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i ,

TRAVELS IN FAITH

PROM

TRADITION TO REASON

ROBERT C. ADAMS

\ •'

"There Uvea more faJth In honest doubt,
Believe me, than in half the creeds."

Tbnnvson.

■ • * • •

C. p. PUTNAM'S SONS

Nfw York: 27 & 29 Wkst 2jn Street

London: 35 IlENRiErrA St., Covent Garden

1884

Reproduced by
DUOPAGE PROCESS

in the

U.S. of America

The original of this book is
in the collection of the

WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY

UBRARIES

Qeveland, Ohio

Micro Photo Division

. Bell & Howell Company

Cleveland, Ohio 44112

V ♦,

DP # 5481

I : 1

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^mm mmmmmmmmmmm

111

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COPVRICHT BV

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

1884

• k.cx. •

' 'I't

I, •.,

■ ■

Press •/
G. P. PutnanCs Sons

Ntiu Ycrk

.»

-.1

CONTENTS.

PAGE.

I. Travels in Faith i

II. A Radical Avowal 71

III. Gain or Loss ? „ . . 77

IV. Human Religion qG

V. Is the I'.ible the Word of God ? 105

VI. The I5iblc a Human 13ook 1 1 e

VII. Human Ideas of God 12c

VIII. Prayer 138

IX. Morality 14^

X. The Future 1 16

XI. The Church and its Work 168

XII. The Decline of the Ministry 177

XIII. The Consolations of Christianity 1S6

XIV. Material Immortality 104

XV. Liberal Convictions 107

XVI. Rcfomi 207

XVn. Truth in Error 215

XVIIL Free Thought Rhymes 236

'/ V

■ I

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: i

I- 1

TRAVELS IN FAITH.

When Dr. Lyman Beecher was r ked, " What
is the best way to promote revivals ?" he answered,
*' By telling of them." Temperapi ephitforvis, ex-
perience meetings, and the efforts of evangelists
prove that the surest way to gain converts is to
narrate the conversion of others. " I believed, and
therefore have I spoken," has been the warraat
through ages for the utterance of sincere convic-
tion. Truth is free to all men, and every searcher
for it may tell what he thinks he has found. If he
is proved to be wrong, the discussion excited will
help to establish the right, and his failure will be a
stepping-stone in the path of progress.

Religious subjects have received the chief atten-
tion throughout my life; and I venture to state
some results of my study and observation, in the
hope that some who are endeavoring to preserve
an inherited, but distrusted belief may be encour-
aged to think for themselves. Doubt is the father

■»

III

ti;
III

3 TRAVELS IN FAITH,

of knowledge, and its questionings may as rightly
be applied to religion as to astronomy.

Some who do not care to read the theological
and philosophical works of scholars may peruse
and be helped by a simple narrative of personal
experience and thought, for, as a German proverb
says, " What comes from the heart goes to the
heart"; and the following thoughts are the result
of years of earnest, prayerful seeking after *' divine
truth.'*

A shrinking from publicity is overcome by the
desire for usefulness ; and the fear of unpopularity
is allayed by the sentiment expressed in the words
of F. A. Lange, " Never has the thoughtful ob-
server the right to be silent, merely because he
knows that for the present there are but few who
listen to him."

I was born ii. Boston on the first day of winter,
1S39. My father*"* often pointed out to me a spot
in the corner of his study, where, when he first
heard that another son had been giveii to him, he
kneeled and commended the newly given life to
God. On the first day of spring, I was " dedicated
to God in baptism " at the old church in Essex
Street, my father preaching a sermon from the
words, ** And it came to pass after the death of
Abraham that God blessed his son Isaac."

My mother wrote in her journal on this day, " I

• Rev. Nchcmiah Adams, D.I).

■,"|5'

TRA VELS IN FAITH.

took a strong hold on God as a covenant God, not
only mine, but my husband's and our parents' be-
fore us, even to remote generations ; and i left my
vow on his altar to bring up this child for him,
patiently bearing any care and fatigue which in
behalf of this child I may be called to endure."
These vows were faithfully fulfilled, until her death
from consumption when I was just eight years old.
All my memories of her are pleasant, though I
have but few distinct recollections of my inter-
course with her. The two things which seem must
forcibly stamped upon my mind are the Sunday
afternoons when she talked with us and taught us
the Westminster Assembly's Shorter Catechism,
and the incongruous fact that on a Fourth of July
she allowed me to smoke a sweet-fern cigar, — an
indulgence so contrasted with the usual restraint
of my life that my wonder and gratitude have viv-
idly remained.

In her journal, she speaks of me at the age of
four as having been " such a comfort and joy to us
ever since he was born." I will record a few of
her complimentary statements, as they are inter-
esting illustrations of the total depravity which
theoretically possessed me ; and I make no other
apology for quoting a fond mother's praises. She
writes : " His most striking trait of character is a
sense of justice. He sees things as they are, and
acts accordingly in a way far different from any

TRA VELS IN FAITH.

child I have had the opportunity of noticing."
" With regard to his faults, I do not know of one
that I could mention. I asked his father and aunt
if they could tell me what his prominent failings
were, but they neither of them could. Still, he
occasionally needs my saying, * That is naughty,*
or ' That is not right,* only, when he is reminded
of doing wrong, he is usually willing to do right and
make reparation." It is said that I went to school
cheerfully, because, as I remarked, " I wanted to
please Christ." " He has great power of associa-
tion of ideas, in which his strength of memory also
shows itself. A word will sometimes suggest a
complete set of incidents which occurred long
since. He thinks, works a thing out in his own
mind, but does not seem so fond of learning to
read as his brother. He looks through a subject
at a glance. I have been surprised that a child of
so much forethought and contrivance should be
so free from cunning and guile. He is fair and
open as the day." Some instances of forbearance
and generosity are mentioned, and this part of the
record closes with saying: "His school-teacher
is Mrs. Lothrop, mother of the Mary Lothrop
whose little memoir is the charm of Sabbath-
school readers. She said to me, • Mrs. Adams,
Robert is either early to be taken to heaven, or
God is qualifying him for eminent usefulness.' "
Thus, it seems I was one of the good boys, who,

I •>

TRAl'EUi IN FAIT//. 5

though they may charm " Sabbath-school readers,"
are not so popular with the general public of to-
day as the Tom Sawyers and the bad boys, whose
"diaries" would be preferred to the extended ac-
count of my youth, from which the above extracts
are made.

The character of my mother's Sunday talks with
her children is shown in the following entry : " It
is my custom Sabbath evening to tell the three
older childr'^n how I have enjoyed myself, what
particular truths and passages of Scripture have
interested me, and what the impression is which
that day has left upon my mind, with which to
enter on the busy scenes of the week. Sabbath
before last, as I was thus sitting with them, I said :
'Children, this morning's sermon by Rev. Mr.
Phelps, of 1 ine Street Church, made me feel that
I ought not to rest satisfied with anything but
your conversion. Parental and Sabbath-school in-
struction is not enough, you must be born again,
as much as if you were heathens.' M. (nine years
old) looked very solemn. I continued: 'Your
father this afternoon preached to those who sin-
cerely desire to be Christians. M., you think you
are one of those, don't you ? ' ' Oh, yes, mother,
I am sure I do. I pray and pray, but it don't come.
Do tell me what father said.' The day had been
intensely cold, and owing to slight indispositions
the children had been kept at home. I told them

TRA VELS IN FAITH.

about the sermon : one hindrance to some was the
fear of what their acquaintance would think. * Ha,
mother!* said M., 'that ain't mine. I don't care
what they think. Mother, I should be proud,
proud \.o have them know I was a Christian.' An-
other hindrance was being afraid to trust the soul
with Christ. * I ain't afraid to,* she said. Another
hindrance was lo\in<j one's lusts and passions.
Here, we were interrupted. The next morning
she said to me : ' Mother, I know what my hin-
drance is. I love my passions too well to give them
up.' " Shortly after, it is written : " Sabbath even-
ing M. came into my chamber, and said : * Mother, I
feel solemn, there is a weight on my mind, and I
can't <Tet rid of it.' I asked her wha*" it was. She
replied, ' It seems as if all the wicked things I have
ever CiVtw^. against you have come into my mind to-
day, and I must answer for them all at the judg-
ment seat of Christ. They will all appear there.'
Then, she mentioned several of them. She was
afraid to go to bed. I went up with her. Her
feelings were very solemn and tender. Conviction
of sin is a new feeling for her. Oh, how I would
welcome the Spirit of God, if he would but come
* under my roof !"

A few months after this, it is said that M. printed
a statement which she handed to her mother. It
was headed, ** Give an account of thy stewardship."
After enumerating several trivial faults, exagger-

TRAVELS IX FAITH.

atcd by a morbid conscience, she says : "To-day,
I j^avc myself to God to be his cliild forever. I
am now jvj^oing, throiic^h his streni^ih, to try not to
be impudent, not to call names, and not to use any
vulj^ar language, and not to have a coarse voice.
I am not going with any of my bad companions.
That little child (M. D.), ten years old, as old as
I am, is a Christian ; and I will try to be one too.
I hope by New Year's day, at the beginning of
the year, I shall be a Christian. I will "cad my
Bible, and may I always 'consider every day as a
blank leaf to be fdled up for Christ.' May I al-
ways remember God will bring me to judgment.
May I be a praying child, and on my dying bed
may I look back with happy remembrance to this
day."

The next week, my mother writes of having had
to find fault with M., and says, '• I told her that,
in view of what she had resolved the past week,
I considered it the greatest sin she iiad ever
committed." Then follows another letter, filled
with the agony of repentance and fresh resolves.

The all-overshadowing memory of my early life
is this striving for conversion, which pervaded the
whole family and was my own most intense idea.
Being more reticent and retiring than some others
of the family, I do not seem to have made as many
demonstrations to my parents as they ; and, there-
fore, I give some records of their experiences, as

r/^A VELS IN FAITH.

ii:.

showing the religious atmosphere of our home
and the feelings which I entertained in common
with them.

My brother possessed a highly emotional nature,
and was " converted " several times over. Some
instances of his and my sisters' experiences will
serve to ilhistrate my own, as I am conscious of
having passed through many such strivings, though
never u^'iininir such "assurance of salvation." His
first letter, written at the age of seven, is preserved.
The contents were : •* My dear mother, I hope
that you will pray for me, that I may be one of
Jesub' flock." A record of a fault and its confes-
sion says that \V. came to his father, and said :
" O father, last night I could not go to shtep, it
worried me so ; and I thought I never could be a
Christian till I told you of it, and I prayed to God
to forgive me, and to help tell you of it. And,
father, I have felt all day like Pilgrim with a bur-
den on his back." Though irrelevant, I will insert
the next record as showinti that there were limits
to his Scriptural knowledge: "This morning at
family worship, reading of the land of Ham in the
105th Psalm, his father asked W. what land was
meant. ' The land where hams grow, father.* "

On the anniversary of our baptism, she writes:
" I reminded them of it. We talked it over alone.
VV. was very much affected. He shed tears, and
then locked himself in his chamber." We both

TRAVELS IX I'AITH.

printed verses of Scripture, which our mother
pinned up on the wall of our room, *' that they
maybe reminded of it each morning."

More than two years after my sister M.'s con-
version and fall from grace already mentioned, it
is said: "On this same Sabbath eve, my dear
child M. came to me and said, ' Mother, I cannot
but hope that I am a child of God.' I asked her
why she hoped so. She replied; 'This last week,
I have known what despair was. I have been in
such distress about my sins. I thought. For twelve
long years I have sinned against God. I asked
God to forgive me my twelve long years of sin,
because Christ has suffered and died for such sin-
ners as me. I feel happy, and I want everybody
to love God.' She told me a few weeks since that
she had always felt entering her teens would be
an important period in her life, a turning point in
her history, and she meant to spend the interven-
ing months (from April to August) in trying to be-
come a Christian. Yesterday, \V. came to his
father at noon and said, ' Father, I hope that I
am a Christian.' * What makes you hope so,
my son?* 'This morning, father, I felt I was a
great sinner, and went to my chamber and asked to
be forgiven, and gave myself to God.* He inci-
dentally said that, at the ^ime when he gave him-
self to the Lord, after he had done so, he sat down
in his chamber and sang, 'Jesus, save my dying

TRA VELS IN FAITH.

iii

soul.' " Then comes an entry about myself when
seven years old : " Sunday before last, R. said in
my presence, ' I wish I was a Christian, but it's
dreadful hard.' I said, ' Why, it is only to be like
Christ.* Lookinor in my face, he asked in a delib-
erate, earnest manner, * Mother, do you think you
are like Christ?' Last Sunday he was sitting in
my lap, and I said, ' If you could have what you
wish» 1 know you would wish to be a Christian ? *
'Well,' said he, 'I'd about as lief be a fairy.*
'Why?* 'Because then I could wish myself any-
thing.' * And what would be your first wish, if on
waking to-morrow morning you should find your-
self a fair)' ?' * I would wish myself a Christian.' **

" Yesterday, W. was ten years old. This morn-
ing, Sunday, he came into his father's study, and
said : ' Father, I do hink I am a Christian. I be-
lieve I have taken God for my portion.' " Two
months later, " W. had an affecting conversation
with his father, and then followed him in prayer,
beginning with, ' My sins are more in number than
the sands on the sea-shore.' He afterward asked
his eldest sister to pray with him, weeping freely
and saying ' Oh, you don't know what a sinner I
am !

The Calvinistic doctrine of the perseverance of
saints, " once in grace always in grace," does not
seem to have been impressed upon us ; and, a year
after this, W. experiences another conversion. My

TR^IVELS IN I'M TIL

mother's hand had ceased to write her loving com-
ments ; and my father continues her journal, and
says: "This morning, as I was preparing to go to
meeting, W. came into my study and laid the fol-
lowing: letter before me, and went out. To-mor-
row, he is eleven years old. * My dear father, I
have been led to know how vile I am, and that
Jesus cleanseth from all sin ; and I have cast my
burden upon the Lord. I have cried unto him,
and he has heard me ; and the Saviour seems dear
to me. I will trust in him all the days of my life.
He is a good Saviour, and I will put my trust in him.
j\Iy dear father, you have been the means of my
loving the Saviour. You have showed me the way,
I have followed it. My father, I never knew what
a Saviour was. I see him nailed to the cross for me,
bleeding, dying for me. Dear Saviour, how I do
love thee ! How I will serve thee ! And, if I live
to grow up, I will go far and wide and tell the poor
heathen what a Saviour thou art. My father, the
Lord has taken me up. I will go through my
eleventh year with the Saviour. Your dear, affec-
tionate son, \V.

" ' P. S. — Father, I feel the love of a Saviour.'
" He followed me into my room after meeting,
and said that for a long time, when Saturday even-
ing was coming on, he had felt a dreadful burden.
The approach of holy time seemed to make him
think of his sins the week past. To-day, he said,

TRAVELS IN FAITH.

I.
n.

I ..
1(1
ii;
I'

he had prayed and wept and begged for mercy in'
his room, and during his prayer he thought that
he was heard and answered. He never felt so be-
fore, and he poured out his heart in this letter.
Dear boy, he has had deep convictions of sin. So
has C. This gives me confidence in whatever of
right feeling they have. He said that he thought,
while I was preaching the New Year's sermon this
morning (' Lord, make me to know mine end'), if
God had sent him word that he might die this year,
and asking if he was willing to die or not, he would
send back word, ' Father, thy will be done.' I am
deeply interested and affected by his experience
and appearance to-day."

The journal was discontinued soon after this
entry, but contains an expression of my father's
deep emotion at the bereavement which had be-
fallen him in the loss of his beloved wife. The
following instruction is then recorded for his chil-
dren's benefit, when they should read it in later
years: —

" God afiflicts the soul of a child of his with these
unutterable sorrows. He does not spare him.
Bereavement with all its aggravating memories,
its fearful solitude, its anticipations, consume him.
All this happens to one who loves God.

** Now, this makes me think and feel how willing
and able God is to see the wicked suffer hell tor-
ments. We have no adequate conception, till we

TRA I 'ELS LV FAITIf.

•3

are in great aftliction, what the future sufferinj^s of
the wicked can be. 'If these things are done in
the green tree, what shall be done in the dry?'
' And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall
the ungodly and the sinner appear?' All the con-
solations of religion cannot prevent the memory of
past joys from being unutterably painful. What
must it be to lie down in sorrow ! Besides, if the
Savic'ir suffered as he did for you, and you reject
him, there will be no unwillingness on the part i
God to inllict torment. Constituted as we are, it
is easy for God to make us completely miserable,
just by withdrawing some things from us. O my
dear children, flee from the wrath to come. * It is
a fearful thinij to fall into the hands of the livintr
God.' These two verses in the prophet Nahum
appear to me to be exceedingly impressive : ' God is
jealous, and the Lord revengeth, and is fnriojis:
the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries,
and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.* ' The
Lord is oofld, a stronghold in the day of trouble;
and he knowcth them that trust in him' " Sixteen
years afterward, he opened the book and added
some final comments, closing with the words : " My
sorrows have deepened in me a conviction of future
endless misery, and have helped me, I hope, to flee
from the wrath to come. I am persuaded that God
is able and willing to see men suffer hereafter. He
can look on pain, especially when men have refused

«4

TRAVELS IN FAITH.

a dyinji^ Redeemer. Oh, may my children escape
these things, and stand with me before the Son of
Man."

These remarks and anecdotes will show the type
of reliijion which pervaded our home, causing us
periods of distressful fear of God ; but, fortunately,
our earthly father was love and tenderness person-
ified, and though subject, either from temperament
or creed, or both combined, to seasons of deep de-
pression, his gloom never was manifested in harsh-
ness or willingness to see his children suffer.

11.

My brother's conversion, last recorded, was
soon forgotten ; and, when about sixteen years old,
he became a Christian " for good," after an expe-
rience somewhat resembling those of his earlier
years. He never wavered after this ; but through
college and his ministry, until his lamented death at
the age of forty-two, he v/as steadfast in the faith,
and through great trials exhibited a patience, for-
bearance and gentleness, which, joined to the strong
will and ardent temperament that he possessed,
caused those who knew him best to regard him as
a perfect character. He held to his father's theo-
logical views in the most minute particulars, and

TRAl'ELS IX JAITH.

jssed,
iim as
theo-
is, and

in every' sermon portrayed the terrors of eternal
doom and the hope of the atonement. Though an
orator of great power, liis stern theology was not
relished by the lax New England churches, who,
though professedly holding it in their creeds,
yielded inconsistently to the enlightened spirit of
the age, and tried to ignore what in honesty they
should disavow. One of his hearers remarked to
me, while deprecating the plainness of his preach-
ing : "We don't go back on the old doctrines ; but,
you know, times have changed, and — eh — You
understand."

We weri to church Sunday morning, and to Sun-
day-school and church in the afternoon ; after
which, the time before tea was recognized as a
period for retirement and rcllection. Never sliall
I forget the mental experiences of those hours,
and my efforts in them " to become a Christian."
I would read a little in Doddridixe's "Rise and
Progress," Allein's "Alarm," Baxter's "Saints*
Rest," or some other standard book of that sort ;
and, having gained a certain amount of fervor, I
tried to convince myself of sin by self-examination
and reflection upon my " ruined state by nature," —
for, having no heinous sins of my own, I had to
rely for agony upon Adam's transgression. Then,
I pictured to my mind Christ's sufferings upon the
cross yi;/' mc; dwelt upon the thorns, the nails, the
spear, and sought to impress my feelings till the

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TRAVELS "^ ''*'™-

'* X Then 1 thought 1 had gained a pen-

tears flowed. Then 1 tno g ^ i^^ness, and

'^^"^ T n mv S'et oSe evidence of conver-
lingered on my ^necb

^'°"- • 1 felt a certain amount of peace

Sometimes, 1 lelt a ^^^^^^ y as

after these exercises- but not h^ g^^^.^ ^^^^,

1 had read that others exp^- ^^^ ^^ j,,^,ent

'^ '^"r\ft l\rten years of age. these str.v-

intervals, alter i

ings were repeated ^^^^ teachers ; but 1

1 had some go^^^^'f^' „f a ..entkman who,
enioyed most the mn..strat.ons o a ^^^^^^^

Zr a few minutes spent upon th^. r .^^^^ ^^ ^^^
read to us ^ -m a book aboutjl^^^ ^^^^ ^^^
Spanish Inqu.s,t,o . H^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^^, ,,„
West, having lorgcu

.veckly feast of horrors - ,^;,„. Fox's

1 was well grounded m tne _ ^^^^^ ^^^^^^^

-Book of Martyrs and t ^^^^^.^^^^s, it

Primer" were my f 'f ..^'^day books " on the

being wicked to look a ^^cc^ V .^^. ,, ^y

^-^>' ^''^>'- ' :r-TiiLrinStmare, that the s^^^^
father's room, thiK.^^^^ ,,, . Primer" was

cton witn a .->'-> n"-

after me. , Sunday evening

Vividly do I remember tic ^^^^^^ ^^^

gatherings in the 1- ^-J- , ;., and we eagerly

^vas

ining
IS and

TRAVELS IX FA rnr. I,

" I love iny Shepherd's voice.
His watchful eye shall keep
My wandering soul among
The thousands of his sheep.
He feeds his flock, he calls V/// ftamcs^
His bosom bears the ten-der lambs."

One of the earliest hymns that I recited was: —

" Welcome, welcome, dear Redeemers
Welcome to this heart of mine."

But my great favorite was : —

" Lo ! he comes, in clouds descending,
Once for favored sinners slain."

I recall saying, with broken voice and intense feel-
ing :—

"Just as I am, without one plea."

After the hymns were said, we were asked to tell
anything we had heard or thought of during the
day ; and, if we coukl muster up a quotation from
a sermon or a pious reflection of our own, we were
very proud. These were enjoyable seasons, but I
realize now how very emotional they were. It was
the climax of the day, after which the evening
singing and talking, or the "monthly concert of
prayer for foreign missions" at Park Street Church,
where we could get into a pew with other minis-
ters' sons, gave an agreeable reaction. The excite-
ment was not lessened, though varied, one evening,
when one of these boys swallowed the tert-cent
piece destined for the collection-box.

ht^

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1;!'

TRAVELS IN FAITH.

Among my ^^f^^'^^^^^S^^^^^S^
of person, n^ental capacity and ^^ ^^ ^^^^

s tion. was unrivalled •" ^^^^^ ^^'J ^;^ to a degree
knew him. \'^rr::irn%that pertained to

approaching •"f^^"='"°"- „yuis presence was bhss.
Sm was precious to me and ^^ ^^ ^ „,; , ,

even hesitated to X^^^^ ,„-,ght diminish
be increased, lest m some wa>

,„y love (or Artl-'.--- „ „,a-had been

\ly younger -^^^^'^^^^.tes. urging them to
writing letters to her s hoo ^^^^_ ^^,, „

,„end to the -Uat.on ;^^^^, _^^^ j^^,^ „y be-
thc sumn^er vacation sq r. .^^^.^^^^ ,^^ j

oved friend, it "purred U,^- ^^. ^^^_ ^^^^..„g , he
,„,Ue this the theme of a Wt^c ^^ ^^^^.^^ .

did not desire to be a Chr s _ ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^r
■ ttidterms sayinj o. Jdo^^ ^^

a correspondence vv -^^ ^^ j^^j ^o become a Chris
rt;li«nous emotion. deter ^^^^j.^y a,.

^^before 1 met 1-"^/- ;.;:,• 'u the resolve to
ernoon, 1 got "po" -V ^;;^,,,a „,e. Vor two
remain there till Ood co ^^^

. hours. 1 wept. V^^"^,^ „ e feeling that had
. until, tired out. 1 ^^ J^ufu't do his. and save
done my part. and. «c ^ ^^,^^ „^, « the

. tr;;acerulsatis.icUon^^^^^^^^^^^
but had no assurance

'^*?!5

TRAIELS IN FAiriL

•9

■■I

When ! met my friend in the fall, our diftidence
was so great that not a word was said about our
correspondence, nor was the subject of religion
ever alluded to in our future conversation. This
evidences the unnaturalness of such mental exer-
cises. He was converted a few years later under
the influence of a sermon, and joined the Church ;
but his fair and promising life was blighted by dis-
ease, and the hopes inspired by his exquisite char-
acter and uncommon powers of intellect perished
in his early grave.

At the age of tliree, I was sent to school, proba-
bly more with a view to be kept out of the way
than for regard to my intellectual needs. I can
remember sittimif in a little rockiui^-chair and learn-
ing to sew small bags for holding spools of thread ;
but my other lessons are not recalled, though it
seems to me that i was born with the ability to
read, for I do not remember ever having learned
the art. At an early age, I entered the Brimmer
School, then in charge of that excellent teacher,
Mr. Joshua Bates, ably assisted by Mr. John II.
lUitler and Mr. Daniel C. Brow.i. I was often at
the head of my classes, and devoted much time out
of school to the preparation of my lessons. I can
remember sitting in school with folded arms, al-
most bursting with self-consciousness and satisfac-
tion at my high rank and the approval of my teach-
ers. The studies were wisely chosen, except that

TRA VELS IN FAITH.

Ml "
I

English grammar was drilled into the boys by rote
before they were capable of understanding its prin-
ciples, and they still talked *'bad grammar" in the
playground. All that I ever learned in school of
history, geography, and physics was gained here ;
and the days when natural philosophy was taught
and illustrated by experiments with apparatus were
the most enjoyable days of my school life, and, I
believe, the most profitable. I was removed from
these useful studies before the last year of the
course, in order to pursue a more classical routine.
In a private school for a year I was confined almost
wholly to Latin, French, and algebra, and then en-
tered the Boston Latin School, which was under
the charge of the renowned teacher, Francis Gard-
ner. The usual course of study required five years ;
but Mr. Gardner announced that an "advanced di-
vision" would be formed of the best scholars, which
would be put through in four years. My ambition
was the only reason for joining this class, and led
to my being " put through " most literally in one
year. Latin and French occupied nearly the whole
of our attention, but the former was the great
study. Andrews and Stoddard's Latin Grammar
had to be committed to memory, and was recited
in this way. The first boy called upon began the
lesson, then another was called at random, who
must continue where the first left off. If he failed •
to do so accurately, it was accounted an error, and

TRAVELS IX FAITH.

every important word missed was an error. The
boys were told that, if they were conscious that they
could not have recited what another boy was say-
ing or could not have answered a question asked
another, they must count an error; and, at the close
of the lesson, each was asked in turn how many er-
rors he had, and was marked accordini^ly. Five was
the highest mark given for lessons, and each error
caused a deduction of one ; and, if as low a mark
as two was given at any recitation, the pupil failed
to receive an approbation card at the end of the
week. A few conscientious boys counted errors to
themselves ; but others, among them some of the
poorest scholars, never acknowledged errors except
for public failures. Thus, a direct premium was
offered for lying, where detection was impossible ;
and my indignation was intense at being outranked
sometimes in the "placing" at the end of the
month by au inferior and less truthful scholar.
Being morbidly conscientious, I often turned the
benefit of a doubt against myself, or else was dis-
tressed with self-accusations that I could not have
recited correctly, if I had been called upor. A
similar rule was adopted as to conduct. When Mr.
Gardner left the room, instead of appointing a
•'monitor" to act as spy, he said, "I leave you
upon your honor." On his return, he asked,
"Who have been out of order?" The "good
boys" raised their hands, and were marked for dis-

z
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-29

TRA VELS IN FAITH,

order ; but the bad boys, who had incited all the
whispering and mischief, made no sign, and took
home their approbation cards to their proud parents
at the end of the week, provided their public lesson
failures had not forfeited them. This system of
reciting made me study intensely. I could repeat
the Latin Grammar verbatim from the beginning,
and its list of ** exceptions" will haunt me all my
life. But little time was taken for play ; and I often
cried at being sent to bed at nine o'clock, in fear
that I had not |)roperly memorized my lesson. My
friend Arthur was in this class ; and his wonderful
genius enabled him to stand easily first, without
great effort. I one month stood first, but was usu-
ally second, except when one of the non-confessors
supersede^' me. I approached school and recita-
tion with fear and trembling ; and, after a year of
this strain, headache v/as fastened upon me, and,
after repeated attempts to continue with my class,
I was obliged to leave school, and the family phy-
sician ordered me to sea.

III.

I HAD made a voyage to Spain as a passenger,
an -)s about to start on a voyage to England.
ife had deadened my religious impressions

I ^

TRA I'ELS A\' FAITH.

-3

somewhat ; and the profanity which prevailed on
shipboard had become familiar to my ear, though
not to my lips. My brother and I had a small
billiard-table in an upper room, upon which we had
given instructions to some of the deacons' sons, to
the scandal of certain good ladies of the parish.
A pious and faithful servant, who had been sixteen
years in the family, tossetl this table out of window
one night ; and we rescued it, badly broken, from
a neighboring yard the next day. That night, as
Harbara sought her couch, her bed collapscid in
ruins, and proved that '* Providence" is often on
the side of small boys as well as of "the heaviest
artillery." Let me record here that, one spring,
when the snow melted in the West Roxbury woods,
old Barbara was found peacefully sleeping her last
sleep, v.'ith her head upon her muff, she having
strayed away in the fall in aberration of mind and
laid herself down to die.

The billiard-table was repaired after a fashionj
though its bed was hardly a dead level ; and, dur-
ing one exciting game with my brother, I startled
him, and myself also, by uttering my first oath.
That evening, my father called me into his study,
and asked me if I did not feel that I could call my-
self a Christian. 1 answered, "No." He then
asked me to write out a statement of my religious
feelings which he might read to the examining com-
mittee of the church, saying that he would like to

3)
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34 TRAVELS JN FAITH.

have me make some sort of an avowal before sail-
ing upon another voyage. I did this, and accom-
panied him to the meeting, where my letter was
read, and some of the good deacons put questions
to me, which I answered ; but I told them frankly
I did not feel warranted to call myself a Christian.
The ncixt day, I was astounded at being told by my
father that I was accepted for admission to the
Church. My brother was little less than thunder-
struck, for he evidently considered me less pious
than I had ever been. My father said he had long
believed I was a Christian, without being conscious
of it myself, and that, if I would begin and en-
deavor to live like one, the evidences would come to
me. After my voyage to England, I decided to
adopt the sea as my profession ; and, accordingly, I
shipped before the mast in a clipper ship, bound on
a voyage around the world. At my father's re-
quest, I joined the Church ; and I gradually accus-
tomed myself to the belief that I was a Christian.

I soon after entered upon life in a ship's fore-
castle. My surroundings were not what would be
called edifying, nor would they be considered
*• means of grace." My church vows were a con-
scious restraint upon me, but neither these nor the
fear of God exercised so strong a hold upon me as
my father's love. He had been both father and
mother to me ; and my reverence and affection for
him were so great that he always controlled me

TRAVELS LV FAITH.

without commands, his usual utterances being, " I
wouldn't do so," or " I think you had better not do
that." Now that I was separated from him, in any
temptation the first thought that came to me was,
"What would my father say?" And this so gov-
erned mc that, after years of roving about the
world, I was able to say to him I could not recall
an act that I should be ashamed to tell him.

For two years, between the ages of seventeen
and nineteen, I remained on shore in a counting-
room in Boston. Heinix thrown ai^ain into reliir-
ious surroundings, and a great revival being then
in progress all over the land, I began to test my
evidences of conversion. I recalled the manner of
my joining the Church ; and, realizing that I never
had anything like the ecstatic s':;nsations which were
proclaimed on all hands by new converts, I fell into
despondency, and regarded myself as a false pro-
fessor; feared I had committed the unpardonable
sin, and grieved away the Holy Ghost ; and that,
in partaking of the Lord's Supper, I had eaten and
drank unworthily, and had thus eaten and drank
damnation to myself (I. Cor. xi., 29). For some
months, gloom and despair haunted me, and 1 could
understand why people committed suicide ; but, at
last, I resolved to think no more of the past, but
to be a Christian from the present. A paper of
Addison's in the Spectator, No. 465, '* Means of
Strengthening Faith," greatly assisted me, espe-

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TRA VELS IN FAITH,

cially his first rule, — that, being once convinced of
the truth of any article, we should never after suf-
fer ourselves to call it in question ; and my father
taught me that joy and peace were not invariable
accompaniments of conversion, but were blessings
which God, for wise purposes, might sometimes
withhold for a time. Now, 1 began a truly " relig-
ious life " ; became a Sunday-school teacher, pick-
ing up my class from the streets and in house to
house visiting ; distributed tracts on the sly, drop-
ping them on the Common or leaving them se-
cretly on seats ; made addresses at neighborhood
meetings among the poor, and started a young
men's prayer-meeting. The pastor and deacons
disapproved of this, and thought we should exer-
cise our gifts in the church prayer-meeting. After
awhile, we yielded to their desires ; and they took
pains to ** bring us forward." I used to crouch be-
hind a pillar at the PViday evening prayer-meeting,
dreading the words, ** Brother A., will you lead in
prayer ? " This became a great bondage to me ;
and the happiest moments of the week were when
the leader said, ** We will close with the doxology,"
and I had escaped a call. All the week, I dreaded
the approach of that evening, yet never failed to
attend, and sometimes refused most attractive in-
vitations, because they came on prayer-meeting
night. The joyous life that many of my acquaint-
ances led, by comparison, increased the sombreness

TKAlliLH L\ 1' A I TIL

of my own ; and 1 recall these two years as the
gloomiest period of my life.

My health obliged me to take to the sea again ;
and I followed it steadily for several years, work-
ing painfully through all the grades of third mate,
second mate, mate, and captain. The life was al-
ways uncongenial to me, and unsuited to my dispo-
sition and tastes ; but I accepted it as a providen-
tial calling, and, by faithful devotion to duty, I in
a measure overcame the lack of natural aptitude.

My voyages were mostly long ones, in "deep
water," as sailors say. I made short voyages to
the Mediterranean and the Baltic, but California,
China, the East Indies, and British India were the
most frequent destinations. I sailed twice around
the world, and several times half-way around, and
back the same way. Seven times I sailed past
Cape Horn, and ten times I passed the Cape of
Good Hope. The distances sailed on the various
voyages amount to about three hundred and fifty
thousand miles.

F'or several years, I accepted implicitly the
scheme of theology in which I was educated. If a
question arose about any doctrine, I consulted the
Catechism and the Bible ; and, if the latter was not
intelligible, I referred to Scott's Commentary for
an explanation. What satisfied Thomas Scott's
intellect I thought should be sufficient for my hum-
ble mind ; but, if a final appeal became necessary,

n
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TRAVELS IN FAITH.

