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Las diagrammas sulvants illuatrant la m^thoda. ■ ■ ■■ • '/ ■■•■■" 2 3 •^., 'H % 1 N 1.0 1.1 muLu, 1.4 2.5 1 2.2 2.0 1.8 1.6 ¥\ MICROCOPY RESOLUTfON TEST CHART NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS STANDARD REFERENCE MATERIAL 1010a (ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No.X f «# 'swr" f'^r^TT^ir^'^"' " RK @ Di.■..■ ffioronto: PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR y BY W; G. GIBSON; r'v:-.\ '^- -^■■■.,- j88i.„ /■ I 4| to^vru /ji» t- 'I - X. Va^ii ®»r IJnIpita an5 thtit €vnhs. m J m. \, ' I'i DO OUR PEOPLE BELIEVE l' i WHAT OUR PREACHERS PREACH? ■BY— "ABNER DEAN ' •» «v t . ^ » SaxSnia: PRINTED FOR THE* AUTHOR BY W. G. GIBSON. 1B81. ,•% »•,- •p. . Th R.R. • •f ■( ' -5* ■'pv '^^/ ''■", 'l^*^, ■ \ 'J \^ ^ 1 'It^ ;■* , - ^% .iSiSi-j; ..V • \ •■■ -J ''.. • Do our People Believe wbat our Preacljers Preach ? The merry ohimes of GhriBimas-tide have onoe more rung out upon the air ; our Churohea are onoe again brighjb witji Cbriatmas boughs ; another year has been gathered into ** God's great garner of the Past" ; and Orthodoxy for another year has been preached from every pulpit in our land. , r . And, as our spiritual teachers are wont, at this season, to meet together upon a common platform of supposed Christian unity, and to point, with somewhat of conscious pride in duty done, to the rich vintage which has crowned their labors in the ** Vineyard of the Lord" : does it not become us, all of us, as reasonable, God fearing, consci- entious men, to pause ^^in the threshold of the New \ear, aiiJLtQ3sk ourselves in^u sincerity, and with due respect io our clergy, what this thing called Orthodoxy- (whether Boman Catholic or Protestant), thiS'Series of ecclesiastical formulas, ostensibly believed by all, though inwardly dis- believed by three-fourths of our thinking men, and utterly at variance with the authentic teachings of Christ^ — what all this really means, and what it is doing for our country and our age? ^ Never in any period of the past has Orthodoxy been more active than in this year of Grace, 1880. In Britain and on the Continent the restoration of old Cathedrals fl[oes on apace; both in Europe and America the building of Cathedrals and less pretentious temples never ceases. In Toronto alone there are considerably more than one hun dred Churches (the majority, we may remark, carrying i ,- J A ->-'- ■ •nfSJWf!^ tr pel or Jesus Cbrist. omtal.^L * Pi-opsgation of the G«« SI'S »S-^S K served that those verv sen*. „ k ' ""^ '' may be oh was simplicity in w^rsWp VS'Th'i'''*'""" »^ ««««««£ te~--"a^^^^^^ lWe%SeK -er, wh«e in t,fe3«f. P«e a^d si.., J^'^^ »JB, and as it Jingers still in vrtrA/ >f our land ilKoiogicftl '^ '"n into oie worthy ere around )f the Go8- 'cording to never heen 'e Bible in &'» Britain *^ie East ; ^n Indian 8t to the ^oxy, not >r© vigor- roodea of *pid and of spec- cater to ^ be ob- eoession lobked . ^gan as a-re pre- iate. excur- »id the means e that fttions. d heat bed in flake For- sisted till in ft Do our PtopU Rtlisvi mha't our Prtaeh$n Pttaokf' 5 some romote Beotions, is so proliQo of evilfi and ho totally unnecesgary in fi land where ahnosi every oorner lot has itH Church, that even the most orthodox ^rd beginning to see that, to resort to " Nature's leafy temple" for the wor- ship of God, ift decidedly " inadvisable/' to say the least. In winter the bazaar holds sway, that contrivance whereby under the guise of religion, money is eked out of* the Doc- kets of those who tod