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THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN',
SATURDAY, DECEMBER IB, 1906.
RELIGION AND THE LAW
11 By REV. EVERETT DEAN ELLENWOOD, !
PASTOR UNIVERSAL1ST CHURCH |
H
L ,\W' Ir the beginning of civiliza
tion. It Is th« result of man’s
ttrst conscious conception of Gotl.
recognition of the existence of
-that power not ourselves, which
makes Inr rlghteousrtess," Is always In
conjunction with our recognition of
certain fixed rule* and regulations
nugh which human safety and hap-
„i nP es are to be secured and main
tained Therefore, the man who recog
nizes the value of law acknowledges
neHef In the existence of Ood, even
iflough Ids private philosophy may not
admit the fact.
A Law-abiding People.
,\s a nation we consider ourselves
religious people. We are given over to
the observances and the customs of
worship. Every known brand and type
„f religion flourlahes here unmolested.
It would appear then that we must oe
pre-eminently a law-abiding people;
that the laws of our land must receive
the Immediate and loving allegiance of
those who have brought them Into be
lt Is an unhappy commentary
upon our hoaated civilization that a
careful and unprejudiced analysis of
the spirit and temper of the American
people anil a faithful examination of
judicial recorda makes denial of tills
proud boast,
— are not exactly a lawless people,
e cannot with honeBty claim for
ourselves that we are In reality a law-
,biding people. Not until we shall find
that the vast majority of our people
-live In tl)C law" through natural choice
rather thin fear of the penalty for Its
Infraction,, may we know ourselves to
, b * * truly law-loving and law-abiding
nation. It is one thing to be submis
sive to the law. Ini the absence of any
other motive to decency this is well. It
Is undoubtedly the beginning of right
eousness, but Jt is quite another thing
to actually live in the law, and to be
*° say with Israel's noted singer.
Oil, how I love thy law.” The really
law-abiding citizen spends no time in
endeavoring to evade the provisions of
the laws of his community, but erideav-
ors rather to fully acquaint himself
with all the intricacies of accepted leg
islation. In order that he may not un
wittingly become a transgressor. He
does not ask "how for mav I 'go and
still keep out of the penitentiary?” but
rather, "how may I best observe the
spirit as well as the letter of this law?
Causes of the Failure of Law.
Various causes may be assigned for
the altogether too general and *usy
disregard for law In this country. In
too many minds this evil is due, no
doubt, to a grievous misinterpretation
of the function and the object of law.
Much ‘wholesome education is needad
in certain quarters to convince men
•and. women that the law is designed to
insure for each individual the largest
and fullest liberty rather tha’n to oper
ate for the curtailment of personal
privilege. We need also more wise
and careful supervision of our legisla
tive bodies In order that the menacing
mass of foolish and venal laws shall be'
abolished and prevented. We are not
suffering from any lack of legislation.
Rather are we already surfeited by It.
Our statute books bulge with laws’and
enactments whose obscurities and in
tricacies are at once the despair anl
the Joy of the lawyers, making absolute
Justice as difficult to secure as the
parabolic passage of the camel through
the eye of the needle. It Is high time
that we should continence sending
statesmen Instead of politicians to the
legislature. Class legislation is an
other of the serious menaces to our na
tional Integrity. No law is worthy the
sane consideration and willing allegl
ance of enlightened men whose opera
tion cannot be calculated to unfailingly
work happiness and comfort to all the
people. The only possible insurance for
universal respect and observance of law
exists in absolute impartiality in the
enactment and the enforcement -of leg
islation. So long as our distorted con
ception of the Interpretation and appli
cation of law sends to the chain gang
the wretch whose temporary exigency
or hereditary propensity appropriates :\
loaf of bread, and sends to congress the
skillful villain who wrecks a bank or
steals a railroad, so tong shall we labor
against fearful odds to teach men to
become law-abiding citizens. We need
to-learn, too, that we do but spend our
labor in vain when we attempt to leg
islate ahead of public sentiment. The
law Is always the creature, not the cre
ator of a public sentiment toward right
eousness in any given item of conduct.
