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TRUE^ RELIGION
VERSi
CREEDS AND DOGMAS
A DISCUSSION
— HKTWEKN —
IWO CLERGYMEN, A LAYMAN
AND
ALLEN PRINGLE.
Printed by C. M. Ellis & Co., log Adelaide St. West
For the Canadian Secular Union.
1894.
PRICE FIFTEEN CENTS-
)
INTRODUCTION.
•TrsT pHivioiis to tlic ricbiscitti vote taken in tliis pro-
vince in Jiinuiiry lust on the (luestion of I'loljihition,
tliere appeared in the Napanec Express a nmnifesto, sul)-
seipiently known as the " Deanery Letter," sij^'iied hy
K. II. M. Ijaker, lleetor, IJath : Stearne Ti;,'he, M.\.,
Hector, Anilier.st Ishincl ; H. S. Forneri, JJ.D,, Hector,
Adoli)hustown ; A. Jarvis, M.A., Itector, Nai)anee ; J. H.
Serson, M.A., lncnnii)ent, Tannvorth ; V. I). Woodcock,
Incumbent, Camden East ; Robert Atkinson, Incumbent,
Selby ; and F, T. Dibb, Incumbent, Odessa.
While the trend of the letter was dtridedly adverse to
le^'al prohibition, the immoderate use of intoxicating,'
Ii(luors was* str()n<j;ly condennied, and " temperance i)i
all thing's " as stronj^dy approved. Total abstinence as
a voluntary })rinciple was commended for those who
chose to adopt it, yet the Church of En^dand, says the
epistle, " imposed no such rule upon its members," as
" Gospel temperance is not necessarily (as some say)
total abstinence." The principle of le;^al in-ohibition is
" unscriptural," they say, and hence " repugnant to our
conscience and our reason ;" and the movement by
•• those extremists" to " fly to the secular arm of the
law to brin<,' about that which the tin<,'er of (iod a[)pa-
rently could not accomplish " they str()n<j;ly deprecate.
In view of the virulent controversy which this docu-
ment gave rise tO between its authors and Methodist
ministers of the county, it must be, in justice to the for-
mer, stated that the epistle was addressed, not to the
^feneral public or the electors of the Hiding but, " to the
l\
fiiiiU i»f tile I'linil Dciiiit'i'v of rjt'iiiii>\ mid Atldiii^'toii.
hiocfsc of Oiifiirio." 'I'lic iimnifrsto uiul it> iiiitlioi-s
wurtf proiiiptiv iit.fiickcil In' tlm (•(♦•liciil i»roIiiltitioiiists.
uikI liciicf tlic rtisiiUiii^ coiitioversy in jtrrss uikI i)iil|til.
wliicli liisU'd sonic live iiioiil.lis ; uiid, striiM;;»' to say. the
whoUf lieiilt'd lo^^oiimrliy si-un'cly t.oii('li«M| ilic oiij^iiial
(|iU'st,ioii lis to the luci'ils or d(!nii'i"iis of U»^ii\ (U'oliilii-
tioii, or wlu'tluT |)i'oliil»itioii is srrii)(,iinil or iinscriptiinil.
ImiI was coiirnicd to minor side issues and personal
vitii[K'raiion,
That the writer of this was induced to take a hand in
the nielec is not in he wondered at, and his first hitter
whicii follows e\[tlains tht; ease. Kev. A. Jarvis, M.A.,
Hector of Na[uinee : Itev. Stearne Ti^die, M.A., Uector
<»f AuihcrsI Island, and James A. Ductiutre. U.A., a
learned layman, t^ntered tlusir defence, as the n^ader will
sec. When the l*«!ctor of Na[)anee pays me the comi)li-
ment he does in his last letter, in addition to the iuw
implied in his retreat from the held, and says I havt^
" tn'erythin^ to <^ain and nothinj.'; to lose hy controviM-sy,"
I am constraininl to regard the followin<i^ as the propei'
interpretation thereof :-'riu' ^reat clause I undertake to
chamj)ion, however feehly, is the Ciiiisc of Tnilli, and,
tluH't^fore. invulnerahle. Thus it is that I have " nothinj;'
to lose *' in such a field, for Truth cannot he lost. 1 hav(^
" everythinjf to jjjain," hecause in a fair and oi)en en-
counter error unist sutler, even in the ahlest hands, and
that of course is " j^ain " to the Truth. There was no
lack of learniu}:; or ahilitv on one side at least, and hence
its default nuist he set down to other and ohvious
causes.
The reader will ohserve that Mr. Ducentre, in his last
letter, intinuites his wish to '* exj)lieate that tou<;'h [u-o-
])lem that has always l>een such a sad diiliculty with
most — how it is that evil (in so many forms) is so preva-
It'lit ill )i fosinos ordciTil uiitl ciliiitMl l»\ ;i ^,,(,(1 ('it alor."
mid hoiiH! oilier tliiii^^s in " uiioflirr l«rt.r." Wlini I
fDiiiid flmt lli«' dihriiHhion wiis lo Im> itiihlislitMl liv fln«
Cibimdiuii SiM-iilur liiioii in its pirsnif foini. I \vi-oi(«
Mr. Diicmln', diicrtin^' his ntU'iition to the uliovc r\-
h-iirt from liih Irftcr. and iiiviliii;^ liim to address liiniM-lf
to tlu! '* I'Xplicution," wluii we would he ph-ased lo placf
his ar^^'miit'iit, ix-forti llie readers of this pamphlet -alon^',
of (M)iirHe. with hiu Ii reply us I mi«,'ht make. Mr. I)., I
ri'^'rei to say, failed to avail himself of the privilej^'n
extended.
ALLK.N IMIlNdl.K.
Selhy, Ontario, August, lH!)d.
1
TRUE RELIGION
VERSUS
CREEDS AND DOGMAS,
•«*^
I'l the I'.llilil' of till' I'.M'l.K .s.
TIIK 01)11 M TIIKOLOGK I'M,
])k.vii Silt, Willi piilinil, if not |)niy<'rful iitU'iition I
liiivo rend the disciissioii (or tiitlur (iiiunrl) whicli Itiis
luinii ^oiii},; on in llic " I''i\|)i«'ss' ;hiiI " litnivj-r" foi' some
\v»!(dvH [Mist iMitwtH'ii tlu' ch-rj^y of > I'f ( liri^tiiiii clmrcli
on one Hults iind the ministers of iiiiotluT Christi.iM dt -
noniinu'i-ion on tlic other sidi . It Ims oc«'"' rttd to hk
that " You'i'e another ! " ptdti'..^ of that smu woultl have
heen frowned down and shut otl" I<m ; n^o had the coni-
hatants <iidy h«'eii nationalists <> \;4nosties, instead of
Christians, Ihit it apjxMirs to depend altoj^ether on wlio>«'
o\ is ^ored. And it nnist he admit u-d that there is a
considerahle diflerenet! hetwet-n ;^'oi'iii<; somehody else and
<^orin^ eaeh othei'. For mystdf, I iun stron}^ly in favo''^
of free discussi<»n of i\iv jiroper and decent kind ; and as
to the other kind, it is not altogether without its advan-
taj^es. It has he<!n knowinjjjiy sai<l, and iulvised u.;. hest.
to always <j;iv(^ the " (hul " plenty of i(»i»e, and he will
use it erteetually on himself. I should not, theret(»r(\ if
I were in your plaet;, Mr. I'iditor, follow tlie advice of n
correspondent in your last issue, and shut of!" or choke off
the cond)atants in the present internecine stru<^'}f|e. For
two ^oo<l reasons am I in favor of the <;reiitest fr(fe<lom
of ti«^ht in all such matters. The thst is, when truth
and error are in conflict in a fair and open field, th(( re-
sult in the en<l is certain that truth will prevail: and,
in the second |)lace, when error is [)itted against error
(as would ai>})ear to he ahout the size of th(; prescnit
encounter), and the field of hattle is free and open to the
l)itter end, the issue will he difl'erent of coin-se, hut none
the less certain and sure, and that will he just the same
as the traditional one in the case of the Ivilkennv cats.
10
wlu're* iiotliin;j[ was left hiif (he tails and a profusion of
tlyiii}^ fur as meiuentocs of tlie ti<j;lit. Tliest; are iny
reasons, Mr. Editor, for troubling' you at this time l>y
lisinj^ to oi)i)ose the niotioii made hy " One of tlie (!om-
luon People " in your last issue to eall off " the do^s of
war."
In a ease like Mie |)resent, owe can hardly help moral-
izing' a little whether inside or outside the " fold." If
there really he such a place of rest and peace for huma-
nity as these gentlemen helieve in and are headin<i; for
(honestly as well as earnestly, no douht) — 1 mean a ma-
terial and tan^ihle place of streets, harps and the like —
the partitions throu^'h it, as well as the wall around it,
would need to he high and suhstantial, else, jud<;inf][ from
nnmdane ap])earances and experiences, the Kilkenny
husiness would be })rom])tly repeated there, and not a
soul hut the A<^nostics and Pagans would be left in that
l^lysian ai)ode of "departed spirits ! "
Our Christian friends, in this melee, are merely adding
another proof of what 1 have long believed and often
asserted, and that is tliat Christians have the fight in
them as well as other peoi)le — that they have in them
still, no less than the unwashed Gentiles, what Josh
Pillings calls " cussedness," and what the Bible, if 1
mistake not, calls '• the old Adam." This old dam
• still lingers, and rankles in their breasts or cerebell ims
— as the case may be — just the same, nay worse, than in
the pagans' ; and Christianity stands convicted as power-
less to eradicate it. At any rate it fails to do so. It is
useless to point to isolated cases of patience, forbearance,
long-suffering, returning good for evil, etc., l)ecause
every religion could be proved true by that logic. Such
exemplary examples of human excellence (not religious
excellence) may be found in all religions — Agnostic and
I'agan as well as Christian.
The fact is, human nature high and low is hunuin
Jiature, hi spite of religion or creed or dog)na. Theset
of course, modify human nature and hitluence condue-
more or less, but, being all natural in origin and charace
ter, they carniot radically change or transform tht
nature of man. The devotees of Christianity claim tha,
their religion is capable of, and as a matter of fact does,
radically change what they call the heart of man— that
is, the passions and propensities, the lower part of his
U
11
iiiitiire — iiiid tliiit it, is doiu' iii>.tiuitfm('(>usly. I deny
that })r()[)()sitioii s<|UiU't'ly. No rclii^ion on eurtli does it
or can do it. The facts arc all the other way. There is
no proof of it, no tcidence of it except in the imagina-
tions or experiences or feelinjjjs of certain individuals :
hut tliat is no proof at all except to themselves when
they choose to accept it. No man's suhjective ex[)eri-
ences can prove anythinj,' for anyhody else, especially
when all the ohjective facts are a^'ainst his theory. I'ndtr
certain psycholo<^ical conditions and hypnotic influences
he has certain extraordinary expei-iem*es and relij^ioiis
feelings, which he strai<j;ht\vay attrihutes to a superna-
tural a<^ency, the same as our ancestors attrihuted eailli-
<piakes, thunder and li<j;htnin<j;, smallpox and cholera to
u supernatural power, and which are still so attrihuted
by if^noraiit people. As the })hysical science of to-day
has explained all these physical phenomena in a natural
way, so psychok)<j;y or nuMital science has explained or
will explain all these mental or relijj;ious phenomena in
a natural way.
All the phenomena of all the reli^nons (includin;^, of
course, " ti<^litin;^' i)arsons"). and all tlieir (the reli<^ions')
influences on human conduct, as well as all the esoteric-
experiences of tlieir respective devotees, are ])urely natu-
ral, and may he satisfactorily ex])laine(l oi\ purelv natural
and scientific [)rinciples. Hence 1 cannot unduly hlanie
tlie Christian when I see him manifesting^' the common
weaknesses of human nature. 1 mi,Lfht as well hlame him
for being human, and for not being better and stronger
than his fellows. But 1 do blame him for false pretences
and making a false claim, })erhaps unwittingly. I blame
him for claiming to be better than his fellows —for boast-
ing that he is sanctified while liis brother is unsanctitied
— that he is cleansed while his brother is unclean — that
he is free from sin while his neighbor is a great sinner.
That is what I object to, and that is what has no truth
in it. The fact is, the Christian (and 1 mean all who
believe in Christianity) is in every-day life not one whit
better than his neighbor who is not a Christian, and the
religious leaders are no better than the led : nor should
they be expected to be, considering all the circumstances.
Looking at human nature, and then looking at their
creed, I sliould hardly exi)ect them to be as exemplary
as they are. As it is, they are (juite human and " of the
VI
\
i
♦iiirth eartliy." Tliev are just us ready for a Hf^'lit to tlic
iinisli, ill their own way, as the Corhetts and >ritchells ;
and sometimes with more I'onliiifj; " l)elow the heU " than
their rin^j; rivals. This is natural, ^'entlemen, <iuite na-
tural, and we must have a reasonahle amount of sym-
pathy : hut you know, or ou^dit to know, that you, as
professed leaders and jj;nides, ou<j;ht to he constantly im-
provin<^' upon nature, and eiideavoriiifj; to hrin^' the lower
passions (which are all ri^^dit in their place) under the
control and ;^nii(hince of the hifj^her reason and moral
sense. This is the Secular doctrine we preach and try
to practise and 1 would most respectfully commend it to
your serious consideration as heiii^,' morally wholesome,
and I tlihik worthy of all acceptation.
When 1 read the anti-prohihition manifesto (the" Dean-
ery Letter ") in the Express, which proved to he such a
veritahle casus bc'li — a reli^'ious " red rag," as it were —
I tliou^'ht it to he on the whole a very good deliverance,
and not fa.i wrong in any way. That the authors of that
letter had a perfect right to make their views known on
a i)uhlic ([uestion of such moment, and in the manner
they did, lu) reasoiial)le man v.'ould question. They
avowed themselves in favor of temperance in all things ;
while their opponents would appear not to helieve in that
doctrine. At all events, the amount of intem])erance in
'"that which proceedeth out of the mouth " (through a
(juill) which' was soon developed hy the light was little
short of appalling to a hystander with anything like a
proper notion of what temperance means. The mani-
festo was against the intemperate use of strong drinks,
and frankly admitted what the writer of this was roundly
herated for jiroving from the Bihle itself thirty years ago
(in a communication in the Napdiiee Stn]idnr(i),\\'A., that
the liihle is not on the side of ])rohihition. The Deanery
deliverance estahlished that position, and this was, J
fancy, " the unkindest cut of all " to " the party of the
other ])art," who have heen lahoring so diligently to
jn'ove the oi)])osite, and wlio, instead of addressing them-
selves to the task of refuting the manifesto, straightway
went off hi a tangent or " tear," precipitating the helli-
gerent rounds of personality and vituperation which
have followed in such a profusion of elegant and ornate
rhetoric.
The coiuhatants are disputing as to wliich is the
i:j
a
the
cliurch proper — which is the re<j;uhir apostohc churcli —
wliicli is tli2 j^iiiiiiK! !i')U' iuul which is thci "coiinti?rftiit"
— which is the true ridi^ioii '> The (juestion is, Where is
the Simon-pure urtickf to he foiiiul ".' In tlie Anj^Hcun
Ciitholic church, the Uonuin Cathohc Church, the
Metliodist cluu^ch or (U^noniiniition, tiie I'reshyterian,
the Baptist, the Salvation Army, or where '? In none of
them, my Christian friends — in none of them, if you
will allow me to answer. Excuse me, <^entlemen, for
sayin;^ so, hut tlie true reli<^ion is not to he found in any
of your churches, or denominations, or sects, or harracks,
or divisions or suhdivisions. You have creeds in plenty,
and forms in plenty, and ))r()fessions in plenty, hut they
are mostly empty, and as " sounding hrass and tinkling
cymhal." Not that your reli<,'ions contain no truth, for
they certainly do ; not that you have none of the moral
virtues or human excellencies, ior you undouhtedly
have ; but true relij^ion, as 1 understand it, you have
not. You have only the counterfeit i)resentment of it.
The selfish and egoistic religion which seeks personal
rewards in heaven you have ; the unseltisli and altruis-
tic religion whicli does right Ixicause it is light, without
future pay, and seeks the good of all mankind instead '
of damning nine-tenths of them, you liave not. The
only true religion — the only one worthy the name, — is
the lielifiion of llitniauity — the religion of deeds instend
of creeds — the religion which practically recognizes the
brotherhood of man — the religion which inculcates and
practises pence and goodwill among men whom we
know and wlio do require the service and assistance of
each other, instead of inculcating tlie worshi[) of gods
whom we do not know, and who do not, in any case,
stand in need either of our adoration or adulation.
