Topic
Religion in this collection is where the arguments are sharpest, because almost no one is neutral. Freud's clinical observation — the more knowledge spreads, the more religion declines — is the secular prognostication, stated flatly. Voltaire's money-as-the-universal-religion is the satirical complement. Lincoln's personal credo — when I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad; that is my religion — is the most democratic definition, requiring no institution and no creed. Washington stakes out the opposite position: righteous governance requires God and the Bible. Calvin and Murray frame the theological stakes: property and authority exist under divine judgment. Napoleon's diagnosis is the coldest in the collection — religion keeps the poor from murdering the rich — a remark that functions as both Marxist analysis and tactical observation. The collection does not resolve the argument, which is appropriate: religion has been one of the central unsettled questions of the Western tradition, and the quotations here do not paper over the disagreement. They make it audible.
They value not because it is humane, lovely, and good for man; they only prize it because it was Christ who taught it.
Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition.
Prayer is a strong wall, and a fort of the church.
The Gospel is a light in the world, which lighteneth mankind, and maketh children of God.
Works belong to the neighbour, faith to God.