No law may be counted upon to prove
anything more than a constant source
of irritation and discord whose enforce
ment Is not demanded by the majority
of the people. The zealous, but fanati
cal advocates, of new and special legfs-
culties in the way of ready observance
of law is the prevalent exaggeration of
the Individual consciousness. This Is,
above all else, the age of the indlvld
ual. While true progress Is only pos
sible through the possession of an es
sential amount of egotistic conscious
ness, yet we face great danger of its
over-emphasis at the expense of the
indispensable social consciousness. The
tendency of the time Is for the insistent
demand for individual privilege and
the relegating to the background of
sympathy and consideration the needs
and the rights of others. The faithful
practice of unselfishness and self-sac
rifice will do more toward making a
trub
REV. E. D. ELLENWOOD.
lation need to learn that the attempt to
legislate public sentiment is about as
logical as Don Quixote's battle with the
wind mills.
Exaggeration of Individualism.
Probably one of the greatest dlffl-
legfslatlon which civilization has
evolved.
Moral Effect of Prevailing Theology.
It is not too bold or too .broad a
statement to declare that the deplora
ble and prevalent lawlessness la In a
very large sense the direct result of
the prevailing and popular theology. If
we believe that religion is the root
of all law, .non must we not trace the
law's lack of power to error or weak
ness in our religious conceptions?
We believe that the consciousness of
God in the heart is the very beginning
of human legislation. The laws by
which He reveals Himself to us and
by which He maintains harmony In
all the vast moral and material uni
verse must be our only available pat
tern for the laws whereby we shall
seek to maintain harmony among the.
tribes and inhabitants of the earth.
Therefore, it must naturally follow that
our conception of the worth and dig
nity and nature of our own laws must
be but an echo of our idea of God and
of the nature of His laws and the plan
of their operation. If we conceive
God and His laws to be omnipotent,
Impartial, constant, and absolutely im
mutable and inviolable, then we may
confidently expect our own laws, fash
ioned after this beautiful and flawless
pattern, to assume a corresponding dig
nity and worth In our minds. On the
other hand, if we have been taught to
ns'a being endowed with
think of God ■
human passions and impulses, fickle,
capricious, creating a world today and
repenting of it tomorrow and destroy
ing It all that He may have a fresh
start, requiring to bo pleaded and in
terceded with to induce Him to deal
mercifully with the creatures He has
brought into being, granting special
favors In answer to special supplica
tions. breaking His own laws with ease
and impunity, and providing the means
whereby those who violate His laws
may escape merited and necessary pun
ishment, In short violating every known
principle of law and philosophy, then
surely we may not be expected to en
tertain a very exalted opinion or regard
for human laws and enactments fash-
ioned after such an unworthy pattern.
When we contemplate the theological
fogs through which man has constant
ly struggled upward toward God, we
cease to wonder that there 1h ho much
of lawlessness among men, and marvel
rather that there Is so little. The most
Important arid hopeful step toward the
maintenance of human law and order
i and wholesome social conditions Js the
general and avow’ed acceptance of a
theology which is not at variance with
normal human reason and experience,
a theology which presents a God. wor
thy of constant and unswerving alle
giance, and divine laws which may be
depended upon to operate unfailingly
and Impartially. The man who believes
that God will answer his prayer for
the rain his own crop so much needs,
regardless of the fact that his neigh
bor's unstacked hay will be ruined J*y
the same shower, will be most likely
to demand of a human judge the abro
gation of tire law enacted for humhn
safety and the remission of the penal
ty for the slaying of his neighbor, on
the plea that the victim had crossed
his passion or his prejudice. .
The man who accepts wJth Joy the
theory that the penalty of a world's
transgression was paid by the death
of an Innocent victim need not be sur
prised if he finds himself regarding
with easy complacency rather than
with dismay the constant defeating of
the very ends of human justice and the
unpunished violation of law. In a
sane and civilized community the ob
ject of punishment must always be
reformation; therefore, we do commit
a grievous wrong against the offender
whenever we permit his offense against
society to pass unanswered and with
hold from him the penalty required for
his return to citizenship.
