Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-05-03

teen centuries ago. This is not born Of 4 doc
dfne OF rapine, Mr.. lngersoil- It may be super
sfstson but 1t b beautiful one It may be the
se0n of intellectual hardness, but 1t liz tender.
neN eftheless. II may be a doctrine Of folly and
iaises MOOD, bat It is folly begotten Of love- and
! iaiseaoed which il q beautiful idyi. Men may
! saeer at 1t. but when the sheer comes one can
hoI aefp thinking Of the wild. haunting, despair
Inc cry which came from Alfred de Husset on
| ms death bed Poisoned from youth with the
Writings of the encyclopedias I early imbibed
| the sterile milk Of impiety. Human pride that
god OF insanity and -egotism. closed my mouth
10 prayer. How miserable are those men who
have rallied at that which can save human soul
/ was born in a corrupt age. have much to
exPiate: Pardon, o Christ, those who bias
pheTne."
! condemn art. Because there are bad peets.
ohe cannot condemn poetry. Because there are
tbad Christians, one cannot condemn Christian
/ ity. There are dividing lines between false and
the seeming, and the only reason which Mr. IN
gersoil boasts as the basis OF his doctrine liz ne
/ ec2Sary to throw the distinction under the light
! OF caicIuTA- He holds reality responsible for
| the prejense. He talks Of eenuineness when
| ne means hypocrisy. 1t is true that men enter
the church as means of individual advance
ment. Ii is true that the church is sometimes
cowardiy enough to accept the one-tenth
! "a 1.-THE OF taat which was not honestly earned
| 1t Is true that pretentious Ifety can hold its
| own at times against the purity which should
overthrow it. II il true that the mantle Of the
Just has covered injustice. and that falschooa
has been noisy partner of truth Yet all these
I DO not alloy the pure ne tai.
| They may deceive, but they do not change
the order aud make untruth truth. Those who
attempt 1t are the victims. Those who suffer it
| are worse II they are willing knayes; they are
| to be pItied If they are pious dupes. The shaans
which Mr. lngers0lf talks OF In the churches,
the wars OF which he talks Of In the history of
the churches, have nothing to do with religion.
"A church Ia merely the expression of truth. II
1t Is Incomplete the truth is not hurt 1t is not
the less the truth. 1t Is still the expression
| that is awkward. Because Raphael is copied by
a fool Is he the less RaphaeR Because God il
| trayested by man is He The less God?
The argument will not do. One must deal
with realities. and not with their limitations
| We must take things as they are, and not as
they are represented to be- There has been
bigofry in the church, but there has been none
In religion There has been persecution
| in the church, but there has been none
| In religion. Persecution Is big0try armed and
! in action, and bigotry Is the bastard Of belief.
but tiSat which is beyond 1.-THE great living
| trrth-cann0t be held responsible. 1t has not
| the Oar sinister. They are separate and should
be SO held Thesseornful analysis Of the Scrip
| lures which free thought In so fond OF making
cannot be applied In one case and ignored in
another. To sustain system Of unbe6ef there
must be harmony Of method Justice cannot
charge religion with the wrong d0ings Of It's
pretended vOtaries. 1t must cOBoede that in
their wrong-doing they are doing that which Ia
expressly forbidden, and therefore. no matter
what their protestations may be, they are as much
the opponents Of religion as those who openfy
av0w infdelity. Indeed, they are worse than the
latter, for their hypocrisy makes them sneak
| thieves, stealing name to which they have no
right,
1t is not fair to talk of st. Bartholomew day
In the discussion. 1t Ii not fair to take the ey-
agGerated traditions Of the inquisitiOn. 1t is
not iair to note the record Of blood Of the middle
ages 1t is not fair To cite martyrdOms and i'm
prisonments As arguments against the cruelty
and shortsghtedness of ambition and fanaticisrn
THESE are all effective As arguments against
religion they have no force. Doctrine has too
Often been made a scapeg0at for conspiracies Of
state; the church has too often been made q
city oil refuge for tainted regulations. Yet the
Higher Teaching is not chargeable with the eff
fects OF the lower teaching. That which has
been done in its name by men cannot be laid at
us threshold. The GUarrels Of creeds. the ia
natic!sn of forms, the assertiveness of sects are
all supplementary. They are finite additions to
the infinite
Mr.. lngersoll Gays that Christ was great man.
manly maii. lover of freedom but no more
Inat He was enthusiastic but not inspired
That he was universal, but not divine. The DO
sition admits of little argument It Is above
the cackie OF the present and the turmoil Of pet
ty reasOninga- The divinity of Christ must rest
upon belief. 1t is not a subject to lie made the
Iooiban OF pros and con- The grand simplicity
wanderincs and teachings along the highways
and through the by-Ways Of GafiIee the splen-
did COURAGE with which He taught the truth
that was to be the light Of the world in face of
the death which was sure to come, the marvel
Gus quality Of His words which gave them
universally which will reach to the end
OF time, the sweet manlinesS, the exquisite
lustice, the broad generosity which marked
HIS every step-an these may belong to earth
and to man. but they have never been repeated
In any life which has been lived since nor were
they known in any life which had been lived be
fore Him. He preserved the harmony to the
last, against temporal and church power and at
the end lie was the joint sacrifice of both. Only
TN Ills utteranees in the last hours is there found
ANYTHING for the quibblers to pick over. and
these are His words in the garden. And what
Is there IN them? When the stern. starless
darkness hung over the olives Of Gethsemaue
and the disciples who could mot watch one
hour were asleep. when the winds siuddered
eerily through the shrinking leaves. when the
Spirit OF Dread stood Ike o sentinel between
the time that had gone and the morrow that
was to be an end yet q beginning, when
the G0d-'ife that had been poem of grace and
love and light was wandering down the valley
OF shadow to the deeper biackness Of a tragedy.
Is it strange that the great sad-eyed soul OF
humanity. Who was both man and God should
have suffered like the one and endured like the
other. 1t is the accepted theory Of free thought
that 1t was the fear Of death, born OF the human
In Him. which through the pathos Of that wild
cry-"Father II it be possible, let tins cup pass
rom ne Yet is 1t not more probable that it
was the profound sorrow and pity that His
people were about to commit a great and cause
less crime that forced the words? Does not the
latter prayer which came from HIS whitening
lips when. with anUterable hove, He looked
from his dimmed and dying eyes upon His muir
derers and. mediator In the death which was
pre-, cried eut-.'father, forgive them. for they
know net what they do'-support a newer
theory? Perhaps not. They say that he was
only man. An, well We are men also. Has
the word two meanings?
Mr. IngersOil says that the life Of Christ and
the doctrines OF Christ are similar to the life of
Buddha and the doctrines of BQiidha. This has
been said often enough before but repetition
does not make II true. The statement only
proves hack OF analytical knowledge There
are resemblanees but they are only surface
Buadha "a prince. He lived In the langu.d
fuxuriance Of an Oriental court until he became
tired Of life and all that pe,tained to it. He saw
Sickness aud sorrow and death about him, aud
the belief that 10 exist was to suffer became A
conviction. All was vanity and vexation There
fore he abandoned his Hiagnifccnce deserted his
wife. assumed the garb Of beggxr, humiliated