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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1908.
RELIGION AND THE LAW
f j By REV. EVERETT DEAN ELLENWOOD,
PASTOR UNIVERSAL1ST CHURCH
AW
Is the beginning of civiliza
tion. It U the result of man'
L first conscious conception of God.
The recognition of the existence of
that power not ourselves, which
■tkes for righteousness.” Is always in
injunction with our recognition of
rtaln Used rules and regulations
rough which human safety ami hap-
i r eKs are to be secured and main-
mod. Therefore, the man who rccog-
,PK the value of lav acknowledges
lief In the existence of God, even
hough his private philosophy may not
dmlt the fact.
A Law-abiding People.
As a nation we consider ourselves a
liflous people. We are given over to
.. op.crvances and the customs of
Worship. Every known brand and type
I religion flourishes here unmolested.
■ would appear then that we must oe
re-emineAtly a law-abiding people;
hat the laws of our land must receive
he immediate and loving allegiance of
who have brought them Into be
lt is an unhnppy commentary
y .., our boasted civilisation that a
ar<Tul and unprejudiced analysis of
he spirit and temper of the*Amerlcan
.enplc and a faithful examination of
udlolii! records makes denial of this
rood boast. ,
e not exactly a lawless people,
cannot with honesty claim for
in-selves that we are In reality a law-
hldltig people. Not until we shall find
hit the vast majority of our people
■ in tile law" through natural choice
er Ilian fear of the penalty for Its
tetion, may we know ourselves to
S*?j rul j; law-iovln* and law-abiding:
• *»?* H one th,n » to be submls-
®;Y e to ,aw * In the absence of any
other motive to decency this is well. It
Is undoubtedly the beginning: of right
eousness, but It Is quite another thing
to actually live in the law, and to be
able to 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 hls community, but endeav-
ors rather to fully acquaint himself
with nil the Intricacies of accepted leg
islation, In order that he may not un
wittingly become a transgressor. He
does not ask “how far may I go and
still keep out of the penitentiary?” but
rather, “how may I best observe the
spirit as well as the tetter of this law?
Causes of the Failure of Law.
Various causes may be assigned for
the altogether too general and \uay
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 needed
In certain quarters to convince men
and women that the law is designed to
insure for each individual the largest
and fullest liberty rather than 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 and
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 wd should . cbmmence 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 allegi
ance of enlightened iqen 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 a
loaf qf bread, and sends to congress the
skillful villain who wrecks a bank or
•teals a railroad, so long 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 pro.ve
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 legls-
REV. E. D, ELLENWOOD.
Igtion 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 diffi
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 Individ
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
truly law-abiding people than nil the
formal legislation wjflen 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 Is in a
very largo sense the direct result of
the prevailing and popular theology. If
we believe that religion is the root
of all law, then 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, ft 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 Hls laws and the plan
of their operation. If we conceive
God and Hls laws to be omnipotent,
impartial, constant, and absolutely im
mutable and inviolable, then w’e 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 wo have been taught to
think of God as a being endowed with
human passions and impulses, fickle,
capricious, creating a world today and
repenting of It tomorrow' and destroy
ing ft all that He may have a fresh
start, requiting to be 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 Hls own laws with ease
and Impunity, and providing the means
whereby those who viqlate Hls 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 is so much
of lawlessness among men, and marvel
rather that there Is so little. The most
Important and hopeful step toward the
maintenance of human law and order
and wholesome social conditions is the
general and avowed 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 hls prayer for
the rain hls own crop so much needs,
regardless of the fact that hls neigh
bor’s unstacked hay will be ruined by
the same shower, will bo most likely
to demand of a human judge the abro
gation of the law enacted for human
safety and the remission of the penal
ty for the slaying of hls neighbor, on
the plea that the victim had crossed
his passion or his prejudice.
The man who accepts with 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 hls offense against
society'to pass unanswered and with
hold from him the penalty required for
hls 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
the government of God.
r~
>•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••§•#•••(
; ».
“A DRINK FROM AN OLD WELL”
“O, that on. would givs me drink of
which it by th* gait."
—II Samuel 22:14.
