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Show TRUTH 19 on to be considered the inspired word of God, sentences in the Bible, which, if printed in any other book, would Editor Truth: I see from the Associated Press re- exclude it from the mails of the Unitports and from other sources that ed States or any other civilized counthere Is now In progress a meeting of try on earth. I would reproduce them the Bible League In Boston, I be- hero but for the fact, a vile Agnostic lieve, the avowed purpose of which Is though I am, I would not care to have the restoration of the Bible as It stood the people generally know that I had before It was assaulted by the higher ever uttered such words. But as I understand the object of In other words, as I uncriticism. derstand It, they are to rescue the this meeting, it is to bunch all of this Bible from the hands of the critics and stuff together, the good and the bad, to restore It to us as It formerly was, the tares with the wheat, and brand it the Inspired word of God. In short, all as the inspired word and will of their aim Is to kill off the critics; and God. We Agnostics are charged with the Bible Is to be accepted In Its enall as many vile things, but surely we have being literally true, that tirety Its precepts are to be pronounced good A BACKWARD STEP. and aU its Injunctions binding. To my mind these Bible adherents have been driven to the last ditch and in their blind fanaticism they have utterly failed to seo the Inevitable doom that awaits them. There Is nothing that will so assist Agnosticism and undermine the foundations upon which the church rests so completely and entirely as the step they are about to take. Churchmen of all creeds, denominations and beliefs have, for the past few years, been cutting looso from the old Inspired Idea of the book, and when assailed with Agnostic arguments they would simply flee from one position to another, and thus avoid being caught. But if this body of religionists, composed as It Is of the leading lights of all the denominations, embracing the professors of all the theological schools should, at their, meeting, resolve that the King James translation of the Bible Is In verity and truth the Inspired word of God In Its entirety, and will anchor themselves to that rock so that they cannot get away from It, they will find themselves in a position where the Agnostics and Free Thinkers can pummel the very life out of them. For Instance, If the Bible Is inspired In Its entirety, all of Its parts are binding, and the law commanding that Thou shalt not permit a witch to live, again becomes the established law of the church and the land. They must be consistent, and if we are not to allow witches to live, then we must kill the witches; so we may soon expect that the statutes of every state will contain a clause Inflicting the death penalty upon this class of society. Aye, Indeed, not only will the states do this, but I fancy it will only be a little while until the congress of the United States will mako witchcraft a crime against the Federal government, thus throwing their trials into the Federal, instead of tho state courts. If there were witches in the days of Moses there are witches yet. If it was right to kill them in the days of Moses, it is our right, it is our duty, to kill them now. If its examples are to bo regarded as good, then the Mormons will have nothing more to fear; for they can point with pride to David, a man after Gods own heart, and the sweet singer of Israel whose harem of a thousand of wives would make that three-pl- y look II. like Roberts Brigham thirty cents. An Infinite God does not change. If ho ever hated witches he does now. The same is true of human slavery and every other crime which the Bible either endorses or condones. In other words, if these religionists succeed in doing what they claim that they are trying to do, to my mind they have simply taken a backward step of four hundred years. The Bible is a great book; It contains some of the best things that have ever been said or written, as it also contains some of the vilest, nastiest, things that ever inhuman, fell from the lips or pens of the most debased beings that ever inhabited the earth. If the reader has not read his Bible and has any doubts upon this subject I invite such a one to my office, where I will show him passages In the scriptures which are from now - un-Godli- ke never said anything, or did anything, that would so reflect upon the dignity of the Infinite as would this. The proposition is sacreligious, if there be such a thing as sacrelige. My ideas of the Infinite are so exalted and high that I could not think of laying such a production to his charge. People have outgrown the Bible. They no longer read it as of yore. When they do read it they pick out the good and throw the bad away. They gather the wheat; they burn the tares. As Paul would