Kansas City daily journal., 1896-12-07

| Europe, Leo " termbled upon his throne
| and the Reformation moved on like re-
s3stless tide. Men for the first time knew
that there was such a thing as freedom.
| They arose in the strength of their God
given powers and asserted their tnde-
pendence. Every fair minded man must
concede that We are indebted to Luther,
the Christian, and not to Voltaire, the in
fdel, for our civil and religious liberty.
Another infidel who came in for his
share of euiogy upon that occasion was
Spinoza, the partheist He was brilliant
in intellect. but his reasoning led him to
false conclusions. His bold assertion was,
Whatever is, is Cod His life was spent
| in search of absolute principles. Why
should We look upon Spinoza as one of the
worlds great benefactors? What great
truth did he discover? He succeeded. as
he thought, in destroying the belief in a
personal God. If that had been accomplish
ed would that have made the world bet
ter or added to the sum OF human haPpl-
ness?
In contrast with him we place Sir
Isaac Newton, the 'devout and imDarish-
able. He, too, was d student of nature.
His study of nature led him to a belief in
g. personal God whom he loved 10 worship.
Do you ask what Christian Newton did for
the race? He discovered differentiaI cal
culus' and made known to the world the
law of universal gravitatiOn, which La
place pronounced as 'pre-eminent above all
other productions Of the human intellect
Another great name in the infideI world
Is that Of DideroT. He taught infidelity un-
der the sJlise Of intellectual advancement
and paved the way for the coming of the
French revolution, which dissolved society
and Redeemed the streets of Paris with flu-
man blood. He polluted the youthful mind
of France with his indecent novels He
abandoned his lawful wife and made al
lances with women of dfsreVute
Rising far above him in glory is Fr-arris
Bacon. by lbs inductive method of phil
osophy he has revoluionzed modern sci
cnces.
Let US now place side by side two
Scotchmen. David Hume and Thomas Chal-
nsrs- Hume was great metaphysician
He was a sceptic from early manhood. He
was the great apostle of doubt His great
IrhSSion in life was to destroy the basis of
all certainty. He called in question the
testimony of the senses, which IS the basis
OF all knowledge. He then threw doubt
over all history by calling in question the
basis of hrr1?an testimony He stands be-
fore us as the bTaZen iconcclast seeking the
destruction Of all faith and morals.
over against him we place the name of
Thomas Chalmers, the scholar, the philan-
thropist and Christian. He was the brave
defender of religious freedom and the first
moderator of the Free church OF Scotland.
we now place in bold contrast two En-
glishmen. Bth lived in this country; both
eXerted a mighty influence over our home
and national life-Tom Paine ard John
Wesley. Paine was a vigorous writer, but
gave to the world no new or original
thought. His Age of Reason is but a
restatement of earlier infidels He was a
patriot of the type of the Wandering
Jew'-wherever fame and fortune lent its
charms. he was there to reap the harvest.
His notoriety is due largely to the bold
ness of his infidelity. He is remembered
just as Judas Iscariot and Benedict Arnold
are remembered, for their perfidy and dis
loyalty. In sublime contrast, let us re-
call the life and character of John Wesley.
What is the spiritual progeny of these two
men? Gather together all the infidels and
atheists all who pour out contempt upon
law and order, all who would dethrone
virtue and enthrone vice, and you have
the spiritual progeny of Tom Paine. On
the other hand follow the influence of John
Wesley; it has gone round the world Let
the millions of earth cultured, pious
Christians tell of the benevolence of his
life and character His influence is felt
in schools of learning, in houses of mercy,
IN halls of justice, in marts of trade, re-
forming the drunkard, lifting up the fallen,
cheering the discouraged. and giving to the
hungry the bread of eternal Iife"