Bluefield evening leader. [volume] (Bluefield, W. Va.) 1906-1911, 1908-02-15


entitled The Conflict of Christianity
with Heathenism,' with these
words: An age which has become
unsettled in its faith is wont to
lay the greater stress upon mortlity.
Our own age of Illuminism, for in
stance-how prone Il was TO moral
izing. What voluminous compends
OF ethics, what a food OF moral ser
mons. moral tales. moral songs.
what space was given in the cathe-
chisms to lessons on the virtues. or
which too many could not be emu
merated! There was a consciousness
that something had been lost. and
at the same time an unwillingness
to acknowledge it; a misgiving that
without faith morality also must
decline. and a desire to prove, at
least by words and looks, that this
was not so. AIen would gladly have
kept the frlit although they had
cut of the roots. They had so much
TO say about the fruit because they
wished to persuade themselves that
this was still uninjured. But soon
enough it appeared that with the
root the fruit itself was irrecover-
ably lost"
These profound observations con-
tain a much needed warning for our
own times. Ia recent years we have
had D,ucb ,,ncattlap,apt Ofa faitb in
some quarters coupled with much
defamation about "the ethical sys-
tenn of Jesus" Men have adjured the
Christian world to have done with
dogmas and oreeds, and 'to go back"
Gas they said) to the simplicity OF
the Sermon on the Mount and the
Ten Commandments And yet some
OF these same men have presently
fallen to atomiziing the Sermon OF
the Mount and reducing it's frag-
ments to a bundle of unauthorita-
tive and almost unauthenticated say
ings of one whom they prefer to call
1.-The Master" rather than the
Lord or the Saviour" and they
have made the Decalogue 30 be n
sort of plagiarism by Morse, or, at
best. no more than a revised code of
Babylon
1t is well enough for us to under
stand once for all that the Sermon
on the Mount" stands or falls with
the Preacher on the Mount, and that
when we have destroyed faith in
His divinity we will have overthrow
the authority of His teaching. If He
is no more Il an a great teacher, He
is not that much; nay, If He be no
more than teacher He is surely
q great imposter.
We cannot uproot faith without
whitening morality. We cannot have
the fruit of goodness when we have
pulled up the tree of goodness.
It is passing strange that men
covet an athcistical morality even II
it were possible They seem to feel,
however, that they cannot get on at
all without morals, although they
wish to be rii OF God. They are quite
right as TO their inability to get on
without general morality. Society
crumbles into wreck and ruin when
moral principles decay. There is nc
power in wealth, refinement, educa-
ton, nor in any other agency Ia
save the social system from destruc-
ton when it has lost its ethical
basis. The history of the world in
all ages teaches this If IL teaches
anything at ALL That history teaches
also that decadent faith is the
forerunner of decadent morality and
social corruption.
Washington called attention ia
this fact in his ever-memOrable
Farewell Address He said: cot
all the dispositions and habits which
lead to political prosperity. religion
and morality are indispensable sup
ports. In yail would that man claim
the tribute Of patriotism who would
labor to subvert these great pillar
of human happiness, these frmest
props OF the duties of men and citl.
zens. The mere politician. equally
with the piOJs man. ought to respect
and to cherish them. A volume could
not trace all their connections with
private and public felicity. Let 70 be
simply asked, where is the security
for property, for reputation. fol
life, n the sense Of religious obi
cation desert the oaths which arc
the Instruments Of investigation On
courts of Justice? And let as with
caution indulge the supposition tina.
morality can be maintained without
religion. whatever may be conceded
to the influence Of refined education
on the minds Of peculiar structure
reason and experience both forbid
us to expect that national morality
can prevail ia exclusion Of religious
liberty"
About that time Mr. Jefferson wal
revising the gospels by eliminating
the miraculous from them and b,
leaving out Of them the Christ o.
the gospels. He made small bool