Blue-grass blade., 1895-08-04

do not believe ! was wrong in saying
that the gospel writer was not as careful
as he might have been; for Galilee had
given birth to at least two of the most
distinguished Jewish prophets.
"They brought the ass and colt and
/ put on them their clothes and set him
thereon" You have not so far explained
in a satisfactory manner how Jesus
could have ridden into Jerusalem on an
ass and colt. This strikes me as being
rather a curious little episode. I have
often seen two people riding on one
horse, but never before heard of one
person riding on two horses. All can
say is that hope the Nazarene enjoyed
his ride.
Another thing that never stated be-
fore is that the inspired author here
leaves us with the impression that the
disciples dressed the ass and colt up i'll
their clothes-a thing that is not done
in these days. With some show of reas-
on you might have apologiled for the
| apparent error in this case, by saying
that it was zeugms, and that the pro-
noun them" referred to the disciples
who accompanied Jesus. There is moth
ing whatever III rhetoric though, to sus-
tain you in the explanation you give OF
| that wonderful ride. Neither is it a
| figure common in all literature, nor can
it be explained away by saying that il
is closely allied to zeugna, and that the
pronoun them" refers to the word gar
ments. The Interpretation you give only
makes the meaning more obscure than
ever before.
| believe that was quite right in say
ing that the paragraph quoted above is
an instance of bad grammar. 1t is equal
ly as faulty as one ! remember seeing in
Reed & Kelloggs grammar: "A man was
digging a well with a Roman nose.
Had the words of Matthew concerning
the ass and the colt been found in any
other book than the Bible, they might
have appeared in some little grammar
under Errors to be corrected" and
some people are inclined to think that
nearly the whole Bible might reasonably
appear under such heading, instead oi
under "Holy Bible" But we must re-
member that God inspired that book,
and we dare not question divine author.
ity. And since we have found it to be a
fact that Inaccuracies of language and
discrepancy OF statements in the
Bihlc oi1.y 10 &c the more conclusively
that the religion of Christ is true, l will
say nothing more of this for the present
but will pass on to another part of your
reply.
1t seems to me that you occupied a
great deal of time and a great deal of
the queens English in answering what
you choose to call my main objection to
Christianity, namely, that the Bible has
wrought more misery and done more
harm than all other books in the world
combined. Although you, yourself, ad-
NIT that there is a qualified sense in
which this argument is true, you then
go on to say that jesus forestalled my
argument by his own admission that he
came to bring sword. You also refer
me to an infidel writer in order to prove
the superior morals of the Nazarene, and
then you say you will leave myself and
Mr.. Moore to adjust the difference OF
opinion that exists between US.
Yes, there is, indeed, quite an import
ant sense in which this stock argument
of the infidel is true. So pitifully do
you lament the fate of the sanity Chris
tians who kissed the hand that gave
them their death blow. Listen to what
Gibbon-the ever impartial Gibbon-
says: "There is a melancholy truth
Il WAlSh OOlAuuCo 1851 Oh thC iCAuNedhs
mind, that even admitting all that his
ed, on the subject of martyrdom, it must
in the course of their intestine dissen-
sions, have inflicted far greater severi-
ties on each other, than they have ever
received from the zeal of unbelievers
decline and Fall of Rome, chap. 10y.
i
on Luther by his Catholic opponents
was exceedingly mild in quality and
gentle in spirit, when compared with
the brutal deuunciations by that same
Luther of Copernicus, and a score OF
other great thinkers, of whom the inf
dels may justly be proud. Whenever
think of the many centuries that Liber'
ty lay wounded and bleeding, and lying
PROSTATE at the feet of the church oi
the brutal assassination of pagan Hypa.
tia by Christian prelates; of the manifold
miseries that belief in witchcraft engen-
dered; of Bruno and his unjust suffer
ings and tragic death; of Vanini and the
merciless tortures to which he was sub
jected by believers in the blessed gospel
of Calico being a prisoner in the In
QUESTION, when he was old and very
much enfeebled in health; OF the burn.
ing of Servetus by the founder of the
Presbyterian church; of the Holy Wars
and the dungeons Of the Inquisition; oi
the bloody prosecutions that were di.
rected without cause against the Moors
of Spain, the Vaudois, Albigenses, Wal.
denses and Huguenots of France; of the
Puritans and their barbarous laws; can
only say that rather than come to de-
stroy peace and bring sword, it would
have been far better for all humanity
had the founder Of our religion remain
ed away.
Paul said "He who teaches any other
doctrine than this preach unto you. lei
him be accursed!" And his followers
have done as he bade them do. Pau
did not know that one school house OF
the hill is more ennobling to the human
mind than thousand grand cathedrals
that one teacher is worth more than
thousand preachers, and that the grand
est piece Of mechanism in all the worlC
is the brain of a thinker.
The pagans never antagonized learn
ing. ut is fact never to be forgotten,
writes Ernest Renan, in his history o