The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Christian Foundation, Or, Scientific and Religious Journal, Volume I, No. 9. September, 1880, by Various This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: The Christian Foundation, Or, Scientific and Religious Journal, Volume I, No. 9. September, 1880 Author: Various Contributor: Various Editor: Aaron Walker Release Date: May 3, 2009 [EBook #28672] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CHRISTIAN FOUNDATION *** Produced by Bryan Ness, Greg Bergquist and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Print project.) Scientific and Religious Journal. VOL. I. SEPTEMBER, 1880. NO. 9. THE DIVINITY OF OUR RELIGION AS CONCEDED BY ITS ENEMIES. OUR INDEBTEDNESS TO REVELATION. INFIDELS IN A LOGICAL TORNADO. RELIGIOUS HYSTERIA, OR GETTING INSTANTANEOUSLY CONVERTED. THINGS HARD TO BELIEVE. THE RESULT OF IGNORANCE, AS VIEWED FROM THE SKEPTIC'S STANDPOINT. EVOLUTION. WHEN SHOULD CHILDREN BECOME CHURCH MEMBERS? OUR INDEBTEDNESS TO THE JEWS. THE SECOND FIVE POINTS IN CALVINISM, WITH TWO OTHER FIVES. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN'S EPITAPH AS THE EXPONENT OF HIS FAITH. HONESTY, OR THE INNER-SELF. THE DIVINITY OF OUR RELIGION AS CONCEDED BY ITS ENEMIES. VOLTAIRE SAYS, "I AM EVER APPREHENSIVE OF BEING MISTAKEN; BUT ALL MONUMENTS GIVE ME SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE THAT THE POLISHED NATIONS OF ANTIQUITY ACKNOWLEDGED A SUPREME GOD. THERE IS NOT A BOOK, NOT A MEDAL, NOT A BAS-RELIEF, NOT AN INSCRIPTION, IN WHICH JUNO, MINERVA, NEPTUNE, MARS, OR ANY OF THE OTHER DEITIES, IS SPOKEN OF AS A CREATING BEING, THE sovereign of all nature. [Pg 321] "ON THE CONTRARY, THE MOST ANCIENT PROFANE BOOKS THAT WE HAVE—HESIOD AND HOMER—REPRESENT THEIR ZEUS AS THE ONLY THUNDERER, THE ONLY MASTER OF GODS AND MEN; HE EVEN PUNISHES THE OTHER GODS; HE TIES JUNO WITH A CHAIN, AND DRIVES Apollo out of heaven. "THE ANCIENT RELIGION OF THE BRAHMINS EXPLAINS ITSELF IN A SUBLIME MANNER, CONCERNING THE UNITY AND POWER OF GOD, IN THESE WORDS FOUND IN THE 2D CHAPTER OF THE SHASTAH, 'THE ETERNAL, ABSORBED IN THE CONTEMPLATION OF HIS OWN EXISTENCE, RESOLVED, IN THE FULLNESS OF TIME, TO COMMUNICATE HIS GLORY AND HIS ESSENCE TO BEINGS CAPABLE OF FEELING AND PARTAKING HIS BEATITUDE, AS WELL AS OF CONTRIBUTING TO HIS GLORY. THE ETERNAL WILLED IT, AND THEY WERE. HE FORMED THEM PARTLY OF HIS OWN ESSENCE, CAPABLE OF PERFECTION OR IMPERFECTION, according to their will. THE ETERNAL FIRST CREATED BRAHMA, VISHNA AND SIVA, THEN MOZAZOR AND ALL THE MULTITUDE OF THE ANGELS. THE ETERNAL GAVE THE PRE-EMINENCE TO BRAHMA, VISHNA AND SIVA. BRAHMA WAS THE PRINCE OF THE ANGELIC ARMY. VISHNA AND SIVA WERE HIS COADJUTORS. THE ETERNAL DIVIDED THE ANGELIC ARMY INTO SEVERAL BANDS, AND GAVE TO EACH A CHIEF. THEY ADORED THE ETERNAL, RANGED AROUND HIS THRONE, EACH IN THE DEGREE assigned him. There was harmony in heaven.' "THE CHINESE, ANCIENT AS THEY ARE, COME AFTER THE INDIANS. THEY HAVE ACKNOWLEDGED ONE ONLY GOD. THEY HAVE NO SUBORDINATE GODS. THE MAGI OF CHALDEA, THE SABEANS, ACKNOWLEDGE BUT ONE SUPREME GOD, WHOM THEY ADORED IN THE STARS, WHICH ARE HIS WORK. THE PERSIANS ADORED HIM IN THE SUN. THE SPHERE PLACED ON THE FRONTISPIECE OF THE TEMPLE OF MEMPHIS WAS THE EMBLEM OF ONE ONLY AND PERFECT GOD, CALLED Knef BY THE EGYPTIANS. THE TITLE OF DEUS OPTIMUM MAXIMUS WAS NEVER GIVEN BY THE ROMANS TO ANY BUT JUPITER." VOLTAIRE ADDS, "THIS GREAT TRUTH, WHICH WE HAVE ELSEWHERE POINTED OUT, CAN NOT BE TOO OFTEN REPEATED. JUPITER WAS THE TRANSLATION OF THE GREEK WORD ZEUS, AND ZEUS A TRANSLATION of the Phenician word Jehovah."—Philosophical Dictionary, vol. 1, pp. 374, 375. EVER REMEMBER, THAT THERE IS, IN ALL THE ANCIENT THEORIES OF GODS, THE GRAND IDEA OF ONE SUPREME GOD. UNBELIEVERS keep this great truth out of sight. R. DALE OWEN SAYS OF CHRIST, "HIS CHARACTER AND HIS DOINGS, AS EXHIBITED IN THE GOSPEL BIOGRAPHIES—ARE ALMOST AS MARVELLOUS AS THE SYSTEM HE GAVE TO THE WORLD. THEY ACCORD NEITHER WITH HIS COUNTRY NOR WITH HIS TIME, NOR—EXCEPT AS ONE ILLUSTRIOUS EXAMPLE DISCLOSING TO US WHAT MAN MAY BE—WITH THAT HUMAN RACE WITH WHICH, ON A HUNDRED OCCASIONS, HE EXPRESSLY IDENTIFIED HIMSELF. IT WERE DIFFICULT IN THIS CONNECTION, TO IMPROVE ON THE WORDS OF AN ANGLICAN CLERGYMAN, WHOSE EARLY DEATH WAS A MISFORTUNE TO THE CHURCH HE ADORNED. 'ONCE IN THE ROLL OF AGES, OUT OF INNUMERABLE FAILURES, FROM THE STOCK OF HUMAN NATURE, ONE BUD DEVELOPED INTO A FAULTLESS FLOWER. ONE PERFECT SPECIMEN OF HUMANITY HAS GOD EXHIBITED ON EARTH. AS IF THE LIFE BLOOD OF EVERY NATION WERE IN HIS VEINS, AND THAT WHICH IS BEST AND TRUEST IN EVERY MAN, AND THAT WHICH IS TENDEREST AND GENTLEST AND PUREST IN EVERY WOMAN, WERE IN HIS CHARACTER; HE IS EMPHATICALLY THE SON OF MAN.' 'CHRIST IS THE CROWNING EXEMPLAR OF THE INSPIRED; FOR HE, WHILE ABIDING AMONG US, LIVED, MORE NEARLY THAN ANY OTHER OF GOD'S CREATURES HERE, WITHIN SIGHT AND HEARING OF HIS FUTURE HOME. THEREFORE IT IS THAT HIS TEACHINGS ARE THE NOBLEST fruits of inspiration.'" A.J. DAVIS SAYS: "HE (CHRIST) WAS A TYPE OF A PERFECT MAN, BOTH IN PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL QUALIFICATIONS. HIS GENERAL ORGANIZATION WAS INDEED REMARKABLE, INASMUCH AS HE POSSESSED, COMBINED, THE PERFECTION OF PHYSICAL BEAUTY, MENTAL POWERS AND REFINED ACCOMPLISHMENTS. HE WAS GENERALLY BELOVED DURING HIS YOUTH FOR HIS GREAT POWERS OF DISCERNMENT, HIS THIRST AFTER KNOWLEDGE, AND HIS DISPOSITION TO INQUIRE INTO THE CAUSES OF MENTAL PHENOMENA, OF THE CONDITIONS OF SOCIETY, AND OF THE VISIBLE MANIFESTATIONS OF NATURE. HE WAS ALSO MUCH BELOVED FOR HIS PURE NATURAL SYMPATHY FOR ALL WHO WERE SUFFERING AFFLICTIONS EITHER OF A PHYSICAL OR MENTAL CHARACTER—IT IS TRUE THAT AT THE AGE OF TWELVE YEARS HE WAS ADMITTED TO THE PRESENCE OF THE LEARNED DOCTORS. THERE HE MANIFESTED SOME OF HIS POWERS OF DISCERNMENT, INTERIOR AND NATURAL PHILOSOPHY, UNSOPHISTOCATED LOVE, SIMPLICITY OF EXPRESSION, KINDNESS OF DISPOSITION, AND UNIVERSAL SYMPATHY AND BENOVOLENCE. THESE HE DISPLAYED WITH ALL THE NATURALNESS AND SPONTANEOUSNESS RESULTING FROM THE PROMPTINGS OF AN uncorrupted and purely-organized spiritual principle." GREGG, A DEIST, SAYS: "I VALUE THE RELIGION OF JESUS, AS CONTAINING MORE TRUTH, PURER TRUTH, HIGHER TRUTH, THAN HAS EVER YET BEEN GIVEN TO MAN. MUCH OF HIS TEACHING I UNHESITATINGLY RECEIVE AS, TO THE BEST OF MY JUDGMENT, UNIMPROVABLE AND UNSURPASSABLE—FITTED, IF OBEYED, TO MAKE EARTH ALL THAT A FINITE AND MATERIAL SCENE CAN BE, AND MAN ONLY A LITTLE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS. 