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THE CURSE OF MY EARLY LIFE.
By AN EMANCIPATED SLAVE.
PUBLISHED BY THOMAS SCOTT,
NO. 11, THE TERRACE, FARQUHAR ROAD,
UPPER NORWOOD, LONDON, S.E.
1 87 6.
Price Threepence.
��THE CURSE OF MY EARLY LIFE.
HE curse of my early life was religious superstition,
and I
for many
and
Tnights of hold it accountable for years of days health,
unnecessary terror,
bad
which had a lasting effect upon my constitution, for
hundreds of lost joys, for a deleterious exercise of mor
bid thought and feeling, for an irreparable waste of
misdirected effort, and for an irrecoverable forfeiture of
advantages and opportunities. In reviewing the his
tory of an individual or of a nation, it is of course
impossible to affirm with certainty what results would
have been produced if causes and influences had been
different; hut I know that I should have been happier,
and I believe that I should have been better and more
useful, if I had been brought up as a child of “ the
world,” than I have been under the training of ortho
dox Christianity. I cannot, therefore, repress a feeling
of bitter resentment against the system that kept me
so long in hopeless bondage. I owe it no generous
consideration, for it showed me none. It trampled
ruthlessly upon my finest feelings and my best
impulses ; it repressed all useful ambition in me ; and
it warped and cramped my energies and my whole
being. Entirely and for ever freed from its tyranny,
my only duty in connection with it is to do the
little that I can do to' effect the enfranchisement of
those who still remain in bondage to it. Perhaps a
brief sketch of my religious history may have some
influence in this direction. It may provoke the spirit
�4
The Curse of my Early Life.
of inquiry, that generally leads to freedom, amongst
those who suffer as I suffered, and it should at least
warn parents of the danger of flaunting the terrors of
religion before the keen sight and excitable imagination
of their young children.
At a very early age I was indoctrinated with the
mysteries and the horrors of the fashionable religion of
my time and country. I cannot remember when I did
not regard the Supreme Being as an awful Judge and
almighty Avenger, from whose eternal resentment there
seemed to me but a very small chance of escape for a
naughty little boy. It is true that I was told that, by
being washed in the blood of Christ, I should be made
clean and acceptable to God; but I could not in the
least understand the process, and consequently I felt
no confidence whatever in being so fortunate as to pass
through it. But although I felt no confidence, I was
glad to catch at this mysterious straw as my only
chance of salvation, as a trifling but suggestive incident
of my very early childhood will show. I distinctly
remember as if it had been yesterday, although I think
I could not have been more than six years old at the
time, that on a certain Sunday afternoon I was giving
free vent to my superfluous energy in various antics
upon a featherbed that for some reason had been placed
upon the floor of the nursery. Suddenly the awful
thought occurred to me—it was a genuine awakening
of conscience—that I was guilty of the heinous sin of
Sabbath-breaking. Bor one moment I was paralysed
with fear, but in the next I joyfully exclaimed—“ Oh!
never mind; the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from
all sin;” and I toppled heels over head again on the
featherbed.
Of course my childish ideas of the Supreme Being
were extremely — almost ridiculously— anthropomor
phic, and in describing them it is not easy to avoid the
appearance of irreverence. It must be borne in mind,
however, that the God of my childhood is no God to me
�The Curse of my Early Elfe.
5
now, and that therefore I owe him no more reverence
than I owe to any other false deity. Once I dreamed
that this awful being appeared to me in person,
advancing towards me down our garden path. In my
terror I awoke before I knew the occasion of the awful
visitation. But what chiefly impressed me, and indeed
coloured my imagination for many years, was that this
God of my dream appeared in the form and likeness of
the keeper of the subscription gardens of the town in
which I lived. This man was tall and of a stately
bearing, and his aspect to me was not unfrequently
one of great sternness; for I often incurred his displea
sure by heedlessly running over his flowerbeds, as the
paramount exigencies of hide-and-seek or hunt-the-hare
impelled me, and, I must confess, by sometimes pluck
ing his fruit in moments of strong temptation. He
was regarded with great fear by all the juvenile fre
quenters of the gardens, one and all little depredators
like myself. My conscience always sharply reproved
me after I had yielded to the temptation of picking an
apple which hung too invitingly within my reach, and
I looked upon the keeper of the gardens as one who
had a right to judge me severely. Hence it was that
his image was represented in my dream, and, strange
as it may seem, for many years afterwards the idea of
God was inseparably connected in my mind with that
image.
I do not think that my parents distressed me much
with the teaching of the dreadful faith which they
thought they were bound to believe. They were
religious, but not “ unco guid.” They were too wise
and too kind to have thrust the horrors of their religion
very prominently upon the minds of their children,
although they felt it to be their duty to teach us what
they believed to be the religion of the Bible. But who
knows where children pick up their religious ideas ?
Perhaps from servants, or from other children, or from
their reading, or rather from all these. Happily in the
�6
The Curse of my Early Life.
case of most healthy children the doctrines of orthodoxy
take no great hold upon them, so strong is the revul
sion of human nature against such morbid abominations.
