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diff --git a/35539-tei/35539-tei.tei b/35539-tei/35539-tei.tei new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1d0c623 --- /dev/null +++ b/35539-tei/35539-tei.tei @@ -0,0 +1,9285 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> + +<!DOCTYPE TEI.2 SYSTEM "http://www.gutenberg.org/tei/marcello/0.4/dtd/pgtei.dtd" [ + +<!ENTITY u5 "http://www.tei-c.org/Lite/"> + +]> + +<TEI.2 lang="en"> +<teiHeader> + <fileDesc> + <titleStmt> + <title>Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays</title> + <author><name reg="Washburn, Lemuel K.">Lemuel K. Washburn</name></author> + </titleStmt> + <editionStmt> + <edition n="1">Edition 1</edition> + </editionStmt> + <publicationStmt> + <publisher>Project Gutenberg</publisher> + <date>March 10, 2011</date> + <idno type="etext-no">35539</idno> + <availability> + <p>This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and + with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it + away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg + License online at www.gutenberg.org/license</p> + </availability> + </publicationStmt> + <sourceDesc> + <bibl> + Created electronically. + </bibl> + </sourceDesc> + </fileDesc> + <encodingDesc> + </encodingDesc> + <profileDesc> + <langUsage> + <language id="en"></language> + </langUsage> + </profileDesc> + <revisionDesc> + <change> + <date value="2011-03-10">March 10, 2011</date> + <respStmt> + <name> + Produced by Adam Buchbinder, David King, and the Online + Distributed Proofreading Team at <http://www.pgdp.net/>. + (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain + material from the Google Print project.) + </name> + </respStmt> + <item>Project Gutenberg TEI edition 1</item> + </change> + </revisionDesc> +</teiHeader> + +<pgExtensions> + <pgStyleSheet> + .boxed { x-class: boxed } + .shaded { x-class: shaded } + .rules { x-class: rules; rules: all } + .indent { margin-left: 2 } + .bold { font-weight: bold } + .italic { font-style: italic } + .smallcaps { font-variant: small-caps } + </pgStyleSheet> + + <pgCharMap formats="txt.iso-8859-1"> + <char id="U0x2014"> + <charName>mdash</charName> + <desc>EM DASH</desc> + <mapping>--</mapping> + </char> + <char id="U0x2003"> + <charName>emsp</charName> + <desc>EM SPACE</desc> + <mapping> </mapping> + </char> + <char id="U0x2026"> + <charName>hellip</charName> + <desc>HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS</desc> + <mapping>...</mapping> + </char> + </pgCharMap> +</pgExtensions> + +<text lang="en"> + <front> + <div> + <divGen type="pgheader" /> + </div> + <div> + <divGen type="encodingDesc" /> + </div> + + <div rend="page-break-before: always"> + <p rend="font-size: xx-large; text-align: center">Is The Bible Worth Reading</p> + <p rend="font-size: xx-large; text-align: center">And Other Essays</p> + <p rend="font-size: large; text-align: center">By</p> + <p rend="font-size: x-large; text-align: center">Lemuel K. Washburn</p> + <p rend="text-align: center">New York</p> + <p rend="text-align: center">The Truth Seeker Company</p> + <p rend="text-align: center">1911</p> + </div> + <div rend="page-break-before: always"> + <head>Contents</head> + <divGen type="toc" /> + </div> + + </front> +<body> + +<pb n='001'/><anchor id='Pg001'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> + +<p rend='text-align: center'> + <figure url='images/frontispiece.png' rend='width: 60%'> + <head>Lemuel K. Washburn</head> + <figDesc>Illustration.</figDesc> + </figure> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='005'/><anchor id='Pg005'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Dedication</head> + +<p> +The writer of this +book dedicates it to all +men and women of +common honesty and +common sense. +</p> + +</div> + +<!-- djk 006.png is page 7, add 1 --> +<pb n='007'/><anchor id='Pg007'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Is The Bible Worth Reading</head> + +<p> +That depends. If a man is going to get his +living by standing in a Christian pulpit, I should +be obliged to answer, Yes! But if he is going to +follow any other calling, or work at any trade, I +should have to answer, No! There is absolutely +no information in the Bible that man can make +any use of as he goes through life. The Bible is +not a book of knowledge. It does not give instruction +in any of the sciences. It furnishes no +help to labor. It is useless as a political guide. +There is nothing in it that gives the mechanic any +hint, or affords the farmer any enlightenment in +his occupation. +</p> + +<p> +If man wishes to learn about the earth or the +heavens; about life or the animal kingdom, he has +no need to study the Bible. If he is desirous of +reading the best poetry or the most entertaining +literature he will not find it in the Bible. If he +wants to read to store his mind with facts, the +Bible is the last book for him to open, for never yet +was a volume written that contained fewer facts +than this book. If he is anxious to get some information +that will help him earn an honest living +he does not want to spend his time reading Genesis, +Exodus, Numbers, Kings, Psalms, or the Gospels. +If he wants to read just for the fun of reading +<pb n='008'/><anchor id='Pg008'/> +to kill time, or to see how much nonsensical +writing there is in one book, let him read the Bible. +</p> + +<p> +I have not said that there are not wise sayings in +the Bible, or a few dramatic incidents, but there +are just as wise sayings, and wiser ones, too, out +of the book, and there are dramas of human life +that surpass in interest anything contained in the +Old or New Testament. +</p> + +<p> +No person can make a decent excuse for reading +the Bible more than once. To do such a thing +would be a foolish waste of time. But our stoutest +objection to reading this book is, not that it +contains nothing particularly good, but <emph>that it +contains so much that is positively bad</emph>. To read +this book is to get false ideas, absurd ideas, bad +ideas. The injury to the human mind that reads +the Bible as a reliable book is beyond repair. I +do not think that this book should be read by children, +by any human being less than twenty years +of age, and it would be better for mankind if not +a man or woman read a line of it until he or she +was fifty years old. +</p> + +<p> +What I want to say is this, that there is nothing +in the Bible that is of the least consequence to the +people of the twentieth century. English literature +is richer a thousand fold than this so-called +sacred volume. We have books of more information +and of more inspiration than the Bible. As +the relic of a barbarous and superstitious people, +it should have a place in our libraries, but it is not +a work of any value to this age. I pity men who +<pb n='009'/><anchor id='Pg009'/> +stand in pulpits and call this book the word of God. +I wish they had brains enough to earn their living +without having to repeat this foolish falsehood. +The day will come when this book will be estimated +for what it a worth, and when that day comes, the +Bible will no longer be called the word of God, but +the work of ignorant, superstitious men. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The cross everywhere is a dagger in the heart +of liberty. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +A miracle is not an explanation of what we cannot +comprehend. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The statue of liberty that will endure on this +continent is not the one made of granite or bronze, +but the one made of love of freedom. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Take away every achievement of the world and +leave man freedom, and the earth would again +bloom with every glory of attainment; but take +away liberty and everything useful and beautiful +would vanish. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='010'/><anchor id='Pg010'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Sacrifice</head> + +<p> +The sacrifice of Jesus, so much boasted by the +Christian church, is nothing compared to the +sacrifice of a mother for her family. It is not to +be spoken of in the same light. A mother's sacrifice +is constant: momentary, hourly, daily, life-long. +It never ceases. It is a veritable providence; +a watchful care; a real giving of one life +for another, or for several others; a gift of love so +pure and holy, so single and complete, that it is +an offering in spirit and in substance. +</p> + +<p> +This is to me the highest, purest, holiest act of +humanity. All others, when weighed with this +unselfish consecration to duty, seem small and insignificant. +There is, in a mother's life, no counting +of cost, no calculation of reward. It is enough +that a duty is to be done; that a service is to be +rendered; that a sacrifice is called for. The true +mother gives herself to the offices of love without +hope, expectation, or wish of recompense. A +mother's love for her children cannot be determined +by any earthly measure, by any material +standard. It outshines all glory, and is the last +gleam of light in the human heart. A mother's +love walks in a thousand Gethsemanes, endures a +thousand Calvaries, and has a thousand agonies +that the dying of Jesus upon a cross cannot symbolize. +This maternal sacrifice is the greater that +it is made cheerfully, without a murmur, and even +with joy. If it is not sought; it is never pushed +aside. +</p> + +<pb n='011'/><anchor id='Pg011'/> + +<p> +A mother's sacrifice for her family makes a +chapter of suffering, of patient toil and strife, of +heroic endurance and forbearance, that religion +is not yet high enough to appreciate; and this sublime +devotion is not in one home, but in <emph>hundreds +of thousands in every land</emph> everywhere on earth, +and it is real, true, heart-born, and the utmost of +renunciation that human life has revealed. +</p> + +<p> +The brief martyrdom of Jesus was not voluntary, +was not lasting in its pain or in its service to +mankind. His death was cruel, his suffering and +agony terrible to think of, but it was all soon over. +A few hours of torture make up the tragedy of the +cross. But the story of this crucifixion may be +fictitious, imaginary; most likely is such. Perhaps +no such man died such a death in any such way. +Then how vain and foolish to waste our sympathy +on a fanciful sufferer, an imaginary martyr, who +never existed outside of the brain of the writer of +the story, while there are actual, real beings living +who are making a greater sacrifice, doing a holier +duty, within our reach! +</p> + +<p> +We need not go to a Bible to find those who deserve +our tears, or who have earned our admiration. +The bravest heart that ever author wrote +into being, fails to come up to the lofty height of +endurance, of a life inspired by love, of heroic sacrifice, +that can be found in hundreds of homes in our +land. +</p> + +<p> +Far be it from my intention to paint less any +deed of mortal that has brightened the lot of man, +<pb n='012'/><anchor id='Pg012'/> +or to throw discredit upon aught that is worthy of +human gratitude and praise. I yield most ready +sympathy and most willing admiration to every +noble soul that has lived or died to make earth +better and happier, but I do not believe that greatness, +goodness and love are all dead, and that our +whole duty is to stand and weep around a tomb. +I believe in living men and women, in living hearts +and souls, in living greatness and goodness and +love, and I tell you all that the earth never bore +more loving, more humane, tenderer, braver, or +truer hearts than beat today in the living breasts +of mankind. +</p> + +<p> +And I place above all that is brave and true, +great and good, in the past or present, the mothers +of our age.—What man cannot see that silent, +patient mother in her home, the victim of a multitude +of trials, crosses, annoyances, day after day +and week after week, meeting all, bearing all, with +a saint's look and manner; and what man, seeing +her there, at the side of the sick, worn out with +watching and waiting, and then at the bed of +death, faithful and true to the last, though wounded +in heart and spirit never faltering in the way of +duty, that would not say if there be one sacrifice +that is above, and greater than, all others, it is +that of a mother's love? +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='013'/><anchor id='Pg013'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Drama Of Life</head> + +<p> +With the passing of the season we are reminded +of the rapid flight of life. It seems but yesterday +that the first bluebird of spring lit on the bare +bough of the apple-tree in the orchard near by, +and the early robin sang his welcome notes in our +glad ears, and yet the bluebird and robin are seen +and heard no more, and the green promise of spring +has changed to the brown harvest of autumn, +which will soon be stored for winter's use. This +is the way every season comes and goes; a little +long in coming sometimes; but never long in going; +and every year grows shorter as we grow older, +and every year goes more quickly as we near the +border of old age. Life soon changes from a glad +look ahead to a sad glance behind. From baby +to boy, from boy to man, from man to tottering +age;—how swiftly the scenes change, and life comes +and life goes, and the door of death opens almost +before the door of birth closes. The cradle and the +grave touch, and the blithe youth that lends his +strength to feeble age finds himself ere long leaning +upon the arm of youth and strength. The circle +of years soon rolls round, and life is but a day of +toil and a night of dreams. As we look back upon +vanished time and see the happy scenes of childhood +mingled with the surroundings of later life, +days and months shrink to hours, and years seem +to be spanned by a sunrise and a sunset with a +little laughter and perhaps some tears between. +</p> + +<pb n='014'/><anchor id='Pg014'/> + +<p> +We who have travelled more than half way on the +road cannot look backward without a sigh, cannot +think backward without a pang. Many of us have +left the graves of father and mother behind, perhaps +the smaller graves of children, where some +of our heart lies buried too. The storms that beat +on us make life seem shorter; make the days go +faster, and the night draw nearer; and all of us +have already, or must sometime, bow our heads +to the blast. +</p> + +<p> +One human being in the great world of man, and +in the greater world of Nature, plays but a small +part. Of but little account is a human life in the +vast, limitless universe. A man fills but a little +space while alive, and touches but a few hearts +when he dies. We are fortunate if we make during life, +one true, loyal friend who stands by us +while that life lasts. We reckon this, after all, the +grandest triumph of the human soul. It is not +difficult to gather dollars—quite a number, at +least,—nor to win a measure of fame, but to live, +to be, to act, in such way as to bind one true heart +to ours, is a victory which we may be proud of. +Some lives have larger circumferences than others, +radiate farther, influence more, but none can win +the rare tribute of perfect friendship from more than +one or two. Yes! man plays but a small part in +the great drama of life. He is on the stage but a +few short hours, and most men are but poor or indifferent +actors at best. +</p> + +<p> +Who cares when a man dies? Not the sun, for it +<pb n='015'/><anchor id='Pg015'/> +shines just as gaily when he closes his eyes to its +golden light; not the birds, for they chatter and +sing over his coffin, and hop and sing on his grave; +not the brook, for it runs laughing on and never +stops its gambols and song; not any of the things +of earth, but man. +</p> + +<p> +When