'NOT EVERY ONE THAT SAITH UNTO ME, LORD! LORD; * * * * * * BUT HE THAT DOETH THE WILL OF MY FATHER WHO IS IN HEAVEN.' 'BY THEIR FRUITS YE SHALL KNOW THEM;' 'I WILL HAVE MERCY, AND NOT SACRIFICE;' 'BE NOT A SLOTHFUL HEARER ONLY, BUT A DOER OF THE WORK;' 'WOE UNTO YE, SCRIBES AND PHARISEES, FOR YE PAY TITHES OF MINT, AND ANISE AND CUMMIN, AND NEGLECT the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and temperance, (faith left out.)' "'The enforcement of purity of heart as the security for purity of life, and of the government of the thoughts, as the originators and forerunners of action.' 'HE THAT LOOKETH ON A WOMAN, TO LUST AFTER HER, HATH COMMITTED ADULTERY WITH HER ALREADY IN HIS HEART;' 'OUT OF THE HEART PROCEED MURDERS, ADULTERIES, THEFTS, FALSE WITNESS, BLASPHEMIES; THESE ARE the things which defile a man.' "Universal good-will toward men.—'THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF;' 'WHATSOEVER YE WOULD THAT MEN should do unto you, that do ye also unto them, for this is the law and the prophets.' "Forgiveness of injuries.—'LOVE YOUR ENEMIES; DO GOOD TO THEM THAT HATE YOU, PRAY FOR THEM WHICH DISPITEFULLY USE YOU AND PERSECUTE YOU;' 'FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES AS WE FORGIVE THOSE THAT TRESPASS AGAINST US;' 'I SAY NOT UNTO THEE, UNTIL SEVEN TIMES, BUT UNTIL SEVENTY TIMES SEVEN;' 'IF YE LOVE THEM ONLY THAT LOVE YOU, WHAT REWARD HAVE YE? DO NOT EVEN publicans the same?' [Pg 322] [Pg 323] [Pg 324] "The necessity of self-sacrifice in the cause of duty.—'BLESSED ARE THEY WHICH ARE PERSECUTED FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS' SAKE;' 'IF ANY MAN WILL BE MY DISCIPLE, LET HIM DENY HIMSELF, AND TAKE UP HIS CROSS DAILY, AND FOLLOW ME;' 'IF THY RIGHT HAND OFFEND THEE, CUT IT OFF AND CAST IT FROM THEE;' 'NO MAN, HAVING PUT HIS HAND TO THE PLOUGH AND LOOKING BACK, IS FIT FOR THE kingdom of God.' "Humility.—'BLESSED ARE THE MEEK, FOR THEY SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH;' 'HE THAT HUMBLETH HIMSELF SHALL BE EXALTED;' 'HE that is greatest among you, let him be your servant.' "Genuine sincerity; being not seeming.—'TAKE HEED THAT YE DO NOT YOUR ALMS BEFORE MEN, TO BE SEEN OF THEM;' 'WHEN THOU PRAYEST, ENTER INTO THY CLOSET AND SHUT THY DOOR;' 'WHEN THOU FASTEST, ANOINT THINE HEAD, AND WASH THY FACE, THAT THOU APPEAR NOT UNTO MEN TO FAST.' ALL THESE SUBLIME PRECEPTS NEED NO MIRACLE, NO VOICE FROM THE CLOUDS, TO recommend THEM TO OUR ALLEGIANCE, OR TO ASSURE US OF THEIR DIVINITY; THEY COMMAND OBEDIENCE BY VIRTUE OF THEIR INHERIT RECTITUDE AND BEAUTY, AND VINDICATE THEIR AUTHOR as himself the one towering perpetual miracle of history."—Creed of Christendom, pp. 318, 319. "WE HOLD THAT GOD HAS SO ARRANGED MATTERS IN THIS BEAUTIFUL AND WELL-ORDERED, BUT MYSTERIOUSLY-GOVERNED UNIVERSE, THAT ONE GREAT MIND AFTER ANOTHER WILL ARISE FROM TIME TO TIME, AS SUCH ARE NEEDED, TO DISCOVER AND FLASH FORTH BEFORE THE EYES OF MEN THE TRUTHS THAT ARE WANTED, AND THE AMOUNT OF TRUTH THAT CAN BE BORNE. WE CONCEIVE THAT THIS IS EFFECTED BY endowing them, or by having arranged that nature and the course of events shall send them into the world endowed with THAT SUPERIOR MENTAL AND MORAL ORGANIZATION IN WHICH GRAND TRUTHS, SUBLIME GLEAMS OF SPIRITUAL LIGHT, WILL SPONTANEOUSLY AND INEVITABLY ARISE. SUCH A ONE WE BELIEVE WAS JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE MOST EXALTED RELIGIOUS GENIUS WHOM GOD EVER SENT UPON THE EARTH; IN HIMSELF AN EMBODIED REVELATION; HUMANITY IN ITS DIVINEST PHASE, 'GOD MANIFEST IN THE FLESH,' ACCORDING TO EASTERN HYPERBOLE; AN EXEMPLAR GIVEN IN AN EARLY AGE OF THE WORLD TO SHOW WHAT MAN MAY AND SHOULD BECOME IN THE COURSE OF AGES; IN HIS PROGRESS TOWARDS THE REALIZATION OF HIS DESTINY; AN INDIVIDUAL GIFTED WITH A GRAND, CLEAR INTELLECT, A NOBLE SOUL, A FINE ORGANIZATION, MARVELOUS MORAL INTUITIONS, AND A PERFECTLY BALANCED MORAL BEING; AND WHO, BY VIRTUE OF THESE ENDOWMENTS, SAW FURTHER THAN ALL OTHER MEN, 'BEYOND THE VERGE OF THAT BLUE SKY, WHERE GOD'S sublimest secrets lie.'"—Creed of Christendom, pp. 306, 307. WE REGARD HIM * * AS THE PERFECTION OF THE SPIRITUAL CHARACTER, AS SURPASSING ALL MEN OF ALL TIMES IN THE CLOSENESS AND DEPTH OF HIS COMMUNION WITH THE FATHER. IN READING HIS SAYINGS, WE FEEL THAT WE ARE HOLDING CONVERSE WITH THE WISEST, PUREST, NOBLEST BEING THAT EVER CLOTHED THOUGHT IN THE POOR LANGUAGE OF HUMANITY. IN STUDYING HIS LIFE WE FEEL THAT WE ARE following the footsteps of the highest ideal yet presented to us upon earth. BY THE VERY NEXT SENTENCE GREGG'S EULOGY UPON CHRIST BECOMES AN EULOGY UPON THE OLD TESTAMENT. HE SAYS THE OLD TESTAMENT CONTAINED HIS TEACHING; IT WAS RESERVED FOR HIM TO ELICIT, PUBLISH AND ENFORCE IT.— Creed of Christendom, pp. 300, 310. "BUT IT MUST NOT BE FORGOTTEN THAT THOUGH MANY OF THE CHRISTIAN PRECEPTS WERE EXTANT BEFORE THE TIME OF JESUS, YET IT IS TO HIM THAT WE OWE THEM; TO THE ENERGY, THE BEAUTY, THE POWER OF HIS TEACHING, AND STILL MORE TO THE SUBLIME LIFE HE LED, which was a daily and hourly exposition and enforcement of his teaching."—Gregg, C.C. STRAUSS ALLOWS THAT IT WAS NOT POSSIBLE THAT THE EARLY CHRISTIANS SHOULD HAVE LOOKED UPON CHRIST AS THEIR REDEEMER AND MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND MEN, IF THE APOSTLES HAD NOT PROCLAIMED THIS VERY DOCTRINE; AND THE APOSTLES COULD NOT HAVE PREACHED IT IF JESUS HIMSELF HAD NOT DESIGNATED HIMSELF AS THE REDEEMER FROM SIN, GUILT AND DEATH, AND DEMANDED FAITH IN HIMSELF AS A RELIGIOUS ACT. HE ASSERTS THAT THE DISTINGUISHING FEATURES OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH MUST BE TRACED TO CHRIST, HIS MINISTRY AND TEACHINGS ABOUT HIMSELF; THAT CHRIST CLAIMED THE POWER TO SECURE PEACE TO HIS FOLLOWERS. HE ALSO CLAIMS THAT THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF CHRIST IS ABOVE EVERY SUSPICION, AND UNEQUALED IN ITS KIND. HE SAYS, "THE PURELY SPIRITUAL AND ETHICAL CONCEPTIONS OF GOD AS THE ' only one,' HE OWED TO HIS JEWISH EDUCATION, AND, ALSO THE PURITY OF HIS BEING. BUT THE GREECIAN ELEMENT IN JESUS WAS HIS CHEERFULNESS, ARISING FROM HIS unsullied mind." AGAIN