often can but ill afford the outlay, supplemented very frequently by a resort to that most questionable of^jaiU eccl*»sia8tical schemes for raisiiig the wiaid, the election contest or raffle, in which the^arty spirit of the voters or the feveris^^ excitement which is the sure precursor of gambling, is utilized by qur clerical friends for the service of God. The '* Revival," that season of excitement in which en- thusiastic natures (mostly, we may rem irk, of youths and women) are wrought upon by surrounding ciVcum-jtanoes and the impassioned utterattoes of the pastor, seem^, how- eve^^ with cer!tain sects, to be ^ perennial resort, whenever intemt in the cause exhibits symptoms of fl iggiug ; and if a Hammond, or an Ives, or a Moody— who will tell you at the end of a series of meetings just exactly how m any i30uls have, through his humble. efforts, been plucked as ** brands from the burning"— opens a revival campaign, the heart of the dissenting evangelical is indeed glad. Within the past two or three years, moreover, the old ecclesiastical organizations have been endued with fresh' vigor, and new unions and leagues of all kinds h^ve been called into being. E vangelical alliances, which accurately map out what doctrines are God's and what are of the Devil, what dogmas are nece88a:ry to salvation, and what are unimportant J xoung Men's Christian Associations, whither our goody-goody young men resort — too often, it tnust be confessed, with the ulterior motive of winning the favor of some presiding dignitary in their business or profes- sionj Sunday School Conventions, in which Church doc- trines are rendered as little distasteful as poasible to the Ji£f , i ., .^~ «;;7^j«g^5pM'i;^ 1. ,.-;■.,: « ^-W?^^^^ -^t^i >■: h 6 Do our PeopU Believe what our Prtaehert Preach! rw^'"Jj'*'u*?i *"•' in which the open confession is made that to the children and not to the adnlts mast the Church took for Its adherents of the future ; Pan-Presbyteri»n and Pan-Anglican councils ; Ministerial Associations, in which for the nonce sectarian bitterness is laid aside : all these and many other agencieai have arisen within a compara- i A 1 P*"-''; ^*" oof^Wning the power of the churches and the clergy ,nto a solid phalanx of nnprogressive Or- thodcy. Quite recenUy indeed, the intensely interest^g and unusual spectacle has been witnessed of pronosalf sanctioned by, and actually'coming from, High ChMchmen e^^ln Zw " '' C^.f '-J"™ (» which, ft ccTr'st S Sr.wt / ^♦"''T '*' *'™. peculiar tenets being that unions foundation); or, as it has been said, in 4w of an'enlL?.if' Kr^""?"!^ threatening all the creeds from «n«!f i^ i. J public opinion, the priest, upon whose head apostolic hands have been laid, no longer scruples to fr^ ternize with the "mere dissenting exhfrter," atout whom lingers no trace of divine unction. In a worf, everywher^ in every Cnurch, while the foundations are honl^S^d t^ hnff*;? "" VTif ?""^ greater efforts are being made to buttress up the tottering^alls and bind together the broken timbers of that greatest obstacle to trueSnees true liberty and true charity : ,he popular religfon of the And, now, we would ask: what are the fruits of fhia TlT, 1/'^'*?^^? • ^^^* iBit domg^ whatdoesi pltend mpn in.?' ^^«f>^°; r ^'' *^^^»^« *^^^^ld ^ first, to make ^v« ^ r ^"'^^ and happy in this life ; and secondly, to save the^l^an endless Hell in the next. ""'^:;^ TS^^'^lifse, we would ask whether profess- |4.e., those who claim to be (and, as far as - J^ converted, are more moral, more honest, fu^ -.. V» »ioire happy than their heterodox friends ? Is .with a pemi-dmne calm ever upon his brow ? Is he not i I the contrary, just as fretful Just as selfisi;, ^^jL ^ As iol, ing Chrl ^ecan ju more goi •V.;,, 5J. ,■--■,->;.