By REV. JOHN E. WHITE,
PASTOR SECOND BAPTIST CHURCH
"HIS is an Old Testament “short i the well of Bethlehem. I do not wonder
It la a tribute to David’s
generous heart that he did not
it out of the record, r for, on the
..hole. it does not reflect the greatest
<iit mi him. David is the center, but
the hero, of this bit of ancient lds-
y. He whh not always a heroic man.
wtia touched with our common In
finities. “a touch of nature that makes
hr world akin." Possibly that may nc-
for the fact that he was a man
God’s heat'L and certainly it ac-
s for David’s attractiveness to the
go. man,
a, It Is that quality of humanness
comes out here. "Oh, that one
touM give me drink of the water of the
Bethlehem, which la by the
That doesn't sound like the
lattlrllf Id, does It? It sounds like the
In fact, David’s warrior days
ire a bo ut fiver. He Is now an old man,
living upon the love of hls
i-lends, who know what he has been,
r whom he still Wields u magic
nfluenee.
Whims.
rely had David’s longing es-
aped his lips before three men stood
-utstde Hie hold buckling on their
•r. “'i he king wants a drink from
fell ut’ Bethlehem, which Is by tho
mil he shall have It.”
£h they sally to die. If necessary,
* fight because It Is necessary: for
To satisfy an old man’s fancy—
« a drink of a certain water In
nbedlcnce to what I suppose may Justly
“ considered « sentimental whim.
I.Rt is the cold, hard fact, when you
at it. A moment ago we were
raising and sharing David’s sentl-
nt. hut 1 want to say this: When
i- i-ndnientH and longings in hours
f dr.-p.mdenoy are calculated to make
for those who Jove us, we are
playing u sorry part to give way to
< a happy anti fortunate
s friends ready to serve
him. hut If he abuses hls Influence with
hron ;miJ their devotion to him he fle-
M Vf s them no longer. It was a lesson
HI taught when the three heroes came
ack bleeding, bearing the drink from
that David did not have the heart to
drink it. It Is very difficult to get such
a lesson this where it fa needed, for
by a strange mischief In human nature
the 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, known to God and right well
known to men, that husbands and fa
thers by the very power they have to
compel the devotidn of the household,
are 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 hls
heart would It have been to David If
these three grand friends of his had
lost their lives to get him a drink of
water. It will be harrowing to us for
many a long day after. If some time we
shall look upon a cold face and have
our conscience tell 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 u* 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. Js that not
remarkable? Listening to hls plaint
wo would suppose that If ho could just
get a drink from the old spring at the
gate he would be perfectly happy. But
when It comes he disappoints tho 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 a mistaken longing. Hls imagina
tion Invested th© water of the well of
Itothleham with a charm It did not pos-
Let this teach us contentment. Our
longings are often mistaken. The old
oaken bucket that hangs In thS well
would be a disappointment If It were
substituted for your waterworks. The
i mill pond of your boyhood, which you J
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 years.- Do you
long for the good old times before the
war? Efery thoughtful man knows
that th#good old times 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 wt throw the halo of rev
erential sentiment.
It Is worth a great deal to believe
that God is marching on; that the gos
pel In enriching human life, and that
despite manifold error* and evils to
combat, tho truth of Christ Is advanc
ing all over the world. It was written
of Christ, “He shall not fall not* be dis
couraged.” When Christ comes It
not be to certify and accredit the gos
pel of pessimism.
Who Drinks Blood?
Let us come to the heart of the
story. 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 water, no longer fresh
and cool, as the water of that old well
had been to his youth, but this Is not
the cause of hls strange action. When
hls three friends placed the water at
hls feet he looked upon them, and then
the king that was In him, the nobility
of hls 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, drink It he dare not.
DR. JOHN E. WHITE.
The year after the war was over
General Robert E. Lee was sitting one
day on tho porch of hls home in
Richmond, when he saw a straggling
group of men hesitating at the cor
ner. At length one of them approached
the steps, hat in hand. “What c*n I
do for you, my good man?” General Lee
said.
Well, general, mo and some of the
boys have come down here 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 you.”
