The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 1, 1903, Page 6

;4 HIS is a question often asked of late, but to which a satls- factory answer can hardly be given. That it should be asked and answered in the affirmative by those whose view of religious truth is bounded by the narrow horizon of the Hebrew Scripture: not surprising. For we men and women of the twentieth century are in the midst of a great and portentous advance of the scientific spirit, along b hole line of discovery, which has never been equaled eory of evolution, great as its difficulties are, , be true than that of special creation, and sesis: The discovery of records which carry nd for thousands of years,”and of flint of years, have given men of to-day ce in the great drama of life than was ood to have taken place, ch our fathers believed. world ‘was und es, which have been tried by often with revolutionary re- pected; Does Science Destroy Faith? these es C 1 than all must be added the ce of natural law, growing s are, as it were, in a state of Great;and unsus- ever, at least in se of the electric n our every-day f hithertc is to the cure of Now it is >f the conser- period without t few decades nderful apable to the be- for the d recent spec 1 is to them what in organ- >Stroxvxg'holds of Unbelief. se¢ cC not surprising if relig- al or® speculative element, is It'is at both extremes of the f ways in wledge of 1 little e hope, touched it X the speculative diffi- the low It is su course through , salvation consecrated ge of life from the eater skepticism to- e was under the res- that it is not the mere and religious people be- sult of a vagu of modern ver classes is to sit d so much stress, the ritual of semi-pagan eir place: What is best in by an esthetic wo: stian religion n rifice, the sacr: tal ordi- by a_consecrated hand, have taken hich used to distinguish the relig- bed cetemonial duty is .per- ave early ‘mass on Sunday and to the - round of feasting and ortune. goes on from week to public worship and of all re- ent of ‘the work 1 clergy t there rate no e best change for"the worse i The f‘;i\;al of Faith. oi¢ ‘efforts which are made -for their progress. may be.slow. But what is respect? Certainly whatever may not “deficient in . religious faith: Indeed . in. exces’ rat} t rw(”an American paper, well printed g It is the organ of the Restored st held the third feast of Tabernacles. deep in the unculti d"count t 1 out is now a flourishing religi nts and growing rapidly.. To acrommod:te t}‘:eou?n:::;:ind nts tabernacles have been built in various parts of the Statcgs ; g in Madison square, New York, js of the ressive” architecture, with its.immense and iloh-in Zion City, though less pleasing and f | | i | Seventhv TalK to Parents. S}‘(he <hild grows older he will d?scovcr that his success and appiness, .both at home and in school, depend upon prompt obedience. As he grows to manhood he will learn tht vhe cannot live peacefully unless he is willing to yield obedience, not only to the authority in the family, but to that in the school and the community as well. One of the greatest of all parental responsibilities, then, is that of fix- ing in every child the habit of unquestioning obedience to proper authority, The time may come in the life of every child when not only the happi- ness but even the life of the child may depend upon implicit obedience. Nearly every one can recall instances when such has been the case. Few there are who do not know of many cases where a child would have been saved much pain had he learned to obey. If it be granted that obedience must be secured, the question will arise as to or not it should be obtained through fear. This is the lowest form of obedience. It is the least desirable. In some cases, however, as with young children, this may be the only kind which a parent is gble to secure. It is the only kind of obedience which appeals to many people at any time. The fear of punishment is the only deterrent which prevents many from breaking the laws of God and man. However, no parent should be satisfied to stop with that obedience which is the result of fear of the consequences of disobedience. If it is not replaced by a higher form of obedience there is likely to remain in the child’s heart a latent feeling of hostility, which may some time brezk forth and burn and blast the brightest hopes of the fond parent. 