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Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.): n. Sunday, July 24, 1910.

Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.): n. Sunday, July 24, 1910. Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.). 400dpi TIFF G4 page images Blade Publishing Co., Lexington, Kentucky 1910 blu1910072401 These pages may be freely searched and displayed. Permission must be received for subsequent distribution in print or electronically. Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.): n. Sunday, July 24, 1910. Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.). Blade Publishing Co., Lexington, Kentucky 1910 $IMLS This electronic text file was created by Optical Character Recognitio n (OCR). No corrections have been made to the OCR-ed text and no editing has be en done to the content of the original document. Encoding has been done through an automated process using the recommendations for Level 1 of the TEI in Librar ies Guidelines. Digital page images are linked to the text file. BLUE GRASS BLADE14 Nunib riiVOLUME XVIH LEXINGTON KENTUOKY SUNDAY JULY 24th l IO HALLEYS n A d Hl anti The Wanderer of the Skies Knocks out Superstition and Does Away with prOPheCY I f the Old Testament we read of sacrifces being made to ap IIn the wrath of an angry god and two thousand years nfter as told by Christians a Godof sentI his only begotten son into this world to savo us from situ so called mid this son called Christ was crucified on a cross we still read in our daily papers tales of the same kind of bloody sacrifices being offered to this sam blood thirsty godand yet we say ve are CIVILIZED A littlo more than a month ago country was exercised over the reap pearance of Halleys Comet much a certain people were once exercised over a wooden horse The wise men told as we would have our lives snuffed out instantly that we would die of laughing gas that we would see electrical displays etc etc when we passed through the tail of this terrible comet yet Halleys Comet has once more come ind pone and still live while the cornet has gone on about its business as it always has But out in that new state of Oklahoma there arose a religious fantic Henry Hein man by name who announced to his fellow worshippers known as the Select Followers that he had ceived a revelation from God that or May 18th the world was to end and the heavens would ba rolled up like a scroll following the contact with the tailof the comet that the only thing dYIsacrificelot I fallen to VaJfl l hisiijiji tJlj r lime Sel ct Followeis belt tVo tliiit sin has passed from them and that they can handle serpents mud drink poison without evil effect Heiumau their leaflet Hid been telling them iu his sermons fur several days that the world would end on Slay 18th and Halley s comet would sweep with thatI tilential gases across the earth straying all animal life Ho waited until the evening of the 17th of May to play his trump card and announced that he hind received a revelation that the sacrifice of his sixteenyearold daughter Jane Warfleld would avert the calamity Down in a dell in the Glass Moun tains on May 18th Jane ws clad in spotless while with n wreath of white roses about her mead her hands bound as site stood surr iud d by the Select Followers Heimnun witha long 1 hunting knife in his hand st ready to complete the bloody sacrifice to pease the wrath of the bloodthirsty godbut lo there appeared a rational band headed by the sheriff oi Dewey county and placed Ileinman and his followers under arrest and the girl into safe keeping It seems impossible Vrlien we look about us and see the immense strides that science has made in the past cen tury that a fend could find people to follow such vile teachings a fiendof who to rid himself of a stepdaughter would murdur her in tho name of re ligion and before tho gaze of his fol I lowers Surely these Select Followers are not all murders not all idiots not all insane Is it possible that they are hypnotized by their leader How many thousand years willoil away before the influence of the Dowies Schlatters Leos and Heinmans shall pass When will murder cease to be I committed in the name of religion When oh when will the bloody appe tite of that gourmand god be satisfied t When will the sacrifice of human flesh end When will rationalism compel tho parasites to go to work When will common sense predominate on this sphere and eradicate the poisonous influence of that damnable old book that has for centuries kindled human bonfires and filled the rivers with blood and the asylums with in sad When Halleys comet appears seventyfive years hence at a time when each school child has his airship when the improbabilities of Bell amy have become probabilities and perhaps realities when Mother Ship tons prophecy seems mediocre when flowers blossom where now lies the desert will that hungry god still be l1UbI00d crying out for and will there ibl and fiends to satisfy the cryifVWJiy oh why ration nlist will you allow that barbarous thing called religion to cline to you Even though it has in itle J of fire and brimstone than did the religion of your youth it is just as dangerous It has its parasites on earth and its parasite in the clouds Every church must support tit least one parasite and while there are parasites there will be sacrifices of liberty and of blood The parasite if tic coitinue to exist must and wilt live at your expense Now is the time to cut loose from re ligions both old and new andrally round th3 Banner of rationalism Dont let thedenierin futures sell you the old wolin sheeps cloth ingOne 1Yof the daily papers scales that Heinman came from near 1Msburg Olio and is d graduate of an Ohio University that hp was at one time a diciple of Harmon the Freethinker and that it is rumored that many of Harmons iichslutve yen carried out in the form of worship of the band headed by Heihman Blade read ers who know Ajjoses Harmon know that he way no fiend and if there was anything in common between him and Ileinman it slertainynor the vocacy of Wont some of Harmon friends defend him and the name fiEpaethought When ChristinSflPlI blood let them beer blameiind shift it onto the already mnnijtrampjed freethinker Sj tllf NN TFkR1TIL t THE ORUOIFIXION Throughout the various gospels there are very contradicting stories of tho crucifixion of a KING of the JEWS which the forgers of the gos pels have endeavored to apply to the fictitious crucifixion of the mythical Christ Jesus About year 100 B C in the city of Modin Mattathias a priest of the Aomonean family slew a Jew and the royal officer then aided by his five sons he rallied the faithful fled to the mountains find raised the standard of liberty on which was inscribed M K B L the initials of the Hebrew war cry u1IiKamokaBnelim Lehovo from which the insurgents received tli3iiame Maccabees M K BS They recovered Jerusalem purified the Temple and restored its worship About 47 B C Julius Caesar gave to Hyrcanus a Maccnbee certain rights On the death of Caesar and Hyrcanus 44 B Call the decrees were confirmed by the senate in the consulate of Mark Antony Herod tlu Great an Indumean de scendant of a Philistine slave in 37 B Cwrth the aid of Roman troops under Sosiuq captured Jerusalem anti ANTIGONUS MATTATHIAS the Muccabae the last of the Hosmoiiean kings of Judea He was youngest son of Aris tobulus 2d Both hind been carried G31Band returned to Palestine Antigonus first attempted to seize the government by force with the as sistance of his brotherinlaw Potelmy Mennei but was defeated by Herod About twj years afterwards with the aid of Fro hundred Parthian warrior Antigouas became KING OF THE JEWS anti in the year 40 B C he was officially proclaimed King and high priest by the Parthinns After a turbulent reign of six years the Roman general Sosius captured him and as he hind been n rebel against tho Romans uMark Antony now gave the king dom to a certain Herod and having stretched Antigonus on a CROSS and scourged him a thing never done be fore to anyother King by tho Romans he put him to death Dio Cassius book 49 The very learned Rabbi Wise says u All IJlom lent historians of these days mention this extraordinary oc r currence and tho manner they did it shows it was considered one of Marl Antonys worst crimes and that the sympathy with tho CRUCIFIED KING OF THE JEWS was wide spread and profound Here we may well leave the source of the crucifixion story The learned Rabbo Wise also dem onstrates that the canonical gospels were all written about 170 A D 01 after and in an age of general ig norance when knowledge was trans mitted by tradition ablest historians and investi gators in the world corroborate his ancient historians like Strabo Plutarch and others corrobo rate tho crucifixion of Antigens Over his Mad was placed legend KING OF THE JEWS That is the historical foundation of contradictory and fictitious gospel stories of thj cnicifixion of tne myth ical Christ Jesus When we turn back to the begin ning of history and tradition we find that over fifty II Saviours or II Sons of God burn of Virgins died for the salvation of their people Among those claimed to have been crucified on a cross were Thulis of Egypt 1700 B C Atys of Plirygia 1170 B C Tharnuz of Syria n C Kreesbna of India 1156 B C Helzus of the Druids 834 B C Reva Tat of Siam 810 n C Indria of Thibet 725 B C Bali of Arisso 715 B C Jao of Nepaul C22 B C Mithra of Persia B C Alcestors of Euripides B C Buddha of India 600 B C QuetzalcCatle of Mexico 587 B C Wifo ba of the Tal ingonese 523 B C Quirinus of Rome 506 B CJ Ihomethns of Greece 500 B C and Ixion of Rome 400 B C Most of the foregoing list were SUNGODS A few were human be ings to whom the legend ofrr crucifixion on a cross was long afterwards attached s As the SUN at the winter solstice December 21st is seen at sunset with sundogs or clouds forming a CROSS the people place all their sins upon the crucified sun and its death redeemed them t Abou fo j ntn rv tb cnvtnc 1c fled in ytdlucalsign of Aries the II Ram std they worshipped the Lamb of God The three