The San Antonio light. (San Antonio, Tex.) 1883-1886, 1883-11-10

now her representatives are coming forward
and declaring that henccfOrth Christianity and
evolution eau dwell lovingly together. with
what ease this theological babe swallows an
nuTseS arms unable 10 thrust tbe spoon FROM e@e
her hand In lees than 90 years tho church
VIII be claiming Darwin, Spencer, Huxley.
Haeckol and Wallace, rs Christians, and point
ing 70 their work as n monument OF Christian
civilization.
THE CHURCH AND LEARNING.
Christians boast OF our schools aud learning,
yes, but don't forget that learning was thrust
Into Europe at the point OF Moorish lance
that N was tho lnhdc followers OF MOhammcd
that gave tho first impulse 70 learning In Chris
tendon. The Pagan literature OF antiquity,
and the Mohammedan schools OF science b" SAYS
Leoky were the chief agencies in resuscitat-
ing the dormant energies OF Chrittendom."
Even Mosheim admits that "the Saracens may
Justly he considered the restorers OF learning
In Europe"
The church plunged Europe into mental
darkness, and held II there for thousand
years. During all that time ignorance was
crime. The noblcst literary monuments OF
Greece and Rome were given to the winds or to
the flames. That vast repository OF learning
the AleKandrlan library, was destroyed and
Christians were responsible for its destruction.
Christian councils prohibited eccesiastics from
reading secular books Everywhere education
was under the ban OF the church. "in almost
every council" says Hallam, "thc ignorance OF
asserted by one held in gas that scarcely a
single person was to be found in Rome itself
who knew the first elements OF letters. Not
one priest OF a thousand in spain, about the
time Of Charlemagne, could address u common
letter OF ealutation TO another.
When printing was Invented, the church de-
nominated II the black art; she denounced
Faust as an emissary OF the devil, and sought
TO take his lite. when ClaNton introduced the
Il because e Il Would prove "detTimentS 10 re-
ligion." Sir william Berkeley, colonial Gov
crnor Of Virginia. thanked God that In his day
there was not printing press nor n school IN
all Virginia to breed heresy.
Unable TO suppress the growing desire for
knowledge. the clergy seek to CO ntrOl IL in The
interests of the church. They cannot keep the
people In absolute ignorance, aud, next to ~
norance the best thing is a Christian education
The church Is In favor of schools only "a long
Ms she Is permitted 70 manage them. Catholics
and Protestantsare alike the enemies OF secular
our public schools because unable TO control
them, aud Protestants support them only boz
cause they hope TO make them the instruments
OF Protestant propagandlsm.
THE CHURCH AND CHARITY.
Hospitals, asylums, almshouses and other
charitable institutions, II is claimed, are OF
| Christian origin. Every student OF history
| knows this claim to be false. Charity Is not
virtue peculiar to Christianity. In every age
and in every country, when famine and disease
have stalked abroad, human hearts have
| throbbed with sympathy, and human suffering
Rome always supplied the wants Of her poor,
and the corn laws of Caius Gracchus provided
| AS generously for the support of this class Us
| the laws Of any Christian nation do. Greece
|
the strangers, and her hospitals for the sick
| Seven hundred years before the Christian era.
an Emperor of India established hospitals In
| every city and town throughout his empire
and these ilourished for centuries. In Mexico
and Peru, institutions OF charity were every
where maintained. In no country are the aged
| and intirm more tenderly cared for than In
| heather China. The first asylum for the insane
| Of which we have any record, was founded by
| the MOhammedans In the seventh century. The
| first Christian institution of the kind was built
! IN spain seven hundred years later; and the
historian states that the kind-hearted monk
! who established IL did 1t TO protect these I'M
fortunate people from the insults of their
| Christian neighbors
Tauntngly the church inquiries, what have
lnfdcls ever done for charity" What have
| lnhdels done for charity stephen Girard an
lnhdel, left II fortune Of several millions TO
found an orphans college in Philadelphia;
| James Lick, an lntidel, gave more than Il
million for scientific and benevolent purposes;
millions for the purpose of establishing hos
pitfalls for the sick and poor of Boston; John
Redmon, an Inhdel, gave four hundred
hospitals Of Boston; William Mcclure, an In
fldel, gave half a million ,dollars to aid the
workingmen of Indiana; Robert owen. an In
fidel, devoted 81 years OF his life and expended
| i've hundred thousand dollars in promoting
the Interests of the poor and laborng classes;
Robert g.. lngersoll, an lntdel although not Il
man of wealth, has given more TO charity
than any clergyman of this country has done;
our age, was disbeliever In evangelical
What have Inndels done for charity Nothing
that the church has not claimed the honor OF
doing. stephen Girard had scarcely been
| placed in his grave before she attempted 20
steal his legacy and place IL TO her credit.
Erect a charitable institution, and In less than
twenty-four hours some emissary of the
church will come along with a piece of chalk
| and write christian above the door Were
! Freethinkcrs TO build IA hospital to-day, the
church would climb on top Of IL tonight, erect
cross, and in the morning ask you what In
hdels had ever done for charity
There are, scattered over our land, lot OF
so-caled charitable institutions labelled
wholly by contributions from the secular
public and appropriations lobbied through our
legislative assemblies. But Christians handle
lions Paying institutions, too. shepherds
Folds" furnishing mutton for the church'f
wolves
THE CHURCH AND LIBERTY.
The church claims to be the guardian OF civil
and religious liberty, Yet human liberty has
never had deadlier foe. II a Christian
minority has pleaded for religious liberty, '
Christian majority never failed to deny 1t.
Ten thousand eulogies have been bestowed
having, as II is claimed, establishing religious
liberty I'm this country. But what was the
Puritan conception of religious liberty? What
liberty did they adyocatey The liberty to be a
Puritanl Simply this and nothing more So
too, did the Spanish inquisltors advocate re.
ligious liberty; the liberty to be good Catho-
lie. | see an old man In the dead of winter, AZ
exile, wandering through the SHOWS and for
ests of Rhode Island exposed 70 savage beasts
yet alive, he could tell us how the Puritan
Fathers established religious liberty. | sec
before me scafold, and from IL bangles the
lifcless form of a woman-a simple, inofiensivt
Quakeress. Could Mary Dyer speak, she, 100
could tell us about religious liberty in New
England.
The fact is, that wherever you ind frag
ment of the Christian church, / car,
not what name It bears-Catholic OF
Protestant, Lutheran or Episcopal, Pres
byterian or Methodist-you ind an enc
my 70 liberty. Every apostle of liberty thu
church has murdered or maligned. Our earti
is covered with tide dust of murdered millions
murdered by the church, aud for no othe
crime than having dared TO entertain opinions
that were not Orthodox.
"But the church does not kill now" me
thinks hear the Christian apologlst exclaim
No, a tiger weakened by the pangs of dealt
grows less and less ferocious The ohurcl
does not kill now because 1t does not have thu
power to kill. The fagot and the sword hav,
been wrested from her bloody hands. ani
hatred and SANDER are the only weapons lef
her now.
THE CHURCH AND REFORMS.