The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-02-10
Atlanta Constitution.
NEW YORK. January 2t

the colintry-a swelling tide Of atheism
and unbeief that has airendy swept ovel
many of the Ontp0sts Of religion.
am not alarmed by tho fact thai
Henry Ward Beecher sho0k hands with
Ingersol on IL public stand, and has since
swung beyond the limit of orthodoxy
any more than am rea .sured by the tact
that Stephen II. Tying has, by indprsing
the miracles ai Louidre, swung back into
the stronghold of superstition. These
nre mere personal exp-essiois that may
mean much or little. They may he cla.sed
with the complaint of DR.. Tamage that
he found religion dead in circuit oi
5000 miles Of travel last year. which
complaint is balanced by the assertion OF
DIR. Hall that the growth of religious
sentiment was never 50 decisive as nj
| present.
have noted, in the fret place, that the
latter day wril.rs-novelists, scientists
and essnyists-are arraying themselves IN
great force either openly on the side of
skepticism, or are treating religious SEN
timent with readiness or touch and lack
| ofreverence. that is hardly less dangerous.
| need not run over the list Of scientists,
beginning with Tyndall, Huxley and
Stephens, that have raised the banner OF
negation-nnr recount the number of nov.
eiists who follow the lead of sweet George
| Eliot, the sail and gentle woman, who
i allied sentiment tO pusitivism sn subtiy,
| and who died with the promise on her
| lips that her life would "be gathered like
scroll in the tomb, unread f,rever"-
who said that she wanted no future that
broke tie ties of the past" and has gone
to meet the G0d whose existence she de.
MED. We all know that within the past
twenty years there has been ar alarming
increase of atheism among the leading
writer's in all branches. But it is with the
growth Of skepticism among the people
thai l'as astOnished me.
l am not misled by the elOquence Of
lngersoll nor the noisy blaspheniy of his
imitators. I WAS with five journalists
and found that every one of them were
skeptics, two Of them in the most emphat
icsense. sleeping car with eight pas
Bengers, average people, lake ii,
found that three wore confirmed atheists,
three were doubtful about it, and two
were old-fashionrd Christians. A young
friend of mine, a journalist und lecturer,
asked me few months ago what
thought of his preparing lecture that
would do Inger~ull his excuse being
that he found Ingersoll 80 pupular. l
asked Henry Waiterson once what effect
lngersul,'s lectures had on the Louisville
public. mo more than theatrical rep.
resentation," WIS the quick reply, Wat.
tersUn WAS wrong. have never seen IL
man who come away from All Ingersoll
lecture rs stout of faith uud as strong iu
heart as he was when he went there.
do not know that this spirit Of irrcli-
gion and unbeiief has made much inroad
OH the churches. 1t ID ns yet simply eat
ing away the material upon which the
churches must recruit and pvTpetuate
themselves. There is large budv oi
men and WON, n the oulk probably -four
p0pulation-thatis Is between the church
aud its eneniies-not members OF the
church or open professors of religion, the"
have yet had reference for the rligious
beliefs, have respected the rule of con.
science, end believed in the existence of
ono Supreme Being. These men and
women have been useful 10 the cause OF
religion, in that they held all the outp"sts
about the camp uf the church militant,
and protected it with enwrapping cvr.er.
vaisn and sympathy. 1t is this class
of people that are now yielding to tue
assaults of the infidel. Having nome O.
the inspiration of religion, and possessing
neither The enthusiasm of converts nor
the faith of veterans, they are easily be-
wildered and overcnnie. II is careless
and unthinking multitude on which the
atheists ere working, aud the very inerliu
OF II mob will carry thousands if The drift
Of the mass once sets to the ocean. Aad
the man or woman who rides on the eb
bing tide goes never tn return. Religious
beliefs Unce shattered are hardly mended.
The church may reclaim its sinners, but
it's skeptics, never.
It is not surprising that this period Of
critical investigation into all creeds nnd
belief hus come. II is logical epoch, l.,
come III its appointed time. II is one oi
the penalties Of progress.
We have stripped all the earth of inyB.
terry, and brought nil It's phenomena un.
der Tie square aud c0npass-su tlint
we might have expected science To doubt
the mystery ot life itself, and To plant it's
the0dalite for measurement Of the eter.
nal, and pitch its crusible for an analysis
OF The soul. It was natural that the
Greek should be led 70. the worship of his
physical gods, for the earth itself was
mystery that he could not dvine-a
vastness and sagueness that lie could not
comprehend. But we have fnthomed lis
uttermost secret-fet its must secret
pulse-girdled it with steel-harnessed it
and trapped it to our liking. What was
mystery is now demonstrati0n-wha was
vague is now apparent. Science has
dispeiled Illusion after illusion-struck
down error after error--nade plain
nj! that was vague on earth, and re-
duced every mystery to demonstration.
II is little wonder then that, ut last, hav-
:;S reduced q! :he :llns;am- &c matte: y.
au equation, and anchored every :!:ccry
to fixed formula, is should assail the
mystery of life itself, snd warned the
world that science would yet furnish
the key TO the problem of the soul. The
obelisk, plucled fr,in the heart OF Egypt
rest upon IL shore that WAS as vaguely and
infinitely beyond the knowledge or nspi-
ration of its builders ns The shores OF n
star that lights the spaces beyond our
vision are to US to day-the Chinamau
jnstle+ Us in the street, and the centuries
that look through hia dreamy eyes have
lost all sense of memberships that were
treighted from the heart Of Africa lie in
our barbor, and our market places mr..
vocal with more tongues than bewildered
the builders 1T Blbel-a letter slips
around the earth in ninety DAYS and the
messages ofmen flash along the bed of
the oceau--we tell the secrets ofthe uni
verse as u woman tells her beads, aud the
stars whirl serenely through orbits that
science has detined-we even read of The
instant when the comet that plunged in
dim illimitable distance, where even the
separate stars are lost in mist and yapor.