Chapter 1

The Christian Foundation,

Or,

Scientific and Religious Journal

Vol. 1. No 2.

February, 1880.

CONTENTS

The Influence Of The Bible Upon Civil And Religious Liberty. Liberty Of Conscience. The Orthodoxy Of Atheism And Ingersolism, By Rev. S. L. Tyrrell. The Shasters And Vedas, And The Chinese, Government, Religion, Etc. Ancient Cosmogonies. Some Of The Beauties (?) Of Harmony Among Unbelievers. Is God The Author Of Deception And Falsehood? Darwinism Weighed In The Balances. Was It Possible?

THE INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE UPON CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.

Civil government is a state of society in which men are reduced to order; it is a government in which every citizen has full power over his own rights, but is not at liberty to infringe upon the rights of others. The deepest thought in the word _civil_ is the idea of being hedged around by restraints, so as to be shut in from all privilege, or right, of meddling with the rights of others. The Welsh use the word “cau,” to shut, inclose, fence, hedge.

Civil liberty is liberty modified by the rights of others. No man has a right, by any Divine warrant, to infringe upon the rights of another; and cannot do it without forfeiting more or less of his own. This thought, that a man may forfeit his rights, is as essential to proper conceptions of civil government, and civil liberty, as the thought that a man has rights; for if there be no forfeiture of rights through crime, then all legal punishments are without foundation in justice; even the right of self-defense, individually and nationally, ceases to exist. And if this be taken away, all support and strength in civil government is gone; anarchy and ruin only may remain. In all civilized nations a man is regarded as forfeiting his right, _even to life_, by trampling upon the _life-right_ of another, and, while the danger lasts, the assailed may defend his life, in the absence of any other defense, even at the expense of the life of the assailant. To deny this doctrine of the right of self-defense, it is only necessary that we deny that a man can forfeit the right of life. To do this is equal to the affirmation that God is the author of coexisting and conflicting rights. Such rights can exist only at the expense of the destruction of all governments, both human and Divine, as well as all healthy influences of social institutions. It is essential to civil liberty to restrain men from all interference with the rights of others. The greatest degree of civil liberty is enjoyed where men are successfully restrained from such officious interposition. A people may enjoy civil liberty without extending the right of suffrage to all ages and to both sexes; without making all eligible to office; without abolishing paternal authority over minors; without abolishing the punishment of criminals, or the right of the State to the service of its citizens when the public good requires it.

The word _civil_ also signifies courteous, complaisant, gentle and obliging, well-bred, affable, kind. From this it will be seen that civil government depends upon the intelligence and righteousness of the people. The absence of all legal demands and all legal restraints would be the absence of all government. It would be libertinism or lawlessness. The great majority of men, from the earliest ages of the world to the present time, have been under the control of tyrants, and have known little exemption from despotic rule. There is not a single Pagan, Mahomedan, or anti-Christian country to-day in which the spirit of liberty has an abiding place. She may have brooded over them at intervals, but, like Noah’s bird, found no resting place.

The influence of the Bible preventing the young, the mature, and the aged from crime, causing men and women to love and respect our humanity, is of necessity _to the same extent_ the very life of civil government, and consequently the life of civil liberty. It has been said the Bible is the great protector and guardian of the liberties of men. It was an axiom in an apostate church, that ignorance is the mother of devotion; but the true origin of this axiom is that ignorance which fastens the chains of civil and ecclesiastic despotism.

It is not possible for a people thoroughly under the influence of the teachings of the religion of Christ to be ignorant of their own rights and the responsibility of their rulers. Where the teachings of Christ and the Bible form public opinion the people must be free. No such tyrant as Caligula or Nero would be tolerated in Protestant Christendom. The necessary effect of Christianity upon an abused people is to make them restless under a tyrant’s yoke. The author of Travels in England, France, Spain and the Barbary States, although an enemy to the Bible, said, after leaving the Barbary States and arriving in France, I could breathe more freely. I no longer looked upon my fellow men with distrust, and I thanked God that I was once more in a Christian land. When we survey the history of past events and kingdoms we, too, find good reasons to thank the Lord for a Christian land. The only authoritative history of remote events and kingdoms is in the writings of Moses and the Prophets. In the times of Moses there were no historical records in Greece, Chaldea, Phoenicia, Egypt or Assyria. No other historian lived so remote as Moses. He was five hundred years before Sanconiathan, and more than a thousand years before Manetho. He has been called the _father of history_. Men have claimed that astronomical calculations carry us farther back, but this claim has been successfully refuted by the calculations of Bedford. There is a fact upon record in Gillie’s history of Greece that confirms Bedford’s calculations. This man says: After Alexander conquered Babylon he eagerly demanded the astronomical calculations that had been preserved in that ancient capital about nineteen centuries, and ordered them faithfully transcribed and handed to Aristotle, who was the preceptor of this prince. They extended back twenty two hundred and thirty-four years behind the Christian era. There is no reliable history so ancient as the writings of Moses. All the efforts between Moses and David are without regular form—a mass of rearranged tradition, both fabulous and corrupt; long after the times of David the pages of writers regarded authentic, are loaded with absurd and disgusting fictions.