man dies, a few say, Is he gone? and then +forget that he ever lived; a few go to help carry his +dead body to the grave, and then turn away to +join the business and pleasure of life, and forget +that they have buried a man; a few, some days after, +call at the house where he lived and drop a tear of +sympathy for the weeping widow and tearful children, +and then forget that the husband and father +is no more. But does no one care? Perhaps a +wife, who will carry his dead image in her heart as +long as it beats; perhaps a daughter, who will remember +him a year or two, or a little longer, who +will miss his happy greeting, his loving kiss, his +proud, kind look as he lifts the heart's dearest idol +to his knee; and this is all. And this is enough. +We care for only a few; and why should many care +for us? +</p> + +<p> +Though life is short and not always heroic; and +though, when it ends, the world goes on just the +same, we love life and it is sweet while it lasts. +Though we travel quickly over the road, we enjoy +for the most part, the journey of life. We have +pain, it is true; we learn of sorrow and grief; we +feel the pang of parting and weep on the white +face of some loved one, and yet, we find happiness, +<pb n='016'/><anchor id='Pg016'/> +we enjoy living, and we regret when the curtain is +rung down and our part is played and the lights +turned out. When we strike the balance between +pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow, happiness and +misery, most find that life is worth living. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +A dogma will thrive in soil where the truth +could not get root. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The measure of liberty which man enjoys determines +the civilization of the age in which he +lives. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The person who can make a loaf of bread is more +to the world than the person who could perform +a miracle. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The indifference to Christianity may well alarm +the men who live on the credulity that gives it the +show of life, but to those who delight in actions of +sincerity, it affords the greatest encouragement, +for it promises to the world a day when intelligence +and integrity will be respected more than +ignorance and hypocrisy. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='017'/><anchor id='Pg017'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Nature In June</head> + +<p> +We can hardly look anywhere in Nature without +having the conviction grow in the mind that +there are more or less superfluous things on this +spot of the universe where our lot is cast, however +it may be in Mars, Venus, Saturn, or any other of +the Greek-named planets or any heavenly constellations +with or without names. Just at this particular +season of the year, the presence of weeds in +the garden or on the farm raises a colossal doubt as +to the fact of any wisdom guiding the divine voice +when, in a majestic sweep of its omnipotent power +on the third day of the drama of creation, it called +into being the grass, the herb, the tree and whatsoever +bears leaf or blade or flower. To those who +have to pull the weeds out of the ground they are +a curse of the first magnitude, and how a creator, +who had common sense, could take pride in making +such vegetable abortions as weeds we cannot comprehend. +The most worthless things in Nature +are the most prolific. Chickweed will cover an +acre while clover is considering where it is best to +go into business, and every pesky, nasty little +weed will live and laugh when the queenly corn +droops its head in the sun, and the beet and turnip +cannot get nourishment enough to keep them +alive. +</p> + +<p> +It is just the same in the animal world. An immense +quantity of useless beings go about on two +and four legs or on none at all. The only excuse +<pb n='018'/><anchor id='Pg018'/> +for the snake is that he was made to eat the toad; +for the toad, that he was made to eat insects; for +the insects—well, nobody has yet made a wholesome +excuse for their existence, anyway. It looks +as though one being in Nature was made simply +to kill another being, and the last-made being, +man, is the supreme killer of the whole lot. Take +the whole range of wild beasts, and find, if you can, +aught but malice in their creation, if they were +created. No plague ever destroyed hyenas and +jackals. No one ever found a sick rattlesnake or +an invalid hornet. The fittest survive? The fittest +for what? To worry man, to make life miserable. +Mosquitoes, wasps, fleas, reptiles and wild +beasts, poisonous vines and shrubs, noxious blossoms +whose perfume is the kiss of death, weeds +that push and crowd decent plants until they die +in utter despair—these are the sturdiest triumphs +of the creative art. We cannot help wishing that +the Lord-God had not rested on the seventh day, +but instead, had gone around and destroyed about +seven-eighths of what he had created. We might +then have had quite a decent world to live in. +</p> + +<p> +Man builds a home for her he loves, he plants +beside it all that will make it beautiful to the eyes +of his wife. He works and brings what is fair to +adorn it, and makes every room a casket to hold +the jewel of love. He looks at his home with +pride, and feels that it is <q>the dearest spot on +earth,</q> a refuge safe and secure. The cyclone +<pb n='019'/><anchor id='Pg019'/> +comes and in a moment all is swept away. Man +cannot trust the God of the winds. +</p> + +<p> +There is no more terrible calamity that afflicts +our globe at the present time than an earthquake. +It comes without warning, by day or night, when +man is at his place of business or when he is at +rest. There is no way of preventing it, no way of +preparing for it. It may wait a hundred, a thousand, +years before it works its deadly ruin. But +when it comes, havoc is left. An earthquake may +be good for the earth, but it is almighty discouraging +to the people that live on it. It may seek a +beneficent end, but it goes to work in a cruel manner +to accomplish it. Human life counts no more +than the life of rats when an earthquake gets +started. This infernal visitor does not seek a spot +where its malevolence can be wrecked upon the +rocks and hills. Oftener it goes to the thickly +populated city or town and topples over houses +and swallows up dwellings, with men, women and +children. Does God send the earthquake? If he +does, where is the evidence of his love for man? +If He does not, who does? +</p> + +<p> +It is pretty tough business to try to reconcile +Nature with the idea of God's watchful care over +man. If the winds did not turn to hurricanes; if +the sunshine did not make drought; if the rain never +became a flood; if the sea never grew angry and +sunk the ship; if the clouds always dissolved in +gentle rain or in dew; if there were no wild beasts; +no venomous snakes; no poisonous vines or flowers; +<pb n='020'/><anchor id='Pg020'/> +if there were only what is bright and fair and good +on earth and nothing that was dark and cold and +repulsive, we might believe that a heavenly father +had made the earth for a dwelling-place for man. +But as it is, we have to think as well of Nature as +possible and dodge her lightning, run from her +water-spouts, keep out of the way of cyclones and +shift for ourselves while here. What follows nobody +knows. It may be better for us beyond this +life; we hope it is no worse. And it may be only +sleep, sleep with no dreams and no awakening. +We should dislike to die on this side of the grave +with the fear that we should come out on the other +only to meet a hurricane in the teeth, or find an +earthquake had been put under us to give us a +shaking up the first thing on that <q>shining shore,</q> +or to be caught in a furious torrent that poured +down the sides of some heavenly mountain. Earth +is a pretty good place when the conditions are all +favorable, but if we are to have another life it +ought to be a better one or else we should be saved +the trouble of dying. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The feet of progress have always been shod by +doubt. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +A true man will not join anything that in any way +abridges his freedom or robs him of his rights. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='021'/><anchor id='Pg021'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Infinite Purpose</head> + +<p> +A Christian writer recently said:—<q>The supreme +duty of humanity is to get into touch with the infinite +purpose.</q> This may be so, but we want +first to understand just what the infinite purpose +is before we subscribe to it. When the infinite purpose +is bent on getting up an earthquake we +do not care to <q>get into touch</q> with it, not much. +When this purpose is forging an electric bolt to +shoot out of the clouds, we have no desire to <q>get +into touch</q> with any such thing. It makes a vast +difference what this purpose is bent upon, whether +or not we want to go into partnership with it. +Now, when the infinite purpose is at work on the +earth, turning dirt into flowers, or vegetables, or +trees, we should feel a joy in sharing its labor, but +when it is determined to burn and scorch everything +on the face of the ground with a heat that +knows no abatement, we should want to sell out +our interest in the concern at once. +</p> + +<p> +There is just as much nonsense connected with +the use of this phrase <q>the infinite purpose</q> as +there is with <q>special Providence</q> or <q>Divine love,</q> +or any other religious expression which expresses +nothing unless you are religious. Where this <q>purpose</q> +<q>makes for righteousness,</q> as Matthew Arnold +delighted to believe, we are willing to catch +on to it, but where it is going in the other direction +we prefer to go our own way. +</p> + +<p> +This notion of uniting the finite with the infinite +<pb n='022'/><anchor id='Pg022'/> +purpose is all right, providing the latter does not +conflict with the former, but we have serious objection +to doing anything that will interfere with +the highest development of our humanity. The +purpose which is at work in the world does not +make for health any more than for disease. It +seems to carry a tubercle with as much satisfaction +as a ray of sunshine, and lends all its forces to +assist the highwayman with no more charge than +it makes to the law-abiding citizen. +</p> + +<p> +It seems to us that it is necessary to divorce the +<q>infinite purpose</q> from a lot of intentions that do +not work for human interests, before it will be +desirable to assume intimate relations with this +purpose. We do not want to <q>get into touch</q> +with what is not going our way; that is, the way +of health, of prosperity, of happiness. We do not +deny that we need to give a higher direction to +human thought. We affirm this fact as positively +as our most Christian contemporary. But before +we advise mankind to harness its wagon to the infinite +purpose we want to be sure where it is going. +Man has to go to mill and market as well as to +meeting, and there is just as good a purpose manifested +in getting the most wholesome food for our +stomachs as there is in getting the safest creed for +our souls. We are loth to trust any religious purpose +as opposed to a human one. We believe in +man first, last, and all the time. +</p> + +<p> +Now, let us admit that humanity needs a wiser +purpose to guide it, but let us also admit that it +<pb n='023'/><anchor id='Pg023'/> +can be found in a wiser human head and human +heart. If what is called the infinite purpose is +working for the highest end of human life, there +is no evidence of the fact. If there is anything +better than human energy back of a good human +thought that will help this world, we do not know +what it is. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The man who accepts the faith of Calvin is miserable +in proportion to the extent he carries it out. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Whatever tends to prolong the existence of ignorance +or to prevent the recognition of knowledge +is dangerous to the well-being of the human race. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +A higher respect for man has been one of the chief +promoters of civilization. Advancement has always +been toward right and truth when the ranks +were imbued with a proper regard for human +hearts and human happiness. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='024'/><anchor id='Pg024'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Freethought Commands</head> + +<p> +Say nothing about others that you would not +have others say about you. +</p> + +<p> +Be severe toward yourself; be kind to your +fellow-man. +</p> + +<p> +Do not give advice that you cannot follow. +</p> + +<p> +Do not thank God for what man does. +</p> + +<p> +Serve neither God nor Mammon, but humanity +alone. +</p> + +<p> +Do not try to be perfect as a "Father in heaven," +but try to be better than you yourself are. +</p> + +<p> +Seek first to improve the earth, and heaven will +be of less consequence. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Let us not forget that men speak according to the +measure of their knowledge and light, and that a +superior enlightenment is a higher authority. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +History shows that there is nothing so easy to +enslave and nothing so hard to emancipate as ignorance, +hence it becomes the double enemy of +civilization. By its servility it is the prey of tyranny, +and by its credulity it is the foe of enlightenment. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='025'/><anchor id='Pg025'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>A Rainbow Religion</head> + +<p> +There is little doubt that the faith of the early +Christians was what might be classed under the +head of rainbow religion. We learn from the New +Testament that it was taught that those who +accepted the faith held by John and Jesus and +Paul were in some peculiar manner to be protected +from the common ills of life, and were to be especial +favorites of their <q>Father in heaven.</q> How sincerely +this faith was held we cannot now determine, +nor to what extent it was put into practice, but +that it possessed the mind in a considerable degree +there is no room whatever to doubt. But this is +not the question that we want settled, but rather +the value of this faith. +</p> + +<p> +It is pleasant and comforting to believe that one +is watched over by a superior power which at any +moment of peril or temptation is ready to stretch +forth its hand and rescue from danger and death, +and it is on account of the wonderful seductiveness +of this faith that it has lasted so long and has been +so hard to overcome. But what we are interested +in is, whether or not such a belief has any foundation +in fact or in human experience. When Jesus +bid his followers to cease giving thought to what +they should eat and drink and wear, telling them +that their <q>heavenly Father</q> fed the fowls of the +air, and that they were better than such fowls, thus +implying that their heavenly Father would take +proportionately better care of them, was there any +<pb n='026'/><anchor id='Pg026'/> +ground for any such teaching, and is there any +ground for this faith today? We claim that the +<q>heavenly Father</q> referred to by Jesus never fed +anything, neither fowl nor man; and that no human +being was ever taken care of by any superior power +or snatched by it from danger or death. Such a faith +is the veriest delusion, and it could lodge and take +root only in the childish mind. Jesus also taught +that the <q>Father which is in heaven</q> would <q>give +good things to them that ask him.