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GODWARD 
 
 RECORD OF RELIGIOUS PROGRESS 
 
 BV 
 
 PAUL CARUS 
 
 God leadeth doNVDi^to Hell and bringeth 
 up again.— Tobit, xiii. 2. 
 
 CHICAGO 
 
 THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
 London Agents: 
 
 KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUEBNER & CO. 
 
 1898 
 
.04 Qi 
 
 1 
 
 S58S 
 
 Copyright, 1898 
 
 By the open COURT PUBLISHING CO. 
 
 CHICAGO 
 
 TWO COPIES S£GiiV£i;. 
 ^"«i copy. 
 
preface^ 
 
 FROM my childhood I was devout and 
 pious ; my faith was as resolute as that 
 of Simon whom, for his firmness, Christ called 
 the rock of His church. When growing up 
 I decided to devote myself as a missionary 
 to the cause of Christianity. But alas ! on in- 
 quiring into the foundations of the fortress 
 which I was going to defend, I found the en- 
 tire structure undermined. My despair turned 
 into sadness, my exasperation into irony ; I 
 grew an unbeliever ^nd scorned Christianity. 
 Yet in the depfhs of my soul I still remained 
 thoroughly religious ; I soon aroused myself 
 and gathered together the fragments of the 
 wreck I had suffered, for my heart still clung to 
 its lost treasures. Thus I began to formulate in 
 strictly scientific terms a religion that should be 
 
4 PREFACE. 
 
 based, not upon belief, but upon the well-ascer- 
 tained experiences of the human race alone ; 
 and to my surprise I found that the main truths 
 of the old faith remained the same, — only what 
 I had received in my childhood in the garb of 
 parables, as allegories and symbols, I now 
 learned to formulate with scientific precision. 
 The letter was gone, — gone beyond the hope of 
 ever being redeemed, — but the spirit remained. 
 The sentiment and the moral aspiration were 
 upon the whole the same ; but what I had seen 
 formerly as through a glass darkly I now saw 
 face to face. Thus I retinrned through a period 
 of negativism and unbelief to a new position of 
 affirmation, which, broader in its scope and 
 resting on a solider foundation, comprised under 
 an evolutionary aspect the truths of both former 
 positions. 
 
 Nothing of the scientific rigor of criticism 
 which characterizes the period of negation has 
 been surrendered, and yet all the hopes con- 
 tained in the religious faith of my childhood 
 have found their fulfilment. 
 
 How many are the hearts that investigate like 
 
PREFACE. 5 
 
 me ! How many are they, who having turned 
 doubters, have ever since remained agnostics 
 and never even attempted to regain a position of 
 affirmation ! They have criticised and con- 
 demned. Having taken offence at the errors 
 of the letter in its literal significance, they have 
 rejected with the letter the spirit ! 
 
 These poems and the conditions under which 
 they were written at different periods of life are 
 not artificial products of a poetic imagination, 
 but genuine, instantaneous photographs of the 
 soul's attitude in successive stages of its relig- 
 ious development. May they prove helpful to 
 others who are travelling on the same path ! 
 
Confidence in Go&. 
 
 HTHE WORLD is void of rest 
 * And stormy as the seas 
 Whose waves so turbulent 
 
 Are moved by every breeze ; 
 They swell, they break, they roar 
 
 And never are at ease. 
 
 But midst the foamy surge 
 There towers a mighty rock ; 
 
 The billows dash around ; 
 
 Yet, though they storm and mock, 
 
 The rock withstands their scorn, 
 Not moved by any shock. 
 
 Thus in this turbid world 
 
 Firm stands God's Name and Word. 
 My heart knew not of rest ; 
 
 Through storm and mist it erred, 
 Until it refuge found 
 
 Here, like a frightened bird. 
 
 7 
 
CONFIDENCE IN GOD. 
 
 Here is security, 
 
 Here truth and hope and peace. 
 Then let the billows roar 
 
 And let the surge increase : 
 Here, on the rock we find 
 
 From all distress release. 
 
