THE SUNT) AY ORECrOXIAy, PORTLAND, OCTOBER 31, 1903. S .
I ' I
Complete Lecture, Delivered at the Harvard Summer
School, Which Aroused the Theologians.
ADDRESS
Charles TV. Eliot's ACrm ca bis new ra-
tirion delivered bfve th Hmird Snm
jr.rr tol of thilogv last Pvimir.r appears
ompMa in cfca Octooer Harvard "Theological
Rrvvv. , .
Rjlvh-ir t an Indianapolis lawyr. wco
had srrltian to him -rit1olx!ni the lectura aa
r-portod, Mr. F'.tot nr-ta: "I venture to think
ttuu tha opinion whlrh you have formed on
the baM of a few Iraecurarely repor-d. "-altered
eentencee out nT an arfdreap which took
an heir to read, might be modified If you
reed the full aridra."
The Ore-gonlan ha -urrf an manr Inejulr.aa
from parsons wh never have en tha ad(Ir
ntlra, that Jt herewith, preaeo: It. la coro
pta fiorno:
S STUDENTS in this Summsr'i
y school of theology, you have at
" landed a series of lecture on
fluctuation In religious Interest, on
1 th frequent occurrence of religious
declines followed soon by recoveries
'or regenerations both within andwith
oot the churches, on the frequent at
' taccpts to bring; the prevalent religious
doctrines Into harmony with new ten
dencies In the Intellectual world, on
the constant struggle between con
servatism and liberalism In existing
churches and between idealism and ma
terialism in society at large, on the
. effects of popular- education and the
modern spirit of inquiry on religious
doctrines and organizations, on the
changed views of thinking people con
cerning the nature of the world and
: of man. on the Increase of knowledge
as aXiectlng religion and on the new
Ideas of Cod.
Tou have also listened to lectures
on psychotherapy, a new development
of an ancient tendency to mix relig
ion with medicine, and on the theory
of evolution, a modern scientificdoc
trlne which within 60 years has pro
foundly modified the feligious concep
tions and expectations of many think
ing people. You have heard, too, how
the new ideas of democracy and social
progress have modified and ought to
modify not "only the actual work done
by the churches, but the whole con
ception of the function of churches.
Again, you have beard how many and
how profound are the religious impli
cations In contemporary philosophy.
Tour attention has been called to the
most recent views .concerning the con
servation of energy in the universe, to
tha wonderful phenomena of radio
activity and to the most recent defi
nitions of atom, molecule. Ion and elec
tron human imaginings which have
much to do with" the modern concep
tions of matter and spirit.
Oa Popular Religion.
. The Influence on popular religion of
modern scholarship applied to the New
Testament has also engaged your at
tention; and. finally, you have heard
n exposition of religious conditions
ind practices In the United ates
which assumed an Intimate connection
between the advance of civilization and
the contemporaneous aspects of relig
ions, and illustrated from history the
service of religion and particularly of
Christianity to the progress of civili
sation through its contributions to in
dividual freedom, intellectual culture
ind social co-operation. .
The general impression you have re
ceived from this comprehensive sur
vey must surely be that religion is not
a fixed, but a fluent thing. It Is. there
fore, wholly natural and to be expected
that the conceptions of religion preva
lent among educated people should
change from century to century, Mod
ern studies in comparative religion and
In the history ofM-ellgions demonstrate
that such has been tha case In times
past. Now the 19th century immeas
urably surpassed all preceding cen
turies in the increase of knowledge,
and in the spread of the spirit of sci
entific inquiry and of tl)e passion for
truth-seeking.
Changes In Beliefs.
Hence the changes la religious be
liefs and practices, and in the relation
of churches to human society as a
whole, were much deeper and more ex
tensive in that century than ever be
fore In the history of the world; and
the approach made to the embodiment
in the 'actual practices of mankind of
the iketrines of the greatest religious
teacners was more significant and more
rapid than ever before. The religion
of a multitude of humane persons in
the J 0 th century may. therefore, be
called without Inexcusable exaggera
tion a "new religion" not that a sin
gle one of Its doctrines and practice
la really new In essence, but only that
the wider acceptance and better actual
application of truths familiar in the
past at many times and places, but
never taken to heart By the multitude
9r put in force on a large scale, are
new. I shall attempt to state without
reserve and in simplest terms, free
from technicalities, first, what tha re
ligion of the future seems likely not
to be, and. secondly, what it may rea
sonably be expected to be.
I-ayman's Point of View.
My point of view is that of an Amer
ican layman, whose observing and
thinking life has covered the extraordi
nary period aince the 'Vpjwge of the
Beagle' was published, anaesthesia and
the telegraph came Into use, Herbert
Spencer issued his first series of papers
on volution. Kuenen. Robertson Smith
and Wellhausen developed and vindi
cated biblical criticism. J. S. Mill's
"Principles of Political Economy" ap
peared, and the United States, by going
to war with Mexico, set In operation
the ferces which abolished slavery on
the American continent the period
within whlrh mechanical power came
to be widely distributed through the
explosive engine and the applications
of electricity, and all the great funda
mental industries of civilised mankind
were reconstructed.
