The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1899-08-11

night. Tremendous delusionl
Admiral Farragut, one of the most
admired men of the American navy,
early became victim of this Chris
tan delusioR, and, seated not long be-
fore his death at Long Branch, he 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. l could gamble in every
style of gambling. knew all the wick
edness there was at that time abroad.
One day my father cleared everybody
out of the cabin exceptmyselfand locked
the door. He said: David, what are you
going to do? What are you going to
be?' Well 1 said, father, am going
to follow the sea- Follow the sea and
be a poor, miserable, drunken sailor,
kicked and cuffed about the world, and
die of a fever in a foreign hospital%
| oh, MOI l said. Father, / will not be
that; l will tread the quarter deck and
command, as you do No, David my
father said; no, David, a person that
has your principles and your bad habits
will never tread the quarter deck or
command Ny father went out and
| shut the door after him, and l said
then: 4 will change. will never swear
| again, l will never drink again, will
never gamble again. and, gentlemen,
by the help of God l have kept those
three VOWS to this time. l 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 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 1t by
putting him on small diet, and denying
him a cloak, and condemning him as ID
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 5000 years
of the worlds existence hoodwinked,
cheated, cajoled, duped by the Chris
tan 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
vote to them as 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 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-
shaved by this delusion, so that he says:
"The book worth all other books put to-
gether is the Bible" Benjamin Rush,
the leading physiongist 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
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:
"Oh, this religion has been a great light
to me, very great light all my days!"
President Theirs, the great French
statesman, acknowledging that he
prayed when he said: 81 invoke the
Lord God, in whom am glad to be-
lieve." David Livingstone, able to con-
4uer the lion, able to conquer the pan
Their, able to conquer the savage, yet
by this delusion, this hal
lucination, this great swindle of the
ages, so when they find him dead they
ind him on his knees. William E. Glad
stone, the strongest intellect in Eng
and, unable to resist this chimera, this
fallacy, this delusion of the Christian
religion, went to the house of God
avery Sabbath, and often, at the invi-
ation of the rector, read the prayers to
he people. If those mighty inte!lects
ire overborne by this delusion, what
chance is there for you and me?
Besides that, l have noticed that
irst rate infdels cannot be depended
IN for steadfastness in the proclama-
ion of their sentiments. Goethe, a
eading skeptic, was so wrought upon ,
~ this Christianity that in a weak Z
moment he cried out: MY belief in the