I consulted my father's book, " Evenings with the
Doctrines," and that settled the matter. Doubt was
sinful» and sceptical or controversial works were to
be read only by trained theoloj^ians who had been
skilfully educated to combat them. The Catechism
i^ot well mixed up in my mind with the Hible and
Milton's " Paradise Lost"; and a Methodist Hible-
class leader at the Youni»- Men's Christian Associa-
tion, j^ood Captain Girtller, snubbed me painfully,
when I asserted, in reply to his attacks upon elec-
tion, that the Bible said, God ** hath foreordained
whatsoever comes to pass " (usinjj^ the words of the
Catechism). I never had really thou<^ht for myself
upon reliu^ious doctrines until my first voyaj^e as
master of a vessel, when, on an East India voy-
aije, I visited the ports of Sin<4ai)ore and Penani(.
There, 1 met some l^Ui^lish missionaries who held
the doctrines of the Plymouth Brethren ; thoui»;h,
when askc!il if they l)eloni;i;d to that sect, they
answered, •* Oh, dear, no ! " I learned afterward
that the Brethren had differed upon some such
question as whether Christ would have sinned if he
could, or could have sinned if he would ; and those
who held to the " peccability " of Christ were ex-
cluded from communion with the I'lymouth body.
A very bitter conflict arose ; and any one who had
.not *• judi;ed the evil " was worse than a heathen
to the orii^inal sect, led by John Darby. These
jL^^ood men first instilled dissent into my mind.

TKAIEI.S IN F,\lTrf.

I was a strict Sabljatarian, and they startled nic
with the declaration that the Lord's day was in no
sense the Sabbath. I believed in infant baptism ;
and they taught believer's baptism, with immersion
as the mode. I had taken in all Scott's spiritual
interpretations of the Old Testament prophecies
and his theory of the Hook of Revelation, which
maintained that nearly all its prophecies had
been fulfdled in past history, and soon the "dry-
ing up of the Euphrates" — which meant the de-
cline of Turkey — would be followed by the millen-
nium. But these Brethren taught the principle
of the literal interpretation of the Scriptures, —
that they might be read and understood without
note or comment by any one who undertook
the task under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
They declared that God meant what he said,
and that it was a sin against the Holy Ghost to
explain away the direct meaning of his words by
interpreting all the promises made to the Jews
as foretellincf blessin^rs to the Christian Church.
This principle led to the theory that the Jews would
yet be restored to Palestine, Christ would appear
to the select few on earth, and they would meet
him in the air with the dead saints, who would rise
in the first resurrection. Then, the " marriage sup-
per of the Lamb " would take place, and, in the
mean time, antichrist would gain power over the
earth ; but, at the height of his persecutions of the

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TRA VELS IN FAITH,

Jews, Christ and his followers would appear *• in
flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know
not God." Then, the kingdom of Christ would be
established upon earth, and a thousand years of
blessedness wouid ensue, after which, a brief and
decisive conflict with Satan would follow, and the
second resurrection and last judgment would end
the record of this present world. They objected
to the present one-man ministry of the churches,
and declared that the New Testament taught the
liberty of ministry of all believers, according to
their gifts. They made much of the indwelling
and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Their disap-
proval of commentators was chiefly directed tow-
ard the standard works ; and they urged me to
read Macintosh's *' Notes," and gave me a good
supjily of tracts relating to their views. I studied
the liible diligently at sea, and in time came to
accept many of their doctrines.

I especially saw that Jesus foretold, and the apos-
tles believed in, his speedy return to the earth to
destroy the wicked and establish his kingdom ; and
the system of interpretation, which made all these
yearning hopes, expressed 0.1 nearly every page of
the New Testament, to be merely prophetic fore-
casts of spiritual blessings to the " Church " two
thousand years later, did violence to all my concep-
tions of the common-sense way of treating lan-
guage. Let any one read what Paul says, "by the

TKA V'ELS IN FAITH.

3«

word of the Lord," in I. Thcss. iv., 13-18, and say
if the expression "7ir that are aUve and remain
unto the comini^ of the Lord," and the whole tenor
of the passai^e, does not recjuire the honest admis-
sion that these events were looketl for thirin^; th(!
Hfetime of some then hvini^. They were mistak-
en, and Paul's inspiration was disproved ; but the
Brethren found some iniienious excuses to save
this last admission, thoui^h I now see them to be as
dishonest as the theories I abandoned.

While at sea, I took much interest in the wel-
fare of sailors. In my early experience, I saw and
heard a j^ootl deal of the hardship and abuse which
came to their lot, nuich of which seemed to me un-
necessary. To improve their condition on ship-
board, I studied control by moral suasion, improve-
ment in food, and in the hours and methods of
work. To enable them to overcome the temptations
of life in port, I endeavored to elevate their char-
acters by iuoral and relii^ious instruction, and their
minds by lectures and educational classes. Relii,^-
ious services were held, Hi')les ami tracts freely sup-
plied, and temj)erance plcds;es obtained. The re-
sult commended all these measures to my i ind.
A few cases of conversion occurred; ami, on ^nc
voyage, five professed " a change of heart." 1
wrote an account of this voyat^e for publication,
and inserted narratives of the relitjious experience
of the sailors. I afterward heard such reports from

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*^''-- ft^KiBi If

t^u^tmrntmrnmama^tmrn

3»

TRAVELS IN FAITH,

four out of the five that I felt obliged in honesty to
withdraw these records and publish the book with-
out allusion to them. My views about sailors w^ill
be found in " On Hoard the * Rocket.'"

I found it easy to secure resolutions of moral re-
form, but felt disappointed in my efforts to secure
"conversions." The inlluence during the voyage
just mentioned was largely through a sailor who
was converted in the first month of the outward
passage, an ignorant but intensely enthusiastic
man, who aroused the emotions of his shipmates.
I preached "the pure gospel" over and over, — sin,
eternal dooiii, and the atonement. But I thought
often I should have succeeded better, as to the
number of my converts, if I could have been more
passionate and less rational. Orthodox conversion
is oftener the result of feeling than of reasoning.
" Religion off Soundings," a little pamphlet pub-
lished by the American Seaman's Friend Society,
gives my itleas about religious effort at sea.

On my luist India voyages, we called, for the
last port, at Padang, on the west coast of Sumatra,
to fill up with coffee and cassia. The consignee, a
kind and intelliirent Dutch <rentleman, invited me
to reside with him ; and often, in the evenings, we
sat on the spacious veranda, stretched out in re-
clining chairs, in those free-and-easy attitudes which
Eastern travellers will recall, and my host some
times indulged in attacks upon the Bible repre-

TRAVELS IN FAITH.

.13

sentations of the Jew's Jehovah and the Chris-
tian's God, while I stoutly defended the inspired
Word of God. The waving palms, the balmy air
filled with delicious scents, the singini; beetles, the
glistening fire-flies, the tinkle of the Swiss music-
box, and the luxurious repose were suggestive of
paradise; but most incongruous seemed these blas-
phemous attacks upon what were to me the most
sacred ideas.

I found infidelity very prevalent in the Dutch
settlements of Java and Sumatra, and I was told
that a larire number of infidel books had been scat-
tcci! there some years before, and had produced
a marked effect. The Lutheran minister at Pa-
dang preached orthodox sermons on Sunday, as
obli'":ed by the government untler whom he held his
position ; but, on the week days, he told his hear-
ers privately *^at \\(\ did not believe the doctrines
he preached. Upon my return home, I fortified
myself with tracts and books on the insi)iration of
the Bible, anti, studying these at sea, J vigorously
contend* d with my sceptical fri(Muls, during subse-
quent visits to the Iiast India ports. I never heard
that I made any converts ; but, on the oth(.T hand,
I got my mind impressed with many forcible argu-
ments against the puritanical theology that I had
been taught to regard as the final form of truth.

• 3

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TRAVELH IN FAITH,

IV,

In my voyages to India and China, I was greatly
iniprese;ed with the sight of the multitudes of peo-
ple and cheir varying religions. Human life seems
to be a weed that grows rankly over these lands.
Its individual value appears to be small ; and I was
often oppressed with the questionings of my niind
as to the immortality of thes herds of cooli^^s, and
as to the idea that God wn . iccrning himself
separately with ^ich one, deciding his destiny in
heaven or hell. As I visited the mission rooms
and saw twenty or thirty of the elect gathei%*xl out
of a million heathen, it seemed incredible that
these were to be saved, because, by accidental cir-
cumstances, they had come imJer the inlluence of
the missionaries anil been converted, and the rest
of the million were to endure eternal torment.
Adam's sin and their own shortcoming from the
teachings of the creation had sealed their doom.
These theories do not shock, one m) much in the
prayer-meeting at home, where one sees only the
elect, anil the poor heathen are ten thousand miles
away ; but, when you see the toiling millions pass
by you, and when you become acquainted with in-
dividuals and find them to be brother-men and not
weeds, and observe kindlv and virtuous traits of

TRAVELS IN FAITH.

character, and witness instances of family affection
and neighborly benevolence, this whole scheme of
damnation excites such a feeling of revolt that only
the utter extinction of one's reason and a blind
acceptance of ** the Word of God " can preserve
one's belief. A Calvinist who wishes to keep his
faith should never travel and never read secular
books. By confining his acquaintance to the cir-
cle of the church and feeding his mind constantly
upon evangelical rca'^'mg, he may be safe. This
is the life that many pietists lead ; but it is so un-
natural, it seems impossible that it can be right or
can develop the best sort of men.

I was surprised to see the morality that prevail(.'d
in Asiatic lands. I could not observe that the
people I came in contact with w<ire any worse than
the laboring and mercantile classes that a ship-
master meets in Christian lands; and, somt^times,
the unwelcome conviction was forced upon me
that the heathen were the best. They were infi-
nitely the most temperate, and no more dishonest.
The people who had not met with mercantile
Christians were better in their habits than those
who lived at the sea-ports. The seeming injustice!
of sending these people to hell on account of
Adam's sin and their own shortcomings from the
teachings of the light of nature was a Aveight upon
my mind that I could never get rid of, though I
trie J to " lay my reason at the feet of Christ," a?*

I
\

Wii\mn/-\t'rrr'

36 r/!A VELS IN FAITH.

I once heard a Boston lady in spectacles say at a
*' holiness" meeting.

When I first visited China, I was told by the
missionaries at Fuh Chau that they had just bap-
tized the first convert to Christianity after eleven
years of labor in a district containing three million
people. It occurred to my mind that God had not
devised very effective machinery for ** making dis-
ciples of all nations " ; and I recalled the enthusi-
asm at home in the monthly concert of prayer for
forcii^n missions, when a letter from a missionary
told of a few conversions, and how the leader of
the meetinti^ would tj^ive out the hymn, —

"The inornin^ij li«;ht is breaking,
The darkness d" <apnears," —

which would be suntr with <rreat fervor.

On the spot, the conversions only excited a
painful comparison.

My father was for thirty-six years a member of
the Prudential Committee of the American Boanl
c' Commissioners for Foreij^n Missions, and wa:;
devoted to their work. In his later years, I took
him on a voyai^e around the world in the ship
** Golden Fleece." At Canton, he visited the mis-
sions he had been so accustomed to delight in ;
and, when he saw the result of all these years of
effort and contrasted it with the vast, surj^inof tide
of heathenism that rolled around him, he was
greatly depressed, and said to me, ** I don't believe

TRAVELS JN FAITH.

the world will ever be converted by the pre&chin<r
of the gospel."

These impressions never made me disparage
missionary effort ; for I believed it did somi: good,
and was necessary to Christian consistency. It
only excited wonder at God's way of doing things.
How an omnipotent and benevolent God should
fail to spread his "glad tidings of great joy" to all
people in an effective way was beyond my com-
prehension. He evidently had miraculous power
enough, and had exercised it on very trivial occa-
sions in the past. Did he not make iron swim to
recover an axe ? Did he not destroy two com-
panies of fifty men with fire from heaven, because
their captains did not invite lilijah in a respectful
manner to "come down" ? Did he not send two
bears to tear forty-two children ^vho had called
names in the street ? Did he not make the sun
and moon stand still until the people had avenged
themselves upon their enemies? If he could do
such things for mere wonder or revenge, why
should not love call forth his power, when count-
less myriads of heathen arc going down to ever-
lasting perdition for lack of a revelation they can
understand ? All this confounded and oppressed
me, and I found no peace save in unquestioning
submission and refusal to think.

In later voyages to the East Indies, I found that
the Holy Ghost was leJiding the good " Brethren *

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THAI' ELS IN FAITH.

to differ amon^ themselves, some becoming so ex-
clusive in their separation from evil that they could
only recognize the true Church of God as existing
in their own gatherings. An adventurer came to
.Singapore, announcing that the Holy Ghost was
'gathering the Lord's people to await his coming
at the town of Wellington in South Africa, where
all the prophecies of blessing were being fulfilled.
He assembled a few brethren and sisters in a
room , and, after hours of intense prayer, some
were seized with an ecstasy which was called re-
ceiving the Holy Ghost. One of the sisters was
prevailed upon to go to South Africa, and she
wrote back letters enthusiastically declaring that
•* the half had not been told her." I afterward met
in China a captain in the British army, who, under
the influence of this man, gave up his commission,
and prepared to go to South Africa. But, at Sin-
gapore, he learned that the man's lady travelling-
companion was not his wife, he having left that
person beliind when he became '* the Lord's free-
man." This opened the captain's eyes ; and, de-
clarin<r that the Lord did not countenance de-
bauchery, he changed his plans, greatly shaken up
in mind.

Arriving in San Francisco after a passage around
Cape Horn of nearly five months, in which I had
attained to a great degree* of faith and consecration
through constant study of the Bible and the liter-

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■ W I 11 I mill II JM»ri ^^^^nnfiifgf^^g^f^

7'A'A I ELS IN FAITIf.

ature of the Hrcthrcn, 1 experienced ii ^reat shock
from the words and demeanor of the ministers
and Christians of that city. I wciit to hear nine
preachers while there ; and none of them showed
any knowledu^e of the Christian's calHni; out of
the world, and none of them preached salvation
by Christ. I wrote in my journal : " Ear-tickliniL;
and soul-lullincr orations about benevolence, moral
duties, or Scripture history, formed the sermons ;
and. if any direction was j^iven to sinners, it was
such as Moses preached before the rij^lueousness
of (iod without the law had been manifested.
Nor did I meet with any warm-hearted Christians.
All seemed to think more of dress, amusement,
Pacific railroad and China steamers than of their
Lord. It seemed impossible, from the words and
attitudes of all these, that we were instructed to
* love not the world, neither the thincfs that arc in
the world,' and to watch for our Lord's coming;;
for no one seemed to act upon such an idea, and
yet they read their Hibles or studied th(!olonry
continually." I could not answer this fact by the
brethren's swcepinij^ condcMiination of all believers
but themselves; and, havint^ seen their own vari-
ance of opinion, it appeared that the infallible
guide, the Holy Spirit, led each prayerful believer
to distinct and differing views, often utterly op-
posing those of other equally devout and prayer-
ful believers. My mind was not satisfied by the

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40 7V?y* P^£LS IN FAITH.

theory that these views of truth were like differ-
ent views of a mountain from various points of
observation, and were capable of union into a har-
monious whole, when seen from God's standpoint.
The only solution of the differences among Chris-
tians and of the ever-varying religions and views
which I found to prevail all over the world ap-
peared to my mind to be that every man makes
his own religion in accordance with his surround-
ings and the constitution of his mind.

A friend had presented me with Herbert Spen-
cer's book, ** Illustrations of Universal Proirress."
I had trlanced at it and laid it aside ; for I had never
in my life read a book opposed to Orthodoxy, and
I had understood he was one of the vain men, who,
by '* oppositions of science, falsely so called," were
striving to make the word of God of none effect.
But, about this time, I took it up, and found that
its theories about religion agreed with my observa-
tion and experience. He applied the law of evo-
lution to religion, commencing with the savage's
worship of his dead chief, which developed into
the conception of a deity, who, at first human in
all things, has been o;raduallv losimj human like-
ness, each race of men forming ideas of God in
accordance with their own intelligence and desires.
He says, ** As humanity is a growth and not a
manufacture, men's theologies must be determined
into such forms as the conditions require" ; and it

TKAl'lil.a JX lAITlL

follows *• that the rclii^ious creeds tlirough which
mankind successively pass are, durini^ the eras in
which they are severally held, the best that could
be held." The human orii^in of all religion thus
seemed to explain all my difticulties.

I sailed for the west coast of Mexico, and expe-
rienced a reaction from the fervor which had char-
acterized my thoughts on the outward passage. I
subsided into an indifference about religious truth,
which, during two months' stay on th.e lonely coast
of Mexico, degenerated still further into doubts
concerninLT the whole scheme of Christian theol-
ogy. I thought Satan was let loose upon me ;
for every form of infidelity came flooding upon
my mind, and I could not read a chapter in the
Bible without rationalistic suggestions of its im-
probability or overestimated import. I still kept
up services with my sailors, though I preached
what was not very authoritative to my own mind.
I hope preachers on shore never do this. I re-
member walking off into the i)ionti\ as the Mexi-
cans call the wild-brush-covered plains, and in the
evening twilight I stretched out my arms to heav-
en, and with intense feeling called on God to re-
veal himself to me, and convince me of the truth
of what claimed to be his written word, iiut no
answer came. Some weeks after, when sailing
toward Cape Horn, my c^ lOtions were strongly
aroused by one of those trade-wind sunsets, which

,7)
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TRAVELS JN FAITH.

only voyagers know, whose glories the ablest pens
would fail to describe. Suddenly, the words came
to me, ** Now is Christ risen from the dead." I
started at the seeming lack of connection with my
thoughts, and said : "Is it true ? If so, the teach-
ings of Christ and his apostles are true. I can be-
lieve anything, if that fact is established." I search-
ed the Scrijjturcs, aided by Scott's and Lange's
Commcn'^arics and Gilbert West's treatise on the
Resurrection ; and my faith increased. I made
no critical study of the text for myself, but read
the conclusions of these critics. The story seemed
well vouched for ; and, in the course of my daily
study of the Greek Testament, I came upon Paul's
charge to Timothy, *' Remember Jesus Christ risen
from the dead," implying that this was the founda-
tion of the Christian faith. As such I resolved to
receive it, and I determined to doubt no more.

I read Pai'.l's warning to Timothy, " that in the
last days perilous times shall come," "that some
shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seduc-
ing spirits and doctrines of devils " ; and, in his
Epistle to the Thessalonians, I read, *' God shall
send them strong delusion, that they should believe
a lie." So I tried to believe that all these logical
conclusions and most reasonable ideas that seemed
so to agree with my observation and common sense
were only delusions characteristic of the last time,
and proved that the Lord was truly at hand. So

TRAVELS IN lAITJI.

firm a hold had my Bible taken of mc that reason
was doomed to a still Ioniser subjection to a blind
faith, and for years all the light of science and the
wisdom of the age were rejected as delusions it
was dangerous and sinful to encounter.

I thouirht my feelintx of consecration mii^dit be
increased if I went through the form of believers'
baptism ; and, after the end of the voyage, I was
immersed, one cool October day, in a New Jersey
lake, by Mr. James Inglis, editor of the Witness, a
monthly paper devoted to the truths of Brethren-
ism minus its exclusiveness, though Mr. Inglis had,
like most of the Brethren whom I have known,
gradually withdrawn from* fellowship with others,
and was accustomed '* to break bread" on the
Lord's Day in his own house with .ny friends who
chanced to come. After ihe plunge, he kept me
standing dripping on the shore, while he maile a
gospel address to the dozen stragglers who at-
tended us. I never had placed any stress ujion
the mode of baptism ; but I imbibed a strong opin-
ion of the unseemliness of this mode, and ever
after doubted if immersion had been divinely pre-
scribed for all climes and periods, though I believed
that baptism was only to be used as the sign of
the faith of its recipient. I may add that I read
books in favor of infant baptism, but nothing on
the other side except the Bible. No increase of
*• holiness" came to me; but, by resolutely refus-

■■ffcoti

/'A' A VELS IN FAJTIL

ing to reason and keeping my sympathies warm in
religious work, 1 kept on for years sincerely lead-
ing a Chistian life. I sa"" that many wise and
learned men were able to accept Christianity in
spite of the light of modern science, and I clung
to their faith as an arirumcnt for the maintenance
of my own.

After fifteen years of sea life, I settled down to
business on shore, establishing myself in Montreal.
A perusal of " Theodore Parker's Experience as a
Minister" at this time, let loose my reason and
;u*oused the old doublings. My father had ob-
tained the book to assist him in writing a contro-
versial article against Parker's views, but the book
rendered an opposite service to his son.. Two
words had a great effect upon me. He spoke of
]\Ioscs as a ** Hebrew iilibuster." I was shocked
at his irreverence in thus speaking of the man of
God ; but, on reflection, I asked. Why did the in-
road of the Hebrews upon Canaan differ in princi-
ple from the attacks of the American filibusters
upon Cuba and Mexico? It opened up a natural
view of the Hebrew wars, and brought the Bible
down to a common-sense interpretation. For a
year, I was in ^reat danger of an abandonment of

TKA VELS IN FAITH.

faith, and rationalistic suggestions often crowded
upon my mind.

The delight of a home, after all my wanderings,
was intensely enjoyed ; and I developed some love
for this woiiii and coohu^ss towartl th<! n(.«xl, which
led a good evangelist to warn me that *' (iod would
stir up my nest," if I took too much comfort in it.
Havincf made church connections, I soon «jfot to
work again in "the Loid's vineyard," became su-
perintendeni of a Sunday-school, preached at a
mission chapel Sunday evenings, and through the
week took part in prayer and temperance meet-
ings, and worked to provide for the maintenance
of a sailors' institute. All this, besides an engross-
ing business, carried on "for Christ," left me no
time for reading, rellection, or conversation, except
in the line of my religious and business duties.

God "stirred up my nest" most effectually with
severe afllictions, though I could not see that they
were judgments, unless it was for being too relig-
ious, as some of the trials were directly traceable
to my pious efforts. If I ever took a vacation or
stopped to think, my reason began tc attack my
theology ; and my only escape was to plunge back
into the old career, and resolve never to doubt.
My Christian friends now assure me these afflic-
tions were ** the loving chastisement of the Lord,"
on account of " the incipient stages of what has
now become open rebellion against the Almighty.*

.^^mmm-'nrr Vf^r

TA'^ VELS IN h'AJTn,

A business visit to Europe broke up this mind
burial and let loose my reason ag^ain, and it never
was subdued aftenvard. I recall a decided mental
experience at Hamburg. One Sunday morning, I
attended a Lutheran church ; and its candles and
papist forms of worship illustrated another of the
innumerable interpretations by God's people of
"God's revealed will." In the afternoon, I visited
the Zoological Gardens, which were thronged by
respectable, orderly people with their families, who
studied the rare animals and various interestinof
and instructive collections, listened to good music,
and partook of refreshments. All this was wicked
to Puritanism, but it seemed good to common-
sense that the working man's day of leisure should
be employed in such a manner. Why it could be
better to stay at home and read how God slaugh-
tered the Canaanites ; how Jael murdered her con-
fiding guest Siseni, and was declared "blessed
above women " for it ; or study the order of the
service of the Jewish tabernacle, — was a puzzle. I
recalled that some Christians kept the Jewish Sab-
l)ath still, — ate cold dinners, shaved on Saturday,
and kept (juiet all Sunday except when "walking
decently to and from the house of God," as the
" blue laws " express it.

Others believed the Sabbath was abrogated by
Christ ; and the Lord's day, a day of worship and
religious joy, had taken its place. Paul said he

TRA VELS IN FAITH.

was afraid of people who observed Sabbaths, and
some Christians regard the day wholly in a spir-
itual light. Some observe Saturday, and others
Sunday. And here on the Continent were other
Christians deliberately breaking the fourth com-
mandment and desecrating the Sabbath, according
to our notions of God's law. The confusion of
ideas about the day, its origin, its object, the au-
thority for its change from Saturday to Sunday,
impressed me anew with the uncertain nature of
God's revelation ; and why a God of intelligence
could not speak plainly on such a point was past
comprehension. The superior benefit toman from
this feature of man's way of observing the day in
Germany over ** God's way " in New England was
too evident to reason to be denied; and the whole
history of the day through the ages, from all that
I could learn by a careful study of Christian
writers, only enforced the idea that men in each
age had made their own ideas to be God's law.
From that day, the conviction never slumbered,
though sometimes somewhat suppressed.

The strain of this combined reliLrious and busi-
ness life proved unfavorable to health, and three
years were passed in travel or residence with my
family in other cities for the purpose of recupera-
tion Observation of different nations in Europe
supplied fresh illustrations of the great diversity
of religious opinions, and the uniform standard of

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T^A VELS IN FAITH.

morality and demeanor among all people. In
thrift, neatness, courtesy, and good behavior, the
inhabitants of Catholic and " infidel " France were,
to say the least, not inferior to those of Protestant
England and Scotland ; nor did free-thinking Hol-
land and Germany appear to disadvantage in com-
parison with Calvinistic Switzerland. An investi-
gation into the various " isms" for which Boston is
noted showed numbers of equally good and ear-
nest people engaged in propagating varying views
of what to each one was ** God's truth." The
claim of aiiy one of these differing sects to be the
divinely inspired custodians of revelation, while all
others were more or less deceived in their equally
confident opinions, appeared to me to be a com-
bination of arrogance and ignorance ; and my rev-
erence for the idea of a Supreme Being compelled
me to believe that, if he undertook to make a rev-
elation, good, intelligent people would understand
it alike.

On board a steamer returning from England, I
came across Baine's " Age of Reason." I had avoid-
ed reading this or any other sceptical book while
my mind was unsetthxl ; but, now that my convic-
tions were clearer as to the human origin of ** reve-
lation," I ventured to read it. My astonishment at
its lofty sentiment, religious aspiration, and pure
morality was intense ; for was not this " the worst
of books"? Its coarseness consisted in ridiculing

TRAVELS /N FAITJt.

4«>

what was indecent, immoral, and absurd in the
Bible ; and its lo^ic and demonstration seemed to
my mind unanswerable. Modern scholarship has
cleared up a few points among the mass of matter
that he criticizes; but his book still exists as a con-
vincing demonstration that the Hible is composed
of human ideas, and not of the words of God. As
Paine's writings cannot be overthrown by learning
and reason, scorn and calumny are used as the
only remaining weapons. Let each read it for
himself. If the Bible is the word of God, it need
not fear the criticism of Paine. Criticisms and
reviews of all other literature are deemed valua-
ble in proportion to their exposure of defects and
falsity, but with the Bible only adulatory criticism
is tolerated.

Paine treats the Bible as all bools should be
treated by common-sense people in an ago of rea-
son ; and the word of God certainly should be able
to bear such examination. But his criticism proves
it to be the word of man. I soon after bouirh^ a
copy, and procured from the American Tract So-
ciety Bishop Watson's " Reply to Paine," said to
be a perfect refutation of this attack upon the in-
spiration of the Bible. I read these two books
chapter by chapter alternately, and tried to weigh
the arguments fairly. Paine's keen, logical analy-
sis, couched in the most lucid and forcible English,

x"wvv«' r -F* jr Kwr

I tl idriiiniim

TJiAV/iLS IN FAITH.

was proof against the Bishop's pompous denuncia-
tion and stale argument.

After my return to America, I spent a year in
the neighborhood of Boston, and devoted myself
to reading the thought of the day, especially what
related to the genuineness and authenticity of the
Bible, the laws of evolution and political economy,
and some social problems.

The proofs of the theory of development, as por-
trayed in the writings of Darwin, Haeckel, and
Spencer, seemed in the main to be unanswerable:
and I found that almost every scientist in the
world had in a great measure accepted the evolu-
tion theory. I paid great respect to the opinions
of the eminent exception that exists in Montreal,
to whose character and ability we all do honor, and
of whom, as citizens, we are justly proud. But his
objections did not satisfy me, and were overborne
by the overwhelming testimony of the great schol-
ars who have left him almost alone to the support
of the theories of the past.

1 therefore found a scientific foundation for my
doubts about revelation; and, in the words of John
Fiske, I came to believe in '* divine action through
natural law, instead of in divine action through
supernatural fiat." The Book of Genesis and its
creation stories I found to be disproved beyond
any possibility of reconciliation, and I could only
regard it as the record of Ifebrew guesses about

TRAVELS IN FA I Tit.

nature. The truth of the unfailing succession of
cause and effect overthrew all possibihty of mir-
acle ; and I found it easier to believe in the fallibil-
ity of the Bible writers, both of the Old and New
Testaments, than in the violation of the order of
nature.

The theories of evolution trave me a reasonable
conception of the universe, and seemed to put
solid ground under my feet. But for their dis-
proof of supernaturalism, I might not have suc-
ceeded in shaking off the thraldom of tradition, so
strong was the bond of educational and social in-
fluences that held me. Every motive of self-inter-
est in life held me to Orthodoxy, and only what
seemed to me absolute proof of its falsity could
have led me to renounce its connection and asso-
ciations. The path of worldly advancement^ now
lies through the church. My good father said to
me on the eve of my departure for Montreal, " I
do not think we should be religious for the sake of
gain, but I believe there is no surer means of ad-
vancement than to be a reputable member of a
respectable church." I found it popular to be a
Christian, and experience convinces me that it is
he, who conscientiously leaves the church, who
knows what it is to •' take up the cross and follow
Jesus."

It would be tedious to dwell upon the varied
proofs, furnished by evolution, of the orderly de-

TRAVELS IN FAITH.

velopment of matter and mind through past ages,
without interference from either God or devil ; and
I presume it is unnecessary to do so, for the high-
est authorities tell us that every learned man in
the world, who is not hampered by conventional
theological tics, has accepted the theory of evolu-
tion.

Nor can I enlarge upon my consideration of the
deep questions of the existence of evil, God's sov-
ereignty and man's free agency, and all the range
of Calvinistic dogma. Day by day, I pondered
upon these themes ; but it is difficult to tell the
mental experiences of years in a few pages.

I studied the history of other religions and the
character of their sacred books ; and I found
Christianity to be the natural development out of
the dogmas and traditions of India, Persia, Egypt,
Palestine, and Greece, just one step, and a great
step, in advance on the path of luiman progress,
but destined to lead to the step of the religion oi"
evolution and still onward.

I found all the great doctrines of Christianity,
such as trinity, miraculous conception, atonement
and resurrection, paralleled or foreshadowed in the
beliefs of many lands.

But I resolved to take my stand upon the doc-
trine of the resurrection of Jesus, as I had done
once before, but not to read it in commentaries

IK A VELS IN FAITH.

this time ; for this is the foundation stone of the
Christian rdigion.

I wrote out in parallel columns all the testimo-
nies of evangelists and apostles to the resurrection
and ascension, and compared each division mi-
nutely. I advise others to do this, and judge for
themselves. " God's Word " should be able to tell
its own story and produce conviction.

To my mind, this story bears all the marks
which characterize hui in legends ; and the dis-
crepancies are such that it is impossible to believe
that the vital truth of the Christian rclitrion would
not have been more impressively stated, if God
undertook to reveal it to a world that would per-
ish without it. There is a great array of literature
on this subject, if any wish to read human opinions
about it. I found also that contemporary history
was utterly silent about this marvellous event, and
even about the existence of such a man as Jesus.

As I have said, I took great interest in foreign
missions during my voyages to Asia ; and it seemed
unaccountable why God, who wishes all men to
come to the knowledge of the truth, should have
himself created the principal obstacle to their doing
so. The chief difficulty in spreading ideas among
heathen nations has been their varying languages.
The missionary or teacher has had to spend a life-
time in learning a new language, inventing an al-
phabet, reducing words to writing, and translating

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TRAVELS IN FAITH.

the word of God, as nearly as his ingenuity will
enable him to express involved ideas, where no
words exist which can convey the sense God has
revealed to English-speaking people through sev-
eral other languages. Meantime, another genera-
tion has perished, while the saving truth has been
in preparation.

The Bible tells us that God got angry with a
few men in the land of Shinar, who were trying to
build a tower that would reach to heaven. God
was evidently alarmed, and said, " Now, nothing
will be restrained from them, which they have im-
agined to do." So "the Lord did there confound
the lano^uatife of all the earth." He all the time
was ** not willing any should perish," and had
" foreordained " all that should come to pass, or
at least knew what would happen. He intended
that the gospel should be preached to all men
under heaven ; and yet, for fear that some men
would climb into heaven by means '^^ a brick wall,
he destroyed the universal language, and inter-
posed the greatest possible hindrance to the spread
of the truth. In order to embarrass these brick-
layers, he left millions of heathen to perish, caused
countless wars, and delayed the civilization and
enlightenment of the world for ages, by prevent-
ing men from understanding one another. A gor,d
God would not have done this. A wise God
would not have eiven himself such a bad charac-

TRAVELS IN FAITH.

ter ; and an intelligent God would not have feared
that men could build "unto heaven," and jump off
into it while the earth was revolving so swiftly on
its axis. I perceived this story to be the myth of
an ignorant people.

VI.

I COULD fill volumes with the record of my study
and questioning about Bible doctrines. I had be-
lieved that a Christian should be a man of one
book. I enjoyed a great deal of leisure when in
command of vessels upon long voyages, and my
tastes were almost entirely literary. This convic-
tion of the paramount importance of religion led
me to concentrate all my reading upon the Bible
and theological books. I [)rocured Lange's Com-
mentaries as they were published, and read several
of the volumes from beginning to end. One voy-
age was devoted chiefly to the study of the Greek
Testament. I look back with regret upon these
years, which, if devoted to the study of the facts
of nature, would have made me a learned man ;
but, instead of this, I was trying to discover the
probable course of future events by comparing the
obscure rhapsodies of Hebrew prophets and poets,
or in trying to learn the mind of God by studying

56.

TRA VELS IX FAITH.

i ^

the fragmentary remains of the writings of bar-
barous, or less enlightened ages than the present.
I will not call it wasted time, because it has in the
end taught me that the Hebrew Scriptures are to
be judged by the samo rules as the literature of all
other nations, and that they possess no authority
beyond what pertains to all other writings of men.
I hope I may prove further that this time has not
been wasted, by persuading some that it is useless
to study the Bible in the hope of discovering how
the world was made, or when and how it will end ;
when Jesus will return to earth ; how the ten king-
doms of the Roman Empire are to be restored in
Europe ; who is to be the antichrist ; or, if it be
true that the British nation represents the lost ten
tribes of Israel, to determine whether it will pos-
sess Constantinople, or what its future is to be.
As a venerable book, the best thought of the
ancients, the record of the customs and characters
of men of other days, the Bible stands peerless in
its own sphere, and will always be prized. It is
only injured and degraded by the effort to elevate
it to a sphere where it has no place.