1 The religion of the future will not
te based, on authority either spiritual
or temporal. The decline of the reliance
upon absolute authority is one of the
most significant phenomena of the
modern world. This decline is to be
seen everywhere in government. in
education, in the church. In business,
and in the family. The present genera
tion Is willing, and Indeed often eager,
to be led; but it Is averse to being
driven, and it wants to understand the
grounds and sanctions of author! ttalve
decisions. As a rule, the Christian
churches. Roman. Greek and Protestant,
have heretofore relied mainly upon the
principle of authority, the reformation
having substituted for an authoritative
church an authoritative book; but It Is
evident that the authority toth of the
most authoritative churches and of the
Bible as a verbally Inspired guide Is al
ready greatly impaired, and that the
tendency toward liberty Is progressive
and among educated men irresistible.
I It is hardly necessary to say that
In the religion of the future there will
be o personification of the primitive
forces of nature, such as light. Are.
frost, wind, storm and earthquake, al
though primitive religions and the
actual religions of barbarous or seml
rlvilned peoples abound In such per
sonifications. The mountains, groves,
volcanoes and oceans will no longer be
inhabited bv either kindly or mal-vnltnt
deities; although man will still look
to the hill" for rest, still find In the
ocean a symbol of Infinity, and refresh
ment and delight In the forests and the
streams. Trie love -of nature mounts and
spreads, while faith In falrlea, imps,
nymphs, demons and angel declines
and fades away.
Not Essentially "ew.
S There will be in the religion of'the
future no worship, express or Implied,
of dead ancestors, teachers r rulers;
no more tribal, racial or tutelary gods;
no identification of any human being,
however majestic in character, with the
Eternal Deity. In these respects the re
ligion of the future will not be essen
tially new, for 19 centuries ago Jesus
said. "Neither in this mountain, nor in
Jerusalem, shall ye worship the father.
. Ood Is a spirit; and they that
Worship him must worship In spirit and
in truth."
It should be recognized, however, first,
that Christianity was soon deeply af
fected by the surrounding paganism,
and that some of these pagan instru
sions have survived to this day; and.
secondly, that the Hebrew religion, the
influence of which on the Christian has
been, and Is, very potent, was in the
highest degree a racial religion, and its
holy of holies was local. In war times,
that is, in times when the brutal or sav
age Instincts remaining In humanity
become temporarily dominant, and good
wtll Is limited to people of the same
nation, the survival of a tribal or na
tional quality in institutional Chris
tianity comes out very plainly. The aid
of the lord of hosts Is still Invoked by
both parties to International warfare
and each side praises and thanks him
for Its sucreFS. Indeed, the same spirit
has often been -exhibited in civil wars
caused by religious differences.
Now glory to the Lord of Hosts, from whom
all glorlea are!
And glory to our sovereign liege. King
Henry of Navarre!
It is not many years since an arch
bishop of Canterbury caused thanks to
be given in all Anglican churches that
the lord of hosts had been In the Eng
lish camp over against the Egyptians.
Heretofore the great religions of the
world have held out hopes of direct in
terventions of the deity, or some special
deity. In favor of his faithful worship
pers. It was the greatest of Jewish
prophets who told King Hezeklah that
the King of Assyria, who had
proached Jerusalem with a great army,
should not come into the city nor shoot
an arrow there, and reported the Lord
as saying: "I will defend thl sclty to
save it, for my own sake and for my
servant tav1d's sake." "And It came to
pass that night that the angel of the
Iord went forth and emote in the camp
of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore
and 5000; and when men arose early In
the morning, behold, they were all dead
corpses." The new religion cannot
promise that sort of aid to either na
tions or Individuals In peril.
Sadden Conversion.
4 In the religious life of the future the
primary object will not be the personal
welfare or safety of the Individual In this
world or any other. That safety, that
welfare or salvation, may be Incidentally
secured, but it will not be the prime ob
ject in view. The religious person will
not think of his own welfare or security,
but of service to others, and of contribu
tions to the common good. The new re
ligion will not teach' that character is
likely to be suddenly changed, either In
this world or in any other although in
any world a sudden opportunity for im
provement may present Itself, and the
date of that opportunity may be a pre-
clous remembrance. ,
The new religion will not rely on either
a sudden conversion In this world or a
sudden paradise in the next, from out a
sensual, selfish, or dishonest life. It will
teach that repentance wipes out nothing
In the past, and Is only the first step
towards reformation and a sign of a bet
ter future.
6 The religion of the future will not be
propitiatory, sacrificial or expiatory. In
primitive society fear of the supernal
powers, as represented In the awful forces
of nature, was the root of religion. These
dreadful powers must Be propitiated or
placated, and they must be propitiated by
sacrifices In the most literal sense; and
the supposed offenses of man must be ex
plated by sufferings, which were apt to
be vicarious.
