Religion Rationalized Class 73 X 3 7 g . Book. J^S . GoipgM CSHRIGHT DEPOSIT Religion Rationalized Religion Rationalized Intended as an introduction to the writings oj Emanuel Swedenborg BY HIRAM VROOMAN 1918 SAUL BROTHERS CHICAGO 1&§. Copyrighted, 1918, by Hiram Vrooman MG-\ 1918 ©CLA501339 , , v f 4i0 I TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter I WHAT IS TRUTH? And observations on the following related subjects: "The Realm of Truth Located and De fined" "Quality," Method in Thinking" "A Bit of Preliminary Phil- osophy" "Relationship" "Immortality" "Divine Revelation" "The Lord Jesus Christ" "Mans Chief Interest" "The Fact of Reality" "Optimism" "Provision" "Spirit is Substance" "Psychology is Not Spiritual Truth" Chapter II TWO VAST AND LIMITLESS REALMS OF REALITY BUT RECENTLY DISCOVERED Chapter III A WAYSIDE TALK Consisting of observations on the following subjects: "Seeing for Oneself" "What is a Human Being?," "Analogy," "Regeneration and Degeneration," "Happiness and Suffering," "The Universal Good," "Right and Wrong, Good and Evil, Sin" Chapter IV THE OBSCURITY OF TRUTH Chapter V THE TEST QUESTION Chapter VI THE SPIRITUAL SENSE OF SCRIPTURE AMPLIFIED With sub-headings: "Son of Man" "The Second Com- ing of the Lord/' "War" "Forty" "Revelations Concerning Immortality" "The Holy City, New Jerusalem" Chapter VII THE GREATEST OF ALL GREAT MEN Religion Rationalized Chapter I. WHAT IS TRUTH? And observations on the following related subjects'. "The Realm of Truth Located and Defined/' "Quality" "Method in Thinking!' "A Bit of Preliminary Philosophy/' "Relationship/' "Immortality/' "Divine Revelation/' "The Lord Jesus Christ/' "Man's Chief Interest/' "The Fact of Reality/' "Optimism/' "Provision/' "Spirit is Substance/' "Psychology is not Spiritual Truth/' ON the morning of the day of the crucifix- ion, Pilate said to Jesus, "What is truth ?" Immediately preceding the historic ques- tion, Jesus had declared to Pilate: "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth." — John 18:37. "The Truth" TRUTH ! Note well this word "truth" as PECULIARLY employed by Jesus, and note IO RELIGION RATIONALIZED the extraordinary tribute which He paid to that, WHATEVER IT IS, which the word stands for. Was Jesus acquainted with some REAL- ITY which He designated "the truth," or was He paying superlative tribute to some vague and indefinite generality? Unless we can acquire some definite and concrete knowledge concerning the reality represented by the word "truth" as Christ em- ployed it the purpose intended to be served by this book will have failed. Did Christ come into the world to bear wit- ness to the truth of the natural sciences? Evi- dently not. Did Jesus claim to be the original chemist, astronomer, geologist, economist? No. Was Jesus referring primarily to that truth which we call veracity, as distinguished from deceit and falsehood? No. What then was the reality, with which He was acquainted and to which His whole life had born witness which He called "the truth"? Can it be that there exists a distinctive realm of reality, a realm of phenomenal real- ity, the facts of which are distinctively and RELIGION RATIONALIZED II exclusively those of "the truth"— -of spiritual truth? Yes.— Yes! The first step which we will now take, in whatever contribution this book may make in rationalizing religion, will be to locate and define that particular realm of reality in which all facts ,are distinctively spiritual, and the knowledge of which facts is distinctively the understanding of TRUTH. Pilate's question, after centuries of baffled study, is answered in our time! The distinctive realm of reality of which truth is predicated will presently be defined and located. Some preliminary observations, however, will be helpful. Every scientist and intelligent man ac- knowledges that all human knowledge is capa- ble of classification. Certain kinds of knowl- edge, for instance, are classified under the terms mathematics, botany, statesmanship, medical science, and the like. There is no fact but what has its pigeon hole. Boundar- ies, as definite as the geographical ones which distinguish continents, nations, states and the like, also distinguish the areas of knowledge which go by the names of the various sciences, such as geology, astronomy, physics and the 12 RELIGION RATIONALIZED like. The knowledge of spiritual truth is like- wise to be distinguished from all other knowl- edges. The Realm of Truth Located and Defined That particular realm of reality, of phe- nomenal fact, which Christ referred to on the day of His crucifixion as that to which His whole life had borne witness, can be defined so simply and with so few words, that the reader is now cautioned — cautioned! . . . against passing this part hurriedly. Here it is. The realm of truth may be defined as quali- ties in the emotional states and thoughts of human beings— QUALITIES IN ' THE EMOTIONAL STATES AND THOUGHTS OF HUMAN BEINGS!! This is it. Here is the location. Here are the boundaries. Although limited by the boundaries estab- lished by these few and simple words: "QUALITIES in the emotional states and thoughts of human beings," the areas of real- ity within these boundaries will be found to RELIGION RATIONALIZED 13 contain unlimited fields for exploration, in- vestigation and study. The knowledge of truth is the knowledge of these human qualities, including, of course, their relationships to other things. It is noth- ing more and nothing less and nothing else. Quality The word "QUALITY" represents a cer- tain reality, even as it applies to material things, so important and estimable, as to de- serve rank in the highest aristocracy of words. As it applies to human character its position it yet more exalted, for the reason that if we could but distinguish the possible differences of quality in the emotional states and thoughts of men, we would see all of the differences be- tween any conceivable heaven on the one hand, and hell on the other. The difficulty in seeing and studying the different qualities, the good and evil qualities, the harmonious and antagonistic qualities, the constantly changing qualities for weal or woe, in human emotions and thoughts, is in finding the STANDARD OF VALUES in relation to which all values of a human life are to be measured. Suffice it to say, at this point: all 14 RELIGION RATIONALIZED definite and concrete knowledge of spiritual truth is nothing other than the knowledge of the different qualities in the emotional states and thoughts of human beings and in com- parison with a perfect quality or standard which will later be brought to light. Method of Thinking When Columbus discovered America he found a new region for exploration. When Marconi invented a mechanism which gave wireless telegraphy to the world, he demon- strated that he had correctly surmised the ex- istence of a new, or theretofore undiscovered, realm of reality which had invited him to the pursuit of his investigation and invention. Every known realm of reality, or any that is surmised to exist, is at once a challenge to in- tellectual initiative. Qualities in the emo- tional states and thoughts of men is a known realm of reality — they are a realm not simply surmised as existing, but one that is known to be. Scarcely more is known by the world at large about the particulars of it, however, than was known by Columbus about the particulars of the great continent which lay beyond the circumscribed landscape which he viewed RELIGION RATIONALIZED l£ from his vessel. This new realm of reality, the realm of human qualities, is challenging, beckoning to, inviting human intelligence to come to it for investigation and exploration to acquire such riches or values as such added knowledge may prove to be worth. Preparedness is as much a requisite in scientific discovery, geographical exploration, or spiritual study and investigation, as in war. METHOD, therefore, is as indispensable in penetrating the realm of spiritual truth as it was for Marconi to penetrate the electrical status of the spaces surrounding the earth in demonstrating the miracle of wireless tele- graphy; or as it is for an astronomer to make an intellectual round trip of a thousand mil- lion miles in safety; or for a geologist to go back a million years before his birth; or for a chemist to organize an army of inanimate soldiers for scientific conquests. Heretofore, method in spiritual investigation and thinking has been lamentably lacking in theology, and among the representatives of the different re- ligions and sects and denominations. This book is an attempt at pioneer work in the crea- tion of METHOD for acquiring distinctively spiritual knowledge — for ascertaining the 16 RELIGION RATIONALIZED facts of spirit, AS THESE EXIST IN THE NATURE OF THINGS. The stars existed in the nature of things be- fore the telescope was discovered, and the phe- nomena of earth crust formations were here before the science of geology appeared, and chemical relations between substances existed before any chemist made any practical use of any of them. And all these things existed in the nature of things. And, likewise, spirit ex- ists in the nature of things. Qualities in the emotional states and thoughts of human be- ings exist in the nature of things. Who dare say, in these times of startling discovery, that man is permanently barred from finding the method for discovering the facts of the spirit, facts concerning the destiny of man, concern- ing God, immortality, divine revelation, and other fundamental facts which are to be classi- fied as religious or spiritual? Who dare say then that the most fundamental of those things which now are, and have been, matters of re- ligious conviction, faith, hope, aspiration, may not become matters of definite and concrete knowledge? RELIGION RATIONALIZED 17 A Bit of Preliminary Philosophy Did you ever stop to think that in learning even the simplest things of ordinary knowl- edge, the general and universal method is to learn by first experiencing the effects of things in or upon oneself? Through the five doors of the natural senses the objects of the world enter the corridor of ones thoughts, and they there introduce themselves, they force an in- troduction, by means of inflicting one with ex- periences respectively distinctive, and thereby the person distinguishes them relatively. He extends to them such courtesies or considera- tion as he chooses according to his judgment or desire or necessity; but thus it is that knowl- edge of natural things comes into one's posses- sion. And, likewise, as will be shown in the following chapters, the method by which one learns of God is by first experiencing the ef- fects of Him in or upon himself, and then by perceiving that these effects are distinctively those from God. It ought to be remarked here that only a portion of a man's experiences are caused from without by worldly objects entering by the five ways of the senses. Some experiences l8 RELIGION RATIONALIZED are caused from within by spiritual objects which impose thoughts and emotions by in- terior "influx." How otherwise account for the persistency of objectionable thoughts and feelings? A large portion of our emotions and thoughts are produced by an interior spir- itual environment by the method or by means of "spiritual influx." Relationship We will delve a little deeper in this bit of preliminary philosophy. RELATION- SHI P, as all know, means nothing less than that everything is affected by everything else. For instance, if any speck of dust should sud- denly become annihilated, the status of every- thing else in the universe would become some- what changed on that account. Any effect that is produced by one thing upon another, which one can detect, enables him to know something about one or both of the two objects. But a person can never detect any effect of one thing on another, except by his first becoming notice- ably affected by one or both of them. It is true, of course, that we do not detect, that is, take notice of the majority of the in- numerable effects produced in or upon us by RELIGION RATIONALIZED 19 outside agencies, such, for example, as by the atmospherical pressures upon our body or by every one of the hundreds of millions of other people in the world. They are too numerous. We would not have time, for one reason, to give even passing thought to every one of them. But, philosophically speaking, we know that it is conceptually possible to learn of anything that is related to us or that affects us, and to learn of it by the method of first noticing the effects which are the ultimation of its relationship. Therefore, if, in the na- ture of things, there is a God, we are forced to acknowledge that relationship exists be- tween Him and man. If, in the realm of re- ality, God is ; if God and man are two realities, the relationship between them means that they affect one another. Therefore, the method by which we should endeavor to acquire a knowl- edge of God is by detecting and noting and interpreting those distinctive experiences in our own lives, which can be established as ef- fects of His relations to us. This method will be in keeping with the manner of learning whatsoever we know about anything. We will show later that the effects produced by God in or upon us, those which can be detected and 20 RELIGION RATIONALIZED distinguished as such, and afterwards studied and interpreted, are those which bring to light contrasts and distinctions in the qualities of our emotional experiences and thinking. There has always been a class of agnostics who have affirmed that even if an infinite God exists we can not know it, for the "self evi- dent" and "sufficient" reason, as they say, that the finite mind can not comprehend the in- finite. The observation in the preceding para- graphs is a complete refutation of this pre- sumptuous assertion of agnostics. The finite mind can detect the effects in or upon itself of outside realities, even though they be the effects from the infinite. To be sure the fin- ite mind can not comprehend the infinite, but it can comprehend how it is being affected in some particulars by the infinite. The finite mind can not comprehend so much as a grain of sand, because infinitessimal things reside within even so small an object as a grain of sand. But when the grain of sand is blown into one's eye and he feels that particular ef- fect; or when it is utilized in the manufacture of glass which prevents the sand from being blown into one's eye, he learns a few things RELIGION RATIONALIZED 21 — — aww— wp i — — — p— i i. i . 1 . i ■ . , i , , ii i 1 1 i . . ' i .' i 'w i ii i i 1 1 1 — — — qw about the grain of sand which are true so far as they go. There must be a point of beginning in our learning about anything, and it is likewise so in our learning about God. We first learn a few things about God from effects which we first discover as being from Him in our ex- periences; and, thereafter, we find that the effects produced by Him in our lives or ex- periences are so numerous that we may con- tinue to grow in the knowledge of God throughout this life and then on forever. It will be shown further on that the particular effects of God in us, which can be distin- guished, are those by which the qualities of our emotional states and thoughts are changed and improved. Our emotional states are as real as sense impressions. They are matters of experience, and hence matters of definite knowledge to reside in the memory and to be used as materials for constructive thinking and reasoning. Enough for this bit of philos- ophy at this time. Immortality Before this great word IMMORTALITY all of us stand, at secret intervals, with fear 22 RELIGION RATIONALIZED and trembling. "If a man die shall he live again?" God and immortality are two of the several biggest words in the religious or the- ological vocabulary. Where can any intrinsic value be conceived of as existing in the litera- ture of any religion, or in the ecclesiasticism of any church, without its identity with the thought and hope of immortality? Therefore, is there a method for investigating the ques- tion of immortality? The pages which follow will present this method. For the preliminary purposes of this first chapter, however, a few simple observations upon the general subject will be sufficient. The question of immortality is primarily the question of what a man is potentially. The acorn is potentially an oak tree. The tadpole is potentially a frog. The caterpillar is potentially a butterfly. The babe is poten- tially a man. Do there exist within the man those potential emotions and thoughts which are to be the fruitage of a thousand years ex- perience, or of a million years? What is the nature, or what is the mechan- ism or composition, so to speak, of that sub- conscious region of a human being, which either does or does not qualify him for the con- RELIGION RATIONALIZED 23 tinuation of life after the death of the body? If it should be in the nature of things that the composition and mechanism of a human being are such that he can not be annihilated, and that he must necessarily continue to live and to grow throughout eternity, then we might know that a thousand years from now, ten thousand years from now, every man will be experiencing thoughts and emotions differ- ent from any that are experienced now, and representing the ripe fruitage of all preceding growth and experience. Would it not seem as possible to find the trail of such discovery as it has been for the geologist to ferret out fairly accurately some of the earth's conditions of a general nature of a million years ago; or for the astronomer to tell of some of the general characteristics of the phenomenal facts on planets and stars thousands and millions and hundreds of millions of miles away? To what extent then is it possible to acquire a knowl- edge of those deep things which are at present only potential in man, but which, in hundreds or thousands of years, will be among his then conscious experiences? This would be, so far as it should go, knowledge of immortality . 