bright stars inII Taurus being tho Three wise men Hence tho oldest and most popular form of the crucifixion was the figure of a LAMB on a CROSS cross on the Vatican in Rome Italy is now in that form That is tha astronomical foundation of the crucifixion During the reign of Constantino Pognet Canon 82 of the Cth Synod of Constantinople 707 A D decreed that the figure of a MAN should be fastened to the CROSS insteadof a lamb which was confirmed by Pope Adrian Firt The forgers of the gospels who INVENTED Christ Jesus about 200 A D must necessarially have their Son of God crucified on s CROSS like all the patient sungods and then have him give the power of binding and loosing Matt XX 110 to SATAN vs 23 then to the pope and his SATANIC Roman Catholic Church has claimed that poweer ever makes the pope and priesthood SUPERIOR TO GOD After thirtyfive years investigation wo find that is the crucifixion story GEO E SLY Simi Diego California ERNST HAEOKEL AS A TEACHER Friedrich Lipsius in Blnbuch approaching retirement of Professor Ernst Heinrich Haeckel natur alistauthor nnd professor of zoology us a public speaker after thirty seven years of service at the Jena University makes a visit to his lec ture room doubly interesting just now Shortly before nine n in benches in the big square auditorium filled with students male and female Germans Russians French English and not a few Americans youth mid dle ago and old agecrowd around the professors cathedra At the stroke of nine Haeckel en ters still a powerful figure with a high forehead and the rosy complexion- of a healthy German girl of twenty Beard and hair are slightly graytime typical savant of the Fatherland bining the aggressiveness of an old warrior with a childs good nature On tho walls of the room and on the several stands and cashes placed at in tervals are dozens of statistical tables mid drawings of plants and animals most of thorn done by tho professor r T himself for ITaeckcl is an accomplished draughtsman and a fine artist Haeckel speaks without notes his most elaborate scientific lectures were delivered in this manner As he once pointed out his is not knowledge ac quirejl from books ho only teaches things that he has seen with his own eyes that he himself discovered often after long protracted labors He o and there a word of criticism is uttered throwing down the gaunt let to opponents of his views but more often the lecturer indulges in mild raillery and in humorous remarks that set dignified auditorium astir with laughter All the students are busy writing some using shorthand others making notes only Every little while Haeckel leaves the cathedra to hand around some specimen of bone dried plant or mineral from his collections to illus tratff the point he is making Still more interesting is Haeckel in IusIe is plpased to call his Small Practi cum where he teaches no more than twenty scholars at a time moving examiningilel wor an ing And scolding if necessary He looks into each pupils microscope in turn and is ever ready to answer questions And having given the re quir d infjimation ho never fails to add Now have you thoroughly un derwood m 11 Have I made myself cleft to If not I will explain ovtlagain or give you some tables anddrawlmmg9 to fix the thing in your mid JMUSINGS 1By Otto Wettstein Why Monism What is the matter with plain and comprehensive II Mhterialbm The latter term de tine correctly the great science of uuifVsal existence and implies that matter is the sole of realityII Mon ism refers to a unity of existence only but fails to define what this unity is It might imply Pantheism or Spookism It is a poor substi tute for glndold and invulnerable Materialism The onlyII Infinite and Eternal Energy which exists is matter Only this and nothing more In seg regation it is represented in the dew drop rose cadaver protoplasm dust rock or world In infinite aggrega tion it comprises the universe of cos mic activity mud organic life Could this latest spook of Atheistic scient ists supposed to exist beyond the reach of science be produced and spected by telescope and microscope it would of necessity also be found to consist ott mutter and matter only simply an eternal repetition of what know exists in our immediate en vironments There is one essential agent the chemist cannot control in his laboratory viz lime and this is the rea son why mutter in Natures workshop produces results in the nurse of ages which man in course of genera tions ean nver accomplish There is noII dead matter If matter were dead there would be no chemical ntliuity between atoms no life gravity attraction etc When a living structure or organism dies and Hsintergrates each atom posesses the identical life or potentialities it did when in the living forum or when it fist gravitated with millions of associate atoms to evolve such living from We may correctly define the erm life as organic or inorganic life never as living or dead mat terTo assure a beginning of each special form is correct to assume a Kginning of tho stuff they are undo of is incorrect And because all special forms have a beginning there fore they must end And because the stuff is eternal in the past it will bo eternal in the future And cause it is universally active no so must it have been eternally active in the past therefore will be forever active in the future No god needed r PRAYERfJ That of the Righteous Man Aval let h Much But the Righteous Man Not t to Be Found I J We propose to open and close the fol lowing article with prayer Although we admit that our faith in such logic is very weak that will not however prevent us giving our honest opinion upon the subject so long as we have no other object in view than the dis semination of the truth And to be gin with will say we find the whole system of what is called the Chris tion church or religion founded on a firm belief in tho efficacy utility and logic of prayer without it its services would bo useless We are told that the fervent effect prayer of a righteous man availeth much We arc also told that a righteous man would be a hard thing to find one writer says that there is none righteous No not one Jesus says that that exempt your righteousness exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees ye can in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven So according to the testi mony the prayers of the righteous would not amount to very muchafter all We are also told to pray without ceasing We will simply pass by that idiotic expression as unworthy of is where our faith belief and confidence in either the efficacy utility or logic of prayer dont amount to a grain of scud We are told time and time again that in case we wish anything all we have to do is to ask in faith and we will be sure to get it Ask nnd ye shall receive Knock and it will be opened unto you Now nothing could be more plain or positive than the above solemn jlfbrnises They are repeated times anti times again by first four writers of the Gospels and in our estimation noth ing could bo more false or deceptive Wo have yet to learn of just one single instance where it can be shown that any god ever heard or answered a prayer front any living mortal prayers of mankind are already an swered and no god has done it know that we are living and we know that we shall die That is all we do or can know For us to say that we know there is a god who hears and answers prayer is simply a slur upon his dignity It puts him in the place of a tyrant insteadof a god Do we have to tell god what we want and ask him if ho will please grant us our requests or does ho not already knov more about our wants than we ourselves know Again in ease god answers our prayers then he leaves it to us to say what we want and what is best for us All he does in the case is to simply grant us our wishes That would bo taking the rigid of decision out of his reach have him serving us instead of us serving him As to the folly of prayer wo will have this to say We see people everyday who claim to be intelligent who become so enraptured over the sub ject of prayer that they will get down on their knees and implore god not to lead them into temptation but to ns they say and take care of them They will get up feeling perfectly sat isfied that their prayers have been heard and will be answered While at tho sumo time theywill not have a scintilla of evidence to show that their prayers ever went an inch higher than the ceiling of the room in which they were sitting Then on retiring at night they will put their case in the hands of 11II Father who are in Heaven and go to sleep feeling per fectly satisfied that all is well But during the night elements become enraged a ft arful tornado comes and sweeps a whole city with the people in it into eternity in a few minutes That is the way the lord often answers prayer Go to sleep in his care wake up in eternity The lord will of course be on hand immediately after tho deed is done but never before He always conies too late His services are not needed look for n moment at state of affairs right here in the United Stales in regard to two great religious factors Bitterly opposed to j eachother both fighting and praying for the supremacy Bothof t them have their cases in the hands of the lord and both are imploring him through earnest prayer for hepl Now the question isWhicn party is the lord going to helpif either him through earnest prayer for help functions in the affirmative and at the same time deal justly with himself and them tool Now we wish to askWould it look more reasonable more notMmore justifiable more godlike him to say I will not have to do with jour troubles fight them out on your own hook I will neither hear nor answer any of your prayers in HNowthisNo god has any more to do with the way religious matters are run in this country than I have not half as much for I so speak my mmd occasionally 1 upon the subject but god never does The same rule will ap ply with equal force to the two great political factions who are at the pres ent fighting for the supremacy of the country A largo majority of the leaders doubt