Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1881-08-11

himself and our cause open to the ridicul
and sarcasm of our common enemy. III
says: Here let me call your attention t
the difficulty of reasoning about justice witt
man who has no acknowledged standard Q
right and wrong. What is justice? Tha
which accords with law, and the Suprem
Law is the will of God. But I am dealin,
with an adversary who does not admit tha
there is God. Then for him there is N,
standard at all one thing is as right as an
other, and all things are equally wrong" I
is to be deplored that the talented champion
Of our cause, while protesting to confine him
self "strictly to the record" that is to say
meeting the accusations advanced by Mr.
lngersoll in their discussion only and no
those made elsewhere by him and others,
he should still wander away and drag in
a conclusion which may or may not be cor
rect, but for which, surely, he has no author
ity. We have read very carefully Mr. In
gersolls paper and confess we have been un
able to discover the least intmation there,
from that he does or does not believe ii
God. True, he is unequivocal in his denun-
citation OF Christian mythology. True, too
he mathematics the alleged commands Of
Jehovah us being in MANY instances say
agely cruel, but it does not appear that
he believes those commands did in fact en-
anate from God. On the contrary, he dis
tinctly avows that he believes such mon
strous teaching could not emanate from the
source of all good 1t is Christianity he as
sails, and so far as the record shows, we are
left in total oblivion as to whether Mr.. In
gersoll believes in God or not For our part,
we are not sufficiently informed as to Mr..
Ingersolls speculations to be sure whether
he is an Atheist or Deist, Materialist or Util-
has explained himself in the paper to which
Mr.. Black is replying, he has given us no
reason to infer that he is not most oevout
believer in Supreme Being
Nor does it follow that because one does
not believe in God, he may not be possessed
of the most refined and exact standard of
justice. By the way we cannot help ex-
pressing our disapproval of Mr.. Blacks def
milton of justice: That which accords with
law and do much prefer the time-honored
of the term as handed down to Us
roluntas est, sum cuique hibucndi." Justice
is the wish to render to every man his due
1t is obvious that until we know what the
will of God really is, we cannot possibly base
any standard upon it. As good Christians
we are not willing to accept the assurance of
the Neddas, nor the Koran, nor the Zend
Avesta as authoritive Oh so vital topic. and
it is fair to presume that Mr. Ingersoll would
be equally reluctant to admit that the Bible
is convincing as to what is the will ri the
Omnipotent. Again even Mr.. Black will
admit that human laws are necessarily i'm
perfect, and hence cannot be absolutely just
for it is certainly true that the aim ofjurists
is to mould the law SO that it may more near
ly approach to absolute justice; it is apparent
then that although it is to be wished that
justice and the law are synonomous, they are
in fact not so, nor will they be till men have
become so advanced towards perfection that
they know precisely what justice really is,
and able to conform the law thereto. Then
the millennium will have come Upon these
two assumptions first that his antagonist
does not believe in God, second, that there-
fore he has no standard ofiustice, and deenls
zone thing as right as another and all things
equally wrong" our feeble champion proceeds
to impeach, in a most uEparliamentarystyle
the courteously advanced argumentstof his
adversary.
Judge Black stands firmly upon the ground
that what ought to be deemed cruel, MOTTO say
in our enlightened era, such as uni
versal massacre and determination slavery and
and murder as punishment OF
the crime of worshiping a foreign god, might
and undoubtedly was highly proper and in
deed expedient iii barberous age: that tthese
anormities, which we ali agree in heartily
now, were then essential to the
preservation Of Gods chosen people and to
save them from annihilation and that Je-
hovah was justified in commanding these
things to be done which would serve toavert
30 dire calamity. Good Christians as we
ire we cannot believe that the All-powerful
Iunificent Being could possibly resort to
criminal or even brutal means to attain an
md which must surely have been attainable
~ Him by any other course he might in his
strength have seen fit to pursue. That God
,y his own acts and example should sanction
he revolving dictum which has since, in
many centuries, excused the sanguinary
atrocities of fanatics, that ecea the .toalest
means to good end are jastifable, is preposter-
,us and insulting to the very essence of God.
Our champion is equally unfortunate in
advancing the strength OF our side of the
controversy, as in repelling the charges made
lgainst us "Men who were in the noon of
ife when Jesus was put to death as male
actor, lived to see him worshipped as God
" organized bodies of believers i'm every
,royince of the Roman Empire" says Judge
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