24 RELIGION RATIONALIZED There is needed only the right method for penetrating and investigating, or studying the realm of human potentiality, to learn of con- crete facts concerning immortality, because human potentiality and immortality are the same thing. When we know that qualities in the emotional states and thoughts of men are the realm of truth, we have taken the first step in discovering the method for studying human potentialities. Divine Revelation The question of the existence of a DIVINE REVELATION is primarily the question of the existence of a spiritual light by which a man is enabled to see spiritual objects and realities — to recognize and distinguish the dif- ferences and the contrasts in the qualities of the emotional experiences and thoughts of human beings. If spiritual realities exist — if qualities in the emotional states and thoughts of men are many, are even opposites and antagonists, are of varying degrees, composing a vast and won- derful realm of phenomenal fact — then the probability is that PROVISION has been made to enable men to see them. This provis- RELIGION RATIONALIZED 2$ ion would be a light as distinctive as the light of the solar sun. (The potentialities of a man are as great and wonderful as a planet.) Men see the natural objects of the world by means of the light of the sun. When the sun goes down at night and is absent, then light dis- appears and the prevailing darkness creates a condition which prevents men from seeing material objects. The visible objects of the world at dawn declare the presence of light, and the light itself proclaims the sun to be its source. No worthy purpose can be served by my simply asserting that there is a divine revelation, and that it is to be found in the Bible. But if the contents of this book should awaken any of its readers at their spiritual dawn, and they should see for the first time a realm of spiritual objects by a light that most manifestly emanates from the Bible as its source, its purpose in respect to the ques- tion of a divine revelation will have been accomplished. The Lord Jesus Christ THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. To say that Christ was divine; that he was the son of God; is scarcely more rational than the speech 26 RELIGION RATIONALIZED of a parrot unless behind these words there is understanding of some of the general distinc- tions between the Divine and the finitely hu- man. Without some essentially true concep- tions of Divinity all affirmations of belief in Divinity are of questionable value. Affirma- tions of this kind, without a foundation of spiritual knowledge, have lead to most fan- tastic speculations and irrational assertions and guesses. For instance, they have led to the belief in the absurdity that God and Jesus Christ are two infinite beings — as if it were possible in the nature of things for two In- finities to exist at the same time! And, again, by affirming that Christ is God, while think- ing of Him and describing Him as to his finite aspect, solely, they reduce the Infinite to the finite and thereby destroy all idea of infinity and remain in ignorance of the infinite and divine Being. That there is only one God, one infinite and divine Being and that He became incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ can be seen to be true only by the aid of that spir- itual light from Divine Revelation which, in revealing qualities in the emotional states and thoughts of men, shows that the Quality of the emotional states and thoughts of Christ RELIGION RATIONALIZED 27 was absolutely unique, perfect and Divine — was the Quality of God Himself — the very quality to be recognized as the STANDARD with which all other qualities in the realm of human emotions and thoughts are to be compared and judged. This subject will be pursued at length in succeeding chapters. Man's Chief Interest WHAT IS MAN'S CHIEF INTER- EST? Is there any special or particular in- terest which, in the nature of things, and on account of what is potential in man, could be truly said to be man's chief interest, in rela- tion to which the values of all other interests are to be estimated? If man is immortal his chief interest is something entirely different from what it is if he is only mortal. Immortality and mortality are TWO POINTS OF VIEW, as different as any two locations in the world that might be selected. These two points of view are those of re- ligion and science, respectively. Science defines man's chief interest from the point of view of mortality. The radius of its vision, from its point of view, circum- 28 RELIGION RATIONALIZED scribes the following chief interest: Man's physical and mental well being during his temporal (and ephemeral) stay in this world. From the point of view of immortality, man's chief interest is this : Man's eternal well being and prosperity. A man's motives, intentions and conduct throughout life are manifestly vitally and or- ganically related to whichever of those two points of view he adopts as his own. And mo- tive, intention and conduct determine the de- sirable or undesirable destiny of every man. From the strictly scientific point of view, or that of mortality, the value of every scientific fact is estimated by what it contributes to man's physical and mental well being here and now. The use or abuse of things, accord- ing to the scientific estimate of values, is de- termined by the effects of them upon his tem- poral interests. Even the pragmatic philoso- phy, which declares everything to be true just to the degree of its practical working or use, recognizes no higher standard of values than man's earthly welfare; and the practical work- ing or use of a thing is, hence, determined by the effect of that thing upon man's worldly prosperity. RELIGION RATIONALIZED 29 The most successful men in this world in just temporal ways are those who have been wise enough and sufficiently self controlled to make temporal sacrifices for the sake of fu- ture gains. If man is immortal, may it not be that there are some forms of sacrifice which continue throughout the length of this life which contribute to the gains and success to be enjoyed in the life which follows this one? The same degree of wisdom and self control as that displayed by the worldly wise man just alluded to, when employed by one whose point of view is immortality instead of mor- tality, will revolutionize the motives, inten- tions and conduct and lead to a fruition of personal character and power and capacity altogether different from those to be enjoyed by others. What is meant by regeneration and degen- eration in a human life? What is meant b^ character and the lack of character? What is meant by growing into the very best of what it is possible for one to become and by turn- ing out to be the very worst of what it may be possible to become? Here man's chief in- terest stands out clearly by contrast. And his chief interest is seen to be closely identified 30 RELIGION RATIONALIZED with the standard of all values. Evidently the standard of all values is to be determined by that which is discovered to contribute most effectively to the very best outcome to life that is potentially possible. Therefore, those conceptions of honesty, justice, morality, vir- tue, purity and righteousness, which, in the nature of things, contribute most effectively to a man's best possible fruition, would be, according to the standard of all values, right and good. The same standard would declare that those other conceptions of these things, which divert the direction of a man's develop- ment away from his highest possible attain- ments or to the extent of their diverting in- fluence, are bad, evil and wicked. Hence, in determining what is best for ourselves as to any religious attitude we may assume, the question is not one of any theory or church dogma, but it is a question of WHAT IS — and of finding it out. If the standard of all values comes to light in wonderful detail for practical application and direction in the Qualities of Christ's in- numerable experiences then something of Christ's own nature will be brought to light by the same light. religion rationalized 31 The Fact of Reality Reality is. Think of it! Reality is. Again, think of it!! Reality is. Again and again and again, think of it!!! When I first thought of it I was surprised. When I began to think of its significance I experienced disturbed astonishment. Continued meditation upon the simple fact of reality has at times awakened impulses and emotions of indescribable amazement. I was surprised at first because absolute nothing is the antithesis of reality; and, nat- urally, nothing seems far more probable than something. The fact that reality is, is absolute proof that reality has always existed because some- thing can not come from nothing. The detection of my own personal con- sciousness is my first detection of the existence of reality. This is at a point on the outermost rim, as it were, of reality. If the intelligence should be permitted to penetrate into the depths of 32 RELIGION RATIONALIZED ■ UUU-U-U-i-MMIIIJlLll l ll HJLiilUUiUU -LC-UJ « H i I '■ H ' I I I 'J I. I I ItH lli I . I III ■ 111 -' I reality, what are the wonders that might come to light? Whatever one's notions may be about a per- sonal God, he knows that he himself as a finite man did not create himself. He is the work- manship of self existent Reality. Other mani- festations of the workmanship of eternal Re- ality also declare their respective existences. One bows before the reality of sun and stars, of earth and material forces, of innumerable other human beings and of his own inexplica- ble nature pregnant with both ominous and sublime possibilities. The detection of one's own personal con- sciousness is, as said before, the first knowl- edge of reality. Personal consciousness is a LIVING thing. This is proof that LIFE is identified with Reality. Whatever the eter- nally self existent Reality may be in Itself, one thing we know as a self evident fact and that is that life is identified with It because human life is derived from It. Therefore, something superior to finite human life dwells in the realm of self existent Reality from which finite human life derives its existence. There is not an iota of evidence to even sug- gest that a rock has personal consciousness. RELIGION RATIONALIZED 33 And yet a rock is one manifestation of Reality. So is the sun. And so are all the material and inanimate things of the world. But their functions? They have all contributed to the growth of the conscious lives of men! They live, as it were (have a semblance of life), in their use, and the end of their use is living men. The self conscious rational lives of men are the end to which all the things of inaminate nature are seen to contribute as the function which, by nature, they severally fill. Then, whatever a man may be, per se; whatever he may stand for in his organic re- lation to self existent Reality, one thing is manifest, and that is that his relation to ma- terial nature is that of lord to servant. Nature is nothing other than finite agency or instru- mentality to serve the needs of finite human life. "Is the servant greater than his lord?" Can something come from nothing? Can life be created by death? What then do we see or conclude (when we look upon the various aspects of Reality as they appear in this world, the very first one of which is one's own personal conscious- ness which reveals the fact of finite human 34 RELIGION RATIONALIZED life), as to the nature of self existent Reality? Is "It" as inanimate as the sands? Or is It as alive as a man? It cannot be both. Evi- dently nothing is lacking in the infinite and self existent Reality which we discover here as some of its aspects. Its own personal con- sciousness can be nothing less than the per- sonal consciousness It bequeaths to human be- ings. Its wisdom can be nothing less than the wisdom of men derived from It. Its emotional experiences can be no less alive than those of men, which come from It. Note furthermore that its power and facili- ties within Itself for providing for the grow- ing needs of living human beings can not be less than the ability to create the instrumental inorganic agencies of the material world. The uses served by inanimate things represent the living powers of Reality for achieving Its ends. The existence of the inanimate sands, already referred to, might seem to be a mani- festation of something equally as dead in that from which it originated — in Reality — if it were not that the function or use of the sands, as that of serving human life, which is also derived, belies such a conclusion. If the func- tion or use of human life was to serve the RELIGION RATIONALIZED 35 sands such conclusion would be permissible. There is a semblance of life in the function or use of that which in itself is dead. The function or use of the sands or other inani- mate things proves that they are manifesta- tions of facility within Reality. Reality, in other words, contains within Itself all facil- ity, all equipment, all instrumental agency for making Itself effective and these things are manifested in the inorganic things of nature. Reality, then, can be nothing less, nothing inferior to, all that we call human life, and It must be inclusive of all the things in the created universe that serve human life. Self existent Reality, then, is either Human or Superhuman! This is a logical conclusion. It paves the way for more detailed information about God. Optimism These observations unearth the very deep- est laid foundations which underlie philo- sophic optimism. The function of everything in Nature from the sun to the grain of sand is to serve the needs of finite human life; whereas the func- tion of a human being is to fulfill a purpose 36 RELIGION RATIONALIZED extending beyond the uses or services per- formed by material Nature; a purpose which is the end or aim for which Reality Itself ex- ists! Reality, whose existence is a certainty, whose significance amazes us, from which everything and all things of the world and universe are derived, has qualified you and me to fill a function, to serve some end, to perform a use; so great, so grand, so glorious, so inconceivably important as to represent Its design or purpose in achievement, and to be to It Its satisfaction. Here is honor transcending all honor heretofore defined by worldly station. When one sees and knows that he, as a free moral agent and as a rational being endowed with personal responsibility, is superior to material Nature in the sense of being the ob- ject which Nature is designed to serve; and that he represents the design or purpose in achievement of Reality, he comes into a state wherein the deepest and truest humility fel- lowships with the sublimest self confidence and assurance. The consciousness of responsi- bility in the light of one's towering import- ance is the underlying cause of all true hu- mility and repentance, and this is because the RELIGION RATIONALIZED 27 plain and simple meaning of the word respon- sibility implies the free choice between suc- cess and failure, between reward and pen- alty. Every man is certainly endowed with honor and station and power far superior to anything of the kind that is ordinarily thought of or coveted. Provision As strangers in this strange world, receiv- ing introductions to one notable fact after an- other, as we slowly acquaint ourselves with our conditions and circumstances, one of the several greatest of all surprises is that at find- ing the marvelous and wonderful PROVIS- ION for our needs. Evidently our advent was anticipated by something alive within or be- hind or over Nature, because Nature has of- fered herself wholly and without reserve as a perpetual sacrifice to the needs of men. Not only do we find the materials for food, clothing and shelter at hand. These are rudi- mentary. But every science is a distinctive volume of testimony to the fact that all the substances and forces of the world are noth- ing other, per se, than provision for the needs of men. The secreted deposits of coal, the 38 RELIGION RATIONALIZED buried reservoirs of oil and gas, the mountains of iron are as manifest and as significant and as suggestive as the warehouses and granaries of human workmanship. There is light for seeing and sound for hearing. The powers and forces latent in chemical relationships have already multiplied the muscular power of a man's right arm by a billion. The very status of magnetic and electrical force has been so gracious and condescending as to practically obliterate time and space in intercommunica- tion among men, to say nothing of its other benevolences. Such details could be given indefinitely. Another surprise, almost equal to that at finding such prodigality of provision for us, is the fact that so little of it was used by for- mer generations and that the present genera- tion is using comparatively so much. We are startled at the signs of the times! The human race has been exploiting the re- sources (provision) of the world for untold thousands of years. There was a time in my youth, in taking this fact for granted, when I assumed that opportunity for me in the realm of achievement was meager for the reason that the thousands of millions of my predecessors RELIGION RATIONALIZED 39 had had the advantage of me in point of time and had appropriated the best of what there was. Alfred Russel Wallace's announcement gave me a new point of view. This famous scientist showed that during the one hundred years preceding the time of his writing the progress of material civilization had advanced further than during all preceding centuries of known history. And since that pronounce- ment radium and the x-ray have been dis- covered; wireless telegraphy, aerial and sub- sea navigation and the automobile have be- come commonplace facts. Progress since then has been speeding up at a marvelous pace. Have there been no corresponding develop- ments in religion? IS THERE NO PROVISION ANY- WHERE FOR THE NEWLY DEVEL- OPING SPIRITUAL NEEDS OF MEN? If it is true, as has been shown, that nature is beneficent — that she is, per se, nothing other than provision for human beings — we may logically conclude from inference that her gifts and sacrifices are regulated — that she supplies the right thing at the right time ac- cording to the need. And again, from infer- ence, this means that the essential needs of 40 RELIGION RATIONALIZED men in these marvelous times differ from those of men during the centuries that have passed. In a sense then the world is now inhabited by a new type of man. This is indeed a new age in the sense that there is a new manhood. Sufficient has been said to give signifi- cance to the following questions: May it not be that the new type of man of today has spir- itual needs which differ from those of the man of former generations? May it not be that these new spiritual needs call for the ex- ploitation of heretofore unknown storehouses of spiritual provision equal in their surprises to the recent exploitations made by science, invention and discovery? May it not be that the spiritual needs of the man of the new times require knowledge as a substitute for faith, conviction and hope? // so, is there pro- vision at hand for the acquirement of such knowledge? The contents of this book en- deavors to spell yes to these questions. This provision will be shown to be in the "inter- ior" or "spiritual" meanings of Biblical literature. Spirit Is Substance Is it not evident that a human experience is as real as anything outside of human experi- RELIGION RATIONALIZED 41 ences? Is not personal human consciousness as real as a human corpse? or as anything which is incapable of consciousness? Is not life as real as death? Would it then seem start- ling if it were discovered that spirit is as sub- stantial as matter? If this can be demonstrated then human emotions and thoughts and the qualities of them may be dealt with rationally and with the same degree of definiteness as that of sci- entists in dealing with material substances and forces. The prevailing conceptions of human emo- tions and thoughts, of "love" and "truth" in Christendom remind us of the conceptions of heat and light and sound and wind which prevailed a few centuries ago. Heat and light were as mysterious as ghosts. They were vague abstractions. They produced certain effects, contributing at times to happiness and at other times to suffering. Yet they are so intangible as to seem to be in- comprehensible. There seemed to be no method for learning anything definite about them. Sound and wind were two other spirit like apparitions. 