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1 2 3

CANADA

NATIONAL LIBRARY
BIBLIOTHEQUE NATIONALE

SABRE THRUSTS AT
FREE-THOUGHT;

OK,

A DEFENCE OF DIVINE INSPIRATION.

HHV. VV. VV. WALKER,

Author cf "An Iiinera.a in the fj.itish Isles," anr»
" r>y Northern Lakes."

WITir LXTRODUCTION BV REV. THOMAS COBB.

TORONTO:

WILLIAM BRIGGS,

Wesley Buildings.

Montreal : C. W COA1E6.

1898.

Halifax: S. F. HUESTIS.

'^ce\ Ke^^ \jj\J

EsTBRKDaccordinfrio Act of the l^arlia.nent of Canada, in the year
one thousand ei^ht hundred and ninety-eisrht, by Wiluam
Brioos, at the Departnietit of Agriculture.

INTRODUCTION.

In lookiu^r over the pages of this book, it is
not difficult to discover the plan, the purpose,
of the author, whicli we shall find both timely
and useful, bringing before us in brief and
readable form, considerations which sliow the
unreasonableness of unbelief, and the sound-
ness, fruitfulness and excellence of the Chris-
tian religion.

We continually meet with statements of
this kind: "We are on the verge of great
changes— our magazines, newspapers and re-
views are full of unbelief-our young men
are being lost in the mazes of skepticism"
-which statements surely are exaggerated;
for some of the best newspapers in Canada

INTRODUCTION.

contain as many articles, at least, in favor
of the Christian religion as against it. It
may be true, as Butler said long ago, "The
evidence of religion not appearing obvious
may constitute one particular part of some

men's trial in the religious sense

There seems no possible reason why we may
not be in a state of moral probation, with
regard to the exercise of our understanding
upon the subject of religion, as we are with
regard to our behaviour in common affairs."
But we are thoroughly persuaded that un-
belief, such as is alleged to exist among
men of affairs, threatening the usefulness of
churches, and the eternal interests of men,
has its root, not in the structure of the
intellect so much as in wilfulness — in neglect-
ing to embrace that which is knowable, and to
follow that which is revealed. It is here we
discover the value of the present book. It is
better to search for truth where it may be
readily found than to give ourselves over to
idle, dangerous, endless speculations. When
Moses gave to men knowledge of God, and of

INTRODUCTION. v

his will, he said, " For this commandnient wliich
I command thee this day, it is not hidden from
thee, neither is it far off It is not in heaven,
that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for
us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may
hear it, and do it ? Neither is it beyond the
sea, that thou shouldest say. Who shall go over
the sea for us. and bring it unto us, that we
may hear it, and do it ? But the word is very
nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart,
that thou mayest do it/'— Deut. xxx. 11-15.
The sacred writer maintained four thousand
years ago that religious truth was accessible,
near at hand, and if admitted into the under-
standing and heart would find instant and
eternal response; that it is fitted to man's
spiritual and immortal nature, fitted to regen-
erate society, and to nourish in the individual
heart imperishable hope. To state this clearly
and at large in language and argument suited
to the present day, is the object of this book.
In Part First, the author dwells on objections
and diflSculties which Free-thought has urged
against the Old Testament scriptures. Chapters

INTRODUCTION.

I. and II. dwell on the Pentateuch; III., on the
historical books; IV., on science and the Bible;
and v., on prophecy. It is not possible, in
brief introductory remarks, to follow the author
tlirough so comprehensive an outline, nor to
show the strength and abundance of evidences,
arguments and resources in these " Sabre Thrusts
at Free-thought." The book must be read in
order to be valued. " Perhaps no book within
the inspired volume," says the writer, "has with-
stood so furious and numerous assaults as those
which constitute the Pentateuch;" and yet, rely-
ing alone on the marvellous discoveries within
recent years, amid the ruins and monuments
upon Egypt's sands and Assyria's plains the
author is able to say, "If, in the coming ages,
that which is now generally disbelieved, or ridi-
culed, should be established on the principles
of truth, or if scientific discovery should re-
volutionize thought, still God's own inspiration
shall stand every fiery test, and ever prove
itself an impregnable stronghold of eternal
truth." This strong statement reminds me of
Gladstone's famous saying, writing on similar

INTRODUCTION.

Vll

topics, in "The Impregnable Rock of Holy
Scriptures:" "If the most greedily destruc-
tive among all the theories of the modern
critics .... were established as true, it
would not avail to impair the great fact of
the history of man, with respect to the Jews
and the nations of the world ; nor to dis-
guise the light which those facts throw upon
the pages of the sacred volume; nor to abate
the commanding force with which, bathed,
so to speak, in the flood of that light, the
Bible invites, attracts and commands the ad-
hesion of mankind."

Part Second contains chapters on the Gos-
pels; the resurrection; faith; St. Paul's writ-
ings and the Book of Revelation. "As the
Pentateuch is the great battlefield of the Old
Testament, so also are the Gospels of the
New. Unbelief has strenuously endeavored to
make out a clear case against the writings
of the Synoptists— first, on the ground that
they are not genuine; second, they do not
harmonize; third, the subject of them is a
myth. ... In the Gospels Christ is the

VUl

INTUODl'CT[()N.

central tigure ; and it would be well for the
traducera and calumniators to note his char-
acter and work and to make the comparison
between those and the conduct and fruits of
infidelity. On the one hand is the meok and
lowly spirit; the patient resignation to the
inevitable ; the loving sympathy ; the gentle
Christian dignity and bexring, that enabled
him when reviled to revile not again ; and
his tireless diligence and application to the
work which his Father gave him to do" —
to contrast all these things, all this magni-
ficent line of thought and action, with the
fruit in the lives of the unbeliever, atheist
or infidel, would be a sabre-thrust indeed.

To follow the author in his remarks on
faith and the writings of St. Paul, prepare
you for the glow and warmth in w^hich he
approaches the end. " All through the ages
as we ransack the pages of profane history,
as well as ecclesiastical, courage with discretion
was master upon every field, and the child
of God needs a heav^en-born hope, enabling
him to confront the forces of evil in the world,

INTRODUCTION.

ho
ir-

armed with the Spirit's two-ed^red sword, and
at l.ist tc stand victorious upon the battlements
of God through Jesus Christ."

We commenced these remarks by speaking of
the unreasonableness of unbelief which rejects
and would destroy all those moral forces which
make for righteousness. But how mild our
words are where our author girds himself
with the strength of a giant: "The writings
of Voltaire and Rousseau swept like the simoon's
blast over the sunny face of France, blighting
the spiritual life of the nation like a full-
blown flower in a November fn .1" So shall
it continue forever. As Carlyle said: "Re-
ligion cannot pass away. The burning of a
little straw may hide the stars, but those orbs
of light are still there, and will reappear."
Equally steadfast are the objects and rewards
of faith. " They that be wise shall shine as the
firmament ; and they that turn many to right-
eousness as the stars for ever and ever."

Thomas Cubb.

PREFACE.

We know not what estimate the literary
world will place upon this work, but we can
say in all humility that an earnest effort has
been mads on the part of the writer to in-
fluence not only the intellects, but also the
hearts of men, in a manner that will stimulate
their piety, by setting forth some of the, triumphs
of eternal truth over unbelief in every form, and
over falsity in its hydra-headed hideousness.

A critical perusal of the inspired Word will
at once enable the ob.«^Tvant reader to discern
that, although infidelity and free-thought have
with fiery impetuosity assailed the disclosure of
God's redeeming purposes to a lost humanity,
and reduced its truths, as they fondly hoped, to

Xll

PREFACE.

dust and ashes, yet, pluenix-like, it has arisen
from the scattered particles of its supposed ruin,
impregnated with the inspiring prirciples of
renewed life and everlasting power.

May all who read realize that faith in the
truths contained within the pages of the in-
spired volume, as well as in him whose face
shines resplendent as the meridian sun through
every hallowed page thereof, means translation
into the sunburst of an unending day, the
brow diademed with fadeless crown, amid the
hallelujah choruses of the s^ies.

W. W. WALKER.

Toronto, Jamiary, 1898.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PART FIRST.

Chai'Ter T.— The Teaching of tlie Pentateuch Vmdi-
cated .......

CUAITER II.— The Dehige, and the Passage of the
Red Sea

tality of the Soul .

PAGE

Chapter III.— Joshua as a Soldier, the Tel-el- Amarna

Tablets, and the Theocracy of Israel ... 40

Chapter IV.— Science and the Bible, and the Iminor-

Chapter V. — Testimony to the Genuineness of

Prophecy 00

• •

PART SECOND.

Chapter I. — Testimony to the Genuineness of the
Gospels, the Doctrine of the Trinity, and of the
Intermediate State

Chapter II.— The Doctrine of the Resurrection

Chapter III.— The Meaning, Exercise, and Triumph
of Faith

Chapter IV. — Regeneration as set forth in the
Writings of St. Paul

Chapter V. — Failure of Infidelity, and Victory of
Christianity

81
93

103

113

128

I 1

SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

CHAPTER I

The Teaching of the Pentateuch Vindicated.

Perhaps no books within the inspired volume
have withstood so furious and numerous assaults
as those which constitute the Pentateuch, and
yet, in the matchless wisdom of God, the open-
ing verse has been so worded as to confound the
enemies of the truth. With scientific research
and discovery was established the fact that the
earth was much older than was generally sup-
posed. Illiterate and unthinking men, who were
not friendly to divide truth, at once said that
the Bible and were at variance, foro-et-

ting that it mattered not if the age of this
planet were millions of years, multiplied by
myriads yet again, still the first verse, which
treats of the genesis of all things, thunders

\i i

SABRE THRUSTS AT FRP:E-TH0UGHT.

I ;

'■\

forth with no uncertain sound or discordant
note, " In the beginning" (without saying when
it was) " God created the heaven and the earth,"
thus at once administering the death-blow to
the superficial arguments of feather-headed free-
thinkers.

Also, with regard to the days of creation,
infidelity has said, even granting that the work
was accomplished, as the first chapter of Genesis
states, in six days, the impression is not only
conveyed, but the writer emphatically asserts,
that they were natural divisions of time, of
twenty-four hours each, by saying that the
evening and the morning were the first day,
and so on through each succeeding one, whereas
scientific men have almost unanimously agreed
that each day of creation was a geological period
covering perhaps many thousand years. The
question now arises, Does this harmonize with
the declaration of the Bible — the morning and
evening were the first day ? What constitutes a
day in the sight of Almighty God ? Let us
turn to the pages of inspiration for an answer.
A day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and

ill

SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT. 17

a thousand years as one day. We do well to
remember that the mind of Infinity does not
measure time as would the finite mind of man,
for God can as readily comprehend the doings
of millions of ages as man can the performances
of a few hours.

Regarding the crowning work of creation,
the fact of man's having been made from the
dust of the earth has been severely criticised
and fiercely assailed ; but the theories of those
who believe, and teacli, that man has been
evolved, or developed, from some lower form of
organic life, has received a rude shock by the
discoveries within recent years amid the ruins
and monuments upon Egypt's sands and Assy-
ria's plains. Gold rings set with precious stones
were found a few years ago, in a mummy pit, in
the former country, which have been proven by
some of the most distinguished Oriental scholars
to have been manufactured about six thousand
years ago, and which are of decidedly better
workmanship than those made twenty or thirty
centuries later. This does not look as though man
were less intelligent ages ago than at the present

i I

llli;'

inii !

iliil I

SAIUIE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUUIIT.

moment, nor does it look as if he were gradually
developing from a lower plane to a higher, but,
on the contrary, it appears as though the de-
velopment were already complete in this early
stage of human history.

Again we have conclusive evidence of the
maturity of the intellect of man in the sur-
prisingly early and splendid civilization of
Babylon — the construction of her massive
walls, the grandeur of her public edifices, the
paradisaical beauty of her gardens, and the
astonishing degree to which the fine arts were
cultivated.

Another startling evidence of the mental
status of man in primitive times was fur-
nished by the discovery of Dr. Bliss, which
was nothing less than a hot blast furnace
containing iron ore, thus proving that one
thousand five hundred years before Christ the
Amorites knev^ how to use the hot-air bla^it
instead of cold air, anticipating the improve-
ment in iron manufacture patented in 1828.

The Rosetta stone, which was discovered by
M. Boussard, a French officer oTf Engineers under

I I

I ilti

SAIillE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOL ClHT.

lually

•, but,

ic de-

early

)f the
e sur-
on of
lassive
es. the
id the
8 were

mental

fur-

which

urnace

it one

ist the

blast

Napoleon in 1799, has since proved of inestim-
able value in clearing away the mists of doubt
r'^lative to the past. It contains a trilingular
inscription in Hieroglyphics, Demotic, and Greek,
the latter furnishing a key for the interpre-
tation of the others.

The inscription contains a decree in honour of
Ptolemy Epiphanes by the priests of Egypt,
assembled in solemn conclave at Memphis, on
account of taxes owed by that consecrated body.
The stone was set up one hundred and ninety-
five years before Christ. The cartoiLches in the
first and second inscriptions upon the tablet,
which contained the name of the monarch, at
once showed that the last inscription recorded
the same truth as the others.

And now through the revelation made by
God's witness, which he had called forth from
its resting-place amid desert sands, where it had
lain entombed for many ages, the destructive
criticisms of skeptical minds were not only
neutralized in their effects, but utterly anni-
hilated.

Numerous other evidences are in existence of

Ill !

SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

m i

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an early intelligence, altogether equal to the moat
transparent and matured development of tho
present day along these lines, notable among
them the power that elevated stones, thirty feet
in length, six feet in width, and four feet in thick-
ness, to a height of four hundred and eighty
feet, in the construction of the Pyramid of
Cheops. Some authorities say that electricity
was used in elevating those enormous masses of
granite so high in the air, others e(jually dis-
tinguished maintain that steam was the power
used, whilst others as emphatically assert that
it was the incline plane. None, however, know
to a certainty what particular means were used,
but all know bej'^ond doubt that whatever it
was, it was in every respect equal to the best
known and most scientific motive power in use
in these closing years of a remarkable epoch.

Another soul-convincing demonstration of
early intellectual and inventive power in man
was the discovery of the remains of a Telephone
in India, which was proven to have been used
nearly two thousand years before the dawn of
the Christian era. Equally startling, and tend-

-<■»

SABRE THRUSTS AT FKEE-THOIJUHT.

ing in the same 'lirectioii, was tlie unearthing of
a case of surgical instruments from the ruins of
an ancient Eastern city, wliich were of exijuisite
workmanship, containing scalpels, lancets, probes,
etc., claimed to have been e(i[ual in design and
utility to those in use at the present day.