are members of some one t the socalled religious churches and their faith and belief in the efficacy of a prayer hearing and prayer answering god is something not to be winked at And many are tho times no doubt his lordship has been implored from bended knees ask jug help in time of need and that his favorite for the top seat may be successful Then after the battle is over the successfully party will write in a chorus of thanks to the lord for glorious 5ctory But as one presi dent nt a time like one rod is a plenty who is the other party going to curse for giving them a feat This you see would be placIing the lord in a critical condition and all the resource left for him would bo like in the case of helping Judah drive out the inhabitants of tho valley Would be to simply back outNow this same criterion or rule of judgment will not only hold good in the religious and political affairs of mankind but is a standard for all his actions from the cradle to the grave But tho wlule truth and nothing but the truth sumed up in a rout shell seems to be about this There is no prayer hearing or prayer answering god either material or imaginary Such a being as that would not only be an impossibility but would be use less In case there is a god it would be our business to listen to and answer his prayers Not him ours That would be simply making a god subservient to our wishes In other words it would be simply taking the power of attorney out of his hands and using it ourselves people of this world have imag ined out a god just to suit their own fancy they think they have got him so completely under their control that ask what they will ho will grant it But wo have known many caes where they have been seriously disappointed but in such cases their only excuse has been lord knows best what is good for us Then in that case we askiIf the lord knows best what in the name of the lord are they both ering him for and trying to make him please them and do as they wished There are instances where the peo ple have become so enamoured over a prayer answering god that they have concluded that they could have him make it rain for them in viola tion of the laws of nature But such cases are becoming very scarce people are becoming too highly edu cated for such tomfoolery as that But wo must stop Wo have already made our article too long But when we get on topics like this there dont seem to be any stopping place in it We will perhaps iirtho near future take up tho subject again So let us pray JOEL M BERRY r BLUEGRASS BLADE FOUJ fly CHARLES IILTON MOORK And edited by film until hli death February JAMES E HUGHES Proprietor 126128 Uorth Limestone Street Lexington Kentucky P Box RATES ISUBSCRIPTION yr In advance new at onn re mittance cents each Foreign subscriptions postpaid 1150 per year ADVERTISING RATES One Inch single column Insertion cents one month or four Insertions 100 six months J500 one year Quarter column Insertion 1200 one month 400 six months 2001 one year 3000 Half column whole column or larger advertisements at special rates von ap plication ALL SUBSCRIPTIONS to the Blade will be discontinued at the expiration of the term for which the subscription has been paid up In advance The address sUp on tie paper will show subscribers thn date of expiration of subscription Back numbers or numbers omitted will be cent If asked for upon renewal In case of dlscontlnuanoe SHOULD ANY SUBSCRIBER change his or her address advise this office giving both old and new ddress as desired THE OFFICE of publication of the Blade Is at 126128 North Limestone Street Lexington Kentucky to which all Free thinkers will be given a hearty wel comeI Is entered at the Tostoffloe at Lexington Kentucky as second JJ das mailing matter TOADDRESS LexingJKentuckyIISECOND LETTER TO THE BROOKYLN BIBLE SOCIETY t By Judge Ladd To the Bible and Tract Society of Brooklyn Its Most Worthy Presi dent and the Watch Tower of Zion Long and patiently have I stood at the gate wpiting your pleasure to answer my criticism on your Divine Plan which in the long past you so kindly sent me feeeling that I have been neglected not by reason of any unkindness on your part but by the decrees of Palo over which you have no control your silence I now acknowledge to be a pleasure assuming that your gods were most graciously with my crit ism and thereby requested that you make no answer but be content with that which is unanswerable But your former kindness to me calls for renewed efforts on my part not only to please your divine pastor but to show to you my appreciation of your favor in sending me your embellished plan adorned by crumbling walls of the venerated tower of Zion The subject is to great the tower from all Eternity is so long standing the plan so just so merciful- so kind and so human as to be a surprise to the heathen that all man kind were not swallowed up in that endless Tartans which Iahyeh so graciously created for all but the few the elect the offshoots of the followers of the humane Calvin who in his tender mercy roasted his friend Sevetus a digering Christian on points of the divine plan over a slow fire that his agony might be prolonged in obedience to that sacred plan That Divine Plan calls for further comment A great fareeing humane allwise just and merciful creator of worlds in endless space sits down by his fireside bows his head in solemn awe and there as the first thought and act even before the creation of a single world plans for the creation of our little earth for peopleing it with countless bil lions of human beings all but Cal vins were handful to be roasted as Calvin roasted his friend Sevetus for all eternity in a fire of brimstone These countless billions to be roast ed had no say in the matter for the Divine Plan was foreordained made long before man existed yes long ages before the earth was cre nted Why such a plant Man had given offense to god or otherwise for he had no existence for countless ages before god decreed tho plan This is tho bible doctrine ns it has come down to our time from Calvin It is Calvins theory formulated by the rebellious priest of Geneva into whoso keeping Sovctus entrusted for inspection and approval a transla tion of the bible Instead of approv ing tho translation Calvin explored Europe hunted down Sevetus had his brought tc Geneva where he the rebel priest had a fire built of green wood tied his victim thereon and feasted his eyes on the quiver ing flesh and charred bones of one of Europes brightest scholars Does any one want to know any more of Calvin and his Divine Plan It has a long history nor is the mur crimprThere are many others some of them of little less magnitude but they cannot be gene into here as magazine space is not at mycommand Calvin like Luther was a Catholic priest no better and no worse than the pope and his statistics at that time all were barbarians all bent on ruling or murdering all who called in question the divine right of the church the alleged truth of the bible or any part thereof or that it was not the work of Ihvh the god of the Hebrews the Dens Primus of tho Christians From Constan tine down to the socalled reforma tion the bleaching bones of slaught ered millions victims of Christianity the leading scholars of Europe whitened every hill dale and plane the most of them terribly mutilated and tortured before giving up their lives amid fire and smoke which the oveer the terrible scene nor did this human massacre end with the protest of Calvin and Luther for it went on even worse than before To the slaughter of heretics the went each with the other in thei murders In the long conflict be tween the Catholics and Protestants French Huguenots millions went down to untimely graves Nor did these inhuman sacrifices como to an end until the thinking human element of outraged human ity could endure it no longer then led by Atheists your brethren who met in secret laid their plans not divine plans to rouse the sleeping genius the intelligence of Europe to action It was a bold move Sbr a time all was in secret a little later in disguise the first move was made in Italy under the very nose of the Pontiff who was so murk in his crimes that he failed to realize the purport of the move While he still slept the clasies were brought from their hiding place and trans lated Intellectual freedom perched on every side where thought existed civil governments were established most of the officials being Atheists your brethren In time as all know civil rule took the place of the ecclesiastical power whose reign of piety poverty ignorance and crime was given its death blow from which Christianity is now slowly dy ing your Divine Plan still floats but it has lost its sails anchor and rudder and is rapidly drifting on the rocks The most of your sailors are now calling on Luther to save them Cal vin and his creed few in numbers are on their death bed given up all physicians their fate mourned by tho Brooklyn Bible and Society who aro still living in the garden with Adam and Eve where they hope to sell bibles for a living and thereby avoid the sweat of the brow As to Luther like Calvin he was a rebel not because he believed his people could understand the bible but because he wanted U local revenue which the people vised him he knew as you do that no two can understand that book alike as you state in your Divine Plan tacitly admit by quoting some author who likens the bible to an old fiddle on which any ture can be playedLuthers tune is quite different from Calvins is very old it takes in only a few and that few whether they will or want while Luther gives his people some say in the matter If they want to go to hell with people of intelligence they can do so otherwise they can join the general herd of thoughtless Christians keep their dues paid to the church and go to heaven without let or hindrance where they will spend their lives i idleness singing only of the son his virgin mother the bird father and the great Ihveh Now dear friends of the Brook lyn Bible and Tract Society dont you think Luthers plan better than that divine outs lived up by Calvin