Note 185 — Chapter XXXIX

How prepared Mr Burt's mind was for the staunch and unfailing support he subsequently gave Mr Bradlaugh during the long Parliamentary fight may be gathered from an answer given at this election. The cry of "heresy" had been raised against him at Blyth, and at a public meeting he was asked to answer—Yes or no, did he believe in the authenticity of the Bible? His answer was noteworthy, especially when looked upon in the light of later events. "As," he said, "I am not a candidate for a professorship of theology or the occupancy of a pulpit, I decline to say whether I do or do not believe in the authenticity of the Bible. It is entirely foreign to the business before us. The contest in which we are engaged is a political, and not a religious one. I maintain that the constituency has no right whatever to institute an inquisition into the faith or creed of any candidate who may solicit its suffrages. For this reason I refuse to answer all and every question of a theological nature that may here or elsewhere be put to me."