If, however, those who believe in the unfold-
ing or development of man, from the lower to
the higher plane, and also that life must precede
life in some form or order, are not convinced by
the astounding evidences produced as the result
of research, then we will say that the Bible story
of the creation of man will stand the test; an<l
if the worst comes which can come, then the
God who at the opportune moment called forth
his stony witnesses from their winding-sheet of
desert sand, that they might confound the ene-
mies of the truth, will raise up living witnesses
who will be able to reconcile the new teaching
with the seventh verse of the second chapter of
Genesis. Perhaps on the principle that as man
was formed from the dust of the ground, or
as the lower animal life preceded the higher, in
the form of man, and as plant life preceded

.SAHHE THRUSTS AT FUEE-THOlKiHT.

!
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ill

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I ii

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Miiini.'il life, the latter received its j^rriiiiiuitive
power t'roin the soil, tliUH ])ractieally coining
tlieret'roiii, and the lower order ot* animal life,
being gradually evolved tVoni preceding plant
life, God took the soulless animal, and breathed
into its nostrils the breath of life or soul, and
the higher or<ler of wha^ was still creation
appeared originally in the first stages of its
development ma<le from the dust of the ground,
now a living soul.

If in the coming ages that which is now
generally disbelieved or ridiculed should be
establislied upon the principles of truth, or if
scientific discovery should revolutionize thought,
still God's own inspiration shall stand every
tiery test and ever prove itself an impregnable
stronghold of eternal truth.

Again, we find that free-thought has been
playing loose wdth the teaching contained within
the fortieth chapter of the Book of Genesis,
relative to the conspiracy of the chief butler and
baker at Pharaoh's court, saying that the inter-
preting of the chief baker's dream by Joseph,
that he would be hanged and beheaded, was

SAIUli: TillU'STS AT FKKE-TMOlMJUT.

illative

al life,
r plant
eathed
il, and
reation
of its
rround,

is now
uld be
1, or if
lought,
every
gnable

,s been
within
;lenesis,
ler and
e inter-
Joseph,
d, was

contradictory, and tliat the twenty-second vei'se
explicitly says that it was done according to the
interpretation of Joseph.

In order to correctly understand these mat-
ters it is necessary to go back as far as the
period in which the first book of the Pentateuch
was written, and study the manners and cus-
toms of the people at that time. On doing
this we will find that the mode of dealing with
condenmed criminals was first to hang and then
to behead, or the reverse, as it was not neces-
sarily essential to suspend by the neck, as the
waist served the purpose e(|ually well, that of
subjecting the body to the indignity of having
the flesh plucked off* it by the fowls of the air.

Thus we find in the very chapter wh'ch has
been so severely assailed, a correct history of the
prevailing custom in those early ages, another
victory on the side of the forces of inspiration.

We shall now touch upon one of the greatest
battlegrounds of the Bible, namely, the author-
ship of the Pentateuch. Was Moses really the
author, or, if not, who was ? Sir Wm. Dawson,
and other scientists and theologians equally

SABRE THRL'STS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

! ^! i

distinguished, believe that Moses was the
author. Infidelity has taken advantage of
this, and, as the last chapter of Deuteronomy
contains the obituary of Moses, asks the ques-
tion, Co aid a dead man write his own death
notice ? We answer that under inspiration, with
the prophetic element stirred up within him, it "
was perfectly feasible. Also, he might have
written all of the five books attributed to
him, and after his death some other hand could ,
readily have added the closing chapter.

Again, there is a distinction between an author
and an editor. Moses, with prophetic instinct,
may have been the author or originator of
every line, some one also may have been the
editor or supervisor for publication. But why
needlessly spend mental energy over the discus-
sion of such a matter, or what difference does it
make whether Moses or some one else wrote the
Pentateuch ; it is in every respect an authentic
history of the times in which it was written, and
if Moses talked face to face with God in Sinai,
and received the tables containing the Moral
Law, amid the thunderings and threatenings of

SA»UE TnRl\STS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

lUGS-

that holy mount, and, avS mediator between God
and man, delivered that to the collective
people from which governments have framed
their codes, and by which potentates and kings
have regulated iheir lives, it matters not by
whom it was recorded, for all can see that it
bears upon its face the seal and imprimatur of
the " Ancient of days."

Infidelity has taken a last shot at the truths
of the Pentateuch, by assailing the verses
which contain the account of the burial of
Moses, declaring that it is preposterous that
he should have died and been buried and no
one, not even the children of Israel, knov/
the place of his grave. It must, however,
be borne in mind that the sixth verse of
the last chapter of Deuteronomy does not say
that the children of Israel did not know the
place of his burial. We gather from the verse
that they did, and common-sense endorses it.
But those who came after them did not know
its whereabouts, and in corroboration of the text
neither do they until this day

And now the greatest lawgiver of any age, and

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SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

the mightiest legislator of any period, having
laid down the sceptre of his God-given power,
the victorious and triumphant assertion rolls
down through the corridor of the ages with
the pound of storm -tossed waters and of Sinai tic
thunderings : " And there arose not a prophet
since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord
knew face to face."

" And had he not high honour, —

The hill- side for a pall,
To lie in state while angels wait,

With stars for tapers tall,
And the dark rock-pines, like tossing plumes,

Over his bier to wave,
And God's own hand in that lonely land

To lay him in the grave ?

" In that strange grave without a name,

Whence his uncoffined clay
Shall break again, oh, wondi'ous thought !

Before the Judgment Day,
And stand with glory wrapped around

On the hills he never trod,
And speak of the strife that won our life

With the Incarnate Son of God.

1 i I iiil

SAB[?E THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

"O lonely grave in Moab's lanil !

O dark Beth-Peor's hill,
Speak to these curious hearts of ours,

And teach them to be still,
God hath His mysteries of grace,

Ways that we cannot tell ;
He hides them deep, like tlie hidden sleep

Of him He loved so well."

*^-.

§ !

CHAPTER II.

The Deluge and Passage of the Red Sea.

The Pentateuch, upon which we have been com-
menting in the previous chapter, and which has
proved victorious in spite of the furious assaults
of Satanic power, has derived its name from the
two root-words Pente, five, and Teuchos, books,
from its containing the five books of the law.
One of its great cardinal truths is its history of
the deluge, and as this has been held up to more
ridicule than perhaps anything else within its
pages, we have purposely left its discussion for
this second chapter.

All men of whatever shade of opinion say,
furnish us with sufficient evidence that a certain
event has transpired, and we will at once accept
its authenticity. Then we shall proceed at once
to say that tradition, mythology and history
teem with data regarding the deluge, which

I i

SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

21)

was a submersion of the world, not necessarily
general but certainly as far as inhabited.

First in order comes the Babylonians from
among the Semites, with their version of this
wondrous event, which bears a striking simi-
larity to the Scripture narrative, tie most im-
portant authority for which is the eleventh lay
of the mythological epic, discovered by George
Smith, Esq., and coming from the library of
King Assurbanipal, dating from 660 B.C.; but
Dr. Schrader says that the original from which
this was translated was composed nearly as far
back in the ages as 2000 B.C., whilst mythology
itself in connection with this matter is much
older.

Egypt also had its story of th^ deluge in an
inscription of the archaic period Seti I., embody-
ing a sentiment in perfect harmony with that
in the Book of Genesis ; also the Jews have their
idea of the flood which is almost absolutely akin
to the Babylonian. In the duration of the flood,
however, they extended it to an entire solar year,
but all their authorities coincide in attributing it
to the exceeding sinfulness of man, and claim that

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SABRE THRUST.S AT FREE-THOUGHT.

the assurance was given that there would never
again be a recurrence of it.

Indian literature contains many stories of the
deluge, chief among them one which, iu two
points at least, agrees with the Bible narrative,
the introduction of animals into the ark, and
the fact that seven days elapsed between the
notice and the fulfilment.

Polynesian mythology and Grecian literature
also contain references to the flood as destroy-
ing all but a few men.

Investigations have been made by scientific
men among the American Indians concerning
the above matter, with the following results:
One hundred and twenty different tribes in
North, South and Central America have, in some
form or another, traditions or stories of a deluge,
away back in the morning of the ages of man's
existence, in which from one to eight persons
were saved in an enormous canoe or boat.

And now if, in the face of this mass of evidence,
a web, as it were, woven from tradition, myth-
ology and historical fact, infidelity should still
sneer at the idea of that upon which all kindreds

SABUE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

1 never

I of the
ill two
rrative,
'k, and
jen the

erature
lestroy-

jientitic
cerning
results :
ibes in
in some
deluge,

and peoples and tongues agree, then we hold
tliem up in their piteous imbecility, not to ridi-
cule and scorn, but to the pity and mercy of a
long-suffering public.

In closing our remarks upon the deluge, we
are just reminded that the sixth chapter of
Genesis and second verse has all along through .
the circling years been a bone of contention be-
tween believers and unbelievers. We must con-
fess that it is difficult to understand why free-
thought has made a target of these words : " The
sons of God saw the daughters of men that they
were fair, and they took them wives of all which
they chose." It is quite clear that in the former
part of the verse, the Sethites, or posterity of
Seth, is referred to, and they are called sons of
God on the same principle that true believers
are called children of God to-day. The Sethites
had received the baptism c»f the Holy Spirit, and
consetiuently led righteous lives, whereas, on the
other hand, the Cainites were the posterity of
a murderer, and consequently sunken to a very
low moral plane, and steeped in degradation — the
degenerate sons of a degenerate sii-e — and were

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mere men. Nothing can be clearer or more simple
than the teaching of the above verse, and cer-
tainly nothing so fallacious as to misinterpret
the term sons and associate it with angelology,
and the supernatural generally.

Another great historical truth that has had its
baptism of fire is the passage of the Red Sea by
the children of Israel (see verses twenty-first and
twenty-second of the fourteenth chapter of
Exodus). " And Moses stretched ou^ his hand over
the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to go back
by a strong east wind all that night, and made
the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
And the children of Israel went into the midst
of the sea upon the dry ground, and the waters
were a wall unto them on their right hand and
on their left."

The place where tlie people encamped was
Pihahiroth, over against Baalzephon, undoubt-
edly on the west side of the Gulf of Suez.
At the point mentioned above, the arm of the
sea which lay before them was but three or four
leagues across, thus enabling them to pass
through in a single night. Also, it was so shal-

SABIIE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUaHT.

simple
id cer-
terpret
jlology,

had its
Sea by
irst and
)ter of
nd over
ro back
i made
livided.
midst
waters
md and

ed was
idoubt-
Suez.
of the
or four
o pass
}o shal-

low at this particular point that a very strong
east wind would cause such an ebb as to leave the
bottom exposed. The twenty-first verse gives
color to this, and God caused the sea to go back
through this agency. Again, the twenty-second
verse states that the waters were as walls on
either side. This is where infidelity takes hold
and declares that there is contradiction. Let us
look into the matter and see. The Red Sea is
almost parallel with the line from the Arctic to
the Antarctic Circle, or almost due north and
south. Thus the efl'ect of an east wind would
not be to dry the arm or gulf before which
the children of Israel were encamped, by driving
the watei's seaward, thus emptying the whole
arm, for it would blow directly across, and any
schoolboy knows that an east wind cannot
drive opposing forces south, but, on the contrary,
will drive them westward.

Again, the ridiculously fallacious teaching
of those who believe that the gulf was cleared
through the natural agency of an east wind,
will be made apparent by the fact, that a hurri-
cane which could sweep a body of water eighty
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feet in depth clean off its bed of sand, would
destroy everything in its path. The most
powerful armies would be annihilated by its
destructive fury. The two and a half millions
of Israel, together with the thousands of Egypt's
lordly chivalry, would be but as dust before its
cyclonic force. But some one will say, perhaps,
the wind blew solely upon the water, and not
upon the land. If this was so, then the agency
made use of was miraculous that would, in a
distance of less than twelve miles, cut out a path
through nearly fourteen fathoms of water, so
that the hosts of God could pass through.

We, however, find the Almighty making use
of natural agency largely in connection with
his purposes and work, and also combining with
it the miraculous when necessary, and again sus-
pending all natural law^s, and by the exercise of
divine power calling forces hitherto unknown
into being.

The passage of the Red Sea seems in reason's
clear light to have been one of the great events
of the ages in connection with God's dealings
with his children, in which both natural and

SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

miraculous agencies were employed. The piling
of the waters in walls upon the right hand and
on the left, and the consequent suspension of
gravitation's laws, was essentially a miracle ; and
on the other hand, where the east wind blew
almost directly across this notable arm of the
sea, its scorching breath, peculiar to an Oriental
clime, dried the bottom, so that sandalled pedes-
trians could pass over. This is natural law.
Oh ! flippant and weak-kneed infidelity, why
question the illimitable power of him who has
all the forces of nature at his command, and
who doeth according to his will among the
armies of the skies.

Amid the assaults which have been made upon
various passages contained in the different
books of the Pentateuch, the twenty-fifth chap-
ter of Numbers has perhaps had more than its
share. Very little attention is paid by free-
thinkers to the opening verses, which treat of
the illicit commerce between the Israelites and
Moabites, and the seduction of the former to
idolatry. But the moment the wrath of the
Almighty was kindled against Israel because

SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-TIIOUOHT.

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many had bowed down to heathen gods and
worshipped them, and the Israelites had virtually
^iven themselves over to Baelpeor, and punish-
ment followed, as the ninth verse informs us, by
the destruction with plague of twenty-four
thousand of the sinning people, they become
clamorous and aggressive in as&ailing the mercy
of God, declaring that nothing but a harsh and
arbitrary being would inflict the death penalty
to such a degree. Also, their opposition is
intensified by the fact that when Phineas slew
Zimri and Cozbi for their transgression, his act
was approved by God himself, who promoted to
honor a bloodthirsty and cruel man.

The argument, then, is : the Bible represents
God to be a merciful being, whereas his actions
prove him to be the reverse. Now, let us take
the words of God's own inspiration, " The soul
that sinneth it shall die," and analyze them.
First, the soul is the man, the being or per-
sonality, or, in philosophical language, the ego,
I, or self. Second, sin is the transgression of a
righteous law, God-given. Then the man or
individual that trangresses divine law shall die.

SABKE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

esents
iions
take
soul
ihem.
per-
ego,
of a
■an or
1 die.

