how what, in other respects, his character is. But
I always have said, and I always expect to say, that a Christian
who does not believe in absolute intellectual liberty is a curse
to mankind, and that an Infidel who does believe in absolute
intellectual liberty is a blessing to this world. We cannot expect
all Infidels to be good, nor all Christians to be bad, and we might
make some mistakes even if we selected these people ourselves. It
is admitted by the Christians that Christ made a great mistake when
he selected Judas. This was a mistake of over eight per cent.

Chaplain Newman takes pains to compare some great Christians with
some great Infidels. He compares Washington with Julian, and
insists, I suppose, that Washington was a great Christian. Certainly
he is not very familiar with the history of Washington, or he never
would claim that he was particularly distinguished in his day for
what is generally known as vital piety. That he went through the
ordinary forms of Christianity nobody disputes. That he listened
to sermons without paying any particular attention to them, no one
will deny. Julian, of course, was somewhat prejudiced against
Christianity, but that he was one of the greatest men of antiquity
no one acquainted with the history of Rome can honestly dispute.
When he was made emperor he found at the palace hundreds of gentlemen
who acted as barbers, hair-combers, and brushers for the emperor.
He dismissed them all, remarking that he was able to wash himself.
These dismissed office-holders started the story that he was dirty
in his habits, and a minister of the nineteenth century was found
silly enough to believe the story. Another thing that probably
got him into disrepute in that day, he had no private chaplains.
As a matter of fact, Julian was forced to pretend that he was a
Christian in order to save his life. The Christians of that day
were of such a loving nature that any man who differed with them
was forced to either fall a victim to their ferocity or seek safety
in subterfuge. The real crime that Julian committed, and the only
one that has burned itself into the very heart and conscience of
the Christian world, is, that he transferred the revenues of the
Christian churches to heathen priests. Whoever stands between a
priest and his salary will find that he has committed the unpardonable
sin commonly known as the sin against the Holy Ghost.

This gentleman also compares Luther with V