Luthers plan is toile democratic it gives Iris people some show a chance before condemnation What a contcuiplablo plan that Zionistio one is yestire wholo Christian scheme curries little short of idiotcy its leading supporters lit subjects for a lunatic asylum Constantino after murdering Lis wife and Iris whole family and allother rivals for empire uicked up despised Christianity and put iton an imperial footing Thus putting life into the whole thing and thereby enabling it to follow his example and murder all who stood in the churches wayall dissenters Thus did tho earth be come one ghostly slaughterhouse Insanity in tho original scheme followed by two rebels the one Calvin a murderer tho other only prevent ed from a like crime by the state a hater and reviler of men of intelli gence Thus stands Catholicism and the two original branches of Protestant ism A foundation of criminal lun atics supported by a vast herd of unthinking and weak minded the descendants of a pigeon and a virgin Let us count noses From you Zions watch tower booklet sent mo by your kindness I take the follow ing statistics of the religious world and others Heathens 856 millions Moham medons 170 millions Jews 8 lions Roman Catholics 100 millions Protestants 116 millions worlds population 1420 millions Of this number tho Divine Plan as you give itsays 1000000 we fear would be too liberal an estimate of tho little flock the sanctified in Christ Jesu The 116 millions put down to the Protestants you say is far in excess of the true number Sixteen millions would we believe more nearly express the number of professing church members of adult years Of the earths population the Divine Plan saves only one mil lion out of 420000000 and this is goodnessrsave all the rest he created for hell The 850 millioms of heathens have no re ligion Here let us pause and ask the reader whether ho thinks a live god or any sane man ever made any such a plan or any one else not an idiot dr lunatic or if he believes any sane man not a devil incarnate could diviso any such a scheme That the members of the Brooklyn Bible and Tract Society believeno such contemptible stuff dent it is that or it is insanity The real not pretended belief in lone or more intelligent supreme be ings is but the result of long habit or weakness of reasoning faculties Come let us be honest let us not try to deceive ourselves much less others An honest man is the most luminous star in tho heavenly con stellation Freethought begets reason reason leads to doubt doubt the restless child of gains is ever pressing on ward for the truth to attain which should be the aim of every honest man when reached the successful chamber like the sun is ever forth his luminous rays to light u the dark pathway of a rising human ity to engraft on this bland world more intelligent people make a pier race While faith thstupid childof religion sacrificing the joys and pleasures of this world it the vain exarch for another after death gradually sinks into the stag nent pool of superstition to become potters clay to bo moulded by the broinless babble of tho clericy- t Science knows religion it has no faith it deals in solid facts in mat ter and force which are the supreme source of a boundless universe without thought intelligence or design Religion cud its gods has ever been a disturbing element in our little world The old pagon religions born- of the zoological prinates who lead arborial lives sat on the branches and cracked their nut with stone hammers were the cre ators of the first gods they could not reason but they had faith that this earth was what it afforded bat surface around which revealed the sparkling light of the sun and stars all were to this troglodytes many living beings the sun a the head all being personified be cams gods before whom this Primate bended the knee in prayer for favors In this the world got its first gods religionrthe religions of the world Tire older religions were too busy in thengodstoCiceros comments So they lived in peace among themselves and their neighbors But a new era ushered in Christianity was born an evil day was on its childhood was rags and- poverty Construction In tliu forth century of our vulgar era picked up tho starving child gave it a sword faggots and lire it grew to manhood but even when a boy it disagreed divided into faction each slaught ering tho other to settle tho status of these gods when these quarrels como to an end at tho Council of Nicara 323 Common Ern being united they turned their attention to nonbelievers when all Europe part of Asia and Africa became the slaughterhouse of the world nor did blood tics friendship rank or intel ligence stead in tho way Tho mad ness of Christianity know no bounds for more than a thousand years tho best and purest blood of the three continents went out in rivers Christianity held tho sword the instrument which the mythical Christ is made to say he brought in stead of peace So stands the history of Christianity United it slaughters unbelievers divided the factions slaughter each the other Now dear friends of the Brooklyn Bible Society if you entertain the slightest doubt that I am in this mat ter in dead earnest or that I have atrtention to the bible itself especially the Old Testament showing its fact its brutality its vulgarity and in decency to such an extent as to render ita book not fit to be circu lated in respectable polite society As to my other statements and my position on Christianity which is but a digest of tho facts I direct your attention to the science of astron omy geology paleontology anatomy physiology andother kindred branches of biology all at war with higher criticism of the Tubengen School all its professors Christians and to tho later German criticism which finds the four epistles spurious the older school found ten out of the fourteen spur ious as wall as every book ox cepted of the 0 T and every piece of writing in the N T When I call your attention to the late comicform writings of Babylon which show the bible stories of cre ation and the bood to be borrowed legends also retorted by Beroses the Babylonian priest which had their origin in Akkad of Elom To this I cull your attention to the religious system of Egypt to its gods to show that the Christians might have borrowed of that people its story of the miraculous conception enunciation ahd birth of the divine child also its trinity miracles cast ing out of devils and many other Christian tenets The Persian Mazion religion I call your atten tion to to show where the Bulleybut the satan cumo from Ahrinia the Persian evil one once a god in rebel lion who was cast out of heaven See Zaroaster To Monetho the Egyptian historian Icite you to prove that the Hebrews were never in Egypt that the story of Exodus had its source in the expulsion of the Hikros who after five hundred years rule were driven from the country Here I cite Gerald Mossey Rabbi Solomon Schmidler etal to MosespGreek Doionysus the godof wine aThen you will see in Hinder sacred writings and in the life of Buddha almost similar stories as those told youLyou will find an earlier story how Wan imonial was born in a stable cradled in a manger as the saviour of his people In Narso mythology you will find u creation story a first pair and much else resembling our bible stories In looking over the sacred history of Greece and Rome parables to tie Christian story will be found abundant In short with all the pagin peoples parallels be found to our gospels Birth of blessery some a are bytlnologysas pagans possessed them everywhere even in their lesser states miracles pagorlamny come any or the stories of themythical Christ intolerancetpagans possess nil cones sifted through Grecian sources led by Plato later by Philo the Jew As to the origin of the bible its numerous hooks and other writings its several purported authors see the criticisms and numerous other writers also my hook Emesis to Revelation where every book and other writing in the bible has come under view and tho numerous au thors cited showing all to be spurious That tho Christ was a myth tho evidence is overwhelming the most complete showing c cr offered has been credited to my writings For n full showing of tho life of Christianity rend the history of its birth nml early life to learn that it is the successor of tho Thcrapcnts and ESSCIIO two noddies ot NcrtnitH who lived the one near lako Ncriotes in Africa tho other on tho of tho Dead Sea both fully shoreI ized and in working order one hundred and fifty years before the time assigned to Christ In all their practices they were tire same as Christians In short they 1201ofwhen Christianity under that first appeared to the world namoI From that time to the fourth tury they were almost gaged in slaughtering each other over tho most trivial doctrinal points From tho fourth century when in power under Constine they having settled their own quarrels turned their vials of wrath on unbelievers when for more than a thousand years all Christendom became a boiling caldron of fire and death in which millions of lives were sacrifices to satisfy the maddened blind fury of the church for a thousand years all Christendom became a vast slaught erhouse with tho popo and his priests directing the carnage friends and foes alike went down to death no eminence in life or blood ties stood in the way Death to all un believers went up from Rome the more severe tho torture the more was Christ glorified This was the ripo fruit of Christianity the nat ural and inevitable result of the teachings of the bible tho book you are now forcing on the world as your predecessors forced Christi read the history of Christian ity is enough to chill the blood in ones veins When you have read all this put a drop in the bucket of Christian criminality then turn to the several church councils especially to that of Nice 325 for a history of the disgraceful fraudulent and criminal proceedings therein which gave to the world the Chris tian creed the canon and the myth ical Christ but the story is too long to bo repeated here as it took the priesthood more