Let us reform our theology. Let us
not expect our own attempts at gov
ernment to be any more successful
than our conception of the success of
thfe government of God.
“A DRINK FROM AN OLD WELL”
... y.,
“0, that ana would givo mo drink of
which 1* by tho gate,
.—II Samuol 22
slien
n
By REV. JOHN E. WHITE,
PASTOR SECOND BAPTIST CHURCH
IMMMMHIHHMHI
T HIS Is an Old Testament “short
story.” It Is a tribute to David's
^onerous heart that he did not
leave it out of the record, for, on the
whole, It tinea not reflect the greatest
credit on him. David is the center, but
n«i the hero, of this bit of ancient his
tory. He was not always a heroic man.
Ho was touched with our common In
firmities, “a touch of nature that makes
the world akin.” Possibly that may ac
count for the fact that he was a man
after God’s heart, and.certalnly it
for David’s attractiveness to the
average man.
Now, It is that quality of humanness
that comes out here. “Oh, that one
would give me drink of the water of the
well of Itethlehein, which Is by the
gate.” That doesn't sound* like the
halt Id ield. does It? It sounds like the
hospital. In fact, David's warrior days
ore about over. He Is now an old man,
who is living upon the love of his
friends, who know what he has been,
whom ho still wields a magic
influence.
Whims.
Scarcely had David’s longing es
caped his lips before three men stood
outside the hold buckling on their
srmor. "The king wants a drink from
c well of Bethlehem, which is by tho
nr, and he shall have It.”
Forth they salty to die, if necessary,
i«l to fight because It Is necessary: for
fiat? To satisfy an old man’s fancy—
to get a drink of a certain water in
obedience to what I suppose may Justly
be < onsidered a .sentimental whim.
That . Is the cold, hard fact, when you
look at It. A moment ago we were
praising and sharing David's senti
ment, but I want to say this: When
our yontlments and longings in hours
of despondency aVe calculated to make
trouble for those who love us, we are
playing a sorry part to give way to
them. He is a happy and fortunate
man who has friends ready to serve
him, but If he abuses his Influence with
them and their devotion to him ho de-
*mej* them no longer. It was a lesson
well taught when the three heroes came
bark bleeding, bearing the drink from
the well of Bethlehem. I do riot wonder
that David did not have the heart to
drink it. It is very difficult to get such
a lesson as this where It Is needed, for
by a strange mischief In human nature
tiie people who give unjustifiable and
cruel trouble to those who are devoted
to them are proverbially self-righteous
and always sinned against in their
own opinions. But it is a fact never
theless, lip own to God and right well
known to men, that husbands and fa
thers by the very power they have to
compel the devotion of the household,
arc often guilty of unmanly Insistence
upon their whims and eccentricities.
I am very sure also that wives and
mothers sometimes keep their husbands
and children miserable trying to please
them, when they are In an ugly temper.
What a sorrow! Keen as a sword at his
heart would It have been to David If
these three grand friends of his had
lost their fives to get him a drink of
water. It will be harrowing to us for
many a long day after.* If some time we
■hail look upon a cold face and have
our conscience teil us that we, by
heartless moods and unreasonable de
mands and extravagant cravings, wrote
those chiseled lines of pain and care
which death has frozen there for us to
see.
Mistaken Longings.
This story turns, upon the fact, on
Which great .emphasis Is laid in the
narrative, that David did not drink the
water after they brought it. Is that not
remarkable? Listening to his plaint
we would suppose that It he could just
get a drink from the old spring at the
gute.he would be perfectly happy. But
when it comes he disappoints the three
heroes and does not drink it after all.
Possibly since they had brought It a
long distance it had lost its freshness
and sweetness. David was In the spell
of ft mistaken longing. His imagina
tion invested the water of tho well of
Bethlehem with a charm It did not pos
sess.
