The New York herald., 1879-03-09
p. Z. B.

A sCEPrIC WHO WANTS REASONABLE RELIGION.
To THE EDITOR THE HERALD
have watched with considerable pleasure your
correspondents discussion upon the failure Of mod
ern Christianity, and. what seems to me. their
futile attempts to meet the question The
most of them have sunk deep in the
mud of Biblical history that their reasoning
amounts to nothing. The fact is becoming
alarmingy prevalent for modern Christianity that
the vague theories and fancful stories Of the Bible
have longer any weight with the thinking CON-
munty. They are stories of the imagination. based
upon ideal hopes and fears. one-half of which
contain the shallowest kind of nonsense. and
are used only by hypocrtes and credited
by fools. Cervantes. Boccaccio and the
widest romancers of ancient and modern times
entitled to much credit to the truthfulncss
of their wonderful flights of fancy these Bible
story tellers. The close student OF history doubts
even what claimed be the historical records of
the Bible much less the sacredness Of the songs Of
Solomon the piety of King David. or the marvel
lous tale Of the children OF Israel crossing the Red
Sea dry shod.
1t may astound many who have not looked at this
matter from a historical standpoint who have &C
cepted without thought. reason or research the
statements of the Bible and shuddered when
their good sense would at times get the better OF
them and choke with the dose. when assert with
out fear of contradiction by any reliable
data that the Christianity which has for over
eighteen hundred years fastened itself firmly
upon mankind was about the year 400 appropria-
ted mdsse by the priests OF the Church from the
doctrines sermons and teachings of Apollonius. of
Tyana. man who born about the time of the
change OF the Roman calendar. and eminenty
celebrated for his virtue. He contem-
porary with Jesus Christ. having his home
vt Elhesus He follower Of Pythag
oras. and well known throughout the Roman
Empire a of great learning and erudition;
several Roman Emperors honored him. and many
temples erected to commemorate his memory.
Plutarch or the most learned and celebrated
men of his age whose lives Of the great Romans Is
the delight of every one who has read them, does
not mention Jesus Christ except in one in
stance. and then very ordinary person. and
worthy OF special notice. He fourished in the
year 50, or few years after the time people claim
Jesus Christ born. He probably well
read in Jewish and Roman history any man OF his
time. Thousands OF volumes have been written
upon what IL termed IN the New Testament 1.-THE
scheme OF salvation" which Is modern Christianity
The authors. from the appearance or these books
never doubted the fallibility OF the scheme.
free discussion is what the people need. Let ns
have 1t. modern Christianity is all right 1t can't
be hurt by free expression of the views of the great
body OF intelligent people who opposed to it II
am wrong want to be convinced. As Lord Thur
low said to disscnter of the Church OF Engsnd.
make your damned religion popular and viii sup
port it," say to modern Christians. base your
ligion upon moral principles interject little
aud truth into it. ana the intelligent portion
OF mankind will accept it. A CHANGE.