-«. ■ Do our People Believe what our Preachers Preach? 7 happy too frequently as, and usually a great deal more bigoted th^n, you or I ? Does the young man who is a consistent member of a Church, or of a Toung Men's Christian Association, have any advantage in obtaining a situation (Except, perhaps, from some fellow-member) over him who believes — and has the courage to express his con- victions — that the whole system of popular faith is. one gigantic and noxious fraud ? How can a man be truly happy in the firm belief that the God in whom he trusts and calls his Father is He who says : ** I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh?*' that the future abode former of most of His nearest and dearest ones on earth is tne Hell where *' the worm dieth not and tlie fire is not quenched" ; and that he will be powerless to cool their parcned tongues by eveu one drop of water ? How can he be happy in so degrading his God- given reason as to trust to a '* scheme of salvation" which violates the fundamental principles of EternalJustice, ind to accept the verbal inspiration of a book out of whose pages may be proved every conceivable doctrine: frofd Unir versalism to Calvinism, and from Puritanism to 3oman Catholicism, a book which, with all its beauties and good- ness bears, in its obscenity, contradictions"^ and palp- able erifbrs, its human origin stamped upon every page ? . Are our orthodox friends, in fact, better citizens and better men than those of us who are heterodox ? Are they less anxious about 'Maying up for themselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and thieves break through and steal" ? We appeal to our readers as sensible, reasonable beings, to say what appreciable effect upon the lives of our friends and neighbors have these doctrines which are enunciated Sunday after Sunday throughout Christendom : the inspiration and consequent infallible authority of the Bible ; the existence of an end- less Hell and a personal Devil ; the dogma that creed and not character saves ; original sin derived from the Fall of Adam ; that most repreh e nsible and perf e ctly unecriptur a i f r . . r rr , ^ h r^ M^<^0Mt^^*^ i?S. d ■■■;■' .ft. ' I • "pH/ }• I ^S^^^ Christ (.„ Mel countenance, but ren«,f!^i ''" .''°'"^«' ««>' only did n^? outrage upon Go^T^S&C?.'\' *"''* «o" by vicanous atonement" and m ««*!«'»« of salvation • all or any 0/ these to do ^ith th? ^ ?•**•*'« ^ '^'^a' have Nothing; less than nothini^7 *t ^o^J'tv of our people ? jonty of thinking men do^nf k r ""* fi"""' Pla«e, the tna ihe s^bnd plaoeranThe Sef fr .'J'^^^ ''°«''i»^ »• «.. those which relate to oniil ^^^^H» ot Christianity honestj, ohastity. and m!..? .u"^^* *"^ conduct (chanty our elergy themselves tX^° ,^7) ?« acknowledg^ fc theology, aud are accenf«r> *"''"® ^ d'stinct from doimatio ^r^f^^^^^ In i^ ^^ ^' ^^^ ti^« f "**•«' «?ge oontradiction-thl» /r' ?'*"*•• '^^ "^sert tics, freethmkers, or whatever the! m **■? ^eterodoK, scep- W a word, who reject wbpJtiV^'^^y^^ termed— those cri/jf ?"■* ^'iPPJ'' *nd decidedlv IpI . ^ """■*'• "'"'•e hdn- '"nply as a means t J a world?''' ^I' '""^'^^ Sfi the conscienlously oiZ!, «^«'^thing. We speTk of heterodo, ; and VISsert' T'^ ""l consciSsl/ this world is concerned th/i ^t^"'" """t, as far as Trt ^^"'■^ /'"'°^ even by their own shewing hi j 1? ^wistian and mufli woe ! We assert, therefore' ft *^*''°.?' *« * «fe of endleM the shadow of a doubt_an^' t^ ""'"• '' '« P'»ved beyond be at once rejected irevZcourt^'af ^''l?'"'