Nimrod’s kingdom was Babel, and he was a tyrant, instigating war and bloodshed everywhere, laying the nations under tribute and transmitting his tyrannical spirit and powers from son to son, until the Egyptians drove his descendants into Canaan and Joshua drove them into Greece. Ninus inherited the spirit of his father, and the history of his empire, until it was overthrown by the Babylonians and Medes, is a history of absolute Assyrian despotism.

The Babylonian Empire was no better from the revolt of Nebopolassar to its destruction by Cyrus. Egypt and Persia were also equally deprived of the blessings of civil liberty. Greece and Rome were in no better condition with the exceptions of a few restrictions consequent upon Greece being controlled by established customs and Rome by the Senate. These nations were comparatively free, but their freedom did not grow out of a comprehension of the rights of their citizens.

The Jewish Republic is the first ancient government where the people exerted any proper influence in state affairs. It is worthy of special consideration that the Jewish laws were adapted to civil liberty in an age when human rights were so little understood. There is no one work so full of the great principles of civil wisdom as the Pentateuch and the history of Judah and Israel. They were free in choosing their form of government; free in the establishment of their laws; free in the fact that their laws governed and not men. Their form of government was republican, with healthy limitations. Twelve tribes were united in one great republic like so many confederated states bound together for purposes of defence. At first God was their king. After awhile they desired another king, and their form of government was changed to a limited monarchy upon their own request. Their kings did not enter upon their duties until they were accepted and crowned by the people, and then they were restricted in their power by sworn stipulations.

Bad men do not make good citizens. There never was a nation of infidels or idolaters, existing as such, in the enjoyment of freedom. Holland was free as long as she was virtuous. She flourished as a republic, produced great and learned statesmen; she became corrupt, and infidelity banished her glory.

When Perrier, of France, the successor of Lafayette in the office of Prime Minister to Louis Phillipe, was on his death bed he exclaimed, with much emphasis and zeal, “France must have religion”—man must be governed by moral truth or by despotic power. Liberty does not flourish without morality, nor morality without the religion of the Bible. The love of law, the love of wisdom, the love of benevolent institutions, and the love of virtue makes a people free. When these are absent tyrants are present. When a nation becomes corrupt, liberty degenerates into parties and factions until the stubborn necessity of the strong arm of despotism makes its appearance to control the passions of men. If pride, selfishness, love of gold, thirst for power and licentiousness, are not controlled liberty will die. It may be truthfully said that the high-toned principles of Bible morality are necessary to the good of all classes. These, and only these, will unite a people in one grand national brotherhood, wiping out its factions and hatred, extinguishing party spirit and bringing all the parts into one great whole. Many minds are so opposed to the Bible that they _are_ inclined to oppose any government based upon its contents. This is a fearful current, and we should always watch against being carried away upon its turbid waters. Ours is a Christian land, and we shall be a free people as long as we remain a Christian people. While the Bible is loved and honored our freedom will continue; beyond this there is nothing to hinder us from _degenerating into slavery_. All great struggles in Christian lands have been great _moral_ and political struggles.

LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE.

This phase of the question rises very high in our estimation; for we have been taught to regard the rights of conscience and to esteem them above all other rights in a free country. There can be no civil liberty where the rights of conscience are ignored. The teachings of the Bible are opposed to all interference by law with man’s religious faith and worship. Religious liberty asks for no laws meddling with the rights of conscience. Such laws, whether of tolerance or of intolerance, are always in conflict with the spirit of the religion of Christ; for it asks for the soul’s free, voluntary service. As American citizens we ask, at the hands of our Government, to be protected, in common with all other citizens, in the free exercise of the rights of conscience. We ask no interference with religion by law, and we apprehend none in our country. If our religion cannot take care of itself, by the force of its own merits, it must perish.