HE SAYS, JESUS, BY CULTIVATING A FRAME OF MIND THAT WAS CHEERFUL, IN UNION WITH GOD, AND EMBRACING ALL MEN AS BRETHREN, HAD REALIZED THE PROPHETIC IDEAL OF A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HEART INSCRIBED LAW; HE HAD TO SPEAK WITH THE POET, RECEIVED GOD INTO HIS WILL; SO THAT FOR HIM THE GODHEAD HAD DESCENDED FROM ITS THRONE, THE ABYSS WAS FILLED UP, ALL FEAR WAS VANISHED. HIS BEAUTIFULLY ORGANIZED NATURE HAD BUT TO DEVELOP ITSELF TO BE MORE FULLY AND CLEARLY CONFIRMED IN ITS consciousness of itself, but needed not to return to begin a new life. GREGG, THE DEIST, AFTER PRESENTING JESUS AS THE "ONE TOWERING, PERPETUAL MIRACLE OF HISTORY," SAYS, "NEXT IN PERFECTION COME THE VIEWS WHICH CHRISTIANITY UNFOLDS TO US OF GOD IN HIS RELATION TO MAN, WHICH WERE PROBABLY AS NEAR THE TRUTH AS THE MINDS OF MEN COULD IN THAT AGE RECEIVE. GOD IS REPRESENTED AS OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN, TO BE WHOSE ESPECIAL CHILDREN IS THE BEST REWARD OF THE PEACE-MAKERS, TO SEE WHOSE FACE IS THE HIGHEST HOPE OF THE PURE IN HEART, WHO IS EVER AT HAND TO STRENGTHEN HIS TRUE WORSHIPERS, TO WHOM IS DUE OUR HEARTIEST LOVE, OUR HUMBLEST SUBMISSION, WHOSE MOST ACCEPTABLE WORSHIP IS RIGHTEOUS CONDUCT AND A HOLY HEART, IN WHOSE CONSTANT PRESENCE OUR LIFE IS PASSED, TO WHOSE MERCIFUL DISPOSAL WE ARE RESIGNED BY DEATH. HIS RELATION TO US IS ALONE INSISTED ON. ALL THAT IS NEEDED FOR OUR CONSOLATION, OUR STRENGTH, OUR GUIDANCE, IS ASSURED TO US. THE PURELY SPECULATIVE IS PASSED OVER AND IGNORED." IT MAY BE THAT THE PROSPECT OF AN "EXCEEDING, EVEN AN ETERNAL WEIGHT OF GLORY" MAY BE NEEDED TO SUPPORT OUR FRAIL PURPOSES UNDER THE CRUSHING AFFLICTIONS OF OUR MORTAL LOT. IT MAY BE THAT, BY THE PERFECT ARRANGEMENTS OF OMNIPOTENCE, THE SUFFERINGS OF ALL MAY BE MADE TO WORK OUT THE ULTIMATE AND SUPREME GOOD OF EACH. HE NEXT MAKES THIS GRAND CONCESSION: TO THE ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN, WHO fully believes all he professes, cheerful resignation to the divine will is comparatively a natural, an easy, a simple thing. TO THE RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHER (MEANING SUCH AS HIMSELF) IT IS THE HIGHEST EXERCISE OF INTELLECT AND VIRTUE. THE MAN WHO HAS [Pg 325] [Pg 326] [Pg 327] REALIZED THE FAITH THAT HIS OWN LOT IS SO REGULATED BY GOD AS UNERRINGLY TO WORK FOR HIS HIGHEST GOOD—WITH SUCH A MAN, RESIGNATION, PATIENCE, NAY CHEERFUL ACQUIESCENCE IN ALL SUFFERING AND SORROW, APPEAR TO BE IN FACT ONLY THE SIMPLE AND PRACTICAL EXPRESSION OF HIS BELIEF. IF, BELIEVING ALL THIS, HE STILL MURMERS AND REBELS AT THE TRIALS AND CONTRARIETIES OF HIS LOT, he is of the childishness of the infant which quarrels with the medicine that is to lead it back to health and ease. HUXLEY SAYS: "THE BELIEF THAT THE DIVINE COMMANDS ARE IDENTICAL WITH THE LAWS OF SOCIAL MORALITY HAS LEFT INFINITE STRENGTH TO THE LATTER IN ALL AGES. THE LOVER OF MORAL BEAUTY, STRUGGLING THROUGH A WORLD FULL OF SORROW AND SIN, IS SURELY AS MUCH THE STRONGER FOR BELIEVING THAT SOONER OR LATER A VISION OF PERFECT PEACE AND GOODNESS WILL BURST UPON HIM, AS THE toiler up a mountain for the belief that beyond crag and snow lie home and rest."—Modern Symposium, page 250, 1. BALDWIN BROWN, OF THE LIBERAL SCHOOL, SPEAKING OF A VERY SINGULAR EFFORT OF MR. HARRISON, SAYS: "I REJOICE IN THE PASSIONATE EARNESTNESS WITH WHICH HE LIFTS THE HEARTS OF HIS READERS TO IDEALS WHICH IT SEEMS TO ME—THAT CHRISTIANITY WHICH AS A LIVING FORCE IN THE APOSTLES' DAYS TURNED THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN, THAT IS RIGHT SIDE UP, WITH ITS FACE TOWARD HEAVEN AND GOD—ALONE CAN REALIZE FOR MAN. I RECALL A NOBLE PASSAGE WRITTEN BY MR. HARRISON SOME YEARS AGO: 'A religion of action, a religion of social duty, devotion to an intelligible and sensible head, a real sense of incorporation with A LIVING AND CONTROLLING FORCE, THE DELIBERATE EFFORT TO SERVE AN IMMORTAL HUMANITY—THIS, AND THIS ALONE CAN ABSORB THE MUSINGS AND THE CRAVINGS OF THE SPIRITUAL MAN.' A.J. DAVIS SPEAKING OF THE FIRST CENTURY, SAYS: 'JESUS CHRIST AND HIS apostles were at this time establishing the only true religion.'" NOW, I WISH TO SAY A FEW THINGS IN VIEW OF ALL THAT I HAVE GIVEN FROM THE OPPOSITE SIDE. AND FIRST, AS IT IS THE PART OF SCIENCE TO FIND A CAUSE FOR EVERY EFFECT, WE WILL LOOK AFTER THE CAUSES AS GIVEN BY THOSE MEN WHO REJECT THE ESSENTIAL divinity of the religion of Christ, and also look after the strength or weakness of their cause, as the case may be: 1. WHAT IS THE CAUSE OF THE CHARACTER THEY ASCRIBE TO THE CHRIST? WE WILL BEGIN WITH THE DEIST GREGG. HE CLAIMS THAT GOD HAS ENDOWED MEN DIFFERENTLY—HAS ENDOWED SOME WITH BRAINS SO MUCH LARGER AND FINER THAN THOSE OF ORDINARY MEN AS TO ENABLE THEM TO SEE AND ORIGINATE TRUTHS WHICH ARE HIDDEN FROM THE MASS; AND THAT WHEN IT IS HIS WILL THAT MANKIND SHOULD MAKE SOME GREAT STEP FORWARD, SHOULD ACHIEVE SOME PREGNANT DISCOVERY, THAT IS, DISCOVERY LOADED WITH BENEFITS TO OUR RACE, HE CALLS INTO BEING SOME CEREBRAL ORGANIZATION OF MORE THAN ORDINARY MAGNITUDE AND POWER, AS THAT OF DAVID, ISAIAH, PLATO, SHAKESPEARE, BACON, NEWTON, LUTHER, PASCAL. Here we discover the cause of the superior character of Christ as a teacher, WHICH IS ASSIGNED BY ALL THE LEADING SPIRITS IN MODERN UNBELIEF, VIZ: A FINELY ENDOWED CEREBRAL ORGANIZATION, AND A JEWISH EDUCATION; THESE ARE CONSTANTLY PRESENTED AS SUFFICIENT TO MEET THE SCIENTIFIC DEMAND for the cause of his life and teachings, or the cause of Christianity. BUT THERE IS A SCIENTIFIC DEMAND LYING BEHIND ALL THIS, VIZ: WHAT IS THE CAUSE OF THIS FINE CEREBRAL ORGANIZATION, WHICH WAS SO WONDERFUL AS TO PRODUCE THE MOST WONDERFUL CHARACTER OF ALL AGES? THE ANSWER, GIVEN IN THE CLEAR-CUT WORDS OF ALL EXCEPT ATHEISTS, WHO SAY THERE IS NO GOD, is this, "THE ALL-WISE DISPOSER OF ALL THINGS SENDS JUST SUCH MEN INTO OUR RACE, WHEN ANY GREAT STEP FORWARD IS NECESSARY TO BE MADE—THAT HE ENDOWS THEM WITH DIRECT REFERENCE TO THE DISCOVERIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS TO BE MADE." SO THE GREAT CAUSE, AFTER ALL, IS, UPON THEIR OWN SHOWING, THE WILL AND POWER OF GOD; FOR IF HE ENDOWED HIM, AS THEY CLAIM, WITH DIRECT REFERENCE TO HIS TEACHINGS AND ACHIEVEMENTS, IT FOLLOWS OF NECESSITY, THAT HE WILLED THAT THOSE VERY TEACHINGS AND ACHIEVEMENTS SHOULD NOT ONLY BE MADE, BUT BE