* "''•"J' M Sch T ^'^ «^P«««on8 IseSd to r-r'?-r ' °°'^ tha? 8ueh dire rengeanoe are authenHA I""' "''•'''• «>«'eathe . are divine utterancea— n„*i ^l ""• •"•'• even if authdntli predicate the reS^;? ^ t«»je "-ot andTrrS asticism anfo%*i;«««f/"« Church C pnestJy c4V\ XTof LI*''* Cha^h: tdX . *he Rmt stumbling block ?n Hf* *"'^« '^^e^ »<>* ever been *%V'''"'*^'*™«ebaS truel^r^"^*" true ^Jgress' *». Al^*""* "^'dict iV writtpt* ''''''^'* ^ " Ss'etr" ^''"-S priest s°t?n'^r*' "^^ streamlef trn'° '*PP^»«« the DrKftn^ to"'P*" »"he , "^"*°° « ' ev e ry "Witch I .i.\: '■^ ■■■<2^^pnri?^s -*?'-.'■ D* our PeopU Believe Mfhat our PreacKert Preach r 11 £lm" of New England, ev^ry mined Aztec temple and Inca shrine, still in silent sadness bear record to a priestly loye of power and blood. ' Judaism, with its blood-stained altars and revengeful code ; MediaBval Christianity, with its forged miracles and churohly maledictions, its intrigues and sordid avarice; Boman Catholicism, that faith which, changing only when forced to change, has saddened the whole world with its hideous cruelties; the Church of England, which, aJUied with kingly power, has ev^i opposed all true progress 'add and the granting of equal religious and social rights to other creeds; American Puritanism, escaping persecution at home only to persecute abroad ; Scottish Calvinism, that mysterious union of intolerance and metaphysical subtlety; the orthodoxy of our own day, placing beneath its banhfm who has the manly courage to deny that it alone is the custodian of God's eternal truth — that orthodoxy which presumtuously arrogates to itself the destiny of my soul and yours : always^ everywhere, the Church has been and is still the same, persecuting, bigoted and tyrannical when powerful ; mild and Christ- like only when its fangs are drawn : as if God had designed to shew mankind on every page of history the same great truth, that those who claim to themselves 'a pretended revelation from on high, ever he- lie their claitn by the fruit which that pretended revelation bears, .'•. : ■' . ■---^:.,/-:. .. , v .,; ■■.,■■■..•...-, \;; And the Churches are to-day the same as they have ever been: " semper eadem " is their watchword still. What^ ever has ultimately prevailed and has proved to be for the benefit of the race: <^«, orthodoxy his persistently op- posed. The progress iof science, ftrom Columbus and Gallileo to Batwin and jjyell ; theftdvance of free thought and speech from Socrates to Lnthet, and from Luther to Herbert Spencer, has been but one long struggle with the orthodoxy of each particular age.\ Astronomy, Geology, Navigation, Printing, eyery art and science which was destined to broaden and deepen man's ideas, has been at ■J •• T ■•^sl % eroment and social We tnch hi • u '^''K'O". science, gov- ?««in8t the march of c^vilt^f""''' ^*« orthodoxy fouZ 'nohalsohasit^idedSndT.r'' "''«''y- Jnch £ /Wv*K'5''''y'»««««n«al8only "wl '•»« "alls. of (which for ages have been deeminrj^ >,"'°' Questions" object of bitter denunciation Its™ *'**"' *»W been the -J^hen opposition becar/S'ofhS-""°"' »»'' *h«^ ■ «s a divine institntion found n„ "^''''y support. Slaverv PUOilC opinion fco h& ^nfi c.l„ ® OOUth, until, finrlinr* ine Jiquor trade found no mnvT j 7^ nefarious traffic «lergy of England (whe"e indeed '^'th«'«'?