Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1878-02-21
nothing but vacancies to pray to.
Man came from the ape and has

Man came from the ape and has
nothing before him tut to furnish
| feast for worms; be is sailing oni q
bonndless sea he knows not whittier,
and his chief duty is to keep on good
terms with his fellow passen gers. and
be rs jolly as he can. And it's for
this cold, dismal, creakiDg scheme,
this creed Of despair, that this new
light proposes to abolish the religion
OF Christendom. 70 state the case
Is to -efute it. No wonder that the
adroit advocate of such aoulless,
goddess scheme carefully abstains
from presenting its bleak outlines to
his audiences, lest it should shock
their c0mmon-sense.
Infidels call themselves the apos-
ties of truth. They come to inaugu-
rate the Age of Reason. Yet their
philosophy is Of the shalIowes.
kind "A kind which Lord Bacon
and Sir Isaac Newton would regard
with contempt. There is something
ludicrous in the hippant way in
which this attorney for atheism un-
dertakes TO scout Faith which has
bowed the graatest intellec.s OF
the world. 1t is laughable to see tho
pert and saucy air with which he
struts across the platform and tosses
about the gravest and greatest Of
themes, sneeriDg at what the best
men have held sacred and found di
vinely comforting, as though he had
looked behind oil wells and found
merely vacancy. Millions have
looked up to heaven and there be-
held a father to whom they address
their alteration and their gratitude ;
to whom they trust their hopes for
the life that now lie, and for that
which is to come. This sleek and
smooth advocate looks up and sees--
nothing. And because he cannot
see the great Being above, he has
the audacity to affirm that no such
being exists. All! Robert, "there is
more in heaven and earth than ever
was dreamt OF 10 your philosophy"
Perhaps when another decade has
prssed over your head, you may
learn that your wisdom is folly, and
that the great problem of life and
death are not to be sneered out of
human thought or belief.
This negative creed may come
with a show of reason. but it is the
utmost folly. Far better is it that
we cling to what we have until we
can take hold with q clearer light
and firmer grasp of the great mys-
teries of existence. In spite of this
plausible defender of atheism, we
cling to the christian religion as an
embodiment of the highest truth,
and the source of the highest hopes
that comfort and bless mankind. At
ter listening with disgust to such
rant and nonsense, we open the
pages of the New Testament, and
feel that we are listening to Di-
vine wisdom. We read It's words of
forgiveness and peace, its charity
for all men, it's pure aud lofty moral
ity, and we cannot but recognize in
IL a system which is not of this
world.
We have given more space TO this
Apostle of lnfidelity than be
deserves from any weight OF argu-
mont that be carries with him. But
we recognize the fact that he is Q
man of popular address, which oap-
tivates those who crowd lecture
rooms, and which gives him q dan
gerous power Of evil. For that rea-
son we think it wise to take the
% easure of the man. We do not
doubt that he will do q great deal Of
mischief before he has run his race,
that he will unsettle many minds,
especially of young men, and scatter
wide the seeds of infidelity. But that
he will shake the foundations of Re-
ligion we have not the smallest fear.
That is imbedded in the deep foun-
dations Of the earth and cannot bs
overthrown. Even Tom Paine
would rebuke his eulogist, for he at
least believed in God, while bis fol-
lower believes In nothing in the
whole universe greater than himself.
We have headed this article "Re-
ligion under Fire." We beg these
blatant inidels to understand that
if religion is "under fire" ii can
stand fire. 1t has stood it for nearly
two thousand years, and can stand
1t for centuries and millenniums to
come.--Net0 York Evangelist.