It may be of interest to mention that my knowl-
edge of sceptical objections to the Bible was first
gained from orthodox commentaries, for I never
read a sceptical work until long after my doubts
had arisen. In searching Lange's Commentaries
for explanations of the contradictions and obscuri-

TRAVELS IX FAITIf.

ties of ** God's Word," I often came upon refuta-
tions of the German critics, and sometimes the
superiority of their opinions was stroni;ly appar-
ent to me. Attacks upon " heresy " thus often
help to spread it; for they make known its nature,
and, as " truth is mighty and must prevail," it only
needs to be known to win its way. All criticism
should be welcome for this reason.

The inconsistencies of Christians, myself in-
cluded, led me to doubt if any really believ(!d the
doctrines the) professed. Christ taught his follow-
ers not to lay up treasures upon earth, to sell all
they had and give to the poor. He said the rich
should hardly enter into the kingtlom of heaven.
The early Christians believeil him, and had all
things common ; and Ananias and Sapphira were
killed for hypocrisy in the matter. Now, Chris-
tians are foremost in the struggle for riches. They
explain away the meaning Jesus evidently attach-
ed to his words and the literal sense in which his
disciples understood them, and say that only in-
ordinate affection for money is condemned ; and
no Christian millionaire ever believes himself
guilty of that sin. They give away driblets of their
incomes, for v/hich they receive great praise, and
hoard up and increase their principal. I do not
say it is wrong to do this, but that it is unchristian.
An old bachelor, an elder in a Presbyterian church,
who had been lauded for his benevolence, lately

[

TKAVKLS IN FA/TII,

died ; and his estate footed ud two millions of dol-
lars. He had given away part of his income
yearly, and once about fifty thousand dollars of
his principal to found an asylum bearing his name.
Jkit in what sense had he followed Christ's teach-
ings ? Many excuse themselves in the race for
gold by saying they are seeking it to do good with,
to use it for Christ ; but it is generally used first
to do good to themselves, and supply summer and
winter palaces and carriages, and to amass a cap-
ital.

Paul directs that "women adorn themselves in
modest apparel wiJ.i shamefastness and sobriety,
not with briided hair, and gold or pearls or costly
raiment " ; out the wife and daughters of the
Christian millionaire enter the handsome sanct-
uary, which has succeeded to the "upper room"
of the disciples, wearing glove-fitting dresses of
expenj^Ive fabric, braided hair purchased of poor-
er women, barbaric ear-rings and gold bracelets,
and many accessories of costly raiment. I do not
say tluit this is wrong, but is it consistent in those
who believe the apostle's words to be divinely in-
spired?

Christians, as a rule, do not give to those that
ask of them, and are apt to turn away from bor-
rowers. They do not turn the other cheek to the
smiter, nor refrain from going to law with breth-
ren, — and that before unbelievers; and, when the

TKAl'ELS IN FA J 77/.

plaintiff is awarded the coat, I never heard that
the Christian defendant offered his ** cloke " also.

The love of enemies, avoidance of public prayer,
concealed alms, no anxiety for the morrow, are
maxims which a few follow in intention, but which
the multitude of believers wholly disreij^ard.

The explanation t^iven is tliat these thins^s were
good for the time when they were prescribed ; but
times have chani^ed, and the spirit, not the letter,
is to be observed. If the spirit is truly rcj^arded,
this is a satisfactory answer, provided Jesus and
Paul were merely reformers of their own aiL^e ; but,
it is professed, these divinely inspired maxims were
ii^iven by the Christ of (lod and the Holy Ghost
through the apostle to the Gentiles for all time.
If so, they are as binding to-day as when they
were uttered. The Hible becomes iutelliLrible and
useful, when we see it to be men's best thoughts
for the good of the times they lived in ; but, when
it is made out to be God's universal prescription
for men in all ages, and the only compendium of
infallible truth, it is as hard to accept it as such as
it >vould be for the medical profession now to re-
ceive the works of the surgeon barbers of the Mid-
dle Ages as standards for the regulation of their
practice.

Prof. Huxley, in " Lay Sermons," gives Descar-
tes* golden rule: "Give unqualified assent to no
propositions but those the truth of which is so

TRAVELS IN FAITH,

I *■

clear and distinct that they cannot be doubted,"
The adoption of this rule will overthrow nearly all
doj^matic theoloj^y, and it will likewise deter the
inquirer from too confident an assumption of the
m(.Te hypotheses of evohition and tlu; science of the
(lay. The main conclusions which I have n^iched
rest upon a common-si-nse interpretation of the
facts which nature ami man present to every eye.
Once accept the idea that reli^^ion is the record of
the aspirations of the human mind and changes
from at;e to aj^e and day to day, as men's capaci-
ties and natures alter, there bt^iiiLT no infallible rev-
elation from God of one true reliij^ion, and it will
be found that all the history kA human thouj^ht is
intellii^nble. Religion, which is now to each man
the blind acceptance of ii. comprehensible ideas, be-
comes a simple and common-sense affair. Instead
of searching the Hible with the Holy Spirit, or
swallowing whole the tlecisions of fathers, councils,
and commentators, or surrendering one's mind to
the control of tninisters and priests, each man may
learn for himself from the book of nature all the
grand outlines of truth that are necessary to be
known as general princi|,les ; and the details can
be learned from the investigation of live facts by
living men, instead of from musty researches by
scholars among the obscure and doubtful records
made by erring men in dead languages, in dark
ages.

TRA I' ELS IN I' A I Til.

Only he who has experienced it can understand
the relief that comes to the mind of one who for
years has strui^gled to understand " the Word of
God " and its complicated theolo'^y for himself, in-
stead of takini^ it all for j^ranted because his par-
ents believed it, when at last he puts it in its rii^ht
place, as records of past thoui^ht, and comes into
the freedom and li<rht of the reliij^ion of nature and
humanity. lie then learns that all events move in
the channel of law, that these laws are ever tendinir
in their ultimate results toward the develoj^ment
of good, that good and evil teach thc^ir own lessons
and alike *' work together for good."

The origin of scepticism in my mind was the ob-
servation of the differing and sometimes opposing
views of Christians, who were studying the I5il)le
prayerfully under the guidance of the 1 loly Spirit.
To avoid the fatal conclusion of the human origin
of their religion, which this pn^mise leads to,
Christians are accustomed to claim that the differ-
ences are upon " non-essentials," and that upon all
vital points true Christians agree. They empha-
size the word " true," and it means that those who
think as they do are the only Iruc Christians.
The doctrines of the atonement and the deity of
Christ they admit to be vital ; but, when such
godly, prayerful men as Channing and lizra S.
Gannet, with the latter of whom my father en-
gaged in controversy upon the.se points, find them-

TRAVELS IN FA J TIL

selves led by study of the Scriptures to the renun-
ciation of these dogmas, they assert that these
praying men hav^ abandoned the teaching of the
Spirit, each being *' vainly puffed up by his fleshly
mind." As the Spirit's influence is not a visible
or tangible thing, and th(!rcfore cannot be demon-
strated, there is no arguing with people who assert
tiiat all people who are led by the Spirit of God
believe as they do, and all who differ from them
have forsaken the Spirit's leading for " the vaga-
ries of reason." Wiien an orthodox theoloirian
like Bushnell nearly apj)roaches the Unitarian de-
nial of the vicarious atonement, it furnishes an
opportunity for these analyst theologians, with
their hair-turning scales, to determine how many
grains of ideas are the product of the Spirit and
how many are from ** the fleshly mind." When
one praying searcher of Scripture fmds s[)rinkling,
another immersion, and another spiritual influence
to be baptism, as this is " not essential to salva-
tion," Christians excuse Jesus for not keeping his
promise, " When he, tlie Spirit of Truth, is come,
he shall guide you into all the truth," — as though
any real truth is '* unessential," or any error not
injurious. One finds in the Bible infant baptism,
another believer's baptism ; one ordination, anoth-
er liberty of ministry ; one a post-millennial ad-
vent, another a pre-millennial advent (a thousand
years is of small account in theology); one trinity.

THAriiLS IN I' Am I.

another unity ; one a personal devil, another an
evil induence ; one election, another free grace ;
one perseverance, another falling frcMn grace ; one
progressive sanctification, another instantaneous
sanctification ; one eternal punishment, another an-
nihilation, and another universal restoration ; one
an intermediate state after death, another an im-
mediate heaven ; and so on.

All these views are confidently proved from the
words of the Bible by each divinely illuminated
student ; and each inspired believer through the
ages has denounced or cursed or murdered the
other inspired believer, as Calvin caused the death
of Servetus for views now widely held by good
miin. What wars and atrocities have been caused
by this curious method of the Spirit of leading
Jesus' followers into all truth! (Read "The
Oimes and Cruelties of Christianity," by W. 1\
Underwood.) And Christians dare tell us they all
agree in essentials ! These truths may not be es-
sential to the salvation of the soul ; but, in the past,
they have been very necessary to the existence of
the body. They reduce essentials finally to one
dogma, salvation by Clirist ; and, if any one disbe-
lieves that, it only proves he has refused to be
guided by the Spirit, being "vainly puffed up by
his fleshly mind." Can the human mind cease to
be hindered in its advancement, till the shackles oi

TKA VELS fN FAITH.

such illogical, arrogant, and uncharitable assump-
tiof'is are destroyed ?

I am told it is disrespectful to my father to dif-
fer from his views, and filial reverence should keep
me from proclaiming opposed ideas. What prog-
ress would the world have made, if this notion
had always prevailed ? Look at China's progress
in knowledge. Ancestral worship has hindered
advancement there. My grandfather was a worthy
cabinet-maker in Salem. He decided that his son
should be educated in the ideas of a certain theo-
logical sect. It is really irreverence to my grand-
father that I am guilty of. A previous grand-
father i)robably believed in hanging the Salem
witches ; and I am certainly irreverent to that one,
and am not ashamed of it. One comfort is that, if
our deceased friends are in a conscious state, they
thoroughly approve of any progress we make in
truth in advance of their notions. It would be a
pity to find we had been grieving ther.i, because
we refused to accei)t the advance in knowledge
since their day, or declined to use the electric light
because they read by tallow candles or the light of
the fire, as my father did, when a boy, for econ-
omy's sake.

Respect for my father requires me to be loyal to
the truth as I see it. He never Hinched in the
maintenance of the facts that hell and slavery are
Bible doctrines. They are taught there, and he

Th\l VELS IX FAITH.

was consistent. The leadiniif Liberals and Aboli-
tionists gave up the Bible, and then opposed hell
and slavery ; and they were consistent. But the
mass of orthodox clergymen have quietly ignored
hell and violently attacked slavery, and they are
inconsistent. If the Bible teaches ideas opposed
to reason and morals, if it is the infallible word of
Gorl, we must be unreasonable and immoral ; but
all difficulty is cleared away, when we see that not
only common sense, but an overwhelming mass of
scientific and literary criticism, proves the Bible to
be the record of human thouHit about God. One
who sees this and fears to raise his voice aijainst a
superstition which he beli^'ves to be dishonoring to
God and injurious to man, he alone is false to the
heritaore of an honored name.

During the year that I was in Boston, I endeav-
ored to keep, my opinions to niyself ; for I desired
not to give offence, and wish(;d to verify my posi-
tion. But watchful friends discovered that I had
been a few times to a Unitarian church, that I read
the Boston Sini(/ay Ifcrald, and that I entertained
some doubts about the accuracy of the Mosaic
story of creation. These dreadful sins brought
upon me such remonstrances and exhortations that
I was at last compelled to declare my true position
in a letter to my friends, which I afterward de-
cided to publish over my initials, as an easy way
of informing acquaintances of my change, not sup-

TKA VELH IN FAITJf.

\ ^'

posing it would attract public attention. I had no
desire to force my ideas upon them ; but, for my
own peace of mind, it became necessary for me to
avow myself. I constantly met people who treated
me with j^reat courtesy on account of my reputa-
tion as a Christian. Some of these were friends
of my father, — ministers and i^entlemen whom 1
hiti^hly honor and esteem. After such interviews,
I had so painful a sense of sailini^ under false col-
ors tiiat I preferred to incur what would seem to
me undeserved blame rather than receive what I
felt to be unmerited praise.

rVom the forej^oins^ sketch of my relii^ious expe-
riences, it will be seen that my course was first to
find the literal teachin;;^ of the Bible and reject
the so[)histries by which theoloL,nans of the present
day try to make its teachini^ harmonize with mod-
ern ideas. I saw that, treated honestly, the Hible
taut^ht a six days* creation, the fall of man, a uni-
versal llood, an eternal hell, a vicarious atonement,
and the future return of Christ to the earth. But
I found Christians all at variance about these doc-
trines, unable to ai^ree as to what the revelation of
God really revealed. I found that many scholars
doubted the j^enuineness and authenticity of the
Gospels, and all the probabilities seemed to me to
be on their side. The Dutch school of criticism
gave a satisfactory explanation of the Bible as a
compilation of Hebrew literature. Science, hu-

TRA I'ELS AV FAtTIf.

manity and reason were opposed to tradition ; and
I gave up tradition. Honesty and sincerity obliged
me to withdraw from membership in the Christian
Church.

VII.

CON'CM'SION.

A TiiouGiiTrui. friend advised me not to pub-
lish the foregoing statement of my experience in
thought until three years had elapsed, to allow
time for consideration and possibly for modification
of views, which might be found to be extreme, a
natural reaction from an intense and unnatural piet-
ism. I felt this to be wise and prudent. This
time has nearly passed, but reperusal suggests no
alteration ; and experience and rellection confirm
the convictions expressed.

During this period, a great many letters have
come to me ; and numbers of '"riends, each in his
own estimation led by the Spirit and holding the
correct views of religious truth, have endeavored
to convince me of error. I find, however, that
they all differ ; and to adopt the degree of super-
naturalism which any one holds would still leave
me at variance with the majority. I have been
able to classify my correspondents into nine class-

TRAVELS JN FAITH.

es, each showing an upward step toward rational-
ism, and the whole forming an admirable demon-
stration of my assertions as to the human origin of
religion. Each follows knowledge as far as his
environment will allow, and then holds to " faith."
Each minister, in the light of modern science,
walks up to his denominational fence, and there
stops ; but the Congrcgationalist goes beyond the
Plymouth Brother, the Ej)iscopalian distances the
Cont^rei^ationalist, and the Unitarian ventures still
nearer to rationalism. For any one to go further
would subject him to trouble ; and the impression
made upon my own mind is that their progress is
deterred by the unconscious influence of self-inter-
est, and they demonstrate the fact that ultimate
truth lies in the direction toward which each has
advanced, — that is, in lYafiu'ii/isiii. The person
nearest to agreement with me is the most travelled
of all, the one next to him is the most scientific,
and next to him comes the most scholarly ; then
come the business men ; then orthodox ministers ;
and the farthest off from me and the nearest to
supernaturalism are emotional ladies and men who
believe in the verbal inspiration and literal mean-
ing of the Hible, and who seldom read anything
else.

This gradation of opinion, and the capacities
and circumstances of its exponents, strongly con-
vince me that my future path trends forward, and

TKAl'K/.S AV tAlTIf.

not backward. In the rational study of nature lie
the secrets of knowledi^e, and (!very admission of
the existence of supernatural inlluences is a l)arrier
to j)rojj^ress.

A Christian asked nie, *' What have you to live
for now?" His tone implied that the loss of a be-
lief in hell removed all impetus to benevolence and
philanthropy. I replied : " A thousand-fold more
than ever. To benefit men here and now, to pro-
mote commerce, to advance society, to inlluencc
the future of the race. The world has opened out
before me full of possibility and hop(!, temptinj^
me to effort by its opportunities and afford ini^ joy
ir» its prospects. All this is trained in exchant^e
for distressinijf efforts to save a few men, throuLih
emotional experiences, from an imaij^ined impend-
ing doom, in the face of which all attempts at
worldly improvement would be a hopeless and
heartless mockery." It is the consistent Christian
who has nothintjj to live for. Death or the cominiLj'
of the Lord is his only hojic!. To depart and be
with Jesus is his desired destiny. The more sin-
cere a Christian a man is, the less has he to live
for in this world ; and the reason that Christianity
docs so little harm is because it is so little believed.
The Dark Ages were the ages of " faith." The
religion of nature is what most men practise, and
they only espouse Christianity when it is attacked.
Practically, but few believe its dogmas ; and, when

Si-i

TRAVELS IN FAITIf.

men are no longer paid to preach them and self-
interest does not enforce conformity, they will be
abandoned in name, as they are already, to a great
extent, in fact.

Men have become accustomed to think that
Christianity means goodness, whereas all that we
prize as good existed and was recognized in the
world long before Jesus was born. Orthodox
Christianity means the theory that men are all
doomed to eternal torment, and can only escape
by belief in the merits of the death of a man-god.
This creed is fast beinij rele<rated to the domain
of cast-off superstitions, which have had their day
and done their work in the development of those
who created them. He who leaves it does not
leave faith behind ; but he travels in faith to a be-
lief in the inviolable order of nature, the sequence
of cause and effect, the reign of law, the upward
destiny of the human race, — to faith in good.

A RADICAL AVOWAL.

A LETTKK TO OKTIIODOX KKIKNDS.

You have remarked upon evidences that I was
chan<;ing in my religious belief; and I have avoided
speakin<^ about it, because I shrank from t;ivin<^
you pain. But 1 feel it is best, once for all, to tell
you frankly where I stand, so that there need be
no misunderstandinix between us.

You know that ever since 1 be^an to travel ex-
tensivcly, and visit foreii^n lands all around the
world, I have em[)l()yed nearly all my spare time
in Biblical and theolosj^ical studies, beint; letl to this
by observation of the varied inter|)retation of Scrii)t-
ure. In time, I adopted the Plymouth Brethren's
system of lilcral interpretation, believinj^ that, if
Ciod gave a revelation to man, it must be one that
each man could understand for himself, without the
intervention of any ecclesiastical or other human
authority. I believed, therefore, that " God's word "
meant what it said, and was not to be ingeniously
twisted, its surface meanings ignored, and promises
to the Jews "spiritualized" into prophecies of the
Christian Church. I found that Christ promised
his disciples that the Spirit should lead them " into

TKA VELH JN FAJTH.

all truth " ; and it followed, from Protestant inter-
pretation, that the prayerful student of the Bible,
in whom, accordin*^ to our theory, the Holy Spirit
dwells, must learn the Bible's true teachinji^. In-
tercourse with numerous Christians, many of whom
I was convinced [)rayed earnestly for thc! j^uidance
. of the Spirit, showed me that the Holy Spirit led
each man to different and often opposintj views :
thou<rh one devout and hii^hly educated Cliristian
assured me that no one ever studied the liiblc
prayerfully without believini^as he did, but I found
that his present adherents numbered only two.
The theory that these different views were like the
varied aspects of amountiiin from numerous points
did not satisfy me, for a mountain never looks like
a valley ; and I bei^an to doubt if it was possible
that an omniscient God would t^ive a revelation to
man that would set all the world ** by the ears" in
their efforts to interpret it. The only solution to
my mini! was that each man's belief is determined
by his own orj^anization and surroundinj^^s. All
religions art? of human orii;in, Christianity not e\-
ceptttd.

Accpiaintance with many lands, and conversation
with "many men of many mintls." showed me that,
in all civilized or semi-civilized countries, there is a
prevalent recoj^nition of the threat trutlis of moral-
ity, while ideas of religion vary. I saw less wick-
edness on the heathen shores of China, India, Javti,

A /^APICAI. AVOn'AL.

and Sumatra than on the Christian wharves of New
York and Boston or around the docks of London
and Liverpool. Morality, therefore, is independent
of relij^ion, beini; the result of universal experience
of the best methods of living;.

But my early traininj^ and surroundini^ inlliicjnces
led me to suppress tlu^se convictions; and, for sev-
eral years, I foui^ht ai^ainst my reason, restricted
myself entirely to evaui^elical reailini;, and resolved
not to doubt. At intervals, scepiicisiu would re-
vive, but by tramplini^^ on m\' iiileliect, [)hm<^injL,^
intorelij^ious work, and trying to accept the doL;ina
that, as the finite cannot coniprehcml iIk; infinite,
the unintellis^ibility of a doctrine was a proof of
its divinity, in this way I manai^ed to pn^serve my
faith. A visit to lini^land .md Germany rather
unsettled me, until I buried myself aj^Min in " the
faith of my fathers," and refus(!(.I to acknowledi^^e
my own independence and ri-^ht to think for my-
self, because the fathers and many livin<^ threat
men heUl and hold this faith, b'inally, three years
of travel, talk, aiid .eadinj^ entirely emancipated
my mind from the sway of the current Christian
theology.

I believe that all thinj^s are subject to law, fron\
the raindrop to the loftiest conception cf the human
brain. There is no supernatural mterfeicace. All
will be accounted for as knowledge increases, and
the reason why everything exists or acts will be

-B

TRAVELS IN FAITH.

r
\

shown. Therefore, as there are no miracles^ there
need be no prayer.

The study of the Diblii, and comparing it with
the sacred writings of other nations, convinces nic
that the Bible is a human compilation of the tradi-
tions, poetry, history, and reiii^ious ideas of the
Jews in earlier and darker at;es than ihe present.
It is " God's \y\i^i\ " only in tiie sense that what is
j^ood in all written, spoken, or secret thought may
be called (i oil's word. Its atrocities, indecencies,
and incomprehensible dogmas are of the earth. I
reject the orthodox doctrine of inspiration entirely.

The doctrines of evolution, in their main out-
lines, are now receivetl by nearly all learned men,
wbetluM* Christians or sceptics. The Ih'ble says
the world was made in six days by magic, man was
perfect Imt sinned, Christ died to save a few, and
soon Cod will destroy the world and punish the
vast majority of men forever in lu*ll. Itivolution
says the worKl is the protluct of a gradual develop-
ment of matter, progressing through millions of
years ; man has arisen from lower animals, and they
fron» inferior orders of animal and vegetable life
down to the simplest atom. Analogy teaches that
man will continue to rise, anil, through the opera-
tion of the same laws, attain to a far higher, if not
perfect development ; for there must always be pro-
gress upward. So I have changed from a pessi-
mist to an optimist ; and. instead of ignoring this

I I

A RADICAL AlOWAI..

sin-cursed world doomed to destruction, I accept it
as "the best worKl i^oinij^," and one capable of im-
provement, it beini; my i^reat aim so to advance my
own nature and that of others that the world may
be better for my life. Not the salvation of men's
souls from hell, but the elevation of their hearts
and minds, and the l)etterin<^ of their social condi-
tion, is now my desire.

As to immortality, nothinij; is revealed to me,
though many analoi^ies encourai^e hope in a future
existence. If there is no other life, we shall never
know our loss in our tlreandess sleep ; and, if then?
is a future state, if we have lived well for this life,
we shall l)e best fitted for another. ()n(! world at
A time is enough ; and, when another comes, it will
di*jn be time to take an interest in it.

I see no proof of a p(M*sonal (iod, who sits uj)
aloft and makes butterllies, counts hairs, and con-
jures up squalls to upset the boats of Sabbath-
breakers ; but I see an ever-active, unerring forci;
in nature, workinj^ in the main for i^ood, thouj^di
painfully and mysteriously to "the creatures of a
day."

The result to myself is that I am ritl of ilie aw-
ful depression andj^loom of the doctrine of hell, the
nagging of conscience to pry into men's minds and
know if they are "saved," the perplexing defence
of the Hebrew Deity who ordered slaughter and
rapine, the contempt of this life, and the IMiarisaic

i»»

TKAVELS IN FAITH.

conceit of the " elect." I now want to live, to en-
joy what nature, art, and civilization supply, but
all to tliC end of advancing humanity to a higher
plane of virtue, knowledge, and happiness. I have
lost nothing in motives to be good and do good,
but have gained in freedom, hope, and gladness.

GAIN OR LOSS?

The Cougrcgatioualist of November 30, 1881,
under the above title, replied to "A Radical
Avowal," published in the Index of November
10. It appeared to me easy to i;ive satisfactory
answers to the criticisms ; but, havini^ no desire
for controversy, especially with so respected an
old friend, I decided not to reply.

Numerous letters, some of them anonymous
and not a few abusive, show that the readers of
the Coiigrcgah'ona/isf consider that my positions
have been utterly overthrown ; and some of these
dear, good people allow me only the alternative of
demonism or an unbalanced mind as explanations
for my opinions. Therefore, I feel it a duty, to
myself at least, to see if I can " give a reason for
the (unbelief) that is in me."

After stating my position as fairly as a brief ab-
stract of my v.'ords would permit, the Congrroti-
iwna/isf ^:iy^ it is '•characterized, in nearly equal
degree, by inconsistency, unfair statement, and
hasty inference." The first inconsistency is the
denial of a personal God, and yet saying " all
things are subject to law " ; for the editor says,
" if there be law, the very conception necessarily
implies a lawgiver." My words were, " I sec no

TKA VELS IN FAITH,

1
1^

proof of a personal God, who sits up aloft and
makes butterllies, counts hairs, and conjures up
squalls to upset the boats of Sabbath-breakers."
This is the kind of God I was *' brought up on," a
being who consciously superintends the formation
of every insect, who notes and inlluences all the
details of each human life, and who takes ven-
geances on sinners through "special providences."
Many still believe in such a God, and draw the be-
lief from the Bible. As opposed to this idea of a
supreme being, I say, *' I see an ever-active, un-
erriiii* force in nature," and "all thini^s are sub-
ject to law." "There is no supernatural interfer-
ence." Many intelligent religious teachers call
the force, which works in an orderly method
throughout nature, God. They personify the
principle of action which i)ervades existence ; but
this personal God is a great first cause, who en-
dowed matter with the i)resence of force and the
principle of development, by which all events
spring from i)receding causes, and who only acts
through the successions of cause and effect, never
exercising his will in an arbitrary way. My only
purpose was to deny the existence of such a being
as the Hebrew Jehovah or Calvin's God, who
walked and talked with men, who destroyed them
purposely with llood and fire and earthquake and
plague, who turned a woman into salt, made an
ass speak, killetl fifty thousand and seventy men

6V//A' OK LOSS.f

for looking Into the ark, stopped the sun and moon
in the heavens that a " liebrew 6Hbuster " might
slaughter the Canaanites, saved a drowning |)roph-
et in a whale's belly, ami who makes eternal de-
crees for the salvation of some, and allows others
to inhabit an eternal hell.

What "God" is 1 am not wise enough to say.
I am only sure he is not what the Hebrew writers
imagined him to be. Hut, even had I denied the
existence of any principle which can be calK*d God,
it is not inconsistent to speak of law. Webster
L^ives nine definitions of /<ru\ The third is :
"(Nature.) The regular method or se([uence by
which certain phenomena or effects follow certain
conditions or causes, as the /du' of gravitation, a
geological law, the laws of physical descent, of
trade, etc. ; the uniform methods or relations ac-
cordinijf to which material ami mental forces act in
producing effects, or are manifesteil in i)henomena ;
a norm or rule for the working of a force: hence,
any force, tendency, profession, or instinct, wheth-
er natural or acquired ; as, the law of self-preser-
vation, etc."

If /(iw may be defmed as "a rule for the work-
ing of a force," or the regular method of cause
and effect, a materialist, who believes in no e.xist-
ence save that of eternal matter, may as consist-
ently speak of the laws of the universe as may a
Christian theist. This play upon words is a stock

TRAVELS IN FAITlf.

argument with theologians, but an honest consid-
eration of the customary use of language shows it
is a mere verbal quibble.

I claim, therefore, that, though I deny a per-
sonal God, who now consciously acts, creates, and
repeats Bible wonders, I may consistently person-
ify the force of evolution as God, and have an in-
finitely superior being to worship than the one
described by Jewish and Christian poets, histo-
rians, and philosophers. Or, if I profess to be-
lieve in the etornity of matter, and that it is self-
acting, I may consistently speak of the regular
method of its working as laio.

My second inconsistency is rejecting *' the the-
orem that the Bible is a revelation to man, on the
ground that it is inconceivable that any such thing
can be true as to whose interpretation there is
radical difference," forgetting that men differ
about •' philosophy, politics, medicine, and the
like"; antl it is asked, "Will he therefore affirm
there is nothini^ which men can trust?"

I reply, There is nothing that men can trust, as
an infallible revelation from God, about either re-
ligion, "philosophy, politics, medicine, and the
like." When (lod reveals philosophy, idealists and
materialists will agree ; when he reveals politics,
monarchists and republicans, free-traders and pro-
tectionists, will cease to quarrel ; when he reveals
medicine, allopathists, homceopathists, rubbing and

''I

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GA/X OK LOSS/

: f

I •(

electric doctors will adopt an harmonious system
of treatment : and, when he reveals reliirion, the
one hundred and sixty sects of Protestants, the
Roman and Greek Churches, Mohammedans and
Buddhists, will cease to revile each other, and will
unite upon one theoloij^y. The illustration the
Coiin^t'Ci^atiouaUst L,^ives to prove my inconsistency
is all the evidence I ask to demonstrate the human
oriji^in of relij^ion. Men admit that all hnowledjnre
of " philosophy, politics, medicine, and the like,"
has been slowly trained by the experience of man
and his own toilsome efforts, unaided by any su-
pernatural power; but they say relii^ion has been
revealed to man direct from a perfect omniscient
God. We find, however, that men are no more
aiifrced about relii^ion which has been revealed
than about science which has not been revealed.
Of what advantai^e, tiien, is revelation ? And is it
not deroi^atory to CJod to suppose he could reveal
what men cannot understand ? The fact that men
differ about reli<;ion, j)hil<)sophy, politics, and med-
icine, proves that God has never i^iven direct posi-
tive i.istruction upon these subjects. I cannot re-
tort that the Cout^reiyatioualist is " inconsistent,"
for such reasoning is consistent with the style of
many of its ari^amients ; but I may say it is illoqr-
ical, when it maintains that the fact that men dif-
fer about unrevealed science is a reason why they
m&y differ about revealed religion, for I assert that

ocrr

•sS

TRAVIiLH IN FAITH.

€'

a revelation from an infinite God would compel
the united assent of human minds. It seems, to
my mind, to prove that rcli^jion rests on just the
same authority as science, — namely, human expe-
rience and research ; and God has never spoken
about religion in any way that he may not be said
to have talked politics or given medical lectures.
"The Lord spake unto" Solon and Galen as truly
as unto Moses. When men reco'nii..je the truth
that religious ideas have no higher authority than
medical ideas possess, they will become as charita-
ble about theological differences as they now are
about varying medical theories. Will it not be a
social improvement?

The next charije is, " lie seems to us unfair in
statement, whenever he undertakes to describe what
is Orthodox." My words are quoted, "The Bible
says the world was made in six days by magic ; *
man was perfect, but sinned ; Christ died to save
a few ; and soon God will destroy the world, and
punish the vast majority of men forever in hell."
The editor then remarks, ** We ha\ e studied the
IJible for years with earnest care, but we have
never found either of these statements in it ; and,
with a considerable accpiaintance with Orthodox .
men, we know of none who would be willing- to
accept either as true."

This denial that the Hible teaches what I affirm
it does, to use a sea phrase, struck me flat aback.

6V/A\' OK LOSS.'

Can it bo that for thirty years I studied the Bible,
and unde»'stood it to teach thinors which nobody
else finds there? If so, only one verdict can be
given against my intelligence. But, if even a few
men of good judgment and fair education have
interpreted the Bible as I have, then it is the mar-
vel of marvels that God should write a book (ex-
pressly to give information on certain subjects, and,
when some intelliirent men decided what it tauirht,
Others equally intelligent should say it teaches no
such thintr. A »xovernor of Massachusetts who
should issue so obscure a proclamation would be
elected to stay at home.

Fortunately for my self-assurance, I know many
men whom the Cous^rci^aliona/ist would pronounce
orthodox and intelliirent, who have found all these
statements in the Bible. But let the book speak
for itself. In Genesis, first chapter, wv. read that
God created the present form of the world, its land,
seas, vegetable and animal life, sun, moon, and
stars, and man, in six days of evenings and morn-
ings. In Exodus XX., II, we read. **Vov in six
days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea
and all that in them is."

Within a late period, learned men have discov-
ered that the world was not made all at once in
this complete condition, but through vast ages it
has gradually been assuming its present forms and
life. Theologians, therefore, tell us these days,

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each of which Scripture says was an evening and a
morning, were really long periods. If the Bible is
God's word, I prefer to take God's statement, as
my Orthodox and not unlearned father did, who
once said to me substantially: **This day-period
theory is not consistent with a common-sense treat-
ment of the Bible language. I prefer to hold to
the plain words of God that he made the world in
six days ; and, though I cannot reconcile it with
what are called geological facts, I believe some day
science will come back to Moses." I have at hand
literature showing that scholarly men hold in the
same way to the literal day theory, and it will not
be denied that the Church in all ages before the
nineteenth century has followed this teaching. If
God's people of to-day do not find it, they must
admit that God allowed his church for many cent-
uries to be deceived by false words of his, — a libel
upon perfection.

God made the world by magic ; that is, by '* oc-
cult and superhuman agency." He made it " out
of nothing" and said, " Let there be," and "there
was."

We have found my first statement in the Bible
as an avera<re* man would understand it. Now for
the second, "Man was perfect, but sinned." In
Genesis i., 27, it says, " So God created man in
his own image, in the image of God created he
him." I used to believe that this meant that man

i '• i

G^/A' OK LOSS /

»S

was perfect ; but, since I have seen the imperfec-
tion of the Old Testament representations of Je-
hovah, I cannot so regard it, though I think it was
the intention of the writer to give the impression
that man was inade perfect. If the Cougrcgaiioii'
alist will admit that the Hebrew God was imper-
fect, I must confess that his image will be faulty.
As man's sin is spoken of on nearly every page of
the Bible, I need not say this can be found there.

" Christ died to save a few.*' Now, I am in dan-
ger from theology. Men have battled for centu-
ries as to whether Christ's atonement was limited
or infinite ; and the* factions have made a kind of
compromise, saying it is inllnite in design, but lim-
ited in extent. Christ died for all, but only a part
are saved. It is the practical effect of Christ's death
that I refer to ; and he said, *• Narrow is the way
which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find
it." " He that believeth not shall be damned," and
very few believe. Principal Dawson says of nom-
inal Christians that God would call only two per
cent. Christians. When one asked Christ, " Are
there few that be saved ?" he replied, " Many will
seek to enter in, and shall not be able." He said,
" Except a man be born again, he cannot see the
kingdom of God." Certainly, but few are born
again in the Orthodox sense. How then can Or-
thodoxy deny that but few will be saved? The
good taste and intelligence of this age are limiting

»6

TRAVELS IN FAITH.

hell and expand! njr heaven ; but the fact remains
that the Church until recent years has found in the
Bible the teaching that "God will punish the vast
majority of men forever in hell."

