"CHRISTIANITY'S" FAREWELL TO "FREETHOUGHT" & "HORUS."

Thames Advertiser, Volume XVI, Issue 5283, 28 September 1885, Page 3

"CHRISTIANITY'S" FAREWELL TO "FREETHOUGHT" & "HORUS."

'' (To the Etiitoi* Thames? Advertiser*;) : • ] j Sin,— Affairs seorn to' bo slightly mixed.; " FreothougliV not satisfied with replying to the letter addressed to him, hM replied for " Horus," who has also replied for him i self; letters of mino tliat ; ilyingi at the offico four, or fivo daya being iuscrted, makes the mntier a caso of-'cross-j questions and cro'pkoi.l anßVors., "Frfcotliougbt" has found a ii sheem'oah's";ncst, and lost ho should spend too much tirno stretching .his legs and; Syings, oyer .that egg to try and incubate:it, I.can tell him: it is addled. .'>l, quite : ;agrbeiwit)i Heroes thought," 'that iiny quotations ' lie makes ! ■ v,- ;.i- -V >10/. •. !

froin>the so-callod■■"Acts. .arc forgeries, and he is' in very bad cojnpany. " Freethought," however, thinks ho has thV.real Simon Pure, and quotes him with , great delight. It'.ie just a pase of giving a man rope enough and he will wind himself up. ~ I oughtnow to look upon " Freethought'' as sub , per, coll.— passed on— aud write this to his mourning friends— that he who seemed so full of life, and sanguine -to such airextent that lie wanted all, the ancient writers, .trotted oufc ; , that he might demolish, tlieid obe by onb',' lias strangled ihiraself over, the first one'he tackled. :!, vtha't. to .'I Home" -is very sad.,'': The ! saying 'about wide men walking 'where' angels fear 1 to tread is often.carriod.out.; Had-"Free-thought" read. ray'Jetter,h'e.AVould,have seen ;it was .put' in this : light ;—Premises: All;.Roaian governors" wrote .accounts o£ anything and everything of interest or remarkable! to 'their Emperor, and these were called the.'"Acts of the Governors," Syl'ogiem-:''I Pontius Pilate wasaßoman governor; therefore; he also' wrote "Acts" ascribed to his name. But we'havo the teslimony. of. others, who j quote minutely, in-their address to,an Kmp'oror of RomeJ;certain'incidents-ina Person's ljfe,'and , say's'i '-"Arid-that these things'were done hj Him.you may hnow from tUlActs'' madeintliti time.ef Pontius Pilate.? ,'lt isl.liardly likely thatja man:bf note,, would write .in.that straii.tb'.an , erapep'-.to mislead him,if such 'Acta' were ; noV:in existence. ."'.'Ereethought" quo'tea as'if he hadgot hold of the original "ActV-V and gives a long quotation; .but (hough his acts : are it does not prove the-'nbn-existence of the originals'. It ia just a'-question whether wd'M( to, believe a thing or notj"ag to its acceptance. For., instance, I don't;. 1 suppose" " Ffe.ethpught" Jias any,, difficulty iri believing that{Sorae',books of Eiiclid are missing,-and that!/.without .corroborative •.-- testimony.' There' aro: many thing's, in connection with ancient' history that wo, believe Existed, and deplore: their loss;, and;yetiour belief is not founded on greater testimony than' that :of cause - arid ; effect. *We ■ ;a ' with •Uβ 1 , ■ built by T?itusj ; a ' standing /monument ; of 'the glifdiatpriar' pombati;" , ' but wlien : 'we reati that' , 'ainphithe'atres ..we're' .constructed of wood : up to-the time of Augustus, of such ; large dimensions that we read.-'of ,, as, imany as,;fifty:'thousand people being* killed or wounded by the' collapse of- a suburban amphitheatre when Tiberius was emperor, and although'there: are no remains left, and even the very sites of these are, lost to .us, do We unreasonably tura'rbund 'and say there .were no such places? Of course, if f , Freethought" (before he strangled himself, .or, ,if he resuscitates, or some of his. friends act as'his ghost) takes upon himeelf to say that this testimony is a -forgery and, that testimony a myth, and; tluV is counteifeited■; and -this'■'■is, unworthy pf credence, without bringing forward proofs, for his or their ,aßsertibhs, I must humbly; bow;;tb;his;;'or. their ;,decisioDivand;have nothing;mo'ro to say)': Ishali have passed pn,"x.ijWOuld, howeveiy at the same time, bmirid-him ,pr .them that ray .letter incontroyertibly proving the authenticity of the Epistles and Gospels in ; the -first century, ■Within. 25 years of Christ's death, and which all of ; moreimportance thaniianyijcont'emporaneous' evidence, has i hit yetfvb.een; satisfactorily answered, but shirked;- I- cannot now: expert (;'!.;.Freeihought,!, to answer it, for-w.hich. I feel sorry,' -'"Horus'-'-has taken avery different , Btan'dpoint;. Hβ first' asks for evidence of the" existence' of the Christ of fthe ■ Gospfels &oni ancient writers jn Ins ■humble:wayii to: answer it> and' his replyis to fly off at a tangent, Quoting all the 'names'he ctin think of who;were witnesses -of a personal Christ, and wore ready, lives for thaj; belief. ••Hβ 'aiciiiiaesmeof'being^fon^oE-making use' oltlie|te[n^ l in|delf': ■Idpn't'think:: it Wps, ofjn;used : m: ; but' he' inconsistently' 'iuras ; "rouiid i; and, icalls a band of men,"infidels" whbm'l jbelieve.thc world called.;'Vhejetics^.. : Dr. 'j.ohnsonijbasjad : hia snecess in Hf & on:study|ing definitions. '." Horua" does not trouble ihißt'head; r iiabout;;that very;>much/ ; and; in- ; Istead; bMtrying to^refute'lanyj'Of -ihe evidence offered as testimoniesiof rheatlien wfitersj'liairdly' T raehtiqnsothera,\but--igives b£>niythical-and-pe'radflal Ohnsti'He'entersupon a' subject that would' ionly lead to a theological disousMon ■ unfit' for a newspaper. He brands as immoral the doctrjne of salvation to the .uttermost. The history of the dying' thief must bo a (disgustingly initnoral one. Ho speaks of .men working oiit their own salvation as a ; matter of merit, and does not trouble his iliead about the Master's words, that thef ! workmen who went to .work in,the vineyard every hour .of the day, up to the eleventh the same;remimera-tion';-;:he,/no''dbiibtj : 'would 6$ of the muririurers}''. We catj easily see wher^hi^Tpwer-of>l|abe] idea'bf huraanityj standing'-., on rungsi of;.the'Mder-of'■past.ihuman'ekpe ; | rience^comps: f rpni.f;;': : B , ut'rw.hy Vi discuss, mattors ; :inawhich we agree?. Hβ' belie ves in' the; beauty\of ;the Jif works ,iT o£ -: ; a ■my thical :Obriet-,-,,. ands.iwe believe.'in.the 'saine'of a personal Christ, 1 arid b.eWeen' iislhere is a great>gulf fixedv We cannot come n'eaier; then'l atand afar off, and ciy " Vale! vale 1 /"-I am, &c, 1 CURISIIANITY 'i f