Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1880-12-01
A PROFESSIONAL TRICK.
U.ols DANIEL Exposes she Isaael
Csuversiss Business Of she Re-
ltgisus Revivalists.

/ U00I0 =.
Ceuversiss Business Of she Re-
Iisisus Rsvivalists.
One Of the necessary adjuncts to .
w~sll-resulstsd revival seems to be = few
ipfdels to write letters to the managers
OF the institution. in which they re-
nounos their inadelity, and request
prayers for their speedy conversion to
the religion Of their dear departed moth.
srs. A revival meeting without the part
Of an inhdsl cast In II would be like .
play with one Of the leading characters
omitted.
About three years since soms revival
lists were conducting . religious excite
msnt In Boston (ths arm Of Moody and
sanksy. IL the memory Of the writer il
not at FAULTY. and II wa their boast that
they had converted qaits . number OF
inAdsls (nity psrbsps) to their religion.
After this boast had been publishsd In
the newspaper. 9 prominent inadsl Of
that city offered to donate to . charitable
institution q handsome sum Of money
for each inadel that they could prove to
have been converted TO their religion
during the period OF excitement. But
not enc convert from inHdslity was pro-,
duced.
Il APPEARS that Moody and Ssnksy are
now playing. on . small scale, the inndel
conversion business In Ban Francisco.
At o Moody and Ssnksy meeting held In
that city on Sunday last. one Of the At
ranged parts was the reading Of what
purported to Be letter received
from an inAdsl In Shasta county.
California. In which appeared the old
stersotyped statements Of 1.-THE avs.
kensd ipAdsl," and the s~tereotyped
request for prayers. The contents Of
the letter, however. proved plainly that
It was manufactured for the occasion, or
that the author was guilty Of lying. To
illustrate; q portion Of the letter read ~
follows: "For i've years I have been an
inadel. I renowned my belief 10 the
Saviour ct the age OF twenty. believing
1t was utterly impossible to live .
Christian life where gold was 10
worshiped more than God" 1t seems
almost like doubling the good sense OF
the readers OF this to point out the folly
and inconsistency Of the sentence quo
ted, aud which proves enc OF the two
propositions before named to be true.
:. He renowned his belief In the Saw.
Jour-" not because Of the im~probabilitiss
that are attached to tbs New Testament
accouut OF the birth, life and death OF
Christ ; not because he found by study
and research that there was not . cir.
cumstsnce connected with the slleged
important events OF Christ's birth, life
and death, a. related 10 the four gqs.
pels, that was not borrowed rem pre-
existing religions In which may be found
accounts OF the crueiHxion Of sixteen
mediators between God and man /; but
because he believed 1t VA utterly i'm.
possible to live o Christian life In .
country where gold 10 worsbipsd more
than God" What nonsense None
but q fool would sbjurs his religion for
such q reason. No inadsl wrote that
sentence.
The young man continues: "Since
that time / have been looking for . re-
liRion that I might rest upon; but as yet
I have found none" The idea OF an
in6del looking for q religion to rest
uponl The passage 10 too absurd to
dwell upon, but 10 another proof that its
author knows nothing about infdslity,
or that the letter was O bogus one.
The young man further says: "Hsv-
inc arrived at the conclusion that inf
deity cannot avail me anything. I ask
that you pray that my condition may be
changed" etc. From this sentence 1t
would seem that the young nan was an
iuHdsl for base purposss-to profit by 1t.
Bot the quotation proves that no never
was au inHdel. Men are not infdsls be-
cause infdeli,y "avails them anything"
but because they cannot help being In.
idels. Belief and unbelisf are moi
matters Of choice. No man can truth
fully say I will believe this or that. A
man OF good sense believes because OF
such evidence In support OF the thing
that he cannot help believing.
We have become accustomed to the
tricks OF the circus. such a. the painted
jacksss to represent the zebra, and the
pretended drunken spectator In the audi
snce who aftsrwsrd proves to DO = daring
bareback rider and one Of the company;
we arc aware OF the harmless dscsits
practicsd by actors upon the stage. and
va smile MI tbe innocent articles prac.