Even the Hebrews offered human sacri
fices for generations, and always a great
part of their religious rites consisted In
sacrifices of animals. The Christian
church made a great step forward when
it substituted the burning of incense for
the burning of bullocks and doves; but to
this day there survives, not only in the
doctrines but In the practices of the
Christian church, the principle of expia
tory sacrifice. It will be an immense ad
vance If twentieth century Christianity
can be purified from all these survivals
of barbarous, or semi-barbarous, religious
conceptions, because they imply such an
unworthy Idea of God.
Without Ascetic Element.
6 The religion of the future will not
perpetuate the Hebrew anthropomorphic
representations of God, conceptions which
were carried In large measure into Insti
tutional Christianity. It will not think of
God as an enlarged and glorified man,
who walks "in the garden in the cool of
the day," or a a Judge deciding between
human litigants, or as a king. Pharaoh,
or emperor, ruling arbitrarily his subjects,
or as the patriarch who. In the early his
tory of the race, ruled his family abso
lutely. These human functions will cease
to represent adequately the attributes of
God. The nineteenth century hae made
all these conceptions of deity look archaic
and crude.
7 The religion of the future will not be
gloomy, asoetlo, or maledictory. It will
not deal chiefly with sorrow and death,
but with Joy and life. It will not care so
much to account for the evil and the ugly
In the world as to interpret the good and
the beautiful. It will believe In no ma
lignant powers neitlier In Satan nor in
witches, neither In the evil eye nor In
the malign suggestion. When its disciple
encounters a wrong or evil In the world
his Impulse will be to search out Its or
igin, source, or cause, that he may attack
It at Its starting point. He may not spec
ulate on the origin of evil in general, but
will surely try to discover the best way
to eradicate the particular evil or-wrong
be has recognized.
Having thus considered what the reli
gion of the future will not be, let us now
consider' what its positive elements will
be.
The new thought of God will be Its most
characteristic element. This Ideal will
comprehend the Jewish Jehovah, the
Christian universal Father, the modern
physicist's omnipresent and exhaustless
energy, and the biological conception of a
vital force. 'The Infinite spirit pervades
the universe. Just as the spirit of a man
pervades his body, and acts, consciously
or unconsciously, in every atom of It.
God the On Infinite Force.
The twentieth century will accept liter
ally and Implicitly 9t. Paul's statement.
"In him we live, and move, and have our
being," and God is that vital atmosphere,
or Incessant inspiration. The new rail
si on la therefore thoroughly monotheistic.
Its God being the one infinite force;. but
this one God is not withdrawn or re
moved, but Indwelling, and . especially
dwelling in every living creature. God is
so absolutely Imminent in all things, an
imate and Inanimate, that no mediation
is noeded between him and the least par
ticle of his creation.
In his moral attributes, he Is for every
man the multiplication to Infinity of all
the noblest, tenderest and most potent
qualities which that man has ever seen
or imagined in a human being. In this
sense every man makes his own picture
of God. Kvery age, barbarous or civil
ized, happy or unhappy. Improving or de
generating, frames its own conception of
God within the limits of Its own experi
ences snd Imaginings.
In this sense, too, a humane religion has
to wait for a humane generation. The
central thought of the new religion will
therefore be a humane and worthy Idea
of God. thoroughly consistent with the
nineteenth century revelations concerning
man and nature, and with all the tender
est a'nd loveliest teachings which have
come down to us from the past.
The scientific doctrine of one Omni
present, eternal energy. Informing and
Inspiring the whole creation at every
instant of time and throughout the in
finite spaces, is fundamentally and com
pletely Inconsistent with the duallstlc
conception which sets spirit over against
matter, good over against evil, man s
wickedness against God s righteousness,,
snd Satan against Christ. The doctrine
of God's Immanence 1s also inconsistent
with the conception that he once sot the
universe a-going, and then withdrew,
leaving the universe to be operated.
Kejeets Idea or Man as Allen.
If God is thoroughly immanent in the
entire creation, there can be no "second
ary causes." In either the material or
the spiritual universe. The new religion
rejects absolutely the conception that
man 1s an alien in the world, or that
God Is alienated from the world. It
rejects also the entire conception of man
as a falling being, hopelessly wicked
and tending downward by -nature: and
It makes this emphatic rejection of
long-accepted beliefs because it finds
them all' Inconsistent with a humane,
civilized' or worthy Idea of God.
If. now. man discovers God through
self-consciousness, or, In other words, if
It Is the human soul through which God
Is revealed, the race has come to me
knowledge of God through knowledge of
Itself: and the best knowledge of God
onmea through knowledge of the best
r ih. nr. Men have always attrlb
tited to man a spirit distinct from his
'body, though immanent in It. No one
of us Is willing to identify himself with
his body: but on the contrary every one
now believes, and all men nave neueven.
ihii there Is In a man an- animating.
ruling, characteristic essence or spirit
which is himself.
This spirit, dull or bright, petty or
rranil. rnira or foul, looks out of the
eves, sounds In the voice and appears In
the bearing and manners of each indi
vidual. It Is something Just as real as
the body and more characteristic To
every influential person it gives far the
greater part of his power. It Is what we
call personality. This spirit or soul 1s
the most effective part of every human
being, and Is recognized as such, and al
ways has been.