" God will soon destroy the world." The Con-
or egatiotia list and the post-mil lenarians say this
cannot happen for a thousand years ; but the pre-
millenarians, among whom are such able Orthodox
ministers as A. J. Gordon, H. M. Parsons, and
Brooks of St. Louis, not to mention D. L. Moody
and the numerous evangelists of this school, believe
the first stage of this destruction may be ushered
in at any moment by the appearance of Christ,
** takini; vencreance on them that know not God."
Multitudes of Christians are lookinir for the comintr
of the Lord and " the end of the world " in its pres-
ent condition. They see that the disciples were
taught l)y Ciirist to expect this in their own day,
and that all the teachino^ of the New Testament
shows that this '* hope" inspired its writers.

Perhaps the Coni^rcoationalist meant this denial
for a joke. I can hardly believe it to be serious,
though a joke would be so incongruous with its
usual staid demeanor in theological discussions.
But the second part of its assertion I am prepared
to admit, — *' With a considerable acquaintance with
Orthodox men, we know of none who would be
willing to accept either |of these statements] as
true." Men are becoming too intelligent to accept

' i

II ;

GA/A OK LOSS.'

these doctrines as true ; but there tlicy stand in the
Bible, and milh'ons of readers in the past Jiavc be-
lieved them, and many do still. After hearinj^ a
number of ministers in the neighborhood of Bos-
ton, I once wrote to the Coiicrcoii^ioinilti!^, askintr
•*ls Christ preached?" 1 stateil that I heard no
allusion to man's sinfulness and need of a Saviour.
The old-fashioned gospel of sin, hell, and atone-
ment, as I had been instructed to read it in the
Bible, which I still find there and which my father
and brother faithfully preached, I have found to be
tacitly ignored in the Congregational pulpits of cul-
tured societies. Ministers have ceased to believe
it, or even to find it in the Bible, by the exercise
of ingenious methods of criticism especially de-
signed to bring God's truth "up to the times."
They are right to ignore these false notit)ns ; but,
when they consistently explain their reasons for
doing so, they arc usually dismissed from their pul-
]iits. I know whereof I speak when I say there are
Conirre^ational ministers of hisj^h standinij who are
thorough disciples of the evolution philosophy, who
have lost every atom of belief in the inspiration of
the Scriptures according to the definitions of creeds,
who read the Old Testament with only the same
credence that they give to Herodotus and Jose-
phus and Eusebius, and yet by a discreet reticence,
a use of old phraseology in a private sense with
mental reservations, they maintain their status, and

TRA VELS IN FAITH.

C.:l

their hearers have no conception of their true be-
lief. They are good and sincere men ; they never
utter what to their minds in their privat*^ under-
standing is false ; but they know that people are
not yet generally prepared to receive the truths
which modern science has revealed, and th oy be-
lieve that the highest usefulness is subserved by
this suppression of their convictions. Others see
the light, and know that scholarly criticism has dis-
proved the authenticity and genuineness of many
of the books of the Bible, but early training and
present surroundings make them shut their eyes
and murmur the maxims of their youth: "The
finite cannot comprehend the Infmite." " Reason
must )'iekl to faith." ** God's thoughts are higher
than ours." ** If we could understand all God's
words, it would throw doubt on their divine oritrin."
And they trample on their intellects, as multitudes
like myself have done and are still doing, to pre-
serve their faith. My "evidence" of this is asked
for. My reason told me years ago that Christianity
was merely the best form of morality and religion
that the human mind had been able to develop,
and its literature was only the best religious writ-
ings of men. The difference between them and all
other religions and sacred books was only one of
dei^ree, not of kind.

I yielded to early training so far as resolutely to
trample on my iiitcllcct, — there is no other word

■;. ■

GAIX CM* LOSS?

for it, — and for years I buried myself in the Bible
and Orthodox commentaries, upon the theory that
the Christian must be "a man of one book." And
so he must. A truer word was never uttered. If
he could read this book as he reads his newspaper,
with intelliixence and common sense, he would see
it in its true light as a human compilation of Jew-
ish literature ; but the bias of education, church,
and commentator is too stroncf, and it becomes
God's word, which only theologians can harmonize.
Men therefore become the mental slaves of teach-
ers who have had a life-traininLT in the art of do-
fending preconceived theories formulated by their
ancestors. It would be a wonder if such inLTonious
effort did not produce some seemingly plausible
arguments. These teachers are sincere. I was
sincere, in spite of my substratum of doubt. Men
are unconsciously biassed by their interests. The
manufacturer is a protectionist, but the farmer and
sailor are free-traders ; and the minister is a Cal-
vinist or Unitarian, or anything between, as his
environment may determine.

More honest avowal of doubt Is a duty which
ministers will soon awaken to. They now hinder
advancement by fearing to allude to the researches
of the ablest scholars of the day, which they pri-
vately delight in, but feel it inexpedient to make
public

But I must not neglect the charge of *' hasty in-

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15'

TRAVELS IN FAITH,

3 III)
C!::i

« III:

c ;'.i

C. ,i,i

C::ii

C.::i

ferences." Morality, I claim, exists independently
of religion, being the result of universal experience.
Then why, asks the Congrcgationalisty is the stay-at-
home farm laborer more moral than the travelled
sailor? If the world lasted but one fjeneration,
this question might apply to the case. But the
dissolute sailor dies an early and loathsome death
in «i hospital, and the farm laborer lives to a green
old age in tolerable health and comfort. This ex-
perience teaches the next generation that drunken-
ness and licentiousness are injurious, and, in time,
further experience so impresses this fact upon so-
ciety that commands are issued against these prac-
tices " in the name of God." These theories are
too well defended by learned philosophers to be
called ** hasty inferences" of mine.

The other "hasty inference" is my assumption
that "the Holy Spirit leads men to different and
often opposing views." " How does he know it is
the Holy .Spirit ? " it is asked. In this way : — Jesus
said to his followers : " When he, the Spirit of
Truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth.
, . . How much more shall your heavenly Father
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him ? . . .
He shall teach you all things." In the Epistles,
the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in believers is
too frequently asserted to need quotation. The
divine injunctions for the gaining of religious
knowledge are " Search the Scriptures," and "If

CALV OR LOSSf

9«

! I

any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God." Pray-
erful study of Scripture is therefore generally ac-
cepted by Protestant Christians as God's channel
of enlightenment to man. I was brought up
among sincere, godly men, who read the Bible on
their knees, and taught me that God's truth em-
braces everlasting punishment of all unbelievers in
Christ, the election of a few to be saved, the bap-
tism of infants, the keeping of the Sabbath, a se-
lect ordained ministry of preachers, a post-millen-
nial advent of Christ, the spiritual or symbolic-
al interpretation of prophecy, and other dogmas.
During voyages to the l:^ast Indies, I became in-
timate with Enirlish missionaries holdin<Tf some
forms of the doctrines of the Plymouth Breth-
ren. They were godly, self-sac ri*icing men, intelli-
gent, and wonderfully familiar with the Scriptures.
They studied " the Word " with special prayer for
the Holy Spirit ; and, if the Bible promises arc
true, they must have possessed it. Here was the
result : The Bible taught them adult baptism, the
abrogation of the " Sabbath," liberty of ministry
for all believers according to their gifts (not their
licenses), the pre-millennial advent and near com-
ing of Christ, the literal interpretation of prophet-
ic writings, and so on. My own prayerful study
made me see that the Bible, read as it seemed to
me God's word to man should be read, gives much
support to these views ; for God would not give a

iSfl>

TRA VELS AV FAITH.

CI*.

V-

"revelation" in unintelligible allegories. If he
speaks, he means what he says. Afterward, I
came across men praying for the Spirit, who found
the doctrine of annihilation of the unbelieving ;
and I met others who saw a limit to eternal pun-
ishment, and some who denied the deity and the
atonement of Christ. Hell was my strong point,
as became the son of the champion of the *' Script-
ural Argument for, and the Reasonableness of
Future Everlasting Punishment." Hut here were
believers in the inspiration of the Bible praying
for the Holy Spirit's guidance, and disproving
eternal hell from the very words of the Bible. In
dismay, I cried, Of what use is such a word of God
and such a Holy Spirit? Man's word, inspired
only by man's spirit, teaches me when it pretends
to, and men agree upon its meaning. If God's
word is true and my observation of men is worth
anything at all, some of these men who hold op-
posing views are led by the Spirit, therefore the
Spirit teaches error. This is impossible, therefore
God's word is not infallible.

If this is a hasty inference or is illogical, if some
one will kindly demonstrate it by some argument
other than the Orthodox one, — " You are mad or
possessed with the devil," — I shall welcome it, for
this is the root of scepticism with me. Let me re-
peat and condense my argument. The revelation
of an infinite God must convey to men truths

GALV OR LOSS?

which they will understand alike. The Bible is
said to be a revelation from God, Good, intelli-
gent men understand it differently. Therefore,
the Bible is not the "word of God."

One point more. It is denied that *' Christian-
ity ignores the sinful world as incapable of im-
provement." Bible Christianity does, — not that
which now prevails most generally, — though the
growing pre-millennial creed is decidedly pessi-
mistic. The Bible calls Christians out of ** the
world," warns them not to " love the world," re-
minds them that all will ** be burned up," tells
them not to " lay up treasure," but to "wait for
their Lord." My own sense of consistency has in
the past weakened my interest in either the mate-
rial advancement or the pleasures of the world.
Spiritual growth and salvation from hell were the
only worthy objects of concern in this rapidly end-
ing age. How could I dance and smoke and go
to theatres, as many Christians do, while the mul-
titude of men around mc were passing into cease-
less doom ! I helped to start a young men's so-
ciety in the church, " for the moral, social, and lit-
erary improvement of the members and their en-
listment in Christian work." The pastor was pres-
ident. We started a night school and a prayer-
meeting, which were soon abandoned ; and the
meetings became jovial entertainments, with violin
and piano, songs, readings of Shakespeare and

TRA VELS IN FAITH,

fct

•c

•■c

Handy Andy, and finally the erection of a theatre
stage in the lecture-room of the church, and the
performance of " Bardell vs, Pickwick " in cos-
tume. Believing the Bible to be the word of God,
I could not approve of this, and left the society.
Seeing the Bible to be the word of man, I now
say, Do what will make you better and happier
now, in church and out of it ; take care of your
body and mind, and your ** soul " will take care of
itself. I do not deny that Christians enjoy life
and believe in ** the world," but I say they do so
in spite of their creeds.

I must congratulate the Congrcgationalist and
its friends that they have ceased to believe the
teachings of the Bible as they were understood by
the last oreneration of Christians. The sermons
which I read or hear from Orthodox pulpits show
that the most scholarly ministers are adopting the
religion of evolution, which scientists and liberal
thinkers have propounded, and quietly ignoring
miracle and dogma, they add to this a sentimental
and exaggerated estimate of the character of Je-
sus. This they call Christianity, and preach as
though it had never been anything else. Heresy
hunters are turned off by this enthusiastic loyalty
to the person of Jesus. Greatly was I astonished
to hear Boston's most talented Congregational
minister declare that the Eden stories were allego-
ries, and in their literal sense were offensive to

UAIX OK LOSSt

reason and conscience. Would that more minis-
ters would show such " courage of conviction " !
Such consistency would relieve them from unfair
statement and save the hearers from the hasty in-
ference that the preachers are still ** Orthodox."

I have been treated with more courtesy by the
Cong regationa list than heretics often receive ; and
I appreciate the kindly-intentioned desires for my
restoration to the faith, though their fulfilment I
should only regard as a calamity. I have lost a
superstitious belief which I know ^1s been inju-
rious to me. All else is gain, unless my position
loses for me the regard of the gc^ d Congrej^aiicn-
aiist.

•>

5j
iaf-

HUMAN RELIGION.

3»

■ e

Wherever we travel, we find that religious be-
liefs are as varying as the conditions of men, and
that there is a correspondence in quality between
the faith of the heart and the intelligence of the
mind. Men's religious beliefs are elevated and ra-
tional in proportion to their enlightenment upon
general topics. This fact has sometimes been inter-
preted as a proof that a man's religion determines
his complete state, and that nations are high or low
in the scale of civilization in accordance with the
elevation of their creeds. Observation, however,
convinces one that religion is not the cause, but
the effect, of the education of the mental faculties.
The Bushman of South Africa comprehends all of
God that his untutored mind is capable of receiv-
ing, while the educated modern philosopher soars
into the transcendental theories that are incompre-
hensible to the ordinary intellects of civilized lands.
The proof of this lies in the fact that the improve-
ment of the intellect always precedes an advance
in the religious creed among races of men, though
the stimulus given to the mind by the statement
of a nobler faith quickens the faculties, and some-
times makes both advances appear coincident.
Polytheism, or idolatry, is abandoned for monothe-

HUMAN KEI.IGIOX.

ism, or the worship of one God, when the savage
learns enounrh of science to know that the sun is
not a fiery dragon, and that all the forces of nature
are not so many demons. If *he higher religion is
given him by authority before the facts of nature,
upon which it is based, arc made known, he soon
degrades it to the level of his former creed. Thus,
Roman Catholicism gains many followers in heathen
lands simply by a change of idols and the superior
sensuousness of its rites. The Chinaman worships
the statue of the Virgin Mary instead of that of
Joss or Buddha, and experiences no mental altera-
tion, whereas the effort of Protestant Christianity
to overthrow idolatry is based upon reason, and
its progress is therefore toilsome and slow. That
religious belief depends upon the intellect is evi-
denced by the different interpretations given to the
same faith by its followers. The ignorant Persian
worships lire as his god, and firmly believes it to be
the supreme power. But an intelligent Parsee in
Bombay once said to me, " Me no worship fire, me
worship mighty God, but me worship him through
fire." The ignorant Romanist is on a level with
the idolater in his reverence for the objects adored
in his faith, but the educated man knows they are
only symbols of spiritual truths : each makes his
religion to suit his capacity. The chicken-stealing
member of the African Church of the Southern
States has a conception of Christianity as widely

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TRAVELS IN FAITH.

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different from that of the graduate from a theolog-
ical seminary as is the range in the capacity of
their brains and the difference in their culture.
One of these devout negroes thus related his con-
version to my brother, who was for a time his pas-
tor. I will not attempt to imitate the negro dia-
lect.

" I had been thinking a good deal about religion,
and at last I had a dream one night. I thought I
was on board of a ship, and a big monkey came
and chased me all around the deck. I got into the
rigging and climbed up the mast just as fast as 1
could go, but the monkey came after me ; and when
I got away up to the top of the mast, he was just
going to put his paw on me, when I fell off and
tumbled away down to the deck. Then, I woke
up, and found out that Td got religion." His es-
cape from the monkey gave him "joy and peace in
believing."

A sailor, who was converted under my influence
at sea, told me that, while in great distress on ac-
count of his sins, he turned into his bunk, and, fall-
ing asleep, dreamed that he had a pet animal '\\\
his arms. He was pursued by the devil ; and, just
as he was going to fall into his clutches, he tossed
the animal to him, and made his escape. He
awoke feeling happy, and at once told all the ship's
company he had become a Christian. Another
sailor, of more education, dreamed the end of the

HUMAN RELIGIOX

world had come and he was wading knee-deep in a
fiery river : this so impressed him that he soon
after "gave his heart to God," in order to secure
his eternal safety. I recall the conversion of an-
other person of superior attainments, who for some
years had been repelled from embracing religion by
'. the representation of God as a consuming fire.
When led to realize that God loved her, she said,
"Then, I will love him." She became a Christian.
When asked for a 'statement of her belief, she wrote
out the following: "God loves me, and therefore
I love him. Loving us, he wishes our greatest and
eternal happiness ; therefore bids us keep his com-
mandments. Because we love him, we try to keep
his commandments and brinor forth the fruits of the
spirit, so that, becoming like him, we may be fitted
to enjoy his company, which is heaven." She knew
nothing of conviction of sin or atonement. Others
"experience religion" by feeling guilty, dreading
the wrath of God, and accepting Jesus as the Sav-
iour, through faith in his blood shed for them.
Thus, Christianity is a different religion to differ-
ent believers in it. Each adapts it to his own bent
of mind.

The Bible statement, "God made man in his
own image," is therefore rightly reversed, and we
say, " Man makes God in his own image," and it is
true that " an honest God is the noblest work of
man "; for, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he,

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and the conception each forms of the Deity shows,
the highest capacity and aspiration of his own na-
ture. Many will admit that religions owe their
origin to the fears and hopes of men, if we except
their own religion. All are of human invention
except their own, which came direct from heaven,
God spoke to Confucius, Zoroaster, Gautama,
Moses, Paul, Mohammed, Swedenborg, and Joe
Smith, — so the follower of each claims, but denies
that he spoke to any of the others. Among the
followers of Moses and Paul, called ** Christians,"
a difference exists about the interpretation of these
words of God, each claimin*): to be the custodian
of the truth. The Roman Church, the Greek
Church, the one hundred and sixty sects of Chris-
tians in the United States and one hundred and
forty-six in England, each believes itself to have
the mind of the Spirit, that Christ promised should
lead his followers into all truth. A leading light
among the '* Brethren " in England seriously told
me that he never knew any one to study the Bible
prayerfully without accepting his views as to the
order and standing of the Church : others studied,
but not prayerfully. Yet this good man had quar-
relled with the other leaders of his sect, and set up
a separate meeting of his own. Each believed he
had the Infallible guidance of the Holy Ghost and
possessed a knowledge of the truth. But their
bitter expressions of disapproval of each others

HUMAN RELlGIOiV.

101

divinely received views almost brought their quar-
rels into the civil courts. When asked, '* Why, if
, the Brethren have the real truth of God, do they
not give the divine evidence of unity?" his answer
was : "When Saul and Barnabas were set apart for
the work of the ministry by the Holy Ghost, Satan
at once proceeded to sow dissension between them.
He doesn't trouble himself to annoy professors of
false creeds ; but as he saw Saul and Barnabas
about to engage in spreading the true faith, and
therefore attacked them, so he now sees the true
Church of God in the Brethren, and uses every ef-
fort to disperse them. The fact that there is more
dissension amonj^ the Brethren than amon^- almost
any of the sects of Christendom is only a proof that
they hold the truth whose destruction Satan deems
most vital to his cause." This came from no com-
mon man, but from one noted for his learning, skill,
piety, and self-sacrifice. But no utterance has done
more to convince me that his religion is from man,
not from God. God is not the author of confusion.
Men sincerely pray for the Spirit to lead them into
the right view of the written word of God, and each
gets a different result. Each is equally sure of his
own sincerity and conscientious search, and de-
nounces the views of all others as error. Who shall
decide what is right ? No one is Fitted to be judge
in his own cause. No Christian can be accepted
as an infallible arbiter, when he tells us all religions

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are human conceptions except Christianity ; and
no member of a Christian sect is good enough au-
thority for the assertion that his sect only reads ^
the Bible aright. He is assuming the infallibility
which he denounces the Pope and the Romish
Church for claiming. The only fair tribunal to
which can be referred the claim of Christianity to
be the one divinely revealed religion, is the great
and increasing body of men, who, in all civilized
lands, are devoting their lives to the study of the
facts of nature and society and the critical research
of the records of each in past ages. Christianity,
as God's sole truth, must stand or fall by its accord
with the facts which are scientifically established.

The records of nature have now been found to
reveal an orderly and progressive system of the
development of matter and mind into its present
forms, extending through vast ages, proving the
Mosaic story of creation to be untrue, and placing
it among the myths of earlier days of the human
race, which are found to abound in the traditions
or literature of all people. This orderly progress
of nature reveals an unvarying method, which
makes every effect the result of preceding natural
causes; and the violations of its methods, called
** miracles," are unsupported by sufficient evidence
to warrant their belief. Every miracle of which
circumstances have permitted a scientific examina-
tion has been disproved, and shown either to be a

HUMAN RELIGIOX.

'03

fraud or to be the result of a law of nature known
or fairly supposed. The miracles of our days are
now on the eve of solution by the discovery of the
laws of psycholo<;y and animal magnetism, which
many learned men believe will in time soKe all
that is not fraudulent in the phenomena of Spirit-
ualism. Historical study shows the Bible wonders
to be of the same character as those recorded in
the religious books of all other nations ; and liter-
ary criticism proves it to abound in errors, incon-
sistencies, and contradictions, showing it to be the
word of man. The Christian scheme of theology
must therefore take ics place in the order of the
development of human thought, and in time give
place to the next system which the advancing niind
of man evolves ; that, in turn, to be improved upon
as knowledge of nature and the control of her forces
increases.

A study of the theories of evolution leads most
people to accept them, and the only certain way
in which one can maintain his belief in the religious
faith he has adopted by the accident of birth is
never to question it. One who attempts to sub-
mit his creed to rational tests, as he treats every-
thing else in life, must either become an entire
sceptic of the supernatu.al, or else fall into the
arms of an authoritative Church and accept all its
dogmas without question. The churchman who
reasons for himself is lost to bis religion. This

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TRAVELS IN FAJTIf.

is well illustrated by the careers of the Newman
brothers, who, in the search for truth, have be-
come, one a cardinal in the Romish Church, the
other an ultra-rationalist.

While firmly believing that all religious ideas
proceed from men's minds, and not from direct ex-
ternal revelations from God, we may recognize the
law of evolution in the development of religious
thought as the same which produces all variation
and progress in nature. Religion as well as sci-
ence is the result of the working of the infinite
power which inspires matter. These, and all
things, in this sense, are "of God." y^/// religions
are therefore "of God." "God" has developed
erroneous ideas in science and false notions in re-
ligion ; but they were steps in progress, and the
infinite force is slowly evolving newer and truer
conceptions from men's minds. Religion is as
truly of human origin as astronomy and mechan-
ics, and as truly divine as geology and meteorol-
ogy. " God" has revealed religion as truly and in
the same manner as he has revealed ship-build-

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IS THE BIBLE THE WORD OF GOD?

Criticism of the Bible is considered to belonir
to an elementary stage of rationalism, and is
scarcely tolerated by many advanced thinkers who
have far outgrown discussion upon so trite a theme.
But a book that has an annual circulation of three
million copies is still deserving of attention ; and it
is possible there are some readers to whom one more
statement of reasons which led an inquirer to the
rejection of the inspiration of the Bible may be
beneficial and interesting.

The Book of Genesis gives an account of the
creation of the present condition of the world and
all its forms of life in six days, man being formed
complete and "grown up" out of the dust, and
woman being made from the man's rib. Science
proves this to be entirely untrue, and history shows
the record to be on a par with various other le-
gends of creation, which other races of men hav^e
made, though it is superior to most in one respect,
the recognition of only one God. Theologians
are desperately trying to save the Bible by ingen-
ious theories, none of which, so far, will bear the
scrutiny either of ricience or common sense. They
make the days long periods, though this is in con-

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tradiction to the plain words of Scripture, and even
then fails to solve the difficulty.

The second chapter of Genesis contains another
legend of the creation, differing from the first in
important particulars, but no more reconcilable
with facts. It is now established in the opinion
of scholars that the world is of immense age, and
that man has existed upon the earth for a much
longer period than the story in Genesis makes pos-
sible. The records of the earth itself contradict
this legend. The nebular hypothesis, though still
only a theory, accounts for the formation of the
universe in accordance with all known facts ; and
science discovers many uncontroverted evidences
of the gradual progression of the earth and its in-
habitants to their present form. Prof. Huxley as-
serts that the chalk cliffs of England, whiclv are
composed of the minute shells of sea animalcules,
must have been at least ten thousand years in
forming at the bottom of the ocean. They have
slowly risen to the surface and subsided four dif-
ferent times, remaining exposed such long periods
as to collect vegetable and animal life, whose re-
mains tell their own story. A pious lady, to whom
this was mentioned, excitedly exclaimed, ** It was
all made by God in one night." When asked if it
was either reasonable or honest in God to create
old bones, fossil plants, the rock debris from ice-
bergs, and then cover them up in four successive

/S THE BIBLE THE WORD OF GOD?

107

layers to deceive man as to the earth's origin and
to contradict his own story in Genesis, she was
speechless. But the next day she said, " God says
so, and I believe him."

There is a marvellous succession of forms in
vegetable and animal life, and a connection be-
tween each ijrade so close as to suixirest the
probability and almost certainty that the higher
forms have sprung from the lower. Anatomists
tell us that the embryo of man appears successively
to be identical with that of a plant, an animalcule,
an oyster, a fish, a quadruped, a high form of
mammal, an ape. If the individual passes through
these forms, is it not probable that the race has
likewise developed from these lower races? Anat-
omists also tell us that men have rudimentary tails,
and it is observed that the disuse of an organ in
animals tends to its disappearance. Why should
God take the trouble to make a useless tail bone,
when he formed Adam out of the dust ? Is it not
more likely that man has developed from a tailed
animal? This theory is considered revolting by
many, who think it less honorable to be an im-
proved animal than a degraded God ; but taste
should not be an arbiter in the judgment of truth,
though it is usually deemed nobler to ascend than
to descend.

But leaving the question of creation, as one pro-
ceeds through the Bible, he is confronted on nearly

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TRAVELS JN FAITH.

t:»-

every page with statements which offend either his
reason or conscience. If any one wishes to see a
statement of Biblical errors, let him read Paine's
" Age of Reason," and with it let him take Bishop
Watson's " Reply to Paine," and read what is con-
sidered by the orthodox an unanswerable defence
of the Bible. Or, for a smaller work, let him take
the " Lecture on the Bible," by Rev. Charles Voy-
sey, published by the Index Association, Boston.
It would be sufficient to read the Bible alone, to
discover the falsity of the claims its friends make
for it, were it not that educational prejudices are
so strong one cannot easily treat the book as he
does other literature. But let one take up the
Bible as he does any modern book, and judge of
its contents according to the impression made upon
his faculties, and it seems impossible not to reject
its claim to be the infallibly inspired word of God,
and perceive it to be a compilation of Hebrew tradi-
tion and poetry made by men in darker ages than
the present.

All the phenomena of witchcraft are now be-
lieved by scientists to be the products of natural
laws. If they are right, is not God proved guilty
of ignorance when he gave the edict, " Thou shalt
not suffer a witch to live," and was it not a wicked
ignorance which through this command has caused
such countless murders and persecutions? Dr.
Sprenger, in his " Life of Mohammed," estimates

/S THE lUIil.L THE WORD Oh GOD?

109

that nine million people have been put to death as
witches during the Christian era. Blackstone said
that to deny witchcraft was to deny revelation.
How can the inspiration of this law stand the lii^ht
of the present day ? The issue is avoided only
by denyinLj the facts of scientific research and re-
vivinor the old belief in " bein*:^ possessed of the
devil." Prof. Phelps, of Andover, has consistently
avowed this solution.

The atrocities of the Hebrew armies, done in
the name and by command of God, the absurd
wonders of Balaam, Gideon, Joshua, San\son, V.\\-
jah, Hezeki'h, and Jonah, and the incomprehen-
sible rhapsodies of the prophets, out of which
learned and imaij^inative men can invent any the-
ory they choose, are to a rellectiuij mind strong
means of breaking down an inherited belief in the
inspiration of the Bible.

But, admitting the Old Testament to be a hu-
man compilation, some think the New Testament
can stand alone as the word of God. One of the
first things that excites distrust here is the discov-
ery that all the prophecies claimed as referring to
Christ are found to be uttered about people or
events of the times in which the writer lived, and
that the application of them to Christ is either
fraudulent or the use of an excessive poetic li-
cense. The story of the temptation in the wilder-
ness is as hard to accept as that of the temptation

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TKA VELS IN FAITH.

of Adam and Eve in Paradise ; and, if one begins
to admit that any Bible stories are mere symbols,
there is no end to the extent to which its text can
be symbolized away.

A comparison of the different accounts of the
resurrection of Jesus reveals discrepancies that no
honest harmonizint^ can blend into consistency
with the idea that God has told us the story. Nor
would any English-speaking j^^i^Rc accept a fact
upon such testimony in a court of law. Let each
write out the stories in parallel columns, and de-
cide for himself. The different ti;enealo<ries of
Jesus in Matthew and Luke ; the incidents of the
miraculous conception and birth ; the star in the
east; the slaui^hter of children by Herod, men-
tioned only by Matthew and unnoticed in his-
tory ; the differintj accounts of Saul's conversion ;
the miracle stories ; the fact that Jesus is not
mentioned by contemporary historians ; the un-
certainty as to who wrote the Gospels and when
they were written, — all these things, and multi-
tudes that it would be tedious to mention, prove
the New Testament to be the word of man, and
of l(?ss enlightened man than exists to-day.

The study of prophecy occupies many minds.
Writers upon these subjects glean many disjoint-
ed passages, which, ingeniously matched together,
make a wonderful testimony; but, when these pas-

AV THE lilliLE THE IVOKD OF GODf

III

sages are read in the Bible in their proper con-
nection, they tell a different story.

If God inspired the writers of the Hible, it
would also be necessary to the fulfilment of his
purpose that he should superintend the compila-
tion of its books by councils, its translation by schol-
ars, and its interpretation by commentators. But
the facts do not show that this has been done, as
new versions would not be needed, nor would
doctrinal quarrels exist. Mas God allowed men
for eighteen hundred years to accejjt the plain
words of his revelation which teach future endlesj-'
punishment, and is he now going to accommodate
his truth to the culture of this century, and let uj)
a little in the severity of the doctrine? lias the
Holy Spirit, who came to guide into all truth, led
men to believe error for eighteen hundred years
because it was best for their minds ; and, now that
their mental calibre demands something different
is he going to reveal ** a new phase of truth," and
allow men to modify the severity of the doctrine
of hell? Will theologians admit that God gave a
written revelation of the future destiny of men,
which could not be understood till eighteen cent-
uries of development evolved their own brilliant
intellects? We can conceive of God as revealing
truth progressively, as a child is taught at school,
but not as teaching what is untrue, in order to

112

TRAVELS IN FAITH.

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prepare the way for the truth, centuries after his
dupes have died.

It is a common saying, "You can prove any-
thing by the Bible." Coincidences and far-away
resemblances in different portions of the text have
been made to do duly by expositors, as showing
" the mind of the Spirit " in making the disjointed
Scriptures an harmonious whole. At a Bible
reading, I heard Harry Moorhouse explain the
meaning of Clirist's riding into Jerusalem on an
ass's colt, after this manner: "In Job xi., 12, we
read. * I'^or vain man would be wise, though man
be born like a wild ass's colt.' The wild ass's colt
is therefore an emblem of man. In Exodus xiii.,
13, we read, 'And every firstling of an ass thou
shalt redeem with a lamb ; and if thou wilt not re-
deem it, then thou shalt break his neck.' Here,
atrain, the ass's colt is the emblem of sinful man,
who must be redeemed by the Lamb of God, or
else perish forever. So, in Christ's entry into
Jerusalem on an ass's colt, we see a symbol of the
Redeemer and the redeemed entering into glory."
This is making comparison "go on all fours" ; but
many hear such things and exclaim: "Wonderful!
how the parts of the Bible fit into each other!
Only God could have inspired writings in different
ages which would display such a unity of design."

An intelligent Swedenborgian tells me why Jesus
-was laid in a manger. It was not because there

/S THE BIIiLE THE WORD OF GOD?

was no room for him in the inn, but because God
deliberately chose the manger to illustrate a truth.
The horse is used in Scripture as an emblem of the
understanding. He gets his food from the man-
ger. God therefore put Jesus in the manger, to
teach the world that he was the truth upon which
the understanding must feed. The Bible is only
an allegor)\ The story of creation and the forma-
tion of Adam is merely a figurative account of the
condition of the Church at a certain period. The
Bible is of no value to the Swedenbor^ians as a
literal narrative, while to the Plymouth Brethren
every word has a literal import in relation to some
fact. Calvin ists use both methods. If their doc-
trine can be sup|)orted by a spiritual interpretation
of the text, that is clearly the right one ; but, if it
brings stronger evidence as a literal statement, that
is clearly its true meaning. Often, they combine
both systems, and make the text work both ways,
by using its primary meaning as literal, and its
secondary signification as spiritual. Of course, wc
are at liberty to find spiritual significance and sug-
gestion in every one of nature's facts or author's
words; but it is another thing to declare the au-
thor's true spiritual thought in an ordinary state-
ment of fact, then found a doctrine upon it, and
call it by the author's name, as though he inten-
tionally founded it. This acceptance of the Bible
as supernatural and these different systems of inter-

114

TRAVELS IN FAITH.

ie::

preting it are the foundation of all sectarianism.
The learners in every other department of knowl-
edge dispute as to the truth of the statements made
by the writers in those sciences, but they do not
differ materially as to what the writers intended to
teach. In medicine, one author asserts the truth
of allopathy, and another maintains homceopathy :
disputes are vigorously carried on as to which is
right ; but there is no controversy as to what each
writer intended to teach. Here is where the Bible
differs from all other books. God is said to have
written it, and the world is divided as to what it
meant to teach ; but every human writer on earthly
knowledge succeeds in giving his readers an under-
standing of what he means to assert. If we were
told God had ji^iven a revelation on medicine, would
we receive it as divine, if it divided up the world
into two hundred medical schools, many of them
utterly opposed ? Would not the real meaning of
God's message about medicine be understood sub-
stantially alike by all ? Would any man be re-
spected who could not tell his own mind upon
medical subjects, so that his meaning could be per-
ceived ? When God writes on theology, Trinita-
rians, Unitarians, Swedenborgians, and all other
sects, will find their occupation gone; and, when
he writes on medicine, doctors will agree.

s*>

THE BIBLE A HUMAN BOOK.

Why is it that differences of opinion upon earth-
knowledge are regarded so much more leniently
than differences upon theology ? Bitter words cer-
tainly are waged between scientists, but social os-
tracism and denunciation of personal character
seem to belong especially to religious controversy.
The reason is that scientists know thai all knowl-
edge is the result of human research, but theolo-
gians claim a direct revelation from God to man
about their doctrines. When they admit that
knowledge of the unseen world has no other key
than that which unlocks the secrets of visible mat-
ter; that all departments of learning are on an
equal footing, each open to the full, free, and fear-
less investigation of man ; that no supernatural
information has ever been given by any supreme
being upon any subject, but that all the attain-
ments of man are the result of progressive steps,
— then the earnest searcher for spiritual and relig-
ious truth will be no more despised than is the in-
ventor, the chemist, or the electrician. They may
still see God as the inspirer of matter, the won-
drous power which enables man to take his toil-
some, progressive steps into the realms of knowl-
edge, even though they admit that he never re-

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TRA VELS IN FAITH.