But weak and nervous children, and even some strong
ones whose imaginations are peculiarly active, feel
these doctrines much more keenly than the generality
even of religious grown-up people. To these such a
religion is a curse, as it was to me. Not that in my
childhood I brooded continuously over the thoughts of
death and hell: my temperament was too hopeful for
that. In the daylight, or when amongst friends or
playfellows, I was one of the merriest. It was only at
night, or when listening to some horrible “ sermon to
the young,” that “ the fears of hell gat hold upon me.”
Then the anguish was often great, far more acute than
any that I have since experienced. Many a night,
when sleep refused to come to me, have I knelt up in
my little bed tearfully praying that in God’s infinite
mercy I might not “ awake and find myself in hell”—a
charming phrase that I had learned from our Book of
Family Prayers ; and intense was the feeling of relief
when next morning I awoke to find myself alive and
in the world. I do not know whether many children
suffer as keenly as I did from the horrors of religion.
No one knows what young people do suffer in this way.
Children are extremely reserved in such matters, and I
have no reason to suppose that my experience has been
very peculiar. Thousands of children are as nervous
and imaginative as I was, and are at the same time far
more rigorously drilled in doctrinal religion. I suppose,
therefore, that such children silently endure, as I did,
mental agonies that their friends have no idea of. But
what comfort could their friends give them if they
knew of their sufferings ? The only permanent relief
is that which is derived from unbelief, and that their
orthodox friends cannot supply. At the best they can
only endeavour to divert attention, and to occupy the
mind in other directions, or to place the hopes of their
�■™>l—
The Curse of my Early Life.
y
faith, in the strongest lights; hut the first of these
remedies can have no lasting effect, unless it he ex
tended to the inculcation of indifference, and the second
cannot satisfy a keen and logical mind.
I have said that my parents, although religious, were
not 11 unco guid.” But of course they deemed it neces
sary to “ keep the Sabbath,” and that their children
should keep it too. Thus on the first day of every
week all toys were carefully put away, and all story
books of a secular character. In this latter respect it
was not always easy to draw the line to a nicety, and
we young ones sometimes got the benefit of the doubt. I
remember that, as far as the scruples of my own conscience
were concerned, I was quite satisfied that a book was a
“ Sundaybook’’ if I could see the word “ God” once or
twice in every half-dozen pages. In those days there was
very little of the entertaining Sunday magazine litera
ture that now so cheerfully lightens the gloom of the
Christian Sabbath. The lives and happy despatches of
precociously pious infants were then in great favour
amongst parents. This was not very cheerful reading;
for, apart from the depressing fact that these infant
phenomena invariably died very young, their super
natural saintliness was perfectly exasperating. As for
the large family Bible, although its numerous pictures
somewhat secularized it in my estimation, there was
something awful about it as the very fountain of all that
was most gloomy in my life and in my ideas of a future
existence. Besides this, it was extremely painful to
me to allow my thoughts to dwell on the brutal tales
of the Old Testament. The picture of the little chil
dren being devoured by bears roused in me any but
what would have been supposed to be correct feelings.
My indignation against Elisha was very bitter, and I
dared not let myself think about God’s responsibility,
as the supposed sender of the bears, for a punishment
so glaringly incommensurable with the sin of the suf
ferers. The story of the destruction of Korah, Dathan,
i
�8
The Curse of my Early Life.
and Abiram, with their friends and families, for what
was simply in their minds an act of civil rebellion, was
even more horrible, if possible, and I could hardly
repress the rebellious thought that God and Moses
were the chief culprits in this terrible episode of
Hebrew history. Similarly, in the atrocities committed
against the Canaanites, my sympathies were uncon
trollably with the invaded people, and against the rob
bers and murderers led by Moses and Joshua under the
supposed direction of their cruel and unscrupulous God.
So the Old Testament by turns terrified and disgusted
me, and I hardly ever read it except as a class book.
To the New Testament I turned with some sense of
relief, but that was not without its awful mysteries and
perplexing difficulties. On the whole, then, my Sun
day reading was painful rather than pleasurable to me,
and at the same time unprofitable. Whatever influence
it had upon me was of a morbid nature, as indeed was
that of the whole religious system of which it was a
part. How I hated the “ sacred day,” though I dared
not admit as much even to myself. “ Thou shalt not
be happy on the Sabbath,” is the law that strict Chris
tian parents promulgate against their unfortunate chil
dren. Many of my youthful companions were not even
allowed to take a walk on that day, except to church
or chapel and home again. My brothers and sisters
and myself were not under this monstrous prohibition,
but although we might go for a walk, running, as par
taking of the nature of playing, was forbidden.
Children sometimes adopt very ingenious expedients
to escape from the galling trammels of Sabbatarianism,
and one of the most amusing that I can call to mind
was related of some acquaintances of ours. These
young people had, it seems, so far forgotten themselves
as to indulge in a game of hide-and-seek on a Sunday.
Their cries of “ whoop ” soon brought their mother up to
reprove them. For a time all was quiet in the nur
sery ; but soon the inmates of the parlour were astonished
�The Curse of my Early Life.
9
by hearing loud calls of “ Glory,” and on going to in
quire into the cause of this apparent enthusiasm they
found that the game of hide-and-seek was still going on,
after having been sanctified, as the children fondly
hoped, by the substitution of a quasi-religious for a
secular call.
