VITAL FAITH CARICATURED IN MODERN CREEDS. 307 Creeds are lifeless because, as stereotyped, they have no growth. As growth and life are synonymous, it follows that want of growth or stagnation is the antithesis of vitality and means death. The faith that is spoken of in the Bible is the operation of one omnipresent force of life, growth, and self-development, that is revealed in the actions of those witnesses, or reflecting mediums of the infinite and unseen, whose wonderful deeds are the effect of their mental absorption and assimilation of that vital force which is the parental or monogenetic source of all life and growth in the universe. By such absorption and assimilation of the infinite unseen existence, the faculties of the "seer" are disciplined and exercised in the performance of miraculous deeds, which indeed are superhuman, but not necessarily supernatural, for to argue that whatever is superhuman must therefore and of necessity be supernatural is equal in logic to predicating of man that he can do all that natural processes can effect, of which it would be easy to shew the fallacy by bringing it to the reductio ad absurdum test employed in geometrical reasoning. This is not necessary here, for it is a truth which is slowly but surely making its way into the studies of philosophers, that the human mind in its present stage is not in possession of those mental faculties that will enable it to receive correct impressions of the objective universe. Subjective images and objective realities are therefore very far from positive agreement, that is to say, the universe does not necessarily correspond to man's imagination of it. And the consequence follows, that whenever a glimpse is afforded of those mighty truths which underlie vulgar concepts of phenomenal revelation, there is raised at once a tremendous shout of "O, this is supernatural, this is the purely spiritual;" whereas it is simply a peep through the curtain of self-delusion into the mighty and magnificent ocean of truth that is outside of the range of the fœtal human mind. The conventional meaning attached to the word faith is nothing but a vague and slip-slop belief in what is called the supernatural. An illustration of this popular fallacy is given by Sir Thomas Browne, M.D., in his "Religio Medici," page 16, where he says: "Methinks there be not impossibilities enough in religion "for an active faith; the deepest mysteries ours contains "have not only been illustrated but maintained by syllogism " and the rule of reason. I love to lose myself in a mystery, "to pursue my reason to an O altitudo! It is my solitary "recreation to pose my apprehension with those involved 66 enigmas and riddles of the trinity, with incarnation and "resurrection. I can answer all the objections of Satan "and my rebellious reason with that odd resolution I "learned of Tertullian, Certum est quia impossible est. I "desire to exercise my faith in the difficultest point; for to "credit ordinary and visible objects is not faith but persua"sion." Again, at page 20, the essayist says: "I believe that all this is true, which indeed my reason "would persuade me to be false; and this, I think, is no vulgar part of faith, to believe a thing not only above but "contrary to reason, and against the argument of our proper 66 senses." 66 If it be conceded that the human mind can and does know things as they are in themselves, then the above remarks of Dr. Browne respecting the antagonism of reason and faith may be proper and true. But if, on the other hand, it is to be held that the mind only conceives images of realities as they are conditionally related to its limited faculties of comprehension, then faith in the unseen is not necessarily antagonistic to healthy perception, but is an extension and exaltation of sight, a seeing or prophesying of what exists beyond the ordinary phenomenal revelation of realities to the human mind. With respect to the real faith which all true prophets or seers of the unseen have preached, it is certain that the battle which everyone has with "self" for dependence upon Deity for daily bread and all future wants, is as painful and laborious a discipline of patience and endurance as the severe training required of the combatants who prepare for a prize FAITH AN EDUCATIONAL PROCESS. 309 fight. It calls for mental discipline of sleepless watchfulness, and stretches endurance upon the rack of deferred hopes and thwarted expectations and wishes; practically reversing pre-conceived and inculcated ideas respecting divine aid, by compelling the alteration of prayer for special interference, into seeking for power for patient endurance and submission to the pre-ordained conditions of surrounding arrangements. Over and over again the almost exhausted follower of this faith is strongly tempted to curse his rashness in deserting the broad and beaten track of civilization to climb this uphill and slippery path. The evidence of everyday experience is so strongly opposed to the much less plainly perceived testimony of the omnipresent unseen, that the believer is compelled to doubt. He may be partly reassured, but again he doubts, for he can seize upon nothing that is absolutely certain and lasting. He is kept on the treadmill of unceasing mental labour and enquiry. How is this, says he, that I am led forward by ideas that possess me like the self-delusions of a monomaniac, and yet I cannot be insane, because the insanity of selfdelusion does not doubt as I do, and is not conscious of a will conflicting in idea within its own mind. I can grasp and retain nothing certain like the evidence of everyday life; and in spite of all my eager, almost frantic efforts, I cannot define or quantify the measure of the concept of my belief. The more I see, so much the more I perceive that I am blind; and the more I know, the more I perceive that I do not, and perhaps never can know. The possession of what I have got does but wet my appetite for more. I have fought and struggled on now for this long period of time, and yet I see but too clearly that this is only one step on the road to prepare for two more, and these two steps for four more, and so and so on. Where is this to end? The more of this faith I exercise the more I am called upon to perform. There is no sitting down, and no turning back, for there is the horrid fate typified by the catastrophe of Lot's wife. It is a repetition of the story of the man with the steam leg, up and away again for ever. This road seems to me to be endless, and I begin to think it is. Is it then all a trick, a snare, a delusion, or is it a necessary means to an end, to "draw out" the powers of the mind for endless progression? One thing I can say to you, my friend, if I had known the severity of the discipline required of all students in this mental gymnasium, I do not think that I should ever have entered it. But as Milton says, "Who best Can suffer, best can do; best reign, who first CHAPTER XIV. SACERDOTAL ATONEMENT. THE church theory of atonement by proxy for man's sin is based upon the same foundation of knowledge and responsibility for theological good and evil, and the dogma of man's free will, that obtains throughout the system. If the human mind is an attribute of its material organization, and not an immortal and immaterial entity, then of course the whole theory of atonement by proxy is vitiated and absolutely false. The generally received idea of the fall of man, and the assumed original sin of the human race, is well conveyed in one of Dr. Sharpe's tracts on the Remedies of Homoopathy. He speaks thus: 66 "Man is a triune being, composed of a body, an animal "life, and a spirit. The animal life or vital principle is the "life which he has in common with the lower animals, his spirit is an immaterial and immortal essence, intelligent " and moral, the presiding powers of which are reason and "conscience. Vital principle and intelligent spirit are the "lives breathed by the great Creator into the prepared "body. Since man's fall, all three are subject to derange"ment; the body and vital principle are appointed unto death, the derangement of the one acts upon the other two. "The diseases of the body act through the vital princple upon the mind, and the diseases of the mind act through "the same medium upon the body. These are the only "instances we are cognizant of where matter and spirit 66 |