74 



SYDNEY T. KLEIN ON THE INVISIBLE IS THE REAL, 



"very good " is capable of betterment or of degradation; and alas 

 creation became degraded,* as described in Genesis iii., by the 

 introduction of sin, and sin is not merely a negation of what is 

 good but the fruit of an active agency and power, hostile to God, 

 both in the created and spiritual worlds. 



The concluding pages of Mr. Klein's paper, while claiming to 

 Tiave proved what he has not really done, completely ignore the 

 true Son of God, Our Lord Jesus Christ- His assertion that the 

 true Son of God is growing up in each one of us is without proof 

 and ill accords with our criminal records. 



The lecturer quotes St. Paul twice but forgets that he also 

 wrote " I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good 

 thing " (Romans vii., 18)- 



Mr. W. HoSTE writes: — Mr. Klein has kindly bombarded us 

 with etherial and aerial vibrations but as he, we, and all our 

 visible surroundings are ex-hypothesi unreal and shadowy, it is 

 a little difficult to criticise. 



Mr. Klein tries to explain "how it is all done," that appear- 

 ances are deceptive, &c., but has he proved that the thing done is 

 unreal ? 



I cannot follow our lecturer on page 54 when he saj's " those 

 who insist that the visible is real, can only look upon the invisible 

 as shadowy and unreal." One does not see the sequitur. The visible 

 is certainly the more important, but why should it alone be real? 

 We have all known men, stockbrokers, scientists, market-gardeners, 

 etc., successful on the visible plane, but none the less profoundly 

 convinced of the transcendent reality of the invisible. On page 66 

 Mr. Klein quotes Rom. i., 18, 20, as showing that in the visible 

 works of Creation " the invisible things of God are clearly seen," 

 but if the former are unreal, how could the latter be real? I 

 remember once crossing a desert in Tunis to the holy city of 

 Kairowan and seeing a beautiful white city on the horizon, 

 with trees and lakes. Had an Arab told me he was the architect 

 I should have had an high idea of his art and skill, but afterwards 

 when the whole thing faded away and proved a mirage, I should 

 have considered him a fraud. If the visible creation were only 

 shadow, how could it prove the eternal power and Godhead of the 

 Creator ? 



Paul does not say the visible things are unreal but temporal. 

 What he refers to would seem from the context to be the present 

 life with its trials and temptations and vicissitudes rather than 

 material things. 



Then again, "visible" and "invisible" are relative terms; but 

 as the universe increases in visibility, it must decrease in reality, as 



* In Heb. xii., 23, we read that it is in the heavenly Jerusalem 

 there are the spirits of just men made perfect. 



