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'<• .-! ./ 1. ■•••••, 5»4'*^ rTPfi'iy -w" ^ tlWi^^ \K/ %yf ■ :- ^•- .-s«,/."v,: '^^ .-■ .^•.-A■■ ■■'■^ \K V ■« ;^_i ». '.V BY 3ofen rt>aclcatf ^:N;.~^ ♦ The,A«5Hn PoWishmg Co., Limited Canada -^ ;^;^-5;i-. ,i^^p^ X\ :* ' #• i.i< SiV«^J »S9 81 PREFACE. u* ^ % A Preface to u hook is .usually deemed nocess.u.y as an apolo.y for eo.„i^ X Itu ; ' ^'"" ^-'^^^ '^^ ™^ p-^- " quotation from Mark Twain. It will an fo.r play and justice, so will I trust my efforts on behalf of Truth for .he^otcu^^'n "°"° '"' "" "'""- been condemned. °* ''«^*-* "Of course Satan has some kind of a " • goes without sayine- Ft nT u ''^''^ '* but that is nothing thacaTh T '^'' °""' of us. As soon fs' [^Z J ZV'^ "^^ undertake his rehabiiitat^ Ly J'fri^T 1 ^Hl an unpolite publisher. It is / .h' u ? ^ ou^ht to be willing to io or :;;ir:L"^ under a cloud. ^ ^"° '^ "We may not pay him reverence, for that would bo indiscreet, but we can at least respect his talents. A person who has for untold centuries maintained the imposing position of t spiritual head of four-fifths of the human race, and political head of the whole of it, must be Krantid I lie possession of executive abilities of the loftiest order. In his large presence the other poi>es and politicians shrink to midgets for the microscope. I wojild like to sec him. I would rather see him and shake him by the tail than any other member of the European Concert." LETTER. RE-PUBUSHED FROM THE • SERMON" MAGAZINE. The Rkv, Dr. Austin: Dear Sir-I an, one of the subscribers to your I'ttle ma^azme, The Sermon. I hope you will make ,t a success, for the press is the Lt'I-Z of spreading the truth. The pulpit is one meanT but the press of the present day's a great .^we; for good or evil, „,ostly for good. Although we do not always agree with the writers. I belie-Jn be.ng charitable to the opinions of all „,e„. T.^^ truth w,H .n the end prevail, and the little froth caused by fnction does very little harm. Molt of us lose sight of the fact that the press i. Tot he leader but the follower of public opinion and the paper which gauges it most correctly"; "f one whK.h will succeed. Some, but very few keep abreast, but the great majority o"^" t^e writers are away behind. y ' me Modern Sp.ntual.sm became known and discuss- 1: I ? '"°'""'*'"" thirty years since some of the ablest scientists i„ Europe and America com menced o mvestigate the phenomena of Mo^e™ th^trJ^o";''^'^' r^^' "'^ nootherexpian::!^: than that of sp.nt return could account for the phenomena; but the press has not yet wakened "P to realize the importance of this new move- ment ; but when it does then you will find your ablest and best friends among this hard-wofked MODERN SCIENCE AND " and enterprisinjf body of men. I wish you could see your way clear to issue your paper weekly, and that its circulation could be increased. Your pajH-r is free from the many bitter articles which appear in the American Spiritualistic press, and I hope it will always maintain the spirit of charity towards the oiiinions of all men. There are no two minds born alike. It is in the diversity of nature that its ifreat beauty lies, and the diversity of mind is still greater. I believe in Spiritualism. Others who have seen what I have seen and much more do not believe. Why should I want to jud},'e them? The one who thinks most correctly is the one who is best prepared to meet the next condition of life. There are many in this city with whom I con- verse on Spiritualism who are ajixious to know about its facts and to see its phenomena. "Why don't you brinjf us to some of your seances ? " they say, "where we can see and judjfe for our- selves?" I tell them that for the last two years I have not attended what is called a seance, and many seances are not instructive ; in fact, very few of them are. But even the poorest of them teach, to those who have a desire to follow up this special branch of study, that then is an in- telligence sjK-akiuK, <'ii>d Uiai the intellij^ence is distinct from any of the sitters, i- Unconscious cerebration does not account for the phenomena.' I, a few years ago, had a table spell out the lines of a book chosen at random from a library of over three hundred volumes. The book was not opened till the table had spelled out the line. THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE. This phenomenon was done many times and on one occasion the book asked for was down stairs on another flat, and was found lx-k>u a pile of other books. On two occasions the pa^es of the books had never been cut. This must prove to nearly every one that there IS an mtelli^ence s,H.akinK. and that this intelli- {fence hears us, and is willing (o help us draw as.de the curtain which veils the next condition of life. Who the intelligence is may be more difficult to prove. Each individual must jiulKe for himself whether the spirit speakin.,- has iden- tified h.s personality. Very often. I ^m sorry to say, there are many lies tokl by these spirits and much of what we hear at seances is untrust- worthy. What else can we expect knowing the vast number of liars and wicked spirits who are continually passinjf over? Those who desire to speak to the better spirits (for better and wicked are only comparative terms), may do so, but their I.ves must be such that the ^ood spirits can take pleasure in their society. They must earn- estly strive to move upwards and onwards; they must practise as well as preach charity. Seances held under such conditions are instructive and a blessing, both to those in the body and out of the body, for the spirits very often learn as much from us as we do from them. I have spoken of the press as soon falling into hne for the support of Spiritualism, because they are a working: body of men, and have no reason to oppose it. When they find the public will read this class of literature they will supply it. There MODERN SCIENCE AND is another body of men whose mission is to find out and to tell the tnith, and I think they do so as far as they know it. They are always from loo to 200 years behind the agre, but they think that they are in advance of it. They are more to I v- pitied than blamed. They are always ask- ing the divine blessinfjf on their labors, but they forget that the Supreme Intelligence never re- vives or blesses fossils. God works in his own way, and it is our duty to find out his ways by studying his works, and trying to understand them. The phenomena of Spiritualism has been before the world since the dawn of history. Every age and every nation is familiar with it. In every Greek and Latin author these pheno- mena are constantly recurring. Plutarch's Lives of Ancient Heroes teems with spiritual pheno- mena. Egyptian, Assyrian, and Jewish history is largely made of communications between the living and the so-called dead, but the clergymen do not seem to read history. They boldly assert that we cannot speak with our departed friends. They never investigate the phenomena. No ! that would be a scientific method of arri\ ng at the truth. Sir William Crookes and Prof. Alfred Russell Wallace adopt- ed this method,— but the mission of the church is not to arrive at truth, not to understand God as' he is actually working, but their mission is to try and breathe new life into fossil remains. Gladstone once said about Austria that he defied anyone to put his finger on a map of Europe and point out a place where she has ever THK CHRISTIAN BIBLE. done any jfood. I think this challenifc can with equal propriety be applied to Established Churches. We all know the history of the Roman Catholic church during; the middle ajfes, how it absorbed a jfreat part of the wealth of the nations, and how it wasted its time "acquirinjf what did not deserve the name of knowledjfe," and how it was the direct cause of the French Revolution. We know that the Church of Enjfland opposed nearly every measure of reform carrietl out by the Liberal party for the past 200 years. They opposed Cobdenand Briffht and Peel in carryinjf the com laws, and in loosening; the bonds which the oppression of caste had bound upon the people. They opposed the Catholic Em.incipa- tion Bill, the Jewish Disability Bill, the emanci- pation of the slaves and the Maynooth Collejje grant, and nearly every other good measure by which the masses of the people were lifted up. Time is too short to enumerate their misdeeds, and your paper is too small to contain a list of their errors. They cant read God's message written on the walls of time, and they ask us to believe that they alone can interpret his message written in past ages. Surely they would not be opposed to education,— read how they opposed the Royal Society established by Charles II, whose aim was to increase naturjil knowledge by direct experiment ; how they opposed Lyell in his geological reform, and Darwin in his theory of evolution. We may well say that we can defy anyone to put his finger on any important MODERN NCIKNCK ANO act in the history of livilijaiion i„ Euro|ie and Hl.jw where an established ehureh has*, done any Jfootl for the ()eople. But Scotland has a chnnh which claims direct descent neither from St. IVter nor St. Paul. It in not hamiwred by the laying' on of hands. Surely ,ts record is different and its skirts are clean from the blood of the innocent ? When in 1736 the EnKlish rarliament re,H-aled the law aKainst the butchering: of the |x)or deluded witches, the General Assembly of the Presby- terian Church convened in Edinburgh made a petition to Parliament to re-enact IhelawaKuinst witches, and had the effrontery to .s.iy that the curse of GotI wouki come upon the nation if it did not carry out his law ajrainst witches. Its record also stands in its Confession of Eaiih that heresy must be put down by the sword. Woe to the witches ! ! has been the cry of the churc'- in all UKcs. After the battle of Preston Pans .. Presbyterian clergy insisted that the prisoners be butchered in cold blood. :m,\ they were accord- niKly butchered, against the wishes of the general and officers of the army. Time fails to enumerate the many acts of crime committed by ecclesiastical bodies styling themselves the servants of Coil. But surely time has obliterated this hardness* of heart, and surely we can viy of them to-day that they are following' (heir Masters injunctions to love their enemies. You just try and assail some of their ivt doj-mas and sec whether they will love you, or whether they will not cast you 10 THE CHRISTIAN IIIHLt:. out of the church into outer Uarknustt. They will pruHch that •'The love of Got! in wider Than the widenes>» of the sea," and when a poor minlHler difTerN from them in hi)* inteq>relation of some |iiiH.s.-i);eN of scrip! tire they will cast him on the street with his poor family to starve or heg. They think it their prerogative to define who God iit and what he should do, whom he should let into heaven and whom he should keep out. Definition is one of the strong; |K>inls of the Pres- byterian church. You can't jfo to the rijfht hand nor to the left if you are a member of this body. In speaking of definitions, I don't know any- thing so amusing as the history of the Council of Niccea, held A.D. 325 in the little town of Niccea. Cardinal Newman gives us its history from one side and Gibbon from the other, but there is a work issued lately giving as far as possible an authentic account of this great Council. If Christ was present in spirit at that Council well might he exclaim, "Save me from my friends ! " What a travesty it was on his life and teachings, and his command to love one another. I wish to express no opinion As to the merits of the defini- tion of the Trinity as given by this Council, but I may be allowed to remark with Abraham Lin- coln, " If a man wants to pay one hundred dollars for a yellow dog, he ought to have the dog. " I am, yours very sincerely, John Maclean. II MOORRN HCIRNCR AND WHAT IS SPIRITUALISM ? 'Tl» God's true word njfnin revealed. As 'twas in days of old ; Tl» nature's truth for all unH^-alod, And by the anjpels told. 'Tls revelation from the spheres, Long hid from human sight— New light from heaven that now appears To banish error's night. "Tls inspiration once more given To show to us the way, To make on earth the hoped for heaven We ve sought so far away. •Tis "Spirit Gifts " again restored. As seen in days ol yore ; "Tis spirit power again out-poured To bless the worid once more. Tls Pentecostal "tongues of fire," Aflame with words that bum, Beseeching «J| to •• come up higher," And from their sins to turn. 'Tls •• Bread of Life' for hungry h.,arts. That yearn for love divine— A feast that fills our inward pjirts With heavenly bread and wine. 'Tis truth and wisdom, vainly sought, In narrow human creeds, 'Tis knowledge by the angels brought That meets all earthly needs. I? THR CHRItTIAN BIBLR. 'Tin science and philoM>|>hy ToHchin); evoliil ion's |>lNn, 'Tis rt* li)(ii>n unci pliilanthropy, Tho lovo of IuhI nnJ man. 'Tit lili' i-tcrnal brought to viow Hy llio«H? who ilwoll lluTiMn-^ Who conic to teach us )(om|>cI new To save manltind from sin. 'Tis joy and |x«acc to all who mourn, And Kricve for loved ones lost ; 'Tin hoalinff balm for bosoms torn, And souls now tempest tossed. TIs tidinifs g\nd from spirit friends Now on the shinin{( shore — The messages that our Father sends From loved ones gfone before. 'Tis Heaven's last and g^reatest g^ift To bless the human race, A |x>wer that shall mankind uplift And give them truth and g'race. 'Tis consummation most complete Of every good now sought, 'Tis love and wisdom in concrete, With every blessing fraught. i$ i L MODERN SCIENCE AND REASON AND REVELATION. Science-, with its array of facts, with its desire to prove overythin^r, with its apix-al to reason for a hnal endorsement of its coneh.sions, has hither- to been looked upon as the direct opponent to revelation; but when pro,,erIy understood science .s Its hand-maiden. Revelation is not a mystery, but a scientific fact. In the religion of the future the supernatural shall become natural, and the natural shall become supernatural. In that near future the laws which control the healing of the sick, the direct communication with the spirit world, speaking under inspiration, the gift of prophecy, and all other gifts shall be fully under- stood then the supernatural shall become natur- al. We shall know and believe. But how shall the natural become supernatural? Because the more we study the magnetic and physical basis of matter the less we know about it. Take, for instance, an atom, the ultimate basis of all mat- ter, we know nothing about it. We only imagine Its existence ; it is absolutely beyond our under- standing. Yet everyone thinks when he handles a piece of iron that he understands all about it, but that piece of iron is absolutely incomprehen- sible to every human mind. We can think of no atom so small that we cannot divide it into two. tour, and eight parts, and each of these parts are atoms like the first, so we can go on subl dividing to infinity. The natural is in reality supernatural. The christian bible. If wc would only loan more upon reason, if we would brin^ our mind-, which have been trained by many y»-ars of active business or pro- fessional experience to accumulate facts and to draw conclusions, minds built up, cold, clear and calculatinjf, and trained to sift and reason, minds trained by the broadest scientific methods, to lean on themselves, and to sift the wheat from the chaff, how much more proj^ress we would make. If we would honor reason in all the de- partments of thou^'ht we would save ourselves many mistakes. Let us now examine one of the many stories supposed to have been received from revelation. This story is the basis of our whole system of religion. A great all-wise and all-powerful being created this world, and all that therein is, and when he had finished his work he was satisfied with it and pronounced it good. Afterwards another great and powerful being comes along who had a spite against the first, and upsets all the good work which the first being had done. Bums said that " the best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley." Theologians evidently think that the Deity is also subject to these changes of fortune. Then the first all-powerful and wise and merciful being gets angry against the beings whom he had created, admits that he had made a mistake when he made man, and said that he was sorry and disappointed. He then proceeds to drown them all like rats in a trap, except one family, whom he starts again on a new experiment to replenish the earth. The 'S I : ! ! I ' I i MODERN SCIENCE AND »1». and ,U,, -npuLt, Tft ^tr"""""- wicked work D„„ i .V'. * ^"" "f evidence! "' """^ «^°°^ substantial Does^ science refer to facts that can be veri- led ?. So must reliirion rtr^., :* . tion step by steJ So f . .-^'"^^ '*" P^^'" f uy siep. i,o must re eion If th^ church wishes to understand revelS. i mutt first separate itself from theory and t^HV and then by studying each sepTrat" fa" work .ts way on step by step til, it'has b^, '"t r::^:7rr;2:-^-e.ii....,,,^^ The church m„,t come down to the DroD<.r sc.en„fic method of amving .. truth .ndX i6 THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE. it iviU understand revelation not as a mystery but as a scientific fact. It will then find that revela- tion and reason are not antagonistic. The trouble with the clergy is that they want to retain their old beliefs in the precise forn, in which they always held them, and they consider as the greatest strength of these beliefs their isolation from the rest of our beliefs, and their peculiar supernatural origin. The revelation contained in the Bible, th / think, will lose all -ts prestige and authority over men unless it IS held to be a communication direct from God, different not simply in degree, but absolu- tely different in kind from all other communica- tions. The divinity of Christ would lose its most valuable significance if it were not rigidly kept apart from the divine spirit indwelling in the rest of mankind. The clergy are clinging to the above line of argument for their lives, but the thinking portion of mankind is fast losing faith in that part of church teaching which des- cribes events antithetical to the laws of nature, and giving its assent to that portion which des- cnbes events in agreement with the order of nature. As our knowledge of history widens we find that other races and other religions claim to be infallible, other miracles ask to be arranged alongside of ours. The Roman Catholic church says they are being performed at the present time, and that they have never ceased. The power rests in the church and the saints. Their are a proof of his divinity, and that they ceased »7 i il i I i i I ! i ! i , II I N MODERN SCIENCE AND jvlth the apostles. We must be impartial to all claims and ask all claimants to produce their facts and have them sifted before the judifment scat of reason. The whole order of thought in which ecclesiastical belief originated is passing away, the belief in a being who interferes with the regular order of nature to impress himself upon intelligent creatures is becoming obsolete. In the new order of thought everything in this world IS related to everything else. The test of truth ,s not isolation but connection. Whatever can be shown to be in the line of development has a higher claim on our belief than that which cannot. We should ransack history for events analogous to those in scripture ,- we should prove inn n "Tv'? "^ '•«'*t'°"''hip, not by isola- tion. Our beliefs are thus harmonized with nature, and they receive from it their strongest support. In thus following up reason we have i"nt^ • TJ^'"''' "^^ '^^"' •' '" ^"'«' '°«t faith m the interference with the laws of nature, but we have attained a higher faith, a faith based upon divine government by just and harmonious laws. Instead of accepting as correct the origin of man and of evil as the story comes to us ll7r ^u'""^'' 'nythology, let us examine what God has written in nature and see which seems most probable. The following description from the pen of one of the greatest living scientists fairly describes the origin of man, and also the origin of that unknown quantity which theologians term sin : "To us the whole purpose, the only raison iS THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE. rfV/«of the world with all its complexities of physical structure, with its strand geological pro- gress, the slow evolution of the vegetable and an.mal kingdom, and the ultimate appearance of man, was the development of the human spirit in association with the human body. From the fact that the spirit of man, the man himself, is so develoix:d, we may well believe that this is the only, or at least the best way for its develop- n.ent ; and we may even see in what is termed evil on the earth one of the most efficient means of s growth, for we know that the noblest faculties of man are strengthened and perfected by struggle and effort. It is by in- creasing warfare against physical evil, and in the midst of difficulties and dangers that energy, courage, self-reliance and industry have become the common qualities of the northern races. It IS by the battle with moral evil in all its hydra- headed forms that the still nobler qualities of justice and mercy and humanity and self-sacrifice have been steadily increasing in the worid. Beings thus trained and strengthened by their surroundings, and possessing latent faculties capable of such noble development, are surely d. stined for a higher and more permanent existence." »9 f I i MODERN SCIENCE AND THE CREED TO BE. Our .houKl.ls are moldinsr ..nsoen .spheres, And like a blessing or a curse 1 hey thunder down the formless years, XI' u TT*^ '^'•""Khout the universe. We build our futures by the shape Of our desires and not by acts. There is no iwthWay of escape, No priest-made creed can alter facts. Salvation is not begjfcd or bought ; Too long: this selfish hope sufficed ; loo long: man reeked with lawless thought I b " u ':**"^'^ "PO" « tortured Christ. Like shrivelled leaves these worn-out creeds Are dropping from religions tree. The world begins to know it's needs. And souls are crying to be free ; Free from the load of fear and grief Man fashioned in an ignorant age ; "ff from the ache of unbelief He fled to in rebellious rage. TK I'l-'^'i ''f " •'•"^ ''•'" to the things That ted the first crude souls evolved. But mounting up on daring wings, He questions mysteries long unsolved. Above the chants of priests, above Ihe blatant tongue of braying doubt, tiru^-^r^ ^^^ *t'" ^™a" voice of love, Which sends its simple message out. And dearer, sweeter, day by day. Its mandate echoes from the skies ; Go roll the stone of self away, And let the Christ within thee rise." —Ella Wheeler Wilcox. ao t ; ! 1 1 A. THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE. ANALYZING PHENOMENA. ANNIE EVA FAYS MIND CONSIDERED. READING I-ist Christmas week a certain Miss Fay did some wonderful feats of mind readinjf in this city. Her circulars stated that she was from London, Eng^,, and that she was one of the mediums whom Professor Crookes experimented with when in- vestigating the phenomena of Spiritualism. This article is written to explain to those who are unacquainted with psychic phenomena how such thing's are done. If we come across a stranjfe animal which we have not seen before, and if we desire to know something about it, we would naturally consult a zoologist, and have him classify it, in other wor Is, place it alongside of other animals of its class. The only way to understand strange phenomena is to compare them with similar phenomena which have occurred or are occurring now. All the knowledge which we receive from the cradle to the grave is received by a system of classification or arranging of the new events alongside of other similar events previously ar- ranged. If we tried to explain the color green to a man born blind we would find that we had undertaken a very difficult task, as he had no image in his mind with which to compare green. We could not tell him that it was like the grass or the leaves, as he does not know these things. 21 MODERN SCIENCE AND comparinir Mis. f!v ^ u r"'"'" *f''^"- % otherphenomen. or 'l^^.f °'"»'""*"' ''-« wi.h andunLr„;rhel''"^''"''"'- ''"" "^' '^'" "^ We will brins together incklenCs frnm .1. h..toryoftheJew.s, the Greeks Cr . middle aees -md „,-,^ '^'^♦-»^^'"'' «»H' Romans, the incidents are no# '*''"'^ "'"' l^eso that the power to r„ a *" ^'" '*''ow foretell fZo ZZ^^^T ''"""'^"^ °^ ^° evervDair^nfi- ; . always existed, and I Samuel, ch. 9, v. ,9.