Traditionalism, in religion and out of it, has ever been the foe of progress. So far as it has been able it has put limitations upon Truth. In its ecclesiastical phases it has attempted to place a final definition upon God, draw a line over which the Infinite might not pass, and circumscribe Him within the narrow compass of its own conceptions. If not in express words, this phase of traditionalism has declared, in substance and effect, about as follows:—
"God shall do what we have heretofore been accustomed to have Him do; nothing more. He shall not violate the traditions of the past nor trench upon the established lines of human action. He must continue to be the same God our fathers had; no more and no less. He has been defined for us by the Councils of the past, and that definition is official and final. It must not be changed. God is immutable; the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. That immutability as officially fixed must not be interfered with by modern intermeddlers. The character and attributes given God by the Councils are unalterable. His scope and power were then and there established and they must neither be enlarged nor diminished. The traditional past has fixed all this. Let there be no presumptuous unsettling of this authoritative action. They who seek to give God greater power than He was officially decreed to possess are unholy blasphemers, disturbers of the peace and security of the people, a menace to our Christian civilization and well-ordered religion, and innovators of our long-vested rights. Away with them. Their God is not our God, — if, indeed, they have a God.
"Our God permits us to believe that He has sent sickness into the world; that He recognizes sin and death as part and parcel of his creation. He permits us to believe in the reality and eternity of matter with all its resultant effects. He permits us to deny the unity and allness of Spirit, while attributing to Him all power and all glory. It is more natural to believe in death as the inevitable than Life as all. It is more natural to believe in the admixture of Good and evil than Good as the only reality. It is more natural to believe that Truth and error commingle than in the omnipotence of Truth. It is more natural to believe in the co-existence of Love and hate than in the exclusive power of Love. Hence we prefer our traditional God, who permits us this liberty of thought. It is easier to let traditionalism settle all these questions for us than to worry over them ourselves. Therefore we stand upon our traditional prerogatives. It is much less troublesome for us to believe in duality than in unity. And although we continue to use the word universe because tradition has given us this privilege, we shall also maintain that the universe is double and not single, because traditionalism has so decreed. We are not responsible for the seeming inconsistency. Even though our premises be faulty and our logic lame, we shall continue to advocate the propositions, that while it is true there is but one God and He is all-powerful, there is another power beside Him, namely, evil, dividing empire and rulership with Him, and, even if holding disputed sway, nevertheless exercising power; that Truth and error are inseparable, eternally commingling and battling with each other; and that Love and hate are co-existent and co-eternal, travelling down the ages hand in hand into the vast forever.