I attended the great Parliaiuent of Religions which
was held in Chicago in Sejitemher last during tlie
\Vorld's Fair, where all the great religions of the world
(including Christianity^ were represented l»y learned and
able exponents. "When I say that so far as the Religion
of peace and good will is concenu^d the so-called Pagans,
in the language of the ]v\jiosition, nuide " the best
exhibit," I say what was i)al} able and ol)vious to every
iuipartial witness. The great religions of tbi' East —
the oldest of all religions — were there brealhing the
" brotherhood of man " as their central princijile.
ii
ii
,i>'
11
H. Dai'iUHpala, the learned and <(eiitle Biuidliist priest,
Haiid : " I come to this countrv hriii<^iii^ witli me the
f(<KHl wishes and peace of four hiiiidred and seventy-five
niiilions of Buddhists." Another Oriental priest said :
" All the words si)oken at this Parliament come to the
common conclusion that the hrotherhood of man is the
nmch-to-he-desired end. Much has heen said of this
hrotherh(X)d as \}em<i; a natural condition, since \\e are
nil children of one God. Now, there are sects that do
not admit the existence of a (iod — that is, a personal
Go<l. I'nless we wish to leave these sects out in the
cold — and in that caise our hrotherhood will not he
universal — we must have our platform broa<l enough to
embrace all mankind."
The keynote of the Convention was the brotherhood of
num ; the feelinj; was that the time had come when the
reli*;ions of jjersecution and war and strife among meit
nuist go, and the religion of peace and goodwill take
their place. The thousands who met in the great Hall
of Columbus dav after dav for weeks to hear the other
great religions of the world besides Christianity ex-
|K)unded were inspired with this feeling. The spirit of
•goodwill which went out, as it were, from the Pagans all
seemed to catch, with one solitary visible exception, and
that was the Rev. Joseph Cook, of Boston, whose New
England Puritanism would unhesitatingly damn the
Pagans one and all if they would not or could not accept
its particular salvation " scheme." He it was who'
sounded the first discordant note at the Parliament of
lleligions. The Orientals and many of the Christians
were broad, charitable, tolerant ; he was narrow, dog-
matic, intolerant, and discourteous. But he stood
almost alone in his puritanical exclusiveness. When
the Bev. Dr. Momerie from London, the distinguished
Anglican divine, uttered the folKtwing to the Parliament
lie was loudly applauded by the vast multitude of thou-
sands who heard him : " The essence of religion is noi,
the recognition of God. If a man love not his fellow-
men he cannot love his God. lliglit conduct is all that
God can ask of us, it is all that we can do for him. In
the great hereafter we shall find many a strange surprise.
We shall find that many a so-called Atheist has been
more truly religious than we who are professing mem-
bers of Christian churches."
4
'i
•it
1'^
That the eoniinj^' religion of mankind is the religion
«)f dee<ls instead of Hul)Hcril>uig to creedw was the fact
thatwaH strongly inipreHsed on the minds of tlie thought-
ful multitude wlio day after dry attended the gieat
gathering of the religioiis. The Rationalist, the Atheist,
may do right, and does it, without the aid of theological
dogmas, without the hoi)e of heaven or the fear of hell,
and, according to the divine quoted above, his chances
of heaven, should there he such a place, are as good, if
not better than the chances of many professing Chris-
tians.
The late and lamented Prof. Tyndall— of world-wide
scientific fame— lias left his opinion on record that if he
wished to rind an honest man, one whose word is his
bond, and vho discharges the duties of this life to fam-
ily, to society, to self, he would seek him and And him
among the men whom the world calls Agnosiiics and
Atheists.
In conclusion, let me repeat that the comhig religion
is the Religion of Humanity, which, as one of the high-
est products of the upward evolutionary i)rocesses, must
materially aid in the elevation of Miankind to a higher
plane.
Allen Phingle.
Fehy. Htli, '!)4.
mem-
If
I ■
I-
1(1
T.i tin: F^llitiir lit llli- I'.M'KKss.
ODUM TIIKOLCKilCl '.Af.
Sii:, — A ijood (leal <»f fun lias liccii <;()t, out of tim
words lit tlu! head of tliis letUii", chiellv l»y people who
find tlu'iii ii convenient, coimnon-pliU'c to lot off wljcnevor
a couti'ovcrsy is on the tapis in which a cler^yniiin is one
of the conihatants.
Thcn^ is not the least neceHsitv for apolo<^n/in<^' for the
part taicen oy myself or my hrother ( ler^ymen of the
deanery iii the ])resent lo^fomachy. When we could
write courteously, without our courtesy heiiifj; mistaken
for weakness, our words were restrained. When it wjis
jieeessary to
" I'rovc our doctrines orthodox
1))' apostolic blows and knocks,"'
we hit from the shoulder and did uot strike I 'low the
helt.
The a\era};e idea that seems to ohtain as to the char-
acter that becomes a mhiister of the j^ospel in that he
sliould be a sort of per])etual apolojj^y. his chief function
bein^ to drink sanctifie<l tea for the promot-on of piety
amon<j;st the ladies of his flock, and [)our forth milk-and-
water platitudes for clever sinners to sprue out and sleek
ones to receive with extreme unction. Some wicked
people l>elieve that the human race is composed of three
se\(^s. men, women and parsons, thoufi^h some modern
religions have "evolved" that thhi<^- of beauty, the
fenuile preacher.
The doctrine of jierfection not bein<;' in any sense a
[liU't of the Catholic faith, nnd since I have not sutlrtcient
conceit toclaim that ideal state for myself or my brethren,
I have no hesitation in confessintf, iis I do every Sunday
publicly, that in my own case there is nuudi of the old
Adaui in me which I do not expect will he wholly put
away while L am in this tabernacle. I do not, however,
consider that any efforts I may make in defence of the
faith of the ^•()s{)el or the church of Christ are an evidence
of the old Adam within. I have very ^ood authority for
'■ reiR'ovin^- "' and rebukin^r jis well as " exhortinj^,'* and
the
17
tli(! liiii^'iiii^'e of St. riiiil. no less tliut of St. Joliii, tlir
apostle of lovt\ is a. siirticiefiit pn'ciKh'iit foi' tli(! us<^ of
satirti, irony and even iiivectivo, esix'cially in (1« alin^
with li_v[)oc'risy and canting' sj)! ritual pride. It may i)e
necessary oftentimes to sutYer in silence for ('hrist's
sake, at other times it is expedient to contend earnestly
and strive manfully.
Christ was the Prince of I'eace. His relijj;ion is the
jLjosi)el of peace. J>ut some men think the " Peace (»f
(iod, which passeth all understandin;^," is like the peace
of the hap[)y family in a mena;.jerie. Otlu^rs seem to
imaj^ine that the oftice of the church of Christ is to set
U[) his hanner and proclaim his faith and then invitt! all
the religions of the worhl to a parliament to sey if \\v
cannot evolve a " reli<^ion of humanity " in which Christ
may perhaps he allowed a seat beside liuddha, Confuciiis,
Huxlev and Joe Smith.
Nevertheless, however i)aradoxical it may ai)peiir, the
Prince of Peace " came not to st^id peace on earth hut a
sword," He sent his servants into all the world to makt'
disci})les of all nations, not to learn from them a relif^ictn
of lunuanity. Mver\ ('hristian is enlisted under his
hanner to " tij^dii manfully aj^ainst sin, the world and
iht^ devil, and to contiiuu! his faithful soldiei' and servant
unto his life's end." Christ's reli;^ion im])lies a hatred
of sin and error as nuu-h as love for the sinniii}^ and the
wanderer.
Tliis cra/i(! for universal toleration is not Christian.
It is the lo;j;ical outcome of the Aj^jnostic creed of ne}j;a-
tion, or negation of creed. I'niversal toleration means
utter inditl'erence to religion. Jiut if we ])rofess to he-
lieve that Cln'ist is the way, the truth, and the life, wv
can have no co(piettin<i; witli other ways or partial truths,
and least of all can we tolerate what we believe to be
error within the church of Christ. Hence St. Paul's
warmth in withstanding^ St. Peter. Hence his invectives
against the (htlatian Judai/ers. Hence the Odium
Theolouicum, an evil, dou))tless, but a necessarv evil.
•ever,
j)f the
hence
l,v Un-
and
Yours truh',
Aurun: .I.vuvis.
4
h
i i
IH
To the Kdilor of ihc Kxi'HK>s.
THE ODICM THEOLOGUTM.
Deaii Sir, — I desire to offer some observations on tlie
letter of Mr. Prin^le which appeared in your issue of the
Kith inst. Mr. Pruij^le writes from the standpoint of
one who rejects Christianity, and from this standpoint it
is not my intention to enter into any very lenj»thened
controversy with him. In the hist paraj];raph of his
letter he says that " the Ueligion of Humanity as one
of tlie hi;j!liest products of the upward evolutionary pro-
cesses, must nuiterially aid in the elevation of mankind
to a higher plane." The relifj^ion of Jesus Christ is the
perfect religion of humanity — who was himself man, l)y
a distinct act of creation. The creator provided a means
which not only " niaterially aids," hut will completely
and effectually elevate mankind to the highest plane,
and that i)y an upward evolutionary and continuous pro-
cess carried on by his church not only now, while that
church continues here under the present dispensation,
hut hereafter through a future and more perfect dispen-
sation, for it is a peculiarity of the church that it has an
endless duration under different states of existence, it is
not limited either by time or geographical bounds. It is
not a sect or a party or a denomination, but a spiritual
kingdom whose work is evolutionary and continuously
progressive. Agnosticism has nothing better to offer us.
The very name "Agnostic" does not encourage us to
place nnich confidence in the system, which is, to say
the least of it, one of doubt. Neither it nor the Oriental
systems to wliich Mr. Pringle calls your attention, seem
to have done much for the elevation or improvement of
the people under their influence ; for all that is good and
great we are indebfed to Christianity.
It seems to me a matter of experience that very
many men who in early life embraced a religion, false,
baseless and absurd, afterwards finding themselves to
have been deceived, hastily dismiss all religions, so-
called, as equally false or ecpially true. If such men
would only bestow as much attention in investigating the
religion of Jesus Christ, as set forth under true Catholi-
cism, as they do in building themselves up in the false,
they might arrive at a diffci*ent conclusion from that at
19
which they.huvtt univyil, hiuI {^et \u*h\ of the true itltMi of
CuthoUcity. .
A<^»iiii, HH the Agnostic coiifoHKOH hy liis vory imiiiti, that
lie knows iiotliiii^, and cim know notliiiij^ witli certainty,
with re<?jinl to the true ChriHtiiin rehj^ion, it would evi-
dence the [K)HHOHsion of more wisdom and prudence on
his part to at least cease to assail tin; claims of that reli-
gion, helief in which, even if it were false, can do him
no harm and cause him no loss, than to entail on himself
the terrihie responsihility of rejectinj^ it, if it should
eventually prove true.
I have no intention of enterini^ upon an examination
of the evidence which may he adiluctul in favor of the
true relif^ion and of the credihility aiul authenticity of
the sacred record, as this is more a subject of study,
reason and thou«;ht, than of newspaper correspondence.
As to ^[r. Priiij^le's moralizin*:^— So far as the true re-
lif^ion is concerned we nnist ti^ht in its defeiuuf and
earnestly contend for the faith once delivered, at all
times while this evil and corrupt dispensiition lasts. Nor
is this necessity imj)osed upon us in any way den )<^at()rv
to us. We do not claim that we are so ])erfect that we
may not err in the way of doin^ it, nor does such error
in any way reflect on ('hristianity itself any more than
the evil lives of many of its professed followers reHect
ui)on the truths of relijjfion which, in itself and its teacli-
iu«j;s, renuiins unimpaired.
" That those who instead of addrossin;^' themselves to
tlie task of rofutin^ the 'manifesto' should have in-
dulged in personality and vituperation " is much to he
re<j;rettcd, and had the proper course been pursued, no
doubt, the controversy, if not more interesting, would
have been more profitable, and T. for one, would not
have had to em])l.')y such vigorous language in dealing
with a class of men who could understand no other. Nor
do I feel that in doing as the occasion demanded I either
reflect on myself or the Catholicism in which I am an
humble and firm believer.
1 am pleased to find that Mr. Pringle, many of whose
letters 1 have read on former occasions with interest,
l)ays us the compliment of speaking of otn- manifesto as
a " very good deliverance," and that " the authors ha<l
a right to make their views known on a jJiiblic question
of such moment in the manner tlu^v did.
Tl
ns IS a
11
]W
,y]
•20
\\«;(lrsirt(l. Il is also, to u iTrlniii »'\l«iil, n sitisfuclidii
tliiit lu! •'vidcntly discj'rns that Ciitliolicism ditlVrs from
Srcticisiii, mid tluit tlic Aiij^do-Calliolic (diiircdi ditlVrs
Iroiii dciioiiiiiialioiialiHiii and that in writin;^' lt<> lias simiic
i'<!;^'ard fni' tlir anHfuitics of ('(JiitrovrrHV.
As for the ( laiiiiH he puts forth for the |u'ciiliar Kvstt'iri
h(! haH adopted, these arc, it may he, a source of satis-
i'actioM to himstdf and those \v)io think with him. Miit
with the true Catholie they carry no wei^dit. Catholics
iiic ^'iiided and inthuiiiced l)y a principles to \vhi(di A},'-
no.stics are stran;^'ers--the principh> of faith. With that
positiveness with which he asserts that we liave not th(!
true rehi^ioii as he understands it, \V(! on th(! other ha)id
jissert I hill we ha.ve the true reh^ion as it has existed for
more thiiii ei^^hteen centin-ies. ("athoUcism as \v(! under-
.stand it hiis done more for the elevation of th(i family of
man thiin Ai^nosticism, and has produced more of tlu;
}^M'and results of Christian cliarity in alleviating' the
miseries and relieving' the wa,nts of mankind, it may
indeed he truly said, that the j^'ood ellfects of Christianity
have not heeii small, noi" its supposed ill efl'ects any
effects of it at- all, nor can they he insistifd on as ai'j^ii-
iiu^nts at^'aiust it. The works of Providence are not to
he jud}j;ed of hy their perversions, hut hy their fjjeniiiiH"
tendencies; not hy what they actually seem to eti'ect,
hut hy wliat they would effect if mankind did their
part.
1 would, linally, ohserve that true Catholics do not
expect nor look for perfection in this life. All are CJiris-
tians who have received the true haptism, hut these ai"e
not all true and faithful any more than all the childi"en
in the one luitural family are true and faithful to their
filial ohli^ations.
Stkarnk TnwiK, ^^.A.,
liector.
I
•21
TiiK i;i:t()i:t coruTKors."
•ttVi-t,
their
•tor.
To ihe K.ililor of i)tr l.vi-i i
.SiH, I liii\«' rciid wliiil Ilt'\. Arthur .liir\is ami lU'V.
Stciirnr Tij^hr, M,.\., havr wnlfni in voiir lust ihsue in
criticism of my comnniniciition in yitiir previous isHU«',
iiud iini |>lciisc(l to note the spirit |Mi\ii(liii^ hoth h'tters,
" liike he^'els hke," Kiich ;^'riillcMiiiii raises points to
which I feel ciilled upon to reply, and in consideration
of your space 1 :>liall rcpl_\ to Itoth in une letter, and
conlint! my rejoindttr to the salient issues.
My opponents evidently do not like the caption of my
other letter, and I ic^^ret, that tlu; cin-unistauces calUid
for its use. However, as their replies to that letter are,
if not concdiisive or convinciii;,', at least courteous, I
have; suhstituted the al)ov(^ caption as hein^' at presioit
more appropriates and likely to he to them more accept-
ahle. When, liowever, Mr. .larvis refers to tlu' Odium
'riieulo,s[icum HH '^' ii convenient connnon-place to let olT
whenever a contioversy is on the tapis in whiidia (der^^y-
man is one of the c(Mitestants," I must remind him that
in tlic» present cast; not merely one hut hoth comhatants
or sides were Christian (der^'ynu'u and ministers.
J regret to note that Mr. .larvis is not in fiivor of as
hioad toleration in matti'rs of <-reed and faith as was
indicated in my letter, and as was and is largely (ton-
ceded hy some of tiie iihlest men in the An^lo-Catliolic
ch irch— a cirnndi which liidd within her jiale a Colenso,
a Stanley and a Farrar — a (diurch which must ^et the
credit of j^'realer hreadth liiau the denominational
dissfmtcrs from her. or the twii; sister, who, if she did
not precede, was continnporaneous or in union with her
- and a chiuxdi whicdi has a greater elasticity in a(hii)t-
iw^ herself to "tinus and nuinnei's" than any other.