than fifteen hundred years to make itand cover their Christian forgeries the most of which have been unearthed and put on exhibition for the benefit of man kind and to aid the Brooklyn So ciety in selling bibles Now dear friends this record was all made before your tiny you were not in it or a party to it so not at fault If it is a bad showing dont blame me but charge it up to the account of Christianity The source of the N T writings and how they became recognized is too long a story to be repeated here Before I elese let me call your at tention to the Christians at this time They may be divided as follows The real genuine believers is weak and stupid his reasoning faculties if not petrified are too low to be of any us his religion rests on faith ho inhales it from his priest Then we have a largo class of nominal Christians men and women who are indifferent They nominally acquiess in it because it is about them and is popular in every daytife The third class is made up of business men they ore better educated than the second class They are in it as a business proposition it helps trade In this class we have some writers men of ability They turn a listen ing ear to it to sell their writings though they are in fact unbelievers The fourth class is layety clergy men many of them men of learning others as stupid as the first class but allalike are in swim for a living and because of its once popularity and influence This class is not in love with truth they must have sup port and ire not over anxious how they get it truth or falsehood so the desired end is reached At present in tho decline of Christian ity the loss of pcstago and the shrinkage cf revenue has fooied them to adopt new plans deny their past history falsify and twist their biblo stories deny plain truths to hold the less intelligent appeal to tho better class not to desert them in this trying hour The Christian devil has become un popular the more intelligent of the clerics lava dropped him while thaI less learned keep him to frighten the weak minded for this purpose ho has been the principal support to friends if you think you can successfully controvert my posi tion the field is an open one and your lance will meet myapproval Let us rejoice that we are living in an ago of reason progress grow ing intelligence and humanity the age of faith Christian ignorance piety and crime is passing away Christianity ero long to sleep with paganism la one common grave Alomeda California GREAT RARITY She was young and romantic and when sine visited Arizona she was fas clnnled with the wild scenery You have some wonderful sights out here she remarked as she stepped from the stage coach Yes miss drawled Amber Veto tho mayor of Eagle Eye settlement but youll have to go on the other side of the town to see tho rarest sight of nil The eastern girl was all enthusiasm Ah towering peaks scintillating In tho last rays of tho sun or mighty cascades where rainbow waters gush all through the green rocks Amber Pete shook his head No lady thar aint nothing rare or wonderful In such sights as them was alluding to a Chinaman with whiskers He runs a laundry down the way and hos the only Chinese with whiskers In seven states Frightened Off A Washington car conductor born In London and still a cockney has succeeded In extracting thrills from the alphabet imparting excitement to the names of the national capitals streets On a recent Sunday morning he was calling the streets thus Haltch High Jay At this point three prim ladles picked up their prayerbooks and left the car Llppincotts That Kind of Mystery You need a big mystery in your play to make it go The public de mands it Something thatll keep em kind of mystery Something deep and awful Some thing as fascinating ns the dramatic mystery that surrounds the pitcher and catcher when they meet on the field during the game and confer in awful whispers Failing Sight- I guess that awfly nearsighted fel ler that calls on sis is getting worse said Jimmie aged twelve Thats Just enough from you Jim said the Indignant girl What makes you think he Is get ting worse James Inquired his fa therCause I heard Sis ask him las night if he thought she was tho blar ney stone DISAPPOINTED Iofftain him he let go and drowned The Poets Version The earth would be like heaven above And always fair and sunny If we could clip the wings of love Likewise the wings of money Her Dearest Pets- have a heartrending scene in my new drama How now The heroine Is In such reduced cir cumstances that sho has to cook the sad But the worst Is yet to come She hay to build the fire with the rubber plant Advertising- Why do you persist on making speech on the unpopular side of a i subject Well replied Senator Sorghum the people eee so many arguments on the right side of a question that the only wily to get a reputation for sensational originality is to contradict them IAnother Theory this charge salt their product at home Patriotism replied Mr Dustin Stax They believe that a nation of meat eaters Is likely to be at a disadvantage In the event of any con filet The New Literary Field Whos that billionaire with the big touring car and the two extra tires Thats Tennyson Blnks lies the fellow who Invents the personal and private memoirs of the worlds great feather weights In Doubt Hows your garden getting along- cant tell If those green things that are up are radishes its great but If theyre weeds its going to be a failure f f WHAT WOULD THE DEVIL DO By A Jl White ho who owns this little ball IB going to send to hell Two th ldIIr us or nearly nil Who on the surface dwell 1say if such u thing is true Oh Christian tell me pray lust what old Hullycbub would do If ho could have his way Tis written God allowed thu sun At Joshuas command To look on till the fight was done And thousands strewed the land Now if God really cared to see That Joshua got through Of dirty tricks what can there be For Bellyebub to dof Now dont you think its rent absurd That ho who made this earth Would make a tangle of his Word Then give to us at birth A pair of eyes that cannot see His meaning to construe If God will do this what may we Expect old Jim to do Men blame the Devil for his work And say he causes sin But how can he his duty shirk While God ends victims inp Old Bcely does the best he can To carry Gods work through And as hes part of Gods great plan What else can Belley doT The sooner all such trash is hurled Into the briny sea And Reason rules oer all the world The better wo will be For if you stop to think my friend Twill soon bo plain to you No God or Devil has a hand In anything we do THE LATE CLARA TAYLOR Doubtless you receive many communications about the various worthies wino reside in different parts of the country But perhaps there are none who have such a place in the affections of a great many men as the late Clara Taylor Born in Rockinglmm county N C Educated at Whitsett Institute and at the State Normal College at Greensboro N C where high honors were won by her bright utility and great in dustry Her parents were churchgoing people who frequently entertained the preacher S S was handy so she saw itall But after finishing school the great problem that meets everyone and confronted her was How shall I be independent and make a living Thomas Paines works came into her hands some of the powerful ar guments of Josephine K Henry on womans rights and independence came to be second nature with her and while she was reading Mr Ingersolls works and admiring the great and convincing arguments in the Blue Grass Blade from the pen of the lamented Mr Moore she went to searching for some one who shared her own views This one was found in the person of Miss Blanch Alexander oi Greensboro N C who was ready to give her much encour agement and assistance From that time on she ranked as one of the leading Infidels of the old north StateAlways up and active in her argu ments she by her fine education and knowledge of the bible could put the Christians to rout Her business pros pered and that with her commanding influence made her many enemies among superstitious Christians They longed for a chance to give her trouble this opportunity came when Sam Jones circus came along Charges were trumped up against her and her sensitive disposition caused her to move away from Greensboro her residence and take up her abode in Winston Salem where after gain ing many friends she died of a broken heart caused by Christian in tolerance and bigotry Had she lived many years she doubtless would have been the Jose phine K Henry of North Carolina But alas she is no more except as she lingers in the sweet memory of her many friends While at Greens boro she was visited by scores of her intimate friends and each one felt that there was a strong tie between them and her And whenever such an influential person as Miss Taylor resides it is bound to attract the men far and wide And now as Miss Taylor is no more how nice if other young womn would emulate her ample No one can havo such an influence for freedom as a good lively and active Infidel woman And now dear Infidels let us be up and doing and press on for the fight before us and make it so hot for the superstitious that when one like Miss Taylor comes in our midst she will not be molested by but allowed to teach both by precept and ex amplo to tho end that nil might bo free Respectfully S FOOTS From tho Chicago Examiner A POOR OLD WOMANS TRICKERY EXPOSED Uuseless Energy TheroAs Use less as Exposing tho Trick in The Lizard in tho Kings Stomach A cheerful ingenious old Ital ian woman named Eusapia Palla dino has mudo money umused the wise and deceived some of the foolishthey like to be deceived with socalled spiritualistic demonstrations This pleasant old lady sits at the end of a table looks solemn holds the hands if the men next her and by and by lifts the ta ble rings bells agitates banjos and says that the spirits are busyThis grayhaired woman amus ing the mystifying grownup children was really a cheerful spectacle She did no especial harm Only a child could have considered seriously the work that she was doing