secularist Robert Cooper

“ The priesthood of every sect of religion, in every country of the habitable globe, have instituted and perpetuated certain impositions, by means of which they have conceived they would be enabled to maintain and increase their influence over the minds of their followers; so that thereby they might still continue to luxuriate in ease and enjoyment, while their poor deluded victims repined in ignorance and woe. And this is such an imposition now established and supported by the Christian priesthood—an imposition which is the corner stone of all their power, the fountain of all their influence. ”

“ Yet saith the house of Israel, the way of the Lord is not equal, O, house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal? Ezekiel xviii. 29.
355. For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God; the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself above all people that are upon the face of the earth. ”

“ Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth, they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. ”

“ And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of; the length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shall thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. And behold I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. ”

“ They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities; and I will move them to jealousy with those who are not a people, I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. ”

“ Thus saith the Lord, Behold I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this Sun. ”

“ Behold all souls are mine, as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine; the soul that sinneth it shall die. Ezek. xviii. 4.
346. And rend your heart and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Joel ii. 13.
347. And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord; and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. ”

“ And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke among people afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up a sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any more. ”

“ For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air ”

“ And hence, that malicious and vindictive spirit which they have manifested toward all those who have had the integrity or boldness to acknowledge themselves their disciples. Hence, too, their present discreditable opposition to every educational, political and social measure, which would conduce to the elevation and improvement of society. But poor deluded mortals! how vain will they find all their attempts to impede the mighty progress of truth—the glorious advancement of thought and enlightenment! ”

“ And behold (says David in his dying moments to his son Solomon,) thou hast with thee Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite, of Bahurim, which cursed me with a grievous curse, in the day when I went to Mahanaim; but he came down to meet me at Jordan, and I sware to him by the Lord, saying, I will not put thee to death with the sword. Now therefore hold him not guiltless; for thou art a wise man, and knowest what thou oughtest to do unto him; but his hoary head bring thou down to the grave with blood. ”

“ They shall be burnt with anger, and devoured with burning heat? and with bitter destruction. I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust. The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also, with the man of gray hairs, Pent, xxxii. 22 to 25.
88. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them; for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. ”

“ Then the king arose Very early in the morning, and went in haste unto the den of lions. And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel: and the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions. Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live for ever. My God hath sent his angel and hath shut the lions' mouths that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me ”

“ There is one body and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. One God and father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. Ephesians iv. ”

“ The time has now arrived when truth must come out, when truth must be spoken, "without mystery, mixture of error, or fear of man." Too long, indeed, has this precious jewel been sacrificed to the paltry predilections of interest and prejudice. Too long have we been tossed in the dark and unfathomable gulf of bigotry and intolerance ”

“ Whenever they have defended, or connived at the extortions of the tyrants who have flattered or supported them, they have quoted this imposition as their authority. Whenever they have opposed any system or any measure, which they considered would be inimical to their interests, or subversive of their power, they have quoted this imposition as their authority. And the sooner this imposition is removed—the sooner the few good seeds which it may contain are extracted from it, and the immense mass of chaff is cast into oblivion, the better will it be for the amelioration and progression of man. ”

“ A book which had really originated from an Omniscient and Munificent Divinity—-a book which was the word, or organ of such a being, must inculcate in every chapter and in every verse, the strictest, the purest, and most exalted morality; must constantly exhort mankind to every thing that was just, rational and charitable ”

“ The Lord hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. Prov. xvi. 4.
90. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace and create evil: I the Lord do all these things, Isaiah xiv. 7.
91. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine armies and my people the children of Israel, out of the land of-Egypt, by great judgments. Exodus vii. ”

“ But the children of the murderers he slew not; according unto that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, wherein the Lord commanded, saying, the fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers; but every man shall be put to death for his own sin, 2 Kings xiv. 6.
326. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou nor thy son? ”

“ And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she denied the land, and committed adultery with stones and stocks. Jer. iii. 9.
211. Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans, for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate. Take the mill-stones and grind meal, uncover thy locks, make-bare thy leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers. Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen; I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man. ”

“ For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favor is life; weeping may endure for a night; but joy cometh in the morning. Psalms xxx. 5.
392. And the Lord's anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was consumed. ”

“ Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. James i. 13.
394. And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham, and he said, Behold, here I am. Gen. xxii. 1.
395. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. Matt. vi. 13.
396. And no man hath ascended up into heaven but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven. ”

“ Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity, unto the elders of the city in the gate. But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel; then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of the city shall stone her with stones that she die; because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father's house; so shalt thou put evil away from among you. ”

“ And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had borne unto Abraham, mocking. Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman, and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. And Abraham rose up early in the morning and took bread and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar (putting it on her shoulder) and the child? ”

“ In course of time his hair begins to grow again, when his strength returns. The Philistines then take him to their temple that he may make sport for them, and Samson then says unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them. Now the house was full of men and women, and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women that beheld while Samson made sport. ”

“ Because they knew full well, ignorant and superstitious as many of them may appear, that when intellect and rationality become the main-springs of society—when men begin dispassionately and philosophically to examine into the mysteries and workings of religion, that all their impositions will be discovered, all their craftiness detected, and all their designs and practices fully exposed. ”

“ For that which befalleth the sons of men be-falleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them; as the one dieth so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no pre-eminence over a beast; for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward, to the earth? Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his own works, for that is his portion ”

“ And if any man's seed of copulation go out from him, then he shall wash all his flesh in water, and be unclean until the even. And every garment and every skin whereon is the seed of copulation, shall be washed with water, and be unclean until the even. The woman also with whom man shall lie with seed of copulation, they shall both bathe themselves in water, and be unclean until the even. And if any man lie with her at all, and her flowers be upon him, he shall be unclean seven days ”

“ Part of the Holy Writings consisted of history and of the narration of facts of a kind, that could not be mentioned in the presence of a virtuous woman without exciting Horror. Should a woman be permitted to read in her chamber what she would tremble to hear at her domestic board? ”

“ But while he thought on these things, behold the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. Mat. i. 16—20.
[Here God is represented as committing ————.]
142. And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall come to pass, that when ye go ye shall not go empty: But every woman shall borrow of her neighbor, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment ”

“ Intelligent and thinking men of every class, are beginning to investigate and discuss questions of the latter kind with considerable closeness, fearlessness and determination. They are now resolved no longer to be hoodwinked with the veil of prejudice, enchained with the trammels of superstition, or deluded by the Hosted by or intimidated by the denunciations of a crafty and intolerant priesthood ”

“ The Lord hath made bare his holy arm, in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. Isaiah lii. 10.
11. When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained. Psalms viii. 3.
12. And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God. Exod. xxxi. 18. ”