The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1871-06-25
NEW YORK HERALD SUNDAY JUNE U.s. 1s7-TRlPLE SHEET.
The Herald and Free Religion.

The Herald and Free Religion.
A few weeks ago we felt called upon to
comment unfavorahly upon the doctrines and
teachings of the ''Free Religion Association"
| as we have done from time to time on other
extravagances. For this q Hebrew philo-
sopher, Isaac NJ. Wise by name, has taken us
to task in the fsrae.ite of last Friday. In our
comments upon Rev. John Weiss assertion, that
''the nature of the Creator is in the material
created" we said we could hardly see how we
could escape the logical consequence of .
perishable and changeable God. Mr. Weiss
also expressed his lack of faith in the souls
immortality and independence Of the body,
because, forsooth, science had not yet put
facts sufficient into the case. We asserted
then, and we reassert 1t now, without deeming
argument necessary to substantiate our posi-
ton, that not one man in hundred thousand
cares particle what facts science may put
into this case that it can never alter the CON-
mon and universal belief of mankind in the
souls immortality and consequent independ-
ence of the body. Our Hebrew philosopher
thinks these criticisms worthless and appeals
to Jesus and Paul, who, he says, never ad.
vanced such doctrine We had the pleasure
Of listening to DR.. Wise's lectures on the
'Origin of Christianity" in this city, few
months ago, and obtained the impression that
he had studied the writings and character of
Jesus and Paul much more closely than we
| now think be has DONE The writings and say
| ings of those leaders and founders of Chris
tianity are full of the faith of personal God
| and an Independent, immortal soul in man, and
not of Creator whose nature is seen only in
the material created, as Mr.. Weiss and his
Free Religion Association and their Hebrew
| defenders would have us believe. And we
cannot conceive how any man can carefully
read the sayings of Jesus or the writings of
Paul and not Immediately perceive that they
assert those truths which we defend, and not
the atheistical utterances of the called reli
gous reformers.
Without stopping to quote from the words
of Paul or Jesus to show what they thought
about the souls Immortality, let us call DR..
Wise's attention to 1 Corinthians, xv., ad
li6itum;; II. Corinthians, ", 10; II. Peter,
l., 10, IA; l. Peter ill.,, 1920, and w., 6;
Matthew xviii, 3, 8; Mark xiii, 26, 27 Luke
Xxx, 3S, &C., and Revelations, almost any,
where. The Old Testament Scriptures are
full of the same truth also, as DR.. Wise ought
very well to know. Why, then, to apply his
own language, does he attack the HERALD?
Dr. Wise makes much of the admission Of the
F. R. A. that there is q Creator and creation,
upon which we did not comment at all, and
upon the full significance of the word mature"
in this connection. We accepted the term for
the purposes of comment, not in its scientific
or philosophic sense, but in its common accep-
taton by the masses of men, who attach no
such meaning to it as DR.. Wise gives it-as
expressing the sum of qualities and attri-
butes" And even in this sense we contend
that nature does not express the sum of quail
ties and attributes of the Creator, and we
must look elsewhere for them. Our philoso-
pher tries also to show the worthless
ness of creeds by our illustrations of human
depravity, and says they Of. R. Al are going
to try the experiment without creed. We
certainly have no objection; we are not
sticklers for creeds in the abstract, bat with
the history and experience of creeds before us
we have no fear that DR.. Wise and his creed
less Church will swallow up all our good and
great men. The trouble with all our modern
religious reformers is that they think they
have the power, figuratively speaking, to issue
a writ of mandamus and bring the whole body
of religious people to their feet with their
creeds and doctrines, to be examined and
revised as the aforesaid philosophers may
determine When they succeed we hope they
will let us know; but in the meantime we
pSspose to defend, not so much orthodoxy
against heterodoxy or reform, as truth against
atheism and infidelity. And we have no con-
ception that the fullest PRONUNCIATION of the
doctrines of the Free Religion Association are
| going to make our bad men good or our good
men better, or to change the character of our
society, as the editor of the Isr0elite seems to
suppose. Try it again, Doctor.
| FEARS OF AN INDIAN WAR IN TExAs.-Re-