Hut some will say that it is spiritual death that
is here implied. With regard to tliis we must
remember that these scriptural terms :»^f very
comprehensive, covering all the ground, and
that not only spiritual but also physical death
is meant. The one may be inflicted, or the
other, but it certainly covers both. Then
regarding sin, we may add that every avowed
skeptic under the canopy of heaven will
admit that the sin of the Israelites was of
an intensely aggravated character. Thus com-
ing as they did under the ban of the law,
the infliction of a death penalty was simply
legal. An earthly autocrat can frame any law he
desires, and execute any punishment that is well
pleasing to him, without one of his subjects
daring to question his action. Let us, then, ask
what of the Infinite One, who controls the
motions of a hundred millions or more of worlds,
and who has at his bidding the disciplined
hosts of a universe, and who has upon his ves-
ture and his thigh a name written. King of
kings and Lord of lords.

Also regarding the slaughter of the twenty-

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SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

four thousand Israelities, as the punishment
of their transgression, God performed this act,
that through it two and a half millions of
people might be saved. Thus our readers will
at once see that the act of God was not only
in the strictest sense legal, but perfectly nat-
ural and abounding in mercy. It is et once
apparent that the arguments of intidele con-
cerning this matter are exceedingly debilitated
and contemptibly weak. In spite of them, the
great central truths of the books of the law
shine forth with undimmed lustre, resplendent
as the sun in his noon-day glory, reflecting the
face of him before whom cherubim and sera-
phim fall down with veiled faces, crying holy,
and proving the mercy of God to be high as
heaven, deep a,3 hell, and vast as infinity itself.
As we comprehend these truths, we catch the
inspiration of the gifted Addison when he com-
posed the following immortal lines :

"When all thy mercies, oh, my God,
My rising soul surveys.
Transported with the view I'm lost
In wonder, love, and praise.

SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

*' Unnumbered comforts on my soul
Thy tender care bestowed,
Before my infant heart conceived
From whom those comforts flowed.

" When ill the slippery paths of youth
With heedless steps I ran.
Thine arm unseen conveyed me safe,
And led me up to man.

"Through hidden dangers, toils and deaths,
It gently cleared my way.
And through the pleasing snares of vice,
More to be feared than they.

" Through every period of my life
Thy goodness I'll pursue.
And after death in distant worlds
The pleasing theme renew.

" Through all eternity to Thee
A grateful song I'll ra:so,
But, oh ! eternity's too short
To utter half thy praise."

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CHAPTER III.

Joshua as a Soldier, the Tel-el-Amarna Tablets, and the
Theocracy of Israel.

The historical boc ' of the Bible sublimely
open with the appointment of Joshua to the
command of the hosts of Israel by God himself.
The choice of the Ruler of the universe is but
anothf^r evidence that he never places his
hand upon the wrong man, and in this particu-
lar case his infinite wisdom was specially dem-
onstrated to the world by the choice of one of
the greatest military stra+'^i;ists of any age as
leader, just as the people nntering upon the

conquest of the promised lin)'.

As Canne crowned Hannibal ; Borodino, Napo-
leon ; Waterloo, Wellington, so Ai immortalized
Joshua as the master of the art of war. His
plans for the attack, his disposition of the
troops under his command, and at last his reso-
lute promptness and keen perception which
enabled him to discern the opportune moment,

SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

and to at once strike a crushing and annihilat-
ing blow, held him up to the admiration of the
war specialists everywhere, and conspired to-
gether to strike terror into the hearts of the
enemies of God's chosen people.

It will be noticed that although miraculous
agency was employed in the siege and fall of
Jericho, yet in the capture of Ai the Israelites
were thrown upon their own resources, after
having been humbled for their presumption in
first attacking a city garrisoned by twelve
thousand trained men with only three thou-
sand warriors. The wisdom of the Great
Eternal is once more seen in thus throwing
them into that position in which they would
be compelled to exercise courage, hardihood and
endurance, and by the development of these
(jualities thus prepare themselves for the battles
and marches and arduous toils that lay before
them in the subjugation of the Canaanitish
nations.

We must not pass over the crossing of the
Jordan in silence, as through the folly and weak-
ness of some who have endeavored to explain

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SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

the matter away upon the lines of natural law
infidelity has made this n special point of at-
tack, and in reply to these assaults we will not
only say that it was a miracle, but also that it
was one of the occasions upon which the Almighty
especially manifested his power to the children
of men.

On ordinary occasions it would scarcely re-
quire a miracle to dry up the bed of the Jordan,
as it was so shallow. Indeed, one of the great-
est scientists on earth has said that for two
thousand years it has been so nearly dry at the
fords that immersion has been absolutely im-
possible except during the periods of freshets.
But at this time in barley harvest, presumably
in the month of April, when Jordan always over-
flowed its banks and was in full flood, the stop-
ping of the waters as though an enormous invis-
ible dam had been constructed, sending them
back once again, in violation of gravitation's
law, toward their fountain-head, was a miracle
so stupendous that it does not require the ex-
penditure of nerve tissue to endeavor to prove
it. The whole matter is tersely summed up by

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SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

ural law
tit of at-
will not
that it
Almighty
children

Tcely re-
e Jordan,
he great-
for two
ry at the
titely im-
freshets.
sumably
ays over-
lie stop-
US invis-
ig them
station's
miracle
the ex-
to prove
up by

the Psalmist of Israel in the cxiv. Psalm, where
he shows the power of God, more especially in
the third and fifth verses : " The sea saw it and
fled: Jordan was driven back. What ailed thee,
O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan,
that thou was driven back ?" The fiat of om-
nipotence has gone forth, the wand of the Al-
mighty has touched the liquid elements, and
they have retreated in consternation, proclaim-
ing with sullen roar the might and majesty of a
triumphant and victorious God.

Again, concerning the authorship of the
book which stands first in the historical list,
free-thought says Joshua is not the author.
We meet it on its own platform and say that is
substantially correct. Then it says the Bible
classifies this as the Book of Joshua, therefore
there is something wrong. We, however, find
on analyzing the matter that the history con-
tained therein is one of Joshua himself as leader
of God's chosen heritage, treating of his victori-
ous battles, his conquest of the goodly land and
the manifestations of the divine presence to him
and his. Thus we find that on the human side

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Joshua is the central figure. The book treats
of his life, his work and his death, at the age of
one hundred and ten years. In no case does the
Bible say that Joshua was the author of the
book, but it calls it the Book of Joshua, because
of the matter it contains, which is substantially
correct, and the carping of infidelity has been
silenced forever along this line by the discovery
in Egypt of the Tel-el-Amarna Tablets within
recent years, which contain one hundred and
seventy letters from Palestine, and the names of
kings who were contemporary with Joshua, and
thus confirming for all time the historical ac-
curacy of the Book of Joshua.

One stone was discovered by Dr. Bliss, in May,
1892, which contained inscriptions on both sides;
the Tel-el-Amarna Tablets having been discov-
ered in 1887 by a peasant woman, one hundred
and eighty miles south of Cairo, and containing
some letters from Lachish to the Pharaohs of
Egypt. These were compared with the tablet
discovered by Dr. Bliss, and, to the delight of
biblical scholars everywhere, they harmonized to
a nicety.

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SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

k treats
e age of
does the
r of the
, because
tantially
las been
iscovery
s within
Ired and
aames of
hua, and
rical ac-

in May,
th sides;
I discov-
lundred
itaining
•aohs of
e tablet
ight of
nized to

^€

The intelligent observer will at once see that
the art of writing was known and practised in
pre-Israelitish times. The date of the Moabite
stone is said to be from 900 B.C., but the pres-
ence of a seal of Amenhotep III. establishes the
time of the Lachish tablets at 1415 B.C.

Those who have maintained in the past that
the Books of the Law could not have been writ-
ten at the dates specified, as writing was not
known in Palestine until the ninth century
before Christ, will feel humiliated to have it
proven, as it now is, that the Israelites were
always, both during their bondage in Egypt
and their sojourn in Canaan, surrounded by
nations of critical culture who were adepts in
the art of writing. Also, the theory that the
records of the Old Testament were derived from
mere tradition is now exploded by recent dis-
covery and scattered to the winds of heaven.
This is all but another evidence of the triumph
of God's own inspiration over every theory and
system of falsity and error.

'^ Engraven in eternal brass
The endless promise shines,
Nor shall the powers of darkness raze
Those everlasting lines."

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Another point upon which there has been
conflicting opinions in the past, and upon which
there is a great deal of misunderstanding, even
among good people, in these closing years of a
scientific decade, is the relationship of the
theocratic government of Israel to the secular
governments of to-day.

As the historical books of the Bible treat of
the theocracy — that is, a government with God
at its head, from the Greek words, Osos, God,
and Hpat€iv, strong, to rule, etc.— and God's
dealings with his chosen people, we judge it
wise at this juncture to look critically into
the matter and discover, if possible, the true
import of the divine teaching.

It will be remembered that as God was the
director-in-chief of his people Israel, that for
this reason the government was not absolutely
secular, and all that was required in consequence
of this was the rendering unto God a tenth of
the yearly returns, both of the fruit of the field
and the increase of the flock. It must be borne
in mind that there was no land or school tax ;
the tenth was all that was demanded or ex-

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pected, and to those who think that the com-
mand is for the citizens of countries under the
secular governments of to-day, we will say that
they are very much mistaken, as there is a vast
difference between the existent conditions of
things thousands of years ago, before Saul was
chosen king of Israel, and to-day, to say nothing
about the intensely spiritual character of the
one and the temporal character of the other.

The sum total of all expense in connection
with the theocracy was one- tenth, as commanded.
On the same principle, if i ;iplied in this day, the
tenth would include all taxes paid for the sup-
port of the State and its institutions.

But though the above is substantially correct,
yet we will add thau ctlthough we in this age,
under monarchical and republican forms of gov-
ernment, are not commanded to give a tenth,
yet blessed is he who will of his own free-will
do so. It is certainly more creditable for us to
do a thing voluntarily than to do it because we
cannot help it, and if there were more volunteers
along this line many a problem that is now
difficult of solution to the Church of God would

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speedily be solved, and the blessing of the lowly
Nazarene would descend in copious showers
upon his faithful followers, and some seer, as in
the olden time, would catch up an inspiration
from on high, saying, '' Lo, I see with the Son of
David a great host, and it soems as though it
were the host of God." And, above all, we should
stand approved by him at whose gaze worlds
will flee away and countless multitudes shall
blanch in terror. " Gather the tithes in my
storehouses, and prove me therewith, saith the
Lord, and see if I will not open the windows of
heaven and pour out upon you blessings that
there will not be room to contain."

There has been comparatively little criticism
or doubt expressed relative to the historical
accuracy of the remaining books in this depart-
ment of Biblical literature. Even the free-
thinker admits that it is history, although he
will not admit that there is a Divine arm within
it. We will see what Napoleon I. says about it.
Upon a certain occasion a staff officer said to
this man with intellect of giant mould, "I do
not believe that there is a God." His com-

SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

mander turned sharply upon him, saying, " Fool !
read history."

If one of earth's greatest minds saw the hand
of God revealed in profane history, let us ask,
What of that which is sacred ? We have all
noticed, no matter how dense our perceptions,
in the study of the Seven Years' War and of the
Napoleonic wars, and others as well, that destiny
was being shaped and certain conditions fash-
ioned which were destined, sooner or later, in
God's good time, to revolutionize society. This
is conclusive evidence that a Supreme Hand was
upon the helm and that a Master's eye guided
the vessel amid the so-called chances of war. If
our conceptions enabled us to discern this in the
secular sense and in connection with the doings
of men of blood, how much more in God's deal-
ings with his chosen inheritance ?

Free-thought has made a furious assault upon

the second Book of Chronicles, in connection

with Solomon's asking wisdom from God, and

receiving it, and then, by his actions in after

years, proving himself more foolish than the

average man. We admit at this particular stage
4

SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

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that along certain lines he acted most unwisely,
at times being guilty of the greatest folly. But
neither infidelity, nor any other system of error,
can place the pointer upon a single case where,
in the capacity of judge, he did not manifest
consummate wisdom and judgment. Now the
question at issue is. Did Solomon ask for
general or special wisdom ? Let us note the
reading of the received text. In second Chroni-
cles, chapter one r tenth verse, he says, " Give
me now wisdom .^.^^ knowledge, that I may go
out and come in before this people : for who
can judge this thy people, that is so great ? "
It is quite evident from the reading of this
verse that the king is thinking of his position
as judge alone, and fearing that he should not
be able to render just judgment, he asks God
for discernment and discretion along this par-
ticular line. Evidence of this is in the eleventh
verse, the wording of which proves that God
interpreted the petition of his servant in this
way, and God said to Solomon, "Because this was
in thine heart, and thou hast not asked riches,
wealth or honour, nor the life of thine enemies,

SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT. 51

neither yet hast asked long life ; but hast asked
wisdom and knowledge for thyself, that thou
mayst judge my people, over whom I have
made thee king."

This proves beyond all doubt that the wis-
dom a^ked for and received was of a special
judicial character; thus free-thought has missed
Its mark, and instead of scoring a point here
h. but proved its hollow superficiality; and
David s son, though erring grievously at a later
day still preserved inviolate unto the end his
Ood-given discernment in the disposition of
cases along legal linea

Ji ■■■"

CHAPTER IV.

Science and the Bible, and the Immortality of the Soul.

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A MUCH favoured argument of infidelity is
that science and tho Bible are not in harmony
the one with the other, and that the most
recent discoveries along these lines tend to
weaken the teaching of revelation, so called.
That this is untrue is at once evident, not only
by the teaching of the Book of Genesis, but
also by the saying of Job under inspiration,
when he gave utterance to the astounding fact
that ages ago he clearly understood the position
occupied by this planet, amid the unnumbered
millions of suns and systems and constellations
which bespangled the universe; whilst ages
later men were completely befogged concerning
this mattor, some of the ancient philosophers
teaching that it was absolutely impossible for
a material substance to rest upon nonentity.

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SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

Also, the Chaldee taught that this planet
rested upon the waters. Modern science, how-
ever, has definitely settled the matter by its
declaration, with accompanying proofs, that the
earth is swung off in space, revolving upon its
own axis, as one of the many worlds which go
to make up the solar system, of which the sun
is centre. Let us hear what hoary-headed
patriarchal Job says, long before young science
first marked its natal hour : " He stretcheth out
the north over the empty place, and hangeth the
earth upon nothing," precisely where modern
science hangs it. The above declaration will
be found in the xxvi. chapter of the Book of
Job, and the seventh verse.

