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1 PHILOSOPHIC BASIS OF UNBELIEF ! j By REV. JAMES W. LEE, PASTOR TRINITY METHODIST CHURCH W HATEVER Is assumed to be true in the realm of matter and Yno tlon that uniformly answers t< act as though It were true may be put amvn as physical science. If It Is ns- that hydrogen and oxygen In certain proportions can bo turned Into the compound called water, and if upon sctlon In accordance with the formula jj; o water results. It may be known that the assumption was scientific. If It la assumed to be true that one atom of hydrogen will combine with one of Chlorine to form hydro-chlorlc acid, •ad artlon upon the assumption In-fits- cordance with the formula (He'D re- ■tilts In hydro-chlorlc oeld, then it may be known that the assumption. con formed to reality and Is sctentlfla. If fmm certain calculations It Is assumed to be true that there will be an eclipse of the sun at a, particular hour on a (.articular day 20 years In the future, ind the action of the sun on that day inswers exactly to the assumption, then It may be known to be scientific. It has been Inferred for a long time that all solid substances are permeated by a mysterious, colorless, odorless.' In tangible substance called ether. Hein rich Herts discovered that ether not onlv tarried waves of heat, light and color, but also electric vibrations. But the discovery of Herts had. not been im t to practical test until Marconi on Phis father's farm In Italy, put up a transmitting pole on one side of a gar den and a receiving pole on the other and actually sent a message from,one to the other. "Herts caught the etheric Wtves on a wire hoop and saw the an swering sparks jomp across the un joined ends," but this satlsfled his own mind, without Impressing or convinc ing the multitudes. Marconi, however, demonstrated that the assumption to the nature of ether answered to net, und now wo have knowledge of the fact that mossnges have been' sent across the Atlantic by moans of ether vibration^ Hence, our knowledge of ether Is science. It It certain and verifiable. The things assumed to be true about It uniformly answer to act, as though they were true, and hence conform to conditions by which ull Items 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 thieves, 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 sustained by the facts of practical commerce. To say that so cial existence would be Impossible If all men practically and violently hated one another and never missed a chance to bite and devour one another, would be sclentlflc as to say that a thing can not be both white and black at the same time, or os to say it would not he rad hot and xero cold at the same time. tVo 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 ns though It were true, Is science. If we assume It to bo true that God Is good, that Ho 1s on the side of human progress toward Ideal morality and thnt If our will sets Itself on the side of His goodness, we will rise In tho scale of existence nnd upon so acting wo do In fact find our selves rising from a lower to a higher level of life, we know that our assump tion was sclentlflc. If we assume It to be true that God Is against what Is base and mean, nnd that If our wills choose what Is evil we will fall to a lower level than that of which we are capable, arid And upon actually choos ing what Is bad, we do In fact fall to a lower level of life, then we may know that our assumption tvas sclentlflc. I. The attempt has been made to limit science not only by confining It to ma terial objects and to such knowledge as the mind can make out of Impres sions from tangible objects, but atsa to limit It to the outside appearances of objects. It Is said we ran not know 'vhat things are In themselves; we can only know what they appear 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 arc to establish, a scientific basis for i religion, we must be patient enough i to study the question at tho founda tions. It Is difficult work, but the profit of It will be apparent when we come to the superstructure of religious knowledge. If as much effort had boon mode to disclose the fundamental pre suppositions of materialism nnd ag nosticism nnd atheism as has hem made In fighting (hem In their devel oped form, there Would have been no such miserable manifestations of the absurd Isms today. Their existence In the open light today Is a serious re flection upon the mental powera 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 to fight agnostic lions and materialistic tlgtrs as they came upon our theologi cal premises furious and full-grown, but havo