Mr. Jarvis says " this cra/.e for universal toleration is
not Christian." That it is not Christian is so much the
worse for Christianity. i\[oreover, the ^rowin^' convic-
tion or feelinj^ in favor of {.greater reli<^ious toleration is
hy no means universal, and " more's the pity." 1 freely
admit that the Christian who is consistent must he in-
tolerant ; and the Christian w!io is tolerant is hetter
than his reliuion. We road in (ial. 1 : !t.
we
aid
before so sav 1 now ai'ain, if anv man ni-eaidi an\- other
1^
1
\ ■
11
2-2
^()s|i<'l ittitn v<Mi tliaii tiiiit voii Iia\<' i-('<'('i\<ii, Irt liiin l)(>
iic(Mirs4ul. " ill TitiiH 1 : \), we rctiti, " A ihhii tliut, is a
lu'r<>ti(- after llic fii'st aiwl h((iiii«I adiiioiiitioii, reject."
A^'iiiii ill (iai. r> : 1*2 wtt tiiid this, " I wtmUl lliev wen-
tneti cut otT wliicli troiilile \oii," iiikI tlieit^ in iniu-li more
of the same import. (Joiild mirrow hii^'otrv uiid iiito'ei-
iiiice i^'o further than this'.* Christiiiiiitv in ehHeiitiidlv
iiitohMiiiit ill spirit, and lia.s heeii in practice, and the
Chrihtiaii who is consistent, and who is no l>etter than
liis relii^ioii, must he not only a hi^ot hut a persecutor.
One of the chief ohjections I have always had to Chris-
tianitv is this very 'Mtcderaiice. .\ii_v reli^'ion which
Hiiys to me " heliuve tiiis or he (laiiiiu<l " just kills itself
with me in that one ahsiird threat ; and I simply feel
like leplyiii}^ in thiw way : "If iinyhody or anything' in
to he damned lot hucIi a relipon he damned." That is
stroll*; lan^iia^o, hut it is juHtillahUt as thu provocation
U ^Teat. It would he just iiH reasonahUt and ri^dit to
damn a man for hoin^' ;") f(>et 11 inches hi^di as for not
helieviii},' certain doctriiutn which to his mind are uii-
reasonahht and untrue. Hit is no more r( sponsihle for
the one than the other, lie can u<) more control his
helief than his complexion. Every humun hein^ inevit-
uhly thinks, helieves and acts accordin«? to the circum-
stances. What are the circunistanceH? Inherited con-
stitution of mind and hody, education and trainings or
the ahsence of them, environment, etc. These make
the iiuvn what he is and the woman what she is, and
neitlur one has part or lot in the matter of hirth or
early cirmimstanceH, which are the prime factors in tlie
fi)rmation of character — mental and physical. Hence
the wide diversity in mind and hodv amon£{ those even
who have heen hrou};ht up under apparently the same
conditions. One man helieves thus and so ; another
just the o[)j)OHite, and they are hoth perfectly sincere as
well as set in their convictions. When, therefore,
Christianity or am other reli<'ion savs to me, " Believe
this doctrine or he damned," if such doctrine he to my
mind ahsurd, unreasonahle and untrue, then that reli-
{^ion is done for so far as 1 am concerned, and I am
quite willing to take the risks of any condemnation
which may follow honest coiuictioiis. I am ready for
the "awful conse([uences" which are held up to frighten,
and also for the " terrihle respoiisihilities of rejectin*; it"
•23
\\w^ it
f
\vlii<li Ml'. 'ri;^ln' spniks of. I ciiu'f coiivincr iiiyM'lf
tliiit liliick is \vliiu>, iiikI liiivc nr> (lis|NiHiti(>ii to try.
'I'licn' is Hoiiu'tliin;^ ho . trcinciv iiltsiinl ulioiit thin <lo('-
triiir of Ix'licviii^ us yoii lik(> tlnil I ciiMMot h<m> how uiiy
nitioiuil iiiitid ciiii accept, it. Vet it is one of the iiiiiin
|ir(»|)h of a ^iTiit i'«>li;;ion. To illiistnilr its tiltsiirdity to
HoiiKi iiiiiids not ^ivi'ii to iihstnict rnisoiiiii^ iand tli**
illiiHtration is not iiitnidrd for my two learned o)»|)o-
iitnts), U'i lis NUp)Hi.M> a man riliii^^ jiloii<^' on liis strong
and (diinisy workinj^ horse pa>it a race conrsj' where the
trim nnd niiiihle roadsti>rs iire s] etMlin^ the track at a
'2.40 ^ait. lie stops, takes a survey, and also tuk(^s a
notion to enter and take a hand in th<> races. Those
insi<h' ivn\ horses and his is a horse, and they are all
horses to<{(>lher, and why Hhoiild not his hors<t stand a
sho'v ? The reasoninj.^ is siniph! and the lo^ic orthodox.
He 'akeH his Clyde in, and enters the rin^ for a raee.
Now, hefore proceedin;^ any further, what would you
think of that man's jud^Muent '.* Why, that he was
either drunk or a fool, or, jHirchanee, a practical joker.
Hut let us follow him further. We lind that he is in
»Mirn((st and no joker. He starts in the race, hut of
eours(! his hi^ draft horse is soon left far in the r«'ar.
He {^ets anj^ry, dismounts and he<,'ins to Imat and tor-
ture the horse unmercifully. Wliat do you think of
him now? Why, you not onlv think liim a fool hut a
tiend as well ?
Now, the same ojnnion you would iiohl of tlie iM)nducl
of tliat man towards his horse I hold c/f the creed which
says, " helieve or he dannied," when heliet is no more
o[)tional with any man than the len<,^tli of his fin«^ers or
tile color of his skin no more ojjtional with him than it
was with tlie Clyde to keep up in the race. It may he
said in reply that the man has intelli^^'eiu-e and a " free
will," and is a " free moral aj^«'nt," while the horse is a
hrute heast, without intelli^<'nc.e. Yes, the hovs(! is a
heast, hut is not without intelli^^ince, and if he were that
would not hel[) the matter any, hut «"ly niake it worse.
And as to the man, he has, it is true, a sort of freewill,
hut strictly c(nilined to and within the lin»its of his or-
ganisation, heyond which lie cannot <,u). lieyond that
his alle<,'ed vaunted free will is helpless and ])owerless.
Of course his " free moral agency " i-i similarly circuni-
scrihed. heing strictly coniined within t! e limits of his
i
''^
fi '
i
Ml' ,l<
24
" tiiluriiaclc (»f rliiv " nctvA upon liy his ciiNintiiiiU'iit.
Supj.ose ii lUiiii coiirnic'd in a room witliiin iiniieiieti'iilik'
wall of stone all aroiuid and ahovc him. He is " t'nM' ""
to walk w]) iin<l down tlu^ room from end to end .md from
i^ide to side, or to sit still, or to lie down, or todarli his
head u]) against the wall if he se(!s tit. l>ut his free will
fails to eiirrv him out of his prison tlirou<j;li the wall. In
like maiinei' ihrou^di tin; wall of his orj^^anism and en-
vironment he can never <i,() — his freewill ean never carry
him hevond his powers any more than the wiiip will
enahle the draft horse to speed with the racer or the
racer to draw with the Clyde.
Thus it is that one of the fundamenlal doctrines of
Christianity is not orth the e^-icnce of intolerance, hut
the (piinti ssence of ahsi.rdity. This is (^ne reason why
1 cannot accej t doctrirnl C 1 ri^tianily while freely ac-
(■{jtiniA' ti.e wl.olcton.e ethical [ rtce})ts it incidentally
iiiculcat(;s. And this is the reason why my esteemed
Christian friend, Mr. Jarvis, can truthfully say that
" universal toleration is not Christian."
lUit when Mr. Jarvis furtlier says that " universal
toleiation means utter indifference to relif:;ion," 1
would say that the relij^ion wliich could not com-
mand attention' and respect under such circumstances
would he a very poor religion indeed, and hence un-
worthy of attention. If Mv. Jarvis will suhstitute
tli'i^mn (>r CI-' ed for rclii>iov, then his assertion will
he near the truth. So far from universal tolera-
tion meanin«j; utter indifference to relii^ion, miiversal
toleration is the hest part of true relifjjion. That is
to say, every nnm's mere creed or reli<j,ious helief, no
nuitter what, it is, ()U<j;ht to he tolerated })y every other
man, as he ou<;ht to tolertite all others. While one man
has mu(di concern with the conduct or acts of another,
in so far as tliey affect liini, he has no concern aiul
nothintj; to do with the other's reli}j;ious or non-religious
lieh.(4'. If the cli;'.racter of a num's creed is such as to
prompt hii;> or jiermit him to commit crime or do
injustice and wron^; to his fellows, then his creed ought
not to save him from correction or punishment hy the
State ; and on the other hand no one ought on account
of his creed to suffer at the hand either of society or the
State. TTiis is what ought to he, and what is coming,
hut is n(*t vet what is.
f
M
2.".
uent.
tnibU'
t'rt'c "
I from
A\ h\>
:'(■ wiU
ill. In
11(1 i'i\-
• civvry
ip will
ov the
ines of
l't\ l)Ut
m wliy
■ely iic-
entally
teemed
ly that
liversiil
oil," i
t c-om-
stuiices
liee im-
hstitute
Ion will
tolera-
liversal
iThat is
lief, iu>
y otlier
ne man
iiother.
lern and
[eligion^^
h as to
or do
d oiij:,dit
by the
account
or tlu'
Icoiiiin'!,',
Tiirniiiix niy attention now ti> I'ev. ^fi•, Ti,L,die I find
him sayinj^ that I wi-ilc '* froiu tlie standpoint (if (MumvIio
njjects Cliristianit\'.*" Allow nie to say a^ain, one ' foi-
all, th:il I only reject thos(t parts of the l)il)l(! and Chris-
tiunity which science and historical research have i)rovc(l
untrue, and such other portions, which can \)v neither
provt^d nor disproviid, as fail to coiniiu'iid themselves to
my c )!nmon sense, such as it is. When all this comes
out there may ajjpear to he hut little left ; hut all that's
j^ood is left at all events, that is in my judj^'uient. Mr.
Ti^^he is evidently in favor of a religion of Immanity, and
duclares that " TIk; reli;j;ion of Jesus Christ is the [tfrfec^^
religion of humanity." Were it so 1 should liavj^ no
objection at all to Christianity. But how our respected
fiiend is going to make out that a religion which con-
signs a majority of humanity to an everlasting hell istiie
religion of humanity is more than 1 can understand
without further explanations. How he is going to make
out that a. religion which says, " Ht; that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved, and he that believcith not shall
be damned " (when only a few believe), and which " came
not to bring j)eace but a sword " in the world, and which,
in accordance^ with that, has never ceased to use ilie
sword, soaking the earth with human blood for eighteen
centuries in religious wars, and persecuting, tortui'ing
and burning its own adherents in hundreds of thousands,
— how this can be the religion of humanity will, 1 should
tliiuk, tax the ingenuity and learning of liev. Stearne
Tighe, ]\f.A., to explain.
Than such a religion as that we are told that " Agr.os-
ticism has nothing better to oft'er us. '" Tlu^ term
ihitionalism more nearly expresses my position ; and if
Rationalism or the lieligion of Humanity has nothing
better to offer the world in tlie time to come tlian Chris-
tianity has offered in the past, then we had better kee})
looking for something better than either.
When Mr. Tighe asserts tliat " we are indebted to
Christianity for all that is good and great," he reiterates
an oft-repeated claim made by C'hristians, and sincerely
made no doubt, but nevertheless untenable. If Mr.
Tighe has read the history of science, philosophy, and
ethics, as well as religion (which I do not doubt), and
still thinks that the world owes all that dtdst to Christi-
m
n
1
!
It
y
^
LJ
■2()
auity, his reading,' umst have been done thr()u<,']i Cliristian
•j;hisseH of very pronounced color.
Coming' down to *' isniH," Mr. Ti^he avers tliat Catho-
licism, as he understands it, " has done more for the
elevation of the family of man than A<,'nosticism." Let
us look for a moment at the two isms and see. Catho-
licism is, i Hiii)pose, according to Mr. Tiglie's view, tiie
highesu Mild best form of Christianity — the Christian
Church (U' facto, from the beginning, the church corpor-
ate and tile church spiritual. Agnosticism, according to
Professor Huxley (and he ought to know, for lie it was
who first used the word and applied it to himself) is " of
the essence of science." The Agnostic simply refrains
from professing to know or believe what he does not
know or believe and what is unknowable. This is quite
difierent from " a creed of negation." But Mr. Jarvis,
who also refers to Agnosticism and gives the above de
nition, saves himself by adding a saving clause, viz., '
negation of creed." That is nearer the truth. Every
true scientist must be an Agnostic, because he accepts
only facts and rejects fables. Now, if Agnosticism is
only another name for science, it will not take long to
decide the issue raised by brother Tighe as to which has
done the most for the world, Catholicism or Agnosticism.
The Christian Church was the implacable enemy of
science up to a few decades ago, and is yet so far as
opposition is practicable or prudent. She denied astro-
)iomy and imprisoned the astronomers (instance Galileo) ;
she denounced geology and preached the Mosaic cosmo-
gony. Nevertheless, it turned out that the earth turned,
and that it was round instead of liat, and that it moved
round the sun instead of the sun round it ; and it may
1)6 safely said that the Bible Astronomy and the Mosaic
Cosmogony are, among the scientists of to-day, as dead
as old Moses, the reputed author of them. But it was
not the Catholic Church that imprisoned Galileo and
opposed science, but the Roman Catholic Church, Mr.
Tighe may say. While I am free to admit that the
Anglican (jatholic Cuurch of later times has been much
less unfriendly to science than the Roman Catholic
Church and the dissenting denominations, she has done
but little to promote it ; and 1 impeach the Christian
Church as a whole for being the enemy of all the science
and philosopliy which tended to discredit the Bible, and
I
27
ristuin
Catho-
[(3r the
" Let
Catbo-
ew, the
iristiau
corpor-
rilmg to
I it was
[)is';o{
refrains
loes not
, is quite
. Jar vis,
ove de
viz., '
. Every
} accepts
iticisin is
B long to
vhich has
losticism.
enemy of
80 far as
ied astro-
i Galileo) ;
lie cosmo-
th turned,
t it moved
id it may
,he Mosaic
as dead
5ut it was
alileo and
lurch, Mr.
that the
been much
n Catholic
le has done
B Christian
the science
Bible, and
tliisiiichides especially Astronomy, Geology, Hiology and
Anthropology.
The additional issues raised by my two op[)()nents (and
I liope friends) are of less moment, and I shall, there-
f )iv, ask no more spsu'c at present.
Al.LEN PUINOLK.
liic'.nuond, Febv. 'iJitli.
THE KETOHT COrilTEOrS
AND
" A RETREAT COi;RA(}E()rS."
Tnii Rectouy,
Napanee, March 8rd.
Ti) the Ivliliir of llie Kxi'Kl-NS.
Sir, — 1 am afraid I cannot afford to enter into a con-
troversy with Mr. Pringle. He is looked ui)on, justly I
believe, as one of the foremost apostles of Secularism in
Canada, whilst I need not confess 1 am by no means a
theoloj^ian. A valorous discretion, therefore, prompts
me to leave the field to a proved champion of the faith.
Mr. Priiigle has everything to gain and notliing to lose
by controversy. He may not be one of those men who,
as Mark Twain says, would stop to argue with a sign-
post, yet I don't think he would resent tlie soft impeach-
ment of being fond of a shindy for its own hake.
I must ask you, however, to allow me hiymm to correct
or modify one or two or bis statements concerning the
church Catholic, for which be shows a lingering regaid
— (cuid he is at no pains to conceal it) — which does him
no dishonor, and certainly cannot be put down to preju-
dice or interested motives of any sort. 1 would not
have Mr. Pringle think 1 want to try the virtues of soft
solder upon him, but 1 cannot hel[) thinking that his
Agnosticism is directed against more things outside the
minimum of Catholic truth — i.e., the Apostles' Creed —
/ ,
4>
S
'
Wv
11
• L 1
1
'I. 1
'■
28
than ii^'iiiiist tlit'st; twelvo iieci'ssiiry articles. I am not
too hi^'ott'd (llioii<^li 1 iiiii <,'ettin^' rather proiul of that
tithj if it phices one anywlu^re, near St. Paul, tlu' intol-
erant) to accept, with [terliaps a Hftle mental reserva-
tion, 'I'ciniyson'.s paradox -
■' There is more faith in honest doubt,
IJelieve me, th.ni in half the creeds."
