p. 9 | JEFFERSON'S BIBLE by G.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 30, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 31.

“JEFFERSON'S BIBLE.”

By G.

On May 8 the House of Representatives in Congress adopted a resolution authorizing the printing at public expense of 9,000 copies of “Jefferson's Bible.” The full title of the work is “The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, Extracted Textually from the Gospels in Greek, Latin, French, and English.” It was explained that Congress had previously authorized the publication of all the works of Thomas Jefferson, except this one, which had evidently been overlooked, and it was not expected that there would be any serious opposition to the proposition. But the announcement of the action of the house called forth vigorous protests from various religious sources. For the most part the basis of opposition was the fact that Jefferson was a Deist, and not a Christian, and that his compilation omits all reference to the divinity or supernatural attributes of Jesus. The Jewish Exponent, however, took the ground that the publication of the book was “outside the province of the national government, and likely to do violence to the religious sentiments of many people.”

Of the professed Christian opposition, the Catholic Union and Times asks the question, “Does the government mean to adopt free-thought as the national religion?” To this we might reply that free thought is the national polity (not religion) as expressed in the Constitution. The Christian Intelligencer declares the proposed action “a needless waste of money.” Rev. Charles W. Nevin, in the Philadelphia Press, objects on the ground that the publication is said to advocate certain views commonly called infidel, and that “the dissemination of these would be a direct, public, and powerful attack upon the religion of Christians everywhere.”

Now we do not advocate the publication of “Jefferson's Bible” by the government, or by any other authority, for that matter; but, from the standpoint of a professedly free government, we ask, Would it be any worse to thus theoretically “attack the religion of Christians” than to practically attack the liberty of all classes by laws compelling them to observe Sunday? Most of the outspoken opponents of this Congressional resolution are advocates of the latter proposition. This question is all the more pertinent because it is said that in view of this class of objections, further action on the resolution was abandoned, the House recalling it from the Senate.

Another feature of the case is that private parties desire to publish the book, and the extraordinary advertising it has received through protests to Congress is greatly increasing the demand for it. So it is likely to receive a far more extensive circulation, and be far more widely read, than if issued by Congress. In the latter case, the 9,000 copies would be distributed in public libraries, and that would virtually be the end of it. However, it is not probable that “Jefferson's Bible” will ever be read with any other purpose than curiosity. People who do not want Jesus will not read the book to learn of Him;

and those who are really seeking to know Him will not be satisfied with anything less than the whole story.