The New Orleans Democrat. (New Orleans, La.) 1875-1876, 1876-01-16

6tSIu I'LL tllkB iii ukS HIuG0t 0AQ YkvlQ
speech, allowed o little raillery 70 ap-
pear at the corners Of his lips. Huf I
give you dim idea OF the spirit 81 n
theory Of ascension.
When he goes through the list Of tho
works he has yet to write, the stronno0t
are appalled, ct this Titanic undertakes.
And these works, like the abled MInGr-
va, seem all ready to leap in full pnno-
ply from the braiipof Jupiter Hugo, H
speaks Of them to his friends as II they
were already In existence. By way Of
ode, or legend, or a song, which are
marvels in thought, In dexterity and Ia
style. j do not know what he Is keep
ing for the next world, but know that
he will enrich this one with many more
masterpieces.
At this dinner, where he was so daz.
zling, Victor Hugo did not perhaps con.
vince the atheists, bat he charmed
them, and proved their notlingness q
the face of his genius. Returning home
toward midnight, at the hour when the
myriads Of stars were singing their
poems OF harmony and light, asked
myself anew, although was one OF tho
four believers ut the dinner, the eternal
question OF immortality. s
There Is an etching OF Goya which
has more than once frightened me In
my hours Of doubt. It Is that where
he represents dead man raising the
stone OF his grave to write on the wall
OF the cemetery, Ndddi Nadal Nothing
word more terrible than that Of Dante
over the door Of He'll. Nothing Ia
DEATH Annihilation under the grave
stone, door which closes and opens no
more, soul extinguished In the dark
ness Of the tomb. Is not this word OF
Goya's dead men tho last conclusion OF
atheism? Nothing beyond the grave.
neither soul, nor light, nor God.
But have not all those whom you
have lost also raised the cover OF their
graves to say to. you that they have
found God, and that they are. waiting
God. said d Christian philosopher. But
the atheist concludes that the soul does
not exist, because there Is no God. Do
you know what atheists are? They are
| free thinkers, all the more free because
they never think ut all. TO have = lib
eraf profession, they profess atheism.
Some Of them have acquired the art Of
free thinking, as others learn dancing
and never find fiddles, or learn the art
of loving and never find q sweetheart.O or
Learn tns 1t Of Ssy ae fSa
In sponging away everything and put
ting nothing In It's place, though Dies.
cartes did retain God and the Gospel.
Descartes said, think, therefore + am.
These gentlemen would have trouble In
proving their existence by this process.
Formerly, atheism was the privilege Of
few philosophers who had misread
Epicurus; but OF late 1t has taken pon-
session Of those who do not read at ell.
They are told that God Is creation d
men to brighten children. Aftef 50
| m, n ., =, rovn1t1finna unnfuot IN kfS,dvn ~
this world, It seemed necessary to make
an end Of The kingdom OF heaven. ~
Unfortunately, all these atheists who
have SO summarily dethroned and buried
the Deity, still believe In Him. Deny Il
as they may, they feel His presence be-
fore them. And the more they assail
Him with their idle wrath, the more
they fear Him. do not know an atheist
but believes In God. Therein lies their
punishment, and the possibility Of their
dowed with his intelligence. He has
said, Let there be light" and light
was. But never since the world waA
made have there been seen men SO de-
termined to deny the light as now. For
merly the TitaDS revOlted against the
gods; now 1t Is the dwarfs. It would be
farcical, III 1t were not SO bad.
There Is now in France q new stratum
OF free thinkers. In the time OF Pierre
Leroux the grandsons OF the Encycl0-
pedists and the great grandsons 81 the
themselves frecthinkers with q little
water from the Jordan and little moro
from Charenton. They discussed the
dark points OF Catholicism, but still
preserved u certain respect for the God
head. But today It Is fashionable tor
the freethinkers to say that the Deity
"is no more than the Jupiter Of the
opera His thunders are no more than
the rafting OF sheet-iron, and His heav-
ems are no more than q decoction a
indigo and Prussian blue" voltsire
Voltarians would say, "If God existed.
he ought to be civilly Inferred"
Avskeptic said TO. me yesterday II
don't care about the kingdom Of heaven.
1 will do for the poor In spirit. But
Merimee, Sainte Beuve and Qavarni
would have sold their share in 1t for d
mess OF pottagc." IL you would take
their word for 1t, all three Of these men
were atheists. But atheism was their
counterfeit money. They never used Il
Jacques that he would have done bet
ter to die without his confessions. The
same reproach cannot be made to Meri-
NEE, who went to his grave, saying
there was no hereafter The memoirs
Of Sainte Beuve have been published.
The life Of Gavarni is In press. VIII the
last thoughts OF Merimee be published
also?
There has been good deal said about
the Atheists Dinner. know all these
atheists, or rather knew them all, fol
more than one has by this time found
out the eternal truth. In the first place
that famous dinner was never called
the Atheists Dinner. It was simply
''the Friday dinner" and the majority
OF the participants were by no means
atheists It is true there were some
among them who used the weapons Of
philosophy and science to decree Imam.
ity, as II Science and Philosophy were
not the two most visible supports Of the
idea Of God. But these were supersti.
tious fellows who threw salt over their
heads when 1t got spilled; who refused
to sft;thirteen at table; who only con-
senfth to dine on Friday because 0nt
J must'din every day, but who would moi
have stepped on board ship on Friday
One OF the most terrible OF them wore Z
medal OF the Virgin around his neck
Another had Holy Family over hi
bed. ,fhe President had himself burie(
as Doctor OF Atheism, but his enemy
Balzac, on that day, would have cried
once more ,Sni1lte Bevuel
7 woo xuoIl ocouaiptad 18th all thro.