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Show The Congress Bible. THE action of the committee on printing of the house of representatives repre-sentatives in ordering the printing of the extracts compiled from the four gospels by Thomas Jefferson ("Morals of Jesus of Nazareth") is . eliciting widespread comment and criticism from the press, both secular and religious, re-ligious, of the country. Such action, if it should ultimately receive the sanction sanc-tion of congress, would be not only establishing es-tablishing a precedent, but would be a direct violation of the constitution of the United States, which purports to safeguard the rights of every citizen and to equally recognize the religious convictions of every man, providing the same be not in contradiction to, or, at least, in conflict with, directly or indirectly, in-directly, the provisions of the constitution constitu-tion Or in Onnocif inn tn iVta n-ivn. good of the commonwealth. The United States government is republic; re-public; it is "government of the people, peo-ple, by the people, for the poople.'" It is government of the whole people by the whole people for the whole people; I or, in plainer words, it prohibits any legislation for the government of the people, which is, expressly or by implication, impli-cation, "class legislation." Now it may fairly be asked whether the publication of Jefferson's "Morals of Jesus of Nazareth" Na-zareth" by congress would be by implication im-plication "class legislation"? This question may be answered by another: Suppose congress! were to recognize the "Douay Version" of the Catholic Bible in the same manner as it is asked to recognize the "Jefferson Bible," would not the Christian sects, infidels and agnostics, at home and abroad, cry out in protest, and brand such a procedure pro-cedure as "class legislation?" a departure depar-ture from our r.et dictum "equal rights for all?" But let us sift the thing a little further. Mr. Heatwole, chairman of the house wuiuuiicc jn iinuui,, gives me ioi-lowing ioi-lowing reasons for the action of the committee: "Representative Lacey of Iowa, about a year ago, found this book under lock and key in the national na-tional museum, and wrote a short article arti-cle describing ;t. which was printed in many papers 'of the country, and the result is that frequent requests have been made for the publication of the book, these requests coming largely from ministers of the gospel on the ono hand and people interested in the memory mem-ory of Thomas Jefferson on the other hand. Accordingly, Mr, Lacey Introduced Intro-duced a resolution in the house provid-r ing for the publication of the work. It was carefully considered by 4he house committee on printing and favorably reported." Thomas Jefferson, from a ' religious standpoint, was an infidel, or. rather, perhaps, an agnostic, and his religious tenets and convictions are of vital im--portance to the disciples of Torn Paine and Bob Ingersoll. From these, we have no doubt, a large number of the "li-qucnt requests" have come. The olfictal recognition of the "Jefferson Bible" would be, no doubt, a placeat for them. "Much significance Is evidently evi-dently given to the phrase: "These requests re-quests coming largely from ministers of the gospel," but would not Mr. Heatwole Heat-wole and his colleagues do well to consider con-sider the more "frequent" protests Which have and will come from other, and as worthy, ministers of the gospel? The "requests, coming from people interested in-terested in the memory of Thomas Jefferson," Jef-ferson," are, perhaps, more worthy of ! notice; but we are all interested in his memory. We all ascknowledge him, as one of the worthiest of all the worthy executives who have framed and guarded the constitution and guided the destinies of our beloved nation, and as such, we honor hinr but Thomas Jefferson's religious convictions were his as a private citizen, and we should recognize and honor them only as we recognize and honor the religious convictions con-victions of any other citizen. Mr. Heatwole, giving his own opinion of the character of the "Bible," says: "The effect of it is most excellent, and is one of. the most convincing proofs of the Christian religion. . He has not used a single syllable or punctuation mark that is not taken literally from the gospels. He has done it entirely without any words of his own." Now, we have not yet seen the "Jefferson "Jef-ferson Bible," and hence we cannot give ouropinion on its merits; but with all due respect to Mr. Heatwole's veracity ve-racity and judgment, we can scarcely conceive it credible that Jefferson, an avowed infidel or agnostic, could write or compile a book containing "the most convincing proofs'' of that in which he I did not believe. We give him credit at j least for honesty, even in his religious j convictions. , "He has not used a single j word or punctuation murk that is not j taken literally from the gospels." We accept Mr. Heatwole's word for the truth of this assertion, but we may have to object, not so much to what j "words "and punctuation, marks" he "has used," as, perhaps, to the "words and punctuation marks" he has not used. We know that words and texts j of scripture, when taken out of their place and connection, mfcy be made to j prove anything. The devil can quote j scripture to suit his own ends and purposes, pur-poses, and that, too, "entirely without any words of his own." We agree with the Rev. C. W. Nevin of Philadelphia, who says: "No one could fairly object to the publication of Mr. Jefferson's annotated Bible by private enterprise," but we do resent and it Is the duty of every citizen to resent its publication under the imprint im-print of national sanction, not so much, as says Mr. Nevin, because it is a "national "na-tional assault upon religious belief," but because it is an implied assault upon our nation's constitution, which every citizen should sustain and cherish cher-ish as a precious heirloom, sealed in the blood of his nation's martyrs. |