3 Perhaps the easiest way to train young children to habits of obedience is by the use of some certain punishment. This need r.ot be corporal punish- ment It is only necessary that the child should understand that improper acts will certainly be followed by some unpleasantness or disadvantage. Much can also be accomplished by a proper use of rewards. This is a more difficult plan than the last mentioned. It requires more skill, better knowledge and greater delicacy of perception and discrimination. Even better results will be secured by the careful use of such higher incentives as will @ppeal to the child. S Great care must be taken lest obcdieqce appear to be bought This is the great danger in the use of any system of rewards. Where a child is rewarded systematically he is not only apt to expect it, but is apt to de- mand the promise of the reward before he is ready to give willing com- pliance with directions. From this there is likely to rcsufila system of brib- ing, which is one of the surest ways to ruin the best of children. Even though it may be necessary to start with obedience through fear or other low incentives, the effort should be made to pass from these to obedience to circumstances. The child should soon learn that it is not merely arbitrary authority to which he is compelled to give compliance. As soon as he is able to comprehend it he should be shown that, not only from him, but from every person, circumstances demand obedience. When 2 child understands that even the parents must be obedient to ecircum- stances over which they have no control, every vestige of antagonism will r.than defect. For which was, as he says, a few years ago - HOW TO TRAIN A CHILD | 1S THEINFLUE AT T THE SUNDAY CALL LEWIS MORRIS b RETICION WiICH GUIDES 77717 | OF THEIR COURSE THROVG ZIFE ™ - APOSITIONVS. WORHK HEL —_— . OW do you conceive of the thing you are doing day by day? Do you look upon it as the fulfillment of certain routine duties concerned with a givenepo- sition or as the putting forth of energy in behalf of a special work committed to your hands by a higher power, ‘in .the doing of which your.own best life is developed and something'added'te the wealth of the universe? ~uph g g t These questions are particularly pertinent t this-season of the year when so many are starting out in new occup‘:ioirs,'m when upon the city streets are others looking for something.to do.: icial question is: Are they looking for a position or are they looking fof a work? Upon the face of it most of us would prefer a position. It sounds 8o much more genteel. It suggests an office spmewhat removed from grimy benches or noisy machinery. To be able to say, “John got a * position in New York or Chicago, or in some good concern here at home,” gives a pleasant sense of relief from all responsibility for John, at least for a timie. But' I would rather have it said of a son of mine, “He’s found his work in God's world,” than to have it said, “He’s got a.position. L The difference is riwht here. In.the case of a position one usually builds upon another’s’ foundations. Somebody has worked and plan- “ned and forecasted th¢ future and had the courage of initiative, and you simply enter into his labors. From this point of view, at least, captaing of industry, the men who make work for others, belong among the greatest benefactors of modern society. When to-day a man gets a job or a positioh it usually means that, had not somebody else gone ahead and blazed the way in the' industrial or professional world, he himself would probably stand with idle hands in the market- place lamenting, “No man hath hired me.” On the other hand he wha sees before him a definite work, a' new line of investigation, an inven- tion to perfect and patent, a worthy crusade to lead, a wilderness to be made to blossom as the rose, waste places in human life to be re- deemed—men with tasks og their hands like these find life most rest- ful and rewarding. They are the Governor Tafts and the Booker Washingtons and the Lord Curzons. 5% * But what of the people who work all day long with spindle or- spade? Have they also a work to do? Assuredly, every man of us, whether he wear broadcloth or overalls, is bound to leave the world better than he found it. ‘That is what he was sent into it for—not to hug up gold, not get a soft position, not simply to earn wages, but to instill purity, courage. gentleness into his fellows, in the spirit of that great Workman who said, “I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. The night cometh, when no_man can work.” = - < THE PARSON. NCE-OF-RELIGION-DECLINING l?y SIR indeed somewhat bizarre in architecture, like the new Roman Catholle ep thedral in Westminster, something between a mosque and a uyuagloz_ue, is equally gigantic and costly. The w!'tc:}e raison d'etre of the new culaxh ::Lo: posed to the “diabolical counterfeit. Christian science, falsely so called’ says Elijah, “is founded on a perpetual series of miracles o( healmx:.h all founded on the fact that the well-known passage from }sa.m\x Sure_ly he (uh borne our griefs,” should have been translated ‘sickness’; that_ in bod;a! for~ sooth so weak, and lives so brief as ours, all disease is the work, not anz- ture, or man’s vices, but of the devilf; and t_hat therefore belief in r?.ct is all that is necessary to work out bodily healing. It is said to be equally efficacious (and the cases are given wizh_portrmu»of the luflcrcg-s). in ner~ vous indigestion, in the whisky and morphxa hab"’,: in severe cold_én the bu{d and in the minor agonies of “a very painful corn. This is considered a suf- ficiently wide generalization to the eye of faith and one amply surfig:e;n on which to found a new religion, which attracts its thousands. Surely it is mot faith that is wanting here, nor any more than jn the pathetic pilgrimage of the Doukhobors, who have recently tramped half clad through the snc au_o! the country northwest to find Christ in Chicago. And yet side by side with this demonstration of archaic faith the “restored Elijah™.uses a prayer of dedication of the awakened soul to the Creator, which it would be difficult to equal by the ritual of any Christian church. Still it may well be that precise scientific habits of thought may make unquestioning _benef in certain dogmas of the Christian church every day more difficult. _Ix is to many a positive re- lief to find that the Virgin-birth of our Lord.is, in the view of some eminent divines, a pious thought of devout minds not esscrjtlyal to true belief.in his mission, rather than an absolute yet incomprehensible fact, and hardly more necessary than the new Romish dogma concerning the b}flhhpf Mary. '_l'o some the visible ascension into the heavens is a matter oqlw..:ch their faith in him does not find itself, nor their belief in a future life. To others the miraculops ‘change by which, in the Eucharist, thc‘ subject i3 changed whils the accidents remain, is one dependent upon old philosophical specu- lations, which to-day have lost their meaning. There i orly one rule to fol- low—where knowledge is able to speak she must prevail; where she cann let us walk by faith, And that is probably the view which commends itsel to the hard-headed but somewhat narrow men of -business, who, after the week’s work, are content net to go to church on Sunday. Science Confirms Belief in God. Yet even among men of science, great as is the recent advance of thelr study, powerful enough as it seems to conquer the future, there are signs that they too are aware that there is a vast undiscovered country, s border- land which their methods cannot at grcsehl reach. The sympathetic treat- ment by Professor Oliver Lodge of Mr. Myers' life-work in the cause of Spiritism as published in a recent review, and the well-known attitude of Sir William grookes. a master of scientific method and ciscovery, toward - cognate subjects, proves, I think, that material philosophy by no means ex- hausts all the possibilities of fruitful speculation. - The new departure, if such it be, deserves all praise and encouragement. The spiritual is by far the larger and more important, side of life to creatures who are here for only . brief season, who know that the end apparently. comes apace, yet who thinle that they were not brought here only to-die. . And many of the recent dis- coveries of science have a quasi-spisitnal side. The mysterious force for which we have no name, which annihilates time and . space, the dark rays which stream unchecked through opaque and . solid matter, and the ~ tele- graphic ether which like faith can remove mountains and can carry un- checked a message of love in the teeth of the hurricane or through the hill side to the ship laboring on the sea, all these mysterious forces. which in de- fiance of old maxims act apparently where they are not, forcibly bring to our minds the idea of power, unseen and ‘omnipotent, governing our bodilv lives, by ¢ = command of an unseén and invisible will, which rules body and spirit too, o th now and hereafter. If it be true that an undevout astronomer Is mad, s ill madder is the man who regards the march of physical and moral laws on the face of the planet on which we are and sees no sign of a supreme and directing hand. And it will be well indeed if the unseen and more spir- itual character of newly discovered natural forces shall -lepd science to a juster "appreciation of the claims of spirit. ” Belief in a Divinity Ineradicable. For after all, however marvelous the discoveries of science may be, it Is but-a-very littleiway that they can carry' us. Suppose that to the present- day’ discoveries-new marvels innumerable were added, which would transport us in a moment from place to place, new methods of aerial navigation, nay, commuriications opened with other planets, while life was made richer and happier for all, these things would very soon become familiar and every-day achievements, which, when they had iost their novelty, would be as common- place as the electric light is to-day.. But beyond this and still unsatisfied would be. theydesire to know what awaits the soul in the long future befors it, after it hds 1eftithe earth and its petty victories and gains far behind There is nothing which science can answer to the