Again, the doctrine of resurrection, life and
immortality, as taught by Job, where he breaks
forth into the following sublime utterance :
" I know that my Redeemer liveth, and he shall
stand at the latter day upon the earth, and
though after my skin worms destroy this body,
yet in my flesh shall I see God : whom I shall
see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold and
not another," has been held up to ridicule and

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contempt. Reganiing the former we need not
say much, as all around us we have not only
that which is typical of a new life, but we
hcye resurrection itself — the springing grass,
the budding trees, all passing from the death
of winter to the life of spring. If, then, this
principle prevails in a material sense, in a
world of matter, we need not waste time in
showing that it can be applied, or that it
actually prevails in any sense or condition.

With regard to the doctrine of immortality,
a witness to it, in literature, philosophy and
life is given by the Rev. Geo. A. Gordon,
of Boston, in an admirable volume, a brief
synopsis of which we shall give in the review-
er's words, to strengthen our argument : —

" The present volume treats with consummate
skill one of the profoundest problems of the
universe. It gathers from the past the testi-
mony of the ages to the doctrine of the im-
mortality of man. In its pages the Divine
voice is heard along the highways of history,
caught by the loftiest spirits of the race, and
passed onward through their resonant human-

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late
the
isti-
im-
dne
lory,
land
lan-

ity, touching the individual soul with the
original utterance of God, all but completely
blended with the grand responses and rever-
berations of the grateful heart of mankind.

Not everyone can range for himself through
the almost boundless domain of literature. Hence
tlie world owes a debt of gratitude to men who,
like the author and Matthew Arnold, spread the
knowledge of the best thinking of the highest
minds among the people. Our author interprets
first, with deep insight, the testimony of the old
Hebrew prophets upon the doctrine of immor-
tality. Not dimly and vaguely does he find it
set forth in psalm and prophec}^ , but with strong
and positive assurance. He next summons the
testimony of the great poets of all time. From
Homer, Dante, Wordsworth, Shakespeare,
Browning and Tennyson, he cites the strong
corroboration of that primal instinct of the
race, grasping after God and immortality. The
voice of philosophy, of faith and reason, is next
summoned. In Socrates, Plato and Origen, from
Butler, Kant and Lotze, deepest confirmation of
this immortal yearning is found. The argument

SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

of St. Paul is expanded and unfolded, and in
the teaching of Jesus Christ is found its highest
demonstration. The whole book is characterized
by an elevation of thought, and a strength and
beauty of diction, in keeping with the august
theme treated. The author winds up by quot-
ing the following grim, strong poem of W. E.
Henley :

" ' Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be,
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance,
I have not winced or cried aloud ;

Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but not bowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears.
Looms but the horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishment the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.' "

SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

Mr. Gordon says this surely is the desperate
expression of a faith intrinsically great. The
primacy of soul could hardly receive more
powerful utterance, and the man who is so
certain of the soul should not find it difiicult to
rest in the deepest certainty of God.

This doctrine of immortal and eternal life
was strongly endorsed by Victor Hugo, who on
one occasion was invited to attend a banquet,
held in the gay and fashionable city of Paris,
which was attended by the elite of society,
many of whom were at that time represent-
atives of free-thought in France. Said he, as he
rose to speak impromptu : " There are voices
welling up within my inmost soul that teach
me of immortality and a life beyond the grave."
As he proceeded with his sublime and eloquent
utterances, a hush as of death fell upon the
entire party. It seemed as though the speaker
were inspired of God for the occasion, and all
sat in awe under the shadow of his power.

Napoleon administered a stinging rebuke to
his aide-de-camp on one memorable morning, as
they walked through the art gallery of the

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Louvre. Said the aide, as he halted before a
famous picture, " Sire, this painting is immortal."
" How long will it last ?" s.nid the man of mighty
genius. "Five hundred years was the reply."
"And this, and this" said Napoleon with a
sneer, *' you call immortality." This master of
the art of war, one of the greatest military strate-
gists of any age, and one of the mightiest intel-
lects that ever grappled wiih thought, had just
and truj conceptions of this wondrous doctrine.
Mythology also teaches important lessons
along this line, but some will say of what use is
it. Let it be remembered, howeve , that behind
the myth is the golden truth, and behind
the shadow is the substance. It treats of the
manner in which disembodied spirits accost
Charon, the grim ferryman, toss him a coin, and
ask him to row them over the River Styx into
the immortalities beyond. More conspicuous
than this, however, has been the customs that
have prevailed in the past, as recorded by
history, in connection with peoples and tribes,
which point conclusively to the fact that they
implicitly believed in a future state, such as
that of the Oriental people, who upon the death

SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

of a friend at once placed a coin in the mouth
of the departed, to pay for safe transit over the
last stream into the boundless beyond, and the
prevalent custom among our own Indian tribes
of placing arms in the graves of their dead
with which to hunt the buffalo and deer in the
happy hunting grounds over death's dark stream.
Also African explorers speak of having met with
tribes in the heart of the Dark Continent who
placed within the tent which was erected over
their embalmed dead implements of war and the
chase for use in the future state.

Thus we find the voice of mythology, the
voice of history, and the voice of reason, all
proclaiming with clarion blast the universal
belief in the doctrine of a future state, and of
the immortality of the soul.

. . "Plato, thou reasonest well :
Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire,
This longing after immortality ?

. . . Why shrinks the soul

Back on itself, and startles at destruction?"

*Tis the divinity that Hugo voiced in Parisian
banquet that "stirs within us, that points out
an hereafter and intimates eternity to man."

i<h

CHAPTER V.

Testimony to the Genuineness of Prophecy.

Ii>|i i

Prophecy, like many other departments of
God's Word, has received its share of hostile
criticism, and yet the writings of tl e seers of
old stand forth in their glorious literary dress,
teaching that which, in most cases at least, has
been fulfilled to the very letter, thus proving its
truthfulness, that it is indeed a foretelling, or
telling forth, of scenes to be enacted at a later
date, and of events that were to transpire in
coming generations.

In the visions of Ezekiel and Daniel, among
the greater prophets; the warnings of Jonah
and the reproofs of Malachi, among the lesser,
we have sublime thought, and strong diction^
and eloquent language, stamping it at once as
the finest product: jn of past ages.

During the sojourn of Dr. Franklin in Paris,

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he was invited to attend an evening party,
where were present a number of ladies and
gentlemen, representing the cream of free-think-
ing French society. They soon commenced a
conversation on the merits and demerits of the
Bible, chiefly the latter, as we might suppose.
One said, as a piece of literature it was a total
failure. Another said the grammar was faulty
and the diction feeble ; and a third declared its
teachings to be false. Dr. Franklin listened in
silence for a time, but having previously told
some of the party that he had recently read a
new book which interested him very much, was
asked by the company to read a portion of it, as
they had little doubt that whatever pleased the
Doctor would be good. He at once complied
with the request, and, having finished the chap-
ter selected, asked the opinion of those present
regarding it. The first speaker said that it was
the choicest literature he had ever heard, whilst
the second declared it to be superb in every
particular ; others testifying to the correctness
of the grammar and the purity of the style.
Dr. Franklin was asked to state who was

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the author of so splendid a production. He at
once affirmed that what he had read was the
prayer of the Prophet Habakkuk. The surprise
and chagrin of the fashionable company may
easily be imagined. They had really never read
the Word of God, and were unable to form any
conception of its beauty and value. The trouble
all along the lines with the votaries of free-
thought and infidelity has been that their
knowledge of that which they presumed to
judge was too superficial to enable them to see
its grandeur and feel its power. Strange that
men should judge and condemn that which they
do not know, or pronounce that shallow or
untrue which no plummet line can fathom unless
tipped with the sinker of omnipotence.

In connection with prophecy and its teach-
ings, infidelity seems to be peculiarly puzzled
over the visions of Nebuchadnezzar, and de-
clares t^ it they represent nothing more than an
ordinary nightmare. Now, we admit this to be
true, if Daniel's predictive interpretation of the
matter is not fulfilled to the letter ; and if it is
fulfilled we have the assurance from more than

SABHE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

63.

one free-thinker that tlie proof is sufficient and
the evidence strong enough to warrant the belief
that the dream was of divine import, and noth-
ing more or less than a revelation to man.

After exhaustive and painstaking labour in
thoroughly ransacking the pages of ancient
secular history, and comparing their teachings
with prophecy, as set forth in the interpretation
of the king's dream, we are convinced that, in
the light of history, the construction placed
upon it was substantially correct, and unbelief is
hopelessly entangled in its own trap, and judged
out of its own mouth.

It is as clear as the sun at noonday that the
first and greatest kingdom spoken of by the
prophet was the Chaldean or Babylonish, repre-
sented by the head of the image. The second,
the Medo-Persian, under Cyrus, symbolized by
the breast and arms of silver. The third, the
Grecian or Macedonian, under Alexander the
Great, shadowed forth by the belly and thighs
of brass ; and, fourth, the great Roman power,
represented by the legs of iron. In the fortieth
verse of the second chapter of Daniel, we have a

SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

splendid description of the enormous power of
Rome, as breaking in pieces and subduing all
things.

Again, in the forty-fourth verse : " And in the
days of these kings " (or in the midst of these
great world empires) " shall the God of heaven
set up a kingdom, which shall never be de-
stroyed, but which shall break and consume all
earthly powers and stand for ever." This is
clearly the Church or the spiritual kingdom of
God, of which Christ is the chief corner-stone,
elect, precious. Then because of the interpreta-
tion of this immortal dream, rewards were lavished
upon him who with mind endowed with clearer
spiritual insight than falls to lot of man in the
ordinary walks of life, was enabled to interpret,
in perfect harmony with reason and history, the
mysterious things of God.

Again, with regard to the vision of Daniel as
recorded in the seventh chapter, the meaning of
the original Hebrew text of the second verse,
where the four winds strove upon the great
sea, is tumultuousnese turbulence, political com-
motion, out of which military despotisms rise

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SABRE THRUSTS AT FRFE-THOUGHT.

in great power. Then the eagle's wings of the
first beast showed the rapidity of the Chaldean
conquests, when Egypt, Judea, Phcenicia, and
Arabia were overrun. " I beheld," said the pro-
phet, " until the wings were plucked," symboliz-
ing the reverses which caused the loss of Lydia,
Media and Persia.

The second beast, like unto a bear, repre-
sented the ferocious Persian power, the three
ribs in the mouth of which signified the grind-
ing of Babylon, Lydia and Egypt by their
relentless conquerors. The third beast, like a
leopard, with four wings, showing the astonish-
ing rapidity with which the Macedonian armies
under Alexander overrun surrounding king-
doms, the four heads typifying the partition of
the empire, at the death of this great strategist,
into four parts under his own generals. The
fourth power, also shadowed forth by a beast,
was that tremendous empirical fabric whose
governmental system centred in the city of the
Seven Hills, the ten horns of which signified
the division of the empire into ten kingdoms,
on the death of Theodosius the Great, The

SABKE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

''!'!! l! I

twenty-fourth verse of the seventh chapter at
once confirms this.

Also the little horn which appeared among
the others refers undoubtedly to and typifies
the Papal power, and the plucking up of the
three horns by the roots, the seizure of Ravenna,
Lombardy, and Rome, and then the restraining
judgments of the Lord God Almighty, in the
person of the ancient of days, upon anti-Christian
hierarchies and powers, all culminating in the
matchless climax contained in thetwenty-seventh
verse : " And the kingdom, and dominion and
the greatness of the kingdom under the whole
heaven, shall be given to the people of the
saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an
everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall
serve and obey him."

An important lesson is to be learned from the
life and manly conduct and undaunted courage of
the Prophet Daniel. This, coupled with implicit
faith and unwavering loyalty to God, made him
as he stood before foreign potentates, though an
alien and a captive, a wondrous influence for
good. The spotless purity of his character waa

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a ceaseless rebuke to the licentiousness of an
Oriental Court. His quiet, dignifiei '^^meanor,
and countenance fairer than his f iio'vi, frank
and bright, testified powerfully and eloquently
to his hourly walk and communion with his
God. No marvel, then, that God revealed him-
self to such a man, and gave him favour in the
sight of kings, so that at last like righteous
Joseph in Egypt, political preferment was his
and the honors that descend from God. If blind
unbelief that always errs will but open its
sightless orbs to the touch of the wand of
omnipotence, and see and believe, then the
Eternal Spirit will reveal his power, and the
pathway toward the rest that remaineth for the
people of God shall be illuminated by the pres-
ence of him who is the light of the Apocalyptic
city. Also, if sinful man will stand forth and
dare to be a Daniel, in the possession of a pur-
pose true, obeying God's commands, he who
made Joseph prime minister of all Egypt and
Daniel first president of the great Chaldean
Commonwealth, will, if the consecration is
whole-souled, the life pure, and the faith

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steadfast, lead not perhaps to political honor,
that might not be best, not perhaps to earthly
fame and worldly distinction, but to be the
child of a King, and heir to an inheritance
incorruptible, undefiled, and which fadeth not
away.

Again, regarding prophecy, we might say,
supposing ages ago some one of that race known
as mound-builders, who inhabited a part at least
of this North American continent, predicted
that in 1497 Canada would be discovered by
Cabot; that in 1710 the English would invade
the country and storm Port Royal; that in
1759, after a terrific conflict, in which 2,200
would be slain, together with their leaders
Wolfe and Montcalm, Quebec, the Gibraltar of
the West, would be taken; that in 1763, the
Treaty of Paris would be signed, in which Canada
would be formally ceded to Britain; that in
1812, '13 and '14, there would be war between
the United States and Great Britain, during the
progress of whicli Canada would be invaded by
the American armies, and the battles of Queens-
ton Heights, Lundy's Lane, Chrysler's Farm,

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SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

Chauteguay, and others, would be fought, an i
as the result of them a better relationship and
more permenant peace established; that in
1866 there would be a union of all the Canadian
provinces, with the result of the establishment
of the confederated Dominion of Canada, and
that in the year 2000 A.D., its population would
be 100,000,000.

And now as it is clearly apparent that every
prediction has been fulfilled but the last, is it,
therefore, reasonable to suppose for one brief
moment that as every other of the predictions
had been verified at the time indicated, we would
refuse to accept the prophecy relating to the
one remaining; the very supposition is ridiculous.

