ACCEPTING THE UNIVERSE 



water ! The turning of water into wine is as nothing 

 in comparison, but even that feat we want to see 

 done if we are to believe it. 



What a mystery shrouds the whole subject of 

 electricity and electro-magnetism! A sort of disem- 

 bodied force, working its will upon matter and yet 

 subject to none of the laws of matter. Spirit? — but 

 a spirit we can evoke at will, and make to do our 

 bidding, to run our errands, a spirit more friendly 

 than unfriendly. How prone the common mind is to 

 think that because a thing is mysterious it must be 

 true! 



As I have already emphasized, as man is a part of 

 Nature, so are all his creeds and myths, his religions 

 and his philosophies, a part of Nature. What valid- 

 ity does that give them? What support is lent to our 

 creed by the fact that it has been slowly evolved out 

 of the religious experiences of the centuries? Our 

 sense of truth is also an evolution, and varies from 

 age to age. That a thing is a part of Nature does not 

 settle its value. Shadows are a part of Nature; puff- 

 balls, fungi, marsh-gas, disease-germs, and a thou- 

 sand other undesirable things are a part of Nature. 



Although the various religious systems of man- 

 kind must have their natural history, I regard them 

 only as so many diverse attempts to clothe the 

 spirit against the cosmic chill of the vast, unhoused, 

 unsanctified, immeasurable out-of-doors of the uni- 

 verse. This they do in varying degrees, and will con- 



256 