■I

vealed morality all at once from Sinai, nor his
scheme of mercy in one dogma from Calvary, any
more than he revealed the railroad in E norland or
the telegraph in America. All have grown from
man's gradual experience through the ages ; and
yet this is no less truly '*of God," if by that name
we mean the principal of action that pervades na-
ture. God spoke as truly to Stephenson and Morse
as he did to Moses and Paid. He said, Let rail-
road-trains run, and. Let words be telegraphed, just
as truly as he said, *' Thou shalt not steal." And
he said it in the same way ; namely, by working
through matter in nature and in man's organism,
until experience and observation made man per-
ceive that theft was injurious to society, that steam
could move carriages, and electricity could repeat
motion.

If the I3ible is recognized as a human book, it
will become of more real value to man. Now, it
is by many worshipped ignorantly, as a sort of
fetich. Others injure their intellectual powers and
lose their common sense in attempting to make
the works of different writers in different ages tell
one harmonious story, as though written by one -
being. Others, who find some repulsive and in-
credible things in the book, spurn the whole, be-
cause o^ " i lo consider the book as a whole. If
they were : lu.vcd to read the Old Testament as a
record of the traditions, history, and poetry of a

THE BIBLE A HUMAN BOOK.

»«7

distant age, it would become an intelligible, inter-
esting, and valuable book to them. If the New
Testament could be admitted to contain the best
portrayal of human excellence ever written by man,
and the philosophies and theologies of the early
centuries of this era, it would then be prized by such
men for what it is worth ; and no one will honestly
deny its real value. Men find there eternal pun-
ishment for the many and salvation for the few.
They are told it is God's Book, and they must ac-
cept every word ; but they revolt against these
words, and throw away the whole.

One of the most noted authors of our day tokl
a friend that he grew up with very little knowledge
of the dogmas of religion or acquaintance with
the Scriptures. Marrying a Christian woman, he
yielded to her entreaties to read the Bible. Me
perused it from Genesis to Revelation, then shut
up the book, and said, "If you wish me to have
any respect for your religion, never show me that
book again." Its supernaturalism offended his
reason and instincts ; and, as he was told it was all
God's truth and must be taken as a whole, he would
have none of it. This man's books are read in
every Christian family in the land, and his unbe-
lief does not seem to disqualify him for pleasing*
and instructing others.

Another great difficulty in receiving the Bible
as the word of God is the manner in which its.

ii8

TRA VELS IN FAITH.

-1

fc«J«

if-'

books have been chosen. A large number of apoc-
ryphal books are known to have been excluded
from the Old Testament, though quotations from
some of them appear to be used by the apostles ;
and the New Testament is the result of the votes
of councils, some Gospels and Epistles having been
rejected, while other Epistles were retained by a
bare majority, but all henceforth is the infallible
word of God. When we revolt against inconsist-
ency and error in it, we are told the finite must not
judge the infinite, reason must give place to faith.
But it is faith in the Christian Fathers that is
needed.

Again, if God is God of the whole earth, and
will have all men to be saved, even though he did
not make Christ known until four thousand years
after Adam sinned and brought doom to his race,
why was not this word, which proclaims the fact,
made intelligible to ordinary men, that they might
not be the intellectual slaves of the learned hier-
archy, who alone are professedly able to make a
consistent story out of it ? As it stands now, it is
in no true sense a ** revelation " to man ; for scarcely
two people can understand it alike. A God who
had the intellectual powers of a modern college
graduate could make a revelation that would not
set all the world at variance in attempting to ex-
plain it ; and he could find a way of making it
known to the world, instead of confining its mani-

THE BIBLE A i UMAX BOOK,

119

festation to an obscure and semi-barbarous people
in a corner of the earth, leaving vast multitudes to
perish ere the saving tidings could reach them. It
is derogatory to infinite intelligence to call the
Bible its " revelation."

Christ is said to have spoken in the Aramaic
tongue, a laniruaore now extinct. His words were
reported from mouth to mouth, were probably
written in Hebrew, and after many years were
translated into Greek. Their record was tran-
scribed repeatedly ; and the manuscripts, written
several hundred years after the death of Christ,
are now rendered into the English language.
These words, passing through four languages, and
subject to all the changes that gossips and copy-
ists may have wrought, are now presented to us as
the word of God, which determines our eternal
welfare. Such a revelation is unworthy of an
omnipotent being, who is conceived to have infi-

* nite perfection and who desires to convince men of
truth ; but it is a consistent act on the part of a
God who hardened Pharaoh's heart, who is said to
create evil, who said, " Make the heart of this
people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut
their eyes ; lest they see with their eyes, and hear
with their ears, and understand with cheir heart,

^ and convert, and be healed" (Isa. vi., 10), and of
whom it is said, '• God shall send them strong de-
lusion, that they should believe a lie" (H. Thess.

I20

TRAVELS IN FAITH.

Cfc:

ii., ii). It is conceivable that such a God should
give a revelation that would be incomprehensible.

Literary research is constantly throwing light
upon the human origin of the Bible and the pagan
sources of its doctrines. The ** Bible for Learn-
ers" revolutionizes the chronology of the Old
Testament and its reputed authorships. Kuenen's
*' Religion of Israel" gives a masterly exposition of
the details of these subjects, which is condensed in
a work with the same title by Knappert. The
oldest books are said to be Amos, Hosea, Zecha-
riah (ix.-xi.), and the first twenty-seven chapters
of Isaiah. The principal part of Deuteronomy
was written about 620 u.c. Then, at about the
time of the captivity in Babylon (586-538 ii.c.),
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the rest of Isaiah were
written. After the return, Ezra brings to light
(444 15.C.) ** God's Law which was given by Moses."
The Psalms and Proverbs are gradually collected
together, histories and prophecies are compiled
and written, nobody knows by whom. The apoc-
ryphal books follow, and the book of latest date in
the Old Testament is thought to be Daniel. (See
** The Growth of the Hebrew Religion," by W. C.
Gannett, Unity office, Chicago.)

The author of " Supernatural Religion" claims
to prove the spuriousness of the Gospels. The
Oriental origin and human development of Chris-
tianity are shown in such works as Clodd's ** Child-

THE BIBLE A HUMAN BOOK.

121

hood of Religions," Johnson's •* Oriental Religions,"
and Max Mullen's " Oricrin and Growth of Reliir-
ion." All the Christian dogmas are found in pre-
vious creeds in Egypt, Persia, and India, or in clas-
sic mythology. The miraculous-conception dogma
was common among the ancients. Romulus was
the son of Mars ; Plato, of Apollo ; Alexander, of
Jupiter Amnion ; Sosiosh, the Persian saviour,
was born of a virgin, and will come to regenerate
the world, preceded by two prophets. The Per-
sians taught the doctrine of the resurrection, that
the good will inherit the earth, and Ahriman and
his angels will be purified in a lake of molten
metal. One author says : " Every Christian dog-
ma has its origin in a heathen rite Chris-
tian theology is only a potpourri of pagan mythol-
ogies." Renan says, " Nearly everything in Chris-
tianity is mere baggage brought from the pagan
mysteries." The coincidences in the lives and
teachings of Jesus and Gautama Buddha have been
remarked upon by many writers. Taylor says,
" Everything of Christianity is of Egyptian orig-
in." The fables of India and Persia were brought
to Egypt, and recast. It is difficult to trace the
exact origin of ideas, and learned men differ in
opinion as to the birthplace of some dogmas, but
this much is certain, — Bible theology was not an
exclusive revelation to the Jews.

Many of our interpretations of Scripture and

;

ltd '

123

7Wi< KiSZ^ AV FAITH.

much of their authority rest upon the assertions
of the "Christian Fathers." If any one would
gain a true estimate of the value of the testimony
of these worthies, let him read of their lives and
writings and superstitions, and he will be slow to
accept their dicta about "God's Word." If one
would see how legends originate and spread, and
see a plausible suggestion for the existence of
many of the Bible stories, he should read John
Fiske's " IVIyths and Mythmakers," and S. Baring-
Gould's " Curious Myths of the Middle Ages" and
" Legends of Patriarchs and Prophets."

Modern research is throwinc: crrcat Jieht on the
manner in which the present Bible was compiled.
How a majority of one in a council of " Fathers'*
could make one book the infallible word of God,
and a larger majority condemn another to be the
word of man, is a mystery which it needs the au-
thority of an infallible Church to make one be-
lieve. Pappus, in his " Synodikon," says all the
Gospels were put under the communion table, and
the inspired ones got up on the table, in answer to
prayer. Stanley, in his " Eastern Church,** alludes
to this " tradition." But, whether this story is true
or not, can it be that God's Word has been left by
its author to drift about the world, subject to hu-
man alteration, to be finally rescued from a mass
of literary rubbish by a council of men in a dark
and superstitious age ? This is not God's way, or

THE BIBLE A IIUMAaW BOOK.

»23

at least not the way of a God whom this Century
can worship.

What a terrible waste of intellect there is in the
world, arising from this assertion, that the Hible is
the word of God and contains a harmonious sys-
tem of final truth 1 When the powers that are
now used to defend theories concerning the Script-
ures are directed toward positive explorations of
nature's secrets, how the world will spring for-
ward ! When theological seminaries become sci-
ence schools, and look for truth in living facts,
they will be greater boons to the world.

To my mind, the true theory of the Bible is
that, on the principle of the survival of the fittest,
the best and most helpful writings of men have
been preserved ; and the book is to be prized as
an evidence of the working of the secret power of
nature in men's minds, and also for whatever of
truth it contains, according to present perceptions
of the good. It is the bad use men have made,
and are still making, of the Bible that has done
harm. Interpreting men's sins and crude ideas as
revelations of God's mind debases man. If men
now find the Mosaic beginning and the Christian
ending of the world, as portrayed in the Bible, to
be opposed by science and sense, is It not more
honoring to God and creditable to man to admit
that there is no revelation save what men have
slowly and painfully learned for themselves from

114

7W.4 VELS IN FAITH.

nature's operations, while the race has been ** toil-
ing upward in the night " of ignorance and super-
stition ? One rev^ilation pervades all nature ; and*
the students of tnis revelation have recorded their
observations in Bibles, works upon natural history,
and histories of man. The " Books of Moses,"
Hume's, Gibbon's, and Macaulay's histories, Hum-
boldt's " Cosmos" and Darwin's "Origin of Spe-
cies," contain men's perception of revealed facts.
The Psalms of David, Bryant, and Longfellow,
the Proverbs of Solomon, ^^isop, Cervantes, and
PVanklin, the prophecies of Isaiah, Carlyle, and
Emerson, — all contain ** the word of the Lord " ;
and the latest is the truest and the best, because
most in accord with known facts and present
needs.

• «

1
\

HUMAN IDEAS OF GOD.

The idea of God has gradually developed in the
human mind through stages corresponding to the
intellectual condition of the race. Graduating from
the regions of fetich ism and idolatry, the early He-
brew writers conceived of God as a powerful being
who, by the might of his word, called everything
into existence ready-made at a moment's notice,
and controlled current events by direct supervision.
At later periods, we observe changes in the names
and nature of God. Ewald has noted distinctivii
names of the God of the five great periods of the
history of Israel. He was Almighty to the patri-
archs, Jehovah to the priests, God of Hosts to the
kings, the Holy One to the prophets, and Our Lord
to Ji.daism. We see an increasing approach of
God to man from the Creator to the Leader, Rock,
Fortress, Helper, until he is known as the Father.
ii. may be said that God thus revealed himself pro-
gressively to the race, but it is harder to conceive
of an omnipotent ;mu1 omniscient God ^ >is play-
ing hide and seek Wkth his creatures tlian r; is to
believe that men in each age have evidenced the
nature and extent of their needs, desires, and aspi-
rations by the conception they have formed of a
supreme being. God is always the complement of

126

TRAVELS IN FAITH,

•a.
IS

the weakness of man. What man consciously lacks
of perfection he attributes to God.

Down through the Middle Ages, we see a vary-
ing God, suiting the degree of light and darkness
that pervaded the mental world. The Pur'^an
made a stern God glorying in his decrees, in ac-
cordance with the resolute self-sacrificing devotion
to the view of truth which inspired his own breast.
And, now, Moody and his kindred evangelists are
proclaiming the God of whom they have learned
from the English " Brethren," — a God of love, his
attribute of vengeance softened to Justice, and all
his characteristics put into a nineteenth-century
dress. The Brethren evangelists have flocked over
to America for fifteen years past, making the Young
Men's Christian Associations their rallying points ;
and, telling their ardent disciples that they were
•' living by faith," their needs have been bountifully
supplied by voluntary contributions ** from the
Lord." Through preaching services and Bible
readings and the circulation of their literature, they
have widely indoctrinated the associations and
churches with the truths of a full and free atone-
ment, assurance of salvation, the presence of the
Holy Spirit, and the pre-millennial advent of Christ.
They have been mostly gootl men, and have sub-
stituted a better and more Scriptural theology for
that of the Nev/ England churches of the previous
half-century. Moody's preaching only became

ill

HUMAN IDEAS OF GOD.

127

noted and effective after he had been Indoctrinated
by Needham and Moorhouse. When you find an
evangelist gaining converts by exposition of the
Scriptures, not by sensationalism, you will usually
discover the theology of the Plymouth Brethren as
the inspiring influence. Their doctrines about
prophecy prevail widely in the Church of England,
and are spreading through the various sects of
America. Their missionaries are all over the world,
living by faith and preaching a " pure gospel," the
needs of many being *' supplied by the Lord,"
through George Muller, of Hristol.

My father came under these influences in his
later years, and preached a sermon called '• The
Free Gift," which was considered such a contrast
to the " hyper-Calvinism " which had previously-
characterized his preaching that it was printed and
widely circulated by an enthusiastic parishioner
who held the Brethren's theology. He afterward
said to me on a voyage at sea, "If I could live my
life ovci again, how differently I would preach!"
He sa^J he had proclaimed too much \\\i\ terrors of
the law, ai:d alluded to certain good lady parish-
ioners who had lived and died in gloom, feeling
that they were lost sinners, as they felt no evidence
that they belonged to the number of the elect. He
said he had not made the gospel free enough. The
s<:rmons in his volume, "At Eventide," were writ-
ten: :*t ui\\s period, and breathe a milder spirit than

128

TRAVELS IN FAITH.

-J

II 1 g

■i

those of his earlier miniatry. His God changed
as his mind mellowed.

If individual Christians are now questioned about
God, it will be seen that quite different beings are
worshipped under that name: each man creating
his own mental image of the deity whom he loves,
fears, or adores. We set up a standard and try to
attain to it, and we call that standard God. One
beauty of the Bible is that, • Jp't;" written by men
of varied capacity in differenl ; . >, there are cor-
respondingly var ed views of God's nature, so that
different temperaments will find something to suit
their phases of mind. If God had written the book,
it would have been consistent ; and there would
have been a pattern deity revealed, who, while more
noble in design and elevating in influence, would
not have been so comforting to imperfect creatures
who enjoy a God '* after their own hearts." The
Delphic Oracle said, " The best religion is that of
a man's own city."

Now comes science, and asserts that nothing has
been made oil at once, and that all the facts of
creation are or will be accounted for by the theory
of the evolution of matter. Everything now and
in the past has grown or developed by slow stages
from simpler forms, in accordance with laws which
are just beginning to be clearly understood. There
is no such thing as the "act of God," as that term
has usually been understood ; but every event,

HUMAN IDEAS OF GOD.

129

from the lightnin<^'s stroke to the moscjuito's sting,
is traceable to the workings of law. God never in-
.terferes by miracles or special providences, and it
is only our ignorant and sluggish minds that seek
such a solution for our baflled investigations into
the subtle laws of nature. It is convenient to say
**God did it," when we cannot explain a matter.
Where knowledge ends God begins.

Some call this great law and force God, and
rightly consider that it is a far loftier conception,
to think of the Being who could originate matter
and endow it with the properties of evolution, so
that for ages it could work on without a single act
of interference, and produce the wonderful diver-
sity we now behold in nature, working in never-
failing precision, than it is to enthrone one as the
Supreme Being, who, like a necromancer, calls up
what he wants upon emergencies ; who takes a
notion to have a new kind of butterlly, and makes
it on the- spot ; who causes a profane man to step
on a bit of orange peel and break his leg, and
sends a tornado to an infidel village. These tell
us we can know nothing of God beyond the reve-
lation of his works, and must content ourselves
with the investigation of secondary causes.

Others, having traced all the variations of mat-
ter back to a single atom, and believing that every
form it has assumed can be accounted for by the
workings of natural law, are averse to calling in

130

TKA VELS IN FAITH.

the supernatural even here, and think that quali-
ties inherent in matter may have initiated the first
movements which have led to *' differentiation."
This leaves only the origin of matter to be ac-
counted for, and some are daring enough to be-
lieve that the intellect of man will yet solve this
problem. They claim that, as the most complex
organism can be traced back to the simple cell, so
the profoundest operations of the mind are the
result of an unbroken ascent from the first in-
stinctive effort of the lowest animalcule to propa-
gate its species or obtain food, and this gradual
development of mind can be followed through all
the animal kingdom up to n.a i, the difference be-
tween the mental operations of man and animals
being differences of degree, not of quality. The
ant, the horse, and the dog think the same kind of
thoughts that men do, as far as their range of
thought extends. The operations of mind are
foun(^ to depend entirely upon physical organs,
and can be suspended or altered by changes in the
conditions of those organs. Anatomists and phys-
iologists find a correspondence between the brain,
the contour of the head, and the meiital faculties,
so that a man's or animal's mental powers and
characteristics can be predicated from his physical
formation. This chain of sequence is so well
traced that it is made clear that the link between
the briehtest doir and the lowest Hottentot is

HUMAN IDEAS OF GOD.

»3»

closer than that between a Hottentot and a New-
ton. Wallace remarks that the faculties exercised
by savages are very little above those of the ani-
mals. If mind, therefore, can be followed down to
the first instinctive motions of the earliest forms of
matter, and is proved to depend on the organism,
may it not yet be shown that the first motion that
signifies intelligence is as truly a development
from the inherent nature of matter as is the growth
of the structure ? The assumption that there is an
eternal distinction between mind and matter, and
that it was necessary at some point for a God to
step in and conjure the principle of mind into mat-
ter, would thus be shown to be false by the proof
of the theory that matter has always possessed the
principle of determining its actions which we call
mind. May not mind be traced as truly in the
vegetable world ? When plants catch and devour
insects, reach out tendrils toward supports, close
their fiowers in the shade or at the approach or
touch of a person, may it not be called an opera-
tion of mind, as truly as when n dog answers the
dinner bell or a man opens an umbrella when it
rains ?

Thus there is a mind or soul in all nature, and it
IS so connected with and inseparable from the c.t-
ward form that they may be considered one, the
mind, the later manifestation, being an inherent
property of matter from its first existence.

132

TRAVELS W FAITH.

Si
3b

These facts and theories either place God away
back at the beginning of all things, and then leave
the puzzle of his existence to be accounted for, or,
ignoring any idea of a personal God, they consider
the existence of matter as the only mystery to
which we have not found a hopeful key. Nothing
is arbitrary in the action of nature, implying an
exceptional discrimination. As a general rule, the
good and the bad reap the results of their acts in
the long run. Just so many accidents of a given
kind occur during certain periods under similar
circumstances. The number of suicides in Lon-
don in each decade and the number of mis-directed
letters in certain periods is about the same.
There is no event in the world of mind or matter
which it is not easier to account for as the result
of natural consequences than as being the direct
act in each case of a superintending God. The
blast of lightning from a clear sky, which struck
twenty men resting under an oak-tree, was not spe-
cially directed by a God with reference to those
men. But a sufficient knowledge of natural law
could show a chain of causes extending back for
ages, which required that flash to gleam and that it^
should strike that tree ; and laborers are apt to rest
under trees at noon in hot weather. As the mind
revolts from the idea of a God who deliberately or-
dains some men to eternal life of his own free will
and leaves others to perish, so it rejects the thought

HUMAN IDEAS OF GOD.

133

of a being who consciously distributes the accidents
and ills of life, and orders the daily warfare and
destruction which pervades all o.ders of nature.

If, then, it can be shown that all the present
forms of existence maybe accounted for by natural
laws, reason obliges us to prefer this theory to that
of the special creation of the various orders of life
by the magical word of a Supreme Being. Man's
ignorance has always taken refuge in the act of
God as an explanation of what could not be under-
stood. God was supposed to cause cholera, plague,
and small-pox by direct exercise of his will, until
the germ theory of disease showed that these ca-
lamities could be accounted for by natural laws.
God made the lightning, in popular estimation, till
Franklin flew his kite and brought it down from
heaven to the realm of nature. God caused storms,
rains, and droughts, till the science of meteorology
showed the power of natural causes to produce these
effects, and foretold their occurrence. So, in earlier
ages, the mysteries of life were conveniently refer-
red to God ; but, now, we see the laws of nature
satisfactorily explaining all the facts of existing
forms, and we only refer back to God the origin of
matter and force. This is merely saying that as
yet we are ignorant of the first cause of all exist-
ence ; but, having resolved so many of the acts of
God into intelligible processes of nature, does not
analogy suggest that what is still unknown may

«34

TRA VELS IN FAITH.

lie

yet be discovered by the advancing mind and un-
ceasing investigation of man? Thus there is no
** unknowable," and no limits need be placed upon
man's mental progress, nor need any barriers be
raised to stop his researches.

It is imprudent to express a decided opinion
upon these theories about God, upon which the
wisest of men are at variance. None of them solve
the great mystery of existence. We are all grop-
ing through the dim day-dawn toward God, if,
haply, we may find him. My only object in writ-
injr is to show that the ideas of God in the Bible
are human conceptions, just as are the ideas of the-
ologians and philosophers of to-day. They are not
authoritative ; but they are instructive, and show
an orderly progression which ranks them among
the evidences which pervade all orders of nature
of a development through which an inscrutable
force, or ** God," is working.

Many, from policy or conviction, are making a
.compromise with Christianity as to belief in God,
and thus avoid an open rupture. They say, in the
words of an intelligent scientist, " The mind with
its yearnings for and capabilities of religion is as
much a part of nature as are the objects we may
handle with our fingers ; and the moral education
of mankind has as much followed the lines of de-
velopment, which the survival of the fittest de-
mands, as has the physical advance of structural

HUMAN IDEAS OF GOD,

'35

forms. Viewed in that light, the history of the
human race, whether drawn from sacred or pro-
fane sources, is a history of the evohition and atl-
vance of moral sentiments." But they go on to
call the manifestation of this growth in the Bible
a "revelation," and the principle, unknown and
inscrutable, which thus works for good or " makes
for righteousness," they call " God " ; and thus they
retain their status among Christians as believers.
This is a use of terms in a sense entirely different
from their general acceptation. In this way, most
rationalists believe as truly in God and revelation
as they do; and I know honored men among Chris-
tians, who practically think as I do, who, by this
accommodation of old phrases to their new ideas,
are still accounted orthodox, and are held up to
me as examples of the agreement of science and
faith. The God of evolution is not God, as men
in the Christian Church understand the name ; and,
when they call the Bible a revelation, they believe
it is the direct, authoritative, and final word of God,
communicated in a miraculous manner to man, —
not that it shows how men have gradually grown
in religious knowledge, and is, therefore, ^ revela-
tion to us. For the present, it seems wise and hon-
est not to use the old phraseology, until men cease
to misapprehend the inte .tion and infer agreement
with their own supernatural ideas. In this sense,
the Unitarian use of the terms, "Our Lord and

136

TRA VELS IN FAITH.

Saviour, Jesus Christ," '* Our Divine Master," while
they utterly deny his deity and atonement in the
orthodox sense, appears inconsistent and injurious
to the progress of the demolition of superstition.

True freedom of speech will not be attained until
men can be permitted to express their ideas about
God as freely as their notions about geology. The
First Cause is as legitimate an object of research
as is electricity. The loftiest intellects of this age,
who have gained conceptions of the Infinite Power
as far above the Hebrew notions of Jehovah as are
their differing ideas about astronomy, are liable to
prosecution by some anti-blasphemy club, com-
posed of men who believe that God has revealed
nothing about himself for eighteen hundred years,
and who accept as final the ideas of deity enter-
tained by men whose opinions upon almost every
other subject they despise. In their minds, to
agree with the ancients in any of their opinions
about nature is to show an ignorance and stupid-
ity that is beneath contempt ; but to differ from
the ancients in their estimate of the greatest of
all myster ies is blasphemy.

To sum up, in a few words, the main truths I
desire to impress, I would say : The Bible, like
all other books, is the product of men's minds. All
ideas about God and the various doctrines of re-
ligion are likewise the products of men's minds.
There has never been a revelation by God to man

HUMAX IDEAS OF GOD.

•37

of final truth, g'ven directly and all at once, either
by word or vision. Hut all human ideas of relig-
ion are the result of a prog^ressive development of
man's mind, in accordance with the laws of evolu-
tion which pervade the universe, through which all
growth in nature and all progress in man are pro-
moted by the working of what men variously call
^*the inscrutable force," "eternal matter," "the
great first cause," " the eternal and infinite spirit,"
*^ the Almighty Godr

PRAYER.

::>

Oct

If all events are the effects of preceding causes^
and God, the supreme power in the universe, acts
only through natural laws, prayer in the form of
petition is irrational and useless, unless it can be
proved that prayer is a natural force.

Upon the orthodox ideas of God, petition to
him to vary the succession of causes and effect is
unreasonable and wronij. It is askinjjf for bless-
ing v/hich involves suffering to others. The sailor
who prays for a fair wind really asks that other
b;ulors, equally deserving of prosperity, may have
a head wind ; and supposing that sailors pray,
God is daily besought that the wind may blow
from every point of the comp;.>ss. How can he
grant any of these petitions without injustice, even
if the direction of the wind was not determined by
natural laws which God has never interrupted ?
The Hour merchant, praying for a rising market,
asks God to do that which will make the laborer
pay more for his bread. The laborer prays for
cheap Hour. How can God answer both prayers?
The prosperity of one often means the adversity
of another, the success of one the disappointment
of his perhaps equally deserving fellow. How can
a just God discriminate w the bestowal of an-

PR A YEK,

'39

. v

swers ? We narrate deliverance from sliipwreck
and accident in answer to prayer ; but an honest
consistency would oblige us to tell of shipwrecks
in answer to prayer, and of misfortunes traceable
to the following of "indications of Providence"
succeeding prayer. Jesus had a wise conception
of the limitations of prayer. The Lord's Prayer
deals largely with desires for God's giory and
man's moral improvement, its only material re-
quest being for daily bread, which every one
would seem to have a natural right to possess.
But it is more rational to work for it than to pray
for it : and that this is the more effective course is
proved by the popular proverb, " God helps those
who help themselves."

Prayer is not only usually futile, but it is often
injurious. It concentrates the mind upon itself
and promotes selfishness. The calm of the even-
ing subdues the throbbing brain of the business
man ; but, as he kneels by his bedside to pray, all
the desires connected with his unfinished schemes
are aroused, he often changes prayer into a re-
newal of his schemings, and, in utter forgetful-
ness of his purpose, calls back the trials and dif-
ficulties of the day, and his excited brain defers
the approach of sleep. To some temperaments,
the prayerless pillow bririgs the sweetest sleep.
Prayer leads to trusting to God what should be
sought by our own efforts A landlady was over-

140

TRA VEIS IN FAITH.

%
I

heard to pray imploringly that God would fill her
house with boarders and blrss her dog " Gypsy " ;
but she left her room and scolded so much at her
servants that her boarders left her ; and she stuff-
ed her dog into an apoplectic condition. Prayer
has been the resort of laziness, and has often
paralyzed efforts and lost the attainment of de-
sires, while the devout person was " waiting on the
Lord" instead of using his best efforts for himself.
Prayer has an even chance of being answered or
of failing, except that we usually pray for what is.
unlikely to happen. Most of the reputed answers
to prayer are just this chance of having desire cor-
respond to natural results. But there are some
cases where prayer has really produced effects by
its reflex inlluence : the will and faith of the de-
votee have affected the nervous onjfanism and
produced the desired result. The effect follows
prayer to demons in Asia, to the Virgin and saints
in Europe, and to Christ in Anif^rica, and is there-
fore purely the action of physical laws. The shak-
ing of the Joss-sticks in China, the whirling of the
prayer-wheel in Burmah, the seven daily prostra-
tions of the Mussulman, the counting of beads
in Rome, and the prayer-meetings of Protestants,
are alike in their measure of success or failure.
Dr. Hammond, in the lutLrnaiional Revicio for
March, 1881, in a valuable article upon this sub-
ject, describes a cure effected by Croton water, la-

mni

i I '

PR A YEK.

141

belled •' Lourdes Water," after genuine Lourdes
water labelled Croton had failed to produce effect,
proving that the power lay in the imagination.

Perhaps, it nr\y be found that prayer is some-
times effectual in another way. One or more per-
sons sometimes " will " that another shall do cer-
tain things, and the acts arc performed. This is
believed to be a ** psychological " influence ; which
only means that it is produced by a natural force
that as yet we know but little of. In the N^inc-
icenth Century {ox June, 1882, an article entitled
"Thought Reading" gives most interesting facts
of this character, with suggestions of explanation ;
and the editor adds a note containing a theory
that "brain-waves" are produced by mental ef-
forts, and sometimes affect others at a distance
with a consciousness of the thoui^ht that caused
them. Many visions, apparitions, and impressions
would be explained by this theory, if it could be
established. A man in a prayer-meeting felt an
intense impulse to give a stranger five dollars.
He did so with great diffidence, and learned that
the stranger had been praying throughout the
meeting for that sum, in order to bestow it upon a
distressed person. This was narrated as an an-
swer to prayer, and so it was. Hut, instead of its
being the direct action of the Being invoked, is it
not as well or better explained by the supposition
that an intense desire may sometimes intluence

142

TRA VELS IN FAITH.

the mind of another person, or even affect natural
forces in other ways, and thus produce the answer?
If so, it is the feeling, and not the petition to
God, which has brought about the result. Princi-
pal Dawson, in his latest work, ** Facts and Fan-
cies in Modern Scie^c(^" says, '* The bleat of the
lamb will not only meet with response from the
mother ewe, but will even exercise a physiological
effect in promoting the secretion of milk in her
udder. ... In the case of animals there must be
a certain relation between the one that prays and
the one that answers." He argues for prayer to
God, but such facts better illustrate the effects of
desire upon natural resources.

When men become i^ood and wise enoucjh to
'• will " with benefit to themselves and others, we
may find that the power of nature to produce re-
sults has also enlarged, and it may be found that
the instinct of prayer was a dawning conception
of a grand force to become available for man's use
in a more developed state. As people meet now
in a circle to ** will " that a table shall move, the
prayer-meeting will perhaps be succeeded by a
gathering of intelligent persons who shall effectu-
ally " will " for results more useful to man, in cer-
tain directions where the possibility of success has
been scientifically determined.

Meantime, the area of prayer will gradually be
narrowed, as men learn to trace results to natural

rKAVK/i.

causes. They cease to ask God for thinirs as fast
as they learn nature's laws. No one prays that
the sun may rise or that the seasons may change ;
and men are ceasing to pray for rain and wind and
all other events, in proportion as they see that they
are as inevitable as the sunrise, or else can be di-
rected by their own knowledge.

But many rationalists, either from early habit or
inherited impulse, while abandoning direct peti-
tion to God for specific material needs, delight in
prayer as communion with the Power and Good-
ness which they perceive in nature, which they in
a measure personify as God, and toward which or
whom their spirit of thankfulness and wonder is
outpoured. This it is not intended to criticise.
The remarks made apply only io pctitional prayer.
Worship of God can do good only as it elevates
the mental faculties to aspire toward a superior
conception. Reverence for the powers of nature
and an enthusiasm for the progress of humanity
may produce as good effects upon the mind, and
may lead to better results for the world.

MORALITY.

It is asked, If you take away the doctrine of the
inspiration and infallible authority of the Bible,
what foundation is left for morality? Those who
ask the question believe that the Bible has created
religion, instead of religion havingr made the Bible ;
and that morality springs from the ten command-
ments, instead of the commandments being the ex-
pression of human morality. Morality is the re-
sult of experience. That conduct which men have
found to produce the best results has been incul-
cated by maxims which superstition ascribes to the
finger of God upon stone tablets. The experience
of ages is compressed into the Golden Rule, of
which, when quoted by Christ, it is said, ** For this
is the law and the prophets" (Matt, vii., 12); and
Moses gives the precept, *' Thou shalt Icve thy
neighbor as thyself." This rule and most of the
maxims ascribed to Christ are found in writings
centuries before he lived, and are the inheritance
of the ages, needing no thunders of Sinai nor suf-
ferings of Calvary to give them authority.

Thales, about 600 n.c, said, "Avoid doing what
you would blame others for doing."

Pittacus, one of the seven wise men of Greece,
about 570 RC, said, "Avoid doing that to your

MORALITY.

neighbor which you would take amiss if he did it
to you."

Confucius, the Chinese sage, 500 ii.c., said :
" What you do not want done to yourself do not
do to others."

To one who has been accustomed to regard
Jesus as the author of our present morality, it is
instructive to read the maxims of the ancient phi-
losophers of Greece and Rome and the teachers of
Persia and India. Jesus summarized the morality
of the past. If the Golden Rule be expressed in
these words. Whatsoever ye would that men should
do to you and yours, do ye even so to them and
theirs, it seems impossible to imagine a relation in
life to which it would not apply sufficient guidance
and restraint. It teaches us to treat a man and
his wife, sister, daughter, house, property, cow, dog,
as we feel it would l)e rii/ht that a man should treat
us and ours, and to set the example in speech, dress,
and behavior we wish him to set. By this simple
rule, we are thrown upon our conscience, and are
relieved of all the burden of an immense code of
maxims, which by their conllicting and unbending
letter often destroy the spirit of morality. Educa-
tion, which secures an enlightened conscience, will
enable men to apply this rule rightly ; and morality
will not only stand, but grow purer and gain in uni-
versality, even though the Bible takes its rightful
place among human compilations of man's deeds

146

TKAVELS IN FAITH.

and thoughts. As Christ deh'vered his disciples
from a yoke of ceremonials, which neither they nor
their fathers ** were able to bear," so modern criti-
cism delivers men from the bondage of a multitude
of rules which they call the word of God, but ha-
bitually violate, and leaves them with this grand
*' law of love " as the simple but effective guide.

The liberty which the Golden Rule gives is well
expressed in the words of Herbert Spencer, in "So-
cial Statics " : •' Every man has freedom to do all
that he will, provided he infringes not the equal
frt;edom of any other man " ; and its restraints may
be summed up in the words of Lecky, in his " His-
tory of luiropean Morals": *• Man must abstain
from whatever injures happiness or degrades char-
act(;r."