MADE JUST WHEN THEY WERE, AND JUST AS THEY WERE; SO CHRISTIANITY FINDS ITS origin in God, and is a manifestation from God, according to the showing of Gregg and Strauss. For Strauss will have it THAT THE FINITE MUST NOT BE SEPARATED FROM GOD. BUT YOU MUST REMEMBER THAT STRAUSS IS A PANTHEIST, AND THAT HE, AS SUCH, CLAIMS THAT THE INFINITE, OR GOD, WHO WITH HIM IS NOT A PERSON, BUT all-pervading LIFE, RECEIVES THE FINITE INTO ITSELF, AND SO IT BECOMES A PART OF THE IDEA OF THE GODHEAD; IN SUCH A MANNER, HOWEVER, THAT IT IS NOT PECULIAR TO JESUS ALONE, BUT TO HUMANITY AS SUCH. SO STRAUSS REACHES THE SAME THOUGHT THAT GREGG EXPRESSES—SO FAR AS THE RELATION OF CHRIST TO GODHEAD IS CONCERNED. WHILE HE AND STRAUSS DIFFER UPON THE SUBJECT OF THE GODHEAD, ONE BEING A DEIST AND THE OTHER A PANTHEIST, THEY FIND THEIR AGREEMENT IN NATURALISM, THAT IS TO SAY, THEY ACCOUNT FOR THE CHRIST CHARACTER UPON THE SCORE OF HIS BEING MORE FINELY ORGANIZED AND ENDOWED BY RELATION TO THE GODHEAD; GREGG CLAIMS THAT THIS IS ATTRIBUTABLE TO AN ALL- WISE GODHEAD, AND STRAUSS CLAIMS THAT IT IS ATTRIBUTABLE TO THE ALL-PERVADING LIFE, OR PANTHEISTIC GODHEAD, AND BOTH include as a second cause of his character his education. WE THEN SYSTEMATIZE AS FOLLOWS: FIRST, THE DEIST WHO ACCEPTS THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST AS EXHIBITING A SUPERIOR LIFE. HIS FIRST CAUSE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF CHRISTIANITY IS THE FINE ORGANIZATION OF CHRIST. HIS SECOND CAUSE IS HIS EDUCATION. THE PANTHEIST HAS IT AS FOLLOWS: FIRST CAUSE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF CHRISTIANITY, THE FINE ORGANIZATION OF CHRIST. SECOND CAUSE, HIS EDUCATION; BOTH, HOWEVER, MUST FIND A CAUSE behind THAT FINE ORGANIZATION, AND THAT CAUSE, THEY CLAIM, IS THE GODHEAD, however much they may differ about that Godhead. THIS RELATION BETWEEN CHRIST AND THE TRUE GODHEAD IS THE FUNDAMENTAL ARTICLE IN THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, AND BECOMES AT ONCE, BY COMMON AGREEMENT, THE FIRST GREAT CAUSE OF THE ORIGIN AND EXISTENCE OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. NO PANTHEIST, OR DEIST, OR NATURALIST GETS AWAY FROM THIS CONCLUSION WITHOUT AVOWING ATHEISM. WHAT DOES IT AMOUNT TO? ANSWER: Christianity is of God. THE REASON IS THIS, THE FINE CEREBRAL ORGANIZATION OF CHRIST WAS OF GOD. HENCE WE HAVE IT, FIRST CAUSE, GOD; SECOND CAUSE, CHRIST; EFFECT, CHRISTIANITY. COMMON ADMISSION, CHRIST IS THE GRANDEST CHARACTER, THE PUREST LIFE, THE FINEST TEACHER, FINEST ORGANIZATION EVER YET GIVEN TO THE RACE. THE CHRISTIAN SAYS, Amen! BUT SCIENCE MUST FIND A CAUSE FOR EVERY EFFECT. WHAT WAS THE CAUSE OF THE TEACHINGS OF THE APOSTLES, WHOSE SINCERITY WAS SUCH THAT THEY DIED FOR THEIR RELIGION? WELL, STRAUSS SAYS, IT IS INCONCEIVABLE THAT THEY SHOULD HAVE DONE IT IF JESUS HIMSELF HAD NOT DESIGNATED HIMSELF AS THE REDEEMER FROM SIN, GUILT AND DEATH, AND REQUIRED FAITH IN HIS PERSON AS A RELIGIOUS DUTY, CLAIMING THE POWER to secure peace in the Holy Spirit. According to Strauss, we have this arrangement: First, the infinite—the Godhead took the finite Jesus into itself. [Pg 328] [Pg 329] [Pg 330] SECOND, HE WAS ABOVE SUSPICION—THE FINEST, PUREST SPECIMEN OF ALL EVER KNOWN AMONG MEN. A.G. DAVIS, R.D. OWEN, RENAN AND GREGG, AND TOM PAINE, AND A HOST OF OTHERS IN UNBELIEF SAY Amen! GREGG SAYS GOD SENT HIM, AND sent him to do just that which he did do. Strauss says, He taught his desciples, and they consequently taught the world. OUR INDEBTEDNESS TO REVELATION. THE TEN SCEPTICS IN COUNCIL—No. 3. BY P.T. RUSSELL. Christian. GENTLEMEN; I AM HAPPY TO MEET YOU AGAIN. BE SEATED. HAVE YOU WEIGHED THE MATTER I GAVE YOU IN OUR last interview? If you have, I would like to hear your objections, if you have any. Reason. WE THINK WE HAVE SOME VALID OBJECTIONS. FIRST, WE ARE SATISFIED THAT YOUR POSITION IS UNSCIENTIFIC, ALTHOUGH IT IS INGENIOUSLY TAKEN. AMONG SCIENTIFIC MEN IT IS CONCEDED THAT NATURE REVEALS HER OWN BIRTH, AND DECLARES HER CREATION. NOW, IF IT IS TRUE THAT NATURE herself TELLS THE HISTORY OF HER ORIGIN, THEN YOUR IDEA THAT GOD THE CREATOR TOLD THIS, IS TO US UNREASONABLE, FOR THERE IS NO NEED OF THE SAME STORY BEING TOLD TO THE SAME AUDITORS BY TWO DIFFERENT PARTIES; SO WE MUST regard your position as untrue. Christian. ARE YOU SURE THAT NATURE EVER GAVE THE HISTORY OF HER ORIGIN, OF HER BIRTH? DO YOU READ IT IN THE BOOK OF Nature, or does she tell it vocally? Reason. TELL IT VOCALLY? NO! NATURE HAS NO POWER OF SPEECH! SHE WROTE THE HISTORY OF HER ORIGIN UPON THE PAGES OF her own book, and the eye of the Scientist reads it there. Christian. ARE YOU CERTAIN OF THIS? HOW WAS SHE QUALIFIED TO DO SO? COULD YOU WRITE THE HISTORY OF YOUR ORIGIN, OF YOUR BIRTH, WITHOUT THE AID OF SOME ONE OLDER THAN YOURSELF? DID YOU HAVE THE POWERS OF OBSERVATION IN ACTIVE EXERCISE, WATCHING EVERY MOVEMENT AMONG THE CAUSES THAT BROUGHT YOU INTO BEING? NOW, IF MAN COULD NOT BE AN EYE-WITNESS TO his own ORIGIN, UPON THIS PLANET OF OURS, WAS THERE ANYTHING ELSE IN NATURE THAT COULD BE, AND SO GAVE THAT HISTORY, WHICH YOU KNOW YOU COULD NOT? IS IT NOT POSSIBLE THAT YOU HAVE OBTAINED YOUR INTELLIGENCE FROM ANOTHER SOURCE—FROM WHAT I CALL THE REVELATION OF THE CREATOR? MAY IT NOT BE TRUE THAT YOU HAVE THUS BORROWED YOUR INFORMATION, AND FALSELY CREDITED IT TO NATURE? IF YOU FOUND IT IN THE BOOK OF NATURE AND READ IT THERE, YOU CAN TELL ME ON WHAT PAGE IT IS WRITTEN? WILL YOU do this so that I may read it too? Reason. Read it there, and on some certain or well-known page! Really, you are very captious. This great truth is on every page; the whole face of Nature declares it; I can not tell you anything about the page. Christian. THERE IS A GERMAN MAXIM WHICH, TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH, READS, "THE CLEAR IS THE TRUE." THE NATURAL CONVERSE OF THIS GERMAN PROPOSITION IS THIS: THE TRUTH OF THE AMBIGUOUS IS VERY DOUBTFUL. THIS LEAVES YOUR CLAIM IN A VERY SUSPICIOUS CONDITION, IF IT DOES NOT BRAND IT WITH FALSEHOOD. AGAIN, YOU SAY IT WAS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF NATURE. BY WHOM WAS IT WRITTEN? A BOOK CAN NOT WRITE ITSELF. NATURE, OR THE MATERIAL UNIVERSE, NEITHER DID NOR COULD WRITE IT, FOR SHE HAS NO POWER OF ACTION, INERTIA BEING HER PROPERTY. SHE MIGHT BE ACTED UPON. I CAN WRITE UPON THIS SHEET, BUT IT