^0 ; •• And « answered Saul and ^=a T Samuel " oauj, and said, I am the seer r,. before me into the hi^h nlaee fl . "»' with me to-day and ,f m ' f ^"" '*''''" ^^^ " "rty, ana to-morrow I will l»t «!,..> and WILL TELL THEE ALL THAT s L f ^°' HEART. As for the asses .hL '^"''"^ days ago, set not th^ ^^ '^^'■*' '°'*' '^ree are found.- ''"" """^ °" "'«"'. ^or they Here is an incident similar to Miss F..„' . man goes to a clairvoyant . ° '^^'f* ^^^ «• A about something whichTa! lol " s '^".l"''""^ reputation for telling «hl » ^ ^ '""^' ''^^ ''^ which were los and^^d Z '^ '"' '""^'^ exercising his giA, for w" ' s^u .^ " '"""^ ''°'- nested to his master to Jl ^ ''"''''"' ""^- l^nown seer, he rn:::^ '^ we Z!'" "''^ ^^" -.ive him,-, and they Lai;::^:r;ri; 22 THE gilRISTIAN BinLE. quarter of a shekel of silver left. Wt; will jfive him that," and Saul Haid all right, so that the seers in olden time used to lake money Just the same as the seers of the present day, and no doubt the young girl who met Saul at the gate and told him to hurry up and catch Samuel before he went to sacrifice, had often asked the seer, along with other girls about their lovers and when they were going to be married, just as the girls asked Miss Fay. Samuel w.-is clairaudient, as he received im- pressions through his ear. His ear was sensitive to the vibrating influences which come to us from the celestial world. I will now bring before your notice an incident from I Kings, ch. 22, v. 19-22, where the seer is a clairvoyant, that is, such a person receives im- pressions through his eyes. They are sensitive to spirit conditions. Following are the verses referred to : "I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him, on his right hand and on his left, and the Lord said. Who shall persuade Ahab that he may go and fall at Romath-Gilead, and one said on this manner and another said on that manner, and there came forth a spirit and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him. And the Lord said unto Him, wherewith ? And he said, I will go forth and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets, and he said. Thou shalt >ersuade him and prevail also ; go forth and tio so." The above vision I believe to be an actual fai '. MOOKRN HtlKNCB AND T •*""»« «' J» mentioned l„ i Kln^ u. •»ecau«e we can brinu' .«.« .. '^'"IT*. but ."cldonN from G^eTrnd ;^" *'•" ^* ■'""•^ hwtory. U |. „«» ** '*°'"*" •"«* Modern J-ay » answer to Mr Brvl Compare Mim ''^ And.w Mur;:.,'';:. 'rrid'"--' " ^''- w«y off. I see a rou»-h k? "** * 'f'"* South Africa. I t.r^^^, '?!:. '^'""•'y- ' «« River.- He J. wiTh .Te '" '^.'^'' "*•' •*'°<»der South Africa.'- ;lVa„,weT "" ''°"""*^''"* '" Mi- Fa,. ju.t the s^rrth/rr^^rr; *° I Kingrs 8aw a vision described in heaven, and hob-knob wkh The 7" *^'* '"'° with him how to run the aff^ ?' **''^"*""» The o.He, how J^;;; w'fr c^ si': t*'^""- fraud, and hov. he f.n • consent to use fraudulent ^HeJJlLlZ'"'^'^ """ *"« »he theoloifians to soJve IS "^'"'\ ' '•*^« I am only concem^S t, J^r" 'f -'««»• aspect of the case. We Lw '^^'^''^'^^^ical incidents from Jewish hZ *^^* * ''""**«d ^iftof clairaudiencTandct '^ "" """'^ »"** »"« -cod by them.Tor„r:rrba:r"r- •nan enyayed in any undertak „l f ""** "° without first consultiW tSr *" °^ ""Portance now quote one or t ' o j""'**" ''°'''^- ' ^i" «reneral, Simon, we rS "fJ ".J"^ °^ 'heir 24 THE rilRIHTIAN BinLR. question io .hu ornele of Jupiter Ammon. for their errand wa^ entirely unknown, nor di.i the Detty return them any annwer. but immediately ordered them to return, beoau.ne Simon, said he. ook ehe road to the sea. and when th y reached the Grecian camp, which w«, then on the coa.t of Eg^ypt, ,hey found that Simon wa, dead. They then enquired what day he died, and com- Rnnjc It w,th the time the oracle wa.s delivered, they ,*rceived that hi, departure wa.. eniKma- t.cally pomted at in the expression, 'lie i, already with the God..' " Here is a case where the oracle knew the question the envoys were RoinK to ask and answered it. without them ever ^iyiOK nnyihinff. Com,Kire Miss Fay when a lady who had two questions to ask and did not know which to i ;, and Miss Fay did not answer the one she wrt down, but answered the other one. mentally roadin^ the lady's thoughts. Is there a psychological law by which our thoughts can be read and answered ? I think there is. In the history of Pausanias, Plutarch says about him that -he repaired to the temple of Heraclea. that he there invoked the spirit of CIconice. and entreated her pardon. She ap. peared and told him • he Would soon be delivered from all h.s troubles alter his return from Sparta, m which it seems his death was enigmatically foretold. These particulars, says Plutarch, we have from many historians. In the life of Casar by the same author we read that a certain soothsayer forewarned him 25 MODRRN KCIRNCK AND lUcH o. March. «nU .ha, when .he clay wh. come |- h« w«.H Koi„K .o .heSen«,e hou'e he Xi «>m> , Yes bill . hi.y are not ^one. " The eveninK U-fore hi. i.SHasHina.ion, a. he w«H in bed wi.h his wife, .he doors and Window! of hiH room new o.H.n a, once and grea. J d..Htnrbc.d bo.h wi.h the noi^, „„u .he^^ Kh tom,«re Mi.s Fay. eabine. performance., a U a-**' the hiHtory of John VVe.ley. .he ^reat Method... preacher, whose life wa/fu.I of psyX' phenomena. A. he would ko to o,.. tie'doo of hi. library ,t would o,K.n for him i.elf. As he would KO to sit down .he chair would move f om under h.m of its own accord. He was con i^ill hcanntf "oises and raps on the wall. T^Z »een messengers were desirous of s,H..akinK to to him but he did not understand the law which controls psychic phenomena. Every Greek and Roman history is full of in cidents which have been called Jracu oL C Hhich were understood by the writers of them o hem. WhHt IS shown to be in agreement with the ex,«rience of mankind has a hUerdainTo our credence than that which can' ot ",7w 1 can prove by many incidents that these e" lUs are not antithetical to the order of nature, bi.t harmony w th it. wi- *.haii i. reality.' ^'''"' '"""^^"^ ^^eir In a late history of " I.aly and Her Invaders." 26 THR CHRMTIAN BIBLR. by Hn eminent English KnrrUtcr. occurn the fol- lowinir incident : In tho year A.I). 375 a y„„„^ man namfcl Theodoriw at AnlitH-h lonMiltod the iKH)th!«yers a*, wan the custom of the time, and UHked them who should be the next emiXTor alter Valens who was then the reiKninK monarch. The oracle spelled out T-h-e-o-d- and sto|,|K-d. This coming to the ears of the em|K-ror he ordered every one \ hose name commenced with the above letters to be executed. Several hundred were put to death, and among the rest the father of Theodosious, who was the next em|K'ror, and was called in history Theodosius the Great. The Emperor Valencs b^'ieved that the oracle spoke the truth. We could collect from the history of the early rhurch volumes of incidents such as the abi>ve and during the middle ages history teems with t!.e t,-.ir-iculou«. We will only mention one other event, as the actors worked on a large scale. It is the time of Charles VII. of France, in the year A.D. 1430. The actor was a young girl ot IS years. I have before me a copy of a painting, the original of which is in the Pantheon at Paris. It 18 Jean DArc as a young giri of 15. An angel IS whispering in her ear, and two others are near by. The painter has put upon the canvas the actual fact-Jean and her niigels-both playing their part in history, the angels telling Jean what to do, and she leading the armies of France to victory. She was a clairaudient ; the messages came through her ears. She always said, "I hear them say." Her ears were attuned to hear a? MODERN SCIENCE AND voices from the spirit world. They were a little more sensitive than our ears, a matter of degree only. -You must go lo help the King of France," the messenger told her. '• 1 am only a poor girl. I cannot ride or lead armed men," she answered. Go to Monsieur de Baudricourt, captain of Vancouleurs, and he will take you to the king." was the reply. On one occasion, when besieging a town, and her troops had deserted her, she shouted, "Every one to the bridge." "Jean, withdraw; you are alone," some one said to her. Bareheaded, her countenance all aglow, the maid replied, " I have still with me fifty thousand of my men." Were these the men such as the prophet ilishas servant saw when his eyes were opened and he beheld the innumerable company of angels that surrounded his master. I quote this incident to show that the spirits though invisible are around us and helping us. Whatever was decided on by the English generals was known to Jean, and she saved her army from many an ambush. When the generals followed her advice they sue ceeded ; when they neglected to do so thev failed. ' Compare II Kings, ch. 6, v. 1 1, ,2 : •• Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing, and he called his servants, and said unto them. Will ye not show me which is for the King of Israel, and one of h.s servants said None, my lord; but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the King of 28 THE CHRISTIAN BIBLg. Israel the words that thou speakest in ■<■> bedchamlier." This is what some {loopie would call olt'd reading', but it is in reality only the spirit int s- seng'ers forewarnint; their friends. Miss Fay's questions are answered in the same way. Some people think that the isolation of Bible miracles from the rest of our belief constitutes their g^reatest strength. This has been the old method of interpreting the Bible, but modern criticism proves them to be in line with other similar events, and in accordance with God's natural law. This, I think, constitutes their greatest claim to our credence. True, the world has not wholly abandoned the idea that the irregular and the miraculous is to be regarded as the seal of truth ; but belief does not grow in that direction, because the whole order of thought in which it originated is passing away. We must henceforth surrender the claim of isola- tion for our religious beliefs and ransack history for analogous events. Our beliefs are thus harmonized with nature, with law, and with God. J» jt jH jH j» »9 MODERN SCrENCE AND BESIGNATION. May be heavon'8 distant lamps. There is no Death t ■ut-k™* ^ This ure Of CrtaireSh""" ^° ^^ ^'^'-»'«" = Is but a suburb of the life elysian. Whose portal we call Death 30 THE CHRISTJAN BIBLE. Thus do we walk with her, and keep unbroken The bond which nature gives, Thinking :hat our remembrance, though unnpoken. May reach her where she lives. Not a8 a child shall we again behold her : For when with raptures wild In our embraces we again enfold her. She will not be a child ; But a fair maiden, in her Father's mansion, Clothed with celestial grace ; And beautiful with all the soul's expansion Shall we behold her face. And though at times impetuous with emotion And anguish long suppressed. The swelling heart heaves moaning like the ocean That cannot be at rest,— We will be patient, and assuage the feeling We may not wholly stay ; But silence sanctifying, not concealing. The grief that must have way. — Henkv W. Lonokkllow * 3» Modern science and WHAT CAN WE KNOW ABOUT MIND? Just as much as wo can know about matter, for the Idea which wc have formed about matter is only a symbol of some kind of power absolutely incomprehensib.e to us. Could we succeed in decomposmg matter into the ultimate units of which It IS made up, it would still remain un- known to us. These units, or rather these sym- bolic ideas of units of matter, are continually combining in difforent proportions to form what we term matter. One of these symbolic units which we call an atom of oxygen, vibrating at an intense rate of molecular wave motion, meets two units of what we call atoms of hydrogen, vibrating at a different rate of motion, and clashing together they equilibriatc, the result is a drop of water and forms what is called a stable compound. When one atom of oxygen meets four atoms of nitrogen they form a molecule of air, and in this way all substances known to us are formed, not out of what we suppose to be real substantial matter, but out of units of motion-we symbolize these units and call them atoms, but they them- selves must remain forever absolutely unknown to us ; we know them only as some form of power in motion. The force which we call mind and which we have always been taught to look upon as incom- 32 THE CHRISTIAN BIBLK. prehensible will not vanish more completely from our grrasp than the force called matter, which we have been taught to look upon as real. Clergymen need not fear materialism, for matter has dissolved itself into the unknown ; it has vanished into the spirit-world, where its basis lies and where it originally came from. We only see the visible form of a spiritual force. The only difference between spirit substance and physical substance is that the one vibrates at a higher rate of undulatory motion than the other. If we call one of the spirit substances "argon," we might suppose that oxygen combines with it to form the atmosphere in which the spirits live and breathe ; while oxygen combines with nitro- gen to form the air which we breathe. Oxygen is the basis of all human life; it is also, no doubt, the basis of all spirit life. On this side it com- bines with different gases to form physical sub- stances ; on the other (spirit) side it combines With more attenuated gases to form spirit substances. Remember I am talking of sub- stance as we understand the word in our daily life. Hume says that impressions and ideas are the only things known to exist ; and if We add to thi i definition that the force or subst-v.ce w'ich holds impressions and ideas toge ler r .d is in itself permanent— for impressior and ideas aro ever-changing— must constitu j the one great reality which is called mind, we will not be far wrong. But how are We to know what this substance is ? We have nothing with which we »'ii 33 '--->l 5= > ftlODERN SCIENCE AND can compare it ; and as a substance can only be known by comparing it with other substances of which we have experience, and when we cannot compare it, because it stands in a class by itself, it must remain unknown. To know mind is to be conscious of some relationship between it and some other substance. But what is it which is to judge of this relationship ? What is it which contemplates ana forms an opinion as to what this mind is? That must itself be mind; hence, till something outside of mind arises which is abie to compare and judge of mind, we must ever remain ignorant of it, for this something would itself be mind. A thing cannot at the F-rjAn time be both subject and object, and yet mind must be this before it can be known. We thus find that mind like matter always vanishes from our grasp just when we think we have it. Although the ultimate substance of mind like the ultimate substance of matter is unknowable, still we can understand a great deal about the nature of impressions and ideas which are the change- able eleme nts in mind. We know that all ideas are resolvable into the primordial unit of a nerve shock. The effect produced by the blow of a hammer on an anvil is the basis of music ; when these blows come at the rate of 1 6 to the second they are each heard c.s a separate noise ; when they come more rapidly than this the mind does not receive them separately, but they form a continuous volume which we call a tone ; when to a series of these rapidly-recurring shocks is added another series of still more rapid shocks 34 THE CHRISTIAN BIBLB. we have what is called a timbre. Thus, all these beautiful expressions of music which fill a house with their strength and sweetness arise from a combination of one, two, three or more senses of shockh; thus the air vibrates with millions of wave motions. And as the sensation known as sound is built from a common unit, so are the sensations known as taste and smell and color and touch. These are allied to one another and are reducible to the one primordial unit of a nerve shock. As our impressions and ideas are formed by contact with our external surroundings— and as these are re- solvable into an electric shock coming- in contact with our nerves, it follows that all our diflFerences of feelings, such as love and hatred and passion and sympathy and fear, are formed from the dif- ferent continuations and combinations of these elementary shocks. Just as water and air are formed from different combinations of oxygen and hydrogen and nitrogen ; so impressions and ideas are formed from the different combinations and velocities of nerve vibrations coming in the form of shocks from external objects and impinging on the sensitive nerve ends. Vibrations coming at the rate of i6 to the sec- ond we would call an anvil chorus, at the rate ' 30,000 to the second we would call the most rap^ turous music moving the whole being into intense delight. These same vibrations coming at the rate of 450,000,000,000,000 vibrations to the second (don't be alarmed at the number of fig. ures)donot affect the ear; but they affect the '.^.^'-^ 35 'ff I i f I I i MOnSRN SCIENCE AND skin and cause the sensation we call heat, if we take too much of this dose we will be burned, pain is the impression produced. These same vibrations coming- mt the rate of 700,000,- 000,000,000 in a Second do not affect the skin, but impinging: on the retina of the eye produce the sensation we call light. Here we have one and the same external agency pro- ducing in us impressions so different, as sound, heat and light, and all the different feelings and combination of feelings formed by them. We may then interpret our feelings, even the most rapturous feelings produced by music, in terms of molecular motion. We may say that the feel- ings of love are formed by vibrations moving at one rate of motion, fear at another, and so on, for all feelings are caused by vibrating motion. A leading scientist expresses these ideas in the following words: "Thus there disappears the difficulty of understanding how mulitudinous diverse forms of feelings have been evolved from a primitive simple sensibility, since complications of the molecular motions and concordant feel- ings must have gone on 'pari passu,' with cor- relative complications of minute structures or- ganized little by little." We have now resolved impressions and ideas into units of motion, and we have seen that matter is resolvable into the same units. But we are no nearer understanding either than we were at the beginning. They are both symbols of something which we cannot understand. We cannot express motion In terms of feelings, nor can we express feelings in terms THE CHRISTIAN niBLE. of motion. All we can say is that a wave of mole- cular motion when transmitted through a nerve centre has been transferred into a feeling. Each of these feelings gets linked to a previcuii feel- ing, thus building up the permanent sub-itance of mind, which grows just as the bod} ((rows by assimilating impressions and ideas ; uoth are products of atomic vibration. Professor Wallace, looking at the development of the human mind in connection with the human body and viewing mind as the highest form of life expression, considers its development in and through the body as the best means of its growth. He looks upon mind as formed ,i a mind substance which permeates all space, this substance, growing through organized form and developing into the individual which we call mind. Whether it is possible for this mind sub- stance to organize itself into a living individual existence without the aid of organized life we do not know ; we only know that it has its origin and develops itself in this way. We know that in its first stage of existence it draws largely on the protoplasm of the body, that as it develops it draws more from mind substance and less from the physical properties of the body, and that when it eventually leaves the body it should have developed itself to that state where it can sub- sist on mind substance. If we look on mind sub- stance as it is expressed to us in the forms of magnetism and electricity we can understand how impressions and ideas are formed from electric shocks or units of motion, and when we !:,!' ^7 '1 MODERN SCIRNCB AND consider that electricity and light and heat and sound are the same force, anU that feelings and ideas are formed by the transference of these vibratory shocks through nerve centres, we have arrived at the common platform on which the spiritual and physical meet and the part which each plays in the formation and development of individual mind. In the vegetable world mind substance is com- bined in a very small proportion with physical substance, and in this form life is almost purely chemical. In the lower region of animal life we find a larger proportion of mind substance; this is the commencement of sensation and mo- tion ; at the summit of animal life the proportion is mostly mind substance. Wr wi!! say that in vegetable life oxygen; which rc^jiiesents physical substance, and argon which represents mind substance, combine in the proportion of two parts of oxygen to one part of argon. In the lower animal life they combine in equal proportions; but in the highest form of animal life they com- bine to form the brain and nervous system in the proportion of two parts of argon to one of oxy- gen. Though we are using the term substance, we must not forget that we are speaking of force as represented by vibratory motion, and the dif- ferencc between mind substance and physical substance is only a difference of motion. We do not know motion ; we only know that certain in- ternal feelings are produced by vibratory motion which we call force. We know that these inter- nal feelings are produced by external agents and 38 THB CHRISTIA.: BIBLE. we know that these external agents do not pro- duce the same feelings in any two individuals. When I listen to Paderewski playing one of his beautiful productions, he causes in me a feeling of irritation, as I have no taste for music ; he causes in others a feeling of intense rapture ; but the external o'bject — viz., vibratory motion — is the same for both. We may here remark that this world in which we live and move and have our being, can never be known to us in its reality, but only as it affects our consciousness ; by no power of reasoning can we arrive at a knowledge of things in themselves. All we can ever know is their effect upon us as expressed by impressions and ideas. We will try and explain this by the illustration of a kaleidescope. We will suppose that the molecules of mind substance are represented by the colored pieces of glass at the end of our prism ; as the pieces of glass by revolving rapidly are changed through the prism into beautiful forms of every imaginary shape and color — so ideas and impressions, beautiful and evanescent as the rainbow, are formed through the prism of mind from the molecules of mind substance. At one end of the prism are pieces of glass and nothing more, at the other end the most beautiful forms and colors. At the one end of the nerve cord are, one, two, three and more nervous shocks, then a series of rapidly pulsating molecular wave motions ; at the other end the most beautiful impressions of music send- ing a thrill through the whole being. Consciousness is possible only by a ceaseless 39 MODERN NCIRNCK AND Change of ..«,«, for without . change there I. „o mnd .ub.t«nce meeting in rapid motion arran« we call fcehnjffi and idea.H. We find that by the structure of our mind*, all leiiiifence. A fish cannot form an idoa of a ros« - .t... organically limited; .o are we HmUed anj when we try to form an idea of God we come know he absolute, it must be contented with a very l.m.ted knowledjfe of the relative: T.rl Throug.hout thin article we have uTod ,,« wo d mmd but .f any person pre.'ers the word .pint LTL K "*^^**'*'^*"y °'-»''odox and the word ^ou«ha,acharm for him we have no objection ber thai these terms are but symbols of an un- -en something which can only be cognized as vibratory motion. ** The above remarks are intended to prove two hmgs: first that the spirit world is as real as th.s one. m fact it is more real, as it is the basis hlld bf»r1 ''"'^^""' --«>"d. that the views held by theologuins about the incarnation are contrary to natural laws and unthinkable. The spirit and the physical are joined together in f nrst germ of inception and they grow together to maturity. We are spirits, nofl^dies. ^nd the 40 THE CHRIITIAN BIRLE. Hpirit Hubntance is the rtwl one; it \n the nulMtance in which in life and ntotion. Chriit therefore could not have taken a human body — to do tto would havw been to revente the law of nature. I' ! ->-%>45*V«5i?