The Cecil Whig., 1873-04-05
For The Cecil Whig.
ABERDEEN. Md, March 31st,. 1873,

died, over the signature of J. E. A. If
read these initials Alright they refer to a
gentleman for whom l entertain considera-
BILE respect, although l only know him by
reputation. Still presume my right to a
defence or at least an explanation is good.
1t may lessen my friends grief at the
irreverence of my language to learn that
am no longer an Constructor of youth"
| That l have abandoned the trade, l hope
forever, as / once before abandoned the
dea of joining the ministry when l found
that | could not honestly believe the doc
trines | would have to preach. Whatever
he may think of my opinions, do not wish
him to think me corrupter of youth. Just
what my opinions of David & Co., has to
do with public school teaching don't see.
/ never went to school to teach theology,
but writing and arithmetic, and do not
think my worst enemy can charge me with
failure to do what the law requires; read
the Bible in the school, although would
not have cared to set either David or Solo,
mon before Scholar as model for their
imitation. If any one wishes my reasons
let him read end Samuel, 9Th, 18th, and
21st chapters, and he will get some idea of
what I mean. For Solomon's case read
the Books of 1st Kings and end Chronicles.
Still as Mr.. A, does not impugn the cor
rectness of my opinion of those worthless, l
do not need to make any defence. Strip
the tinsel off of them and Judge them as
you would any character outside of the
Bible, is all that ask.
He next quotes paragraph for comment.
l wrote "Christ was truer philosopher
than Noses" the types made it true philoso-
pher. 1t is not my wish to condemn Moses
so sweepingly as this. Still the very lam
guage my critic uses is an admission that
I am right. My wish was to show that
Moses gave the right of divorce only to the
husband; this is not denied. Christ says
"Moses, because of the hardness of your
hearts suffered you to put away your wives,
but it was not so in the beginning" If
this means anything it means that Moses
was weak enough to yield to public opin-
ion. and that Christ could not endorse his
yielding. Further, it means that God, if
speaking through Moses, was swayed in
his enactments by the hardness of human
hearts. All l ask is that laws should DO
the same for the wife, as for the husband.
Those whom God hath Joined together will
have no wish to be put asunder; those
ho<l, 80
provision for. All l charged Paul with
doing is just what Jesus himself charges
Moses with doing-yielding to Greek hard
ness of heart, as he yielded to 1sraelitish
opinion. My critic is correct in saying that
''female subserviency' was but one cause of
Grecian ruin, and accept the amendment,
and thank him for admitting so much. To
admit that Paul yielded to principle that
helped to ruin Greece is not much more
creditable to the Apostle than my ideas.
Mr. A., is no doubt familiar with the his
tory of the earlier church and competent to
tell how many pagan ceremonies were
grated on the stock of simple, unpretend-
ing christianity, so will not touch this.
Just how the Book of Genesis came to
be, is something that will perhaps never be
decided. Two sets of records run through
it. The Elohist author tells US in the first
chapter that God created man in his own
image, male and female created he them.
In the second the Jehovist tells the story of
the rib, when as the story runs, God saw
hot oil
Which are we to believe, both or neither?
Does my critic believe in all the old myth
stories of the creation, or if this one only,
whyo because it is in the Bible. Well,
how did it get there? 1t is much easier
asking such questions than solving them
as better theologians than either of us have
found out to their sorrow.
"But says he, the Bible has done more
for the elevation of women than all other
Books together" l admitted that chris
tianity was the only one of the worlds
great religious that had within it the germs
of progress, but that progress has as often
been in spite of the Bible, as through its
teachings. No reform has ever been at
tempted without the Bible being thrown
in its way. AS an instance look at the his
tory of the fight for abolition. The advo-
Gates of equal rights mean work. If they
cannot carry their cause with the Bible
they will do it in spite of it. When " inf
deity" carries the question through, the
church will come up ready to join in the
shout of victory. For the last three GEN.
turies, independent thinkers have been
fairly dragging the church after them up
to their level
l am not certain that it would not be
about as creditable to woman to be formed
from a shell as from rib, but Mr.. A. and
Darwin may fight this out to suit them
selves. l care very little which wins as l
believe in neither.
A word about the general charge of irrev-
erence. reverence as an attribute of the
human mind is about extinct. The Bible
must undergo the same test as other books
and stand or fall by it's own merits. Its
sacred character will not save it from mod
ern criticism, any more than the assumed
Sraces VI Ine cHufcn or ils IeacheTs VIII
save them from contempt if they deserve
it.
Speech is free-I am alone responsible
for the essay in question, and do not mean
to dodge the responsibility. tits true that
the Teachers Association gave me the
unexpected compliment of a vote of thanks
and the President of the School Board re-
quested its publication, but this l think
was done thoughtlessly. am not dispos-
ed to ask any one to share the odium of my
opinions: l am master of my opinions and
am not afraid to allow them to go out to |
the world
Yours, respectfully,
JOHN A. CALHOUN.
NlDDTEn