re stopped, you would think, to say the least of it, that he had
an odd way of convincing you of his musical ability. But would this
conduct be any more wonderful than that of a religionist who asks that
before examining his creed you will have the kindness to throw away
your reason? The first gentleman says: "Keep your eyes shut; my
picture will bear everything but being seen. Keep your ears stopped;
my music objects to nothing but being heard." The last says: "Away
with your reason; my religion dreads nothing but being understood."

So far as I am concerned, I most cheerfully admit that most Christians
are honest and most ministers sincere. We do not attack them; we
attack their creed. We accord to them the same rights that we ask for
ourselves. We believe that their doctrines are hurtful, and I am going
to do what I can against them. We believe that the frightful text, "He
that believes shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be
damned," has covered the earth with blood. You might as well say that
all that have red hair shall be damned. It has filled the heart with
arrogance, cruelty, and murder. It has caused the religious wars;
bound hundreds of thousands to the stake; founded inquisitions; filled
dungeons; invented instruments of torture; taught the mother to hate
her child; imprisoned the mind; filled the world with ignorance;
persecuted the lovers of wisdom; built the monasteries and convents;
made happiness a crime, investigation a sin, and self-reliance a
blasphemy. It has poisoned the springs of learning; misdirected the
energies of the world; filled all countries with want; housed the
people in hovels; fed them with famine; and but for the efforts of a
few brave infidels, it would have taken the world back to the midnight
of barbarism, and left the heavens without a star.

The maligners of Paine say that he had no right to attack this
doctrine, because he was unacquainted with the dead languages, and, for
this reason, it was a piece of pure impudence to investigate the
scriptures.

Is it necessary to understand Hebrew in order to know that cruelty is
not a virtue, that murder is inconsistent with infinite goodness, and
that eternal punishment can be inflicted upon man only by an eternal
fiend? Is it really essential to conjugate the Greek verbs before you
can make up your mind as to the probability of dead people getting out
of their graves? Must one be versed in Latin before he is