y in man's relation to God, with the accessory idea of
dependence upon and obligation to him, the question is: Was that
religion earthly or Divine in its origin? Were these thoughts the
thoughts of men only, or were they too high for us? Can you think of
your relation and obligation to a being of whom you have never heard or
learned? No. Neither could man in the beginning, nor at any subsequent
time. Religion came not from earth. Human genius was not and could not
have been its foundation. There is but one other possible source, which
is simply the will and teachings of the creator. Religion is unearthly,
and hence Divine in its origin. The stream always declares the nature of
the fountain.

Gentlemen skeptics, you boast of free and fearless thought. Make your
vaunting good. Examine, if you dare, and let us have your strong
reasons, if you have any.

The nature of man made revelation a necessity. This will be the theme of
my next. Truth never fears the light, but known error is a coward, and
loves the dark.

* * * * *

A NOBLE book! All men's book. It is our first statement of the
never-ending problem of man's destiny and God's ways with men on
earth.--_Carlyle._

FORCE AND LIFE.

DR. J.L. PARSONS.

The origin of force and life in the universe is a great puzzle to
materialistic scientists. In the azoic period of our earth there was no
life on it. The living creatures now on the earth must, therefore, have
had some origin. That origin is not due to spontaneous generation,
according to the testimony of the most enlightened scientists, Professor
Haeckel to the contrary notwithstanding. The various vital
manifestations and exhibitions of force in the universe are due to some
cause. The intuitions of mankind, as well as the teachings of science,
declare there must be a cause lying behind the universe which has
produced it.

Two great philosophies contend for the mastery in the solution of the
problem of life. Materialistic philosophy seeks to account for the
origin of all things on principles which deny the existence of God, the
Creator, and which make man wholly a material being. Christianity
declares that the God of the Bible is behind the universe as its cause.
The only things which materialists recognize as having any existence in
the universe are matter and force. If force be used in the sense of mind
or spirit, which it is not in this case, I have no objection to this
state