Let this teach us contentment. Our
longings are often mistaken. The old
oaken butket that hangs in the well
would be a disappointment If It were
substituted for your waterworks. Tho
mill pond of your boyhood, which you
thought a little ocean, and the dear old
creek you thought a river, were very
Insignificant when you went back to
them after the lapse of yedrs. Do you
long for the good old times before the
war? Every thoughtful man knows
that the good old tlriies before the war
would be considered bad old times if
they were brought In to displace the
present civilization.
Does any man seriously think that
"the old-time religion” of which we
sing, the religion of a century ago,
would be an Improvement on the Chris
tianity of the twentieth century?
Granted most gladly that there were
aspects of the religion of our forefa
thers vital and unspeakably valuable
for every age, but the Christianity of
missions and charities and philanthro
pies and temperance and fraternity and
of trained workers and of the Kingdom
of God practically realized. Is a vast
Improvement on the Christianity
around which Ve throw the halo of rev
erential sentiment.
It is worth a great deal to believe
that God is marching on; that the gos
pel Is enriching human life, and that
despite manifold errors and evils to
combat, the truth of Christ Is advanc
ing all over the world. It was written
of Christ, "He shall not fall nor be dis
couraged.” When Christ tomes it will
not be to certify and accredit “Ole gos
pel of pessimism.
Who Drinks Blood?
Let us come to the heart of the
story r . David did not drink the water
the three heroes set before him, but
I must not leave the impression that
he declined it in a mood of mere
caprice. The wafer, no longer fresh
and cool, ns the water of that old well
had been to his youth, but this is not
the cause of his strange action. When
his three friends, placed the water at
his feet he looked upon them* and then
the king that was In him, the nobility
of his nature, rose up to the sublime
significance of what that water repre
sented. If you are fond of fine specta
cles, look at this. That water changed
to blood In David's eyes—the blood of
heroes, drlnk-lt he dare not.
DR. JOHN E. WHITE.
The year after the war was over
General Robert E. Lee was sitting one
day on the porch of his home In
Richmond* when he saw a straggling
group of men hesitating at the cor
ner. At length one of them approached
tho steps, hat In hand. "What c*n I
do for you, my good man?” General Lee
said.
"Well, genera!, me and some of the
boys have come down hero to see you."
’•Where are they?”
'They are around the corner, general,
being as I wasn't as ragged as some
of ’em they sent me to see
"Well, what is It I can do for you
and your friends?”
"Well, general, we've been a hearing
up in the mountains that they were
talkin’ about puttin’ you in prison at
Washington and tryln* you for treason,
and all that; so we Just made it up
thar in the mountains to give you the
best farm ther* was. If you would come
up thar where you would be safe from
the Yankees. If .We ever get you up
thar they’d never git you while we was
livin’. And you shouldn’t never want
for nothin’, neither.” *
When the man finished his honest,
earnest speech, the tears were rolling
down Robert Lee’s cheeks. Meanwhile
all the others had gathered about the
front.
"God bless you, my dear men; but
I cannot take your farm, and I cannot
go with you. Go back and tell your
people that no one is going to harm
me and that I am well cared for here.”
When David looked at those battle-
stained heroes, standing before him
with the dear bought draught from
the well of Bethlehem, It was no
longer David, weak and unklngly, but
David of old, a hero himself, thrilled
by heroism and vAlor. He rose to the
moral sublimity of their deed of sacri
fice and said:
My God, forbid It me that I should
do this thing; shall I drink the blood
of theso men that have put their lives
In Jeopardy?”
And as he said It he became a holy
priest and poured It out unto the Lord
as a sacrament. It was no longer water
from the well of Bethlehem. It had
passed into a valuo far beyond his
selfish thirst, far beyond all that his
longing had ascribed to it.
There are some things too precious
for Idle or selfish using, things that
cost too much for unworthy employ
ment.
When we set about gratifying our
taHteH and desires, do we ask, "How
much blood has gone Into the making
of this thing 1 want?” If women cul
tivated a fine sensitiveness like that
Christ suggested when He said, "Not 1
would they be utterly Indifferent to the
presence on their hats of a poor bird t
murdered to make an idle ornament?
