There is less backing one’s thoughts with the Bible than formerly. The
world is getting weaned from this book. The idea is gaining ground that,
if anything is true, it can support itself. When a man leans on God he is
so much less a man. Mental uprightness disdains the Bible’s support.
Honest thought can defend itself without appealing to divine authority.
Once a man hardly dared speak unless he quoted from the Scriptures a line
or verse that ran parallel with his speech.
To-day men say what they think, without caring whether Moses, or David, or
John, agree with them or not. We have reached a healthy independence. We
have commenced to trust our convictions. Such a stage of intellectual
development is not favorable to the divinity of one’s thoughts. The report
of one mind is no more divine than that of another, and no more to be
trusted, only as it is more accurate. There is a higher standard than the
word of God for this age—that is, the word of truth. Whosoever speaks
truth can face the world alone.
When a man needs to go to the Bible to sustain his argument he has a weak
argument. When a dogma does not commend itself to human intelligence it is
useless to declare it infallible. It will die, even though it be professed
a thousand years. It can be accepted only by ignorance and avowed only by
hypocrisy.
Any man who will quote a Bible-text to defend his opinion in the sense
that such text proves his opinion true, proves himself a dolt. A
Bible-text is only a human opinion, and as humanity surpasses it in the
evolution of experience, it loses its authority and force. We have learned
that human reason does not need to be backed by the Bible, and we have
learned also that the Bible _does_ need to be backed by human reason, or
it has no value.
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The heart that can deride misfortune confesses its own deformity.
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When we are satisfied with the present we do not think of the future.
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The more mystery is encouraged, the more deceit can impose upon the human
mind.
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If wisdom and diamonds grew on the same tree we could soon tell how much
men loved wisdom.