St. Landry democrat., 1883-04-07

nent to the t-"Revelation" be-
gins the series of articles with "Ihe
Creation,7 and finishes up this subject
in one short paragraph with as much |
ease as only the hand of a master could
execute. Rev. thus describes the crea-
ton: "We are taught that God in his
wisdom saw fit to create the world and
all that therein is" WHO'S "we"? and
by whom are we taught ? and why
should we he taught ? and what reliabi-
lily is there in the teachings9 All these
questions are suggested by the unsup-I
ported and hearsay assertions of Rev
elation." How did Rev. discover that it |
was sin his wisdom" that God "saw fit
ito create the world ~, etc. 1t will be
seen that Revelation" skips over and
ignores all radical principles of Chris
tianity, not even introducing some of
the simplest found in the primary works
Of religion already in every household,
and gives no proof that the thoughts
advanced have any basis in fact.
OF the creation Of man Revelation"
writes as follows: HE created him
perfect placed him in the garden of
Eden and gave him every opportunity
of living in happiness to all eternity.
His life in paradise had hardly begun
when, not satisfied with his condition,
he disc beyed an express command of
God for which he and his posterity will
have to atOne.p
"Reve lation0 does not mention who
the man was that disobeyed, etc., but
be presumably meant Adam. It APP
pears that it every opportunity was Civ
en- Adam to live in happiness, ETC.,
every opportunity was also given
him to live in unhappiness. Now, from
the history Of the affair, it is shown
that Adam had no intention of disobey-
ing the command in regard to the for
hidden fruit, neither had Eve, until the
devil, in the form of serpent, had
tempted her, although it does not ex-
plain how they knew it was the devil,
the presumption being that they had
never seen or heard of him before, con-
sequently could not have known of his
existence. Now the facts show that
man was not created perfect else he
would not have been led into tempta-
ton. If Revelation would answer some
Of these questions he would cast some
lighton many benighted minds, my own
amongst the rest. How does he know
that man was created perfect :" How
does he know that Adam was mot sat
isfied with his condition 2" How did
Adam have every opportunity of liv-
ing in happiness to all eternity" when
the devil and the forbidden fruit were
both in the garden. 1t will be OBJ
served that my courtesy for the SLAM
dered gentler sex forbids me to men
ton the woman.) God, being omnipo-
tent, and knowing all things, must have
known that Adam, created imperfectly
in nature as he was and susceptible to
the wiles OF the devil, would have dis
obeyed his command, and knowing
this why did he curse him and all man
kind for doing that which his very ma
ture led him to do? Why should his
desc endants suffer for sin which they
never committed 2 1t Adam had not
sinned how large would the garden of
Eden be now, surprising it held and af-
forded snstenance to all his children ?
How does Revelation" kl,o,c that wars,
plaques, diseases, drouths, floods power
ty, sickness, and all the rest were
caused by the disobedience OF man 2
The planets in their orbits, the growth
Of plants, and everything in nature
shows a fixed natural law, the dissolu-
ton of animal and vegetable life at ir-
regular intervals among the rest. The
higher an d lower orders of animal life
follow simply an unalterable law Of ma
ture. The vegetable and animal world
all suffer from diseases peculiar to their
kind: II it was otherwise and man
could live forever there would not be
standing room on the earth's surface !;
therefore why should all the misfor-
tunes of mankind be attributed to dis
obedience Of commando disobedi-
ence which was a part of his nature,
otherwise it would have been impos-
sible for him to have disobeyed.
If the s.divine teachings of religion
are assailed, the best way to correct the
evil is to refute and confound the admit
r.rs OF Ingersoll and his kind. The
churches, with their trained and hlgniy
educated teachers, their immense reve-
nues, their existence during centuries,