The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1883-05-24
THE APOSTLES OF LIBERTY

A friend sends us the following let.
ter written by gentleman at Waverly,
Iowa, to his brother, clergyman, who
has become liberal by simply investiga-
ting and becoming intelligent, a result
which is inevitable with every honest
minister who will read both sides:
WAvERLY, Ia, Era of Man, 2s3.
The Epistle of Pomp, the Apostle, to
w. p, the Liberal, came duly to hand,
and contents diligently perused. Twas
much pleased and very agreeable sur
prised i'll reading your short ~ cps
tie.
Any man or woman with thimble
full of brains, that will read the Bible
carefully, can't help coming to the
same conclusion. The reason so many
believe the Bible inspired, IS so few
read it. The trouble IS, the people let
the priest or preacher think for them.
They are like the young bird in it's nest.
No doubt you can call to mind when
YOU were a small boy, watching the old
bird feed ats ysu,,g. The little fellows
would bob their heads up above the
nest, shut their eyes, open their mouths
and take down the Hc'rm. Just so it is
with the great majority OF the people.
I think every man and woman should
do their own thinking. Your exper
ience seems to he the experience of all
true Investigators. lassure you it was
my own experience. The church has
always stood with club in hand, ever
ready and anxious to knock reason in
the head, but l am very thankful to
know that the free-thought element is
knocking little reason into sorue ct
their heads. Their most intelligent
lights are advancing rapidly. George
Clainey, II. IL. Thomas, Prof. Swing,
Robert Colyer, Bishop llerfeld, Prof.
Adder, OF New York, Prof. Wise, Of
Cincinnati, and the great American
Spurgeon, Beecher. have accepted the
Darwinian theory of evolution.
Thus you see the world moves. / have
in my younger days sat under tie drop
pings OF the sanctuary and heard the
preacher, with a solemn frOWn Oh his
face, denounce, defame and calumniate
that good and great man, Thomas
Paine, (the so!emnity, us rule is Il
mask hiding the features OF igEorance.)
If the clergy can only get Franklin and
jefferson to Heaven and Thomas iiaine
to Hell, they think they haye done
their whole duty, and they all three en-
tertained the same opinions on theolo
gy. Paine's pen did as much toward
gaining our independence as Washing
ton S sword did. 1t was the age of rea.
son that poisoned the clergy. and they
the minds of tie people. The church
let loose upon him the furieS OF malice,
hate and slandtr. They dragged him
from the lofty height upon which his
patriotism. his honesty and his genius
had placed him. The falSehoHds thnn
dercd from the pulpit against Paine
have been answered aud refuted over
and over again, and UT every light
bra;ued, pin-feather graduate OF our
Theological colleges. as soon us he gets
rid of the She'll oi the egg in which lu'
was incnbat ed, trims his spurs and ar
ranges his feathers ter Il futter aud
what lie is pleased to call the life Of
Tom Paine. and tells what u bad man
he was.
will give you few quotations from
Paine's Age of Reason. Think yon a
bad man could utter such sublime SEN
timentS?
II bells We in the equality of man. and
believe the religious dnties cons s. in
doing justice, loving mercy, and en-
deavoring to make our fellow creatures
happy. Any system OF religion that
shocks the mind Of !, child cannot be- Il
true system. TIE word of Grd is the
creation we behold. 1t is with !, pious
fraud as with 4 bad action. it DegetS Il
calau:itOus necessity Of going en. To
read the bible without horror we must
undo everything that is tender, Syml'a-
thiZing and benevolent in the heart OF
man. That man does not exist who
can say have prosecuted him, or that
have in amy case returned evil for
evil. The belief in Il cruel God makes
Il cruel man. My own opinion is that
those whose lives have been spent in
doing good and endeavoring I" make
their fellow-mortals happy will be hap.
py hereafter. The intellectual part Of
religion is a private affair between ev
cry man and his maker, and in which
no third party has amy right to inter
fere. The practical part consists in
our doing good to each other. One
good school master is OF more use than
Il hundred priests. Let us propagate
morality, unfettered by superstition. l
believe in one God and no more, and l
hope for happiness beyond this life
The key of heaven is not in keeping OF
any sect, nor ought the road to it be Oh
structed by any. have yet, | believe.
some years in store, for have q good
state Of health and a happy mind. l
take care of both, by nonrishing the
first with temperance and the latter
with abundance.
When William Cobbett had removed
the body of Thomas Paine to England.
distinguished priest wrote of that
event. these words:
In bringing back the bones of Paine,
Will Cobbett, you've done well;
He visits you on earth again,
You'll visit him in hell.
Long after the fame of the brilliant
libertine who penned those lines shall
have been sealed in the charne] vaults
of oblivion, the name of the great HUI
manitarian will continue to cast over
the fields of history halo OF beauty
which slander cannot obscure or time
| dissolve.
will now quote short sentence
from one of Americas best men:
''Oh but they say to me, you take
away immortality. l do not. If we
are immortal, it is a fact in nature, and
we are not indebted to priests for it,
nor to the bible. and it cannot be de-
stroyed by nnbelief. AS long as we
love, we shall hope to live, and wien
the one dies that we love, we will say.
''Oh that we could meet again." and
whether we do or not, it will not be the
work Of theology, it will be a fact in
nature. 1 would not for my life destroy
one star of human hope. but 1 want it
SO that when poor woman rocks the
the cradle and sings lullaby to the
dimpled darling, she will not he com.
PEELED to believe that ninety-nine
chances in hundred, she is raising
kindhng wood for HELL" (R. G. 1nger-
Soll.)