I don't know, do you?Ricker, Marilla M. (Marilla Marks)
Religion
I don't know, do you?
Ricker, Marilla M. (Marilla Marks)
Agnosticism; Free thought
I became acquainted with a High-Church Episcopalian woman not long ago,
and she showed me a prayer-rug and praying-costume imported from Paris.
I told her that she looked like an angel in it, as she ought after
going to all that expense and trouble; if she didn't, dressmakers might
as well give it up and wait for Gabriel. The attitude of prayer threw
the back breadths of the skirt into graceful prominence, and hence the
necessity (which will be at once recognized by all the truly _pious_)
of increased attention to the frills and embroidery required by the
religious attitude of prayer.
An old farmer in Indiana said he was a "Piscopal."
"To what parish do you belong?"
"I don't know nothing about parishes."
"Who confirmed you?"
"Nobody."
"Then how do you belong to the Episcopalian Church?"
"Well, last Winter I went down to Arkansas visiting, and while I was
there, I went to a church and it was called 'Piscopal,' and I heard
them say that they had done the things they ought not to have done, and
left undone the things they ought to have done, and I says to myself,
'That is my fix exactly,' and ever since then I've considered myself a
'Piscopal'!"
And I came to the conclusion that that is why the membership of that
church is so large!
* * * * *
I know but little about the Methodists, but I do know that John Wesley,
one of the founders of that church, believed in witchcraft, and was one
of the latest of its supporters.
History tells us that Brother Wesley preached a sermon entitled, _The
Cause and Cure of Earthquakes_. He said that earthquakes were caused
by sin, and the only way to stop them was to believe in his theology
and teachings, thus showing great knowledge of seismology; but people
who bank on gullibility are usually safe. I know the Methodists make a
great hullabaloo about their religion, and appear to think their God is
deaf.
The Methodist Conference has refused to allow women to be delegates to
the General Conference. The Methodist sisters should discipline the
Church.
* * * * *
What I know about the Universalists I like. They seem to think that
we are all in the same boat, and that one stands as good a chance as
another, of which I approve. When I was a child, Sylvanus Cobb, at that
time the great Universalist preacher, preached in the adjoining town.
One Sunday, my father and I went to hear him. His sermon caused a great
commotion, and the Baptist who preached that terrific sermon about Hell
said to my mother, "There is a wicked man about here preaching that
everybody is to be saved; but, Sister Young, let us hope for better
things!"
* * * * *
I believe that the Unitarians, as a class, think for themselves. I
approve of that, and the Evangelical Alliance disapproves of them. That
is in their favor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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