42 RELIGION RATIONALIZED Think of what it has meant to science and to the progress of civilization for men to learn the simple fact that heat and light and sound and wind are simply forms of activity in matter! Ten thousand of our best mechanical inven- tions could never have been invented without this discovery!! Man is now far on his way toward domi- nating the powers and forces of nature, but without the simple discovery of this funda- mental fact civilization would now be but lit- tle in advance of what it was centuries ago. Important as this discovery has been to science and civilization, no less important to rationality in religion will be the knowledge that spirit is substance. The religious literatures and theologies of the past are woefully deficient in that they have not dealt with human emotions, loves, affections, human thinking and thoughts in terms of concrete and definite reality. Did you ever stop to think what the rea- sons are for holding that matter is substance? Upon what grounds is the earth said to be substantial? What is substance? RELIGION RATIONALIZED 43 A scientist will take a stone between his fingers and declare that is composed of ma- terial substances. His reasons are that the stone displays certain characteristics or phe- nomena such as size, shape, weight, color, tem- perature, reciprocal relations with other things, and the like. These are practically all the reasons that can be stated in support of the fact that matter is substance. Let us now substitute for a stone some hu- man emotion or experience and note the char- acteristics or phenomena that are displayed by it. Take friendship. Friendship, when awake or active, occupies a relative position in a man's consciousness at a given time. It is a part of an experience. It is surrounded, dur- ing the period of the experience of which it is a part, by other emotions which are more or less awake and active at the same time; such, may be, as pride, fear, covetousness, hope, aspiration. Friendship is either large or small, relatively, according to the space it occupies, so to speak, as compared with that of the other emotions present. It is either heavy or light according to its dominance in its surroundings. For instance, does not friendship outweigh the selfish emotions 44 RELIGION RATIONALIZED .1 I II I I I! I ■ ■ I I I I III present whenever it leads to personal sacri- fice? Is not the color changed when it finds itself betrayed? Betrayal by a friend will change the color of friendship. And again friendship may act upon such a thing as avar- ice or greed as effectively as a chemical acts upon rock when transforming it into gas. This and similar phenomena prove the existence of most marvelous relationships between the re- alities of spirit which cross the plane of con- sciousness, and which, during their stay there, are called by the name of human experiences. It also proves that there is a spiritual chem- istry — relations analogous to those in chem- istry — in the spiritual substances of human emotions and thoughts. Reciprocal relations exist between human emotions and also be- tween human thoughts as between material substances. Thus the fact is brought to light that friendship, which is a reality of the spirit, a human emotion, displays as many character- istics or phenomena in support of the con- tention that it is substantial as does a stone or any other material object. Therefore, from the standpoint of the scientist's own method of reasoning we are as much justified in de- RELIGION RATIONALIZED 45 claring the substantiality of spirit as of mat- ter. This being true the qualities in the states and thoughts of human beings may be studied with an accuracy and certainty equal to those of science. The recognition of the substantiality of spirit is a preparatory step, indeed it is a tre- mendous stride, toward the recognition of a substantial spiritual world or universe into which all persons pass immediately at the time we call death. If spirit is substance then a substantial spiritual world and universe is at once conceivable — a world as absolutely or "discretely" distinct and different from this material world as the human mind is distinct and different from its material body. It is, furthermore, preparatory, as contributing to method in study, to an understanding of some of the general and fundamental characteris- tics of the spiritual world and of the condi- tions of life which prevail there. The sub- stances of the spiritual world have character- istics similar to those we are acquainted with in the human mind. Caution. Spirit is substance but it is not material substance. It is that, whatever it is, that the mind is. 46 religion rationalized Psychology Is Not Spiritual Truth PSYCHOLOGY IS NOT SPIRITUAL TRUTH. Inasmuch as psychology is the science treating of mental phenomena many persons claim that it could easily be so ex- panded as to include all that is rational in re- ligion or theology. For this reason it is im- portant to understand the essential differences between psychology and spiritual truth. The difference is fundamental. It is as clear as that between psychology and chemistry or as between it and mathematics. They are two entirely different things. The essential difference between psychology and theology or spiritual truth may be seen at once, as if by cutting the gordian knot, by noting the one essential thing which psy- chology can not do which spiritual knowledge does do. Psychology can not ascertain or de- fine any of the qualities in the emotional states and thoughts of human beings. Psychology has no method, neither has it qualifications for discovering any method, for determining upon the question of quality in human char- acter. Failing in this it fails absolutely in crossing the border which divides material nature from the realm of spirit. RELIGION RATIONALIZED 47 For the sake of clearness and, possibly, for justice, this contention needs some amplifica- tion. First, we need to understand the mean- ing of the word quality as it applies to hu- man feeling and thinking. The questions nat- urally arise, What is a good quality and a bad one? Where is the line to be drawn be- tween them for the sake of distinctions? Fortunately for our immediate purposes we may note the fact that there is no man living but who has at least rudimentary ideas about right and wrong, good and bad, as these ap- ply to human character. In replying to these questions it is necessary to employ familiar words and phrases, even though, by common usage, their meanings are obscure and some- what misleading. The words "selfishness" and "unselfishness" are two of such words that must be employed for the present purpose. Now, the fact is that the differences between selfishness and unselfishness, as they exist in the quality of human emotions and thoughts, are so great that the real meanings of these two words necessarily continue to grow with every student of spiritual truth as long as he lives. Selfishness in emotion is bad quality and unselfishness is good quality. 48 RELIGION RATIONALIZED As a starting point, however, we may say- that psychology, which is one of the natural sciences and not a spiritual science, can not discover or reveal any distinction whatever between selfishness and unselfishness in the qualities of the emotional states and thoughts of human beings. This being true it can not contribute one iota to the knowledge which contributes to the cultivation of unselfishness in human character. It can not illumine with a single ray the question of personal rewards and punishments, of personal acquisitions and retributions, as these may be the outcome of selfish or unselfish developments in the char- acter. This being true we should pause — at the significance of the fact! Some psychologists will refute this state- ment and point to the fact that their literature employs the words selfishness and unselfish- ness frequently. Yes, psychology has a method by which it determines upon what it claims to be selfish and unselfish qualities. But when this claim is tested in the light of the two standards of value already referred to, then its claim is seen to be only a presumption. This claim is seen to be unwarranted because psychology, the same as every other natural RELIGION RATIONALIZED 49 science, has no standard of perfect quality in human character with which human quali- ties are to be compared. In so far as it claims to have such a standard or method its claims are false. As an illustration let us consider the ques- tion of the quality of that human emotion known as "mother-love". In so far as psy- chology claims to determine the selfish or un- selfish qualities of human affections it affirms broadly and without reservation that mother- love is unselfish. According to any standard which psychology can select this would be true. But according to the standard brought to light by spiritual truth, mother-love is a thing which sometimes is unselfish and at other times selfish. For instance, in the light of the spiritual standard, the mother-love of a woman who has the spirit of a murderess is utterly selfish. But according to psychology and its standard her mother-love would be as unselfish as that of a saintly woman. For further illustration let us consider such emotions or loves or affections as those of friendship, benevolence and their type. Psy- chology says that they are unselfish. In say- ing anything about their selfish or unselfish 50 RELIGION RATIONALIZED qualities it usurps authority where it has none. Friendship and benevolence are at times as selfish as any that can be imagined. Friend- ship and benevolence are essentially unselfish only with those persons whose ruling or pre- dominating love is essentially unselfish. All have seen instances where the friend- ships of evil men have led them to sacrifice the common good for the temporal advan- tages of their friends. And benevolences very often arise out of the basest of motives and are intended to serve the most selfish ends. Many illustrations might be adduced to show that when psychology attempts to dis- criminate between selfish and unselfish quali- ties in human emotions and thoughts it in- dulges in guess work. It is as apt to be mis- taken as correct. This is so because the work of making such discriminations is entirely out- side the realm of its legitimate field. Chapter II. TWO VAST AND LIMITLESS REALMS OF REALITY BUT RECENTLY DISCOVERED In the sense that Columbus discovered a new world and Marconi a new status in the substancies of space, both of which discov- eries opened gates into new areas of inestima- ble treasures for the race, so a spiritual seer living a century and a half ago discovered two vast and limitless realms of reality, treas- ures from which, while somewhat delayed, are destined to enrich the world with a riches never enjoyed heretofore by men. The first of these two vast and limitless realms of reality is the one already described in the preceding chapter and set forth as be- ing, Qualities in the emotional states and thoughts of human beings. This first realm of reality as thus defined is the distinctive realm of phenomena in which every fact is pecu- liarly spiritual and the knowledge of which is distinctively the knowledge of spiritual truth. 52 RELIGION Rx^TIONALIZED In the observations of facts and realities, which we are now and will be making to- gether — I trust to the end of the book — the reader sees as clearly as the writer the simple fact that qualities in human character are a realm in themselves. How great a realm, how vast, how significant is not yet apparent. Such aspects have not yet been reached. In travel- ing, new glories come to view as one pro- ceeds. By way of anticipatory remark, how- ever, it may be said that the spiritual scenery on either side of the trail we are following will have some pleasantly thrilling surprises. Would it, for example, be an astonishment if you should see presently, with intellectual clearness and certainty, such distinctive and wonderful views of spiritual reality as that the realm of truth is the phenomenal aspect of a real world, one that is a veritable universe to be identified with immortality and in which those whom we think of as having died are now living? And if these aspects of the realm of truth should be brought to view by a kind of spiritual X-ray, as it were, generated by a newly discovered mechanism, so to speak, in biblical literature, would your opinions RELIGION RATIONALIZED 53 concerning the Bible or a divine revelation be subject to change or modification? Inasmuch as this book aims to contribute to method in religious study and thinking, and to logical reasoning in spiritual things, it endeavors to develop its own contents accord- ing to logical steps. With this purpose in mind the reader is urged to remember at this point, simply that quality in the emotional states and thoughts of humans are a realm of reality and that it is distinctively the realm or that world wherein all phenomena and all realities are those of spirit and the knowledge of which is the knowledge of spiritual truth. All estimates of values and grandeurs yet to come to light may appropriately be deferred. The Other New Realm of Reality Second only in importance to the new realm of reality described above and which circum- scribes all knowledge of "the truth" — the truth to which Christ's life bore witness — and described as qualities in the emotional states and thoughts of human beings, is an- other vast but distinctive realm of reality which has been but little thought of hereto- fore. It is not even recognized as yet by the 54 RELIGION RATIONALIZED great majority of people, notwithstanding that the fact of its existence is to be one of the greatest and most supremely important facts to be honored and studied by future gen- erations. By giving close attention now the reader will presently see for himself this second new realm of reality somewhat as he might see for the first time the map of some region new to him or see for the first time one of the planets through a telescope. Take note that its importance will not at first be seen. Noth- ing of grandeur will appear in its first aspect. First, the things of the natural world exist. Admitted. Second, qualities in the emotional states and thoughts of human beings exist. Agreed. Third, between any two realities relation- ship exists because all things are related. True. Fourth, relationship between any two reali- ties means that they are somehow, and ac- cording to their natures, reciprocally affected. Each is affected by the other — there is com- munication of some kind between them by which each "gives and takes." This fact is universally believed. RELIGION RATIONALIZED 55 FIFTH (THEREFORE), RELATION- SHIP EXISTS BETWEEN QUALITIES IN THE EMOTIONAL STATES AND THOUGHTS OF HUMAN BEINGS ON THE ONE HAND, AND THE THINGS OF THE NATURAL WORLD ON THE OTHER HAND. Do we still agree? Yes. Then you see in the fifth statement the first aspect of this new and limitless realm of phe- nomenal reality on which comment has just been made. The statement defines the realm and de- termines the boundaries of the realm. Before giving this new and vast realm of facts an attractive name w r hich might for that reason, without some precaution, be used fan- cifully, and which might otherwise be sus- ceptible of several defiinitions, let us safe- guard our vision of the simple fact of the realm's existence by noting well the reality of it and the description of it. It is simply the relations between two distinctive realms of substantial reality, namely, the substantial realm of spirit and the substantial realm of matter. We may now decorate this plainly 56 RELIGION RATIONALIZED visible fact with the name: THE RECI- PROCITY BETWEEN SPIRIT AND MATTER. Note should be made at this point of the difference between a reality and a substance. Matter is substance and spirit is substance. The different things to be predicated of either of these substances are realities but not them- selves substances. For instance shape, color, weight and the like are realities but not sub- stances. Relationship between two sub- stances is a reality but not itself a substance. Realities are phenomena — they are phenom- enal facts. They are materials for rational thinking. This limitless realm of reality, which we now designate as the reciprocity be- tween spirit and matter, with spirit recog- nized as substance, is not itself substantial but consists of the phenomena or the phenomenal facts of relationship between the substances of spirit and the substances of matter. Spirit and matter are distinctive. They have seemed to be separated and not related, but no two things are separated in the sense of being unrelated. The sun and the earth are distinctive. In a certain sense they are separated (by space) but, as a matter of fact, RELIGION RATIONALIZED 57 ii 1 ■ 1— ■!— 1— — iiimnnmn-r i 1 n ■ I " I i — — ■ — ■ i ——————— mi^iimm they are connected by reciprocal relations. Just as provision exists for reciprocity between the earth and the sun or between two chem- icals, so provision exists for reciprocity be- tween spirit and matter. Their interrelations are according to their natures, or according to the nature of things. Our difficulty would seem to be in detect- ing and noting and studying and classifying the phenomena of this particular realm. Here again we must rely on availing ourselves of the right method. Achievement of that, which, in the nature of things is possible, is only dependent on the right method. The law of cause and effect — the knowl- edge that everything is the effect from some cause and that it in turn becomes a cause con- tributing to future effects, enables every in- telligent man to study the phenomena of the world somewhat as he would read a book. The visible facts of the world, therefore, are a language and for that reason every scientist is a linguist. Most strikingly is this true with the phenomena of geology. The geologist is a linguist who studies history, not in books, but in the facts which have been recorded in the surface phenomena of the earth. Geology has 58 RELIGION RATIONALIZED a language and a literature comparable to those of Latin, Greek or Hebrew. In like manner the facts or phenomena in the realm of relations between spiritual qual- ities and material Nature (the phenomena in a the reciprocity between spirit and matter") are a language whose literature is the constant and everlasting reciprocal relations between the two. We do not call this the language of geology , or the language of astronomy , or the language of the moving picture, but we call it the language of symbols, or, what is the same thing, THE LANGUAGE OF COR- RESPONDENCES BETWEEN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD AND THE NAT- URAL WORLD. The fact that symbolism dates from ancient times, and that it is now identified with ideas of vagary and fanaticism, and that it is, for the most part, falsely exploited by irrational religious enthusiasts does not lessen the im- portance of the fact now being brought to light. We will yet show that the phenomena to be found and classified in the realm of re- ciprocity between spirit and matter give us the veritable language of symbols, a language written in the hieroglyphics of phenomenal RELIGION RATIONALIZED 59 fact just as geology is, and to be interpreted by the method of studying cause and effect which is the method of every scientist. Swedenborg calls this language of symbols the language of correspondences between spirit and matter and he writes at length also upon the "science of correspondences". The science of correspondences bears the same relation to the language of correspondences as the science of geology bears to the language of geology. Now note, that which will later be shown, viz: that the specific FUNCTION of sym- bols or of the language of correspondences be- tween spirit and matter is to reveal spiritual truth — to reveal the facts which exist in the distinctive realm of spirit — to reveal qualities in the emotional states and thoughts of human beings. This being true, the importance of the rec- ognition of this distinctive realm of reality begins to come to view. Chapter III. A WAYSIDE TALK Consisting of observations on the following subjects: ft Seeing for Oneself," "What Is a Human Being" "Analogy" "Regeneration and Degeneration" "Hap- piness and Suffering" "The Universal Good" "Right and Wrong, Good and Evil, Sin" Seeing For Oneself The author is endeavoring, in the method of his presentations throughout this book, to en- able the reader TO SEE FOR HIMSELF, somewhat as if he were following a mountain trail, for the first time, leading into exhilar- ating scenery, some of the realities in the dis- tinctive realm of spiritual truth. Only to a most limited extent can the knowl- edge of one man be conveyed by him to an- other by the method of dogmatic assertion. The function of a true teacher is not so much to dogmatise, to assert, to declare, as it is to enable the student to see for himself the things which the teacher has already seen. This is RELIGION RATIONALIZED 6l eminently true in the teaching of spiritual truth. This chapter may represent a resting place, in the spiritual assent we are making, where the author gives a wayside talk, as it were, concerning some of the spiritual scenery yet in front and above, and for the purpose of an- ticipating some things which will, for that reason, be more easily and surely "seen for one's self" when reached. What Is A Human Being? WHAT IS A HUMAN BEING? All answers to this question can be but partial. If partial answers, which are but observations upon the subject, are true so far as they go, their extraordinary value will be recognized and our progress gratifying. In point of logical and rational compre- hension, the fact of first importance in con- sidering what a human being is, is the fact al- ready commented upon that spirit is sub- stance — not material substance but spiritual substance. (Matter and spirit are two distinct kinds of substance.) The human mind is substantial. Human 62 RELIGION RATIONALIZED — — — iiii— w i i i i iii u \mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmtmmmmmmmmmmmmmtmmmmtmtmmmmammmmmmmmmmmammmmmiaammammmmmmmm feeling and thinking are substantial. Human experiences are substantial. CONSCIOUSNESS is a primal kind of certainty. And yet it is rather mystifying. We are at least acquainted with it. Consciousness is, as it were, the particular place where the man happens to be, on the world of spirit which he himself is. Yes! Not only is spirit substance but every man is a spiritual world or planet— but in human form. FEELING AND THINKING, insepar- able partners, counterparts, are invariably present in every state of consciousness. They are the first two things, the two particular things, which include all other things com- posing a human being, except that which may be interior to consciousness as conjoining the man to his Creator. A man can make mental note of the experi- ences of which he is conscious at any given time about as easily and as accurately as he can of the material things within the radius of his eyesight; that is, after some practise at such introspection. By taking a general sur- vey of a conscious state at any given time, somewhat as one would look for all that might RELIGION RATIONALIZED 63 - i . i . ' .J ....J. J-l ' L I - ii J - . » . III'- ' 111 — WW^—— ■— — ■ — M— ^MW— I'M BMW ^ be seen within the circle of an immediate