It can use a fine body more effectively
than It can a poor body, but It can do
wonders through an Inadequate body. In
the crisis of a losing battle It Is a hu
man soul that rallies the flying troops.
It looks out of flashing eyes, and speaks
In ringing tones, but Its appeal is to other
souls, and not to other bodies. In the
midst of terrible natural catastrophles
earthquakes, storms, conflagrations, vol
canic eruptions when men's best works
are being destroyed and thousands of
lives are ceasing suddenly and horribly.
It is not a few especially good human
bodies which steady the survivors, main
tain order and organize the forces of
rescue and relief. It Is a few superior
souls.
The leading men and women in any
society, savage or cillvlzed, are tha
strongest personalities the personality
being primarily spiritual, and only sec
ondarily bodily. Recognizing to the full
these simple and obvious facts, the fu
ture religion will pay homage to all right
eous and loving persons who In the past
have exemplified and made intelligible
to their contemporaries intrinsic good
ness and effluent good-will. It will be
an all-saints religion. It will treasure up
all tales of human excellence and virtue.
Reverence Apostles.
It will reverence the discoverers, teach
ers, martyrs and apostles of liberty,
purity and, righteousness. It will respect
and honor all strong and lovely human
beings seeing in them Infinite measure
qualities similar to those which they
adore in God." Recognizing in. every great
and lovely human person an Individual
will power wliich Is the essence of the
personality. It .will naturally and inev
itably attribute to God a similar Individ
ual will power, the essence of his infinite1
personality. In this simple and natural
faith there will he no place for meta
physical complexities or magical rites,
much less for obscure dogmas, the result
of compromises In turbulent conventions.
It is anthropomorphic: but what else
can a human view of God's personality
be? The finite can study and describe
the Infinite only through analogy, par
allelism and simile; but that is a good
way. The new religion will animate and
guide ordinary men ind women who are
putting Into practice religious conceptions
which result directly from their own ob
servation and precious experience of ten
derness, sympathy, trust and solemn Joy.
It will be most welcome td the men and
women who cherish and exhibit Inces
sant, all-comprehending good-will. These
are the "good" people. These are the
only genuinely civilized persons.
To the wretched, sick and downtrod
den of the earth reHglon has in the past
held out hopes of future compensation.
When precious ties of affection have
been broken, religion has held out pros
pects of Immediate and eternal blessings
for the departed, and has promised hap
py reunions in another and a better
world. To a human soul, lodged In an
Imperfect, feeble or suffering bojy, some
of the older religions have held out the
expectation of deliverance by death, and
of entrance upon a rich, competent and
happy life in short, for present human
Ills, however crushing, the widely ac
cepted religions have offered either a sec
ond life, presumably Immortal, under the.
happiest conditions, or at least peace, rest
and a happy oblivion.
"Supernatural" Barred.
Can the future religion promise that
sort of compensation for the ills of this
world, any more than it can promise mi
raculous aid against threatened disaster?
A candid reply to this Inquiry Involves
the statement that In the future religion
there will be nothing "supernatural."
This does not mean that life will be
stripped of mystery or wonder, or that
the range of natural law has been finally
determined: but that religion, like aft
else. must conform to natural law so far
as the range of lawias been determined.
In this sense the religion of the future
will be a natural religion. In all its the
ory and all its practice it will be com
pletely natural. It will place no reliance
In any sort of magic, or miracle. or other
violation of, or exception to the laws of
nature. It will perform no magical rites,
use no occult processes, count on no ab
normal Interventions of supernatural pow
ers, and admit no possession of supernat
ural gifts, whether transmitted or con
ferred, by any tribe, class or family of
men.
Its sacraments will be not invasions of
law by miracles, but the visible signs of
a natural spiritual grace, or of a natural
hallowed custom. It may preserve his
torical rites and ceremonies, which, in
times past have represented the expecta
tion of magical or miraculous effects; but
It will be content with natural Interpre
tations of such rites and1 ceremonies. It
priests will be men especially Interested
in religious thought, possessing unusual
gifts of speech on devotional suniects. and
trained in the best methods of improving
i -' ' ::' v. -','
DR. CHARLES W. EI.IOT, PRESIDENT EMERITUS OF HARVARD.
the social and industrial conditions of hu
man life.
There will always be need of such pub
lic teachers and spiritual leaders, heralds
and prophets. It should be observed, how
ever, that many happenings and processes
which were formerly regarded tua super
natural have, with the increase of knowl
edge, come to be regarded as completely
natural. The line between the supposed
natural and the supposed supernatural is,
therefore, not fixed but changeable.
It is obvious, therefore, that the com
pletely natural quality of the future re
ligion excludes from It many of the re
ligious compensations and consolations
of the past. Twentieth-century soldiers,
going into battle, will not be able to say
to each other, as Moslem soldiers did In
the lOth century. "If we are killed today
we shall meet again tonight in paradise."
Even now, the mother who loses her babe,
or the husband his wife, by a preventable
disease, is seldom able to say simply, "It
Is the will of God! The babe-or the wo
manIs better off in heaven than on
earth. I resign this dear object of love
and devotion, who has gone to a happier
world."
Institutional Religion.
