty. I what the home expreaaea In the minm-
In a while the ttudent boya at our ture. Tho endleaa Interduplleatlon con-
tlnues In unaltered relation to true cen
ter and source of energy—tho home.
The nation Is a grand fact, but the
home Is a subllnier moral entity.
Hems Ideals.
Have you ever pondered the signifi
cance of the word "homely?" If about
a person, you mean a certain appear
ance of unpretentious plainness; If
about a figure or manner of speech,
you mean a certain quality of alm-
B llcity and absence of the artificial.
ines this not suggest one of the no
blest Ideals known to men? Truth,
reality and force, fer which no apology
can bo demanded, lies In that Ideal.
Definitely, the conviction Is commqp
that the home Idea In Its highest ex
pression Is found not In palaces.and
mansions, but In the domiciles of sim
pler and more modest families. Not
that the palace may not be a home.
It may be if heart Is there and life
finds there its primary laws of rela
tion. Borne palaces have been homes.
Queen Victoria's palace was a home; It
had the great home Ideal. One day
Queen Victoria, desiring during some
state ceremonial to consult her hus
band. the prince consort, went to hie
bed room to find him. She knocked
and he Inquired: "Who is It?" She
answered: "The queen." But the door
was not opened. Again she knocked:
"Who Is It?" “The queen,” she said,
somewhat stiffly. "The queen has no
place In my room," the prince consort
answered. She understood and knock
ed again. "Who Is It?" "Victoria," she
said. "Victoria has all right and all
honor In my room,” the husband said
as he gallantly led her In. The Brit
ish people were taught for almost a
half century to appreciate what that
grand broken-hearted woman meant,
when In paroxysms of tears she sobbed
out by her husband's coffin a grlof so
strange In a palace: "Oh, there's no one
jo cnll me Victoria now!"
" 'Tie home where the heart te
In dwelling, great or small,
And there's many a stately manelon
That le never ibhome at all.”
The royal Ideal of the home le elm-
f ile, honest, old-fa,hloned love. Love
s a casket full of many gome. Courte
sy Is one of (hem. unselfishness Is one
of them, kindness It one of them, loy
alty Is one of them.
A true home breeds gentlemen and
gentlewomen. Do you ever consider
REV. JOHN E. WHITE.
thnt your conduct on the street or out
In tho busy world may reflect honor
on your futhcr nnd mother, or bring
them Into nn undeserved contempt?
The other day a street car conductor,
with a good face, rudely addressed a
gentleman and his family. Including
myself, as we were returning from the
burlnl of a dear and beloved daughter
In the rudest fashion: "Come on, or
you can wait fifteen minutes for the
next car." How It Jarred. But do
r ou know what I at once thought of?
thought of thnt young man's home
What a sorry family It must have
been. Now It may be I was wrong—
that he misrepresented his father and
mother.
I could not say a truer word to some
of you than to remind you that this
world Is going to Judge your home and
your people by your conduct. Un
justly perhaps, but that Is all the more
cruel and mean of you that you will
bring the smut of contempt and dia
gram on people'who are clear of guilt.
Home Perils.
Let me speejt of one of thp Insidious
perils of the home. Every peril of the
home Is a menace to society, because
the stamp our homes put upon child
hood and youth will be the moral Im
primatur of our citizenship. One of the
clearly marked perils of the home In
our modern life Is the tendency to
renounce authority and discipline.
This Is not Imagination. 1 know It
to bo the truth. Domestic lawlessness
Is rampant. Mnny fathers are too busy
creating nn estate to leave when hs
dies to pay any real attention to the
creation of heirs fit to Inherit It. “I
always let him do as he pleases,” says
the backbonolesa conglomeration of
Inert paternity in a tone of proudly
foolish generosity. "I always let him
do as he pleases." What Is the natural
result? if the parent Is poor, the
boy will swell Ihe ranks of the law
breakers nnd curse society. If ths pa
rent Is rich, the boy la practically sure
to me a wealth-proud Idiot of a citizen
who bribes truculent eoclety to make
a place for a fool because he has
money to set 'em up with—a non-pro
ducer, a useless counterfeit of man
hood—and If he doesn't go to the
dogs, he might as well, for not one
single human Interest suffers shock
or loss, not one blade of grass or a
single leaf quivers In regret when he
dies.
If there were any practical way for
the world to protect Itself, It would be
a law of eminent social Justice If fath
ers and mothers were fined and pun
ished upon proof that they did not
maintain discipline In their household.