made no determined effort to clean up and clear out and capture the habltnt 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. JAMES W. LEE. treatise ever published. In arresting the sensatlonlsm of John Locke, and the out and out skepticism of David Hume, Ilia contribution was of untold VRlue. but In reviving and giving form to the view that we can know' nothing but phenomena, the appearances of 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 tho sum of things. He proposed to do In the realm or metaphysics what Copernicus did In explaining celestial movements. When he found that he could matte no prog ress by assuming that all the heavenly bodies revolved around the spectator, he reversed the process and tried the experiment of assuming that the spec- tato'' revolved, while the stars re mained at rest. Hunt proposed lu make the same experiment with regard to the Intuition of objects. He aald 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, ft- he proposed to see If he could not be more successful In metitphysle* by ns sumlng thut objects conformed to cog' nltlony. The attempt to Introduce a complete revolution IK the procedure of metaphysics, after the example of the geometricians and the natural philosophers, constituted, he said, the aim of Tho Critique of Pure Reason. He proposed to overturn tho experience of the human race, and rule out of court tho combined common sense of nmnklnd, by seeking to prove that our notions do not regulate themselves according to tho things ive see nnd touch and taste, but that things regu late themselves according to cur no- lions. That Is, where a tree stands be fore a person. It la not as the plain farmer supiose*. a tree out there as It appears to be. hut Is the tree the no tion of the farmer has inode It. His cognition of It does not conform to the tree, but the tree conforms to his rngnltlon. As to what the tree Is In Itsell. the farmer has no means of knowing, he only knows the thing as It appears In hit cognition. That la the tree before him out there tn the field he does not know at all, he only know ' n I'l'Oir.'il lice 111.- powers of his thought have set up In his mind He knows nothing of the tree tn Itself, nnd nothing, of the mind upon which the appearance of tha tree la pressed In Itself. He simply knows the appearance, the notion. So. in reality, the tree Is nothing but his own notion. It Is the state of Ills own consciousness during the time the object In question Is before his eyes. This will seem trivial nnd ubsmd to common sense. Hut, however ridiculous It may ••pponr, It Is well enough t. consldei It. For from this thickly set grove of words about the Impossibility of knowing tie mind in itself, and the object that lm nresscs It In Itself, nnd nothing but the appsnrnpee of the obJWt, etc., hat come the little foxes which havs been spoil ing the vines of thought for n hundred years. It may appear to some that In tellectual fox-hunting Is a waste of time. But it Is not. All harmless ani mated forms of existence have a right to dve, hut such as prove themselves to lie pests should be tracked down and killed. Thai ..MM In tha economy others thet cause disease. Pasteur used all the powers of his genius to show the nature and hiding places of distinctive germs, and ha aarvad the Interests of universal health. (II. Religious science, and for that mat ter any science, Is 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 a tree you must take It for granted that you pereelve It and all there Is of It. thing. In Itself, appearance and all, nnd you must tnke It for granted that you are the person who perceives tho tree, and that the mind with which you look through your eyes to see the tree von know In Itself ns well as the part of tt that appears, anil you .must take It for granted that for tire time you are look ing at the tree you are In correspond ence with It through the perception of It. So In this simple hit of knowl edge there Is a percelver, a thing per ceived, and a perception.. The first lepresmis a per.-ou niptiha- of seeing, the second an object tn be seen, nnd the third the activity "f to,, mind in Ing. Now, Kant denied the possibility of knowing the object In Itself, and the mind that lu holds the object In Its. If, and contended that In knowing a tree we really know nothing beyond the ap pearance ,.f it In perception. Professor Clifford said "the object Is a set of changes in my consciousness, nnd not anything out of lb" Upon the basis of Kant's theory of knowledge Fichte declnrcd: "There Is nothing lasting either within me or without me. but everywhere ceaseless change. I know nothing whnttoet of any other being, and nothlrjg of mvodf. Thor.