We now pass from the purely secular to the
spiritual, the former teaching an important
lesson in its bearing upon the latter. Reasoning
along the same line, we have the following: sucli
as Jeremiah's foretelling the overrunning of
Judea by 'iostile armies, the destruction of
Jesusalem, and the captivity of the people ; Joel
telling forth how the judgments of God wouhl
descend upon the enemies of his people, and liow

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hostile nations would be destroyed; Obadicah
predicting the overthrow of Edom ; and Micah,
the incarnation of the Son of God, together with
the founding and expansion of his mystic
kingdom and his mighty conquest.

Every one of these prophecies has been ful-
filled to the very letter, including all the Messi-
anic predicti(jns of the Old Testament. This
alone is incontrovertible evidence of the truth
of prophecy. If, however, after perusing these
lines some one still doubts, we would say, in the
language of Napoleon, Fool, read history. Thus if
the imagined forecasts of pre-historic man proved
themselves to be substantially correct, and we
are forced to believe that the one remaining will
at the time appointed also verify itself on the
same ground, history reveals the fact that all
those utterances of the seers of old have proved
themselves to have been divinely inspired by
their literal fulfilment, and if there should be
one yet remaining unfulfilled, is not the verifica-
tion of the others substantial and logical proof
that in God's good time any remaining will be
fulfilled.

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SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

We have purposely left until last the record-
ing of a few comments upon the greatest of all
the books of prophecy, namely, Isaiah. During
a ministry of fifty years, he uttered some of the
sublimest truths ever recorded in any literature.
With regard to the last chapters of this book
we will say nothing, believing that the higher
criticism has its place, and that this ground
rightfully belongs to it.

The first verse of the book contains the key
to the entire fabric : " The vision of Isaiah the
son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah
and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham,
Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah." This at
once gives us the scope of the whole book.

The first assault of infidelity is on the
authorship of the opening chapters, its votaries
knowing that if they could prove that Isaiah
did not write the first half of the book ascribed
to him, the last half was all right, and they had
given prophecy a heavy blow. We will not,
however, concede that this is even shrewd, for if
Isaiah had never penned a line thereof, it is still
clear that a true prophet was the author, for its

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orthodoxy is proven by the fulfilment of its
predictions, and what difference would it make
who the writer was ? But we have only to know
the character of Isaiah and his writings, and by
making a careful comparison, will at once see
that they have been written by a man of high
social position, great independence in thought
and action as the outgrowth of it, strong diction,
eloquent language, and dignified and elevated
style. The prophet Isaiah was just such a man
as this, and we must bear in mind that if he
were writing under the influence and dictation
of the Spirit his would still be that same lofty
style which characterized his ordinary work.
This we take as conclusive evidence that the
theory generally accepted is substantially
correct.

Again, the fourth chapter of this book has
been subjected lo ridicule because of its teach-
ings ; the chief thought in connection with it is
contained in the second verse : " In that day
shall the branch of the Lord be glorious and
beautiful." This is clearly a Messianic prediction
relating to the Christ of God : in the fulness of

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time the eternal Son came. This ground has
been taken by Delitzeh, the greatest of the Ger-
man school of theologians, and also by Heuges-
tenburgh.

In the twenty-first chapter and ninth verse, the
prophet in his usual strong forcible manner, pre-
dicted the overthrow of Chaldee: " Babylon is fal-
len, and all the graven images of her gods he hath
broken to the ground." This prophecy was ful-
filled to the very letter, a crushing blow to the
arguments of free-thought. At the very time
stipulated, the Medes and Persians attacked the
city and stormed it, overthrowing the established
government and completely revolutionizing the
administration.

We would advise infidelity to critically study
the literature of the ages, and especially to ran-
sack the pages of ancient secular history, and it
will discover truths that will utterly destroy
the foundation-stone of its own teaching.

One of the most pitiable and lamentable
sights that we behold, as we stand upon the
threshold of the twentieth century, is to find
second or third class, or low grade research,

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Jl H \.

cloaked under the ^ise of first class English,
which we find far too frequently in the litera-
ture of free-thought. Some, however, we find
willing to modify their former belief by ad-
mitting the New Testament, and discarding the
Old, arguing that it has no place in the new
dispensation. The weakness of the argument,
and the foolishness of the doctrine, is at once
apparent when we consider the fact that this
would do away with the moral law, from which
every civilized government on earth has framed
its code, and which is the very bond that holds
society together, the sundering of which would
bring anarchy, with its twin sister, a reign of
terror. The Old Testament Word is now before
us in all its sublimity and grandeur — a heaven-
inspired reality — backed up by science, history
and reason, endorsed by the highest teaching of
any age or any reputable school. The influence
and effect of this Word has revolutionized sys-
tems and sent a flood of light throughout a
darkened world. Every form of unbelief goes
down before it in utter ruin, thrones and dynas-
ties stand upon it, no form or system of govern-

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SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

ment can exist without it. The power that
backs home that word is the power that controls
the constellations of the skies and the galaxies
of the heavens, and the universal empire of the
highest ; yea, that word is the magnetic power
that led our fathers to glory only m the cross
of Christ, which towers above the wrecks of
time, and which confounded the cunning craft
and evil devices of men who fear not God,
neither honor the reigning power, who are
enemies to every organized system under the
star-spangled heavens. That word is truly the
power that has led us, and will continue to lead
us, unto our fathers' God, and which will guide
us into the encircling light of a joyous, gladsome
eventide, to the shores of the eternal morrow.
Thomas Carlyle, in commenting on religion
and infidelity, said religion cannot pass away.
The burning of a little straw may hide the stars,
but those orbs of light are still there and will
reappear, therefore be not disturbed by infi-
delity. Also Herbert Spencer, who has not al-
ways been considered a friend to religious truth,
says : "If there were not a God we would be

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SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT

compelled to invent one that justice might be
meted out to sinful men."

Again, the testimony of philosophy is con-
vincingly on the side of Revelation. Those who
are best read therein, admit that the new
philosophy, so called, is but the old, including
Plato and Aristotle, rehabilitated, and that in
every form, especially in the idealist, is taught
the fact that reason endorses the sentiment that
man can be approximately perfect, whereas the
Bible says, " Be ye therefore perfect, even as
your Father which is in heaven is perfect " —
a striking harmony between reason and inspira-
tion.

Again, it has been demonstrated by one of
the greatest authorities on the origin of lan-
guage, namely, Dr. McLean, that atheism has
no medium through which to express itself, for
in all languages there are roots and words,
indicative of Christianity and religion, in some
form. Thus reasoning from the above premise
we arrive at this conclusion, that every time
infidelity makes use of any language, this very
medium through which it endeavors to convey

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SABRE THRTTSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT,

thought, give.- it the lie, and proves it an un-
mitigated farce.

As the voice of science and philos* 'pliy has
endorsed the teachings of the Scriptures of God,
so also has the testimony of the most famous of
the world's astronomers, Sir John Herschel, in
awe acknowledged the stupendous work of the
Divine Architect ; and as he swept the heavens
with his powerful telescope, rendered his tribute
of praise to the One who alone held illimitable
power and exercised universal authority.

General 0. M. Mitchell, in calling out new
worlds, from the unknown to the known, gave
expression to some such sentiment as this :
" Engaged as I am in the department of astrono-
mical science, in viewing worlds as yet unex-
plored, and in looking into the faces of suns the
centres of other systems, in all such I see,
mirrored in glory, the face of the Omnipotent
One."

Thus we see on every hand, despite the fact
that the fleshly arm of unbelief has been lifted
in opposition, nature, art, science, philosophy,
mythology, history, reason, the star-spangled

78 SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE- | UOUGHT.

heavens, and everytliing, proclaim, as th«! suuiid
of many waters, the Hand that framed the
universe is Divine.

•' Jesus doth reign where'er the sun
Doth his successive journey run ;
His kingdom spread from shore to shore,
Till suns shall rise and set no more. "

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PART SECOxND.

CHAPTER I.

Testimony to Genuineness of the Gospels, the Doctrine of
the Trinity, and of the Intermediate State.

As the Pentateuch is the great battle-ground
of the Old Testament, so also are the Gospels of
fche New. Unbeuef has strenuously endeavored
to make • ^ a clear case against the writings of
the synoptists-first, on the ground that they are
not genuine; second, they do not harmonize;
third, the subject of them is a myth. With re-
gard to the genuineness thereof, we may say the
same as we have said regarding Isaiah and the
prophecies ascribed to him. His character and
style is indelibly stamped upon his writings, and
we will find in the case of St. Luke's Gospel
where we understand that it was written by a
physician, that the facts are the same, for it
6

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SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

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scarcely requires a critical reader to discern, be-
fore he has covered many chapters, that the
book has been written by a man of culture and
keen discernment, endowed with scientific mind
and logical perception.

The same may be said of the other Gospels,
though not written by men of broad culture and
anatomical k^iowledge, yet we find on learning
the mannerisms of these persons that the writ-
iii^y-j correspond to a surprising degree with
the peculiar characteristics possessed by the in-
dividuals themselves.

if, however, they had never been written by
the authors to whom they are ascribed, and free-
thought had proved ihis, yet the solid facts
stand there with as steady a light, and as incon-
trovertible as ever. That four diflferent men, in
ditferent places, at different times, and without
any knowledge of each other's work, should
write the same facts, though in different words,
concerning the coming, work, death and resur-
rection of the Son of God, is an astounding
prcx)f of its divine inspiration.

Indeed, so conclvisive is this evidence that it

SABRE THKUST8 AT FREE-THOUGHT.

would be a work of supererogation to produce
any other. While running in this line we
might touch upon the prophetic office of Christ
which has been sneered at by carpers. He pre-
dicted the downfall of Jerusalem and the temple
saying the day would surely come in which
there would not be one stone left upon another,
and when Judaism saw tho city encompassed
with Roman armies and soon beheld the abom-
ination of desolations, it was convinced that the
Messiah was a true prophet, and still more so
when he foretold his death and resurrection :
and true to it, lie died at the hands of the Jewish
rabble and arose again on the tliird day, thus
proving his divine sonship, and turning the
scornful sneers of his foes into wailings of woe.
He also established the doctrine of the Trinity
by saying, "When J go away I will send the Holy
Ghost the Comforter," and thus culminating that
which was shadowed forth in crude form by
pagan poets and philosophers and devotees, even
Greek and Latin literature teeming with it. " O
ye gods ! The gods are propitious, the gods
are angry," etc. This survey teaches us that tlie

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SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

genuineness, harmony and subject matter of
these priceless writings is proven beyond cavil
in the face of all mimicries of infidelity,

God the Father, God the Son, and God the
Holy Ghost, a complete Triunity or Trinity.
A plurality of persons in the Godhead was now
an established doctrine, the conception or idea
backed up by almost all peoples, even in bar-
barism, in direct antagonism to the monotheism
of tKo ^i-'berodox as well as by the cultured
Greeks and Latins mentioned above.

In the Gospels, however, Christ is the central
figure, and it would be well for traducers and
calumniators to note his character and work and
make the comparison between it, and the con-
duct and fruit of infidelity.

On the one hand is the meek and lowly spirit,
the patient resignation to the bitter inevitable,
the loving sympathy and gentle Christian
dignity of manner and beari^ig, that enabled
him when reviled to revile not again ; his tire-
less diligence and application to the work which
his Father gave him to do. He fed the hun-
gry, healed thf oick, gave sight to the blind, so

SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-TflOLTJHT.

that their unsealed eyes beheld not only the
glorified face of the Lamb of God, but also the
hiih, rocks and mountains of their native land.
He unstopped the ears of the deaf, he caused the
lame to leap as an hart, he enabled the mourner
to rejoice, he shattered the chains that bound
in unjust bondage the captive, he stood by the
bier of the dead and commanded that they
arise, and they in obedience to his mandate
stood forth animate with life.

And now, on the other hand, we have the im-
perious carriage, arrogant assumption and blatant
pretension, of free-thought, which, instead of
clothing the naked, and feeding the hungry,
and comforting the comfortless, plays the part
of the sneak thief by robbing humanity of that
blissful and only hope that will cheer and sus-
tain amid the difficulties of life, and enable the
way-worn pilgrim to breast the storms of death.

One reason for the Gospels being selected as
the battlefield of the New Testament, is not
only because they treat of the life of the Mes-
siah, but also they open up that great question
relative to the condition of the dead, from the

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time in whicli they depart from this world until
they are finally ju<:lged. Skepticism aneeringly
says it is only a parable which treats of this
theme, and Lazarus is only a symbolical name.
We admit all this, but great truths are taught,
and great doctrines expounded by the use of
parables and symbt)ls. Then, veering off, unbe-
lief says this fictitious person is a recognizable
personality in the future world. This is also
correct, leaving divine law out of the (question
altogether, and running along the line of natural
law, philosophically speaking, the soul of man is
the ego the I, tht; self, the being or entire
man, tlie body Rakkaos, as the early Greeks
termed it, or the old ragged garment which
was put off' at death, enabling the man himself
to enter -he spirit world unencumbered, preserv-
ing his identity; and then when this cannot
be successfully refuted, the cry is, " Oh ! this is
a condition in which the greatest sinner will be
cleansed and finally occupy as high a place in
the so-called heaven as the man whose life was
blameless upon earth." The most superficial,
however, will at once see that there is not a

SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

single passage from Genesis to Revelation that
will substantiate such assertions ; but every-
where inspiration rings forth with clarion note,
as death overtakes us, so will judgment find us.

We find, however, in spite of the sneers of the
shallow-minded, and the differences of opinion
that exist among even Christian people, that the
doctrine of an intermediate state runs not only
through the latter part of the sixteenth chapter
of St. Luke's Gospel, but also through many
other passages of divine revelation, and dis-
closures of God's redeeming purposes are also
made in parable and simile, as well as other-
wise.

We find in the Old Testament the Hebrew
term sheol occurring, the meaning of which
is the grave, or abode of the departed spirits of
the dead. Then, again, in the New Testament
we have the Greek term hades, Wiiich also means
the abode of the disembodied spirits of the dead,
and in the Latin we have limbo, the dictionary
meaning of which, from limbus, is border, edge,
etc. Scholastic theology, however, has trimmed
the schoolboy meaning down to a science, and

Iff^^

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SABllE THllU.STS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

III!

from being the edge or border of hell, it is a
place of restraint or confinemexit for the souls
of the departed, corresponding to the sheol of
the Hebrew and the hades of the Greek ; also
we have the paradise of the English, which
means a place of felicity, or the habitation of
joyous spirits.

