New Year, when the sun is born, as it were; that is, when the days begin to lengthen.

The origin of the cross or sacred tree has been explained by G. Massey, in the "Natural Genesis," chap. vii.

Although the religion of Idealism is not directly dependent on any philosophical system, yet will it be imperfect and limited when associated with a narrow view of life, an incomplete philosophy. The universe is inevitably reflected in man as a "Holy Family," a primordial Trinity to which all our faculties, and consequently all our activities, have reference. Rational or Natural ReligionIdealism-will be truly related to each of these three elements. It will enjoin: (a) obedience to God the Father as revealed in Reason and Conscience; (b) love of God the Mother as revealed in the beauty and harmony of Nature; (c) Service of the Divine Son, Humanity. Viewed in this light, the popular superstitions are seen to be lamentably defective, and we have valid grounds for rejecting them. The most degraded and worldly are the Greek Church and the Anglican. Romanism, though utterly corrupt and sacerdotal, retains beautiful traces of ancient Nature-worship; that is to say, God the Mother is not repudiated as in all the Protestant sects. Some of the new-fangled systems, Theosophism, Spiritism, etc., though they make a profession of philanthropy and fraternity, are sunk in superstition and steeped in imposture. In the eclipse of Rational Religion,

impostors and mountebanks are numerous, Blavatsky, Dowie, and a hundred others, some posing on platforms, others beating drums, all making a trade of Truth.

DEUM LAUDAMUS

1. All praise to God who is revealed within,
As Reason, Conscience, Order, Justice, Truth:
Father, Great Spirit, Comforter in sooth.

Crowned with majesty, dwelling in light,
Wielding the thunderbolt, guiding the storm,
King of our souls, to Thy laws we conform.
2. All praise to God who is revealed without
As Nature, on whose bosom we recline,
Mother, all-parent, bounteous, benign :

Wearing as diadem, Beauty and Grace,
Queen of the firmament, grant us thy peace!

3. Best praise of God is service of Mankind,
In whom reflected the Divine appears :
Son, brother, sharer of my hopes and fears;
Striving and suffering, burdened with woe,
Seeking for happiness, finding despair,
Hail, fellow-prisoner, safety is near !—

IDEAL MAN AS THE IMAGE OF DEITY

"For Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love
Is God our Father dear;

And Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love
Is Man His child and care.

"For Mercy has a human heart ;
Pity a human face;

And Love the human form divine;
And Peace the human dress.

"Then every man of every clime,
Who prays in his distress,

Prays to the human form divine

Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace."

-WM. BLAKE, quoted by W. B. YEATS.

CHAPTER XXXVI

FAITH AND CREED

"The firmest faith is in the fewest words."

"There are no tricks in plain and simple faith.”—SHAKESPEARE. "A man lives by believing something, not by debating and arguing about many things."-THOMAS CARLYLE.

"Fair Truth,

Friend to the wise, supporter to the weak,

From thee we learn what e'er is right and just,
Creeds to reject, professions to distrust,

Forms to despise, pretensions to deride,

And, following thee, to follow naught beside."-CRABBE.

"The Creeds of the christian churches, while they have been by far the most potent engine of ecclesiastical power, have also been the most dangerous and insidious enemies of the Religion of Christ."-HIGINBOTHAM in "Science and Religion."

FAITH may be defined as the active apprehension of Idealism. And this definition, if rightly understood, will be found to harmonise perfectly with the theistic view. Max Müller is a typical representative of the theistic philosophy. He says ("Lectures on the Science of Religion"):

"As there is a faculty of speech, independent of all the historical forms of language; so there is in man a faculty of faith independent of all historical religions. There is a faculty or disposition which, independent of, nay, in spite of, sense and reason, enables man to apprehend God."

But this faculty of faith in God is not direct and immediate it is indirect, it works only

through Idealism, and can exist only in the idealist. Faith is primarily in the great ideals which converge in God. Thus, and thus only, does faith in God become possible; by no other path can Theism be approached.

If you throw into the ground a quantity of good corn which you might eat or sell, you do so trusting in the operation of some mysterious and incomprehensible forces which will cause it to germinate. If you throw away the advantages of this life for Idealism, you put your trust in higher laws which are equally mysterious and incomprehensible. This higher trust is faith.

"Faith is the evidence of things not seen (Heb. xi. 1); and these "things not seen" are ideals, such as honesty, justice, truthfulness, purity, fraternity. He has faith who comes to realise that these unseen things are realities, that the safety of the soul is bound up with them, and that there is no hope elsewhere. The anchor is universally regarded as the symbol of faith.

Faith has been called a sixth sense, but whereas the senses of the body are mainly automatic, faith requires a serious effort of the will. Rational faith is not the parrot-like repetition of formulæ dictated by a priest; it is not the blindfold adherence to the text of some sacred book, but something more deeply rooted in man's nature.

"There is such a thing as faith in justice, freedom, humanity, mercy, compassion, and above

all, in truth: nor do I see why such faith should not be called religious." 1

There is indeed no other faith than this, for trust in ideals is in very truth trust in God Who is the source of these ideals. A ship made fast to a cable is held by the rock round which that cable winds; thus by faith in ideals is the soul connected with the "Rock of Ages," with Deity, with Life. 1

Matthew Arnold ("Literature and Dogma") expresses the conviction that "it is well with the righteous." This conviction, provided that it be active and practical, is precisely what the idealist understands by faith. Without faith all noble action is paralysed. "All that is

grand, sublime, and of benefit to the race has come out of faith, not out of unbelief" (Froude). The struggle between faith and unfaith is one that ends as soon as it begins, for in times of trial we realise that a man "lives by faith" (Heb. x. 38). The contest which must ever be renewed is that between rational and irrational faith, between religion and superstition. The real difficulty is to look within ourselves [to follow the Inner Light], to feel that "we are dependent for our faith upon the testimony of apostles, the traditions of past ages, the authority of doctors and churches." 2

Faith has reference to ideals which elude all proof and demonstration. Belief, on the other hand, is in facts which may be verified. Facts