This was followed by a war of Revolution, and the central figure, the leader, in this momentous struggle, was Washington. Yet skillful and sagacious as this commander was, brave and patriotic as his soldiers were, the recognition and assistance of a foreign power was necessary to insure success. To the untiring labors of Franklin was this achievement due. Every event in the lives of these illustrious men, every element in their characters, has become a subject of surpassing interest. There is one theme connected with their history upon which I propose to dwell, and that is the question of their religious beliefs.
Few questions are so little understood.
The world has been cursed with two great evils, kingcraft and priestcraft. Founded upon fraud, the clerical profession, with many honorable exceptions, depends upon fraud for its support. One of its methods I shall expose in this work. While pretending to ignore reason, and intellectually, and worldly greatness, its members yet realize the importance of having the intellectual Titans and the popular heroes of the world upon their side. At the same time they realize the humiliating fact that it is for the most part the dwarfs, and not the giants of the world, that train with them.