CAN NOT WRITE UPON ITSELF. IF IT IS WRITTEN UPON IT IS self-evident THAT A FOREIGN POWER HAS DONE IT. SO NATURE, BEING THE AGGREGATE OF EVERYTHING, CAN NOT MOVE WITHOUT THE HAND OF A FOREIGN POWER MOVING HER. I SUPPOSE YOU ARE NOW READY TO ASK, "IS IT not a scientific truth that matter is eternal?" Reason. YES, WE ARE SATISFIED THAT MATTER IS UNCREATED, AND HENCE ETERNAL. THE IDEA THAT SOMETHING WAS MADE OF NOTHING MIGHT DO FOR THE DARK AGES, BUT IT WILL NOT STAND THE TEST NOW. THE PENETRATING EYE OF THE SCIENTIST HAS EXPLODED that dream. Christian. I am glad to hear you speak thus with confidence, and yet the sequel may show that you are the dreamer. SCIENCE, FALSELY SO CALLED, HAS DECLARED MATTER ETERNAL. TRUE SCIENCE CONTRADICTS THIS. "NONE OF THE PROCESSES OF NATURE, SINCE THE TIME WHEN NATURE BEGAN, HAVE PRODUCED THE SLIGHTEST DIFFERENCE IN THE PROPERTIES OF ANY MOLECULE. WE ARE THEREFORE UNABLE TO ASCRIBE EITHER THE EXISTENCE OF THE MOLECULES, OR THE IDENTITY OF THEIR PROPERTIES, TO THE OPERATION OF ANY OF THE CAUSES WHICH WE CALL NATURAL. THE QUALITY OF EACH MOLECULE GIVES IT THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTER OF A MANUFACTURED ARTICLE, AND PRECLUDES THE IDEA OF ITS BEING ETERNAL AND SELF-EXISTENT."—PROF. CLARK MAXWELL, LECTURES DELIVERED BEFORE the British Association, at Bradford, in Nature, vol. 8, p. 441. PROF. MAXWELL IS A STAR OF FIRST MAGNITUDE AMONG BRITISH SCIENTISTS; HE HAS MADE A SPECIALTY OF MOLECULAR organizations. No real scholar would dare to risk his standing by disputing the conclusion of Prof. Maxwell. An idea that IS SHUT OUT BY MATTER OF FACT DISCOVERIES WILL NOT BE MADE THE BASIS OF AN ARGUMENT BY ANY SCHOLAR WHO HAS NOT BEEN TAKING A "RIP VAN WINKLE SLEEP" WHILE THE REST OF THE WORLD HAS BEEN ADVANCING. THE GREAT IMPROVEMENTS RESULTING IN THE ASTONISHING INCREASE OF POWER HAS ENABLED US TO CLOSELY EXAMINE THE SMALLEST KNOWN PARTICLES OF MATTER, MOLECULES. AND under the best glasses, these give every possible indication of being a created, or manufactured article. THUS, THE LATEST AND MOST GRAND DISCOVERIES IN THIS FIELD OF SCIENCE DO UNEQUIVOCALLY CONFIRM THE DECLARATION OF MOSES [Pg 331] [Pg 332] [Pg 333] IN GEN. 2: 3, WHERE, ACCORDING TO THE HEBREW IN WHICH HE WROTE, SPEAKING OF THE CREATION OF ALL THINGS, HE GIVES US THIS IDEA, "WHICH GOD CREATED TO MAKE." SEE MARGINAL READING, GEN. 2: 3. HEBREW SCHOLARS TELL ME THIS IS THE CORRECT READING. THE WORD, RENDERED, "AND MADE," IS IN THE INFINITIVE MOOD, AND HENCE SHOULD READ, "TO MAKE;" ALSO, THAT THE WORD RENDERED, "CREATED" IS THE PROPER TERM BY WHICH TO INDICATE THE PRODUCING CAUSE. THIS, THEN, IS THE THOUGHT PRESENTED BY BOTH OF OUR WITNESSES, i.e., BY MOSES AND SCIENCE. MOSES SAYS GOD CREATED THE MATERIAL TO MAKE GLOBES, OR WORLDS. THE MATERIAL WAS MOLECULAR, AND SCIENCE DECLARES THAT EVERY MOLECULE GIVES EVERY POSSIBLE INDICATION OF BEING MANUFACTURED OR CREATED. SO, TRUE SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES HAVE SO COMPLETELY VINDICATED THE MOSAIC COSMOGONY THAT IT LEAVES NO CHANCE FOR ANY, OUTSIDE OF THREE CLASSES, TO OBJECT. FOR TWO OF THESE CLASSES I AM NOT WRITING, VIZ., THE COWARDLY AND THE DISHONEST. TO DO THIS WOULD BE "CASTING PEARLS BEFORE SWINE." BUT FOR THE IGNORANT I SEND THIS ON ITS mission. Read and digest. In my next I will demonstrate the divine origin of language and religion. Till then, farewell. INFIDELS IN A LOGICAL TORNADO. THERE IS NOTHING BUT MATTER. MATTER IS ETERNAL. THEREFORE ALL THINGS ARE ETERNAL. DOES THIS HAVE THE RIGHT RING? IT MUST BE SO IF INFIDEL MATERIALISM BE THE TRUE PHILOSOPHY. AND IF IT IS SO WE ARE ALL DECEIVED; FOR UNIVERSAL CONSCIENCE, AND universal language, are both against it. IF THERE IS ANYTHING THAT IS NOT ETERNAL THERE WAS A TIME WHEN IT BEGAN TO BE, IT WAS CREATED IN SOME WAY, INTELLIGENTLY OR BY ACCIDENT. IF INTELLIGENTLY, THE BIBLE IDEA IS, AND must be CORRECT. IF WITHOUT AN INTELLIGENCE IT WAS NOT, AND COULD NOT BE BY EVOLUTION, FOR CREATION BY EVOLUTION COULD NOT, AND CAN NOT BE; BECAUSE THAT WHICH IS NOT IN A THING CAN NOT BE EVOLVED OUT OF IT, UNLESS YOU CAN GET MORE OUT OF A THING THAN THERE IS IN IT; WHICH IS ABSURD. SO EVOLUTION IS A NEGATION OF THE DOCTRINE OF A CREATION. AND THE DOCTRINE THAT THERE IS NOTHING BUT MATTER, AND THAT MATTER IS ETERNAL, IS A DENIAL OF CREATION BY INTELLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE. THE INFIDEL SAYS, LIFE BEGAN TO BE; FOR THERE WAS A TIME WHEN THERE WAS NO LIFE. BUT THEY SAY MATTER IS ETERNAL. AND LIFE IS NOT ETERNAL. THEREFORE LIFE IS NOT MATTER. GENTLEMEN, WILL YOU GET AWAY WITH THIS CONCLUSION? THE OPPOSITE IS EQUALLY FATAL TO THE MATERIALISTIC THEORY. THUS, MATTER IS ETERNAL. THERE IS NOTHING BUT MATTER. Therefore life is eternal. Can you get this conclusion out of, or away from logical deductions? BUT INFIDELS SAY, "LIFE IS A PROPERTY OF CERTAIN ELEMENTS OF MATTER." VERY WELL; CAN YOU SEPARATE THINGS AND THEIR PROPERTIES? CAN YOU GET THEM SO FAR APART AS TO HOLD THE ONE CLASS—THINGS—TO BE ETERNAL, AND THE OTHER CLASS— properties—not? YOUR PHILOSOPHY OF SPONTANEOUS GENERATION OF LIFE SAYS, YES, YES, THERE WAS A TIME WHEN IT BEGAN TO BE, AND IT WAS SPONTANEOUSLY GENERATED, OF COURSE IT WAS. VERY WELL; THERE IS NOTHING BUT MATTER. MATTER DID NOT BEGIN TO BE; IT IS ETERNAL. LIFE BEGAN TO BE, THEREFORE IT IS NOT MATTER; OTHERWISE IT IS ETERNAL ACCORDING TO INFIDEL LOGIC, UNLESS YOU take the position that life is nothing! Matter is eternal. That which began to be is not eternal. Mind began to be; Therefore, mind is not eternal. Very well; let's look at it once more. Matter is eternal; it did not begin to be. Mind is not eternal; it began to be; Therefore, mind is not matter. Where, gentlemen, O where will you place mind? is it also nothing? That which began to be was created. Life and mind, both, began to be; Therefore, life and mind were created. Question. WERE THEY THE EFFECTS OF AN INADEQUATE CAUSE? INANIMATE AND UNINTELLIGENT NATURE WOULD NOT BE AN adequate cause. Did these do more than animated intelligence can do? Gentlemen of skeptical proclivities answer. IF SO, IS THIS NOT EVOLUTION BACKWARDS? IS IT NOT RETROGRESSION, OR DEVELOPMENT AT THE EXPENSE OF THE LOSS OF POWER TO RISE TO THE PLANE OF UNINTELLIGENT MIND AND LIFE EVOLVING NATURE? DO YOU SAY, ORGANIC LIFE DOES EVOLVE ORGANIC LIFE AND