IVhy do I say so? The cltlsens of a
city met eome time ago to Investigate
nnd Inaugurate a movement against
lawlessness and crime which had
broken out alarmingly. The Inefficien
cy of the police was the principal cause
assigned, though eome said It was the
laxity of the courts; some said It was
the vagrant laws, and variously ths
discussion ranged. A communication
wos sent by the chief of police, who
was not present because he was under
criticism. Here Is what he said. He
said It was the homes of the people, | Home.” To that principle Intent In
rich and poor. He declared that the
absence of a wholesome discipline In
the home and Indifference to church
attendance had much to do with the
spread of crime. It was a well-known
fact, he said, that 60 per cent of the
'Inmates of the Jails and prisons are
under twenty-five years of age. Crimi
nal tendencies are begotten Ih boy
hood and girlhood. Where there Is no
supervision of reading, no care taken
as to the choice of companions, no
knowledge of haunts, no concern abou&
habits, no regulation as to the even
ing hours, no Insistence upon church
attendance—In short, no righteous
home government—It would be more
than passing strange It a vast ratio of
those who are thus permitted to drift
toward manhood and womanhood
should not become desplsers of the law
of tho land. How could It be other
wise? Now, this happened In a West
ern city. It might have happened In
Atlanta, without missing a line.
We express our horror that ths ne
groes are, so many of them, criminal.
It Is nn wonder. They have little home
life, little home regulation. They are
not always encouraged ‘by their white
neighbors. Just after our riot an old
negro put his finger on the sore spot
when he complained that the negro
boys,, including one of his own, did as
they pleased at home, without correc
tion. "And, boss," he said, "the white
folks won’t let us whip ’em. I Jos'
been arrested and carried down to
Judge Brllee' court, end what fur?
'Cause some white' folks said I was
er whipping that boy er mine and he
was er hollering. Course, he was hoi
lerln', but now I'm erfeard to whip
him again.”
A south Georgia widow explained lo
General Wheeler how she maneged to
raise her boys. “How did you manage
to raise such a fine lot of boys, 'way
off here In the woodmV he asked her.
"Waal, stranger,” she answered, "I am
a wlddy woman, and alt I had to raise
'em on woe prayer and hickory, but I
raised ’em powerful frequent"
The Power of the Heme,
The power a man's love of his home
has over him Is a noble power.
As a man yields himself to Its Influ
ence the finest elements of his man
hood awaken In response. The Inspira
tion of Southern chivalry In the days
of the Confederacy was "Home, Bweet
every line of "Dixie".and vibrant In
every note, the Southern boye marched
away to advance the records of the
world In valor. My father has often
said In my hearing that he got no In
spiration sa a soldier from any lore
for the Institution of slavery and little
from the constitutional right of seces
sion, for he was opposed to secession,
but that one thing nerved hie heart un
failingly. and that was that'hla back
was to hli home and native soil and
the enemy was clamoring at the north
ern border. The earliest Iiletllle of
American knighthood shows a forest
lined with Indians and a settler etand-
Ing In his rude doorway with a smok
ing rifle In his hand and a.dauntless
light on -J)ls face, while behind are bis
frlnhtenr'il.\vlfr nnd children.
We have nn Insignificant standing
army In thin country, hut wc nre held
safe from all'the myrmidons that all
■ I . t . CM 1"'« "1 s eon 1.1 le.tineh against
us by the millions of men who would
rally In a day to defend their homes
from Invasion.
Now, I thank.God that spirit Is here
In us all. But how Vemote tb<- harm
our homes may suffer from war. How
much nearer and more real the danger
of their dishonor nt our own hands.
The power our homes have to com
mand us Is Invoked 111 behnlf of good
morals. I appeal to It In the name of
sobriety and purity. I appeal to It In
behalf of a decent life lived amid
temptations to Indecency.
The Cotton Mill Indicator.
Ariadne tied a silken cord about the
ankle of her brother, Theseus, ns h'<
went toward the labyrinth to slay In
mortal combat the monster of the
grotto. "When you fee! the gentle
drawing of the cord.” she cold. "It la
to let you know that your sister Is
thinking of you." There are two thou
sand students In Atlanta and three
thousand young men and women who
have left homes behind them to do bat
tle In this city.
And so I know that there are five
thousand silken cords stretching from
Georgln and Southern nresldes held by
the loving hands of fathers nnd mothers
and sisters. • *
Do you not feel right often the draw
ing of thh silken cord? They are
thinking of you. They are praying for
you at home.
