Kansas City daily journal., 1896-12-07
REV. {. N. ALIENS SERMON.
Christians COntrasted by
Him Last Night.


| Rev. E. n. Allen, pastor of the First
| Cumberland Presbyterian church, took for
his subject last evening, Six Great Infidels
| and Six Great Christians Contrasted" His
! text Was taken from Matthew vii %:
| Wherefore, by their fruits We shall know
Them and spoke, in part, as follows:
! 'On 4 Sabbath night in New York 5000
| men assembled to hear their Maker cursed
| and His religion ridiculed. The task was
| an easy as well as a profitable one. A
| man might curse and ridicule his mother
| II he Were mean enough, and some men
| are. JUDAS Iscarfot betrayed his Lord and
grasPed after the thirty pieces of silver,
| and so did this man 1t was a brazen at
| tempt to show that our nineteenth century
| civilization was due to the courage and he
roism and teaching of a few great iIrfidels
1t is fair to judge any system by its
practical results. We judge a tree by its
fruits, and so may We a system. 1t is
common TO contrast the best !nfideIs with
the greatest Christians. There is neither
logic nor fairness in such a method. But
10 be fair and logical we shall contrast six
great infidels with six great Christians.
THE first shall be Julian, the apostate
and emperor of Rome, who has been the
pride and boast of the iufideI w6rld His
administration was a marvel of success
No one will say that he was not a phiIoso-
pher of no mean reputation. He comes
down 10 us wearing the imperial purple
and the philosophers robe. But saw all
you can in eulogy of his greatness and you
cannot cover up his crimes. His character
Will not bear the light. All Join in pro-
nouncing him an migrate, an apoState and
hypocrite. His royal uncle, Constantius.
had preserved him from massacre, edu-
Gated him, invested him with the title of
Caesar and placed him in command of the
army of Gaul, but he rebeiled against his
uncle, permitted his soldiers to proclaim
him emperor and fastened to seize his
uncle's throne. He apostolized from the
Christian faith and became the pontiff of
pagan divinities.
"Gibbon says of Julian that he played the
hypocrite for ten years, assisting at Chris
tian festivals and then burning incense to
Mars and Jupiter. He issued an edict for
religious liberation, then permitted the
Christians to be prosecuted, then laughed
at their calamity. And yet he is held I'D
before the world and eulogized as one of
the greatest benefactors of the race.
In bold contrast with Julian, We place
the immortal Washington, the Christian,
the warrior. the statesman and philau-
thropist. His moral character is without
a stain. He was brave as a soldier. wise
as statesman and benevolent as a Chris
tan He. too, ruled in equity over a great
nation. He, too. was offered a crown by
his soldiers. but he had the manliness and
the patriotism to reject it, as crime
against the sacred cause for which ha
fought. He left the impress of his states
manship upon our national constitution
and gave to the world the highest tvDa of
Christian manhood. as well as Christian
citizenship. As a warrior he fought for
the civil and religious liberty of all men
everywhere. Wherever men strucgl, for
liberty his name is an inspiration
Another great infdeI whose name and
fame have encircled the globe is VoItaire.
the brilliant Frenchman, whose marvellous
talents are recognized everywhere He was
a writer of poetry, history philosophy and
romance. He was the companion of kings
and princes. He has been paraded as the
great champion of civil and religious lib
erty. 1t has been said of him that he did
more for human liberty than any other
man that had ever lived that he was the
foe Of tyrants; that he sympathized wit
the oppressed; that he befriended the help
less; that he was the enemy of Jesuits
and waged relentless war against religious
intolerance. II all that is claimed for him
is true, he did nothing more than multi
tudes OF others did before his time Cen
tEr.es before, Wycliffe had died as a martyr
to religious liberty; John Huss died for
the truth, and Savonarola offered himself
upon the altar of freedom. These are the
real apostles Of civil and religious liberty.
But Noltaire has the credit of one thing
at least; he precipitated the bloodiest revo-
luton on record, which left France and
England in a tenfold worse condition than
they were at first But when We come TO
speak Of his moral character il is abso-
lutely sickeHing. His life of profigacy was
a scandal 10 his own corrupt age. His
NCentious career cannot with propriety be
mentioned before promiSCuous assembly
He was so dehased In morals that he could
even boast of his Righteousness
over against Voltaire. the infidel. we
7 ha
former, who took up arms against the
church and the empire two hundred years
before Noltaires day. He appeared at a
time when ignorance and superstition held
universal sway. when father could take the
life of son and mother could resign her
daughter to the flames and shed no tear
Of pity over her sad fate. He assembled the
moral heavens like a flaming meteor. he
Gispelled the night of thousand years
and ushered in the dawn of brighter and
better day. His burning words startled all