Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1864-09-02
Modern Infdelity.

t. bles and unreliable history, with no more
e Of authority or divinity in them thar
= there is in The Vedas of the Hindoos
$ that Christianity is a myth; that its
e founder was only 'an amiable enthusiast !;
J. that his followers were no mere than a
e band Of remarkable fanatics that VIC
s have no authoritative declaration of the
= will Of Jehovah that our religion, which
# lies at the basis of our civilization is it.
= self baseless that we, as a Christian
e people, live, move, and have our being
2 in a stupendous lie; what then
2 What then? Man is only an animal.
: If the Being who made him has not had
consideration enough for him TO reveal
to him His will, then he is not of the
slightest consequence. These horrible
wars which drown the world in sorrow,
are the mere squabbles Of a crowd Of in
sects, too insignificant for the Divine no.
tice These dreams of moral purity,
these aspirations after spiritual excel
lence, these promises Of Immortality,
these loving outreachings toward the ev-
erlasting Father, these impulses toward
divine life, these crucfxons Of lust,
this proud assumption Of higher na~
ture than that Of the horse we drive and f.
the dog we caress, are all miserable mis-
takes. We are spawned upon the earth /
like swine. We die like swine. Our
life comes in and goes out without mean
ing. 1t is all a farce, that does not rise
in dignity above the sham parades o f
children. If there is no authoritative
revelation of Immortality 10 the Bible,
here is no authoritative revelation of it
anywhere. Let US eat and drink, for to
morrow we die.
Again, what then? What, when we
have set the Bible aside and renounced
our hope of Immortality and thrown off
all our moral and religious obligations,
and relinquished the leadership Of the
Savior Of men, shall we do for a restrain
iog power to keep society together at alp
If men should be convinced that they
are only animals, that God takes no no
tce of them, and does not care enough
about them 10 teach them and command
them, whose property will b safe
whose bed will be unvioated? whose life
will be sacrod? who will be secure from
the unrestraiaed rayagcs Of appetite and
every base passion that fads its home in
the human heart? Our sons viii grow
1p into Gends. Our daughters will be
prostitutes from childhood. We shall n
descend into half civilization, or absolute +
barbarism, with no sufficiently powerful II
motive to resist the fall. g
When Jesus Christ, as a divine being,
Or as a man divinely commissioned, dies d
out of the popular faith, what then p Il
Who shall comfort the hearts that mourn? f
Who shall assure US that virtue has a re r.
ward, or that there is any such thing as 7
,irtue? Who shall stimulate the love of q
and move men to works of q
Who will try to raise the n
leathen world out of its beastly degrade II
ion? Who will plant motives in the ri
,eart which will lead it to put a restrain
ne hand upon its base passions? What
entral, vital principle of love will inciie T
nen to the organization of commissions -
or amelioratng the horrors of warfare !? u
Who will dignity life with even a toler- :,
bile degree of delf-respect h.
No candid observer will deny b a I .,
'hatever of good there may be in our =,
american civilization is the product of -,
Still less can he deny that \,
he grand motives which are working for =,
be elevation and purifcation Of our So q,
iety are strictly Christian. The i'm -
lense energies of the Christian Church, .
.imulated by love that shrinks from H.
0 obstacles, are all bent toward this -
reat aim of universal purifcation.- :.
'hese millions of sermons and exhorta-
ons which are a constant power for
ood, these countless prayers and songs Va
praise on which the heavy laden lift GO
leir hearts above the temptations and nm
,rrows of the world, are all the product mr.
faith in Jesus Christ. That which ,b
ives US protection by day and by night th
the dwellings we live 10, the clothes III
e wear, the Institutions of social order II
all these are the direct offspring Of or
hristianity. All that distinguishes US
ON the pagan world-all that makes
J what we are, all that stimulates US in me
Ie task Of making ourselves better than fg
e are---is Christian. A belief iu Jesus VIC
hrist is the very fountain head of every RIG
ing that is desirable and praiseworthy IS
our civilization, and this civilization is as