1 thiidv, therefore, that one of Mr. Prin^jjle's '' cliief ' h-
jections to Christianity" \vo)ild hecome a very minor
one if h(> did not eretfit Christianity with some thin;j!s
wln'cli iire very unchristian. For instance, he says,
" Any relijj;ion whicii sa._ys to me ' helieve this or he
(hunned ' just kills itself with me in that one ahsurd
threat." I think 1 sliould entertain very much the
same feeling's toward any such religion. Jiut 1 am sure
the Catholic relif^don does nothinjj; of the kind. Was
(lalileo judged hy the standard of the Catholic faith '.^
What is tliero in the creed that Galileo did not hold ?
What is there in the Bihle that he rejected ? Neitlier
the one nor the other is to he held responsihle for the
sin and ij^noranoe of those, however high in authority,
who added an article on astronomy to the creed and
mistranslated the Bible.
I will not press Mr. Pringle's words into meaning
more than lie prohahly intended. I don't think he
meant his e})igrammatic " helieve or he dannied " to he
taken in the sense in which thoughtless people some-
times speak of our commination service as " the dauniing
service," as if in it we call down the divine vengeance
upon impenitent sinners and are sorry if it does not
ccmie instanter. Nor can I tlnnk that he would fall into
the vulgar error that the so-called damvuitory clauses of
the Athanasian creed are maledictory. That creed,
which Mr. I'ringle quotes, is an authoritative exposition
of the Catholic faith, not the otticial statement of it. It
is addressed to those who already liold that faith — to
them it is said '' qui cm. que vult snlvns esse ' — ' whosoever
desires to he safe,' etc., hut a scholastic defence and ex-
position of the faith, which constitutes tie great body of
the document, is to be distinguished froju the faith itself,
which is stiite 1 almost verbatim in tie words of tlie
x\posttdic symbol. As to the danniatory chuises, they
i
\
I I
i>
ii
'JD
vm not
of tliat,
e intol-
•eserva-
•hief ' 1>-
y luinor
ie things
ho S!\ys,
lis oY lie
B absunl
inch the
am sure
1(1. Was
lie faith '}
not hold ?
Neitlier
le for the
authority,
•reed and
nieanhifj;
think he
ed " to he
)ple some-
dannuni^
en<:;eanee
does not
d fall into
clauses of
lilt creed,
exposition
t of it. It
faith— to
whosoever
ce and ex-
eat hody of
faith itself,
ords of the
auses, they
[1'
iii't' not the analheiiiii-i of the c(»nii>iler <»f thai confession
or of tliose who use it, \>n[ aro a rcstatomcnt, of tlu; word
of the L )rd. '" He that hehevetli not shall ho damned "
— ^,1 solemn warning,' which both heliovcn-s and unhelievers
ar.' called upon to face.
Ji )()kinj^ at the cvcvd in this li«,fht and a[)plyin^ the
same limitations to Mr. Prin^le's version, " helieveor he
damned," wi; can see that one specious char^o against
the Christian religion, vi/.: that it hands overall the
heathen to et(?rnal damnation, falls to the j^round. Its
fo)-mularies say nothin;^' ahout the heathen and \'ery
little ahout eternal damnation either. S". I'aul says
semethin^ alxiut the heathen hein)^ a law unto them-
selves, conscience, the natural and etttrnal law of (iod in
their hearts, hein;^ the arhiter of tluar faith. The
formularies of the Catholic religion, mortiover, say
nothin<i;, so far as 1 know, regardin;^ the case of those
wliose " envii'onments " are such that with them faith is
a meta[)liysical im[)ossihility. There may \)v ich
l)eople ; if there he, (iod h.is made them and knows
their environment, and it is no case of " believe or he
damned " if the church, after due warnin;^, leaves them
in His hands wli) will jud^^i^ accordinj^ to our usii of the
talents we have, not those we have not. Ihit, for them,
Chi-ist has provided no peculiar means of j^race in His
church on earth, and, therefore. His church cannot
t>l3ratci t!ie n a-; msnnhers. Ihit this is a differtMit
thiii}^ from damning them.
[ lio[)e this su«^<j;estion will not he translated into a
paraphrase of Pat's version of the only ho[)e Rome holds
o'lt foi" heretics. An orthodox (more Romano) Hibern-
ian on-e t:)ld Father Huntinifdon that " his riverence "
mi^ht possibly be saved by y;race of his " inconsavable
i;^norance."' The |j;ood father tells this st )rv aj^ainst
himself.
Mr. Prinj^le has not made a very fortunat;e selection
of texts to illustrate his ^loss, " j^elieve or be damned."
In (ial, 1 : H, !>, S. Paul includes himself, if he should
come under the terms of the censure. Besides " Let
him be anathema," means leave him in God's hands to
condemn or not as shall seem f^ood to Him. Moreover,
even if we have to <:jive a stronger meaning' to these
words, they are the utterance^ of inspiration, not the
sentence of an ecclesiastical jud.ue. Titus Ji : 10, (not
w
» I
u ni
'*.
80
4 : !)), is not p. rtiiusnt. Tilus is to r(*j(!('t or ratluu* sliiiii
an lierelic, not (liinni liini, (liil. 5 : I'i, is a particular
rt!t"(!reiu-t' to a particular class of troubltu's, viz : tliost) who
were iiisistiii;^ upon circumcision as necessary for Chris-
tians. St. I'aul intimates sarcastically that these men
would ilo \\t;ll to even mutilate themselvcis. His nu-aiiin^'
is exi)resse(l accurately in an ancient connnentary which
I dare not translate in a letter for the ])uhlic eye — " Si
frivolam corporis excisiont^n honunitjuid esse judicant,
etiam iiite^ra memhra sihi excidant, ut majoraac((uira)it
lucra, si carnis excisione juvari se existinumt ! " A
reference to the horrid rites of Cyhele with whicli tlie
(ialatians were painfully familiar.
Yours trulv,
Airrnuu Jauvis.
'f
f '
;*■!;,
f i
tilii
To the Editor of the Kxi'KKss.
Dear Sir.— I avail myself of your space to offer some
ohservations on ^h\ Pringle's letter in your last issue.
He ohjects to my taking him for one wlio rejects C'hristi-
anity, and states, that he only rejects those parts of the
J^ihle and Christianity whicli science and historical
research have proved untrue and such other portions
which can neither he proved or disproved as fail to
commend themselves to his common sense, and says
that after he has^ done this, little is left. I think, then,
that according to his own acknowledgement, my point
was well taken. He seems not to care particularly to
have his position detined hy the word Agnostic given hy
Professor Huxley, who horrowed it from the heathen
altar at Athens bearing the inscription, " To the un-
known God." He thus seeks to take away from the
Catholic Christian the God that he knows, of Whom the
Apostle says, " Him declare I unto you," and presents,
in so doing, to the mind questions far more difficult of
solution and which he confesses himself unable to solve.
The High Priest of Agnosticism, Herbert Spencer, says,
" amid the mysterfes which become the more mysterious
the more they are thought about, there will remain the
'M
T sliun
rticulai'
osf who
• Chvis-
he men
lU'iinin^?
,'e — '^i
iuli('!int,
c(iuir!Uit
t ! " A
hich tlie
Jaum^.
offer some
last issue.
;ts Cliristi-
arts of the
historical
er portions
as fail to
I, and says
,hink, then,
i, my point
ticuiarly to
tic ^iven hy
he heathen
To the un-
ly from the
i Whom the
[id presents,
e difficult of
juhle to solve,
pencer, says,
•e mysterious
I remain the
oiui ahsoliite certainty, — that \\o is cvci- in thn |»r(!sciici'
of oiKMibsohiti! and titcrinii I'huM'^y from which iill thiii^^s
pi(KH((*d." 'Ihi! more (Uhj^ently and patiently tiie in-
([iiirics of si'i(!n<'(! are proseciitc^d, the more will science
itself estahlish tim truths of Christianity, and tlie cor-
rectness of thc! instinct that tells uncivili/ed man that
there is a (lod. The very latt^st (hsi-ovcries in science
tend stronj^ly in this direction.
Somc! of the most (hstin<^uished Professors of Natural
Science do not accei)t I'jvolution as tiie true account of
the orit^dn of man, nor would it destroy in any way tlu!
statc^ment of tiie Sacred Itecord if tln^v did. Tli(! state-
ment that " (iod formed man of the dust of the {ground,"
says notlnn>^ of tlie knij^th of time nor the manner in
which (lod [)erform(!d this creative act. The; statement
that in the l»e}^innin<^ (lod created tlui heaven and the
earth would not l)e materiallv altered hv savin'' that
<S God evolved the earth out of nothing;. We need have no
fear that Science will ever upset the truths of the liihle,
nor need we in tlie least dread the results of the in-
<]uiries or investijjjations of the ablest scientists ; (lod is
the author of both the Bible of nature and revelation.
I take ;j;i'ave eN.ct>,[)tion to the character of (iod which
is portrayed by Mr. Prin^ie as of one who says beliexe
and bo saved or disbelievis and be damned. It is (juite
the reverse ; that seems to \m the idea of the natural
heart. lF;nnan law says, do this and you will be
rewarded, don't do the other or you will be ])unislied.
(iod says, " Ho that hath my connnandments and keei)-
etli them, he it is that loveth me." St. Paul says, "lost!
is the fnltillinj.^ of the law." The heathen idea of (iod
was that he was a bad (iod, whose presence they wislu'd
to avert and when they worshipped they <;ave ex])ressioii
to this idea by worshippinj^ toward the west, from which
direction they believed all harm and evil emanated. The
(!hristians re^t^arded God as a <:food (iod who is willinj^ to
receive and bless all who couk; to him, nnd Catholics
};ive expression to this idea by worsliipi)ing towaiils the
east, wliere light and f^lorv emanate. 1 do not read St.
A[ark 1() : 1(5 as Mr. Prin<:;le does;" tlie words are, "He
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that
disbelieveth shall be condemned " (see rev. ver.). I do
not care for what I call hell nnd danniation sermons any
more than Mr. Pringle does. The infant cannot accept
82
i)V reject tile ^'(ibj)tl, luilln )■ tiiii the insane or iiiil:( cile,
iieitlu I" the li(iitlun who iu\er luiiid it, for there is no
sill uheii! there is no Kiio\vh«l};e. It is jiot im-oiisiht( lit
with th<' teiicliiii;j; of that CnthohCii-iii whicli 1 hohl, to
helieve that in llieniiiny iiuiiisioiis there is ('oiiii:(ji!-ati(ii
for those wlio have neeessarily lived in moral and intel-
Icctuul darkness here. I do not dare to pronoiinee judg-
ment on Mr. I'riii<,de himself. The ^M)od (iod lias not
eommissioned me to do that. I hone, thediiv mav dawn
when he miiv see li^ht where it is dark now.
1 deny in toto that true Catholicism ever was res] on-
sihhi for wars or i)estilen{'e, or that the Lord decreed that
If is coming; should he a reason for the sword hein^^ drawn
aj^ainst Christians. My " in^'enuity and learning" is
not taxed in the least dej^'ree to solve the dit!icnlty that
so stron^dy presents itself to Mr, Prinj^de's mind, and
therefore 1 say, that Aj^nosticism has nothin}^ hetter to
oiler us than we have. Ciod damns no man ; man danjiis
himselt ; he is a free agent to choose the evil and reject
the e\il.
Some men are insensihle to the heaiities of music and
harmony, so perhajvs some are incai)al)le of seein<j;(iod :
they ha\(' not the natural caiiacity or intuition to see or
know (iod : hut we look for such an elevation of man-
kind to a hif^her [)lane that the time may come when
we shall attain those <;iftH and graces of which we know
little now.
No one, says the eminent JJisho]) Sutler, who considers
the state of religion in the heathen world hefore revela-
tion and its present state in those i)laces that have hor-
rowed no light from it, can think that the light of nature
was sutiticient, aiul that Christianity, which, after all, is
a repuhlication of natural religion, was not necessary.
1 do, therefore, think that we are indebted to Christianity
for all that is good and great, and that it does not re^piire
Cln'istian glasses of a very pronounced color to recognize
this fact ; and 1 do affirm that the religion of Jesus Clirist
is tlie })erfect religion of humanity. Every true scientist
nnist reject fables, but the doctrine of Evolution is very
far from rejecting fables ; on the contrary, it invents
very many, and to conceal the fables which it invents, it
goes on inventing others, as the man who invents one
lie must invent another to cover up the tracks of the
first. ]iut such men are unworthvof the name of scien-
tB
•X)
is no
htdit
1(1, to
lltUiH
iutel-
jiulK-
is not
(lawn
I'Sjon-
>(1 tlmt
ilnuvn
\\ tluit
1(1, and
UvY to
ilannis
1 reject
iMic and
lo; God :
) s(;e or
f inan-
Nvhen
e know
Insiders
, revela-
,e l>or-
nature
all, is
lessary.
iitianity
:e(iuire
Cbrist
neiitist
lis very
Invents
leiits, it
lits one
>of the
scien-
tists. TIh! Clnircli as I view it lias not )mmii tlic eiieiuy
of sci('Mr(! and |iliil(»M)jt]iy ; she lia^ notliiii;^' to fear frou)
either. Out" dil1icnh\ cainiol he exidaiju'd awav hv mis-
in^ aiiotlx r ; so ilu-, mystery of the >h»saic Cosmogony
eainiot )k! <\j>l.ji)))(l a\v;iv l»y raisin;^ llie luyshry of
J'>\ohuii>n.
Stkaum: Tk.mk, M.A.,
Hector.
" ("IlinSTIAXlTV ("I'M SCIKNCE."
I'd Oil-- I'.dittjr uf ilie lv\>'niiss,
J)i:au Si», — 1 think yon liave jud^^ed i i^'iilly in jj;ivin,L,'
place to th(JHe letters in your paper. They are very in-
t(M'estin^, and, as one, of your c()rr(;s])()ii(h;nts said, the
truth will no doubt come out clearly, wlien so many
views are presented on it from every side. I^fay I pre-
sent inc'deulally my own view, that, altliou^^li I am nol
in favor of prohihition, 1 tliink proliihitionisls liave a
mirai ri^^'ht to prohibit, pr()vi(h'd it is constitutiojially
le;^'al to do so. If a man tinds n(;ttles and burrs in his
j.,'rounds annoyin*,' and hiirtiiif^' his children, it is not
m 'rely his plac;; to tell his children to kecjp away from
these weeds, but also he is perfectly ri^ht in cuttin;^ them
down and destroyin;^ them. J3ecau.se a man finds the
world had, it is not his only duty to pniy against th»;
evil. Om et /<f/^om— pray and labor. If tlie|H-oph! have
the control of imikhi^ tlu; laws, llioi let tlit'ni use their
})()\ver to drive away what is had. I think, however, thai
\\\^ evil lies deeper than [)rohibit:ion ca]i touch, in spite
of the idea that many would have us believe, that alco-
holic drinkiuij is a mere habit, with no raisou d'etre — no
reason for its existence hevond the fact that some
p(H)i
)le
merely ^et into the way of it ; 1 ihujk it must be easily
recoj^uiz'vHl that the vast (]uantities of li<]Uors consumed
reveal the fact that s(>me (h^eji-seated need exists for
it, or for something else that would t^ike its place.
Jn brief, there must he a stimulant. It is (juite })os-
sible that an ideally healthy person under ideal con-
diticms of life, would not need any stimulnnt. JJut, sad
t) say, the social, commercial, industrial, linancial, and
physical conditions of life oi so many i>eople (if not of
Wt
^:m
"Tf
84
•'li!
jill) lire so Vci'V f;ir fimii liciiif^^ idi ally p* if( (•(. N'ow.
iiu'diciil iiiid clii'iniral j^cicMct! ill its |ircsciil fur ikIvmikm «l
(oiKliliiiii (iiif^lit to lie iililc to prodiU'c u <'oiin oiiiid tliiit
would >/\\v flu* |in)|)('i', full iiiid corricf. stiimiliis (to \.\n>
mind, l>ody mid spirit) uillioiit at. tlic >jimi(' tinu htiii;^
iiitoxiciitinj,'. Siicli u siiltstaiicc would till tlic lut d tl.al
III pri'hfi'.t exists lor Htiimilutioii and \iv willioiil any liad
t^tl'tH'tS.
