Is The Bible Worth Reading, and Other EssaysWashburn, L. K. (Lemuel Kelley)
Religion
Is The Bible Worth Reading, and Other Essays
Washburn, L. K. (Lemuel Kelley)
Free thought
Liberals should not allow their children to touch the Bible. They should
keep it from them until they are old enough to know that no book was ever
written by a God, and then, if they read the Bible, they would see its
true character. We must guard the minds of our children from Christian
influences. We pity the child that is taught that the Bible is the word of
God, but we despise the man that teaches this falsehood.
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Most men would kill the truth if truth would kill their religion.
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The truths which God revealed have been overthrown by the truths which man
has discovered.
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People used to think that to mix religion with business spoiled the
religion, now they think it spoils the business.
WHEN TO HELP THE WORLD
Recently an old man, over eighty years of age, lay on his death-bed. He
could no longer keep possession of the wealth he had accumulated. In a few
hours he must leave it to the world from which he had taken it and kept it
so many years. He had not been a generous man. He had loved money. He
loved to get it and loved to keep it, and if he could have carried his
wealth with him, whither he was going with that unknown guide, Death,
there is no doubt but that he would have done so. He had given nothing to
the world while he lived and he would not have given anything when he
died, only that he was obliged to do so. This is the only charity of a
great many people.
When death comes, then the hand of avarice must open. Nothing can be
carried through the grave. So the old man must at last release his hold
upon his gains. He must leave his loved dollars to somebody. He had
gathered them for himself, not for others. He had thought only of himself
when he gathered them, and now, when he was to part with them, he did not
know what disposition to make of them. The lawyer was present at his
bedside; the minister was also with him.
The will had been drawn. He had bequeathed certain sums to public
charities and remembered the church. Life was almost gone. He hesitated
yet to give up the control of his money to others. The pen was placed in
his dying fingers for him to affix his name to the will. But he had waited
too long. He died with the name unwritten, the pen unused in his dead
hand.
Not voluntarily did he part with a cent of his fortune. His millions will
now be divided by the law.
Is there in the bare possession of money the happiness that men desire,
that men dream of, that men _want_? Is a dollar the highest goal of human
effort, the crown of human endeavor? Is this dollar, the insignia of
fortune, the true sign of good fortune? We believe not. The man who works
for this and nothing else, is the slave of avarice; as hard, as cruel, as
merciless a tyrant as ever cursed the earth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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