hori- zon, a man would note some dominating emo- tion, and then numerous less active feelings, occupying their respective portions of the sur- face; and, he would furthermore note some general trend of thought, with other less com- manding matters in mind. For example, one might perceive the presence of an intense eagerness to win some success as the dominat- ing emotion, with certain other feelings of friendship, covetousness, jealousy, a prick of conscience, sharing their respective portions of the conscious area. The chief trend of thought would refer to means and methods as representing the agency of the dominating emotion. At the same time, consideration for friends, thoughts of honesty and honor and an ever present recognition of related inter- ests would all be included in the conscious thoughts. A striking characteristic of a conscious state, or state of consciousness, a state of be- ing, is its movement and continual change. A state of consciousness is not as stationary as a landscape or most other objects of worldly scenery. Consciousness is a traveler. Its itine- rary is chiefly determined by circumstances 64 RELIGION RATIONALIZED over which the man may have but little con- trol. These changing states, these travels of consciousness, are designed among other things to acquaint a man with the contents of him- self and to give him the opportunity of making the most of himself. Beneficent pur- pose is behind the mask of what we call "con- ditions and circumstances" — behind the mask of environment. To see for oneself that this last statement is true is one of the most com- forting of all visions of spiritual truth. As a matter of fact, this continual move- ment of feeling and thinking along the high- way of consciousness, with the ever changing combinations of emotions and thoughts, is nothing other than a movement or travel by which the man's own spiritual world comes gradually before his personal review. Spiritual substance is as volatile and as plas- tic as emotion and thought and so this thing is possible. It is as adamant, however, as right- eous purpose established on the knowledge of God. (The great composite spiritual world beyond the grave is nothing other than ex- ternal forms or manifestations of the emo- tional and intellectual realities from within RELIGION RATIONALIZED 65 the human beings inhabiting it and composed of the same mental substances.) Every man as a rational being, as a respon- sible being, as one gifted with spiritual free- dom makes responses to the component parts of himself as they pass him and salute him on the plane of consciousness and register them- selves as actual experiences. The nature of the man's responses to these things helps to de- termine the permanent spiritual quality of them as they thereafter function in his world. "The Lord God brought every beast of the field and every fowl of the air unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatever Adam called every living creature that was the name thereof." (Gen. 2:19.) The word "name" is a symbol of spiritual quality. All animals are symbols of as many human affec- tions. That miniature spiritual world, which a man is, includes what is analogous to min- eral, vegetable and animal kingdoms. Even the animals are not lacking — analogously. There is an analogy between what Adam did here and what every man does. Every man names "every living creature", that is, decides the permanent spiritual quality of them as they afterwards abide in the composition of him- 66 RELIGION RATIONALIZED self or of his character (or of his individual world). And the times or occasions when he names them are during those experiences, in- duced probably by circumstances, wherein the living creatures or the affections analogous to them, are actually being experienced. Yes! A man experiences his own lion and bear and fox and serpent and lamb and dove. And by his voluntary attitude toward his ani- mal experiences he names the animals, that is, decides their future qualities and the nature of the influences which they will thenceforth exert in him. Allusion was made in the first chapter to the importance to science and invention of the simple discovery that heat and light and sound and wind are simply forms of activity in mat- ter. The further observation was made that what this has meant to material progress the recognition of spirit as substance will mean to rationality in religion and the consequent im- provement in human character. With the fact in mind that spirit is sub- stance one can easily grasp the idea or con- ception of a miniature spiritual world or planet as the actual thing usually referred to in a blind kind of way by those spiritual ob- RELIGION RATIONALIZED 67 servers who declare their belief in a SUB- CONSCIOUS SELF. The subconscious self, so called, is nothing less than a complete spiritual world composed of the substances which we call human emotions and thoughts and consisting of realities as vast and varied and complex as those that constitute the ma- terial world. And furthermore this miniature world, which every man is, is of the same sub- stance, is homogenious and in living relations with the great composite spiritual world which is the habitation of all immortal be- ings. It is affected by and responds to the laws and forces prevailing in the supernatural spir- itual universe. This is its status even now be- fore the death of the body. Therefore, that part of a man which is interior to or beneath the conscious plane is by far the greater part of him. Analogy ANALOGY is to be one of the big words in the religious literature of the future. We speak of food for the body as being analogous to fuel for the furnace. Compre- hension of an idea is analogous to seeing. Analogy refers to a similarity of function or 68 RELIGION RATIONALIZED use between things which are entirely differ- ent. In considering the meaning of this im- portant word one should be scrupulous in not- ing the distinctions, the fundamental differ- ences, between any two things whose func- tions or uses may be similar. Coal used as fuel, while analogous to bread used as food, is altogether different from bread. Never- theless by noting the analogy the mind utilizes an instrumentality for promoting knowledge and for reasoning. The importance of analogy in the study of spiritual truth, or in rational thinking in re- ligion, is due primarily to the fact that an analogy exists between the material world in which we are now living and the miniature spiritual world which every man is. This be- ing the case, a man can study, investigate and explore the contents of himself to the extent of his ability to learn of the true analogies which exist between the things of the world and the things of the spirit. Reference has already been made to sym- bols, and to correspondences between the re- alities of spirit and those of matter. Analogy between the things of the material world and those of the spiritual world means, among RELIGION RATIONALIZED 69 other things, that everything in the world is a symbol of some other particular thing in the realm of spirit. It is a symbol because it is analogous to some corresponding spiritual thing in the miniature spiritual world which every man is. The lion, for example, is the symbol of a certain quality and power of af- fection in the miniature world which every man is, and the general relations of this cor- responding affection to all the other emotional and intellectual substances and realities there, are similar to the lion's general relations to the objects of this world. The lion here has its dis- tinctive existence, whereas that in a man which is analogous to a lion, becomes a personal ex- perience — or a portion of one — when it is aroused and brought to the plane of conscious- ness by circumstances. Likewise, any moun- tain or ocean or mineral deposit is a symbol of some corresponding spiritual reality which may play a part in the actual experiences of a human being. No natural object or reality could be named which is not the symbol of a corresponding spiritual object or reality in the spiritual world. The component parts of that world which a man himself is may all, in their order and according to use, become com- 70 RELIGION RATIONALIZED ponent parts of his actual experiences. Note in this the sublime possibilities in the range and variety of experiences in immortality. When we come to know that an analogy ex- ists between the things of this world and the things in human nature we note such phe- nomena as floods, cyclones, poisonous and ven- omous serpents, obnoxious weeds and the like, with solemn concern and with an inquiry as to what they symbolize in a man's own soul. What do their corresponding things in the soul signify in terms of future happiness and suffering? And then again, a man feels some assurance and much hope when he notes the warm spring rains, the growing crops, the do- mestic animals, the control and utilization of forces that once were wild, because he knows that these are also symbols of corresponding spiritual realities within himself of which he need not be afraid. The substances and forces of this material world are seen to be divided between two general types: those that are helpful and those that are harmful; those that save and pre- serve human life and those that threaten, in- jure and destroy human life. All things are related either in a helpful or a harmful way RELIGION RATIONALIZED 71 according to their natures, or, according to the circumstances under which they are op- erating. Some things, foods and clothing for examples, which in themselves are good and serviceable and hence symbols of good qual- ities in the character, become harmful under some circumstances and conditions such as in- duce gluttony and extravagance. Natural con- ditions and circumstances therefore as well as things are also symbols and hence have their spiritual truths to reveal, and, often, by way of showing the spiritual effects from the abuse of good things. In the second chapter attention was called to the relations between the realities which compose the distinctive realm of truth on the one hand and the realities composing the ma- terial world on the other. In this chapter we have stated (a thing which, of course, must yet be brought to light) that an analogy ex- ists between everything of the material world and some corresponding spiritual thing in the spiritual world, or, vice versa. Inquiry was also made in the second chapter as to the dis- tinctive reciprocal effects produced between a spiritual and material reality in consequence of their relations. A general observation of 72 RELIGION RATIONALIZED importance as affecting these two things would seem to fit in right here, to be held in the memory until brought to light later on. It is the fact that the substances and forces and realities of the material world, whose function it is to serve the needs of human life, are the created effects from spirit. The ma- terialistic and atheistic conception of reality assumes and presumes that dead, inorganic matter was the first reality, and that human emotion and thinking are effects from this. On the contrary, however, Life is the first and primary reality — Life which is inclusive of human emotion and thinking. And all instru- mental agencies for rendering services to finite human life, such as the material world or the objects thereof are effects from spirit. Spirit is not the effect of matter but matter is the effect of spirit. A fact intimately identified with the fact of analogy as just described is that any material reality is the effect of its corresponding or analogous reality in the composite spiritual world. This means that lions for example could not exist in this world if the spiritual realities, which they symbolize, did not first exist in human nature or human minds. It RELIGION RATIONALIZED 73 means that the injurious, destructive and mur- derous realities of the world could not exist if the spiritual things, which they symbolize, did not first exist in degenerate human life. Their very creation as well as their constant preservation is due to the existence of their corresponding and analogous things in evil human life. And on the other hand the nour- ishing, helpful, friendly realities are the ef- fects of their respective analogous things in regenerate human life. Even the harnessing, control and utilization of forces previously de- structive are symbolical of things useful in regenerate life which are harmful in degen- erate life. Note another important statement to be held tentatively in the memory for a while. There is one and only one text book in all the world ; one and only one distinctive literature extant, whose specific and inmost function it is to throw light upon the analogies just referred to between the things of spirit and the things of the material world. It is the Bible. The Bible is written according to the language of symbols, or correspondences. The selection and the arrangement of words have primary reference to symbolical, correspondential or 74 RELIGION RATIONALIZED analogous facts which are interiorly involved in every sentence. Other chapters will dwell upon the significance of this fact. For example, a verse may contain the word "sword." The literal sense of the text may throw light upon righteousness of conduct or it may be obscure in its meaning. But interior to and independently of the literal meaning, the word sword in any text of Scripture is en- vironed by its context in a manner to qualify it peculiarly to reveal some analogy between the sword and the spiritual thing which it symbolizes in a man. A sword, when used righteously and for the cause of humanity, is the symbol of truth, (technically, the symbol of the knowledge of particular truth as ap- plicable to ones duty or conduct at the time or under the circumstances) but when used unrighteously and against humanity it is the symbol of falsity. The man who voluntarily employs the truth as a sword of apposition to the evils in his own character wins spiritual victories. Another man who disregards the truth may be spiritually vanquished by the sword of falsity which his own evil tendencies and inclinations used against him. RELIGION RATIONALIZED 75 The Bible thus contains what we call an interior sense — a spiritual sense interior to the letter. Its function is not to teach worldly history or natural science but rather to reveal a man to himself for the sake of improvement. When the Bible is interpreted according to its interior sense, by the aid of the language of correspondences, then the natural objects, de- scriptions, history, narrative and the like which compose its literal sense become a kind of world-mirror in which one sees himself and his potentialities. As one thus sees himself re- flected in Scriptural literature he observes the depths into which he might sink and the heights to which he might ascend. Such in- formation then is intended and qualified to en- able a man to take advantage of such time as may be allotted him here, and of all the cir- cumstances and conditions of life which en- viron him as he goes forward, to live most effectively in serving his highest interests. Regeneration and Degeneration REGENERATION AND DEGENE- RATION are two other big words in the- ology. Their meanings are inclusive of all that is meant by the words "heaven" and 76 RELIGION RATIONALIZED "hell," "angels" and "devils." From the point of view of immortality spiritual regene- ration means success, whereas spiritual de- generation means failure. The fact that a man is a rational being endowed with re- sponsibility and granted spiritual freedom means that there is a best outcome and a worst outcome to life open to every man. Spiritual freedom means that a man voluntarily chooses between these two alternatives. Personal re- sponsibility means that his constitution as a human imposes this necessity of choice inex- orably. Spiritual regeneration then is inclusive in its meaning of all that growth and develop- ment and acquisition of capacities and other values which may be in the nature of things possible as representing the very best outcome to life. On the other hand spiritual degenera- tion, in its meaning, is inclusive of all those perversions and abnormalities in development, such shrivelling of capacities and poverty of emotional and intellectual possessions as may be in the nature of things possible as repre- senting the very worst outcome to life. If we can imagine a millennial state in the world wherein practically all of the substances RELIGION RATIONALIZED 77 and forces and realities had been brought under the domination of intelligence, wherein the deserts had been watered and fertilized, wherein the frigid climates had been tem- pered to human needs, wherein everything wild had been tamed, everything poisonous had been neutralized, wherein all men live as brothers and work harmoniously for com- mon ends, we have a picture of that which is analogous to the miniature spiritual world of the man who has passed to the approximate completion of spiritual regeneration. On the other hand, if we can imagine an opposite outcome wherein the deserts had enlarged, wherein the cultivation of lands had ceased, wherein climatic conditions had grown more severe, wherein earthquakes had increased and floods and storms grown in vio- lence, wherein wild animals had multiplied by preying upon the domestic ones, wherein the antagonism of interests among men had bred wars and pestilences and reduced the popula- tion to a minimum number, we have a picture of that which is analogous to the miniature world of a degenerate man. Note the manifest analogies in the follow- 78 RELIGION RATIONALIZED ing Scriptural passages which are illustrative of what has just been said: — "The Lord turneth the wilderness into a standing water and dry ground into water- springs. And there He maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city for habi- tation ; and sow the fields, and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase.' Ps. 107: 35-37. "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blos- som abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing. * * * For in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness. * * * No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there." Is. 35 : 1 -9. Inci- dents in the course of spiritual regeneration are portrayed by the interior sense of these passages. RELIGION RATIONALIZED 79 Men have usually spoken of human charac- ter in an abstract way and have thought of it as an abstract thing. The character of every man, however, is in fact as real and as definite as the spiritual world which he is and his world is exactly what his character is. Is there a progress of civilization, as it were, within the realm of a man? or, is a retrograde barbar- ism playing havoc with the materials with which his world is composed? Each man is in spiritual freedom to answer this question for himself. And spiritual freedom is no less a serious matter than this. The responsibility is imposed upon him to answer it. Regenera- tion and degeneration, with all that they mean, are the two alternatives between which every rational human being makes selection. If life is mortal these two words mean but compara- tively little; but if life is immortal the mean- ing of them grows as their meaning becomes known — it is a limitless study offering rewards in knowledge whose values exceed all other values. If a man is growing in regeneration he is growing all the time, barring setbacks to be recovered. If a man is increasing in degen- eration his progress is continuous except as he 8o RELIGION RATIONALIZED may be restrained or withheld by circum- stances. Time does not wait on any one and in this same sense every man is moving up or down in either regeneration or degeneration. The wonderful extent of the progress that is possible in the course of full spiritual regen- eration is so great that a man might live the most effective life conceivably possibly, and his life might be extended far beyond the allotted three score years and ten, and yet the progress in the regeneration of his soul in the perfecting of the conditions of his miniature spiritual world, would continually increase at a kind of geometrical ratio until the very last day of life in this world. This means that there are various stages or degrees in the regeneration of character. Some make more progress in the regeneration than others and some who are degenerating become less degenerate than others. The words "unselfishness" and "unselfish love" represent the qualities of the human emotions and thoughts in the realm of regen- eration. The words "selfishness" and "selfish love" represent the qualities of