Milt wliut I Kturtcd out to say in this l<tt<r was. wliat
is indivatcd in tlic licadinj^. We Konictiiiics sec the cx-
[jrcssion. " Scicnrc Ncrsiis Cliristianity." l>nt " Sciciitia
film Cliiistianitiitd " niciins seiencc iilon^ witli. or in
Imriiiony with, Christianity,
Allow nu' to iiiiiHtrat*' this in one jartiiMilar, as t(»
what is called rcf^'eiierat ion. or the new hirtli- the fiinda-
niciital doclriiu* of Christianity as to the actual clian}^e
of a n!an'> nature from had to j^ood. It just occurs to
nie 111 re to say that this is also a doctrine of Ihiddhisni.
J may also say here that Christianity is an Oriental reli-
gion, .\lthou;^li at present it is in tlie westei'ii world,
yet in its orif^in luid full (hn-olo[)imnit, it was truly and
peculiarly Asiutii*. liookinj^ at it pliilosojdiically. it was
a startliii};' solution of tlie proiilem liow to chang(! what
is hail in a person's nature, and make it irood, to say -
we'll do it this way. we'll have him horn a<;ain.
Let us take an illustration from practical i-cieiice.
l\
ere is an a.
l)ple-t
ree. stronu' a
nd vi
•porous, vet ur nvniji
apiiles. hard. sour, small, unfit to eat. The .j^'raftir in-
j;rafts all over its hranches. j;rafts from a heautiful
hiscious fruit. The same old nature is there, l>iit it is
nmzzled. it is ^lowerless to show itself mit, to do any
harm.
It would he stran;4'e indeed, if. when human inj^eiiuity
has found so many ways of ohviating and circunni'iitiii^'
e\il and had in so many departments of activity, no way
could he found of sul)duin<; it or renderinj..? it ])owerless
in the human nature itself. The powerful and \iciou^
horse can he perfectly controlled hy a little rein-strap.
The enj^neer witli two little levers can ahsolutely con-
trol tlic locomotive wliose jiower exceeds his own thoti-
ands of tim
es.
A fever mav till a man's veins with tiri
and all his hody with pains that he would like to allay
hut cannot, hut the medical man comes with the remedy,
properly applies it, and all the sick man's physical sen-
m
. Now.
(lvim<-( »1
U'l tlill''
If U-\\\'A
U'iy\ tl.al
niiv liiul
ois. wlmt
(. thr «'^-
' Scii'iitiii
\h. or in
liir, as t(»
he fiuula-
iiil cluiut^t'
(iii-urs to
|',U(l(Uiisin.
ifntiil rcli-
:orn woi'Kl-
s truly and
ally, it was
rani^c wli!\t
d, to ^'ly "
n.
Ill ^c-uiu'c.
vet '^r nvin<;
jrvattiv in-
ii l)cantif>il
i-v, l>ut it is
to ilo any
\]\ in-Avnuity
n-innvi'ntinij;
vity, no way
. it 'powerless
ivud vicions
U. rein-striq'.
wolutely fon-
jis own tlum-
cins with tiro
like to alliiy
h the remedy.
physical sen-
86
saiions me ehiiii;4e(l. And jii>t iis huly, lie is " horn
ii;.^aiii, " " hoi'U ol' \\iil( r jiiid the spiril," ean liiivc; his
li.iiitmi nature chni.i^cd, Ihiil is, in so far as it is chun^'i'd
I'ro'.ii hiid to ;,'o()d.
To ii I liiloho|,lii(al (ir -cii ntil'ie niiiid it ou^ht not to
he dillii-ull to ii|i|)rrheiid the loratioii of th<- det(>rniiiiiii;4
sjirin/^s of huiiiuii action. 'Hiey iiro tn'id»!ntly in the,
eerehral nnd n»'ive system. Now when we reiueniher
that there an; some three hinidred iuid thirty thousand
miUion hillion of molecules of air in a, ciihic incli of air,
and tliaJ no douht the mnuher is con-es|)ondin;^dy very
niu(di ;^reater in a more dense oi- solid suhstance, we,
can. see how easily tlmre is room for the most nunu'rous,
diverse, intricate! and complicated thouf^hts and (imotions,
even in the small mass of th«! cerehraland lU'rve system.
Now, we know that the human intellij^ence, when it
makes the hodily powers do its will, does so throu^^h the
medium of the nervous force, a fo)'ce very mu(di like,
electricity.
We can seo also that that stran;j;e tliiiii^ called forcti
whic',1 is so hard to detine,. so impossihh; tt» compridu'iid,
and which yet exists everywhere, whety#i' in the form of
mol,i(jn, of ei-avitation, of li;^dit, heut, electricity, n( rve
force, W(! can see, 1 say, that this im]talpahle foj-ci' can
inlluence solid matter more easily in its intinitesimally
divided form of molecuU'S than in hulk. Now, if human
action is (htei'mim;d oj" shapitd i»y tla; arranj^ement of
these molecules i)i the cerehral or nerve <.'enlres, and if
force has, as it actually has, ))ower to dis[)ose these
molecule.s at the dictation of intel!i;4ence, we can see that
if a person sarr(>nders the natural ))ower his intelli^'eiice
has over the (lis[)osition of the (teri'hral and nerve; mole-
cules — surrenders this power to a iniivtjrsally present
and jiowerful lntelli;^'ence, wc; can see Ijow (]ui<;tly
and irresistihly that lnt('!li<^'ence could thus place His
hand on thest' si)rin^'s of human action, could ^'atlu'r
the reins into J lis hand, could nni/,zl(> the had, cdioke it
off right at its fomitain, could in fact catch the strenj^'th
(jf human nature right at its weak spot iind control it as
easily as the engineer does the locomotive.
Now, let me lirst say that the ever priisent existence
of a I'niversal Intelligence is philoso})hically in the
strictest analogy with the facts of science. For instance,
throughout every portion of the whole vast measureless
nc.
%
vrvsarint.Ui-HHT,HMUi'NvtK( i .
;i^^. fiu-'is ..f ^miun-. . ^,„,. ,,|,o kuowh the
fiut «»• '''^\- . . ...:..,,v,.lntrv. »)lrv
,.lou lavs' is, that it v..ts hx ^ U> b ■ .^^^^^^,, „,,,,,,nvv
''•''^•»' ^'* =^^ ?"''■.;;,;; o M>lan.ts and llu. natural
liutvvbvvus this \^''\'Y\ ^.,in}^s of action lu
\ouis truly, •
;i(
Ullll.l*'
u 1<» I *'
iht'tl.tr
A ruin.
|)U\Vt I'-
ll IlliOUt
kil\<l^ •'^
in tin-
itli »»iiv-
*l ill tlif
)f a Ini-
evitlciH*'
mod lYo\n
toi'Kpliiio
\[\\\ I'Vt'i'y-
1, CKistt'Ul
^,i|), from
riciiU" null
viiy to cN'
lijj,vi\i'i'. -V
■ »nros!-nvy
w ; juht us
•\ |)Ohtu\iit('
live iiiituval
cji] u;o()<l 111-
,f iution ill
ST UK,
15. A.
" S( II:N( K ( IM I lIlilSTlAM'IV."
To ihe I'.dlior oi tliu Km'kkhh,
III (tiif I icvioiis I«'ll( r \\v ii(l\i!iic( <! lie i (i!'ili( ii (l.iit it
wiis (|iiilc ill iicconl N\ illi ^(•i( iicc, tl iit iiii »\nw\luft'-
l)|•(•^'^'llt iiiltlli; . Ill ^piiittiiil I (i\v( r sIkuiM Ic iiIiIc, prr-
tVctly 1111(1 (tisily.to tlLsposi^ imd control tlic nrniii;^'ciiu'nt
of the iiitiiiitci^iiiinliy niiiiiito itiol('<-iiK'S in tlic i'l'iclinil
1111(1 IK ivc syst( III, the iiriiiii<^'(iii('iil of wliiili is (((-(irdiii-
iitc with limiian Uioii^dil. uiid hiiisalion llut sources of
iiuniiin iiclion.
Now. the (incstion niitiinilly iiriscs, " Iiy sIkhiM such u
|»i'()ccss of ji spiritiiiil power, merely superiiilciidiii;^ or
coiilrolliii^' II cerliiin dis[>osition of iirfiiir> in a iiiiniile
portion of tli(! human (M-onomy, Ix; denoiiiinated a luiw
hirtli. a niuiie whicli, one mi;j;lit lliink. would he su;^'-
j^f^stive of an entii'i! change of the whole nature.
Let us consider this. |)reliniinarily. T.ike the case of
\\\v tree to which we refei'red as heiii;^' ^liificd. Strictly
speiiJuii;^, the lite of the tree is not in the lar^i; trunk,
or the hark or tlu; hraiudies. hut in the hiids. the ^'rowiii}^
hiids. Control the huds and y(tii practically control the
life, of the tre(! ; if you are ahle to determine the stylo of
tlio huds, you can (leti;rmin(i tho fruit.
l)Ut, one says, there is no analo;^'\' hetween u tree and
human nature - a human hein;^' don't ^'row into action
Hs a tree's hud ^'rows into fiMiit. Now let us see. Of the
three kinj^^doms of nature*, man heloiij^'s to tlu; animal
kinj^dom. and a tree to tlie vej^etahUt kinj^'doni, and these
two kinj^fdoms are very (dosely iillied in tlu^ir essential
constituent (pialities, lioM(!Ver much they may ditVer in
appearances. If you cut a hranch oil a tree, another
one will «^m-ow on close hy ; in some of the inimal forms
of animal lite if you cut off a limh another one will <j;row
on, and this faculty of ^'rowiii;^ still actually surviv(is in
fullest \i^or in the most com))ticated forms of animal
life, liowever tndy in appearance* it may seem to Ik; en-
tii'ely ahsent.
For, every day and all tlu* time, in the human system,
as a result of hrain work or muscular lahor, there is u
constant waste of li\inf; material, and also as constant a
recu[)eratin^ <fro\vth of uvw livini; uiaterials or potencies.
m\
88
The real life of luiinaii iiatnre (an far as liuniaii action in
roncenu'd) in in this ever-conslantiy -forming ULwasHem-
blage (»f powers or potencies.
And, for ivll practical puriM)seH of human action, there
is an actual new life started, wlien anew holy intelli<^ent
spiritual power takes control of the ahvays-new-forniing
growth in the cerebral and nerve system.
Thus we see that huniiin nature cfin he changed, and
th't'.t too as easily as turning]; your hand over, when tlie
proi)er power is apjdied at the proper i)laceof appliance.
It may here he remarked that ever since the irruptions
of Northern European harharians swamped Greek learn -
inj^ and Christianity in the night of the dark ages for ten
centuries, it has been the fashion to regard these things
in human nature as too mysterious and sacred for tlie
mind to attempt to touch.
IJut if any one will explore this region of science or
speculation, he \yill see at once that it is exceedijigly
simple, just as simple and plain as any other difKcult
matter is seen to be, after it is well and truthfully ex-
plained.
For let a man go out into nature and attentivel}' re-
gard the everywhere evident evidences of vast and facile
skill, recondite acuteness, simple and absolute goodness,
majestic power ; and it strikes him at once as very ai)po-
site and meet for him to be in close and perfect harmony
with that intelligent and awful and far reaching power,
and it is the most natural as well as the finest thing in
the world for the man to surrender that natural spiritual
control which he possesses over his own organization,
to surrender this control into the keeping of the Infinite
Spirit in whose keeping he is — to bathe Iiis whole spirit
in his influence, in other words, to be baptized (Greek
word for bathe) in the Holy Spirit.
Yoiirs truly,
J. A. LuCENTliE, B.A.
m
-tion iH
asseiii-
1, there
ellij^eiit,
red, aiul
.lieii tlie
)plianct!.
ruptions
tik learn -
H for ten
■56 thing's
d for the
cience or
tjeedingly
r difficult
hfully ex-
itively re-
and facile
goodness,
/ery appo-
harmony
ng power,
t thing in
lI spiritual
anization,
;he Infinite
hole spirit
zed (Greek
T.E, B.A.
"CHHISTIANITY (JUM SCIENCE."
To tlic wuiior of the KxfUKss.
])r\r Sir, — Allow nie furtlier to offer some thoughts
on tht lai:k of antagonism or the [)resenee of harmony
between sciynce and Christianity as H])eiifically in one
doctrine, that of being horn again. Tlie spectacle di«l
seem a little hard of one person having to defend liimself
against several. The fact in, however, that when 1 saw
various untenable (as 1 conceived) charges made against
an institution and book that contains so many precei)ts
of such great and indispensable value in every relation
of practical life, I felt that I was picking uj) a gauntlet
already thrown down, rather than aggressively throwing
one down myself. I do not think it out of place to say
that Mr. Pringle's frankness, his evident belief in the
justness of his words, and his deprecating hostility to
various evils of life, attract from me admiration and
friendship. So 1 say (if he has no ol)jection) 1 have a
high regard for him. And I do not think it necessary
to the furtherance of Christian truth to deal hard blows
at opponents. The man who carries truth in his port-
folio does not come to a man and throttle him and say,
" You must read this hook or I'll pound you," but he
says, " Come, here is something fine I have to show you,
just hear it." The man who is bursting with truth may
be thankful if he can coax someone to listen, into whose
ear he can ivjur the fulness; of his thoughts, though ])er-
haps he might sonifitiiUes have to, like the Ancient
Mariner v.itli the wedding guests, hold him with his
glittering «-,ve. He who starts out in the fruitful fields
of truth, says, ■' Come along, friend, here are large
tracts of fertile soil for you to api)ropriate."
This preliminarily — I now proceed more v..-] llv^itly to
discuss the actual subjective change in human iiature
from disease (physical, moral, sjtiritual) to health, from
wrong ways of living to right, from bad to good. The
prime Teacher of Christianity said v John li : 5) " Except
a nuin be born again of water and of the spirit he cannot
enter into the kin<jjdom of God." It mav seem at first
to he a singular expression, " to bo born of water." Let
us see. Travellers who have visited those Eastern
M
ii-5
40
couiilrics iiiul se(n tliciv i)eopleH nny that it wcukl imtiir-
ally strike any one at first sip:lit tliat it would bo an ex-
trciiH'lv iu'c(?st.arv and j^ood thiiiiL!; for tlie jjeoplt; to wasli
tlu'iiiselvi s. Often we, hear a person say, after having a
lovely hath, " 1 feel like a new person." It is more than
mere feeling. He is physically to a certain ( xient a new-
person. Tile real life is in the ever constant momentary
}j;ro\vth, and in that has hej^Min an actual chan^'e. Those
who know the i)hysioIoj^ncal eliect of a n[ood liiith (when
needed) on the ei)ideniiis, will tell tliat it allows tlm
minute ejiidermal or<j;aus to cast away iioisons which if
retained in the blood, would have a far-reaching effect
foi- ill not only on the corporeal essential orj^ans, l)ut
also on theemotionnl intiillectual and spiritual character.
So that when sucli bad poisonous influences can be
taken away and rendered inoperative, a distinctly new
style of life at oiu-e commences. So that the i)hrase
" born of water " is an apposite one, especially so in the
case of those eastern [)eoi)leH who suffered not only from
" matter in the wrong place," but from actual epidermal
and perhaps verminous diseases. It may be noted that
being "born of water" is put first. The old maxim
says, " Cleanliness is next to godliness." But this pro-
mniciamento puts the type of physical reformation first
before that of spiritual. Likely he sjiw as regards the
mass of tliosepeoph", it would be hard for the inner man,
the spiritual nature, the character, to be renewed fully,
as long as the corporeal nature contiruied in such a
dreadful condition. For the state of the physical
nature in man is a powerful facto*' in determining the
style of a man s thoughts, feelings, disposition and gen-
eral spiritual life. However, the great Teacher ])ut
together the two agencies for the rehabilitation of the
two sides of human nature, the corporeal and the intel-
lectual — "being born of water and of the spirit." 1
think that this latter — being born of the spirit — is some-
times supposed to be a })rocess of too mysterious a char-
acter for investigation. Yet the juxtajiosition of t^ t two,
" born of water and of the spirit," and the similarity of
phraseology in each case seem evidently to point to a
similarity in the working or process, and in the result.
