The New York herald., 1874-08-30

" SR4 w, ~ L. y
as Tyndal, Huxley, Carpenter, Proctor and others
VINO boldly attack the empires and charlatahs IN
the church. With what eager avldty IL the late
Professor Agassiz claimed by the Gospel serving
community as one OF their own 'ilx" because ne
cOurteously conformed to church etiquette IN MS
social observances IL Is well TO state here tnat
Agassiz was also anenabe 10 that calumnlating
epitnet 'inftdeL as applied to scientinc men III
preiacing his lecture on the Creation, delivered
before the students OF Yale College, AgassH re-
marks:-"If my listeners include any who believe
In the Creation as written in the book OF Moses he
had better not listen 10 me-" The perpetrator OF
such language In the days Of the puritan fathers
would nave been a subject for the axe.
Hugh Miller, the great geoogist, thoroughly I'M
bued with the religious preJudices inculcated by
attachment to these early Impressions became
tired OF lie because the rock at which he hewed
told different tale, and one mat MS reason was
compelled to recognize; az a result he blew his
brains out. Existence In this deploraDle state OF
dubiety was no longer tolerable. These so-called
nfdels have been in all instances the most ardent
admirers or that infinite power whose amazing
creations Ill our hearts with wonder ana delight.
To these men we owe our exceedingly limited
knowledge OF the magnitude and splendor OF the
terrestrial and celestial world: II we could glide
through space at the rate OF one million miles a
second and continue at this rate Tor q million OF
years we would have only commenced our journey
eternity OF chaos, whirling with inhabited globes,
IN comparison with this earth Is but as grain
OF sand on the sea Shore" Such is the lesson OF
Christians again assert that the principal aim
IL
and destroy, without knowing. or being honest
enough to attempt to oner any seeming equiva.
lent for blighted hopes or a shattered faith.
TheOlogles and superstiions are synonymous.
Truth Is fatal TO their development and prolonged
existence. MYSTERIOUS absuroities and wierd
legends are the Ingredients which are offered to
the credulity OF blind adherents One OF the evi-
dences that Christianity possesses more OF earthly
than spiritual proclivites Is that its owner or ad-
vOcate inherts IL from his progentors the same as
he does house and lot. wonder II the Christian
ever reflects that II his parents had been Monamme
dams Jews he himself would have been to-day
reviler Of Christianity. Being Christian is simply
an accident OF education or birth. SCEPTlC.
Breaking the Ninth Commandments.
To THE EDITOR OF THE HERALD:-
'To keep our hands from picking and stealing,
our tongues from evil speaking, lying and Sian.
dering," are important articles OF the creed re-
lating to neighborly duty and though they may
seem TO be distinct, yet they have in reality the
same charge. For in this generation the world
has assumed the virtues 1t does not possess and
morality becomes in business relations KIND Of
capital 1t is no matter II mans good name be
intriDsicay ''trash,' Tor just long 1t repre-
sents certain virtues 1t Is 'the immediate jewel'
OF his prosperity.
TO steal reputation. then, Is absolutely the
same thing as to steal bank account-nay. 1t is
worse, Tor recent events have shown US that
money cannot be supplied in measure large
enough to be its equivalent. Had the evil things
which deprived Mr.. Tllton Of his good name never
been spoken, would MI. TlitOn have lost his income
from the independent and Union? Would MIR.
Beecher have lost the thousands OF atonement
money? Would but any one can pursue the IN
qury and diversity 1t according to his own lndi-
Vdual experience.
This point being admitted, ought society to give
any larger tolerance to the evil-speaker than TO
the thle? Ought splteful people who find back.
biting cheaper than lawsuit to be lndulged
the space they fiji IN the world be allowed, TO the
nuisance OF sensible persons, to be always set
and wherefore Of their incom prehensipie WORKS
and waysS Individually. every one would answer
'No;" but collectively, the TACT is the destruction
OF character IS bad habit out OF which the world
does not grow The very people who every Sab
bath day renew their allegiance to the Decaogue
skip the ninth clause OF 1t all the week, and there
are thousands who would on no account enter a
theatre or touch billiard cue that absolutely reyel
in that dishonest pastime which David-who knew
how It nurt himseli--sO fOrclDy called shooting
out arrows, even bitter words"
offences VIII come, and men will quarrel, but If
they are incompetent to settle their own affairs
why should they stand barking and snarling at
one another and call on all the world to take sides
IN the struggle In such case they must eventu.
ally come To the utimatum In all public disputes
the power to say the bitterest things or hit the
haroest blows. Is such spectacle conducive to
public morality? DO the elect and elite of faith
and fashion find 1t less dangerous moral atmos.
conrser How much more manly and dignihed the
advice OF the pagan town clerk OF Ephesus-"The
law Is open and there are deputies; let them i'm
plead one anothern Certainly, If offences pass
beyond individual adjudication II Is better TO refer
them 80 the dispassiOnate arbitration OF law rather
than to the irresponsible favoritsm OF public
opinion.
But II the law interposes she ought to do 1t at
once, and as near the time OF offence as possible.
The statute OF limitations applies most emphaU.
cally to scandal. THIS is only bare justice Ifyears
eapse between the offence and the trial for it cir
cunIstances must have changed so much as to
materially alter the case. The moral atmosphere
IN which It was committed is not the same as that
In which 1t viii be tried; the people have changed
the surroundings are different, suspicious Will
have grown, facts decreased. If time were no bar
safe. Who is so innocent that he can say he never
injured hts neighbor And il society were to try
every delinquent we should hardly be able to gNL
jury and not find in the sworn twelve
Guiltier than him they try.
We do not say that time Obliterates a fault but
1t does prevent just estimate OF 1t.
lilapse OF Time is preJudicia to just decision by
law how much more If the judge Is societyf
Besides, IN social offences public opinion is always
an unfair judge; 1t Is partial and its partallty Is
awarded on no liked principle Pluck is as likely
peculiarity that the goddess attribute to Provi-
dence-a penchant Tor fav0ring the heaviest battal.
OF dlvnlty and law determine the difference in
guilt IN the Ten Commandments 1t is hard to dis
cover. Yet, II punishment be taken as the meas
ure OF crime they certainly do not be ieve them
to be OF equal Importance. man may Oaspheme
God and dlshonOr his parents and public opinion
scarcely shadows his name; but II he break the
eighth commandment ne must give years or his
labor and liberty as equivalent. u he break the
seventh, then, perhaps,
The ngling Of the dollar helps
The hurt that honor feels
II ne break the sixth nothing but blood can atone;
yet he may perpetualIy break the nlnth-ior inter-
est, Tor spite, Tor amusement-and 10 unpublished.
But If the crime OF stealing character were con-
sldered las 1t really s) as great as that OF stealing
gold; II Mr. Enmity and Mr. lmpacabe and Mr..
Evil Speaking were made legally well as
morally guilty. then good people, weary OF filthy
conversation and all uncharltabeness would not
need to cry out SO YEARLY Let US have peace.''
B.
An Open Communion Baptist Spea KS.
The following lively letter from Rev. Florence
Mccarthy, of Chicago, Is sufficiently explicit to be
understood without comment. The information
which 1t corrects was derived from our Baptist ex-
changes -
CHICAGO, August s, 1874.
To THE EDITOR OF THE HERALD:-
Your paper OF last sunday contained some errO-
atAfamGnta CONCERNING AmItY RanIISf