to Webster the word “pantheism” is derived from two Greek words meaning “all” and “god.” Webster's derivation of the English word “pantheism” is most suggestive. His uncapitalized word “god” gives the meaning of pantheism as a human opinion of “gods many,” or mind in matter. “The doctrine that the universe, conceived of as a whole, is God; that there is no God but the combined forces and laws which are manifested in the existing universe.”
The Standard Dictionary has it that pantheism is the doctrine of the deification of natural causes, conceived as one personified nature, to which the religious sentiment is directed.
Pan
is a Greek prefix, but it might stand, in the term pantheism, for the mythological deity of that name; and
theism
for a belief concerning Deity in theology. However, Pan in imagery is preferable to pantheism in theology.
The mythical deity may please the fancy, while pantheism suits not at all the Christian sense of religion. Pan, as a deity, is supposed to preside over sylvan solitude, and is a horned and hoofed animal, half goat and half man, that poorly presents the poetical phase of the genii of forests.[1]
My sense of nature's rich glooms is, that loneness lacks but one charm to make it half divine—a friend, with whom to whisper, “Solitude is sweet.” Certain moods of mind find an indefinable pleasure in stillness, soft, silent as the storm's sudden hush; for nature's stillness is voiced with a hum of harmony, the gentle murmur of early morn, the evening's closing vespers, and lyre of bird and brooklet.
| “ | O sacred solitude! divine retreat! |
| Choice of the prudent! envy of the great! | |
| By thy pure stream, or in thy evening shade, | |
| We court fair wisdom, that celestial maid.” |
Theism is the belief in the personality and infinite mind of one supreme, holy, self-existent God, who reveals Himself supernaturally to His creation, and whose laws are not reckoned as science. In religion, it is a belief in one God, or in many gods. It is opposed to atheism and monotheism, but agrees with certain forms of pantheism and polytheism. It is the doctrine that the universe owes its origin and continuity to the reason, intellect, and will of a self-existent divine Being, who possesses all wisdom, goodness, and power, and is the creator and preserver of man.
A theistic theological belief may agree with physics and anatomy that reason and will are properly classified as mind, located in the brain; also, that the functions of these faculties depend on conditions of matter, or brain, for their proper exercise. But reason and will are human; God is divine. In academics and in religion it is patent that will is capable of use and of abuse, of right and wrong action, while God is incapable of evil; that brain is matter, and that there are many so-called minds; that He is the creator of man, but that man also is a creator, making two creators; but God is Mind and one.
God—not Human Devices—the Preserver of Man
God, Spirit, is indeed the preserver of man. Then, in the words of the Hebrew singer, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. … Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases.” This being the case, what need have we of drugs, hygiene, and medical therapeutics, if these are not man's preservers? By admitting self-evident affirmations and then contradicting them, monotheism is lost and pantheism is foundin scholastic theology. Can a single quality of God, Spirit, be discovered in matter? The Scriptures plainly declare, “The Word was God;” and “all things were made by Him,”—the Word. What, then, can matter create, or how can it exist?
Jesus' Definition of Evil
Did God create evil? or is evil self-existent, and so possessed of the nature of God, good? Since evil is not self-made, who or what hath made evil? Our Master gave the proper answer for all time to this hoary query. He said of evil: “Ye are of your father, the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth [God], because there is no truth [reality] in him [evil]. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it [a lie].”
Jesus' definition of devil (evil) explains evil. It shows that evil is both liar and lie, a delusion and illusion. Therefore we should neither believe the lie, nor believe that it hath embodiment or power; in other words, we should not believe that a lie, nothing, can be something, but deny it and prove its falsity. After this manner our Master cast out evil, healed the sick, and saved sinners. Knowing that evil is a lie, and, as the Scripture declares, brought sin, sickness, and death into the world, Jesus treated the lie summarily. He denied it, cast it out of mortal mind, and thus healed sickness and sin. His treatment of evil and disease, Science will restore and establish—first, because it was more effectual than all other means; and, second, because evil and disease will never disappear in any other way.
Finally, brethren, let us continue to denounce evil as the illusive claim that God is not supreme, and continue to fight it until it disappears—but not as one that beateth the mist, but lifteth his head above it and putteth his foot upon a lie.
Evil, as Personified by the Serpent
Mosaic theism introduces evil, first, in the form of a talking serpent, contradicting the word of God and thereby obtaining social prestige, a large following, and changing the order and harmony of God's creation. But the higher criticism is not satisfied with this theism, and asks, If God is infinite good, what and where is evil? And if Spirit made all that was made, how can matter be an intelligent creator or coworker with God? Again: Did one Mind, or two minds, enter into the Scriptural allegory, in the colloquy between good and evil, God and a serpent?—and if two minds, what becomes of theism in Christianity? For if God, good, is Mind, and evil also is mind, the Christian religion has at least two Gods. If Spirit is sovereign, how can matter be force or law; and if God, good, is omnipotent, what power hath evil?
It is plain that elevating evil to the altitude of mind gives it power, and that the belief in more than one spirit, if Spirit, God, is infinite, breaketh the First Commandment in the Decalogue.
Science shows that a plurality of minds, or intelligent matter, signifies more than one God, and thus prevents the demonstration that the healing Christ, Truth, gave and gives in proof of the omnipotence of one divine, infinite Principle.
Does not the theism or belief, that after God, Spirit, had created all things spiritually, a material creation took place, and God, the preserver of man, declared that man should die, lose the character and sovereignty of Jehovah, and hint the gods of paganism?
Theistic Religions
We know of but three theistic religions, the Mosaic, the Christian, and the Mohammedan. Does not each of these religions mystify the absolute oneness and infinity of God, Spirit?
A close study of the Old and New Testaments in connection with the original text indicates, in the third chapter of Genesis, a lapse in the Mosaic religion, wherein theism seems meaningless, or a vague apology for contradictions. It certainly gives to matter and evil reality and power, intelligence and law, which implies Mind, Spirit, God; and the logical sequence of this error is idolatry—other gods.
Again: The hypothesis of mind in matter, or more than one Mind, lapses into evil dominating good, matter governing Mind, and makes sin, disease, and death inevitable, despite of Mind, or by the consent of Mind! Next, it follows that the disarrangement of matter causes a man to be mentally deranged; and the Babylonian sun god, moon god, and sin god find expression in sun worship, lunacy, sin, and mortality.
Does not the belief that Jesus, the man of