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

Black. We sincerely wish this may be true
facilities for acquiring knowledge on thi
point have been vastly superior to those 0
many learned men, both in and out of tn,
church. 1t is pity that the erudite debate1
has not intimated citation in support O
this claim; a citation taken elsewhere thar
from Divine revelation, for that would bt
begging the question" as the gentleman him
self avows. Many devout scholars are still
laboring under what now seems to be the
erroneous conviction, that it required three
centuries to build the apotheoss of Jesus
Christ; that for nearly one hundred years
after His death He was reyered as a great
moral teacher for the next decade He was
sainted and that it was not until near the
beginning of the reign of Diocletian that
Jesus of Nazareth was deilied. Nor did the
Christian religion, as Judge Black at1irms it
did, at an early DAY after the death of Christ
supplant all other religions and, indeed, it
is vaunting something beyond the truth to
assert that it has ever done so. At this day
although the Christian protesting people
form a larger percentage of the earth's popu-
lation than at any previous time in his
tory, they still form relatively very small
and isolated faction an insignificant handful
compared to the adherents of Buddha. Chris
tianity developed with a slowness that was
the best assurance Of its intrinsic worth and
strength, and it is still growing, and its fruits
are daily refining and improving, as they
ever have been.
IF Christianity was human fabrication,
its authors must either have been good Or
bad men. 1t is a moral impossibility-
mere contradiction Of terms-to say that
good, honest and true men practiced gross
and wilful deception upon the world. 1t is
equally incredible that any combination of
knaves however base, would fraudulently
concoct religious system to denounce them
sel0es, and invoke the curse ofGod upon their
own conduct" Thus argues Judge Black.
Could anything be More Illogical Or more
calculated to mislead the careless who might
ment, or to induce men to withdraw adj
hesion from religion which can be support
ed only by such manifest irrationality as
this? The promulgators of any religious
system or indeed Of any other scheme Of
might be the most Conscientious
Of men, and yet be as absolutely wrong as
honest. We are not aware that Mr. Inger-
soil or any other infidel ever inferred Or
thought that those pious pioneers who first
the teachings Of the Gospel
were otherwise than sincere iii their con-
or that it was not until long after
Christianity was an established fact that
its beautiful teachings were perverted by
priestcraft to q corrupt and oppressive end.
But the latter part of the citation from the
learned gentlemen's paper must impress the
1ullest with the weakness of the refutation.
He deems it impossible that Christianity
should have been promulgated by bad men
because they would thereby be creating an
engine to damn themselves. Does he mean
that by toisting upon the credulous public
the tenents of the Christian faith which
provide for the destruction of all bad men,
they themselves would fear destruction in
accordance with those provisions? Does
Judge Black suppose that these bad men
would tremble at the ghost they had them
selves created Impossible; we cannot be-
lieve that he fully understands what he has
written.
Mr.. Black afiirms as a contradiction to Mr..
Ingersoll's statement, that Christianity does
not offer salvation for belief atone. Evident
than some of us, and is arguing this broad
question selfishly, and not for the body of
the Christian world. We have not Fleet
woods Life Of Christ by us at this moment,
but we are we'll assured that magnificent book
which has matnred and moulded the thoughts
md souls of large multitude Of Christians,
affirms that it is belief alone that
ensures our salvation. Accept Christ, simply
him and you are saved, is not
)nly urged with the utmost force, but is re-
terated over and over again in that most ex-
cellent book.
Nor has he met more truthfully the asser-
ion of his opponent: that the mere failure
% believe is punished in hell. Although in
hese times it is allowed that children too
-oung to understand need not believe, such
vas not the position held by the early church
when it was deemed necessary to administer
,abtism to the infant IA reatre so mere. The /
Gentleman is liberal however in his admission /
hat adults who from weakness of intellect
re incapable of weighing the evidence, are
Excepted from the dread penalty. If this
we're true would there then not be very few
nen and women who would have occasion
O fear; for the evidence is not of charac-
er that appeals at once to the dull under
tanding See how much the learned dis
,utant himself demands of us, ere he will
llow that we may justly weigh the evidence.
lie says: "The plan of salvation, or any
Ian for the rescue of sinners from the legal
peration of Divine justice, could have been
ramed only in the councils of the Omniscient. i
Necessarily its heights and depths are not
asily fathomed by finite intelligence" Sure