The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1899-08-11


a rose and nettle, as between dove
and vuture, as between day and
night Tremendous delusion!
Admiral Farragut, one Of the most
admired men of the American navy,
early became victim of this CAris-
tian deIusioR, and, seated not long be-
fore his death at Long Branch, lie was
giving some friends an account Of his
| early life. He said: "My father went
down in behalf of the United States
government to put an end to Aaron
Burr's rebellion. was cabin BOY and
went along with him. l could swear
like an old salt. could gamble in every
| style of gambling. L knew all the wick
edness there was at that time abroad.
One day my father cleared everybody
out of the cabin except myselfand locked
the door. He said: David, what are you
going to do? What are you going to
be?' Well said, father, am going
to follow the sea- Follow the sea and
be poor, miserable, drunken sailor,
kicked and cuffed about the world, and
die of fever in foreign hospital? 2
oh, no!' | said. Father, | will not be
that; | will tread the quarter deck and
command, as you do No, David my
father said; no, David, person that
has your principles and your bad habits
will never tread the quarter deck or
command My father went out and
shut the door after him, and | said
then: 4 will change. l will never swear
again, l will never drink again, will
I Il , tlnT0
by the help of God l have kept those
three vows to this time. | soon after
that became a Christian, and that de-
cided my fate for time and for eter-
nifty"
Another captive of this great Chris
tian delusion. There goes Saul of
Tarsus on horseback at full gallop.
Where is he going? To destroy Chris
tians. He wants no better play spell
than to stand and watch the hats and
coats of the murderers who are mas
sacring Gods children. There goes the
same man. This time he is afoot.
Where is he going now? Going on 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 it by
putting him on small diet, and denying
him a cloak, and condemning him as a
criminal, and bowling at him through
the streets; but they could not freeze
it out of him, and they could not sweat
it out of him, and they could not pound
it out of him, so they tried the surgery
of the sword, and one summer day in
&c he was decapitated. Perhaps the
mightiest intellect of the G,000 years
of the worlds existence hoodwinked,
cheated, cajoled, duped by the Chris
tian religion.
All, that is the remarkable thing
about this delusion of Christianity! 1t
overpowers the strongest intellects.
Gather the critics, secular and reli-
gious, of this century together and put
a vote to them as to which is the
greatest book ever written, and by
large majority they will say paradise
Lost Who wrote paradise Lost ?"
One of the fools who believed in 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 l
have to say of 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 Henry,
the electric champion of liberty, en-
slaved by this delusion, so that he says:
"The book worth all other books put to-
gether is the Bible' Ben jamin Rush,
the leading Psychologist and anatomist
of his day, the great medical scientist
what did he say? "The only true and
perfect religion is Christianity" Isaac
Newton, the leading philosopher of
his time-what did he say? That man
surrendering 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 I'M
covers his head, David Brewster saying:
ooh, 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
prayed when he said: Il invoke the
Lord God, in whom L am glad to be-
Geve." David Livingstone, able to con-
quer the lion, able TO conquer the pan
ther, able to conquer the savage, yet
conquered by this delusion, this hal
lucination, this great swindle of the
ages, so when they find him dead they
find him on his knees. William +. Glad
stone, the strongest intellect in Eng
land, 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 invi-
tation of the rector, read the prayers TO
the people. If those mighty intellects
are overborne by this delusion, what
chance is there for you and me?
Besides that, | have noticed that
first rate infidels cannot be depended
on for steadfastness in the proclama-
ton of their sentiments. Goethe,
leading skeptic, was so wrought upon
by this Christianity that in weak
moment he cried out: my belief in the
Bible has saved me in my literary and
moral life" Rosseau, one of the most
eloquent champions of infdelity,
spending his whole life warning
against Christianity, cries out: The
majesty of the Scriptures amazes me-"
Altemont, the notorious infdel, one
would think he would have been safe
against this delusion of the Christian
religion. Oh, no! After talking against
Christianity all his days, in his last
hours he cried out: ''Oh, Thou BIAS
phemed but most indulgent Lord God,
hell itself is refuge if it hide me from