Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-11-22
The Blasting Experiment of
An At1eistic Moralit,


viction that a revival of religion is need
ed in the United States to check an in
creasing immortality in the land. Even
secular papers. including such periodi-
Gals as the WALL STREET JOURNAL,
are calling for a revival. The necessity
for such a religious renovation is quite
manifest. The appalling excuses which
are reported daily show how imperative
is the need.
But there Is a goddess morality preva-
lent which also emphasizes the urgent
necessity of a revival. We have had
much talk of what is called practical
christianity in which there has been
manifest desire to have morality apart
from any reference to the will of God
and wholly with reference to convenient
and comfortable conditions in the world
that now is. An ideal of goodness has
been set forth that is entirely and of pur-
pose goddess The character thus depict
ed in books and papers, and in some pull
pits, has been a good man" who was
not religious. AS he is commonly rep
resented, his goodness is such that IL
might have sprung up though the Chris
tian revelation had never been given,
or though the New Testament had per-
ished ages since and Christ had never
died and risen again. This imaginary
good man. is never represented as ex-
pressing any sense of need OF Christ or
any devotion to the Saviour of the world
He never acknowledges any obligation TO
the Son of God for pardon or peace; d.
vine injunctions have no place in his life
as the laws of the virtues he claims; di-
vine promises are not the ground of his
hopes or his consultations; divine truth
| has no authority over his thoughts nor
effect on his beliefs; Christian ordinan-
ces are not required by him for the nour-
| ishment of his moral nature or the cul-
| tivation of the excellencies which MS
eulogists ascribe to him; he knows MOTH
| ing of spirituality, and adopts a certain
proud virtuousness as becoming TO ms
dignity and position in life. II we could
| ina CINE such a man spending an even
| ing with st. Paul. we would have 10
think of him as listening to the Apostle
with condescending pity, or utter m
capacity for understanding what mlght
| he meant by the great servant or Christ
vhon speaking of the love or CHRIST
constraining a man, or not hVns "
ones self but living to Him VINO oieu
| for us and rose again, ana OF kho"ins
"the mower of His resurrection ana De.
inc made conformable unto His death.
such a man by no possibility could I'M
darstand st Paurs ardent devouon 10
Tasus And they who admire this cnar-
actar ~ Imaginary worldly goodness can
-. ,,ndarstand ST. Paul. The measure
of their incapacity to understand the
Anostle Is the exact measure OF the IN
christian and atheistic condiuon OF tnSir
hearts and lives. They are Simply 49,
ont God in the world! and IL they couio
maintain a decent and comfortapAe
MORALITY without reference to Goo tney
would he glad to hear no ABOUT any
cunreme Being In the universe. But
n,itbout the God OF the Bible they can
~ have the morality of the Biole' nor
anv other sort of morality long.
II viii be noted that this atheistlc NOR
atty omits entirely the noblest ana avn
est elements in Christian morahts; ChIIe'
hagan the Sermon on the Mount oy pro-
eano,ng blessings upon the poor In
,.,.;t,, "the meek, the mercifuf
sthnsa that mourn, chose that hunger
ond thirst after : righteousness ths
nure in heart, 1.-THE peace-makers anu
CHOSE who are prosecuted for righteous
nass sate', Now, here are q group OF
,,,rt,,as of which these atheistic morailsts
rnow nothing and care nothing. Tney 40
not use the word "righteousness IN lns
Same sense in which Jesus USED the TER IN
when he uttered 1t on the MOUNT. Ihon
conception of righteousness Is much nea1
! =. ~ Convention of the Scribes and
pharisees of whom Jesus said, Except
,,o,,rr righteousness exceed the righteous
zee oF the scribes and Pharisees, ye snaIi
;v No case enter the kingdom OF heaven :
Thev do not know what the Master
meant by the words "kingdom OF heAs-
en-" They think he meant somethins III
the future life and any idea OF that sort
IS unwelcome to them. His ioea OF q
kingdom of God on the earth, eomposeo
Of souls who recognize Christ as their
Linr and maintain unbroken their al
iarrterca m Him. is quite foreign TO their
r,SoIa goddess system of morality.
II Il evident we can not have the moral
,+v of the Sermon on the Mount without
faith in the Preacher OF that sermon.
Apart from Him, II Is an "trfdescent
draan,p. This morality of the Sermon on
the Mount is not the morality our atheis-
tic moralists want
IT is worthy of observation tnat tne
moralities upon which they put emphasis
have to do with the relations OF time
onlv. and are mostly concerned with COM
mercial needs Their stock phrases are
..husiness honour, commercial integri-
tv,' and "a square DEAL. Their benevo-
| lence consists in relief of bodily wants
only. such as feeding the poor ana the
like. They have no idea that the poor
have any other sort OF wants, and their
whole system proceeds on the notion that
suffering, not sin, is the worst thing IN
the universe Since they make so little
| of sin, they set up great demand for
charity with a view to screening their
own ems from condemnation, and their
maxim for charity is that charity suf-
fereth long and Is blind, form OF
speech far removed from st. Pauis dec
Iaration that charity suffereth long and
| is kind. They are extremely fond or
connecting themselves with some man
made society or order, and declaring how
much better 1t Is than the Church OF God.
Put in a word, their whole scheme
of morality issues from q germinal
center OF worldly selfishness. It's APP
parent benevolence is tainted with this
touch of time and earth. 1t has no
outlook on eternity and cares nothing
for eternal things. Being thus de-
cayed at the core, their system can
not long preserve itself from decaying
even in those things which 1t asserts
are important, A goddess system OF
morals was never yet able to maintain
kill 70 NUN