- Is no being. I mvself know absolutely nothing, and I am nothing. Images exist. They alone are, and they know themselves after the manner of Images —Images which flit by without there being anything bef ire which they lilt; Images which by Images depend upon Images. I myself am one of these Im ages; Indeed, I am not even this, hut merely a confused Image of these Im ages. Sate reality bet omen a mystar- lous dream, without life ns an object, or Intelle, t its tlm snhjet t if this dream—a dream which Itself depends solely upon a dream." Thus by Clif ford and Fichte, we have Kant's theory of knowledge reduced to Its last an alysts, one denbd the tealltv of tbs object perceived, nnd the other, deny ing both, regarded perceptions its im ages flitting by, without there being anything before which they enn tilt. IMIlHtNtHHIMHHMtHIMlfHMI "HOME, SWEET HOME” “When he came to himself he said* 'I will arise and go.'” —The 14th chapter of Luko. By REV. JOHN E. WHITE; PASTOR SECOND BAPTIST CHURCH I HAVE wished thnt I could gather out nil the fragrant words of language, and garland all tns street flowers of rhetoric and weave In ill the tints of beautiful literature and call to aid the genius of the poets and lav under tribute all learning and cul ture and refinement of thought and be thrilled with the breath of true elo quence, to mnke n fit eulogy of the fact wrapped In the significance of the treat word "Home.” But though this wete an achievement possible, there would bet some one to say, "You have not told It all. More than that, my home meant to me.” t J r.d i could not resent his disap- itment. for I would disappoint tny- * e Sf|ore thaw I van tell, my home meant to me. My boyhood's home, tho home I threw kisses at when I drove off on the day of tho great Charleston earthquake, to go to college, the home that death had entered nnd sanctified; the home that welcomed me when I came hack nfter futtr years, changed nnd altered home, but home W me still, because my father Is there and I am safer there-than anywhere else In nil the world. I have known a man who in middle nge ratne to crushing ruin through fault and human weakness. He did not wait to ask If the world would despise hint nor even to test the loyal ly of his friends, but quickly threw all behind him, nnd wounded though he was. and a prodigal’s story to tell though lie had. he sought a straight flight through the bitter, wretched dis tance nnd found the hiding of his old hpme nnil Ills father's house. It was a true instinct. The happy heart bents happier at home, but to the miserable, home Is almost heaven. There la no pine* like home. In the evening when the shapes arc forming about the corners of the streets the belated child runs—home. In his desolation nnd frlendlsssnsas the young man who boa come to grief In the city nutkes one plea, "I want to go home." Ih her Inst moments n poor, lost girl, dying In sin, begged that we would bury hor nt home. The ruined business rnnn stnrts up from the wreckage about him nnd goes home for pence. The widowed daugh ter. shattered and lonely, goes back home to wear Iter weeds of obscurity. In a while the student boys at our colleges will be packing up, joyful, happy, hilarious. Where are you go ing? Going home, aren't you? The Center o( Civiliaation. The h6me Is the germinal nucleus of civilisation. 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 Ihe glass you will find rudiments of a per fect oak. It Is all there, roots, trunk and limbs. If you will put the home under the test of history It will yield every car dinal fact of civilization. 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 ncorn prophesy the great oak than the home foretoken the manifold organizations of society. Look bock at that. farlleit record of home life. The grand old Patriarch Abinhnin stands by his fireside In the center of n 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 gathers his family about This foreshadows the church. The chlldt-en nnd tha servants have their allotted tasks. They drive the herds forth In the morning nnd bring them In the evening. This Is the first Isbor organization. Abraham exercizes a masterful nnd undisputed sway over all. This Is government. He gathers Ills family together nnd pursues tha robbera who have kid naped his son. This was the first military force. Bo also It Is In the home that the wondrous working of family redupllcntlnn takes Its rise. From the parent root grows out other homes nnd families, and In nn orderly progression humanity Is multiplied and safeguarded. The tribe Is horn out of