^"''*^ '*"»" K demanS- ""-'T"''^ electKv) t tn'"* '°? **««' " has demanding a change of front uJvl '' popn'ar opinion made, and the same ScriS= ^"''** "^ fro"' has-been' -marshalled a^aT„,r?Kr:;7"^°'' '''^ identical te.te fwpfoyed in its defence o!*,°'h Frbude, Arnold, Mill, Ingersoll jand her upon whose grave of yei^rday not England only but the world casts lovmg wreaths, as marv^lB of wilful perversity, nay; more, ioo often of aetaali/ u ?»e word 0/ fc^h tho danoanoermav „„r. head the thandl™ ,°"^' '''"><'"» drawhi! H^ ' *""* »»«- oan no longeX^ /k'^ "'"P <>"* of tK-L ^'''J » minis. «an no longer "hnir/k'"^ ^'^^P <>"* of the raniro "^^i * '"''»«- win r,^* S:?^^ ^oW these God dishn^^ • ?® *"<^ say ; "t ^y bread by a Tivtgr- ^.^^^^^^^^^ I ^e ^Jenomination quit if„ ''*^' ^^e» can a «>iniBtetTor ^'»'* b/.'lirbgr- « ^'«''««^"'and I unite himae/f ? ^^"omination ouit /♦. "^' '^'•«. o»n a .^■x rpi, T •'^"«™J works of God " OIUTi '.«7''" ' iSfSi™ "■I ,.afii^ ^if^^K" •^ IS^V^^,^!- f^ J •: ^-y^r^^ry^ *^^*^,'" Do our People Believe what our Preacher* Preach? Iff ^ '■■■',''. ■ ' -v ■ ■ ■ preachers tell us. Men are beginning to.ask how it is that the record of this faith of creedB has been bat one long tale of blood ; how it is that those very nations which have been most orthodox, most ecclesiastical, most firmly convinced of the possession of divine truth (as Spaix^^^us- tria and the South American republics) stand as living monuments of bigotry, blood and failure? Whether, if the tree be so fair as it is said to be, the fruit can be so bitter; whether if the fountain be so pure, its waters can be so foul ? They are asking themselves whether, after eighteen hundred years of preaching, the world of to«day, with its crimes and selfishness and woes, and its camp* fires of war lighting up every land, is one whit nearer the Kingdom of Ood tbc^n it ever was; whetherEurope, stand- ing with her hand upon her sword andv boasting that two millions of armed men are ever ready t(5 abey her beck, is a reassuring witness to the efiicacy of the^rthodox Gospel; whether the Bishops who voted in the House of Lords for the Afghan war, and the clergy in all the earth who (al- most without exception) have upheld war as; sometimes necessary, and blessed their nation's banner, bloo^^stained though it may have been: whether these men do really understand in their hearts the words of Christ uttered again and again without the Highteat qvalijication : ** Resist not your enemies; but whosoever smiteth thee on one cheek, turn to him the other also." Men are beginning, in a word, to ask themselves whether this orthodxy, this system of dogmas is really what was taught upon the hill- sides of JudsBa by Him who said : ** Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind ; and thy neighbour as thyself ; on these two eommandmeiits hang all the law and the prophets.'* We have saia : " theifi||e beginnin|^" We were wVong : they have begun. And Waay, in thfrface of evangdlical allianc es and Pan - Christian councils and W e lls Island Sunday ednventions and the other thousand and one agencies for the extension of > orthodoxy, the people of t, X 3^ si. 16 twisin, and the abidine faith ,ff „^ *'' l"'.*" '»'«°' wep- of their fathers is forever gone , "^.^.^P'* '" "'« '^'ig-on hears, both within the cturoh iw "'■?f"' ""^ o*^" •"d firm ^ must he become convS thl j"'"?'' "'" ■»<"« sceptical. It is uselesB >««„=' *' society is at heart foot: it stares Ssfn the "JT «"■" '^- '""■'' °^''^^ _:_ Uterature (outside o/tbXv? TZ't- ^" »"8»'««' disbelief. The professionL th^^ ""P^'^ »«/ttra^«rf with ?