WHAT has our religion done? Of course, it is admitted by Christians that
all other religions are false, and consequently we need examine only our
own.
Has Christianity done good? Has it made men nobler, more merciful,
nearer honest? When the church had control, were men made better and
happier?
What has been the effect of Christianity in Italy, in Spain, in
Portugal, in Ireland?
What has religion done for Hungary or Austria? What was the effect of
Christianity in Switzerland, in Holland, in Scotland, in England, in
America? Let us be honest. Could these countries have been worse without
religion? Could they have been worse had they had any other religion
than Christianity?
Would Torquemada have been worse had he been a follower of Zoroaster?
Would Calvin have been more bloodthirsty if he had believed in the
religion of the South Sea Islanders? Would the Dutch have been more
idiotic if they had denied the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and worshiped
the blessed trinity of sausage, beer and cheese? Would John Knox
have been any worse had he deserted Christ and become a follower of
Confucius?
Take our own dear, merciful Puritan Fathers? What did Christianity do
for them? They hated pleasure. On the door of life they hung the crape
of death. They muffled all the bells of gladness. They made cradles
by putting rockers on coffins. In the Puritan year there were twelve
Decembers. They tried to do away with infancy and youth, with prattle of
babes and the song of the morning.
The religion of the Puritan was an unadulterated curse. The Puritan
believed the Bible to be the word of God, and this belief has always
made those who held it cruel and wretched. Would the Puritan have been
worse if he had adopted the religion of the North American Indians?
Let me refer to just one fact showing the influence of a belief in the
Bible on human beings.
"On the day of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth she was presented with
a Geneva Bible by an old man representing Time, with Truth standing
by his side as a child. The Queen received the Bible, kissed it, and
pledged herself to diligently read therein. In the dedication of this
blessed Bible the Queen was piously exhorted to put all Papists to the
sword."
In this incident we see the real spirit of Protestant lovers of the
Bible. In other words, it was just as fiendish, just as infamous as the
Catholic spirit.
Has the Bible made the people of Georgia kind and merciful? Would the
lynchers be more ferocious if they worshiped gods of wood and stone?