Fables of Infidelity and Facts of Faith

Fables of Infidelity and Facts of Faith, by

Robert Patterson This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Fables of Infidelity and Facts of Faith Being an Examination of the Evidences of Infidelity
Author: Robert Patterson
Release Date: October 17, 2006 [EBook #19566]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FABLES OF INFIDELITY AND ***

Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Lisa Reigel, Michael Zeug, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was made using scans of public domain works from the University of Michigan Digital Libraries.)

[Illustration: Robert Patterson]

FABLES OF INFIDELITY
AND
FACTS OF FAITH:
BEING AN EXAMINATION OF THE EVIDENCES OF INFIDELITY.
BY
REV. ROBERT PATTERSON, D. D.
REVISED AND ENLARGED.
CINCINNATI: WESTERN TRACT SOCIETY.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, by
WESTERN TRACT SOCIETY,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C.
Stereotyped by OGDEN, CAMPBELL & CO., 176 Elm St., Cincinnati.

CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE. Did the World Make Itself? 7
Eternity of Matter. Disproved by its Composite Nature. Disproved by its Motion. Evolution only a big Perpetual Motion Humbug. Work of a Designer in the structure of the Eye. The Eye-Maker sees over a wide Field and far. The Eye-Maker sees Perfectly.
CHAPTER II.
Was Your Mother a Monkey? 34
The Divine Fact of Evolution Quite Different from the Atheistic Theory. State the Question Sharply--Why? Darwin's Answer. The Ancestral Monkey, Fish, Squirt. Natural Selection. Intended to Exclude God.
1. The History of the Theory.
Indian; Phoenician; Greek; Popish; La Place's Theory; The Vestiges of Creation. Herbert Spencer's Contradictory Theory. The Evolutionists' Hell. Spontaneous Generation--two Theories; the Conflicting Theories of Progress; Tremaux; Lamarck; the Climatal; Darwin's; Huxley's; Parson's; Mivart's; Hyatt's; Cope's; Wallace's; the Gods; Denounced by the Princes of Science. Agassiz's Deliverance Against it. Imperfection of the Theory Eked out. Huxley's Protoplasm. Tyndall's Potency of Life in Matter. Buchner's Matter and Force. Lubbock's Origin of Civilization. Consequences of the Brutal Origin of Man. Propagandism of Atheism.
2. The Theory Illogical and Incoherent.
Darwin Admits Insufficiency of Proof. Useless as an Explanation of Nature. Self-Contradictory; e. g., Protoplasm. Wallace's Self-Contradictions. Incoherency of the Denial of Design with the Assertion of Progress. Failure of Alleged Facts to Sustain the Theory. Does not Account for the Origin of Anything. Wild Assumptions Made by Darwin. Erroneous Assumption of the Tendency of Natural Selection to Improve Breeds. Assumption of Infinite Possibility of Progress in Finite Creatures.
3. An Unfounded Theory.
No Evidence of the Facts Possible. None Ever Alleged, save Gulliver's. Domestication Disproves Transmutation--Horses; Pigeons; Dogs. The Egyptian Monuments. The Mummied Animals. The Geological Record. The Limits of Geological Time.
4. Embryology.
Testimony of Scientists: 1. Embryology Only Analogical. 2. Embryos not all Alike. 3. Four Distinct Plans of Structure. 4. Germs Always True to the Breed.
5. Gradations of Species.
Lamarck's Statement. Birth Descent not Inferable from Gradation. No such Imperceptible Blending in Nature. The Fact of the Present Existence of Distinct Species. Sterility of Hybrids. Geological Species Distinct. The Intermediate Forms not Found. The Gradation Does not Begin with the Lowest Forms. Four Kingdoms from the Beginning. The New Species Began with the Giants. The Gaps Fatal to the Theory. The Abyss Between Death and Life. The Gulf Between the Plant and the Animal. The Gaps Between Species Which will not Breed Together. The Gaps Between Air Breathers and Water Breathers, &c. The Great Gulf Between the Brute and the Man. Natural Selection Could not Have Deprived a Monkey of Hair. Nor Have Given a Human Brain. The Brain-Worker Contravenes Natural Selection at Every Step. Civilization the Contradiction of Natural Selection. Morality and Religion the Direct Contraries of Natural Selection. Tendency Immoral, Degrading, and Atheistic.
CHAPTER III.
Is God Everybody, and Everybody God? 91
Pantheism Described. An Antiquated Hindooism. A Jesuitical Atheism. Grossly Immoral. A Practical Atheism.
CHAPTER IV.
Have We Any Need of the Bible? 112
Civilization and the Bible. Revelation Not Impossible. The Mythical Theory. The Inner Light. Many Ignorant of God. Heathen Morality--Plato's. Infidel Morality--Paine's.
CHAPTER V.
Who Wrote the New Testament? 147
The Bible Not Just Like Any Other Book. Two Modes of Investigation. Did the Council of Nice Make the Bible? The Mythical Theory. The Evidence of Celsus. The Fragment Hypothesis. The Bank Signature Book. Could the New Testament be Corrupted?
CHAPTER VI.
Is the Gospel Fact or Fable? 169
The Nature of Historical Evidence; Letters; Monuments. Contemporary Letters of Peter, Pliny and John. Prove the Existence of Churches. And Their Worship, Holiness, and Sufferings.
CHAPTER VII.
Can We Believe Christ and His Apostles? 190
The Gospel a Unit; Must Take or Refuse it All. Apostles' Testimony Circumstantial. Witnesses Numerous and Independent. Confirm Their Testimony with Their Blood.
CHAPTER VIII.
Prophecy, 210
Political--Napoleon's--Wrong. Presidential Candidates. Draper's Dogma of Youth and Decrepitude of Nations. Statesmen Prophets. General Claim for All Genius. Instances of Secular Prediction: Cayotte's of the French