«n element; «|f(eS tferZrrV'''^^^^^ in our community) are iust in 1^ "* 'be lowest stratum these great questfonrand thetW tl.^ '^J' lender over not. at heart heterodox "' ""^ *"•«'"* Church or . Intelligent. God-fearwig men in ihu i » nineteenth century do »«ffive in hi?!,' ''"*''•'' °' »he for ages hovered ghoul-like o™ J h that dogma which has the dogma of an eSs tllTh ther „f "^ ^'^°J ""' «»««' friends are bound. They do J^ThiiL "'?«-.'«"th8 of their ments for finite sins. Thev dT„^t Kr "* "'''""«' P"°ish- Jewish conception o God fs etiTth^r"* *•"" "'^''^"de He who •' nnmbereth the very hit. ? ''°*' *"«' 'hat He who said: "Tha.tth„L ! ^ "?'" of our head" in Of thy enemies, a^dlheoil'Tttd''''^'' in the bloj^^ Neitherdotheybelieveth«}?h.» J -^ '***«''» *he same." ««ter of God cK IxplafneM^rP*"''^ '° **"« «hw- d«nies that justice anZercylS^^^ sophis^y which ' unchanged. They do .^rSt Z?' "°''''*''8^''We and centuries ago by Dronh^a ^h ""**. ^"^'y ^ord uttered to pass, must of nSty bj eterSl^'r^ ^'^ «"" «^^e accept as scientifically correct thf.*^^ ''"/• ^^^y <»o not .t«wy accounts of tCcrfeS W ""Pf^*^ "nd cointradic. •w* believe in^rfictfen nTtiPT l^^ They do «n«ey,hswh«SsW ^^j?\^^° of Eden aJthe .\ "p. • L^ ■aawnws' -fafi^sr n^ a; . are not )t fail to Qt soep- religion ef0 and 6 more i heart obvioiM bigheet ^d with le arti- tratum 'r over roil or of the sh has ' race, their mish- cJrude that I " is blood me.'* 3har- ^hich ' land iered lome > not idic- r do the ., ited exJK Do our Pmpts Beltev§ what ou¥ Prtachen Pvachf 17 ally, moreover, as Jewish writers have always considered the narrative of the fall and the creation as merely legen- dary. They do not believe that every sentence, nay, every word, from Genesis to Revelation is absolutely and divine- ly true, however much it may outrage godliness and com- mon sense— especially, moreover, as the Jewish Kabbins themselves do not acknowledge the verbal inspiration of tha^Dld Testament. They do not believe that heluf (i.e. a mere non-voluntary state of the mind), and not deeds, can save (as if a man could believe whatever he wished). They do not believe that God has struggled again and again (and frequently unsuccessfully) with a mighty demon called the Devil, totally unknown to Old Testament writers, and simply the creation of a superstitious after age. They do not believe that Qod's mercy is so handicapped that, in the plenitude of His goodness, He cannot forgive, without making a compromise with justice by means of a " vicari- ous atonement— a thing perfectly repugnant to Judaisin, which never considered its sacrifices in any degree as • types and shadows " of a greater sacrifice in the future : --a vicarious atonement, we repeat, which satisfies justice by punishing the innocent and allowing the guilty to go free ; a ** scheme of salvation 'Vip fact which, as has been said by Macaulay, resembles nothing so much as ** a forged bond upon which is endorsed a forged release.'* They do not believe that one God can be three Gods and three Gods one God ; or that the Athaniasian creed is anything more than a clumsy, bigoted, metaphysical riddle. They do not believe that He who is ** the same yesterday, to-day Slid forever," is continually changing His natural laws, simply to answer the petitions of individuals for material, and too often selfish blessings. In fine, they do not believe that a system of religion embraced by only a portion -of even that fraction of the world which professes Christianity, a system, mor e over, which denounces as nnevangelioal, heterodox and unchristian all who, with the same Bible in %mJM>ndl,^aot agree with^^ particular interpretatiou "tl 'M. !