the process, having common Interest nnd common cause. A chief, chosen bv consent as being stronger than Ills kindred, nssumes the place of leader ship. Thus the nation follows the tribe. People come to social conscious ness. Society has arrived. Civiliza tion Is society expressing In the large what the homo expresses In the minia ture. The endless interdupllcntlon con tinues In unaltered relation to true cen ter .and source of energy—the home. The nation Is a grand fact. Jptt the home Is a subllmet moral entity. Home Ideals. Have you ever pondered the slgnlll-' entice of tho 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 sim plicity and nbtence ot the artificial. Does this not suggest one of the no blest Ideals known to men? Truth, reality, nnd force, for which no apology can be demanded, lies In that Ideal. Definitely, the conviction Is common that the home Idea In Its highest ex pression Is found not In palaces nnd 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 la there and life finds there Its primary lows of rela tion. Some 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 beil room to find him. She knocked and ho inquired: "Who la 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. Sho understood and knock ed again. "Who Is It7" "Victoria." she said. "Victoria has nil right and ull 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 paroxysm* of tears she sobbed out by her husband's coffin a grief so strange In u palace; "Oh. there's no one to call me VlctorU now!" " 'Tie home where the heart Is In dwelling, great or small, And there's many a stately mansion That Is never a home at all." The royal Ideal of the home Is aim- K le, honest, old-fishloned love. Love i n casket full of many gem*. Courte sy Is one of them, unselfishness Is one of them, klndncsa Is enp of them, loy alty Is one of them. A true home breeds gentlemen and gentlewomen. Do you ever consider REV. JOHN E. WHITE. that your conduct on the street or out In tho busy world may reflect honor nn your futhcr and mother, or bring them Into an undeserved contempt? The other day a street car conductor, with a good face, rudely addressed a gentleman and his family, Including myself, as we tvera returning front the burial of a dear and beloved daughter In the rudest fashion: “Come on, or you can wult fifteen minutes for the next ear." How It Jarred. But do you know what I at once thought oft I thought of that young man's home. What a sorry family It must have been. Now It may be 1 tvna wrong— that he misrepresented hts father and mother. I could not say a truer word to some of you than to remind you that this world la going to judge your home and your people by your conduct. Un justly perhaps, but that la all the more cruel and mean of you that you will bring tbe smut of contempt and dis grace on people who are clear of guilt. Home Perils. Let me speak of one of the Insidious perils of the home. Every iterll 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. Ono ot the clearly marked perils of the home In our modern life Is the tendency to renounce authority and discipline. This Is not Imwlnatlon. I know It to be the truth. Domestic lawlessness Is rampant. Many fathers era too busy creating an 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 os he pleases,” says the bnckbnneless conglomeration of Inert pnternlty In a tone of proudly foolish generosity. "I always let him <l(j us he pleases." What Is the natural result? If tho parent Is poor, the boy will swell the ranke of the law breaker* and curse society. If the pa rent Is rich, the boy Is.practically sure to me a wealth-proud idiot of a citizen who bribes truculent society to make a place fur 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 ilofn. ho might as well, for not one single human Interest suffers Shock or loss, dot one blade of groat nr 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 latv of eminent social Justice If fath ers nnd mothers were fined and pun ished upon proof that they did not maintain discipline In their household. Why do I say so? The citizens of a city met some time ago to Investigate and inaugurate a movement against lawlessness and crime which had broken out alarmingly. The Inefficien cy of the pollce was the principal cauee assigned, though some said It waa'the laxity of the rourte; some said it was the vagrant laws, and variously the -lesion ranged. A communication, was sent hy the chief of polka, who was not present because he was under criticism. Here Is what he said. He said It was the homes of the people, rich and poor. He declared that the absence of a wholesome discipline