-^ MODERN SCIENCE AND HAUNTED HOUSES. All houses wherein men have lived and died Are haunted houses. Through the open doom The harioless phantoms on their errands glide, With feet that make no sound upon the floors. We meet them at the doorway, on the stair. Along the passages they come and go. Impalpable impressions on the air, A sense of something moving to and fro. There are more guests at table than the hosts Invited : the illummated hall Is thronged with quiet, inoffensive ghosts, As silent as the pictures on the waU. The stranger at my fireside cannot see The forms I see, nor hear the sounds I hear ; He but perceives what is ; while unto me All that has been is visible and clear. We have no title deeds to house or lands; Owners and occupants of earlier dates From graves forgotten stretch their dusty hands, And hold in mortmain still their old estates. The spirit-world around this world of sense Floats like an atmosphere, and everywhere Wafts through these earthly mists and vapours dense A vital breath of more ethereal air. Our little lives are kept in equipoise By opposite attractions and desires! The struggle of the instinct that enjoys. And the more noble instinct that inspires. THE CHRISTIAN BIBLB. These perturt>ations, this perpetual jar Of earthly wants and inspirations high, Come from the influence of an unseen star, An undiscovel^ planet in our sky. And as the moon from some dark gate of cloud Throws o'er the sea a floating bridge of light, Across whose trembling planks our fancies crowd Into the realm of mystery and night, — So from the world of spirits there descends A bridge of light, connecting it with this. O'er whose unsteady floor, that sways and bends. Wander our thoughts above the dark abyss. —Henry W. Longfellow. i; W 43 ! II I 'I MODERN SCIENCE AND THE PROPHECIES-HAVE THEY BEEN FULFILLED ? There is an impression current amongst be- lievers in Christianity that thq Bible has come out triumphant from the hostile criticism of mod- em times; that it stands to-day unparalleled amongst ancient literature for the accuracy of Us statements and the truthfulness of its doc- tnnes. If this statement made by its friends be true, the book must be worthy of all the devotion paid to it. But unfortunately the very opposite « thetmth. The Bible has suffered at the hands of the critics aboutas much asother contemporary wntmgs. ' In the short space which your little paper allows me to discuss rhis subject, I can only touch on a very few points. I will take one or two of the prophecies. Have they been fulfilled? Can they substantiate their claim to inspiration » or can they even claim to be more truthful than the Oracles of Apollo at Delphi-than that of Ju- piter Ammon in Africa, or many others in Greece and Asia? We will put Matthew into the witness- box and examine him in regard to the prophecies uttered upon Christ's coming, for this writer seems to lay special stress on the prophecies re- garding Christ's coming, as well as those uttered by him. He was a Jew and ought to have been familiar with the writings of his own people. In his 24th chapter he gives us in detail an account of the end of the worid and of Christ's second coming : ■H THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE. " For there shall be great tribulation, such as there was not from the beginning' of the world to this time ; no, nor never shall be. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, and they shall see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away till all these things shall be ful- filled." This prophecy of Jesus has not been fulfilled to this day, though He distinctly said that this generation should not pass away till all these things should be fulfilled. The sun has never been darkened, nor has the moon ceased to <'.ve her light, nor did any greater tribulation come upon the world during that generation nor since, than came upon it before. We will charitably suppose that Christ did not mean by this graphic description a simple eclipse. Sixty years after this prediction, Titus destroyed Jerusalem; but the calamity which befell the city was not much greater than when Pompey took it sixty years before Christ, and certainly not as great as when Nebuchadnezar captured it 600 B.C. I have never read in any history of ja star having fallen from heaven ; we will take it for granted that none ever came in contact with this earth ; perhaps this is the fifth moon which has lately been discerned circling Juniper ; the great planet caught it on the fly and made it revolve round his orbit. 45 U'l i I MODERN SCI8NCE AND In Chapter viii : 28, «« Verily I say unto you. there be some standing here which shaUnot taste of death tiU they see the son of man coming in H,s kmgrdom "-this is the coming which is more fully described in chapter xxiv, and which we quoted above, in which He was to be surrounded by His angels and to come with great power and glory. This is 1900 years ago. I don't know which of those standing by He meant ; but I have not heard of any old patriarch walking about amongst us who claims to be 1900 years old. For If there is not some old Jew of that age walk- mg about somewhere, this prophecy has also failed. Luke 1 : 31.33, says that when the angel came to Mary to announce the birth of Jesus, he said. He shall be great and shaU be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of his father Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. ' The two evangelists who trace Christ's genealogy to David, trace the line through Joseph, none of them trace his descent through Mary, and we have no proof that Mary ever came from the Royal hne of David, in fact her descent is through the tnbe of Levi. Now if Joseph be not Christ's father, what claim can be produced that he is descended from David ? But this point we need not press as this prophecy has never been ful- filled. He never occupied the throne of David on this earth. If to this question it is answered. It IS a heavenly throne which is meant," I reply THE CHRISTUN BIBLE. " David never had a throne in heaven. There is supposed to be but one throne in heaven and the great Father of all fills it, but perhaps ortho- dox theologians have placed a little throne there for David also. If Christ be the Son of God and lived from all time and occupied the throne of heaven with the Father through all eternity, I do not see any honor in giving him a seat. on the little throne of David ; perhaps David might ob- ject, as he objected to let his son Absolom share his earthly throne. Besides, I am afraid that if the orthodox theologians' vie v.' of the way we get into heaven, viz., by the blood of Christ, is correct, there wont be any of the race of Jacob for Christ to rule over, so that it would not be a very great kingdom, and no great honor cer- tainly for the Son of the great and mighty God who made the immensity of the worlds which we see in the heavens. Let us charitably suppose that the angel Gabriel never uttered this proph- ecy, but that some silly monk in ^e fourth or fifth century interpolated this verse and it be- came incorporated into the Gospel. That this theory is correct is strengthened by the fact that the revisers in the new version of the Bible left out the baautiful story of the angel and the pool in John VI : 5, and the story of the woman taken in adultery (John VII) and brought before Jesus in the temple to pronounce judgment is put into brackets and admitted to be the inven- tion of some nionk in the twelfth century. This story which we were all taught to look upon as so divine,and about which somanysermonshave been vif. m ni 47 MODERN SCIENCE AND preached is after all a mistake. Which Bible I wonder is inspired, King^ James's version or the new revised one ? But more than all I John V : 7, the passage with which the Trinitarians wiped the floor with the Unitarians is left out of the new version altogether. " For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one." The Unitarians can now take their innings. As our space is limited we will touch only a few of the many prophecies which are supposed to relate to the coming of Christ, Matthew I : 22-23, "Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying, Behold a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son and they shall call him Immanuel." I cannot see how the writer of Matthew ever came to connect this prophecy with Christ, it is taken from Isaiah VII : 13-16. The circumstances are as follows : A confeder- acy had been formed between the kings of Dam- ascus and Israel to attack Ahaz, king of Juda. Ahaz was frightened and sent for Isaiah to con- sult the Lord concerning the impending danger. The prophet told the king that he need not be afraid as the confederacy would not hold to- gether ; he urged that the king should ask for a sign to assure him that this message from the Lord was true, for had not Gideon asked for a sign to assure him that the Lord spoke the truth. The king refused to tempt the Lord by doubting his message, so the prophet said he could give 48 THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE. the king a sign to prove that the confederai-y would go to pieces. "Therefore the Lord himself shall jjive you a sign. Behold a virgpin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call His name Immanuel, for before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good the land that thou abhorrest shall be for- saken of both her kings." What a piece of non- sense for Isaiah to assure Ahaz by a sign, that his enemies would not prevail against him, when that sign would not be fulfilled till 700 years after he was dead. But Isaiah was mistaken, both in his sign and his prophecy, as the confederacy defeated Ahaz and slew 120,000 of his troops, and reduced him to captivity. Besides, Christ's name was not Immanuel, he was named by the angel "Jesus," see Luke 1 : 31, and as this is the name he received at circumcision, theologians cannot foist Immanuel on us just to suit them- selves. But let us give Matthew another chance, 2 : 4-6. "And when he had gatheretl all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born, and they said unto him in Bethlehem ot Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet. And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah ; for out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule my people Israel." The prophecy has one serious fault — for it never came true, as Christ did not rule over His people Israel in the sense in which the chief priests and wise men understood. If you say 49 rr ! I i MODERN SCIENCE AND the people of Israel means all those who believe in Christ and are His followers, 1 answer, that is not what Matthew says, and that is not what the wisi! men understood, and you have no riprht to twist the Bible to suit your preconceived views. But there is no use for us quarreling about Its meaning, as there is no such prophecy in the Bible. The words which MaUhew thinks he quotes are in Micah 5 : 2^, and read : " But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet of thee will come forth unto me that is to be the ruler of Israel. . . . And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land, and when He shall tread in onr palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds and eight powerful men. and they shall waste the land of Assyria with sword." How can this prophecy apply to Jesus? Micah is bemoaning the fate of his people under the iron hoof of the Assyrians, and he is looking for a deliverer and prophesies that he shall come. But Jesus was not born till 700 years after this, and he never delivered his )>eople from under the iron foot of the Assyrians. In fact the Assyrian and the Babylonian and the Persian and the Greek Empires had been effaced from the map of Asia before Christ was bom. Who were the seven shepherds and the eight principal men? History is blank about these heroes. Matthew, try again. The prophecy about the 30 pieces of silver which Matthew says Jeremiah uttered, does not occur in Jeremiah but in Zach- TUB CHRISTIAN BIBLB. ariah, and they have no relation to the betrayal of Jesus. To mUnquote Jeremiah for Zachariah is a matter of small imjjortance to Matthew. Then agrain he quotes Hosea to prove that Jesus dwelt in Egypt to fulfil a propheoy, whereas it is evident that Hosea (Hosea a : 2) said, and meant what he said, that it was of Israel that those words are spoken. Read for yourselves and judgre. My space is limited. As Matthew would be familiar with the prophesies and writ- ingrs of his own people we must be chariuble to him and suppose that many of the circumstances related in the book attributed to him are inter- Illations put in by the monks and fathers of the third and fourth centnries. We have only touched upon the outer borders of this subject. It would be well for our friend of '• The Chris- tian Guardian " to know that he lives in the house built on the sand, described in Matthew vii : 36-27. The wind and the waves are beating against it, its foundations are now crumbling away. Otthodox theology, apparently as vig- orods as ever, verp much resembles the Roman Empire during the reign of Honorious. At that time it embraced within its boundaries all Africa, and Spain, and Britain, and Gaul, and Germany. Towards the north the Danube was its boundary, and divided it from the Barbarians. To a casual on-looker it would last forever, but its heart had decayed, its brave and sturdy yeomanry were dead ; they who unflinchingly faced the phalanxes of Pyrrhus, w.iom the disasters of Trebia and Thrasymenus and Cannae did not dismay, who 'U I '■'If s« MODIRM tClBNCB AND courageously upheld the Eagle, on the eultry Hands of Asia, and the chilly .now. of Germany -these brave men had gone, and In their place, were .laves imported from every nation m Europe and Asia. Sensuality and di.hone.ty iMid replaced the virtues of a Cato and aScipio. The church is to^ay in the same position jappar- ently prosperous, its viulity is gone. The men and women who attend the churches do so a. a matter of formality, very few undersUnd or care to understand its dogmas. When you ask a bu.y manufacturer or a broker if he beheve. in the rib .tory, or the whale .tory, or the Deluge, or the Tower of Babel or any other of the wore of mythological tales narrated in the Bible, he will teU you he is too bu.y attending to his own affairs to bother with the«s thing.. Thi. an.wer would not have been given at any time from the fourth to the wventeenth centuries. Whether the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost are three in one. cr one in three, does not concern this generation. Theology i. dead. It was not thus during the fourth cen- tury, nor the sixteenth, nor any time between theM period.. The spirit of the age. «*"»•«?- onistic to dogma. There is a general belief cur- rent amongst all classes, that if a man live, a good life here, he will be all right m the next world, and all the teachings of the church to the contrary will not change this idea. The doc- trine of the Atonement is a dead issue, Calvinism with its doctrines of predestination and infant damnation is a theory of the past, it is as i^po. 5* THE CMRMTIilN BIBLB. •Ibi* to revive it again as to put life into the foaail remains of some ancient mammoth which lies embedded in the stratas of the earth. All that is needed now is for ttome great nagnetic leader to attock this " ponderous mass of imbecility," and it will go down as easily as did the Roman Empire under the sword (tf Alaric. J» J» J» Jft 53 r MODIBN •CIBMCI AND ROLU'S SBYBIITH BIRTHDAY HEAVEN. IM (■Y MM. C. LARAWAY, UNDE» WMJ CONTROL IV HBR BON BOLLA.) Oh, why are you »Uent and »Bd, Mother, Why weepSnif these te»r» to-^Uy ? Oh, you My In your thoughts to me. Mother, Why did they call you away? Why sit tilent and lone, Mother, Letting your tear-drops fall? When I am so near to you. Mother, And only a breath for a call. I come and stand at your side, Mother, A happier and better boy j Trying to strengthen and help you. While your days of toil roll by. Sometimes you are faint and sad. Mother, And long for a rest to come ; But your loving and dear kind nature Has secured you a beautiful home. 'Tis seven long years, you say. Mother, Since you laid me so cold away ; Aad you grieved so long for me. Mother, Since I have been awi . Shall 1 tell you to me its less, Mother, Than a moment spent on earth ; For I could not repay you there, Mother, For giving my life its birth. 54 THE CHRIItTIAN BIBLK. This life is full oT work. Mother, And I can toil for you t While you are toiling for others, To help their journey through. So dry your tears, dear Mother, And do not weep for me ; I am so near to comfort. And will a comfort be. Good-night, my darling Mother, I love you still so well ; And now I must go and leave you. So Mother dear, Farewell. ^ ;>3 1 il MODERN SCIENCE AND SPIRITUALISM AND THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. Lord Macaulay says that the history of England is the history of progress, it is the history of a constant movement of the public mind, of a constant change in the institutions of a great so- ciety. Without change there is no progress, and although there has been no change in the anta- gonism which the Roman Catholic Church has shown against Spiritualism, the constant move- ment of the public mind has comfielled her to change the edicts of the early church against witchcraft and necromancy into the modern edicts against clairvoyance and magnetism, The Devil of the fourtli century has been changed into the magnetism of the twentieth. It is interesting to read the decrees and bulls which she at one time fulminated against witchcraft and fortune tellers, at another against magnetism and somnambul- ism. These decrees are of interest to us for they show how people living in the iourth and fifth centuries viewed the same phenomena which we see to-day. It teaches us that the only way to arrive at the truth is to adopt the great histori- an's views, that the history of progress in the history of change, is the history of a constant movement of the public mind, of a constant change in the opinions of a great society, even though that society be the Roman Catholic Church, whose edicts having descended from the heavens, matured and perfect and fully developed, needing no change. 56 THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE. Professor Bryce says that ; "He who reads the history of the middle ages is amused by the absurdities which meet him at every step. He is constantly introduced to men who, thougfh' stained with every vice, are full o( sincere devotion to a religfion whose doctrines they never understood. Every one knows how little a man's actions conform to the theories he lays down for the guidance of himself and others. In the middle ages this perpetual opposition be- tween theory and practice was peculiarly abrupt. Men's impulses and passions had not been train-* ed down by the opinions and criticisms of our modem society, and their conduct was reckless to a degree which it is difficult for us to under- stand. We find writers proclaiming t; most beautiful theories which no one ever attempted to carry out. Resistence to' God's vicar was ad- mitted by every one to be a deadly sin ; but it was one which no one hesitated to commit when his passions and interests interfered." It is interesting to note the •' transition from fable to the historic day," from the age of en- chanters and magicians and fortune tellers to the age of psychometry and clairvoyance and tele- pathy, for it is by studying this chnnge that we begin to realize that truth is not a divine revela- tion fr«m God to man, but a slow and sure growth, dependent upon the development of the human mind, upon the steady endeavor to under- stand natural law. The fathers had their own way of accounting for the phenomena of witchcraft and necromancy, 57 MODERN SCIENCE AND and it would have fared ill with anyone who would have propounded to the councils of Ancyra or Laodicea or Tnillo the doctrine which I now propound to you — that all their hypotheses were alike wrongs, that the craft and subtlety of the devil had nothing to do with these strange things, but that they were the results of natural laws more subtle than gravitation, but equally as sui«. If one of the old church fathers would take the trouble to again visit this world, he would find himself in the midst of a material civilization more different from that of his day, than the civ- ilization of his day was from the time of Adam, and all this magnificent change resulted from two hundred years of the study of natural law, from two hundred years constant improvement of natural knowledge. The foundation of all natu- ral knowledge was laid when the reason of man came face to face with the facts of nature, when the savage learned that a stone will fall to the ground if it be let go, and an arrow must be feathered to keep it straight to the wind. A law passed in the reign of Constantine, the first Christian Emperor, is interesting as showing how the people of that day looked upon table- tilting, independant writing and trance speak- ing. It reads : " Their skill is to be condemned, and very deservedly punished in the severest manner, who being furnished with knowledge of the mag^c arts, shall be discovered to have ^ctci anything, either for the impairingof man's health, or drawing chaste minds to unlawful love. But no vexatious actions are to be brought against 58 THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE. remedies that are soug^ht for the bodies of men (magnetic healing) ; or against charms that are innocently used in country places, for fear least storms, or winds, or hail, should hurt the forward vineyard, etc." This was about the year 330, A.D. The Council of Ancyra held A.D. 314 were evidently troubled by the phenomena of Spiritual, ism, "for they passed a canon appointing no less than five year's penance to pretended prophets and enchanters, as well as to fortune tellers, as also to those who took such people into their houses to cure diseases and also against those wicked w nen deluded by Saton who believe that they ride through the air, and see sometimes sad sights and sometimes joyful sights (psychoni. etry)." •'The Council of Laodicea, held fifty years afterwards solemnly excommunicates all clerics who should be magicians, enchanters, sooth- sayers or astrologers." "The Council of Trullo held A.D. 602 con- demned fortune telling, casters of .lativities, enchanters and charmers, the same kind of sin- ners condemned in the Holy Scriptures." Things seem to have gone along smoothly till the year 1484 A.D. when Pope Alexander VIII. promul- gated an important bull •« declaring that it had come to the knowledge of the Sovereign Pontiff that great numbers of people of both sexes, careless of their own salvation, and falling from the Catholic faith, are not afraid to abuse their own bodies with demons, who after invocation, come 59 MODUlf SCIlliai «.-« -'.e,;;^ .:rt^f r necromancy «nd mnpc arts, ana uiy aothe. th.n^«.e - ■- ^^tTa, "o.- J,Jy joth, 1866, »'°P' " b ^,ic„. :;;r r..::l™S»«s». ana wha. .h.y C. ()0 f HI CHRISTUM BIBLt. clairvoyance, babble of their seeing whatever is invisible, and presume to institute discourses concerning religion itself, to wake the souls of the dead, to receive answers, to reveal things unknown and disUnt, and rashly to practice other superstitious things of the same nature, sure of gaining I / divination great profit for themselves and their masters. In all these things whatever art or illusion it be that they use, where physical means are ordered to non-natural effects, there is found a deception wholly unlaw- ful and heretical, and a scandal .gainst virtuous morals. Therefore to restrain eflScaciously so great a crime, one so hostile to religion, and aid sociuty, the pastoral solicitude of all bishops ought as much as possible to be excited." The R. C. Archbishop of Quebec in 1854 issued a pastoral letter against spirit-rapping and table-turning, in which his Grace forbade, as a superstitious practice, the causing tables to turn or rap, with the intention of invoking the dead or spirits, of consulting them or of having any communications whatsoever with them. We have now a fair idea of the antagonism which the Roman Catholic Church has at all times shown against Spiritualism. The bull of Pius IX. shows that she fully understands the phenomena. She is not ignorant of the researches made by eminent French and English scientists into the mysteries of somnambulism, clairvoy- ance and psychometry, but she wishes to keep the faithful ignorant of these new truths by which science has rent the veil between this world and 61 I ;§. m I ; !ii MODERN SCIENCE AND the next. She «tonds at the gate and she make, the faithful think that they can enter m only by her. But all spiritualists believe " that we must press forward to the goal" not of jusUficat.on by faith, but by verification, t^at as the w-rid STOWS older this truth must extend .tself mto all Separtmenst of human thought until it becomes coextensive with the range of all knowledge. And as our race approaches its matunty .t must discover that there is but one kind of knowledge and but one method of acquiring it, and we who are but stiU children may justly feel it our high- est duty to recognize the advfsabi..ty of improv- ing scientific knowledge, and so to assist our- Jvesandour children in their course towards the noble goal which lies before mankmd. 