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

'o VI iAlIIIOllS Vi men VINO know
nothing OF the Christian religion and neve
heard of the sacrifcial life and death of on
dear Savior, and it certainly does not follow
logically that, as we are permitted the NOR
lntelllgently to compass the wonderful cos
mogony OF the universe, the Christian nv
thology will be in any wise strengthened
although our respect for the All Wise On,
undoubtedly might.
IF God made the world it is a stupendou
miracle, and to admit the one great miracl,
mustruin Mr.. Ingersoll's whole case, inasmucl
as he assumes all miracles impossible" say!
Judge Black. We fear Mr. Ingersoll and hi
disciples might shamelessly question Judge
Blacks definition of miracle, and while
admitting that creation is stupendous mys
terry far beyond the compass of human spec
ulation or conjecture, it in nowse trans
gresSed, so far as we know, any of the natur
al laws, while the immaculate conception
the tranS-substantiatiOn, the resurrection in
the flesh, and the intervention of the HOLY
Ghost unqucstonably do
1T would be 4 mere waste of time and
space to enumerate proofs which show that
the universe was created by preGxisting
and selt-conscious Being, of power and wis
dom to us inconccivabe." Now if Judge
Black has those proofs and withholds them
he is no honest champion Of ours. 1t is pre-
cisely this evidence all thinking men of every
civilized country arc eagerly seeking for That
the plan of the universe could not have been
designed without a designer or made without
g maker will, we hope, be conceded; but even
we faithful though benighted Christians
would wish to have at hand some startling
and convincing proof that the plan of the
universe was designed and made by self
conscious designer and maker who had pre-
conceived knowledge of precisely how the
machine was going to work when finished.
Not, to be sure, to tOrtify ourselves in our be-
lief, for we are sufficiently confirmed in that
by our abiding faith but to cast it in the
teeth of those who are profane enough to
question, and so compel them to forever af-
ter hold their peace. The fact that Judge
Black, who so well knows the value of evil
dence, prefers to withhold these proofs, incites
in us the fear they will not bear the scrutiny
Of investigation; which, if true, would, it
seems to u.s. have made it advisable for the
eminent gentleman to refrain from speaking
of them at all, or to have frankly admitted,
if such is the case, that this, too, is a topic
far beyond the narrow conceptions of the
human mind, and of which we can and do
know absolutely nothing.
The answer that the second table of the
Decalogue, that is, the last five of the
Ten Commandments, is a perfect compen-
dunn of those duties which every man owes
to himself, his family and his neighbor, and
is entitled to and has received the profound
est respect of all honest and sensible people,
is, to our mind, Il most inadequate answer to
the very serious charge made by Mr.. 1nger-
soil, that "the moral code' which Jehovah
gave to his people lis abhorrent to every
good and tender man." In the first place,
we have been assured by many erudite schol-
ars that however much we may desire to
claim the credit of those beautiful precepts
as being the fruit of our dear religion, and
would wish to have them substantiated as
the revealed word of the Christians God,
we are nevertheless compelled to admit that
those same precepts were formulated and
by and amongst the heathen
nations of antiquity, and that the sole claim
we may make to them is that we have inter
polated them in our religious system, and
garnished and beautitied them by the appro-
priation. Then they form a very small part
indeed of the revealed word of God, and
when Mr. Ingersoll condemns those portions
of the moral code which directed as good
and proper infamies among which are slav-
ery, polygamy, the determination OF hostile
nations by fire and sword, and the butchery
Of men, women and helpless male babes it
can hardly be said to refute the charge i'll
replying that fre Of the commandments are
erceHeaf. Nor is it sound to infer that that
norton of the word of God which in these
civilized times we applaud as worthy shall
be deemed the moral code, and the rest which
al civilized men now heartily condemn be
ong simply to the civil polity, the reli-
rious forms and the police regulations, laid
Iown for the special and exclusive obser-
vance of the Jewish people How may we
none TO convince our infdel enemies, or those
who are wavering or swaying from our Chris
ian fold. that the last half of the Decalogue
: more essentially the command of the Di-
zine Jehovah than the direction given to Nc
,es to commit wholesale larceny under the
mean pretense of borrowing and to include
among the victims even the guest who so
ourneth in your house," and so infract what
IRE now our most precious laws Of rectitude
md hospitality. 1t would be inconceivable
hat such n command could come from God,
,ad we not before us uncontrovertibie proof, |
he inspired word of God itself, to assure us.
And vet this is a mild and harmless direc-
ion compared with some of the sanguinary