CONTENTS 



religion and philosophy combining to find the lost 

 radiance — Prophets of gloom, among them Mr. 

 Mencken — We are entering an epoch of great ex- 

 pectations — Why these papers have been collected 

 — To help honest seekers after reality — Contribu- 

 tors gave their best — They point the way«to in- 

 evitable spiritual changes — Importance of their 

 opinions — We confront a reformation — Is the long- 

 hidden reason for existence about to be disclosed? 

 — Appreciation of contributors. 



Sermons from Stones by Kirtley F. 

 Mather 



Why citizens to-day have an advantage over the 

 prophets of Israel — The man of science sees every 

 event in history as a miracle — The cosmos may 

 contain an Absolute, but all we knovy is relative — 

 The administration of the universe is revealed by 

 past and present activities — Behavior the clue — 

 Mother Earth's diary covers two billion years. . . . 

 Most people, to-day, accept the facts of science — 

 Knowledge and wisdom must be filtered through 

 human brains; that is our limitation — Man's faith 

 must accord with the facts he knows — Inanimate 

 nature discloses no loveliness — Living creatures 

 distinct from all other expressions of cosmic en- 

 ergy. . . . The difference of consciousness — The 

 process of life unfolds — Man not only responds to 

 stellar galaxies but to forces we call spiritual — He 

 is conscious of a world of values as well as of 

 matter — God, the motive power producing fine 

 personality — Does God deserve to be called 

 good? . . . Evolution acts not like a machine but 

 like a consistent personality — At least one small 

 corner of astronomic space, in the last few million 

 years, has been promoting goodwill — Things are 

 done that objectives may be reached — Volition be- 

 comes increasingly important as animals become 

 more capable — The earth is better now than it was 

 two billion years ago — Finer qualities of the mo- 

 tive power of the universe being constantly dis- 

 played. . . . What right have we to assume that 

 the world is better because man has appeared: 

 lives, fights and loves? — The basis for evaluating 

 attainments and estimating progress — Purpose al- 

 ways a definite attribute of the evolutionary 

 process — The goals which life has set are not 

 final — Attainment of aim, simply a starting point 

 for renewed experiments — If one increasing pur- 

 pose runs through the ages, its object is not yet 

 apparent — Is there a final goal ? — The scientist 



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