The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-04-09
THE WHEELING TEIIIGENoER WEDNESDAY MORNING APRIL

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ridieule and laughter. are Just as much o
part Of the progruss OF true Christianity
as the solemn manner Of q Luther or .
wesley are q part Of q progress. The
yoltaire laugh did not injure the Roman
Church, but 1t greatly improved II by
making Its Popes and priests see and
eliminate many absurd or puerile accidents.
Rldicule Is one oil the most powerful enc.
miles Of q bad cause. II cannot hurt q
truth, for truth pure and simple cannot
be made ridiculous, A wit can ridicule
the thunder and lightning, and storm oil
the theatre, made up BY sheet iron and
red lights, but be cannot raise laugh
over the real thunderstorm In the
sultry June, Where weakness Is there
the laugh comes In. Two centuries ago
the scientists, In accounting for the fact
that q fluid will rise In an exhausted tube,
said II does 30 because Nature abhors
vacuum. But Pascal, taking tube TO the
top OF mountain, found that the mercury
did not rise so high there 10 the vacancy
as Il rose down ID the valley, and he kill.
ed dead forever the theory that Nature alb.
hors q vacuum by asking the savants
whether she hated vacuum more a. the
bottom Of Q mountain than she did
at the top2 The old theory never breath.
cd once after that laugh had passed around.
Thus have there been times when the pub.
lie tenets OF religion have needed that
publication that comes through irony.
Pascal g kind wit enveloped the Roman
Church for q generation, and did for II
what had not been done by the heavy log.
ic oil either Roman or Protestant inteileetS. |
ltistrue that the weak period OF relig.
lon, as 1t was In the times VI VOltaire, and |
the settlement OF America, has passed by,
but there yet remains much In the pfe.
vailing Christian faith to be assailed by
the epigrams, and humor, and paraphtases
Of the enemy. You have all observed, no
doubt, that the Evangelical pulpit and
writers and lecturers have for Years been
which III. InSersOiI calls ais "f teY Mi ss
OF Moses" They have feared to speak
out. Dr.. Ryder comes out just now with
his theory OF the Old Testament and that
theory indeed overLhrows all the premises
and conclusions Of Mr.. Ingersoll; but that
theory should have been promulgated by
the orthodox fifty years ago and thus have
cut of the demand for the wit Of the inf.
dels. But the Evangelical party did not
fully know its own mind, and was partly
afraid Of itself and OF results. Twas myself
one OF this hesitatinga and neglectiul party.
We would not spiritualize the Old Tesla.
ment. We would not be poets. We
would have literal "rib," and literal
apple" ard a literal lark, or we would
not have anything.
1t was this long hesitation, this timidit,
about the effects, that left the modern
theology so open TO invasion BY the holder
mind OF unbelief. We were like the
Catholic Church before Pascal, i the
laughter had to come; and come It has,
and instead Of being injured by the zap.
plause," in hundred towns and cities
Christianity and even the Old Testament
will issue from this decade betterthan ever,
because Invested Of 80 much that was i'm.
pedtng It's usefulness in the modern
world. Christianity ought not to have
been burdened any longer with the task OF
making history out Of poetry. 1t has
great work to perform, and It has most
perfect supply Of divine and sweet truths
for the accomplishment Of its sublime end a
and the clergy ought not ask It to exhaust
It's holy strength In an argument to show Y
the world how the Sun once stood still,
and how serpent conversed with Eve In e
a beautiful garden.
Indeed, we should all feel rather asham. q
ed that for so many years, we guardians ,
Of the Lords vineyard, SO left the fences
down aud the gates all open that all the
passing lnndei creatures, hungry and wild,
could walk In at will, and trample down
at a great rate, mingled vine and thorn,
weed and rose. 1ntidel wit and argument
and irony, coming from any source, will s
not be in vain, Il they shall compel all
Christians to find the powerful side Of
their faith, and shall wake up all us cler.
gymen to more thought, and more reason,
and more courage. Heroic men Should
love somewhat an intellectual storm, for =
not only does 1t waken the mind that
moves forth amid such an elemental STRIFE,
but 1t leaves the subsequent air so pure,
and so sweet, and the sky SO blue, that in :
this enchanted scene there is more than
for the long days OF thunder
and tornado and cloud,