human emo- tions and thoughts in states of degeneration. religion rationalized 8l Happiness and Suffering HAPPINESS AND SUFFERING are among the primal and fundamental realities. Every man is as well acquainted with them as he is with personal consciousness. One or the other or both, in greater or less degree, is always present in any experience. Observations upon the subject of what is a human being, any study or investigation of what a man is, must necessarily include a con- sideration of happiness and suffering. I voice the sentiment and will of every human being in saying that happiness, considered in itself, is desirable, and suffering is undesirable. All men want to be happy. No man wants to suffer. Is there then any sure and certain road to happiness? Is there, in the nature of things, on account of what is potential in man, on account of any possible order to be established in his minia- ture spiritual world, on account of any possi- ble improvement in personal character, on account of any possible growth or develop- ment for which he is in part responsible, any sure and certain road to happiness? $2 RELIGION RATIONALIZED Facts that are accessible in the distinctive realm of truth declare that this sure and cer- tain road to continuous and everlasting happi- ness is in existence and that every man who WILL may find and follow it. What is happiness and what is suffering? No evidence needs to be adduced to prove that every man wants things. He craves things, loves things, has an affection for things, desires things, longs for things, aspires for things, hopes for things, yearns for things. And then again he hates things, abominates things, dreads things, fears things, dislikes things, shuns things, avoids things, abhors things, is anxious about things. Common expe- rience teaches that happiness consists of the gratification of the desires. To the extent that any affection or love is gratified to that extent happiness is experienced. To the extent that one wants things and is denied them to that extent he suffers. And to the extent that unde- sirable and dreaded things are arbitrarily imposed, to that extent one suffers. How dreadful then to want the impossible! — to want that which, in the nature of things or on account of irremedial circumstances, is impossible to acquire! RELIGION RATIONALIZED 83 Would it not seem that the road to happi- ness is in training or disciplining oneself to want or desire objects, which in the nature of things can be acquired, rather than in attempt- ing to usurp infinite power for the purpose of gratifying the wayward and futile desires at any time dominant? In this world every man is in the making of what he is yet to be. The spiritual status of every man here, notwithstanding that he may have made much spiritual progress in per- sonal development or spiritual regeneration, has inherent wants, cravings, affections for impossible things and others for things posi- tively evil. He has some loves, the voluntary indulgence of which w r ould be destructive to his own interests. His personal improvement is therefore dependent upon the disciplining and transforming of such emotions. More or less of suffering therefore is one of the neces- sary and inevitable ingredients of the experi- ences of every man who pursues the road to permanent happiness. Man's wants, cravings, affections, loves change. These emotional realities are sus- ceptible of transformation. Herein is man's hope — his salvation. Man is so constituted, 84 RELIGION RATIONALIZED the emotional and intellectual realities which compose him are such in their natures, that he may gradually acquire only such loves, wants or affections as can in the nature of things be freely granted. When this improve- ment in the quality of his heart's desires reaches certain possible points then all suf- fering with him will be of the past. The chief concern of a man in this world, therefore, should not be the acquirement of the things he wants; but it should rather be the acquire- ment of the wants or desires which, in the nature of things, can be granted satisfactions. This is only another way of saying, "Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven." The Universal Good The facts from the realm of truth give us a conception of the universal good. There is such a thing as THE UNIVERSAL GOOD. It can only be seen in distinct outline, how- ever, from the point of view of immortality. The very substances, forces and laws in the spiritual world promote and conserve the uni- versal good: The status of all substance and force and law in the spiritual world is such as to co-operate with and facilitate all finite RELIGION RATIONALIZED 85 efforts which serve the universal good. This being true it stands in direct opposition to all finite efforts which are in opposition to the universal good. To the extent, therefore, that any man, here or hereafter, loves the universal good and loves the particular things which conserve or promote the universal good, to that extent the infinite resources, powers and forces of self-existent Reality supply him in overflowing abundance with his heart's desire. They facilitate him in the works of achieve- ment and he is limited in facilities, achieve- ment and happiness only by the finite limita- tions of himself. Here is a situation or con- dition where happiness would be limited only by finite capacity. It is the condition and state of life with those in the spiritual world who are regenerated. A statement may be made in this connection to serve as a definition for unselfishness. That quality of human emotion which finds happi- ness in serving the universal good is unselfish. Here is an idea of what unselfishness is in the nature of things. Selfishness, of course, would be the opposite quality. But, what is the uni- versal good? Divine Revelation alone brings this to light. 86 RELIGION RATIONALIZED In a spiritual universe of such a character, where all external and environmental realities are co-operating to promote and conserve the universal good, what is the fate of a man whose wants, affections and loves are all in direct opposition to the universal good? To what extent can he be allowed to have what he wants? In the nature of things, What is the lot of such a man? Any lengthy treatise on the subject of hell would seem to be unneces- sary. Infinite mercy might provide means for mitigating the disappointments and sufferings of such a situation, but restraints and failure and feebleness of capacities would character- ize their condition and lot. Right and Wrong, Good and Evil, Sin The simple and clear meaning of the word "responsibility" brings to light as a self-evi- dent fact that, as covering all things for which a man is responsible, his loyalty and disloyalty to the interests involved are right and wrong, good and evil. Responsibility and loyalty equals right and good. Responsibility and dis- loyalty equals wrong and evil. There is noth- ing evil where there is no personal responsi- bility — but where responsibility begins there RELIGION RATIONALIZED 87 are interests to be protected and at this point right and wrong begin. Here as said is a self- evident fact. Here is a glimpse of a rudi- mentary aspect of what right and wrong, good and evil are in the nature of things. The sig- nificance or importance of right and wrong, good and evil depend upon the extent and the nature of a man's responsibility. If a man is responsible for nothing of great importance then nothing of great importance attaches to right and wrong, good and evil. What then are the chief things for which a human being is responsible? If a man is mortal his responsibilities have regard only to interests that are temporal. But if man is immortal his responsibilities are identified with interests that are eternal. The fact of immortality dignifies man's responsi- bility immeasurably and multiplies the sig- nificance of right and wrong, good and evil by a figure too great to be named. A man as an immortal human being is pri- marily responsible for forming the habit and persisting in it, of choosing right instead of wrong, of favoring what is good in preference to what is evil. There may be a question as to what extent a man determines his own con- 88 RELIGION RATIONALIZED ditions and circumstances, shapes his own environment, but there is no question as to a man's ability to determine what his own mental attitude is to be toward his conditions and circumstances or toward his environment as respecting right and wrong, good and evil. And upon his choice in this matter depends the growth and development of that ability, already referred to, which qualifies one to love the universal good and thereby to come into co-operation and rapport with the eternal powers and forces w r hich serve and promote the universal good. This is only another way of speaking of a man's ability to love God and to serve Him. In other words, man's responsibility is pri- marily identified with any progress that may be made in the spiritual regeneration of his soul. The spiritual regeneration already referred to is impossible without voluntary loyalty to the chief interests for which the man has been made responsible by the Creator, and for which he is now in the nature of things responsible, which responsibilities are primar- ily the choosing of right instead of wrong, the favoring of good instead of evil. Regenera- tion is not only possible but assured to every RELIGION RATIONALIZED 89 one who is voluntarily loyal to the chief things for which he as a human is responsible; and no man is ever responsible for the impossible or for anything that is beyond his facilities or power. SIN. What is sin? To know what sin is one must first know the meaning of the word VOLUNTARY. Sin essentially is voluntary disloyalty to the chief things for which a man in the nature of things is responsible. This should now be self-evident. The same thing, in different words, which may not be as mani- fest, is that it is the voluntary choosing of wrong and evil in preference to right and good. An evil or selfish craving or desire is not a sin until he, who, in experiencing it, vol- untarily seeks to gratify it. Voluntary consent to or co-operation with one's evil desires and inclinations is sin. But evil inclinations and tendencies and states of mind are not sins in themselves. These tempt one to sin. Tempta- tions force a decision. If the decision favors the evil desire the man commits sin. Chapter IV. THE OBSCURITY OF TRUTH. Y^K HE obscurity of spiritual truth is so V«i/ peculiarly surprising that it is a bul- wark of agnosticism, if Infinite Intelligence has anything to reveal to fragile finite man, Why is it not presented in a clear and unmis- takable manner? The inference and the banter in this question carry much weight with super- ficial mentality. How strange, that truth, which is unobservable or denied by the "wise and prudent" can be seen and acknowledged by "babes and sucklings"! This obscurity, however, has its rational explanation. Everything that grows, grows according to its nature, which is according to order. This is law. A man's capacity for knowledge is a thing that grows. A man has numerous fac- ulties for acquiring different types or kinds of knowledge, as for example the inventive fac- ulty, the mathematical faculty, the imagina- tive faculty. These faculties likewise are things which grow. This means furthermore that any fact or parcel of knowledge must RELIGION RATIONALIZED 91 necessarily remain unobserved and unknown by any particular person until he is sufficiently mentally developed and qualified to recognize and know it. There is a finite wisdom, for example, that can weigh the world and which can see for itself that the sun is approximately 90,000,000 miles from the earth. This wisdom had its be- ginnings in the sense impressions of earliest childhood ; and, at one time, its growth had not yet passed the knowledge of addition and sub- traction. The ability to read Shakespeare, itself reads back to the learning of the ABCs. Thus the mental processes for acquiring knowledge proceed according to order, according to law. The faculty of rationality makes such use as it can of the accumulated facts in mind, however poor or rich the accumulation may be. This accumulation, such as it is, is used by rationality, such as it is, in forming rational conclusions, generalities of belief, ideas, judg- ments and the like. The first of all the mental materials enter- ing into the formation of knowledge are facts of phenomena. Here is a distinctive type of facts. This type should be well noted. The 92 RELIGION RATIONALIZED sense impressions in early childhood which register in the child's experiences and mem- ory, are of this type: PHENOMENA. The basic or primary facts of all knowledge are the facts of phenomena which are of this type. The importance of this observation is suf- ficiently great to deserve most careful atten- tion. We have in it an important guiding principle in reasoning or in rational pro- cedure. Note:— from the realm of environment each of the five senses is attacked, as it were, by those things which, without asking permis- sion, arbitrarily impose sense impressions or experiences. The infant, the child, the man is exposed at five points to the exactions of environing reality. Things compel him to see them. Objects demand that he hear them. Realities require of him that he feel them. He is under the necessity of smelling things. And food is as a tyrant to impose the experien- ces of taste. All of these experiences which are imposed by environmental or surrounding objects are FACTS. They register them- selves in the memory. They accumulate from day to day. They . .1 I IBiU1H«llll««lHl»U.»:illlll>» !'■ JfclilLLLJM-MLWt-i I B I ■■ ! I MI.UUJfjUM g when, as an infant, Mary and Joseph took Him into Egypt to be out of reach of Herod the king. Even the literal sense of some pas- sages of the Old Testament are unmistakable as referring to Christ's experiences. The fifty- third chapter of Isaiah is an example of this kind: "Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: He hath no form nor comliness . . . He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sor- rows and acquainted with grief . . . He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb so He openeth not His mouth." For other examples the wars described in the Old Testament might be cited. WAR The reality of WAR is one of the grim facts of the world. War corresponds to spiritual temptation. Jesus Christ experienced numerous spiritual temptations. "Then was Jesus led up of the 130 RELIGION RATIONALIZED spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights He was afterward an hun- gered. And when the tempter came to Him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread." (Matt. 4:1,3.) "Again the devil taketh Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them; and saith unto Him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me." (Matt. 4:8, 9.) Christ's Gethsemane experience was another and one of His deepest temptations. Christ had other experiences than those of temptation. He experienced the joys and wonderful satisfac- tions which follow victory over temptation, and He had other experiences besides. When the Old Testament wars are inter- preted according to the language of corre- spondences they become luminous with truth concerning spiritual temptations, and the ana- logues of many of them were actually experi- enced by Jesus Christ. Agnostics have frequently referred to the Biblical descriptions of wars with the argu- ment that such cruelties and horrors would be RELIGION RATIONALIZED 131 incompatible with a Word of God. When, however, it is known that there is an interior sense to these descriptions and that this inte- rior sense throws light on the wars between good and evil in the individual lives of men this skepticism has no ground. In the course of life the spiritual regeneration of every man involves experiences as serious as the grim business of war. An observation of greatest significance may be made at this point. The spiritual wars in the life of an individual man which are coin- cident with his spiritual regeneration are started by the evil forces in the heart as the aggressors. The principles of righteousness in the individual heart do not make war although they fight in war. Their warfare is that of self defense and the defense of what they stand for. And in all spiritual warfare, during times of temptation, victory for the righteous principles is absolutely predeterm- ined to the extent that loyalty to them is main- tained. And the analogy of this is true in the life of the human race in the wars between nations. This analogy will be somewhat amplified shortly. There is a great difference between Christ's 132 RELIGION RATIONALIZED temptations and those of men, which should be noted. Christ's temptations were so dif- ferent from those of men that ours are only analogous to His. Inasmuch as He was infin- ite and divine, He fought His own spiritual battles in His own spiritual strength, whereas, with us, we do not fight our spiritual battles in our own strength but in His strength. We are peculiarly and wonderfully related to psychic or subconscious realities and conditions. We are recipients of both good and evil influxes from the subconscious or superconscious world. Christ, by His unique victories in temptation, produced universal effects, we might say, which extended throughout the uni- versal spiritual realm of existence, by which the human race could forever thereafter be preserved in its spiritual freedom, and be given access to the assistance of divine and infinite power. These universal things are simply referred to, to suggest ideas involved in the great doctrines of redemption and salva- tion by Jesus Christ. Reference has been made repeatedly to man's responsibility. In a time of spiritual temptation a man's responsibility consists chiefly in his favoring truth and right as these RELIGION RATIONALIZED 133 may stand in battle array against falsity and wrong and as these are recognized in his per- sonal situation. The man's intentions and pur- poses must be on the side of truth and right. To the extent that opportunity offers he must co-operate with truth and right. This largely constitutes a man's willingness that the Lord should fight his battle for him. We do not always determine our own circumstances (per- haps never do ) but we invariably determine our personal attitude toward our circum- stances as to favoring the right or wrong. Some temptations are mild and some are severe. Some are brief and some are of long duration. All temptations are accompanied with more or less of tribulation. "In the world ye shall have tribulation : but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33.) With one who has practised introspection, he can look upon his trials and tribulations during a period of temptation somewhat as a spectator can look upon a battle while in prog- ress. A temptation must run its course just the same as a battle must be fought to the finish. A man must be firm in his spirit of endurance while the temptation or conflict 134 RELIGION RATIONALIZED lasts. If his loyalty is maintained to the end the victory is certain, and for the reason that the man, having done his part, God does all the rest. Let us see what the analogy of this brings to light for interpreting the outcome of wars in the world. That which has already been said concerning the Lord's second coming and that which will presently be said concerning the descent "from God out of heaven of the holy city New Jerusalem" should be sufficient to indicate the certainty of the fact that the human race as a race is being spiritually regenerated. The continuing progress of civ- ilization is hence certified to by the revela- tions of the interior sense of the Scriptures. Therefore, granting that man as a race is being spiritually regenerated, as is the case, all wars are to be interpreted just as the temptations with regenerating men are to be interpreted in whom good principles prevail over evil ones. The wars which rage between peoples and nations are only the visible aspects of con- flicts between righteous and unrighteous prin- ciples in the heart of the social relations of mankind by which the unrighteous ones become vanquished and the righteous ones RELIGION RATIONALIZED 135 become permanently established. In every war, spiritual principles involving the spirit- ual progress of mankind are involved. And it is always the case that the particular spiritual principle which should be established as the step to be taken at the time in man's spiritual progress is victorious. To the extent that the righteousness exemplified by Christ and involved is dependent for its success on the victory of one side in any great world war, and that the unrighteousness of human degen- eracy involved requires for its obliteration the defeat of the other side, to that extent the vic- tory of the one and the defeat of the other is perfectly certain. The ultimate outcome of all wars can be predicted according to this spiritual interpretation. As for the sacrifices and the tribulations which may be involved in any war — the price to be paid for the tri- umph of righteous principle — this is another matter. But by every war, thanks to the oper- ations of the Divine Providence, righteousness in the world is advanced and unrighteousness is diminished. The knowledge of spiritual truth is more peculiarly related to a man than most people are aware of. During the course or progress 136 RELIGION RATIONALIZED fi tth ii i nn' ■ ■ ■■ i nn 1 11 ———— —— n i ni jw -awtg-gggai ii ii 11 11 1 igsesgsggg»«egga 1 1 m gggMgagaEBgastB— matsmmmi . 