The ordinary consolations of Institu
tional Christianity no longer satisfy intel
ligent people whose lives are broken by
the Bickness or premature death of those
they love. The new religion will not at
tempt to reconcile men and women to
present ills by promises of future blessed
ness, either for themselves or for others.
Such promises have done Infinite mischief
in the world, by inducing- men to be pa
tient under bufferings or deprivations
against which they should have incessant
ly struggled. The advent of a Just free
dom for the mass of mankind has been
delayed for centuries by Just this effect
of compensatory promises Issued by
churches.
The religion of the future will approach
the whole subject of evil from another
side, that of resistance and prevention.
The Breton sailor, who had his arm poi
soned by a dirty fishhook which had en
tered his finger, made a votive offering at
the shrine of the Virgin Mary, and prayed
for a cure. The workman today who
gets cut or bruised by a rough or dirty in
strument, goes to a surgeon, who applies
an antiseptic dressing to the wound and
prevents the poisdniner.
That surgeon is one of the ministers
of the new religion. When dwellers in a
slum suffer the familiar evils caused by
overcrowding. Impure food and cheerless
labor, the modern true believers contend
against the sources of such misery by pro
viding public baths, playgrounds, wider
and cleaner streets, better dwellings and
more effective schools that is, they at
tack the sources of physical and moral
evil. The new religion cannot supply the
old sort of consolation: but it can dimin
ish the need of consolatien or reduce the
number of occasions for consolation.
A. further change in- religious thinking
has. already occurred on the subject of
human pain. Pain was generally regarded
as a punishment for sin, or as a means
of moral training, or aa an expiation, vi
carious or direct. Twentieth century re
ligion, gradually perfected in this respeot
during the last half of the 19th century,
regards human pain as an evil to be re
lieved and prevented by the promptest
means possible, and by any sort of avail
able means, physical, mental or moral!
and, thanks to the progress of biology
and chemical science, there Is compara
tively little physical pain nowadays which
cannot be prevented or relieved.
Penal View of Pain.
The invention of anaesthetics ' has
brought into contempt the expiatory, or
penal view of human pain in this world.
The younger generations listen with in
credulous smiles to the objection made
only a little more than 60 years ago by
some divines of the Scottish Presbyterian
church to the employment of chloroform
In childbirth, namely, that the physicians
were Interfering with the execution of a
curse pronounced by the Almighty. Dr.
Weir Mitchell, a physician who had seen
much of mental pain, as well as of bodily,
in his poem read at the 60th anniversary
of the first public demonstration of surgi
cal anaesthesia, said of pain:
What purposa hath it? Nay, thy queat t vain:
Rarth hath no .nawer: If tha baffled brain
Cries, 'Tia to warn, to punish. Ah. refrain!
When writhes tha child, beneath the surgeon's
hand.
What soul shall hop that pain to understand!
I! Science falter o'er the hopeless taek.
And love and Faith la vain aa answer
ask. ...
A similar change Is occurring In regard
to the conception- of divine justice. The
evils in this world have been regarded as
penalties Inflicted- by a Just God on human
beings who had violated his laws; and the
Justice of God played a great part In his
Imagined dealings with the human race.
A young graduate of Acdo-ver Theologi
cal Seminary once told me that when he
had preached two or three times in Sum
mer In a small Congregational church on
Cape Cod, one of the deacons of the
church said to him at the -close of the
service: "What sort of sentimental mush
is this that they are teaching you at An-
4pvec2 You. talk, every. .Sunday, about the
:-.vye .
love of God; we want to hear about his
Justice."
The future religion will not under
take to describe, or even Imagine, the
justice of God. We are today so -profoundly
dissatisfied with human Jus
tice, although it is the result of cen
turies of experience of social good and
111 In this world, that we may well
distrust human capacity to conceive of
the justice of a morally perfect, in
finite being. The civilized nations now
recognize the fact that legal punish
ments usually fail of their objects, or
cause wrongs and evils greater than
those for which the punishments were
inflicted; so that penology, or the sci
ence of penalties, 'has still to be cre
ated.
Criminal Tendencies.
It Is only very lately rhat the most
civilized communities began to learn
how to deal with criminal tendencies
in the young. In the eyes of God hu
man betnirs must all seem very young,
Since our ideas of God's modes of
thinking and acting are necessarily
based op the best human attainments
in similar directions, the new religion
cannot pretend to understand God s
justice. Inasmuch as there is no nu
man experience of publlo Justice fit
to serve, as the foundation for a true
conception of God's. The new religion
will magnify and laud God's love and
compassion, and will not venture to
state what the Justice of God may, or
may not, require of himself, or of any
of his finite creatures. This will be
one of the great differences between
the future religion and the past. In
stitutional Christianity as a rule con
demned the mass of mankind to eter
nal torment; partly pecause tne exclu
sive Dossession of means of deliver-
ance gave the churches some restrain
ing Influence over even the boldest
sinners, and much over the timid. ne
new religion will make no such preten
sions, and will teach no such, horrible
and Derverse doctrines.
Do you ask what consolation for hu
man ills the new religion will offer?
