Devil--who with wiles and lies had
deceived the first of human kind. They knew that in consequence of
that, God cursed the man and woman; the man with toil, the woman
with slavery and pain, and both with death; and that He cursed the
earth itself with briars and thorns, brambles and thistles. All
these blessed things they knew. They knew too all that God had done
to purify and elevate the race. They knew all about the Flood--knew
that God, with the exception of eight, drowned all His
children--the old and young--the bowed patriarch and the dimpled
babe--the young man and the merry maiden--the loving mother and the
laughing child--because His mercy endureth forever. They knew, too,
that He drowned the beasts and birds--everything that walked or
crawled or flew--because His loving-kindness is over all His works.
They knew that God, for the purpose of civilizing His children, had
devoured some with earthquakes, destroyed some with storms of fire,
killed some with his lightnings, millions with famine, with
pestilence, and sacrificed countless thousands upon the fields of
war. They knew that it was necessary to believe these things and to
love God. They knew that there could be no salvation except by
faith, and through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ.

All who doubted or denied would be lost. To live a moral and honest
life--to keep your contracts, to take care of wife and child--to
make a happy home--to be a good citizen, a patriot, a just and
thoughtful man, was simply a respectable way of going to hell.

God did not reward men for being honest, generous and brave, but
for the act of faith--without faith, all the so-called virtues
were sins, and the men who practised these virtues, without faith,
deserved to suffer eternal pain.

All of these comforting and reasonable things were taught by the
ministers in their pulpits--by teachers in Sunday schools and by
parents at home. The children were victims. They were assaulted in
the cradle--in their mother's arms. Then, the schoolmaster carried
on the war against their natural sense, and all the books they read
were filled with the same impossible truths. The poor children were
helpless. The atmosphere they breathed was filled with lies--lies
that mingled with their blood.

In those days ministers