Thus we find all through the sacred writings
the striking analogy between tiie various terms,
undoubtedly and indisputably used to represent
the one state and condition. The e|ue8tion very
naturally arises just at this stage, are the right-
eous compelled to associate with the wicked in
this estate until the general judgment ? By no
means ; that they are separated is clearly evi-
dent from St. Luke's teaching. In liell, or hades,
or the intermediate state, Dives lifted up his
eyes and beheld Lazarus in Abraham's bosom.
We will more readily understand what is meant
here when we know that the custom among
Orientalists was to recline upon a couch at meals,
and the head of the one at the end that eame
nearest the breast of the other was said to recline
upon the bosom. This, then, is v/hat is meant

SABllE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

by LazaruH being in Abraham s bosom — intimate
companionship witli that which was good, as in
the eyes of Judaism the above mentioned patri-
arch always represented the wise and pure.
Dives, then, was in that department of the
intermediate stato called gehenna, the idea of
which was taken from the valley of Hinnom,
outside Jerusalem, where fires were kept contin-
ually burning to destroy the refuse of the city-
It was in this condition and place that the
wicked were reserved in chains of darkness,
awaiting the judgment of the great day, as
inspiration tersely says. The meaning of the
chains being restraint, they were held under
authority and power, separated from the good,
that would :iontinue until the final assize.

Again, when the suftering Dives saw Lazarus
in the companionship of Abraham or the good, he
desired that he come and comfort him, but was
informed that there was a great gulf fixed so
that none could pass from the one department to
the other, practically meaning there could be no
contact between the good and evil.

Thus we find all through the Scriptures the

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SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

doctrine of an intermediate state taught as
clearly as the shining of the meridian sun at
the noontide hour. As further proof, however,
of this great truth, in the second chapter of
the Acts of the Apostles and the thirty-first
verse, we have the Apostle testifying of Christ,
that his soul was not left in hell, neither did
his flesh see corruption, the true meaning of
which is, his soul was not left in hades or the
intermediate state, as the term hell here repre-
sents, and his flesh did not see corruption, as he
rose again the third day after his crucifixion,
and decomposition had not set in to corrupt his
flesh, as the body lay in a rock-hewn sepulchre,
cooling the atmosphere, thus preventing an early
decay.

Then again, after his resurrection, he said to
those who pressed upon him to touch him,
" Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to
my Father," his own words here proving that
the abode of his soul during those three event-
ful days was not the heaven of heavens, but
hades.

Again, during the crucifixion agony, our Lord

ill;

SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

turned to the repentant thief upon the cross to
liear him cry, " Lord, remember me when thou
enterest into thy kingdom ; " and the Saviour
said, "To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise,"
the equivalent of sheol, hades and limbo, mean-
ing unquestionably the intermediate state.

In closing this chapter we may just add that
it would not be in accordance with the match-
less wisdom of the divine and eternal God,
innnediately upon the death of the righteous or
wicked, to assign them to the final heaven, or
the final hell, and after they had enjoyed the
felicity of that most exalted estate on the one
hand, and on the other suffered the torments of
the damned for incalculable ages, call them forth
and judge them to see what condition they were
fitted for. The ridiculousness of this is at once
apparent when we know that he who is too
wise to err performs no works of supererogation.

It is, however, comforting to all believers to
know that where the followers of the slain
Redeemer are, there is their Master with them,
even in the intermediate state, and that glorified
presence makes its felicit}' second only to that

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SAHllE THUITSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

of the courts above. Comforting, indeed, are the
words of the heavenly-minded Paul to the
Hebrew Christians : " For ye are come " — not ye
shall come— but "ye are come to Mount Zion, and
unto the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and to an innunurable company of
angelsj to the general assembly and Church of
the first born which are written in heaven, and
to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just
men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of
the new covenant, and to the blood of sprink-
ling that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
Wherever the spirit of God truly" . . . dwells,
with believing, trustful children, there is the
millennial gloiy manifest, there is heaven. Need-
less is it for either the sceptic or the old-
fashioned theologian to ransack space or to
explore the star-spangled firmament for that
which will exist within their own bosoms if
they humble themselves as little children and
simply let the Saviour in.

CHAPTER II.

The Doctrine of the Re-<un-ection.

Free-tkought has also with fiery ardour assailed
the doctrine of the resurrection, which is one of
the great fundamental truths of the New Testa-
ment. Indeed, modern infidelity is but the
re-echo of ancient Sadduceeism, v/hich declared
that there was no resurrection, neither ano-el
nor spirit, that the teaching of the prophetic
schools was simply a fable; practically, there
was no hereafter. We are surprised that the
facts which they produce, and the dogmas they
presume to teach are in nowise up to date, nor
are they at all suited to the developed condition
of thought in this border-land of the millennium.
Their belief, their arguments, are more than two
thousand years old, and can now safely be classed
as obsolete. Unlike the worn-out theories of
skepticism, however, we have all around us, in

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SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

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the glorious springtime, convincing and con-
clusive evidence of resurrection life — the bud-
ding trees, the springing grass, the blooming
flowers all proving with the genius and power
of a master the actual existence of the principle
itself — no votary of unbelief can disprove this —
from the death of winter to the life of spring.

Then that which was taught by Christ him-
self had already proved itself, like a mathemati-
cal problem, being demonstrated in nature.

Many think that the incarnation is the great
pivot upon which everything swings ; we, how-
ever, beg to take exception to such teaching,
and affirm that the resurrection of the Son of
God is the great central truth upon which the
whole fabric rests.

It must be borne in mind that Christ was the
greatest of all prophets, predicting his (jwn
death, and, above all, the momentous truth, that
on the third day he would rise a^ain. All will
at once see that, as the rabble ridiculed him in
his death, saying, " He saved others, himself he
ca.nnot save," and classed him with impostors
and shams, that to them the fulfilment of his

SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT,

own prediction was, or would be, the proof of
his divine sonship. When he spoke of raising
up the temple— meaning his body— in three
days, those who heard his words thoujdit he
referred to that great stone fabric in Jerusalem,
set apart for sacrifice and worship, and said,
accordingly, ''Forty and six years was this
temple in building, and will you rear it up again
in three days ? " But the Saviour spake of the
temple of his body, and, to the astonishment of
his traducers, on the third day he burst the
barriers of the tomb, and appeared unto men,
confounding skepticism in every form, and prov-
ing himself beyond all cavil and doubt to be
the Son of the eternal God.

Then Christ became the first-fruits of them
that slept, the proof to Sadduceeism, the proof
to the world, that apart from nature there was
a resurrection of the dead.

In the twenty third verse of the fifteenth
chapter of First Corinthians, Paul says, under
inspiration, '• But every man in his own order,
Christ the first fruits, afterward they that are
Christ's at his coming." According to the

SAUIIE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

teaching of this verse, there are three resurrec-
tions or orders in the anastasis, or standing or
rising up. In the first order, we have the God-
man; in the second, the martyrs or confessors,
or all those who died in the triumphs of faith ;
whilst in the third we have those who died in
their sins — all in their own order.

Some doubter, however, says, " This does not
agree with the sixth verse of the twentieth
chapter of Revelation " : " Blessed and holy is he
thai hath part in the first resurrection ; on such
the second death hath no power ; but they shall
be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign
with him a thousand years." It must be re-
membered that the last book which the Bible
contains is a book of types and symbols ; but
every type and every symbol of revelation
teaches an antitype and a reality; thus, if this
passage did not exactly harmonize with the
other we would simply assume that it taught
some new phase of this great doctrine. But it
does harmonize in every particular.

The apostle, in using this symbolical lang-
uage, takes it for granted that as Christ was

SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT. 07

the first-fruits of resurrection life, it is only
necessary to mention the leading orders, the
other is understood. Then the first, properly
speaking, is the rising or standing up of the
saints of the Most High ; the second, the un-
righteous. It is at once apparent that there is
no contradiction or discrepancy here.

Again, this typical passage may be applied in
another sense; spiritually speaking, the first
resurrection may be the raising of man from the
death of sin to the life of righteousness. This
is what we meant by saying, in a former para-
graph, that perhaps the verse in Revelation was
designed to disclose some new aspect of the
question to the enquiring mind.

To strengthen the spiritual construction which
we have placed upon it, the passage, " Awake
thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and
Christ shall give thee light," shows that there is
a resurrection from sin to righteousness— the sin
classed as death. Then, " Blessed and holy are
they that have part in Christ's resurrection,"
which was the first; the second, as formerly,
that of the wicked. Thus, looking at the
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SABUE THRUSTS AT FllEK-THOUGHT.

matter as we may from any standpoint. tlier(3
is not a single discordant note sounded ; even in
its different shades of meaning there is perfect
and absolute harmony. This unison all along
the lines is a heavy blow to unbelief, which,
though determined, if possible, to accomplish it,
yet cannot produce anything that upon thor-
ough investigation will not appear in perfect
accord with the teachings of Holy Writ upon the
same subject elsewhere.

Resurrection is always preceded by death.
As an example of this, we have the grain of
wheat that must perish before a blade is pro-
duced. It is true, however, that the germ of
life exists; but this does not alter the condi-
tions. The blade or body itself dies, and out of
the decomposed matter, or out of the death of
the seed, life is produced.

Many intelligent, thoughtful people, reasoning
along the lines of natural law, believe that in
the human body there is a seminal principle,
which, upon the death and decomposition of the
body, will, on the principle of the grain of corn,
spring into life, and thus produce the resuirec-

SAHRE THRUSTS AT FREK-THorfiHT.

Of)

tion body. TIub is ho philosophical that we will
not attempt to controvert it : and, furthermore,
we believe that infidelity in its most audacious
form will find some difiiculties in the way of
successfully disproving a resurrection of the
body along these lines.

In the case of the potato we have also the
same principle manifest— there is the death of
the body before life in the form of the stalk is
produced; indeed, we find a complete decom-
position of the body that feeds and nourishes
the germ before life is noticeably manifest.

But why should it be necessary to reason this
out along materialistic lines, when the Judge of
all the earth has power sufficient to raise up a
body, or reproduce it, even though it has been
cut into the smallest particles in the dissecting-
room ; and yet the Power that rolls the stars
along, and that speaks all the promises, can do
it in a moment's space, or in a point of time, if
necessary. There is no general principle re-
quired for Him to work upon, who has so
frequently by sign, and wonder, and miracle,
confounded Pharisaism md Sadduceeism with

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100 SAI{IIE THRL'STS AT KllEK-THOUGHT.

every other form or system of hypocrisy, error
ami unbelief.

In the fifteentli chapter of First Corintliians
and thirty-sixth verse, these words occur, "Thou
fool, that which thou sowest is not (juickened,
except it die." Thomas Paine, in his greatest
work, " Tlie Age of Reason," makes one of his
most furious attacks upon the teaching of this
ver;je, saying, tliat where quickening occurs, or
where the principle of life exists, there has been
no death. Lucretiujy, one of the most noted of
recent atheists, furnishes a spectacle for angels
and men by exploding the teaching of Paine on
this principle. It is not alone merely the ex-
traneous matter which perishes, leaving the
substance intact, as Mr. Paine reasons, but the
entire lobe or body decays, even though the
geini of life remains ; it springs up into a new
condition, such as from the grain of corn the
blade, the ear, the multitude of new grains in
the ear. Then any process or stage through
which a material substance passes, that effects
such a change, or transformation, or new order
or condition, is equivalent to death, and is death.

I rm

SAIJlti; THIUSTS AT KHKK-THOrrJhT. 101

This at once evidences the fact, without any
Further comment, that whether willintrlv or not
atheism has in this /tatter taken sides with us
and annihilated one of the leadinir ariruments of
infidelity.

As we have now shown t)iat in the irrain
fields, in the forests, in the parks, gardens, and
in man himself there are evidences not only of
the principle, but also of the process of resurrec-
tion, we turn to the teachings of Christ him-
self for a suitable climax for the tlioushts which
have been expressed in this chapter.

He who proved to the astonished millions of
earth, not only his own divinity, but also the
truth of resurrection doctrine, manifested his
stupendous power, apart from natural law and
materialistic agency, in commanding dead Laza-
rus to come forth from the tomb, and, in obedi-
ence to that mandate, the sleeper arose and stood
before his Lord. The sister Martha was a little
skeptical when the Saviour in ineffable tender-
ness said, "Thy brother shall rise again." "I
know," said she, " that he shall rise again in the
resurrection of the last day." Clirist, however,

102 SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

by his act, wondrous in its import, soon scat-
tered the vapoury clouds of skepticism upon the
winds of lieaven, while at the same time his
words, fraught with divine consolation, fell like
Gilead's healing balm upon a wounded soul : " I
am the resurrection and the life ; he that be-
lieveth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he
live ; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me
shall never die." And Martha, when asked if she
believed this, no longer trammelled by doubt or
hesitancy, said, " Yea, Lord, I believe that thou
art the Christ the son of God."

The rising God forsakes the tomb,

The tomb in vain forbids his rise,
Cherubic legions guard him home,

And shout him welcome to the skies.

Break off your tears, ye saints, and tell
How high your Great Deliverer reigns ;

Sing how he spoiled the hosts of hell,
And led the monster death in chains.

Say, Live forever wondrous King !

Born to redeem and strong to save ;
Then ask the monster, Where's thy sting.

And where's thy victory, boasting Grave.

CHAPTER III.

The Meaning, Exercise, and Triumph of Faith.

The next great existent truth that we shall
deal with is Faith. The question very natur-
ally arises, What is it ? Perhaps we had better
go to the very foundation of the matter. Faith
comes from the root-word Jidere, to trust, and is,
properly speaking, a belief in the truth of that
which is disclosed to us, or a confidence in the
existence of those things which are unseen, such
as in the universal government of the universe
by a Supreme Being, and the inspiration of the
Scriptures.

As we have shown in the previous chapter
that resurrection is a self-evident fact, we find
it taught and illustrated all around us, and the
very process being demonstrated before our eyes
every day we breathe the vital air, we shall now
endeavor to show that faith is also an existent
principle. The preceding doctrine was taught

104 SABRE THRUSTS AV FREE- THOUGHT.

largely in nature: this is more strongly set forth
in art. One of the most glorious sights that
has ever been witnessed by the children of men
has been that of nature and art united, in en-
dorsing the truths of Almighty God, and in
annihilating the boastful but empty teachings of
infidelity.

Christ, the greatest Treacher of any age, con-
tinually illustrated his themes from nature, thup
proving to intelligent, observing men, as well as
to the simplest and most illiterate, that his
teachings were true ; they could see their truth
in the nature by which they were illuminated.