*• \ . li*: /'f*"«ren, whose mmds are not fnllv ff^^r^^Aha^^m ssy!s?attar f'^7 '''^' -i • Sits TheToria^Sife?^''"'''' f' ? P"'* »°<» holy God. aay »e the ayo^Wto!!*^?^*^*,''*'"'''*" °'y«»ter- BooloaiMtioittB. ?SWo™I^y^ ^*1*'* "' to-morrow; Jlfl J^# *:>- » ^ 3. S^ Do our PiopU B$tQk whatfom Prtathtn Prtmm jj^^^j _ - ^ ■ ■ ing snoh hlowB as have never hUn ileaU it befof «. Franet, the n^ost profiperoufi country in Eurppe, \x9m\ wiibin lh« paitAgittr. expelled religioue ordera whieh in years gone by wMflMi to rule her oounoile. In Ireland, abov« the din of jftoPrnlWand claas Hirife,due bo largely to prienlly teaohingB WtJ^rieBt-riddon ignorance, is heard the death knell of priest- ly rale. Ab a gentleman of great obseryation remarked the o(l\pr day : '* Iii fifteen yearB every theatre in Britain, the United 8tateH and Cana^ will be playing traireotieH upon the orthodoxy of the day $ ftnd ^th^ manager mko takee the first step will make his fortune." And il this apply to England and America, with how much greater force does it apply to France and Germany, the two foremost nations of t(^e continent ? In the latter, not more than one fifth of the city populations pretend to attend Church ; and of both countries, almost without qualification, may it be said that (save the clergy and those studying for the ministry), the educated and thinking classes regard our systems of orthodoxy (both Roman Catholic and Protestant) as what they iteally are : a medley of oriental legends and nwfdiaeval myaticism, a libel upon the attribut€$ of God and a pofody on the teachings of Je8U9 Chtist / 4 But, it' will be asked, shall men reject everytlHn£^ is igliosticism the creed of ihe world, and materialism the goal of the race ?~ We think not. Ninety-nine men out of every hundred do believe in a Supreme Ruler of the^ universe, who is cognizant of, and to whom we are rospon- *^ sible for, our acts and thoughts. Men do believe tbttt this God ifi a Being whose eVery attribute is perfeotiot^ and whose Bible is the starry world above us, the glorious earth beneath us, and our consciences within us. Men do be- lieve that this God, who, for some wise purpose has placed us here, is plenteous in mercy to all — whether Barbarian, Scythian, bond or free-- who put their trust in Him, and live that the world may b e somewhat b e tter for their life. Men do believe "that this life, though not perhaps, iM>t # \ J\ ' ■1 , "* 1 fiO 'V''^ pttr People BeHeve what ms^, Pfea^iefn Preach f one with which we Aire meant tp be concerned ; and that man was sent on this earth to live on it» to enjoy it, to study it, to embellish it/^ and not to disparage it as a mere pilgrimage, a fleeting illusion of the Evil One. Men do believe that Christ (whether divine or human it matters not : we have His life) was given to us as our great exem- plar reverently to be followed through all the ages ; *' the possibility of the race made real." Men do believe that **^the glad tidings of great joy " are, in very truth, " Peace on earth and good will toward men;" and that the day, which though long in its dawning, will none the less surely appear, will come, when this Gospel— this pure Go8[pel of love to God and man^which Jesus preached, and not this spurious Gospel of creeds and Christ- worship which He so denounced), t(;iZZ '^ cover the earth as the waters cover the great deep." And men do, in their inmost hearts feel that the greatest obstacle to this glorious end is