The Washington bee., 1888-08-25
GODS. BY PIE WE.

llAC cualA bS D"los L "ONiA WIN
hold any sacreligious deuouucia,
1ion of whatever is holy. But for
Gods such as some men worship
have no feeling of re-pect. Rob-
espiere once said that we bad nc
God, we should have to make one
so necessary is such a being to
man and creation. For my own
part l am perfectly willing to be-
gin where there is no beginning
and end where there is no ending,
/ stand knee high in the waters OF
ignorence. Not much can be com.
pretended by me. / do moi
understand theology but L kno "
christianity when L see it.
/. Incorrect ideas of the ex.
istence of God are idolatrous. Nc
matter how high or low the
conceptions, if it be a wrong
conception we are no better than
pagsns and canabals. Well VIC
does correctly comprehend the
Divine Being? / imagine many
persons would say: no one, "God
ways are pass finding out" While
this answer is in part true it is
misleading. No one can perfectly
and fully comprehend him but it
is possible that he can be correctly
comprehended in his acts. When
ever We see true humanity, benev.
olence and happiness arising out
of conscientious principle we are
beholding the face of God. A
chip from the oak is as much oak
as the whole trunk. A raindrop
is as much hydrogen and oxygen
as the great lakes. Meat is meat
whether it is a simple steak or a
herd of cattle. So we can COM
prehend God in bits.
2. 1t is along another line
that | wish to address myself.
Gods in our land mean abstract
personages. We think of ourselv>
es, and then think of immense
Pe~,or beias i'a our hendo, when
we could make thunder and sling
tightening, This idea we cherish
as being the true conception. In
fact it is nothing more than stu
pendous selfshness. If [ were as
big as Jupiter and could drink the
Atlantic dry at a swallow, and
could rent the two continents i'm
twain with my iron fingers and
possessed all the knowledge of
philosophers from Adam to Cleve-
land including the immense dis
play of wisdom on the Tariff
would not be any nearer the
divine being than l am now
writing with blunt led pencil.
The true @ d could think me out
OF existence the same as now.
3. La religion each denomina-
tion has God of its own. There
is the Methodist god the Presby-
terian god, the Catholic god, the
Congregational god, the Lutheran
god and other gods of like and
unlike importance. No one of
the gods is worthy of homage. l
entertain for them no pious con-
sideration. They deserve the
contempt of men. In them there
is nothing but social ostracism.
In speaking of them they should
be handled with severity. Posi-
bly, tine most hideous God is the
Catholic god. I often think that
catholics really think the true
God parsonage who wears a long
cloak, with a big red patch in his
back, chained to an altar. Any
man who has any sense of human
equality could not hold any irish
man in such godly reverence as
the priest is held. Then the
little altar boys popping up and
down swinging night lanterns and
carrying heavy books make use
less panorama if true heart relig-
ion is the test. | do not like
show in religion. There are cer>
tain other sects who carry on a
sort of religious advertisement.
They adopt the same words of
attracting their gods as patent
medicine doctors do in calling the
public attention to the genuine
ness of their bogus plunder. Let
it be said that the catholics can
sing sweet theatre Music. I can
not review all these gods. In
sizeing one up, you have the pat
tern for all the rest. Why one
set of people think that their idea
is the true idea viewed in the
light of personal inclination rath-
er than by a proverbal principle