MIND. FROM A STATE OF DEATH? WITHOUT ANTECEDENT LIFE AND MIND BEING DRAWN UPON? COME, GENTLEMEN; HOW IS THIS? YOU SAY INANIMATE NATURE PRODUCED LIFE AND MIND WITHOUT THE PREVIOUS EXISTENCE OF EITHER; CAN YOU DUPLICATE THAT FEAT WITH YOUR POWER? IF YOU CAN'T ARE YOU NOT BELOW THE INANIMATE NATURE WHICH DID IT FOR THE FIRST TIME? CAN INANIMATE FORCES DO MORE THAN LIVING INTELLIGENT NATURE? DO YOU SAY NO! THEN DEMONSTRATE THE PHILOSOPHY OF SPONTANEOUS GENERATION OF LIFE, and show yourself A GOD. [Pg 334] [Pg 335] [Pg 336] AN EFFORT TO PRODUCE ORGANIC LIFE WITHOUT ANTECEDENT LIFE, OR WHERE IT IS NOT, IS AN EFFORT TO CREATE ORGANIC LIFE. THE EFFORTS OF UNBELIEVERS TO PRODUCE ORGANIC LIFE BY SPONTANEOUS GENERATION, IS AN EFFORT TO PRODUCE ORGANIC LIFE WHERE IT IS NOT. THEREFORE THE EFFORTS OF UNBELIEVERS TO PRODUCE ORGANIC LIFE, BY SPONTANEOUS GENERATION, IS AN EFFORT TO CREATE organic life. AN EFFORT TO CREATE ORGANIC LIFE WHERE IT IS NOT IS AN EFFORT TO RISE INTO THE CHARACTER OF A GOD, AND SHOW ONE'S SELF THE EQUAL OF GOD. BUT WHY SHOULD THIS EFFORT NOT BE MADE? IF UNINTELLIGENT DEAD MATTER HAS PERFORMED THE FEAT, WITHOUT WISDOM OR DESIGN, WHY SHOULD IT NOT BE PERFORMED BY LIVING INTELLIGENT NATURE? GENTLEMEN, DEMONSTRATE YOUR THEORY. DO YOU SAY, WE HAVE GIVEN UP ALL HOPE OF WITNESSING ITS DEMONSTRATION? WELL, WELL, HAS ANY MAN EVER WITNESSED IT? YOU SAY NO. THEN IT IS NOT CERTAIN KNOWLEDGE. SCIENCE IS CERTAIN KNOWLEDGE. THEREFORE SPONTANEOUS GENERATION OF LIFE AND INTELLIGENT BEING IS NOT SCIENCE. NOW, GENTLEMEN, DON'T PROSTITUTE SCIENCE AT THE SHRINE OF YOUR NONSENSICAL GUESSING ANY more. Throw your guessing to one side and acknowledge God like wise men, and be no longer foolish. DO YOU SAY LIFE WAS ALWAYS IN MATTER? "THEN WE MUST CONCLUDE THAT IT IS IN MATTER IN THE SAME SENSE IN WHICH ALL OTHER CORPOREAL QUALITIES ARE IN BODIES, SO AS TO BE DIVISIBLE TOGETHER WITH IT, AND SOME OF IT BE IN EVERY PART OF THE MATTER." This is ancient Hylozoism. ON THE OTHER HAND, THE "STOICAL ATHEISTS SUPPOSED THERE WAS ONE LIFE ONLY IN THE ENTIRE MASS OF MATTER, AFTER SUCH A MANNER, AS THAT NONE OF THE PARTS OF IT BY THEMSELVES SHOULD HAVE ANY LIFE OF THEIR OWN." NOW, ACCORDING TO THIS STOICAL THEORY, "LIFE IS NO CORPOREAL QUALITY OR FORM, BUT AN INCORPOREAL SUBSTANCE." THERE ARE, REALLY, BUT TWO SORTS OF ATHEISM WHICH HAVE BEEN IN ANY THING LIKE EXTENSIVE NOTICE. FIRST, "SUCH AS CLAIM THAT LIFE IS ESSENTIAL TO MATTER, AND THEREFORE ingenerable AND incorruptible." SECOND, "THOSE WHO CLAIM THAT LIFE AND EVERYTHING, BESIDES THE BARE SUBSTANCE OF MATTER, OR EXTENDED BULK, IS MERELY ACCIDENTAL, GENERABLE, OR CORRUPTIBLE, RISING OUT OF SOME MIXTURE OR MODIFICATION OF matter." IS LIFE, PERCEPTION AND UNDERSTANDING ESSENTIAL TO MATTER, AS SUCH? IS SENSELESS MATTER PERFECTLY WISE, WITHOUT CONSCIOUSNESS? SUCH IS HYLOZOISM, AND IT IS OUTRAGEOUS NONSENSE. VERY FEW MEN EVER HAD CREDULITY ENOUGH TO RECEIVE AND APPROPRIATE IT. THIS FORM OF ATHEISM WAS A FORLORN AND ABANDONED THING, WITHOUT FORM OR SYSTEMIZATION, FOR CENTURIES GONE BY—AND IT HAS FEW—VERY FEW—VOTARIES, EVEN NOW. THE SECOND KIND OF ATHEISM "IS THAT OF A TRUE NOTION OF BODY, THAT IT IS NOTHING BUT RESISTING BULK," ASSOCIATED WITH ATOMIC PHYSIOLOGY, WHICH IS AN OLD THEORY RESURRECTED OF LATE, AND DISPLAYED ANEW, WITH A show OF DEEP PHILOSOPHY AND WISDOM. BUT THAT MIND AND UNDERSTANDING ITSELF SPRANG FROM SENSELESS NATURE AND CHANCE, AS A MERE ACCIDENT, OR FROM THE UNGUIDED AND UNDIRECTED MOTIONS OF MATTER, IS ALSO NONSENSICAL, AND UTTERLY ABSURD. WERE THERE INFINITE ATOMS IN MUTUAL ENCOUNTERS, DASHING AND STRIKING AGAINST EACH OTHER? DID THESE ATOMS, DEVOID OF SENSE AND LIFE, WITH THEIR REFLECTIONS AND REPURCUSSIONS, THEIR COHESIONS, IMPLEXIONS, AND ENTANGLEMENTS, THEIR SCATTERED DISPERSIONS AND DIVULSIONS, PRODUCE LIFE AND INTELLIGENCE? IF SO, WE WILL CALL IT BY THE NAME of chance. Hear this, O, ye scientists, there is but one choice, and that is between God and chance! THE CHANCE THEORY IS THAT "INFINITE ATOMS OF VARIOUS SIZES AND FIGURES, DEVOID OF LIFE AND SENSE, MOVING FORTUITOUSLY FROM ETERNITY IN INFINITE SPACE, AND MAKING SUCCESSIVE ENCOUNTERS AND VARIOUS IMPLEXIONS AND ENTANGLEMENTS WITH ONE ANOTHER, PRODUCED FIRST A CONFUSED CHAOS OF THESE OMNIFARIOUS PARTICLES OR ATOMS, WHICH, JUMBLING TOGETHER WITH INFINITE VARIETY OF MOTIONS BY THE TUGGING OF THEIR DIFFERENT AND CONTRARY FORCES, HINDERED AND RESTRICTED EACH OTHER UNTIL, BY JOINT CONSPIRACY, THEY CONGLOMERATED INTO A VORTEX OR VORTEXES, WHERE, AFTER MANY CONVULSIONS AND EVOLUTIONS, MOLITIONS AND ESSAYS, IN WHICH ALL MANNER OF TRICKS WERE TRIED," WITHOUT DESIGN, "THEY chanced IN LENGTH OF TIME TO SETTLE INTO THE FORM AND SYSTEM OF THINGS KNOWN AS EARTH, AIR AND FIRE, SUN, MOON AND STARS, PLANTS, ANIMALS AND MEN;" SO THAT SENSELESS ATOMS UNCONSCIOUSLY MOVED THEMSELVES, ALTHOUGH DEAD AS GRAINS OF SAND, AND KEPT UP THE MOTION UNTIL, WITHOUT ANY living substance UNDERLYING, AND ADEQUATE TO PRODUCE MOTION, ALL THINGS SO BEAUTIFULLY ARRANGED SPRANG INTO LIFE AND BEING. O, YE STARS, WHAT IS THE MAGNITUDE OF AN INFIDEL'S CREDULITY? WHAT IS THERE WHICH HE CAN NOT BELIEVE? IT IS NO LONGER TO BE SET DOWN THAT HE IS A REASONABLE MAN. "THE FOOL SAITH IN HIS HEART THERE IS NO GOD." THERE IS A GRAND RELATION BETWEEN THE ETERNAL SPIRIT AND THAT ETERNAL SUBSTANCE WHICH LIES BEHIND AND UNDERNEATH ALL THAT IS, AND THAT RELATION IS THE RELATION BETWEEN THE "KING ETERNAL" AND THAT OVER WHICH HE PRESIDES AND WHICH HE CONTROLS. SO OUT OF NOTHING NOTHING comes. RELIGIOUS HYSTERIA, OR GETTING INSTANTANEOUSLY CONVERTED. BY GEORGE HERBERT CURTEIS, M.A., Late Fellow and Sub-Rector of Exeter College, Principal of the Litchfield Theological College, and Prebendary of Litchfield Cathedral. I FEAR IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO DENY, THAT IN THE EARLY PART OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY—AMID THE GENERAL COLDNESS, LANGUOR, AND WANT OF ENTHUSIASM WHICH CHARACTERIZED THAT EFFETE EPOCH—"THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, AS WELL AS ALL THE DISSENTING BODIES, SLUMBERED AND SLEPT." AT THIS EPOCH, THE PURITANS WERE BURIED, AND THE METHODISTS WERE NOT BORN. THE BISHOP OF LITCHFIELD, IN A SERMON DELIVERED IN 1724, SAID, "THE LORD'S DAY IS NOW THE DEVIL'S MARKET DAY." IN LITCHFIELD CATHEDRAL LIBRARY IS A COPY OF DR. BALGUY'S