RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 267, 10 November 1928, Page 2 (Supplement)

RELIGIOUS WORLD.

PRESENT-DAY - OUTLOOK.

r "(Contributed.) BRITISH ASSOCIATION SERMON THE QUEST OP THE ULTIMATE ■ ;;' \'_ '■;.:-, '; MYSTERY; ■' ; ';;-;' '-<* ,' '.•■ .'■■■ Preaching recently at a. service for members of the British. Association in . the cathedral church .of St. Mungo,' ■ Glasgow,"Dr. L. Maclean ,Watt said- he felt sure-they would acknowledte how ■". little at most was the'drop of certain knowledge that man had -; gathered in ■ the bucket of research out.of the great deep as he probed''the mysteries surrounding his. world. He found that which challenged him still further, led him ever upwards towards-far horizons. He learned the alphabet of the ! stars. He peered round the-corner'of death at the mystery .of being.- He" caught. glimpses !of the shadows that' haunted the fringes of time: \ Out of all this in- 1 quiry had-arisen theology, philosophy; and science. V :....-•. ■ •<. ' The Common'lnquiry. ' Theology in its quest ; left many treasures untouched, many problems unsolved; and it-was inevitable' that jreience should arise as the critic of the dogmatists'; > inevitable; too, that' the scientific critic should sometimes attain a dangerously supercilious estimate of his dogmatic pioneer into the unknown; but the earnest, faithful' critic • himself became an inquirer in his : turn.' Scientist and theologian each learned something from the other-—namely, that • it was the same universe each had to explore. Statements supposedly final were found to be at best the-partial guesses of imperfect knowledge, and while; history was.strewn,with the wreckage of scien-, tific theories.it was not;without a trail - also of theological:dogmas v .that.'had cost the lives of men..- ;,, ~ ;..;•;,;.; Reflecting on such- experience, what '." wonder. that men to-day:. askedr how. .'-; much of all .theology ;and science was left above -water, how much they could trust to as a solid deposit of truths. ; In the common quest theology, owed a vast debt to science,.which had. often thrown wide doors at which theology had hesi-f tated even to knock and had-flung down obstructing barriers , long consolidated hy okUtime convention. Yet, after all; it.was.to.the theologian,.and not to .the -unbeliever, that, man owed .-the discovery of a heliocentric universe.-It was,theology which pointed-the way to a.freer search thaii man had ever, thought of. ; Uncharted Territory. Both intellect and intuition had. won a broader, outlook,-and,,both scientific and religious experiences:- found"•■_.-:con-; fronting ; ,them a; great uncharted. terri'-; . .tory beyond the reach of human.know- & ledge, /within which .meanwhile lay, the .ultimate mystery. .Theology set' there ■ •-: the answer.to the aspiration of the'soul. .'-'.; Science, set .there; the secret; of- ,the' knowledge of .the origin,of matter>and< the solution of the, questionjwhere. went, ~; the flame of life.,when, it was extin-; guished "within lis.;. "There:; they. both- : found the ultimate reajity,-in:.the search; for which religion andTscience.were, not contradictories, but" complementaries ihutually : 'benefiting'.by..a .comparison of ] ■'■ —issues. ■-../..■.■,;.■.'■.'-■';!• v ~ -■--■>' ■■■■:■■■■:: -'Evolution.' "'.'■■ . / - Time was "when-good people, shrank '.':" from the thought:of exploring.life's low horizons lest inquiry should;dwarf and - obliterate the soulj^-but we,,now knew „ that, we could not stop: at the material world; that the universe/ of matter..was not-the end of: man., The. story of the ages showed .that, man had j',-crept up : .through. slime, through; many .a ; stumb--ling in the; slough : .of. : passion;.', and tln-ough the/.temptations ;.of /the /flesh, :'■"' but still ever, rbecause ,of something in: his heart and brain,- towards , ,the light, conscious of something .far- off t . 'but divine, to whichhe-turned as, to the : ..higher purpose of-his. .'.-.'- ~;: \ 'Experiment.,;.and, experience were i ;;: necessarily fellow.labourers in-the field ; ._■•: of knowledge, 'and /they'.both; ,taught .;. man that, they -. lived- in;, a ..world.; not- .of. mechanism but of mind. That reflects ,': ing," sifting, unifying power.:. of.-'' indi-' , ■■: viduality which; held • science v together ' ■\ .was a manifestation,-of personality ; .;in-_ . dependent of,;all.experience,,all physical -proof. ;It.was what.evaded.all.the .tests ;.'.' that the : scientist.could apply,;,but ;.we .....felt and; knew; f ,it I : -.accumulated wisdom of the past;, con- ' '■> ,'vinced .us' that, life was ,the exhibition , : 1 3 <►* the intelligerit operations of mind i I -' inipenetrating .the' universe- rind using it ' to_ some end, an end-which-the scientist- ' ! nright describe as'ultimate;feaMfy; ; 'but < ; : ,;. which..- was -what : the;"theblogia'n : 'meant : i by the realisation of the Kingdom of M

'■■..; '_.'.';■ The.Pact" : pf Sin! , \J^'. : :]'.% In the pursuit of that end, while man found to-be. icoadjutor : '-in i; a universe of purpose, he carried with him a; strange: .-haunting shadow which -the theologian knew as rsin.'i ;He" was- ever aware of -the .danger /of : slipping back' into the .slimev from ..which he-had emerged: /Yet there Iwas a miracle :far greater than-the' making :of a star, by which, .when.; man -fell back- into ' ruin and : disaster,- he could be raised again; and that" miracle was the power "of°God to, rebuild; a soul out;of its ruins. That recreation 'Creation- itself; It was .the surest/proof of human' destiny,and its instrument--and /manifestation' was Jesus-Christ. . '•'•/.::