The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1909-08-21

faith loses its hold upon the children oS
men. One thing Is remarkable In the
statistics of suicide. and that is the
disproportion Of women to men, Wn.s
men are supposed to believe more aud
trust more deeply than men, and In ona
list of one hundred and sixty-six cases,
where suicide was attributed to wear.
mess Of life. there were found but sig
women to one hundred men. It 10
known that among Germans who on.
deavor to act out their faith, as the
Catholics and Lutherans, suicide Is all
most unknown. So that it is not to be
attributed to a national temperament,
but to loss of faith and of hope which
makes life wearisome. 1t is remarked
of the Irish who have faith that suicide
is almost unheard of amongst them,
and this Ia to be attributed. at least
to a great extent. to the influence of
that faith upon them In the hour, of,
their trying Affections. Some have as.
serted that 1t is rather pugnacity than
piety. An Irishman does not like to
be beaten In fight. even In the night
Of life," and regards suicide as an, act
Of cowardice, which, in truth. 1t 10.
But this is not SUFFICIENT to account tor
his victory over affliction. .5ssi5s:lt..s
1 might continue to show you that
doctrines underlie and give motive to
all the great works Of Christian
civilization. To expect effects with
out causes, to tear up the root and
the stem and hope that the flower and
the fruit will remain, to attempt to
retain the morality Of Christianity
without its doctrinal teaching Is 4s
illogical as 1t is destructive Of true
civilization. .+ &
think 1 can already SEQ in the coma
parative levity with which men begin
to regard the great crime of perjury and
In the fact that 1t Is not as certainly
and as severely punished now as in
former times evidence Of the effect Of
neglecting to realize the Importance
of doctrinal teaching. Prejury sup
poses belief in two great truths: First,
that God may be called to witness what
we state; second, that He will punish
any man who calls on Him to witness
a lie as the truth. In proportion to the
depth Of our faith in these truths IL
our dread Of perjury. II we deny them
entirely, perjury is no more than
lying. which is proverbially easy to
many people. have shown how many
other great conservative influences do.
pend on faith in doctrines. and must
fall with that faith.
But some one may say that 1t Is uts
terly impossible that we should 30
back to the paganism from which
Christianity has liberated us. There
is no danger Of our going back to
precisely the old forms of that pa
ganism. Yet we must remember
that human nature is always the
same, and that mere culture will not
save us. We have no greater nor as
great poets as Horace and Virgil, no
greater nor as great orators as Ci-
cero, no greater moralist outside the
pale OF Christianity than Seneca, and
yet they could not save society from
the civilized barbarism of paganism.
We must remember that though the
new religion of the future of which,
some men dream may not be called
paganism, it is paganism under ait-
other name. We occasionally heargof
the religion Of humanity" What II
this but paganism which deified zalls
that was true and beautiful and good.
with all that was vile in our nature,
and called these things by various
names, the deities o. its religion? II
any one whispered to the infidel
philosophers of France who sought the
destruction of the Christian religion
that the day would come when they
would find themselves worshipping at
a pagan altar, they would have smiled
in derision. But false principles soon
act themselves out into institutions.
Human reason WAS deifed and the god
dess Of reason-a dancing Girl Of Paris
stood on the high altar Of Notra
y 49,. n