I answer, the consolation which often
comes to the sufferer from being more
serviceable to others than he- was be
fore the loss or the suffering for which
consolation is needed; the consolation
of being one's self wiser and tenderer
than before, and therefore more able
to be serviceable to human kind in the
best ways; the consolation through
the memory, which preserves the sweet
fragrance of a recollection, of an
Infinite Spirit Immanent In the uni
verse, in presence, recalls the Joys and
achievements of those while still with
in mortal view, and treasures up and
multiplies the good Influences they
exert. '
Moreover, such a religion has no ten
dency to diminish the force in this
world, or any other, of the best hu
man imaginings concerning the nature
of the Infinite Spirit Imminent in the
universe. It urges its disciples to be
lieve that as the best and happiest man
Is he who best loves and serves, so
the soul of the universe finds its per
fect bliss and efficiency in supreme and
universal love and service. It sees evi
dence in the moral history of the hu
man race that a loving God rules the
universe.
Mental Disabilities.
Trust in this supreme rule is genu
ine consolation and support under
many human trials and sufferings.
Nevertheless, although brave and pa
tient endurance of evils is always ad
mirable, and generally happier than
timid or impatient conduct under suf
fering or wrong, it must be admitted
that endurance or constancy is not
consolation, and that there are many
physical and mental disabilities and
Injuries for which there is no consola
tion In a literal sense.
Human skill may mitigate or palliate
some of them, human sympathy and
kindness may make them more bear
able, but neither religion nor philos
ophy offers any complete consolation
for them, or ever has.
In thus describing the consolations
for human woes and evils which such
a religion can offev, its chief motives
have been depicted. They are just those
which Jesus said summed up all the
commandments, love toward' God and
brotherllness to man. It will teach a
universal good-will, under the influ
ence of which men will do their duty,
and at the same time promote their
own happiness. The devotees of a re
ligion of service will always be asking
what they can contribute to the com
mon good; but their greatest service
must always be to increase the stock
of good-will among men.
One of the worst of ohronlo human
evils is working for dally bread without
any interest in the work, and with ill
will toward the Institution or person that
provides the work. The work of the
world must be done, and the great ques
tion Is, Shall tt be done happily or un
happily? Much of It is today done un
happily. Th new religion will contrib
ute powerfully toward the reduction of
this mass of unnecessary misery, and will
do so chiefly by promoting good-will
among men.
A paganized HebrewChrlstianlty has
unqiie,sl,lnifl,hly. made much, of personal '
sacrifice as a religious' duty. The new
religion will greatly qualify the supposed
duty of sacrifice, and will regard all sac
rifices as unnecessary and Injurious, ex
cept those which love dictates and Jus
tifies. "Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends." Self-sacrifice is not a good or
a merit in itself; It mutt be Intelligent
and loving to be meritorious, and the
object in view must be worth its price.
Giving up attractive pleasures or labors
In favor of some higher satisfaction or
some engrossing work Is not self-sacrifice.
It is a renunciation "of inferior or
irrelevant objects In favor of one superior
object: it if only the intelligent Inhibi
tion of whatever distracts from the main
pursuit or the worthiest task. Here again
the new religion will teach that happi
ness goes with duf.fulness even in this
world.
All the T?lls-ion9 have been, to a greater
or less cxi?nt. uplifting and inspiring, in
the sense that they raised men's thoughts
te some power above them, to some being
or beings which -hed more power and
more duration than the worshipers had.
When kings or emperors were deified
they were idealized, and so lifted men's
thoughts out of the daily round of their
ordinary lives. As the objects of worship
became nobler, purer and kinder with the
progress of civilization, the prevailing re
ligion became more stimulating to mag
nanimity and righteousness.
Will the future religion be as helpful to
tha spirit of man? Will it touch his Im
agination as the anthropomorphism of
Judaism, polytheism, Islam and pagan
ized Christianity have done? Can it be
as moving to the human soul as the
deified powers of nature, the. various gods
and goddesses that inhabited sky, ocean,
mountains, groves and streams, or the
numerous deities revered in the various
Christian, communions God the Father,
the Son of God, the Mother of God. the
Holy Ghost, and the host of tutelary
saints? All thes objects of worship have
greatly moved the human soul, and have
Inspired men to thoughts and deeds of
beauty, love and duty.
Will the new religion do as much? It
is reasonable to expect that it will. The
sentiments of awe and reverence, and
the love of beauty and goodness, will
remain and will increase in strength and
influence. All the naural human affec
tions will remain In full force.
The new religion will foster powerfully
a virtue which is comparatively new in
the world tne love of truth and the pas
sion for, seeking it, and the truth will
progressively make men free; so that the
coming generation will be freer and
therefore more productive and stronger
than the preceding. The new religionists
will not worjhip their ancestors; but they
will have a stronger snse of the descent
of the present from the past than men
.have ever had before, and each genera
tion will.feel more strongly than ever be
fore its indebtedness to the preceding. .
The to sentiments which most inspire
men to good deeds are love and hope.