 The troubles of this life 
 
 With firmness I defy. 
 My soul and heart rely 
 
 On God, and, when I die, 
 He will my faith and hope 
 
 With fulness justify. 
 
Ube Minb /IDan* 
 
 The existence of God is self-evident like daylight 
 
 A MADMAN in the street 
 Cries out " There is no light ! 
 The wretch lacks in himself 
 The faculty of sight. 
 
 He is not blind by birth ; 
 
 He longed some years ago 
 By reason to conceive 
 
 Light and its fiery glow. 
 
 His eyes were sharp and clear, 
 Nothing in them was ill : 
 
 He saw God's lustrous sun, 
 And yet he doubted still. 
 
 He peered into the glare 
 
 Of brightest solar light, 
 Until his eyes had lost 
 
 The faculty of sight. 
 
lO THE BLIND MAN. 
 
 No peradventure now 
 His unbelief can stay 
 
 For blindness deeply veils 
 The glamour of the day. 
 
 Despairingly he cries, 
 " Ah, who can now resist 
 
 The truth so manifest 
 That light does not exist ! 
 
 " And even if you prove 
 
 That there exists some light, 
 
 I won't believe ; I have 
 Experienced, I am right." 
 
 Thus rushing through the streets 
 He ceases not to bawl, 
 
 " The sun does not exist ; 
 There is no light at all." 
 
XTbe jfttan 
 
 A FRIAR, still in youth, 
 Enters the abbot's cell ; 
 He modestly begins 
 His misery to tell 
 In hope confession will 
 
 Insurgent doubts dispel : 
 " Despite my fasts and prayer 
 With me no peace doth dwell." 
 
 The old man kindly looks 
 
 In his repentant face. 
 Quoth he, " Thou must believe 
 
 In God and in His grace ! " 
 ** Ah, father, that I could 
 
 These thronging doubts efface, 
 And simply as a child 
 
 The hope of Christ embrace. 
 
 My conscience nevermore 
 From sin can find release. 
 
 The more I ponder them. 
 
 The more my doubts increase. 
 
12 THE FRIAR. 
 
 Oh, to have faith in God ! 
 
 Oh, that this pain would cease ! 
 Alas ! Is there no truth, 
 
 And holdeth life no peace ? " 
 
 Old tomes on musty shelves 
 Are ranged the cloister round. 
 
 Their authors anxiously- 
 Had sought truth's depths to sound, 
 
 In vain ! The mystery 
 Is none the less profound. 
 
 Now, through the books, methinks. 
 Compassion did resound. 
 
 The abbot wistfully 
 
 Gazed on him in his pain. 
 A silence long and sad 
 
 Did all his heart explain ; 
 But in his thoughtful eyes 
 
 Was writ this doleful strain : 
 " Thou look'st for peace and truth 
 
 In this our world in vain." 
 
XTbe Gospel 
 
 I HEARD in Christmas time, 
 Mingled with merry chime 
 Of bells, Gospel proclaim 
 The Saviour's holy name ; 
 Who, by the Father sent, 
 Victoriously went 
 Into this wretched life 
 To carry out our strife ; 
 Whose blessed blood redeems 
 From sin and Satan's schemes. 
 I heard the Christmas bell, 
 I heard the Gospel well, 
 My eye grew dark and dim. 
 The song of Cherubim 
 I sadly listened to — 
 Oh, would that it were true ! 
 
 13 
 
BcMncc. 
 
 Difficile est parodiam non scribere. 
 
 T I FT up your eyes, ye heads of brass ; 
 *— ' Ye skulls of iron, yield ! 
 For superstition soon will pass, 
 Critique is in the field. 
 
 Critique is like the morning star 
 
 Which ushers in the day, 
 Shines on the march and guides from far 
 
 Truth's champions in the fray. 
 
 Then fear not, faint not, halt not now, 
 The cause of Truth is strong. 
 
 To Truth shall every creature bow 
 And sing the triumph song. 
 
 Illumined are the heads of brass. 
 
 The skulls of iron yield ; 
 For superstition soon will pass : 
 
 The Truth must win the field. 
 