this very or- tt^odox Christianity of our age. Col. Bobert G. In^erspll himself, who wields a greater influence over the minds of the masses in America than any doisen living preachers, and whose eloquence has dealt Orthddoxjf'the heaviest blows of the day ; even IngersoU is not, as he has been unjustly termed by those who- have never read his books, an atheist. He is simply an agnos- ^ tic, one who does not know. But of this we may be as- sured, that, unless "pure religion and undefiled," con- sistiiiig, we are told, in *' caring for the fatherless and the widow and keeping ourselves unspotted from the world," be once more (and that right soon) proclaimed from our pulpits, this current of agnosticism will flow into the dead sea of avowed Atheism ! Why cannot our clergy see that Atheieml and Materialism have no faster^ frie fids than the Chris^nity which they themselves are preaching ? The reaction must take place. God grant it be not as when the Gk)ddes8 of Beason was enthroned in Paris, a reaction > sweeping away our very belief in a God ! J!;an We who feel that this end irnot to be desired, thf^t ■ ■ . ■ i' ■ " ■ ■ . . ' ' '- ' ■*■ tt is said by many «ho J««°f.X^ solemn a step as betn stated thatJu?vTaniS ^ the religion o the the coming oot*""^ Xrnfh tao«e no consequences. ^M A^v We reply : A'"*" Known ^,, mt^mal Truth &odoxy be'ltalse. we are recreants ^B^^ ^^y i3 it if v,e lend it our support. Is »"?*"?' t^e servUe hypo- Christ like, for P«t»^,r'*?'l.*"^/'i^J on the altws of our •S whilst error hoWs •''Sh J»»"V'»^^^''i,umanity, listen land? Can we. as.lo;yer8 »*„ «,''^ Xob we feel in our S folded arms to th«»«J°%*; ^ lake even a lower hearts are false and hurtful? ^Or, to ^ reform ever have ground, would the IW note of any pan ^^^ Ln soW^d. had those who feltjitljm^^^ ..p^^,,, Truth, hearkened to Itoe voice wmou Peace! when there "f -''° P^^^Vavering (and who isfirm^ To each of those '"h^stiU-are wave^n? v ^^^^^^ ^ in his faith ?) we would say : l'^;^3Xle; think, word by in God. read and ponder over JO^J^"^^ preachers »ay it word, what itr«»«»«»3'»-fn^,y''»: °t^ie.theU^ Tys lestitby thetestofGodM^eat^^^^^^^ i h^ of Nature and your own soul. ^» > ^^^ ^^ym, ?Lpofreason(God'sgreate^tpfttoyou) n^^^^^ but hrightly burning. T^«™ ^ «, and truthfully you wholly true'?" The more earnests study, the more fully yon let uottsgi ^ib .r^n^'yonr soul, the '^"'^""XSeK we know and feel. • help) to be a true man the moreciew y. ^^.^ ^.^^^ ^ will you come to see ^f^^^^^'of God." the on* revel- r th our PtopU Betievewhai our Pr«aehw$ Preach f th« ground npon which the inspiration and infallibility of the whole Bible rest, the more preoarioas will you find the foundation to be. We are convinced, lastly, that the more earnestly you meditate upon the aulJienHc words of Him who spake as never man spake, the more incomprehensible will it seem how the Church could have changed into a system of creeds and dogmas and ceremonies that simple love to God and man preached upon the hillsides of Gali- lee. ■, ■/ ■•*, ■, ,„, '' ' the struggle may be long ; it will be hard ; but the end thereof is peace — ruot the fitful joy *wliich comes from stamping reason beneath the feet, but an abiding peace %hich no man taketh away. With the great world about us, it is a question but of a little time. The shadows are already lifting; the dark mists of superstition are fast fleeing away. l^oronto, Christmas, 1880. "ABNER DEAN. t» ■' ■ ■ ' ■».;. ■' ; dK 8 aa a !aW' < '^''^-4^i>'''-fejS5aW . rtitea^ s-vrs^fa^ ss^ni. ■T^ ^ ^a* ,»• K "^N