11 of regeneration the knowledge of truth is grad- ually increasing. Naturally and inherently the general trend of our strongest affections or desires or emotions is in opposition to the prac- tice of spiritual truth. Therefore it is of the nature of a newly learned or discovered truth to require sooner or later some form of per- sonal sacrifice. Some evil tendency in the character or disposition will sooner or later find itself challenged by the presence of any newly acquired knowledge of truth. When this is the situation it is the nature of the evil tendency to make an assault. It makes war for conquest. Truth stands its ground. Spir- itual tragedy ensues. Temptation is on. Suf- fering and tribulation for a period is the state of the man. The mind is, in a sense, a large household. Christ's parable of the householder was based upon this fact. Many persons or affections of various opinions or qualities compose this household. Some are good and true whereas some are evil and false. Nevertheless, they all live together in comparative peace and friendliness with the evil ones hiding behind hypocracy. The master of the house is the predominating or ruling love. EVERY RELIGION RATIONALIZED 137 MAN HAS A PREDOMINATING OR RULING LOVE IN RELATION TO WHICH ALL OTHER AFFEC- TIONS AND EMOTIONS OCCUPY THEIR RESPECTIVE POSITIONS IN A SUBSERVIENT WAY. The knowledge of some new spiritual truth comes as an adopted son or daughter into the household. The new-comer is welcomed because a right- eous man is always open minded to truth. His position an the household becomes at once established. Sooner or later, however, some false and hypocritical member of the house- hold, the defender of some evil quality, recog- nizes in the new comer his very opposite, (because for every good is an opposite evil and for every truth is an opposite falsity) and one who is sure to lay bare his hypocracy and reveal the evil of the quality he has been pro- tecting, and one who will prevent his further freedom. In accordance with his nature he challenges for a duel. This rebellion induces a state of temptation. Here is a state of war. It means that something alive is being killed because truth defends. The master of the house, the ruling love, is in a state of tribula- tion. He had therefore innocently loved the 138 RELIGION RATIONALIZED offending member, but he must now take sides and, in taking sides, he is loyal to the truth. He protects his newly adopted child of truth by a friendly attitude, whatever the conse- quences, and the consequences are that the long cherished and protected falsity with its evil is vanquished. The reader may take the assurance of the author, for whatever it may be worth, that one will make the personal acquaintance of Jesus Chirst, and come into intimate personal relations with Him, and see Him really in His second coming, just to the extent that he interprets the Bible correctly according to its inner or spiritual sense with the aid of the language of correspondences. The interior sense of the Scriptures brings Christ to view. It enables one to see and to know that Christ is God. It brings to view the relationship by which the infinite and divine Man may be recognized as a Friend. "Ye are my friends," he once declared (John 15:14). "How oft would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings," He at another time exclaimed (Matt. 2 3 : 37) • It reveals Him as the infinite and Divine Being, the Creator and Preserver, the RELIGION RATIONALIZED 139 Saviour and Redeemer who exercises constant and continuous solicitude and loving kindness for every man and woman in the world. But what is personal acquaintance? What is it to know a friend? Much friendship is blind emotion misplaced. Much of it is super- ficial and imaginative. True and abiding friendship can not exceed the knowledge which one may have of the qualities of the one for whom friendship is felt. Jesus Christ stood in bodily form and presence before mul- titudes of men and women. Those multitudes had eyes, but they saw not. They did not see Christ the Friend, Christ the Saviour, Christ God incarnate. They saw only Christ the finite figure of flesh and blood. If Christ should come the second time in flesh and blood on a material cloud the multitudes today would be as blind in their spiritual sight as they were nineteen hundred years ago. The first step to be taken in seeing Christ as He really is, is that step which enables one to see some distinction between selfish and unselfish quality in human character. When we first recognize unselfishness in human quality, as distinguished from and in contrast with selfish- ness, then a true idea of Divinity first appears 140 RELIGION RATIONALIZED iii-ma sg i |p—— i i I n » u- t gggegsgagg gM ■ ■ . i i ■' n i iggBeggagggCBS— a=a«8— ^g a i i i — I i i a aagage»aaegeg3Bai — even though it may be as remote, compara- tively, as a twinkling star. But, from that star, rays of light from Divinity have established permanent connection with the eye of spiritual understanding. Forty Special attention is called to the word or number "forty" because the spiritual idea involved in it is associated with the idea of war or temptation. Forty signifies duration of temptation. Furthermore, even the literal interpretation of the majority of the numerous passages in which forty occurs suggests the idea of trial or temptation. Let us look at a few examples. Jesus was in the wilderness being tempted of the devil forty days. He fasted forty days. The children of Israel remained in the wilderness forty years. The rain which caused the flood in Noah's time continued forty days and forty nights, and then again the flood was forty days upon the earth. In the law of Moses forty stripes were to be given, "and not exceed." In Jewish history the Israelites were delivered into the hands of the Philistines for forty years. Before David killed Goliath, "the Philistine drew RELIGION RATIONALIZED 141 - — - ■ ... . - - - -. near morning and evening and presented him- self forty days" It may be noted here as referring to David and Goliath that a little while before David slew Goliath he had been a shepherd boy. Sheep and lambs correspond to certain types of goodness and innocence. His faithfulness, symbolically speaking, in protecting these heavenly qualities was tested to the extent of his hazarding his life in personal combats with a lion and a bear in which combats he single handed killed both the lion and the bear. Thus, symbolically, he had become prepared in quality of character to protect the princi- ples of righteousness represented by his race by killing the giant Goliath. In spiritual regeneration one victory over evil is prepara- tory to the next one of greater importance. Revelations Concerning Immortality Revelations concerning immortality are to be found in the literal sense of the Scriptures, but, as they are seen in the literal sense, they are comparatively obscure. It is otherwise in the spiritual sense. In the interior sense of the Scriptures the revelations of immortality are not only luminous but are given in great 142 RELIGION RATIONALIZED abundance and in marvelous detail. Accord- ing to the literal sense again, some of the few- passages which treat of the future life are sus- ceptible of different interpretations whereas according to the interior sense the interpreta- tions are not susceptible of different interpre- tations. This difference between the literal and spir- itual sense of Scripture is wonderfully and beautifully brought to light by the spiritual interpretation of that passage describing the gamblers' throwing dice for Christ's garments after the crucifixion. Immediately after the crucifixion, soldiers took his garments to divide among themselves. They found that his outer garments consisted of four parts but that his coat, the inner garment, "was without seam woven from the top throughout." They divided the four outer garmens between them- selves "to every soldier a part" but for his inner garment they cast lots. "That the Scrip- ture might be fulfilled they parted my raiment among them and for my vesture they did cast lots." The external or literal sense of the Scripture is represented by the four outer gar- ments. The apparent contradictions, the dif- ferent interpretations that are possible, the RELIGION RATIONALIZED 143 deceiving appearances and things of that kind in the literal sense are represented in the fact that Christ's outer garments were several in number to be divided. But the interior or spiritual interpretations are "without seam woven from the top throughout" which is to say that the Bible interiorly is perfectly con- nected in a rational and logical way. The Old Testament has seemed to be pecu- liarly wanting in its references to immortality. The Old Testament, however, according to its interior sense, is as clear and as specific in its revelations concerning the spiritual world as is the New. As a matter of fact there are numerous passages in both the Old and New Testaments which interiorly treat of the life after death, but which, according to the literal sense, do not seem to treat of the subject even remotely. Not only so but the fact of immor- tality and the fact of the existence of the spir- itual world or universe are everywhere implied or taken for granted in the spiritual sense. By this is meant that the specific spir- itual truths revealed in any verse of the Scrip- tures could not be truths if there were no spir- itual world. For examples of those passages which interiorly reveal detailed information 144 RELIGION RATIONALIZED concerning the future life attention need only be called to any of the very numerous pas- sages which treat specifically of regeneration and degeneration of human character. One of these is the account of creation in Genesis. This is a spiritual allegory treating specific- ally of regeneration and degeneration of human character. Many of the potentialities of human life, including many things of both heaven and hell, are depicted in the revela- tions of regeneration and degeneration in this portion of the Old Testament. Another large area of Old Testament litera- ture, the interior sense of which reveals won- derful details concerning heaven and hell and immortality, is the narrative of Moses' lead- ing the children of Israel out of Egypt throughout the forty years' experiences in the wilderness to the promised land of Canaan. Again, the descriptions of the tabernacle, which are tedious and apparently useless to most men knowing nothing of the spiritual sense, are, when interpreted spiritually, a beautiful picture of the spiritual world. The description of Solomon's temple in Jerusalem in the land of Canaan gives similar informa- tion concerning spiritual regeneration, immor- RELIGION RATIONALIZED 145 tality and the conditions of life hereafter. The description of the holy city New Jerusalem given in the twenty-first chapter of the Book of Revelation is another example of this kind. The Holy City New Jerusalem In the twenty-first chapter of the book of Revelation the measurements are given in con- siderable detail of the holy city New Jerusa- lem. The summary of these measurements is "the measure of a man that is of the angel." The Apostle John in writing the book pf Revelation recorded spiritual visions that it had been given him to see. In one of these he saw "a new heaven and a new earth," and in connection with those he saw "the holy city New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven." The new Jerusalem derives a part of its spiritual significance from its relation to the old Jerusalem. The old Jerusalem was located in the promised land of Canaan. Canaan was a symbol of both the regenerated state of a man and heaven. Here the temple was located, the place of worship. Here the ark of the covenant was located which contained 146 RELIGION RATIONALIZED the Lord's Word. It was in the "holy of holies." Jerusalem is thus the symbol of the CHURCH. Particular care should be taken in defining the meaning of the word "church." The church is not an ecclesiasticism although ecclesiastical things attach to the church. The church is not a worldly organization although organization is an incidental feature of the church. The word "church" stands for that form of human association whose supreme and specific object is to protect and promote such interests as are involved in man's spiritual regeneration. This form of association or organization has varied according to men's notions concerning their spiritual interests. All men have eternal or spiritual interests not- withstanding that some men are blind to them, and notwithstanding that some others misin- terpret them. The spiritual interests of men, as those interests exist in the nature of things and not according to our misunderstanding of them, are common interests — they are inter- ests which all men have in common. Inso- far as men can associate themselves together and work co-operatively in organized effec- tiveness for their genuine spiritual interests, RELIGION RATIONALIZED 147 to that extent there does exist in this world a church. Such a church changes in form. It may be divided into many forms. But such a church always exists. This is the church which is symbolized by Jerusalem. It is also the church which is symbolized by the holy city New Jerusalem. Observations have already been made con- cerning the Lord's second coming. It may now be said furthermore that the new heaven and the new earth seen in John's vision are to be identified with the Lord's second coming. The New Jerusalem is also to be identified with these. By the opening of the interior sense of the Scriptures the human race was to come into abundant information on spirit- ual subjects. This wonderful increase of spir- itual enlightenment and rational thinking on spiritual subjects would naturally lead to astonishing changes and developments not only in the worldly conditions of men, such as is represented by political, social and scientific transformations; but also in that form of human association and organization by which men work together in protecting and promot- ing their spiritual and eternal interests. These latter changes constitute the newness of the 148 RELIGION RATIONALIZED New-Church — the church of the New Jerus- alem. Its descent from God out of heaven sig- nifies the rapidly and steadily increasing spir- ituality in the hearts and lives of an ever- increasing number of men and women. The interior sense of the Scriptures is now open, its incomparable supplies of spiritual truths are now available, the holy city New Jerusalem is now descending out of heaven into the world, the Son of Man is even now seen in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. The Lord's second coming has already taken place, and we are now citizens of the "new earth" of prophecy in these new and incomparable times in which we are living. Chapter VII. THE GREATEST OF ALL GREAT MEN. ^¥^HAT is a great man? How is one man's \ms superiority over another to be described? Evidently and manifestly greatness with men is to be truly judged and estimated by services rendered or uses performed. This is our pre- mise. Any reader who can not stand upon this rock may as well close the book here. That particular man, if he can be found, of whom it can be shown that he was greatest in doing good, greatest in serving his fellow men, greatest in performing uses for human- ity, may be justly accredited as the greatest of all great men. Doing good! Rendering services! Per- forminguses! WHAT ARE THESE? The answer may be stated simply and in simple terms. The meaning of the answer, however, must gradually grow on one. Doing good, rendering services, perform- ing uses, are primarily and fundamentally nothing other than supplying genuine human 150 RELIGION RATIONALIZED | l l_ ll I ■ |||I H II lH I HJ...L»_Jl.J_ t -L_l-l— I-H-l— LM«- UL-UJ-LJl»i-JIXJ>Ml.^JI - i« J -*UMU.J I M l Ull X. I 1. 1 , 1 .1 I. I II .I II ■! needs. HUMAN NEEDS! Something colos- sal and towering is confronting us in the meaning of these two words. The question of what service is has just been answered. But, What are genuine human needs? A man's needs are not necessarily indicated by his wants or cravings or whims. A man might actually need some things which he most dreads and abhors. To the extent that a man's knowledge of himself is superficial to that extent his knowledge of human needs is superficial. Human needs are many and, as to import- ance, they are relative. Food, clothing and shelter supply needs, which, while primitive and essential, are important chiefly because the body, in its turn, supplies the more important needs of the mind. Comparatively the needs of the mind are greater than those of the body. The physician's first task at the bedside of a patient is to diagnose the ailment, which is nothing more nor less than to ascertain the needs of the patient. A physician can not serve until he knows the needs. A true states- man is ever in the effort to study the needs of society that he might supply the needs by legis- RELIGION RATIONALIZED 151 islation and administration. The majority of inventions are simply mechanisms for supply- ing needs which inventors had first seen. The idea of human needs is closely associ- ated with the idea of what a human being is, and with the idea of what the potentialities of a man are, and with that of what man's supreme interest is. These have already been commented upon. The following four statements should now be self evident: — (1) The greatness of a man is commen- surate with the greatness of the services he renders. (2) The greatness of the services a man renders is commensurate with the greatness of the human needs he supplies. (3) The greatness of human needs to be supplied is commensurate with the greatness of finite human life. (4) The greatness of finite human life, when it is seen to be immortal rather than mortal, is so sublime as to perpetually tax the comprehension and to stimulate the imagin- ation. Man's supreme interest was pointed out, in the first chapter, as the best outcome to life, 152 RELIGION RATIONALIZED which, in the nature of things, may be pos- sible. This should be recognized in contrast with the worst outcome possible. This being true, man's greatest needs, comparatively speaking, are for those things which will aid him most effectively in securing for himself this best possible outcome to life. A man's needs then are of relative importance. Some are greater and some are less. And, there- fore, the importance of uses to be performed or services rendered are comparative. Some are greater and some are less. THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF THINGS is, in itself, a great theme. It is the duty of every man to be in the constant endeavor to distinguish between the relative importance of the things which he may be dealing with by force of circumstances, and then to favor the most important in the order of their importance. A man's ability to judge correctly of the relative importance of the things in hand is a mark of mental caliber, and a man's willingness to place special emphasis and special favor upon the most important things in the order of their impor- tance, for the sake of increasing his usefulness, is a mark of character. RELIGION RATIONALIZED 153 Men, then, have needs, and the needs of men, as to importance, are relative. Compar- atively, the needs of men range in importance from the least to the greatest. Therefore, the man who serves the greatest needs of all men with the greatest effectiveness is himself the greatest man. Has there ever been any par- ticular man, who, when his services are judged according to this standard, stands out pre- eminently as the greatest of all the great men who have thus far lived? This chapter will present evidences to show that this man was EMANUEL SWEDENBORG. Jesus Christ is to be eliminated from this category because He was not a finite man. He was God incarnate. In the person of Jesus Christ, Divinity itself was present among men. Therefore Jesus Christ was not the greatest of all great men because He was and is the infinite and divine Man. In judging of Swedenborg's greatness by the nature of the services he rendered to man- kind there is no necessity of comparing them here with the services of other great men because the reader can make such comparison himself when he secures the facts concerning Swedenborg. 