Rivers of blood have been offered upon the altar of a blind intolerance. Look at Antiochus sacking the city of Jerusalem and laying the country waste. Look at the slaughter of the infants of Bethlehem under Herod’s jurisdiction. In many ages of the world religious intolerance has been the fruitful source of misery and bloodshed.

The religion of the Bible does not rest itself upon the authority of man; much less is it responsible for the cruel results of wicked efforts to establish or overthrow it by law. Causes outside of Christianity in the hands of wicked men are responsible for every drop of blood that has been shed in the name of our holy religion. Christianity has nothing to fear in our country as long as our law-makers remember that their whole duty consists, not in making or unmaking rights or religion, but in making laws protecting all in the enjoyment of their rights. The principles of religious liberty set forth in the Bible are the following: First, the word of God is the only source of authority in religious matters. Neither tradition, nor remote antiquity, nor ecclesiastical decisions, nor statutes, but the Bible is supreme in our religion. Second, the Bible allows, and demands, the right of private judgment in all matters of faith and duty. This is based upon the well-defined principles of individual and personal responsibility. “Let every man prove his own work.”

The true and intelligent Christian has always been opposed to ecclesiastical establishments by law, and the authority of the state to produce unity of faith and worship. In all such matters we are responsible to God alone. His authority is all that is needed in order to the soul’s own free service; and this is the only acceptable worship. The third great principle of religious liberty is this: the Bible contains the only infallible standard of faith and worship, and its author is the only infallible judge. The Bible gives to no man, or set of men, dominion over the human conscience, but on the contrary lays the solemn injunction upon each individual: “Prove all things and hold fast that which is good.” The direction of Christ is in these living lines: “Call no man master, for one is your master, even Christ.” Every man’s own works are the only true expositor of his character, because they are the fruits of the affections which point him out as an enemy, or as a friend, of righteousness.

The man who abuses the right of private judgment has a fearful account to render—let him see to that. If he receives not the truth in the love of it that he may be saved, it is at his own peril. The field of investigation is the place where Christianity has won her most splendid victories. She has always lost when wicked men have called in the aid of the secular arm; for it is a very great error to suppose that you can deal successfully with a man’s spiritual nature by such forces; it was not made for such government. By the secular arm you may force a wicked man to be a hypocrite, but you cannot make him a Christian in that way; for you cannot reach his understanding, nor give life to his conscience by any such means.

There are two extremes, however, which we must carefully avoid: First, that it is a matter of total indifference what religious principles a man adopts and what form of worship he prefers. The Bible contains essential principles—principles which constitute the essence of the gospel of Christ which must be received, loved and obeyed, in order to the enjoyment of the promises of salvation. The sentiment that it matters not what a man believes, is no part of the religious liberty which the Bible inculcates. Such a sentiment is everywhere discouraged and denounced. A forcible writer said: Keep clear of uncommon pretensions to charity. Believe the love of God, and be satisfied with his charity, and never dream of making an improvement upon his character.

