The San Antonio light. (San Antonio, Tex.) 1883-1886, 1885-09-26
SUNDAY REFLECTIONS.

Translated from the frolo Prcssc of scrtom-
her 18th. 1850
The dogmatic precept Of Justification
by faith, /. g. instruction as to common
belief In anything that Is not known
and, which, according to natural laws
cannot be known, is in iact--to quote
Bob lngersoll, moral declaration Of
bankruptcy. This heterodox dogma
and the terrible hell punishment for
those who, whether they can or not be-
lieve In this unknown and unconcieva-
BILE something, Is the prime cause Of so
much Ignorance IN this world 10 stands
~ the prime obstruction Of progress In
all directions OF society generally. Like
everything that Is called religion.
whether Buddhism, Brahmaisu, Islam or
Jud tism and Christianity, which latter
l. only the offspring Of Judaism, all
have and contain In their doctrines good
and evil. What good Is any religion
that contains the precepi; Love Thy
neighbor like thyself." or bless thDte
that curse you;h when In the name OF
the same religion blJ ody wars are car
red on for 10, ~ and 30 years, when
the names that lit the stake,
and the funeral pyre have lit
up the sky for hundreds OF years. The
inuTtn nhh tTfhltu llolt bIpuNns lhul
Ii could protect II has shed more blood
than 1t has spread and disseminated
knowledge.
II the Bible Is really built upon divine
inspiration, which really Is the sequence
and fundamental principle of Christian
lty, then what strange consequences do
we beholdp II shows that non-Chris-
tians, the so-called heathens, occupied
more exalted position In morals than the
worshippers OF Jehovah, the chosen
people of God, the pOssessors of So
called inspired religion, and Of which
Christianity is the Inheritance. This
Jehovah commanded the Jewish people
to buy the children of the strangers that
were In their midst and among them,
and commanded them further that these
children thus bought should be an in
heritance to them and be slaves for all
time. For many hundred years past
there have been many Cody Christians,
members Of strict sects who went to
church each Sunday and turned their
ewes in pious devotion and yet could
make II consistent with Christian humil-
ity and meekness TO own hundreds Of
slaves like herds of cattle. These gem
tlemen were very pious, but 1t did not
hinder them to often whip them as their
property unto death when one of these
wretches refused to obey order.
Did not the I'D heather philosopher,
Epictet, stand on n more exalted posi-
tiOn? lie had not received any inspira-
ton nor did he lay claim to such; he fol.
lowed the voice of nature, and he who
never had heard anything.of the God of
the Jews. said nevertheless: "Remem-
Der that your slaves are your brethren;
nature has formed them of the sane
matter as yourself. If you claim that
YOU have bought them you only base
this claim upon laws made by man,
which statutes you yourselves must con
sIder pitiable and miserable, while yet
you uphold them, because they bring
you gain. But you can not and will noe
appeal to the higher laws of nature and
the Gods!n This was uttered by u
heather, but two thousand years after
highly civilized Christians considered it
consistent with their Christianity to con-
slider and hold some darker colored
brethren in Christ as their prop
erty, helpless tool, or as
piece of merchandise with which
| to make an occasional trade. Jehovah
said. so the Bible tells us, to his chosen
people, that they should purchase slaves
and hold them in bondage, not in or of
their own tribes, but from among the
neighboring nations. These must have
been considered by the all benign Gre
ator of heaven and earth, as children of
God of the second class. How small,
wretChed and miserable. In contradis-
| tinction comes another heather, Cicero,
who had not been enlightened by the
| Old Testament, who in words of thun-
der from moral height proclaimed to
his fellow citizens: "Those among you
who say that only the citizens of a state
| should love one another but not strangers
| tear up the tie of fellowship and COM
xuh i.th al
kind, and without which fellowship,
fraternity and justice would disappear
forever"
How immensely higher stood the
heathens with their conceptions above
| those that conceived the Bible and the
Creator of the universe But neverthe-
less they are wicked corrupted heathens.
who do not possess the right faith, and
therefore must burn and roast through
out all eternity.
This again brings us TO Justification by
faith. Two thousand years it took the
| Christian church to solve this knotty
question, but 1t was never Il success.
Again and again the sold Harry had
to be brought into play. Yes, we do
not and cannot understand Ii. We must
have faith. and thus mankind turns
around in a circle, like the young puppy
trying to catch its own tail; both the
people and dog become dizzy In the end
and give ii up. IL not this dogmatIc
preoept beyond all conception immoral,
that u man may sin as much as he wants
to, commit all crimes possible, and that
he can avoid the consequences of all
these lfhe repents ana believes in some
thing he does not understand and cannot
conceive. Why did not Faith at once
hinder all these sins and crimesY Is it
not a doubtful precept that at late re-
pentance at the eleventh hour will wash
away all sins committed at the tenth,
and thus cleanse the soul of all spots by
means of the innocent blood of noble
man who became a sacrifice 200O years
ago to the hatred and jealousy of his own
nation? The Church says every sinner
is a debtor to God and that the Redeem
er is liquidating this Indebtedness, hence
the debt is not paid but only transferred.
Whenever IL Is necessary to defend a
dogmatio precept, then the faithful are
ever ready with the cheap argument and
say: The wisest, greatest and best OF
our people have believed, and you will
not be obstinate enough to refuse to dc
SO. Yes this argument proves every
thing. The Mohammedan will claim
that the precept of the Koran Is undis.
putable; the Brahmin will use the same
argument in the Temple OF the Hindu
our American Indian will by ocular de-
monstration show the rising generation
the great qualities of Manitau; ergo
because your grandfather believed IL
you are morally bounu to follow In his
footsteps. How Ignorant. My grand