When you are sitting in a theater
chosen probably for its dancers you
would reflect upon how much modesty
and virtue had to be murdered to make
it possible for you to have an hour’i
spectacle, would your sense of man
hood or womanhood experience no re
vulsion?
If you realized that the bargain
counters you rush early to find some
times represent the pitiful servitude,nf
thousands of half-paid operatives, to
the necessity for cheap labor In order
to provide for the American bargain
passion, would it make no difference to
you? That is what Thomas Hood
meant when In ”The Song of the Shirt”
he began the great reform of London
sweat-shops;
"O. men, with sisters dear!
O, men, with mothers and wives.
It Is not linen you're wearing out,
But human creatures' lives.”
The Power of Money.
We are often reminded that money is
power. There are moments In every
man’s outlook upon society when it ap
pears to be the only power and the
only standard of power the world rec
ognizes. Money is power. Money ought
to be power. But the power in money
that ought to be, the only power it has
a true title to, has no reference to the
money Itself, but to what It represents
of human energy and life that goes Into
Its creation. A dollar can claim only so
much power as it has cost of human
powers to create it. A dollar Is a stor
age battery; It stores up th&~ blood,
nerve life force of labor. The Intrinsic
value of a dollar is not determined as
we are apt to think by what It will
buy of things, but by what has bought
It and can buy It. The real fact in the
philosophy of money Is that when you
spend a dollar you do not buy things,
you buy men and women—what they
have put or are willing to put into
things of their life and labor.
It therefore comes ubout that there
are some things money has no right to
buy beeauso they cost too much of
a sparrow falleth without the Father,” | blood to be the objects of trade.
1 , For Instance, why does the con
science of the country protest against
the corruption of the ballot and -the
corruption of government, the buying
of votes and the control of legislatures
by money? It Is because citizenship in
this republic and the free government
of this republic was secured at a sacri
fice too sacred to be put on the bargain
counter.
We have witnessed a remarkable
moral tide rise very high In this coun
try during the past *two years. It fs
still rising and will rise higher. The
great thing of our recent American
history Is not the splendid prosperity
which has dowered the land in every
section, hut the great thing has been
the awakening of public conscience,
for along with It and probably the ex
planation of Its force, Is the realisation
that American Institutions are a value
transcending the right of money to
control them at a price, though that
price were billions upon billions. They
were not bought with money, they can
not be sold for money. They were pur
chased by blood. There are resources
of infinite public wrath deposited In
the pages of Revolutionary hlstoiy.
Some conception of the possibilities of
Indignation in public sentiment has
been gained by its manifestations
against those who have used the op
portunities of a free government to
amass giant fortunes by using legisla
tures and courts for commercial ad-,
vantage, but only a. slight conception.
And the bottom Is all that means n
holy valuation upon the sacrifice* la
bor-and human service, which has gono
Into the creation of a country like ours.
Let ever our thought ascend higher
still. This book on which I lay a rev
erent hand, the Bible, this church end
the soul liberty it smybollses, religious
liberty as a social possession, do you
appreciate w'hat they have cost? The
Christian religion, the gospel of Jesus
Christ—will you put that In the scales
und know what It cost? If you will,
never ngnln will you think Ughtly of Jt
or allow its message to you and Its
meaning for you go by with an Idle
word or without a sincere response of
consecration.
>«•••«•«•«*«••••»•«••«*<
ATHEISM TRIED BY THE TEST OF SCIENCE
By REV. JAMES W. LEE,
PASTOR TRINITY METHODIST CHURCH
R KL1GIOUS doctrine, like mathe
mat leal. xhemleal, economic or
doctrine covering any other form
of fact, in order to be scientific, must
h* based upon real experience, valid
evidence, sound reasoning and must
conform to the laws of the universe.
