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  Scientific and Religious Journal.


  VOL. I.      JANUARY, 1880.      NO. 1.




THE CONFLICT.


The pyramids, temples and palaces of Thebes are monuments of the ancient
intellects of our race. Great thinkers only were capable of giving to
the world the Vedas, the Apollo Belvidere and the Parthenon. The arts
and astronomy of Egypt harmonize very poorly with the idea that modern
scientists have all the wisdom and intelligence known in the history of
the ages. Among the wonderful characters of olden times we find
Epictetus, Josephus, Strabo, Pliny, Seneca, Virgil, Aristotle, Plato,
Tacitus, Thucydides and Herodotus.

The "Speculation of Evolution of Species" was advocated among the Greeks
six hundred years before the birth of Christ. Two thousand and three
hundred years ago the entire system of German philosophy, along with
modern pantheism, was advocated by the Buddhists and Brahmins.

In many very important respects the ancients were in advance of us,
especially in the arts, and we can not boast of superiority in either
letters or philosophy. "The gentlemen of modern materialistic schools do
not compare favorably with Plato and Cicero in the elevation and
reverence of their opinions." "Science has certainly made some
advancement, but where is the warrant for the boasting" of sciolists of
modern times?

Buddhists taught the most perfect outline of materialism in general.
"They believed in a supreme force, but denied the existence of a Supreme
Being. They rejected inquiry into first causes as unscientific,"
maintaining that facts alone were to be dealt with in all our
investigations.

The Brahmin contemplated the moment when his spirit would flow back into
the great "Pantheistic Being."

Modern materialists say, "We deal only with facts." "We never
speculate." The Buddhists, and the unbelievers who figure so boastingly
upon the rostrum in modern times, speak alike. They say: "As many facts
and second causes as you please, but ask no questions about first
causes; _that_ is unscientific." We should ask no questions (?) about
the invisible. They have been very true (?) to their own principles.

There is nothing speculative (?) in the hypothesis that General George
Washington was evolved from a crustacean. There never was a more absurd
and wild speculation. It is an old speculation. Anaximander, who lived
six centuries before Christ, advocated the assumption. His words are the
following: "The sun's heat, acting on the original miry earth, produced
filmy bladders or bubbles, and these, becoming surrounded with a prickly
rind, at length burst open, and as from an egg, animals came forth. At
first they were ill-formed and imperfect, but subsequently they
elaborated and developed." This has the genuine ring of the language of
modern unbelievers.

Christianity, in its beginning, had to encounter this "speculation"
along with the current literature and philosophy of a civilization which
was semi-barbarous and centuries old, but it triumphed over all, and in
the third century it triumphed everywhere. Since that time one effort
has been made upon the part of paganism to regain her former strength in
the old world. Julian made that effort. He tried to revive and establish
the supremacy of pagan thought by the power of the state. Subsequent to
this it disappeared in the east, and has only plead for toleration in
the west. But the dark ages came on in all their hideousness, and
unbelief developed itself about the close of the fifteenth century, all
over Europe. Paganism, as the result, was fostered near the bosom of
the church. The fifth Lateran Council proclaimed anew the tenet of the
imperishability of the spirit of man. The Padua University adopted a
system of materialism taught in the works of Alexander, of Aphrodisias.
A form of pantheism known in the philosophy of Averroes soon became a
center of skepticism.

In the latter part of the seventeenth century modern unbelievers began
their assaults. Lord Herbert and Hobbs in England, Spinoza in Holland,
and Bayle in France.

In seventeen hundred and thirteen Anthony Collins published a discourse
for the encouragement of a "clique" called "Free-thinkers." This
discourse was thoroughly answered by Bently. In seventeen hundred and
twenty-seven Woolston made an effort to rationalize the miracles out of
existence, interpreting them after the style of Mr. Strauss. Three years
later Tyndal got out his dialogue called "Christianity as old as the
Creation." The world received in return for this "Butler's Analogy of
Natural and Revealed Religion." In seventeen hundred and thirty-seven
Morgan's "Moral Philosophy" made its appearance, claiming the
sufficiency of the moral law without any other religion. Warburton's
"Divine Legation of Moses" was gotten up in reply to this philosophy.
Thomas Chubb wrote a discourse upon reason, and got out a few other
small tracts denying the utility of prayer, and calling in question the
truth of the Scriptures of both Testaments, in the line of Morgan's
philosophy. Bolingbroke, ignorant of the law, "that the greatest good of
the greatest number is to be sought after," even at the expense of the
lives of a few wicked Canaanites, assailed the justice and the
benevolence of the Bible God after Col Ingersoll's style, and boldly
avowed that the miracles of the New Testament never transpired; said,
"If they did occur they attested the Revelation." Voltaire lived between
1694 and 1788. He made himself busy in France, while Bolingbroke and
Tyndal and Woolston, and Hume and Morgan were at work in England. Then
Didoret, of France, made his appearance upon the stage as a bold
defender of Atheism. Next comes D'Holbach, the leading author of the
"Systeme de la Nature," which came out in 1774. Its object was to strike
down the idea of a God, of an intelligence separate from matter, of
free-will, and of immortality. Didoret and others are accused of
assisting in getting this book before the world. Rousseau lived in those
times, and assailed Christianity after the manner of Hume. To all these
enemies of Christianity we must add Condillac, who originated the
materialistic philosophy of France.

