The Religion of the Future.

Feilding Star, Volume VI, Issue 122, 31 March 1885, Page 3

The Religion of the Future.

, The lecture delivered bywMnWi. A. Ellis on the above subject in the Foresters' , Hall on Sunday evening list was Veil attended, the hall being packed to the doors, and numbers not being able tofind seats.; The audience, of whom about one third were ladies, waftaTejp^.appreciatiyerone, „ ; Mr Ellis. said it,was ; not his intention to speak slightingly on so-called religious maifers, : nor would he ' willingly give offence to any man's belief. Whatever a v man in tibie true conscientiousness of his heart believed to, he true, 'right, and just-r^-that was his religion ; and he honored a man fur being, firm in his belief, if it. was <»babiejbrdoing good to himself and His fellow man, . whether the professor of it be Mohammedan, Bhuddist, Jew, of Christian. That, man, too, should be allowed the same liberty of thought as wo claimed for, ourselves. ,Man thr^ftglijpu^-kji ages had' some gprt of, reiigioua belief. The ! lecturer went bag? tpipre-historic times, and said religion at first was a mere sentiment of the mind. The sun was the ■. great beiug who gladdened the people in his pleasure, or scorched them in his wrath. The earth was a sleeping lupuster, and the inhabitants walked upon its' back. The sun as it appeared in its meridiau splendour 'was worshipped as a father smiling in t his pleasure, while dark clouds passing over its face were tokens of anger. It was called the parent of all things — the good sun — the Grod; and this ' w,as 4h* origin of the modern belief in a-parsanal and parental deity. When the sun; > disappeared and darkness reigned, this was the evil God, the Prince of Darkness, the Devil, and thi* was the origin of the modern idtta o£ a devil. The lecturer went on to describe, how ages rolled on, the, ! earth, was held to be the virgin mother, ai»d SifUSj tie bright morning star, to bid" the\sW'by lier of the ! sun-god Horus. He then traced religion down ' toifie' timbiwheh' Confucius arose; and thundered 10 the world those golden '-• precepts of his so pregnant with humilrty.bwnerlyloveindhumanity. Ages after Bhudda appeared as a saviour ofc tfrenp.! A moral' regenerator and teacher, inculcating of peace 'and legs. n .Time passed on, and dark- " ness, c^neltj; and evil still prevailed " Until the birth of the gentle Nazarene, who ! with his simple! life; and ' still simpler faith, taught one of the grandest conceptions of moral religiotf the, world ; has .ejyer known. Ghrittiamty as t»¥gl^^yihim wai a simple religion i of gfeatgoodness^ enjoining ihree thingah«-« r eaeration to Qod, in perspnal life pfri^v, -and m soojal life benisyolence. ; H« gave Tertuliau'B description : of whi^Jphristianity wu« 200 years; after ' - and . contrasted, it : with j what it n bjß<^e. unde^ He then spok^ of Chmtianity at the present time, -which was simply a religion of faith— and, faith a» ; Paul is reported to have defined it— the Bubstinee ef things hoped| for, the ' evidence of things not seen. Faith, not facta> is- the wafchwdrd of religious' teachers at the; ptfdsent day . ' Passing over much said by the lecturer as to the effects seen of the present teaching and his introductory remarks, on what he considered would be the religion of the tttturei we may' state' briefly that he saidi it would be founded ? on| science, and facts would take the place! of faith, ; The rreligion of the future will be one.of love and not fear^ that immortality will be a recognised fact instead of the doubts and fears which now exist, for he believed that certain proofs would be adduced by the more careful investigation of that philosphy - known ast:»piritualisAal 'It 'was bu^ slightly known as- yeti but he felt sure . it would be an important factor in the religion of tie 4 future;. The lectufei liere^fustier .described' thenatuw of • this nciic teacb4ng^aixd what' would be its effects t up9H'the -moralj -social, and religiiu^jworldi *od concluded' by say'l - iug, YWpfifciiW**,, written byi Esoraa 23 centuries ago still holds good— "As 'ior truth, it endureth and is always strong; it liyeth arid conquereth for evermore." "