The Cairo bulletin. [volume] (Cairo, Ill.) 1872-1878, 1874-10-04

of her foot, and returned unto MIN in'o
the ark and ctr. The ark of Noah was
compared 10 Jesus, and the dove to man.
After lengthy, though interesting do
scrip,ion Of tho scenes as SYNONYMOUS
with the christian plan of redemption,
was said that: Man had invented hume
rous religions, among which were DoiSm,
Atheism, Spiri,ualism, Darwinism and
total Inndelity, neither Of which were
founded upon fixed principles, either sc''
entifc or revealed.
This Is broad assertion, and II is my
opinion that, in the presence OF Denton,
Underwood, or Huxley, it would either
not have been mado at all, or at least IN
modified form. Merely to deny thai
either or all the above named
religions are founded upon scientific prin-
ciplcs, amounts TO nothing, aud Mr.. Dem
toms affirmative balances Mr.. Thayers
negative
No one afIirms that these religions are
founded upon revealed principles, and
hence denial Of this point, on the part
of Mr.. Thayer, is Unnecessary
| But we are told that christianity Is
founded upon revealed principles, or
revelation, What is revelation When
applied to religion, il means something
| communicated Immediately from God to
man.
Admitting that something was revealed
t o any person, |: was revelation 10 that
person only, and when he tells II to a third
person II ceases to DO revelation TO all
those persons. Revelation is necessarily
limited to the frat communications aud 10
only hearsay when one person tells it TO
another. Revelation cannot be applied to
anything of which man is the actor, ard
hence all the historical and anecdote parts
of tho bible are not revelation, and there-
fore not the Word of God.
But what romans OF tho bible when
you take out all tho anecdotes and tradi-
tons2 Little else but tho book of revea-
ton, and that Is such o mixture Of nom
sensical connundrums that ii requires an.
other revelation to explain 1t, but have
been told that tho very fact Of there being
unex plainable parts in the bible proves it
to be the Word Of God.
If it is unnecessary that man should
understand some parts of tho bible, 1t waf
equally unnecessary to say and record
them. On the other hand, il seems
strange indeed that God should order
such things written in manner that man
cannot understand them and then curse
him for not acting according to such writ
ings Taxi ing the historical and anecdo.
tai parts, and that book of riddles, Reve
la.ion, out Of the bible, low much revealed
principle remains TO build Christianity
} upon
1t was furthermo asserted that ther'
was no religion which gave satisfaction q
the death-bed but Christianity, and to sub
stantiste this statement, the dying words
of Voltaire and others were quoted.
hope will offend no ono when / say
that such q statement could only have
been mado in thoughtlcss manner by
one who, thinking be was speaking to
nock OF Christs sheep (heads) expected
them to swallow it without chewing.
No one will affirm that Buddhism give
to ito believers no satisfaction at the deatl
bed, or that the believers in Mohamidan
ism or Paganism utter departing exclana
tions whom tho dying hour draws near, l.
desth-bed conversions provo anything and
figures are rcsortod to, to ascertain which
can show the greatest mum Der of such con.
vsrsions, the odds will be found to b,
greatly on tho side of the heathens, for
their religion numbers three times al
many followers as the Christian.
But the conversion Of q person who's,
body and mind 10 Frustrated by sickness
who can neither reason for himself, mol
understand what others try to explain to
him, proves nothing, for in perfect health
man will say one thing; when stretched
upon sick bed. another.
| do not deny this statement Of Mr..
Thayer upon my own authority. The
Rev. Theodore Clapp, Of New Orleans
says: "In all my experiences, / never
saw an unbeliever die in fear. ] have
seen them expire, of course, without any
hopes or expectations, but never in sgi,a-
tion from dread or misgivings as to what
might befall them hereafter. 1t is proba-
BILE that have seen a greater amount Of
those called irreligious persons breathe
Their last than any other clergyman in
the United States. When l frat
entered the clerical profession, l was
struck with the utter ineiilcency Of most
forms OF christianity to afford consolation
in dying hour" The question is; Who
is best authority, Mr.. Clspp or Mr..
Thsyer?
The third statement was: That JUS. as
the dove returned to the ark, and was re-
celved, 40 multtudes, who had forsaken
christianity, have returned and died in
peace,
This gives US to understand that wo can
as numerous ministers have done, return
unto Jesus and be accepted after having
iorssken and even denounced him. A
man can have sunk into licen,iousness
crimo and all tho low, degrading vices
that blot the happiness of mankind-he
ha live