Profoundly true are these words of the historian Lecky: "The overwhelming majority of the human race necessarily accept their opinions from authority. Whether they do so avowedly, like the Catholics, or unconsciously, like most Protestants, is immaterial. They have neither time nor opportunity to examine for themselves. They are taught certain doctrines on disputed questions as if they were unquestionable truths, when they are incapable of judging, and every influence is employed to deepen the impression. This is the origin of their belief. Not until long years of mental conflict have passed can they obtain the inestimable boon of an assured and untrammeled mind. The fable of the ancient is still true. The woman even now sits at the portal of life, presenting a cup to all who enter in which diffuses through every vein a poison that will cling to them for ever. The judgment may pierce the clouds of prejudice; in the moments of her strength she may even rejoice and triumph in her liberty; yet the conceptions of childhood will long remain latent in the mind to reappear in every hour of weakness, when the tension of the reason is relaxed, and when the power of old associations is supreme" (History of Rationalism, Vol. II., pp. 95, 96). Schopenhauer says: "There is in childhood a period measured by six, or at most by ten years, when any well inculcated dogma, no matter how extravagantly absurd, is sure to retain its hold for life." Considering the impressionable character of the immature mind, and how nearly impossible it is to eradicate the impressions of childhood, the wonder is not that so many believe in the divinity of the Bible, unreasonable as the belief is, but rather that so many disbelieve it. 31. An article of merchandise. Bibles are manufactured and sold just as other books are manufactured and sold. Some are printed on poor paper, cheaply bound, and sold at a low price; while others are printed on the best of paper, richly bound, and sold at a high price. But all are sold at a profit. The publisher and the book seller, or Bible agent, derive pecuniary gain from their publication and sale. It may be urged that the Bible can be obtained for the asking, that millions of copies are gratuitously distributed. But this is done in the interest of Christian propagandism. Nearly all religious, political, and social organizations, to promote their work, make a free distribution of their literature.