“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 try In’ 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 hls honest,
earnest speech, the tears were rolling
down Robert Lee's cheoks. Meanwhile
all tho other* had gathered about the
front.
"God bless you, my dear men; but
I cannot take your farm, and 1 cannot
go with you. Go back and tell your
people that no one Is going to harm
me and that I nin well cared for hero.”
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 unktngly, 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 lutve put their lives
In Jeopardy?”
And as he said It he became a holy
priest and ponred it out unto the Lord
as a sacrament. It was no longer water
from the well of Bethlehem. It had
passed Into a value far beyond hls
selfish thirst, far beyond all that hls
longing had ascribed to It.
There are some things too precious
for idle or selfish using, things that
co'iit too much for unworthy employ
ment.
When we set about gratifying oar
tastes and desires, do we ask, "How
much blood hus gone Into the making
of this thing I want?” If women cul
tivated a fine sensitiveness like that
Christ suggested when He said, “Not
a sparrow falleth without the Father,"
would they be utterly Indifferent to the
presence on their hats of a poor bird,
murdered to make an idle ornament?
When you are sitting In a theate
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’s
spectacle, w f ould 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, of
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.”
Ths 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 gbes Into
its cfeatfon. A dollar can claim only so
much power as It hns cost of human
powers to create It. A dollar Js a stor
age battery; It stores up the 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 apd labor.
It therefore comes about (hat there
are some things money has no right to
buy because they cost too much of
blood to bo the objects of trails.
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'cltlzenship in
this republic and the free government
of this republic was secured at a sacri
fice too sacred to bo 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 le
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, but the great thing has'been
the awakening of public conscience,
for along with it and probably the ex
planation of Its force, Is the realization
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 history.
Some conception of the possibilities of
Indignation In public sentiment hat*
been gained by Its manifestations
against those who have used the op
portunities of a tree government to
amass giant fortunes by using legisla
tures nnd courts/for commercial' ad
vantage. but only a slight conception.*
And the bottom Is ait that means a
holy valuation upon the sacrifice, la
bor and humnn service, which has gone
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 and
the soul liberty it smybolizes, religious
liberty as a social possession, do yon
appreciate what they have cost? The
Christian religion, the gospel of Jesus
Christ—will you put that In the scales
and know what it cost? If you will,
never again will you think lightly of It
or allow Its message to you and its
meaning for you go by with an Idle
word or without a sincere* response of
consecration. 1
ATHEISM TRIED BY THE TEST OF SCIENCE
By REV. JAMES W. LEE,
PASTOR TRINITY METHODIST CHURCH
IMHIHIHH'I
R ELIGIOUS doctrine, like mathe
mntleal. chemical, economic or
doctrine covering any other form
t fart, in order to be scientific, must
imsed upon real experience, valid
vldcnee, sound reasoning and must
nforni to the laws of the universe.
If must answer to action when put
o the tost by the will and the prac-
lcal lift*, so as not to bring intellectual
onfitMon and uctual failure. Reason
onstructs the universe of thought out
'f sensations, and if man were not
ir ri*M the necessity of acting as well
* ■» f thinking, he might take hls men
al " rid for science. But ho has a
Tactical life to live, and Is therefore
J” er ,j lr necessity of dally testing hls
nought-world by translating it Into
msi.if fart. The Invisible Intellectual
taohinery works far down beneath the
mfaop. i educing separate impressions
nil propositions. The conclu-
ached may nppear to be oon-
'istPM the one with the other and
’ v,Ul the facts upon which they are
" ! . but not until the thinker steps
'ble the hidden domain of thought
fii* hard exterior world of tangible.
a< 1 and begins to put hls conclusions
[5 l 7 practice, Is he able to determine
nc>r scientific value. The alchemists
(■■L•* continued to devise schemes
PJtract logical processes with a view’
Ending In the elements of nature
dklr of life and the philosopher’s
but the outside order smashed
T*” mental traps as soon as they set
netu. Ptolemy conceived a program
Avetis with the earth In the
nt * s «>f tho solar system, and tried
wor ked out in the skies, but
" u th ° stars in their courses fought
dnst it and destroyed It. Copernicus
more successful, because he de-
“d ills system from a study of the
H™ n * and hence it stood the prac-
lost and was therefore scientific.