And the former, on con ;ivk:at:(in, seems easy of expla-
nation, and so, I think, will be the latter. You bathe
the body in water, you bathe the inner man, the
41
T
conscious })ersoii;ilily, llio solf, \.\\e soul, tlu; iiiiiul, in
the Holy Spirit,. In tlio foruicr (.'iis<% obstacles to the
correct uiul i)roi)er workinfi; of tlie opidcrnuil orj^'ans are
removed ; in the latter, ohstarles to the correct and
re«^uhir \vorkin<,' of those tilings tliat nuike for sjuritual
health (such as rea(li]iess to do duty wlien it is seen) ;
oljstacles to such are removed, and the spiritual nature
hecomes pliant, free, unhiiulertMl, ready to perform its
functions, and t;) do its work (really a new man is horn,
vast powers of which the man was never before conscious
in himself, spring into conscious existence, while the
man is a..iazed and delighted in the felt conscious
possession of them). Now, every elfect. must have a
cause and the fact that such a work is done shows that
there must be an agent to do it ; but no human power
has ever been discovered that could give back to man
his riglitful spiritual power, or put him in possession of
spiritual life and powers of which lie never even dreamed
})efore. And as it is hi response to a trustful prayer to
the holy spirit of (iod, while bathing the spirit in that
.spirit of Jehovah tliat this new life comes; we can do
no other than conclude that it is a truly scientiiic fact
that this (diange is and was brought about by the Holy
Spirit. Further on, I shall sliow tliiit there is not in
this necessarily any interference with natural law.
Now, to go back a little : We have seen that the uii-
bathed corporeal system has [)oisonous elements thrown
back upon itself, interfering with the healthful working
of its essential organs. Now the spiritual life or s})iritual
elfort have also to be subjected io the experience of feel-
ing poisoned. The dust from the struggle and turmoil
of life becomes encrusted on the spirit, as the material
dust on the body. For instance, the spirit (we'll sa_\)
W'ishes to be truthful ; but a knotty tangle comes u}),
and the spirit says, " Oh, oh, oh, I can't be exactly
truthful here ! " Or the trader wishes to be honest, but
the complicated com})etit;on comes in, and he says, " It
is impossible to be strictly honest, what is the use of try-
ing?" Or the farmer struggling hard, and seeing a
thousand million (as they seem) inliuences against him,
says, " What is the use of trying to keep my temper?
Let her slide." and out comes the oath, the profanity,
the bitter curse. And so, all over, in every relation of
life, in every time of life^ cojiies the bitter wail, " What
'(
I
,1
4
i
N
42
is t\w use of trviiifj to ha strictly ri;^'lit, or rij^'lit nt all,
we cun't do it '" — and that thoiifijht, feeling or conviction
is thrust hack hh hitter poison on the heart. It ] oisons
spiritual effort, henumbs and weakens spiritual faculty ;
and often through long disuse the very faculty itself
hecomes inoperative or unintelligible ; the spiritual
nature Ix'conies powerless to do its appointed work. But
the work must be done, the world moves on, there is no
time for the spiritual nature to stop and rest and recruit,
the exigencies of social life and our own sense of right
demand that the spiritual efforts must be made, and
that the inoperative spiritual faculties must operate.
And, in desp;^'-. the struggling heart cries, " Lord, help
me," and he Ik '^is in as far as the spiritual sphere ex-
tends, for the i.])u .t does not invade the province of
])hysical remedial • 'rency, nor the province defended
by human personal spiritual antagonism.*
We are now in a position to consider analytically the
definite relation between the power of the spirit and the
molecular constituents of the nerve and cerebral system.
And first, if the human spirit can influence or control
these molecular constituents, there is no reason whv a
universally ])re8ent powerful spirit cannot do the same
(in tlie way of aid to the human spirit, or restoring to
the human si)irit lost powers, or powers l)elongi*ig to the
typical human spiritual nature).
Well, then, as to the relation between the power of
the human spirit and the molecular constituents of the
nerve and cerebral system : We can say, first, that,
although science has not as yet found out the primal ov
hmdamentsil or elemental constitution of force as such
(whether in the form of electricity, the attraction of
gravity, the vital force in plants or the nervous force in
the human system), still we can very well conceive (as I
said in my first letter) that force can (as it does) influ-
ence matter in its immensely-infinitesimally-minutely
divided form, as molecules, rather than in bulk. Well,
then, the nerve force influences or controls or can influ-
ence or control these constituent molecules of the nerve
and brain system, so as to dispose them in any natural
I
I
* These beginnings of ne\v or restored spiritual powers or faculties, being the beginning
of :i new growth, and so of a new nature (for we must remember that the life, the nature,
are :!t\ ever-mvHneiit;iriIy-i;!\angiiig growth) may very properly \v& termed a " new birth,"
48
-J
j\rranf»enu'nt {i)roi»().siti()u 1). Also tlie inind or intclli-
j^'encfc or Hi)irit (call wliiit you will the i)ers;>ii;J a'Jttniti
ran control the matter of the niuscle.s. It is intert'erin<^
with no natural law in doin^ so, thouj^h we may not .see
how it can do it — just as we know that force of }j;raviiy
(of the Hun) can haul the vast weiL,'ht of the whole earth
jiround anywhere, though we do not see how it can do it.
Again, 1 can direct my intellect, my reifson, njy imagin-
ation, my memory, on to one subject of thougiit rather
than another, or 1 can withdraw any of these faculties
from their attention to any one subject of thought.
Here again analytically :* And the ego, the I, the spirit
must have power over these brain or intellectual powers
and through them over the molecular constituents of
the brain substance and their various peculiar arrange-
ments (and so far as they change their attitude to one
another with the changing thoughts). Nor in this does
the spirit interfere with natural law, it is merely exer-
cising its natural |)ower or potency. Or again we can
control the emotions of anger, of pity, of despair, of hate,
of love, of envy, of ambition, of aversion, of ho])e. Now
analytically, what does this control mean '? It means
that again the Ego, the spirit, can control nervous power
enough to despatch it to gi) and dissolve those [)eculiar
combination.-i and arrangements of molecules that are
the accompaniment or stimulating cause or result of tlie
emotions in question. In other words the spirit can,
through its agent the nerve force, control the disposition
of those molecular constituents. l?ut if the human si)irit
can do this, there is no reason why a universally-present
powerful spirit should not also b(^ able to do the same (as
we have said) in the way of aid to the human spirit, or
in restoring to it powers that it had lost, or that had
become paralyzed or imheciliated through spiritual dis-
ease ; or in restoring to it (the human spirit) iK)wers
that naturally belong to the typical good human nature.
Now, Mr. Editor, I find that there are quite a number
of other things I would like to say about this subject in
order to elucidate it at all well, and that it will take an-
other letter to hold them all. 1 have been as brief as 1
* This means (to speak of the result first), tliat the busy intellect, the busy memory,
ihe busy imagiii.ition, the busy reason, hav.' [lOHer over the molecular constituents uf
the brain, to dispose them in all those peculiar combinations that present the differing
consecutive changing thoughts aJid ideas to the mirror of coasciousness.
I
44
possil.lv could, in order to at all do justice; iowluit tluul
to s'iv' I would silso like to advert to the {ui-t Mint it
wouid Heeiu to l)e easily evident from tlie exj-ression
" horn " that th- .lew nature thus referred to would Ik?
not niuture. hut at least infantile (as is the l)eginninK of
cvervthiii'r sreat in nature)— so that a man is not (m
that'viewrchaiiKed from heing a truly had man to hem<;-
u tirst-rate «,'o()d one, at once (as Mr. l'rin<;le seems to
suKk'est is supposed to he the case).
nUsoNvish to explicate that tough problem that has
ahvavs heen such a sad difficulty with most— how is it
that evil (in so inanv forms) is so prevalent m a cosmos
ordered and educed' ))y a {,'ood creator. 1 also wish to
make a more full and thorough discjuisition of the idea
that natural law (not the laws of nature) hut the very
fact of the e ''stence of the law, universally, postulates
necfssRMly u-,..versal hitelligence.
Yours etc.,
,T. A. DrcEKTRE, ]). A,
45
rAllTlNG WOIJI) TU Mil. JAKVIS AM) WV.Vl.Y
TO MESSKS. TKillE AND DICENTHK.
" 'Bout creeds and faiihs let graceless zealots fight ;
He cat! t be wrung whose life is in the right."
It) the l'",(lilor of tlio Kxi'KKss.
Sir,— There is u wise saying to " Icl well eiiougb silone"
which crosses my mind as I begin to write ; and I pause
whether to go on or not to go on. Just t\t the present
juncture of this triangular light, somebody aj)pears to
stand in the safe corner unhurt. No reasonal)le man
would want a much better position, and the occupant of
that corner claims to be a reasonable man. But — not-
withstanding — yet — nevertheless ! tlie fact is, that while
one able polemic has, 1 regret to say, step})ed out of the
ring, another, I am glad to say, has stepped in. This
preserves the balance of numbers, and is an inducement
to go on.
Now, I think the critical and im[)arlial reader will
agree with me in saying that the positions I have taken
so far in this discussion stand mnnoved. But a learned
layman has entered the ring in a philosophic and scien-
titic coat of mail ; and I am sure ho would feel slighted
did I allow his inviting glove to lie on tlietioor unnoticed.
Albeit, brother Jarvis is, I think, mistaken when he hhits
that, whenever his erstwhile opponent " sees a head," he
wants to " hit it ;" and that he might even stop to " argue
with a sign-post." But it must be confessed that this
polemic (who, it seems, is suspected of being " fond of a
shindy for its own sake ") has, in times past — say, thirty
years ago, " in the heat of youth" — occasionally rboi up
against reverend " ;:ign posts" (basswood aiul badly de-
cayed), and, as a consecpio-i'-'e, knocked them over sans
peine and sans ceremonie. But lie hap[)ens to have fairly
good timber to hew at this time, and is desirous of cutting
away nothing more than the bark, knots and excres-
cences, and straightening out tlie crooks.
The new arrival, referred to above, who has just en-
tered under the caption '' Christianity cum Science,"
subscribed " Jas. A. Ducentre," appears to be a philoso-
pher as well as a fighter. 1 therefore say Welcome-
thrice welcome— here's my liand— I have occasional
!
I
li
*/
46
[)liil(),->i»;»liic- ^[H'lU myself, and 1 shall foel hoimrod to |»ic'k
up ^^^. Diicentre's gauntlet presently, and endciuor to
picM'fo the aforesaid coat of mail. JJut wliile the theistie
[)lhloso[)h(n- enters the arena, the Catholic theologian
leaves it, wiiicli, as already intiuuited, 1 very much regret.
Mr. Jarvis did me the honor and himself the credit of
leaving the held of battle with the grace of a gentleman,
and, instead of consigning his opponent to Hades (see
new version), extends a friendly i)arting hand, which I
all the more appreciate as I have heen so often consigned
to that place (the hell of the old version, too, \Thich is so
nnu'h hotter) by the aforesaid " sign-posts " which I have
had the misfortune to run up against and knock down
(fjuite accidentally, of course). " A retreat courageous"
shall not, therefore, be followed by a })ursuit discour-
teous The amenities of controversy would permit nu'
to go (Ml witli the argunu'nt against my oj)ponent, and
am[)Iify on all the issues already raised, so long as I
raised no new ones ; but I shall not even take advantage
of tliat legitimate privilege when there is to be no reply.
^[r. Jarvis credits hi's Agnostic antagonist with *' a lin-
gering regard for the cluirch Catholic." Mv. Jarvis is
right. For two or three reasons, 1 have a lingering re-
gard for tlie ('liurch of England, and here are the reasons.
The first is, tliat that church "never meddles with [)olitics
or religion," — that is, hardly ever. The second is, that
that church is broad enough to include the modern
thinker, if he choose to stay, and has sense enough not
to do what the other Christian denominations do, and
that is, to turn out with a kick, if not with a curse, their
brightest intellects as soon as they show signs of out-
growing the nuisty and moribund creeds. Tlie third is
(and this would be sufficient without the other two) that
that church was the church of my mother, than whom a
better woman never lived — better than her religion —
and one of the few who are aide to rise sui)erior to that
or any other creed of Christianity. IMy mother held
what Mr. Jarvis calls the Catholic Faith in its broadest
and noblest sense, consigning no mortal to a mythical
perdition, but, with a philosophy and a charity as broad
as the universe, held patiently and steadfastly to duty
and right. I am ])leased that Mr. Jarvis and myself are
parting on the field in genial sunshine ; and I pnnnise
him (and brother Tiglie) that should I ever in the future
\
47
think of joiiiiu;^ a ('liristiiiiiCluircli (ntid tlicic is no f»'ll-
iii;^' wlmt II luaii niij^lit do in his dotaj^e), th<i An^^diran
Catholic Chwrcdi shall first receive my " most neriouR
consideration."
Tiirnin<^ our attention now to Mr. Tif^he. he will excuse
Mie for saving', whftt the careful reader already knows,
viz., that he has done nothing' in his hint letter towards
refuting my ivr<^'umenls except to " olTcr some ohserva-
tions."
Two or three matters however, in Mr.Ti;^die's rejoinder
call for notice. He thinks the liihle ai»l science are not
opposed to each oilier. It would he presumptuous as
well as superfluous on my jjart to set out here to prove
that they are op))osed to each other— seeinj^ thak the
question has heen settled hy champions so much ahler
than either of us. 1 would refer Mr Ti<^die and all con-
cerned to tlie writinj^'H of Spencer. Darwin. Ifuxley, Tyn-
dall, Haeckel, and l)rai)er in jj;eneral ; and in particular
t) a work entitled "Order of Creation," which includes
the controversy which took place some tliree or four
fears ago between W E. (iladstonc and Prof. Huxley.
The latter shows in the most conclusive matnier that
(lenesis and science are utterly irreconcilable, \Wiether
attempted with tlu^ new or the old version, whetber witli
the English or the Hebrew, and whether the days of
(xenesis mean long periods of time or not. He shows
a direct contradiction between the order of creation as
given in Genesis and the order of creation or develop-
nuint as revealed by science.
Mr.Tiglie says: "The statement tbat in tb€ beginning
God created the heaven and the earth would not be ma-
terially altered by saying that God ' evolved the earth
out of notliing.' " Neither evolution nor science teaches
tbat tbe earth was evolved out of " nothing," eitber
by an " absolute and eternal energy," by God, or by any
other power. The axiom ex niliilo iiiliil Jit is as true hi
cosmogony as in philosophy. When anytlu'ng has to be
made, whether a world or a walking-stick, a certain
commodity called " raw material" is requisite. That
something can be made out of nothing is a purely theo
logical doctrine, which has. neither philosophy nor com-
mon sense to commend it.
Mr. Tighe ha^ sympathy for those who " live in moral
and intellectual darkness," who are " incapable of seeing
i
I
46
m
¥
(it'd," ii.»t Iniviii;^ the ** imtiinil ciiiiiicity i)r iiitnilioii li)
M'<i or know (lo(l :" and lio " li()|)<'s tlir diiy niny <lii\vii
when he tliiit is, A. I', iiiiiy nee lij^'lit wlurc it in dark
now." This is ii cool and (•oiHi)hi('('nt spccirs of i^alron-
ajjjc which I am (|uit.(! ii!-«'d to, and whicli in, I su|)i;(»s(',
harndi'.ss, and woll meant, hut at the Kiune tinu! I soine-
tinies tVel like resenting' it. Of course, Mr. Tifj^he more
than liints liis ojjinion that for Huch a l)eiiij,dited indivi-
dual as m_vs((lt' there will he <^'raciously [irovided room in
"the nianv mansions," and this certaiidy is liheral and
kind on his part ; hut really I would not care to oc(;upy
a herth there merely hy sulTerance iuHtead of merit.
