The Irish standard., 1896-01-11

personal interest can inspire. But ire
ligion is utterly powerless to master hu-
man passion, and subdue the perversity
of a corrupt heart. 1t has no power over
evil, for it's motives for resisting evil are
wholly insufficient to curb the cupidity
of man. In fact, if there be no God and
future life, there is in reality neither vice
nor virtue, and all morality is mere
sham.
Leaders of rationalism in our day, in
fuenced by the natural virtues which
God has planted in the human heart, and
also by the hallowed traditions, that
have made Justice and virtue favorites
among civilized nations, may themselves
have escaped the blighting curse Of the
destructive doctrines which they have
scattered broadcast in human society.
Their inclinaticns may not have led
them to the indulgence of gross vices, or
serious crime. But when their victims
are seduced by passion, or fascinated by
the alluring charms of pleasure, profit or
power, they can find in their inconsis-
tent philosophy no argument to convince
the reason, or to persuade the will
against evil.
Ingersoll defends the greatest crime of
WdANA 1CSpOAAo1O1C Ilell1 CtAl1 bS guilty ,CuC
horrid crime of suicide, and his super
stitious disciples are dumb in the pres
ence of this monstrous fiend of humani-
tvs welfare Harry Hayward goes to
the scaffo1d, his hands red with the blood
of his innocent victims, with a laugh on
his lips, defiant of God and man, but en-
couraged in his sinful life by the rawlings
of Ingersoll, who in his madness tells
him that religion is lie that God is, a
myth, conjured up by a designing priest
hood, that all is over when the grave is
entered, and hence he need not regret
the dark deeds of misspent life, for the
grave covers all there is, and in it's silent
bed, vice and virtue find alike sweet re-
pose in an eternal night.
The human mind can conceive Of moth
ing in this world more destructive Of hui
man happiness, more fatal to humanity s
welfare, than the influence of irreligion
1t tramples upon the most ennobling i'm
pulses Of the human heart, in telling man
that he is in the world without a certain
purpose. and that all is darkness beyond
the grave. The uncertainty of future
life, very naturally suggests to every
can out of this. The world, according to
AAAS1AS1OA1y CAASIo oolCiJ AOl uuuldA udp-
piness and joy. If this be SO. whatever
stands in the way of such happiness as
the heart of man longs for, must yield to-
the imperious demand of the human
heart for. pleasure. Irreligion has no
pity for human misfortune, no sympathy
for human sorrow, no consolation to Of
fer those who in this life SO often suffer
from the inequalities of our social con-
.ditions. This life would be intolerabl
to man, and this world the most accursed
hell to live in if irreligion were able to
gain control over the thoughts of men.
But an all-wise Creator, wo UNDER
stands the needs Of the hearts He has
made, fills them with comforting hope of
justice and mercy in better and hap
pier world. He has planted in the heart
of man an Unsuitable longing for immor-
tality. He will satisfy that longing,
which heaven alone can fill. Irreligion
has never been able to organize human
society. It contains not one single germ
of life, not one element Of progress It
may attempt to destroy what religion
has erected, but it exerts a power for
death, not life, over all hopes and aims
of men.