The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 3, 1901, Page 3

THE SUNDAY CALL. rmity or definiteness s w ging - res of it 1 they statement as »ss have other t the maker On the other hand, very nature of the ing its truthful- h confidence in the erson making it. This tinctness and also the between these two qualities lief as related to an abstract and trust of confidence s re- TR !\Il NI posed tn a person or institution. Tt is in this relation or junction of the two quall- ties as applled to the idea of a Supreme Being that religlous faith comes into operative existence as a force of restraint, constraint or control in the life of man This position is expressed with fine pre- cisfon In that remarkable old Bible text which says.that “Without faith it is im- possible to please God, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Religious faith belong: some concention of a Supreme a hereafter, or both, but principally « Supreme Being. The qu of the faith will depend in a large r ure upon the conception, which among the races of mankind, cha with the ages of human his sven modified bv ties of individual pers person or class of persons of magnified and glorified hum to another he Is a non-personal combina- tion of law and energy pervading the en- tire universe, and to a third he has vir- tually no other existence than “the better self” in the individual consciousnes Probably to most of the readers of thes. lines God is a beneficent spiritual per: ality with attributes that 1t universal “power, not ourselves, that makes for righteousness, as Matthew Arnold expressed it. What God is in the absolute sense it is probably impossible for any of us ever to know in our pres sent intensity alities. re infinite—the state of being: therefore what he is to us is the all-important raligious matter in olr lives. Our religious faith, if we I any, is that attribute, quality, or capacity of our tual nature by which this idea of God becomes. not only a realit t the acting fngredient, so to speak. moral consciousness. “If we have ar d T say? Yes —and “there’s the rub.” Most people are non-religious, not because they are n naturally endowed with religious capa but because such idea of God as they have is vague, uncertain, dormant, inope: The animal nature monopolizes the con- sclousness. What to eat, drink, and wear how to gratify the animal appetites and provide for the future gratification—these ative matters absorb the attention to the ex- clusion of all else. The ancient adage, “Go. 1s not in all their thoughts™ is still true, and the old condemnation of “the nations that. forget God”. stiil appli The spiritual agency that overcomes this state of things is called faith; and it does its work by verifying and bringing into prominence the idea of God so that tinr God-consciousness is promoted until it be- comes the dominating power in the life. Tuis Is the ideal religious condition, pro- vided our idea of God be of t enno- bling and lofty kind which creates rever- ence, kindles enthusiasm and sustains perpetual ration. Faith of this sort conquers the degrading power o ism and spiritualizes the life, without nec- essarily rendering it u tion to a man’s leg ests. The man whose religion makes him unpractical either h - the wrong sort of reilglon, or he lacks constitutional bala or the advan 1 trainir true function of a rational religion is to lift the moral n a manner that the subj ical nature shall be ac and that the moral and the physical shall act together harmonlously in promoting the well being of the entire life @ il nal- ractical in r material inter- e of so: ure to the throne in such f the phy in peace, ion oo perhaps, not generally realized T w are the varieties and H of the wild fur-bearing @ ew England at the present hew important is the Industry of tr them, vet it is estimated th mals now produce to the trappers in those States an annual income of a n dol- lars Only one of the wild creatures of the woods has been entirely exterminated the wolf. who the great pest to t early settler. The panther is nearly ex- tinet, but the bear, the lynx, and wildeat, the fisher. or black cat; the 1 th otter, the fox, the raccoon, the sable, or marten; the mink, the d the muskrat are wi . the larger and more valuable, or more de- structive. kinds are reduced in numbers, but the smaller ones more than hold their own, and de that the total value of the annual catch in New England is greater now ‘than it was a century ago. In numbers the muskrat exceeds all oth- ers combined, about 200,000 being taken vearly, but its price is very low. In total valuation the fox. skunk, and mink are each high on the list. About 10 bears are annually trapped in New England, 200 wildeats, and fifsy of the Northern lynx. The great prize to the trapper is the silver fox, skins of that ani first class in size and beauty averag paver, al which are For practical purposes this discussion of religious faith would justly be deemed in- smplete if it omitted all reference to the under of Christianity and the records of his life in Palest The life of Jesus, “the Son of man,” was pre-eminently a life of religlous falth—the supreme ex- ample In all ry of that kind of lfe. In him was a perpetual y and um ere blended int at is more. t osites In the f other men appear £ man in the He was so practical because he was so spiritual. His faith completed that magic connection be- tween the human and the divine by which e universe be- for the uplifting t us an ex- walk in his steps.” tialitles of the hu- T been revealed d that faith may be tested and applied needs the perpetual on and ac- the degr: her perpetual forces In ring men down to the ani- mal level. For this reason alone thers should be less restriction upon religious lberty and increased incentives to spir- there are forms of piration n as wel as of other religions limit the freedom of the human nd clip its wings, even while pro- g its liberty and bidding it soar. nefalism, with its childish 1 threats, its material heaven nd hell and its God who is only a mag- nified man, is largely responsible for many of the forms of indifference and antagon- soul claimi th the ideal of and the perfection of The irkable statement sense of man In our image, er our Mke- and let them have dominion.” In century now closing men have made great strides toward the achievement of ““‘dominio! over e laws and forces of material nature. But when this provines . erse has been conquersd nd a vaster region to be explored and sub- nturous spirit of reli- Fueg ST a New England Tndusiry as high that more th in any one year. New E n the protect but tnder this prote Ctter, mink, raccoc nd skunk vary respectively in year to year, as the dictates 500 aplece: but it is seldom a gland beaver esent, as n two or three are captu n the market ates whe entirely fo N thay st of years n they are fashion make demand greater or find a ready market hove time It may be stated. as a general rule, th the ns of the divers wild fur-beart of New. England, 1 British market value (including the so-ca ces) have a higher animals, respect- vely, ns of Americ mals fally ¢ cateh the 1 skill and § trapper. but t minisk en at less ex methods.—Old Farmers' Almanac for