The New York herald., 1873-11-30
Is Christianity a Failure

mission, with an unfinished church on his hands,
to aid him IN which Dr. Druun lectures Tor him
tonight in Irving Hall.
Is Christianity q Failures
To THE EDITOR OF THE HERALD:-
A few weeks ago correspondent asked the
question, Was Professionalism a failure but go a
step further and ask, Is not the Christian religion
itself failure First, let us see what is the foun
dalton stone of the Christian religion, and think
we will not be far wrong or unfair In stating 1t as
follows God was in the beginning. as He is still,
omnipotent, omnibencvolent, omuiscient, pres
cient. He said, II will create a being whom
shall call man. could create him, II l so wished,
not only perfect, but free from all iisk OF imperlec-
tion to come. But won't do this. will create
him with faculty for disobeying Me. which will
be fla W in him. know beforehand that he will
exercise this faculty, and when he does so will
consgn him to endless misery and perditon."
The creation SO resolved upon was achieved,
and the first man yielding to the impulse
OF the faculty thus engendered and advisedlY
implanted in him by his Creator committed the
foreseen and forecondemned act. His Maker-his
prescient and omnbenevoent Maker-exacted the
penalty. Then severing himself, and. as II were,
casting himself across the will OF his Father, Gods
own Son, who, OF course, had no share in mans
fault, came forward and said, "Do not damn him,
Father accepted this substitution OF his own inno
cent and only Son, and consented to iorego the
punishment OF the actual delinquent Now, to put
aside all sensations of its horror is not this an alb
solutcly contradictory and uncomprehensiblc story?
Either God was obliged to make man as he did
and then was not omnpotent, or he elected to
make him as he did, being omnipotent, and then
he was not omnibenevocnt; or else he did
not expect him to fall, and then he was
not prcscient. Which is 1t to be Again,
II he made him fit to fall, and knew that he would
1all, the fall was part OF His purpose, and the en-
actment OF the penalty can only be taken as hav
ing sprung from love OF pain. But the sequel In
the substitution OF His only and well beloved Son,
who, according to the Bible account, was innocent
under every respect puts, as it were, the cap
ping stone on q building OF impossibilities. l will
not record my estimate Of It for fear 1 might
wound or hurt the feelings Of any man or woman
who may be sensitive and well-intentiOned but
before so on further let ME be thankful that am
not living in the age OF Philip II. of Spain or other
Christian tyrants but In an age OF freedom and in
which free thought may be freely expressed in an
atmosphere OF freedom. On the hypothesis that
there be a God, the magnificent protector, pro-
more palpable II less cOnsummate in glory
than himself, who was 1t, asks the sceptic, who
and taught rae to judge it to be the noblest9 Was
1T not God himself? Now the doctrine OF the atone
ment IS the cardinal doctrine OF Christianity, and
II 1t be abandoned the other d0gmata Of the creed
can be easily dealt with. 1t Is either pr0vable or
it is not it is propable or IL is not, IT IS either com
or they are motor, TO put the alternative more
strongly, they are one by one, taken together, i'm
moral, incongruous and utterly repusive to the
mind. 1t is not much TO be wondered at that the
more clear-sghted OF theologians, from the days
OF King David downwards, should have ielt the
necessity of discreditng the mind. "Thou hast
hid these things from the wise and prudent, and
OF babes and sucklings hast thou perfected praise"
are meet for the mouths OF dogmatists, not OF one
age but OF all time Tn the mind Is the natural enc
much Thought Is fatal to that which will not bear
thinking Of
terles melt away under the lens OF reason, as the
blood OF st. Janarius liquifes under the miracu-
logsly concentrated rays Of the sun 1t is strange
ss eGsssSa Sa sSsfss Il SssaSs as
and y vs egon Of
quasi-mental excrcitalions over which they may
disport themselves as the superors OF the wise and
brave. The priest says TO the sceptic, "You hate
our God who rates your mind so low that lie Will
neither consult or satisfy them. You hate us tco.
wise you could not see, and because we hold tae
allegiance and love OF his sheep, delivering them
thereby IRON the alternative .S OF an intellectual @
hate US worst OF all because we hold our
oofllce from Him. and we magnify It
all the authority and respect which to such office
and delegation OF right belong" IL Is false all this,
as false as the worst lie ever ascribed by them to
the devil whom they have fabricated. No man OF
decent intellect was ever or could ever be TOOL
enough to reject revelation Tor prides sake. Who
would willingly go to hell to indulge his vanityY IL
Is Il lie, q solemn sounding lie, told 10 perpctuate
the enslavement OF the feeble; a new staple driven
to rcfix the letters OF the struggling For in TACT
hundreds OF reasons combine to deter the strongest
and most uuconiprlsing mind rom avowing his
sceptlctsm. There Is the natural fear OF being
ingness 10 hurt the feelings OF parent friend or
wife. These lew oil the checks upon scepticsm,
and are they OF little accountg But, says the
Christian professor, you lack iaith and cannot
1t. Well. admit that cannot comprehend the
Bible, and l ask him, What is taithS He answers
me ''that faith Is the substance OF things hoped
Tor, the evidence OF things not seem" and am stl
In the DARK and fancy l am talking 70 an IDIOT
Faith, 20 speak in plain English, Ia faulty opera
ton OF the mind, by which deductions are made
without or in contradiction OF proper premises.
But IL Is In practice an operation OF the viii against
the mind, and what right has the will TO oppose the
intelectY And IN TACT, faith begins to act after
the mind has been sllcnccd. WHAT, then. limits
What checks its license or guides It's vagaries2
How arc faiths tested IL not by reasonY and II aith
Is tested by reason, then faith would
become porenthesls, an Interpretation Pc
dealing then between man and a creed would be-
come u tripartite | ask again how are faiths
tested What makes one differ from anothers
What makes one seem true and another ialsey lt
cannot be the relative probability improbablity
OF their facts for all at least contain much that Is
and even Christians admit that were
IL not for faith, the retention OF Their mysteries
would be impossible. Branminism contains much
that Is inconcevable; so does Christianity. What
then makes Christianity more receivable than |