But scientific grown men hid on the floor crawled under chairs watched the old womans feet and solemnly told that they had ex posed the great fraud Of course it was a fraud but there was nothing great about it Madam Palladino has done and will continuo to do for the gulli ble what all the other socalled mediums have done and will do for many years She lifts up the table with her foot or blows the breath out of the corner of her mouth so that a wind seems to come from the top of her head She wiggles a curtain groans artistically says Dio Dio and enjoys herself Just why anybody should want to expose her or to infer with her harmless entertainment it is difficult to understand In Africa they have witches of their own kind And there is much competition among them When the African King is ill the ambitious young witch doc can do what you like with the old and successful practitioner sees his opportunity The young am bitious man says to the King Your Majesty is very ill Your Majesty has inside of your royal stomach a goodsized lizard It was put there by the old witch doctor your enemy who is trying to conjure you and kill you This of course frightens the King and he says to the ambitious young doctor Prove it and you can do what you like witr the old witch doctors head Then the young witch doctor takes the old King into a dark corner gives him a violent emetic and later on shows him a young and active lizard and perhaps a couple of small turtles Time old King as simple as those that watch Madam Palladino is convinced that the lizard and tur tles really were in his stomach Off goes tre old witch doctors head and the young ambitious man takes the lucrative job The tricks of the medium the fortune tellers and the other frauds are simply childish They ought perhaps to be stopped by the police when they take the form of extorting money from the ignorant and poor But they are certainly not worthy the attention of scientific moat A mans science must be of the thinnest feeblest flattest kind if he really needs to crawl on his stomach to convince him self that it isnt true that a poor grayhaired old woman can call spirits from the other world and persuade them to make fools of themselves by hammering on a banjo The Rev Dr Garvie of New College Ilampstead Las deliber ately let the cat out of the bag He is reported to have told a Put ney congregation that our first duty is o repent of sin lie didnt care a rap whether the first chapters of Genesis were literal history or not his supreme concern being Is sin the world Is sin in us Iris answer was of course in the affirmative Then ho dealt Mr Campbell a strong bloW repudiating his definition of sin as selfishness because it was entirely inadequate Sin according to Professor Garvie does not in moral disobedience but also in religious distrust In its essence sin is n liT indifference to God distrust of God separation from God lack of Camphollafter having stripped it of its the ological meaning but Dr Garvio sticks to both If he is right the biggest sinners in the world arc Atheists Freethinkers Agnostics Morally they may be as noble and pure as are the angels round the Great White Throne i but unless they repent and turn they shall he damned to all eternity all the same This is the nauseating non sense upon which the thoughtful people of today are turning their backs in ever increasing numbers INGERSOLL MEMORIAL PICNIC Will take place at Mbffitts Grove on Sunday August 7th 1910 Recitations speeches and music will be on the program in the forenoon After dinner a lecture will be delivered by lion C 0 Holly ono of Des Moines most eloquent lawyers All are welcome Bring your baskets well filled and have a good outing- WORLDS BEST WATCHES Mens New Thin Model 16 Size Waltnam Riverside Maxi mus 23 jewels 55 Crescent street 21 jewels 23 Riverside 19 jewels 21 P T Bartlett 17 jewels 1250 625 11 jewels 10 15 jewels 8 7 jewels 6 Elgin No 156 or 162 21 jewels 55 Veritas 23 jew els IjbO B W Raymond 19 Jewels 21 242 17 jewels 18 241 17 jewels 12 15 jewels tit jewels 6 340 or 339 11 jewels 10 cruses All the above in the new Thin Model Silverino Screw Oases In boys Crown or Deu ber plied gold case guaranteed by the manufacturers for 20 years artistic hand chased or plain 3 or hunting case 5 more In 25 year case 2 more than in 20 year case In cases guaranteed for all time screw 8 or hunting 10 more than in Sil verino case Prices of solid gold cases on application Every watch guaranteed fresh and new from factory no shop keepers an accurate timekeep er and if well used good for ritty years or longer Will be kept in order for one year I pay freight send for price list of Watches not listed above Diamonds Jewelry Rings Silver and Plated Ware Optical Goods Ring Guage and my tract The Ax and the Root free Highest price paid for old gold OTTO WETTSTEIN LaGrange Cook Co HI 110 N Kensington Ave EXCURSION 150 CINCINNATI AND RETURN SUNDAY JULY 31 SPECIAL TRAIN Leaving Lexington 725 THE ORIENT by Charles Chilton Moore When a young man the author had started out to walk through the Holy Lands on foot Reaching Paris he gave up tho Journey and returned home He made the trip by rail and boat about three years before his death This book gives an account of what he saw and explodes numerous Christian myths It Is especially suitable for a present Cloth Bound Pages Postpaid 125 Address orders to BLUE GRASS BLADE Lexington KyI I THE DRUGGIST I urn a druggist lorn and lone being without guile When strangers grab my telephone I merely smile big directory I keep And should through any stress You want my aid Ill In It peep For an address I have on hand of glue and string A large and free supply Ill gladly get you anything Youd like to try At midnight I climb slowly to My little cot to camp youAEmotions I have learned to curb Ive always helpful been And naught that happens can disturb My gentle grinA AVIS Chappie bought this gween paw wot lawst Fwlday and Im teaching him to tuttalk doncherknow Smller Gee If you succeed in teaching him to talk as you do hell be a bird A Bluff The comet came and went Its way It wasnt hard to handle Weve seen a far more fierce display From one small Roman candle Out of Season Dose purefood guys make me tired muttered Micky Jones as he looked over the newspaper Whats do trouble klddo asked his in do winter months dey al ways get off dat gag about Ice cream being adulterated an unhealthy Why dont dey spring It In de summer when de golls are nagging yer every hour to treat Crushing Mars on being introduced to Bel lona became very sentimental You look nice enough to eat he simpered She regarded him severely You mistake the name sir Bellona not Bologna quoth she with crushing such of the gods as were within earshot gave way to Homerh laughter Puck SelfConsciousness- Is this silk of the latest style asked the man who had been appointed on a reception committee The very latest replied the obliging salesman Then I dont want it What Im after is something new enough not to be shabby and old enough to look as if were used to wearing it She Could Spare One Scuse me maam said the hobo to the lady at the front door can yous spare a pore beggar a copper Certainly answered the lady and turning to a speaking tube she called Jane send that policeman you have In the kitchen up hers at once But the hobo was beating it up the nearest alley- AMONG THE FOUR HUNDRED Swelllngton cant imagine what made the bridegroom so nervous Wellington can nt have time to get his prospective father In laws check certified before the ceremony Long After Longfellow She sang a song Into the air It fell againshe knew not where Later twas found where It had blown In a Uropapenny graphophone Doing Her Best And will you love me always With just an occasional intermis sion explained the girl I have promised to be engaged to another low when go to the beach Two Sides AuthorMy books sell like hot cnkesCriticYes and they are Just about as hard to digest Judgo r THE HERO The greatest hero of them all Is not the man behind the gun Nor ho that scales a Homing wall To rescue some weak helpless one He does not lead the rescue where The slip fast upon a rock Nor does he navigate the air lies playing leads In summer stock The maidens gaze at him and sigh Ho the envy of the boys His step Is proud his head high He the loudest sweetest noise There no other In his class He struts like any turkey cock The kiddies run to see him pass lies playing leads summer stock 8 E Klser In Chicago RecordHerald Good Fishing K M Wharry was telling some friends about a proposed fishing trip to a lake in Colorado he had in con any trout out there asked one friend- Thousands of em replied Mr they bite easily asked an other friend Will they said Mr Wburry Why theyre absolutely vicious man has to hide behind a tree to bait a hook BROKE IN HALF Bystander Thats something ot a novelty in the way of an automobile Seems to be made In two separate CopperIt aint made that way The guy that owns It just ran into a trolley car As It Might Have Been King Richard had been sorely tried Richmond gave him many a pain Then he got mad and loudly cried My kingdom for an ueroplanel What He Required Why dont you go to work asked the kind lady- would maam replied the husky hobo ef I had de material end de toolsWhat tools and material do you re quire queried the k1- A knife an fork an some food answered the h h As Amended The man who trusts another edu cates him remarked the generator of nearphilosophy You have said it rejoined the stu dent of human nature And the more trusting he does the more he will add to his own stock of knowledge Stabbed- I never leave my mirror until am perfectly satisfied with my appear anceYoure easily satisfied or youd never leave It SHE HAD EATEN SOME ONCE Prospective Employer Can you cook on the chafing dish CookNo maam Prospective EmployerThen Ill give you a dollar more a wiiek Still In the Running Great Caesar crossed the Rublcon rived small though wet Groat Cuesar now dead and gone But tho Rublcons there yet Not So Bad Mrs MylesYou wasnt at the bridge party yesterday Mrs StylesNo was detained