But irksome as Sabbatarianism was to me, it was an
essential part of my religion, and I no more thought of
questioning its divine origin than I thought of doubt
ing the inspiration of the Bible. So sacred was the
day in my estimation, that I can remember being very
much shocked by what seemed to me a lapse in its
proper observance on the part of my parents. This
consisted in sending to an inn for beer on Sunday,
when staying at the sea-side. At home we had beer
in casks, and I thought it no sin to have it drawn; but
to purchase it on Sunday seemed to me a very dif
ferent thing, and I thought it should have been pro
cured in a bottle on Saturday evening. How many
parents there are who prohibit innocent recreation to
their children on Sunday, and yet do not hesitate to
encourage Sunday trading rather than not have their
ale fresh from the cask !
Before the iron of an unnatural faith had entered
into my soul, I was accustomed to resist tyranny and
wanton aggression as English boys are in the habit of
resisting it. But after a time I came to see that Jesus
distinctly inculcated the doctrine of non-resistance, and
I felt that it was sinful to fight. With a keen sense
of injustice and a burning hatred of oppression in any
form, this Christian lesson was a very hard one for me
to learn. I never did learn it with the perfectness that
would have involved the turning of “ the other cheek”
when a blow had been struck—my blood was too hot
for that—but I submitted to a great deal of insult, and
got an undeserved reputation for meanness and cowar
dice in obedience to what I held to be a divine com
mand. I have often thought since, that if I had my
f
�io
The Curse of my Early Life.
school life to live over again, some of the bullies who
perpetrated cowardly cruelties upon little boys should feel
the strength of my arm. Tn schools, an immense amount
of wrong-doing passes quite unnoticed by the authori
ties, so that if the boys do not protect themselves and
their fellows against bullies and oppressors, the immoral
doctrine of the immunity of criminals is virtually incul
cated with the most mischievous consequences to all
concerned. In after-life there is less need for indi
viduals to protect themselves against wrong, because the
strong arm of the law is in most cases a sufficient pro
tection ; but until something of the nature of a Court
of Justice is established in every large school, boys, and
girls too to a less extent, must take the law into their
own hands. At present tale-bearing, that is, evidence
of alleged wrongs, is discouraged both by masters and
by public opinion, and the small and timid boy, who
has no protector amongst his schoolfellows, commonly
suffers under a harassing tyranny that has nothing to
equal it in later life. I hold it to be not only not a
virtue to submit to wrong, but a crime to allow wrong
doing to triumph—a crime not only against ourselves
or any other victims whom we have the power to pro
tect, but also against the evil doers themselves, by the
encouragement that is thus given to an uncontrolled
indulgence of their tempers and all the most brutal
propensities of their nature.
It is astonishing to how small an extent the religious
faith of most people is really a part of their very selves,
permeating their whole life and conduct. For the most
part men’s religion is something which wraps them round
indeed, but does not enter into them. It is more like
a straight waistcoat constraining them from without
than a vital principle directing them from within. This
is because the vast majority of people have their re
ligion put on them in their childhood, when they are
incapable of analysing and comprehending it. As they
get older they continue to wear it, become attached to
�The Curse of my Early Life.
11
it, and would feel sadly at a loss without it. They are
discouraged from all attempts towards an independent
examination of it, and the business, cares, and pleasures
of life distract their attention from it. In nine cases
out of ten they are well contented to have their religious
thinking done for them instead of by them. The great
authority of fashion, and a commendable reverence
towards parents and teachers, keep them in the groove
that has been cut for them. They go through life,
perhaps, without ever intelligently comprehending
what it is that they profess to believe. So true is this,
that if a preacher not suspected of heresy were to intro
duce the most unorthodox doctrines in his sermon,
nine-tenths of any ordinary congregation would fail to
find him out. It is within my own knowledge that
the most distinct heresy has been preached to orthodox
congregations without any protest being made, and
that on the next Sunday doctrines diametrically opposed
to that heresy have been received with the like tacit
consent. Thus it is that the religion of an ordinary
person has but little effect upon his daily life, and upon
any opinions which he may form for himself. If all
Christians were logical and consistent, the “peace-atany-price” party would not be merely a small minority
of the nation. All Christians would be Quakers, at
least as far as the peace principles of that sect are con
cerned. In other respects they would be more like
Ranters than Quakers. Moody and Sankey would
produce no sensation, for the ordinary Christian
would be a revivalist, with hardly a thought beyond
“ spending and being spent” in saving souls from the
perdition to which the vast majority of mankind are
said to be' hastening.
The indifference of the good people around me was a
great puzzle to me in my later youth and early manhood.
