We desire the Bible to be kept in the school as the standard of moral truth, as the dictionary is kept there as the standard of words and their definitions.  As the unabridged dictionary contains all the words of the English language, so the Bible contains all the truths of Christianity.  Every book has a part of the words of the dictionary, so every Christian creed has a part of the truths of the Bible.  As there never was a book written that contained all of the words of the dictionary, so there never was a creed written that contained all the truths of the Bible.  Therefore, as the dictionary and not the books is the standard for words and their meaning, so the Bible, and not the creeds, is the standard of moral truth.  A man can take the words in the dictionary and write a bad book, but that is not the fault of the dictionary, but of the man.  A person may take passages of Scripture and misapplied truths and write a bad creed, but that is not the fault of the Bible, but of the creed-maker.  But every man who takes the Bible as a whole has a complete standard of moral truths.

It is claimed that the Bible should not be read in the school because there are passages that are not proper to be read before children, or a promiscuous audience, but this is only claimed by Catholicism.  Yes, and there are words in the dictionary that it would be just as improper to use and define before children or a promiscuous audience as any passage in the Bible.  Therefore, it would be just as reasonable to exclude the dictionary as the Bible from the school room on this hypocritical argument in favor of false modesty.

The man’s conscience that will object to the reading of the Bible in the public school will ultimately object to the moral code of our jurisprudence, and such a conscience is dangerous to our form of government, inimical to the best interests of society and good government, as has been clearly demonstrated in the past.  The Mormons claimed the right under our constitution to live in polygamy, as that was their religion and the way they served God according to the “dictates of their own conscience.”  But the supreme court decided they could not worship God according to the dictates of their conscience if their worship was a violation of the moral code common to all.  Thus all must submit to the moral code irrespective of their individual conscience.  So the Bible should be read in the public schools, irrespective of the conscience of any, until the majority of the government of the people, for the people and by the people shall say:  “Away with your Bible, away with your Sabbath, away with your Christian jurisprudence, and give us infidel, revolutionary France, or lawless anarchy, or the inquisition of the dark ages!”