SERMONS, DELIVERED IN 1748, CONTAINING ON THE FLY-LEAF AN AUTOGRAPH REMARK BY BISHOP BLOOMFIELD. IT IS IN THESE WORDS, "NO CHRISTIANITY HERE." IT IS SAID OF THAT PERIOD OF TIME, BY A NOTED MINISTER OF [Pg 336] [Pg 337] [Pg 338] THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, THAT A DRY RATIONALISM HAD TAKEN POSSESSION OF THE CHURCH, AND THAT ALL THE POWERS OF HER BEST INTELLECTS WERE ENGAGED IN HOT CONTESTS WITH DEISTS AND UNITARIANS; THAT AN EQUALLY DRY MORALITY AND STOICAL PRAISE OF "VIRTUE" FORMED THE CHIEF PART OF THE EXHORTATIONS FROM THE PULPIT. IT WAS JUST IN THESE TIMES THAT THE CAUSES OF THE REFORMATION OF JOHN WESLEY SPRANG INTO BEING. SEVEN BIOGRAPHIES OF JOHN WESLEY HAVE ALREADY BEEN WRITTEN, AND THE SUBJECT SEEMS FAR FROM BEING EXHAUSTED EVEN YET. AS USUAL IN SUCH CASES IT IS THE EARLIER PUBLICATIONS WHICH TAKE THE MORE SOBER VIEW OF HIS CHARACTER AND HISTORY; WHILE THOSE OF A LATER DATE SURROUND THEIR HERO WITH A HALO OF EXTRAVAGANT ADMIRATION. ALEXANDER KNOX, A PERSONAL FRIEND OF WESLEY'S, THUS WRITES OF HIM: "HOW WAS HE COMPETENT TO FORM A religious polity so compact, effective and permanent? I can only express my firm conviction that he was totally incapable OF PRECONCEIVING SUCH A SCHEME. * * * * THAT HE HAD UNCOMMON ACUTENESS IN FITTING EXPEDIENTS TO CONJUNCTURES IS MOST CERTAIN; THIS, in fact, WAS HIS GREAT TALENT." ( Letter appended TO SOUTHEY'S THIRD EDITION, 2, P. 428.) METHODISM, AT THE first, sprang up simply as a revival. HALF A CENTURY AGO A DISTINGUISHED WESLEYAN WROTE AS FOLLOWS: "THOUGH METHODISM STANDS NOW IN A DIFFERENT RELATION TO THE ESTABLISHMENT THAN IN THE DAYS OF MR. WESLEY, dissent HAS NEVER BEEN PROFESSED BY THE BODY—AND FOR OBVIOUS REASONS: (1) A SEPARATION OF A PART OF THE SOCIETY FROM THE CHURCH HAS NOT ARISEN FROM THE PRINCIPLES ASSUMED BY THE PROFESSED DISSENTERS, AND USUALLY MADE SO PROMINENT IN THEIR DISCUSSIONS ON THE SUBJECT OF ESTABLISHMENTS. (2) A CONSIDERABLE NUMBER OF OUR MEMBERS ARE ACTUALLY IN THE COMMUNION OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND TO THIS DAY. (3) TO LEAVE that communion is not, in any sense, a condition of membership with us." (R. Watson's Observations, p. 156.) "WHAT MAY WE REASONABLY BELIEVE TO BE GOD'S DESIGN IN RAISING UP THE PREACHERS CALLED METHODISTS? NOT TO FORM ANY NEW SECT, BUT TO REFORM THE NATION, PARTICULARLY THE CHURCH; AND TO SPREAD SCRIPTURAL HOLINESS OVER THE LAND." (LARGE MINUTES OF CONFERENCE, 1744–89, QU. 3.) IN THE SAME, QU. 45, WE HAVE THIS ANSWER: "WE ARE NOT SECEDERS, NOR DO WE BEAR ANY RESEMBLANCE TO THEM. WE SET OUT UPON QUITE OPPOSITE PRINCIPLES." SOUTHEY SAYS: "WESLEY HAD NOW PROPOSED TO HIMSELF A CLEAR AND DETERMINATE OBJECT. HE HOPED TO GIVE A NEW IMPULSE TO THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, TO AWAKEN ITS DORMANT ZEAL, INFUSE LIFE INTO A BODY WHERE NOTHING BUT LIFE WAS WANTING, AND LEAD THE WAY TO THE PERFORMANCE OF DUTIES which the church had scandalously neglected." (Southey's Life, p. 193, ed. Bohn.) MR CURTIES SAYS: "A DISASTROUS PERIOD OF WESLEYANISM OPENED WITH JOHN WESLEY'S VOYAGE TO AMERICA, IN 1735. IT was a mission nobly undertaken, at the instance of Dr. Burton, of Corpus College, and of the celebrated mystic, William LAW; AND ITS PURPOSE WAS TWOFOLD; FIRST, THAT OF MINISTERING TO THE SETTLERS IN GEORGIA, AND THEN OF EVANGELIZING THE NEIGHBORING TRIBES OF RED INDIANS. (SOUTHEY'S LIFE, P. 47). BUT ITS RESULTS WERE FAR DIFFERENT FROM THOSE WHICH EITHER WESLEY, OR THOSE WHO WISHED HIM WELL, COULD HAVE ANTICIPATED. FOR NOT ONLY WERE HIS SERVICES FOR THE SETTLERS REJECTED, AND HIS MISSION TO THE INDIANS A FAILURE. (R. WATSON'S LIFE, P. 38.) ON HIS VOYAGE OUT HE HAD FALLEN IN WITH TWENTY-SIX MORAVIAN FELLOW-PASSENGERS, ON THEIR WAY FROM GERMANY TO SETTLE IN GEORGIA; AND THEY SPOILT ALL. ON HIS AS YET UNSETTLED, ENTHUSIASTIC, SELF-DISSATISFIED FRAME OF MIND, THE SPECTACLE OF THEIR CONFIDENT, TRANQUIL, YET FERVID PIETY, FELL LIKE A SPARK ON TINDER. HE WRITES, IN HIS JOURNAL, NOW FIRST BEGUN, 'FROM FRIENDS IN ENGLAND I AM AWHILE SECLUDED; BUT GOD HATH OPENED ME A DOOR INTO THE WHOLE MORAVIAN CHURCH.' HERE, WESLEY LEARNED, AND TOOK IN, THE DOCTRINES OF PETER BOHLER, THE MORAVIAN, WHO TAUGHT THUS: FIRST, WHEN A MAN HAS A LIVING FAITH IN CHRIST, THEN HE IS JUSTIFIED. SECOND, THIS LIVING FAITH IS always given in a moment. THIRD, IN THAT MOMENT HE HAS PEACE WITH GOD. FOURTH, WHICH HE CAN NOT HAVE WITHOUT KNOWING HE HAS IT. FIFTH, AND BEING BORN OF GOD HE SINNETH NOT. SIXTH, AND HE CAN NOT HAVE THIS DELIVERANCE FROM SIN, without knowing that he has it." (Southey's Life, p. 113.) SUCH IS THE ORIGIN OF THE METHODIST TENET "THAT THERE IS A SWIFT AND ROYAL ROAD, NOT ONLY FOR SOME MEN, BUT FOR ALL MEN, BY WHICH THE HIGHEST SPIRITUAL THINGS MAY BE REACHED AT A BOUND." UNDER SUCH AN IMPRESSION JOHN WESLEY SET ABOUT REALIZING AN INSTANTANEOUS AND SENSIBLE CONVERSION. IF A MAN UNDER HIGH MENTAL EXCITEMENT IS LOOKING FOR SUCH A THING TO OCCUR, SOMETHING WILL TAKE PLACE SOONER OR LATER THAT WILL ANSWER THE EXPECTATION. SO, ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 1738, ABOUT NINE O'CLOCK IN THE EVENING, AT A SOCIETY'S MEETING IN ALDERSGATE STREET, WESLEY PERSUADED HIMSELF THAT HE HAD FELT THE DESIRED TRANSITION AND HAD PASSED—FROM WHAT, TO WHAT? IN THE ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION LIES THE WHOLE DOCTRINAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MODERN METHODISM AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. STEVENS, IN HIS HISTORY OF METHODISM 1, 108, SAYS, METHODISM OWES TO MORAVIANISM SPECIAL OBLIGATIONS: (1) IT INTRODUCED WESLEY INTO THAT REGENERATED SPIRITUAL LIFE, THE SUPREMACY OF WHICH OVER ALL ECCLESIASTICISM AND DOGMATISM IT WAS THE APPOINTED MISSION OF METHODISM TO REASSERT. BUT A STILL STRANGER EVENT OCCURRED IN JOHN WESLEY'S LIFE, WHICH CONTRIBUTED STILL FARTHER TO DARKEN AND CONFUSE HIS TEACHING AT THIS CRITICAL PERIOD OF HIS CAREER. HE HAD BEEN CARRIED AWAY BY HIS LOVE OF THE MORAVIANS SO FAR AS TO TAKE A LONG JOURNEY, AND TO VISIT THE HEADQUARTERS OF THEIR COMMUNION AT HERNHUTT, IN SAXONY. THERE HE HAD BEEN AN HONORED GUEST AT THE RETREAT WHICH THE ENTHUSIAST COUNT ZINZENDORF HAD CARVED OUT OF HIS ESTATE FOR THESE HUNTED BOHEMIAN FOLLOWERS OF HUSS AND WICKLIFF. BUT HE HAD RETURNED HOME, AFTER A BRIEF RESIDENCE AMONG THEM, AS LUTHER