Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-07-19
ESTABLISHED 1850.

| AS TO slavery, Mr.. Ingersoll's objection
that Jehovah permitted his chosen people
to hold the captives they took in war or pur-
chased from the heather as servants for
life, It is answered that the infallible God In
so doing proceeded upon good grounds, and
that when Jew took neighboring savage
| for his bondservant, Incorporated him into
| his family, trained him, taught him to work
and gave him a knowledge Of the true Co,
he conferred upon him a most beneicient
| boon. PolYgamy is another of his obiec-
| tions to the Mosaic constitution. Strange
| to say, 1t is not there. 1t is neither COM
manded nor prohibited; It Is only dtscour-
/ aged. II Mr.. IEgersoll were q statesman
instead of mere politician he would see
! good and sufficient reason for the forbear-
ance to legislate directly upon the subject.
| He knows probably that the influence OF the
| Christian Church alone, and without the
| aid OF State enaetments, has extirpated his
bad feature of Asiatic manners wherever its
| doctrines were carried.
will present some of the considerations
which would compel me, were / Judge or
| juror in the cause, (the acceptance of
Christianity to decide 1t just as 1t was de-
cided originally. First. There Is no good
reason to doubt that the statements of
the evangelists, as we have them now, are
genuine. The multiplication of copies was
| q sufficient guarantee against any material
alteration of the text. Mr.. Iugersoll speaks
of interpretations made by the fathers of the
| Church. All he knows and all he has
ever heard on that subj ect is that some of
the innumerable transcripts contained er-
| rors which were discovered and corrected.
| That simply proves the present integrity of
| the documents. Second. Icall these state
ments dispositions, because they are enti led
| to that kind OF credence which we give to
! declarations made under oath-tu. a much
higher degree, for they are more than sworn
| to. They were made In the immediate
prospect of death. Perhaps this would not
affect the conscience of an atheist~neither
| would an oatb-but these people mauifestly
believe In judgment after death, before a
God Of truth. whose dispieasure they feared
above all things. Third. The Witnesses
could not have been mistaken. The nature
| of the facts precluded the possibility OF any
delusion about them. For every averment
they had "the sensible and true avouch of
their own eyes" aud ears. Besides, they
were plain thinking, sober, unimaginative
ways, under all circumstances. and
especially In the presence of eter-
nifty, recognized the difference be-
tween mountains and clouds. 1t is
inconceivable how any fact could be proved
by evidence more conclusive than the state
ment of such persons, publicly given and
steadfastly persisted in through every kind
of neutrality-suspicious. and torture
to the last agonies of a lingering death.
Fourth. Apart from these terrible tests, the
more ordinary claims to credibility are not
wanting. They were men of unimpeacha-
BILE character. The most viruent enemies
of the cause they spoke and died for have
never suggested a reason for doubling their
personal honesty. But there is affirmative
proof that they ard their fellow disciples
were held by those who knew them in the
highest estimation for truthfulness. WheT-
ever they made their report, 1t was not only
believed, bat believed with faith so i'm
plicit that thousands were ready at once 10
seal It with their blood. Fifth. The tone
and temper of their narrative impress us
with a sentiment of profound respect.
It does not appear that the statements of
the evangelists were ever denied by any
person who pretended to know the facts.
What we call the fundamental truths of
Christianity consist of great public events
which are sufficiently established by history
without special proof.
From the facts established by this evi-
dence It follows irresistiblV that the Gospel
has come to US from God. That silences all
reasoning about the wisdom and j 'stice of
it's doctrines, since 1t is impossible even to
imagine that wrong can be done or COM
manded by that Sovereign Being whose will
alone is the ultimate standard of all Justice.
Judge Black, after making a Dumber of
quotations from Colonel Ingereoll, such as
''the punishment of sinners Ia eternal hell
is excessive" J." "Christians have been guilty
of wantOn and wicked persecution" )" ''fhe
Gospel OF Christ does not satisfy the hunger
OF the heart," "ChristianitY is pernicious In
its moral effect" concludes that Mr.. Inger-
soil, as a jealous apostle of the gospel OF
Dirt" must throw a good deal Of mud, and
adds: "When l answer that all we have of
virtue, justice, intellectual liberty, moral
afavaffON q refuamanf hanaun1apao nd
wisdom came to us from that source which
he reviles as the fountain OF all evil, am
not merely putting one assertion against the
other, for | have the advantage of speaking
what every tolerablY well informed man
knows to be tTue.n
An eloquent peroration on the Christian
religion concludes Judge Blacks article in
'This religion has come down to US through
the ages, attended all the way by righteous.
ness, justice and temperance, mercy, trans
parent truthfulness, exulting hope and
white winged charity. Never was fits infu-
ence for good more plainly perceptible than
now. 1t has not converted, purified and
reformed all men, for It's first principle is
the freedom of the human will, and there
are those who chose to reject 1t. But to the
mass of mankind, directly and indirectly 1t
has brought uncounted benefits aud bless
ings. Abolish it-take away the restraints
which IL imposes on evil passfOn5-silence
the admonitions of It's preaehere-let sill
Christians cease their labors of charity
blot out from history the records of its
heroic benevolence-repeal the laws It has
enacted and the institutions It has
built up-let It's moral principles
be abandoned and all It's miracl4s 8 of light
be tinguished-What would we come tor
l need not answer this question; the exper-
iment has been partially tried. The French
nation formally renounced Christianity, de-
MED the existence of the Supreme Being,
and so satisfied the hunger of the infidel
heart for time. What followed? Univer-
sal depravity, garments rolled In blood, fan
tastic crimes unimsgined before, which
startled the earth with their sublime atroci-
ty. The American people have and ought
to have no special desire to follow that ter
rible example of guilt and misery.
at is impossible to discuss this subject
within the mits of a review. No doubt
the fort to be short has made me obscure.
Ii Mr.. lngersoll thinks himself wronged or
his doctrines misconstrued let him not lay
my fault at the door Of the church, or cast
his censure on the clergy.
"AdSun qni Jeci i's me cOaUertite .feTTSlna."