Thus his kingly power and enduring system
is not only seen and understood in the Greek
inscription on the arch of the Mohammedan
mosqut in far-ofi' Damascus, that has withstood
the storms of more than twelve centuries, and
thtt seems miraculously preserved, and which
translated into the English, is tlie following :
" Thy kingdom, O Christ, is an everlasting
kingdom, and thy dominion endureth through-
out all generations," but it is also seen in
forest glades, among storm-beaten rocks, mean-

SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT. 105

dering streams and on smiling, verdant plains.
Also in our crowded centres of population we
have not only that which teaches us of the
tremendous and illimitable power of him who
guides the starry host to purposes of beneficence
and glory, and who doeth according to his will
among the innumerable armies of the skies, but
also evidences of the existence of that great
primal instinct, shall we call it, philosophically
speaking, M'hich is the central truth of this
chapter.

St. Paul, in his letter to the Hebrews, eleventh
chapter and first verse, clearlj'' defines the nature
of faith, and it will interest us to see the differ-
ence between the secular and philosophical
meaning, as given in the beginning of this
chapter, and the meaning applied to it by
logical Paul under inspiration, just here : " Now
faith is the substance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen." From this thf^
Apostle of the Gentiii world goes on to show
that through the exercise of this principle worlds
were framed, sacrifices weic offered unto God,
Enoch was translated, Noah prepared the ark,

106 SABRE THRUSTS AT KREE-THOUGHT.

Abraham obeyed God, Isaac blessed Jacob and
Esau, Jacob blessed the sons of Joseph, Moses
was hidden by his parents ; by faith also he for-
sook Egypt, and kept the passover and sprink-
ling of blood lest they be destroyed with the
firstborn. Through the exercise of it they
passed through the Red Sea ; by it the walls
of Jericho fell down, and inspiration finishes up
with the matchless climax : " Through faith Gid-
eon, Barak, Samson, Jephtha, David, Samuel and
the prophets subdued kingdoms, wrought right-
eousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths
of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped
the edge of the sword, waxed valiant in tight,
turno^d to flight the armies of the aliens. "

Turning now to those things which come
more directly under* our observation, we will
find that in all matters we have evidence of the
existence of that without which man can accom-
plish nothing. The husbandman sows his seed
trustfully believing that what with the warm
sunshine and fertilizing showers there will be
a bounteous harvest. The lawyer has confi-
dence in his knowledge of law, and in his

SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT. 107

ability to plead the cause of his client, that
he may .secure his acquittal. With this faith
strong within him he unhesitatingly takes the
case in hand. The physician also has graduated
in medicine, and knows the proper use of drugs
and the peculiar medicines that are suited to
certain diseases, so that when the call has come
t3 hasten to the sick-room the practitioner obeys
with alacrit}^ feeling that he can make a correct
diagnosis of the trouble, and confident that his
drugs will effect the desired cure. The merchant
purchases his wares, perhaps, in the foreign
market, eiJier himself or his agent making
the selection ; they are placed on sale with the
confidence that they are good value for the
price demanded, and that they will have a ready
sale.

Thus all along we find this principle of faith
being exercised, even in the monumental piles
and stately public edifices by which we are
surrounded. The architect in every case called
into p!ay the exercise of this wondrous force,
believing that w^hen his work was completed it
would bear any strain which might l)e put upon

108 SABHE THRUSTS AT FKEE-THOUOHT.

it and defy the storms of the approaching years.
Vain is it, then, for freethought to deny the exist-
ence of that which is everywhere manifest, and
wliich has been implanted in the personality of
man by the power and mercy of the eternal
God.

The exercise or non-exercise of this principle
of which we now write, has exalted nations to
thrones of power, or irrevocably sealed their
fate and fixed their doom. The careful student
of history will see that with faith battles were
fought and won ; without it, dynasties tottered
to their fall.

During the American civil war we had given
us a splendid example of a simple trust which
gave to the Union arms a great and crowning vic-
tory, and which, although its armies afterward
fought victorious battles, virtually broke the
back of the Confederacy. Colonel Deveraux,
who had been put in the command of a small
brigade composed of two regiments, without
having received any orders to warrant his con-
duct, at once placed them in reserve behind the
main line, and out of action at the battle of

i,u

I; M iitii

SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

109

Gettysburg. After one of the most tremendous
cannonades that has ever been known in the
annals of warfare, and which demoralized the
Federal advanced lines, Pickett's division made
its famous charge, and was sweeping everything
before it, storming battery after battery, when
Deveraux ordered his two regiments to charge
through the breaking Federal lines upon the
advancing rebels. At the double quick, and
with a wild shout, the men dashed upon their
foes, and snatched from them the victory which
they had almost won.

The colonel, in speaking of it afterward, said,
" I have in the past been a hard-headed, skeptical
man, but somehow or other, when I stationed
my men in the rear of the lines of battle, I felt
and trusted that Almighty God would so over-
rule things that they would be of most service
there, and my *"**^^h was rewarded, no doubt by
the God Ot s, by their being able at the

supreme moment, from their advantageous posi-
tion, to strike a crushing blow and save the
Union." Thus we have here the striking testi-
mony of a successful soldier, who had scarcely

110 SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

■.^ m

ever given religion a passing thouglit, as to the
efficacy of the exercise of faith in God in a tre-
mendous crisis.

And now, finally, let us see what the relation-
ship of infidelity is to this principle which it
affects to despise, and which it tries to hold up
to the ridicule of the world. As we look criti-
cally into the matter, we discover the fact that
free-thought is between two fires, and turn which
way it will it is scorched. On the one hand, if
it is sincere and true to conviction, it exercises
the very faith which it denounces in its own be-
lief and teachings, whilst, on the other, if it does
not utilise this trust, or practise this faith and
principle, it is a pretentious sham. Thus view-
ing it as we will, the entire system either gives
the lie to its own teachings by its practice, or
brands itself as being one of the greatest decep-
tions of the age.

We find in spite of the machinations of the
superficial votaries of a system, which is the very
embodiment of surface arrogance, that the great
fundamental principle which we teach in this
chapter is a sheet-anchor to the soul of man, both

SABKE THKUSTri AT FREE-TU()U(JHT. Ill

sure and steadfast ; that when the stonii of hfe
is at its height, the tempest raging with terrific
violence, the lightnings flashing in streaks of
living fire and seeming to rend the skies, the
thunders rolling and breaking forth into deafen-
ing peals, proclaiming themselves the artillery of
God ; the spars crash upon the deck, the masts
go by the board, the sails are torn to ribbons,
the vessel heaves and tosses upon the seething bil-
lows, until at last it is but a shattered hulk. But
that anchor has never dragged, its flukes have
never lost their grip beneath the swirling waters.
Behind the raging seas, the storm-swept rocks,
the flaming heavens, the broadsides of the skies
standeth God within his temple, ever watching
over his own. Fear not, little flock, it applies
to all trustful souls everywhere, for it is your
Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Swiftly doth the day approach in the which
faith shall be lost in sight in seeing him who is
now the invisible, but who shall soon appear.

The teaching of the inspired volume, which we
here endorse and defend, is rightly termed the
word of faith, which is to the storm- tossed

112 SABKE THRUSTS AT FHEE-THOLFdHT.

mariner a lighthouse equipped with the most
powerful flash-light, amid the encircling gloom
of earthly night. In grief's dark day it sheds
a radiance that becomes, through the touch of the
wand of God, a halo of glory around the head
of the afflicted, suffering child of the heavenly
King. In joy's brief morn it inundates the
soul with billows of glory, and when the joys
and griefs of earth are experienced and known
no more, in the light of resurrection jubilance,
it shall be the pavement of gold upon which
our spiritual feet shall tread.

CHAPTER IV.

Regeneration as set forth in the Writings of St, Paul.

St. Paul's writings have not received the atten-
tion from freethinkers that some might expect ;
this is in some measure, at least, due to the fact
that they are largely doctrinal and historical,
and are proved not only by human experience
but also by history's pages. The passage that
has been singled out for the most vigorous as-
saults is the seventh verse of the fourth chapter
of Philippians, and to this great cardinal doctrine
of the writings of the Apostle of the Gentile
world we shall devote the entire chapter : " And
the peace of God, which passeth all understand-
ing, shall keep your hearts and minds through
Jesus Christ."

There are things, if the use of philosophical
terms will be permitted, which are unthinkable
and ununderstandable ; perhaps one of these is
8

114

SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

the term peace. In its relationship to the ati'airs
of life in a material sense, we can form some
conception of its meaning, and perhaps the better
way to correctly apprehend the spiritual is to
analyze the secular.

Strife is an abnormal condition in direct con-
tradistinction to the principles which are the
foundation-stones of Christ's kingdom. The
chief end of man is not to fabricate discord, or
stir up those sentiments which pits man against
his fellow, but is, on the contrary, " to glorify God
and enjoy Him forever." Then the counterpart
of strife, or that condition which is diametrically
opposed to it, is the state covered by the above-
mentioned term. The logical outgrowth of the
above teaching at once gives the conception of
the true meaning in a secular sense, which ap-
plies not so much to man in the singular number
as to men in the plural. Perhaps philosophy
will analyze the principle in this way : Peace is
that condition of felicity by which we know
that we know, and this stage of assured know-
ledge reached, we have the exclusion of harassing
thought and perplexing doubt which leaves us

SABKE THRUSTS AT FREE-THUUUHT. 115

in the situation, materialistically speaking, in
which the ego, I, or self is perfectly composed
regarding surrounding discords.

Let us take the waters of the ocean when in
commotion during the prevalence of a gale. At
the conclusion of the storm who would think of
using the term peace to describe the opposite of
agitation ; the term calm is invariably and cor-
rectly used. And then peace brings joy ; the two
are associated together in the Word of God; calm
following a warring of the elements or discord-
ance may not necessarily bring peace. At the close
of the Crimean war, when peace was proclaimed,
the world had a splendid demonstration of the
true meaning of the principle, and the joy that
the Bible associated with it immediately fol-
lowed. All London went wild with transports of
delight, and when at last the shattered regiments
that had borne the shock of battle and withstood
the onslaught of fevers and disease filed through
the streets of the world's metropolis, cheer upon
cheer resounded on every hand making the very
welkin ring. All the result of peace in a ma-
terial form.

116 SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

Then, if peace in a worldly sense means this,
and leads to joy almost shoreless as infinity,
what must be the meaning of spiritual peace, the
peace of God spoken of in our text. Ask one
and another of tlie children of the heavenly
King if they can describe it, if they can under-
stand it, and they say witii one accord they
cannot, but they know that through Christ they
possess it. If, then, we possess it, and yet cannot
analyze it, it adds additional force to the words
of God's own inspiration, it " passeth all under-
standing."

If this state or condition is so heavily freighted
with that which is blessed, that it cannot be
understood, it commends itself unto us. Let us,
then, as mortal creatures, come with boldness
unto a throne of heavenly grace, and as we
come, the heavenly guest shall enter and fill us
with the indescribable.

Again, this peace that we have endeavoured
to discuss, but which passeth understanding, fills
the heart, which, in a material sense, is the seat
of life. It is a hollow, muscular organ filling the
cavity between the lungs, and is divided into

SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT. 117

four coiiipartmonts, the right and left auriclo
and the right and left ventricle. The blood
flows along the great veins into the auricles, and
is forced by the contraction of muscular walls
into the ventricles, through valves situated
between the auricles and ventricles, and then
with the distension of the ventricles their
muscular walls contract and force the blood
into the arteries. But how can peace affect this
wonderful organ, with the blood dashing through
its valves and occupied in furnishing the life
fluids to the arterial system ?

But on a more critical investigation of the
matter, and on closer consideration, we are
impressed with the thought that the heart, as
understood by the anatomist, and the heart of
our text, are two widely difterent creations.

The heart of man, in a scriptural or philo-
sophical sense, is his personality ; then the peace
of God which passeth understanding shall fill
our personality or entire being. May we seek
after it with intense earnestness.

During the progress of the recent South
African boom, with what terrible earnestness

118 SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

)■ ! ■ n •

men sought after gold ; a few found it, but the
great mass in bitter disappointment turned away
without the coveted treasure. Men may seek
along the lines of the materialistic, but there is
no promise or certainty that they shall find; but
to those who seek after the things which pertain
to their everlasting peace, lo ! they have the
promise of One in whom is vested royal power,
that those who seek shall find.

This peace also does more than fill the heart,
it fills the mind. It is said by many that the
brain is the organ of mind. This is, however
incorrect, for the mind finds an organ in the
entire organism. The whole system furnishes
material for the building up of man's mental
structure.

This ia proven by the elaborate system of
nerves, which is two-fold, namely the cerebro-
spinal and sympathetic. The latter is undoub-
edly the special organ of the emotional nature,
as its name implies. The cerebro-spinal, which
shows a direct and complicated connection with
mind, is divisible into two parts, a central and
peripheral. The central is found in the brain,

SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT. 119

and is of a greyish color, made up of minute
cells. The other portion, which connects
the centres and extremities, is white in color
and consists of strands of fibres running
to every part of the organism. There aie two
groups of these — one, which springs from each
side of the front of the spine, carrying impulses
from the centre outwards, and the other, which
issues from the back of the spine, carrying im-
pulses inward, exciting sensation. These nerves
of sensation are perpetually carrying to the
brain impressions which have been excited in
the diflferent organs. Thus, whatever organ, no
matter how remote from the brain, receives an
impression, it is instantly transmitted over this
wonderful telegraphic system, and afifects that
organ in some particular way. Then the mind,
not so much the brain, is the controlling power.
The ego, the I, the self, the mind, the
soul, is the man, the body but the clothing;
and now if the mind is the entire man, this
peace with God which fills the heart or en-
tire personality, also fills the mind of the true
man, the two terms with their comprehensive

mw^

120 SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

meaning being used by the inspired Paul to
show the completeness and absoluteness of that
filling.

Also let us notice that there must be an empty-
ing of self, and of everything that is antagon-
istic to the true spirit of Christianity. This
filling cannot take place until the emptying has
taken place, and then when God has shown us
our inefficiency, we begin to realize that our suf-
ficiency is alone of him, and we open our hearts
and minds for the reception of Christ, and with
him comes that peace that passeth understand-
ing. All this, the text teaches us, is through
Jesus Christ. Regeneration is through him.
We cannot in this way approach the Father ex-
cept through the eternal Son, St. John clearing
up the mystery by saying under inspiration
what Christ taught: "I am the Way and no man
Cometh unto me except through the Father."
The world looked for the expected and predicted
Messiah, believing, at least to a certain extent,
that through him great things were going to
transpire. His advent was heralded by angelic
messengers hovering upon swift wing over Beth-

SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUUHT.

