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Page 5
From ---- ----, As a thank-offering for the recovery � S. D.
of a dear child. -------
" ---- ----, Peace-offering for reconciliation with
an old friend. -------
" ---- ----, Offering for the preservation of a
friend going abroad. -------
" ---- ----, Thank-offering for a fortunate transaction
in business. -------
Such offerings are remarked upon favourably by the leaders of the
Church, and regarded as examples worthy of being imitated by all pious
Christians. But should the prayers not be granted, there is no gift. The
non-fulfilment of their desires is regarded perhaps not altogether as an
evidence of God's displeasure, but at least as a token that what was
asked it was not His pleasure to grant. They make little enquiry
concerning the real cause of failure, but take credit to themselves for
humbly submitting to God's will. This unenquiring submission is often,
however, both sinful and superstitious. Every result has its cause, and
it is surely our duty, as far as observation and reason can guide us,
to discover the causes which operate against us. The great majority of
the afflictions and misfortunes which befall us are punishments for the
breakage of some law, the committal of some sin physical or moral, and
this being the case, it behoves us to find out what law has been
transgressed, what the nature of the sin committed. This principle is
acknowledged by our religious teachers, but the laws which have been
broken, have not been wisely sought after. The field of search has been
almost exclusively the moral, or the theological field; whereas the
correct rule is, for physical effects, look for physical causes; for
moral effects, moral causes. This rule has not been followed. A few
cases illustrative of what I mean will clearly demonstrate the
superstitious nature of what is a widely diffused opinion among the
religious societies of this country at the present time.
Forty-six years ago, when cholera first broke out in this country, it
was immediately proclaimed to be a judgment for a national sin; and so
it was, but for a sin against physical laws. I well remember the
indignation which arose and found expression in almost every pulpit in
the country, when the Prime Minister of that day, in reply to a petition
from the Church asking him to proclaim a national fast for the removal
of the plague, told his petitioners to first remove every source of
nuisance by cleansing drains and ditches, and removing stagnant pools,
and otherwise observe the general laws of health, then having done all
that lay in our power, we could ask God to bless our efforts, and He
would hear us. All sorts of absurd causes were seriously advanced to
account for the presence of this alarming malady. One party discovered
the cause in a movement for the disestablishment of religion. Another
considered it was a judgment from God for asking the Reform Bill. The
Radicals proclaimed it to be a trick of the Tories to prevent agitation
for reform, and added that medical men were bribed to poison wells and
streams. The non-religious displayed as great superstition in this
matter as did the religious. Large bills, headed in large type "Cholera
Humbug," were at that time posted on the blank walls of the streets of
Glasgow. The feeling against medical men was then so intense, that some
of them were mobbed, and narrowly escaped with their lives. In Paisley,
considered to be the most intelligent town in Scotland, a doctor, who
was working night and day for the relief of the sufferers, had his house
and shop sacked, and was obliged to fly for shelter, or his life would
have been sacrificed to the fury of the mob.
When we read that epidemics which broke out in the times of our
forefathers, were ascribed to such absurd causes as the introduction of
forks, or because the nation neglected to prosecute with sufficient
vigour alleged cases of compact with the devil, we wonder at and pity
their ignorance, and rejoice that we live in a more enlightened age. But
the fact is, that among the mass of the people there is really no great
difference between the present and the past. There is a close family
likeness in this matter of superstition between now and long ago, and
this state of matters will continue so long as a knowledge of physical
science--that science which treats of the laws by which God is pleased
to overrule and direct material things--is not made a religious duty.
There are physical sins and there are moral sins, and the punishment for
the first is apparently even more direct than for the second, for in
the case of physical sins we are punished without mercy. Through neglect
of these laws, we are continually suffering punishment, shortening and
making miserable our own lives and the lives of those dependent upon us;
and periodically judgments descend on the careless community, in the
form of severe epidemics. Any religion which advocates practices, or
teaches doctrines inconsistent with our physical, intellectual, or moral
well-being, cannot be from God, and _vice versa_; and this is a strong
argument in favour of Christianity _as taught by its Founder_. I wish I
could say the same of the Christianity taught by our ecclesiastics,
either Protestant or Catholic.
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