Wisconsin herald, and Grant County advertiser. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1844-1845, 1845-04-26
For the Herald.
lNFIDEL CREDULITy

ao'hei oraei which knew no, Joseph:' they left the
Tor m of reasonn which had been pursued BY ,b.,
predecessors, and struck out upon a new and ind.
pendent track. The old method adj been TO attach
Christianity and write agains, it, without KNOWN,
: whereof il affirmed" This was pre-emin.n,y
'he case WIN Voitaire. He Acknowledged him.
Sc II, that he had never read the bible. and hi.
W orihy compeers were about as well acoua,,ed
with 1t as he. Different, however, wa, i, VIII,
their successors, "the new lights" Sprngipg unoo.
new soil and under another government. tbev A..
tempted to effect in their own wny, wba, had been
Va'aly essayed by another. This was 10 under.
m'ne the faith OF all men in the divine authen,ci.
ty ofthe scriptures. Heretofore, the battles of err
ror with truth, or rather, the attacks of error INN,
truth, nal been made and fought upon the soil of
France and England, by men OF Gallo and Saxon
descent Now the ED of contest was eba,,e5
and Germany became the scene of action. The
assalan.s took the name, a, any rate they had it
OF German Neologists - which properly inter-
preted and rendered into readable English, sgni
fes German No ologisss; meaning paraph. as,ical.
y, believers in nothing, and dsbslevers in eye,y.
IVY ''"s w INC scriptures gong
to prove their divine origh given of God fof the
Instruction of man. In other things these modern
Sayaus are credulous enough, as we shall have A.
bundant proof before this essay is closed. What
one Gays ofInfdelity in general, may be affirmed
Of their inhdeity in particular: g Ii has great
stomach for wsnders, but 70 appetite for divine
miracles and simple Truth; enormous digestion
things absolutely iadigestihle and hurtfu but
no power OF assimiatng the wholesome
plain food prepared for the system. 1t is like an
ostrich, that might feed rusty nails, and ye, be
staggered by bowl of custard. There is a per-
preference the testimony of the word of God to
men who always liars, the Psalmst saws, ra-
Their than to God, who cannot lie - 1t is only in
reference 10 the bibe that these German RATIONAL
ISIS so wonderfully skep,ical and this, strange
as il may seem, while they are enthusiastically
devoted 10 a critical study Of it. They study the
bible, however, they would any other book of
ancient date; with just the same respect-and no
grea.er-that they feel for ancient Grecian or Re-
man writers. Ohe discourses respecting them, al
tel the following manner. "fhese Neologiss have
for long time infested German Literature with
their inhdelity, boasting themselves 10 DE The pro-
foundest critics in the world, commenting upon
the scriptures wi,hou, particle of for
them, or of piety towards God; rejecting every
thing ipernatural or miraculous, and holding
the most unqueslionable facts of sacred history as
utter fablrs."
These writers claim for themselves a Knowledge
of the sacred oraces more profound thar that which
had been obtained by any who had gone before
them. This they thought they had acquired by
patient and pcrsevering investigation oftheirmean-
ing, and b. the application OF rules of interp:ca-
ton which they had themselves previously invent
ed and adopted. The peculiarly OF these rules
is, that those who them think they are able 10
determine by them the exact lrgTee of credit due
TO any book they investigate, independently and
in the face OF al external evidence. - They p.e-
tend to an acquaintance with the language and
history OF the sacTed writings profound, as 10 he
able TO decide respecting the most ancient poitlons
OF the scrpures,what genuine and what are not,
50 clearly, 50 certainly, n'hsputablv, as to SET
aside and overpower al! external evidence, what
ever it may be-" BY what they deemed their Wis
dom, they had set ali Europe and The world agns.
They had become exceedingly arrogant in their
assumptions. Germany had been completely rev.
olutionized by Their opinions, and from being
professedly believing people, they had become a
natloI OF inhdsls. - 'rhe current of their opin-
ions and writings hail been a tide Of death,
pouring over the country, aad by channels of inf
deity in other lands, the same tide swept, in no
little measure, into the Christian countries az Eng
land and America" So long hal the world, as
they supposed, or at leist the Germanic world,
bowed in deferehIial submission to What
they conceived TO be the superiority OF their
Imperial int elects, that they had come consider
themselves sorereign arbilers ia all matters Of
biblical criticism. Who dare dispute the fat Of
rka.. .a..,e -. 4.
sumption and dazzling splsndor had these German
Neoogists attained.
But alas, as a very wise king once said, " pride
goe,h before destruction and haughty,spirt beure
a TALL" Haman wds hung Oh the very galioss that
he had prepared fof poor Mordeicai. These Ger
manic Ratio nals,s have already reached the a.
pex of their fame, and are on the decline
Nothing bright shines always. Even Germanie
lights become dim. Facts are fast developing TO
prove true declaration not long since made Ia
this paper, that no writer added to his liter
airy fame by what he may have said against the
bible" One OF these, relating 10 our German
friends, has recently cone under my notice, with
which beg leave TO acquaint the readers Of the
Herald: so many OF them as may honor this article
with aperusal. The story have TO repeat has re-
terence to book which has recently appeared ia
This country, and been briefly noticed in a late
number of the New York Tribune. The title Of
iHts NoiuhS - tuc iilOef W "4
polished in what suppose, with my limited knowl-
edge Of geography, to be a prov ice OF Germsnic
Prussia, by one DIR. MsinhOld, respected clergy
man of that country. This b. ok, the tile Of which
reminds US strongly ofPuritanic days in the OH Bay
State, when il was fashionable TO hang witches, s
nothing more less than a religious novel, writ
ten for the purpose Of exposing the misehiefs OF be-
Iieving in wichclait, ahd especially, the wicked
ness of Furnishing for such supposed crime
Speaking ofthis work, writer who had read IL re-
marks: There has seldom appeared book Of
such deep and thrilling simplicity and interest