Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1881-11-13
nor did it make its own laws, for it has no


laws.
If the material universe existed, just as
it is now, from all unbegun eternity, there
is, to be sure, not much chance for crea-
tor to have done any work ; II Its harmony
is preserved and the uniformity of its ac-
tion maintained without any rule or reg
ulation prescribed by superior power,
then there is and has been no need Of
lawgiver; God is therefore, so useless q be-
lug that He must be theoretically blotted
out of existence.
For the proposition that the universe
| always was without a creator and will be
| forever without preserver) he offers only
one proof, tc-wit: that it is according to
his i'd a. This he considers potent enough
! to override all The evidence, direct and cir
INST .ntal, by which his Idea" is opposed.
Ali testimony borne by the common
sense of mankino, I'll the deductions of
| reason, all ph lOsophy, and all faith in holy
writ ust be swept aside, so that mis- idea
may have free courseto run and be glOri-
| fed. But this sscription Of supreme
thority to an idea, merely because it hap
pens to be his IDEA, will hardly be concur-
red in. The assertion of it. indeed. proves
nothing except that his bum of self-esteom
is in state of chronic Inflammation.
| He started another iGea, which has the
Same special merit of beng his own,
namely, that the material uniyer Sc is not
| governed ny IA u.s. Inc planets move at
rate and in orbits which can be calculated
with absolute certainty the earth revolves
| on its axis with such perfect regularity that
the very second of time at which the sun
| will rise 1T u particular place can be pre-
dicted thou and years beforehand, chem.
| ical substances com bine always in exactly
the same relative proportions, in the an
NAL and vegetable worlds like produces
like. in all organized beings certain causes
u to toll, of, e,
vorable or unfavoraole to life and health.
Mr.. lngersolrs idea is that these are not
the results of law or any sort of Intelligent
prearrangement, but they are phenomena
which happen, End the world is by mere &C
cident prevented from falling into chaos.
La his wisdom he decides g as matter Of
tact" that there is no rule back of the
phenomenon which d controlling power
compeis the subject matter to obey; it
merely happens, but 1t happens SO uniform
ly that IL creates the idea Of law in our
mines, watch is, however. mere delusion
Ii GaIiieo and Newton and kepler, and oil
other philosophers, great and small, have
been seduced INTO the weak belief Lhst the
material universe Is under the reign of law,
it is rare good fortune for US in these latter
days to nave found q superior Parsonage,
who py merely turning the Dramm0nd
| light OF his Intellect upon the subject, at
once exposes the bluDders of the ignorant
living and "the barbarian dead"
Let no man misunderstood or misrepre-
sent Mr.. 1ngersoll. l. is not in irony OF 10
point scUrrile jest that he denies the op-
GRAFTON of natural laws upon matter. He
Is IN serious earnest, ana if he does not
actually believe what he says his simuia-
tlon Of sincerity is very per .ect. To make
hims elf clear, he takes Il sim pie case. Water
he says, always runs down nil; not be-
cause there is II law behind it---law does
t.@ ky,,, lint ,kn
nomedon causes The id ga law TO exist ia IT
mInos-->but that idea is on this side Of
the fact. 1t follows that Newton must
| b We been grossly mistaken when he said
that the falling of water and bodies toward
| the center of the earth was caused by the
| law of graVl.atioG.
AIR. Ingers Ii suppo ses that he is i'm
putting an aosurdity to me when he says ::
MIR Black probably thinks the difference
| in the weight CT rocks and clouds is pro-
| duced by law. Undoub tediy | do.
earned IN my infancy { md l have kept
the credulity Of the crade'') that this dit
ference Is caused by that same law of gray
itation operating according to rules which
are perfectly understood by all tOeraby
well-inf1rmed men. | will go further IN
confess that [ think 1t most benefcent
law which prevents the rocks from dying
about through the air, and the clouds from
be- omIng Immovebiy fixed in the earth.
Our great Creator ought to be sdored and
thanked for making such an arrangement.
But this only proves TO Mr.. lnsersoll that
| am q believer in 1.-The monstruus and
miraculous, the impossible and immoral :
MIR. Ingersoll is much accused of pla
s'arism. Watcher that be true or not of
ms declamatory spotlng, this notion that
the material world is not governed by law
is without doubt original. 1t never en-
tered any human head before, and | think
that in all future time it will find no lodge
neut IN the mind of any reasonable being.
Another way he has of reaching the
atheistic conclusion. do not say that l
I know what he wants to be at. But as well
as l can understand him he asserts that the
universe could not have had design be-
cause we mot trace back the designer to
his own origin: the world was not made
because we cannot tell who made the
Maker, since the necessity of a Creator in
creases with the wonder of the creation
F He is unquestionably, though. perhaps,
I'LL consciously, right in this. 1t makes u
demonstration as complete as Ia athematics
that man was created by some pre-
existent and self-conseious being of power
and wisdom to US inconceivable.' But
instead of receiving this plain. pslpsble
and necessary consequence of his own
. logic, he turns his back upon the concu'
sion and begins to maunder over his own
inability to understand how designer
could be without an interior design, and
telling how hard it is for him to see the
plan or design in earthquakes and pesitl-
, ences: and how the justice of God is not
, visible to him in the history of the world.
This silly trash he thinks sufficient to repel
, the irresistible proofs of Creator which
+ he himself has adduced, and which by all
fair and unperverted minds are received as
conclusive j. S. BLACK.
A PHYSICIANS ADVICE OF HOW TO
GAIN HEALTH.
> HARRISBURG, Pa, March 80, 1881.
: Nothing is more charming and attractive
than thoroughly healthy, perfectly formed
3 woman; bright-eyed, rosy, laughing, joy,
; Gus, hapl y-faced girl, one who finds keen
pleasure in merely living An Invalid wife