Gibbon and Paine came into notice after Bolingbroke, and the terrible
strife continued. Christianity was pronounced dead, and a prostitute was
chosen to impersonate the "Goddess of Reason" in the national
convention. God being dethroned in France, we should naturally look
there for the "absolute liberty" which unbelievers talk so much about.
But how was it? Were the people without a religious nature? Could they
think more freely? Were they in any sense better off? No, they "followed
the prostitute into the church of 'Notre Dame' in a grand procession and
seated her upon the high altar, where she was worshiped by the
audience." This was the result of the labors of all the authors to which
I have called your attention. It was a wonderful gain? In all the public
cemeteries this inscription was read: "Death is an eternal sleep."
Cabanis, Destutt de Tracy and Volney close up the seventeenth century,
but just about this time the "Critique of Pure Reason," a work which is
the bed-rock of modern metaphysics, makes its appearance. According to
its teachings there are no realities in the world.

The struggle is passed in England. In France all are dull, drowsy. In
Germany all are hungry for the food that satisfies unbelievers. The
"Critique of Pure Reason" was followed by the labors of Fitche. He was
succeeded by Schelling, and he by Hegel. All forms of torture must be
added to this account of the conflict if we would get a glimpse of the
strength of the Christian religion and of the religious element in man's
nature, from the amount of resistance which they have defied. Eusebius
says, "The swords became dull and shattered" under Diocletian. "The
executioners became weary and had to relieve each other." This would not
look as though Christianity would take the throne in four score years,
but it did in spite of all those cruel murders. Through Constantine it
became the state religion of the Roman Empire. Paganism crumbled down
and Christianity triumphed over all the opposition of the old world. The
books of the Old and New Testaments have all been thoroughly tested,
over and over in the fiery furnace of criticism, but Christianity still
lives to bless the hearts of widows and orphans; to bless the
disappointed and disconsolate. To-day there are more Christians in the
world than ever before.

What has unbelief to give to the people of our age more than it offered
centuries ago? Nothing! Nothing!! Nothing!!!

"There is nothing new under the sun."




THE BIBLE--THE BACKGROUND AND THE PICTURE.


This book is admired and respected above all others for its antiquity,
its usefulness, its conflicts, and character. It has been expressly
denominated "The book of books." Its professions are such that no
reasonable man can consistently lay it aside without giving it a careful
examination. The nature of every question determines its claims upon our
intelligence. If it professes to involve only a small interest its
claims are not so pressing.

The questions of the Bible hold in their principles the present and
eternal interests of our humanity, and therefore challenge the attention
of the world. Thousands of the wisest and best men of the ages have been
intensely interested in its contents. Its great influence and reputation
are evidences of its trustworthiness, and of the consistency and
intelligence of those who give it their attention; for sensible men do
not disregard questions of great importance. This book contains a
record of many ugly, dark and wicked deeds, known in the lives of wicked
men and nations, with imperfections and apostacies of individuals in
high places. This is what we must look for in a book of its pretensions.
It professes to contain a revelation of God and his will to man. The
ugly, wicked, licentious, and bloody things constitute the background of
the picture, representing man in all his ways. It is also shaded with
all there was, and is, of moral and noble character in the human. God
with his attributes, as the true, grand and glorious Bible picture,
shines out through this human background. The justice of God, with his
love, long suffering and tender mercies, his approbation and
disapprobation, must in the very nature of things be revealed in
connection with human character as it presents itself in iniquity and
crime, in piety and virtue, both individual and national, in order that
the revelation may be complete, full and perfect. The history of men and
nations must also be true, sufficiently full to call out, in the divine
dealings, all there is in the divine character; otherwise, the
revelation would be partial and imperfect.

No physician ever revealed his skill without his patients. No court has
ever revealed its justice without its cases. The doctor's dealings with
his patients measure the extent of his known skill. Allowing that he
understands himself and the conditions of his patients perfectly, and
does his whole duty, the revelation of his skill must be perfect, to the
full extent of its connection with the diseases treated. So it is with
the revealed justice of the court. This rule is a necessary law,
governing all revelations of character, both human and divine; otherwise
we are left in the dark with reference to the true character of the one
who makes the revelation. Our common sense is such that we are always
led astray by improper action, unless our superior wisdom enables us to
know that the action is improper. Improper action upon the part of a
doctor reveals imperfect skill; on the part of the court it reveals
imperfect justice, if it is not an entire want of skill and justice.