154 RELIGION RATIONALIZED Swedenborg's services will be presented in the order of their greatest importance as they appear to the author. The very greatest of his services was in his discovery of the "inner," the "interior," the "spiritual," or the "heavenly" sense of the Bible, which dwells within the literal sense as the soul dwells within the body; the fact and significance of which this whole book endeavors to portray as its chief purpose. In this discovery Swedenborg has shown that a most surprising ^provision had been created and stored in the Bible, by the Almighty, for supplying the rapidly unfold- ing and growing spiritual needs of an evolving humanity; a provision of divine revelation which gives to every man freely and fully such knowledge of spiritual truths as the man will safely use in behalf of his supreme interests, which is, as said, attaining to the best out- come to life which is possible in the nature of things. This discovery has not only made the inte- rior revelations of divine truth available for the new spiritual needs of the new man of these new times, but it has demonstrated (to those who "have ears to hear and eyes to see") RELIGION RATIONALIZED 155 that these available truths, having first estab- lished the rudimentary facts of immortality, the existence of God, regeneration and degen- eration of character, afterwards supply the light which opens the way for study and inves- tigation in the realm of spirit which may be continuous throughout this life, with prac- tical rewards for every effort and every step in this spiritual pursuit Swedenborg discovered a new Bible within the old Bible. He discovered new revela- tions of spiritual truth of indescribable clear- ness and certainty within the old revelation which are of greater and less obscurity and uncertainty. In thus making the spiritual light of divine revelation available for all the spiritual needs of all men in this new age or dispensation, he has made available a spirit- ual riches, a spiritual provision, whose value to mankind is analogous to the value of all the riches and the provision represented in all modern discoveries, inventions and scientific progress; and whose value to mankind is, for that reason, as much greater than the value of these natural things as a successful and happy life throughout eternity is more valu- able than any worldly success considered inde- 156 RELIGION RATIONALIZED - Hi. h i' , li imm-iji l».i-j- .*.i± jjh.~».i a_ i n - m jj « 1 m m ljuui m '■ .-"iilll. » j i ,. 1 1 «... i.m_- u i . hi in 1 1 111 11 pendently of or unattached to immortality. Here, then, is a service or use the greatness of which is above comparison as it stands out in its towering preeminence among the achieve- ments of the world's greatest men. Practically speaking, this one service of dis- covering the holy of holies in the interior secret chamber of the Word of God, and of opening the door into it so that all who will may enter into it for spiritual replenishment and increase of life, is inclusive of practically all the contributions which Swedenborg made to the good of mankind. This one service, however, in its supereminent greatness includes many instrumental and related serv- ices, which, when looked upon individually as contributory parts, are themselves most nota- ble and profitable for observation. Among these lesser uses thus performed by Swedenborg, among these services which were essential as contributing factors in opening to mankind the interior depths of God's Word, the one most striking and probably the great- est, is the definite and concrete and detailed information he has given concerning the spir- itual world, concerning heaven and hell, con- cerning the inhabitants of heaven and hell, and RELIGION RATIONALIZED 157 the conditions of life among them. During the entirety of the last twenty-eight years of his life in this world, Emanuel Swedenborg was a traveler and an explorer, by permission and under the leading of Divine Providence, in the spiritual universe. Yes, Swedenborg actually associated with angels more than he did with men and women in this world, and as intimately, during the whole of the last twenty-eight years of his life. He had associations also with satanic, evil and infernal spirits. At the age of fifty-six, Swedenborg, after having lived as busy a life perhaps as any con- temporary; after having written as volumin- ously and lucidly upon nearly all the natural sciences as any scientist up to his time (having contributed many volumes to science) in addi- tion to having served his country as a very high public official for nearly thirty years, was INTROMITTED into the spiritual world. (The word "intromited" will be defined later.) And from the age of fifty-six to eighty-four, when all connection with his physical body was finally severed by death, he was an inhabitant of the spiritual world as consciously and as really and as absolutely lit- 158 RELIGION RATIONALIZED erally in every respect as he was of this mate- rial world. All of his numerous theological books, (more than twenty large volumes) all of which were written during this last period of his life, contain, among other things, some descriptions and other detailed information of what he saw and heard and otherwise experi- enced in that world which is now inhabited by all the men and women who ever departed this world by death. One notable volume entitled, "Heaven and Hell," is devoted entirely to detailed information which he had gained first hand and this was written in the thirteenth year of his intromited state. Yes, yes, yes. But the proof? The proof is as complete and as valid as the proof of anything that we know. What is, and, Where is, the proof of Swed- enborg's veracity? Inasmuch as the marvel- ous and astounding statements which Sweden- borg makes concerning his own experiences in the spiritual world and the realities of that world are dependent on Swedenborg's verac- ity, Where is, and What is, the proof of his veracity? This question of proof can be answered as quickly as Alexander the Great cut the gordian RELIGION RATIONALIZED 159 knot. All irrevelant controversy and discus- sion may be omitted. There is one fact, which, alone, verifies with indisputable proof, the veracity of Swedenborg. It is the fact of the interior or spiritual sense in the Word of God. Does this spiritual sense in the Bible exist? If so, Swedenborg's veracity is estab- lished. OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXISTENCE OF THE INTERIOR SENSE OF THE BIBLE IS SWEDEN- BORG'S CONTRIBUTION TO THE WORLD. And, not only so, but our very ability to read the Bible according to its inte- rior sense is dependent upon the fact that Swedenborg's statements are facts — facts which he gathered from his explorations in the spiritual world. Swedenborg's veracity is therefore attested by the fact that all of his questioned statements form part of the mech- anism which we employ in seeing for ourselves the interior truths of Divine Revelation. Swedenborg's affirmation that he had the experiences, which he did have, is, in itself, no proof, because all imposters make affirma- tions. And, again, the reasonableness of Swedenborg's descriptions of the other world, while somewhat convincing, is wholly inade- 160 RELIGION RATIONALIZED quate as satisfactory proof, because reasonable appearances can emanate from the imagina- tion. But the Bible is a tangible object. We can examine its literature as we would a mech- anism. Swedenborg places in our hands a wonderful array of statements concerning the spiritual world, and concerning his own living and wakeful experiences in the spiritual world, which he tells us are facts. He further- more tells us that if we bring these facts into certain relations with the literature of the Bible we will see something more astonishing than Moses did when he saw the burning bush that was not consumed. And, to our amaze- ment and consequent amazing joy, we find, as a matter of fact, that, by the use of these facts, the Bible bursts into flame; and, is to us, thereafter, a permanently established lumi- nary whose rays of; light reveal the substantial realities of the distinctive realm of truth. This realm of truth, which is thus brought under light, which is inclusive of the qualities of all human emotions and thoughts, and which is, therefore, inclusive of all human potentalities, is in fact the spiritual universe itself. The study and observation of human qualities, under the light of Divine Revela- RELIGION RATIONALIZED l6l tion, are in reality a genuine vision, so far as it goes, of its kind, of the very same spiritual world into which Swedenborg was "intro- mited," and in which the subconscious part of ourselves is even now alive, and in which we will awaken to full consciousness at the time we call death. The spiritual world, as we ourselves see it, as we see it for ourselves, as it stands revealed in the interior sense of the Bible, is, in all respects, in agreement with the detailed information which we gain from Swedenborg's experiences as these are recorded in his writings. And, in this way, Divine Revelation itself gives additional sub- stantiation to all that Swedenborg sets forth as facts concerning the spiritual world and the future life. (Note that this world stands revealed under the light of the solar sun. And yet, How much of it is seen by the average man? The progress of science and discovery has depended chiefly upon man's ability to observe facts and realities standing out in clearness before his eyes. How slow, nevertheless, has been the progress of science and discovery! Columbus, we say, discovered America, and yet, about all that he was able to describe of 162 RELIGION RATIONALIZED what he had seen was a harbor, a landscape and some Indians. Compare such a description with what we now know of the "new world." Therefore the reader is cautioned not to expect too much at first from Divine Revela- tion when his eyes first behold the luminous character of the Bible and the realm of truth which is seen under its light.) Let it always be borne in mind that the information which Swedenborg gathered as an explorer of the spiritual universe, while he was at the same time an inhabitant of this material world, was to serve an instrumental purpose. Divine Revelation does not come through Swedenborg but through the Bible. The facts which Swedenborg gives us are seemingly of such great importance as to appear to be equal to what we learn from the Word itself. But this is not so. To the extent that it is so considered, idolatry is established. The observations and discoveries of Sweden- borg, made by Divine permission and guid- ance while he was exploring the spiritual uni- verse, were first instrumental in enabling him to acquire for himself the knowledge of the science of correspondences between spirit and matter and of thereby learning the language RELIGION RATIONALIZED 163 of correspondences according to which the Bible had previously been dictated by God. And then, through him they are now instru- mental in enabling us to learn the same science and language, to the end that the interior sense of the Bible may be available for the spiritual needs of all mankind. By being intromitted into the spiritual world Swedenborg was enabled to live in full wakefulness in both the spiritual and mate- rial worlds at the same time. This was possi- ble in the nature of things because the sub- conscious part of every man is even now alive in the spiritual world, but not in full wake- fulness. The Lord could easily grant wake- fulness in the spiritual world to any man now living, but Pie does not grant such wakeful- ness ordinarily because it would entail great spiritual harm to the individual and serve no useful purpose to the world. The fact that Swedenborg could move about freely in his spiritual body without being handicapped in any way by his connection with his physical body here will be commented upon later when the distinction is pointed out between matter and spirit as two different kinds of substance. Suffice it to say here that spiritual substance 164 RELIGION RATIONALIZED is subject to the laws of "state of being" whereas material substance is subject to the laws of time and space. Generalities of Information From swedenborg No seer nor teacher has seen the generalities of facts more comprehensively nor taught the fundamentals of facts so nearly according to their relative importance as did Swedenborg. We will now point out some of the mountain peaks of knowledge which the reader may visit for himself, at his convenience, in the voluminous writings of Swedenborg. Natural and Spiritual Law What is law? It is order in reciprocal rela- tionships. Comment has already been made in several places upon the meaning and sig- nificance of relationship. All things are related. All things act and are acted upon. All things cause effects and receive effects. There is, in the nature of things, order in relationships. By virtue of this order every particular thing is qualified to fill its function. And filling its function is performing its use — serving the ultimate end for which it was created and is being preserved. RELIGION RATIONALIZED 165 Not only does natural law exist but spiritual law exists. Henry Drummond referred to spiritual law when, technically incorrectly, he spoke of it as u natural law in the spiritual world." By first seeing the essential differ- ence between natural and spiritual law one can more clearly see the essential difference between material and spiritual substance. Natural law is predicated of natural sub- stance which we call matter. Likewise spir- itual law is predicated of spiritual substance which we call spirit. If matter did not exist there could be no natural law. All abstrac- tions are predicated of realities and substance. All realities which are not themselves sub- stances are predicated of substance. Sub- stance is the foundation of all other kinds of realities and of all true abstractions. If there is such a thing as spiritual law there must be spiritual substance of which it is predicated. The reign of law prevails not only in the realm of matter but also in the realm of mind. The facts which compose the knowledge of nearly every one of the natural sciences are nothing other than facts of relationship between material realities. Gravity, for 166 RELIGION RATIONALIZED instance, is the relationship of reciprocal attraction between material bodies. Chem- istry again stands for chemical relations between material substances. Astronomy like- wise stands for relationships between planets, stars and the like. Within the relations between material substances order or law pre- vails. Now, in the realm of human mind are innu- merable substantial realities as has already been pointed out. The number and variety of emotions and thoughts and the qualities of them are fully equal to the number and vari- ety of things in the world. All mental real- ities are related. There is an order of recip- rocal relationships within the substantial realities of the mind. And that order is spir- itual law as distinguished from natural law. If friendship, for instance, destroys avarice; if love of service neutralizes anger, we recog- nize striking relations in the realm of spirit. These relations are according to law. Material and Spiritual Substance Distinguished Natural laws do not exist in the spiritual world for the simple reason that material sub- RELIGION RATIONALIZED 167 stance does not exist there. Spiritual laws, however, exist in the spiritual world for the simple reason that spiritual' substance exists there. Spiritual substance is that which the human mind is. Hence the reign of law in the spiritual world is identical with the reign of law in the human mind. This means that the spiritual substances in the spiritual world act and react under the same laws and accord- ing to the same order as human emotions and human thoughts act and react among them- selves. On account of the fact that substance in the spiritual world is spirit and not matter, as just set forth, some remarkable and astonish- ing peculiarities, as distinguishing the spirit- ual world from this one, can be seen to be true. A few examples will be given : — (1) The external surroundings or the environmental situation of every person in the spiritual world is always such as to exactly correspond with his state of life. Any change in the "state of being" with an angel, spirit or devil, is invariably accompanied with a corresponding change in his immediate sur- roundings. The external world there, being of the same substance that the interior life 1 68 RELIGION RATIONALIZED of the inhabitants is, is in fact the objective from or expression of the interior self. Man is more intimately and vitally related to the external world and the things that are in it than was ever depicted by poet's pen, because, in the spiritual world, the external world is the objective form of the interior self. And this world is the effect of and is caused by the spiritual world. The first expression or external manifesta- tion of the substances of the mind is a spiritual body. Every spirit has a substantial spiritual body and lives in bodily form just as he does in this world. The spiritual human body is the same in all particulars as the material body here, with the one difference that its substance is spirit and not matter. Its appear- ance to the spiritual eyes are exactly what its appearance here is to the natural eyes. Other objective forms of substance, as they project from the emotions and thoughts, are all the things which form the outside world as we say. If an angel, for instance, comes into a lofty state of mind corresponding to a mountain, he will be, as to bodily presence, on a mountain. And, again, certain emotional states have within them, things which corre- RELIGION RATIONALIZED 169 spond to beautiful flowers, paradisical gardens with beautiful lakes and trees. Whenever an angel is in the experience of such a state he is, as to bodily presence, in such an envir- onmental situation. All human emotions and thoughts correspond to worldly forms or objects and therefore the objects which the angels see with their eyes and the sounds which they hear with their ears are the external appearances of their own experi- ences. Therefore if the character is unselfish and beautiful the external surroundings are beautiful. The mental states, or the states of being, with angels are continually changing. This is only another way of saying that angels are active. They are all the time doing things. This means that they experience different emo- tions and think many thoughts. These changes of state are according to order and are always in an orderly way. These changes can be very gradual or they can be sudden. If gradual the changing scenery and environ- mental situation may be like the changes observed while walking from one place to another. But the external surroundings are always in exact correspondence with the inte- 170 RELIGION RATIONALIZED rior state. If the change is sudden, if, for instance, an angel desires to communicate with another who is distant from him (thousands of miles perhaps) he can communicate with that other one by desire and thought, and if the other one responds so that there is mutual desire to come together, they can be with each other instantly. It should be noted, however, that the distance which at first separated them was fundamentally a difference in their states. The desire to be together would necessitate their coming into a common state and this would mean a change in the environmental situation of both. This means that distance in the spiritual world is more of an appearance than a reality and can be traversed as rapidly as emotional states can change. These changes in state and the corresponding changes of posi- tion as to apparent distances are according to order and perfectly normal in the spiritual world. (2) In the realm of emotions and thoughts gifts can be made without impoverishing the giver. A teacher never loses his knowledge by imparting it to others. A mother