The weekly chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Craig County, Okla.) 1905-1913, 1912-04-05
WHAT GREAT MINDS HAVE
THOUGHT OF THE BIBLE.
BY John Marcus.
(Continued1


! Thomas Paine with regard to his in
fidel and deistic teachings as contain
ed in his Age of Reason, and asked
him: DO you think, Mr.. Paines, that
your pen, or the pen of any other man,
can unchistianize the mass of our eiti-
zens? Or have you hopes of corrupt
/ ing a few of them to assist you in so
bad a cause?"
] Benjamin Rush Christianity is the
only true and perfect religion. and that
in proportion as mankind adopt its
principles and obey its precepts, they
will be wise and happy And better
knowledge of this religion is to be
acquired by reading the Bible than in
any ether way"
Chief Justice Jay, when dying, was
asked if he had any farewell address
to leave his children; he REPLIED
They have the Bible"
Henry Clay: II always have had,
and always shall have, a profound re-
gard for Christianity, the religion of
my fathers. and for its rites, its us
ages, and observances.
Danied Webster, few days before
his death, the foremost man of all
his times, drew up and signed this
declaration of his religious faith
Lord, / believe; help those my un-
belief. Philosophical argument, espec-
tally that drawn from the vastness of
| the universe, in comparison with the
linsignificance of this globe, has some
times shaken my reason for the faith
that is in me, but my heart has always
assured and reassured me that the
gospel of Jesus must be a divine real
| ity The Sermon on the Mount can
not be merely human production.
This belief enters into the very depth
of my conscience"
General Grant: Hold fast to the
Bible as the sheet anchor of our lib
critics; write it's precepts on your
hearts, and practice them in your
lives. To the influence of this book
we are indebted for the progress in
true civilization, and to this we must
look as our guide in the future"
I Bancroft, the historian; Philosophy
has sometimes forgotten God; as
great people never did. The scepti-
cism of the last century could not up
rot Christianity, because it lived in
the hearts of the millions.
Christianity never lived in the hearts
of so many millions as at this moment.
The forms under which it is professed
may decay, for they, like all that that
| is the work of mans hands, are subject
| to the changes and chances of mortal
being; but the spirit of truth is incor-
lruptible; it may be developed, illus
trated and applied; it can never die;
it never can decline. No truth can
| perish No truth can pass away. The
flame is undying, though generations
disappear. Wherever mortal truth has
started into being humanity claims
and guards the bequest. Each genera
tion gathers together the imperishable
children of the past and increases
them by the new sons of the light,
alike radiant with Immortality"
Then we have more evidence to fur
nish from the pens of great thinkers.
Men whose names are as familiar al
most as household words:
Goethe, the great German poet 1t
is a belief in the Bible which has serv-
ed me as the guide of my moral and
literary life"
Sir Isaac Newton: q account the
Scriptures of God to be the most sub
lime philosophy
John Locke: 10 give man a full
knowledge of true morality. I should
need to send him to no other book
than the New Testament"
CoIeridge: Il know the Bible is in
spired. because it finds me at greater
depths of my being than any other
book"
Carlyle "A noble book All mems
book. 1t is our first statement of the
never-ending problem of mans destiny
and Gods way with men on earth"
Rousseau. the brilliant French in
fidel: Il must confess the majesty of
the Scriptures strike me with astonish-
ment."
Theodore Parker, the infidel trans
cendentalist: There is not a boy nor
a girl, all Cbristendom through, but
their lot is made better by this great
book"
Bishop Whipple: Take the gospel
away, and what mockery is human
philosophy! / once met a thoughtful
scholar who told me that for years he
had read every book which assailed
the religion of Jesus Christ. He said
that he should have become an in
fidel if it had not been for three
things:
First. | am man. | am going