The Buchanan County guardian. (Independence, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1858-1864, 1859-04-07
Judge TabOr,s Lecture.

EE The twelfth lecture Of the indie
pendence Course was delivered on Satur-
day evening last, by Judge TABOR. and
Notwithstanding the day had been stormy,
and the evening was very cold and blus
try, the hall Of the Court House was
well-filled with listeners. The lecture
was upon CHRISTIAN TESTIMONY, illus
trated and endorsed relative to the death
beds of infdels, though, as will be seen.
the introduction to the subject exhausted
the evening. and the~death- stories
were left for consideration next Saturday
evening. The Judges remarks were
mainly extempore, and had all the elo-
oquence, emphasis and force of his best
efforts. He was surrounded with lib
rary Of authorities. and every assertion
made, or position stated, by him, was
backed by an array Of Christian witness
ses.
We of course can give no just concep-
ton of the lecture, but shall endeavor to
detail some Of the points made, and give
the name, without the language, of the
authority. He said that it had been and
is the practice of the clergy, constantly
to malign and misrepresent the actions.
life and death of great Infdels-men
of talents, genius and position, who did
not, and could not, accept and believe
the doctrines Of the Church. From ev-
cry pulpit we are treated with stories of
their death bed agony-of their terror
and remorse when dying. He and his
auditors had heard these stories from the
pulpits of this village, and though he had
no doubt they were honestly believed by
those who had uttered them here, yet he
believed they were Infamous lies, con-
cocted by the church to keep men in a
faith to which their reason did not give
assent. He meant no imputation upon
any clergyman in Independence or Blu
chanan county, and he particularly desir-
ed 10 say that his expressions would in no
sense have personal application. Nor
did he wish to be understood as. for a
moment, attacking or undertaking the
great moral principles inculcated in the
New Testament. These he recognized,
and, he hoped, embraced, as cordially as
any man. 1T was only the theological
system which his reason repudiated-it
was only the dogmas of the church TO
which his mind gave no assent.
AS he was about to examine the sto-
ries which were so common concerning
the death of Voltaire and other eminent
dissenters from the popular theology, and
as they depended for their vitality on
clerical and evangelical countenance, he
should be obliged to show that in all ages
of Christianity there had been men sin
cerely attached to their religion, who had
not scruplcd to sustain it by falsehood
and even forgery. He then adduced the
learned ecclesiastical historian and chris
tian, the Rev. Dr. MosHEIM, and read ex
tracts from his writings, in which, in
speaking of the church in the first four
or five centuries, he says it was in those
times considered can act of virtue to
deceive and lie. when by that means the
interests of the church might be promo
ted.' He quoted largely from MosHErM,
and also from the writings of those equal
ly learned aud authoritative christian
writers, Rev. john DAILLE and Rev. DR..
CoNyERs MIDDLETON. in evidence upon
this point. He read from Dr.. MIDDLE
TONS works some stories of dragons,
satyrs, &C., being subdued by the early
saints. which DR.. MIDDLETON quotes from
the writings of ST. JERoM, one of the
early Christian fathers, who endorses them
as veritable incidents.
One of the forgeries Of these early
fathers, to which the lecturer specifically
REQUIRED, was that of the celebrated pas
sage in JosEpHUs referring to CuRrsr.-
The first writer who mentions this pas
sage was the great Christian authority,
EusEBIUs, who wrote in the fourth centurr.
10 him the lecturer attributed this for
gerry, and as evidence to prove that he
was not above such deception. the Judge
read the title to the 3lst chapter of the
18th book of EUsEBIus' Evangelical Pre-
paraf'o1. which reads" How it may be
lawful and fitting to use Falsehood as
Medicine, and for tho benefit of those
who require to be deceived p In this
chapter, the lecturer said, the author adj