Blue-grass blade., 1895-08-04

the "Origin Of Christianity" "that in
the Roman Empire liberty of thought
was absolute. From Nero TO Constan-
tine, no thinker or savart was ever
troubled in his researches. All sects
that tolerated other sects were allowed
to live in their ease in the Empire
What caused the Christians to be so
constantly prosecuted was theil intoler
ance, their spirit Of exclusion. Their
attity,le was disdainful, when il was not
/ provoking. They had thu mania of v.yf
| tyrdom upon them. Far from making
common cause with the good citizens
and helping to defend the Fatherland,
ey'triumphed in its misfortuues."
However, it is useless for me to pur.
sue this point any farther You are ac-
quainted with these things as well as
myself 1t is scarcely just to condone,
in the Christian religion, crimes, that i'll
our eyes would blacken any other relig
ION aad stamp it forever false. We need
not apologize for it by pointing to the
superior morals of Jesus Christ for you
have already admitted that Confucius
taught the golden rule, the most excel.
| lent moral precept ever known to hui
manity, five hundred years before the
coming of Christ
Christ made mistakes just like the
rest Of us do. Judging from the char
acter depicted in the gospels, he was no
doubt very sweet and lovely in many
ways, but there is nothing whatever to
indicate that he was infallible; and with
the additional experience of the nine
teenth century we Can have grander
thoughts and do grander deeds than he
ever dreamed of. Mr.. Moore admires
him, as he has the peefect right to do;
but it is not incumbent on me to agree
with him, so why need we adjust the
difference of opinion" that exists be-
tween us? I think though, that Mr.
Moore's views of the historical Jesus
| have undergone little modification.
And so far as the influence Of Christ is
concerned, l think / remember his
saying in his lecture before the press
men last winter, that future generations
would look upon Edison as greater
benefactor than Christ. do not think
my memory is in fault here, although
have no Blade of that date to verify my
statement beyond doubt.
| You have indeed, Mr.. Williams, pro-
posed neat little scheme for getting
religion into people, but unfortunately
there is nothing new about the idea.
Tom Sawyer's logic (which you think
would be such an excellent tonic for per-
verse young men, and presume for
lperverse young ladies' alsol has been
used by Christians from time immemo-
rial, and think it is not at all unlikely
that some parents resort to the same
means now, in order to make respecta-
BILE Sunday School teachers out of their
children, and whenever see little boy
Of tender years, whose heart ought to be
as pure and guileless as flower, pound
| ing a defenseless little sparrow with
stones just for the pleasure of seeing its
sensitive little limbs quiver with pain.
have often thought that a little less re-
ligion and little more sympathy taught
him for sentient creatures would be bet
| ter for the boy. 1t is not difficult to ac
count for such cruelty. His parents have
pounded him with religion, and in re-
turn he pounds the poor little sparrow
with the stone. ~ will tell you what is
at the bottom of it all" a friend remark
ed to me few days since. "Our relig-
ion is founded on blood; it was perpetu-
ated by blood; we are bloody race !"
But to proceed to the subject of the
Hindu Christina, about which l have
very little to say. The spelling of Chrish-
mas name rests on the high authority
of Sir VIM. Jones, (also that the word
Christina means the SUM and it is very
useless, indeed for any of US to contra
dict it. You yourself have admitted the
striking similarity between the myths
connected with these two gods, and you
| say that from these facts, infidels have
argued with some show of reason that
the writers of the Gospels have only
reproduced in their life of Jesus some of
the legends of the Hindus" But then
we read that, after all, infidels are wrong
aud that orthodox antiquarians, who
have gone into the reconciling business
and fixed things up to suit themselves
have, you say demonstrated that "the
legend of Christina in its complete
NEUROLOGICAL FORM" was unheard of un-
til after the introduction of Christianity.
and until after the Christian missionar-
les had gone out into all parts of the
world. ut is very unfortunate for such
demonstrations" says Godfrey Higgins,
a great Orientalist and q learned and
sincere Christian, in his excellent work
on the Celtic Druids, "that the statue of
this god is to be found in the oldest
caves and temples, throughout all India.
10 II has been moreover satisfac-
torily proved, on the authority of pas
| sage in Adrian, that the worship OF
Christina was practiced in the time of
Alexander the Great $3.50 years before
Christi, at what still remains one of the
most celebrated temples of India, the
temple of Mathura on the Jumna, the
Matura Deorum of Ptolemy." The Rev.
Mr.. Morris whom you cite as authority,
is quoted by Higgins as seying that "the
principal pagodas of India, namely those
Of Benares and Mathura, are built in the
form of crosses" Placing the story of
Christina at later date than the story
of Christ has already been denounced
by honest Investigators, as "wretched
shifts to save Christianity"
Trying to save it will do no good, as
it is not on a parallel with humanity's
! grandest thought, and leader of the
great scientific movements. Arabian
genius lifted Europe once above the
mud ana mire of orthodox Christianity,
but she sank back again, and afterwards
America sank also into an intellectual
torper, from which the infidels of the
past few centuries have been rescuing
them step by step.
Right here wish to say something
about Mohammedanism, to which we
owe debt of gratitude. Not to the
I Mohammedan religion, but to the