How could they sit indulgently over their fruit and
wine on Sunday afternoons when thousands of souls
were perishing around them ? How could they be
�12
The Curse of my Early Life.
entirely absorbed in business throughout the week,
leaving it to professional soul-savers to do all the work
which they were quite competent to take part in ? How
could they spend their money on expensive luxuries
and frivolous pleasures when churches and chapels
required to be built, and Bibles and religious tracts
might be spread broadcast over the world ? Why was
not every professed Christian, according to his or her
ability, an active evangelist, a snatcher of brands from
the burning ? As for me, I dared not eat, drink, and
be merry, as if this world were something better than
a vale of tears, a scene of probation, a mere training
ground for heaven or hell. A word spoken, a tract
given, a chapter of the Bible read, or a prayer uttered,
might bring some indifferent child of the world to a
sense of his need of Christ, and thus through God’s
blessing be the means of saving him from the wrath to
come. What then if, through my want of zeal, that
soul were lost to all eternity 1 What an awful responsi
bility 1 How utterly worthless, how contemptibly
insignificant by comparison, was all else but the work
of leading my fellow-meD out of the broad road that
leads to destruction into the narrow path that leads to
eternal life. If I met or overtook anyone in the fields
or quiet country roads, might not a few words well
chosen cause him to think of his lost condition, and
thus lead to his salvation ? and if I neglected to say
these few words, might not his everlasting damnation
be upon my head ? No matter if it were an imperti
nence to thrust my counsels thus upon him; let not
mere politeness stand in the way of saving souls. In
the busy streets such a course of proceeding was not
always practicable, but there tracts might be given.
Who could tell the effect of a single tract read in quiet 1
It might convert a worldly man, and he in his turn
might be the means of converting hundreds of others.
My pocket-money at that time was very limited, but I
never spent a penny in self-indulgence without a twinge
�of conscience. Would not that penny have bought a
tract, and perhaps have saved a soul 1 How terrible if
through my indulgence a fellow-creature should suffer
eternal death ! If I purchased any fruit, I did so with the
excuse that it was necessary to my health. That I must
preserve in order that I might do God’s work ; but to
spend money in mere indulgences was a crime. From
seven in the morning till eight in the evening my time
was not at my own disposal, except on Sunday. But
whatever time was my own I was bound to use in
God’s service, which, according to my conception, con
sisted almost solely in saving His creatures from the
doom to which He had consigned them. Study to fit
me better to do this work was, of course, not only
allowable but a duty. Out-door exercise was also to
be permitted on the score of health. But all mere
pleasures were a waste of precious time. Should I
attend a concert when I might be distributing tracts,
reading the Bible in some low lodging-house, or assist
ing some amateur preacher at a cottage meeting? I
was fond of music, and had some little taste for it; but
what time was there for the cultivation of my tastes
when souls were perishing around me ? Thus my
religious fervour warped and narrowed my nature, and
I became morbid, prejudiced, and uncharitable. I
lost sympathy with friends who were of the world
worldly, or at least less zealous than myself in the only
work that seemed to me to be 'much worth doing..
Even philanthropic effort, that had only to do with
men’s temporal comfort or happiness, I regarded as
insignificant by comparison; for what did it matter
how men spent their brief span of fife here when an
eternity of bliss or torment was hanging in the balance ?
The “ one thing needful” rendered all else compara
tively trivial and unworthy of pursuit.
These views of mine were, no doubt, extreme, but
they were only consistent with my faith as an orthodox
Christian. Strongly as I now contemn them, and the
�14
The Curse of my Early Life.
course of action which, resulted from them, I still hold
that, given the truth of my premises, my conclusions
were unavoidable, and my conduct imperative.
But, firmly convinced as I was of my duty, and
bitterly as my conscience condemned me when I
shrank from its performance, my nature rebelled
against my faith and what it led me to do. Well may
the orthodox inveigh against the “ natural man,” for
human nature is, happily, utterly at enmity with their
morbid creed. A great deal of my work I did, there
fore, with suppressed loathing. It was very painful
to me to thrust myself upon those whom I desired to
“ convert,” either by conversing with them, reading to
them, or giving them tracts. At the conversing I was
never good, and in leaving that branch of the work as
far as possible to more eloquent and less delicate asso
ciates, I comforted myself with thinking that they were
better suited to it than I was, and that I could be more
useful in 'other ways. It was an immense relief to me
when I took to contributing to the religious periodicals,
for then I thought I had found my true vocation, and
could with a clear conscience devote my spare time
almost exclusively to it. But in order to write I
found it requisite to read more and to think more, and
reading and thinking are deadly foes to orthodox
Christianity. I soon began to “weed” the tracts which
I still distributed, occasionally burning those which
revolted me by their coarseness, or shocked me by their
impiously assumed familiarity with the unrevealed
secrets of a future life. The leaven of free-thought had
begun to work in me.
There is a period in the history of nearly every
thoughtful person who has been brought up under the
influence of orthodox Christianity, when the revulsion
of feeling against the religion of his youth is- almost
too strong for endurance. For an enlightened English
man of the nineteenth century to believe in the barbar
ous god of a barbarous people is an anomaly that can
�The Curse of my Early Life.
J5
only be preserved at the cost of great violence done to
his moral and intellectual nature. His ideal god would
he so infinitely superior to the ideal god of an Israelite
of the time of even the latest of the Old Testament
writers, that the acceptance of the latter must involve
a great sacrifice, and it can only be from haziness of
thought, or insincerity of profession, that he can
voluntarily accept the lower and reject the higher
ideal. I say voluntarily, because although he may be
distinctly conscious that the God of the Israelites is a
less perfect deity than even his own poor faculties enable
him to conceive, he may yet be so completely a slave
to the dogma of the inspiration of the Bible, as to feel
bound to accept and worship this inferior deity, impos
sible as it may be to love him. In such a case, if he
dared to let his mind have free play, and to put his
thoughts into words, he would say:—“ This is the
Almighty God as pourtrayed in His own word, and
faulty as He seems to me to be, He has the power to
send me to hell if I do not worship Him.” From such
a terrible confession orthodox people usually escape by
repressing all thought on the subject, and accepting
their belief ready made. In a true sense this is not
belief at all, but only undiscriminating acquiescence.