say, They prove all things and hold fast to that Under these condiwhich is good. tions there are thousands of people who accept the Bible for what good. THE SCENIO LINE TO GLENWOOD SPRINGS, ASPEN, LEADVILLE, PUEBLO, COLORADO SPRINGS, DENVER, OMAHA, KANSAS OITT, ST. LOUIS, CHICAGO AND ALL POINTS EAST Connecting aft Ogden Union Depot with SOUTHERN PACIFIC and OREGON SHORT LINE TRAINS. The Only Transcontinental Lina Passing Directly Through Salt Lake City. SPLENDIDLY EQUIPPED FAST TBAIN8 DAILY BETWEEN " ' VIA THREE OGDEN AND DENVER SEPARATE AND DISTINCT ROUTES Through Pullman and Ordinary Sleeping Cars to Denver, Omaha, Kansas City, SL Louis and Chicago without change. Free Reclining Chair Cars. Personally Conducted Excursions. BITING GARS, SERVICE A LA CARTE ON ALL THROUGH TRAINS For rates, folders, free illustrated booklets, eto., Inquire of your nearest ticket agent, specifying the Rio Grande route, or address I. A. BENTON, G. A. P. D., SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH TRAVELING NOW-- A -- DAYS is much easier than only few years ago. By taking advantage of the new service on the UNION PACIFIC AND CHICAGO, MILWAUKEE ST, PAUL LINE. & A person can travel two whole days from Salt Lake to Chicago without change of cars. No trouble at all, -- C. S. WILLIAMS, Coml Agent C. M. & St. P. Ry. 106 W. Second South St., Salt Lake City. cept it as a whole. Lfie Tmau ing bony fish he devours tho auccu lent parts and lays the bones l,y th side of his piate. He enjoys the But If he was compelled to eat the fish, bones and all, he would ,i revolt-i- n fact, he would quit eating fish Now, this is what the respect able element of society has beer for years. The object of this meeting as I understand it, is to stop this kind of business. We must eat it bones and all. The inevitable result Is obvious. Instead of compelling he people to accept the Bible as a whole they will refuse to have anything to do with it at ail. The good and bad are all mixed together all through the bcok. Who among us would not like to have our daughters emulate a portion, of the life of poetic Ruth, but how many of us would want our daughters to follow her example when she slid out in the darkness to meet Boaz In the barn? The Mosaic law contains some very excellent things, but surely no man, not even the most fanatically religious, would care to have the law enforced regarding selling spoiled meat to strangers. (See Deut. 14.22.) Another ridiculous feature of it is found in the fact that this meeting is to be composed of the leaders of most religious denominations. are to get together and resolve They individually and collectively that the Bible is the inspired word of God and on next Sunday morning they will go to their various churches and each denomination will preach a sermon the telling what word of God teaches and no two of them will tell the same story. They all claim that the Bible is true, but have as many Ideas about what it teaches as there are variations of the alphabet. Can It be possible that these men will tell us that an Infinite being embracing all the attributes of the Deity does not sufficiently understand language that He can convey his commands and wishes to his people. To my mind if there is any being on earth or in heaven that I would reasonably expect to be able to convey his will and speak his mind, in a way so plain that a wayfaring man not err therein, fool a could though would be an Infinite God. And it yet here is a book that has been in use thousands of years that nobody has ever been able to understand or at least no two could ever understand it alike that at this late day is to be taken up by a lot of leading educators and declared to be the infallible, inspired word of God. It is the most nonsensical piece of nonsense which it has ever been my pleasure or disgust to hear. The Roman Catholic church, which by the way furnishes no representative to this body, is the only class of religionists that have ever taken a sensible view of this subject. That church teaches that the Bible is an infallible teacher only wtjen interpreted by an infallible interpreter. The Church of Rome is that interpreter. The pope presiding over the court of last resort so to speak. In other words the laws of God and the laws of the church are passed upon by the church authorities much the same as are our statutes passed upon by the courts. A legal statute means what our courts say that it means, a religious statute, according to the Catholic church, means what the church says It means. Private interpretation of the scriptures Is just as ridiculous in both theory and practice as would be private interpretation of the legal statutes of the land. How many men do you suppose we would have in ieach. alto-gethe- r. do-in- g in-spir- ed our jails or penitentiaries ijt man was allowed to put his- 0WJ tne terpretation upon the statutes of land? - WARREN . FOSTER- - |