BY MARILLA M. RICKER DONE INTO A PRINTED BOOK BY THE ROYCROFTERS AT THEIR SHOPS, WHICH ARE IN EAST AURORA, NEW YORK MCMXVI Copyright, 1916 By Marilla M. Ricker You are what you think, and to believe in a Hell for other people is literally to go to Hell yourself.— Elbert Hubbard. A religious man is a man scared....

There is in the city of Boston a memorial building to Thomas Paine. This Paine Memorial was finished and dedicated forty-two years ago. It is the finest monument to Thomas Paine on the earth. For twenty years Ralph Washburn Chainey has been the Manager of this building and the Treasurer of the Paine Memorial Corporation. Under his wise and prudent management the building was freed from debt, and today it is a monument to the energy and devotion of its Manager as much as to the genius and labors

Any system of religion that shocks the mind of a child can not be a true system.— Thomas Paine. Hell is a place invented by priests and parsons for the sake of being supported. This is my doctrine: Give every other human being every right you claim for yourself. Keep your mind open to the influences of Nature. Receive new thoughts with hospitality. Let us advance. The man who does not do his own thinking is a slave, and is a traitor to himself and to his fellowmen. As far as I am concerned, I wi

The ignorance of the masses insures abundant contributions to the clergy and to religion.— Ralph W. Chainey. The mother who teaches her child to pray makes a mistake. Fear paralyzes the brain. Progress is born of courage. Fear believes—courage doubts. Fear falls upon the earth and prays—courage stands erect and thinks. Fear retreats—courage advances. Fear is barbarism—courage is civilization. Fear believes in witchcraft, in devils and in ghosts. Fear is religion—courage is science. There are rea

( From the Portsmouth "Times" ) I was amused when I read in the Portsmouth Times an article from my friend Metcalf, entitled, A Labor of Folly . The genial Henry said I was a lifelong advocate of "woman's rights," which is true. And an admirer of Ingersoll. Could any one help admire that great and good man? And a worshiper of Thomas Paine. Worship is rather a strong word to apply to me, but I think the man who said, "The world is my country, and to do good my religion," and who did more than any

The destruction of religions and superstition means the upbuilding of charity and ethics.— Ralph W. Chainey. Superstition is nothing but a misplaced fear of some fancied supernatural phantasm of divinity....

All that is good in our civilization is the result of commerce, climate, soil, geographical position, industry, invention, discovery, art and science. The Church has been the enemy of progress, for the reason that it has endeavored to prevent man from thinking for himself. To prevent thought is to prevent all advancement except in the direction of faith. — Robert Ingersoll....

We need no myths, no miracles, no gods, no devils.— Robert Ingersoll. The world is my country and to do good is my religion.— Thomas Paine. The presence of a hypocrite is a sure indication that there is a Bible and a prayer-book not very far away. COLONEL ROBERT G. INGERSOLL T is difficult to sketch this many-sided man. He was full of pity and sympathy for the poor and unfortunate. He was great enough to applaud the good, and good enough to forgive the erring. He could charm a child with his spe

The entire New Testament is the work of Catholic Churchmen.— Lemuel K. Washburn. God is not a fact; nothing that can be seen, heard or felt; nothing that can be found out or in. God is a verbal content. MARK TWAIN'S BEST THOUGHT HE best thing Mark Twain ever said was, "I should like to see the ballot in the hands of every woman." Freethinkers should also remember him with gratitude; he said enough from our point of view to warrant that. "Give me my glasses," were his last words. It will be but a

Religion is inherited fear.— Lemuel K. Washburn. In my opinion a steeple is no more to be excluded from taxation than a smokestack. Faith is the cross on which man crucifies his liberty. AN IRRELIGIOUS DISCOURSE E are living in the Twentieth Century of what is called the Christian Era, and we have not outgrown the superstitions of the First Century. And worse than this, we have not had the courage to abandon the fictions of the Book of Genesis for the truths of modern science. Just what the worl

Nature has no need of a Holy Ghost.— Lemuel K. Washburn. All progress has been due to the Devil. He was the first investigator.— Ingersoll. God takes care of the weed. Man must take care of the corn. DECAY OF CHRISTIAN MORALITY HERE is a great deal of exaggerated rhetoric employed in praising what is called "Christian Morality." I have examined with considerable care everything that may justly come within the meaning of this expression, and I am bound to say, out of respect for the truth, that s

Born Jan 29, 1737. Friend and adviser of Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Monroe, etc., etc. Author of Common Sense , The Crisis , Rights of Man , and The Age of Reason ; Editor of Pennsylvania Magazine ; Enlisted in Continental Army; appointed Aide-de-Camp to General Nathaniel Greene; Secretary of Committee on Foreign Affairs, Congress and Pennsylvania Assembly; By his writings did more for the American cause in the Revolution than any other one person; First proposed American Independence; Fir