Intelligent belief in two such contradictory present
ments as the God of Joshua and the God of Jesus is
simply impossible ; yet orthodox Christians profess to
believe in both.
In degrading bondage to this monstrous dogma of
biblical inspiration I laboured long and painfully, and
slow and painful too was my emancipation. Of course
I felt no genuine love towards the instigator of whole
sale murder and the vindictive inventor and preserver
of an everlasting hell. Like most other Christians I
feared God, and loved Christ. But I wanted to love
God, and would have given anything to have been able
to think better of Him! Great, then, was my joy
when I first saw the scriptural authority of the dogma
�16
The Curse of my Early Life.
of everlasting punishment called in question. At that
time I should have rejected the denial of the dogma on
any other ground than that it was unscriptural. By a
studious collation of texts from the New Testament I
became convinced that, judged only by the plain sense
of the English version, there were at least as many pas
sages against as for the doctrine; and, that being the case,
I was glad to accept the teaching of those learned men
who disputed the accuracy of the translation of aluviov
into everlasting. Eagerly did I read the works of the brave
Robertson, the once brave Kingsley, and that chained
eagle of deep and free thought, F. D. Maurice. Of these
writers Robertson gave me by far the greatest satisfac
tion, the two others leaving me under a strong im
pression that they withheld themselves from a full con
fession of their opinions. But, unsatisfied as they left
me, I owe them much for the encouragement to inde
pendent thought and inquiry which a study of their
books afforded me at a critical period of my religious
history. George Combe introduced me to the new
world of natural religion, and superficial as I now
regard many of his conclusions, his “ Constitution of
Man ” was like a new gospel to me. Eagerly pursuing
my course of inquiry, I read at intervals John Stuart
Mill, Theodore Parker, F. W. Newman, Frances Power
Cobbe, the “Essays and Reviews,” Colenso, and a
great deal that I have a less distinct remembrance of.
Step by step free thought advanced upon me, my
old faith retreating, though fighting till the last..
Butler and Paley, Hamilton and Mansel, stimulated
instead of setting at rest my increasing doubts. My
emancipation was slow in its progress, but all the more
complete at last. By the time that I first was intro
duced to “ The Sling and Stone,” I was in a fit state
to enjoy its bold and uncompromising championship of
religious freedom. I considered these sermons, and
some of Mr Scott’s excellent series of pamphlets, to be
admirably suited to awaken thought in the minds of my
�The Curse of my Early Life.
17
old religious associates, and so, using the post-office as
my agency, I was still able to keep up to some extent
my old habit of tract distributing. Rejoicing as I did
with a great joy in my emancipation from the old
slavery, should I not do my utmost to lead my former
fellow slaves to the like freedom ? But my efforts, as
might have been expected, were frequently rejected
with horror, and many a stem reproof and imploring
appeal did I receive in return. In some cases it
happened that those who at first all but cursed me,
came in after years to rejoice with me in a common
freedom from our old bondage; but the majority
utterly refused to examine the evidences of their faith,
as is the custom with the bigoted, and either mourned
for me as for a lost sheep, or denounced me as an
infidel.
In the early years of what I regard as my true
“conversion,” the usual persecution of free-thinkers
was rampant and bitter. It has by no means yet
subsided j but now that free thought is permeating the
mass of educated people, the very number of the
heretics renders them respectable, and their would-be
oppressors have to moderate their religious rancour.
There is, therefore, less excuse now than ever for that
very numerous class of people who, although they have
lost all sympathy with orthodox Christianity, still
ostensibly cling to it, and, Sunday after Sunday, bow
their heads in the Temple of Rimmon.
TURNBULL AND SPEARS, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH
��..
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....tUP-. ■
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INDEX TO ME SCOTT’S PUBLICATIONS,
The following Pamphlets and Papers may be had on addressing
a letter enclosing the price in postage stamps to Mr THOMAS
SCOTT, No. 11, The Terrace, Farquhar Road, Upper Norwood,
London, S.E.
Price
s. d.
ABBOTT, FRANCIS E., Editor of ‘ Index,’Toledo, Ohio, U.S.A.
. The Impeachment of Christianity. With Letters from Miss F. P. Cobbe and
Prof. F. W. Newman, giving their reasons for not calling themselves Christians 0 3
Truths for the Times
-03
ANONYMOUS. A Plain Statement, -- 0 3
Address on the Necessity of Free Inquiry and Plain Speaking,
- 0 3
An Interior,
•
-06
A. I. Conversations. By a Woman, for Women. Parts I., II., and III., 6d. each 1 6
Christianity in a New Light, -04
Clerical “ Pooh Pooh !” Rhetoric, 0 3
Convent Experiences,
- 0 9
Creed of a Secularist,
------03
Hell,
------ 0 3
A Few Self-Contradictions of the Bible -10
Euthanasia,
----0 3
Genealogies, -06
Grace,
-06
1REN2EUS: A Leaf of Primitive Church History Corrected and Re-written, 0 3
Modern Orthodoxy and Modern Liberalism
- 0 4
Modern Protestantism. By the Author of “The Philosophy of Necessity.”
