391 lines
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391 lines
17 KiB
Plaintext
6 page printout
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Reproducible Electronic Publishing can defeat censorship.
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**** ****
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This file, its printout, or copies of either
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are to be copied and given away, but NOT sold.
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Bank of Wisdom, Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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The Works of ROBERT G. INGERSOLL
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A REPLY TO THE CINCINNATI GAZETTE AND
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CATHOLIC TELEGRAPH.
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The Cincinnati Gazette, 1878. An Interview.
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Question. Colonel, have you noticed the criticisms made on
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your lectures by the Cincinnati Gazette and the Catholic Telegraph?
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Answer. I have read portions of the articles.
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Question. What do you think of them?
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Answer. Well, they are hardly of importance enough to form a
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distinct subject of thought.
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Question. Well, what do you think of the attempted argument of
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the Gazette against your lecture on Moses?
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Answer. The writer endeavors to show that considering the
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ignorance prevalent four thousand years ago, God did as well as one
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could reasonably expect; that God at that time did not have the
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advantage of telescope, microscope, and spectrum, and that for this
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reason a few mistakes need not excite our special wonder. He also
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shows that, although God was in favor of slavery he introduced some
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reforms; but whether the reforms were intended to perpetuate
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slavery or to help the slave is not stated. The article has nothing
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to do with my position. I am perfectly willing to admit that there
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is a land called Egypt; that the Jews were once slaves; that they
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got away and started a little country of their own. All this may be
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true without proving that they were miraculously fed in the
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wilderness, or that water ran up hill, or that God went into
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partnership with hornets or snakes. There may have been a man by
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the name of Moses without proving that sticks were turned into
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snakes.
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A while ago a missionary addressed a Sunday school. In the
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course of his remarks he said that he had been to Mount Ararat, and
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had brought a stone from the mountain. He requested the children to
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pass in line before him so that they could all get a look at this
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wonderful stone. After they had all seen it he said: "You will as
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you grow up meet people who will deny that there ever was a flood,
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or that God saved Noah and the animals in the ark, and then you can
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tell them that you know better, because you saw a stone from the
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very mountain where the ark rested."
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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1
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A REPLY TO THE CINCINNATI GAZETTE
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AND CATHOLIC TELEGRAPH.
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That is precisely the kind of argument used in the Gazette.
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The article was written by some one who does not quite believe in
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the inspiration of the Scriptures himself, and were it not for the
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fear of hell, would probably say so.
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I admit that there was such a man as Mohammed, such a city as
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Mecca, such a general as Omar, but I do not admit that God made
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known his will to Mohammed in any substantial manner. Of course the
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Gazette would answer all this by saying that Mohammed did exist,
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and that therefore God must have talked with him. I admit that
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there was such a general as Washington, but I do not admit that God
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kept him from being shot. I admit that there is a portrait of the
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Virgin Mary in Rome, but I do not admit that it shed tears. I admit
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that there was such a man as Moses, but I do not admit that God
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hunted for him in a tavern to kill him. I admit that there was such
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a priest as St. Denis, but I do not admit that he carried his head
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in his hand, after it was cut off, and swam the river, and put his
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head on again and eventually recovered. I admit that the article
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appeared in the gazette, but I do not admit that it amounted to
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anything whatever.
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Question. Did you notice what the Catholic Telegraph said
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about your lecture being ungrammatical?
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Answer. Yes; I saw an extract from it. In the Catholic
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Telegraph occurs the following: "The lecture was a failure as
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brilliant as Ingersoll's flashes of ungrammatical rhetoric." After
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making this statement with the hereditary arrogance of a priest,
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after finding fault with my "ungrammatical rhetoric" he then writes
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the following sentence: "It could not boast neither of novelty in
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argument or of attractive language." After this, nothing should be
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noticed that this gentleman says on the subject of grammar.
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In this connection it may be proper for me to say that nothing
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is more remarkable than the fact that Christianity destroys
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manners. With one exception, no priest has ever written about me,
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so far as I know, except in an arrogant and insolent manner. They
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seem utterly devoid of the usual amenities of life. Every one who
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differs with them is vile, ignorant and malicious. But, after all,
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what can you expect of a gentleman who worships a God who will damn
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dimpled babes to an eternity of fire, simply because they were not
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baptized.
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Question. This Catholic writer says that the oldest page of
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history and the newest page of science are nothing more than
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commentaries on the Mosaic Record. He says the Cosmogony of Moses
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has been believed in, and has been received as the highest truth by
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the very brightest names in science. What do you think of that
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statement?
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Answer. I think it is without the least foundation in fact,
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and is substantially like the gentleman's theology, depending
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simply upon persistent assertion.