And then, a*,'ain, the A^Miostics nii{:;lit not feel quite
safe mdess they hud an ai)artment in the " mansionH "
all to themselveH. for some of the saintH mifj;ht try to
make it as iiot for them there as thev do liere, and thev
mi^iit as well he in one hot place an anotlier. The
Scientists an 1 Sec'ilarists would desire |)eace, (piiet and
an occasional rest after an earth life full of work. It
Piif^ht not, tlierefore, he as (^reat a favor to let us in there
as A[r. Ti^dit and many of our Christian friends ima<];ine,
thou<j;h I certainly think we would have nothing to fear
from th(! Auf^do Catholics, or the Quakers ; hut how
ahout the Jesuits, and jMethodists, and Calvinists, and
Salvationists, and Rev. Josej^i Cook, of Boston, to say
nothin«j; of all those other <^'Ood Puritan Christians who
used to hurn witches and hang Quakers — those who
hurned the Atheist Bruno, and even the Christian IMsho})
Servetus, and an innumerahle host of " heretics." We
should l)e in continual fear of our lives, and liad rather
not go, Mr. Tighe, unless you and your Catholic friends
(heing onr friends) can manage somehow to have tlies-e
good people " hound over " to keep the peace. At any
rate, for myself, I nuist he excused from going in on the
plea of " imhecility,' or " natural inca})acity to see God,"
or the soft impeachment of " moral and intellectual
darkness," or any such pretext. 1 nuist take it straight
or not at all. I must have as good a right as a Metho-
dist, or even an Anglo-Catholic, to get into heaven or 1
do not wish to get in at all. And what is more, while I
would not particularly ohject to go into the same apart-
ment with the Episcopalians, Cniversalists, Pagans and
Quakers, I would not care to risk the other apartments,
^[y friend, Mr. Tighe, wdl understand hy this time
I!>
timt I mil iiol williiiL,' to f.ikc to iny^'lt' one sluuh' iiinic
of tlio "(liirkiicss " hr s|m'hI<h alMiiit tliiiii lu' is williii;^
to take to liitiisclf ; and llic siinu^ wiili «'\('rv other Clins-
tiiiM. TIm! iivcmics of kiio\\l«'(l;^'c and iiil'ofiinitioii (I
hIuiII say iiotliiii;^ al»oiit " iiiLiiitioii '") which uri? open to
him and thciii are open to nu*. So tar as kiiowled^'c
gooH he knows, and they know, no nion' ahoiit tlie nn-
knowahhi than I do. " Wlio can liy searchinj^' find ont
(iod?" \\v knows, and they know no more ahout what
they call (iod, and what Spencer calls " th«) ahsoliitcs and
eternal Ener;^'y from which all things proceed," and
what I'ojK' calls the "Soul of the I'niverse," and
what Spino/a calls an " Ah^olute Siihhtance." and
what Fichte calls "the moral ord.r of the world," and
what iJeccher called a " dim and shadowy intliience,"
and Luther "a hlack sheet "—what the Ttu-k calls Al-
lah, tlu! ilindo I'rahm, and the Jew .lehovah- ahoiit this
mysterious power with many mimes, Mr. Tifj;h(! knows
as little as I. In reality not one of iis knows anythin-^'
ahout it essentiallv. We niav all ohserve its manifesta-
tions ev( rywhere, and (!ach may draw hi<^ own conclu-
sions. Mr. Tif^die may helieve (any Christian .aay l)e-
lieve) this or that ahout this I'ower, hut I w( uld just
remind him that faith is not knowled^'e. As to the
" darkness," my helief in the existeiuM! of this Power,
i)i' " eternal I'iUer^y from which all thin<^'s proceed," is
(louhtless just as stronj^f as liis. No rational and honest
man would think of denying' such existence. The ditl'er-
ence hetween us then is this. AMiile we hoth admit the
existence of the Power, Mr. T. Ljoes on to inveHt it with
personal attrihutes and calls it God. 1 refuse todoany-
t!iin<^ of tliekind, hecause 1 have no warrant for sodoin.i; :
nor has Mr. Ti<,'he or any one else other than subjective
fancy ; yet because I refuse to accom])any him and them
into speculations and ima«j;iiiin;^s, 1 am, forsooth, in
*' darkness " while they are in a halo of lifj[ht ! They
follow emotion, tradition and inuxgination, whilo m-? fol-
low reason, common sense and science. Tl.^'i '•. the
difference. x\nd which of us is the more deservinj]; of
commiseration ? Mr. Tighe sym})athizes with me in
mj " darkness," while I conniiiserate Inm in his su])er-
Btition. He, with other Christians, tl;inks I am a lit
subject for pity ; while I think just the same about them.
The svmiiathv is cheai) and ihe " honors even." So it
if
4
:,()
i
iiii^lit >i;>|M>iit' iit tir-<t si<4lit, luit I think l.lir im1i1> arc nii
IIY Hide. Ii<'t IIS sec. Ml'. Tij^lic liUIHt ildlllit tliiit liiid
lui l«!«'M Imiiii II Turk uiid Imui^'lit ii|> in tlir fuil'i (»f Is-
llllll \u' wniilil ll.'lVt' hern Ms /I'llloils u MullonillliMliUi US
\H!i is now 11 ( iitliolic ('iii'i>tiiiii, iiiid his hihh- would have
been th<( Konin. In I hat civse he would hiivr Iwiiu e\-
lerKhii^ his |>il_v to the Cliristians as |)('0|de in " moral
and inli'IK'cliial darkness," and wishing' tlu' day to dawn
when thcv would "'stH! li^^lit wluTt' it is darkness now."
Or had Im> hccn horn in India and nhicatcd in Ihiddhisu
he ini^'ht have hcen coiiiinf^ over here; to Chicaf^o hifst
autiiiiin to the ^^'feat Parliament of Htdi^ions as an Ori-
ental priest, stron<^ in the faith, and, like l)hanna|)ala,
«!xten(lin;,' sympathy to ihe ("hristiiuiH and all other
religions present, and announcing' to them the " ^ood
wislies ami peace of four hundred and seventy-liv(i mil-
lions of Ihiddhists," and his hihie would have heeii tluj
Shastei'. The Christian, if he he reasonable, must,
therefore, admit that religion or creed is mostly a matter
of birth and education. As a rule the man {h a ChriHtian,
or Ihiddhist, or Mohammedan because he has been born
and l)r>ii<^'|it up that way. This even holds ^ood in the
sects of these ;.j;reat reli^'iows. liorn and broiif^ht up a
Itoiuan Catholic he remains one; a I'resbyteriiin o
Methodist, he remains one, ami so on throii}j;h with fe,,
excei)tions. Everybody knows this, while hardly any-
body sees the sij^niticanct! of it. What does it mean '.'
It means that the creed instilled into the mind of youth,
whether it be true or false, wise or otherwise, is ai)t to
I'emain there to the hour of his death. This is undoubt-
edly true, and it, therefore, follows that a reasonable
man ouj^dit to have a better reason for the faith that is
ill him than the mere fact that he has inherited that
faith — a better reason than the fact that he was tau;^lit it
and believes it, and that it aj;rees with his feelin<^s. These
are, indeed, no reasons at all so far as the proof or truth
of the faith is concerned ; they are only the reasons why
he holds the faith.
Only a few people have the disposition or power to
break the yoke of early education. Only the few can
part with the faiths of their fathers, and especially of
their mothers. Only a few can cast oti' errors wliich
are fairly in<;rain*ed by birth as well as education. J
claim to be oiuMvf the few. And herein is where I think
til
I liiivr tlu^ ii(lviiii^u;^'t' of Mr, 'I'i.^ln' iiinl rvtirv <»t.lu'r crci-d-
lioiiml Cliri^tiaii. I svmputlii/c with liiiii mul tlumi in
their IxUKhij^c. Ilci>u shivr nii;i\Min>. I iitii ii, iVcr
iiiiiii. He I'lUiiKit throw oil' tht' ciirly \i.k«' of error. I
hiive (lone so. So fur I have tlie ii(lviUiliij,'e of hi>n. He
ciiniiot (hfend his faitli. hut still he ht lieves it; nor cnn
lay (hqtiirted friend -hii \ is, not throiiu'li aiiv jaek (»f learn-
ing' or ahilitv. hut siin|.ly heeaii.-e of " no case," as the
lawyers say. It is not a matter of reason with theChrih-
tian, hut a matter of fiiith. He thinks his faith in reiison-
ahle and avers so, hut it is not. The evidence Ih sHtis-
fiictory to him hut not to an outsider. The " wish is
fathiir to the th()ii;^hf' and that settles it. The tividence
Avliich th(! Christia.i j) 'rveuhH himself i- ^ood and con-
tdiisiv(f woulil h ' rill 'd i» ii of any c;)iirl of ei|iiity as well
ni^ii woi'thless. 1 am not surprised that Messrs. Ti;;lie
and .lai'\"is fail *o defend the ci'ceds (e\t'n the .Vpostles'
creed) ; no man has ever Ixmmi ahle to do it successfully
on reasonahle j^'roands. From all tlii^ it may he inferred
tliat 1 do not feel that 1 need any more sympathy in
alle^'ed " dai'kness '" from my I'esjx led Christian opi)o-
ni'iils than they neiul from me, and (huihtless they think
that is just none at all. 1 hav<i found this patronizinj^^
|)ity i)rolh red me so ofttui in place of ai-^'ument hy well-
meaning' [)i!ople that I have thus heen at sonu- |)ains to
show them that while I a])])reciate tlit ii" kindness their
pity is not only out of place hut misplaced, and that they
themselves stand in more need of it. Aiul I have this
aihlitional vanta<;e <:(r()und : harrin;,' that " lin^erin<4
re^'ard " I have neitlua* hias for nor prejudice a<,'a.inst
any relitj;ion, and am, tluirefore, in a [>osition to judj^e
them all fairly. Were I a slave to a creed (the Catholic
or any other creed) hnpartial judgment would 1)6 out of
the (juestion. Like yourselves, I would then tliink my
own creed ri^^ht and all others mostly wronj,'. Is this
not so ? *' Honor hri<i;ht " ! You see the point.
Now, ^^r. Editor, allow me to j»ay my respects to
Mr. J3. A.'s communications, si^!;iuMl " Jas. A. J)ucentre,
Ii. A." On reading the two letters I have no douht ahout
the degree (the 13. A.), hut on looking over the Canadian
Almanac and making some in({uiry I have some misgiv-
ings ahout " J. A. 1)." However, as Mr. Bachelor of
Arts appears to he " a gentleman and a scholar," the
name is neither here nor there —not here, at any rate.
1,
: i
;V2
f :
And, Mr. Ixlitor, if I ii;ii occ-ipying more space thnn
any one of my opponents, you must remember that, as
Ar'tenuis Ward s-iid about tlie seventeen wives, there are
several of them and only one of me.
A}j;ainst B. A.'sseience 1 have nothhig to say. It ap-
pears to be all rif^ht : but his philosophy, I am sorry t )
have to say, is nearly all wrong. This is unfortunate
for his iirj^ument, for his science properly interpreted is
against him. I took the position in my first letter that
while Christianity claimed to .be able to radically and
suddenly change the nature of man it practically failed
to do so, and that no religion on earth could do it. J'tr
contra, B. A. declares that " human nature can be
changed, and that too as easily as turning your hand (ner,
when the j)r{/per power is applied at the proper place of
a[)pliance," and he admits that this " actual change of a
man's nature from bad to good " is the " fundamental
doctrine of Christianity." Now, I admit all that, but
when has the " proper power " (supernatural) been ap-
plied or when is it likely to be ? There is no i)roof
whatever that it has been or that it ever will be. B. A.
oliers none. Pie only argues that the thing is feasible.
It is worthy of note here that B. A. does not claim that
this change is effected, or can be, by " the blood of
Christ " (which is the proper and orthodox doctrine) but
it is to be done secuiidiiin (ir/c?/;/,' scientifically, a.-, it were !
]3ut science alone hi man's hand is not suflicient. A
supernatural power is assumed, and made to work scien--
tifically. A " universal intelligence " is pcsiulated.
And this intelligence can, li. A. tells us, change the na-
ture of man " as easily as turning your hand over," that
is, " if human action is deteruhned or shaped by the ar-
rangement of the brain molecules" ; and " if force has
power to dispose these molecules at the dictation of in-
telligence :" and if the person surrenders the natural
power his intelligence has over the disposition of these
molecules to this postulated universal intelligence. That
is certainly a beautiful theory, doing credit to B. A's.
heart and head both, and might work practically were it
not for the numerous " ifs," and the necessity of hypo-
thecating the '' universal intelligence." B. A. assumes
that which is to be proved. 1 admit the cerebral mole-
cules. I admit that every thought and emotion may be
either the result of, or at least accompanied by a motion
5a
of the molecules or re-aiTiiugeiueiits of them. (The bio-
logists think so.) I julniir, that " nerve force " is analo-
gous to, and is the cor- relative of, the physical forces
of motion, light, heat, electricity, etc., (and! am grateful
to B. A. for this admission which is fatal to his main
thesis). I admit that " human action is determined or
shaped " (in part) " hy the arrangement " (and charac-
ter or quality) " of these molecules." I admit that "force
has the power to dispose these molecules." All these of
B.A's. propositions I admit. Ihit I deny that a man's
'' intelligence has jwwer over the disposition of the cere-
bral or nerve molecules." I deny that he can surrender
to a universal intelligence" that which he does not pos-
sess, viz. ; this alleged " power over the disposition of
the brain molecules." These propositions, which are
fundamental to B. A's. position, I deny. No biologist or
psychologist will agree with him. And while they are
essential to his theologico-scientific theory of regeneration
ho offers no [)roof of them. As to the "universal intelli-
gence " o-itside of, above, and oi)erating on human intel-
ligence, predicated by B. A., while 1 do not deny its ex-
istence, I denv that there is anv satisfactorv evidence of
its existence. Here again the burden of proof lies witli
the B. A. who postulates or affirms its existence. True
he adduces certain arguments in support (yf his assump-
tion, the fallacy of which I shall show presently. And
even were the existence of such a universal intelligence
established B. A. would still have the impossible task
before him of proving any interference by such intelli-
gence with natural processes, whether in re-arranging
brain molecules, stopping a holocaust, stayinga pestilence,
or checking a plague. The leading scientists of the world
have told us that so far as the eye of science has readied
there is not the least sigii of any interference with tlie ope-
rations of nature by any supernatural power anywhere in
the universe, either in the Macrocosm or the Microcosm,
the phenomenon or noumenon, either in man's head or
outside of it.
And, furthermore, however the proposition may
appear to B. A., to my mind it would appear like
" universal intelligence" stultifying itself to first (as the
creator of them) make a botch of the brain molecules,
and then have to rearrange and set them riglit in order
to keep the unfortunate victim of a bad head from going
i
54
WTOllg
Why not niake the heud right from the start so
thnt it would need no molecule tinkering aftprwiirds ?
And if there be any such occult Intelligence guiding the
hand of man by mjiiiipulating the molecules of his brain
why does it not move to stay the hand of the assassin, of
the incendiary, the felon, the patricide, the matricide,
the fratricide, and the insane felo de se ? When some bull-
headed potentate is about to declare war which will entail
incalculable misery, suffering, slaughter and death, even
upon the innocent, why are not the molecules of that
animal head righted at the " proper time " by this Uni-
versal Intelligence of "simple and absolute goodne« "
and all the dire results of bloody war averted '? B v.
not only assumes universal intelligence for this Power
l)ut credits it with absolute goodness. Where the "good-
ness " comes in in the creation aud management of a
world so full 61 vice, crime, misery and evil of every
description as our little earth is, I never could compre-
hend. But this is i)robably due to a " carnal mind,"
" benighted," or to " natural incapacity," or something
of that sort !
B. A. says that the existence of this Universal Intelli-
gence (which, remember, is also absolute goodness) is
" philosophically strictly in analogy with the facts of
science"; and that it is "an absolutely necessary postu-
late to explain the facts of Nature." No man who has
studied Nature attentively and been able to free himself
from his early theology will agiee with B. A. in this.
Some of the " facts of ruiture " are sensible and pleasant
enough, while others — numy others — are not only with-
out rhyme or reason but exceedingly unpleasant to
humanity. If B. A., instead of getting degi'ees in college,
had been for half a life time fighting potato bugs, onion
bugs, chinch bugs, wheat weevil, pea weevil, oat rust, api)le
tree borers, codlin moths, curculios, currant worms, tomato
worms, potato rot, bee moths, country mosquitoes, black
flies, blue-bottle tiies, clover files, horn flies, gad flies
and hots, skunks, snakes, owls, hawks, crows, rats, mice,
moles, gi'asshoppers, and a thousand other nuisances,
more or less, his enthusiasm over " the facts of nature,"
and the wisdom and goodness thereof, might have been
a little cooled It will be of no use attempting an ex-
planation by telling me the " ground was cursed " on
Adam's account. I had nothing to do with old Adam —
II
n
55
am responsible for notliing he did or didn't do, and he
was a myth anyway.
How many different kinds of insect pests, think you,
Mr. li A., did the entomologist iind in the grain and
other vegetable products at the World's Fair '? And, of
course, the best of everything was taken there. Over
one hundred. That is a fact — see report of U. S. Dept.
of Agriculture. And not only is the fruit of the toiler's
labor attacked and consumed, but himself is attacked
and consumed with innumerable ills. Just think of the
list of diseases which afflict humanity ! The naturalists
tell us that of the parasites alone which attack the human
body inside and out (to say nothing of thi microbes)
sucking its juices and living upon it, there are no less
than two to three dozen species — many of them not able
to live in any other way, or on any other body but the
human body. Of course they were " made " and '* cre-
ated " and "designed" to prey upon and torture the
living human body ! Think of that for a while ! Think
of the wisdom and "absolute goodness " of that! Is
there any " intelligent design " to be discovered in that
'• fact of nature " or a thousand others like it '? Or were
these evils naturally developed along with the good by
that " infinite and eternal energy from which all things
proceed " and which appears to be utterly devoid of feel-
ing, if not intelligence, having no more concern for man
than the meanest insect which he crushes with his heel ?
