Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1894-11-30

heroes.
Their faith gave steel to their mus
Giles, staunChness to their natures and
courage to aheir hearts.
Aside from all religious consider
atoms saying nothing of the personal
faith, the belief in a ruling and souver-
eign Being is of incalculable value to
auv country. It furnishes better pro-
lection to liberty than law. 1t IS
surer safeguard than walled cities and
standing armies. Rob citizens of be-
lief in a personal God and you tear
out the throbbing heart of warm III
telligent civilization and leave 1t
lifcless and worthless corpse" Take
away the belief i'll a Divine Ruler and
the oath will no longer be sacred, the
marriage ring will be forever broken,
the sanctity Of the home violated, the
fires Of love will go out on the hearth
stone and the reign of seIfshness and
cruelty will be established. Under
such iufdcl conditions man would
have no rights held worthy Of respect
law would become but pretenCe for
protection. Property would become
booty and plumber and the weak sue
cunb to the rapaCity- of the strong
And every liberty dear now to the
heart, would surrender to unrcstralncd
piIlage-'ti11 Anarchy came down on
US like night. And massacre scaled
Americas eternal grave" Does some
one suggest that culture, mutual good
will and natural justice would be sui
fcicnt protection? When did culture
resist the the cncroaChmcnt Of greed,
when did mutual goodwill offer de-
tense against passion and natural JUS
tiCc stand the torrents Of avariCc and
unbridled ambition? AS we'll might
YOU say that you can remove the the
sun from the sky and illuminate the
spheres i'll their WaudcringS thrO space
| by the light of Il tallOw candle. 30.
No. The belief i'll an ovcrruling Prov
idcncc and n just and powerful God IS
| Americas pledge peace and prosper
ity. Wherever there is no belief in
God and no recognition of his power
human life is cheap and safety secured
only at the pistol point.
But why do I speak thus confidently
Of what would be? Because l have
history by my side declaring what has
| bccn-Francc tried it. Before the
French Revolution a convention OF
French inGdel met in Paris They de-
clarcd the abolition of God and the
sabbath worship was prohibited, church
cs plundcrcd, and burned, marriage
was declared only to be civil contract
which might be broken pleasure.
Notrc Dame was converted into a
Temple of Reason anda gaudily dress
| ed woman of the streets was enthroned
as goddess and over the cntrenCc to the
cemeteries wore inscribed these words:
'Dcath is an eternal sleep" Now
hear from the pen of the historian
what GollOwcd--''Mobs, riots and com
| munistir parties contested everything
| and went into the work of making laws
| without any idea Of what the people
ncedcd-Thc Prison rooms became
frcscocd with blood and the prison
walls spattcred with brains---Thc pave
mcnts were red with blood and the
| cutters filled with the torn shreds OF
human flesh. The morning breeze
and evening wind bore alike across the
the vine clad hills Of France the cries
| Of suffering and the heart chilling
J shrieks oftcrror. Society was utterly
disorganizcd. Property was confiscat-
| ed. In the scales of that hour passion
| weighed heavier than life and
HATRED became the substitute fo1
good will. Fear drove away the tlm1d
and fortitude brought the brave to eX-
ccutiou TrcaChcry, RIGHTEOUSNESS and
libcrtincism harncsscd themselves to
| the irou-axled car of Anarchy and
drove ruin up and down the streets OF
Paris until thousands lost their lives at
the prison, the block and the guillotine.
An injured humanity with angered
| conscience but discriminating Judge
\ ment will ever point to the in!idels OF
| France and say your work and from
that most painful break in human prog
ress whose darkness was only broken
| by the g1rrc of blood and the flash ofthe
| guil1otine knife the infidels of France
will have to ans wer 'Our work"
Do you want to see that history re
peatcd here on American soil? If you
| do, then abolish this national rcCogui
ton of God. Elevate Bob Ingersoll to
the Presidency, and install his blasphe-
nous followers i'll office. Burn the
pages of our early history which relate
| to the Puritan Fathers. Teach the
American youth that all expressions OF
gratitude to God are silly and foolish.
Teach him that the Bible is only a
clever mythology, that preaching is
cant, that religion is superstition and
that belief i'll God is fanatiCism. And
the Carlyle of the future will have to
plunge his pen into redder blood to
describe the horrors which would fol-
low than the Carlyle of the past did in
describing the fearful scenes of the
French Revolution.
DO you ask for more light on this
point? Take up again the volume of
history---Go back from page to page
and from age to age till you stand i'll
the grave yard of nations that were but
are not. And what do we read upon
the tablets that mark their ruin?
Here is Babylon The Great Look
closely, decipper the inscription. What
is it? "God hath numbered thy King
dom and finished it." Here is Nincal.
what is it? The wicked shall be turn
ed into He'll and all the nations that