6a 1 THE CHRISTIAN BIBtB. THE BUILDERS. All are architects of Fate, Working in these walls of Time ; Some with massive deeds and great, Some with ornaments of rhyme. Nothing useless is, or low ; Each thing in its place is best ; And what seems but idle show Strengthens and supports the rest. For the structure that we raise, Time is with materials filled ; Our to-days and yesterdays Are the blocks with which we build. Truly shape and fashion these ; Leave no yawning gaps between ; Think not because no man sees, Such things will remain unseen. In the elder days of Art, Builders wrought with greatest care Each minute and unseen part ; For the gods see everywhere. Let us do our work as well. Both the unseen and the seen ; Make the house where Gods may dwell. Beautiful, entire and clean. Else our lives are incomplete. Standing in these walls of Time, Broken stairways, where the feet Stumble as they seek to climb. 63 i •r ( — MODERN 8CIINCB AND Build to-d«y, then, strong «nd sure, With a firm and ample base '. And ascending and secure Shall to-morrow find its place. Thus alone can we attain To those turrets, where the eye Sees the world as one vast plain, And one boundless reach of sky. Henry W. Longfellow >¥ \ !i tHE CHRISTIAN BIBLK. THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH versus SPIRITUALISM. In the year 1654, the church of Glasgow ob- Uined an order from the government, •' requir. ingr the magristrate to expel from the town all excommunicated persons." The first case under hjs act was that of a poor woman whom the K.rk Session "of that town summoned before them because she had received into her house her son afler the clergy had excommunicated hjm; they so influenced her mind, by telling about he great wrath of God against sinners, as to make her promise not only that she would shut her door against her child, but that she would aid m bringing him to punishment. "She had smned, • so they said, in loving and shelter- «ngh.m, and she had grievously sinned in dis- obeymg the church. They laid their merciless hands on the holiest passion of which our natures are capable: a mother s love for her child. "They made her promise to forget the boy who had crept to her knees, who had slept on her bosom, whose childhood she had watched and nu«ed, all the finest associations which human affection can give, all that memory can delight .„ remembering, all the brightest pros- pects of hfe, was pronounced a crime by those cruel spiritual masters. " We read in " Hutchesons Expositions on the Mmor Prophets," vol. iii, page 203 (this work 6S t! 11 MODF.RN SCIKNCE AND „ l,m.d of •!> irntn ___^, trate." Rutherford, one of wr- lu'itl also quote from Ki«nenwi«i We will a«'»o M" WestminHter Con- re»io« .«> Shorter C.I.. . ^ .j^ . ^','hrWc,\a.l».te'C».fe»«'on,wrlle,from ..The IndeP*'"**''"^'* ** * unow ^ne of their -;:r.i:r;;rr"«».o..y.o.. eration. gg TH« CHRISTIAN BIBLK. Wemjrh. fill volum... wiih opinions such as .1... «^m. from the fo nd f ,,.0 IVesh,,^ I , Chuah «„d .he wriUTs of i.s ...nHl. Tol -ra i 1 or clK.„,y towards olhors was .erlainly n. " of their faults, nor is i, „„,. of the faults of 1. «me church to-day. I„ addition to the nl rlw ne«. and intolerance of their teachings t here 7s . "hardnes, of heart and austerity of tem ^r a want of sympathy with human happine ^^h " J-; -ver been exhibited by any o'tfer I^Vt:.:: «ay that there i, no relitjious sect i„ EuroV the Catholic Church in Spain alone excepted whch has shown such a lack of toleration towa dfthe opinion of others. "«auis the The clergymen orgranized themselves into a Ieg.HUt.ve body and enacted laws which the people were bound to obey. " It was^ sin f any Scotch town to bold a' market o Sa "rda; or Monday, it was a sin to ,fo from one town ,0 another on Sunday, it was a sin to haleTo ir garden watered or your beard shaved o.^ Sun day. walking in the fields and the m^ado^s o." .n the streets, or enjoying the fine weath^we^ all punished by exacting and annoying laws Z persons needlessly walking or sitting'^iuu in tt, streets, shall be fined eightee.. pence or iL l^\ -n the stocks. The parents of children found Playng on Sunday are fined sixpence. It w"s day from 8 a.m. t.ll noon, and from 1 till 5 p.„., 67 IH ii i 1 MODRRN 8CIENCI AMD and no one wa. allowed to bring any larjcer veHH..| than a pint stoup on the Lord ^J^'^y-Jl MaHs,uh«s..t.H it wan attempted •« •""'^;; ^'^^ ,'^. breikinir a capital offenci.. but Governor Wm- »h:;p bad tbe U. sen- to rcfune hi. nancfon to this extreme act. . .u„ „««- All the«, exacting law, were made |" ^e J'^ of the Lord, they spoke as confidently of the Dile Will a, if each person had been personal^ privy to the Counsels of the Most H.gh. There r/nolacW of definiteness '" ^heir '.t^ ^^t'. God. himself, did not escape them, for they de- fined the Almighty with wonderfu "imuteness. Imagine a man with a knowledge of modern geo- oTy^ listening to these Westminster dmnes ..It pleased God" (they knew it all) "at the beginning to create or make of nothmg. the S. and all things therein. -Aether v.sjble or invisible, in the space of six days, and a» J'Tr eood. ■ Judged from our present scientific know feC thi is mere nonsense. What is pecuhar .s not that these divines were wrong in the^ geo- To'Tbut that their creed has outlived the rum of'^hatthey considered as essentia to .ts stabd- itv I think we may safely say that no i«rt of a cLd is essential, that all religions are flux.onal S their nature. Religion lives ^---^'-"j; erained in the nature of man and not because « fsi:.oulded into a creed; its -in jo-^ ^^^^^^^^ purify, elevate, and brighten life, to ""ake every Cy Upy. and point to the path wh.ch leads ^tL inl'ite mind. But the P-b>.e"a" creed teaches that to be poor and hungry, to pass THB CHRISTIAN BIBLS. ihrouKh life in misery and to leave it with fear and tremblinir. i« a prcK.f of Koodnenn. They aught that whatever wan natural wan wronK. all the inHtinctH and de^iren whith are ,«rt of the gifiHot the AlmiKhty to man wen- attmked a, •Inful, ihey deliberately opposed them-KjIves to every gratification which \h essential to the happ,nes»oftheva»t majority of mankind, and they Htill harp on the wickedness of human nature. The history of the intolerance and persecution of the Presbyterian Church durinK the 200 years m wh>ch ,t exercised dominion ovrr the mind, of the Scotch iieople would fill a library, and I have no desire to trouble you with this sad story. The result of this teachinK. to use the historian's eloquent description, "was to spread over the country a universal jfloom ; men in their daily life became melancholy and ascetic, even their very gait and voice and general aspect was in- fluenccd by that blight which destroyed all that was genial and happy in human life, and the hnest and most endearing parts of our nature, by bemg constantly repressed, withered and faded away. Such was Presbyterianism, and such to a great extent it is still. These teachers, believing that human nature •s depraved, thought they were warranted in puttmg it in irons. But they failed, and their failure ought to be a warning to their .uc- cessors. At this time an error of the gravest kind was perpetrated by those self-styled servants of the I '»fe- . 19 MODERN SCIENCE AND Most Hieh. They knew the divine mind, for had Te 1" ^ken it cLrly in hi. Holy Word : ''Thou Shalt not suffer a witch to live." The Lord had spoken and his servants must carry out h.s com- mands ; this they did most effectually and .n the most barbarous manner. The suffenngs of these poor people make us all shudder "ow. and .t Uvches us how terrible are the errors wh.ch he clerey may commit when they are given the power to apply to our more civilised societ.es the laws of Judaism as they understood them. The natural earnestness and the profound behef of the people of Scotland in the Bible, mtens.fied the crime. •'Oh ! bloodiest picture in the book of time, The witches fell unwept, without a crime. Well may Presbyterianism blush at this chapter in her history ; of course other religions did nearly as bad, but these great Presbyterian div;nes were right and all others were wrong. Error was the one thing which they could not tolerate, and by error they meant every opinion which differed from theirs. People Will say, why bring up these old troub- les now ? The age which produced them is passed and we are living now in the twentieth century redolent with the new ideas of chanty and toleration. We answer, in order to under- stand the influence of religion we must know its history, for that history has impressed itself upon the thout."Us and feelings of this generation. The character of the men who formed the creed of the Presbyterian Church is impressed upon 70 THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE. every line of it ; they were intolerant, narrow- minded and bigoted, and their creed reflects this character. Lei us now turn from this g:ruesome history and see what science has to tell us about the next life and this one. If I were to be asked which gem I consider the brijfhtest of all which adorns the discovery of science for the last 200 years I would unhesltatingrly say, the fact that she hks taugrht us how we may speak to our friends and relations who have passed on before ; she has taught us to know that they can help us in our struggles through this life ; that the fond mother can still watch over her little orphaned child who IS left to struggle alone in a selfish and indifferent world, that the prudent father can still aid and direct his boys as they are fighting the battle of life, and, from a higher condition, can advise and direct them to advantage; and the next most beautiful truth is that we can help our friends and relations who have passed on to spirit life, by constantly sympathazing with them and praying for them ; good thoughts help our spirit friends as much as good deeds help our earthly friends. The above two statements are facts as thor- oughly proven as the law of gravitation. To those who conscientiously wish to investigate them, we would advise first to read the writings of the greatest living scientists and their invest!- gallons into the laws which connect this worid and the next. Sir William Crookes, Alfred Rus- sell Wallace, Zollner, and Flammarion ; in addit- ion to these great investigators, there are found 41 ii MODERN SCIENCE AND in every department of learning, in every profession— judges and doctors, clergymen and teachers, attesting as a cloud of witnesses to the fact of spirit return. The veil between this world and the next has been rent and the door is slowly opening so that soon all who wish can enjoy the companionship of their beloved friends. And what do those who have passed to the next con- dition of life tell us regarding the laws which govern spirit life ? They tell us that life is pro- gressive, that from the cradle to the vestibule of that paradise from whose portals the rustling of angel's wings is but faintly echoed to earth, there is a constant progression ; rapid for those who follow the laws of spirit progress, but slow and wearisome for those who neglect to follow them. We are like children at school passing on from class A to B, and from C to D, and so on forever. •' Not without reason did the savage hunter of the long ago dream of a land to which the de- parted had gone ; not to mock him did the eter- nal spirit place the spiritual intuition in his soul. What he dreamed we have demonstrated ; science may seem to rob religion of its charms, but it is destined to restore them a thousand fold as it rises to the zenith like a sun; faith in miracles will depart like a fog that the morning drinks up; but confidence in the universal, beneficient and intelligent operation of law will take its] place. The belief in irremediable woe for any portion of humanity will vanish, and in its place will come to all the assurance of conscious, continued exis- V THE CHRISTIAN BIBL " tence in a superior condition of bein^. " After breathinjf the sad midnight air of Presbyterianism. this beautiful morning breeze comes r^^freshing to all loving hearts. When we realize the beauties of Spiritualism we will exclaim with the great preacher : "Sing with us, ye heavens, the morning com- eth ; the darkness is past, the shadows flee away, the true light shineth now, and the light climbeth onward and upward for there is a sacred noon beyond. That noon is heaven, and there shall be no night there." ff W J ! m 73 MODERN SCIENCR AND CRITICISM. A man we knew, possessed a coin, That it was pure, he'd vow, Yet, aqua fortis as a test, He never would allow. This cherished coin from ages past, Was handed down to him — To doubt that it was purest gold. He thought would be a sin. He had a son, a bright young man, A good, observing boy. He tested this old coin one day. And found it part alloy. The old man in an awful rage, Cried: ".Infidel, begone! You have become a skeptic, boy. You, wicked, doubting son ! " Now, any word that cannot stand Fair criticism's test. We deem it our prerogative To doubt, if we think best ; And In this age of common sense And learning well combined. The truest, bt>st, and wisest men. No longer will be blind. A higher criticism now Attracts the minds of men, And Whittier's lines are just as true As writ by prophet's pen. 74 THB CHRISTIAN 8IBLB. •' Rigrht is ri|rht, since God is God, And rigrht the day must win," To doubt it would be cowardice, To falter, would be sin. With love for our bright guiding star. Our watchword, "Truth and Right," We soon shall leave behind us far. Old Superstition's night. Retain the gold ; reject the dross From all you read or hear ! Let reason play its noble part, And keep a conscience clear. AOAM SCHOLES. W=- 75 MODERN SCIENCE AND THE USEFULNESS OF RELIGION. A few eveningrs ngo a lady satd to me, •' I have no objection to Spiritualism, but what is the grood of it? One knows about the many greal and 8:ood things that Religion has done for mail! kind, but this new fad can lay no claim to having ever done anything." I will now take up this side of the question as there is a very erroneous opinion current about the usefulness of Religion and the great good it has done for mankind. Until within the last century this side of Religion has never been discussed. Religion was previ- ously considered to be true : to doubt this state- ment was a sin, and as it was true its usefulness foUowed as a matter of course. As long as men beheved in it as thoroughly as they believed in their own existence, the idea of asking if it was useful never occurred to them. The argument for the utility of Religion is one which takes an inferior ground. It is an appeal to unbelievers who cannot be convinced by the reasons adduced in support of its truth, it is an ar- gument in support ot hypocrisy asking us to be- lieve in Religion because it is an immense fabric and of great utility to mankind, but so insecure at Its base that the least breath of suspicion will blow .t down. It is a most painful position for a conscientious and highly cultivated mind to be obliged to defend Religion because of its utility I purpose in this paper to enquire into the utility of Religion, bringing forward historic facts for THE CHRISTIAN niBLE. all Statements and we are very much afraid that there will be a lar^c debit balance in this accoimt and that instead of Relijfion havinh' added to the temporal welfare of mankind, it ha» been like a terrible nightmare continually dra^f^fingus down. I think we can show that some of the greatest improvements ever made in the moral opinions of mankind have taken place in spite of it and that one of the hardest burdens laid upon the should- ers of men has been the labor of improving Reli- gion itself. It is usual to credit Religion with all the influence which belongs to a system of moral rules inculcated by education and enforced by public opinion, such as honesty, justice, and ver- acity. It is these principles which lie at the foundation of all human society and this has made the influence of Religion so powerful be- cause she has taken under her control the teach- ings of all morality as a part of Religion; but at first it was not so. Among the Greeks and Ro- mans social morality was independent of Reli- gion. The Gods were not supposed to concern themselves much with men's conduct unless they were called in as witnesses to a contract or a solemn vow. Morals were based upon public opin- ion and public opinion was the result of education, experience, and national history and the tra- ditions of the people. The Assyrians, Chaldeans, Egyptians, and Jews founded their moral pre- cepts upon Religion : the Divine authority as re- ceived from their Priests. At the time of Con- stantine the eastern idea was engrafted into the western, and Divine authority and human expe- 77 MODERN SCIKNCB AMD rience have managred to pull together ud to th*. nr^lT "'* '"° "'^^^ "ne1[ua.i;VoC* does for he .nd.v.dual-whether it open, the Le of parad-se for him or not. The foundefof Chnst.an.ty say, that "straight i, the «te and narrow .» the way and few there be that^Ji^d"" Burns expresses this same idea as seen through trineTo ^.'%"' ^'•-»»^»-'-«'n and it, di. inne of ong^inal sin : S«nd. •«« to htar«,, ,„<| „„ to h«l| A' for ihy glory. And no' for ony guid or ill They've done, afore thee." is fi^V^f f '"'" ''''!''' ' '*"' "°^ ^°'"^ to discuss s .ts usefulness, wh* amount of benefit has arisen to socety from its belief in Religion. No sooner had the church been established in ^^u ^, Constant.ne, and been acknowledged as the only Divine authority than it split into f^ wa" of the I ^"""«"^"« claimed that Christ was of the same substance as the Father, while we mrr''.''"*''*^'' °"'^°^«'^--»>«^-^ we must ourselves confess that this is a distinc t.on w.thouta difference, but if we were askedto arnveata proper conclusion we would first tryand find out what substance the Father was madefrom, and next what substance the son was made from and then we would try and compare bothsuT^ stances; but without these two data we must TUB CHRISTIAN BIBLR. confess that no proper conclusion can ever be arrived at. But. unfortunately, the fathers did not adopt this scientific method of arriving at the truth and the consequences were appallinif. The Ooths were converted to the Arlan doctrine by Bishop Ulfilas A.D. 375 while the inhabitants of Italy were Trinitarians. The barbarian* thus be- came parties to the long struggle between these two rival sects and though Theodoric their king tried hard to amalgamate the two races, the manliness, the truthfulness and high standard of chastity of the Goth with the weak and lascivi- ous Italian, the clergy opposed the union. The barbarian could be tolerated by the Roman, but the Arian heretic infected by heterdoxy could only be loathed. While Theodoric lived his firm hands .kept an equal balance, but at his death the struggle began and only ended after aoo years of bloodshed and misery, and the final de- struction of the Visigoths. Clovis, the Frank, adopted the Trinitarian side and threw his ponl derous battle-axe into the unequal scale ; then the battle raged anew till blood flowed like water and the Gothic nation passed out of history. Two million souls perished in the controversy. I pass by the bitterness and bloody strife which raged in Egypt and Asia over this question, it would be a history for devils to gloat over. Persecution for religious belief is the most fear- ful of all evils that men have inflicted upon their fellows, but it is the direct result of the principle which Religion teaches. If men believe without the possibility of a doubt that all those who differ 79 MODIRN SCIRNCR AlfO from them will perish eternally In hell, they wiU "-nor or Uter p..r«,eute to the full extent of "H,.r power. Injustice to the per«,cutor.. It must be s«.d that .hey were the exponent, of « prin- "^^ P"nciple of exclusive salvation in the orthodox church. Thouyh most denomination, now beheve that there may be «»lvation ouflde of their own churches yet they still hold that there i« «ilvation only through the atoninjr blood of Chnst. This i. really only shifting the ground of discussion and In fact making matters wor«, than before and more exclusive, for the «-eat majority of mankind have never heard of either ^-hrist or his sacrifice. There are two principles around which all re- bgnous systems converge. The one Uught by Socrates and Plato , that there i, a merit atUcheJ Ji *^°?. **'*''""• ^*^ •»>* ""' ^ow by doing ^ood , this is the principle which Spiritualism follows. The other is the doctrine of sin. teach- w-toT" "Ti! '""^ *" '"'•^'^"«' abandoned wretches .n the sight of the Deity, and as sup- plicants they must all seek for whatever favors tliey receive. The last idea has been followed b/ the Chris- tian Religion and we are now tracing the serious consequences which flowed from its adoption. There are certain ages in which the sense of vir- live, but dunng the middle and dark ages the sense of sin predominated and its consequences were fearful. But to return to our history. A religious epidemic spread over Europe in the THI CHRISTIAN BIBtl. •Jeventh century, people died Ihid fever the truMde.. An eye-witnew describes the capture of JeruMlem by thc»e follower, of Christ who came to kneel an «ipplicant» at the foot of the cross and ask foi»ivennes«at his holy sepulchre. This terrible slaughter fiUed all the cities with dead bodies, so the survivinjr Saracens were compeUed to cany the dead bodies outside the waUs, where they were heaped up in mountain, to be destroyed by fire. Such a slauiphter of Wn folk had never been seen or heard of, no one knows their number save God above." But the Crusader, didn't have it aU their own way for after wasting their strength in war and lascivious livmg for a few year, the «me eye-witness says, Of so mnumerable a host of Gods people, aUs I alas I we do not believe 1,000 survived, and these we saw afterward, at Rhodes and other port, hardly more than bones, but only a few at Jaffa J It is said that 4,000,000 soul, perished m tbeM CruMdes. Now this come, from follow- «ng the wrong principle, believing in the doctrine wTwnand the corollaries which flow from it-that the pagans were not God's children but belonged to the devil and were fit only for daughter. That the church from the twelfth to the sixteenth cen- tury shed more innocent blood than any other mstitution which ever exi.ted, is denied by no candid historian. In the Netherlands during the reign of Charle. V. over 31,000 person, were burned and 200, 000 condemned to punishment less severe. Dur- ng the reign of his son, Philip II., as many more 81 ««CtOCOrY RBOUITION TiST CHART (ANS' gnd ISO TEST CHART No. 2) i /APPLIED ir\/MGE Inc 1653 East Main StrMi Rochmtv, N«« York U609 USA (716) «2 - 0300 - Phon. (716) 268 - 5989 - Fox MODERN SCIENCE AND perished. Upon the i6th February, 1568, a sen- tence of the Holy Office condemned all the in- habitants of the Netherlands to death as heretics. Three millions of people were sentenced to death in three lines (Motley, vol. II., p. 153.) Those who perished from the reign of Charlemagne to Louis XIV. number many millions. When we consider that this was but part of one vast con- spiracy to check the development of the human mind, and to destroy the spirit of impartial in- quiry, which all modem researches prove to be the first condition of progress, as of truth ; when we consider all these things, it can surely be no exaggeration to say that the Christian Church during the first sixteen centuries has inflicted a greater amount of unwarranted suffering than any other religion which has ever existed among mankind. I will endeavor to show in the next number of the " Sermon " from the history of the many sects into which it has divided, that they all inherited the persecuting spirit of their mother, as their doctrines were drawn from the same source ; and I will endeavor to draw the conclusion that they are working out the doctrine of salvation on a principle unknown to experience and unjustified by reason. To complete the picture it is only necessary to add that these things were done in the name of the teacher who said, " By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye love one another." 