, 1874-09-13
ARE WE CHRISTIANS

Strauss, aftcr ana!yI1u6 LILO iiAo ouo eonsAS
tious Of the average :" Christian" and educated
man Of to-day, camo to conclusion which ne
did not hesitate to publish to the world, that nd
hot Strauss, but tho average "Christian" :" and
educated man-was, in zeal truth, no Christian
at all. An English writer OF no small acunon,
the author of dame Europa's School," pub
lished some time ago a s,nall book entitled
Modern Christianity Civilized Hoathensm, "
in which he maintained substantially tho same po-
sition "a Strauss. only he went little farther than
Ills German contemporary, aud insinuated that
modern Christians are simply civilized heathcn.
The work has not yet been read as extensively
III this country as 1t deserves to be,-probab1y be-
cause no American edition OF it had appeared.
This cause s removed at present. and tie book
will no doubt have even larger sale On this
side Of the Atlantic than it had in England. We
have no hesitancy to say that on pcruslnG it the
scales will drop from tho eyes Of many, ind that
they will recognize that Christianity is some
thing very unlike what they have bocu practicng
Every one must agree with the author that
Christianity is one Of two things, either human
philosophy founded by great moral teacher
called Christ, or distinct revelation Of God's
will brought down from Heaven by His only be-
gotten Son,-a revelation not intended to i'm
prove upon but to Buporseao and upset all
merely human philosophy. Christians generally
in this day ASSUME that Christianity is the latter
They acknowledge that it Is their duty to ina;-
tate Christ aud yet they are further removed
from the imitation Of Christ than they are from
any othe. great exemp1ar which the world has
ayer seou. Deny it no Que can that Christ drew
broad distinction between what is called the
world aud Himself. His one great and charac-
teristic feature was what our critic says it was
opposition to what is known Us the world Not
ouly tho wickodness, but even the righteousness,
OF the world did Christ condemn There was, ho
claimcd, q goodness aud l. virtue which the
world did not understand. Philosophers before
Christ had quarreed with the sensual, groveling
pleasures OF men. Christ flung into tho teeth
Of mon their very virtues and told them they
we're worthless in the eyes Of the al!-pure God.
Public opinion and the common sense of the
world as rules Of action he condemned in the
most express terms. Aud it was this view OF
tue Infinite excellence Of the Deity as contrast
cd with Lumnn virtuo that gave Christianity 30
speedy and complete victory over philosophy
aud Paganiem combined. Now where is the
Christian who would not be also tho man OF the
world? How many are the Christians Who
4 Ia1 hv
sense and public opiuion? How mauy do not
make both rule OF action? How many Of them
who draw any distinction between Christ and the
world? How many who pass for Christians.
and attend church regularly on SUNDAYS, would
condemn as worthless and Us only seeming vir-
tues tho good deeds OF the man Of the world
Christ taught tho existence of MI everlasting
hell There are thoee who call themselves
Christians aud who deny this but the fact,
nevertheless, remainB,-Christ did teach the c1-
istcnce Of he'll How many believe it ? As
onr author puts it II man believe in all ever
lasting he'll, - what eau any man care to do when
he las provided food and clothing just sufficient
to keep his own family alive, but spends
tho entire residue Of bus worldly goods
in ministeriug to the poor and sor-
rowing, and the entire residue OF his time i'll
praising Christ his Savior for tho blessed hope
OF Heaven, or III fearful s1pplication for deliver
aucu from the sorrows Of heli?" II men believe
in hell, how do they reconcile it with reason to
live on as if there were none? lti5 plain.--tbe
cultivated, educated world may be divided into
two classes of persons profcsscd iudde1s and
Christians in name, but uubelierers or misbe
levers III reality. And tho author Of Christi
ani1y Civilized Heathcnism tella us that, II
public opinion cared to express it's mind, it
would proclaim itself lnfidel to the very core.
heathen OF Eastern birth, who had made
his home in England, who had learned
tho Ways aud habits sud mode Of think
ing of the average Englshmnn, but who
nevertheless had not become Christian.
Being urged to take that final step, the
heathen pertinenty inquiries Of his would-be
proselyter in what respect he would hive to
change his life it he did become Christian.
He was beathcn, and protested himself one
but he could see 10 reason to change his namo
to Cbristiun; and a change Of name was all
that lis conversion to Christianity involved.
His life was Like the lives OF the Christians he
had known. He lived as purely. as tempcrately,
was as kind to his nelghbor aud as forgiving to
i1is enemy, as any Christian Of LIS acquaintance.
There is only too much truth to this observa-
ton OF the supposed heathen- Perhaps it will
cause few Christians to DISCOVER that they are
only disguised infdels,-a revelation which ca1l~
not but be productive of good in 80 far ~ it
shall teach men to be what they profess to be. .
THE D1AKKA.
The Diakka are bad spirits. Andrew Jackson
Davis has found out all about them. According
to his ponlerous ef1rsion on the subject, they
are tie beings who break dishes and tumble
around furniture and fell outrageous lies and
bring tie shades Of prominent dead men into