- 0 6
Nine Years a Curate -03
One Hundred and One Questions to which the Orthodox, &c. Per dozen
- 1 0
Natural Religion, versus Revealed Religion
- 0 4
On Eternal Torture -06
On the Deity of Jesus. Parts I. and IL, 6d. each Part - 1 6
On the Atonement
- 0 «
On Public Worship
_
- 0 6
On Inspiration ---0 6
On the Mediation and Salvation of Ecclesiastical Christianity
-04
On Prater,
-----.
03
Our First Century
_--06
Our Insincerity,
------.03
Primitive Church History
--.-09
Religious. Ignorance, -----03
Sacred History as a Branch of Elementary Education. Pts. I. & II., 6d each 1 o
The Beauties of the Prayer-Book. Parts I. and II., 6d each Part
- 1 0
The Church and its Reform. A Reprint -10
The Church of England Catechism a
- 0 6
The “ Confounded ” Convert
-09
The Ultimate Authority in Matters of Faith
' -03
The Opinions of Professor David F. Strauss
- 0 6
The Serpent in Mythology. In^Two Parts, 6d. each Part,
10
The Twelve Apostles
-’-’
-0 6
Via Catholica; or, Passages from the Autobiography of a Country Parson
Parts I., II., and III., Is. 3d. each Part
- 3 9
What is Truth ?
---03
“Which Things are an Allegory? ”
- 0 3
AN EX-CLERGYMAN.
What is the Church of England ? A Question for the Age.
- 0 6
BARRISTER, A. Notes on Bishop Magee's Pleadings for Christ
- 0 6
Orthodox Theories of Prayer
-03
BASTARD, THOMAS HORLOCK. Scepticism and Social Justice
- 0 3
BENEFIOED CLERGYMAN OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.
The Chronological Weakness of Prophetic Interpretation -1-0
The Evangelist and the Divine -10
The Gospel of the Kingdom - 0 6
BENTHAM, JEREMY. The Church of England Catechism Examined. Reprint 1 (>
BERNSTEIN, A.
Origin of the Legends of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob Critically Examined 1 0
BRAY, CHARLES.
Illusion and Delusion; or Modern Pantheism wstzs Spiritualism,
- 0 6
The Reign of Law in Mind as in Matter. Parts I. and II., 6d each Part
- 1 0
Toleration: with Some Remarks on Professor Tyndall’s Address at Belfast,
- 0 6
Christianity: Viewed in the T.iwht nt
Prooon,
o™— a n
�List of Publications—continued.
BROOK, W. 0. CARR. Reason versus Authority
BROWN, GAMALIEL. The NewDoxology
‘
-
s. A
- 0 3
- 0 8
An Appeal to the Preachers of all the Creeds .06
CANTAB. A. Jesus versus Christianity
-06
.CLARK, W. G., M.A., Vice-Master of Trinity College, Cambridge.
A Review of a Pamphlet, entitled, “The Present Dangers of the Church of
England” - 0 6
CLERGYMAN OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.
An examination of Liddon’s Bampton Lecture
...
- 0 6
Dr Farrar’s “ Life of Christ.” A Letter to Thomas Scott
- 0 6
Letter and Spirit
.
■
-06
The Question of Method, as affecting Religious Thought -03
Rational Piety and Praybrs for Fair Weather - 0 3
Spiritual Gambling; or, The Calculation of Probabilities in Religion,
- 0 6
CONWAY, MONCURE, D. Consequences -03
The Spiritual Serfdom of the Laity. With Portrait
- 0 6
The Voysey Case
-06
COUNTRY PARSON, A
The Thirty-Nine Articles and the Creeds,—Their Sense and their Non-Sense.
Parts I., II., and III. 6d. each Part
-16
COUNTRY VICAR, A.
Criticism the Restoration of Christianity. Review of a paper by Dr Lang 0 6
CRANBROOK, The late Rev. JAMES.
Human Depravity
-------03
On the Existence of Evil
-03
On the Formation of Religious Opinions - 0 3
On the Hindrances to Progress in Theology
- 0 3
The Tendencies of ModernReligiousThought
- 0 3
God’s Method of Government,
- 0 3
On Responsibility,
--,
- 0 3
Positive Religion—Four Lectures, 3d. each
- 1 0
DEAN, PETER. The Impossibility of knowing what is Christianity - 0 3
DENYS, Sir GEORGE WILLIAM, Bart. Disestablishment or Reform
- 0 4
The Chaldean Account of Genesis,
- 0 4
DIDEROT, From the French of, by E. N. A Philosophical Conversation - 0 6
Dr CARPENTER at Sion College ; or
The View of Miracles Taken by Men of Science
0 6
DOMVILLE, Wm. HENRY.
The Rights and Duties of Parents in regard of their Children’s Belief
- 0 3
DUBLIN DIVINITY STUDENT—Christianity and its Evidences—No. I. -06
DUPUIS. Christianity a form of the great Solar Myth - 0 9
EMANCIPATED SLAVE. The Curse of my Early Life - 0 3
F. H. I. Spiritual Pantheism "
"
“
-06
FOREIGN CHAPLAIN.