 14 
 
Ipantbetsm^ 
 
 \1 /"HO has created with a power almighty 
 " " The golden stars there in the skies ? 
 Who orders them with such a lustrous 
 splendor 
 At their appointed time to rise ? 
 
 Who did assign their spheres to all the 
 planets 
 
 And this our earth, who has it wrought ? — 
 No Deity, created by our Fancy, 
 
 Produced these worlds all out of naught. 
 
 No one has made by spell the earth and 
 heavens, 
 
 No wizardlike magician god, 
 Whose government is a continued marvel, 
 
 Whose wilful deeds are queer and odd. 
 
 The laws of Nature are not like ukases. 
 That human monarchs may proclaim. 
 
 No supernatural exterior ruler 
 
 Has shaped the world in wondrous frame. 
 
 IS 
 
1 6 PANTHEISM. 
 
 Law dwells within as features uniformal : 
 There's naught beyond and naught be- 
 hind ; 
 And from within the sentient soul-life 
 blossoms 
 Developing the human mind 
 
 There is no Matter as a crude material ; 
 
 Nor Force abstractly does exist. 
 Both are united like man's soul and body ! 
 
 And through each other they subsist. 
 
 For Universe is the eternal Cosmos 
 Not governed by a god or elf ; 
 
 Its life springs forth from its own vital 
 sources, 
 And self-creating moves itself 1 
 
H Bew IReltglon, 
 
 THE Creeds of old are crumbling ; 
 And were their revelation 
 The only hope in living 
 
 Life would be desolation. 
 But lo ! a new religion 
 
 Bursts from the germs decaying ; 
 A new faith in our bosoms 
 Is growing, light-displaying. 
 
 Great truths with broader outlook 
 
 New missions have created. 
 By purified Religion 
 
 Our souls are elevated. 
 New aims, new hopes, new doctrines, 
 
 Old prophecies fulfilling ! 
 And through our hearts is rapture 
 
 Of progress warmly thrilling. 
 
 We do not combat freedom 
 Of art, nor that of science. 
 
 2 17 
 
l8 A NEW RELIGION. 
 
 Nay, both with our religion 
 Are joined in firm alliance. 
 
 Though high, our aspiration 
 Is yet concrete and real. 
 
 To render life more noble 
 Is our sublime ideal. 
 
 Of this denomination 
 
 Are they, in life's confusion, 
 Who further human progress 
 
 And sweep away illusion ; 
 Who have ideals dearer 
 
 Than self and self-existence, 
 And love them, although knowing 
 
 Their vast, enormous distance. 
 
 Thinkers who muse and ponder, 
 
 Instructors theoretic ; 
 And poets whose ideas 
 
 Are radiantly prophetic ; 
 The warrior, who for Freedom 
 
 Fights and for Freedom dieth ; 
 The great, whose noble fortune 
 
 With their souls' greatness vieth ; 
 
A NEW RELIGION. 19 
 
 The hand, who with heart's trouble 
 
 For wife and children toileth ; 
 The man who doth his duty 
 
 E'en if his fate him foileth ; 
 And he, who kindly comforts 
 
 The sick, who gladly shareth 
 His bread with his poor neighbor, 
 
 Our badge and symbol beareth. 
 
Xtgbt ariO TLvntb, 
 
 T IGHT is the symbol of truth and as 
 •■— ' Deity proves everlasting ; 
 
 But our daylight on earth passingly fadeth 
 away. 
 Truth in itself is eternal ; we rightly revere 
 it as holy ; 
 But in the spirit of man quite problematic 
 is Truth. 
 
 20 
 
Sonnet6» 
 
 1. IRetlectlon. 
 
 A LAS ! Reflection cruelly destroys 
 ^*^ Our Fancy's dreamy castles built in 
 air, 
 Which, though not real, are so lovely fair ! 
 Imagination luringly decoys 
 
 Into her paradise with glistening toys, 
 Until Reflection roughly comes to tear 
 Those fair illusions ; — and she leaves us 
 bare, 
 Leaves us deprived of all our childhood 
 joys. 
 
