NATURAL VERSUS SUPERNATURAL 49 



ments, their unquestioning belief in the literal truth 

 of the Bible, every word of it, — the Fall, the Flood, 

 the miracles, and all ? What a refuge their faith 

 was to them in times of trouble ; what an avenue of 

 escape into spiritual and ideal regions ! It saved 

 them ; why can it not save us ? Por the simple 

 reason that it is no longer credible to us ; we are 

 born into another world ; we cannot believe the old 

 creed, try we never so hard. It was adequate to 

 their knowledge, to their development, but it is not 

 adequate to ours. The old terms and symbols satis- 

 fied them, but they are fast becoming obsolete to 

 us. The whole aspect of the universe has changed. 

 But our salvation is to be had upon essentially the 

 same terms as our fathers' — namely, by fidelity to 

 what we see and feel to be true. 



" Few minds in earnest," says Cardinal E'ewman, 

 " can remain at ease without some sort of rational 

 grounds for their religious belief." But it is equally 

 true that half-formed, half-developed minds, which 

 means the great mass of the people of any age, rather 

 draw back from exposing their faith to a light so 

 common, so secular as that of reason. Plutarch 

 quotes Sophocles as saying that the Deity is 



" Easy to wise men, who can truth discern," 



but adds that the vulgar look with high veneration 

 upon whatever is extravagant and extraordinary, and 

 conceive a more than common sanctity to lie con- 

 cealed under the veil of obscurity. The average 

 mind clings to the mysterious, the supernaturaL 



