Show A NEW LIGHT THERE has lately arisen in russia bugeia we orle of the most remarkable religious teachers cohere of any age or race and the ct that he lays no claim to any authority hority or commission of an ex ordinary inary or supernatural chalao ter ie is not the least striking feature of his bis propaganda ris hia name is leo tolstoi and he be merited from his father the title of aunt and extensive estates his family atily was an ancient and wealthy oae and he received a finished while still a youth he took att letters etters and a little later became 44 artillery officer after a few attra yttra he left the army and devoted himself to literature and such adissi lation as was common among wealthy young noblemen of russia 4 according chording to his own statement s sins gins included lying duel g gambling adultery of all its wis 11 wasting his substance wing ung from the sweat of serfs in living and even murder OY y the latter term he evidently iteana the killing of men in war or 14 duels such he declares was ills fe life for ten years yean ile he is 18 now a little post past sixty years of ef age he had obtained great terae me a as a novelist and litterateur IMera tew hen a few years ago he began writing theological works some vt these have been translated into nallah and within the last year or ad two have been circulated quite ex ively Ss in cultured circles in the netted states the result has been the e creation f a remarkable ingels 1 t in the ideas and teaching ich he advances in III reading his writings it is easy to w see that his mind though gigan tac maln in its ability and capacity and elousky elou sly gifted in its reasoning fad a analyzing powers is strongly bened fined in the he direction of mew meta and that his methods of have been much affected by the w study raudy of the writings of and belavic philosophers whose ague dreamy and hypothetical teachings and mystical conclusions are strongly in contrast with the robust matter of fact methods of thinking which characterize anglo saxon writers on metaphysical topics after feeding on the husks of dissipation si and learning by experience that the pleasures of such an existence were utterly unreal tolstoi set about solving the great problem of life he asked why do men live what is the object the purpose of life what is the result in his work entitled my con confession fea 11 he be depicts the mental sufferings he underwent went in the effort to find an answer to these questions and describes the processes of investigation which he pursued to persons who are fond of philosophical and theological studies this book is one of fascinating interest as well as of a highly instructive character tolstoi begins his investigations from the standpoint of an intellectual nihilist a believer in nothing the fact that he is a conscious being who lives suffers experiences and reasons forms the foundation on which he bases the superstructure of logic by which he seeks to reach a solution of the great problem of lite his description of the mental processes he went through and his elucidation ci of the inductive reasoning he pursued in his search for the meaning of life are intensely interesting and display the rarest powers of a logician every effort to find a meaning to life or an object for it is fruitless the conclusion which is reaches is always the same life has no meaning no object and he who suffers erff himself to continue to live is a fool the a man can perform is suicide tolstoi is constantly urging himself to resort to the cord or revolver but is restrained by an influence he is unable to distinctly define all his reasoning tells him he is a fool for living yet he continues to live he sweeps the entire field of worldly knowledge he reads the works of the most learned philosophers he seeks interviews with the profoundest profound eat living thinkers of europe he strains to their utmost tension the powers and resources of his bis own mind all in the effort to discover the object of life but all he can learn from the intellectual and the educated from the thinker and philosopher only serves to confirm him in the conclusion that life Is a cruel joke stupid and meaningless save in the suffering which forms the greater part of it he quotes from philosophers having master minds from the buddhist scriptures and even from solomon to show that life is but vanity the use he makes of the book of ecclesiastes in this connection is truly remarkable he shows that thinkers and reason ers the wise men of all ages and races who have inquired why mer live have reached the same conclusion namely there is ia no reason in unspeakable despair he contemplates self destruction as the only relief from his sufferings Buffe rings the only consistent sensible act he can perform but while in this frame of mind it occurs to him that though the wise and learned see no meaning in life the ignorant masses do and he determines to ascertain how the illiterate peasantry answer the question what is the object of life he studies their lives and modes of thought he observes that they toll toil endure poverty and hardship and sicken and die all without a murmur and without a question of the wisdom of that overruling economy which causes them to pass through all these things his investigations into the lives of the peasantry at length lead to the disclosure that the secret of their lives is faith they endure here because they have faith in a hereafter and in a power which boeth all things well tolstoi finds the key to life which he has sought so bolong long he has discovered the wonderful principle of faith he investigates this principle and brings to bear upon it the marvelous reasoning and analytical powers of his mind the result to is a demonstration that men live by faith that it is the secret the principle the power of life and action and that without faith ft would be impossible for men to live his expositions of the principle of faith are strikingly a similar MJ I 1 to the teachings of the latter day saints respecting spec ting ng it as far as he be goes A belief that life has an object and a goal is a solace to tolstoi and he tells how this belief snatched him from the depths of despair how that he was taught this high wisdom by babes in intellect which he be had failed to obtain from the wise and learned he describes what he calls two kinds of knowledge one kind which is acquired by experience and the senses and another kind which is compassed only by faith he reaches these fundamental principles principle of religion as he thinks without the aid of scripture and nd without believing in the existence of a god but having discovered the nature and value as well as some of the effects of the principle of faith he becomes a member of the greek church but here his troubles begin afresh in the liturgy rites and teachings of that church he sees much that is false and absurd to accept which he must utterly cast aside his reason he is in despair again shall he throw away faith no for far that means death shall he acquiesce in the creed of the church no for anat would be living a lie and meriting the displeasure of the god of the church his gigantic mind assumes a new task to separate the true from the false in the teachings of the church and to unfold the real system taught by jews jesus the account of his efforts to accomplish this tremendous task is intensely interesting he riddles the creed of the church as few infidels have ever done indeed it may be doubted if voltaire himself ever made more palpable the inconsistencies cies and absurdities of modern christianity than has tolstoi but in bis big attempts at formulating from reason and the scriptures a complete hanno harmonious and efficacious in other words a true system of religion tolstoi signally falls fails many of his hie ideas are sublime and much that he teaches is admirable but theology is a science which he has not mastered and however thoroughly he may have e covered the whole field of human learning he is but a tyro in his comprehension of the plan and principles by which man will be redeemed from his present fallen condition and elevated into a higher and happier state nevertheless few thinkers whose works axe are being perused by this generation era tion are destined to more palpably influence the thought of the age than Is ie tolstoi the effect his writings will have will be good in the main though they are open to the objection that they tend to remove the importance if not the existence of a personal god from the faith of the student they deity deify truth rather than him who is the personification fi and revealer reve aJer of truth they do not however deny the existence odthe god of the bible with the attributes therein accorded him and their intellectual power marvelous acumen and exalted morality cannot but do good and to one enlightened by the spirit of truth they confirm experience and the declarations of both ancient and modern modem scripture that of himself and by natural reason man cannot find out god that the things of god no man but the spirit of god and that things kept hid from the wise and prudent may be revealed unto babes in the learning of the world |