121

lehem's stable, and true to predictive utterance
he came, the pledge of a finished salvation, and
through him the world was redeemed, all things
through Christ.

All that we are, we are alone through him ;
all that we possess, we possess through him ; all
that we hope to be, we will be through Christ
alone. As we consider and discuss this matter,
we revert to the words of God's own inspiration,
" Christ the all and in all."

The work of the greatest reformers of the
ages has been done through Christ. Men im-
bued with his spirit have gone forth into the
world, and have revolutionized society and poli-
tics ; others filled with the same spirit have
gone forth in the militant Church, and by the
exercise of powers sanctified of God have done
valiantly.

The immortal Wesley, after a life of wonder-
ful self-sacrifice and devotion to the interest
and well-being of his fellow- men, and after
founding and establishing a mighty sect, and
by the purifying eflf^jct of his evangelistic
la^urs saving England, as one of her greatest

I ''

122 SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

statesmen himself admitted, testified to the fact
in the evening time of life that all he had been
enabled to accomplish was alone through Christ.
Our only hope of ultimate victory is through
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

If we have had smooth sailing over a glassy
sea in the past, we must not allow ourselves to
be deluded into the belief that the waters will
always be unruffled, for rest assured that some-
time during our mortal pilgrimage tempests
will gather black as night and the waters of
life's ocean will be lashed into fury. But fear
not, Christian mc*riner ; he that sitteth above
the water-floods will not permit them to over-
flow thee. Ah ! once again through Christ there
is safety. The storms that will prevail may be
of sorrow because of loss of health or property.
In the former case, perhaps, we have ignorantly
or otherwise violated the laws of Nature ; if so,
we must expect to suffer, and if suffering comes
we must not marvel at the mysterious Provi-
dence, as we will doubtless persist in calling it,
that afflicted us, or permitted affliction to come
upon us. Along the lines of natural law we

SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT. 123

are but suffering the penalty for infraction of
law, and must not foolishly charge God in con-
nection with the matter. Or, in the latter case,
if property is swept away, perhaps it is but the
result of indiscretion or lack of judgment in
making bad investments, or foolishness in en-
dorsing worthless paper or gambling in stocks.
If so, we need not be surprised that disappoint-
ment and loss have come upon us. But in the
midst of remorse and galling bitterness of soul
the immortal hope is ours, and that through
Christ, that after the night of weeping, joy
Cometh in the morning.

Also, in the midst of bereavement, when the
feet of the ghastly messenger have pressed
the threshold and his myitic knock is heard
upon the portal, and the sacred tie is sundered
and the best loved of all is gone from earth
away, the causes that led to this saddest period
of all have perhaps been many ; a lack of sub-
stantial, nourishing food, or insufficient clothing
has perhaps induced a run-down condition of the
system that left the subject susceptible to the
inroads of mortal disease. It came, and with it

7i"^

124 SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

the rider of the Pale Horse, and as the members
of that stricken family stand around the open
grave and behold the coffined clay of their
beloved dead depart from mortal vision, hidden
by the clods of the valley, they say they cannot
understand this terrible Providence, forgetting
the fact that they themselves, by improvident
conduct, have hastened the death of the one so
much lamented.

But what a manifestation of the boundless
and shoreless mercy of our God ; he does not
upbraid or reprimand them for their ignorance,
or thoughtlessness, or carelessness, or lack of
thrift, but cheers them as they lay away their
dead, with the knowledge that what they have
just beheld, and that has awed them so much,
is gain infinite and eternal ; and the hope be-
comes dominant in every breast that one day
they shall outride the storms of life and in the
companionship of the departed, walk the golden
streets of the city of God — all this through Jesus
Christ.

Then, instead of blaming Providence for
calamities that we bring upon ourselves, let us

SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT. 125

seek to avoid disaster by trusting fully in a
Saviour who will, if any man lack wisdom and
ask of him, give of his rich abundance and
upbraid not; and if we trust him fully, and
receive this wisdom which cometh from God out
of heaven, we shall triumph over every foe.

But many say, We would open our hearts and
minds for the reception of this peace which
passeth understanding if it were not for tempta-
tion; we fear that we could not withstand, it
comes in so many varied forms, and we had
rather not start in the service of God than com-
mence and fail. We answer right here, there is
no need whatever of failure. What we need is to
cast our mistrust and skepticism to the winds of
heaven, and simply taking the Saviour at his
word, throw ourselves fully upon him, and he
will not turn us en^pty away ; and then rings
forth the golden promise, " I will not suffer you
to be tempted more than that which you are
able to bear, but will in every temptation make
a way for your escape."

All through the ages, as we ransack the pages
of profane history as well as ecclesiastical.

ir^

126 SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

courage with discretion was master upon every
field ; and the child of God needs a heaven-born
hope, enabling him to confront the forces of
evil in the world, armed with the Spirit's two-
edged sword, and at last to stand victorious
upon the embattlements of God, through Jesus
Christ.

To him that overconieth ! oh, word divinely strong,
The victor's palm, the fadeless wreath, th grand immor-
tal song ;
And his the hidden manna, and his the polished stone,
Within whose whiteness shines that name revealed to
him alone.

To him that overcometh ! oh, promise dearest, dear,
The Lord of heaven who died himself shall evermore l)e

near ;
Here dust upon his garments, there robes that royal be,
For in the palace of the King, saith Christ, mine own

shall dwell with me.

'i -■

, m

We in concluding this chapter would say to
unbelief in every form, give up your shallow
and fruitless attacks upon those profound pas-
sages which no earth-born plummet line can

SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

127

ever fathom, and which no mind except that
enlightened of God can ever understand, and
even though your sins of ignorance, as well as
sins of omission and commission, have been of
crimson dye, they shall, by the renunciation of
the false and the acceptance of the true, become
white as the new-fallen snow.

CHAPTER V.

lIH'^ r

;» 'Mivii*«"?s*™.S'

vmm

! ill :::i::^

Failure of Infidelity and Victory of Christianity.

Of the Book of Revelation we need say
nothing. Infidelity says it is but a shadow.
To this we at once assent, but go a step farther,
and say tliat even free-thought has to admit
when hard pressed that there cannot exist a
shadow without there being a substance some-
where behind. There must be a cause for every-
thing ; the cause of the shadow is the existence
of the substance, which shuts off the light
rays and brings about the consequent effect.
Thus the shadows of Revelation prove the exist-
ence of astounding realities. The first verse of
the first chapter contains the key to the entire
book : " The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which
God gave unto him, to show unto his servants
things which must shortly come to pass ; and he
sent and signified it " (or signed or symbolized it)
" by his angel unto his servant John." This

SABRE THRT^STS AT FREE-THOUGHT. 129

light

needs no further comment, and we shall now
proceed to define the meaning of that system
which we combat in these pages.

Infidelity is unfaithfulness, or disloyalty, or
disbelief. It may exi.st in connection with the
family, the State, or God and sacred things.
The scope of this work, however, will not allow
of any discussion along the line of the family
or State, but solely with disbehef in the divine
government, and God as its head, except in so
far as the others are related thereto, as will be
seen later. John Knox said that free-thought
was the essence of vanit}'^, and none knew better
than the great Reformer the worthlessness of its
principles. It is also humanitarianism, the
worship of the human above the divine. The
ego, the first personal pronoun I, is right, every-
thing else is wrong. Perhaps the true meaning
in a nutshell of infidelity is the worship of the
individual intellect, and the Lord help the intel-
lect when its arguments are investigated.

The efiiect of free-thought also has been bane-
ful in the extreme in its relationship to human
society. The writings of Voltaire and Rosseau
9

m ^ t;

130 SABRE THRUSTS AT FUEE-THOUOHT.

swept like the simoon'.s blawt, it is said, over the
face of Mdnny France, bhistin^ tlie spiritual life
of the nation like a t'ull-l)lovvn ilower in a
November frost. The effect of these principles,
which were scattered broadcast over the land,
was soon seen in the people putting down all
constitutional authority, erecting and worship-
ping the image of a painted prostitute repre-
senting the Goddess of Liberty, elevating Robes-
pierre upon his bloody tribunal, the institution
of the guillotine, through the agency of which
the heads of France's best citizens rolled in the
dust, and the inauguration of the Reign of
Terror.

Free-thought also is not only an enemy to the
State and the family, which is the State in
miniature, but to education and the dissemination
of knowledge generally, that is, true knowledge.
By the destruction of the Church, which it aims
at, will collapse the entire educational system of
the commonwealth, as such system is fostered by
the Church on the principle that the Church
and school always go together.

And now we pass on to notice the dying

SAliUE THRUSTS AT FIlEE-THorCHlT. KJl

nttemncos of the reproHuiitatives of siieli an
institution. Thoina.s Paine said in his last
hours, addressing the nurse who \aitod upon
him, " VV^liat did you do with the book which I
gave you " ? namely, " The Age of Reason." " I
burned it," said the attendant. " I would to
God," saiil the <lying man, " that everyone who
received it luul done likewise, for if ever Satan
had a hand in the writing of a book lie had in
that." Voltaire died blaspheming God, acknow-
ledging by tliose very blasphemies that he
believed in the existence of a Supreme Being,
thus giving the lie to his life's work. Colonel
Charteris said when dying, " I would gladly give
my entire fortune, £30,000 sterling, to have it
proved to my satisfaction that there was no
such place as hell." Lord Byron, one of the most
gifted of infidel writers, said, as the mists of
death were gatliering in his eyes :

dying

" My days are in the yellow leaf ;

The flowers and fruits of love are gone ;
The worm, the canker, and the grief
Are mine alone."

132 SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

wIt

It'r

With free-thought there is nothing but cov^^er-
ing and shrinking amid the gathering shadows
of dissolution, and unspeakable horror at the
prospect of meeting the Judge of all the earth.

We now pass from this awful portraiture of
wretchedness and misery to the sublimer picture
of Christianity and the Christian. Here we
have a system incarnated without arrog<*nce or
pretension, begnming as the little stone cut
out of the mountain without hands, but, lo ! it
has filled the whole earth. With civilization on
the one hand and an immortal hope on the other,
it has gone forth stimulating education, refining
base and crude natures, elevating principal' ties,
powers, and kingdoms into national greatness,
feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting
and comforting the sick and disconsolate, encour-
aging commerce, building hospitals, establishing
asylums and homes for the friendless and home-
less, and in numberless ways adding to the pro-
sperity and greatness and usefulness of nations
and individuals, making thrones and dynasties
enduring and governmental systems stable,
and strengthening the bonds that hold the

SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT. 133

social fabric together, destroying license, cor-
ruption and impurity in every form, cleansing
society, exalting character, and fostering thrift
and industry.

Also with regard to the death of its repre-
sentntives, its sons and daughters die well. Dean
Stanley said when dying, " Thanks be unto liiin
wlio has given us victory, through Christ our
Lord." Charles Wesley, the sacred bard of
Methodism, uttered these sublime A^ords when
about to abandon the tabernacle of clay, " I shall
awake, I shall awake on the morning of the
resurrection in Christ's likeness." John Calvin,
the founder of a great system of theology
that bears his name, said, " Switzerland's God
is my God, and my everlasting portion."
John Wesley, the founder and builder of
eighteenth century reform, said in his clos-
ing hours, " The beat of all is, God is with
us." Alfred Cookman, when passing away,
shouted in ecstasy, " I am sweeping through the
gates of the New Jerusalem, warlied in the blood
of the Lamb." Dr. Carey, the apostle of India,
said, as his feet touched the waters of the mystic

134 SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

i 11

river, " I join hands in spirit with the ransomed
souls upon the banks of the Ganges and Irri-
waddy, and together we sing of victory and
triumph, through him wlio has redeemed us."

With Christianity we find none of the pessi-
mistic doubt and discouragement and darkness
of infidelity; h-it i the contrary, we have the
radiant optimism of hope, the triumphant testi-
mony^ of victorious trust, and after the noise of
eartlily strife the victor's song and the con-
(pieror's wreath.

No such jubilant note ever burst from lips of
war-worn, victorious battalions on battle plains,
as that which broke from the lips of Elizabeth
Wallbridge, the dairymaid '.s daughter, and Mar-
garet Fuller, the maidtM ^ u'tyr of Scotland, as
the silver cord was loosu-' ' .id their ransomed
spirits were ushered into the audience chamber
of the King, to behold him in his beauty.

As we trace infidelity from its embryotic
stage down to the present time, we find that
it has accomplished nothing in the way of
ameliorating the condition of the human race,
but the tendency from its natal hour has been to

'<}. ■

SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT. 135

blast and to destroy. It pointed all its batteries,
with guns shotted to the muzzles, at the inspired
volume, but although at times the bombardment
was tremendous, the sacred page has withstood
that fire of hell, and to-day, with greater power
and influence than ever before, continues to
mould and fashion the hearts and lives of the
sons of men in a manner that fits them for
membership in the Church triumphant.

"Ask of me," saith God, "and I will give thee the
heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost
parts of the earth for thy possessions." The
Christian world has asked concerning this mat-
ter, and already in response Ethiopia has
stretched out her hands toward God, and the
islands of the sea break forth with glad acclaim
to, him who liveth forever and ever, because of
the wondrous baptism of his grace. The
cannibalistic tribes of the empire of the Southern
seas have given up their demoniacal orgies, and
started out in the pursuit of those things which
pertain to their everlasting peace, and the words
of Charles Darwin, the great specialist and
naturalist, strike us with convincing power, " I

136 SABRE THRUSTS AT FREE-THOUGHT.

cannot reason it out along ilie line of natural
development; it must have come about by some
demonstration of divine power, yea through the
agency of the Holy Spirit, the third person in
the Trinity of God."

What a blazing light the Gospel of Christ has
proved in a dark world. Mankind amid the
clouds of the mountain has seen that won-
drous light, and has been elevated heavenward
thereby. Humanity in the valley of sin has seen
it, and with an immortal hope has lifted up its
head, amid the sunburst of the skies. Blessed
Scriptures of divine truth, pregnant with sacred
wisdom, and fringed with the golden hues of
eternal life, they taught the flaming herald of
the Gentile world how to die, they taught young
Timothy the ways of God and of salvation.
Occident and Orient have opened up their golden
gates, and lo! that impregnable rock of Scripture
truth, which has proved agnosticism to be the
know-nothing of its original, which has swamped
atheism, annihilated iniidelity and free-thought,
has shone as a lamp of life amid the encircling
gloom.

THE END.

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