Men will be more moral when they learn that
morality does not rest for its authority upon arbi-
trary edicts thundered from the skies, but that its
foundation is the experience of mankind as to what
is l)i!st for man. Now, some men abstain from evil
because they say God forbids it, or they do good
because it is conuuamled so to do ; but, when they
learn to choose the good for its own sake, they will
lose the sense of bonilage which imbues virtue
with the idea of self-sacrifice, and they will find, as
Herbert Spencer says in the "Data of Ethics,"
that " the good is universally the pleasurable. Con-
duct is good or l)ad as its results to self or others

MORALITY.

147

is pleasurable or painful : the need for command-
ments from God disappears." He also remarks :
"In the improved state of society there will be less
self-sacrifice in helpin<^ others, and it will become
pleasure. . . ; Great miseries are caused by per-
severinji; in actions repufjnant to the sensations, and
neglectinf^ actions which the sensations prompt."

We may with hope look forward to a day when
men will instinctiv"^' ^ncl from pleasurable motives
** refuse the evil ana choose the<;ood," though this
will be attained to neither by eatin<j^ *' butter and
honey " (Isaiah vii., 15) nor by slavish obedience,
but by enlightened study of the laws of man's nat-
ure. But men are not yet all susceptible of con-
trol by moral suasion or *' the enthusiasm of hu-
manity"; and other restraints and impulses may
still be necessary, as the " edicts of God " have been
in the past. Morality must become approved to
self-interest as well as to benevolence. Men must
realize that it "pays better" to be good, but " the
prosperity of the wicked " now weakens this con-
viction. Some indeed see but little advancement
in the goodness of mankind, and are disposed to
agree with Buckle that man only improves intellect-
ually, not morally. A great impetus has been
given to improvement in every other department
of life, but some think there is not a corresponding
advancement in morals. Even in the Church,
where morality is believed to have made its highest

TRAVHLS IN tAJTU.

I. P=

S
u

}

tit

profjress, frailty is apparent. The large number of
defaulters who have been " pillars of the Church '*
has excited much comment, and a good Christian
lately remarked that he never had trusted implic-
itly in a religious man without being swindled.

As new forces have been discovered and applied
by science and invention to the material use of
man, may not a new motive be produced, which
will give an impetus to the moral advancement of
the human race?

In the past, the fear of God has been supposed
to be the chief deterrent from the commission of
evil acts ; but experience proves that men are now
only slightly influenced by the idea of the displeas-
ure of God, and consequent future punishment.
The scepticism of intelligence and the indefinite
distance of the fulfilment of the threat alike make
these motives ineffectual in restraining the accom-
plishment of present desires by im-^roper means.
The other jj:reat controllini^ motive ai^ainst crime
is the fear of the written and unwritten laws of man,
but concealment makes these so often inoperative
that their power as a deterrent is greatly modified.
Not only is this evidenced among criminal classes,
but in all the departments of business and social
life, and even in Church and State, we continually
see the futility of all known means of restraint to
prevent deception and unfairness. The fear of
God apparently exercises but little restraint, and

;■ .

MORALITY.

I4(>

the difficulty of detection and conviction abrogates
the fear of man. Sir Wilh'am Harcourt, when in-
troducing the bill for the repression of crime in Ire-
land, said, " The mainspring of crime is the expec-
tation of impunity." The telegraph, railroad, and
detective police have done much to lessen the se-
curity of criminals ; but we need to find a way in
which evidence can be secured, of so positive a
character that concealment of wron<r-doin<^ shall
be impossible, which, without resort to the old tor-
tures of the Incpiisition, shall extort the truth froni
witnesses or criminals, and prevent them from ob-
taining the shelter of " I don't know."

The researches of scientists have given plausi-
bility, if not probability, to the theory that all men-
tal action produces a permanent organic impression.
As the phonograph registers sound by dents in the
tinfoil, so mental consciousness may produce an in-
effaceable record upon the organism of the brain;
and, as the phonograph is made to repeat what has
been stamped upon its cylinder, so, under certain
conditions, may the tablet of the brain give out its
inscriptions. When read by the owner of the brain,
the act is called ** memory." Many occurrences are
not thought of for years, until, under some intense
mental excitement, — as in the act of drowning, the
strife of battle, or at sudden alarm, — the mind be-
comes cognizant of certain records which these past
events have made upon the brain. But it has been

MMi

■MH

MMaMM

.jl^^i^^algKBriaAM

mmmhmu

150

TKAVELS IN hAlTil,

•&

*■

demonstrated that occasionally the records of the
brain are read by others. Instances of this occur
in what is known as second-sii^ht, mind-reading, and
clairvoyance ; and it is beyond dispute that many
persons have been able to discern the present
thoip^lUs juul past history of others. 'J'he follow-
ini( case is mentioned in I'airrield's '• Ten Years
with Spiritual Mediums": lleinrich Zschokke, the
Swiss poet and statesman, remarks, in his autobi-
» ography, that it has frecpiently been given to him,
on his first interview with a stranger, to see the
man's life passing before him like a dream. When
dining with a friend at the hotel at Waldshut, a
stran<rcr entered into argument with him. Zschokke
turned to the stranger, and at that moment he says,
** The man's life ])assed before me ; and I offered
to tell him the various events of his past, if he
would but frankly confess whether I was correct."
I le assented, and Zschokke proceeded with the nar-
rative, from his student life to his later career, in-
cluding a lil)erty he had once taken with the strong-
box of his principal, describing the room and the
black box on the table and the manner of its per-
petration. The stranger was astounded, but frankly
confessed the exactness and accuracy of the story.
Numerous instances of this sort are well accredited,
and even impressions made upon the eye without
affecting consciousness have yet been so recorded

-u-—^

MOLALITY.

isi

Upon the organism as to be legible to the mind-
reader or clairvoyant.

Some writers, such as Hlavatsky in " Isis Un-
veiled," ijo so far as to claim that all thinirs that
occur** are recorded on the tablet of the unseen
universe. The adept can read and know all."

Superstition attributes this power to supernatural
agency ; but science suggests that there is a sub-
tle condition of the faculties, as yet undefinable, in
which the ability exists of becoming conscious of
the brain records of others.

If this power of mind-reading is a physical trait,
may it not, with advancing knowledge, be more
clearly traced to its sources, and, as a result, may
not its cultivation be possible, and thus certain per-
sons be so trained as to be able to discern all the
mental record of other persons.^ In time, this fac-
ulty might be widespread, so that one man could
read another as he reads a book. What would be
the effect of this upon crime ? If the power of con-
cealment is now the chief promoter of sin, will not
the absolute certainty of exposure and conviction
be the most repressive force that can be conceived
of? If a man knows that the moment he meets
another his record will be read, will not fraud, lying,
theft, and murder be generally abandoned, simply
because in most cases they would fail to attain their
objects ? This would either be the result, or else
so iety would be so demoralized by the universal

152

TAAyjiLS AV /W/7y/.

evidences of sin as to cease to reprobate or punish
eviii anJ a moral degeneracy would everjv/here
prevail. But moral laws are now so well based
upon natural necessities that there is little fear of
this result

The mere possibility of developing this faculty
of mind-reading, and the consideration of the
results wliich would llow from it, should excite
great Interest in the study of psychology ; and if,
through its researches, this power is secured to a
reliable extent, we may see society regenerated by
the fear of man.

SpcMic* I says, "Not by authority is your sway
to be btained^ neither by reasoning, but by in-
ducement." W hen doing wrong invariably ceases
" to pay," men will cease to do evil and learn to
do well.

Buckle says, '* The moral actions of men are not
the product of their volition, but of their antece-
dents." And Herbert Spencer remarks, "All evil
results from the non-adaptation of constitution to
conditions." With a more enlightened under-
standing of the laws of heredity and a more ra-
tional and universal system of education, we shall
find the tendency to crime diminishing. In the
last forty years, criminal convictions in England
have decreased fully one-half, while church attend- .
ance has declined. It is therefore not religion
that has wrought the reform ; but it may fairly '

i<*]|

MORALITY.

'5J

be traced to intellitrcncc, as manifested in the af-
fairs of physical, mental, social, and industrial life.
Were we v/ise enough, we could see that a man's
ancestry, organism, and surroundings have made
it necessary that he should act and think as he
does, and that neither the " inlluence of the Spirit"
nor his own free will are the true motive causes of
his conduct. If this is true, eternal punishment
for one's own sins is hardly just, even though
some may praise God's justice fn tormenting for-
ever men born in this century, because Adam was
immoral and they inherited his nature. It also
encourages us to seek the moral improvement
of man through material causes, inste.id of rely-
ing upon supernatural inlluences. Work and not
prayer must be our instrument of reform. Py-
thagoras divides virtue into tv.o branches, — to
seek truth and to do good. The truth is to be
sought through the study of the laws of nature,
especially of those relating to man ; and good is
to be done through efforts to improve the terres-
trial condition of man. Men need to learn that
truth is not only to be found in the Hible and
through an imagined rapturous intercourse of the
mind with Deity, and that good does not consist
chiefly in church-going, psalm-singing, and saving
men's souls.

One may worship the Good and serve the True,
even if he does not personify them as God and

tmtdt

SiSE

•54

TRAVELS IN FAITH.

~i *

Christ. The differences in the beliefs of good men
are rather matters of definition than questions of
fact. Men may be equally devoted to the welfare
of others, though one calls it ** working for Christ,"
and another '* helping man."

The moral maxims of the New Testament have in
many instances become obsolete, and the develop-
ment of society is evolving new rules of conduct.
Another table of commandments is in preparation,
and will be given to men by God as truly as were
the first. Hut they will very likely find utterance
in the ** resolutions" of a convention, composed of
the wisest and best men of the world. Perhaps
the new table will embrace such laws as these : —

Thou shall give women ecjual rights with men.

Thou shalt give a fair day's pay for a fair day's
work, and the laborers shall share with the capital-
ists the profits of their enterprises.

Thou shalt not protect one industry at the ex-
pense of another, and thou shalt not refuse free
trade with other nations.

Thou shalt tax all property alike, religious or
secular.

Thou shalt not give religious instruction in pub-
lic schools, nor force any to pay for the support of
religious practices which they do not approve.

Thou shalt not advance the price of merchan-
dise by "corners."

MORALITY.

•55

Thou shalt lay up treasure upon earth, but shall
use it for the benefit of man.

Many rationalists do not accept this "utilita-
rian " scheme of morals, which rests upon expe-
rience and results ; but, with the transcendental-
ists, they believe that man possesses innate ideas
or intuitions, which are above the senses, tellinLr
what is riijht and just, without rej^ard to conse-
quences as a motive for action. Lecky, Theodore
Parker, and the Concord philosophers are amon^
the expounders of this view.

It is perhaps the greatest question now before
the thinker ; for the grandest problem of life is
how to make men better and happier, and the way
in which moral ideas are gained is an essential fac-
tor in the solution.

' -•.

« .•

THE FUTURE.

Biblical scholars are generally agreed that there
is no indisputable evidence in the earlier books of
the Old Testament that the doctrine of the immor-
tality of the soul and a future life was known to
the Jews of those days. It is an idea which grad-
ually gained currency among philosophers, and was
emphasized by Jesus and the apostles. It was not
revealed by them, for it was believed before their
day. If, when it was made known, it was received
by way of direct revelation from God, it may rightly
be asked why God, who talked with men, kept such
needful knowledge carefully concealed for so many
ages, and let his fi lends, the men after his own
heart, live and die in ignorance of so important a
truth, virtually deceiving them as to the facts of
their existence. But the late attainment of the
idea is explained, if we accept the theory that it is
a higher intellectual conception than the earlier
races of men were capable of exercising, and has
been developed from the advancing mind of man.
As to the proof of its truth, we must say that there
is none beyond the fact of its belief : there is no
evidence of a future life that will bear the test of
examination ; but there are strong analogies in na-

THE FUTURE.

•57

ture and an intense yearning; in man which stimu-
late the hope that death does not end all. Ham-
let's soliloquy expresses this arj^ument. The pict-
ures of heaven given in the New Testament arc
the fond imaijfinations of the writers of that aire,
and are not acceptable to the present generation,
who have no more delight in the prospect of white
robes and harps, and the song of Moses and the
Lamb, than in the land of Watts' conception,
" where congregations ne'er break up and Sabbaths
have no end." Each age and clime makes heaven
for itself. The modern authoress changes the harp
into a piano ; the tropical negro looks to a cool,
shady grove ; and the Esquimaux believes in a land
of sunshine. These imaginations may do no harm,
and may even be beneficial and comforting, if kept
in the right place; but when they exalt ihe world
to come over this world, as the rightful object of
our concern, they arc hurtful. The Bible teaches
that this world is condemned of God on account of
the sin of the man he made ; and his lontr-sufferint:
patience is gathering out a few favored elect ones
to dwell in a new heaven and new earth, when he
has destroyed the present abode of man and the
vast majority of its inhabitants. As in the days of
Noah, so it is to be at the coming of the Lord.
Consistcrl Christians, therefore, *'love not the
world, neither the things that arc in the world,"
and ignore all attempts to improve what God has

. T

158

TKA VELS AV FAITH.

ID
ft:

cursed, which cannot be regerierated by any efforts
of n' an. They teach that Christians should not en-
gage in politics, nor hold ofHice, nor seek wealth, nor
crave pleasure; but, with loins girded and lamps
trimmed and burning, should wait for their Lord.
The majority of Christians, however, are not of
this mind, and believe in making the best of both
worlds, though any candid reader of the New Tes-
tament must see that they are a different order of
Christians from the original sect, and have virtually
evolved a new reliijfion to suit the times.

The apostles and early Christians were looking
for the speedy return of Christ, and therefore
taught contempt of the world. Their hope being
false, as is that of those who now wait for his ap-
pearance, their conclusions are therefore wrong.
A good old man, who spent his days in prayer and
tract distribution, was admiring the noble ship in
which I was about to embark on a voyage around
the world. '* Yes," I said, ** we hope to have some
good times in her."

•• Ah, my dear brother," said he, " we can't take
any pleasure in this world that has crucified our
Lord."

His view of life was similar to that of the "dear
brother" who shut his eyes in the cars, lest the
beauties of this world should distract his thoughts
from Christ and the age to come. They consid-
ered inventions and arts as man's effort to improve

THE lUTUKE.

•59

what God had condemned. Though Christians
generally may now disavow these pietistic views,
they cannot deny their Scripturalness ; and con-
sistency should lead them to follow them, or else
admit that the New Testament is not their infalli-
ble guide. These views of the future life, as being
so immeasurably the object of our concern, dis-
couraLTC efforts for the increase of knowledc^e and
invention or the improvement of the material con-
dition of man, the saving of his soul being all that
is worth attention, since the world and all in it is to
be burned up. Some writers maintain that any
hope of immortality is injurious, as necessarily dis-
tracting thought and effort from the present life ;
but it is not clear that this must be so, if it is rec-
ognized as only a hope, the realization of which is
not so defmite as to warrant the engrossment of
the faculties in its contemplation. If we make the
best of this world, when another comes we shall
find we have made the best possible preparation
for it. Spinoza says, '* The proper study of a wise
man is not how to die, but how to live."

If wc never awake from our dreamless sleep, we
shall never know our loss. Life is a burden to
most people. Their happiest moment is when they
are just falling into sleep ; and they usually awake
with a sigh, as the consciousness of another day's
care comes to the mind. Some writer has said
man's happiest hours are those which he passes in

iCiO

TA'AVELS IN tAITU.

childhood and in sleep. Why, then, should eter-
nal sleep be so dreaded ? The rational mind must
reject the idea of a perfect future state, for there
must ever be progress upward. Life must there-
fore always be in some sense a strucrgle ; and,
though ambition promjjts the desire to engage in
it, yet the weary laborer need not shudder at the
thought of eternal unconscious rest, and may ''sink
to sleep " more peacefully than though agitated
■with ihouj^hts of anjrcls and unwonted «»lories.

But, if this hope has grown in man as his intel-
ligence has increased, it has been founded upon
fact or has been useful. If it is not true, when it
erases to be useful, it will be iliscarded ; and, if it
is true, the demand which man's mind now makes
for evidence, without which no belief can much
longer exist, will be met by proof, which his ad-
vancing powers will elicit from nature. If there
is any light to be gained on this subject from the
phenomena of "Spiritualism," it will in time be
made plain. Immortality is one of the mysteries
which we may not deny, but which as yet we do
not know. If it cannot be positively denied, and
there is therefore a possibility of its truth, it is not
irrational to hope for it.

The aim of life should therefore be to assist in
tlu,* subjection of the laws of nature to man's use,
and to improve the moral, intellectual, and social
condition of man. Instead of endeavoring to con-

THE FUTURE.

i6i

vert men to a belief in theories which will make
them happy in a hereafter, of which we know
nothing and which men throuij^h the ai^es have
conceived of differently, according to their own
temperaments, we should aid the progress, which
history shows has slowly but surely been going on,
of making man the master of this world. The ap-
plication of steam, gas, electricity, and some only
suspected forces to the comfort and power of man,
offers an unbounded lield to the man of science or
the practical mechanic ; while the philosopher and
theologian can turn their devotion and cretlulity
from the myths of darker ages to the discovery of
psychological laws, which, hinted to us in the phe-
nomena of " Spiritualism," suggest a vast enlarge-
ment in the range of man's intellectual powers.
They can study the problem of moral restraint
without the supposition of divine edicts, the meth-
ods of raising the profits of labor to a more just
proportion to those of capital, the abolition of the
selfish, demoralizing, and partial laws of so-called
" protection of industry," which makes each nation
the commercial enemy of every other, and robs its
many citizens for the benefit of the few, and, by
the promotion of free trade and the intercourse of
reciprocal commerce all over the world, develop the
bonds of peace, which will forever chain the demon
of war and bind all men into a universal brother-
hood. The Christian, instead of being " a man of

164

TRA VELS iN t'AITJI.

one book," and that a compilation of the traditions
of a credulous age, will become a student of the
volumes of nature, and learning its facts will dis-
cover its laws. Winwood Reade in *' The Mar-
tyrdom of Man " says : " There is a great enter-
prise in which men have always unconsciously
been engaged, but which they will pursue with
method as an avocation and an art, which they
will devoutly adopt as a religious faith, as soon as
they realize its glory. It is the conquest of the
planet on which we dwell, the destruction or do-
mestication of the savage forces by which we are
tormented and enslaved." He says, when men
made fire serve them, the first victory was won.
*' But we can conquer Nature only by obeying her
laws, and we must first learn what they are."

If the Bible predictions as to the world's future
are to be classed with the innumerable myths and
legends that pervade the literature of all people,
what does Science teach us ? She knows nothing
of the future save what is taught by the analogy
of the facts of the past. What has been will be :
that is all that she can say. She finds in the past
a slow, painful process of improvement going on
in all animate Nature; and she assumes that it
will go on, and things that improve forever must
in time approach perfection. But she finds evi-
dences of a limit to the existence of worlds, and
sees a possibility of such changes in condition as

TJtE FUTURE.

««3

to lead to the extinction of all life on this globe,
though vast ages must elapse before this result
could ensue from the orderly progression of causes
which have worked in the past.

The prc-millennial scheme of the speedy advent
of Christ to miraculously perfect the earth, after
destroying the evil men in it, and then in a thou-
sand years burning the world itself up, and the
post-millennial theory of the gradual but not far
distant conversion of the world to Christianity,
and a thousand years of blessedness followed by
the appearance of Christ to destroy the world, find
no support from the records of what has been.
No one can say it may not be so, but there are the
best of reasons for believing it will not be so.
God has never told us it would be thus ; and the
stor)' which many believe came from God is so
differently interpreted imder "the infallible guid-
ance of the Holy Ghost," by those to whom the
revelation is supposed to have been given, that no
two men can agree as to the details of fui^lment ;
and as to the event of greatest concern, the ap-
pearance of Christ, believers in his coming are at
least a thousand years apart in their reckonings.
When God gives us a revelation, he will be likely
to tell us something ; but a tale of war-horses, and
trumpets, and vials of wrath, and beasts, which
most learned men tell us mean great events of
past history, but disagree as to what they are, the

164

TRAVELS IN FAITJI.

beast being Antiochus Epiphanes, or Nero, or the
Pope, or the Church of Rome, or Louis Napo-
leon, — and which other equally wise men declare
refer to events that have not yet happened, the
beast beint^ a wicked ruler yet to appear, — this
tale seems to a rational mind to be more probably
the poetic imaij^inini^ of the reli*^ious prophets of a
less enlijj^htened ai;e than the present, than the in-
struction from God as to what man is to expect.
It is impossible that the God which the nineteenth
century can alone conceive of should reveal \i\\di\.
is unintellij^ible. A noted orthodox theoloijian
has said, "The study of the Book of Revelation
either finds or leaves a man crazy" ; and yet at its
beginnini^f the Holy Ghost says, "Blessed is h'^
that readeth and tliey that hear the words of the
prophecy."

If thin<(s are to go on, what then may we ex-
pect ? We are warranted in believing that the
forces of nature will become the servants of man.
Time and space will be almost annihilated by
aerial llight, talking on beams of light, electric and
pneumatic despatches, and other modes of move-
ment and communication. New motive powers
and machinery will abolish the curse of labor.
Chemistry will create cheap food. Social science
will distribute wealth more ecjually, banish land
monopolies, let producers get a greater benefit
than they nov/ do in comparison with the gains of

THE FUTURE,

'65

the capitalist. Muscle, and brains, and money
will share results in more ecjuitable {proportions.
But what of sin ? Of what use is all this, while it
may yet be said, " Only man is vile"? History
certainly shows that man is less vile than he was
once ; and, if he has improvetl, we are warranted
in hopinc^ he will *'«^o on unto perfection." The
telegraph, the newspaper, and the hiijh moral sen-
timent which Is the standard of society now, brintj
to notice a multitude of crimes that in old times
would not have jj^ained publicity, both from the
lack of facilities for publication and the prevail-
ing lax morality which would have ignored them.
These increased exhibits of sin cause some to
mourn over the degeneracy of the times, and to
sigh for a return of the good old days. If th(!y
will read the histories of those days, they will find
cause for gratitude that they do not date iheir
births any earlier. Governments, all will admit^
have improved ; and, as laws are the expressions
of the wills of the governed, it follows that men
collectively, and therefore individually, have im-
proved. If society is b(!tter, man is better. The
social conditions of the Middle Ages, or the Ro-
man Empire, or the days of Abraham were mor-
ally inferior to those of to-day ; and though, indi-
vidually, man's morality does not seem to have kept
pace with the material improvement of his circum-

' »

i66

TRAVELS IN FAITH.

i
I

Stances, it must be admitted that it has advanced,
and therefore probably will advance.

Lewes in ** Problems of Life and Mind" says:
*' Amonji^ the many stranije servilities mistaken for
pieties, one of the least lovely is that which hopes
-to flatter God by despisint:^ the world and vilifying
human nature. The author of creation is the only
autlior who is supposed to be flattered by the lav-
ish assurance that his works are imbecile." While
men insist on stylint; themselves vile worms of the
dust, the)' not only insult the God who they be-
lieve made them, but they retard the pro<^ress of
man.

Man's conception of Deity is the evidence of
the aspiration of his nature and of the j(oal toward
which his cnerunes and desires are directed. The
(jualitics and powers which men have most desired
to attain to, they have attributed to God ; and the
j)ro^fress of humanity in each aj^e is toward the
character an«.l ability t)f its Gotl. Man's thouj^ht
of God, therefore, becomes a prophecy of his own
ilestinv, ami in aij^es to come man mav rise to the
j)ossession of the attributes of his present (lod.
What intinuitions we already have of this, — travel
by steam, aerial voyai^t's, talkini^ by telegraph, tel-
ephone and phot(»phone, listeiung with the micro-
phone ! Timi! and si)ace are being annihilated by
these inventions, which convey a suggestion of the
omni[)resence of man.

THE FUTIj'RE.

167

The phenomena of mind-reading, clairvoyance,
and second sii^ht, may he the germs of a rising
ahih'ty which may increase to a capacity for what
seems to us infinite knowledge, and man will be-
come omniscient.

The application of chemistry to the arts, of me-
chanical invention to manufactures, of electricity,
animal magnetism, will-power, and other physical
and psychic forces to the gfiseral necessities of
men, give us a foreshadowing of a future omnipo-
tence.

When man thus becomes relatively omnipres-
ent, omniscient, and omnipotent, and a corre
sponding moral advance and •' love to man " arc
gained, his present ideal of God will be in a great
measure realized; and the true "coming of the
Lord " to earth, for which all ages have hoped and
waited, will become a fact.

THE CHURCH AND ITS WORK.

<
2

We f.nd a workl-wide institution, known arnong"
Christians as the Church, which may be defined as
the association of people (or the exercise of relig-
ious emotions. It has its church buildin<rs, tem-
ples, mos(|ues, and schools, ministers, priests, and
teachers. Some rationalists attack this institution,
cluHjic it with evLTv crime asj'ainst humanity and
obstruction of its advancement, and demand its
overthrow and destruction. The evolutionist must
see that such a course is hi«^hly irrational ; for so
universal an ori^anization must have been founded
upon the necessities of man's nature, and has doubt-
less contributed to its development. Its vast sys-
tefu, if the analo*^^y of rjature's workings is to be
followed, will not be destroyed, but will become the
promoter of bc^tter thinL,^s. The chani^c is percep-
tibly i.^oini;- ow, and is loudly lamented by many
atlherents. Church attendance is falling off, min-
istcTs sa)', •' because men are growing worldly and
wicked"; others say, *' l.)ecausc! [)eople are becom-
ing too intelligent to be interested in ministers*
preaching." Ministers are Ik ing e.\|»elled from the
cluirches for " heresy," aiul others are preachinjj
"qualihed views," as far as they dare. The num-
ber of ministers is proportionately lessening, be-

THE Clfl'KClI AXD ITS WOK A'.

\(<)

cause the education of the times prevents youni^
men from puttini; upon their intellects the yoke
of bondage prescribed by the oUl creeds of the
Churches, and it is foreseen that the only prospect
which a thinkinir man has before him in the min-
istry is quarrelliiii^ and separation. If he preaches
the old theoloi^y, unless he is a iLjenius or a moun-
tebank, he will be considered dull, and the church
will dismiss him for not fdliniL]^ the pews and mak-
inor the church pay ; and if he preaches on the toj)-
ics of the times and shows advancinij; ideas about
Moses and Joshua, althouj^h he draws a full house,
some conscientious hearers will stir uj) disaffection,
w.iich will niak(! him ;^dad to accept "a providen-
tial call to a wider sphere of usefulness."

Attendants upon churches wonder why it is they
are so listless and sleepy, more interested in bon-
nets than in the sermon ; why the childnMi cry Ix!-
cause they have to t^o "to that liorrid church";
why they can listen with breathlc^ss interest on a
week-day eveninir for two whole hours to their
bright minister's lecture about his "Trip to Cali-
fornia," and on Sunday his "gifted" long prayer
of fifteen minutes excites only a responsive snore,
and his forty-five minutes' exposition of Jacob
"watering stock," as IngersoU expresses it, or
Simon Peter catching fish, produces yawns. Why
is it, men nsk, that the press and the platform are
so popular, while the pulpit is losing power? This

170

TRAVELS IN fAITtl.

2
o

IS the true answer : the first treat of live facts, the
last deals v ith dead and dying fiction. Only what
is real can long enchain men's attention in this age.
Many come out of church feeling, and perhaps say-
ing, "There is something wrong about this; it
docs not satisfy one's cravings, it is not in the line
of nature, something must be done to make preach-
inir intercL.uiiii;." The chantje to be made is to sub-
stitute the true for the false. Destroy the churches ?
No, let tlicm be the grand lecture rooms, enforc-
ing morality, humanity, and education by exposi-
tion of the irjorious and fast revealin<r facts of na-
ture, upon which alone they rest, and which supply
tile only lasting incentive to their culture. Let
Sunday be the great day of mental instruction and
elevatin<r diversion to the toilinir millions, in Sun-
day-schools, churches, libraries, art galleries, fields,
and woods. \Vt? luied preachers and teachers all the
more, K:st the new-found liberty degenerate into
license, as it always does with some natures, who
have known only the restraints of law. Let radi-
cals not be too eager to overthrow existing institu-
tions ; let them rather work in nature's way of
growth, till the shackles burst by the full develop-
ment of what they confine. The " crimes of Chris-
tianity " are the expression of the ignorant passions
of the dark ages ; and, as J. W. Chadwick has re-
marked, if men had not persecuted through the
power of the Church, the same forces would have

-.IdM

THE CIICKCJI Ai\'D ITS U'OKK.

'7»

produced somcthinc; equally bad. Give the credit
that is due to Christianity, and preserve all that is
helpful to man in its creed and organization. All
that is good and elevating in the life of Jesus is
the heritage of man : let us profit still by its benign
influence, and, while we "prove all things, hold
fast that which is «'ood."

The Church is changing in accord with the spirit
of the age. As interest and belief in doctrines
subside, the church organization becomi.'s us(!ful in
social and benevolent schemes. Parties, literary
and musical entertainments, picnics and fairs, cause
churches to be valued by many as religious fun-
clubs, and a decreased interest in souls gives larg-
er scope for action to increase the temporal wel-
fare of men.

What would Jesus think of the Church, if he
came to earth again as a man ? and what would
the churches think of him? Is there a pulj)it in a
fashionable church where he would be invitetl to
preach? If he stood at the church door and saitl
to the rich deacon, as he came toward the carriage,
"Sell all that thou hast and give to the poor, and
come follow me," would not the deacon call for
a policeman ?

Many intelligent and scholarly ministers, who
are outgrowing belief in the Calvinistic creeds o
which they are officially committed, realize that
these dogmas arc driving from the Church men

.T"

17a

TRA VELS JX FAITH.

whose practical sympathies and purposes are en-
tirely in accord with their own. To save such per-
sons to the Church, the invitation to the Lord's
Supper is made so broad that few need to turn
their backs on it. One is told that, if he only can
profess ''loyalty to Jesus," he may reserve all opin-
ions about evangelical doctrines. An agnostic,
who denies all that is supernatural in the records
of the life of Jesus, is admitted to membership in
a ConLrre<';ational church ; and one who in honest
consistency feels obliged to renounce membership
is told that lie should have remained inside, and
helloed to bring the Church to the rational position
toward which it is slowly moving. At present men
who feel oblij/ed to aiUa<:onize erroneous creeds
are placed in a false position, as apparently opposed
to the practical morality of Christianity. When
the churches disavow the false dogmas with which
gooii:iess has become entrusted, their practical aims
a'ul work will be assisted by many who now feel
their only consistent standing-place is outside the
Church.

The charity and missionary organizations of the
Church must be preserved, and their working im-
l)roved in method and enlarged in scope. Foreign
missions are doing a great educational work, and
are yearly tentling toward a larger interest in the
establishment of schools and colleges than in the
propagation of theologies, A leader in foreign

^^^S^^^z^ • - >««>-^

77//: CHURCH AXD /TS WORK'.

'75

mission ciforts told mc, with an injunction of se-
crecy, that he was much less interested than for-
merly in the society of which he was a manaorcr,
because in their policy the salvation of souls was
becoming more and more secondary to the educa-
tion of the mind. We shall some day see these
agencies devoted solely to spreading moral and
physical knowledge among savages and ignorant
nations, and then earnestly supported by rational-
ists. The wholesale denunciation of missionaries
is unjust. I have visited numbers of mission sta-
tions, and never saw one where there was not an
apparent influence for good nor where the workers
were not faithful and earnest peo[)le. The religion
they teach is certainly better than the one it dis-
places, and the dogmas of theology are not made
as prominent as tliey are at home. When they are
entirely dropped from the teaching, and missionary
societies become educational societies wholly, they
will demand and receive the support of all intelli-
gent men.

Those who still believe in the story of the Tower
of Babel m.ist be puzzled, as I used to be, to ex-
plain how God should have caused the existence
of the greatest obstacle to the spread of knowl-
edge, — the diversity of languages. Since learning
that this story is the myth of an ignorant people,
I am relieved from the necessity of believing that
God, who *' desires all men to repent and come to

TRA VELS IN FAITH,

the knowledge of the truth," has been the greatest
enemy of foreign missions.

Theological seminaries at present are mainly in-
stitutions where men are taught how to maintain
preconceived theories formulated by their ances.
tors. The education thus given is one-sided, for
fact is warped to conform to theory. The language
of the Hijjle is made to conform to the desired no-
tion by taking it literally, figuratively, or spiritually,
as best suits the requirement. I am convinced that
the peculiar difficulty attending the settlement of
theological discussions is owing to the habit of mind
which is formed by the custom of spiritualizing the
meaning of Scripture words, when it helps an ar-
gument to i\o so. It creates an unconscious ten-
dency to an unfair use of language in controversy.
A l^onirreirational minister tells me that his room-
mate at Andover Seminary felt unable to assent to
the creed. The profesi:or said, " Oh, you can sub-
scribe to it as we all do, in the sense which the
words mean in your own mind." The necessity for
such warping of mind and conscience must be in-
jurious to intellect and heart.

Hut the theological seminary is not to be dis-
carded. It may become the greatest help and the
grandest power. Workers in every field of science
are gathcing facts, each in his own special depart-
ment ; and the need of a generalization of results
is most apparent. The varied facts must be gath-

»»«ii»Wi»<»— ii»1*i »— n »ii — <

THE CHURCH AND ITU \VOHh\

i/i

ered, harmonized, and arranj^ed in systems and
philosophies, and the theological seminary is the
place to do it. Instead of an exclusive study of
Hebrew religion, upon the false assumption that
this alone is revealed by God and all others are
inventions of men, a studious comparison of all re-
ligions will be made, and the development of the
religious idea in man will be traced and followed
out scientifically, showing its past connections and
suggesting its future resolution into one universal
creed. Instead of dismissing diversity of language
by a summary reference to Habel, a comparative
study of anci(.'nt languages will throw light upon
the growth of speech and give indications of the
methods to secure a universal language. Instead
of the vain effort to reconcile Genesis and science,
the views of tlu* Hebrews about nature will only
have an antiquarian interest, and religion will cease
to oppose all knowledge that conflicts with the the-
ology of the Jews. Then, with unbiassed mind, the
newly revealed facts of nature can be studied with
reference to their relation to the infinite first cause.
Political economy and many branches of social sci-
ence could here find a proper nursery. In fact,
there will be no end to the sphere of usefulness
opened when the theological seminary shall be
changed into the scientific theorizing seminary.

Christian institutions, therefore, are to be en-
larged in scope, even though the names be not

176

7W// Ti^Zi" /^r FAITIL

chanji^ed. We, who desire to be in active accord
and harmony with all efforts for the welfare of
man, call upon the many ministers who by the
light of science have discovered the falsity of the
creeds they are bound to, asking them boldly to
instruct their people in the truths revealed by the
evolution philosophy and modern Biblical criti-
cism, that they may cease to shun and despise
good and intelligent men who have learned that
the Bible is a human compilation of scattered and
fragmentary Hebrew literature, and that God has
never acted save throui^h natural laws. When
these senseless prejudices, survivals of paganism
and ignorance, are removed, all who love their
fellow-men and whose religion is to do good can
unite in the practical worship of the Church uni-
versal.