82 THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE. FOOTSTEPS OF ANGELS. When the hours of Day arc n„n,horo«l. And the voices of the Nii^ht Wake the better soul that Jlumbered. To a holy, calm delight ; Ere the evening lamps are lighted, And like phantoms grim and tall. Shadows from th^ fitful fire light Dance upon the parlour wall ; Then the forms of the departed Enter at the open door ; The beloved, the true-hearted, Come to visit me once more ; He, the young and strong, who cherished Noble longings for the strife, By the road-side fell and perished. Weary with the march of life ! They, the holy ones and weakly Who the cross of suflFering bore, Folded their pale hands so meekly. Spake with us on earth no more ! And with them the Being Beauteous, Who unto my youth was given. More than all things else to love me. And is now a saint in heaven. With a slow and noiseless footstep Comes that messenger divine, Takes the vacant chair beside me. Lays her gentle hand in mine. 83 MODERN SCIENCE AND And she sits and grazes at me With those deep and tender eyes, Like the stars, so still and saint-like. Looking downward from the skies. Uttered not, yet comprehended, Is the spirit's voiceless prayer. Soft rebukes, in blessing's ended, Breathing- from her lips of air. O, though oft depressed and lonely. All my fears are laid aside. If I but remember only Such as these have lived and died ! Henry W. Longfellow W 84 THB CHRISTIAN BIBLB. THE BIBLE AND MODERN CRITICISM. forefathers bowed in holy reverence. "Theauth ority of the Holy Scripture dependeth ^ho ,y n •;!!! ""''°'- ''"'''^' -^therefore is to be received because it is the word of God and io^h':^*^*'".^^^'"^ ar^^ents whe^^e'by u ^.nlo "• .u* *"*'"°" '' "^^^ continually by Now the book itself makes no such claim fro™ th. 1 '. ** »««" '^ron^ully usurped by ^clergy and misapplied. What the Vhras^ the end of '.h » f "'^^ ^^'"^ ^°'"^ 'J^*" to the end of the cty Samuel said to Saul, bid thv :^,Zl^ °" "l^'' "•• ^- ^-^H'' thou St J awhJe that I may show thee the Word of God " fs^l a„S7:'"".^"°'"*^ ^•™ *° •- "^S of w^ he told h" *'"*" ''" *^''^'' *° P™- ">-» tT«r J^ '^''' *"'*'• Hetellshim, "When thou are departed from me to^y then tiouThalt find two men by Rachel's sepuJre in thelrdel of Benjamm at Zebrah, and they will sarunto thee the asses which thou wenfest to ^k " ! found. Here the Word of God me^nH " ^ rirr *'"'°"»'' * '-'''"™ »« SauTa„d Zn firmed by tests. Read airain I Kino-. - J4: "But the Word of GTcLeTfi:^^^ the man of God (Man of God always ZTl 8S MODERN SCIENCE AND ntedium in the Bible) saying, Speak unto Reho- boam, the son of Solomon, the King of Judah^ say'iK. Thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your bre'hren, the children of Israel, etc." Here the phrase means the same as in the previous verse, viz. , a message from a spirit, through a medium to the King, warning him against committing a crime. Again read I. Chronicles, xvii., 3— 4: "And it came to pass the same night that the Word of God came to Nathan saying, Go and tell David, my servant, thus saith the Lord." In this verse the meaning is the same as in the other two, and in the two- hundred and forty odd times where the expres- sions "Word of God," "Word of the Lord," "My Word," occur, they mean always a mes- sage from the spirit world to this one, about some special business. There is not one verse which supports the Westminster Confession theory about the Holy Scriptures being the Word of Gr d, in fact, there was no Holy Scripture in those days. The phrase "Word of God" always means mediumship. A Bible did not come to a prophet, but a direct message came from a spirit speaking through Him to some one on earth. Luke iii, 2—3, " The word of God came to John in the wilderness," etc. No one supposes that a book came to him, but everyone knows that a direct spirit message came to him. The clergy have no right to usurp this phrase and apply it to their Bible, but as they usurped everything else on this earth when they had the power, this was only a small part of the swag, and with this 86 THE CHRISTIAN BIBtB. phrase as a handle they compel men to bow down to their "ipsi dixit" and believe all the teachmgr which it suited their purpose to en- force. We think that if the laity studied the Bible carefully and applied to its study the common sense which they apply to the management of their daily affairs, the foolish theories taught by the clergy would soon come to an end. While on this subject I will say that the word " Holy Ghost," which means consecrated or Holy Spirit, is the gift of receiving messages from the spirit world. "I will send you a comforter," Christ said, and the comforter came in the gift which the apostles received at Pentecost of giving utterance to spirit messages. Paul in I. Corin- thians xii, 3-IO, enumerates these gifts given by the Holy Ghost: "To another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another dis- ceming of spirits (clairvoyance) to another divers kinds of tongues (as the apostles received at Pentecost), to another the interpretation of tongues." These are all gifts which are received through mediumship. I will now take up the second part of the para- graph quoted from the Westminster Confession, and show that the Hiblc is not infallible, but is full of mistakes and historical inaccuracies, be- sides narrating many foolish mythological stor- ies ; and if it is the only proof we have of the "Great Infinite Mind" we may well go into mourning and put on sack cloth and ashes, like the Jews of old. The task of enumerating the^e 87 MODIRN fCIBNCB AND mistakes is very unpleasant, and were it not tha iU worshippers insist that it was written by God, from cover to cover, we would let these blunders lie in peace. In II. Samuel viii, 3.4, we find that David smote Hadadexar, and captured 1,000 chariots and 700 horsemen. In I. Chronicles xviii., 4, the same battle is described and the 700 horsemen have increased to 7,000. Which account did God write ? In II. Samuel xviv, 9 : When David numbered the children of Israel there were 800,000 Israelites and 500,000 Jews. If we turn to I. Chronicles xxi, we find the same numbering: described as a thousand thousand, and one hundred thousand Israelites, or 1,100,- 000, an increase of 300,000. Which account is inspired? II. Kings vii. a6, makes Abaxiah aa years old when hebegrins to reigrn, but II. Chron. wuii a, makes him 43 years, which makes the son two years older than the father at his father's death. II. Samuel xxiv, 34, makes David pay fifty shekels of silver for the threshing floor of Araunah, equal to about $30 of our money, but 1. Chronicles xxi. 25, says that he paid 600 shekels of gold by weight, "equal to $2,500, a big difference, surely. We might enumerate many more mistakes such as the above, but our space is limited. We would ask you to turn to Daniel v., 31st verse : "And Darius the Median took the Kingdom, being about three-score and two years old." Every schoolboy knows that Cyrus the Persian captured Babylon, and that Darius was the third king of the Medes and Per- sians, being successor to Cambyses, son of 88 THE CHRISTIAN BIBLK. Cyrus. He would be only a child when Babylon was taken, but in chap. ix. ,, Daniel again nays that Darius was the son of Ahazuerus. when he was really his father. Daniel could not have made mistakes like this as he was contemporary with Darius, so it is a fair supposition that he did not write part of the book attributed to him. and I thmk we are not making: much of a mistake wheu we say that God did not write it. In Gen- esis xlv. 14, we read that when Abraham heard that his brother was captured by the five kin^, he armed his servants and followed and van- quished the kings, and pursued them as far as Dan. Now, Dan was a city which was not founded till 600 years after Abraham had slept with his fathers. The story of the founding of Dan is given in Judges xviii, 25.30, so that whoever wrote this story of Abraham could not have done so until 600 years after his death, that is, after the found- ing of Dan. But there was a city there in Abra- ham's time, and it was called Laish. and anyone writmg before the founding of Dan would have said, " He pursued them as far as Laish." But a still further anachronism occurs in the history of the founding of Dan, for the writer of the book of Judges says in verse 30 of the same chapter, And the children of Dan set up the graven image, and Jonathan the son of Geshom. the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests of the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land." This is a clear proof that whoever wrote the book of Judges wrote it after the cap. 89 MODERN gCIKNCB AND tivity by Nebuchadnezzar, Ktng of Babylon, and there ts no doubt but that the sjimc Kcribu wrote the story of /Abraham in GcncHis and the story of Dan in Judges, the one about 600 and the other about 1200 years after the events occurred, and likely compiled them from older manuscripts and made what corrections he thou);ht projK'r. This does away with much of the {glamour of in- spiration. Every school boy knows about the contradic- tory stories of the animals entering the ark. Gen- esis, chapter vi, 19, says: " Every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort, shalt thou bring into the ark to keep them alive with thee. They shall ^e male and female." Chapter vii, 2, says, •• Of every clean beast shalt thou take to thee by sevens, the male and his female, and of the beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. Of the fowls also of the air by sevens." Now, seeing that the distinction be- tween clean and unclean beasts was not made till the time of Moses, and it was a special dis- tinction for the Jews, therefore we do not see where Noah got the information from about ani- mals being clean and unclean. We always thought the ark too small for two of each kind, but what the object was of packing seven of each kind into it, we must confess our ignorance; and why the odd seventh? He had no mate. But to knock the seven story on the head, verse vii. says: "Of clean beasts and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, they went in two by two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the 90 THB CHRISTIAN BIDLB. female." Which of these two stories, the aeven one, or the two one, did God write ? He cer- taiuly did not write them Ixilh. Every scholar knows how lanjfuaKes oriKin ated, and how they are continually be. >k bun up from small beKimiinK's, as necessity com|)el.s men to use sijfns and sounds. Lan^nia^e is a growth, its bejfinninjf is small, but as to its de- velopment there is no end. Our ability to com- municate ideas by lanKua^e is an indication of man's spiritual oritfin, and as we trace it back we are forced to the conclusion that the differ- ent languages sprang up independently among various peopies by virtue of :.i..erent tendency and according as the conditions were favorable. There are five root languages, so distinct in style and fabric that any theory which assumes their joint development must be excluded. The Indo- European, which is the mother of the Greek, Latin, Gothic, Celtic and Slavonic. The Syro- Arabian, the mother of the Chaldean, Hebrew, Arabian and Syrian. These two groups possess neither the same grammatical system nor the same verbal roots, and all attempts at tracing them to the same trunk must be abandoned. But Egypt had a language of its own, older than either the Indo-Euro|iean or the Syro-Arabian, and entirely distinct from them ; and there is the Chinese, which stands separate and apart from every other known tongue; and there 's the Bask language, standing like a lone island, nearly washed away by the fierce waves which have beaten against it. There is no doubt but 9' MODERN ICItNCI AND that for thouMndn of year., yea, for tens of thouwndH of yvMH, thew wjparale lanKunife. Krew up with the men who npoke them, and Ifradually develoix-d, n. those who uned them rose from a lower to a higher civilization. Alonjf ndependent line» they ifrew by virtue of Inherent force ; the races and the lanipuaices jfrew to- irether. To those who have made a study of lanKuage, and their origin, how foolish must the followintf story of their origin seem: Genesia xl, 5. "And the Lord came down to see the city and tower which the children of men builded, and the Lord said, Behold the people is one and they have all one languagre, and this they began to do, ,and now nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do." Just thmk, the Lord came down to earth fearing that men would build a tower and thus get up to heaven. He came to see what they were doing, and decided, under the circumstances, to con- found their language. In the light of modem HCientific knowledge was there ever such a piece of rubbish written ? And God wrote this non- sense, so theologians say. There is another verse m Genesis iii. 22, which resembles this one. for it describes God as jealous of men, and afraid lest he " become like one of us." Who he means by •• us " it is difficult to know. It reads as follows: "And the Lord God said. Behold the man ,s become as one of us to know good and evil, and now lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of live and eat and live for- ever. Just think, the great God who made 92 THE CHRMTIAN RIRLR. million, of worlds, of which this litll.. one \h but nx ft Krnln of H«nil on th». soa shor.-. this •• i„H„. itc mind." of whom it may Iv said antronomy biit baroly brinK'n us to the Huburbn of his many manHiom., and chemintry twuhosuH that nothing w too small to c*capo hi.s ail i-nquirinK e>v, «hi.i Kreat Intellijfence wan afraid that man :,hould live forever, and thin by a process of theft and disobedience to Him. Baron Munchau^n has told a grreat many yarns, but he never concocted one as foolish as this one. But man is a spirit and does live forever. His body is only the out- ward clothing: which covers the spirit durinK "Is growth and continuance in this material world ; the body was never intended to live forever. Science grives the lie to this whole story, for it proves that man is a union of spiritual and mater- lal substances. Each performs the part intended for It. The material connects him for seventy odd years with a material Worid. When this is ended his next condition is a higher and a fuller one. He lives forever; it was so intended from the first. These stories in the book of Genesis are writ- ten from the point of view of a materialist. Nearly all the old writers in the Bible were ma- terialists ; this life was the only life which they knew about. The promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were all for wealth and length of days, and an earthly inheritance for themselves and their children. The promises made to Solo mon m I. Kings iii. verse 13, is, "And I have also given thee both riches and honor so that 93 MODBRN SCIENCE AND hefe shall not be any among: the kinffs like unto thee all thy days and I will lengthen tijy days." The wisdom he asked /or and got was to govern his kingdom properly, it was worldly wisdom. Ecclesiastes ;iv. 5-6, says " The dead know not anything, neither have they any more reward, also their love and their hatred and their envy is now perished, neither have thej any more a portion in anything that is done under the sun." To speak of love and hatred as perishing is to show gross ignorance about the spiritual structure of man ; love never dies, it lives on forever ; besides, those who leave this earth will always have an interest in what is going on here. II. Chron. xxi, 12, describes Elijah' as returning to earth twelve years after his death, and giving in writing a message to Jehoram, warning him against the consequences of his wicked conduct. He had an interest in his own people and he loved them and he re- turned to help them. Again in Ecclesiastes iii. i9t we read, "That which befalleth the sons of men befaUeth beasts, even one thing befalleth them, as one dieth so dieth the other ; yea, they have all one breath, so that a man hath no pre- eminence over a beast." Psalm vi. 5, "For in death there is no remembrance of thee, in me grave who shall give thee thanks." The above infidel teachings were supposed to have been written by the same God who said, " What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole worid and lose his own soul, or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Can any one imagine 94 THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE. teaching being more contradictory than Christ's promise of a future life and the teachings of the writer of Ecclesiates ? Bible critics are of the opinion that down to the Babylonian captivity the doctrine of a future life had not been taught by the Jews. Even Paul places the whole proof of a future life on the resurrection of the body, showing how he was imbued with the materialistic teachings of the old Bible. In I. Thess. iv. .s-,?, he brings for- ward a strong argument in favor of the resur- rection of the body, and he states that he speaks in the name of the Lord. " For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lortl shall not prevait them which are asleep. . . for the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up to be together with them." Paul expected to go to the spirit worid without passing through the por- tals of death, but he was disappointed, as the sword of a Roman soldier opened for him the gate to the spirit worid. He believed that the worid was coming to an end during his time and chat he would be translated bodily into heaven, but he was mistaken, and the fart that he said he spoke in the name of the Lord only mtensifies the mistake. The worid is yet in its infancy ; it is only throwing off its swaddling clothes, and as it approaches its maturity those who then inhabit it will see a new heaven and a new earth joining hands with a civilization which shall recognize the brotherhood of man 95 MODERN SCIENCE AND and the Fatherhood of God. " There yet shall rise beneath the skies, Unvexed by narrow greed or pelf, A race whose practice shall deny The selfish creed, each for himself." -^^>(;!^^fi!} ministrant are slicing as they journey .J and fro, Weaving paths 'twixt earth and heaven, o'er which human feet may tread In a present blest communion with those falsely called the dead. By these blessed angel workers wires magnetic have been laid O'er which comes the spirit message— comfort, greetings, love and aid — Spirit realms are brought so near us that we see and hear and know What in days of man's rude childhood was im- possible below. Hand in hand with angels walking, holding con- verse as we go, MounUin slopes are we ascending, leaving Ikr 98 «« CHftMTlAN BIBLB. <*«* wUm below ; O"^^ Spirit', rid. .«.i„u»g-Chri.. . ■acond time haa come ; ^ ttODBRM SCIBNCB AND OTHER WORLDS THAN OURS. " When Captain Cook landed on one of th« lone Pacific Islands he found that the inhabitants thought they were the only people and their island the only world. Looking out on the boundless ocean and seeing no other land and meeting no other people they had supposed they were the only dwellers on this globe. Yet during all this time Egypt, Chaldea, Assyria, Persia, Greece and Rome were playing their parts on the great stage of life, and when their parts had finished the Goths and Saxons took up the second act ; but of all this the lone Pacific Islanders knew nothing, and had one of their number sailed to the outside world and brought back a story of the great histories enacted by other nations he would not have been believed." The student of Natural Science is very much like the Pacific Islander; he has studied the material aspect of our little worid, but of the out- side spirit realm which surrounds him and in which are enacted histories of far vaster import- ance than any that have been enacted at Athens or at Rome, he is entire!. ' ignorant. Our scientist has studied tne laws which lie at the basis of all material subsUnces and he has discovered that "there is nothing which the study of natural science so profoundly expresses upon the human mind as the universality and continuous operation of law." He ,has dis- covered the great law of gravitation which has 100 i'thb christian bibh. k^^tinV:"" '"^^ "* present .hape and ^e .un. Then cornea the law of cohesion which fort oL'ti^'" ^L"*"^-- ^^^^^''^ -<* ^u forms .ohd bodies. Next is the law of chemical *nd thus forms new subsUnces. as oxyeen cot:: tieia^*'?'" *"' ^°'™' «-' -^^' comes the law of crystalization which arranees mmeral atoms in symmetrical proportions a^d iv"r:.sr'.r'**' •"' ~'^'^''- we';::ve thus f zlt^r Tk «^^»««on as its base and cystali- «at.on on the summit. We want our readL ^ t^^ ""L M * ""''''°'' "^'^ ^« -« standinTon he threshold of consciousness or spirit life f f:; hat ^reat spirit which culminates in'^mln shows .tself dawnmg where matter assumes an orderTy ti ^oT '***" ^'^'*^'^ ^-^ themselves scnbes the buildrngr of a rock crjrstal in the fol lowmg beautiful lines: *• m me tol- "Here, for instance, is a rock crystal of th« happily for h.m, i„ a bad neighborhood, ani he we. See here when he was but a child it came down on him and nearly buried him. A weak": ^stal would haye died i„ dispair, buf he ""fy gathered himself together like Hercules a^ll^ the serpent and threw a layer of crystal otf r the clay, conquered it, imprisoned itTnd uZ on and " '^ '^ "^'* ^ ""'« "''l- -- moi Vay and poured itself upon him here at the side a„ J lOI MODBKN KIBNCB AND he has laid crystal over that and lived on in hie purity. Then clay came on at his angles, and tried to cover them and round them away, but upon that he threw out buttress^rystals at bis ang^les, all as true to hin own central line as cha- pels round a cathedral apse, and clustered them round and conquered them again." If life is the putting of things together we have it here in the history of this beautiful crystal. We may say that these laws which are acting upon matter are endowed with intelli- gence ; they are the interblending of material and spiritual substances. Professor Cliiford saysi "that consciousness in some rudimentary form is a necessary characteristic of all matter in motion." To any one who has seriously stud- ied the phenomena of nature as one indefinitely extended series of gfradations such a conclusion must seem the only logical one. Rocks and earth and metal seem the very antithesis of mind. But as Dr. Jevons says, " One common result cX the progress of science is to show that qualities supposed >.o be entirely absent from many sub- stanci J are present, only in so low a degree that the means of detection is difficult." This is not a dead world we are living in, but a living, grow- ing, thinking world. It is this throbbing life in its heart that makes it possible for man to life on it. By the operation of these laws, under the gfuidance of an ever-active and intelligent spirit, the mountains were heaved, the oceans' beds hollowed and the valleys formed. We will now pass on to the next series of laws. 103 THE CHRMTtAN BIILR. lt^?''^"■'' •ctingupon whati, commonly ^e border of the northern ocean where winter ful purple tmt over the desolate snow. In the ^w/*7T """"" '*"* "'^"^ »•'-" 'here S^^!. "' snow-white fundus. The bot- tom of the ocean, thousand, of fathoms deep, Is crowded with livine tenants On ♦•, . ■ sidi. in .K- • . . ***"*""• On the mountain ^iL« *''*' J""f' »• '" »»>• clear rivers and in the are favorable to its development. As mineral P«t.cle« .