Religion should give freer and more ra
tional play to these two sentiments than
the world has heretofore witnessed, and
the love and hope will be thoroughly
grounded in and on efficient, serviceable,
visible, actual and concrete deeds and
a man works out a successful
treatment for cerebro-spinal meningitis
a disease before which medicine was ab
solutely helpless a dozen yeara ago by
applying to the discovery of a remedy
ideas and processes Invented or devel
oped ty other men studying other dis
eases, he decs a great work of love, pre
vents for the future the breaking of In
numerable ties of love, and establishes
good grounds for hope of many like ben
efits for human generations to come.
The men who do such things in the
present world are ministers of the reli
gion of the future. "
Universality Feature.
The future religion will prove, has
proved, as effective .as any of the older
ones In inspiring men to love and serve
their fellow-beings and that is the true
object and end of all philosophies and all
religions; for that Is the way to make
men better and happier, alike the scrv-.
ants and the served.
The future religion will have the at
tribute of universality and of adaptability
to the rapidly Increasing stores of knowl
edge and power over nature acquired by
.the human race. As the religion of a
child is inevitably very different from
that of an adult, and must grow up with
the' child, so the religion of a race whose
capacities are rapidly enlarging must be
capable of a corresponaing aeveiopmeuu
The religion of any single Individual
ought to grow up with him all the way
from Infancy to age, and the same is true
of the religion of a race.
It is bad for any people to stand still
In their governmental conceptions and
practices, or in the organization of their
Industries, or in any of their arts or
trades, even the oldest; but it is much
worse for a people to stand still la their
religious conceptions and practices. Xow,
the new religion affords an' indefinite
scope or range for progress and develop
ment. It rejects all the limitations of
family, tribal or national religion. It is
not bound to any dogma, creed, book or
institution. It has the whole world for
the field of the loving labors of its disi-1-ples,
and Its fundamental precept or scrv
lceableness admits an infiinte variety and
range in both time and space.
It Is very simple and therefore possesses
an Important element of durability. It is
the complicated things that get out of
order. Its symbols will not relate to sac
rifice or dogma; but it will doubtless have
symbols 'which will represent Its love or
liberty, truth and beauty. It will also
have social rites and reverent observ
ances; for It will w-ish to commemorate
the good thoughts and deeds which have
come down from former generations. It
will have its saints; but its canonizations
will be based on grounds somewhat tew.
It will have its heroes but they must
have shown a loving, disinterested, or
protective courage. It will have its com
munions with the Great Spirit, with the
spirits of the departed and with living
fellow-men of like minds.
Working together will be one of its fun
damental ideas of men with God, of men
with prophets, leaders "and teachers, of
men with one. another, of men's intelli
gence with the forces of nature. It will
teach only such forces of nature. It will
teach only such uses of authority as are
necessary to secure the co-operation of
several or many people to one end: and
the discipline it will advocate will be
training In the development of co-operative
good will.
Will such a religion as this make prog
ress in the twentieth century world? You
have heard In this Summer school of the
ology much about the conflict between
materialism and religious idealism, the
revolt against long-accepted dogmas, the
frequent occurrence of waves of reform,
sweeping through and sometimes over the
churches, the effect of modern philosophy,
ethical theories, social hopes and demo
cratic principles on the established
churches altogether by a large propor
tion of the population in countries mainly
Protestant.
You know, too, how other social organ
izations have, in some considerable meas
ure, taken the place of churches. Millions
of Americans find In Masonic organiza
tions, lodges of Oddfellows, benevolent
and fraternal societies, granges and
trades unions, at once their practical . re
ligion and the satisfaction of their social
needs. So far as these multifarious or
ganizations carry men and women out of
their individual selves, and teach them
mental regard and social and industrial
co-operation, they approach the field and
functions of the religion of the future.
Tha SjlIlnvUiftta. Christian 3eien.tla.tx
and mental healers of all sorts manifest
a good deal of ability to draw people
away from the traditional churches and
to discredit dogmas and formal creeds.
Nevertheless, the great mass of the peo
ple remain attached to traditional
churches, and are likely to remain so
partly because of their tender associa
tions with churches in the grave crises of
life, and partly because their actual men
tal condition still permits them to accept
the beliefs they have inherited or teem
taught while young. The new religion,
will therefore make slow progress, eo fae
as outward organization goes. It will,
however, progressively modify the creeds
and religious practices of all the existing;
churches, and change their symbollem
and their teachings concerning tile con
duct of life. Since its chief doctrine 1'
the doctrine of a sublime unity of sub-i
stance, force and spirit, and Its chief pTe-j
cept is, be serviceable, it will exert aW
strong, lasting Influence among men.
Signs of Union. '
i
Christian unity has always Toeeni
longed for by devout believers, but
has been sought in impossible ways.
Authoritative churches hive tried t
force everybody within their range to
hold the same opinions and unite irt'
the same observances, but they hava
won only temporary and local successes,!