by sickness at home So sorry hope your dear little dog Fldo wasnt sick Oh no only one of the children Yonkers Statesman Shrewd Advertising It took that Simpson woman a long time to break into print How did she accomplish It By getting somebody to inform the customhouse officers at New York that she was attempting to smuggle in a dozen Paria gowns and a 2000fl necklace r TONGUETWISTER beg your pardon thought this was Mr Dlngly am Dlngly Then am glad to find that was mistaken In thinking that I was mis taken Hey say when thought I was mis taken was mistaken in thinking was mistaken and being mistaken In thinking I was mistaken when I wasnt mistaken I was glad to find I was mistaken when thought I was mis taken because I wasnt mistaken or rather was mistaken when I thought was mistaken and so I couldnt have been mistaken Well at any rate I am glad Looks as If we were going to have rain doesnt Interested Them- I have here says the inventor to the capitalists two plans for radical changes in sleeping cars Yes murmurs the capitalists This plan increases the space giv en to each passenger and makes the berth much more comfortable by Cant consider it Well the second plan makes the car uncomfortable but It enables It to carry halt as many more passengers and Give us the complete details with estimates of costLifeR- eason For Doubt The obese party with the big dIa- mond in his tie claimed to be a self made man and a millionaire But we asked were you not happier when you were earning 116 a day by the sweat of your brow No he answered I am happier now than at any previous stage of the were we led to doubt the mil Bonaire portion of the claim More Frenzied Finance BleekerI dont see why our government should tax the people or need a tariff It has exclusive control of the greatest money making business on earthMeekerReferrIng to the mint Bleelwr No The stamps we pay cents apiece for cost the government only 7 cents a thousand BETTER The Bricklayers Wife Dreaming eh suppose you were building castles In the air The Bricklayer No Im mending chimneys of castles in the air How He Won Hr Said she Through life Ill walk alone In sunshine and stormy weather But he bought an aeroplane next day And now they are flying together All In the Game EdythHave you heard the latest MaymeDont know Lets hear It EdythFred says his father threat ens to disinherit him if he marries meMaymeFudgel Thats merely a bluff to make you thlnkhla father has moneyIFlaw In the Theory Every girl remarked the fussy old bachelor should learn her fathers business and thus become indepen dentOh I dont know replied the fair telegraphlineman His PrideHer Dust Your marriage to this plebeian American heiress my son said the Countess DeB roque will humble our ancestral pride in the dust Thats all right mother rejoined the titled son She has agreed to furnish the dust Crooked What makes you say he Is crooked He told me so himself You astonish mel It is true though He told me he was bent on marrying me The Tourists Method Brown Is like the rest of the tour lets Why Ho spent three weeks in Europe and three years boasting about it aft erward Detroit Free Press Fellow Feeling WifeAnd will you promise to wa ter the flowers regularly while I am awayHusbandDont you worry about that I know whaa6th11a1- Bhattar ias401- vih afcssJurtyjBOMJ HE DIED THE BEST HE OOUL AND THE BEST ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO DO ANY BETTER By Joel M Berry It is stated that in the beginning god created the heaven and the earth The writer dont even presume to tell us when the beginning was but leave every one to decide that question for themselves But the most reasonable conclusion is that he done the bes ho could One writer will tell us all about what happened in tine beginning another all about what is going to happen in the end While the truth is that neither a beginning nor an end are within the reach of mortal man to even conjecture- It is stated that on one occasion the lord undertook to help Judal drive the Cunaanites out of the val toy It says that ho drove out the inhabitants of the mountain but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley because they had charriuts of iron See Judges 1 1719 Bather hard dont you think on a lord who is reputed to be allpowerful and nothing impossible with him but no doubt he done the best he could Now this same lord is said to be un changeable II that he for millions of ages had existed surrounded entirely with nothing Did he get tiredof his inactive life and conclude that a change would be for the better It wouldseem so at least for all at once he wakes up out of his Dileina and goes to world making Why did he wish to change f Had the immense quantity of nothing with which he was surrounded just reached the right temperature to make worlds oft The Prophet Malachi must have been just a little mistaken when he declaresuPor I am the Lord I change not See Mal 36 Quite a change dont you think from doing nothing to world making And then will say Therefore the Lord God of Israel saith I said indeed that thy house and the house of thy fathers should walk before me forever but now the Lord saith Be it far from me First Sam 230 And again will say God is not a man that he should lie Neither the son of man that he should repent Ninn 2311 Then will say And god saw their works that they turned from their evil way and god repent ed of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not Jonah 3910 Now we ask in the face of such plain positive contradictions as the r above what is the honest truthloving person going to doIIBelieve them all No Ht cant honestly do that unless he believes one of them to be a lie and the other a falsehood If that is the best god can do then we are douo withJmn PAINEjMADE HIM FREE Chewsville Maiyland Mr James E Hughes Lexington Ky Dear Sir I will send you my experience in religious matters I was reared with a good honest well inteutioned mother whose memory I still cherish although dead eighteen years She was kind and loving and loved by all who knew her dud a very devout Christian She believed in the mourn ers bench religion and under those instructions 1 was at the mourners bench when I was thirteen and lived along fur about four years but didnt believe I was thoroughly converted When I was seventeen I again went to the mourners bench prayed day and night for god to give mo light When at school I would ask permis sion to go out and would pray 1 was at the bench about three weeks in the mouth of January and praying I got all in a prespiratiou und going out in the night air I caught a terri ble cold from which I took typhoid pneumonia which nearly ended my earthly career It was impossible for any person to be more earnest and sincere than I was but I could not feel that I was in a saver condition as I was taught However I prayed along and in fear of going to hell as I had not that change of heart thought the lord had gone back on me as they use to quote the Scripture that the spirit of good would not always strive with man I cannot describe by feeling in a lost condition with all my eariitt plead ing for forgiveness For a while it 1mnde me a mental and physical wreck I was going to say I went along in that condition until I was about twenty and no change I had heard so much from the preachers about Thomas Paine Voltaire and other people who were not Christians I concluded to find out what they had to say and believe and I concluded I was lost any way as sincerely be lieved the bible and had never read anything outside of it rN I was handed a copy of the Truth Seeker by a friend and was surprised J to lied such rending matter milt in it was advertised Thomas Tunes Ago of Reason I sent for it secretly nnd rend it that way also for fear of in Christian friends thinking it was horrible thing to rend anything uot bible When on the first page 1 read these words of Paine believ in one god and no more and hope for happiness hereafter I could hard believe my own eyes I read and re rend it to make myself believe it was preachers represented him as a low degraded wretch without print pre or conscience But old how ferent when I investigated further to find ho was an honest true man the greatest factor in the independence of our country the liberty we enjoy We owe to him more than nny othe ono man Ho also said I believe in the equality of man I defy my minister of the holy bible to point to ore passage in tho bible to equal it The thoughts that emnuuattd from his brain was never dreamed of before It was bible and nothing more all the good was in the bible and all bad out of it How our ExPresident Theodore Roosevelt with all his seemingly in telligence could call him a filthy litI tie Atheist A man certainly cannoi be honset after investigating to call a man like Thomas Paine suchi character but my dear readers I predict that the name of Thomas Paint will live down through the ages when Theodore Roosevelt will be gone any forgotten It cannot be otherwise when people conic to be honest and honor the man as they should- I honor him as one of the greatest men that ever lived I strayed somewhat from my subject Will return to say after reading his work I am a free man end thank him fr it It has made mo a better a more liberal and honest man My prejudices against others who do not believe as I do have vanished A Christian can not sayso I have been ostracised and boycotted for my belief but for the last twentyfive yVars am still in the fight for the truth and right and ViIIadd God Bless the name of Thomas Paine the savior of our free dom and country GEO DAHLHAMER THE OFFENSE OF THE CROSS J T Lloyd in London Freethinker There aro professing Christians not a few to whom the orthodox doctrine lingblock They wonder whether a lath block They wonder whether a God of love could justly allow his innocent son to suffer death for the sins of others and how such a death could securo anybodys salva tion The Rev Harry Bisseker in the Methodist Times for May 5 makes a heroic attempt to convince them that their difficulty arises from the fact that they take their