Part 42 (2/2)

the sword of Spirit.

They cannot in the beginning take the att.i.tude, nor adopt the words, that Jesus used at the _end_ of his demonstration.

If you would follow in his footsteps, you must not try [30]

to gather the harvest while the corn is in the blade, nor yet when it is in the ear; a wise spiritual discernment

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must be used in your application of his words and infer- [1]

ence from his acts, to guide your own state of combat with error. There _remaineth_, it is true, a Sabbath rest for the people of G.o.d; but we must first have done our work, and entered into our rest, as the Scriptures give [5]

example.

Scientific Theism

In the May number of our _Journal_, there appeared a review of, and some extracts from, ”Scientific Theism,”

by Phare Pleigh. [10]

Now, Phare Pleigh evidently means more than ”hands off.” A live lexicographer, given to the Anglo-Saxon tongue, might add to the above definition the ”laying on of hands,” as well. Whatever his _nom de plume_ means, an acquaintance with the author justifies one [15]

in the conclusion that he is a power in criticism, a big protest against injustice; but, the best may be mistaken.

One of these extracts is the story of the Ches.h.i.+re Cat, which ”vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end [20]

of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained some time after the rest of it had gone.” Was this a witty or a happy hit at idealism, to ill.u.s.trate the author's fol- lowing point?-

”When philosophy becomes fairy-land, in which neither [25]

laws of nature nor the laws of reason hold good, the attempt of phenomenism to conceive the universe as a _phenomenon without a noumenon_ may succeed, but not before; for it is an attempt to conceive a grin without a cat.” [30]

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True idealism is a divine Science, which combines in [1]

logical sequence, nature, reason, and revelation. An effect without a cause is inconceivable; neither philoso- phy nor reason attempts to find one; but all should con- ceive and understand that Spirit cannot become less than [5]

Spirit; hence that the universe of G.o.d is spiritual,-even the ideal world whose cause is the self-created Principle, with which its ideal or phenomenon must correspond in quality and quant.i.ty.

The fallacy of an unscientific statement is this: that [10]

matter and Spirit are one and eternal; or, that the phe- nomenon of Spirit is the antipode of Spirit, namely, mat- ter. Nature declares, throughout the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, that the specific nature of all things is unchanged, and that nature is const.i.tuted of and by [15]

Spirit.

Sensuous and material realistic views presuppose that nature is matter, and that Deity is a finite person con- taining infinite Mind; and that these opposites, in sup- positional unity and personality, produce matter,-a [20]

third quality unlike G.o.d. Again, that matter is both cause and effect, but that the effect is antagonistic to its cause; that death is at war with Life, evil with good,- and man a rebel against his Maker. This is neither Science nor theism. According to Holy Writ, it is a [25]

kingdom divided against itself, that shall be brought to desolation.

The nature of G.o.d must change in order to become matter, or to become both finite and infinite; and matter must _dis_appear, for Spirit to appear. To the material [30]

sense, everything is matter; but spiritualize human thought, and our convictions change: for spiritual sense

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