An inspired lie is
not better than an uninspired one. If the Bible is true it does
not need to be inspired. If it is not true, inspiration does not
help it. So that after all it is simply a question of fact. Is
it true? I believe Mr. Beecher stated that one of my grievous
faults was that I picked out the bad things in the Bible. How an
infinitely good and wise God came to put bad things in his book
Mr. Beecher does not explain. I have insisted that the Bible is
not inspired, and, in order to prove that, have pointed out such
passages as I deemed unworthy to have been written even by a
civilized man or a savage. I certainly would not endeavor to prove
that the Bible is uninspired by picking out its best passages. I
admit that there are many good things in the Bible. The fact that
there are good things in it does not prove its inspiration, because
there are thousands of other books containing good things, and yet
no one claims they are inspired. Shakespeare's works contain a
thousand times more good things than the Bible, but no one claims
he was an inspired man. It is also true that there are many bad
things in Shakespeare--many passages which I wish he had never
written. But I can excuse Shakespeare, because he did not rise
absolutely above his time. That is to say, he was a man; that is
to say, he was imperfect. If anybody claimed now that Shakespeare
was actually inspired, that claim would be answered by pointing to
certain weak or bad or vulgar passages in his works. But every
Christian will say that it is a certain kind of blasphemy to impute
vulgarity or weakness to God, as they are all obliged to defend
the weak, the bad and the vulgar, so long as they insist upon the
inspiration of the Bible. Now, I pursued the same course with the
Bible that Mr. Beecher has pursued with me. Why did he want to
pick out my bad things? Is it possible that he is a kind of vulture
that sees only the carrion of another? After all, has he not
pursued the same method with me that he blames me for pursuing in
regard to the Bible? Of course he must pursue that method. He
could not object to me and then point out passages that were not
objectionable. If he found fault he had to find faults in order
to sustain his ground. That is exactly what I have done with
Scriptures--nothing more and nothing less. The reason I have thrown
away the Bible is that in many places it is harsh, cruel, unjust,
coarse, vulgar, atrociou