b must answer to action when put
to ,llP test by the will and the prac-
life, so as not to bring intellectual
confusion and actual failure. Reason
ronstnutK the universe of thought out
"f -Limtlons, and If man were not
under the necessity of dieting as well
« of thinking, he might take his men
tal \v..rld for science. But ho has a
practical life to live, and is therefore
urnlor the necessity of dally testing his
th'uifcht-world by translating It Into
out.^i.io fact. The invisible Intellectual
,n; > hinery works far down beneath the
surface, reducing separate Impressions
general propositions. The conclu-
*f" n « reached may appear to he eon-
the one with the other and
the facts upon which they are
t>asf d. but not until the thinker steps
outside the hidden domain of thought
fm-i the hard exterior world of tangible
Jact and begins to put his conclusions
int,, practice, is he able to determine
JMr scientific value. The alchemists
[ or ages continued to devise schemes
abstract logical processes with a view
JJ finding in the elements of nature
tn*‘ otixlr of lif$ and the philosopher’s
Jton., "but the outside order smashed
jn* h mental traps as soon as they set
'Jen*. Ptolemy conceived a program
( >f the heavens with the earth In the
center of the solar aystem, and tried
in got it worked out In the skies, but
® u the stars In their courses fought
“gainst it and destroyed it. Copernicus
y ;i ' more successful, because he de-
nu,*,j system from a study of the
flea veils and hence It stood the prae-
npal test and was therefore scientific,
proceed exactly upon the same lines
to determine what the religion of set
* n "' te. that we follow to find out what
- tHrs of science or the atoms of
Jtu-nir are. When our knowledge of
Manets is such that we can verify
truth of it in sailing our ships, we
”7 V khow we have found the stars of
“Gence. When our knowledge of the
‘Molecules is such that we can verify
; , tr uth of It In cooking our feod
mixing out medicines, we »nay
sn<« that wo have discovered the
rVm* »»f Kcfence. When our knowl-
'»f religion Uf such that we can
and triumphantly, we may know that
we have found the religion of science.
Perceptions and mental processes are
confined within the limits of the per
sonal *self. We have no Intuitions o?
things except ns they are presented to
us and used for duta to build up gen
eral Ideas within us. The intellect can
only compare, contrast and combine
the impressions of sense. It Is when,
therefore, man passes from thinking
Into acting that he is able to measure
the practical value of his ideas. Clear-
cut, consistent mental propositions
thoroughly match the needs of the in
tellect. But man needs food und must
eat; he needs protection atid must find
raiment and a shelter; alone he Is im
potent, he must come Into relations
with others of nls klrd. He cannot
encase himself within the confines of
his consciousness and give himself up
to nothing beside, watching his In
tellectual machinery thresh out the
wheat of general ideas from the straw
of separate impressions. The world
around him with all that Is upon it, is
in a perpetual whirl. He must move
or he run over. He must act or be de
stroyed. He cannot house within him
self the products of his thought, how
ever fair and beautiful they may ap
pear to Jnmself to be. H** must re
produce them. He must plant his men
tal seed com with a view to future
crops. He must sow his Ideas In the
plantation of the world. He must hold
his place in the rushing, mixed pro
cession of which he forms a part.
Hence, besides his intellect to turn out
thought, he must use'desire and will
to translate his mental conceptions
Into action. As soon as they visualize
themselves and stand before him
the form and color of fact,
„ v Is able to determine whether
thev are on all fours with the universe
or not. When he launches his mental
ships on the real storm-tossed ocean. If
they successfully outride the waves, he
and all the world know that they are
seaworthy. When Cotint R umford
converted his theory of heat into the
tireless wheels of toll* every poor man
on earth knew that it was scientific.
When Cyrus W. Field turned his the
ory into a cable of steel under the At
lantic, all the world knew that it was
scientific. Because an Idea Mr. Field
has assumed to be true when put to
the practical test did In fact act as
though It were true. The way of histo
ry Is strewn with the mental debris of
practical test as though they were |
true, and hence were thrown aside and
left as so much litter along the path
of progress. The records of mankind
are hugely taken up with accounts of I
social, political, moral, religious and i
mechanical theories which at "onetime
or another were assumed to be true,
hut which failed to work in practice.
