Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1881-07-28


under the direction of a competen
Court, and the verdict will assuredly b
in its favor" This deliverance, comm,
from the most iflustrious Judge of hi
time, not at all given to expressions o
sentimental piety, and quite incapabl
of speaking on any subject for mere ef
feet, staggered the unbelief of thos
who heard it. did not know him then
except by his great reputation for abilit,
and integrity, but my thoughts wer
strongly influenced by his authority, an,
| learned TO set still higher value up
on all his opinions when, in after life,
was honored with his close and intimat'
friendship.
Let Christianity have a trial on Nj
lngersolrs indictment, and give us = de
cision secundum allegata ct probate.
will confine myself strictly to the record
that is TO say, will meet the accusation
contained in this paper and not thos,
made elsewhere by him OF others.
His first specification against Chris
tianity is the belief of its disciples 'tha
there is personal God, the creator o
the material universe" If God mad,
the world it was most stupendous mir
acle, and all mil acles, according to Nh
Ingersoll's idea, are "the children 90
mendacity." To admit the one grea
miracle of creation would be an admis
sion that other miracles are at leas
| probable, and that would ruin his Who'll,
case. But you can not catch the leyia
than of atheism with hook. The uni
fverSe, he says, is natural-it came intS
being of its own accord, it made its owI
accord, 1t made its own laws at the start
and afterward Improved itself consider
ably by spontaneous evolution. 1t would
be mere waste of time and space Il
enumerate the proofs which show thai
the universe was created by pre-exist
ent and self-conscious Being, Of power
and wisdom to us incOnceivable. Con
viction of the fact miraculous though
it be- forces itself on every one whose
mental faculties are healthy and tolera.
bly well balanced. The notion that all
things owe their origin and their harmo.
niOus arrangementto to the fortuitous con-
currence of atoms is a kind of lunacy
which very few men in these days are
afflicted with. hope / may safely as
sumo it as certain that all, or nearly all
that read this page, will have sense and
reason enough to see for themselves that
the plan af the universe could not have
been designed without Designer or ex
ecuted without Maker.
But Mr.. Ingersoll asserts that, at all
events, this material world had not a
good and beneiicent Creator; it is a bad,
savage, cruel piece of work, with its pes
tlences, storms, earthquakes and volca-
noes; and man, with his liability to sick
ness, suffering and death, is not a success,
but, on the contrary, q failure. To de-
fend the Creator of the world against an
arraignment so foul as this, would be
almost as unbecomiBg as to make the
accusation. We have neither jurisdic-
ton nor capacity to re-judgs the Justice
of God. Wig man is made to fill this
particular place in the scale of creation
"a little lower than the angels, yet far
above the brutes;- not passionless and
pure, like the former, nor mere ma
chimes, like the latter; able to stand, vet
free to fall; knowing the right, and ac-
countable for going wrong; gifted with
reason, and impelled by self-love exer-
else the faculty-these are questions on
which we may have our speculative
opinions. but knowledge is out of our
reach. Meantime, we do not discredit
our mental independence by taking it
for granted that the Supreme Beingihas
done all things well. Our ignorance of
the whole scheme makes us poor critics
upon the small part that comes within
our limited perceptions Seeming de-
fectS in the structure of the world NAV
be its most perfect ornament-all appa-
rent harshness the tenderest of mercies.
All discord, harmony not understood,
Ali partial evil. universal good.
OBJECTIONS TO MOSAIC LAW.
Dismissing in scathing words Col. In
yersoll's groundless charge against the
moral code, Judge Black says of his
structures on the civil code of the Jews,
which 1ngersoll pronounces so bad and |
unjust that the Law-giver by whom it |
was established must have been,as saw
lgely cruel as the Creator that made |
forms and peStilences; and the work of |
10Th was more worthy of devil than a |
,od: His language is recklessly bad, |
yery defective in method, and altogether |
acking in precision. Apart from the |
ibaldry OF it, which, do not feel myself |
'ound to notice, | find four objections
o the Jewish Constitution-not more
haR four-which are definite enough to |
Idmit of an answer. These relate to the |
Of the Mosaic law on the |
ubjects of ~ Blasphemy and Idelatry;
p War; (3) Slavery; (4) Polygamy. In
heSe respects he prOnOunces the Jewish
ystem not only unwiss, but criminally
Unjust. Il
Here let mo call attention to the diff
uity OF reasoning about justice with u
nan who has no acknowledged standard |
# right and wrong. Through the whole
# this cloudy paper there runs a vein Of
egotism, which says as
'lalniy as words can speak it that the
uthor holds himself to be the ultimate
udge Of all good and evil; what he ap-
'roves is right, and wnat he dislikes is
wrong. OF course, l concede
lothing to a claim like that. l will not
dmit that the Jewish constitution is a
hing to be- condemned merely because
e curses it, I appeal from his profane
to the conscience of men |
Who have rule to Judge by. Such per-
ons will readily see that his objections
0 the statesmanship which established L
be civil Government of the Hebrew
eople are extremely shallow and do OF
nrnish the shade Of an excuse for the
1decency of his general abuse.
First-He regards the punishments
ltiicted for blasphemy and idolatry as
eing immoderately cruel Considering
hem merely as religious offenses-as
ms against God alone-I agree that
ivil laws should notice them not at all. :
inf Qamofimna fhav affaof ,,o,- ST:
usly certain social rights which it is the
uty of the State to protect Wantonly
} shock the religious feelings of your 9
eighbor is grievous wrong. To utter ,
lasphemy or obscenity in the presence !
Christian woman is hardly better i
ian to strike her in the face. Still.
either policy nor justice requires them
} be ranked among the highest crimes :
government constituted like ours. >
ut things were wholly different under
IAr rnl.