THE DECLINE OF THE ISUNISTRY.

From many quarters arise com[)laints that the
number of younij^ men in |)reparation for the min-
istry is continually lesseninf;. In Eni^lantl, it is
said that the learninjj^ of Oxford and Cambridi^^c
diverts their graduates from the Church ; and in
America, we are told, the physics of the colle^res
indisposes students from the pursuit of metaphys-
ics in theolot^ical seminaries. It appears that we
are called to consider the pros[)ect of an important
decline in the supply of ministers, and it is there-
fore timely to rellect upon its causes and probable
results.

Those who habitually sneer at the ministerial
profession, and devote themselves to catalo<^uin;^
and portrayinjj^ its crimes, do injustice to a bo<ly
of men who are unsuri)assed in excellence of char-
acter, social virtue, and intellectual culture, and
who in the past have been eminent in inlluences
for good. What may seem to us at present in-
jurious in their methods may have been beneficial
in former conditions of the general knowledge and
social habits of the people. They have been the
trusted counsellors of the young, the consolers of
the afflicted, the comforters of the aged, the pro-
moters of all charitable eflbrt, and their practical

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178

TKA VELS IN FAITH.

influence of late years has usually been on the side
of human advancement, except where the mainte-
nance of dogma has in some cases interfered. But*
the fact remains that their number is becoming
proportionally less.

The first and most immediate result of a scar-
city of ministers will be the decline of sectarian-
ism. This will proceed from two causes. First,
Baptist, Methodist, and Congregational churches
in small villages will be led by economical reasons
to unite. Universalists and Unitarians will often,
from the same motives, coalesce ; and even Epis-
copalians may consent to embrace outsiders in
their fold, though not lik(ily to merge their organ-
ization in those of other sects. The second in-
fluence is the same that causes the scarcity of min-
isters, — the growth of knowledge that destroys be-
lief in the dogmas of supernaturalism. This af-
fects minister and people alike, leading to less in-
sistence upon what are considered non-essentials,
and creating a necessity for union upon the cen-
tral truths vital to the existence of the Christian
system, in order to resist the inroads of the hosts
of rationalism. A continuation of this process,
now perceptibly progressing, leads logically to a
future existence of one Protestant Church united

in a struof<rle for existence.

Some significant instances of this spread of

loiiians

modern ideas among th(

will be useful in

MMiMlriHa

**«iilM*«wn««MrM»l**lM«teM«*AMAiHiJ«H«an4lfe«kdMta*M

'r -i -irfiMifci I ■! Mill

•AuJMUiHMMlilM

5(1

T//£ DECLINE OF THE MLXISTKY.

>79

illustration of the tendency of the Church toward
liberal views that favor the union of sects. A
free thinker yielded to the undent desire of his
friends that he should confer with an eminent doc-
tor of divinity, thorou<;hly versed in science and
philosophy, and competent to refute modern scep-
ticism. With trepidation, he entered the doctor's
house ; but the genial theologian put him at ease,
and, instead of criticising scepticism, proceeded to
utter such sentiments as these : " When the Ref-
ormation came, a substitute was needed for the
infallible Church of Rome as a rallying point and
centre of faith ; and the disconnected and frag-
mentary literature of the Hebrews was elevated
into an infallible book. This Hibliolatry must be
destroyed. Men need to learn that the Bible is
not a book, and to judge of its contents as other
writings are studied. Intolerance and bigotry arc
founded upon this false estimate of the authority
of the Scriptures. I reject the supernatural en-
tirely. I think something occurred which made
the Bible writers think they saw what they de-
scribed; but, if the events occurred, they were in
harmony with natural law." The doctor went on
to make light of the dogma of eternal punish-
ment, and to deprecate the abuse which Chris-
tians shower upon unbelievers whose reasons they
cither lack courage or intelligence to examine. He
said, ** The Church is gradually coming to these

i8o

TRAVELS IN FAITH.

i
SI

'ID

views upon inspiration and Calvinistic dogma;
and you should remain in the Church, and help
those of us who are trying to bring her to a ra-
tional position, instead of attacking it from out-
side, where you have but little influence."

The free thinker said, " Do I understand that
you have no criticism to make upon my doctrinal
position, but only upon my attitude in leaving the
Church and attacking its errors?"

" I do," the doctor replied. "You are substan-
tially right, and the Church will some day stand
where you do; but it will be a long time, and you
do not want to associate with these infidels and
low fellows, and throw away your influence."

"But," said the free thinker, "where are your
honesty and consistency in remaining in an ortho-
dox pulpit ?"

" My Church has no creed," replied the doctor.
" You could state your views to your pastor, and
yet remain in association with the Church." He
extolled the benefits of Christianity as a system,
and pleaded for the necessity of its continuance as
an oriranization with modified beliefs.

Another orthodox doctor of divinity was asked
by a rationalist to give his views of the inspiration
of the Bible. He replied as follows : "In the ev-
olution of the human mind, the Greeks developed
the g'-eatest aptitude for art, the Romans for law,
and the Hebrews for religion. As I accept a

THE DECUXE OF THE MIXISTRY.

iSt

Greek statue and Roman law, so I take the rcli<T-
ious writings of the Hebrews. The authority of
these writings is not in their origin, but in their
merits ; and I adopt only what appeals to my own
consciousness as truth." Some remarks excited a
question as to the doctor's "soundness" upon the
Trinity and the deity of Christ, and he went on to
say : " I gave up the doctrine of eternal punishment
twenty years ago. I don't know that I am ' ortho-
dox,' but such are my convictions. I do not state
them in my pulpit, because the time has not yet
come, and the people are not prepared for such ut-
terances ; but, if any one asks my opinions in pri-
vate, I express them frankly."

Both these good men, upon prominent occasions,
Avhen they were reported widely by the press, made
vehement denunciations of extreme rationalism,
and said nothing against superstition. Thus, their
status among the orthodox was preserved ; and the
heresy hunters, who already were on their tracks,
were turned aside. Some may call them hypocrites,
but they are not consciously insincere. They are
most estimable men ; but they have outgrown the
system to which they are allied, and upon which
their support and all that is to them pleasant in life
depends. They are in advance of their people
and their creeds ; but they know they will be over-
taken in time, and prudence suggests patience and
accommodation to the changing age. Perhaps

Ifa

TKA VELS IN FAlTll.

S
u

they also share somewhat in the considerate temper
of another orthodox minister of high repute, who
wrote to an unbelieving and critical correspondent :
*' I do without any concealment declare that I do
not believe the whole Bible to be true; th'it there
'are human additions and interpolations; that, in
fact, Robertson Smith is right in the view he takes.
Must I say all I think to the weak and stupid pub-
lic ? for such it is. I never say anything I dont
believe. I only act on Christ's own principle, — * I
have many things to say unto you, but you cannot
bear them now.* Yes, God is afraid of upsetting
weak minds, if Christ echoed the divine view of
thinirs in that statement."

Men not in the ministry hesitate to enter a pro-
fession where such suppression of conviction is a
necessary policy ; but it is perhaps fortunate that
many who are in it can conscientiously square op-
posed belief and profession, as they save themselves
much distress, and may aid in the slow process by
wliich nature usually acts in promoting the evolu-
tion of Ideas. People may be led better by those ,
a little ahead of them than by those far in advance.
But, unless the host advances rapidly, near leaders
will be scarce ; for new men will not assume such
equivocal positions.

The question then arises, How can we do with-
out ministers? The chief offices of the ministry
are in connection with marriages, funerals, visita-

THE DFXr.LVE OF TJfF. Af/X/sr/^V.

i»3

tions, sacraments, and church services. What sub-
stitutes can be employed ? The civil magistrate
can secure the marriage bond. The professional
utterance at the side of the dead will either not be
missed by the mourners, with whom each word at
such times stirs up the fountains of grief, or it may
be acceptably replaced by the simple tribute of a
friend and comrade, who knew the departed as few
ministers ever come to know their parishioners.
Visitation of the sick can be more agreeably car-
ried on by neighbors and friends, who now often
deprive the invalid and themselves of the mutually
beneficial expression of sympathy and acts of kind-
ness, because that is considered the pastor's sphere.
Sacraments, if continued, can be administered by
laymen. Church attendance has too many social
attractions to be given up ; and, where a minister
is lacking, the services might be conducted after
this manner: A committee should be formed to
control them, one of whom should in turn preside.
The music could be indefinitely improved ; and its
sphere and character, as to words, tunes, and in-
struments, enlarged Readings of scriptures from
ancient and modern authors should be given by
young people of both sexes who possess oratorical
talent. If prayer is not outgrown, there will be
always good brethren "gifted" in that respect,
some of whom may even exercise the somnolent
influence attending "the long prayer." But how

i84

TRAVELS IN FAITH,

ft:

2
u

can the sermon be replaced ? By reading a printed
discourse? By no means. Every congregation
possesses thinking and cultured men with good ut-
terance. Let these read original papers upon the
themes they are most familiar with, the subject first
being approved by the committee. Let there be
one paper of half an hour's length at each service^
and let a discussion follow for another half-hour in
five-minute speeches. At the close, let the people
linger for friendly greetings. Many advantages
will be gained by this method. Each oerson's mind
runs in certain directions and emphasizes particular
truths, and one man's instructions must lack variety.
How many churches have been bored by their
minister's specialty ! How many have got tired
of the pre-millennial advent, election, free grace,
eternal punishment, the sinfulness of the world, or
praises of its progress, when one of these things
has been lugged into every sermon for a year !
Few men have the versatility to preach instruct-
ively to the same people continuously ; or, at any
rate, people are benefited by receiving truth from
varied sources. What interest would be felt in
each new speaker, and what attention would be
given to the essay in anticipation of the discussion !
The joys of church-going would still exist : the
best clothes can be worn and seen ; the invalid, the
baby, the absent, can be inquired for ; the new-
comer can be observed ; acquaintance can be made

, •♦<

THE DECUXE OF THE Mh\ISTRY.

i8s

that othcnvise would never be formed ; differences
healed by a shake of the hand in passinij in the
aisle or porch ; and Aiii^iistus can exchani^e a word
or glance with Mary Jane, which will make his
step the lighter in the store and her carol the live-
lier in the house throughout the week. Perhaps,
too, with the absence of the theologian, theology
will disappear, and men will talk of what they knoio
and of what concerns their present lives. Salary
will be saved, and independent thought secured
from men whose opinions are unbiassed by their

pay.

If, then, the vicissitudes of time deprive us of
ministers, we may still hope that beneficent nature
will supply substitutes, and that progress and hap-
piness will continue. We need not wait till the
clerical race is extinct before these methods are
tried. Any pastorless church might make the ex-
periment, and, while saving the salary, leave one
more available minister to supply the field. Some
Liberals, in whom early habit has confirmed the
church-going instinct, would be likely to resume
church-going under such secular auspices.

THE CONSOLATIONS OF CHRIS-

TIANITY.

It is often asserted that the unbeliever in Chris-
tianity is "without hope and without God in the
world." He is supposed to have abandoned all
sources of comfort in affliction, and to be destitute
of joy and peace in his meditations and aspira-
tions. Does observation show that the believer
has an advantage over the unbeliever as to happi-
ness? We not only claim that this is not the case,
but that the rationalist has superior grounds for a
glad and hopeful spirit.

The Christian religion fails to produce the re-
sults claimed for it. An intelligent physician
states that he has witnessed more fear of death
and more distress upon the death-bed among
Christians than among unbelievers. He says he
has never witnessed a painful death of an unbe-
liever. His explanation is that Christians contem-
plate the end of life and a future state more fre-
quently, and the proofs are not strong enough to
allay the fears that these meditations arouse.
Every one can recall aged " saints " who have
lived excellent lives and have always been devout
and prayerful, yet who close their lives in gloom
and despondency. One of the most notable Chris-

^mmm

THE COXSOLATIOXS OF CIIRISTIAXITY.

187

tian women, the wife of a Congregational deacon,
lately died, after years of depression, in wliich she
lamented her lack of assurance of salvation. Her
son met the son of her pastor, and exclaimed,
•* My poor mother's life was made wretched by
that infernal theology ! " One whose especial gift
was the utterance of words of consolation, and
whose written words are often presented to mourn-
ers, while expressing resignation to his own trials,
suffered greatl)' from depression of spirits, and was
unable to deliver himself from continual brooding
over his troubles. Many a saint of pious speech
and unhappy life may be observed, and broken-
hearted mourners whose words of submission are
belled by their inconsolable grief. Se\eral men
of brisfht faith whom I have known, who could
cast their cares upon Jesus and leave all the bur-
den with him, were men of strong physique and
sanguine temperament. Few more incongruous
events remain in my memory than the visit of
a minister of extraordinary physical strength, a
sledge hammer preacher, and man of buoyant
spirits, to a lady of most delicate constitution, but
of the most exquisite and refined character and
cultivation, and the distress he occasioned by the
assertion that all her ailments and sorrows were
owing to lack of " faith." It seems demonstrable
that happiness in life is dependent upon health,
inherited temperament, and one's surroundings,.

i88

THA VELS IN FAITir.

ft:

2 \
o

and that the theories of the Christian religion
never triumph over an adverse combination of
these particulars. Many think they get comfort
from reh'gion, because during the rest and contem-
plation of Sunday their spirits rise, and by night
their " faith " is strong. But this often only lasts
till Monday noon, by which time the cares of life
have consumed their "joy in the Lord" ; and they
toil on for the rest of the week *' bearinor the
cross," and saying, with heavy sighs, " Though he
slay me, yet will I trust in him." It was not the-
ology, but the physical recuperation gained by a
day of rest that enlivened the mind.

Sorrow comes to all, and only time allays its af-
fliction. Mourners grasp at alleviations, and try
to orain comfort from the sentiments we see touch-
ingly expressed in obituary notices in the news-
papers. They try to find joy in the thought, —

" Tlierc was in lieaven an angel band
Tliat was not quite complete :
God took our little Mary Ann
To fill the vacant seat."

Or they seek peace in the submissive plaint, —

" Dearest Tommy, thou hast left us.
And thy loss we deeply feel ;
But 'tis God that has bereft us.
He will all our sorrows heal."

But Still the vacant chair, the little empty shoes,
the absent laugh, and the lost endearing caress

THE CONSOLATIONS OF CIIRISTIANITV.

1S9

cause pangs of grief that only subside with the
lapse of years.

It often only aggravates the affliction to be told
that God has arbitrarily caused it, in chastening
love or in judgment; for its need or justice is not
perceived, and the spirit rebels against such severe
treatment and fails to believe in its necessity. But
where disaster is seen to be the result of natural
law, that death comes in consequence of inherited
or acquired weakness or by reason of man's imper-
fect knowledge, then we can bow to the inevitable,
and resolve that our sad experience suall be a fac-
tor in producing a more rational life and 'i mere
eager nursuit of the laws of liealth and the con-
quest of disease.

But it is not only in affliction that the Christian
claims superior consolation ; he asserts that his
hope of heaven sustains his spirits, and makes him
endure present ills. Doubtless, many are cheered
by these thoughts : but those who cannot entertain
them find they have been delivered from a selfish
conceit, that sought joy in an exceptional personal
advantage, and ignored an inconceivable amount
of woe to their friends and neighbors. If a person
claims he has gained in happiness by renouncing
evangelical religion, he is accused of arrogance, as
implying that Christians are not happy. But he
does not assert that they are not happy, but that
they have no right to be so. No man of unselfish

190

TRA VKLS IX FAITir,

mind and tender sensibility can be happy in the
assurance of salvation, when he knows that good
and estimable people all around him are doomed
to eternal damnation. If I take the liberty of ex-
pressing my personal sentiments, I shall doubtless
echo the feeling of many others.

In the past, the doctrines of Calvinism have
been a pall upon my joy. If I was happy, it was
in spite of them ; and often, after a period of de-
light in innocent recreation, an accusing conscience
has reproached me with the inconsistency of mirth
while the vast procession of human life was march-
ing by to hell. It was not enough that I was
saved : I wanted my equally good friends to be
saved also. But they would not believe the doc-
trines ; and, therefore, nothing remained to them
but *' a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery
indignation." God, of his own free will, had elect-
ed me to be saved and had left them to perish, —
not that I was any better than they, or that there
was any reason for it beyond the fact of this de-
cision •' in the counsels of eternity." I have no
desire to be made so marked an exception to "the
wrath of God." I am glad to cast in my lot with
the great mass of intelligent believers in and prac-
tisers of goodness. I desire no better future than
what they deserve, and what a just God would
give them. I feel like apologizing for having
wronged them in the past, by estimating some of

TilE CONSOLATIOXS OF CHRISTIAXITY.

191

the best and noblest of earth as bein^ amontj the
damned. I feel a true brotherhood with all men
now. I am not one of the house of peers whom
God has chosen to monopolize future happiness,
but I am one of the threat mass of men who are
eagerly searching to know the right, believe the
true, and do the good ; and my future is safe, no
matter how unable my intellect is to grasp the
dojxmas of the ** Christian r\ithers." A sense of
companionship with good men of all races and
creeds gives a feeling of joy which membership
with the "elect" fails to impart to an unselfish
mind. No conscientious man can be truly happy
except by ignoring the doctrine of future everlast-
ing punishment ; and, if it is true, it is wrong to
ignore it.

The effect of " trust in God " is offset by " fear
of God." A belief in a superintending Providence
that arbitrarily decides the issues of life is not pro-
motive of peace of mind. One never knows what
the will of God may decree next, and an element
of uncertainty is introduced into human affairs
beyond the elements of cause and effect. The
Christian labors with the dread that, at any mo-
ment, God may thwart his efforts in "love" or
"wrath," and give the success to some scoundrel,
apparently unworthy of favors. The rationalist
believes that, unless some natural impediment oc-
curs, his work will prosper. If it fails, it was the

•^-^

192

TRA VELS IN FAITH.

result of individual fault or human ignorance. He
recognizes the present limits of man's knowledge
and foresight, and works in submission to these
restrictions ; but he has no dread of an inexplica-
ble miraculous upsetting of his plans. The true
** peace of God that passeth understanding" lies in
the recoo^nition of law and order in the universe,
never interfered with by arbitrary and irresponsi-
ble acts.

Christianity, when consistently interpreted, as-
sures its followers of tribulation in this world, and
the hopelessness of all efforts to advance the
moral welfare of the human race. The teachings
of Jesus and Paul are pessimistic. Things are to
wax worse and worse till the coming of Christ to
destroy the world, out of which he saves his cho-
sen few. It is the Christian then who is without
hope in the world. His consolations are wholly
in another world, the existence of which has
never been made apparent to any other sense than
** fa'tii," — that is, imagination.

The believer in natural law and its continuous
workinuf through evolution has gfrand assurance
of infinite progress and a hopeful future for his
race.

One who has escaped from belief that God
curses his children, damns just men, and waits to
destroy the world in vengeance, and sees, instead,
an Infinite Power working forever through unin-

■

. I

THE COXaCLATIOXS OF CIIKISTIAXITY.

»93

terrupted cause and effect toward the increasing
development of man in righteousness, knowledge,
and control of the universe, — he possesses a con-
solation and inspiration that makes life worth liv-
ing.
n

MATERIAL IMMORTALITY.

A DREAM.

I WAS walking hand in hand with a friend along
the busy street of a large city. Unconscious of
passers-by and with a pleasing sense of mutual un-
derstanding and sympathy, I easily uttered these
thoughts : —

" We have a passion for usefulness. Each day,
our chief desire is to have made others better and
happier, and to have made a record upon the world
that will htst and produce ever-increasing results
for good. Our hope of immortality is not for a
life of ease or spiritual rapture, but for a career of
unceasing beneficence.

" But suppose there is no distinct individual ex-
istence beyond this life, shall we not live mate-
rially ? Matter is indestructible, and will exist for-
ever. These atoms that compose our bodies have,
therefore, eternal life. They will scatter about the
universe and assume an infinite variety of forms,
but our ownership of them and identity with them
will never be erased. We profess to love good for
its own sake, not for its results to ourselves. It is,

MATERIAL IMMORTALITY.

•95

therefore, a satisfaction now to think of the unend-
ing influence of our bodiep., even though no pleas-
urable consciousness ever comes to us in eternity.
Atoms from our bodies may in future be parts of
the most beautiful flowers, the largest trees, the
grandest mountains, valuable gems, powerful ma-
• chinery, useful chemical combinations, the finest
animals, the most beautiful women, the noblest
men. We may be represented in all the most
charming forms and grandest enterprises of the fu-
ture.

** But it may be that mind and matter are not
two distinct entities, and that mind is an eternal
property of matter, and each atom is a living, con-
scious soul. The union of their sensations consti-
tutes what we call our minds ; but, when separated,
they may each still have consciousness, and feel an
intelligent sensation of their surroundings. Sup-
pose we thus live forever, having a distinct con-
scious existence in these numberless atoms, how is
our life multiplied by death ? And not only by
death. Every seven years, our bodies are com-
pletely changed. Each moment, some atoms leave
us and others join us. Think of the diffusion of a
body in a long life! Who could count our exist-
ences I Perhaps these atoms are influenced by the
characteristics of the body they join, and our high
or low moral condition is thus perpetuated. What
an inducement to strive for perfection, if our sen-

196

TRAVELS IN FAITH.

S !

u :

sations are to be multiplied by millions of exist-
ences!"

"But," said my companion, "these atoms have
been in other bodies before they were in ours.
How can we claim that they represent us exclu-
sively in the future? "

"Probably not exclusively," I replied. "Each
atom may receive new characteristics from the or-
ganism it inhabits, and may become more or less
adapted for future service by the latest influence.
Each atom may represent the average of the con-
dition of the human beings with which it has been
associated. Perhaps, atoms passing through a
series of bodies of the highest quality may combine
into richer grass, heavier wheat, more vigorous
plants, more active brains ; and thus, as man im-
proves, all else in nature will be benefited, and
through man's elevation the bondage in which cre-
ation groans and travails will be changed into 'the
glorious liberty of the children of God*; that is,
perfection."

LIBERAL CONVICTIONS.

Some say there is no excuse for the utterance of
liberal views, as they merely destroy faith and give
nothing in the place of it. They remove certain
restraints and give license to the passions. The
atrocities of the French Revolution are the favor-
ite illustration of this argument. Addison says,
Spectator y No. iS6: "A believer may be excused
by the most hardened atheist for endeavoring to
make him a convert, because he does it with an
eye to both their interests. The atheist is inexcus-
able who tries to cfain over a believer, because he
does not propose the doing himself or believer any
good by such a conversion. Why will any man be
so impertinently officious as to tell me all this (the
prospect of a future state) is only fancy and delu-
sion ? If it is a dream, let me enjoy it, since it
makes me both the happier and better man."

These reasons have opposed all progress in the
past. If a building is unsafe, it may be torn down
before the plans of the new edifice are wholly com-
pleted. If a beacon is false, let it be removed,
oven before the true lighc-house can be built. If a
belief that God wrote the Bible is untrue, and is
moreover debasing to the intellect, let it be over-
thrown. If it is false that God of his own free will

*9»

TKAVELS IN FAITH.

I* •

Hi I

has elected some to everlasting life, and left the
vast multitude of his creatures to suffer endless
torment in hell, and if these ideas are injurious to
both mind and heart, destroy them ! The sooner
the better. The abolition of slavery was opposed
'by good and wise men, because freedom would lead
to license. Did this idea stop the anti-slavery
party ? The event proved the truth of the objec-
tion. The ignorant negro became the prey of the
politicians who wanted his vote ; and, trusting in
their promise that the government would give to
each man forty acres of land and a mule, he aban-
doned himself to the license of laziness, which he
considered the essence of ** freedery," until the in-
exorable logic of hunger and suffering taught him
that true freedom was liberty to work and do right.
He soon learned the ksson ; and the doubled pro-
duction of the South and its good order now prove
that freedom is not a curse.

The liberal does proposfi doing good to the be-
liever. He claims that all error is hurtful, and had
better be abandoned. He believes that truth al-
ways works for good in the end, and can be safely
left to take care of itself. He has not got to build
a track for truth to run on. The men, who now
are restrained from evil only by servile fear, may
•• have their fling" when these bonds are removed ;
but, in the school of experience, they would soon
learn the utility of goodness, and be better men

LIBERAL COM '/CT/OXS.

199

when they have learned to do well for higher mo-
tives than the dread of hell. If the motive is only
the present good of themselves and others, it is a
far better one. Goldsmith, in the ** Vicar of Wake-
field," says " that virtue which requires to be ever
• guarded is scarcely worth the sentinel."

I3ut the advanced " higher life Christian," with
whom the fear of future punishment is not an in-
fluence, but who from love to God delights to do
his will, even he need fear no loss in motives : his
devotion to 4'wr/may continue, and his life be in-
spired by the same high enthusiasm. The name
of his object of adoration will be only altered by
the addition of one letter; and while retaininir all
that is desirable in his conception of the first, he
will add to it utility and the impossibility of criti-
cal detraction. Whoever promotes thc/^ood blesses
the human race : whoever praises Cof/ llatters an
imagined existence, whose receipt of benefit can
never be proved.

We, therefore, do not shrink from endeavorinir
to destroy faith in the dogmas of Christian the-
ology, because we are convinced that belief in the
Bible story of creation, which hindered the ideas
of Copernicus and Galileo, and has opposed all
progress of " earth knowledge" in the past, still
prevents the intellectual growth of man, and the
improvement of his circumstances by the discov-
ery of the laws regulating the forces of nature.

200

TRAVELS IN FAITH.

The works of Danvin, Wallace, Tyndall, Huxley,
and others, are called "the miserable speculations
of infidel scientists " ; their books will not be read,
and, when one is urged to read the writings of the
greatest men of our age, it is answered, " Moses and
Paul are my great men." The devout and intense
Christian pietists of to-day do not dare to read sci-
entific books, lest their faith should be shaken, and
these should prove more than a match for the writ-
ings of the Holy Ghost. They say: "There is
nothing positive about the so-called discoveries of
science. Sir John Lubbock now has contradicted
Richard Proctor's theory that the earth will grow
cold. We will wait until science comes back to
Moses, as it is sure to do." Those who remove
this barrier to the advance of knowledge are doing
good service, though accused of not doing God
service.

We are convinced that a belief that all the atro-
cious cruelties of the Hebrew wars, which those
barbarous Israelites endeavored to excuse them-
selves for, by attributing them to the command of
God, were really sanctioned and ordered by a be-
ing of infinite perfection, is injurious to morals,
and has been the warrant for untold butcheries
committed during wars waged in the name of God.
No one need hesitate to destroy that dogma
through fear that the v/orld will grow worse, if its

restraint " is removed.

LIliERAL COXVICTIOXS.

:oi

We are convinced that a belief in all the wonder
tales of the Bible, which are paralleled or improved
upon in every literature, keeps the mind in a child-
ish condition ; and that it is necessary to mental
growth that the Hebrew fables and fairy tales
should be placed where the myths of all other na-
tions have already been put by intelligent men.
Credulity has been slow in dying, but that is all
the more reason why the loosening of its puerile
" restraint " should be hastened. How can man-
kind be hurt by believing that Samson and Joshua
and Jonah are brethren of Hercules and Agamem-
non and Arion ?

We are convinced that the sublime or ravinof ut-
terances of Hebrew prophets are not God's vehi-
cle of communicating the events of the future to
this generation, and the belief that it is so leads
to a vast waste of intellectual effort in sophistical
reasoning and crazy imagination. It has been a
curse to the human mind, giving men a low stand-
ard of the mind and nature of a God who w\'\s anx-
ious to reveal something to them, and could find
no better way of doing it than through disgusting
symbols and unintelligible rhapsodies. This " re-
straint " can well be spared, and the reaction from
mysticism to light will not make men stumble.

We are convinced that the assertion that the
books of the New Testament are the genuine au-
thentic writings of men inspired by the Holy Ghost,

202

TRA VELS IN FAJTIi.

and therefore incapable of error, is not only false^
but positively injurious ; for the evidences are
mainly drawn from the obscure, doubtful, garbled,
and contradictory writings of fallible and often ig-
norant and credulous men, called Christian Fathers.
The investigation of these evidences is impossible
except to a few scholars ; and it has made the great
body of Christians the intellectual slaves of a hier-
archy, who in the past have taken advantage of
their power to impose all manner of dogmas and
miracles upon the belief of their followers, in the
name of the Christian Fathers. God will reveal
himself to ;;/r, when he wants me to know some-
thing, and not imperil my reception of ** the pure
truth " by letting it roll around the cells and gar-
rets of superstition, until prescribed to me by a
learned doctor as the real and only genuine rem-
edy ; and I must swallow it on his authority, or die
eternally. Men will only truly think for them-
selves when they learn that the evidences of
"God's truth" are all around them, not in musty
manuscripts, copied, altered, erased, defaced, and
" restored," but in the i^lorious book of nature,
which admits of no forgery, no erasure, no lie.
This "restraint" it is safe to the intellect tore-
move.

We are convinced that the story of the life of
Jesus is largely composed of the traditions of a
credulous age ; that his resurrection and ascension

LIBERAL COXVJCTIONS. ^oj

are mere myths ; that the historical evidence of his
existence is very meagre, and is entirely opposed
to the prominence given to him in the New Testa-
ment. The passages chieHy relied upon in the
works of contemporary historians to prove his life
are now admitted to be forgeries, notably the pas-
sage in Josephus. The various Epistles may be
genuine or not : the evidence is so conflicting, ex-
cept for a few of Paul's Epistles, that no one should
be asked to let his eternal salvation rest upon them.
The writers were fallible men, and their unsup-
ported test .r.ony is not sufiicient to prove the mi-
raculous against the experience of the world. It
is easier to believe they were mistaken. All that
is good for restraint still remains to us, and needs
no authority of " inspiration " to enforce it.

We are convinced that it is contrary to all moral
ideas to teach that the guilty may be pardoned,
because the innocent have suffered. The idea of
the sacrifice of life, whether of brute or man, for
"the salvation of souls," is a wicked and hurtful
notion. It has led to countless atrocities, and still
works evil, leading the Pocasset Christian to strike
his knife to the heart of his little girl, and proba-
bly influencing the assassin of the President in his
wicked deed. Jesus was put to death by the Jews
on the charge of sedition and blasphemy. He
tried to avoid it, but was betrayed by Judas. How
this can be made an offering by God of his son for

304

TKA VELS IN FAITH.

I
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the sins of the world is past comprehension. We
have no fear that men will be worse, if they lose
the restraint of the idea that God, in all ages, has
demanded the blood of the innocent as the condi-
tion of forgiveness of the guilty.

We are convinced that the doctrine of hell is an
atrocious slander upon the character of God, and
is not generally believed by thinking men in its
connection with people that they know. An emi-
nent orthodox minister, the head of a theological
seminary, lately said to a circle of friends, " I do
not believe the doctrine of eternal punishment,
and I do not know a man who does." And yet it
stands in the creeds, and men profess to believe it !
A degraded idea of God is degrading to man, for
"like master like man." Though it has had some
restraining influence in the past, the dread of hell
exercises but little restraint now upon thinking
men ; and, where it acts, it is an unworthy motive,
and produces servility. It has been the warrant
for torture and massacre all through the ages ; for
may not men do just a little of what God does a
good deal ? If the Bible does not teach it, then
God's word has misled his people for eighteen cent-
uries ; and the Holy Ghost has been " leading
into all " error, and it is not a safe guide, for the
next generation may prove it spoke falsely to us
about somethinof else.

We are convinced that the Oible teaching, as to

LIBERAL COXl'ICTIOXS.

205

the present and future condition of the world, is
utterly subversive of progress, and that all im-
provement is made in spite of it. Christians do
not generally believe it now, because it is so re-
pugnant to modern intelligence ; but there it is in
the Bible. AH Christians used to believe it, and
some do still. Things are to wax worse and
worse, so that Jesus asks, " When the Son of Man
Cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" The
world, and all that is therein, shall be burned up.
The early Christians, therefore, sought "a city
that had foundations," and taught the despising
and forsaking of this world. When this restraint
is removed, men will become better citizens ; and,
feeling that they are not working merely to feed
the (lames of judgment, they will show more en-
thusiasm about improving the world.

We are convinced that all belief in the miracu-
lous is a drag upon men's efforts, and enfeebliuL^-
to their minds. Instead of trusting to prayer and
ignoring the glorious faculties men possess, this
restraint disappearing, each will strive "to do his
level best," and feel there is no region into which
his mind may not probe, and, proving all things,
hold fast only that which he sens for himself is good.
Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit should lead
his disciples into all truth, but his followers have
differed and quarrelled ever since. He promised
that prayer in his name should be answered, but

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306

THA I'ELS LV FAITH,

the failures have at least equalled the fulfilments.
He led his followers to expect his return to earth
during their lifetime, but the hope proved fruitless.
This disproves his infallibility.

These are points upon which all readers of the
Bible can judge for themselves. We find that
many scholars regard these stories as legendary :
we may not be learned enough to weigh the evi-
dence of this for ourselves, but, as their conclusion
airrees with the internal evidences above mention-
ed, it appears the most plausible. While a respect-
able number of learned men on scholarly grounds
deny the authenticity and genuineness of the Gos-
pels, we are warranted in rejecting any of the doc-
trines taught therein which our reason disapproves.

In renouncing the errors of theology, do we give
up anything tliat is valuable in Christianity, or that
the moral sense of the world pronounces good ?
A thousand times no. We throw overboard the
pagan rubbish and barbarous superstition that
have incrusted the truth, that men have discovered
in ages of experience of joy and sorrow, or, in
other words, of good and evil. The truth remains
to all. Christianity has never had a monopoly of
it, and theologians do not control it now. We
lose no hold of " love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temper-
ance " ; but we elevate them from the sphere of
bondage to that of liberty.

REFORM.

However men may differ in theories concerning
the past and the future, they are substantially
agreed as to the practical needs of the present. A
great problem faces us, the improvement of the
world. The men of science, by study of nature's
methods, are assisting material progress ; but the
sinfulness or imperfection of man is ever apparent,
and good men of every religious creed and those
who have no creed are alike striving to make men
better individually, and to improve their social con-
ditions. This motive has been supposed to be
monopolized by religious people ; and the common
taunt to the unbeliever, when argument fails, is
still, Your ideasareonly destructive, and construct-
ive ideas are what the world wants. But it has to
be admitted that unbelievers are among the chief
promoters of the welfare of society ; and the can-
did observer must confess that all good men, Chris-
tian and Agnostic alike, in the concerns of this
world, are united towarc^ one practical end. All
see the evils of crime, intemperance, and poverty, .
and equally desire to alleviate them. The differ-
ence between the workers is not in their aims, but
in their methods. Christians seek reform super-
naturally: rationalists seek it naturally.