</q> Is there any +ground for this rainbow religion? Is there any +evidence that there is a <q>Father in heaven</q> who +has good things to give to those who ask for them? +</p> + +<p> +We presume that this faith led men to give up +work and to trust to begging for a living. But +the question is, which got the most good things,—those +who studied the laws of Nature and of life +and worked in harmony with them, or those who +prayed for good things? How is it to-day? What +good things can be had by praying? Who has any +good thing that he received by asking his <q>Father +in heaven</q> for it? The asking business has been +carried on for hundreds of years, and all that has +been asked of God has had to be given by man or +has not been given at all. +</p> + +<p> +Has it ever been true that Christians had any +immunity from danger that others did not have, +or that they could live in defiance of the laws of +Nature? Jesus told his followers that in his name +they shall cast out devils, they shall take up serpents, +<pb n='027'/><anchor id='Pg027'/> +and if they drink any deadly thing it shall +not hurt them and they shall have the power to cure +the sick by laying their hands upon them. Have +men, who professed to follow Jesus, ever done the +things which he said they shall do? Is there any +man to-day who can do these things? Is there any +evidence that Christians are treated by any power +of the universe differently from what others are +treated? And is there any evidence that they +possess any gift that is not shared by others? As +far as we can see Christians are subject to the +same laws of Nature that all others must obey, +and they cannot either defy those laws or act +independently of them. If they fool with deadly +serpents they will get bitten and probably die—just +the same as would an infidel; if they drink +a cup of poison, they will suffer and perhaps die +just the same as an unbeliever; if they have any +sickness, they do not trust to the laying-on of +hands by a fellow-Christian, but send for a doctor +the same as a freethinker. The fact is, the world +has learned better than to put faith in these teachings +of Jesus. +</p> + +<p> +The Christian faith belonged to the childhood +of the race, and ought no longer to be preached +to man. No one attempts to put this faith into +practice, to carry into life the teachings of Jesus. +And why not? Simply because <emph>it is known to be +false</emph>. Christianity is a rainbow religion, a representation +of things for which there is no warrant +<pb n='028'/><anchor id='Pg028'/> +in Nature; a picture painted in false colors; a view +of life copied from a diseased imagination; a falsehood +fed by priests upon which they live. +</p> + +<p> +There is not an intelligent man or woman living +to-day who has any faith in the rainbow religion +taught by Jesus; not an intelligent man or woman +who believes that a heavenly Father or a God will +provide food or drink or clothes for a human being; +nor an intelligent man or woman who has faith +that he or she can get good things by asking a +"Father in heaven" for them and not an intelligent +man or woman who cares or dares to put the +declaration of Jesus to the test; that those who +have faith in him can play with serpents without +danger, and drink deadly poison with no more +harm than attends quaffing a glass of water. +</p> + +<p> +We are then to conclude that Christianity is +held only by the ignorant. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +There is greater argument in one fact than in +all the creeds. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +It is easier to believe that a man is honest who +says the Bible is the word of God than to believe +that he is bright. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='029'/><anchor id='Pg029'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>A Cruel God</head> + +<p> +There may be some other religion in the world +that sings of a God more cruel than the God of +Christianity, but we do not know of any. At any +rate, we believe it is safe to say that no religion of +a civilized people has a God who is more vindictive. +We have always wondered how men and women +could set such infernal ideas to music as we find +in Christian hymns. It is really too bad that +human beings are compelled to sing such lies as +we find in the pious song-books of the church. +The sentiments contained in them are not fit for +savages. It can only brutalize the heart to sing +of blood, and nothing but blood, no matter whose +blood it is. The <q>precious blood of Jesus</q> is just +as suggestive of cruelty as the blood on the executioner's +knife. Men become what they read, +what they think, what they sing, what they believe. +Religions have made men wicked, cruel, +hard, unkind. It is impossible to have faith in a +God of wrath and vindictiveness without in time +developing these qualities. Men grow into the +likeness of their belief. As a man believes, so is he, +to a certain extent. +</p> + +<p> +The influence of cruel sentiments on the mind +is greater with the young than with adults. Some +hymns sung in Christian churches are positively +brutal in tone. Think of <emph>human</emph> beings singing +the following verse:— +</p> + +<pb n='030'/><anchor id='Pg030'/> + +<quote rend='display'> +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>But vengeance and damnation lie</q></l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>On rebels who refuse His grace;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Who God's eternal Son despise,</l> +<l><q rend='post'>The <emph>hottest hell shall be their place</emph>.</q></l> +</lg> +</quote> + +<p> +Christians seem to delight in pictures of hell. +God would hardly be God to them if he did not +damn somebody. In painting the divine idea +vengeance and damnation are laid on thick. +</p> + +<p> +Here is the Christian notion of father and son:— +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>How justice frowned and vengeance stood</q></l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>To drive me down to endless pain!</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>But the great Son propos'd his blood,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'><q rend='post'>And <emph>heavenly wrath grew mild again</emph>.</q></l> +</lg> +</quote> + +<p> +Think of the religion based on such an idea of +God! And think on the terrible effect on men and +women which such religion must have! +</p> + +<p> +The following description of the Christian God +was probably written by one of his adorers:— +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<lg> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'><q rend='pre'>Adore and tremble for our God</q></l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>Is a consuming fire!</l> +<l>His jealous eyes with wrath inflame,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>And raise His vengeance higher.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'><q rend='pre'>Almighty vengeance, how it burns,</q></l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>How bright His fury glows!</l> +<l>Vast magazines of plagues and storms</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Lie treasured for His foes.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>Those heaps of wrath, by slow degrees,</q></l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Are force into a flame:</l> +<l>But kindled, Oh! how fierce they blaze!</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>And rend all nature's frame.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>At His approach the mountains flee,</q></l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>And seek a watery grave;</l> +<l>The frighted sea makes haste away,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>And shrinks up every wave.