theology from the refrains of popular hymns rather than from the teaching of scripture But is not the popularity of such hymns a cOLclusive proof that the theology embodied in them is the theology most acceptable to the ma jority of Christians Besides if the theology of such hymns is false on wheat ground can their constant use in all churches be justified But are the refrains of popular hymns out of harmony with the teaching of scripture Mr Bisseker does not fur nish a single instance in support of his assertion cud indeed it is not too bold uu act to characterise the asser tiohas u gross exaggeration One hymn says We were sinners doomd to die Jesus paid the penalty Dues Mr Bisseker hold that there is no biblical uuthority for those two statements Does not tho Apostle Paul teach Unit all men are sinners lying helpless under the wrathof holy god Do we not read in the fourth gospel iii 30 that the wrathof god abideth on who refuse th to believe on uveryonuII Are not believers informed ii 3 that previous to their conversion they were by nature children of wrath even us the rest and that they were saved from the wrath of god through Jesus Christ llomais v 9 Surely such expressions fully justify the line We were sinners doomd to die But has the other line Jesus paid the penalty any foundation in scripture In Matthew xx 18 we read The son of man came not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give his life u rita som for many Now ransom is the money or price paid for the exemption of a prisoner the penalty the suffer ing exacted in order to legalise the release ofa captive Paul tells the Roman Christians that they were bought with a price and Peter says to his readers Ye were redeemed not with corruptible things with sil ver or gold from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers but wit i precious blood as of a lamb without blemish and without spot even the blood of Christ In mother place Peter says that Jesus t + ++ +++4 ++ ++++4 ++++++++ ++ ++++++++ + +++++ +++ ++++++++ i 19091909 ortI t o Blue Blade Bound volume i ioContaining Fifty tlo Copies of The Blade and all handsomely 5 iboundin Blue Buckram with gold letters y- i 300 Reduced from last years price 300 i x Subscribe NOW and get your name on the list in time x OFFERt t + For Five New Subscribers For Five New Subscribers = t We will send ONE COPY of the Bound Volume e2 t FREE OF COST i To person sending us five new subscribers in one clut at the regular rates before Dec 31 1909ot iTHE CLUB IS PREFERABLE GET UP ONEI SECURE A COPY FREE iBLUE GRASS BLADE Lexington t + NNNNN ++ + N Nd + 4t +s+++ ie+ N N NOOGON1 N N + ++++ N hid own self carried up our sins to the tree that we having died unto sin might live unto righteousness In 1 John ii 2 we find the statement that Christ II is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the whole world r Now who was it that needed to be propitiated conciliated or appeased to whom was it necessary to give a ransom before mankind coud be set free The answers to that question are many anu conflicting but the fact remains that according to the teach ing of scripture mankind were by nature in a position from which trication was possible only by payment of a ransom or penalty and that the only acceptable ransom or price was the life of the only begotten son of god As Paul says in Qalatians we were underII the curse of the law and could be redeemed from it only at the cost of Christs becoming a curse for us Mr Bisseker en deavors to remove the offense of the cross by doing away with the cross but that is a task that cannot be ac complished To say that the cross means nothing but vicarious suffer ing as known among ourselves is to play fast and loose with most of the New Testament particularly with the teaching of Paul Peter and John God either could not or would rot save the world except at the infinite ex pense of sacrificing his only begotten son and as history abundantly shows the stupendous sacrifice was made practically in vain The value of vicarious suffering in human life is iucalculabe It II is the strongest redemptive influence known to us On this one point we are in complete agreement with Mr Bisseker Rot as Dr Dale in his scathing criticism of Bushnells the ory of the atonement so clearly proved the sufferings of Christ on Calvary were expiatory not simply vicarious i satisfaction to the Law of Eternal Righteousness or to God in person not merely sympathetic Synonyms10f understand how any honest exegete car arrive at any other conviction It is beyond all doubt however that Mr Bisseker though a Wesleyan minis ter cannot conscientiouslyendorse the Apostolic doctrine of the atonement any more than his correspondents He quietly ignores it and offers some thing else radically different in its place and claims without even tempting to verify jt that this is the genuine apostolic teaching He is quite right in rejecting the theory of propitiation propounded by the New Testament writers but is it not rather dishonoring to the Holy Trinity to represent the second member of it as descending b the earth and becoming man in order to give the world a spec tacular lesson in vicarious service t Why there had been a vast deal of that beneficent ministry for count less ages before he came and there has scarcely been an increase of it since his departure Hence if he came for that purpose he came wholly in vain and if he came to do the work attributed to him by Paul Peter and John his advent was equally fruitless The question is often asked Does or can the Cross save Without a moments hesitation we answer iti neither does nor can A few years ago Dr Horton waxed exceedingly angry withsome young Congregational min ister who was suspected of denying the saving power of the cross and the denunciatory language employed was more strong than elegant Butl not even Dr Horton honestly con templating the conditions of life in London today can have the temerity to affirm that Christianity has been a success or that the cross has erted the omnipotent power to save attributed to it For whatever good the cross is said to have done the credit belongs to the church and the amount of that good work is so mally meagre that the churchought to be ashamed to ascribe it to the so called omnipotent church Conversions are so few and far between and often so disappointing in their results that to regard them as the work of the Holy Ghost is to be guilty pf the most vulgar blasphemy The church cannot boast of he4 achievements even look ing upon them as exclusively her own but to God for them is to offer him an unpardonable insult In reality Ue cross is nothing but an other name for the church and the offense of the cross is the result of treating it as if it were something else Christians often sing with great fervor When I survey the wondrous cross On which the Prince of glory died My richest gains I count but loss And pour contempt on all my pride but either they do not mean what they say with such feeling or meaning it forget it the next moment Such singing amounts to a culpable waste of emotional force for which there is so much reed in other directions The curious thing is however that the cross is neither the creation nor the discovery of Christianity As a matter of fact the cross was supposed to possess snving qualities many cen turies before the time of Christ Who has not read of the cross of ancient Mexico on which there was a figure representing the SaviorGod In Isaiah xiv 1 Cyrus is called a Messiah or Christ and Diodorus Siculus tells the story of his crucifixion Attis Osiris Dionysus and Mithru were all Divine Saviors who became such by dying generally on the Sacred Tree or Cross In Persia Egypt Car thaginia India Scythia as well as in Greece magic virtue attached to the Cross from immemorial times It is undeniable therefore that in Chris tianity the coss is a borrowed symbol and possesses no more real virtue than it did in the Pagan religions The Persians believed it to be a charm against evil and death while to oth ers it was a solar symbol aglow with creative and fructifying power The Christians in making it the symbol of the selfsacrifice of god for the worlds redemption only slightly modified its Pagan significance and in so doing rendered its symbolism more mysterious and unreal than it had ever been before The Godman of Palestine is quite as mythic as the Savior Gods of heathen mythologies- and more impossible in that he is clothed with more definite and per sonal attributes The idea of super natural persons becoming incarnate and dying co set humanity right is laughably absurd For one thing hu manity has never yet been set right Neither the Pagan nor the Christian cross has done more than mark a stage in us history For another thing nobody can tell us what the cross iSIor what it signifies to be saved by it Indeed theologians do little but quarrel among themselves- as to its nature and work andi the differences between them are enor mous The only church that is any thing like unanimous on the interpretation of it is the Catholic while the Protestant sects all agree in demning the Catholic version and tally disagree with one another as to the correct one Are we not fully justified then in regarding the cross self as an intolerable offense and in doing our utmost to rid the world of it Whether in orthodox or heterodox forms it is a mischievous symbol in thatit diverts the minds of men from the actual interests of life by causing them to concentrate on dreams of the fancy as if they were veritable reali ties Great Britain is still to its own detriment the battlefield of the creeds The cross makes for divis ions and factions and angry disputa tions and A has never made for any thing else J T LLOYD by DR1 WILSON The International Congress of Free thinkers wts held In the City of Rome Italy September The author attended that Congress as the Amertoan delegate It Is an account of travel and personal experiences that hu received an universal encomium trort press and taleelofwhile the general style 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