We should not be surprised when wicked men of every grade of character
assail our religion, for its great Author erected a standard of duty too
perfect to suit their unruly passions and lusts. Opposition to
Christianity is the natural correllate of an unregenerated heart. This
fact was the cause of all the sufferings of the primitive Christians,
not the only cause, but the _first_ and _leading_ cause. One striking
circumstance is worthy of notice, which is, that they have censured
Christians for their zeal with an unsparing tongue, and, at the same
time, they have shown as much if not more vehemence and obstinacy in
their own good-for-nothing opposition. Every kind of opposition has been
manifested which the ingenuity of man could dictate. Indeed, there is
little urged against Christianity in our day that is original. Almost
every cavil and argument may be traced to Voltaire, Porphyry, Celsus and
Julian, the old enemies of the Christ. Infidels, who dislike (will you
hear it?) the labor and trouble of investigating the question of the
claims of the Christian religion upon their intelligence, seize with
avidity upon the labors of others and parade them before the public
mind. Just now there is no question put so often by men who feign to be
unbelievers as, "What do you think of Colonel Ingersoll?" "He stirs you
up." The little city of Logansport was favored not a great while in the
past with a visit and lecture from the Colonel. After the lecture was
over some half a dozen gentlemen were taking a lunch at an eating
restaurant, and there was one very talkative creature in the group who
had much to say of the Colonel's effort and of the "unscientific and
absurd character of the Bible." Finally, one noble-hearted gentleman
said to the boasting skeptic, Now you have said a great deal about the
Bible, and I venture the assertion that you can't quote one verse that
is in it. I challenge you to do it. Just give us one, long or short,
from any chapter in all the Bible. The man failed. He couldn't do it.
Then, said the Christian gentleman, you fellows are always talking about
science and about the "unscientific character of the Bible," so I will
now ask you one of the most simple questions known in science, and we
will see whether you will answer it. It is this: How many teeth have you
got in your mouth; how many does a man have? To the utter astonishment
of the company the man failed again, and the company told him laughingly
that he must treat to the cigars. Such fellows know comparatively
nothing, and yet they are always championing their men, who contain all
their knowledge and do their thinking for them. Ask the infidel who his
leaders are and he will point you to Hume, Voltaire, Thomas Paine, etc.
Are Christians always holding up their great minds? Suppose we test the
merits of the case in this manner, then who are your infidels that will
compare with Jesus Christ and his apostles? or, with such men, even, as
Milton, Clarendon, Hale, Bacon, Boyle, Locke, Newton, Addison,
Lyttleton, West, Johnson and Campbell? Where are your persons of such
profound understanding? To compare such persons as these with Voltaire,
Hume, Gibbon and Thomas Paine, is as silly as to compare manhood with
infancy. No infidels try Christianity upon its own merits. If they were
candid men they would separate Christianity from all foreign and
irrelative circumstances, and test its evidences seriously, as the
magnitude of the question deserves. Apply the same unbelief to the
common and ancient records of history and you will at once get the
credit of being rash and foolish. The scoffs and sarcasms and
sophistries of infidels are not from a love of truth. Whatever the cause
or causes may be, one thing is certain, and that is, that they do not
understand Christianity itself, nor the nature and magnitude of its
evidences. They condemn that which they never gave themselves the
trouble to investigate.
Whoever investigates the religion of Jesus Christ will find that the
character of its founder is far superior to any other character, and his
apostles far superior to any other fishermen. To believe that his
religion is of simple human origin is like believing that a first-class
ship of war is the invention of a child. "The majesty of Christ and the
divinity of his religion appears in nothing more than this, that in
proportion to our acquaintance with the Scriptures of the New Testament
does the light of truth shine upon the mind." The seeming successes of
infidelity, and the multitude of apostates scattered over our country,
makes us naturally more anxious to warn the rising generation against
the errors of those who would mislead them. But there is nothing in
these fearful signs of the times to shake our faith or excite our
fears, because the faithful Bible student finds the condition of our
world just such as the Scriptures have foretold. All the surroundings
that characterize the conduct of infidels; their expertness in ridicule;
their extreme folly and resoluteness; their licentiousness and anxiety
for change in laws as well as society; the snares laid out by them to
catch the unsteadfast, and their vain professions to free the world from
slavery, while they themselves are in bondage to corruption, are drawn
by the divine pencil of prophecy with so much exactness that "he who
runs may read." By examining the word of God you will find that the
_Free-thinkers_ of our country, the _Illuminati_ of Germany, Darwin,
Strauss, Huxley, Tyndal, Renan, and the man of our own land who is most
noted in our midst for oratorical accomplishments without logic,
argument or truthfulness of statements touching the Christian religion,
are all present evidences of the divinity of the prophetic words of the
New Testament.