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I see he quotes Cuvier as great authority. Cuvier denied that
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the fossil animals were in any way related to the animals now
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living, and believed that God had frequently destroyed all life
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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2
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A REPLY TO THE CINCINNATI GAZETTE
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AND CATHOLIC TELEGRAPH.
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upon the earth and then produced other forms. Agassiz was the last
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scientist of any standing who ventured to throw a crumb of comfort
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to this idea.
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Question. Do you mean to say that all the great living
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scientists regard the Cosmogony of Moses as a myth?
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Answer. I do. I say this: All men of science and men of sense
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look upon the Mosaic account as a simple myth. Humboldt, who stands
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in the same relation to science that Shakespeare did to the drama,
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held this opinion. The same is held by the best minds in Germany,
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by Huxley, Tyndall and Herbert Spencer in England, by John W.
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Draper and others in the United States. Whoever agrees with Moses
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is some poor frightened orthodox gentleman afraid of losing his
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soul or his salary, and as a rule, both are exceedingly small.
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Question. Some people say that you slander the Bible in saying
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that God went into partnership with hornets, and declare that there
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is no such passage in the Bible.
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Answer. Well, let them read the twenty-eighth verse of the
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twenty-third chapter of Exodus, "And I will send hornets before
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thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite and the
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Hittite from before thee."
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Question. Do you find in lecturing through the country that
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your ideas are generally received with favor?
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Answer. Astonishingly so. There are ten times as many
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freethinkers as there were five years ago. In five years more we
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will be in the majority.
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Question. Is it true that the churches, as a general thing,
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make strong efforts, as I have seen it stated, to prevent people
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from going to hear you?
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Answer. Yes; in many places ministers have advised their
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congregations to keep away, telling them I was an exceedingly
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dangerous man. The result has generally been a full house, and I
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have hardly ever failed to publicly return my thanks to the clergy
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for acting as my advance agents.
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Question. Do you ever meet Christian people who try to convert
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you?
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Answer. Not often. But I do receive a great many anonymous
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letters, threatening me with the wrath of God, and calling my
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attention to the uncertainty of life and the certainty of
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damnation. These letters are nearly all written in the ordinary
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Christian spirit; that is to say, full of hatred and impertinence.
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Question. Don't you think it remarkable that the Telegraph, a
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Catholic paper, should quote with extravagant praise, an article
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from such an orthodox sheet as the Gazette?
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Answer. I do not. All the churches must make common cause. All
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superstitions lead to Rome; all facts lead to science. In a few
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years all the churches will be united. This will unite all forms of
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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3
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A REPLY TO THE CINCINNATI GAZETTE
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AND CATHOLIC TELEGRAPH.
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liberalism. When that is done the days of superstition, of
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arrogance, of theology, will be numbered. It is very laughable to
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see a Catholic quoting scientific men in favor of Moses, when the
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same men would have taken great pleasure in swearing that the
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Catholic Church was the worst possible organization. That church
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should forever hold its peace. Wherever it has had authority it has
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destroyed human liberty. It reduced Italy to a hand organ, Spain to
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a guitar, Ireland to exile, Portugal to contempt. Catholicism is
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the upas tree in whose shade the intellect of man has withered. The
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recollection of the massacre of St. Bartholomew should make a
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priest silent, and the recollection of the same massacre should
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make a Protestant careful. I can afford to be maligned by a priest,
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when the same party denounces Garibaldi, the hero of Italy, as a
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"pet tiger" to Victor Emmanuel. I could not afford to be praised by
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such a man. I thank him for his abuse.
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Question. What do you think of the point that no one is able
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to judge of these things unless he is a Hebrew scholar?
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Answer. I do not think it is necessary to understand Hebrew to
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decide as to the probability of springs gushing out of dead bones,
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or of the dead getting out of their graves, or of the probability
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of ravens keeping a hotel for wandering prophets. I hardly think it
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is necessary even to be a Greek scholar to make up my mind as to
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whether devils actually left a person and took refuge in the bodies
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of swine. Besides, if the Bible is not properly translated, the
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circulation ought to stop until the corrections are made. I am not
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accountable if God made a revelation to me in a language that he
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knew I never would understand. If he wishes to convey any
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information to my mind, he certainly should do it in English before
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he eternally damns me for paying no attention to it.
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Question. Are not many of the contradictions in the Bible
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owing to mistranslations?
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Answer. No. Nearly all of the mistranslations have been made
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to help out the text. It would be much worse, much more
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contradictory had it been correctly translated. Nearly all of the
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mistakes, as Mr. Weller would say, have been made for the purposes
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of harmony.
