Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-02-13
NO FAITH.

NO RELIGIOUS FAITH.
The Dreadful Consequences Which Would
Result to the World from the Destruc-
ton of Religion.
Since ''The Blank Bible" was written
there has been no more powerful delin-
cation of the dreadful consequences of
the destruction of religion than Frances
| Power Cobbe's article on the above
theme in the Contemporary Review. 1t
is a refutation of one Justice Stephens
assertion that 1--WE can get on equally
well whether there is, or is not, a God
or a future state" The writer says
this assertion seems to be as grotesque
as that of the woman who said: 1--WE
owe a vast obligation to the moon,
which affords us light on dark nights,
whereas we are under no such debt to
the sun, who only shines by day, when
there is always light" The light of re-
ligion is so diffused that it is possible for
some to forget how we come by it. On
the other hand, all the moon-like
things, Glove, friendship. ambition,
science, art. politics and commerce.
which are proposed by Mr.. Stephen, in
common with all agnostics, as substi-
tates for religion, have a very limited
area wherein they shine at all, and
leave the darkness around much the
same as they found it. Unlike these,
the relation of religion to us is not one
sided, but universal, ubiquitous; not
moon-like, appearing at intervals, but
sun-like, forming the source, seen or
unseen, of all our light and heat, even
of the. warmth of our household fires.
Strong or weak as may be its influence
on us as individuals, religion is the
greatest thing with which we have to
do from the cradle to the grave.
From the respectable character of
many avowed atheists. the inference is
drawn that they would be no worse if
religion were universally exploded; but
we must first see the conduct of a whole
nation Of atheists, The present stock
are no more samples of the outcome of
atheism than a little party of English
boys who had lived a few years in Cen
trail Africa would be samples of negroes.
Our whole mental constitution has been
built up OF food of religious ideas. 1t
would take several thousand years to
make full-blooded atheists out of the
descendants OF an ancestry that has
been Christian for forty generations.
Atheists have been hitherto like chill
dren playing at the mouth of a cavern
of unknown depth. They have run in
and out, and explored a little way. but
always in sight of the daylight outside,
where have stood their parents and
friends calling on them to return. Not
till the way back to the sunshine has
been lost will the darkness of that cave
be fully revealed.
The first visible result of the total de-
struction of religion, of faith in God and
Immortality, would be the suppression
OF public and private worship. and of
preaching, the destruction everywhere
OF houses of worship, and the extinction
OF the clerical profession. All religious
observance OF Sunday would cease. and
it would become simply a holiday.
judicial and official oaths of all sorts.
and marriage and burial rites, would be
entirely abolished. The Bible would
be reduced to the rank of q literary
curiosity. Among less obvious conse-
quences, the writer mentions first the
belittling of life Two thouehts-of
this world as Gods world, and of our
selves as immortal beings-have. be-
tween them. lighted up in rainbow hues
the dull plains of earth. When they
fade away, all things, nature, art. duty,
rove, WIZ seem to grow gray and cold.
everything which gives beauty and sig
n1'lcance to life will be gone. Art has
always derived its best Inspiration from
religion, and It's highest ideals will die
when religion dies. 1t will carnalize
lite to take religion out of it. The
bestlal tendencies in us, which are
scarcely kept down while we believe
ourselves immortal, would have it still
more their own way ii we We're con-
vlnced that death ends all. Life. be-
httled and carnalized, would become
c,owardly, and patriotism would be I'M
known.
She next considers the consequences
to the individual Of the destruction of
religion. Many of the nobler scnti-
ments of the soul would perish. Aspi-
ration, the sacred ambition to attain the
GROWING heights of truth, goodness and
purity. can not live without faith in a
perfect God and an eternal lille of proo-
ress. Repentance, which causes tloweIs
OF sympathy and charity for other
errlng mortals to bloom in hearts
plowed by it, would disappear under
the SHOWS OF atheism. Prayer, all ef-
lori at communion OF the finite spirit
WIN inc Infinite, would cease. Chris
nan charity, which says: s'Ihe strong
ought to bear the i~nlirlnities of the
weak, and blessed are the merciful. the
ahseliish, the tender-hearted, the hum
nle-minded," would be superseded Nv
the creed of evolution. The supreme
law OF nature is the survival of the fit.
test; and the remorseless Crushing down
eaa tne unit. The strong and gifted
snall inherit the earth. and the weak
and simple go to the wall. Blessed
are the merclless and the self-assertinr
Tor theirs is the kingdom of this world
and there is no world after it,
lnese are tfA morals OF evolution. and