n . Reed exactly upon the same lines
” determine what the religion of scl-
"* ’hat we follow to find out what
’ar* of science or the atoms of
- n '* - are. When our knowledge of
ill nets is such that we can verify
‘' truth of it in sailing our ships, we
l?*’ know we have found the stars of
“nip. When our knowledge of the
• < ules is such that we can verify
, tn *th of it in cooking our food
nixing out medicines, we may
" that we have discovered the
of science. When our kmml-
ollgion Is such that we
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 of
things except as they are presented to
uh and used for data to build tip 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 hls Ideas. Clear-
cut, consistent mental propositions
thoroughly match the needs of the In
tellect. But man needs food and must
eat; he needs protection and must find
raiment nnd a shelter; alone he Is Im
potent, lie must come Into relations
with others i f .its kind. He cannot
encase himself within tho confines of
hls consciousness and give himself up
to nothing beside, watching hls In
tellectual machinery thresh out the
wheat of general idea* from the straw
of separate Impressions. The world
around him with nil that Is upon It, is
In a perpetual whirl. He must move
or bo run over. He must act or be de
stroyed. He cannot nouse within him
self the products of hls thought, how
ever fair and ’beautiful they may ap
pear to himself to he. lie must re
produce them. He must plant his men
tal seed corn with a view to future
crops. He must sow hls Ideas In the
plantation of the world. He must hold
hls place In the rushing, mixed pro
cession of which he forms a part.
Hence, besides hls intellect to turn out
thought, he must use desire and will
to translate hls mental conceptions
Into action. As soon as they visualize
themselves and stand before him
the form and color of fact,
is able to determine whether
they 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 lire
seaworthy. When Count Rumford
converted ids .theory of heat Into the
tireless wheels of Coil, every poor man
„n earth knew that it was scientific.
When Gyrus W. Field turned hls the
ory Into a cable of steel under the At
lantic, all the world knew that It was
scientific. Because an Idea Mr. Held
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
l practical test as though they were
true, and hence were thrown aside and
left ns so much litter along the path
of progress. Th© records of mankind
are largely taken up with accounts off
social, political, moral, religious and I
mechanical theories which at one time’
or another were assumed to be true,
but which failed to work In practice.
All our verifiable knowledge, whether
of the world, or man, or God, is such as
passed muster with the Intellect, and
afterward stood tho test also of the will
and practical life. And It may be said
that whatever the human intellect from
any basis of fact hat* assumed to- be
true, that when put to the test of the
will and the practical life, did In fact
act in universal experience, and so
continues to ac(, as though It were
true in science. If this were not so
our intellectual world of nature and
man and God would be illusions. We
only know they arc not illusions be
cause we can practice them without
being discomfited, baffled and thrown
back Into our private natures of InF-
agination with the sad understanding
With ourselves that no rails are laid
In the world of fact to fit the mental
engtnee we run out from our world of
thought to move over them into the
uttermost parts of the earth.
Will the assertion made by Haeckel
that there Ih‘ nothing beside matter
and motion If assumed to be true, an
swer to action in the practical life a*
though It were true? Can this assump
tttm 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? All this we can test
by- valid evidence and sound reasoning.
Tiie 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
other ages for abundant, practical evi
dence of the proposition that w*e cannot
assume as true the declaration that
there is no Ood, 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 English
stlfy th-"T™Vh "..t TVfn'Tivinr „«r theories, once BMUmed to b« true, but I «peaklng people* down to *bout the
wh.ch would not act when put tu the middle of but century. ThU move
DR. J. W, LEE.
ment not only took ecclesiastical 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, Charles
Darwin was born In 1809, Herbert
Kpenrer In 1820, John Tyndall in 1820
and Thomas H. Huxley In 1825. They
were the children of the age Wesley
and hls helpers created. The high pur
pose with which they began their work
was due In large measure to the Invtg
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 thq moral conditions created by the
spiritual lenders of the victorious evan
gelism. The light by which they dis
covered laws, regarded at the time as
destructive of the foundations of re
ligion, came to them from the truth the
new-time preachers made trium
phant. The courage which enabled
them to fight for their convictions and
publish to the world in spite of all op
position evinced the fact that the self-
denial and consecration of the religious
leaders had found a place In the lives
of the students of nature.
