The Washington times., 1905-03-18

a Christian nation In this he is mis-
taken. l called on Mr.. Justice Brewer
and learned from him that the only
thing the Supreme Court has decided
Is that a good many people have de-
clared this to be a Christian nation
Decalogue Inadequate.
The Rev. DR.. McKin, of the commit
tee,wants the Ten Commandments paint
ed on the inside Of every school room,
and thinks that such a blazoning would
make us an upright people. Would it
Does he forget how very fragmentary
and Inadequate the Decalogue Is and how
fantastic and chimericaI is the Sermon
on the Mount.
The commandments would teach the
pupil that every Saturday must be a
day of worship and that he must not
carve any image; but what would they
teach him concerning some OF their
very commonest of crimes?
Where would he find commandments
against slave holding, against gambling,
against bigamy, against Drunkenness
against treason, against tyranny, against
kidnapping, against 5IaekInail, against
incendiartsrn. against torture. against
ny, against abuse of animals, against
forgery, against arsop, against wife
beating, and half a dozen other crimes
that are better unnamed?
/ Not Peculiar to Bible.
Undoubtedly the teaching of some of
the moral lessons of the New Tesla
ment are wholesome. But as far as
they are wholesome they are not pc
culiar to the New Testament Whatever
| is good in the New Testamtnt is old
indeed, very old, Almost everything new
! Is bad
How long does Bishop Satterlee sup
hot
| list If it's citizens took no thought for the
| future; turned the other cheek when
| they were assaulted; trusted to heaven
| for food, clothing. and shelter; gave to
d cloak on every thief that had stolen a
coat: preferred q bad reputation to q
good one, and thought it blessed thing
when all men spoke i'll of them? Could
| It continue civilized a year?
! To make this language sane, the bislI-
| op will probably insist that the Bible
| does not mean what it says; but would
| he tolerate such an explanation in be-
| half of the Koran?
Savage Codes as Complete.
| Savages In painless wilderness have
code of morals. at least as complete
as the Deca1ogue; the Peruvians under
the Incas had an elaborate ethical sys-
TEN; the Assyrians had a code Of morals
under which they prospered highly,
long before Eve conversed with the
snake or Cain went down to the land of
Nod and took him a wife; in the Egyp-
| tian Book of the Dead, In the Congress
| sional Library, is a moral code far bet
! ter than that of the Bible that was
| written 5000 years before Moses was
| found in the bulTushes, and may still
! be read in hundreds of original manu-
scripts three times as old as those of
| the Old Testament.
The morality of the Old Testament is
about the worst ever bequeathed TO the
| children of men. 1t is so rank in spots
that 1t would cause a moral earthqua Ike
and vocal volcano if DR.. McKim would
read it to his congregation,
/ JehoVah's faVorites, Abraham. Isaac
/ Jacob, Lot, David Moses, Joshua. seem
TO have been authorized by him 10 lie,
| steal, and ravish, to massacre men,
! women. and children in helpless viii
lagos. and to distribute the young fe-
males to the soldiers of Israel with the
| regularity of their rations. If there are
| ViIer conquerors than these in history
they have escaped my attention
Place for Bible Study.
There are people in Washington who
like TO have these things taught to their
children I do not object 1t is their
right.
But / do object to theology or reIi-
gion in any form being taught in the
public schools at the public expense
If taught anywhere. ii should be taught
In the church. the Sunday school and
the home. The churches in this city
have so little self-respect that they will
ingly and gladly shirk their taxes an6
compel the poorest people in Washing
| ton to help support their ministers anC
keep their edifices in order.
Would 1t not be adding gross insult
| TO material injury to make of every
grammar school Sunday school annex
| without any regard 70 the wishes of the