SOMEBODY ought to tell the truth about the Bible. The preachers dare
not, because they would be driven from their pulpits. Professors in
colleges dare not, because they would lose their salaries. Politicians
dare not. They would be defeated. Editors dare not. They would lose
subscribers. Merchants dare not, because they might lose customers. Men
of fashion dare not, fearing that they would lose caste. Even clerks
dare not, because they might be discharged. And so I thought I would do
it myself.
There are many millions of people who believe the Bible to be the
inspired word of God--millions who think that this book is staff and
guide, counselor and consoler; that it fills the present with peace and
the future with hope--millions who believe that it is the fountain of
law, justice and mercy, and that to its wise and benign teachings the
world is indebted for its liberty, wealth and civilization--millions
who imagine that this book is a revelation from the wisdom and love of
God to the brain and heart of man--millions who regard this book as a
torch that conquers the darkness of death, and pours its radiance on
another world--a world without a tear.
They forget its ignorance and savagery, its hatred of liberty, its
religious persecution; they remember heaven, but they forget the dungeon
of eternal pain.
They forget that it imprisons the brain and corrupts the heart. They
forget that it is the enemy of intellectual freedom. Liberty is my
religion. Liberty of hand and brain--of thought and labor.
Liberty is a word hated by kings--loathed by popes. It is a word that
shatters thrones and altars--that leaves the crowned without subjects,
and the outstretched hand of superstition without alms. Liberty is the
blossom and fruit of justice--the perfume of mercy. Liberty is the seed
and soil, the air and light, the dew and rain of progress, love and joy.