Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1864-06-03
spirit of this redoubtable "Gospel SER

spirit of this redoubtable Gospel SER
mon!'
l will notice only one other contradic-
ton. This Elder says "God cannot be
either directly or Indirectly the author
of war" Page 2. He then tells us,
God sends sOGr upon nations as a
scourge," &c. Page 3. This is plain
contradiction. One or the other of these
propositions must be false-both cannot
be true.
Fourth. Infidelity. Mark, to sow
the seeds and do the work of intidelity
it is not necessary publicly to disavow
belief in revelation or to denOunce
Christ and His Gospel. On the contra
ry, infidelity has done most of its moral
mischief under cover of protested re-
spect for religion and it's institutions
Lord BOlingbrOke, distinguished alike
for his talents and infidelity, said: "No
religion ever appeared in the world
whose natural tendency was so much di-
rected to promote the peace and happi-
ness of mankind as Christianity"
''The system of religion which Christ
published, and, his Evangelists record
ed, is a complete system to all the pur-
poses of religion". "The Gospel is
in all cases one continued lesson of the
strictest morality, of justice, of benevo-
lence, and of universal charity" Sim
liar professions of respect for Christian
ity have been made by Blount, Tindal,
Morgan, Toland, Chubb, Rousseau, and
other distinguished inffdels. Even Vol
taire, the arch-infidel of his age, while
his 'shibboleth" in his infidel cores
pOndence was "cr,tsh the Wretch," (mean-
ing by the Wretch Jesus Christi "con-
ceal your march from the enemy in your
endeavOrs to crush the wretch"
chad the mean hypocrisy, even in the
midst of his efforts against Christianity
to receive the sacrament regularly and
to do other acts of religion, merely to be
able to deny his infidelity if accused OF
it," The object of all this was to unset
tie and destroy public faith i'm Divine
revelation the means were to conceal
the design and object, and to charge that
the Bible was misinterpreted, that relig-
ion was wholly corrupted and was the
cause Of all the wars and woes of man
kind, and that it must be swept from
the earth to give place to the religion OF
reason.
The fatal success of this hypocrisy is
matter OF Instructive history. France
was wrapt in the consuming flames OF
revolution, which could only be extin.
guished by the torrents of blood of hel
deluded people! 1t might almost ap-
pear that Elder Flint had borrowed the
spirit and language of the infidelity OF
that age with which, under protested
zeal for the truth, to unsettle the faith OF
the country, undermine and destroy the
Professionalism of this country. Hear
him on this subject: "Being filled with
malice,and hellish rage" e. 1.-THE spir-
| it of anti Christi "that heliist
monster that melted Cain to imbrue his
hands in his brothers. blood" that
kbuned in the heart of King Nebachud.
nezzer, prompting him to east the three
SEHebrew childrenintO the frey furnace
'that stoned the Prophets and drank
q the blood of thousands of innocent
saints" Page 5. '"rhe same fell mon.
ster that filed the Jews with religious
hatred against the. son of God" >.
"heaping upon him allthe abuse and
vent" Page 5. Ehis is a specimen Of
the spirit and character this jealous
Elder attributes to the Protestant
churches of the loyal States. For, after
enumerating these, with many Other
cases of crime and cruelty, he says
"The monster still lives, enters into anG
CONTROLS the popular religion of The
day." at is by this anfi-Christian
influence that men have been educated
TO hate pure and undefiled religion, tc
desecrate the house of God and make il
a den of thieves. Many there are in
our midst who make long prayers FOR 8
Ipretense and to be heard and seen Of
men, yet urging their fellow men to i'm.
brue their hands in their brothers
blood, and blasphemously call it holy
work." Page5 5. AS if unable wholly tC
conceal a covert design he makes s
bungling and contradictory apology fol
intidels. After defending them against
asserting they "areme of good intellect
and close Observers he says to them,
ri wonder not that when you read the
history of what has been termed the
I religion of Christ and note the tyranny
fraud and endless catalogue of crime
the most revolving that ever polluted
EARTH" II repeat, | wonder not
that you are shocked at the picture"
land say in your heart that religion is q
ffabie, gotten up by designing and wick.
sd men, and has been greater curse to
man than all things else combined
This, sirs, is true to the letter of that
spurious, fanatical antiChristian relig-
ion of which we have been speaking
|. Doubtless Voltaire would have been
pleased with this Apology
The Elder has been speaking Of the
popular religion of the day'--the Pro
testantismof the loyal States-and gives
intidelity decidedly the preference
9. Ifinfidels possess the intelligence he
credits them with they know that the
religion of Christ is no more the cause
of the sins committed in its name, than
| II has bean the cause Of the earthquakes
that have buried cities III ruins. If
they do not know this it Is q falsehood
to call them intelligent
OBSERVER.