No such imperfection belongs to our God; therefore the revelation which
he made needs only to be understood and it will never mislead us. These
great principles of common sense are to be applied in the revelations of
God to the nations as the God of nations. Such being the case, we have a
very interesting field of thought before us in the bloody scenes that
are known in the history of nations, as it is given in the Bible. Where
is the morality and righteousness of the wars of which we read? Where is
the justice and goodness of God in the bloody wars of Israel? Where is
the righteousness of capital punishment? A great many persons say, in
their ignorance, there is no righteousness in those things. Friend,
travel slowly over this ground. "Take the shoes off thy feet, for it is
holy ground." Go into the Bible and look! God is there. You knew it not.
Principles never change. Circumstances change and necessitate changes of
law, but that which was right at any time in the history of our race is
right at all times, under the same circumstances. Is there such a thing
as morality carried into public relations? Is there such a thing as
jurisprudence? Yes; jurisprudence is morality carried into public
relations in the following law: "That course of conduct which pertains
to the greatest good of the greatest number is right." This law is of
universal application. It belongs to men in all their relations, both
public and private, collectively and individually. In the relation of
the State to its citizens it taxes them for the support of government,
it fines, imprisons and puts them to death for crime. In the relation of
nation to nation it imposes tariffs and declares war, filling history
with scenes of blood and woe. The common sense of mankind approves this
law, and the Bible declares it just. Wars were approved of God, when
they were for the greatest good of the greater number. It was upon the
same principle that all the divine judgments were administered, from the
destruction of the Antediluvians down to the overthrow of Jerusalem by
Titus.

This law is the substratum in moral righteousness, underlying all that
is right. Such is its wonderful latitude and longitude that, in order to
carry it out, it sometimes becomes necessary to tilt a nation into a
sea of blood and replace it with a better people. Unbelievers and
skeptics who admit this are guilty of wresting Bible facts from their
proper places and testing them upon the plane of morality, regardless of
the laws of jurisprudence.

This erroneous method of reasoning leads the minds of many ignorant and
unsuspecting persons away from the right ways of God. The guilty
reasoner justifies taxation, fines, imprisonment and wars in the history
of his own country.

It sometimes seems cruel to carry out this great moral principle of
which we are treating; it is nevertheless right, and men who abuse its
facts and turn things upside down are guilty of opposing the right.

Unbelievers are guilty of selecting from the Bible all that can be
tortured out of its place in the laws of jurisprudence and made to look
ugly out of its proper relations, and are continually holding such
things up before the people, turning them into ridicule, and at the same
time they have been through all the bloody scenes of war and justify
themselves, wishing to be known in many instances as Major, General or
Colonel. We have some such in our own country. They seem to have never
learned that many things which are good for humanity are very ugly out
of their proper relations. I am glad that God has revealed himself in
the jurisprudence of nations, for the facts given inspire confidence in
rulers and officials, strength to judges upon the bench, and nerve to
warriors who are acting with direct reference to the "greatest good of
the greatest number."

A history of God in his dealings with states and nations in order to a
perfect revelation of himself necessitates a history of states and
nations so far as it is necessary to make known the approbation and
disapprobation of God in connection with all that may ever enter into
national or state character. Without this we would find states and
nations where God did not see fit to show himself. We must find him
wherever we find man, approving or disapproving. This is just what we do
in the Bible. We do it in no other book. But let us ever remember that
all that is wicked had its origin with wicked men and demons, and that
the Divine Being, with all his attributes, appears in the foreground in
all his relations to men and their conduct, as the grand Bible picture
shining out through all the darkness and gloom, surrounded with the
virtues and noble deeds of all his worshipers, and that he is building
up and throwing down as his righteous judgment approves or disapproves.
This revelation of God is like the sun at noonday bursting through dark
and heavy clouds and blessing the earth with its rays. In making this
revelation, which is related negatively or affirmatively to all there is
in human history, God saw fit to communicate his will through man, and
in his own language, except in the gift of the great charter of the
national existence of the children of Israel and the great foundation
truth of the church of God. These he uttered with his own wonderful
voice.

Was it reasonable to expect a revelation from God? Is it necessary to
the greatest good of the greatest number? If so, it is a thought at once
involving the moral character of God and necessitating a revelation of
himself. In answering these questions intelligently we must look after
the demands for such a communication. Where shall we find them? Answer,
in the wants of our humanity. Here two kinds of light are needed for two
pair of eyes in order that we may be happy in two respects. First,
physical light for the physical eyes, in order to the enjoyment of
physical life in a material world. Second, the light of knowledge for
the eyes of the understanding, in order to the enjoyment of spiritual
life in a spiritual world. It is universally conceded that there are
means provided in nature to meet man's physical wants and adaptations
that manifest the wisdom that belongs to God; also, that it would have
been the work of a demon to create man with these wants, like so many
empty vessels, without any provision to satisfy or fill them. Without
those supplies our suffering would be great and our wretchedness
unendurable. Is there no liability to mental suffering? Are there no
spiritual wants consequent upon the nature of mind?

Is it not unreasonable to allow that "Infinite wisdom" provided for all
our physical wants and left our spirits with all their demands, like so
many children away out in the darkness without hope, uneasy, restless,
always dissatisfied, and ever trying to get into the possession of the
knowledge of the unseen and future, without one ray of