Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1880-08-09
THE EVENING STAR.
ThGrIotV Need on Christianity and
Enfidelity.

is now heard of the fate of infants not a spail
long The ministry OF our day is a ministry
or peace. Charity and good will. This genera
ton learns TO love and serve rather than 10
dread and distrust our Creator and our Sa-
viour: Whatever grounds existed formerly 20
tempt scofferS and revflerS the religion OF our
TINE disaImS and silenceS unprejudiced criti-
cism.
Colonel Ingerson, whom l do not know. has
the reputation of being gentleman OF educa-
ton. with welfstoTed mind and attractive
personal manners, who speaks fiuenty and elo-
quehtly. A man thus gifted can do much good
out much more evil. according 10 the principles
espoused and the line of conduct marked out for
himself Colonel Ingersoll, il seems, upon his
entrance into active life, chose the left instead
on The right pathway. and becomes reviler Of
instead OF believer in, a religion which has
been making the world wiser better aud hap.
pier fer almost nineteen centuries. Without
questioning Colonel lngerSOll's sincerity or i'm.
tusnlng his motives, / am persuaded that 1
haif the time and labor expended In fortifyin
idmSeH With arguments against religion ha1
ceen devoted 10 an intelligent and impart!a
consideration OF the evidences establishing il
truths: the country would have had instead o
leVler, gifJed follower OF Him whose mis-
sion, iaDoTs ard character. viewed merely from
aWoridly standpoint, inspire admiration, afrec-
ton aid gratitude. Is IL hot, therefore painful
10 see men richly endowed perverting their
gus: mlSusing their talents In presumptuous
revilings and ribald jestings against Creator
ana saviour from whom every earthly bounty
and blessing emanate?
TIE UsRLEssNBSs OF ISFIDFIIrY.
| No act OF the Saviour's life and no word He
| ever uttered has been or can be construed or
tortured into hostility to the welfare and happi-
| ness OF every member or the human family
| Human laws are founded upon the divine law.
| All that concerns our happiness here ana our
hopes or happiness hereafter Is derived from the
scriptures on the other hand, what has infl-
| deity done for US? Who profits by its teach
ingS? After depr1ving its followers OF their be-
lief 10 a future, how does It compensate theme
| What does 1t offer In exchange for life or i'm
| morality? II, for example. Colonel IngerSoII
| should be summoned to the bedside of a dying
| 1lend or relative, what words Of comfort or OF
| hope could he offer? OF what service could he
| be TO that stricken friend? Would he aggravate
| the SufferingS OF one whose last hours
| needed soothing by telling him there was
nothing but the cold, dark grave awaiting
| him? This cruel theory is repealed not only bS
| revelation but by the laws OF nature. Nature
| Is instinct With evidences and combinations OF
| the truths OF revelation. The vegetable and
| floral world Only die to live again. The pro-
| ducts OF the earth live and die annually. Tue
| buried acorn reproduceS the living oak. And
yet 1lfldelity insists that man. the image of his
| Creator. Wonderfully endowed and gifted under
| whose auspices the world has been enlightened
| elevated and adorned, is after brief existence
10 be as though he had never been. Contrast
| the laborS OF Noltalre and Paine with those OF
| John Wesley. Can 1t be said with truth that
| the former two made any one better or happier?
Hundreds of thousands OF the followers OF John
Wesley have lived and died, and other hundreds
| and thousands survive. rejoicing in their con-
| version from a sinful to Christian life. The
memory OF Wesley is everywhere cherished by
| the good and the pure, while Voltaire and Paine
| are only remembered for the evil rather than
| for the good they did.
| RELIGION WORKING OUT ITS MISSION
If ii be urged that the promises OF the Saviour
have not all been realized, that sin still aboundS
| and that the world is as bad as ever, it may be
| answered that religion is working out its mis-
| S1oD; that its benign intiuneceS are constantly
extending, and that light is radiating the dark
| est receSSeS OF heatheniSm and idolatry. IL re.
| quires no argument to demonstrate the fact that
cur race is improved by civilization or that civ
lZation owes It's origin and progress to religion.