All our verifiable knowledge, whether
ot the world, or man, or God, is such as
passed muster with tho intellect, and
afterward stood the test also of the will
and practical life. And It may be said
that whatever the human intellect from .
any basis of fact has assumed to bej
true, that when put to the test of the |
will and the practical life, did In fact ‘
act In universal experience, and so
continue* to act, as though It were
true in science. If this were not so
our intellectual world of nature und
man and Ood would be Illusions. We
only know they are not illusions be
cause we can practice them without
being discomfited, baffled and thrown
back into our -private natures of im
agination with the sad understanding
with ourselves that no rails are laid
In the world of fact to fit the mental
engines we run out from our world of
thought to move over them into the
uttermost ports of the earth.
Will the assertion made by Haeckel
that there Is nothing beside matter
and motion if assumed to be true, an
swer to action In the practical life as
though It were true? Can this assump
tion be practiced without mental con
fusion and actual failure? How will
the belief that there Is no God work
when brought down from the region of
Intellectual speculation Into the domain
of every-day life? AH this we can test
by valid evidence and sound reasoning.
The theory has been tried In history
over and over again. We can select al
most any one of the centuries of civili
zation and find In It data sufficient to
test the scientific value of the concep
tion. In order to make the case per
fectly clear we will begin with a period
near our own time and within our own
memory, and then proceed backward tj
other ages for abundant, practical evi
dence of the proposition that'we cannot
assume as true the declaration that
there Is no God, without Intellectual
confusion and actual failure. The great
revival of religion which began under
the Wesleys and Whitfield In the mid
dle of the eighteenth century, domi
nated the life and thought of Knglhgi
*4ify the l ff h inliving our theories, once assumed to be true, hut speaking peoples down to about the
JntlSSoJty which would not act when put to the middle of last century. This move
ment not only took ecflesiastfcal form
In Methodism, but It profoundly af
fected the life of the people, both In the
old and the new world. It stimulated
commercial enterprise, created inter
est in general education, modified the
ology, and generated a new political
and social atmosphere. Old lines of
thought, feeling and action were dis
placed by'new ones. It revolutionized
and recreated English civilization. It
Inaugurated a new' time, fresh with new'
inspiration and new' hopes. The horizon
of thought was widened. Into this
period, radiating and glowing with
the fervor kindled by the preaching of
the gospel of eternal truth, C'harlt?*
Darwin was born in 1809. Herbert
Spencer in 1820, John Tyndall In 1820
and Thomas H. Huxley In 1825. They
were the children of the age Wesley
and his helpers created. The high pur
pose with which they began their work
was due In large measure to the Invig
orating moral-and spiritual atmosphere
they breathed from their very infancy.
Their deep ethical sense, their devotion
to the truth, was awakened In them
by the moral conditions created by the
spiritual lenders of the victorious evan
gelism. The light by whldh they dis
covered laws, regarded at the time as
destructive of the foundations of re
ligion. came to them from the truth the
J new-tline preachers had made trlum-
i phant. The courage which enabled
! them to fight for their convictions and
I publish to the world in spite of all op
position evinced the fart that the self-
J denial and consecration of the religious
* leaders had found a place In the lives
1 of the students of nature.
> In 1855 Herbert Spencer published
| his "Principles of Psychology,” based
J upon the theory of evolution. In
i 1860 he Issued a prospectus of his sys-
, torn of Synthetic Philosophy, In which
i beginning with the first principles -»f
? knowledge, he proposed to trace the
i progress of evolution in life, mind, so-
j clety and morality. In 1859 Mr. Dar
win published his work, on "The Origin
of Species by Means of Natural Selec
tion, or the Preservation of Favored
Races In the struggle for Life.” In
(his book he propounded the theory of
biological evolution. Neither the "Prin
ciples of Psychology" nor the "Origin of
Species” were read extensively by the
people, but professors, editors and stu
dents read them, and in a very little
while almost every intelligent person
on earth had heard of the ! new doc
trines of "evolution,” "struggle for ex
istence,” "survival of the fittest,” etc.
Newspapers, magazines and periodicals
of every kind contained long reviews
and discussions of them. In 1844 Pro
fessor John Tyndall delivered his cele
brated Belfast address before the Brit
ish association. In that deliverance he
read God out of the universe, The
foundation of things was not Intelli
gent mind, but blind, whirling atoms.
