Freethinkers' Pictorial Text-Book (1890) "Christian Bibles and Christian Opium" It wasn't as if certain hypocrisies weren't being noticed in the late nineteenth century. Here our friendly English missionary preacher greets the "heathens" with a cargoload of gifts for the mind, body, and soul: "Christian Tracts;" "[Christian] Bibles;" "Christian Whisky;" "Christian Rum;" and of course that great staple of nineteenth century British diplomacy, "Christian Opium." There were plenty of Christians who spoke out against the opium trade. Unfortunately, they weren't running the government.