„ solution form themselves into beauti- ful crystals m obedience to the laws of crysUliz- en^'trthT"" t"'''^"*^" '•> decay, .n obedi- ditions, produce living organism. Next to Vitality comes the law of Variation. v!? J' ^ '* *«°""t«d for by the law of toT °;;' *"** r *''"'* "*"*»'*'" "« transmitted to their descendants there are thus formed styles by wh.ch life advances to the higher fol^^ comm«r T**"*" °^ '^^ '"*' °^ ^"'«"°" the« o deviate from the ancestral forms towards higher org^amc life, and by the law of heredity these dev.at.ons were transmitted, and thus new and more advanced forms of life came into exist- ence. These laws by which structural life has been created and advanced to higher forms are 103 MODERN SCIBNCI AKD ever Active, ever present, intelligent laws. We see their operation in the formation of a tree. Break a branch and eveiy rootlet feels and re- sponds at once to repair^ the damage ; strip off every leaf and it begins at once to reclothe itself; living currentH flow through its veins to build up its trunk and leaves and blossoms. No one who has stndicd these questions but must feel that there is an intelligence working here. This in- telligence is called the law of Vitality ; it is ihe spirit of the tree and is living and active. There is "a spiritual influence that permeates and a spiritual intelligence that presides over every or- ganic plant and rules its destiny." We see this beautifully illustrated in the formation of the blossom of a tree. What is the wonderful power which has changed this special protoplasmic cell, whose parents were leaf cells, and which should in the ordinary course of events become itself a leaf cell. How did it know anj "ng about flower cells? for its parents were ordinary leaf cells { but some mvsterious friend has lifted it across the gulf, and now it is a flower cell and it will propagate flower cells after its kind. Can you explain this process by any other method than by the law of Vitelity being a living, active intelligent law? This law of progress, which is the instinctive foresight of plants, insects and birds and which alone can 'propogate and con- tinue the species, is the intelligent spirit which exists in nature and may be called the spirit of nature. It is a magnetic element, imponderable and invisible, diftused through all the planetary ?o4 THI CHRISTIAN BIBLI. •ystems, independent of matter, but actinR upon It and through it. Frjm it if. woven the person, ality we call spirit. This spirit individualixed ;.i man, han eyes of itn own whose power, are much superior to the bodily eyes. It has car» and the •ensic of taste and smell. Under the peculiar conditions of somnambulism these can be exer. cised while still in the body. A person in this state can see while his eyes are bandaged, he can see through clothing, wood and metals, and through walls of stone and brick ; he can tell what is going on in the rooms above and below him. When this condition is produced artifici. cially it is called mcKmerism or animal magnet- ism. Dr. Mayo, a very great authority on this subject, and one of a commission appointed by the Royal Academy of Science, says, "A very lucid clairvoyant, her eyes being bandaged, re- cognizes not the less without eflFort every ac- quaintance present in the room, describes their dress, the contents of their purses or of letters in their pockets, and even reads their innermost thoughts." Corresponding with this unseen spirit by which these wonderful manifestations take place, are unseen realms in nature, a spiritual universe into which we can see, and of which the wildest dreamers have never half conceived. Some have the power to enter this realm and explore it. Prebably this gift will in time be developed in every human being. The clairvoyant, like a free spirit untrammelled by the body, can wan- der through this spirit realm, talk to its inhabit, «05 NODMN ICIBNCI AND antt, dMcribe the mmim throagh which h« puM«. the homn, th« f»rd«iM •nd tomplM of th« spirit realni i he can alio viait other pla- nets, and while in this condition describe their inhabiUnts, the foliaf e and general characteris* tics of our sister planets. Besides thb clairvoy. ant condition there are vast nembers of other thinfpi to be explained which belong to the realm of the unknown : telepathy or sensations trans- mitted from a distance, apparitions of dying per- sons, dreams with all their wonderful peculiarit- ies, premonitions of an approaching event, warn- ings received while awake or asleep, messages rapped out on tables, sayings received from per- sons in trances, noises heard in houses said to bo haunted, 'the raising of heavy tables contrary to Uws of graviution, objects moved without being touched by hands, spirit or ghost appearancea* embodied and disembodied of all kinds, and many other piienomena inexplicable to us from our present knowJe^pe. We are convinced that aH these things are within the realms of nature and can be studied and observed with profit. They are not supernatural, but natural. All we can say is that at present they belong to the im known ; to-morrow they may be established truths, The church tells must not examine these mjrsteries ; you have only a lantern to go by ; blow it out and let me lead you by the hand." But experience tdls us that we cannot know an3rthing until we have learned it. Science or positive knowledge alone make steady progress. It is science which hM us, "jrou 19$ THB cmnriAM miu. tmiaronnad the world, but wc mvm* giv* hw thm eradlt which i« hw due. It {■ throufh htr th»t w« Uve intell«ctu«l|. and nwt«ri«lly, " Ut Scimc* alone be our guide to penetrate the un- kaown." The religion of the future mutt be bMed on ecientiflc facta, and Ihua alone can all •ecu be reconciled, as no division can exist when our opinions are based on sUtemenIs of fact. To^y the clergy are satisfied with old formulas and long accepted phraseology imposed on them by an ignorant anccntryi stupid and tranquil they resemble the picture of an ass and • calf discussing the binomial theorem. What un impediment this mental inertia has been to the advancement of our race! Happily there have been a few in every age— men of indepen- dent minds and investigators, like Galileo and K«pler and Newton— who have looked fearlessly •od honestly into every problem presented to them. Our human race owes whatever progress H has made to the experimental method of exam- ining phenomena ; let its positive spirit guide us through all difficulties. We wiU quote three examples from the unseen realm. They are each different and show three sides of this many- sided puixle. The first we will take from Flam, marion's new work which classifies over fourteen hundred instances of these remarkable phenom- ena. He does not pretend to explain them all. as indeed no person can in the present sUte of our knowledge ; but he gathers them together as sUtements of fact, forming a basis from which others may construct a theory which will solve loy : MODERN SCIENCE AND this vast unknown. " The fact which I am going to relate took place some time ago, but I remember it as if it were but yesterday. One day about breakfast time, that is, about noon, I went down into the cellar. A ray of sunshine came through the grating and it lit up the dirt floor. The part it lighted seemed suddenly to me like the sand upon a beach, and stretched upon it lay one of my cousins, an officer in command of a battaU ion. Much frightened, I dared not go a step further ; I could hardly get up the steps again. The family, when they saw how troubled and pale I was, overwhelmed me with questions. When I told them what I had seen they began to laugh. A fortnight after we received the sad news of Major Solier ; he had died while being disembarked at Varna, and the date of his death corresponded to the day when I saw him stretched out on the sand in the cellar." Flammarion explains this instance by tele- pathy, that is, from the mind of the dying as a centr'" are sent waves of thought over the ether medium, and these impress themselves upon the mind of one in tune to receive them. The next instance we will take from " Glimpses of the World Unseen," a book compiled by a Doctor of Divinity, a very eminent clergyman of the Church of England. It is of a very different character from the first and cannot be explained by telepathy. A messenger from the spirit realm comes as a visible spirit with a message to a friend on earth. " It seems that a certain Mr. iq8 THE CHftlSTUM BlBLfi. Shaw, sometime vicar of Souldern, in Oxford- shire, was reading at midnight in his study about he end of July in a certain year, and all at once the apparition of his departed friend. Mr. Naylor. also a fellow of St. Johns College, stood before him m the ordinary dress which he had com- monly worn. This Mr. Naylor had, it appears, died some two or three years previously. Mr. Shaw does not seem to have been at all alarmed, for with singular presence of mind he requested the apparition to be seated, and in due course put several searching questions to him concern- ing the future state as well as concerning those who were there. On most of these the spirit was silent, but amongst other utterances the apparition declared that their mutual friend, Mr. Orchard, then living, should shortly die and pass away from this earth, and that Mr. Shaw himself should not be long in following. Other names were likewise mentioned and other revelations made, but of these a discreet silence was ob- served. Within a week of this visitation, as the record in question declares, Mr. Orchard was summoned away by his Maker, and in due course the vicar likewise passed away from sight and ken, as had been predicted by the spectre." A curious incident occurred in England last August and occasioned a great deal of comment. A certain Mrs. Rathbone, a lady residing in Cheshire, a clairvoyant, predicted that the Queen should die on January 22nd. The Justice of the town, a Mr. White, attempted to punish the lady for treason, but Mr. Labouchere, learning of her 109 MODERN SCIENCE AND troubles, brougrht the matter up in Parliament, with the result that Justice White was compelled to cancel his decision, as there is no law in Eng- land to punish prophecy. The next incident we will describe comes in the form of a dream, a warning, no doubt, from friends across the border. It is taken from Cot- ton Mather's Ecclesiastical History of New Eng- land. " Within a fortnight of my writing this a physician who sojourned within a furlong of my house for three nights together, was miserably disturbed with dreams of his being drowued, and on the third of these nights his dream was so troublesome that he was cast into extreme sweats by struggling under the imaginary waters. With the (sweat yet upon him he came down from his chamber, telling the people of the family what it was that so discomposed him. Immedi- ately there came two friends that asked him to go a little way with them in a boat upon the water. He was at first afraid of gratifjring them in it, but being very calm weather he recollected himself. Why should I mind my dreams or dis- trust Divine Providence ? He went with them, and before night, by a thunderstorm coming up, they were all drowned. Mr. Mather said he enquired into the truth of this relation. Just as he writ it and could assert it." These incidents might be multiplied by thous- ands, and then we could have but a faint idea of their numbers. Flammarion says that on a computation made by him, one person in every twenty has gifts of no tHE CHRISTIAN BIBLB. r'L"!™ ""'Jj .*'"' .*=**"""=* '>™ -'»»• »he spirit ^l.h ' '"'*"''''" """ ''*^* ^iven this matter th«r attention, and we may so^n expect Inr?„5^ r °' *'"* *°"^«'-f"' phenomena and find the door open so that we can all com- »un^ca. w.th our dear one. who have passed -^^^^«5^!^ Ill MdDfiRN SCIEJJCE AKB There's a wideness in God's mercy That is wider than the sea ; There's a kindness in his justice, Which is more than liberty. There is noplace where earth's sorrows Are more felt than up in heaven ; There is no place where earth' s failings Have such kindly judgment given. For the love of God is broader Than the measures of man's mind ; And the heart of the Eternal Is most wonderfully kind. If .our love were but more simple, We should take Him at His word. And our lives would be all sunshine In the sweetness of our Lord. F. W. Fabbr. V * 112 THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE. WHAT IS TRUTH? The Catholic Church has oflate years pressed Truth.thatCh„,t conferred thatprivilegeuponher through the Apostle Peter and that she alone can properly interpret his saying, and his Holy Pible, which she claims is his message to mankind. we will exammethis pretension without fear and we trust without bias. What is Truth? Emerson says. "Every fact .s a solemn *hing. it is the voice of truth in na- ture. Sir jcun Herschell expresses the same idea when he s;ys, "That in the search after truth we must first make up our minds to stand or fall by the result of a direct appeal to facts." But the greatest of all teachers has said "Verily venly. I say unto you, we speak that we do know and testify that we have seen, and ye receive not our witness •• His idea is to appeal to facts and stand or fall by them. What are facts ? Two and two make four is a fact ; the three angles of a tnangle are equal to two right angles is a fact, It IS true under all conditions. To find the area of a circle, multiply half the circumference by the radius is also a fact, it is also true. To the above statements there are no exceptions, under aU conditions they are the same. Every proposition in Euclid through the whole six books IS a fact. The Science of Chemistry has a law called the law of definite proportion, which means that the same elements always combine in exactly the "3 1 1 i MODBRN ICIBNCB AMD same proportion ; and the law of multiple pro- portion, which is, that if two elemenU form seve- ral compounds they always bear a simfrie ratio to one another. By the operation <^ these two laws "every seed bears fruit after its kind," and every animal life produces issue after its kind ; these laws are facts unvariable and unchange- able and lie at the basis of all material life. The law of gravitation discovered by Newton is also a fact. It acts " directly as the mass and inversely as the square of the distance," that is the greater the mass the greater the attractive pow- er and its force is lessened by the square of the disUnce. If at the disUnce oi two mile* the pull is oni ton, at four miles the pull will be only one- quarter of a ton. A marble let fall from your hand will drop sixteen feet in a second, but that marble dropped from the distance of the moon will for a while remain suspended in space, and then it will slowly commence to descend taking one minute to drop the first sixteen feet. The power of the earth to draw is weaker at that dis- tance and the difference is expressed by New- ton's law. To this law there is no exception ; it is always constant, it is always a fact It is remarkaUe that the law according to which the attraction of gravitation decreases with the increase of the disUnce is precisely the same as the law according to which brillancy of light decreases as its distance increases. Next in importance to the discovery of the Law of Gravitation is the discovery by Kepler that plan- ets travel not in circles but in ellipses. No other 114 THB CHRISTIAN BIBLE. discovery i„ the whole range of «:ience had led to results of «ueh far reaching interest toast«,no. two. ts oval curve has a beauty derived from an outline of perfect grace." tr.!!!I!t ?**"*/! °" «"""»«••«»!"? these great truths descnbed by science, and fill the .fser. rtht!"^ ^ "''' '* '^ ^''^ '"'^''- "°^ "-h .An Almighty Hand." I always feel that life is CO short to utter all his praise, and I feel sot^ for those who waste their time reading foolish novels when the great truths of nature are so Z!7u ^"^«^'^»"»•f"^• Addison's inimitable l.tUe hymn but feebly expresses the idea : "The spacious firmament on high. With a 1 the blue ethereal sky, ^ ' And spangled heavens, a shining frame, ^eir great onginal proclaim. n^."!!'^^"*'* *""• fro™ day to day A^n Kl^!:^*°""'*P°«'«''display: ^ And publishes to evry land ' The work of an Almighty hand. Soon as the ev'ning shades prevail. And 'l^Z^^^^ i'P ,*.''* wondrous tale. And. nighUy to the lisfning earth. Repeats the story of her birth:" the^fillH^ru '■?'■" '™" '^'^ ^^«^ «™5"ence to the field of battle, for the harvest truly is ereat but the labourers are few. All the^naS Urns are truths established by experience and upon them as a basis «sts the steady progress "5 ; I MODERN 8CIKMCB AND made by mankind. The world has not been ad. vanced by the traditions of men who lived m the morning of civilization, supposed by their succes- sors to have been inspired but by the constant study of nature. Students recognise that there is something more durable than the traditions of faith. They know that the day will never com* when any one of the propositions of Euclid will be doubted, while every century destroys the beliefs of their forefathers. Who to-day beheves that the world was made in six days? or that there was an universal flood covering the whole earth ; or that there was a Garden of Eden where a serpent spokt to a woman ; or that wo- man was made from the rib of a man, or that a whale swallowed Jonah, or that an ass spoke; or the hundred and one other mythological stories narrated in the pre-historic days of Heb- rew history. But the works of Euclid, Archi- medes, Hipparchus. Ptolemy, Copernicus, Gali- leo, Bruno and the many other great men who discovered God's ways in nature wiU live for ever, and their names wiU be revered by mankind. The Alexandrian library was tne first institution started for the prosecution of natural knowledge. Ptolemy Soter and his son Ptolemy PhiUdelphus coUected a great library of aU kinds of works comprising over seven hundred thousand vol- umes, and, with a view of advancing knowledge, orders were given to purchase at the king's ex- pense whatever books could be coUected from every nation. A body of men who devoted them- selves to study, were lodged and maintained at ii6 THB CHRISTIAN BIBLB. the kind's expense. In connection with the lib- n»ry was a botanical and zoological ,farden. To t'JT' intellectual centre flocked students from all countnes. When Julius C«sar wished to reform the old Roman calendar which was re- yuUted by the moon, he sent to Alexandria for a «udent and by the advice ofSosegenes com- pletely changred the old calendar, and regulated the new one by the .un ; we are using the calen- dar of Sosegenes at the present day. This great ibrary was the birthplace of modem science, for .t was there that students began to study nature m all Its separate branches as our universities teach .t to-day. In the year 4,4 a.d.. the Alex- andrtan Academy came toan end 5 the doctrines of Plato and Aristotlr. were forbidden to be taught, the books of tne great mathematician, were ordered to be burnt and in these same halls were now taught the worship of the Virgin Mary and her wonderful immaculate conception. A mob of monks siezed Hypatia as she was lectur- ing m the Academy, stripped her naked, killed her w.th a club, cut her corpse in pieces and scraped her bones with shells. This was done as a warning to others that the teachings of Aristotle and the truths of the mathematician must be given up,andthetnithstaughtby|thechurch instituted in the.r place. This murder by Saint Cyril and his monks was a fearful forerunner of the many mil hons of innocent victims yet to perish under the iron heel of ecclesiasticism. A few years after Uie de truction of the Academy St. Augustine began ti.s teaching of theology. This is the great "7 MODIRN tCnnCK AND wme which the Catholic Church honom above every other j h\» work* are used to-day in every Catholic college. He despised the study of science and drew his knowledge from the inspir- ed word of God. Listen to him as he preaches. •• It is impossible, • said he S* that there should be inhabiUnU on the other side of the earth, since no such race is recorded by scripture among the descendants of Adam, and besides in the day of judgment men on the other side of the globe could not see the Lord descending through the air." Think of this jargon being written by a teacher of Gods word, and this seven hundred years after the founding of the Alexandrian lib- rary. , It is strange that the bones of Eratos- thenes and Archimedes did not rise from their graves to protest against this ecclesiastical bigot and his teachings. The dark ages had come and gone, the ages when the church ruled sup- reme. Light was again beginning to shine with the faint glimmer of the coming day. Coperni- cus in the year 1543 published his book on the " Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies." He sup- ported the theory of Pythagoras that the sun was the centre of our system and that the pla- nets moved around it; but knowing that the church would oppose this theory as being against the holy scripture, he for 36 years refrained from publishing it. He was naturally a timid man and did not want to pose as a martyr ; when the work was at length issued, the Inquisition con- demned it as heretical, placed it in the Index and described it as the false Pythagorean doc- 118 TH?^ CHMSTUN BIBU. Mam ami utteriy ctrntmry to holy acripture. Thwa are tba Mlf.«tyM ciiatodUn. of truth who Mk UB to iMn on their judirmont and allow tb«n to fuid* us. In 163J nearly a hundred ymn aAer Copemicue had died, Galileo ventured 00 the fMblicaUen of hie work entitled " The Sys- tenw of the World," ito object beinf the vindi. cation of the Copemican doctrine that the sun was the center of our system. He was summon, ed before the Inquisition at Rone, accused of having asserted that the earth moves round the sun, and on his knees with his hands on the Bible he was compeUed to abjure and curse the doc- trine of the movement of the earth. He was then committed to prison where h** was treated with remorseless severity for six years and all books kept from him. When he died his body was re- fused burial in consecrated ground. When he reached his new home little did this genUe spirit care for the indi iUes heaped by these bigots on his old wornHMit jody. These are the teachers who presume to interpret for us the Bible and tell us we cant undersUnd theology but must be guided m aU things by them. In the year 1600 Bruno, a Dominican monk, was burned at the sUke for teaching the plurality of worids, a doctrine which the Inquisition stated was repugnant to the whole tenor of scripture and dangerous to revealed relirion. He nobly refused to recant and haughtily answered his judges, •• Perhaps it is with greater fear you pass the sentence upon me than I receive it." For the martyr who dies in defence of bis faith we must »»9 ! i MODKRN KltMCt AND suppose that at the last supreme moment there is an unfailing support, that the Goit who does all thingv right will stand by him in his hour of need. For Bruno there was no such support t the philo- sophical opinions for the sake of which he sur- rendered his life could give him no such war- rant ; he munt fiKht the last fight alone. There is something grand and noble in the character of this student of science. What a contrast be- tween his manly aud unshaken firmness and the action of the apostle Peter, who twice denied his Master in his hour of trouble and even quailed before the voice of a servant girl. But the truth which this great man died to de- fend lived on and from his ashes there arose men able and Willing to defend his doctrine. Laplace and Kepler and Newton, names which this world must forever honor, established upon a wider and firmer basis, the teachings of the old mathe- maticians, for ■' Cod sends his teachers unto every age, To every clime and race of men With inspiration fitted for their growth And shape of mind nor gives the realm of truth Unto the selfish rule of one sole race of men." The Academy of Alexandria has been replaced by the royal societies of London and of Paris. The light again begins to shine clear as the sun at noon, and the clouds of superstition are fast rolling away. The butchery of Hypatia by St. Cyril and of Bruno by the Inquisition will be re- venged by a patient and long suffering world. For justice is described as having leaden feet but iron hands. For sixteen hundred years has truth lao THt CHRIITIAN BIBUI. bwn hidden under cccle,l«Mlc«I nibblnh but the jripof^Jencel.,lKhte„lnK and .khm, ".lime* Xe:r t h"' '^^ '"•' '-''"• •'^- ""••> «^" «.le«n thm^ I, i« the voice of truth In m«„re." JnLT"' '^' ''■"*'»y''''*''«Kr«ph..f«etorie.. .tudy of the f.ct, in nature." They.rethe only truth, or 1«« ., or fact«. call them by any name St^Th r^r'-r-^^-HemaLaicrvr lation of the twentieth century so different from ^he c.v.hxat,on of the fifteenth. I think that yo" W. now ajree with me that the labours ofL early workers i„ this .:Ju were brouKht to a brary and the consequent diversion of men'. !fr ? * "**«'-''•- discussion, «,ul the bigotry .