The Efficacy of Prayer, a Letter to Thomas Scott
- 0 3
Everlasting Punishment. A Letter to Thomas Scott,
- 0 6
FORMER ELDER IN A SCOTCH CHURCH. On Religion
- 0 6
GELDART, Rev E. M. The Living God.............................................................. 06
GLENNIE, J. STUART, M.A. The Christian Character of Osirianism
- 0 4
GRAHAM, A. D. On Faith
-................................................... 03
Cruelty and Christianity : A Lecture,
•0 6
HANSON, Sir R. D., Chief-Justice of South Australia.
Science and Theology
-04
HARE, TheRight Rev FRANCIS, D.D., formerly Lord Bishop of Chichester.
Difficulties and Discouragements which attend the Study of the Scriptures 0 6
HENNELL, SARA S.
On The Need of Dogmas in Religion. A letter to Thos. Scott
- 0 6.
HINDS, SAMUEL, D.D., late Bishop of Norwich.
-
to the Question, “ What have we got to Rely on, if we
CANNOT RELY ON THE BIBLE
■ -06
to the-Question, “Apart from Supernatural Revelation, What
is the Prospect of Man’s Living after Death
-06
A Reply to the Question—“Shall I seek Ordination in the Church of
England ?”
-06
The Nature and Origin of Evil. A Letter to a Friend
- 0 6
Another Reply
A Reply
HOPPS, Rev J. PAGE.
Thirty-nine Questions on the Thirty-nine Articles. With Portrait
- 0 3
HUME, DAVID.
Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. Parts I. and II. Is. each Part
HUTCHISON, THOMAS DANCER—The Free-Will Controversy, -
-20
o g
�List of Publications—continued.
s. d
JEVONS, WILLIAM.
The Book
of
Common Prayer Examined in
Parts I. and II. 6d. each Part
-
the
-
Light of the Present Age.
-
-
-
-
-10
Claims of Christianity to the Character of a Divine Revelation, Considered 0 6
The Prayer Book Adapted to the Age
-03
KALISCH, M. Ph.D.,
Theology of the Past and the Future. Reprinted from Part I. of his Commen
tary cn Leviticus. With Portrait ----10
KIRKMAN. The Rev THOMAS P., Rector of Croft, Warrington.
Church Cursing and Atheism
-10
On Church Pedigrees. Parts I. and II. With Portrait. 6d. each Part
- 1 0
On the Infidelity of Orthodoxy. In Three Parts. 6d. each Part
- 1 6
Orthodoxy from the Hebrew Point of View. Parts I. and II. 6d. each,
- 1 0
LAKE, J. W. Paul: the Disowned Apostle.
- 0 6
The Athanasian Creed ; a Plea for its Disuse in the Public Worship of National Church, 0 6
Plato, Philo, and Paul; or, The Pagan Conception of a “Divine Logos,” shewn
to have been the basis of the Christian Dogma of the Deity of Christ, - 1 0
LA TOUCHE, J. D., Vicar of Stokesay, Salop.
The Judgment of the Committee of Council in the Case of Mr. Voysey - - 0 3
LAYMAN, A, and M.A., of Trinity College, Dublin.
Law and the Creeds -----06
Thoughts on Religion and the Bible -06
LEIGH, ARBOR. “Key-Notes”
*
-CO
LEWIS, TERESA. Cremation
................................................0 3
MACFIE, MATT.
A Neglected View of Education -04
The Mysteri* of Evil, -----o 9
The Religious Faculty: Its Relation to the other Faculties, and its Perils,
0 6
The Cardinal Dogmas of Calvinism traced to their origin, - 0 6
M.A., Trinity College, Cabmridge. The Orthodox Surrender - 0 3
Pleas for Free Inquiry. Parts I., II., III. and IV. 6d. each Part
- 2 0
MACKAY, R. W. The Adversaries of St. Paul in 2d Corinthians,
- 0 6
MACLEOD, JOHN Recent Theological Addresses. A Lecture
- o 3
MAITLAND, EDWARD.
Jewish Literature and Modern Education: or, the Use and Abuse of the
Bible in the Schoolroom
-16
How to Complete the Reformation. With Portrait
- 0 6
The Utilization of the Church Establishment 0 6
MUIR, J., D.C.L.
Religious and Moral Sentiments. Freely translated from Indian Writers,
- 0 G
Additional
Ditto
-06
Three Notices of the “ Speaker’s Commentary,” translated from the Dutch
of Dr. A. Kuenen,
---06
M.P., Letter by. The Dean of Canterbury on Science and Revelation
- 0 6
Neale, edward vansittart.
Does Morality depend on Longevity ?
- 0 6
Genesis Critically Analysed, and continuously arranged; with Introductory
Remarks
-------
Reason, Religion, and Revelation, -'
The Mythical Element in Christianity
The New Bible Commentary and the Ten Commandments
1 0
1 0
0 3
NEWMAN, Professor F. W.
Against Hero-Making in Religion Ancient Sacrifice,
-----James and Paul
-----On the Causes of Atheism.