He declared that he saw In matter, in
atoms, the promise and the potency of
all forms of life. Notice was served on
Christendom that the Almighty God,
so long held by the belated and be
nighted multitudes uf all ages to he
the maker of heaven and earth, must favor.
in favor of tha ours •laoMnuor ••*rh*r* can
atom, the unit of mass and of thought
•There was nothing but atoms and
void, all else was mere whims out
of date;
It was needless for man to curry fa-
* vor with beings who could not
exist,
To compass some petty promotion In
nebulous kingdoms of mist."
doubt that the existence of God is
wholely unnecessary to explain any of
tho phenomena of the universe than
there is doubt If I leave go of my pen
it will fall upon the table.”
- With, evolution for an- Immanent
cause of all things and natural selec
tion tor a general overseer, God was
rendered unnecessary.
III.
The brilliant attempt of Professor
Tyndall to dethrone God In the pres
ence of the British association made
an impression without any parallel in
the whole history of the Christian
church. The atheistic tide was at its
flood. Professor William K. Clifford
was saying that in a very little time,
"evidence of the same kind and cogen
cy as that which forbids us to assume
the existence between the earth and
Venus of « planet as large as either
of them, would forbid our faith In a
Divine Creator.” John Morley adopted
the fashion of spelling the word God
with a little "g.” John Richard Green,
the historian, was giving up his creed
end his curacy In the English church.
Rudolph Virchow, the celebrated
physiologist, was teaching material
ism in Germany. Emil DuBois-Ray-
mond, another physiologist, whose
name is a household word, was spread
TOWN GET8 LIGHTS
, FROM TOWER LINE.
Special to The Georgian.
Gainesville* Ga., Dec. 15.—By reason
of the completion of the tower line
between Gainesville and Atlanta, sev
eral small towns on the Southern be
tween here and Atlanta will gave lights
of their own In the near future. The
line nearly all the way la within a
short distance of several towns, and
they are all seriously considering using
electricity to light their streets, busi
ness houses and residences.
Already Buford has contracted with
the North Georgia Electric Company
to furnish the power to light the little
city, und work will be begun at once
wiring the town.
This tower line la said to be the sec*
Ing the doctrine of atheism In Berlin, ond of Its kind In the United States.
Wundt, the most distinguished psychol
ogist of the present generation, was
representing materialism at Leipslc.
This movement to rule God out of ex
istence in the seventies was the most
grave and serious arraignment of the
fundamental doctrine of religion ever
known In the history of thought. It
woa not shallow and flippant, hut
earnest and dignified, and led by men
of the highest character. Leaders in
Israel were alarmed. Dean Church,
scholar and saint, said:
"There are reasons for looking for
ward to the future with solemn awe.
No doubt signs are about us which
mean something which we dare scarce
ly breathe. • * • Anchors are lift
ing everywhere, and men are commit
ting themselves to what they may meet
itli on the sea.**
George John Romanes published a
"Candid Examination of Theism,” In
which he said;
Inexorable logic has forced us to
conclude that viewing the question as
to the existence of a God only by the.
light which modern science has shed
u*»on It, there no longer api>ears to be
bu> semblance of an argument In its
The first one ever built was In New
York mate, which crosses the Niagara
river just above the falls and leads into
Canada. -
Woman Bound Over.
Accused of stealing a lot of silver
ware and other articles front the Tab
ernacle dormitory fdr girls, where she.
was employed, Sarah Jones, a negro i
woman, was bound over to the state
courts Friday morning by Recorder
Broyles. Her bond was fixed at $200.
The woman was arrested by Detect
ives Connolly and Starnes, who recov
ered the stolen goods.
Stole 8mokables.
The grocery* store of Wells & Head,
329 Peters street, was broken into by a
burglar some time Thursday night and
one box of tobacco gnd three box* * of
cigars stolen.
The burglar effected entrance into
the store through the front door. The
burglary was discovered shortly after
midnight by Policemen McGahee and
Butler.
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