THE MOTIVE OF MANHOOD
IMHMHIHtHHMMHHHMMIMII
>•••••••••••••••••••••••<
By REV. EVERETT DEAN ELLENWOOD, |
PASTOR UNIVERSALIST CHURCH ' » '
T HERE are three fundamental Im
pulses or emotions which He
back of the motives which are
responsible for all human activity.
Mentioned In their regular order |n the
rising scale of the development of
moral consciousness, they are fear,
cupidity and duty. The first Is the
Product of the jungle order of civilisa
tion, the second belongs to the moral
nursery, while the third Is.only nt
aome m the heart of a man, a inun
endowed with divine possibilities, a
man "created a title lower than the
honor* 10 b * erown * d w,th * ,ory anrt
Neither of these three motives Is In
dividually to be condemned or ar
raigned. Each Is good In Its place.
Mch one represents a different stage
m the moral development of a man.
‘tie highest morality Is a growth and
no contributing element In thnt
growth is to be despised. The Im
portant thing, for spiritual culture. Is
that one should early learn to' attach
. Proper estimates of value to these
motive springs of conduct.
h.T., race has suffered much In the
halting of its march toward a true clv-
uitation, by the undue emphasis nnd
CAHltatlon by Its lenders In moral cul-
r!TC: of the two Inferior motives to
righteousness.
... b* Of God. taken In Its strict-
* l literal sense, may Indeed be “the
■*glnnliit nt wisdom:” the fear of
Punishment as a deterrent may truly
Point the way to the moral life.
lhe rurnett desire to win the favor
?" d rewards of God may (bad the
searching soul still farther away from
,|h,,„ m "ral chans of savagery, but not
earnest searching of the
conscience reveals to him that hi*
•L. "owning motive Is duty may he
himself to be In any degree freed
'£* ‘■•Pressing bondage of sin
*hoae strength Is the law."
I I..-.? . great men. the actual
t).! r * ■"'•ders of ever)’ age have been
ei) !2?*. whone righteousness exceed-
1 *hatof the "Scribes and Pharisees,"
the transcendent souls whose lives
recognized for their dominant motives
neither the lash of fear nor the bland
ishments of hope or desire, but who
answered, as naturally ns the bird to
his mate, the clear call of duty.
The soul who lives od these heights
of moral grandeur must have a feel
ing of genuine pity for him whose
decency Is due mainly to the gaoler,
horrible death by being cast Into the
the midst of a "burning fiery furnace."
’The ubiquitous trouble-maker soon
brlnns to the monarch the report that
certain Hebrews thch residing within
his domain have refused to be guided
and governed by the commands of the
edict, notwithstanding the extreme
stringency of its threatened pennlty.
and an lll-coneenled contempt for that The offenders are brought before the
righteousness which Is the product cf |<|ng who develops a terrifying rage
an earnest nnd persistent yearning for
"the recompense of the rewnrd,’’ but he
welcomes with the eager hall or a
comrade the one who elmply. and with
singleness of motive, chooses for his
feet the path of right for no other
reason whatever than thnt It Is the
path of right.
The codes of morals formed by our
race In Its younger years centered, of
necessity, very largely about the first
two of these primal motives, and It
would appear that we have not yet
made sufficient progress to place entire
dependence upon the third us the rul
ing motive of society. But. from ttn>o
to time In the mnrch of the ages, we
have been given Inspiring foregleams
of a coming time when righteousness
shall be aomethlng more thnn a dimly
outlined Idea! and shall be the l»>«ses-
slon of every human soul without
either compulsion or purchase.
One of these dashing feregleams
must have lighted the soul of that
dweller upon the mountalntop of In
spiration. whoever he may have been,
who gave to the world the book of
Daniel. The soul of the man who
clings to a belief In the possibility of
righteousness for 'righteousness sake
must be helpfully thrilled by tho dra
matic story of the three Hebrew chil
dren In the court of Nebuchadnezzar.
Afflicted With an Inordinate egotism
the pagan ruler has caused to be
erected on enormous Image of gold and
has dccreed'that at the sound of any
sort of music, all men of whatever
standing or station shall Immediately
fall down and worship this linage. The
penalty for refusal Is Immediate and
upon their calm admission of their
neglect to obey Ids commands. The
edict with the penalty of Its dslobedl-
ence nre repeated In their hearing and
a demand made to know their inten
tions In the matter. Calmly and de
liberately there came a reply which
must have astonished beyond measure
the venal listener* and which thrills
ever)' reader of this Inspiring drama.
