, 1873-01-05

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meet, and the best mode Of attack to be made.
The book is divided Into four parts: l. Are We
still Christians7 II. Have We still religion?
III. How do we conceive OF the world? ~.
How do re regulate our lives i? The first is 3
general assault; the second m essay Oh tho
religious sentiment innate in human nature :;
the third, discussion of the physical problems
Of natural religion; while the fourth presents q
scheme Of Life outside Of Christianity.
In the first part Of the book, Dr.. Strauss at
tacks nearly all Of the articles OF revealed rclg-
ion, including the doctrine Of the Trinity and
Baptism, as we'll as the practical character and
condition Of Christianity and it's doctrines. and
reaches the decision that Christianity is no
longer in harmony with the human mind, and
that "wo are no longer Christians" His def
milton Of rahona1ism which occurs in this part
will be Of interest, as he il ite great defender.
He says:
RationaiIa1n is compromise between the old ceeds
OF the Church and the merely negative result Of thcr
examination by the light. It judges Biblical his
tory by natural laws and honestly the characters Of
the Old Testament were men Ike other men, worse
than others, but In many respects worthy Of study;
Jesus not the Son Of God in the ecclesiastical
senae yet an impoator passing himself OF for the
earthly Messiah, but man loving God and bis neigh
bor who suffered nasryrdo III order to give his peo
pie purer religious and moral laws; the socalled mir
ac1es not frauds but mistakes the part either Of
the witnesses, the historians, or the readera-
In the second part he maintains that tho relig-
ious sentiment is an inseparnble part Of human
nature, and that "the Development Of religion
aud the growth Of intelligence go hand in hand"
Having established this foundation, ho sketches
the progress Of religion from the first rude ideas
Of the savage mind down through mythology
and Judaism to Christianity. Tho problozns OF
natural religion, such az the argument from de-
sign, the efficacy Of prayer, the belief in the
Immortality OF the soul, and the true and untrue
in religion arc next discussed, and this part
closes with summing up Of the elements Of re-
Igion which have not been disturbed by
modern criticism. While We have not the
religion Of our fathers, We still have religion,
because VIC have tho feeling Of superior power
before which We are helpless, and because the
operation OF natural laws and our own interest
therein develop tho idea Of reason and goodness,
that is, Of moral law. The recognition Of this
in ourselves gives the idea Of moral
freedom, without which principle no church can
gubsist. The Doctor than very slrewdly an
swors tho inevitable question which his critics
will ask, why he denounces churches and re-
igioua Systems, by replying TINT, in formal sys-
TENS OF religion, the false inevitably mixes itself
With the true.
In the first two parts OF his work he abolish |
es Christianity and sets up scheme OF National I
religion, and in the third part turns his atten-
lion to cosmology, in which, after establishing q
between the progress from |
,olytheiam to nonotheisnn, and the
progress from the idea Of tho plurality !
IT, worlds to the idea Of the universe,
10 wande1s over the whole field Of human knowl- !
,dge, including everything in the universe,
rot only the physical bodies and the
aws, which regulate them, but also the
Iction Of moral causos and the laws ct human
,ature. It will be matter OF news to the be-
levers in the Darwinian theory that, according
Q DR.. Strauss, Goethe, not Darwin, is the real
tuthor Of the theory Of natural selection.
In the concluding part Of his work, DR.. Strauss
iscnsses not only the ordinary maxins OF
thics aa thoy existed long before the
)ecalogue, but also many principles OF social
rganization. Among tbs latter is the late Ger
aan war, in which he 1ustihes the course Of
Germany; nationahties, which he indorses,
nd international agitation, at which
10 sneers; the Church OF Rome, which he claims
epreBents the international principle, and is,
herefore, at war with ali nationalities and re-
ublicanism and monarchisua. He praises switz-
r1and and the United States, and thinks that
Iepublicanism is the most logical form Of gov
but Absolutism seems preferable to
i'm, especially Abso1utism Of the German kind.
Such ia tho substance Of DR.. Strauss work
n meeting and disputing his views, his opponents
i'll have to recognize the fact that hs is man Of
enezous culture, and thoroughly sincere In his
lows. He will also have = widespread popular
ympathy as an earnest worker for tho largest
reedom Of thought, and he will, in addition,
ave TINT not uncomfortable sympathy which is
lways bestowed upon one man at WEE with the
@=@-~=
goMAN's RIGHTS FEoM DARwm1AN
STANDPOINT.