In 1855 Herbert Spencer published
hls “Principles of Psychology,” based
{upon the theory of evolution. In
1880 he Issued a prospectus of hls sys
tem of Synthetic Philosophy In which
1 beginning with the first principles «*f
knowledge, he propped to trace tho
progress of evolution In life, mind, so
ciety and morality. In 1859 Mr. Dar
win published hls work, on “The Origin
of Species by Means of Natural Selec
tion, or the Preservation of Favored
Races In the Struggle for Life.” In
this book he propounded the theory of
biological evolution. Neither the "Prin
ciples of Psychology” nor the “Origin of
Species” w'ere read extensively by the
people, but professors, editors and .stu
dents read them, and In a very little
w'blle 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 review's
and discussions of them. In 1844‘Pro
fessor John Tyndall delivered his cele
brated Belfast address before the Brit
ish association. In that dellyemnce 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 of all ages- to ne
the maker of heaven and earth, must favor,
vac*/* in favor of ths Dur« slsmantarv ”*CH*r<
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.”
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 us that which forbids us to assume
the existence bettveen the earth nnd
Venus of a planet as large ns either
of them, would forbid our faith in a
Divine Creator.” John Motley adopted
the fashion of spelling the word God
with a little “g.” John Richard Green,
the historian, was giving up his creed
end hls curacy in th© English church.
Rudolph Virchow, the celebrated
K byslologlst, was teaching nmterial-
im In Germany. Emil DuBois-Ray-
mond, another physiologist, whose
name Is a household word, was spread-
doubt that the existence of God is
wholely unnecessary to explain any of
the 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*
tlon for a general overseer, God wag
rendered unnecessary.
TOWN GETS LIQHT8
FROM TOWER. LINE.
.Special to The Georgia a.
Gainesville, Ga.. Dec. 1C.—By reason
of the completion of the tower line
between Gainesville and Atlanta, sev
eral small towns on the Bouthern be
tween here and Atlanta will have lights*
of their own In the near future. The
line nearly all the way Is within a*
short distance of several towns, and*
they are all seriously considering using
electricity to light their streets, busi
ness houses am! residences. * ’ "
Already Buford has contracted with
the North Georgia Electric Company
to furnish the power to light the llttls
city, and work will be begun at ones
wiring the town.
. ....... Thiti tower line Is said to be ths see
ing the doctrine of atheism in Berlin, ond of its kind in the United States.
Wundt, the most distinguished psycho!
oglst of the present generation, was
representing materialism at Leipelc.
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
kpown in the history of thought. It
was not shallow and flippant, but
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 w*e dare scarce
ly breathe. • • • Anchors are lift
ing everywhere, and men are comtnlt-
ttnx themm-lves to what they may meet
with nn the net."
Georite John Roman*. pnhU.hed a
“Candid Examination of Thelem,” In
which he said:
Inexorable logic ha. forced u. to
conclude that viewing the question n.
to the existence of a Ood only by the
light which modern acience hue shed
u-on It, there no longer appeara to be
any semblance of an argument In It.
can h. .. -— war.
The flr*t one ever built wu In New
York state, which crosse. the Niagara
river ju.t above the fall, and lead. Into
Canada.
Woman Bound Ov.r,
Accused of ateatlng a lot of .liver,
ware nnd other article, from the Tab.
ernacle dormitory for girl., where «he
was employed, Sarah Jones, a negro
woman, waa bound over to the state
courts Friday morning by Recorder
Droyiea. Her bond era. fixed at JJOO.
The woman waa arrested by Detect.
Ives Connolly and Starnes, who recov
ered the stolen goods.
Stole Smoli.bloo,
The grocery store of Well. & Head,
529 Peter, street, was broken Into by a
burglar some time Tbunday night and -
one box of tobacco and three boxes of
cigar, stolen.
The burglar 1 effected entrance Into
the store through the front door. The
burglary was discovered shortly after
midnight by Policemen McGahee and
Uutler.