The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1883-07-05
J,ecture on God.

Sl6 mas smaller uedIn rate LOT Gn6
month of June than any city of her
size in the south.
Lecture on God.
Mr.. Shaw, Friday evening, in lee
turing on God" began by showing
that in all ages the tendency of man
had been to worship God, as the I'M
known object of alteration was called;
,, and that the derivation of the word
God was from word in different
languages meaning supremacy, ruler,
powerful, ETC.. That the first worship
we know of is the fetish worship;
that men worshiped the sun as a
source of great blessing, and then the
stars, and rivers, and every object of
natural blessing, and even animals,
| especially the most useful, were finally
worshiped. He showed that even in
| the midst of the most universal poly
/ theism, there was always some I'M
represented deity worshipped, las above
ali, the unknown God" of the Ath-
enians in PauIs time. He showed
that the idea of incarnation had
always prevailed. as man was prone
to bring his object of worship as near
| to human experiences as possible. He
cited Krishna, of the Hindoos, who is
said to have been boln of virgin,
was prosecuted for hereto, was cru
| Gifted between two thieves, or rob-
bers, had promised to come again and
I Judge the world, and was identical
with all that was claimed for Jesus
Christ. That the idea of trinity was
not original with Christianity, but
that the Hindoos, Egyptians and
Persians all had a trinity in their SUI
preme gods, while, on the
other hand, the Jews, who alone
of the nations of antiquities first
planted their feet firmly on the one
god, worshipped and discarded all
gods but one, as nation, never knew
anything about trinity, neither do
they to this day; but stand among us
as the grandest nation of earth for
| their reverence of the ancient prac-
tices of their fathers in rigidly dis
| carding all idea of any except one god
| in person or name. AS to theiSm, the
| MohammedanS are pure theiStS, and
are the most robust of the world to-
| day. He said that no sane person
would attempt to deny that any argu-
ment in reference to the existence of
a god must be founded on an hypo-
thesis as a starting point. No one
could say where or how God existed.
If we know thing then there is no
more controversy, and there is no
need of hypothesis.
The lecturer then examined the
various hypothesis regarding God and
the creation of the world. The six
days theory six thousand years ago,
the theory that the world created
itself-that from nothingness nothing
created something; that God from
nothing created something, ETC., and
revealed the absurdities themselves in
these theories. He then took up the
atheistic, showing that this was the
| theory on which almost all scientists
of an international reputation stand.
He remarked that while many emf
nent men of science yet claim Ortho-
doXy, they were perpleXed, and often
knew not where to turn. He said:
| Atheists believe that material was
| alWays-eternal, and never had be-
ginning. Now, | am becoming mod
est in my opinions, and approach even
this atheistic theory with a great deal
of diffidence, because on this theory
are explained more of the phenome-
Ma of nature than on any other; and
as absurd as we may think it at first,
it does not become wise man, seek
ing after truth, to laugh at it. 1t,
like all other ideas of God and eter-
nifty, is only hypothetical. We know
that from an acorn an oak will grow;
we know that rocks, mountains and
trees grow; that infants grow to men
and women; but is there any hypoth
esis that will reconcile these known
frcts with the idea of supreme
power, a God?" He then said that
as all was hypothesis on this subject,
he would advance one, to wit: that
the power called "life," ETC., that in
man which we call spirit and
which was manifested III various
WAYS, and which was co-eXistent and
co-existive with matter, was God in
the universe. Mr.. Shaw elaborate d
and illustrated this idea, and refiec-
tive and imaginative mind could
readily perceive that, given antiquity,
this idea would be far more easy of
belief than any yet advanced from
any source That spirit, the differen-
tiating power, is the complement of
matter; and the want of this spirit
power in anything brings decay, and
resolves the material back into its
primary elements. He then under
took to show what we would lose by
this belief, First, that the idea Of
the universe being co-eXistent
with God, (this spirit-power),
did away with the hypothesis
that God was eternal, but made mat
ter from nothing. 1t was evident
that any other theory must necessari-
ly make God a botch, as this world is
not half completed, and he, for one,
was in favor of giving God chance
to complete the work so well begun
which his hypothesis presupposed
would be done, while the orthodox
view did not. He cited the imperfec-
lions of Adam and Eve, and of the
great improvement in the world and
in animal and man during each gener-
alton as proof of this. He said that
it would also destroy the devil-and
really, the lecturer said; he had never
had any use for devil, and was very
willing to part with him, though
many good orthodox brethren did not
like to see him go. And then, too,
his theory did away with hell, he said.
He then argued to show that the idea
of a devil and hell was born of the
hatred of men. He did not believe in
| any eternal punishment, because in
lOOkluS dU IL 1IOlu d1y StduOlpOllU
whatever, it was not right, and could
never be right. Then, again. it made
man inferior in the next world to
what he was here; this he did not be-
lieve. He believed we should meet
in the next world with the s;tiiic char
acter we had here; and, if brother
had wasted this life, we could extend
the helping hand to him there, and as
sist him in redeeming himself. 1t did
away with the doctrine OF vicarious
atonement-thatd doctrine that a just
and good God would send an innocent
man to suffer death in horrible form
for other peoples sins. Such doc
trine, he said, had made more men
villains than all else combined, as
they hoped to recent at last. He felt
personally responsible for his sins,
and did not want to lay them on any
mans cross. Then, again, vicarious
atonement had sent ninety-nine men
in a hundred from the gallows directly
to paradise. pretty state of affairs,
isn't that ?" said he. 1t did away
with the idea that a good and just
God would create man and a wo-
man. and, without knowledge or ex-
perience, put them where they must
inevitably make a mistake, and then
curse and punish them and curse all