do innite harm to simple and sincere believer

public that they may have blinded f ll ers These may

s em wiser than other men and wish appe r so
s

Tru religion suf r by its pri ciples being thor

i v stigated and nli htene conclusions are also
lik ly to convince th e Sceptic The sta e of religio in the
present time is momentous and presses its dvocat to
Stand fast in the liber t y wh rewith C hri t h th m d him
fr e and be enta gled again with the y ke bondag

atural phil sophy seems the machinery hich

Ma t ri lists gnostics and theists now mpl y to v r
thr the principles C hristian r ligion i v lv
human race in w rse h n and Babylonian
d rkness

It is b cause some men are without God and ithout

hope in the w rld they wish to bscure tmosph re
tru t h lea men into the p ths of liberti ism in hich
they th mse alk or get n me in ovat ng phil
sophers who can l ad the minds untaught men back int
w rs than primeval dark ss it is b caus these
phil sophers have the magic of a ame as discoverer
ph nomena in the and of for ign countries and
geological strata of the globe that th y lead men
stray They are naturalists bo anists g ologists
s em wiser than other men and wish appe r so
public that they may have blinded f ll ers These may
do innite harm to simple and sincere believers in revelation
Sp cies his Desce t of can be acc pted by the
p rs b lieves of with ut
li vi g word r v l ti he accept
thics as taugh t by H rb rt Sp cer and oth rs of the
s me class wi t hou t imp iring his ith in th e exist nce of
for those f rms v luti n nly inventions of
gnostic I d lity and blind th ism volution in thics
or Positivism has only its purpos the de ial of
and worship of human int ll ct as man improves
me tally from generati n to gen ra t ion Therefore their
only objects adoration are and will be such as
Homer irgil Shak sp are Socrates Byron Plato ristotle
Charl magne Milton Dan e ulius C esar
P ul L ibnit B con David Hume Th se cases
of mental evolution such will be their o ly gods of
future the m der ythol gy of the Positivists From
all such all believers of C hristianity and the Bibl turn
awa y

man need ever expect a topia upon earth pon

earth to th t would i possibl while such views
held by men in matters of religion man can do is to
conf rm to t he gold n rule as near as possible strict
conformity to justic truth is ecessary to consolidate
mor l good huma society The C hristian religion
does admit of pers cution on acc u t dif rence in
the pinions of th y may be l ft to their own de

c h k p r ilt h r m ti
cl g c pt c but b c u th y p cim
v l v i t ll ct th y cl by ti v i t c m t l
c ll c rth th ir v r ti itivi t h v
but hum ity
 It is possible and morally certain that man after his
creation was a state of i n cence and purity but after
his fall his mind was darkened by sin In this state it is
recorded that God left him to his devic s h nc f llen
man search out by obs rvation of his s ns s the
being and attribut s of D ity so till the time of Moses
men were left to the darkness th ir own im ginatio s
without a writt n record The ood c m but eight
persons w re swept from face the arth history
was tr diti l before the t ime of Mos s who g ve rst
reason ble record of creation easonable because it was
only possible account or xplanation of the truth as the
work an lmighty h nd or an om isci nt B i g who
has existed through g s eter it Before ligh t
of revelation men must h ve been in a stat of m ntal and
mor l darkness c c r i g th ir own xiste c and the ex
things r und th m the visibl univ rs
the rigin all things and this darkn ss of mind c t i u d
ith xcep t i of J ewish n tion till the times t he
deem r of time cam and sh d th e
light of the G sp l the mi ds of who were in the
regi ns of moral darkness t ill Hi s comi g For instance
let us gl nc at the opini s of h then wise men and philo
ophers befor the c mi g Christ Tak some of
wises t Socrates and Plato they taught and be ieved in