The English battered down the door of China in the names of Opium and Christ. This infamy was regarded as another triumph of the gospel. At last in self-defense the Chinese allowed Christians to touch their shores. Their wise men, their philosophers, protested, and prophesied that time would show that Christians could not be trusted. This re port proves that the wise men were not only philosophers but prophets. 481. Don't be Dishonest in the Name of God Treat China as you would England. Keep a treaty while it is in force. Change it if you will, according to the laws of nations, but on no account excuse a breach of national faith by pretending that we are dishonest for God's sake. CONCERNING CREEDS AND THE TYRANNY OF SECTS 482. Diversity of Opinion Abolished by Henry VIII In the reign of Henry VIII--that pious and moral founder of the apostolic Episcopal Church,--there was passed by the parliament of England an act entitled, "An act for abolishing of diversity of opinion." And in this act was set forth what a good Christian was obliged to believe: First, That in the sacrament was the real body and blood of Jesus Christ. Second, That the body and blood of Jesus Christ was in the bread, and the blood and body of Jesus Christ was in the wine. Third, That priests should not marry. Fourth, That vows of chastity were of perpetual obligation. Fifth, That private masses ought to be continued; and, Sixth, That auricular confession to a priest must be maintained. This creed was made by law, in order that all men might know just what to believe by simply reading the statute. The Church hated to see the people wearing out their brains in thinking upon these subjects. 483. Spencer and Darwin Damned According to the philosophy of theology, man has continued to degenerate for six thousand years. To teach that there is that in nature which impels to higher forms and grander ends, is heresy, of course. The Deity will damn Spencer and his "Evolution," Darwin and his "Origin of Species," Bastian and his "Spontaneous Generation," Huxley and his "Protoplasm," Tyndall and his "Prayer Gauge," and will save those, and those only, who declare that the universe has been cursed, from the smallest atom to the grandest star; that everything tends to evil and to that only, and that the only perfect thing in nature is the Presbyterian Confession of Faith. 484. The Dead do Not Persecute Imagine a vine that grows at one end and decays at the other. The end that grows is heresy, the end that rots is orthodox. The dead are orthodox, and your cemetery is the most perfect type of a well regulated church. No thought, no progress, no heresy there. Slowly and silently, side by side, the satisfied members peacefully decay. There is only this difference--the dead do not persecute. 485. The Atheist a Legal Outcast in Illinois