St. Paul daily globe., 1891-05-30

in some way. Take the attonement or
eucharlst. tor instance. which most
people imagine is purely Christian. 1t
is thousand years Older and had a
much more beautiful origin. With
the Romans Ceres was the god
dess of wheat, and Bacchus
the God Of wine. The Romans had
festivals at which they had little cakes
OF wheat and drank wine. Where did
the idea OF holy water come from? l've
got guess as to that, think-mind,
say think. for the more 1 know, the
more know don'tknow. It's like the
Greek who said There's nothing GER
tam In the world,' and the other fellow.
said:
Are you certain of that?"-
think the idea OF holy water origi-
mated with tie river Ganges flowing
from mountain which was worshiped
as the throne of God. When it over
flowed it enriched the fields and in
creased the crops. So it was with
the white and blue Nile in
Egypt. They didn't know its source
and SO decided it must come from God.
There IS not feast day in the church,
except those that have been since ere
ated by the authority of the church,
winch was not observed by the ancient
Romans. The symbol of the cross
came from people older than we
nave any record of, save that their
graves have been found. If man is
going to believe these myths as truths
can't help it If he is built that way and
MS head is shaped that way. To know
the origin of one religion is to know
the origin of all, and sun worship was
the origin of all. These myths were
all produced by the rise and fall of the
sun-the birth and death of day.
The Difference
between myth and miracle is the differ
ehce between the idealiZation and cOun-
terfelt; the difference between fiction
and falsehood; between poetry and per-
jury. Miracles seem all right in the far
past or the far future.
''Tell a man that l,S00 years ago man
rose from the dead, and he'll say:
i guess he did
Tell him that in a few thousand
years We'll all come to life, and he'll
say:
i shouldn't be Surprised
But say to him Il saw a man raised
from the dead to-day and he'll say
You're liar"
How do you account for the fact that
the Jews had SO little faith in those
miracles? Why, they were there at the
time Now look at Lazarus, for in
stance. Suppose some one was raised
from the dead in this town. My Lord,
Just think of the interviewing. Just
think of the number of people who
would want to know what he saw, how
he felt and where he was when he re-
ceIyed notice that he was wanted.
NOW, let me give you some scripture
on the subject of miracles. According
TO the Bible we have heard from heaven
and from hell. Now let me show you
that the klndeSt message we have had
from either place came from he'll. That
message was one of mercy. Look at
that poor fellow who was in the fiery
furnace. and who asked Abra-
ham for water. What did Abra-
nam say to him. He said
ne could not get across the chasm. |
have forgotten what reason he gave, but
he couldn't get across to give the poor
fellow the water he craved. But Dives,
what did he say? Why, he said. Il
have three brothers. See them and
warn them not come to this place."
And look at Abraham'S reply: ''They
hlve Moses and the prophets, and if
they believe not them, they will not~be-
lleve One arisen from the dead" That
shows how much faith he had in mira
cles.
Challenge TO God.
If God wants to work a miracle let
him come right here and raise some one
FROM the dead. Let him not go to the
southern part of Arkansas and raise
some one named Brown, Smith or Jones,
whom nobody knows. Let him 90 to
Manhattan Island and say to Gen. Grant
'Arisen Let him go to Springfield and
raise the greatest man who ever was
president of the United States. Let
him raise Abraham Lincoln from the
dead.
Now do not believe that all the mira
cles we have ever heard of ever did any
good. You can't make a man good by
turning sticks into snakes before him.
You may scare him but you can't make
him good. You may scare him so he
won't do thing, but you can't make
him SO he won't want to do them.
Now after the myths and after the mira
cles come the facts. Now isn't it
strange there are no miracles in chem
istay? No miracles in mathematics,
no miracles in eclipses, no mira
cles iii light? Light is always reliable
and can be depended upon. No tricks
there. Take the mariner s,compass. You
can tie the little needle back and leave
it that way one thousand years but all
that time it will be struggling
ing TO be free and when
it finally is set free it will turn and
CULVER into stiffness. pointing to the
north. l do not know why; but it is so,
and it is not miracle. l tell you it is
science which has worked all these mir
acles. Science is the teacher of every
virtue and the enemy of every vice.
Science is the very Christ, the savior
of the world. And yet they
would have US believe that
the savage knew all about
these things of which science knows
nothing; that the savage could read the
volume of the stars before his ignorant
hand could trace letter in the sand.
People have said to me "Why do you
attack such a good thing-a thing which
has done so much good" Well, I'll tell
you. | am waiting for proofs. Why
theology makes man slave. 1t makes
credulity virtue and knowledge a
crime, and do not propose to be made
a slave.''