20S

TRA VELS IN FAITH.

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3

The demand for constructive effort is a just one ;
and, if radicalism only tears down, it lacks the ele-
ment that will commend it enduringly to society.
Let us see if the methods of the rationalist will com-
pare with those of the Christian. The cross of
Christ is the great remedy of the Christian. If a
man is evil, he is taught that, by an emotional con-
sideration of the death of Jesus, a supernatural
change is wrought upon his nature, which will ena-
ble him to be <rood henceforth. This effect is often
produced, and in many cases is lasting; but more
often, when the emotion has subsided, evil practices
are resumed. Under the stimulus of the love of
Christ, men resolve to reform their lives ; but feel-
ing declines, and temptations conquer. Has the
rationalist a better method of reform ? He believes
that reason is a more lasting influence than emo-
tion ; that the prospect of present benefit is more
potent than the hope of future reward ; that, as
material progress is gained by the study of nature,
so moral and mental advance is to come by the
study of man's history and habits, and by observa-
tion of nature's methods of development. He sees
that evil arises from iijnorance of natural law, or
from non-conformity to its teachings. Therefore,
the remedy is suggested by the cause. Knowl-
edge of "man's place in nature," and understand-
ing of the physical forces that affect his welfare
will supply tile sources of improvement.

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flEfOA'M.

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Education, then, is the remedy of the rational-
ist : regeneration is the remedy of the Christian.
The latter has had a long trial, and has doubtless
won trophies. The very fact of its birth and con-
tinuance proves that it had some adaptedness to
the circumstances that called it forth from men's
minds, and it has been serviceable under the exist-
ing conditions in the past. Its success, however,
• ::, not such as to commend it as a panacea for ill,
nor for any application in the future to intelligent
minds. Ignorance is alike the mother of devotion
and the mother of crime. The least instructed
people are the most religious and the most vicious.
Lange, in "History of Materialism," says, "En-
lightenment and education, as a rule, go hand in
, hand with a decrease of the clergy in relative
numbers and influence "; and "the diminution of
crime corresponds with the diminution of super-
stition, which is inseparably connected with the
worship of the letter."

Education in a broad sense is of recent birth,
and is yet in its infancy; yet its fruits arc undeni-
ably good. Instruction has been limited to the
acquisition of ancient ideas ; but, since three hun-
dred years past, it has been gradually expanding
to embrace what the Germans call "earth knowl-
edge," which is gained by direct study of nature's
operations and conditions. Social progress is co-
incident with this advance. .

««■

J 10

THA VELS IN FAITH,

I'
si

But let us apply these principles to the vexed
questions of the day, and see which method is best
adapted to reform. The most prominent topics of
concern are capital and labor, intemperance, crime,
and the relations of the sexes. What is the Chris-
tian method of dealing with poverty ? By Chris-
tian, we mean the methods taught in the New
Testament. Intelligent Christians have generally
abandoned these and adopt rational methods, but
they have no right to credit these to Christianity.
Jesus and the apostles, in view of the expected
closing of the age, commended poverty, rebuked
riches, ordered the distribution of wealth, the lend-
ing of money without asking for repayment, and
the practice of communism. Rationalists say pov-
erty is a curse, strive to gain riches, secure your
individual comfort, keep your possessions except
when you can do more good by parting with them ;
giving degrades the receiver, and injures his future
efficiency ; nature teaches *' nothing without labor,"
and men must toil for what they would enjoy.
Hut they see also the interdependence of men,
that true self-interest demands the advancement
of one's neighbor, that the employer's welfare is
promoted by the prosperity of the employed, that
a grasping selfishness injures him who exercises it,
and they would educate men to far-seeing views of
trade nnd wealth. They would show that nature
indi • \ ^Iiat general prosperity is promoted by

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freedom of trade, co-operation in production, the
discouragement of pauperism by the promotion of
inducements to industry, and thus by purely ma-
terial considerations they would lead to prosperity
rather than by abstract didactic inculcations based
upon self-sacrifice through devotion to Jesus. They
claim that the more nature's methods are studied
the more clearly it is shown that the truth and
lasting welfare of each individual is identical with
the welfare of the community in which he dwells,
and that the prosperity of each community is con-
nected with the thrift of other communities. They
believe that enlarged knowledge will promote a
more efficient benevolence springing from motives
of worldly self-interest than has been obtained by
the principle of self-sacrifice for a heavenly crown
or through emotional " love of God."

Intemperance is consistently combated by the
Christian through conversion and prohibition.
Drunkards arc reclaimed by the stimulus of con-
secrated vows and by the impossibility of indul-
gence. But both experiences are rare. The vows
lose force, and seeming impossibilities are over-
come. The means of intoxication are procured
by liquors or by opiates, where the craving has be-
come confirmed. The rational method is to allow
individual freedom, but to aim at prevention by
the spread of knowledge of the evil effects of ar-
dent spirits, by the inculcation of self-restraint for

yji

212

THA VELS IN FAITH.

the advantage of self and others, and by study of
the laws of heredity which may suggest means of
preventing the transmission of depraved appetites.
The recognition of intemperance as a disease, and
its treatment by scientific methods, is in brief the
method of rationalism.

As to crime, the same remarks may largely ap-
ply, l^he science of heredity has a great mission
in this field. Conversion may rescue a few ; but
the improvement of the race must be gradually ef-
fected by physical improvement, by vivid impres-
sions of the certainty of the punishment of crime,
and by the growth of prosperity. A disciple asked
the ancient rationalist, Confucius, " Since the peo-
ple are so numerous, what more is needed?"
Confucius replied, ** Make them well off." "After
that, what else?" "Instruct them." Preaching
and tracts will not restrain the starving. Comfort
is a prerequisite to learning. The question of
capital and labor is therefore a problem intimately
connected with that of crime, and general thrift
must precede general virtue.

The relation of the sexes is a question made
more difficult of solution, because a false propriety
restricts its discussion. With this as with the
other problems, the rationalist has no patent nos-
trums to effect immediate cures ; but he claims to
point out the methods in which light may best be
gained. The present attitude of Christianity upon

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J^EFOKM.

!»3

this topic is that of positive, unreasoning dictation.
Thou shalt not, — because Moses and Christ said
so. Look to Jesus for strength to conquer fleshly
lusts. '• Deny thyself, and take thy cross ! " The
failure of this method need not be argued. The
method of rationalism would be the spread of
knowledge about the human body ; the recogni-
tion of the fact that there is nothing unholy or un-
clean in our organisms or natural impulses ; the
removal of a false glamour and exaggerated no-
tions, that the sexes entertain toward each other,
by co-education and familiar association ; early in-
struction upon the direful effects of sexual vices,
and demonstration that self-control is the truest
self-interest. A refined lady graduate of a West-
ern college, where co-education of the sexes was
practised, remarked : " Whenever I met friends
who were being educated in young ladies* semina-
ries, they usually talked about the young men and
their secret efforts to correspond or associate with
them : whereas our daily association with young
men showed us what commonplace and often stu-
pid things they were. They had no exaggerated
fascination for us, and I am sure there was less
* flirting* than where the girls were secluded."

One who faces the ills of life, the woes of the
wretched, the sorrows and **sins" of men, is at
times overwhelmed with the consciousness of the
hopelessness of speedy amelioration. He can only

■► »■■

214

TRA VELS IN FAITH.

ask himself what general principles are best adapt-
ed to furnish remedies ; and he finds two sugges-
tions, — Christian supernaturalism and rational nat-
uralism. But he says, if God can remedy all this,
why doesn't he do it ? Men have been pleading for
ages for him to fulfil his promise to answer prayer,
and to heed their petitions that these ills should be
removed. He has had opportunity to prove his
power and faithfulness, but he has failed to effect
the desired reforms. On the other hand, it is seen
that all permanent progress has been secured by
natural agencies, and the past reveals the future.

We claim, therefore, that not only does ration-
alism refute the charge that it is solely destructive,
but all valuable construction is secured by its
methods. Where Christianity influences intelli-
gent people for good, it is owing to its adoption of
rationalism. Its modified supernaturalism is ser-
viceable to some heathen races as a stepping-stone
toward naturalism ; but the motive forces that ad-
vance civilization are not prayer, conversion, and
reliofious doi^mas, but knowledi^e of nature and the
application of her hitherto secret powers to the
welfare of man.

Education, then, must consist less in the study
of dead languages and dying theologies, and more
in research into nature's operations and the en-
deavor to conform our lives to those beneficent
principles that underlie her methods.

TRUTH IN ERROR.

I. HELL.

It may be asserted that all universal beliefs have
either been founded upon some genuine fact of
nature or have been serviceable in the develop-
ment of man. They may have been to a li^reat
extent mistaken inferences, but there was a basis
of truth and a measurably beneficial result. When
more of the fact is discovered, man's conceptions
change, and he alters his belief and his methods.
In rejecting the religious dogmas, whose falsity is
being exposed by the increasing light of science,
we do well to search if there is any good thing in
them and preserve the truth germs they may con-
tain, which have been helpful to man in the past,
remembering Shakespeare's words, —

"There is some soul of goodness in things evil,
Would men observingly distill it out."

One of the most prominent universal beliefs is
that of punishment after death, which in Calvin-
ism has. assumed the form of the doctrine of the
eternal torment in hell of all who reject the way of
salvation by the atonement of Christ. The falsity
of this dogma has often been shown ; but its oppo-

at6

r.'xA yJiLS /4V FAITH,

. *'

nent5 do not always recognize the fact that its be-
lief rests upon a fundamental truth, which is, that
the law of the unfailing succession of cause and
effect prevails in morals as truly as in the phys-.
ical world.

It is considered a waste of words to attack the
Calvinistic doctrine of endless punishment, for it
may fairly be claimed that no intelligent person
now believes it. True, manyprofess to believe it,
and some even think they believe it ; but, judged
by accepted rules of evidence, their belief is dis-
proved. Genuine belief is always manifested in
corresponding action. Belief in the existence of a
pitfall, the approach of an avalanche, or the pres-
ence of a wild beast, is always eagerly communi-
cated to others. Men will not allow others to go
into danger without warning and without deep
concern for their welfare. Judged by this rule,
how many really believe the doctrine of everlast-
ing punishment? If men all around us are going
down to an eternal hell, and Christians believe it
and know of an easy way of escape, would they so
seldom vary their lives of business and pleasure by
a word to the impenitent ?. Would they \y^ able to
live contentedly in a round of diversioM, music,
embroidery, and cigar-smoking, while iheir neigh-
bors are dropping into ceaseless doom, where " the
smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and
ever"? Would ministers of churches only make

TRUTH IX EKKOR.

217

vague allusions to the dread dogma, and leave the
preaching of terror to evangelists, without charge
of societies, who are not imperilled by the dissent
of parishioners? It is seldom preached now in
city churches, and n.inisters' minds are everywhere
perplexed in the effort to reconcile revelation with
good taste.

Genuine belief is evidenced not only by action,
but also by a consistent application of the theory
espoused. Hut the doctrine of eternal damnation
is never applied within the circle of the believer's
acquaintance ; it only does for strangers and
heathen, or possibly, like Arten^as Ward, for one's
wife's relations. In all cases where sympathy is
aroused, it is denied or evaded. A lady, brought
up in this creed, professedly held to it, until a
favorite son, a wild, wayward boy, swam across a
stream to rob an orchard, and, being chased by the
owner, w^as drowned in mid stream, w^ith profane
curses on his lips. Her creed sent him to hell ;
but the lovinor mother's heart abolished the creed,
and she ceased to be a Calvinist.

Two ladies, cousins, lived alongside of each oth-
er in a sea-port town. One was brought up as a
Calvinist, the other as a Unitarian. They were
wealthy, intelligent, hospitable, and especially kind
to the poor. They lived to old age, and died, —
one trusting in Christ for salvation through his
atoning blood, the other, without any faith in

218

TRAVELS IN FA ITU,

Christ, peacefully committing her soul into the
hands of her heavenly Father. A lady who was a
cousin of both was asked, "Can any one be saved
who rejects Christ as an atoning Saviour?"

She emphpt icaily answered, " No ; the Bible
clearly says so : * He that believeth not the Son

shall not see life, but the wrath of God abidethon

h* > ti
ini.

" Did your cousin S. believe in Christ as a Sav-
iour?"

*• No, she died as she lived, denying that he was
anything more than a good man."

•* Then, she is in hell ! "

She started in horror, and replied : " Oh, she
was a dear good soul ! It can't be ! "

Let us see what the doctrine of hell means, when
consistently applied. The population of the world
is stated to be 1,350,000,000. Of these, about
300,000,000 are nominal Christians ; but very few
have been converted or born again, and, " except
a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom
of God." The majority rely for salvation upon
the rites of the church or good works, or else are
indifferent as to their future state. An estimable
and learned man has lately said in a public lecture
that, of those whom men call Christians, God
would only call two per cent. Christians. Upon
this estimate there Mre six million truly converted
Christians in the world; and, as about forty mill-

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ion people die every year, it follows logically that
yearly 180,000 people go to heaven, and 39,820,-
000 are doomed to hell. There have been many
people who would have assented to this, and who
had no hope for the salvation of infants and
heathen ; but the mind and heart of the nineteenth
century revolt from these atrocious statements.
Infant salvation is now generally admitted, except
that Roman Catholics limit salvation to the bap-
tized. This rescues half of the human race ; and
charity savjs a majority of the rest, in fact all
toward whom sentiment is excited. Men will not
now admit there are few that be saved, though
they still profess to revere the v/ords of Jesus, —
** few are chosen," and " few there be that find it."
To make the doctrine less horrible, some say that
the unbelieving are annihilated. They find this in
the Bible, but the great majority of Christians do
not so read it. Others sL^y the heathen will not
perish: but, to justify foreign missions. Prof.
Shcdd preached a sermon before the American
Board, entitled "The Guilt of the Pagan," enforc-
ing Paul's words, " I'^or as many as have sinned
without law shall also perisli without law"; and
he proved that, according to the Scriptures, the
heathen are " without excuse." The Broad Church-
man relies upon Canon Farrar's interpretation of
aionios and gchcnna to soften the doctrine and
limit the duration of the penalty.

2\^

TRA VELS IN FAITH,

But none of these explanations reconcile the re-
flecting mind and tender heart to the docrine of
damnation as being the will and revelation of God.
An eminent Conq^reij^ational minister was asked
what he thought about eternal punishment. " I
try never to think of it," was replied. " If I do, it
gives me the blues for a fortnight." When an
unregenerate philanthropist dies, men fall back
upon *• the mercy of God," and say, " Shall not
the judge of all the earth do right ! " " None will
perish without a good reason for it." *' We know
not what may have passed between the soul and
its Saviour in the last moments." Carlyle, Emer-
son, Longfellow, and I^arwin may reject revelation
with impunity, but woe to the unknown and un-
honored unbeliever !

A doctrine thus loosely believed is not worthy
of attack, and we can only wonder that men do
not abandon it in principle, as they have already
done in practice. Instead of attempting to trim
down the doctrine into accord with science and
sense, thus conceding the imperfection of " revela-
tion," is it not more honoring to God and more
creditable to man to admit that the New Testa-
ment contains merely the human record of the hu-
man beliefs of the aiie in which it was written ?

But is this all-prevailing idea of hell, reaching
over all lands and back through distant ages, ut-
terly false ? No : it is founded on fact and use.

iiiiiiaitigttitoteJi i i H i M ru li ir ■ ^ m ^a^ti n i «iii

.iivi*.t4*»w* ■w.c—. .—- »^

TRUTlf IN ERROR.

221

as IS every other human belief. The fact is the
pleasurableness of good and the painfulness of
evil In the long run, virtue brings its own re-
ward and sin its own curse ;; and these results con-
tinue while existence lasts. The sinner will for-
ever be the worse off for his sin : no atonement,
no death-bed repentance, can remove the natural
consequences of sin to the guilty. It is untrue
that a complete and hopeless doom will be arbitra-
r>Jy inflicted upon the sinner ; but the natural ill
of each transgression will follow its commission.
Nature has recuperative power: the wound in the
flcih is healed ; but the effort has made a certain
drain, minute it may be, upon the stock of vitality.
So, evil in the end may sometimes lead to good,
but there has been a loss that is never repaired.
Men seem to escape the consequences of their evil
acts; btit a knowledire of their thoujj^hts and lives
would nhow the ills they bear, and these are often
more p'ainly manifested in their posterity. This
is the tri'th that underlies the false doctrine of
hell, — natural retribution.

The use of the belief is the restraining power
of fear. This has been a potent influence in the
past ; but the doubted threat loses its power, and
mer* are losing belief in hell. It no longer terri-
fies a lasted people, and its far-away :urse does
not restrain the passionate.

Liberals are accused of lessening the restraints

222

TRA VELS IN FA/TJL

I
s

upon immorality by overthrowing the Bible doc-
trine of everlasting punishment ; but they really are
more severe toward sin than are the orthodox, for
they do not encourage the sinner to believe that
the consequences of lifelong crimes can be escaped
by the lifting of the eye to the cross. They teach
unavoidable injury from sin.

Though men cease to have the dread of eternal
hopeless torture before them, other motives may
be as serviceable. The perception of the advan-
tages of goodness, a sense which is growing in
man through the experience ,' es, the certainty
of the human retribution of c ..:e, which social
science will yet evolve, and the perception of the
inevitable natural punishment which follows all
wrong-doing, — this hope and these fears will re-
generate the world.

II. ATONKMKNT AND SALVATION.

The doctrine of atonement, which pervades the
Bible and exists in some form in all religions, the
necessity of the suffering of one as ♦^he condition
for the forgiveness of another, must have a basis
of truth, or it could never have gained such wide
acceptance throughout the world as it has done.

The Calvinistic doctrine of salvation by faith in
Christ is impoi..^ible to understand, and harder still
to believe, except by those who adopt the motto,

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" I believe because it is impossible." Many dif-
ferent theories of the atonement are presented.
The old school Calvinists believe in the sacrificial
atonement, that Christ died in our stead, savini^
us by substitution, bearini; the wrath of God that
was due to us. A newer school, expounded by
Dr. Bushnell, and fast i^rowinix in our theoloirical
seminaries, accepts the moral theory of the atone-
ment, or various modifications of the idea of vica-
rious atonement approaching to the moral theory,
which makes the life and death of Christ efficacious
only as an example, and makes salvation the act
of the grace of God, not purchr.sed by Christ's suf-
fering. We are told to believe in Christ in order
to be saved, but v/hat we are to believe about
Christ is so variously stated that the seeker is be-
wildered.

This is a most unsatisfactory doctrine to attack,
for, whatever phase of atonement is controverted,
the assailant is told he has misconceiv^ed the the-
ory ; and, if he patiently demolishes every aspect
in turn, it is said that our only concern is to have
faith in the person of Christ, and how he saves us,
and in what way God looks upon the atonement
as accomplishing this, God only knows.

This doctrine teaches us that the penitent thief
upon the cross, the believing murderer on the scaf-
fold, the dying aged sinner converted in his last
illn'^ss, do, upon their deaths, immediately pass

224

TRA VELS /AT FAITH.

into glory ; but the rational philanthropist, the
earnest laborious scientist, or good moralist, of
sceptical minds, after long lives of devotion to the
welfare and elevation of the human race, must
perish eternally.

Belief is largely accidental : the children of be-
lievers are apt to believe, the children of sceptics
doubt. Comparatively few leave the creed they
were brought up to profess : therefore, the children
are punislied for the parents* sin to remote genera-
tions. This idea universal morality condemns.

Children are seldom converted until they are
twelve or fifteen years of age. What becomes of
those who die earlier, a b'ge proportion of the
human race ? Baptismal regeneration provides for
their safety. But Calvinists reject that dogma,
and make no definite logical provision for their
salvation. They rest in a vague idea that God
gives the benefit of the atonement to those who
are ^ ot responsible for the choice; but they have
never decided at what age a child becomes respon-
sible, and the sorrowing parents must wait till
eternity to know whether their children have re-
ceived a free pass into heaven on account of their
youth or idiocy, or have been rejected as responsi-
ble beings.

Although, in practical morality, men condemn
the imposition of suffering upon the innocent in
order to spare the guilty, and declare that the right-

TKUTH IN EKKOK.

!2S

eousness of one cannot offset the sin of another,
yet they become familiar with voluntary sacrifice
for the temporal good of others. " Nothinij with-
out labor" is a natural law. Toil for money, study
for learnini^, exercise for strem^th, self-denial for
benevolence, are some of the labors endured for
desired results. It is observed in all life that trial
and suffering are the price of advancement, and
that the joy of one is promoted by the calamity of
another. Men die to save other men from drown-
ing or burning, and to preserve the liberties of their
race. In nature there is not only a struggle for
existence and a survival of the fittest, but on every
side we see self-sacrifice for the good of others,
and benefits springing from misfortunes. The
parent animals devote their lives to the rearing of
their young. Each order of animals dies for the
sustenance of a higher race. The falling leaf and
decaying tree fertilize the ground lor new growths.
These may be the foundation facts which men have
transferred to the sphere of morals.

If the theory of eternal salvation through an-
other's sufferings be abandoned, the fact of the
possibility of the present salvation of men through
our own efforts remains. Perhaps laziness and
selfishness have had something to do with putting
salvation upon God instead of upon our own labors,
just as Sydney Smith described English benevo-
lence, saying, " When A sees B in distress, he has
»5

226

TRAVELS IN FAITH.

a Strong desire to compel C to help him." It is
easier to say " God help you " than to lend a hand
to a suffering brother. We may all be saviors,
offering up ourselves daily for the good of others ;
and, by another law of nature, we shall find that
such offering blesses him who gives.

Each person who endures an ill may feel that he
has bori.e it for some one else; for only a certain
j^roportion of accidents happen, and each one who
is a victim spares another from the affliction, and
thus makes atonement for him.

•4

III. TlIK liOl) OF THE mULE.

The Bible bears the marks of having been writ-
ten by sincere men. They were sometimes credu-
lous, superstitious, and ignorant, as judged by pres-
ent standards, and their writings are therefore
cumbered with legend, myth, and mistake ; but
back of all lies truth, and every dogma has some
foundation principle which we do well to recog-
nize.

The personal Jehovah, who wars, hates, and kills,
sends famines and pestilences, and creates evil, —
who also creates life, loves, blesses, and forgives,
— is a human conception of the mind, soul, princi-
ple, law, force, or we may say God, that works in
matter, and pr-^duces all things material and men-
tal by orderly development. Our reverence for

TRUTH IN ERROR.

227

this principle is only increased by denuding it of
its human attributes ; and we only change Gods,
as men in every age and clime have done as their
knowledi^e of nature has altered.

We are nearer to the foundation truth by this
change, but the mystery of eternal existence with-
out beginning is unsolved. If we cannot define
this God in human phrase, it yet calls out every
attribute of wonder, reverence, and aspiration in
oi!»* .^atures. It is a far greater marvel than the
Hebrew Deity or Calvin's God, and more worthy
of respect.

We can see its working in the blade of grass and
the forest tree, in the summer i)reeze and the tor-
nado, in the calm of evening twilight and the
earthquake, — not by phenomenal and arbitrary
acts, but through a procession of causes reaching
back beyond mortal ken. Tain and destruction
are not the deliberate acts of a wrathful or chasten-
ing God, who consciously sends them with refer-
ence to their immediate effects ; but they are the
necessary results of an eternal succession of causes.
And we do not need to propitiate the Deity that
he may not send such calamities, but we need to
increase our knowledge of these operations of na-
ture, that, by coming into harmony with their
workings, we may avoid their evil results. Each
disaster is a factor in mart's education ; and expe-
rience will, in future ages, lead to his triumph over

328

TRA VELS IN FAITH,

evil. The loss of life in burning buildings, instead
of leading us to implore God to avert such disas-
ters m future, teaches us to use new precautions
against fire, and make improved exits. It is a
great relief to feel that we are not under the dis-
cipline of a ruler who is to be propitiated by our
mental exercises, but to know that the forces that
now control us are merely teaching us how to be-
come their masters.

Our reverence is called forth by this tendency
toward goodness which pervades nature, whatever
its origin ; and our aspiration is stimulated to let
our lives come into harmony with nature's meth-
ods, and let both joy and sorrow promote our own
good and that of others.

IV. CONVERSION,

The Calvinistic theory of conversion is only the
exaggerated form of a vital truth. Conversion,
on its natural side, is repentance and reform, the
resolve to cease from violations of natural laws,
and conform our lives to a standard of right-doing
which is approved by reason and conscience.
These turnings about and intense resolutions to
follow goodness are manifested under all religions,
and will both exist and increase when their nat-
uralness is recognized. The emotional, frenzied,
and "supernatural" side of conversion is also com-

)

tmmtt

'■^*P1 * •^^Vrlffli!

TRUTH /A' ERROK.

229

mon to all religions and climes, and is a natural
effect of the intense concentration of the mind
jpon a given subject. This form of orthodox
conversion seldom occurs to persons who have
reached the age of maturity. It is supposed they
have become hardened in their sins, and cannot
change. But they do all their best work then in
every other branch of knovdedge ; and why should
not their estimate of religion be equally valuable ?
The true explanation is that theology rests upon
emotion and human authority, not upon reason.
Suppose a teacher proclaimed a new law of phys-
ics, and nine-tenths of all his converts were under
twenty-one years of age, would not this fact be
deemed strong evidence against the value of his
theory ?

The sudden resolution to forsake evil and choose
good, called conversion, will continue to be exer-
cised, even if belief in the supernatural is aban-
oned.

v. KLECTION.

The doctrine of election, that God of his own
good pleasure, from all et- rnity, has elected some
to everlasting life, produces a hurtful conceit in
the elect and an uncharitable assumption in their
conduct toward sinners. They imagine the exist-
ence of a supernatural difference between them-
.^elYfiS-and other men, and hold aloof from them or

230

TKA VELS JN FAITH.

I
I

patronize them offensively. If God should neg-
lect to save them, why should we trouble ourselves
about it ? If God can send numbers of men to
hell every day, why, if he can stand it, we can !
Does not this blunt sensibility, paralyze effort and
'hinder the brotherhood of man? This arbitrary
choice of men to be saved is irrational and im-
moral ; and yet it is the perverted form of one of
the most vital truths of nature, — the survival of
the fittest, — the fact that fitness finds its sphere.
If one is qualified for action or service, the oppor-
tunity is apt to come to him, the occasion seeks
the man. Thus there is a natural selection, lead-
ing to the triumph of the best. The true *' elect "
are the discoverers, the searchers, the earnest la-
borers, who in science, morals, education, and be-
nevolence, are (juietly but surely redeeming the
worUl. These are ''the chosen ones," "the pecul-
iar people zealous of good works." Every creed
is on their lips; but their purpose is one, and their
reward cometh.

VI. TI!E MILLENNIUM.

The hope of a brighter future, a perfect day for
the world, has had a place in the mythologies of
almost all nations. The Greeks and Romans,
while lamenting the decline of the world from the
Golden Age in which it commenced, comforted
themselves with the assurance of its restoration.

TRUTH IX ERKOK,

-J'

The Persians expected the triumph of Ormu/Al
over Ahriman and the consequent overthrow of
all ill. The Jews and Christians, in their millen-
nium or thousand years of blessedness, have only
voiced again the yearning and hope of humanity
for a blessed era of peace, prosperity, righteous-
ness, and happiness.

If universal beliefs have a basis of truth, it may
be asked whether science gives any intimation of
a foundation fact for this universal hope of** a
Sfood time comint^."

Research of the past and ob crvation of the
present reveal progress, and when this is recog-
nized hope seizes upon the fact as a promise
of perfection. Not only in history do we see a
growth upward in man's development in morals,
knowledge, and arts, but study of the earth reveals
an upward progression in life. The earliest strati-
fied rocks show us only the remains of the lowest
forms of animal and plant life, and in successive
later deposits come the higher orders of life.
Haeckel divides the history of life upon the earth,
as shown by the testimony of the rocks, into five
great epochs in which life developed in an ascend-
ing scale, in the following order: i. Skulless ver-
tebrates and seaweeds ; 2. Fishes and ferns ; 3.
Reptiles and pines ; 4. Mammals and leaf forests ;
5. Man and cultivated forests. The earth tells
this story of progress, and analogy asks, Why

232

TKA VELS JN FAITH.

should progress stop short of perfection ? A de-
velopment of matter from p'.oneron to man gives
warrant for all the fondest dreams of the future
development of life into angelic forms, and of the
enlargement of man's powers to godlike efficiency.
If atom develops to man, man may advance to
God.

The early Christians believed this Golden Age
to be " at hand," and many now look for the
speedy coming of the Lord and the deliverance of
the groaning creation into ''the glorious liberty of
the sons of God.'* It may be asked, If science ad-
mits the probability of a state of future blessedness
upon the earth, what has it to say of times and
si sons? Here again the analogies of the past
piompt the hope that the day of promise "draweth
ni<jh.

Haeckel estimates that the life-bearing rocks,
which have been deposited in strata by the waters
have a thickness of about one hundred and thirty
thousand feet. The strata bearing the low forms
oif the first epoch are about seventy thousand feet,
or more than half the whole thickness. The strata
of the second period — that of fi.^hes and ferns — are
considered to be about forty-two thousand feet
thick, or one-third of the whole. The third pe-
riod — the reptile and pine era — shows strata fif-
teen thousand feet thick, or one-ninth of the
whole. The fourth epoch — the age of mammals —

.miMMMi

tiiAi»immmm»m ^jt

mUmiJi0mmmm^»ti

TRUrir /X /CA'A'OA'.

233

shows only three thousand feet of rock, or one-for-
tieth of the whole. And the strata of the fifth
epoch — or age of man — are but one two hun-
dredth part of the whole life-bearing strata of
rocks. Thus the brevity of the past periods of de-
velopmert appears in the ratio of 2, 3, 9, 40, 200.
From this wc learn that, as forms become higher,
the period of development has shortened ; and
a continuance of this process will evolve a con-
tinually hastening change to higher and better
things.

In our observation of society, we observe the
rapid improvement made in many departments of
life by one invention. \Vc see how benefits act
and interact in constantly growing proportions,
and influence spheres never contemplated in their
origin. We see material forces promoting moral
progress, as when railroads and telegraphs assist
the detection and therefore the repression of crime.
Each advance promotes activity in thousands of
channels, and the progress of development is con-
tinually accelerated.

Thus the analogies of the past excite the expec-
tation of constantly shortening epochs of advance-
ment, and Science proclaims the glad tidings that
"the coming of the Lord draweth nigh," "the
night is far spent, the day is at hand." A better
and brighter day for humanity approaches with
ever quickening footsteps, and promises a career

234

TRA VELS IN FAITH.

to man unlimited by harps and crowns, but lead-
ing ever on to infinite attainment.

■

VII. CIIRISTIANITV.

There is nothing in Christianity that is recog-
nized generally as good, which is lost or weakened
in any way by the renunciation of its encircling
superstition. Jesus may still be to us an ideal of
human goodness, an example of many virtues,
though stripped of what scientific criticism shows
to be the accretions of credulous tradition. He
was divine in nature, as all men are, — the highest
products pf the inscrutable force that has moved
in matter till it flowered into humanity.

The I loly Spirit dwells in every unbeliever in
his personality, who does not grieve him away by
an evil life that debases him too low to experience
an enthusiasm for goodness ; and who ever sinks
to this depth? It is a false assumption that this
divine influence only comes to believers in a cer-
tain theory. The true holy spirit is the impulse
" to do justly, love mercy, and make other men
happy," which dwells in some measure in the
breast of every man, of every race, and every land,
and which grows as it is exercised and as true
knowledge increases.

All existence is a miracle. Revelation Is con-
tinually given to the earnest student of nature.

• •»

TRUril IX J:KKOh\

-35

The inventor, the scholar, and the philanthropist
are inspired. Rewards and punishments follow
naturally upon causes. Heaven comes to bless
the successful effort and lofty endeavor, hestowinj;
•as natural results present happiness on the striver
and future ijood to his race. Mell curses the
inefficient, immoral, and unnatural, brinoini,^ sor-
row and pain to the evil or unwise doer and ex-
tending;^ resulting miseries to the race. A persist-
ent continuance in well-doing leads upward to
sanctification and holiness ; and habits of goodness
become so confirmed that falling from grace be-
comes improbable, and the perseverance of saints

is assured.

We are not undermining the building of good-
ness, or sapping the tree of virtue, by destroying
Calvinism or Christianity or Judaism. \Vc only
tear down the decayed parts of the superstructure
built by men upon the foundation of eternal truth,
and shake off the dead leaves and prune the rotten
twigs from the branches of the tree of knowledge,
in order that new structures may be reared and
fresh growths may be promoted.

FREE THOUGHT RHYMES.

In days gone by, the people thought
That only what the clergy taught

Was worthy of belief ;
They held the keys of heaven's gate,
And knew the mysteries of fate,—

Eternal joy or grief.

u
3|

Now, men have learned that all may pry,
With open ear and eager eye,

Throughout all nature's realm.
There's no monopoly of light,
And he is safe who docs the right ;

For Law controls the helm.

'Twas said that (lod from naught made earth,
And gave to varied life its birth

Within six solar days ;
He made things all at once, complete,
All very good to l'"s conceit.

So marvellous were his ways.

But Science says, throughout the past
The world has grown, in ages vast.

By nature's forward plan ;
The whirling star dust formed the world,
And life by slow degrees unfurled

From Moneron to Man.

FREE THOUGHT RHYMES.

«37

Twas said that erring man eat fruit.
When templed by a talking brute ;

God's curse upon him fell !
But mercy kept a chosen few,
For V horn Christ's death should sin undo^

And save their souls from hell.

But now we learn that man arose
From savage natures, and his foes

By knowledge will be slain.
His path is ever up and on.
And conquests, by his study won,

Redeem from ill and pain.

The railroad, telegraph, and press
Work mightily to render less

Impunity of crime.
Extension of the reign of law
From evil deeds will men withdraw

And haste the Golden Time.

Man need not fear eternal wrath,
Nor vengeance lurking in his path,

Should he presume to think.
But Nature gives her richest prize
To him who dares in search to rise

And at her fountains drink.

Her works new revelations give,
A Bible that will ever live

And shed increasing light ;
Beyond the writings of the Jews
Her precepts blessedness difTuse,

And teach the true and right. -^

3 d

^\ ■■

238 TKAVEISW FAITH,

Ye earnest men, no longer shrink
From speaking what you truly think ;
Proclaim the truth you find !

^"^ 'et free search, free speech, free thought,
By blood of ancient worthies bought,
Advance the human mind.

THE END.

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b 443 G E 80

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