There are thousands of birds and animals which live on
other animals and on man and that is their nature.
Men not only kill and eat the lower animals under them,
but they kill and eat each other ; and have done so
throughout all historic time. Who but the blind slave
to a creed can discover either wisdom or goodness in these
things? Talk about mystery ! Talk about the " abso-
lute necessity " of postulating an all- wise and benevolent
])Ower to explain the facts of nature ! In the face of the
facts staring at us from every point of the compass, such
a power would be a mystery a thousand times greater
than all the mysteries of Evolution. W^e are told that,
because we find intelligence in man, we must assume a
still higher intelligence to account for it. If we nuist do
that, then, to be logical and consistent, we must assume
a still higher intelligence to account for the first high
intelligence, and another still higher one to account for
(I
56
il
tliat one, and ho on. A single sylloj^isni will suffice to
coiHn that theological assumption :
Wliatever manifests intelligence must have had u
creator of higher intelligence.
This assumed all-wise Power manifests intelligence.
Therefore this Tower nnist have had a creator of
higher intelligence.
B. A. adduces the " laws " of nature in evidence of
the existence of this Universal Intelligence. Now, B.A.,
heing a learned num, and something of a scientist, ought
to know that t\ere is really no such thing as '* natural
law " hi the ,pular sense in the whole realm of nature
or science. It is simply a convenient and popular term.
By " law of nature " is simply meant uniformity of se-
quence, nature's invariahle method of working in this
direction or that. So says science, and B. A. doubtless
knows it, and he ought not, therefore, to follow the theo-
logical jiractice of founding an nd coptnndnm argument
on it. He says the only ]H)Hsihle May to explain law is
that it was fixed to be so by "■ intelligence." Well, then,
" the only i)ossil)le way to explain " intelligence is that
it was fixed to be so by a Higher Intelligence, and the
Higher by a still Higher, and so on. This is sini])ly
logical reasoning ftom B.A.'s premises. If he has the
right to postulate a higher intelligence than man to ex-
plain man, then I have the right to postulate a still
higher intelligence toexjdain liis postulated intelligence,
and so on. And if I have not that right, will B.A. tell
me why not ?
Yours, etc.,
Allen Pringlk.
^
P.S. — I cannot see that my learned opponent B.A., in
his third letter, has strengthened his position or met my
arguments at all. Pie repeats himself, continues to pos-
tulate without proof, and reiterates that unicpie hypothe-
sis of his about an assumed " universal intelligence "
converting men and guiding them by manipulating the
molecules of their brains, which performance is, he says,
quite natural !
If this be so — if an extraneous power outside of us
guides us in thought, feeling and action, and does it in
strict accordance with our natural constitution — the
power itself being the author of that constitution, whethei'
•>i
i
it be good or had— if this he really a fact, will B.A. or
Home other moral pliilosopher tell us where his moral
responsihility, free will, or free moral agency comes in ?
There would he no real freedom in such case, and tlu^
responsibility would all rest with the outside manipu-
lator, where, uuleed, it does chiefly rest (if it rests any-
where), whether we call the manipulator Nature or God.
Of course, under normal conditions, '" 1 have but to
will to do it, and I can move my arm;" and that physio-
logical fact is what B.A, calls " proof" of liis postulate
that man has " power over the disposition of the brain
molecules," because, forsooth, if I can, to a certain ex-
tent, control the muscles, I can also, by a i)arity of rea-
soning, control thought and emotion. Let us see about
this : Aside from the motive to control being quite be-
yond the jurisdiction of the ego, the control over both
(that is, muscle and brain) is strictly limited. We will
suppose that B.A.'smaxhnuin nniscular strength is eipial
to the lifting of ;50()11). avoirdupois. Here is another
nuin at his side who can lift 5(!()lbs. But B.A., accoi'ding
to his own doctrine, ought to be aide to lift the oOOlbs.
If his theory were true, he could do it by simply ''willing
to do it," as there would be a sufficiency of nerve force
" detached from the reservoir of ntjrve force by the natu-
ral power of the spirit." But B.A. cannot do this any
more than the race-horse can draw as much as the Clyde.
No man can ever get beyond the capabilities of his orga-
nism either in mind or muscle, and that is all I am con-
tending for — always bearing in mind that he is not re-
8i)onsible for the kind of organism he has got, or for
having any at all, as it was given to Inm quite without
his knowledge or consent. His freedom is, therefore,
limited by his constitution aiul environment. There is a
Shakespeare or a Tennyson who is a natural poet, for
" the poet is born, not made :" but he is no mathemati-
cian. Here is another man, wlio is a natural mathema-
tician, but lacks poetical genius. Now, according to
]3.A.'s theory, the latter ought to be able to write good
poetry by vigorously " willing" to do so, and thus getting
the poetical " nerve-force " set free from the " reservoir"
he speaks of. In like manner, the poet might get his
mathematical nerve-force set free. But the question
is, how can it l)e set free when it is not there in either
case ?
F
58
Ji. A. says : " We can control the emotions of unj^'er.
of \nt\', of despair, of liate, of envy, of love, of ambi-
tion, of aversion, of hoi)e." Well, we (the rest of the
world) cannot do it, and if B.A. can he has the advan-
tage of us. Think that over a minute, my Christian
friend. Were you ever angry or in love? Did you
either originate the tiaine (of love, for instance) or con-
trol it afterwards '? Have 3'ou not yielded, in spite of
yourself, to some of those other emotions you name ?
did you have any desire to "control" them? And if
you had, didn't the desire come up spontaneously? And
if you called it up, the motive for calling it up came up
unl)idden from your constitution. You can no more get
above yourself or behind yourself than you can lift your-
self out of your boots.
Some people can and do, in a measure, modify and
guide the emotions by superior reason and moral sense,
hut then some other people are almost, if not quite,
without reason or moral sense; and the great majority
of mankind and womankind are still governed more by
their feelings than their reason. There is no such thing
in actual moral life as absolute control of the emotions,
which constitute the large^ and stronger part of animal,
including human, mentality. Will B. A. venture to say
that the subject himself has anything to do with, much
less any control over, the original "disposition of the
brain molecules," which disposition is ante-natal as well
as post-natal in infancy and youth, and which disposition
is the chief factor in the formation of the subsequent
character. S ich a contention is absurd as well as un-
scientific. All the subject can possibly do is to use such
"molecules" (faculties, tendencies) as he has, and he
will use them in such a manner as his environment
necessitates. A. P.
KEPLY TO " J. A. D.," B.A., CONTINUED.
To the Editor of the Nai-anee Express.
Sir, — Out of consideration for your space, I did not
quite finish my argument last week in reply to B.A. His
apple-tree argument was passed over, and as I never like
to leave an opponent a leg to stand on, I would like, with
your permission, to knock out the apple-tree proi>.
5»
i
T^
B.Ai cites tlu^ oisf of u vii^omus ii|)|»le-tree heiiriii^'
inferior fruit, then f^nifted mid afterwards prodiu'in;^
j,'()()d fruit, to illustrate " conversion" or " reKenei%tion"
in man. He says we can easily see how this assumed
Tniversal Intelli<4ence could manipulate the molecules of
tiie brain and "clioke ot!' the l)ad," that is, "if" this is
so, and "if" that is so, and " if" the other is so — tlu-ee
it's — just as the tree, the horse, and the locomotive are
manipulated and controlled hy man. Yes, we could see
it all easily enou^'h were it not for tlie " ifs " and the
absence of tlie mani])ulator. The difference in the cases
is this : In the matter of the tree, the horse, and the
locomotive, man, the intellij^ence, is present as a fact,
and there are no ifs or ands about it. In the other case,
there are no facts but the subject himself ; the others
liave all to be assumed. The }j;raftin<f is a natural pro-
cess ])erformed by man ; as is also the crossin<j; and
breeding of stock to supersede " scrulis :" as is also the
training of animals and children, thereby nuiterially
improving, if not changhig the nature of the animal and
the child. 1>. A. fails to bring forward examples ot
" change of heart " so-called, or subjects whose evil
natures have been radically changed i)y this molecule
process. Of course I am aware of the claims made by
certain sects of "conversion," being " born again," etc.,
and I have been coming in contiict with the subjects of
these alleged changes, and observing them all my life ;
and I have never been able to discover that other than
natural influences were at work on them. The fact that
a person who has been lea<ling what is called a " wicked "
life, being brought under certain jisychological and mes-
meric influences, is led to change his course, is not at all
strange to the student of human nature and mental
science. It is all simple and natural enough. His pas-
sions and pro])ensities have been holding "high carnival,"
and now his higher faculties are brought into play and
gain the ascendancy over certain of his lower ones — all
of them natural. At revival meetings the faculty of
cautiousness, for instance, is powerfully wrought upon
and fear of " terrible consequences " plays no unimport-
ant part in " changing the heart " and conduct. Then,
liigher faculties may be played upon in other persons
leading to much the same results. That these ))eople
have peculiar experiences (so has the somnambulist and
(JO
— ^
" tniiu-e inediiini "^ and iictiuillv ludieve tliev are the
subjects of supernatural intluence I have no manner of
(loul)t: and do not for one moment queHtion their sincer-
ity or veracity. But as to tlie rntiotiale of tl)eir extra-
ordinary feelings, and the true origin of tlieir peculiar
experiences, they are quite ignorant. If 13. A. or anyone
else can hring me a case where a ])erson with a criminal
head on his shoulders, one "villainously low," indicat-
ing a low character, has heen so changed in nature hy
" i)eing horn of water and the spirit " as to hecome per-
manently an exemplary and moral citizen 1 shall at least
he led to look seriously into B. A. 's molecule hypothesis.
No such cases have or can he produced. Jiarring insan'-
ity and ahnormal conditions the character is as the
organization every time.
I should like to ask B. A. and some other good people
this question — can they produce a case of " conversion,"
or clumge from had to good in the human, as striking as
the cases we can show them in the lower aninuils where
a Earey or other horse trainer or " tamer" can " so
change the nature " of the horse as to " convert " him
from heing vicious, ugly and treacherous to heing tract-
able, sul)missive and well-hehaved ? The same with the
lion, tiger and other ferocious animals. And now an-
other question — Does the animal " tamer " pray over the
animals to effect this change, or does he exert his will
power and magnetize them into sulmiission ? He him-
self is the intelligence that manipulates their brain mole-
cules (for they have the molecules). He converts them
in a sense. The mesmerist subdues and controls his
human subject. The hypnotist, by " suggestion "
changes the thought of his subject and controls his acts.
While I have no faith at all in B. A's theory of a super-
natural manipulation of the molecules, or " a fountain
tilled with blood," to improve human nature and human
conduct, I have very strong faith in the possibilities of
science in that direction. The science of Psychology is
yet in its infancy. The" springs of action" in thehuman
brain will, I believe, yet be reached l)y science through
animal magnetism, and human conduct in a measure
controlled and imjn-oved. A beginning has already been
made.
Let Christianity as a life stand. Let the creeds of
Christendom go, as they must. Let Christianity do what
01
it Clin in ref()rn»in<^ hiuiuui conduct. With the masses
orthodoxy is, I admit, a powerful |)olic»;man. He stands
over tliem with an excellent" han<,'man's whip" which is
" the fear o' hell" for multitudes who unfortunately still
need it. That policennin I would not take off duty yet
for a while if I could. Hut I would hope and strive to
nuike his presence in the world no lonj^er necessary. I
am not writing for the class of people who need him.
They fail to understand me, and it is not p(irha[)s desir-
able that they should. I write for those who are " a
law unto themselves,' and whose presence and intiuenee
in the world will, it is to he hoped, hefore many genera-
tions, render the aforesaid jmlicenums presence quite
unnecessarv.
Yours, etc.,
Allen Pkin(jle.
PRINGLE VER;SUS POPE.
" For modes of Faith let graceless zealots fight
His can't be wrong whose life is in the right."
I'd the Editor of the KxFKESs .
Sir, — It is to be hoped that Mr. Pringle knows more
about science than he does about Scrii)ture or literature.
Mr. Jarvis exposed his ignorance of the former, and
though it is pardonable for a Secularist to misquote his
Bible, it is a shocking crime for him to nuuder Pope.
This Pope, like myself, is not infallible but he would
never have written such commonplace twaddle, or perpe-
trated such a mere truism as "HE can't be wrong whose
life is in the right." A much better " various reading"
was suggested by a Western Editor "He can't be wrong
whose Wife is in the right." The W C.T.T. please make
a note of this.
Yours trulv,
Poi'E-ToAN.
«2
A PICCOLO PEDANTIC *' POPE-JOAN."
Dkar Sir, — In the liiHt paragraph of my letter in lawt
week's Express I rounded up my position so tliat my
Christian friends would know just where I stand in
relation to Christianity as a li/e contradistinguished from
the creeds ; and as I had the field virtually to myself,
Htid do not helieve in "crowding the mourners," I in-
tended that letter to be my last in the present contro-
versy.
But as a personal explanation is always in order, I
rise to a point, not of order or argument hut, of honor
and fact. I admire courage and despise cowardice.
That patisserie "Pope" in your last issue is either
ashamed of his name or of that literary offspring of his.
If it is the latter I freely forgive him for harking from
hehind the fence.
Mr. "Pope" (I mean Pope the Little, not Alexander)
thinks that Alexander Pope " would never have written
such c(mimon-phice twaddle" as "He can't he wrong
whose life is in the right." It may surprise Pope the
Little to hear that the above was written deliberatelv
and with a full knowledge of how Alexander had put it.
Did this literary critic ever hear of such a thing as an
ellipsis in literature '} Probably not or he might have
supplied it in the above, and thus avoided writing a
" twaddle " criticism, and saved his credit for just a little
learning. " He can't be wrong " (in faith) " whose life
is in the right." That is what I mean, Mr. Pope, and
that is what any litterateur with the merest modicum of
learning or brains ought to have known. Let me whis-
per suh rosa to this sapient and astute " Joan " that I
really prefer my own rendering of the idea about the
war of Faiths to Alexander's, and shall stick to and
stand by it. If the priests and Popes of Rome in the
early centuries had the right to mrke a Bible (and they
did it) for those little Methodist and Anglican popes of
the present day (and they accept it, too), I have the right
to make a Bible for myself, if I choose, out of Alexander
Pope, Confucius, Buddha, Socrates, Bruno, Spencer,
and a host of other sages , and I have the right also to
'vV
mi
\f
iuiprov*' upon iinv oi nil of tlimi. If tin- clerj^y of to-
(luy — iiichi<lin<,' llicm' little |o|»-- Imvr tlie ri^lit tt»
" revise " the " Word of (iod. " I Imve tlu' li^lit to re-
vise Pope. And I luive tliis jidMnitn^^'e over tlieiii : while
they still ciill their " revised ver^ii ii " the " Word of
(iod," 1 did not eali u\\ revised coiiphl Alexiinder Pope's.
That is the difference.
Now, a word ahout my " i;^'norance " of Scripture.
" Pope-Joan" says: " Mr. .larvis exposed his my ij^-
norance of tlie former" — that is, of Scriptun-. When
did Mr. Jarvis do this, and where? Not, certainly, in
the ])ul)lished discussion hetween us in these colunnis ;
and if the tiling has heen done elsewhere (in the i)ulpit,
say), I was not present, and the amenities of controversy
would re(piire that I he present.
Mr. Jarvis, in his last letter, says: "Titus H : 10 (not
4: U) is not pertinent. Titus is to reject or rather shun
an heretic, not danni him." Now, it is not chari^'ed heie
that 1 misquoted one word fnnn the Hihle. It was simply
the "third and tenth" instead of the "fourth and
ninth." I did not turn up chapter iind verse. Jiut was
there anythinjj; material to the ar^'ument one way or
another ahout that ? Is this and my revised version of
I'ope's coui)let all that my opponents have to catch at
and carp atV That is all, and 1 ou^dit to he satislied, as
my positions stand intact.
But hecause "Titus is to reject, or rather shun, an
heretic, not danm him," my selection of texts is " not
very fortunate." So says Mr. Jarvis ; hut I did not in-
tend this text to convey more than it stands for, or more
than Mr. Jarvis himself ascrihes to it. To reject or
" shun an heretic ' is what \ call narrow intolerance,
and it was the intolerance of Christianity that I was
exposing.
Allkn Prin({i.k.
P.S. — Since the ahove was written, one of my re\erend
opponents in this discussion has admitted that he him-
.self inspired, if he did not write, the " Pope Joan " criti-
cism. I ought to he satisfied, and I am satisfied.
Veritas prevalehit ! Selali ! A. P.
10