d the apostles tended to make the world
better, and better men of all their opposers, the work of the latter,
tended to put a real check, on the cause of human progress. Those, who
oppose the reading of the Scriptures in the public schools of this, or
any other land, commit the very same folly.

The Bible is the Word of God to all mankind. It is his provision for our
intellectual, moral and spiritual natures, as the light, air, water and
food have been provided for our physical natures. It was originally
written in the language of the people to whom it was given, the Old
Testament in Hebrew to the Hebrews; and the New Testament in Greek to
the Greek speaking Jews, in the time of Christ.

Our English version was made from the original languages in the time of
King James, and it is an error in judgment to call it, either a
Protestant or Sectarian Bible. There is, indeed, a sectarian version of
the Bible in use in this country. It is printed in the Latin language,
the language of pagan Rome, which the common people no longer use or
understand.

[Illustration: HOME OF THE LATE CAROLINE PRINCE.]

[Illustration: NEW HOME, MRS. SAM HARRIS.
Representative Homes of Choctaw Freedmen, near Oak Hill.]

[Illustration: Airy View Farm
Rockwell City, Iowa, 1911
Robert E. Flickinger
Mary A. Flickinger
G. H. Patterson, Manager
Telephone 7 on 967

A VIRGIN PRAIRIE, IMPROVED BY MR. AND MRS. FLICKINGER, 1884-1914.

At the left: Grove of maples and walnuts, orchard, grapes, garden,
oat-bin, double corn-crib, house, front yard, chick-yard, bees, barn,
implement shed, hen-house, pigpen, calf and pig pastures. Two and a half
miles of tile drains.]

It seems a queer freak of our human nature, that those who use the Bible
in a dead, foreign language, unsuited for use in our public schools,
should call our English version of the scriptures a sectarian book, and
then oppose its use in our public schools.

Our English version of the Scriptures is no more a sectarian book, than
are the ordinary books on astronomy, geology, botany, and natural
history. Nevertheless when Romanists oppose its use, others of all sorts
in the community, who like them need its gracious message of light, life
and love, but instead profess not to regard it as a message from God,
are liable to unite with them in their unfortunate opposition.

No one has an inherent right, to exclude the Bible from the public
schools of America. As the one authoritative book of