The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-08-11

Saul amer, 1 Will HOl DC Lndls ! VIII
tread the quarter deck and command
as you do" mo, David" my father
said; mo. David, e person that a
your principles and your bad habits
will never tread the quarter deck or
command" Ny father went out and
shut the door after him, n I said
then, II will change, / will never swear
again, / will never drink again, I will
never gamble again" and, gentlemen,
by the help of God, I have kept those
three vows to this time. 1 soon after
that became a Christian, and that de-
cided my fate for time and for eter-
nifty"
Another captive of this great Chris
tan delusion. There goes Saul Of
Tarsus on horseback. at full galiop.
Where is he going? To destroy Chris
tians. He ant no better play spell
than to stand ard watch the hats and
coats of the murderers who are mas
sacring Gods children. There goes he
same man. This time he is afoot.
Where is he going now? Going OF the
road to Ostia to die for Christ. They
tried to whip it out of him, they tried
to scare it out Of him, they thought
they would give him enough of 1t by
putting him on small diet, and denying
him a cloak, and condemning him IS a
CRIMINAL, and bowling at him through
the streets; but they could not freeze
1T out of him, and they could not sweat
it out Of him, and they could not pound
1t out of him, SO they tried the surgery
of the sword, and one summer day III
66 he was decapitated. Perhaps the
mightiest intellect OF the 5000 years of
the worlds existence hoodwinked,
cheated, cajoled, duped by the Chris
tfan religion.
"DELUSION" OF CHRISTIANITY.
All, that is the remarkable thing
about this delusion of Christianity! 1t
o~verpowers the strongest intellects.
Gather the critics, secular and reli-
gious, of this century together and put
a vote to them a. to which is the
greatest book ever written, and by a
large majority they will say Paradise
Lost" Who wrote Paradise LOST"
One of the fools who believed n this
Bible, John Milton. Benjamin Frank
lin surrendered to this delusion, if you
may judge from the letter that he
wrote to Thomas Paine begging him
to destroy The Age of Reason in
manuscript and never let it go into
type, and writing afterward, in his old
days, "Of this Jesus of Nazareth I
have to say that the system of morals
he left and the religion he has given US
are the best things the world has ever
seen or is likely to see." Patrick Hen
ry, the clerical champion of liberty, en-
shaved by this delusion, so that he
says, 1.-THE book worth all other books
put together is the Bible" Benjamin
Rush, the leading psychologist and
anatomist of his day, the great medical
scientist-what did he say? 1.-The only
true and perfect religion is Christian
fty." Isaac Newton, the leading phi
losopher of his 'time-what did he say?
That man s~urrendering to this delusion
of the Christian religion, crying out,
"The sublimest philosophy on earth is
the philosophy of the gospel" David
Brewster, at the pronunciation of whose
name every scientist the world over un-
covers his head, David Brewster saying,
"Oh, this religion has been a great light
to me, a very great light all my days."
President Theirs, the great French
statesman, acknowledging that he pray
ed when he said, Il invoke the LORD
God, in whom 1 am glad to believe"
David Livingstone, able to conquer the
lion, able to the panther, able
to conquer the savage, yet conquered
by his delusion, this h~a1lucination,
this great swindle of the ages, so when
they find him dead they find him on
his knees. William E. Gladstone, the
strongest intellect in England, unable
to resist this chimera, this fallacy, this
delusion of the Christian religion, went
to the house of God every Sabbath
and often, at the invitation of the rec
tor. read the prayers to the people. If
those mighty inteI1ects are overborne
Ny lAllo "ho AioilS I'D liz
for you and for me?
ABOUT INFIDELS.
Besides that, I have noticed that
first rate infidels cannot be depended
on for steadfastness in the proclama-
ticn of their sentiments. Goethe, a
leading skeptic, was so wrought upon
by this Christianity that in a weak
moment he cried out, my belief in the
Bible has saved me in my literary and
moral life" Rousseau, one OF the most
eloquent champions of ingdelity, spend
ing his whole life warning against Chris
tianity, cries out, THE majesty Of the
Scriptures amazes me-" Altemont, the
notorious infidel, one would think he
would I'VE been safe against this de-
fusion of the Christian religion. Oh, no!
After talking against Christianity all
his days. in his last hours he cried out,
"Oh, thou blasphemeG but most indul-
gent ord God. hell itself is a refuge If
it hide me from thy frOwn!" Voiraire,
the most talented infidel the world ever
saw, writing $50 publications, and the
most Of them spiteful against Christi
anity, himself the most notorious liber-
tine of the would have
thought he could have been depended
upon for steadfastness in the advocacy
Of infidelfty and in the war against this
terrible Chimera, this delusion of the
gospel. But no; in his last Jul he asks
for Christian burial and asks hat they
give him the Of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Why, you cannot depend
upon these first rate infidels; you can
not depend upon their lower to resist
this great deluSion of Christianity.
Thomas Paine, the god of modern Skep-
tics. his birthday celebrated in New
York and Boston with great enthusiasm
Thomas Paine, the paragon OF Bible
haters-Thomas Paine, about whom his
brother infidel, William Carver, wrote in
a letter which I have at my house, say
ing that he drank a quart of rum a day
and was too mean and too dishonest to
pay for it-Thomas Paine, the adored
Of modern infidelity-Thomas Paine,
III stole another mans wife in Eng
land n brought her to this country
Thomas Paine, who was so squalid and
so loathsome and so drunken and so
profigate n so beastly in his habits,
sometimes picked out of the ditch,
sometimes too filthy to be picked out
Thomas Paine, one would have thought
that he could have been depended on
for st~eadfastness against this great de-
luSion.
But no. In his dying hour he begs