Omaha daily bee., 1897-02-28

\ Divine Founder of Christianity and full con-
| idence in the provisions that He has made
for the purity and perpetuity OF His doctrines
| until the end of time, according to His
solemn promises, l deem it proper for a
critic Of history to point out clearly and
forcibly the attacks made upon the Christian
church In the writings of thoughtless, reck-
| less or imprudent historians. l thus echo
| the words uttered by Cousin, when the
| Illusions of life were dispeled by the light
| of eternity, which was beginning to irradiate
| his purified heart: Measure your progress
| in philosophy by the growth of the tender
yeneration which you feel for the religion
of the gospel
WILLFUL UNTRUTHS.
5. There remains one manner of false state
ments in history to which / must call the
readers attention. 1t is less common than
| some other manners of Justification, but when
1t does occur 1t brands the historian who
stoops to the use of 1t with the darkest
stain of infamy. 1t is the willful statement
by writer of what he knows to be untrue.
Macauley accuses Milford of this crime
Essays, Mltford's Greece. "Such an ac-
cusation," he says. SHOULD not be made with
cut being supported, ana l will therefore
select one out OF many passages which will
FULLY substantiate the charge and convict
Mr.. Milford of wlllful misrepresentation or
of negligence scarcely less culpable." We
will select 4 case In point from Gibbon' S
decline and Fall OF the Roman Empire"
but 1t Is case in which the excuse of
negligence is entirely out OF the question and
in which the purpose of the falsehood Is most
directly at variance with the chief purposes of
history.
A few words about Gibbon himself will
help us to understand the spirit of his work
He was born in 1887, of a respectable Eng.
lish family. From his early years he dis
played a thoughtful mind and excessive fond
ness for reading. That he was unusually
precocious Will appear from his attempt, at
the age of 10, to write an historical dis
QUESTION on the age Of SesCstrs. That same
year he was sent to the Oxford university
There he devoted portion of his time to
an assiduous perusal of the controversies
between the Protestants and Catholics, and
at last determined to act on his convictions
and embrace the Catholic faith. During one
of his excursions to London he was received
into the Church of Rome on June g. 1853
He entrusted the matter to no one, it seems,
but his father who, in q towering rage, at
once made known his secret to the au-
ttorities OF the university. He was in con-
sequence, dismissed from Oxford, and soon
after banished by his angry parents to Ian
same, In Switzerland. There he was lodged
at the house OF learned Calyinist minister
DR.. Pavilliard, both in punishment for his
fault OF following his own judgment In re-
ligious matters and In the hope that the min
ister's learned conversations would soon en-
tighten his youthful mind. The ennui of his
Punishment, the scantiness of the spending
money allowed him, the ayarice of Nina
Pavilllard, who almost starved him with
hunger and cold, all thess proved a stronger
temptation to his courage than the clergy.
mans reasoning proved against his faith.
He had now TO choose between sort OF
martyrdom and surrender. His courage was
shaken; he was but boy of II. He began,
says hi9 bographer. Guizot, ito seek in good
earnest for arguments which might bring
him back to faith less painful to support.
1t Is seldom the case" he adds that in
argument one seeks In vain for that which
he ardently seeks to find He discovered by
his own understanding an argument agalnsl
transubstantlation. This argument produced
his recantation OF popery. which was made
with as much readiness and sincerity as
had been, eighteen months before his alb
juration OF Professionalism"
FROM RELIGION TO SKEPTICISM
Whatever may be thought OF the sincerity
OF such conversion the subject of this petty
persecution ceased to be a Catholic, with
out. however, becoming a good Protestant;
one does not become an honest believer on
compulsion. "All this" says Guzot caused
in his mind a skepticsm upon all kinds Of
religious belief. and a disposition TO doubt
arguments which appear the most solid" +"
Gradually he ceased to believe in Christianity
In any OF it's phases; he considered it as an
incubus on Europe, and he began to regret
the fall OF ancient paganism. In these dis
positions of mind he undertook to compose
work which should make Europe regret the
triumph OF Christianity over the paganism