^nuime ""' ""'"" '^""'^''^ ^^^ °^ -- f^oT' T-"i."r *"*•"'"* * '■«^ °f the so-called and l!?M .'**'*' everjthinK that he had made, and bt^hokl .t was very ^ood. • God is here sa! «fiedw.ththe world which he had buUt nTix da^s and he is proud of his work. (Gen. Z S) And .t repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him at his he^rt^ God here adm.ts that he has made a mistake and lai MODERN SCIENCE AND he Is sorry for it ; if he had to do it over again he would not make man. What about the doc- trine of fore-knowledge and fore-ordination? This verse says that God did not foresee or fore- know what these bad men were going to do. But read Numbers xxiii.: 19. " God is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent." Will some of the great cus- todians of the truth reconcile these three verses ? Let us examine another inspired truth (Exodus xxxi. : 17). "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh he rested and was refreshed." Now, does any intelligent person believe that God was tired after his six day> hard work, and that he took refreshments? What do you suppose he took? But » jad, (Isa- iah xl.: 28) "Hast thou not heard that the ever- lasting God, the Lord, the creator of the earth fainteth not neither is weary ? " Do you think that Isaiah ever read Exodus, and if he did, and looked upon it as inspired, why did he flatly contradict it? Will ye custodians of the truth tell us? Do. please I! Let us again look for truth, (Gen. xviii.: ao, ai), "And the Lord said, because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous, I will go down now and see whether they have done alto- gether according to the cry of it which is come unto me, and if not I will know." This verse implies that God's eyesight and hearing is not very good ; he cannot see or hear things going on in the earth, and he distrusts the information which he receives from his messengers who re- laj THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE. port to him what is goin^ on. He must person- ally come down to the earth to examine 'Vo rbis affair. We must suppose that at t! ■ time tlic science of telepathy was unknown in ht'.:>\cn, or even Marconi's invention by which s -iiiil waves are carried on the atmosphere- I can sUxuJ a great deal from the old Hebrew writers, but I must object to such nonsense as this man writes about God—" This will never, never do." But the writer of Proverbs xv. 3, flatly contradicts this writer of Genesis, for he says that, "the eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good." Also read Job xxxiv. 21, 22, " There is no darkness or shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide them- selves, for his eyes are upon the ways of man and he seeth all his goings." Which of these writers'is telling the truth?, for both cannot ; not while two and two make four. (John i. : 18)— Again read, "No man hath seen God at any time," and (Exodus xxxiii. 20) " And he said, thou canst not see my face, for there shall be no man see me and live." (2 Tim. vi. 16)—" Whom no man hath seen or can see." The above three verses are very clear on the point, that no man can see God. But read Genesis xxxii. 30, '♦ For I have seen God face to face and my life is pre- served. Also read Ex. xxiv. 9, 10, 11, "Then went up Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and seventy of the elders of Israel and they saw the God of Israel. . . . They saw God and did eat and drink." And also read (Exodus xxxiii. 11) — "And the Lord, spake unto Moses face to »23 MODERN SCIENCE AND face as a man speaketh unto his ^^^^ reading these six ve-s w^ ^ ^^^t^„„,, i „e whether it .s P^'^^Vno- Will the cus- would very much hke to know. todians of the truth P>-- -yj^^^^-.tdT They stones they ,^<^X'^:^':'Z^lj;Z^Lxy won't can have their choice, but hej y ^^ ^^^ be allowed to keep both , not as long ^^^^ endowed with '=77-7^^;X^he writer of the inspired ^^r^jl^ffZ God loved these Deuteronomy, for he says in time upon this earin. fighting for him, when they got lo .^ maidens, to love <=*>r°^^^^":rG?d: chosen people were to and enjoy. ^"* ^°'' \. • ^^rth. Read Deut. enjoy these ma.dens on tb- earth. ^^^ xxiv. ., "When a man ^^'^^J^;;^, ,^^ married her and it come ^° P^^^ J^^^^^ some :« V.U pves because he nam louu ^avor m h.s eyes ^^.^^ ^^^ ^ ^lU uncleanness ^-^^^'^^X,^ ^,, hand and send of divorcement and g.ve m ^^ ^^^^ read on, (Deu . ^'^ ' '^'^^^^j,,, .^a the Lord thou hast taken them captive ^^ *• o o h«»autiful woman ana nasi * "«^ rs: ■..--" "»"«°« -"'"■""' '° THE CHRISTIAN BIBLt thy house. . . and after that thou shalt go in unto her and be her husband and she shall Se thy w.fe. and .t shall be if thou hast no delight in her then thou Shalt let her go whither fhe will" Does any father or mother believe that God wrote l*e land with prostitution and to throw helpless, innocent women on the street to beg or steal or worse What a pity Mrs. Nation L nottve in those days and bring down her battle-axe on the heads of those lascivious Jews. But the writer of Deuteronomy differs from the writer of Gene- sis on how near a relative a man should many. heth w.th h.s sister, the daughter of hi, father or the danghter of his mother. The writer of Abrar™",,":"' ?^' ^'"^ *"« ^°'-'» "«-<» Abraham and h.s wife Sarah though she was hi, dt„ Z '\^^'^«^'^'- of ^y father but not thi daughtes of my mother and she became my wife." Now Abraham must have faUen under the curse of he wnter of Deuteronomy for he married hi, cor>. S°'' "'""^'^ ^'"•^'•-'° «v«n after committrng th,s crime. God evidenUy does not care whether a man marries his sister or hi, cousm or h.s aunt. Only in as far as such vio- ^t.on agamst natural law carries with it its own such laws concerning marriage a, suited their beastly mstmcts, and then palmed these laws off on God, and our clergymen want to palm this book Off on us as the inspired word of God. "5 MODBRN SCIlWCt AUD I will now a.k my readers what they *=«»nrid^ to be Truth. The facts which scence has given to her servants by a careful study of nature and her laws, or those teachings which th^log.an. tell us are inspired and come to u, direct frcnn the mouth of God. Judge for yourselves but^do your work conscientiously, and '" " »>* "^"^^ Lter truth, first make up your minds to sUnd or fall by the result of a direct appeal to facts. V ia6 THB CHRISTIAN BIBLE. TRANSITION. ?11i'''" •'""^^^"'an.made creeds. Into the practice of loving deeds. Into the current of peaceful life. Out ofthe fear ofa burning hell, Into a realm where the angels dwell. Out of sectarian bigotry Into the church of humanity. AuauSTINB, ^ taj MODBRM SCIBNCB AND THE VERB "TO BE." When at school we all learned the verb " to be, " and committed to memory " thou art," "he is," little thinking what these words implied. No doubt the Greek boys and girls learned the same verb, "eimi eis, esti" in the same matter of fact way, and ihe Roman boys repeated, "sum, es, est." This old verb we trace back to the Sanscrit Root as v-s which means "to breathe." These old Arians did not know how to express in abstract terms such as "being," "existence," "essence," or the many other Aords which owe their origin to this old verb and atwut which philosophers and church men have written volumes. When they wished to say "Abraham is well," they said, "Abraham breathes," which meant to their minds that he was alive and well* They took their lessons from nature, and expressed themselves in na- ture's way. The infinite mood of this verb, the words "to be," we trace back through the Greek " qu" to the Sanscrit " chu, " and it means to "grow." To be or to exist was expressed by our Arian forefathers by the word "grow." How these two concrete words "to breathe" and "to grow" tver got twisted around to be- come the abstract forms which we now know as " being," "essence," it is difficult to undersUad, but no doubt the philosophers and theologians are the ones who are guilty of changing these clear words into meaningless abstract terms. 128 THK CHRISTIAN BIBLE. God is now calJed th* ««c What theologian, understand t'7."' ^""^•' do not know, nor do thTk^ow ^ ^^ ^^"^ - >nyles. as the word -eLnT. * • ' *' '"^*"- creed, but our simni a '" ""« ^'^^'"^ knowthat it ™ea"7 '/■■•*" f^'-^'-^-s would one Who wasTel/rnrrT'-^^"^ liver and a ^ood fighter u * ^"""^ know thatthf^osSh'ndl'lT'^'''"^ '" after all, trace his orS To t J ^ "^ ""*^ '""' .na o, breathing and^^/o" L?'^^'"' P'^^-™' am means the great • • I h~ !L ^ ^'■^*' " ' »cent is no higher "ha„ ".' *"'' '^'^ '^«- Arian forefatheJsIdel *? K ."^P'-"-°" o^ our 'ookcd upon hr^af ;n: red^r^^'^- ^'''^^ -aph^siXrwhth^rvtrr^^^ anyone. It is something t« i, ^ meaning: to of God making •:i'^^;°^'^-- that instead really made God and enl I ! ""**^^' '"an human attributes Crit^" )^^t' '^^ °^" more about the ^r^^r ^ ^°" ^ ''"ow any acts throu^L natufrthf„TH '^^' "'"^ -'^-h have redufed toUw tr ^Z ''"' ^'•°"^'' ^« There stUl lies .:,ond us I^f! 'ts Phenomena, them, the mscnatable force t ^^ '^ ''''^ ''^^ond phenomena. When Moses °t T"" °' '"'" tell his brethren that •■ iTm that ""''^^^ '** him he understood the exnt *" ''^^ -°t that '.I who breath^andT:!';- - — -^ i whom death changes not h ♦ u '^"' *^'™- on forever, gave thf ' "* *^° breathes ' ^^^^ ""^ command. How beautiful 129 MODBKM ICnilCB AMD and simple is this message compared to our metaphysical and senseleiu " I am that I am." I he term " I breathe " or " I live " could apply to any spirit or guardian messenger sent to lead the children of Israel to their new home— which was, no doubt, the true condition of the case. It might have been Abraham himself, or Isaac or Jacob who had come as a messenger guide to again help the people whom he loved. We must admit that we have no talent for abstract reason- ings. We like to understand what we read and we don't like to be fooled with meUphysical verbiage. MARY, THE MOTHER OF JESUS. To the Editor : Question.— As you are answering questiona, please answer this one. When reading the nar- rative of the birth of Christ as given by the Evangelist Luke I was surprised to find that Mary, His mother, is descended, not from the tribe of Judah and the house of David, but from the tribe of Levi. Luke, ch. i : 3 > " There was in the days of Herod, the King of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharia, of the course of Abia, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth." V. 36, same chapter, says, in describing the conversation which the angel had with Mary: "And behold thy "cousin," Elizabeth, she hath also coo- »30 TH« CHRISTIAN BIBLI. Zn^ "TJ" '""■ °'** ''«*• *"^ ♦»>•» •» therixth M El.«heth was descended from the tribe of Lev. and Mary was her cousin, she must also the children of brothers or sisers a., 1 have the «megrrandfather,and therefor, th. same ances- GhJ^f u° r^f- ^* ^''"'*^ '-^^ "'^ Holy Ghost for H,, father, and Mary, descended from to »K ^" '"°"'^''' *'" y°" •''"dly explain to the readers of the "Sermon" how He can Claim His descent from David. A Presbyterian. ANSWER._In reply to the above we would say : I. It seems quite clear to us that Mary was a descendant of the tribe of Levi, but this does not preclude the possibility of descent also from Judah. as there were occasional intermarriages, and a Jewish maiden mi«rht, and sometimes did. many, out of her own tribe, but in so doing jeo- pardized her inheritence. 2. It is generally assumed (but without an iota of proof) on the part of aU orthod. k theologian. Julh°°"°*'"^*°''' ^^^ ^'^'^ **^ °^^''^ *^'^ °f 3. The genealogy of Jesus, as given in the first chapter of Matthew, makes fourteen gener- ations from Alyaham to David ; fourteen from David to the Captivity, and fourteen from the Captivity to Joseph-inaU 42. But in the second fourteen of this 8«ies. four generations are left out, rf I. Chrpn. III. is correct. And again, a '3» MODBRN SCIINCI AND teriouf error is apparent In that only fonr fener- ation* are reckoned between Moses and David, a period of four hundred years. (Numbers iLt 1 03 ; Ruth iv. zu. 4. The genealogy is that of Joseph, and not of Mary at all. How does the genealogy of Joseph, even if traced back to Judah, show Jesus to be one of the royal tribe or a descend- ant of David, since Joseph was not, according to the theologians, the father of Jesus. Greg contends that the Gospels are Mosaics, i. e., compilations of different authors, and that the author of the genealogy must have been ignor- ant of the story of the incarnation. 5. The genealogy of Luke is. wholly different from Matthew and can never be reconciled there- with. Matthew gives 26 generations beiween David and Joseph and Luke has 41. According to Matthew the father of Joseph was Jacob ; according to Luke Heli. In Matthew the son of David, through whom Joseph descended is Solomon; in Luke he is Nathan. The stories diverge on many points, and so larthe desperate efforts of commentators to preserve faith in the records as infallible have been in vain— except with the unthinking, who swallow all traditional church teaching as a religious duty. A certain American clergyman declared from the platform that the more difficult any Bible story appeared the more readily he would accept and believe it. Doubtless he believes all these genealogies absol- utely perfect. 133 THI CHRISTIAN BIBLE. VE ARE SEVEN. A simple child That lightly draws its breath, And feels its life in every limb, What should it know of death ? I met a little cottajce jjirl : She was eiffht years old she said ; Her hair was thick with many a curl That clustered round her head. She had a rustic, woodland air. And she was wildly clad ; Her eyes were fair, and very fair ; Her beauty made me glad. "Sisters and brothers, little maid. How many may you be?" "How many? Seven in all," she said, And wondering- look'd at me. " And where are they ? I pray you tell." She answer'd, "Seven are we j And two of us at Conway dwell, And two are gone to sea. " Two of us in the churchyard lie, My sister and my brother ; And in the churchyard cottage I Dwell near them with my mother." "You say that two at Conway dwell. And two are gone to sea, Vet ye are seven !— I pray you tell, Sweet maid, how this may be ? " *93 MODIRN ICIINCB AND Then did the little maid reply. Seven boys and girls are we t Two of ua in the churchyard liei Beneath the churchyard tree." '* You run about, my little maid, Your limb* they are alive t If two are in the churchyard laid. Then ye are only five." " Their graves are green they may be seen, The little maid replied : "Twelve steps or more from my mother's door. And they are side by side. " My stockings there I often knit, My kerchief there I hem ; And there upon the gtovind I sit — I sit and sing to them. And often after sunset, sir, When it is light and fair, I take my little porringer, And eat my supper there. *' The first that died was little Jane i In bed she moaning lay, Till God released her of her pain ; And then she went away. So in the churchyard she was laid ( And all the summer dry. Together round her grave we piay'd, My brother John and I. «34 THS CMBnTUN •IBLB. "And wbm th« ground wm whit* with snow, And I could run and slide, My brother John was forced to go, And he lie* by her side." " How nuuiy nr* you then," Mid I, If they two are in heaven ? " The litUe maiden did reply, O maeter I we are leven." But they are dead t thone two are dead I Their apiritK are in heaven I " Twaa throwing words away : for still The little maid would have her will And said, '• Nay, we are seven f " WiLLUM Wordsworth. ^ «35 w MODERN SCIENCE AND CONUNDRUMS FOR CLERGYMEN. SELECTED FROM TWO ARTICLES BY DR. AUSTIN IN APRIL AND MAY NUMBERS OF " THE SERMON." 1. Does the present divided and distracted state of Christendom with its 300 churches and creeds, all more or less contradictory, warrant you in the belief that you have the truth while the others are in error ? 2. Do you believe the Bible is "the Word of God ? " An infallible revelation of God's will to men ? Given because necessary to show the •'way of salvation? " 3. If so, why was it not given for 4,000 years fifter Adam and Eve fell into sin ? Why was the human race deprived of its light and comfort for 4,000 years or more ? 4. Why is it that not over one man in every 500 who have lived on the earth since Adam, has had the Bible ? 5. Why is it that after 6,000 years of human history (according to Bible statements), only a small minority of the race have this so-called "Word of God?" 6. If the Bible is the infallible " Word of God," how do you account for 300 churches and creeds all teachinjif diflferent and opposing dogmas pro- fessedly from this one Bible?, 7. Who made the Canon of Scripture? Where did the makers get their authority for rejecting THB CHRISTIAN BIBLE. some books and accepting others? Was the selection infallibly inspired ? What proof can you offer to the world ? 8. Are you sure that mankind needs an infall- ible revelation in religion any more than in farming, or commerce, or navigation ? 9. Is not nature's plan everywhere apparent to teach us by experience, and are not our errors and mistakes our best instructors ? 10. If you had it in your power to change by a word the pebbles upon the beach into men — knowing that some of them would so use their liberty and fredom of will as to sin and suffer eternally — would you do it ? If you would not — because your sense of justice and humanity revolts at the idea — are you better than God ? 11. How do you reconcile the doctrine that " God is no respector of persons " with the doc- trine that God gave a revelation to one age and nation and wit held it from every other nation and every other ajje? Would you give one of your children a favor you witheld from the rest? Are you better than God? 12. Which of the churches and creeds repre- sents to-day the teaching and practice of the Nazarene ? 13. If the Bible came from God and is a revel- ation of His will and love to men, how do you account for the evident mistakes, errors, contra- dictions, myths, fables, barbarities, obscenities, etc. I which are found in its pages? '3? MODBKN SaBNCB AXD 14. Do you really believe that the Old Testa- ment Jehovah, who was described as "a man of war," whose record throughout Jewish his- tory is that of a blood-thirsty tyrant, i^ really the same God that Jesus proclaimed as our " Father in heaven " — the same as Faber nngs in — " There's a wideness in God's mercy Like the wideness of the sea." 15. Is it true or false that this Old TesUment Jehovah ordered the indiscriminate slaugiiter of the Canaanites — men, women and innocent babes? 16. Is it true that he required through his ac- credited mouth-piece the murder of the Midian- ites for alleged wrong-doing of their ancestors 400 years before? 17. Is it true that his altars reeked with blood and that unnumbered innocent victims were slaughtered aud burnt as a sweet smelling savor to Jehovah ? 18' Can you, without violating all propriety, think of the Almighty appearing to Jacob in a dream and teaching him how to cheat Laban out of his share of the flock ? Does the communica- tion given to Jacob in Gen. xxxi. about the ring straked, speckled and grisled rams, by the angel of the Lord, who afterwards styles himself <'the God of Bethel," sound like the word of the In- finite Spirit ? 19. Is it a sufficient reply on the part o[ orthcK THE CHRISTIAN BIBLB. doxy to these charges against the inhumanity and bloodthirstiness of Jehovah, to say that the Israelites were at that time barbarous and un- civilized ? Remember this Old Testament econ omy is supposed to come from Jehovah's own lips. Was Jehovah at that time a barbarian? so. Is it not true that in the Assyrian and Baby- lonian records there are stories of Creation, the Fall, the Deluge, etc., similar to, and anteced- ing those of the Bible ? Does not this account more rationally for the Bible narrative than any supposed revelation to Moses ? 31. Is it true that the Higher Criticism has shown most of the books of the Bible to be with- out known date and authorship, in many cases compilations from previous records, and in all cases, such as can be easily accounted for as of purely human origpin ? 23. Could you not summarize the Nazarene's teaching thus : (i) God is our common Father. (3) All men are brothers. (3) Let us love and serve one another. Have not the theologians buried Jesus beneath 3,000 years of theological drift ? 33. Did Jesus claim any miraculous powers for himself which he did not assert for his disciples ? Did he not say, "The works I do ye shall do also, and greater works shall ye do." 24. It is not evident then that the miracles of Jesus and of the early church and the psychic healing of to-day — generally outside the churches *39 MODERN SCIBNCB AND ! all of one origin ? Is it not clear that they are all manifestations of psychic power in accor- dance with the laws of the spiritual realm— laws so little known and understood that their ppera^ tion is considered miraculous? 25. Does it not seem eminently reasonable that what happened 2000 years ago may happen now? Is not this passage a part of the •« infaUible" Bible: "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be, and that which is done is that which shall be done, and there is no new thing under the sun." 56. How do you account for or reconcile the genealogies of Jesus ? Can you make 42 and 14 equal? If these are genealogies of Joseph as generally taught, what has that to do with Jesus, since Joseph was not, ac cording to orthodoxy, th* father of Jesus? 27. Why are there three irr«concilable condi- tions of salvation given in the New Testament, viz., salvation by faith, salvaUon by works and salvation by election ? 28. If men are "justified by faith," and also saved by "working out their salvation," what need of an election " according to the foreknow- -edge of God" which saves some, leaving the "vessels of wrath, fitted to destruction," to eternal misery? 29. Is not the Bible record full of significant dreams, visions, prophecies, angelic appearance, angelic voices, spirit writing, miraculous healing, speaking with tongues, etc., and are not these THB CHRISTIAN BIBLB. classes of spiritual phenomena found in every nation and among every people ? Are they not very common among' Spiritualists at this day? 3a Do you know that Sir William Crookes, F. R. S., the eminent English scientist, president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, investigated under absolutely test conditions in his own home, and proved scientifi* cally the phenomena of materialization? Have you read his " Researches in Modem Spiritual- ism?" 31. Have you read Epes Sargent's Scientific basis of Spiritualism? Zoellner's Trancendental Physics? "Miracles and Modern Spiritualism" by A. R. Wallace, I\R.S.? w I- 1: I I 141 MODIRM KIBNCB AND MORE CONUNDRUMS FOR THE CLERGY. James i : 13. — Let no man say when he ia tempted, I am tempted of God; for God can- not be tempted with evil,neithertempteth he any man. Heb. 6: 18. — It was impossible for God. to lie. Num. 23: 19.— God is not a man that he should lie. Prov. 12:22.— Lyin^ lips are an abomination to the Lord. Prov. 31:6,7 — Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish and wine to those that are of heavy heart ; Let him drink and forget his poverty, and re- member his misery no more. Deut. 14: 16.— And thou Shalt bestow the money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink. Gen. 22 : i.— And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham. Jer. 20 : 7.— O Lord thou hast deceived me and I was deceived. 1. King 22 : 23.—- Now, therefore, beLold the Lord hath put a ly- ing spirit in the mouth of all these thy proph- ets and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee. Prov. 20 : I.— Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. »4* THB CBftttTIAM BULB. 0«n. 3a : 3a— For I have wen God face to face and my life is pre- served. Ex. 33: 1 1. —And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face as a man •peaketh unto his fnend. E«. 34: 9, 10, II.— Then went up Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abibu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel. . . They saw God and did eat and drink. Ex. 33 1 ao.— And he said, thou canst not see my face ; for there shall no man see me and live. John I : 8. — No man hath seen Ood at any time. I. Tim. 6 : 16. — Whom no man hath seen or can see. Gen. I : 31. — And God saw everything' that he had made, and behold it was good. very Num. 33 : 19. — God is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. Gen. 18: 25. — Shall not the judge of all the earth do right ? Gen. 6:6.— And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it griev- ed him at his heart. Jonah III : 10.