In the home and lntllfferenco to church attendance had much to do with the Home." To that principle latent fn every line of "Dixie" ttntl vibrant In every note, the Southern boys marched away to advance the records of the world In valor. My father has often spread of crime. It was a well-known J said In my hearing thnt he got no In fact. he said, that W por cent of the splratlon as a soldier from any love Inmates of the jails and prisons are | for the Institution of slavery and Uttlo tinder twenty-five years of nge. Crltn! nal tendencies arc begotten In boy hood nnd girlhood. Where there te no supervision of reading, no care taken ns to the cholcf of companions, no knowledge of heunts. no concern about habits, no regulation aa to the even ing hours, no Insistence upon church attendance—In short, no righteous home government—It Would be more than passing strange If a vrfst ratio of those who are thus permitted to drift toward manhood and womanhood should not become dcsplsrrs of the law (,r th. i B rii » 37 a. mh.r w* have an Insignificant slam! Of.-I’l® 'h«n™nort U |n b n \vlVt~ ® rn 'V l n this country, but we arc 1 wise. Now, this happened In n West- , . ,, .. m vrmlrtn«* thnt rrn city. It might have happened In Atlanta, without missing a line. % W* express our horror thnt the ne groes are, so many of them, criminal. It Is no wonder. They hnve little home llfo, little home regulation. They arc not always encouraged by Ibelr white neighbors. Just after our riot an . old negro nut his finger on the sore spot when he complained thnt the negro boys. Including one,of Ids own, did as they pleased at homo, without correc tion. "Anilf boss,: he said, "tho white folks won’t 1st u* whip 'em. I Jos' been arrested and carried down to Judge Brlles’ court, snd what fur? 'Cause some white folk* said I was *r whipping that boy *r mine and ha was er hollering. Course, he was hol lerin'. but now I'm erfeard to whip him again.” A south Osorgla widow explained to General Wheeler how ah* nymnged raise her boy*. “How did you manage to rals* such a fine lot of boys, 'way off here in the woods?” he asked her. "Waal, atranger," she answered, "I am a wlddy woman, anti till I had tn ralsn 'em on was prayer and hlrkory, but I raised 'em powerful frequent." The Power of the Home. 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 tn response. The Inspira tion of Southern chivalry In the days of the Confederacy was "Home, Sweet from the constitutional right of seces sion, for ha was opposed to 1.,n. but that one thing nerved his heart un failingly. and that was that his back was to Ills home and native soli nnd the onopiy trus clamoring at the north ern border. The earliest picture of American knighthood shows a forest lln..I with Indians .ind u settler stand ing In his rude doorway with a .Smok ing rifle In Ills hand und a dauntless light on hts fare, while behind are-Ilia frightened wife and children. hove an Insignificant standing M safe from all the myrmidons that nil the foreign powers could Inunch against us by the millions of qjen who would rally In a day to defend,their' homes from Invasion. Now, I thank God that spirit ts here In us all. But how retnote the harm our homes may suffer'from war. How murh nenrer and more real the danger of their dishonor nt our own hnnds. The power our homes have to com mand us Is Invoked In behalf of good morals. I appeal to It In lln- name of sobriety and purity. ' 1 appeal to It in l>. half of a Ilee, „t life lived amid temptations tfl Indecency. The Colton Mill, Indicator. Arlndno tied o silken cord about the ankle of her brother, Theseus, os ho went toward the labyrinth to slay lit mortal combat the ■ monster of the grotto. "When you feel the gentle drawing of th* cord." she sold.' It Is to let you know that >a>ur slJler la thinking of you." There are two thou sand students In Atlnnfit nnd three thnusnnd young men and'women who hnve left homes behind them to do bat tle In this city. And so I know that there are five thousand silken cords stretching from Georgia nnd Southern firesides held by the loving hands of fathers and mothers anil sisters, • Do you not feel right often the draw ing of the silken coni?. They nre thinking <>f you. They are praying for you at home. THE MOTIVE OF MANHOOD By REV. EVERETT DEAN ELLENWOOD, j PASTOR UNIVERSAL1ST CHURC1J T here « l>ul*oa ItuoL- n the transcendent soula whose lives recognized for their dominant motlvea neither the lash of fear nor the bland ishments of hope or desire, but who answered, as naturally as the bird to his mate, the clear call of duty. Tho soul who llvas on these heights of moral grandeur