The Cecil Whig., 1881-12-03
CONFESSION OF A FREE-THINKER

The recent admissions of the Rev. Mr..
Nottingham. of New York. who is con-
r2deG 10 be one Of the most scholarly OF
Tncse who on this side OF the Atlantic
nave recently .'cyoluted into a denial
ri the Christian faith. are attracting very
General attention throughout religious
circles in this country. As a minister.
!e has been earnest and very probably
sincere, ard while he has not secured
very large or important following, yet he
has attracted considerable public after =
J'on by his forcible statements of his
philosophical unbelief. Yet he now has
ne rare courage to admit that his work
}IS been failure. and that he has drawn
.Iril in horror from its tendencies. lie
says:
One fact began To loom up before my
mental vision in disquieting way-that
lie drift of free-thuus sht teaching was
uqnestionably toward a dead material
iru which | have abhorred as deeply as
ly evangelical clergyman know. The
zen who would hecome leaders in the
ee thought movement do not stop where
stop: they feel no tradition behind
leln. they have no special training ioI
. wirk OF restoring. in which light
leEard much of my work; | did moi
u to create any new beliefs or to tear
wu all existing Gies, but to restore. to
ing to light and prominence. the spir-
aal essence of those faiths. Perhaps
"a better fitted or such work than
my others because | have Inherited
E-e of the limits of free Thought be
: nd which materialist dogma becomes
prc Offensive than dogmatic Calvinism
ut The men whom | saw coming upon
e stage as the apostles OF the new dis
.fusatlon of free thought We're destroy
" who tore down with no thought oi
tt'dtnG up: there seemed to be no limit
their destructive mania and no dis
.nin;tiDn in their work. Their notion
med To be to make clean sweep of
" cry existing creed: they apparently
Kew not and cared not whether any
iag in the shape OF relief should arise
ii the ashes of the worlds creeds.
Equally remarkable are his further adj
8. isSions. VIXEN he says:
Last Summer when in Rome | was
70 lci interested in observing the behav-
ur rf the toman clergy. not the men
nigh in power and stepped in diplomacy
AMI intrigue, but the working men Of
the church-the parish priests who wen.
About among the people as spiritual help
e. and almoners. ! talked with many
o. these men, and found them to be ig
~ rant unambitious and superstitious:
and vet there was power behind them
- 1ch must mystiiy philosophers. What
thie power? | cannot undertake tD
~sF Bat it is there. and it may be that
t'.osc persons who deny the essential
Griths of revealed religion are all wrong.
: any rate, |, for one. do not care to 20
nn DENYING the existence of such force.
+ =: 70 sum up the whole matter.
t. 2 work which | have been doing ap-
pears to lead to nothing. and may have
parn grounded upon mistaken premises.
Therefore it is better to stop. But do
Mt want to We the impression that l
recant anything. I simply stop denying
aud wait for more iight.
Such declarations, by such a mao, con
Si.tHtc an important event, and as such
&re worthy to be chrouicled as part of the
uows Of the day. The shallow, reckless and
Indecent assaults on the Christian faith
IL such brawler as Ingersoli mean no.