Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1881-11-13
oornot ha noinpled together without

invented Dy Inc VIII VI hAu Gnu INC hohost
religien that God has revealed to his crea>
tnrss when united together form mon
strors comdound highly injurious to the
hest interests of the human race. Such q
union is pronounc by Christ and his
apostles to be impure, and the fathers of
this republic so shaped tneir fundamental
law as to make it a wall Of perfect parti-
ton between them. Without such cons
plete separation there can be no security
for either civil liberty or the rights of con :
science in matters of religion. The worst
form of this adulterous connection ls not
assumed when legal union is formed be-
tween church and State. 1t is when pop
ular party in free government undertakes
to miugle its coarse interests and It's vulgar
passions with the religious sentiments OF
the people. That is what pollutes and
fslsifes both. The history OF the world,
and especially that OF our own Country,
has been written in vain if this be not the
lesson it teaches.
These convictions not only disarm me of
the power to repeal Mr. lEgefsoll assaults
admit for the purposes of this case that he
is right on all the Joints of that kind which
he chooses to lu in. l do that, argument
gIatia, without affecting tue real question
Ia controversy.
He thought he was striking fearful
blow at the Almighty when he showed
III It the Jewish Constitution contained a
provision VIII CHI coDhlcted with the plat
form OF bolitionists. They had deter
Ii ined and resolved that where the tolera-
ton of slavery or servitude for life was q
crime. By this and by other means not
now TO be described they got money, pow
er and great personal consequence for them
selves and their fellows. Mr.. lngersoll
could trust them TO unite with him in howl
ing down Christianity or any tbing else that
diminished the proh.s of their business.
Directly before him be had he successful
example OF Demetrius, the sil7ersmlth, W hu
raised a tremendous uproar against the
gospel of [ hrlst by simply believing out
GreaLis Diana Of the Ephesians. . Sirs,
We know that by this craft we nave our
wealth.
could only protest that these appeals
to the interest and passions OF IA political
party were unfair Diana of the Ephsians
and Yankee ADoitionism may both have
been great, and they were great in the
sense OF hing popular. but that does not
prove that the gospel of God IL PERM
cious impCsture. The jewish coDstitu-
savages ia Judeah, and the esoives of the
A boIItion caucus, which condemned it in
America, might both be right, since the
TWO So stems were act to be judged by one
another; each should be considered W I'd
proper reverence to circumstances W Cely
different But the suggestion that the in
tailIbie God m ght be believed to have pro-
ceeded on just grounds without lmpugn-
ing the Righteousness OF the Aboltonists
met with no favor. the pracliced dema
gogue cannot forego the tricks Of his trsde
ana so he makes the pane gyric of his poIlt-
iCai faction an excuse for bssting contemp.
in the face of his maker and for insulting
The faith and reason Of all VINO bolIeVe IL
Cnrist. The OareSt thought that the Judge
of all the earth did right ills MIN win
rancor, which he pours out over page atLeI
ige and then repeats 1t again and again
Unpacks his heart with words
Ana falls to cursing like very drab-'
A scuillon-
l have said this much about the slavery
point, not as an answer to Mr.. Ingersoli,
| but because l will not have it understood,
| If can help it, that l permitted or pro-
| yoked the introduction of partisan poll
| tics into the discussion CT a religious sub
| jec..
These furious outbreaks Of Incorporate
abuse upon God, His law and institutions
| do not disturb anyune's intellectual belief
or at all diminish the awful reverence
which Christian feels for the supreme
object of his alteration Mr.. Inger>ol
that he is raising u storm On the oceaI
OF thought; he is Eot producing IL ripple
he is merely doing the part OF u con mon
scold, to whom the idle listen for the sport
| Of ching, while others, taking counsel OF
their outraged feelings, think him NUS:
| ance that ought to be abaied. This is
| pei haps, MOI very easy to do. A woman
| for such an otfense, could be ducked under
| The rule Of the ancient law, but when
communs vixatrix OF the male gendel
vexes the peace of a neigh eorhood In Thu
| way, the remedy is difficult and doubtful
| 10 learn how gratuitous these anllitle
| are-how he scold tor the mere sakt
| of scolding-look at his fahforansde OF
polygsmy. By the unaided iuhuence o
| the church alone thi vice has been extir
pated completely and perfectly. La Chris
| Glan countries the universal rule is that o.,
| man shall be the husband Of one wife ant
| no more; and tits neither the rule nor the
| practice anywhere else on the face of thu
| globe. Nova person who has ordlnar,
| sense must see that the moral merit o
| ChrIsts gospel In this respect is directly
proporii ned TO the magni .ude of the evl
| from which it has relieved human society
| But Mr.. lngeTsoll tries to backen th
character OF the Christian religion b.
trailing at the bad practice which it has op
posed and destroyed. If he had flung GU
at homogeneous marriage, which Chris
tlanlty upholds, his act. though unjust
| might have had an apparent object not al
| together preposterous. Indeed, mona gom.
! is as open to mere vulgar vltuperati Is u
polygamy. When an unclean mind ex
| erts Itself to ina inc what may take plac
1t Is as easy to talk about brutality and III
| animal degradation OF woman in one cas-
| as another. To the beastly all things ar,
| benstly. In point of fact, the great body 0
udbeieVers have denounced the Christian
| Institution OF marriag with especial bitter
ness. To the one man snd one woman
| together by bond which nothing bu
death can dissolve is, in their opinion
not only unjust and immoral, but bias
and brutal tyranny, which imposes de
grading restraint upon the tural right
of men and woman to love and cohabi
| with whom tGey plesse. This is prim
and prominent part of the atneistic theory
| everywhere advocated by It's regular or
gans and its greatest disciples. In France
where their societies are compact ah'
powerful, they define their creed sub
stanL ally thus: |. There is no God
4. Love must be free. 5. Marriage is Law
cry. 8. Children belong to the State All
| not to any y IN particular.
This is 1.-The gospel of dirt" l don't ss
that MIR. Ing rsoil swallows it whole. II
believes, or at least he practices, the Chris
liam doctrine ON the subject of marriage
paternity and properly, not because he
bound by the Divine com mandments, bu
because he feels IKE it. Others, rej1ctin
AS he does, tne gold n mete wand Of 10
law have an equal right to take lhei
own feei gs rs the measure of RICH eous
ness. So one set of atheists curses maj
riage and another bisckgusrds polygamy
and they are both right if there be no Go
/ above all md over all.
L do not intend this as a substitute for tn
| I