TI1EISTIC CHURCH. 



TOBOGGANING. 



759 



Upshur counties, which cast 1,549 Democratic 

 and 502 Republican votes for State officers. 

 Eleven Democratic Congressmen were chosen. 

 The Legislature of 1885 contains but six Re- 

 publicans. 



THEISTIC CHURCH. The Theistic Clmrch was 

 begun as a religious meeting under the preach- 

 ing of the Rev. Charles Voysey in 1871, and 

 was formally organized under its present name 

 in 1880. It points for the ancient expressions 

 of its faith principally to the Psalms and pro- 

 phetic books of the Hebrew Scriptures ; and 

 for other utterances of its beliefs to the devout 

 words of non- Jewish races, Brahmans, Par- 

 sees, Greeks, and Romans, in the Rig-Vedas, 

 Zendavesta, and the writings of Plato, Socra- 

 tes, Epictetus, Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, and 

 Cicero. " As a modern sect, it aims at some- 

 thing more than the revival of the ancient natu- 

 ral religion. It seeks more exact definition, 

 more trenchant elimination of detected error ; 

 and, above all, endeavors, by clearly laying 

 down the rational basis for its belief, to pro- 

 mote the highest virtue and the most genuine 

 religious feelings toward God." It is a special 

 feature of its school " to hold no man, how- 

 ever distinguished or good, and no book, how- 

 ever venerable or valuable, in the light of an 

 authority, or in the position of a unique su- 

 premacy." The leading principles of theism 

 are: 



That it is the right and duty of every man 

 to think for himself in matters of religion. 



That there is no finality in religious beliefs ; 

 that higher and higher views of God and of 

 his dealings are always possible ; and therefore 

 it is to be expected and wished that future 

 generations will improve upon the creed now 

 held by theists. 



That it is our duty to obtain the highest and 

 purest truth possible; and, when it is discov- 

 ered, to proclaim it honestly and courageously. 

 In like manner, to denounce all detected error. 



That personal excellence of character is 

 necessary to a right knowledge of the good- 

 ness of God : religion is thus based upon mo- 

 rality, and not morality upon religion. 



That theism is not aggressive against per- 

 sons, but only against erroneous opinions. 



That theism recognizes the value of all mor- 

 al and religious truth, wheresoever it may be 

 found. 



The beliefs of theism may be thus briefly ex- 

 pressed : 



That there is one living and true God, and 

 there is no other god besides him. 



That he is perfect in power, wisdom, and 

 goodness, and therefore every one is safe in 

 his everlasting care. 



Therefore that none can ever perish or re- 

 main eternally in suffering or in sin ; but all 

 shall reach at last a home of goodness and 

 blessedness in him. 



That as we have been created for this good- 

 ness, it is our wisdom and duty to be as good 

 as we can, and to shun and to forsake all evil. 



Though the grounds on which their belief is 

 based are found in ancient scriptures, theists 

 do not rely on external authority for their be- 

 lief, but find independent reasons for it. They 

 base it on the ground of the nature of man 

 on the reason, the conscience, and the affec- 

 tions and hold that these three parts of man's 

 nature are feeble reflections of the living God 

 who made men what they are, and that it is 

 possible and reasonable to reason up from the 

 less (the nature of man) to the greater (the na- 

 ture of God). The theistic liturgy is a revis- 

 ion of the old Prayer-Book of the Church of 

 England, with everything omitted that does 

 not harmonize with theistic faith and princi- 

 ples. The Psalter is shortened, and all male- 

 dictions are left out. The book is furnished 

 with two or three alternative services, service 

 of duty, service of benediction, service of praise 

 and thanksgiving; also with a service for the 

 dedication and benediction of children, a serv- 

 ice of matrimony, and a service for burial or 

 cremation, which are original. Fifty hymns 

 are appended to it, gathered from all sources, 

 and some original hymns by theists. The book 

 also contains family prayers. The whole wor- 

 ship is designed to cultivate entire trust in God 

 and adoration of his goodness, and to quicken 

 and fortify all virtuous effort. It is the usual 

 custom to read two lessons, selected from an- 

 cient or modern writers. The Bible is some- 

 times read, and the minister has also read from 

 hundreds of devotional books, by authors of all 

 creeds, "from Marcus Aurelius to St. Thomas 

 a Kempis, and from St. Thomas to James An- 

 thony Froude." The minister officiates in the 

 usual surplice of the Church of England, whose 

 orders he still retains. 



TOBOGGANING, a Canadian sport, which con- 

 sists in sliding down natural declivities or arti- 

 ficial " slides," on a sled without runners, of 

 Indian origin, and called by the American In- 

 dians odabaggan, from which we have the mod- 

 ern corruption "toboggan." 



The toboggan is made of a strip or strips of 

 some tough, fibrous, and elastic wood, from 

 one eighth inch to one quarter inch in thick- 

 ness. It may be from three to seven feet in 

 length (the rule for racers is one foot higher 

 than the head of the steerer as he stands 

 with his toboggan plumb), and from one to 

 two feet in breadth. It is ribbed across at in- 

 tervals on its upper side for strength, turned 

 up at its front end until it curls to a half cir- 

 cle, and along each side, firmly lashed with 

 deer-thongs to and on top of the ribs, are the 

 hand or side rails, which extend the whole 

 length of the toboggan. To these the riders 

 cling, or down to them the load is lashed for 

 transportation. It may or may not be cush- 

 ioned, but it should always be provided with a 

 cushion, which is firmly secured to the side- 

 rails, when used for tobogganing. 



The toboggan is of very ancient origin, doubt- 

 less going far beyond the historic period. But 

 until very recent times it was used only for the 