does not become less loving by bestowing her love upon her children. Spiritually, therefore, we RELIGION RATIONALIZED 171 become richer by giving. Here is a glimpse of a certain spiritual law. On account of this spiritual law some striking appearances are manifest among the substantial objects of the spiritual world. For example, if an angel is in possession of beautiful flowers, delicious fruit or that which would be analogous to money, and if the occasion offered where he could supply the needs of others by giving these beautiful and valuable things away he would not diminish his own supply by giving. This peculiarity as attaching to spiritual sub- stance is directly revealed by the correspon- dential or spiritual interpretation of several of the miracles. Jesus with "five loaves and two fishes" fed "about five thousand men, besides women and children." "And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full." — (Matt. 14:19-21.) In the time of a certain famine Elijah the prophet visited the widow of Zarephath, whose remaining food supply consisted of "an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse." And thus He declared, "For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until 172 RELIGION RATIONALIZED the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth." "And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which He spake by Elijah." — (i Kings 17:12, 14, 16.) That these miracles according to their spiritual meaning reveal, among other things, the truth of this peculiarity in spiritual substance should now be self evident. (3) All angels are busily engaged in use- ful occupation. Unselfish love is in the con- stant effort to supply the needs of others., Love, like rested muscles, is charged with energy. The energy or activity of angels can scarcely be compared with that of men in this world, and it is the nature of an angel to put forth his energy in useful service. In so doing he experiences the delights of his life. Growth never ceases with any angel and this means that every angel is constantly in need of those things which administer to his growth. All angels have needs and for that reason they are (constitutionally) recipients of what other angels can do for them. An angel therefore can contribute to the needs of all others and he can be the recipient of what all other angels desire to contribute to him. RELIGION RATIONALIZED 173 (Here is reciprocity of unselfishness.) Spir- itual substances and spiritual environment never retard an angel in unselfish service, but, on the contrary, in ways that have no com- parisons or illustrations here, they facilitate him in any work in hand so perfectly that the success of every angel is limited only by his limited abilities and qualifications. (4) HEAVEN AND HELL are terms which distinguish, primarily, opposite or opposing "states of life," and which, there- fore, distinguish between decidedly different conditions of life, and which, therefore again, distinguish between striking differences in the makeup of the places of habitation. States of life are determined fundamentally or first of all by quality of character, which divides between selfish and unselfish quality. Spir- itual freedom and finite personal responsi- bility establish, as the two alternatives, selfish and unselfish outcomes to life. The one is heaven and the other is hell, with all that these two things imply and involve. All develop- ments which may be possible in the nature of things in selfishness of human character are what hell is. All developments which may 174 RELIGION RATIONALIZED be possible in the nature of things in unselfish- ness of human character are what heaven is. Fire corresponds to love or emotion. The consuming fires of hell are the raging emo- tions of selfishness which, by their dominance in the individual lives of evil spirits, cause an utter perversion of all truth, and these are dependent for their gratification or happiness upon the unhappiness which they would cause. And yet, under the operations of the Divine Providence, all of the inhabitants of hell are compelled to perform uses. One of the essen- tial differences between an infernal spirit and an angel is that the evil spirit is compelled to perform uses whereas the angel performs uses voluntarily. This means, of course, further- more, that the uses performed by compulsion are of an altogether different order from those which are performed by free and spontaneous choice. Law and order prevail in the hells on account of which and by means of which suf- fering is mitigated as much as is possible in the nature of things. Happiness is granted as much as is possible in the nature of things. But, in the nature of things, disappointment, arbitrary intervention in plans and purposes, RELIGION RATIONALIZED 175 many kinds of restrictions, fears and punish- ments are identified with the conditions of life among those whose quality of character is essentially selfish. It is altogether otherwise in the conditions of life with those whose quality of character is essentially unselfish. No disappointments, no intervention in plans and purposes, no restrictions of any kind, no fears or anxiety are identified with the free and spontaneous life of those whose character is unselfish. Suc- cess in achievement and gratification of all desires, which is happiness, are limited only by those limitations imposed by limitation of mental abilities. Heaven and hell are separated. They are as distant one from the other as they are dif- ferent in quality or state of being. Inasmuch as the environmental makeup of hell is corre- spondential to and therefore harmonious and homogeneous with the states of devils, there- fore the inhabitants of hell go to hell voluntar- ily. An evil spirit turns away from heaven as spontaneously and as quickly as an angel turns away from hell. At the time we call death every man is as to quality of his character exactly what he is 176 RELIGION RATIONALIZED — whatever that may be. In the great major- ity of instances, there attaches to a good man at the time of death many things that are evil, and there attaches to an evil man some things that are good. In other words the good are not yet angels and the bad are not yet satans or devils. Owing to this fact there is an inter- mediate state or world, midway between heaven and hell, called the intermediate world of spirits, into which nearly all persons at first enter at the time of death. In the inter- mediate world, just spoken of, spiritual prog- ress continues until the good are prepared for heaven and until the bad are ready to go vol- untarily to hell. Heaven is a vast society, and so is hell. The organization of society is such that it is an organism. It can be compared with the organism of the human body. Organic society is itself in the form of a man. That is to say, the abilities and qualifications of the members of society are so different that, relatively, the services rendered or uses performed by one may be like those served or performed by the eye, while those of another like the services rendered or the uses performed by the heart or right hand and the like. Thus it may be RELIGION RATIONALIZED 177 said that the function of some angels, as refer- ring to the services they render throughout eternity, is analogous to that of the nerves whereas that of others is analogous to that of the muscles or the bones or something of the head or of the arm or any part of the body, Swedenborg's "doctrine of the Grand Man" is certainly a towering mountain of wisdom for exploration. The Idea of God God is infinite. There is but one infinite God. In the nature of things two infinites are inconceivable. In the idea of two infinites both infinites are reduced to the finite so that all idea of the infinite becomes destroyed. God is very substance. Divine love is the name of infinite substance. Infinite and sub- stantial love abides in a state of activity, energy or force. The activity of love implies and includes self consciousness. This is Intel- ligence or Wisdom. God is therefore both infinite Love and infinite Wisdom. It is of the very nature of love to be in an effort to realize something. This is true of both infinite and finite love. Wisdom or Intelli- gence is the first means which Love employes 178 RELIGION RATIONALIZED for acting in accordance with its nature in accomplishing or achieving results. The infinite and divine Love, by means of infinite and divine Wisdom, creates from Itself all things that are finite. There is no finite thing that came from nothing. All finite things have been created and they have been created from something. God alone is the original uncreated Substance. All other things are derivative. They have been created by God from Himself. THE INFINITE AND SELF EXIST- ENT REALITY, WHICH IS INFINITE SUBSTANCE, WHICH IS SELF EXISTENT LIFE, WHICH IS INFIN- ITE AND DIVINE LOVE AND WIS- DOM, IS IN ITSELF AN INFINITE UNIT. This means that God is an infinite PERSON. No conception of self existent Life is possible other than that it is a divine and infinite MAN. The PERSONALITY OF GOD is necessarily acknowledged in any true conception of infinite Life. If God is Love, What is the object and end of the Love which God is? (If God wants something, What is it that God wants?) RELIGION RATIONALIZED 179 First of all it would be that which would gratify the love or satisfy the desire. It is in the nature of unselfish love to give of or from itself to some worthy object which is other than itself. The object of God's love, that which God wants, is the human race composed of finite human beings. What human beings are has already been touched upon. God created finite man from Himself, to be other than Himself, and to be forever the worthy object, worthy of receiving from Him, throughout eternity, those things which it is of God's love to give from Himself to that which is other than Himself. Man is not only a rational being but he is endowed with spiritual freedom and with per- sonal responsibility. The meaning of these things have already been spoken of. Without them man would not be an image of his Cre- ator. Without them he would not be of a suf- ficiently high order of being, of such sig- nificance, as to return to God as his reciprocal response that which makes it worth while for God to create and preserve him. The human race is not limited to the men and women of this planet. If there are numer- l8o RELIGION RATIONALIZED ous planets revolving around our sun, and if the million stars in the sky are as many solar suns with planets revolving around each one of them, and if suns and planets are created only to be instrumental in serving the needs of the human race, (as is the fact) then the people of our planet are comparatively few as compared with all who are being created. And then, again, if we consider that it is impossible for us to conceive of any time when suns and planets did not exist for the purpose of facilitating the creation of human beings, and impossible to conceive of any time in the future when they will cease to exist for the same purpose; and if we furthermore consider that all human beings are immortal, that all who ever were created are still alive, our idea of the human race is a large idea. ( !) It is this human race which is the worthy object which has been, is and will continue to be, something other than God, to which He can, to eternity, give that which it is of His love to give. The Divine Providence CREATION AND PRESERVATION are words that go together. God not only cre- ates but He preserves. Preservation is equiv- RELIGION RATIONALIZED l8l alent to continual creation. Creation implies and involves an object or purpose on the part of God. Preservation is for the fulfillment of that object or purpose. These and similar facts lead to a correct conception of the DIVINE PROVIDENCE. In creating from Himself the things of the finite realm, with an object or purpose, thereby employing means and methods, a personal interest by God in these things is self evident, The finite realm is God's work! It is His achievement! It is what He lives for! It is that which it is His nature to create! Therefore He is interested in it! Let us see to what extent He is interested in it. When we think of the creation of the sun and the world, and the millions of other suns and other worlds, and of the spaces between the suns and worlds in which there is no unoc- cupied space or vacuum; and then, again, when we think of the SPIRITUAL universe as the habitation of all men and women who ever lived on this and other planets, let us ask the question, How much effort or energy or force was required for such achievement? Whatever this energy was, It represents the 182 RELIGION RATIONALIZED force and power of God's love for the achieve- ment. In other words He loves it as much as it costs Him. To the extent that we can estimate the cost of creating the universe in terms of Human energy to that extent we can estimate God's love for the human race. Pres- ervation of the universe, or of all things cre- ated, requires the continuous activity of the same love energy that first created it. The conception of God as an infinite and divine MAN, engaged not only in works of new creation but also in the preservation of all former creations, is a correct conception of the operations of the Divine Providence. God not only creates finite things from Himself but, in so doing, He employs MEANS AND METHODS. He likewise employs means and methods in the preserva- tion of creations. He establishes order so per- fectly that every created thing becomes a means for serving His plan, and, on account of this, we say that everything is qualified to fill its function. All finite substances and forces and laws are instrumental agencies in the hands of God for accomplishing the ends which He has in Mind, and the one great end or purpose in RELIGION RATIONALIZED 183 the mind of God is to serve the needs of finite human beings both in this and the spiritual world. God knows what these needs are. God knows what is the best outcome to life that is possible, in the nature of things, for every human being; and, it is his purpose to render every assistance which any man will make use of to this end. To what extent does he employ means and methods in serving human needs? The answer is that no human need is so small but what the infinite God provides for it. In the preservation of his creations, to the end that His object in creation will be realized, God's personal interest is as keen in the minutest things as in the greatest and in all details as in the big generalities. In thinking of God's greatness we some- times wonder what He would condescend to do. The real question is not what He would condescend to do, but, Where can God serve a finite human need? He condescends to serve any need. No genuine human need is or ever was nor ever will be neglected by God. What human needs are has already been stated. 184 RELIGION RATIONALIZED And, again, in considering the means and methods employed by God in serving human needs, the real question is not what means and methods are of a rank such as can be employed by God with dignity. It is simply a question with God of employing such means and methods as are effective in serving human needs so that no minutest need will ever be neglected. Why is it that such infinite effort needs to be made in supplying the needs of finite men? Where is the complication or what is it in the nature of man which requires that God put forth such effort in his behalf? In spite of the fact that the Divine Providence makes pro- vision for even the most minute of all human needs, nevertheless, evil exists and some men turn out to be degenerates. Again our atten- tion is called to SPIRITUAL FREEDOM and PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY. A MAN CAN NOT BE A MAN WITH- OUT SPIRITUAL FREEDOM AND PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY. God wants men and nothing short of men as His achievement. All evil could be destroyed and the hells annihilated by destroying spiritual freedom and personal responsibility in men, RELIGION RATIONALIZED l8^ but this would be to destroy human nature itself. Therefore it is not a genuine need with any man that his spiritual freedom should be destroyed or his personal responsibility taken away. The Incarnation of God In Jesus Christ THE INCARNATION OF GOD IN JESUS CHRIST may be thought of, first of all, as means and methods employed by God for supplying certain human needs, which required that kind of conduct, so to speak, on the part of God. The infinite Human Energy which God is expending in the finite realm is represented by an infinite number of things which He is doing on behalf and in the interests of men. Creating suns and planets and intervening atmospheres, and then preserving them intact, and keeping them in their perpetual motion, represent a portion of God's activities. In ad- dition to these things God establishes certain personal relations between Himself, as the in- finite Unit, and finite man. His incarnation in the person of Jesus Christ is to be identified with His personal relations to men, by which, according to orderly means and methods, He 186 RELIGION RATIONALIZED reveals Himself to men, protects men from subconscious or psychic dangers, warms the effections of men and enlightens their under- standing by immediate influx and things of that kind. God's presence in the world in the person of Jesus Christ did not necessitate any change in His relative position as the Creator and Preserver of all things. He was the living soul in Jesus Christ exactly as He is the liv- ing soul in His written Word. "In the begin- ning was the Word, . . . and the Word WAS God." Jesus Christ was God in the same sense that the Bible is God. The finite human form of Jesus Christ was not infinite, neither is the finite literary composition of the Bible infinite. Infinite and divine truth, however, is within the finite literature of the Bible and this very soul of the Bible is God. And likewise the soul and inmost life of Jesus Christ was God. The idea of the finite is that of limitation whereas the idea of the infinite is that of the unlimited. All men must live their lives sub- ject to the limitations of their finite natures and their finite conditions and circumstances. Therefore, when the infinite Being descended RELIGION RATIONALIZED 1 87 in the person of Jesus Christ, to act the part of Divinity in the realm of man's finite limita- tions, He subjected the activities of the assumed finite personality to the same limita- tions that all men are subject to. This means, practically speaking, that Jesus Christ acted under His finite conditions and circumstances exactly as the Divine Love and Wisdom would act under the same limited and restricted conditions and circumstances. In this way God Himself gives us a perfect example of what right living is for men. Thereby He revealed the standard of all values in human life. And thereby He furthermore revealed that He Himself is Human — Human in the infinite sense of the word. These observations, however, are only explanations and conceptions. What about the proof of them? The sufficient and indis- putable proof of the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ is in the divine revelation of God's Word, which enables us to see for our- selves that it is true. The external or literal sense of the Bible reveals spiritual light so obscurely, and is so susceptible of numerous interpretations, that it has led to misleading ideas as to who Jesus Christ is. Accord- 188 RELIGION RATIONALIZED ing to some interpretations of the literal sense, Christ is thought of as as infinite Being, entirely distinct from God, who is thought of as another infinite Being. And, according to some interpretations, the Uni- tarian idea has developed which is that Christ exemplifies the same "spark of divinity" which all men may exemplify so far as any difference in their organic natures is con- cerned. The literal sense of the Word, how- ever, when interpreted in the light of true doctrine, coincides with THE INTERIOR OR SPIRITUAL SENSE OF THE WORD WHICH CLEARLY AND LUCIDLY AND LUMINOUSLY BRINGS JESUS CHRIST TO LIGHT AS THE ONE AND ONLY LIVING GOD WHO IS THE CREATOR, PRE- SERVER AND SAVIOUR OF THE HUMAN RACE. The Bible, when inter- preted according to its interior or spirit- ual sense, reveals from the beginning to the end of its contents that God became incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ and that Jesus Christ is God. The final and incontrovertible proof of this fact can be found and can only be found in Divine Revelation. Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 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