Atheistical Inconsistencies

ATHEISTICAL INCONSISTENCIES, BY ATTEWALL WOOTTON. "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." Dark in mind, indeed, must be one who, in viewing the works of nature sees no evidence of a master mind that planned and a master hand that executed the wonders that are visible on every side and from every standpoint ! The materialist will ridicule what he calls the inconsistencies of religion, but can there be found in the most absurd religion on earth anything more ridiculous or absurd than that inorganic matter, without life or thought, with no power to design, can, unaided, shape itself into the varieties of form, life and beauty which are visible in every department of the universe? What would this same materialist think of a person who should maintain that a beautiful watch had no maker, but that the inorganic matter of which it is composed had, unaided, set itself in action and each particle had so arranged itself as to form every spring, wheel and jewel, with the crystal, the hands and the case, each so formed as to perfectly fit every other part, and form a perfect time-keeper? Design fits means to ends, and the most nearly perfect of the designs of man and the best executed works of human hands are extremely crude when compared with the works of nature. The point of the finest cambric needle is blunt and rough when viewed through a powerful microscope, but the best microscopes have failed to discover anything but a perfect point on the sting of a bee. "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."

ATHEISTICAL INCONSISTENCIES. 121 The atheist refuses to believe anything not manifest to his senses, but will readily believe in the molecule, the atom or the invisible ether, which are known only in the imagination of the scientist. On this theory one would refuse to believe that there are odors beyond his power of recognition, while the blood-hound by the power of scent will follow the track of an individual though it may be crossed by hundreds of others. There is a late account in the papers of a person who can detect any of his friends by their peculiar individual odor. The miller can determine the quality of flour by rubbing it between his fingers, when to the uncultivated touch all grades would appear alike. The most cultivated ear can detect the musical pitch through only a few octaves, but would any one pretend to say there is no sound above or below that limit? The native tribes of America and Africa can plainly distinguish objects at distances far exceeding the power of vision of those who have been raised in cities and have been accustomed to looking at things at short range. The telescope and microscope have brought within the range of the human vision many things undreamed of by those who lived previously to the invention of these aids to the eye. If man can believe only his experiences, he will believe but little, for to realize the unreliability of the senses one need only to spend an evening with a sleight of hand performer or in a spiritual seance. The scope of the powers of the human senses when compared with the infinity of the universe is not equal to a drop of water in the ocean. All the powers that move the universe are as far beyond the human ken as is the God of the Christian, or the knowledge of a future life after this mortal body is laid away in its final resting place. The inventions and discoveries of science that have tended so much to elevate man and minister to hi3 convenience and comfort are all the direct results of faith in the unseen and unexperienced. The suppresssion of this faith by force is what so seriously retarded human progress during the dark ages along both scientific and religious lines. It is only when the human mind is free and untrammeled to reach out beyond the known and experienced and search for the undiscovered, that progress can be made toward higher spheres of thought and life.

122 IMPROVEMENT ERA. What is this power that leads men on beyond their experiences? It certainly must be something superior to the senses. It acts in the dead of night when all the senses are dormant, and the less there is in the surroundings to act upon the senses the better and more uninterruptedly does the mental process go on. The best thoughts of the ages have come to men under just such conditions. Whence come those flashes of intelligence that are the experience of all deep thinkers? They come like floods from a reservoir of intelligence as though a valve had suddenly been opened. This power may be cultivated as the senses may be, until it is developed into what the world calls genius. So it is with the spirit of revelation. Because a man has never opened his heart to divine influences, shall he presume to say that others, whose hearts have been purified and made fit dwelling places for the Holy Spirit, cannot receive divine impressions? as well say the trained and cultured musical ear cannot detect beauties in music because they are unappreciated by the ordinary untrained mind. The chemist, through the use of acids, may dissolve a piece of silver money until it has lost its identity as silver, as far as the human senses can detect; but by laws well understood by him, he can restore it, and, when re-coined, it will possess its original value as money. Many a professed materialist will believe this, although he is profoundly ignorant of the process, but will ridicule the belief that God is able to restore the disintegrated parts of the human body to their original form and use in the resurrection from the dead. What has the philosophy of the atheist done for the amelioration of mankind? Can it give consolation for the loss of friends who have passed through the valley of the shadow of death? Has it ever smoothed or softened the pillow of the death-bed? What motives has it given to lead to a life of morality? How has it conduced to the universal brotherhood of man, or to peace on earth and good will? What rewards does it offer for self-sacrifice for the good of others, or what retribution for cruelty and oppression? There is more taught in a few paragraphs of Christ's Sermon on the Mount for the uplifting and betterment of mankind than in all the infidel philosophies of the ages.