To religious Influences we are indebted for all
| the reforms which benefit society. Our Sunday
| schools were Instituted ia obedience to divine
| command In these schools children are taught,
| without money and without price," all That
concerns their present welfare and their future
| happiness. These Intellectual nurseries have
| enriched and fortified, and continue to enrich
and 1ert1liZe every city, village, hamlet and
| Observation-Disclosures the Christian world. IL
| religion had done nothing more than to bless
| our race with the consecrating influences of
| sunday schools, ScOffelS should be shamed into
| silence"
Mr.. Weed then goes on to relate In detail
| what religion has done FOR New York, speaking
| OF the reclamation OF the Five Points" and
other localities which were the homes of thou
! sands OF the yilest OF the vile and are now under
religious or moral training In New York, or
have found homes in the west, and continues
| the general subject as follows:
INFIDELITY AND COMMUNISM
ln1ideiS OF all ages found their strongest argyll
| mehts against revealed religion upon what they
y
On 10 believe anything more 1ncomprehenSibe
| than cur own existence. We might with about
| the Same degree OF reason deny this fact as TO
II fuse 10 believe in future existence. We know
hat we live in this world. Is Ii unreasonable to
| believe that we may live In another world? It
| we are to believe nothing but what we under
| stand we should go through life tncredulouS
and afmleSS. We are ready enough 10 believe
| On information the things that relate to this
| world; but we are slow to believe In prophecy
| and revelation, though both are cOrroborated
| by observation. experience and events. Inf
| deity, claiming superiority In reason
and common sense, asks us to believe that
| and power In the beautiful heavens and upon
| the bounttful earth comes by chance; that
| everything is celebrating and self-eXisting,
| and that law, order and harmony are accidents
Those who accept this theory would find its APP
| plfcation to their business affairs anything but
| advantageous. Infidelity and communism are
kindred IN character, and aim by different
methods, to undermine the sanctions and Sc.
| curities upon which the worlds welfare and
| happiness rest. Infidelity strikes at religion,
communism at property. One seeks TO weaken
| our faith and the other demands for the Idle
| and worthless an equal share In the savings OF
| the industrious and frugal. Agrar1anism COM
munism OF milder type came TO us some forty
years ago from England, with Fanny Wright
and Robert Dale Owen as its apostles. This
bad element has been reinforced by communism
from France and Germany. All three are work.
fDg out their destructive mission IN a city
where, unhappily, they find cooperation and
sympathy.
DANGEROUS. BECAUSE INTELLIGENT.
To these birds OF Iii omen comes in1idelity
equally aggressive, with Robert G. IngerSoll as
its teacher. II it be said that, unlike the CON-
munistic leaders. Mr.. IDgersol is gentleman
and scholar" the danger Is thereby intensi-
fed. The wonder is why man OF good char
acter and associations should take pleasure in
teachings whose practical effect is to make his
hearers and readers worse instead of better
citizens. The strongest argument urged against
Christianity, from the days Of Voltaire and
Paine, is that bad men make profession OF ft
that hypocrites are found in ali our churches
This is true: But is IL not equally true that
everything intrinSically valuable gets de-
based? Frauds are praeticed In business
The richest fabrics have their limitations
Gold and silver coins are debaSed or
counterreited The evils, however. resulting
from impositions of this nature are not serl.
GUS. The intelligence OF our people and the
penalties to which offenders are subjected afford
adequate protection, and for one hypocrite who
makes false profession there are at least nine
conscientious, devoted Christians. Another
argument against religion Is that our Saviour
was an impostor, and that, as corollery, his
teachings exert baneful influence. And yet
both OF the accusations are oisproved by the
experience of 1000 years. II Jesus OF Nazareth
had been an impostOr His name and everything
connected with it would hardly have survived
second generation. There would then have
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