 Yet she arouses from fictitious dreams ! 
 If the destruction of our idols bitter, 
 If very ruthless, pitiless it seems : 
 
 Yet is it salutary ; the false glitter 
 Is only lost ; for life we are much fitter. 
 Since Fancy's fogs are cleared by Reason's 
 beams. 
 
 21 
 
2, f Dols. 
 
 nPHE charming fairy-tales, which gently 
 •^ soothe 
 
 Our childhood's easy griefs, must melt 
 
 away ; 
 And sad Reality will soon dismay 
 The bright phantasmal Idols of our youth. 
 
 But from them our Ideals spring, in sooth. 
 
 The childish frolic shall the man display. 
 
 As fruit grows, whilst the blossom must 
 
 decay, 
 
 Thus from romantic errors springs the 
 
 truth. 
 
 But when the creed of Christianity 
 
 Breaks down, it merely is the husk, 
 which shows 
 The evil fate of transient vanity. 
 
 Out of the bursting germ the fruit-tree 
 
 grows. 
 And Idols of religion will disclose 
 The high Ideal of Humanity. 
 
 22 
 
3. Zbc $tar0. 
 
 YE golden stars in silent holy night 
 The day breaks ; and in mighty com- 
 petition 
 Your brilliance dims mid rapid demoli- 
 tion. 
 Ye and your splendor, beautiful and bright, 
 
 Ye fade away in his victorious light. 
 Thus dies romance ; poetic superstition 
 Of darker ages suffers abolition. 
 
 In light ye die, light-bearers of the night. 
 
 And yet ye are not dead, ye golden stars ; 
 
 Ye are still living in the brighter ray ; 
 'Tis not your light the glorious sunshine 
 mars ; 
 
 It is your mere appearance. True, your 
 
 beauty 
 Is lost, a sacrifice of faithful duty ; 
 But beauty rises new in dawn of day. 
 
 23 
 
4. XTbc ITDeal. 
 
 BE not afraid lest in this world the Ideal 
 Should disappear, or like a flower 
 fade ; 
 For she is not mere Fancy's fickle shade. 
 She is a glowing presence, true and real. 
 
 Still firmly an alliance hymeneal 
 Joins her to Human Progress, as a maid 
 Is wedded to a hero, whom his blade 
 
 Protects ; thus faithfully he shields the 
 Ideal. 
 
 Wondrously from this bridal union springs 
 The life which, breathing through the 
 
 human race, 
 In ardent youth shines forth from every 
 face. 
 
 It lends to the inventor fancy's wings, 
 And stirs the poet's heart, who gayly sings 
 The Ideal's beauty and the Ideal's grace, 
 24 
 
(Bo&war^» 
 
 IVJEARER, my God, to thee, 
 ^ ^ Nearer alway ; 
 E'en though thou other be 
 
 Than prophets say; 
 Other thou art, but higher, 
 Bidding our souls aspire, 
 
 Godward alway. 
 
 Doubt comes from God, in sooth, 
 Though conquering creeds ; 
 
 Doubt prompts our search for truth 
 And higher leads. 
 
 Who on doubt's path ne'er trod, 
 
 Ne'er saw the face of God ; 
 Doubt truthward speeds. 
 
 Science the burning bush 
 
 Where God doth dwell ! 
 Truth and its onward rush 
 
 Nothing can quell. 
 God is the truth that guides, 
 Heaven where love abides ; 
 
 Sin's curse is Hell. 
 
26 GOD WARD. 
 
 God the eternal cause 
 
 Of truth and right ; 
 Oneness of cosmic laws, 
 
 Reason's true light. 
 God, though nowhere confined, 
 Yet in the human mind 
 
 Showeth his might. 
 
 God is man's truthward call, 
 
 Noblest desire. 
 He's in life cosmical, 
 
 Love's holy fire. 
 Thou who art All in All 
 God superpersonal, 
 
 Lead thou us higher. 
 
 20 -i"^ 
 

 
 

 
 
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