RETURNED FROM ROME, NOT A LITTLE SHAKEN IN HIS ALLEGIANCE TO THEIR SYSTEM. INDEED, SHORTLY AFTERWARDS HE BROKE FROM THEM ENTIRELY; SET UP A SORT OF ENGLISH MORAVIANISM OF HIS OWN, AND ORGANIZED IT WITH "BANDS" AND "CLASS-MEETINGS" ON THE MORAVIAN MODEL. BUT HIS FEELINGS AS A CHURCHMAN REVOLTED AGAINST THEIR ULTRA-SPIRITUALISM; REPUDIATED THEIR DOCTRINE THAT SACRAMENTS AND OUTWARD MEANS WERE NOTHING, AND PROTESTED THAT A MAN MUST DO SOMETHING MORE THAN WAIT, IN QUIETUDE, UNTIL THE INFLUX OF GOD'S SPIRIT CAME UPON HIM, AND FILLED, LIKE A RISING TIDE, ALL THE SLUICES AND CHANNELS OF HIS SOUL. BUT NO SOONER HAD THIS UNQUIET SOUL EMANCIPATED ITSELF FROM ONE FOREIGN INFLUENCE THAN IT WAS WARPED OUT OF ITS TRUE COURSE BY ANOTHER. German mysticism HAD DONE ITS WORK ON HIM, AND ITS DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION INTO GOD'S KINGDOM BY AN INTERIOR CONVULSION OF THE MIND HAD LEFT ITS MARK UPON WESLEYANISM FOR ALL FUTURE TIME. BUT JUST AS THIS EXTRAVAGANCE SEEMED LIKELY TO SUBSIDE, AND TO BE ABSORBED AMID THE HEALTHIER ATMOSPHERE OF AN ENGLISH CHURCHMAN'S COMMON SENSE, MOST UNHAPPILY A STRONG BREATH OF French fanaticism SUDDENLY SET ACROSS HIS PATH, FROM QUITE ANOTHER QUARTER. AND THE SINGULAR PHENOMENON NOW PRESENTED ITSELF OF AN EPIDEMIC RELIGIOUS-HYSTERIA COMMINGLING WITH, AND EMPHASIZING INTO LAMENTABLE EXTRAVAGANCE, [Pg 339] [Pg 340] [Pg 341] [Pg 342] ALL THE MOST DANGEROUS FEATURES OF THE METHODIST-MORAVIAN DOCTRINE ABOUT THE NEW BIRTH. SO WONDERFULLY IS ALL THE WORLD connected together! * * * * * THESE FRENCH "CONVULSIONISTS," WHO HAD, JUST BEFORE THIS TIME, BROUGHT THEIR CURIOUS MENTAL MALADY WITH THEM INTO England, were refugees from the atrocious dragonnades OF LOUIS THE XIV. MADDENED BY HIS ABOMINABLE AND RELENTLESS PERSECUTIONS, DEPRIVED BY HIS AUTOCRATIC EDICTS OF ALL THAT LIFE HELD DEAR, ROBBED OF THEIR CHILDREN AT THE SWEET AGE OF SEVEN YEARS OLD, BROKEN ON THE WHEEL, HUNTED AMONG THE MOUNTAINS OF THE CEVENNES, BEGGARED, INSULTED, TORTURED, MASSACRED—WHAT WONDER THAT THESE POOR PROTESTANTS LOST THE BALANCE OF THEIR MENTAL POWERS AND ENGENDERED A HYSTERICAL DISEASE? THE DISEASE IS (I BELIEVE), UNDER ITS STRANGELY MUTABLE FORMS, WELL KNOWN TO MEDICAL SCIENCE, THOUGH SCIENCE HAS NEVER YET BEEN ABLE TO PROBE ALL ITS MYSTERIOUS DEPTHS. ITS SEAT IS, APPARENTLY, THE GREAT NERVOUS GANGLIA OF NUTRITION, WHICH LIE IN THE CENTER OF THE BODY, AND WHOSE STRANGE SYMPATHETIC ACTION WITH AND UPON THE BRAIN HAS LED TO ALL THE POPULAR NOTIONS ABOUT THE HEART AND NEIGHBORING ORGANS BEING THE SEAT OF VARIOUS IMPASSIONED FEELINGS. SUFFICE IT, HOWEVER, AT PRESENT, TO OBSERVE THAT THE PHENOMENA WHICH THIS EXTRAORDINARY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASE PRESENTED HAD sufficed to cheer the faith and animate the ardor of the Calvinists in the Cevennes against Rome. THE CEVENNES IS A RANGE OF MOUNTAINS IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE, DIVIDED INTO N. AND S. * * A WILD RUGGED COUNTRY, AND THE ABODE OF MANY PROTESTANTS, WHO HERE MAINTAINED THEMSELVES AGAINST THE PERSECUTIONS OF THEIR ENEMIES. (SEE Cavalier Jean). SUCH, IN FACT, WERE THE CAUSES OF THE EXTASIES OR IRREGULAR INSPIRATIONS; THE WANT OF SPIRITUAL GUIDES AND SCHOOLS, SPOLIATION, SUFFERING, LIABILITY TO TORTURE, AND CONSTANT APPREHENSION OF THE GALLEY OR THE GIBBET, THE MINDS OF THESE unfortunate creatures became excited. * * * THIS RELIGIOUS ENTHUSIASM BEGAN IN VIVARAIS, AN OLD TERRITORY OF FRANCE, IN LANGUEDOC, ON THE RHONE, WITH THE dragonnades and the revocation, repeal of an edict, about the year 1686. A PRACTICAL PROOF OF THE MORBIFIC POWER OF THE EMOTIONS AND PASSIONS IS FOUND IN THE FREQUENT OCCURRENCE OF psychopathitis IN TIMES WHEN ALL THE ELEMENTS OF SOCIAL LIFE ARE IN A STATE OF FERMENTATION. IN AND AFTER REVOLUTIONS SUDDEN changes of fortune produce a thousand cases of mental disorder. The very same disease broke out among the Romanists themselves, at Port Royal, in 1729. In the previous century it HAD THROWN WHOLE NUNNERIES NEAR BORDEAUX INTO WILD CONFUSION. IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY IT WAS KNOWN IN ITALY AS THE "DANCING MANIA," OR TARANTISM. AT THE CLOSE OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY Tarantism HAD SPREAD BEYOND THE BORDERS OF APULIA. * * * THE NUMBER OF THOSE AFFECTED BY IT INCREASED BEYOND ALL BELIEF. INQUISITIVE FEMALES JOINED THE THRONG AND CAUGHT THE DISEASE FROM THE MENTAL POISON WHICH THEY EAGERLY RECEIVED through the eye. * * * FOREIGNERS OF EVERY COLOR AND RACE WERE, IN LIKE MANNER, AFFECTED BY IT. NEITHER YOUTH NOR AGE AFFORDED ANY PROTECTION; SO THAT EVEN OLD MEN OF NINETY THREW ASIDE THEIR CRUTCHES, AND JOINED THE MOST EXTRAVAGANT DANCERS. * * * SUBORDINATE NERVOUS ATTACKS WERE MUCH MORE FREQUENT DURING THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, THAN AT ANY FORMER PERIOD. (HECKER, EPIDEMICS OF THE MIDDLE AGES, pp. 107–115, Engl. Trans.) DURING THE MIDDLE AGES IT APPEARED IN GERMANY. IT WAS A CONVULSION, WHICH IN THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY MANNER INFURIATED THE HUMAN FRAME; * * * AND WAS PROPOGATED BY THE sight OF THE SUFFERERS. THEY CONTINUED DANCING, FOR HOURS TOGETHER, IN WILD DELIRIUM, UNTIL AT LENGTH THEY FELL TO THE GROUND IN A STATE OF EXHAUSTION. THEY THEN COMPLAINED OF EXTREME OPPRESSION, AND GROANED AS IF IN THE AGONIES OF DEATH. * * * THEY WERE HAUNTED BY VISIONS, AND SOME OF THEM AFTERWARDS ASSERTED THAT THEY HAD FELT AS IF IMMERSED IN A stream of blood, WHICH OBLIGED THEM TO LEAP SO HIGH. GEORGE FOX, JOURNAL 1, P. 100: "THE WORD OF THE LORD CAME TO ME AGAIN. * * * SO I WENT UP AND DOWN THE STREETS CRYING, WOE TO THE BLOODY CITY, LICHFIELD! AND THERE SEEMED TO ME TO BE A CHANNEL OF BLOOD RUNNING DOWN THE STREETS, AND THE MARKET-PLACE APPEARED LIKE A POOL OF BLOOD." IN GERMANY IT WAS CALLED ST. JOHN'S OR ST. VITUS'S DANCE. AND LONG BEFORE ITS FIRST APPEARANCE IN THAT PRECISE FORM, IN 1374, IT HAD, NO DOUBT, BEEN THE REAL SECRET OF THE BACCHANALIAN ORGIES AMONG THE GREEKS, AND OF THE FRANTIC, DERVISH-LIKE GESTURES AND CUTTINGS WITH KNIVES AND LANCETS WHICH WE READ OF AMONG ASIATIC RACES. IN OUR OWN DAY AND COUNTRY (THANK GOD) THESE EXTRAORDINARY AND DEGRADING SPECTACLES ARE SCARCELY TO BE seen. BUT THE DISEASE STILL LURKS AMONG THE SUPERSTITIOUS CHRISTIANS OF TIGRE IN ABYSSINIA; IN SIBERIA; AMONG TH...