The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1882-12-10

rleS OF his own until he mas SUI
iected them to a thorough test, or If
he is not able to do this, to submit
them to those who can. Christian
ity, we hope, is not so desperately
in need of help as to require us to
believe that all the great modern
inventions, such as the railroad,
steamboat, telegraph. telephone,
ETC., were thoroughly understood by
Jews in ancient times, nor thatin the
the account of tbs creation of Eve
the word ''rib," means, in the origi-
nal Hebrew, 'sside," as if this would
help the matter any; nor that JO-
nah was constantly on the Jump
and 60" in the whales belly, to
prevent dissolution by means of
gastric juice; nor that he might
have spent his time in the whales
mouth; nor that vegetation was
supported before the sun and NOON
were created, by the light of vOlea-
noes IN the moon, a. d the radiation
from huge mountains of northern
granite, and rocks in process of
capitalization, norEin many more eX
plantations equally absurd.
On the other hand, it seems to US
a great waste of time to insist that
Christians do believe what they do
not believe. For instance, Mr.. In
gerson still declares that the
Bible reader must believe that
God created the world out of, nothing
though he is willing that Mr..
Talmage should substitute Fomni-
potence" instead of nothing, if he
chooses; that the world was created
in six days and nights of twenty
four hours each, that there can be no
inconsistencies; that the Bible is a
scientific book; and many other
propositions equally as unreason-
able. That he is not well
acquainted with history is very
readily seen from the fact that he
attributes to Christianity almost all
Wickedness that has been perpetrat-
ed in Christian nations, when little
thought and study mast plainly
show to him that this very wicked
ness comes from human nature, and
must have happened, and very
likely much worse, under any
system OF religion. All that
religion can do is to help
reform a people, and if that
religion is too elevated for his
comprehension, he Immediately
adopts it to his condition, and we
have no better example of this than
Christianity itself, which became so
thoroughly paganiZed in the Middle
Ages that it might be brought in
ccnsonance with the sentiments of
the people that protested it.
In the last sermon Mr.. Talmage
shows the full scope of his reason
ing powers when he attempts to
prove the inspiration of the Bible
by saying that there are more copies
of that book in existence than any
other; that no infdel has ever been
elected to office; that IngersOll was
defeated as candidate for governor
of Illinois; that if we abandon the |
Bible we would have nothing to |
swear witnesses by, nCr would there
be any book for the centre-table, and |
no book that a mother could give |
her son when he leaves the old |
homestead. We thus see what an
easy task his opponent has to per-
form.
On the whole, we see nothing new |
in the book, except the illusions
made to the surprising theories and |
explations of Mr.. Talmage; the rest |
of the book is but a rehash of what |
we have, no doubt, all heard before
and what, under any circumstances,
will be of little profit to the intell1-
gent reader, though it may afford
him some amusement.