The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1855-03-07
CHRISTIANITY VS.. q THE AGE oE
- - - REASON ~

S14h10 A4hNA4 4. Vs. LIZ AG14 w.
- - =. -. REASON" -.
We select from powerful article i
the able Louisville Journal the annexe'
extracts, which we are happy to bcliey
will find general accord in the sent
ments of the readers tile Union, with
out exception. - '.l
FROM THE LOUISVILLE JegRsAL OF FEB
+ THE TURNER'S AND, THEIR DEITY
The citizens of Louisville were witnesse
of rather anzextraordinary exhibition o,
Monday last.sz 1t was a procession of IN
fdel foreigners endeaForing todo homo
to the memory of Tom Paine, not as
tpolitieal writer, but US the author of tn
cage of Reason "a book which show
but little of the genius of the man VIII
1composed the celbrated papers entitlet
q" Common Sense" the =" Crisis, y anC
g The Rights of Man, the latter in an
swer to Gurk 80 Reflections ON tn,
French Revolution. u IF the Turneri
profess admiration for the political anc
religious views of Tom Paine, they mus
regard him as great hypo:rite for il
his political pamphlets, written during
the revolutionary war, knowing that. he
was addressing religious people, he
not only professed allegiance to the Bi-
BILE, but drew some of his most powerful
appeals from its pages. .l5sv55
Before the publication Of the Age
of Reason" Pafnc possessed large space
in the popular heart ofthis young Repub-
lie. Memories of affection and graft
tIde gathered around those labors which
had strongly animated the colonial strug-
gle, and which borrowed their 6 pillarsol
6re 9 from the Bible. National graft
tude showered its fayors uponshiIn, and
the A eople approved the course of their
representatives. But when the stern
virtueso the revolution discovered that
he was not only an enemy to all that
was held dear, but. thai. he was profit
gate, he became as much an object
of contempt as he had previously been
of gratitude. The men of the revolution
we're religious men ). they we're firm be-
levers in the revelation ofszGoi, and
they knew the foundations son. which it
rested. ! They night. have tolerated the
man if the 6 Age of Reason,2 had been
his first work, but they could not forgive
tho treachery thatshad deceived them in
his political pamphlets. We pity any
man who, uponzas vital a question-toh hu-
man happiness as theverity or falsehood
of the Christian revelation, can deliber-
ately shut his eyes to the blaze of eyi-
dcpoe which not only challenges but re-
wards investigation. But be is infinite
ly more an object oss pity who.cau lean
upon such work as the" Age of Rea-
SON" as support for his rejection of
christianity. We.can easily understand
how shrewd, intelligent mind -mi 5ht
be. swayed by the keen, subtle, spark
ling reasoning of Hume's Essay on the.
Miracles it is easy enough to see how
a neophy te in such matters might be
caught and carried away blythe gor-
.geous diction and splendid eloquenee of
Gibbon, or by the moekeries, gibes,
sneers, and wit of Veltaire Philosoph-
ical Dictionary, or even by the bold
sophisms of Volneyts Ruins; but how
any sane mind can be beWildercd and
led astray by Paine's book is beyond
our comprehension. Heme's philosoph-
ic1 principles on evidence and te'ief
are specious and may elude the gr.sp of
any but a logical mind we'll equipped
Heicreated great alarm among the cler-
gy of Scotland when his essay first np-
peared, but George Campbell, of Mar
isel1al College, so tri1mphantly answer
ed it, in ore of the most mastery speci-
mems of pure logic that is known to En-
glish literature, that Hume himself said
that he believed the old Scotch theologue
had whipped him. And, in our times,
Archbishop Whateley, of Dublin, takes
each principle of evidence on which
Hume proposed to destroy the christian
religion and as perfectly proves the sx-
istenee and career of Napoleon Bona
parte a mere fiction as any one ever
proved theorem in Euclid. No one
who rejects Christianity en- Hume's prin-
ciples Of evidence can with any consisten-
cy believe that Napoleon Bonaparte ever
lived, or that he ever was at Austeflitz,
Waterloo, or at Elba or ST. Helena-
The proof, in Whateley's work, is eq1aI
ly clear that his remains are hot IN the
sarcophagus at the Invalidcs. - -
The bold, con6dent, and scholarlike
manner in which Gibbon gives the fye
reasons for the start and spread of Chris
tianity might decicye mind not logi-
cally formed, but cannot long hold one
who compares his assumed causes with
eighteen hundred years of effects, And
the learned Jews Of Portugal, in their
immortal lettersto Yoltaire, SO triumph
antly disposed of his Old Testament
matters that no one who has read those
letters and the Philosophical Dictiena-
ry can be surprised that the latter has
fallen into contempt.
OF Volney We shall give but single
example, but that is a crushing one, as
it was administered BY the Rev. Mr.. Fa-
ber yolney calls up in review all the
religions of tho earth, the christianity
religion among them, and gives each one
blow. He makes this decision Here
are multitude of religions each claims
a divine original; but as no one of them
will admit the claim of the other, there
fore none of them has any claim. Fabcr
thus disposes of this: Suppose wealthy
owner of an estate dies without Will =
A number of persons set up claims as
heirs at law, and among them is M. Vol
ney. Each one thinks his claim must
overshadow every other, and no one of
them will admit the strength of the 9th
er.- The court meets to decide the case,
and, assuming the philosophy of Nj. Vol
uey, says: Here are nineteen contest
ants for this estate each one has pre-
sented his proofs of the validity of his
claims, but as no one ofthe number admits
any strength in the other, therefore no
e,of Won has auy title to the estate"