'Not only the Syrian superstition must be attacked, but also the belief
in a personal God which engenders a slavish and oriental condition of
the mind, and the belief in a posthumous reward which engenders a
selfish and solitary condition of the heart. These beliefs are,
therefore, injurious to human nature. They lower its dignity, they
arrest its development, they isolate its affections. We shall not deny
that many beautiful sentiments are often mingled with the faith in a
personal Deity, and with the hopes of happiness in a future state; yet
we maintain that, however refined they may appear, they are selfish at
the core, and that if removed they will be replaced by sentiments of a
nobler and purer kind.'--WINWOOD READE, _Martyrdom of Man_, p. 543.
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