Show i REVELATION A sensational feature In the testimony of the late Mortcnsen case has been Instrumental In-strumental in bringing out the combined com-bined opinion of the local Christian clergy on the subject of revelation an opinion very dispiriting to us poor mortals mor-tals of the latterday civilization yet at the same tune very Interesting and suggestive sug-gestive I was declared In I conslllo I hat the solemn and supernatural process pro-cess of revelation while a common cver cay occurrence In far antiquity cannot possibly take place today on tho ground that the revelation contained con-tained In the New Testament Is allem bracing and allsufficient Being ignorant Ig-norant as to how much of a personal element might have entered Into the substance of the above declaration It seems Impossible for me to say whether it was Intended as a dig at the Mormons Mor-mons or not However the subject aside from all other considerations deserves de-serves serious and reverent study on Its spiritual and speculative merits alone However opinion may differ as to tho possibility or Impossibility of n present day revelation there can certainly from the Christian point of view be no doubt as to its great desirableness and absolute abso-lute necessity I taken but little thought on the part of a close observer i realize that In the face of an all embracing and allsuiTiclcnt revelation Christianity during all the centuries of Its existence could not have presented is It certainly did such a vast process of unbroken cleavage and ceaseless disintegration dis-integration What In the meaning of lill these many sects which have been f called Into existence by some obscure Indefinite sentences In the gospels How is It that the reading of a single passage In a language so well defined and precise pre-cise as the Greek should have produced such a wide divergence of opinion such an Impassable gulf between minds bent upon the quest of some spiritual truth What mean all the Incongruities of doctrine r doc-trine differences of ritual 1 diversities of ceremonial which according to their respective votaries must either damn or redeem desecrate or consecrate I sanctify or profane the present and hereafter of Individuals and races Which of all these many sects is to be trusted or believed Which one Is lobe lo-be talcen seriously and which Is to be considered in a merely Pickwickian sense You turn to the very smallest lf them and before you have time to look at HH contents you can already seethe see-the germs of further subdivision breaking break-ing up and disintegrating Its tissue The spiritual cravings o that portion of humanity hu-manity which his been fed upon so called revelations are today disorganized disor-ganized and demoralized their essential elements are lacking In harmony and coordination their vital forces arc stagnating from motionlessness and indecision In-decision and all because of want of light and definite direction I aecms like Irony of fate to be confronted with the pitiful spectacle of men and women working hard to save the remnants of their religion Instead of seeing religion r triumphantly saving the remnants of the people Now is It quite safe or logical log-ical to assert that In the midst of all L this labyrinth of opinion confusion of Ideas and contradiction of thought there is no necessity for a revelation The function of a revelation must certainly cer-tainly be to clear up not to confuse and I If the New Testament Is an allsufficient I revelation why does It mystify and per fplcx instead of simplify and enlighten lit Is clear as day that If anything did L ever create an imperative and Indispensable Indispen-sable demand fora revelation It Is cer stainly this very book considered as such and yet the correct and definite meaning of whose contents no one seems to be ever able to discover f eCms The truth of the matter is that the m I opinions advanced by the orthodox t churches of yesterday and today are all I vp lu clean Inc untenable From the philosophical and truly argumentative point oC view not one of them linn the least advantage over the other They all labor under the weight ot a traditional tradi-tional antiquated mistake as to the meaning and Import of the word revolution rclwln ton T means to them n process wherein where-in the human Intellect not only docs not participate hut from which It Is absolutely abso-lutely excluded Revelation to the or tthodox Is somethinG against which rca son must revolt and yet to which ere i duly must cling In the life of the Individual In-dividual It must bring about a triumph of the unbridled Imagination over the natural limitations of the senses If this be revelation man must always be In thu dark since the exclusion of reason and sense deprives him of the only criterion cri-terion whereby he Could dltferentlate between the respective claims of conflicting con-flicting revolutions or the interpretations interpreta-tions of them However science teaches tis thatrevelnljon has u different mean Ing It Is the formula of a complex Intellectual In-tellectual procesB the cumulative abil ity of ihe I evergrowing and expanding mind to grasp the finer relations between be-tween things and to transmute experiences experi-ences of past error into effective means I whureby immediate truths could more easily be acquired 1 Is I not Indicative of a sporadic descent of Cod to man but of un evolutional and methodical ascent of mal to God I Is In the light of thlfc t truc and scientific Interpretation that we see hmv revelation must always go on must never cease how humanity noeds It more today than it ever did bo fore Revelation being the collective name for the cumulative dynamic results I re-sults of mans mental and spiritual energies en-ergies It must be as eternal and unceasing un-ceasing as Is our quest after the infinite It Is coeval and coextensive with the nnc universal mind of which the Human mind la but an unseyrcgated portion i The time Ispassing rapidly away when the blurred Imaginings of re ligious cranks will be taken for supernatural super-natural revelations Man Is learning to look for It where he surely I will find It In the elov but sure results oC the efforts ef-forts of the collective human mind to grasp the Innermost meaning of COil In nature Thus the words of the great Jewish legislator are coming true For this commandment which I command thee this day Is not hidden from thee nor Is It far off I Ic 1 not In heaven neither Is It beyond the sea but lhe word Is very nigh unto thee In thy mouth and In thy heart that than may est do IL LOUIS G REYNOLDS Rabbi of Congregation UnnlIcrael |