— And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way, and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto unto them and he did it not. Rom. 9: II, 12, 13. — For the children being not yet bom, neither »43 MODERN 8CIINCI AND Rom. a : ii.— There is no respect of persons with God. Ps. 19 : 7, 8.— The law of the Lord is per- fect. . . The statutes of the Lord are right. L Cor. 14 : 33 — God is not the author of confusion. Deut. 32 : 4.— A God of truth and without iniquity. Just and right is lie. Deut. 7; 16. — And thou shalt consume all the people which the Lord thy God shall de- liver thee; thine eyes shall have no pity on them. L Sam. 15 : 2, 3. — Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly de- stroy all that they have, and spare them not, but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling. having done any good or evil. . . It was said unto her: the elder shall serve the younger as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but, Esau have I hated. Ezek. 20: 25. — There- fore I ga"e them also statutes that were not good and judgments whereby they should not live. Amos 3:6. — Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it ? Jas. 14: 7.— I make peace and create evil. I the Lord do all these things. James 5 : 11.— The Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy. Ezek. 18:32. — I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God. Ps. 146:9. — TheLord is good to all, and hit tender mercies are over all his works. 144 y THI CHMiTIAM BIBLB. Num. MS I 4.— And the Lord aaid unto Moms, Take all the beads of the people and bangr them up be- fore the Lord agfainst the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel. What a sight for a loving Father I Ps. 103 t 8. — The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to an- ger and plenteous in mercy. Ex, 30: 13. — Thou Shalt not kill. -f-^iift^fiffiii^ '45 MOOBRN SCIBNCB AMD THE CHBIST WITHDI. Th« timea are not dcfenente. Maa't ftJth Mounts hif her th«n of old. No cnunbUoy cw d Can taka from the Immortal Soul the nead Of that Supreme Creator, God. The wraith Of dead beliefs we cherished in our jroutb Fades but to let us welcome new-bom Truth. Man may not worship at the ancient shrines Prone on his face, in self-accusinf scorn. That night is past. He hails a fairer mom, And knows himself a being all Divine i No humble worm whose heritage is «in, But bom of God, he feels the Christ within. Not loud his prayers, as in the olden time, But deep his reverence for that mighty force, That occult working of the great All Source, Which makes the present era so sublime. Religion now means something high and broad, And man stood never half so near to God. Ella Whbil&k Wilcox. y^ 146 J m CHRMTIAN BlBLt. WHAT IS SPIRITUAUSM? Many people confound Spiritualism with its phenomena ; they looli upon a Spiritualist as one who believes in ghosts and table rappingrs and all the peculiar things which are seen and heard at seances ; he is supposed to be a person who takes a great deal for granted, and is easily taken in by fakes. It is true that we do attribute to the working of the spirits many of the peculiar manifestations which we see and hear at seances, and I think that the opinions of those who have investigated these phenomena are more apt to be correct than the opinions of those who know all about them without having taken the trouble to enquire into their merits I But these pheno- mena do not constitute the whole of Spiritualism anv more than the belief that Samson killed one thousand men with the jawbone of an ass, makes a man a Christian. Spiritualism means the so understanding the conditions of this life as to make people fit them- selves for the higher and fuller conditions of the next. It means the development of everyone within himself of the qualities of justice and mercy, of humanity and self-sacrifice ; it also means the development of the equally important physical qualities of courage, energy, self-reliance and industry ; it means that the actions of men to- wards one another shall shew more fraternal feel- ings, and that love shall rule instead of greed. Spiritualism is an uplifting power, that will raise »47 MODBKN •CttMOl AND ttMUiK above th* temputions of grwd. and lost, and envy, and hatred i and when properiy undentood, it will alao raise them above tb« plane of diiease and its attendant companion poverty. When we understand it properly it wiU bring to us a new world, wherein every p«r«oo •hall have equal opportunities of enjoying tho UMsings of nature, and of developing the gift* with which nature has endowed him. Spiritualism has come to bring about all these changes in the worid, by demonstrating first the continuity of this life, by tests the most ample which science can demand. The future life from being a worid built u|K>n faith, has become a fact attested to by a cloud of witnesses, vii., the senses of seeing, hearing and thinking, by which we •ee our spirit friends and hear them speak, and understand what they suggest to us. But though Spiritualism has made the next worid a reality, mora important than this truth to mankind is the fact that the next worid is an actual continuance of this one. The habits which we form here will be with us there. If in this worid we cultivate greed, and envy, and jealousy, they will be our companions in the next; lust and selfishness and egotism lose nothing of their hold over the mind which sixty years of development in this life has given them. We are day by day building up a character both of mind and body which it will be difficult to shake off. To develop the nobler qualities of Justice and mercy, of humanity and •eli-sacrifice, requires an effort which few of us have ever fully made. «4t THI CHRWTUN inLI. "There i<« no royal road to irreatneM i Men muHt ever climb to rame," ia true of character buildinjf. Thow of um who have trained and siircngthened our »ouN by con- sUnt atruinrle »nd effort, will find that we are pos •on can escape from results of natural laws ; it will no doubt take seventy times seven years to retrace his steps and stort afresh to build up a new life ; but we believe that he can do it if he desires, but he must climb up by the only road which leads from failure to success. ••Jesus diod and paid it all, All the debt I owe," is the very antithesis to the teaching of Spiritual- ism. We may here remark that there is no war- rant in the teachings of Christ for the doctrine of the Atonement as crvstallized in the above two lines ; he gives no countenance to it. Cardinal Newman, than whom there is no higher author- ity on the doctrine of the Eucharist and the Atonement, says that ••if Protestants discard the one they may just as well discard the other, as both are based upon figurative expres- sions." The Scripture nowhere teaches either doctrine directly. This same eminent divine, who was not only one of the greatest theo- 149 I MODERN SCIENCB AND logianii whom the nineteenth century produced, Lord M.-u-auIjiy alone exi-epted, the greatest masi- terof the Knj;Ii>«h lan^uaxe, jjrapplinj; at close quartern with liis Trotesiant opponents, says; "The Siripiure nowhere teaches the Divinity of the Holy Ghost, nor infant baptism ; there is not a text tellinjf us to iveep holy the first day of the week instead of the seventh, scarcely a text en- joining our jfoing to church for joint worship;there is no text in the New Testament which enjoins us to establish relijrion. The word Trinity is not in the Bible, nor are its doctrines anywhere tautrht." He boldly asks Protestants, "Where do you ^et your views about the inspiration of the Scriptures? Not certainly from the Bible? ' •' And how," he asks, " shnll we prove the doc- trines of Justication by Faith?" There are a few doctrines called essentials, say the Protestants. If we believe these we are all rijfht. *' But the dif- ficulty," says the j^^reat Cardinal, " is that noj^reat number of men are ag^reed as to what these es- sentials are. Some say the doctrine of the Atone- ment is the leading one, others the doctrine of spiritual influence, others that Love is ail in all, others the acknowledgment that Jesus is the Christ." The teachers*., religion are thus un- certain as to what is really essential to salvation for the New Testament makes no definite state- ment on this point. Theologians, always want- ing to define everything^, have built up their creeds and dogmas, partly from the theories of the old Fathers, partly from the opinions formed by the old Councils in an ignorant age and by «50 I J THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE. men who were unqualified for the work, judging of them by our present standard of truth. Tlie Catholics say that these old Councils w ere guided by the spirit of God, the Protestants deny this, and appeal directly to the Bible with the roults which Cardinal Newman has just pointed out — that everything is uncertain. We think that the Cardinal is right, and that the strugjfle which is now going on regarding the inspir- ation of the Bible must be fatal to Protest- antism, while it need not necessarily for a time be so to Catholicism ; as they have wisely kept the Bible in the bac't-ground, and rested their beliefs on the traditions handed down from the Fathers and from the decisions of the great Coun- cils which she claims were inspired. When she is attacked she flies like the goddess Minerva into the clouds. But Protestantism having chosen its ground, viz., the truthfulness ari inspiration of the Bible cannot evade the cot. ict. We are afraid that the soholarly Newman has unsheath- ed a double edged sword which will not return to its scabbard till both Protestantism and Catho- licism are laid low. He has appealed to reason, and though the older Church may evade the con- flict for a time and rest her claims to infallibility on tradition, and the inspired character of the church, in the end we think the conflict to her also will be fatal. The struggle which has now commenced over the admission of the supernatural into the ob- served phenomena of nature must continue till Methodist and Baptist and Presbyterian and 151 I MODERN 8CIENCB AND Episcopalian shall have compromised their difter- ences and merged together for the final effort— when "Gog and Magog "—or ecclesiastical dog- matismand scientific truth shall gather themselves together for this last conflict ; we shall then wit- ness the eclipse of the system known as Protes, tantism— perhaps its final disappearance. But the services which she rendered to man- kind shall never be forgotten. Incapable from its nature of forming a permanent resting place for the human mind, it must be considered as a tem- porary scaffold for man on his way from bondage to freedom, a temporary structure of the great- est value, helping to raise humanity from dark- ness to the light of truth." We think that the Catholic Church will exist as a strong organiza- tion long after her younger and more vigorous rival has disappeared from the scene. Though it could be shown as clear as a proposition in Euclid that the Bible is a series of human com- positions, this, though destructive of orthodox Protestantism, need not necessarily affect the Catholic Church, as the Bible is not her sole sup. port. She would admit that certain early docu- ments which she purposely refrained from put- ting in the foreground had undue prominence given to them ; just as the Church was mistaken in the immediate return of Christ, and the apos- Ues themselves were sometimes mistaken— as Paul accused Peter to his face of holding wrong opinions. But the Catholic Church, that divine institution charged with instructing and comforU ing mankind, can never be wrong. Neither of *5a THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE. { these dogrmatic institutions can really substan< tiate their claim to infallibility. But Protestan* tism, having chosen an untenable ground, can- not long evade the issue ; its rival, wiser in her day and generation can postpone the final disas- ter. We consider that Protestantism is to Cath- olicism as the sixteenth century was to the dark ages, and we consider that Spiritualism is to ProtesUntism as the twentieth century is to the sixteenth. There is one idea we would like to express while discussing this subject, and it is that the creed of the Reformation, sincerely honest at its origin, has become at the present time decidedly dishonest, when we hear clergymen trying to explain away facts which are clearly contradic- t'-y, and when they tell us that the Bible is not it work on science, just as if that covered its statements which directly contradict facts, such as the statement that the rainbow was put into the clouds as a sign that there should be no more floods, when every boy knows that the rainbow is caused by the refraction of the rays of the sun by the drops of w-.ter, and is always produced when the conditions are favorable — or the story of a universal flood which is physically impossible. Others again draw distinctions between what is essential and what is not essential, and say that belief in the story of Jonah and the whale, and the rib story, and the story of Adam and Eve and the serpent is not necessary to salvation. They are willing to throw overboard these myth- ical stories if we will agree to accept the doc* »53 MODERN 8CIBNCB AND trine of the Atonement, just as if it —itself— does not rest on this siHy story— in the Garden of Eden. We tremble for a relig^ion when its votaries have to suppress the truth— so that their creed may live. Lord Macaiilay, in bis essay on Ranke's History of the Popes, points out a strangle phe- nomenon regarding: Protestantism. "No nation," he observes, "which did not acrept the princi- ples of the Reformatien before the end of the six- teenth century, has ever adopted them. No great body of men will ever again desert Catho- licism for such a system as Protestantism," but we every day witness converts to Spiritualism and Christian Science, and even Mormonism, and we have known a whole nation (France, dur- ing the Revolution) to change from being a Cath- olic nation to become an Atheistic nation, and back again to Catholicism — but she did not be- come Protestant. Among the intelligent heathen. Protestantism makes very slow advance, and we feel sorry for these misguided but well-meaning people who spend millions every year accomplishing so very little. They fail to recognize that a change has takeo place in the moral and intellectual condi- tions of the world— a change which has been brought about by the practical business training of the last one hundred years, and the methods which science has adopted for the investigation of truth. This new tntell'^ctual atmosphere makes it forever impossible for Protestantism to gain any more converts m large numbers. »S4 THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE. '» As opposed to the inspired story of the manu- facture of the world in six days, and the Fall of Man from a perfect condition to one of great de- basement," we, who believe in Spiritualism, look upon this universe as one grand consistent whole, its slow, physical structure extending over many millions of ages, the gradual upward progress of plant and animal life, the slow growth of the human race towards a higher life, and the final development of spirit life in association with the li, man body, as a plan laid deep in the cradle of time." There was no mistake ever made by the great Infinite Mind. No imaginary devil ever upset this great original plan, no doc- trine of atonement was ever necessary to bring man back to God ; he h is been slowly but surely working his way up under the operation of phy- sical and moral laws, which he for many ages imperfectly understood. We may see in what theologians term sin, one of the most effective means of his development, for we know that the faculties of men are strengthened and perfected by struggle and effort, "as iron sharpeneth iron so sharpeneth the mind of man his fellow-man." We know that his physical organization is built up to a higher condition of health and strength by constant exercise and struggle, and we know that his spiritual nature is also strengthened and perfected by the struggle against moral evil in all its tempting forms. This law we see written on every page of nature ; there is no exception to it, and no escape from its slow but steady work- ings. We who believe in a spiritual world «5S MODBRN SCIBNCB AND "around this world of sense" adapted to the development of spiritual beings, who take up the onward struirgrle where they 'eft oflF here can look upon the whole purpose of creation as one grand original plan. We can see how man's body may have been developed from a lower animal form by the laws of evolution; we can also see how his mental and moral facilities coming along "pari pasu " with the physical, have been gradually advancing towards the great infinite mind under the operation of similar laws, and we may believe with Tennyson — "That life is not as idle ore But iron dug from central gloom, And heated not with burning fears. And dipped in baths of hissing tears, And battered with the shocks of doom To shape and use." Spiritualism is said to be a religion; this is partly correct, as it embraces within its scope all that religioil rightly teaches. It is the science of life, and tells about man from his birth into this life till his birth into the life beyond. It deals only with facts which can be demonstrate- by scientific methods, while religion deals with beliefs and faiths which are t>ased upon tradition and theories ; the more faith you have, the more religious you are, while Spiritualism regards belief without proof as valueless. If you could reduce religion to a science in which every belief could be verified and every theory proven as completely as a proposition in Euclid, you could then understand the religious aspect of Spirit* ualism. 156 THI CHRISTIAN BlBLB IMni Descartes, the greatest of French think, ers and philosophers, once said, "That there was one gruiding rule by which a man may always find the truth, and that rule is, to give unqualified assent to no propositions but those, the truth of which is so clear and distinct, that they cannot be doubted." This is the method which Spiritual- ism is trying to follow, and by this method it is endeavoring to lift religion out of the depth of superstition into which it has fallen and to raise it to the dignity of a science ; a science which teaches that the spiritual realm as truly as the material realm is governed by laws which are fixed and determined. "Learn what is true in order to do what is right," is the teaching of Spiritualism ; but this truth must be learned by the naethods which Descartes has laid down. Spiritualism is the science of life, of which religion forms a part ; it is also the science of the forces which are acting upon matter, for the study of matter resolves itself into the study of the forces acting upon it ; these forces are inter- nal and act from within. The old idea of inert matter is passing away, and we now understand that we are dealing only with forces: cohesion which unites atoms into solid masses, gravitation which chains worids toworids, vitality which lies at the base of all life, are spiritual forces acting from within. Instead of a dead material worid of matter we have a living organism breathing with spirit energies. The study of these invisible spiritual forces is the study of Spiritualism ; it is the science of aU life and of aU matter. »S7 \\ MODIRM tCISNCS AMD The great mounUin chain* which lift their pealcs to the higrhest clouds are not dead nuwMa but living energies acted upon by the spirit of cohesion. Only when we enter the vestibule of Spiritualism can we understand the laws and forces which lie at the base of all material sub. !!l!r?V *'"" "' '^«^'" **» 8^P »»•• tnith. Which Spiritualism teaches and when we study it anght we will know that natuml laws resolve themselves into spiritual laws, and that spiritual laws are in reality natural laws, thus nature and rehgion are joined in one holy bond of matri- mony. ^ 158 THI CHftlSTlAN BIBLI. THE BIBLE FROM WITHOUT. Dr. John Henry Newman, in an able artic'c reviewing the difficultien which Prolestant* have to overcome in boldingr the Bible an the only standard of appeal in matters of faith, aays . " How do you know that your Bible is the Word of God ? The book itself makes no such claim." The word Bible was first used by St. Chrysos- torn of ConsUntinople in the fourth century and was applied, not to our Protestant book, but to the Roman Catholic Bible, which conUins many more books than ours. We will ^ve our readers, in as short a space as possible, the opinions of the Fathers of the old Councils on the merits of the different books of the Bible. Clement of Alexandria (bom A.D. 155), who was contemporary with and had spoken to Poly- carp, the disciple of John, includes the Shepherd of Hermes, the Epistle of Barnabas and the Apocalypse of Peter among the inspired works, Irenaeus (bom A.D. 120), and almost content- porary with John, omitted from the list of what In his time was considered the inspired books, the EpisUe to the Hebrews, Jude, James U. and John's EpisUe HI. TertulUan (bom A.D. 160) denies the inspini. tion of the Hebrews, Jude, the Shepherd of Hermes, John II. and Peter U. Origen (bom A. D. 186) classes James, Jude, John III. as doubtful. These are the oldest of the Fathers and they Uved almost contemporary with the AposUes. «59 MODBRN tCIBKCI AND i ! Their opinions should be valimMe, •■ three of them were bishopt and loadera of the thought of their age. Irenaeus by his writings exercised an abiding influence on the early church. He appeab to tradition as an authority and contends for the unity of the Catholic church. He had •tvdied at the feet of the old presbyters, who in their old age could stUl tell something about the Apostles. Origen was a clear thinker and a vol- uminotts writer, and he made a special study of the doctrines of religion. In the history of the early church there is no name nobler than his, and he lived not fur from its source, yet he classes James and Jude and John III. and Peter as doubtful. The Council of Hippo, in A.D. 393, with the great St. Augustitte at their head, met to discuss and arrange the canon. By a majority of votes Uiey decided that the books of Wisdom and Ecclesiasticas, of Tobit and Judith, and the two books of the Maccabees should be Included in the inspired BiMe. The Council of Carthage ■net four years afterwards and confirmed the de- cision of the Fathers at Hippo. This canon, authorised by the two Councils, remained as the unalterable, infallible and inspired word of God for one thousand years*. It was again unani- mottsly confirmed by the Holy Council of Trent in A.D. 1546. It still remaimi the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church. VVhcn Luther left the mother Church he revised the Bible, but retained nearly all the books which Protestants call Apo- cryphal or doubtful, such as Tobit and Jodith t6o THI CHRMTUN HIBLI. «nd the Maccabees, but he objectnd to the book of Esther and the Epistle of James. When the divines assembled at WeslminHter in the reign of James I. completed their work they reUined miny of the books which the old Fathers con- sidered as doubtful and they rejected many of the books which the fathers considered as sacred. ToUt and Judith and the book of Wisdom and the Maccabees, with a few others, were thrown out. After viewinir »•>• above facU concerning the history of the two Bibles we think that any im. partial student will conclude that the Roman Catholic Church has in its favor the opinions of the old Fathers and the old Councils of Hippo and Carthage. If iniipiration means an;, hing surely they are entitled to claim it. We would like to ask our ProtesUnt friends why we have not as much right to select the books which we consider to be inspired as the Westminster div- ines in James I's time. We never heard that they were bom with any special gifts for this work, and we may well ask with Cardinal New- man, " How do you know that your Bible is the Word of God? The Bible itself makes no such claim." After carefully reading the hi-story of Its compilation we must come to the conclusion that the book as it stands now owes its origin more to human judgment than to divine guid- ance. The next assembly which revises the Bible, may, without doing much harm, throw o .t the books of Deuteronomy, Judges, E<«ther »nd Chronicles I. and II. We don't think there would be any harm in throwing Jonah overboard also. i6i