must hnve n feel ing of genuine pity for hint whose - - ... ,., T decency Is due mainly to the gaoler, __ ... . <K the second belongs to the moral'and on lll-eoncenled contempt for that The offenders are brought st r *ery, while the third Is only at righteousness which la tlje jirociuctking »*•« i.v.inns „ tore ™rae In the henrt of a ntan, a man with dlvtne possibilities. are three fundamental Im- or emotions which lie back of the motives which are wsp'ttslhic for all human activity. Mentioned in their regular order In the |“>ng scale of the development of ratral consciousness, they are fear, 'UpMity and duty. Tho first Is the pniluet of the Jungle order of civlllzn- horrlble death by being caet Into the the midst of a "burning fiery furnace." The ubiquitous trouble-maker soon brings tn tho monarrh the report that certain Hebrews then residing within his domain have refused to be guided and governed by the communds of the edict, notwithstanding the extreme m.n "created a title lower than the ■Jmqnr'' be crown * <1 *lth glory and "f these three motives ts in- ril. '1 y *" k* condemned or ar- P. U* 1 Each Is good In Its place, ,„,? represents a different stage ts. v. lnor “i development of a man. highest morality Is a growth and «rn«rh n, , ribu,,n * element In that rtcsth Ik f„ be despised. The Im- JT.Ihlng, for spiritual culture. I* nat „ no should early learn to nttach "hmrer estimates of value to these "firings of conduct, hsittn ra f e has suffered much In the llhso of J" mft rch toward a true clv- hy the undue emphasis and tu?' a,l "h by its leaders tn moral cul- 'ighteou.nes*. tno ,nfer,or , " 0,lv " to «st °* 0od ' taken In Its strict- beul.t 1 ' 11 **nsc, may Indeed be "the PunuSll!* of wisdom:" the fear of Ksh n .t a * a deterrent may truly «tm U th' the way to the moral life, JJ , earnest desire to win the favor satrcM- 8 ^" ,,f Ood »>*y lead the them , ""“l **'l' farther uway from Wiiii ~ ra . ch, °" nt savagery, but not ,‘’ an a earnest searciting of the Ilk.-” feveal* to hint that hla hi » motive la duty may he hm th Mlf , to . h« In any degree freed vv" '!? , depressing bondage of sin T?T strength Is thslaw." "Virat I "V y geest men, the actual 'he ,,r every age have been W that , T, 1 *”* righteousness exesed- i nal,, fttie "Scribes and Pharisees, an earnest and persistent yearning for "the recompense of the reward," but he welcomes with the eager hall of a comrade the one who simply, and with singleness of motive, choose* for his feet the path of right for no other reason whatever than that It Is tho path of right. The codes of morals formed by our race In Its younger years centered, or neceeslty. 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 a* the rul ing motive of society. But, from time to time In the march of the ages, wc have been given Inspiring foregleams of a coming tlm* when righteousness shall be something more than a dimly outlined Ideal and shall be the posses sion of every human soul without either compulsion or purchase. One of these flashing foregleams must have lighted the tmul of that dweller upon the mountalntop ot in spiration, whoever he may have been, who gave to the world the book of Daniel. The soul of the man who clings to n belief In the possibility of righteousness for righteousness sake must be helpfully thrilled by the dra matic story of the three Hebrew chil dren In the court of Nebuchadneszar. Afflicted with an Inordinate egotism the pagan ruler has caused to be erected an enormous Image of gold and has decreed that at the sound of any sort of tousle, all men of "hatever standing or station shall Immediately foil down and worship this Image. The penaltv for refusal Is Immediate and ho develops a terrifying rage upon their calm adtnlsalnn of their neglect to obey hi* command*. The edict with the pehally of It* dslobedl- cnce are 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 listeners and which thrllla every reader of this Inspiring drama. Sustained by the Inborn faith of their loader who at one time had gone out to a place appointed, "not knowing whither lie went," these three Hebrew children declare unto the king their absolute faith In the ability of their God to deliver them out of any situ ation. however perilous. If that dellver- nnre shall be in accordance with the soul development provided for them by His wludom and His love. Moreover, they derlare their nbeolute assurance of their deliverance from the power and authority of their tormentor. They are certain that God Is able to deliver them from the "burning, fiery furnace” If Hla omniscience and His all-embracing love shall determine such deliverance, but they are entirely willing to leave this decision with Him. Anti now come* the most splen did declaration which may spring forth unfetered from a human soul. "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 eet up.” They believe absolutely in the power of Ood to do whatever Is best, but. In this particu lar Instance, without any revelation of precedent, they admit their lack of cer tainty as to the Immediate outcome. REV. £. 