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The Root of All Suffering by Matt McHugh



A little learning is a dangerous thing...
But too much can be pretty useless.



"The Root of All Suffering" was originally published in the Fall 2007 issue of The First Line, a magazine specializing in short fiction where all stories in the issue must begin with the same opening line.



EXCERPT FROM
The Root of All Suffering


      Calvin once complained that there were not enough true martyrs in the world. It was in a sermon entitled "On Suffering Persecution," probably composed in the 1530's. The text of it is known to the world, known to me, from a 1906 treatise on The World's Famous Orations, compiled by William Jennings Bryan. The context of it, if I recall correctly, involved the observation that few seemed ready to suffer for their faith, even among those who practically invite persecution through misguided beliefs.


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