With Portrait
On the Relations of Theism to Pantheism ; and On the Gali
On the Historical Depravation of Christianity On this World and the other World,
The Controversy about Prayer
The Divergence of Calvinism from Pauline Doctrine
The Presence of God, ---=
The Religious Weakness of Protestantism
The Service of God, The True Temptation of Jesus. With Portrait
Thoughts on the Existence of Evil The Two Theisms
OLD GRADUATE. Remarks on Paley’s Evidences
OXLEE, The Rev JOHN. A Confutation of the Diabolarchy
Religion
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
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6
3
6
6
3
6
3
3
3
6
3
3
3
G
6
G
PADRE OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH.
The Unity of the Faith among all Nations
-
- 0 G
�List of Publications—continued.
s. a.
PARENT AND TEACHER, A. Is Death the end of ah things for Man?
0 6
PHYSICIAN, A.
A Dialogue by way of Catechism,—Religious, Moral, and Philosophical
Parts I. and II. 6d. each Part
-10
The Pentateuch, in Contrast with the Science and Moral Sense of our Age
Part I.—Genesis, Is. 6d. Part II.—Exodus, Is. Part III.—Leviticus, Is.
Part IV.—Numbers, Is. Part V.—Deuteronomy, Is. Part VI.—Joshua, 6d., - 6 0
Introduction to the Pentateuch and Book of Joshua, - 0 6
PRESBYTER ANGLIOANUS.
Eternal Punishment. An Examination of the Doctrines held by the Clergy of
the Church of England
-06
The Doctrine of Immortality in its Bearing on Education
- 0 6
ROBERTSON, JOHN, Coupar-Augus.
Intellectual Liberty
. o 6
The Finding of the Book
-2 0
ROGERS, WALTER LACY. Evidences of Christianity
- 0 6
A Review of a Paper called “ The Fallacies of Unbelief,”
- 0 4
SCOTT, THOMAS.
Basis of a New Reformation -09
Commentators and Hierophants ; or, The Honesty of Christian Commentators
in Two Parts. 6d. each Part
-10
Practical Remarks on “The Lord’s Prayer.”
- 0 6
The Dean of Ripon on the Physical Resurrection of Jesus, in its Bearing
on the Truth of Christianity
- 0
The English Life of Jesus. A New Edition
-40
The Tactics and Defeat of the Christian Evidence Society
- 0 6
SHAEN, MISS—Prayer and Love to God,
per doz. 1 4
STRANGE, T. LUMISDEN, late Judge of the High Court of Madras.
A' Critical Catechism. Criticised by a Doctor of Divinity, and defended by
T. L. Strange
-0
An Address to all Earnest Christians
Clerical Integrity
-03
Communion with God
-03
The Bennett Judgment
The Bible; Is it “ The Word of God ? ”
- 0
The Portraiture and Mission of Jesus
- 0
The Speaker’s Commentary Reviewed
- 2
The Christian Evidence Society
-0
The Exercise of Prayer,
-0
The Pauline Epistles --------- 0
Scripture and Science
-06
The Christian Evidences, with Portrait
-06
SUFFIELD, Rev. ROBERT RODOLPH.
The Resurrection An Easter Sermon at the Free Christian Church, Croydon
Five Letters on Conversion to Roman Catholicism The Vatican Decrees and the “Expostulation,” TRAVIS, HENRY, M.D. The End of the Free-Will Controversy
VOYSEY, The Rev. CHAS. On Moral Evil
W. E. B. The Province of Prayer
An Examination of some Recent Writings about Immortality WHEELWRIGHT, Rev. GEORGE.
The “ Edinburgh Review” and Dr Strauss
-
0 3
- 0 3
- 0 6
- 0
- 0 9
-06
- 0 6
- 0 3
Three Letters on the Voysey Judgment and the Christian Evidence
Society’s Lectures,
-06
WHIPPLE, CHARLES K. The Good and Evil in Orthodoxy - 0 3
W. J. Liberal Protestantism—What is It?
- 0 3
WORTHINGTON, The Rev W. R.
On the Efficacy of Opinion in Matters of Religion
-
-
-
- 0 6
ZERFFI, G. G., Ph.D.
Immanuel Kant in His Relation to Modern History, - 0 3
Ethics and ./Esthetics ; or Art and its Influence on our Social Progress - 0 3
The Spontaneous Dissolution of Ancient Creeds
-,-03
New Edition.
In One Volume, 8vo, cloth, post free, 4s. 4d.,
THE ENGLISH LIFE OF JESUS.
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR,
THOMAS SCOTT,
11 THE TERRACE, FARQUHAR ROAD, UPPER NORWOOD, LONDON, S.E.
�
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Victorian Blogging
Description
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Pamphlet
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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The curse of my early life
Creator
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Emancipated Slave
Description
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Place of publication: London
Collation: 17, [4] p. ; 18 cm.
Notes: Part of Morris Miscellaneous Tracts 4 and from the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Publisher's list on unnumbered pages at the end. No author given.
Publisher
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Thomas Scott
Date
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1876
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G4871
CT182
N208
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Christianity
Free thought
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application/pdf
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Text
Language
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English
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (The curse of my early life), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
Christianity
Conway Tracts
Free Thought
Morris Tracts
Religious Education
Sabbath Observance