Connecticut western news., 1899-08-10

sou duh souh pau will never tread the quarter deck or command My father went out and shut the door after him, and said then, will change, I will never swear again, will never drink again. l will never gamble again. and, gentlemen. by the help of God. have kept those three vows to this time. I soon after that became a Christian, and that de- cided my fate for time and for eter- nity."
 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 1t out of him. they tried to scare 1t out of him, they thought they would give him enough of 1t by putting him on small diet, and denying him cloak, and condemning him as a criminal, and bowling at him through the streets; but they could not freeze 1t out of him, and they could not sweat 1t 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 66 he was decapitated. Perhaps the mightiest intellect of the 5000 years of the worlds existence hoodwinked cheated. cajoled. duped by the Chri$ tan religion.
 sDelusfon1 of Christianity.
 An, that is the remarkable thing about this delusion of Christianity! It 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 LostT 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 'srhe 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 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 electric champion of liberty, en- slaved by this delusion. so that he says, "The book worth all other books put together Is the Bible." Benjamin Rush, the leading physiologist and anatomist of his day, the great medical scientist-what did he say? "The only true and perfect religion is Christian ity." Isaac Newton, the leading phi losopher of his time-what did he say? That man surrendering to this delu- sion 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 uncovers his head, David Brewster saying, ''Oh, this religion has been a great light to me, very great light all my daysw President Thiers, the great French statesman. acknowledging that he prayed when he said, '1 invoke the Lord God, in whom I am glad to believe" David Livingstone, able to conquer the lion. able to conquer the panther, able to conquer the savage, yet conquered by this delusion, this hallucination, 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 intellects are overborne by this delusion, what chance is there for you and for me?
 About Inhdels.
 Besides that, I have noticed thas first1rate infidels cannot be depended sn for steadfastness in the prociama ton 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 infidehty, Spending his whole life warning against Christianity, cries out, 'sThe majesty of the Scriptures amazes me-" Altemont,, the notorious infidel. one would think he would have been safe against this delusion of the Christian religion. 06, no! After talking against Christianity all his days, in his last hours he cried out. "Oh, thou blas- phemed but most indulgent Lord God, hell itself Is a refuge if it hide me from thy frownr' voltaire, the most talent ed infidel the world ever saw, writing 25O publications, and the most of them spiteful against Christianity, himself the most notorious Ebertine of the cen. tury-one would have thought he could have been depended upon for stead
 fastness in the advocacy of infidelity and in the war against this terrible chimera, this delusion of the gospel
 But no; in his last hour he asks foi Christian burial and asks that they give him the sacrament of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why, you cannot de pend upon these first rate infidels; you cannot depend upon their power to re. sist this great delusion of Christianity
 Thomas Paine, the god of modern skeptics, his birthday celebrated in New York and Boston with great en. thusiasm-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, saying that he drank 8 quart of rum day and was too mean and too dishonest to pay for it-Thom. as Paine. the adored of modern inf. delity-Thomas Paine, who stole an. other mans wife in England and
 brought her to this country-Thomas
 Paine, who was so squalid and sc loathsome and so drunken and so prof.
 hgate and so beastly in his habits
 sometimes picked out of the ditch
 cr A<f,