As freedom has increased In the
world, It has become more and move
difficult to enforce even outward con
formity: and In countries where church,
and state have been separated, a great
diversity of religious opinions and
practices has been expressed In differ
ent religious organizations, each of
which commands the effective devotion
of a fraction of the population. j
oiuuo i ib uei lain mai iiicu
steadily gaining more and more free
dom in thought, speech and action, civ
ilized society might as well assume that
it will be quite impossible to unite all
religiously-minded people through any
dogma, creed, ceremony, observance, otr
ritual. All these are divisive, not uni
ting, wherever a reasonable freedom
exists. The new religion proposes as a
basis of unity, first, its doctrine of an
Immanent and loving God, and secondly,
its precept, be serviceable to fellowrnen.
Already there are many signs In th
tree countries of the world that differ
ent religious denominations can unite 'u
good work to promote human welfare.
The support of hospitals, dispensaries
and asylums by persons connected with,,
all sorts of religious denominations, ths
union of all denominations in carrying
on Associated Charities In large cities
the success of the Young Men's Chris
tian Associations, and the numerous ef
forts to form federations of kindred
churches for practical purposes, all tes
tify to the feasibility of extensive co
operation In good works.
Again, the new religion cannot create
any caste, ecclesiastical class, or ex-l
elusive sect founded on a rite. On these
grounds It is not unreasonable to lm-;
agine that the new religion will provej
a unifying Influence and a strong rein
forcement of democracy. 1
Whether it will prove as efficient t
deter men from doing wrong and t
encourage them to do right as thai
pre-alling religions have been. Is a.
question which only experience cam
'answer. In these two respects neltho
the threats nor the promises of tlia
older religions have been remarkably
successful In society at large. Thej
fear of hell has not proved effective!
to deter men from wrong-doing, and)
heaven has never yet been described
In terms very attractive to the aver
age man er woman. Both are IndeecJ
unimaginable.
The great geniuses, like Dante andi
Swedenborg, have produced only fan-.:
tastic and incredible pictures of either
state. The modern man would hardly
feel any appreciable loss of motive)
power toward good or away from evil
if heaven were burned and hell
quenched. The prevailing Christian!
conceptions of heaven and hell have)
hardly any more Influence with edu
cated people in these days than OlymV
pus and Hades have. The modern,
mind craves in immediate motive or
leading, good for today on this earth.
The new religion builds on the actual
experience of men and women, and of
human society as a whole. The motive
powers it relies on have been, and are. .
at work in Innumerable human lives :
and Its beatific tslHlons and its hopes
are better grounded than those of tra-i
dltional religion, and finer because
free from all selfishness, and from the
Imagery of governments, courts, so
cial distinctions and war.
Finally the 20th century religion I
not only to be in harmony with the
great secular movements of modern so
ciety democracy, individualism, social
Idealism, the zeal for education, the
spirit of research, the modern tendency
to welcome the new, the fresh pftwers
of preventive medicine, and the recent
advances In business and Industrial eth
ics but also in essential agreement
with the direct, personal teachings of
Jesus as thej are reported In the gos
pels. . The revelation ho gave to man
kind thus becomes more wonderful
than ever.
Texas Politics Sizzling.
Baltimore American.
"Texas is already in the throes of a
heated gubernatorial campaign, although,
the election day Is over a year distant."
said Colonel J. M. Jarbol, of El Paso,
at the Butaw House.
"There are at prewent 11 candidates
In the field, and more dark -horses than,
could be corraled in a 10-acre field. The
strongest two men so far of the lot are
Attorney General Davidson, of Galves
ton, and Hon. Cone Johnson, of Tyler.
Davidson is very strong with the peopl
because of his succfsaful prosecution of
the Waters-Pierce Oil Company. He It
was who fnreed It to quit the State after
payment of the biggest fine ever collect
ed under the antitrust laws of any State.
Davidson and Senator Bailey are bitter
enemies, and there is no doubt ahe Sen
ator will do his best to keep the Gal
veston man out. of the nomination. But
Bailey 1s not the power he once was in.
the State, and his word does not carrji
the weight it did of yore."
Bepuhllcs Are rngratefiil.
New York Evening Sun.
I crossed the UKly ocean.
Tea. I crossed the URly sea.
I thouR-ht the world would hold its breath.
And wait for news of Me.
(A dollar for my shortest word)
But. oh. and oh, the shame!
Though I am pone
The woald wafts on
And doos It Just the aame!
Bo. wurra. wurra. wtirra.
A.re my short and urly rries.
I'm onlv shootinir monkeys
In their short and ugly eyes.
My photogra'plis haw fallen flat; my words
no more inspire
Tha world no lonser trembles at my short
and ugly Ire.
They're getting on without ma. ara tha Tak
ers and tha mire
And V-m learning that republics are un
grateful. Oh. nature-faking Pr. Conk!
You found the pole, you say?
How could you do a thing like that
When I was far away?
The focua of the longitudes
Is where I chanca to ba.
If you'd a mind
The pole to find 4
You should have lookHl for Ma. t
0, wurra, wurra, wurra
Are my nature-fakinir cries.
I'm only shooting monkeys
In their nature-faking eyea.
Tha doctor gels his picture In. Of Me
there's not a line.
If I wer.? home I'd soak John D. a billion
dollar fine,
And ao I'd get my picture In till home
ward cajne the kino
But I'm learning that tenubllcs are ba- '
- grateful. . f