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Question. How many errors do you suppose there are?
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Answer. Well, I do not know. It has been reported that the
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American Bible Society appointed a committee to hunt for errors,
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and the said committee returned about twenty-four to twenty-five
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thousand. And thereupon the leading men said, to correct so many
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errors will destroy the confidence of the common people in the
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sacredness of the Scriptures. Thereupon it was decided not to
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correct any. I saw it stated the other day that a very prominent
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divine charged upon the Bible Society that they knew they were
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publishing a book full of errors.
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Question. What is your opinion of the Bible anyhow?
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Answer. My first objection is, it is not true.
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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4
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A REPLY TO THE CINCINNATI GAZETTE
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AND CATHOLIC TELEGRAPH.
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Second. -- it is not inspired.
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Third. -- It upholds human slavery.
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Fourth. -- It sanctions concubinage.
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Fifth. -- It commands the most infamously cruel acts of war,
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such as the utter destruction of old men and little children.
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Sixth. -- After killing fathers, mothers and brothers, it
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commands the generals to divide the girls among the soldiers and
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priests. Beyond this, infamy has never gone. If any God made or
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approved this order I am opposed to him.
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Seventh. -- It upholds human sacrifice, or, at least, seems
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to, from the following:
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"Notwithstanding no devoted thing that a man shall devote unto
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the Lord of all that he had:, both of man and beast, and of the
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field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed; every devoted
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thing is most holy unto the Lord."
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"None devoted, which shall be devoted, of men, shall be
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redeemed; but shall surely be put to death." (Twenty-seventh
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Chapter of Leviticus, 28th and 29th verses.)
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Eighth. -- Its laws are absurd, and the punishments cruel and
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unjust. Think of killing a man for making hair oil! Think of
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killing a man for picking up sticks on Sunday!
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Ninth. -- It upholds polygamy.
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Tenth. -- It knows nothing of astronomy, nothing of geology,
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nothing of any science whatever.
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Eleventh. -- It is opposed to religious liberty, and teaches
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a man to kill his own wife if she differs with him on religion;
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that is to say, if he is orthodox. There is no book in the world in
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which can be found so much that is thoroughly despicable and
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infamous. Of course there are some good passages, some good
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sentiments. But they are, at least in the Old Testament, few and
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far between.
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Twelfth. -- It treats woman like a beast, and man like a
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slave. It fills heaven with tyranny, and earth with hypocrisy and
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grief.
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Question. Do you think any book inspired?
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Answer. No. I do not think any book is inspired. But, if it
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had been the intention of this God to give to man an inspired book,
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he should have waited until Shakespeare's time, and used
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Shakespeare as the instrument. Then there never would have been any
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doubt as to the inspiration of the book. There is more beauty, more
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goodness, more intelligence in Shakespeare than in all the sacred
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books of this world.
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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5
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A REPLY TO THE CINCINNATI GAZETTE
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AND CATHOLIC TELEGRAPH.
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Question. What do you think as a freethinker of the Sunday
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question in Cincinnati?
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Answer. I think that it is a good thing to have a day of
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recreation, a day of rest, a day of joy, not a day of dyspepsia and
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theology. I am in favor of operas and theaters, music and happiness
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on Sunday. I am opposed to all excesses on any day. If the clergy
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will take half the pains to make the people intelligent that they
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do to make them superstitious, the world will soon have advanced so
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far that it can enjoy itself without excess. The ministers want
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Sunday for themselves. They want everybody to come to church
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because they can go no where else. It is like the story of a man
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coming home at three o'clock in the morning, who, upon being asked
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by his wife how he could come at such a time of night, replied,
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"The fact is, every other place is shut up." The orthodox clergy
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know that their churches will remain empty if any other place
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remains open. Do not forget to say that I mean orthodox churches.
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orthodox clergy, because I have great respect for Unitarians and
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Universalists.
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The Cincinnati Gazette, 1878.
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**** ****
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|
||
Reproducible Electronic Publishing can defeat censorship.
|
||
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||
The Bank of Wisdom is a collection of the most thoughtful,
|
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scholarly and factual books. These computer books are reprints of
|
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suppressed books and will cover American and world history; the
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Biographies and writings of famous persons, and especially of our
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nations Founding Fathers. They will include philosophy and
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religion. all these subjects, and more, will be made available to
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the public in electronic form, easily copied and distributed, so
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that America can again become what its Founders intended --
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The Free Market-Place of Ideas.
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The Bank of Wisdom is always looking for more of these old,
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hidden, suppressed and forgotten books that contain needed facts
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and information for today. If you have such books please contact
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us, we need to give them back to America.
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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6
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