The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-10-11
The Late Prof Proctor on Pestilence.

essays by the distinguished scienIls6 nttIieu
above, which your enlightened enterprise
had secured for your readers. The recent
lamented death of Mr.. Proctor will give
additional interest," to those carefully pre-
pared but popularized scientific papers.
For many yea S the writer has read after
this distinguished astronomer with admira-
ton and profit in all those publications per-
tanning to his own chosen field, as of
genius whose home was among the s5ars
But it was with Mr.. Proctor as with Mr.
Huxley and Mr.. Tyndall, and other distin-
gu ,shed men, illustrous in the domain OF
natural science, when he leaves the region
of the material and enters that of the spirit
ual-when he lets go of that which can be
seen, and weighed, and measured, to lay
hold on the unseen an the immeasurable-
in a realm where faith, and not diferentiat
calculus, is the instrument by which we APP
prehend the truth: where the data upon
which we ground our conclusions are
not obtained by the telescope, but
rest upon the impregnable facts of con-
seriousness, then he, and not they, begin TO
doubt and to stumble, and become offended
because spiritual truth is not attained and
demonstrated and accepted by their meth
DDS. From such field of comparison the
simple, humble christian mind reads the
words of our Savior: ~ thank thee, o
Father, Lord of heGUen and earth, that
thou hast hid these things from the aCtSe
and prudent, and hast reueoted them unto
babes" IA penalty on pride Of intellect
The writer had occasion several months
ago to correct the views of the late Mr..
Proctor through the Times Union news
paper, jacksonville, respecting the New
Testament account of the luminous body
called the star of Bethlehem, which marked
the place of the nativity, and which Mr..
Proctor considered myth. He asks now
little space to correct the assumptions and
erroneous judgments of Mr.. Proctor re-
speeding the influence, in practice, of the
christian faith upon human character.
In the article referred to, already pub
lished in the News, Mr.. Proctor records
passing sheer at the panic that seizes upon
communities in christian countries when
the presence of the dreadful scourge is au-
nounced, assuming that, on our professions
and beliefs. our God is able to deliver us,
and we should just stand still and do moth
ing to promote our safety!
For what purpose, then, are we endowed
with self-protecting power, and why are we
invested with love of life, and horror
of danger? And if fierce confagration
were sweeping across Savannah, would the
tenets of the Christian faith obhge the
brotherhood to stand still-men, women
and children-to impose upon the Divine
power to blow out the fire just in time to
save UneIns UT WOulu SUCH course De Un0
sin of presumption or the work Of fanati-
cism, or the binding rage of religious in
sanity
Further, Mr. Proctor tells us, as matter of
history, that whenever plague or pestilence
has appeared, religion, except among very
few, has invariably died out The shallow
ness of the faith which most men have pro-
fessed with their lips has been shown by the
utter disregard which nearly all have
IL r - Lii t..
after has been shown to be but mockery
with the great majority of those who had
most confidently expressed their faith in it,
If that distinguished man had himself
known what religion truly means, and so
had been capable of discriminating between
n ominal christianity, and the Transforming
power of the gospel upon individual life
and human experience, he never could have
SO written. 1t only shows, as indicated
above, the utter imcompetency of a natur-
alist who knows no God but matter, heat
force and electricity, to deal with spiritual
forces and revealed truth, and their uplift-
ing influence upon human motive and
moral character.
The behavior Of cultivated Greeks In
pagan Athens, uninf1uenced by the benign
teachings of Jesus Christ, when pestilence
smote the immured inhabitants, is thus
given by Mr.. Proctor:
horror SO graphically described by Thuci-
dides, riot and debauchery prevailed I'M
ceasingly. Gross dissipation and tumult-
uous revelry went on in such sort that but
for the signs of death and disease every
where prevalent stranger entering the city
might have imagined that it was time of
wild rejoicing over some great national
triumph. Men committed crimes from
which at other times the fear of the law
would have deferred them; for the law had
no terrors where nature threatened an
earlier punishment than any legal process
could infict. As they saw the good and the
bad, the openly profane and the professedly
pious stricken down impartially, they lost
all belief in the control of the gods, and
therefore saw no reason to deny themselves
whatever pleasures they could obtain"
In this picture of morals and humanity
in cultured Athens we behold our race as
untaught, uninfluenced, and unpurified by
the renovating power Of the gospel of the
Christ who taught forgiveness, forbearance,
compassion, mercy, and the doing unto
others as we would have them do unto us.
Athens knew naught of this divine code
of morals, but Jacksonville did. Athens
never heard the precepts of a high and pure
morality as given by divine authority.
Jacksonville had heard, and believed Now,
what were the differences in motives and
actions between the two peoples1
When the dread death-dealing scourage
appeared, the municipal authority in
Athens was utterly demoralized; in Jack
sonville, it remained strong and effective.
In the one, the sick were abandoned to
their fate; in the other, every stricken
victim was provided for In the one, the
rich and ruling classes gave themselves up
to riot and crime; in the other, these classes
stood bravely and humanely by the poor
and helpless. In the one, all self-restraint
gave place to selfish and reckless debauch;
in the other, individual resources were
husbanded and generously bestowed upon
the humbest sufferers, till all was expended.
In one. all reliance upon the divine agen-
cies was given up in wild despair; in the
other, firm and humble trust in the Lord
of providence, too wise to err, to good to
be unkind, nerved and supported the noble
workers.
In the one, death was ''the be all and the
end ALL" settling down and into eternal
darkness and nothingness; in the other, the
christian worker said: ~ die at the post Of
duty; my preparations were all made long
since; 90 to enter upon an immortal life
correspondent to the dignity Of mans i'm
mortal nature, all through the vicarious
atonement of the Christ who died for u.s.
Has religion died outa Had Mr. Proctor
never looked into church history to be in
formed Of the many hundreds Of thousands
of believers who had met death in all its
varied and horrid forms bravely, com
- I'll.