yearnings. of the soul for knowledge of the things of the spirit. It may be that it may make old be- liefs obsolete in some instances, or mgy modify them in external and scel- dental respects, ‘while preserving thelr true essence. Only it is not to sl ence alone that we must look for teaching In that which transcends experi ence. “No one indeed has scen God at any time,” nor the soul of man, nor the nature and sanction of right and the eternal, incomprehensible “ought¥ which is nevertheless the rule of life More wonderful even than the starry heaven, as Goethe said, is the sense of responsibility in man That implies “a something not ourselves, which makes for righteousness,” s su- reme being before whose will it is our highest duty ln: hat is all that is necessary to keep alive the religious idea In men’s minds, though they may differ on the details of the particular revelation which in their. view best clothes with life the underlying principle. It may be that from it the mere legendary accretions, mythical and symbolical. may wither in the fierce light of fuller knowledge. But nothing can assall the beflef iny a being that ls infinitely wise and true and good and just; that made ue dis. cern between good and ‘evil and In whose almighty hand sre. the lssues 1di{e]!md death. And while this remains religious t{nflmco can never ecline. generally disappear. The less arbitrary a parent iy youngest children, the greater real power the parent One of the very highest forms of obedience is love of the parent. However, before a child can reach s Ml e v el dolle ,?‘ ed by such & Efi cannot reasonably be expected to have reached g 2 most. luccefl;nfiul 'tl‘:d gets the chihli zg .g love and him is sufficient ucement to lead the child to give cheerful and read) obedience, not only to commands, but also to the implj wish parent Happy indeed the parent wlm;u been thus luc:e:;f:f - es & parent may have some umpleasant cerning which be fecls there should be some explanation At ‘oo toc the loving parent will probably say, “Do this now; [ will S e v later.” g)metimu. with an older child, it may be well to explain the maln reason for requiring certain things. The child will soon learn that it Is the parents’ love which prompts -ur:h’ consideration. Obedience through a sense of duty is the highest Not until a child has reached a very high moral :hnc afi.‘m“u%?."}’o": pect that he will be at all influenced by his sense of what is right Too ‘many parents fail to realize the truth of this statement They therefore ex- pect too much of their children. While they should aim to so train their children that they will be largely influenced by a sense of love and duty, they should not fail to remember that this is asking a great deal of any one, and especially of & child Comparatively few adults ever reach, and I §-> ] i occupy the citadel we may beckon to them and urge them to come up and occupy it with us. Sugely the parent whose children are ready to give t, cheerful obedience because of love for parents or regard for what I: right must be considered most fortunate. Much has been said by others of the necessity of training a child to obey all who are older than himself Is this best? Will it not produce a slav- {sh feeling which will greatly injum the child’s character? Let it be agreed that every child should give respectful consideration to his elders, because of their age and experience. Let all acknowledge that no child should fail to show must respectful reverence toward his grandparents and his other relatives. However, in spite of this, it would seem best that the child should not feel the absolute necessity of giving - implicit obedience to any save his parents or to those acting in their stead. While, with young children, the fear of punishment and the desire for peward must be used to secure obedience, they should be replaced by higher incentives as soon as it is possible to do so. By the time the child has reached the age of six or seven it may be explained that obedience is more necessary in children than in lower animals. They may be told that Jower animals arrive at maturity in a short time, and because of instinct they are able to take care of themselves quite early in life. It is not so with chgd.ren. To them God has given but little instinct. -In place of instinct he has-given them a wonderful power of improvement. In a few days the -young bird is able to leave the nest. and no longer requires the care of the ent bird. Not so with the child. Years of patience, kindness and care are spent in sypplying the wants of children. Many nights of terrible anguish are spent by many in watching over a child before it is safe to trust it to go out to fight life’s battles y such explanations, and by such _other means, the child may be taug# that the experience and wisdom of the parent is certain to be more reliable than that of the child.