The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-02-10

and the blindness that Twill come in thu
wake Of this spreading atheism. The
ancients witnessed the fall of hundred
creeds, but still had hundred left. The
vast mystery of life hung above them
but was lit with religions that were sprin
kled as stars in its depths. From host
ofccnsers was theirair made rich with fra
GRANGE, and warmed from a field of altars
No loss was irreparable. But with Us It
is different. We have reached the end.
Destroy our beliefand We are left hope
less. helpless, blind. Our air will be
orderlcs, chill. colorless. Huxley. the
leader of the positiyists, himself confess.
es-I quote from memory-"Never, IN
the history of man, has calamity 80 ter
ri6ct befallen the race as this advancing
deluge, black with destruction, uprooting
our most cherished hopes, engul6ng our
most precious creed, aud burying our
highest life in minlness desolation."
And yet Mr.. Huxley urges on this de-
luge with furious energy. The aggres'
siveness Of the atheist is inexplicable to
me. Why they should insist on destroy.
ing system that is pure and ennobiing
when they have nothing to replace it
with-wby they should shatter faith
that co.ors life, only to leave it colnrless
why they should rob life Of all that it
makes life worth living-why they should
take away the consolation that lifts men
and women from the despair of bereave'
:ment aud desolation, or the light that
guides the feet of struggling humanity, or
The hope that robs the grave of its terror
why they should do all this, and then
stand empty. handed andunresponsive be-
tore the EARNING and supplicating people
they have stripped of all that is pre-
ciuus, is more than | can understand.
The best atheist, to my mind, that lever
knew, was one who sent his children toa
convent for their education. II cannot
lifl the blight of unbelief from my own
mind" he said, "Lut it shall never fall
upon the minds of my children if | can
helpi it. As for me, ! would give all have
on earth for the old faith that ! wore SO
lightly and threw off so carlessly.
The practical effects Of the growth OF
atheism are too terrible to contemplate.
A vessel on an unknown sea that has
lost It's rudder and is tossed in o storm
that's the picture. 1t will not do for Mr..
Ingersoll to say that q purely human
code OF right and wrong can be establish
ed 70 which the passions of men can be
anchored and from which they can swing
with safety. 1t will not do for him to
cite his avn correct life or the cor
rect lives of the skeptical scientists
or of leading skeptics, rs proof
that unbelief does not bring license.
These men are held 10 decency by pride
of position and by SENSE of special re.
spnnsibility. 1t is the masses that athe.
ism will demoralize and debauch. 1t ia
the thousands Of simple men and women
who, loosed of the restraint that IL a5so-
lutte and imperious will, that will DRIFT
upon the currents of their passions, col
liding everywhere, and bringing confu
sion and ruin. The vastly greatest III
Auence that religion has exercised, as far
as the world goes, has been the co,'serva'
tive pressure that it has put upon The
bulk of people, who are outside of
the church. With the pressure barely
felt and still less acknowledged, it has
preserved the integrity Of society, kept
the dangerous Instincts within buunds, re-
pressed snvagery and held the balance.
Conscience has dominated men who nev.
er confessed even to themselves, it's power,
aud the dim. religious memories OF child
hood. breathing imperceptibly over long
wastes OF sin and brutality, have dissolved
clouds of passion in the souls of veterans.
Atheism will not work it's full effect on
this class of men. Even after they have
murdered conscience by withholding the
breath upon which il lives. its ghost will
srope .hrough,Le chambers of their brain
nenacing aud terrible, and to the last
Creeping on broken wing .,
Through cells of madness haunt Of horror and
feat %
It is OH the young men and women
the generation bred in the chill atmos-
phere of unbelief-that atheism will do
its worst. With no traditions in which
to guide their faith, no altar before which
they Gun do reverence, no ideal to which
their eyes can turn, no standard lofty
enough to satisfy, or s,eadfast enough 10
a.sure-with no uplifting that is not linn.
tied, no aspiration that has wings, and
NO enthusiasm that is not absurd-witll
life but fever that kindles in the cradle
and dies in the grave. Truly atheism
meets youth with Il dread pruspect-sul-
len, storm.swept, hopeless.
In the conflict that is coming, the
church is impregnable-because the
church is right-because it is founded on
a rock. The scientists boast that they
have evolved everything logically irom
the first PARTICLES fmatter-that, from the
crystal rock to sentient man is steady
way, marked by natural gradations.
They even say that, liza new bulk were
thrown OF from the sun Tomorrow, 1t
would spin in the space of the earth
and the same development that has
crowned the earth with life would take
place in the new world. And yet Tyn.
dali says, 1--WE have exhausted physics,
and reached its very rim, and yet a mighty
mystery looms up before u.s." And this
mystery is the kindling of the atoms of
the brain with the vital spark. There
science is baffled, for there is the su'
preme force that veiled eternity from the
vision of man.
The church s not bound to the techni.
cali,ies ofargument i'll this contest. II
has the perfect right to sly and
say, logically, that something must
rest nm faith-tbat there must be
something in the heart or soul
before convictions can be made perfect.
Just AS we cannot impress with ecstacies
aud transports of earthly love man who
has never loved, or paint rainbow to the
man who has never seen. And yet the
time has passed when religion can dismiss
the sseptics with shrek or sneer.
read one little book II year ago, gentle.
firm, decisive book that demonstrated the
necessity and existence oithe Supreme Be.
ing, rs clearly and rs closcly as Il mathe.
matiral proposition was worked out. But
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