The other extreme is to have no charity at all. There are many things about which men may safely differ, but they are neither precepts to be obeyed, nor facts to be believed. Differences may exist in opinions, but not in facts to be believed, nor in commands to be obeyed. Christians are such in virtue of faith in Christ and obedience to his commandments. Wherever the minds of men have been brought under the power of the Christian religion, there they have been the devoted friends of such liberty. Such were the adherents of Luther in Germany, the Lollards in England, and the adherents of Knox in Scotland. Such was the case with Holland when her republican virtues, learning and piety, moral and literary institutions made her famous throughout the earth. “Where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.” One of the most erroneous objections to Christianity is that it is calculated to subject the many to the few, but its spirit and tendency is to bring all, both the rich and poor, on one common level. It pronounces temporal circumstances matters of no consequence, all men creatures of God, made of one blood, having a common nature, subject to common sufferings, common dependence and responsibilities. It teaches us to “defraud no man,” to “corrupt no man,” to “love our enemies,” to “pray for those who despitefully use us,” to “disregard external distinctions.” In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female, but all are one. The poor are exalted and the rich are humbled. Tholuck says: “The cultivated heathen were offended at Christianity because the higher classes could no longer have precedence of the common people.” A religion which teaches that all are upon one grand level under its influences will certainly teach us that all are equal in the presence of the law. Christianity is not only a stranger to despotism, but denounces it in the plainest terms. Its great founder said: “Whosoever will be great among you let him be your servant, and whosoever will be chief let him be your minister.” What greater calamity could we experience than the loss of the last copy of the New Testament? Who would bring over the world once more the darkness of Paganism? Who would have our Government put on Roman character? Who would have us foster the basest passions of men? Who would throw the human intellect back into a state of uncertainty respecting a future existence and the manner of securing its blessedness? Who would dry up the living fountains of joy which have been opened to us in the gospel? Who would destroy the motive power of our religion and wither its fruits of righteousness? Who would rob the bereaved heart of its consolations and provoke anew the tears of the mourner which have been wiped away? Who would go to the widow and say: Go and visit the grave of your loved one and weep without hope! Yes, weep with the terrible thought that this parting is to last forever! Weep with trembling, and at last step into the grave with awful uncertainty, to learn all there, and never bring back the secret. Who are they who would restore to death its sting and to the grave its victory? What victories have they ever achieved for our humanity? No calculations could measure the sacrifice it would cost to part with the Bible forever. Wicked men would toll its funeral, while the innocent ones of earth would bathe in tears and turn away in sorrow. Let us never persecute those unfortunate men who are opposing the truth of our religion on account of the errors of the creeds of our fathers. Let us always avoid a spirit of despotism and persecution, because it is dishonorable. If there must be persecution, let truth be the victim. Error is not worthy of the honor that martyrs bear.

It is better that we “suffer for well-doing than for ill-doing,” therefore let us criticise ourselves severely, but deal with others in love. The Bible is our authority in religion, and the civil arm is our protection in the state. Religious freedom is ours—may it long remain the glory of our country. In comparison with this freedom all else is mere illusion. You may enjoy all the freedom that this world can give, and if you are slaves to sin you are miserable slaves to a cruel master. The intellectual and moral condition of the soul, constituting its highest glory, is a liberty worthy of the name. Such an one, in a very important sense, is free indeed, free in solitude, free in poverty, free in abundance, free in life, free in death, free everywhere, and forever free.

THE ORTHODOXY OF ATHEISM AND INGERSOLISM, BY REV. S. L. TYRRELL.

“Hail human liberty; there is no God!” Such is the exulting song of many a human heart when bewildering metaphysics or superficial science has crowded from its convictions faith in the Deity and his moral government. Few men have reached the pure, unclouded heights of religion and morality, where the unselfish love of the holy and the right, for their own inherent excellence, forms the controlling motive of their conduct, regardless of penalty or reward. Humanity is yet on the low moral plane, where penal laws, human or divine, are the most potent forces in regulating human life. Hence the sad fact appears that when theism seems most successfully assailed we hear from many quarters ill-concealed rustlings of exultation at the welcome loosening of the bonds of morality and religion. It seems to be overlooked that a very stern theological system may be quite rationally evolved from atheistic premises; and there is now a new and very tempting field inviting some bold Calvin or Luther in the ranks of positivism to write an immortal book, with the original and attractive title, Ethics of Atheism. The great offense of the scientific (sciolistic) atheist is his lofty arrogance. He complacently assumes the name of Infallible Wisdom. He “understands all mysteries;” his mental telescope sweeps eternity “from everlasting to everlasting;” his microscopic vision pierces the secrets of creation,—sees the beauty and order of all celestial worlds emerge from fiery chaotic dust,—by the fortunate contact of cooling cinders of the right chemical properties and temperature, he secretes and hatches into life an egg, or cell of throbbing protoplasm; to this pulsating mass of jelly there comes from the unconscious abyss at length a vague instinct, a drowsy awakening of desire; next a feeble gleam of definite thought; reason then faintly dawns, and lo! at last this fair universe burst into glorious light, clothed in surpassing loveliness, throbbing with love, tender sympathy and sublime aspiration, and all through the magic potency of blind matter and unconscious force, without an architect or guide. O, wondrous matter, could a God do more?