Sustained by the Inborn faith of their
leader who at one time had gone out
to a place appointed, "not knowing
whither he went,” these three Hebrew
children declare Unto the king their
absolute faith In the ability of their
God to deliver them out of nny situ
ation, however perilous, If that deliver
ance shall be In Accordance with the
soul development provided for them by
Ills wisdom and His love. Moreover,
they declare their ubsolute usaurance
of their delivernnre from the power
and authority of their tormentor.
They are certain that God is able to
deliver them from the "burning, fiery
furnare” If His omniscience nnd His
all-embracing love ahull determine
such deliverance, but they are entirely
willing to leave thle derision wltfi
Him. And notv comes the most splen
did declaration which may spring
forth unfetered from a human souT.
“But. If not, be it known unto thee,
O king, that we will not serve thy
gods, nor worship the golden Image
which thou hast ret up.” They believe
absolutely In the power of God to dp
whatever Is best, hut. In this partlcu-
Inr instance, without nny revelation of
precedent; they admit their tack of cer
tainty as to the Immediate outcome.
REV. E. D. ELLENWOOD.
But, as for themselves, they will be
controlled by neither fear nor hope.
Duty speaks, and her voice alone will
they anewor. They calmly admit the
strong probability that temporarily the
carnal man may triumph and the In
fliction of tlte cruel vengeance of the
king shall visit upon their bodies sud
den nnd horrible death, but the un
happy prospect Is powerless to swerve
them from their purpoec. They know
what Is right. They recognize the path
of truth and honor, and In this path
shall they move regardless of the im
mediate consequences. They evidently
bslleve In righteousness for Itself.
The writer of thin thrilling drama
evidently Insists upon the Inevitable
triumph of the right, even In Imme
dlate and temporal things, for he here
Interjects a miracle, Impossible to phys
ical Inw, and which possibly lessens
Bomowhat the value and power of the
story to the materialistic mind. But
we nerd not allow Ihe difficulties of the
miracle to obscure for us the splendid
lesson of the unqualified and triumph
ant righteousness of these three sorely
tried Hebrews.
This Is the sort of virtue which the
world must have before Ite men and
women ehall be able to boast them
selves as actually civilised and truly
cultured, the virtue which Is neither
of necessity nr convenience, but by
natural and Instinctive choice.
We believe that religion and Its
teachings shall be found to be the most
certain means to the highest culture
and the purest ethics. But our prog
ress In this direction must of necessity
depend largely upon our Interpretation
of religion and upon the human motive
of conduct lo which that Interpreta
tion makes strongest appeal.
We can not legislate decenry and or
der into human hearts. We do not
make men good by putting them In jail.
We only temporarily restrain them
from doing evil. Human souls are not
made actually righteous, either by ter
rifying them with the fear of hell or by
entrancing them with the hope of
heaven Actual rlghteousnese, the
righteousness which causes unfeigned
rejoicing In the homes of earth and In
the courte of heuven. Is not a sponta
neous production. It Is the result nt
slow and painful process, but It Is as
stable ae the eternal hills.
What sort of religion does your
preacher feed to you on Sunday., when
you go to him In search of spiritual
instruction and discipline? Does he
attempt to frighten you Into decency
by rhetorically cracking the whip of
hell In the ears of your superstitious
terror? Or does he endeavor to whee
dle you away from the path of death
and Into the way of life by parting
for your enraptured Imagination beau
tlful pictures of the city celestial? Or
doea he seek to soothe for you an out'
raged conscience by promising the
(filmlnatlon of salutary retributive Jus
tice by means of a vicarious atone
ment? -Or doea he try, with all hie
might, lo help you to realize that you
are sons and daughters of the most
high God; that you ore moral and spir
itual beings, endowed with the capacity
to Judge between good Bnd evil and to
determine what le right and what Is
wrong, and that because God has en
dowed you so fully and freely with Ills
spirit of triumphant righteousness, He
has a right to mpfldenlly expect great
things of you. He has a right to expect
that you will choose right In preference
lo wrong, simply because It le right,
and not primarily because It will bring
you happiness, while Its opposite will
result In misery?
Which of these methods does your
preacher pursue?
It Is assumed that the majority of
preachers are honest; that they are
conscientious; that they are anxious
to adopt what may appear to them to
he the beat avenue of approach to the
hearts and lives of their people.
This being so, theh It follows that
you who listen may form a reasonably
corked Idea of your preacher’s mental
estimate of your spiritual condition
and your spiritual needs, by the habit,
ual tenor of hie message, and from the
basis upon which He makes to your
consciences Hie appeal for righteous
ness.
And In case you should resenl and
repudiate his hypothesis, remember
that your only hope of successful vin
dication of your position will He In
subsequent conduct. Perhaps your
preacher Is light.
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