0. ELLENWOOD. But, as for themselves, they will be controlled by neither fear nor. hope. Duty speaks, and her voice alone will they answer. They calmly admit the strong probability that temporarily the carnal man may triumph and the In- lllctlon of the cruel vengeance of th* king shall visit upon their bodies sud den and horrible death, but the un happy prospect Is powerless to swer^ them fmm their purpose. They know what Is right. They recognise the path of truth and honor, and In this path shall they move regardless of the Im mediate consequences. They evidently believe In righteousness for Itself. The writer of this thrilling drama evidently Insists upon the Inevitable triumph of the right, evep in Imme diate and temporal things, for he her* Interjects a miracle, Impossible to phys ical law, and which possibly lessens somewhat the valua and power of th* story to the materialistic mind. But we need not allow the difficulties ot the miracle to obscure for ua the snlendld lesson of the unqualified an and Into the way of life by painting for your enraptured Imagination beau tiful pictures of tbe city celestial? Or does he seek to sooth* for you an out raged conscience by promising the elimination of saiutary retributive Jus tice by means ot a vicarious atone ment? Or does he try, with all his might, to help you to realise that you . - . .. . ore son* and daughters of th* most , rt g h !*“ u * ne, ‘ of ,h «** thr * e “"'I - 1 high Ood; that you are moral and splr- "TvZ. . .v V,,, .. . , . .. Itual beings, endowed with the rapacity This la the sort of virtue which the world must havo before lu men and women shall be able to boast them selves as actually civilized nnd truly cultured, the virtue which la neither of necessity or convenience, but by natural and Instlnctlyp choice. Wc believe thnt religion and Itn teachings shall be frittnd to be the moat certain mean* to lha highest culture and the purest ethic*. But our prog ress tn this direction must of necessity depend largely upon »ur interpretation of religion nnd upon thejtuman motive of conduct to; - filch that Interpreta tion make* strowqrst appeal. Wc can not legislate decency and or der Into human hearts, W# do not make men good hy putting them In Jail. We only temporarily restrain them from doing evil. Human soul* are not made actually righteous, cither by ter rifying them with the fear of hell of by entrancing them with the hope of heaven. Actual righteousness, the righteousness which causes unfetgnrd rejoicing In the homes of eartfi and In the courts of heaven. Is not a sponta neous production. It I* the result of slow and painful process, but It Is aa stable as 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? Doe* he attempt tn frighten you Into decency by rhetorically cracking the whip of hell in the ears of your superstitious terror? Dr doe* he endeavor to whee dle you away front the path of death K , endowed with the rapacity tween good and evil and to determine what Is right and what Is wrong, and that because Ood has en dowed-you so Cully and freely with Hi* spirit of triumphant righteousness, He has a right to confidently expect grent things of you. He has a right to expect thnt you wilt choose right In preference to wrong, simply because It Is right, and not primarily bscaus* It will bring you happiness, while Its opposite will result In misery? Which of these method* does your preacher pursue? It Is assumsd that th* majority of preochsrs are honest; that they are conscientious; that they nre anxious to adapt what may appear to them to be the best avenue of approach to the henrt* and lives of their people. This being stg then It follow* that you who listen may form a reasonably correct Idea of your preacher's mental estimate of your spiritual condition and your spiritual needs, by the habit ual tenor of his message, and from the basis upon which He makes to your consciences His appeal for righteous ness. And In case you ithould resent and repudiate hi* hypothesis, remember that your only hopo of successful vin dication of your position ' will lie in subsequent conduct. Perhaps your preacher ts right. 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