NOTES BY COLONUS.

Bruce Herald, Volume VI, Issue 402, 24 January 1872, Page 2

NOTES BY COLONUS.

TIIE MARCH OF INFIDELITY.

As I do not undertake in these note 9 always to confine mv remarks to political topics, I will tttke advantage of the comparative lull in the political storm — consequent on the rising of the Assembly — to mtike a few observations upon one of the most extraordinary characteristics of the present age. I refer to what has been' called the "March of Infidelity." Of course it would be absurd to attempt, in a shorr newspaper article, to deal wi;h sucli a subject thoroughly ; but I trust to be able to say on the subject a word or two worthy of consideration. It lias been asserted — with how much truth I don't pretend to say — that men are beginning 1 to doubt the efficacy of the Christian religion-. A writer in the Dunedin 'Echo' newspaper, of the 6th inst, thus commences a letter to the editor of that paper :— " One of the great facts of the present century is the existence, in a large and increasing degree, of spiritual disbelief. Twenty years ago the infidels were marked men ; now irifidflity is so general that it is very difficult to know who is, and who is not-, an infidel." If this be. a fact, -it is certainly a fact of the greatest significance. What does it mean 1 God — and when I say God, I mean the Supreme Soul — supreme in lijrht, in consciousness, in knowledge, in power, in wisdom, in goodness. He knows what it menns ; but to us mortals, with minds clouded with materiality and mortality, and stumbling in the durkness of ignorance, the meaning of such a f;icL is not so evident. We cannot always be certain, like the great author of. our existence, of reading aright the " signs of the times." lam dispose \, for one, to think — though the supposition may seem »n extraordinary one — that ihis singular, phenomenon in our moral atmosphere is not a si°n of the retrogression^ but of the progression of humanity. I am disposed to think it is a rebellion of human reason and sense against all that humbuir and hypocrisy — that worship of form and ceremony — that stumbling over the dead letter in our refusal to walk by the light of the living spirit, which are the characteristics ol so-called religion at the present day, and have been characteristics of it for ages past. The. arrem jt has been made to irmke of Christianity a mockery, a delusion, and a snare. Tljuf, in former flays, men have —in the name of Christianity — played havoc with their fellow men, and tfiven free scope to a hellish lust of blood and cruelty, to which, in comparison, the ferocity of the Bengal Hirer is mild* Wickedness enough to appal Satan's anyels has bepn committed in the name of Christ, and in his name men have gratified their lust of power, of wealth, of world! v pomp and jjlory, their love of luxury and soft, living, \hu fiendish ven<£e;tnce, and thirst for h'.r.uan blond. But though I'isj-ots knew it not at. the time, that same Chriotii-init y wa? even then secretly working and imbuing men's souls with that lovp of freedom which prompted them to cmitv on the. warfare against tyranny, ami it was strengthening their sinews in that <jre;it battle, the result of which lias been, that men have obtained a glorious victory over the powers of durkness. The mighty lion of humanity roused bim«elf at last* and broke those bonds which had s>o long 1 liound him, and as he stood with erect mane and flsimin«j eyes, and lading his sides in wrath, that villainous horde who ! had sbackled his limbs* and tortured him were seized wi'h affright, and in fear and dread, and with much trembling*, retreated into holes and out-of-the-way corners; Our of th^se holes and corners they now and Rgnin protrude their heads, and growl, and snarl, and spit, but that is aliout nil they dare do. Bijrotrv, uncharitableness, and hatred of the free expression of thought and opinion are rife at the present day, but they have been got under like a ravenous fin 1 , and will never again play the horrible part they once did on God's earth, Now, as long- as men do not violate tif*

rules of common decency they may express any opinions they like, even though those opinions should he subversive of the great articles of nor faith. And this is as if. should he; ihp first step to arrive at a truth is fo afford freedom of examination. Ie would he jrross cowardliness to employ the weapons of t*nni;>l power to enforce belief, instead of meet ing 1 the opponents of religion in fair warfare. What is our boasted faith wor'h if it is liable to be toppled over by every breath of unbelief thai blows 1 Ft r ray part, I have a 6rm belief that the faith of -Jhristiani'y is so firmly rooted in the human soul that ie will resi-t alt attempts to dislodsre ie now and through, all time. Though Christianity is not so grossly and violently scandalised now as it. was in former days, there is sfill a mighty deal of humbug- mixed up with our profession of religion — much talk and palaver, and but little, action. But though men retire into shade and darkness the sun shines all the same; and so does Christianity shine in the world, and will continue to shine and pn lighten the souls of men, though Jrom time to time mun may turn their laces from the light. It is characteristic of the work of the Almighty, that He does nothing in vain. The works of men are often vanity and failure ; not so tne works of God. To say that men are beginning to lose their faith in Christianity) is as much as to say, that human nature will net endeavor to attain to the highest moral excellence; will go back to darkness instead of forward to the light. It is the desire «f God, however, that men sh»)l go forward, and not backhand progression is the ordination ot the Almighty*