Article November 30, 1899 Issue

Editorial Comment

Pottsville (Pa.) Daily Republican

Religion is inherent in every human breast. The anthropological student shows specimens of the gods made and worshiped by the North American Indian. The Aztecs of New Mexico, who possessed many of the fine arts of civilization, were not alone in the worship of gods made of iron and silver. History and mythology tell of the worship of the elements, thunder, lightning, fire, and water, and their representatives among the mythological deities that peopled the air and seas. The Scriptures narrate the idolatrous practices of the Jewish tribes of Israel. The great King Xerxes participated in the Druidical grove worship, and through it fell in love with a tree, committing all sorts of absurdities. The Chinaman has his Joss worship, the Hindoostanee his hideous idol with all the mortifications of the flesh and sacrifices to Juggernaut. The worshipers of the false prophets Buddha and Mohammed and not the least, the South Sea Islanders, with their orgies and human sacrifices to appease the wrath of their gods, all and more than these show that worship in man is inborn. He must "make his adoration" before or to something, even if, as in the civilized type, it is himself.

The church at home and abroad is doing much toward evangelizing the world, and the thoughtful see in the not far distant future the day when there will be but one church and one religion under one God, the Lord of Hosts, great and mighty. The Churchman inquires what creed the Universal Church will partake of, and each exponent of doctrine and form, in imagination and hope clothes it in his favorite garb of worship. At this stage of Christian progress it is impossible to foretell more than that the Universal Church will be founded upon the best elements of all combined, and the fundamental truths of the religion founded by the God-man Jesus Christ, while upon earth.

The rapid spread and remarkable growth of the new sect of Christian Science the last few years in the large cities shows that people are ever in the search of the same old Gospel truths, clothed, though they may be, in a new garb of thought. This interest in Christian Science demonstrates that it must at least be accorded a hearing among the factors in directing thought and bearing the ills of life with a philosophy that something more than mere will power dominates.

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