</l> +</lg> + +<pb n='031'/><anchor id='Pg031'/> + +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>Through the wide air the weighty rocks</q></l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>Are swift as hailstones hurled;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Who dares engage His fiery rage,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>That shakes the solid world?</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'><q rend='pre'>Thy hand shall on rebellious kings</q></l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>A fiery tempest pour,</l> +<l>While we, beneath Thy sheltering wings,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'><q rend='post'>Thy <emph>just</emph> revenge adore.</q></l> +</lg> +</quote> + +<p> +And we are asked to love this God! We should +just as soon think of loving a tiger, a cyclone, a +deluge, a fiend. Love goes out to what is lovely. +We can love what is good, what is beautiful, what +is noble; a great-hearted man, a pitying woman +we cannot help loving, but if we should say that we +love such a God as is pictured in the words of that +hymn we should lie. Man cannot love hate, vengeance, +wrath—even in a God. +</p> + +<p> +The Christian church, down through the ages, +has been like the God it worshipped—full of hate, +malice and cruelty. The world has grown kind +and humane just in proportion as it has given up +worship of this divine monster. We judge gods +as we judge men, and we can respect and love only +what is worthy of respect and love from a human +point of view. If there is such a God as is painted +in Christian literature he deserves, not to be worshipped, +but to be shot. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The Bible upon which Christianity is founded +does not say what Christianity is, what a Christian +is, nor what we must do in order to be a Christian. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='032'/><anchor id='Pg032'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>What Is Jesus</head> + +<p> +Time was when Jesus was looked upon as +God, or the Son of God. No one had any doubt +of his divinity or divine character; or if he had, he +wisely deferred to the superstitious majority and +kept his mouth shut and so kept his head on his +shoulders. This idea that Jesus was God has been +steadily declining for several hundred years. Intelligence +has pretty much given it up, except +where it is paid a big salary for preaching it. +There is no rational defence that can be made of +the dogma of the divinity of Jesus. It is one of +many theological absurdities that was born when +gods were popular. +</p> + +<p> +A large number believe that Jesus was a man and +nothing more; a good man, but still human. They +look upon him as a product of human nature. He +is allowed a human father and mother, although +the gospels, in which is found the story of his life, +hardly warrant so much earthly parentage. He +is regarded as a part of humanity, and his extraordinary +deeds merely as exaggerated performances of +heart and hand of man. The people that look upon +Jesus as a man have a superstitious reverence for +his humanity. He is called <q>the one perfect man,</q> +the <q>pattern of the race,</q> etc. Though a man, they +will have him every inch a man. +</p> + +<p> +Yet others see nothing remarkable in the career +of Jesus; nothing which marks him for universal +emulation; nothing which compels praise and admiration. +<pb n='033'/><anchor id='Pg033'/> +They think he was a sort of mild lunatic, +possessed of the idea that he was the Messiah +of his people, and that in endeavoring to further +his scheme he antagonized the existing authority +and met the just punishment of his ambition. +</p> + +<p> +But it is neither as God nor as a man that Jesus +must be regarded, but as a myth. No such person +ever lived either as a human or divine existence. +He is simply a creature of fancy, the fruit of the +imagination. He is a character of the brain, the +creation of religious genius. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +There is no justifiable Christianity in this age. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +A dogma is the hand of the dead on the throat +of the living. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The progress of the world depends upon freedom +of thought and freedom of utterance. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +If you can forgive the man who wronged you, the +neighbor who slandered you and help the poor +about you, you need not be particular about making +any professions of righteousness. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='034'/><anchor id='Pg034'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Deeds Better Than Professions</head> + +<p> +We have tears of regret to shed over the wreck +of beauty and talent; but if we take no steps to +preserve beauty and talent from wreck, our compassion +is not to our honor but to our disgrace. +The feeling of pity which to-day expends itself in +solemn warning or solemn weeping for the poor +unfortunates of earth, must devise means to rescue +them from misery, or it is but a mockery and a +shame. One arm inspired with love of man will +do more than a thousand tender sentiments. +Sympathy must take the form of assistance, or it +is not sincere. +</p> + +<p> +When we do not love man as we ought, we hate +ourselves. The way to get heaven for ourselves +is to give it to others. The way to be happy is to +make others happy. Selfishness kills every noble +feeling and defeats every good desire. We cannot +have peace when we give pain to others. Our +deeds reward us. What wrongs man is wrong +for man to do. We should live so as not to regret +the past nor fear the future. We set too great a +value upon earthly possessions, and spend our +lives in gaining what we cannot hold. We best +enjoy the things of earth when we give up wanting +them wholly for ourselves. The best part of our +happiness is having someone to share it. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='035'/><anchor id='Pg035'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Give Us The Truth</head> + +<p> +If there is one tree that man needs to eat of, +it is the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good +and evil; and if any knowledge will keep him alive +and make him happy and perfect, it is just this +knowledge which God forbid him to acquire. We +are dying to-day from ignorance, not from knowledge,—dying +because we do not know the good +from the evil; and we are dooming ourselves and +future generations to premature death because we +do not eat more of the tree of knowledge. +</p> + +<p> +To <emph>know</emph> more is what we need. Let us look +into things and find out what the world means. If +this universe is only an illuminated deception, the +man who discovers the fact will be a public benefactor. +If things which exist around us are lying +to us,—if the stars that shine out through the deep +space above us are only fire-flies of the night, let +us know it. Knowledge will not hurt us so much +as ignorance and deception. If the flowers that +uncover their beauty for our delight have but a +phantom loveliness, and nought is real in the enchanting +world about us, then let us be told the +truth. The soul can bear it better than to be +deceived. We may be trusted with the knowledge +of good and evil and of right and wrong, ye God +of Genesis! and praise be to the first-created man +for breaking the command to remain in ignorance +and taking the first step toward solving the riddle +of life! +</p> + +<pb n='036'/><anchor id='Pg036'/> + +<p> +We learn everything by living. The truth is +not revealed to us: we must discover it. It is +seen when we climb high enough to see it, or live +wise enough to feel it, or act true enough +to utter it. When we hear the truth, we hear only +the echo of the universe. The last thing that we +have to fear is the truth and the consequences of +knowing it. Let us not fear to speak it or to hear +it. And let us go with it whenever found. They +who are keeping the world from the knowledge +of good and evil, who are trying to discourage the +preaching of truth, are the enemies of mankind. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +If man had no knowledge except what he has got +out of the Bible he would not know enough to +make a shoe. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The great work of man has ever been to rescue +the present from the past; to turn the mind from +what it has left behind to the opportunities and +duties which are around it. For this has genius +toiled down the ages, sung its song of love, carved +its dream of beauty and whispered to the world's +dull ear its bright message of hope. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='037'/><anchor id='Pg037'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The American Sunday</head> + +<p> +Everybody has heard of what is called the +<q>Christian sabbath,</q> and nearly everybody has +a tolerably clear idea of what is meant by a <q>continental +sabbath.</q> A <q>continental sabbath</q> may +be described as a sort of week-day Sunday, that +is, as a religious holiday with more secular, than +pious, features. A Christian sabbath is so near +dead in this country as a religious fact that a +definition of it cannot be had from real life. We +find the ideal sabbath of the Christians in the +history of early New England. For two centuries +the people have been gradually outgrowing the +austere religion which made Sunday a day to be +dreaded all the week. The attempt has been frequently +made by a small puritan contingent, which +has survived all these years, to resuscitate this dead +sabbath and inflict it upon the world again. But +so far the effort has only met with deserved failure. +</p> + +<p> +Resurrections have never been successful. When +the inhabitants of graves have come out of their +abodes it has been only to walk the streets for a +brief period, and then to return again to silence +and rest. The stories of ghosts, when true, are +always short. These visitants never stop long +or do anything that is of any worth to the world. +When the grave is once made over the dead it is +best to let it alone. There is nothing in cemeteries +to aid progress or civilization. +</p> + +<p> +We do not need the revival of old customs or +<pb n='038'/><anchor id='Pg038'/> +of old faiths. To endeavor to rehabilitate the sabbath +of our forefathers is as foolish as to try to +make people go back into log houses and cook +over a fire-place. Some persons can never realize +that the world grows; that what was a help to one +age becomes a hindrance to another; that time +corrects the mistakes of men and that respect and +reverence for our ancestors do not necessarily +require us to adopt their clothes or their habits. +</p> + +<p> +Men and women are made fossils by their religion. +The people who are trying to-day to resurrect the +puritan sabbath are people who have got religion, +but not much of anything else. A man who allows +religion to dominate all his thoughts, all his efforts, +all his acts, usually is a nuisance, if nothing worse. +</p> + +<p> +A day of rest once a week is a good thing in itself, +but it is a bad thing when controlled by religion. +We are in favor of Sunday as a day when man can +lay aside his business, his care, his tools, and enjoy +himself, but we want everybody to take their +hands off of it. Sunday is not a day for religion +alone. If certain people wish to go to church on +Sunday, let them go; but when these people, who +go to church on Sunday, wish to compel everyone +else to do the same, they need to be informed that +<hi rend='italic'>liberty on Sunday is just as much a human right as +liberty on Monday</hi>. There are better things that +man has found than religion. Liberty is better, +truth is better, happiness is better. We would +like to see an American Sunday on this continent, +<pb n='039'/><anchor id='Pg039'/> +a Sunday in harmony with the principles upon +which our government was founded, a Sunday +which was not run by religion, a Sunday for man +and not for the church. Such a day would not be +a sabbath, but it would be a free day, a happy day. +The notion of Sunday as a holy day is too absurd, +too ridiculous to deserve respectful attention. No +man can have fifty-two holy days in a year. +</p> + +<p> +The minister must take his pious grasp off of +the throat of Sunday. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +A true man is not troubled by anything but his +own acts. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The true man walks the earth as the stars walk +the heavens, grandly obedient to those laws which +are implanted in his nature. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +A great many people are afraid of knowledge, +but we have seen hundreds of people that we thought +would be improved if they knew more, but we +have never seen one that we thought would be +better if he knew less. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='040'/><anchor id='Pg040'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Lord And Master</head> + +<p> +The Christian is fond of referring to Jesus as +his lord and master. We wonder why, for it is +evident that not a Christian of this century takes +Jesus for his lord and master. The fact is, that +there is nothing that a <emph>man</emph> objects to more strongly +than a master. Man wants to be independent. +He does not want anybody to be lord over him. +The struggle of the race for ages has been to get +rid of lords and masters, to be free from tyrants. +Religion is after all only dead politics. The church +makes sacred what the state casts off. What sense +is there in fighting for long centuries to liberate +the body, and voluntarily accepting slavery for +the mind? Jesus is the ghost of a dead king. But +why should the world prostrate itself before his +invisible throne when it refuses to acknowledge +by its obedience that he is fit to rule the kingdom +of conduct? +</p> + +<p> +What hypocrites Christians are! What a farce +it is for men and women to call Jesus lord and master! +They do not obey his slightest command, +and they ignore his teachings as undeserving their +regard. There is not a precept, that the Christian +church teaches came from the lips of Jesus, that +Christians honor by practice, not one. Never did +a lord receive so little honest respect from his +vassals; never a master so little true obedience +from his servants. +</p> + +<p> +Men and women are not sincere when they profess +<pb n='041'/><anchor id='Pg041'/> +to accept Jesus as their lord and master. They +doubtless feel grateful to him for saving them from +the fires of hell hereafter, but they look upon him +as a mighty poor example for them to follow here. +As everybody knows, the church does not require +that its members shall practice the precepts given +by Jesus. If she did demand this of men and +women her membership would speedily be reduced +to zero. We do not regard a man as honest, or +worthy of respect, who calls Jesus his lord and master +and turns his back in contempt upon the precepts +he gave his disciples to practice. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +You cannot stuff your minds with the lives of +saints and grow good on the stuffing. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Some persons are remembered solely for their +virtues and others solely for their faults. This is +why we have a Jesus and a Judas. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='042'/><anchor id='Pg042'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Are Christians Intelligent Or +Honest</head> + +<p> +Future generations will regard the men who +accept the Christian superstitions either as simple +or dishonest. +</p> + +<p> +We are forced to doubt the sanity or sincerity +of people who profess to believe in the doctrine of +the trinity, in a <q>begotten Son of God,</q> in miraculous +conception, in the resurrection of the body, in +the Bible as the word of God, in miracles, and in +heaven and hell. We ask ourselves:—Are men intelligent +who believe these things, or do they merely +profess to believe them, and are dishonest? We +cannot reconcile faith in the Christian superstitions +with mental soundness and good sense. +</p> + +<p> +What is there in Nature to suggest any of the +Christian doctrines? Does not everything we +know, everything we have seen, everything we +have experienced, deny and disprove the Christian +superstitions? Why, then, do people accept +them? We find no one that acts as though Christianity +were true, no one who lives as though hell +were under his feet and liable at any moment to +pull him down to eternal damnation. We find +men spending all their energies in trying to get the +good things of earth, just as though they were told +to do so by God, instead of commanded not to lay +up treasures upon earth, etc. +</p> + +<p> +It is one of the serious problems of the age to +know how to deal with Christians. They are, +<pb n='043'/><anchor id='Pg043'/> +as a rule, respectable and decent; they have good +manners generally, and they eat and drink, dress +and talk, live and die very much as other people, +and yet they profess a faith that is absurd and foolish +and that has no foundation in fact or philosophy. +</p> + +<p> +We like to think well of our fellow-beings, and +we would like to think well of Christians, but we +cannot do so as long as they pretend to believe +what a person of intelligence, of good sense, cannot +believe. Are Christians honest? Perhaps they +think so, but have they ever really examined their +belief in the light of the knowledge of the twentieth +century? If they will do this, we do not see how +they can longer profess to be Christians, if they +are honest. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +When men are hungry roast mutton is better than +the lamb that taketh away wrath. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +If a man can look in the mirror of his own soul +without shame, he can look the whole world in the +face without a blush. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='044'/><anchor id='Pg044'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Danger Of The Ballot</head> + +<p> +Men speak usually as though voters ranged themselves +on one side of a political question, or another, +according to their convictions or principles. We +wish this were so, then we should be nearer having +a pure ballot. But we cannot share this lofty +view. It does not seem to us that the average +voter is a man of either political convictions or +principles. Party service does not require intelligent, +independent action, and politics to-day +stands for party fealty more than for governmental +ethics. +</p> + +<p> +The main question that is decided by an election +in our country is, which political party shall have +the privilege of dispensing the offices of Government? +There is a desire on the part of certain +persons to obtain office, for either personal or +party advantage, and this desire is oftentimes so +fierce that it will betray the honor of citizenship. +Where this is done, or attempted, lies the danger +of the ballot. +</p> + +<p> +If men voted only as their political convictions +dictated, we should have a higher party morality +and purer officers, but we must face the facts even +though the duty is not an agreeable one. Politics +has degenerated to a dirty business and political +trickery and bribery secure victory where honor, +integrity and principle suffer defeat. The plain +truth is, we have a large class of voters who make +merchandise of their right of suffrage, and a set +<pb n='045'/><anchor id='Pg045'/> +of demagogues whose business it is to bribe or coerce +voters for the advancement of selfish ends. +</p> + +<p> +The honest, virtuous, intelligent, independent +vote is the noblest power of a freeman, but the +purchasable vote, the ignorant vote, the vicious +and servile vote, is the opportunity of the knave +and the scoundrel. The purity of the ballot is +the only safety of a Republic, and no greater danger +threatens this nation to-day than that which +arises from the corruption of the suffrage. A ballot +should be the honest declaration of our principles, +the expression of our own opinions, the +badge of our manhood; but when it is held in the +hand that has sold it for a price, or will deposit it +at the dictation of another, it is the prostitute of +greed and the hired assassin of the despot. +</p> + +<p> +Every man should select his own ballot and vote +to please himself, and any person that would interfere +with his right and duty to do this, should +be disfranchised forever. <hi rend='italic'>The individual who does +not know enough to select his own ballot has no right +to vote in this country.</hi> +</p> + +<p> +There have been too many voters led to the +polls, and used as party troops. There are still +slaves on election day who are afraid of the crack +of the whip. There ought to be permitted in this +nation no political or religious disability on account +of the honest exercise of the right of suffrage. A +man should be protected from the politician and +the priest. When a man votes as he thinks, he +<pb n='046'/><anchor id='Pg046'/> +has discharged the highest duty of citizenship, +but when he votes through bribe or fear, he forfeits +the privilege of the ballot. The polls are more +sacred to man than the altar. Religion might die +and man could still have every blessing of earth, +but when liberty is killed, the noblest blessing of +earth has departed. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The petty salvation offered by Christianity is +not much sought after to-day, while the world is +bending its mighty energies in the direction of +knowledge as never before, and the glory of the +electric light, the song of the steam-whistle, the +music of the telegraph, the chorus of machinery +and the grand anthem of countless enterprises tell +of a bright and golden future time when man will +master the elements of Nature and guide his life +through its course of years in perfect safety and +security and step down at the end of it,—<q>Like one +who wraps the drapery of his couch about him and +lies down to pleasant dreams.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='047'/><anchor id='Pg047'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Who Carried The Cross</head> + +<p> +Who carried the cross upon which Jesus was +crucified? Such a question ought to be easy to +answer, if the event ever occurred. There ought to +be no disagreement upon so simple a matter as this. +But there is disagreement, and quite a serious one +at that. Three of the gospels declare that Simon +carried the cross, while the fourth gospel says that +<emph>Jesus</emph> himself carried the cross upon which he was +crucified. Now, which is right? Is John right? +If so, then Matthew, Mark and Luke are wrong. +If Simon carried it, Jesus could not have done so; +and if Jesus carried it, then Simon did not. +</p> + +<p> +That there is such a discrepancy in the accounts +of this alleged event does not so much indicate +that one is right and the others wrong in regard +to the carrying of the cross as that none is right. +To our mind this disagreement of the gospels is an +indication that no such event as the carrying of +a cross upon which to crucify Jesus ever occurred. +</p> + +<p> +Christians put forth the Bible as a work which +in some way came from God; as a book which is +reliable in its statements, and correct in its narrative +of events. Now, it is patent to everyone that +in the gospels there are two distinct accounts of +the carrying of the cross. How can Christians +reconcile this fact with their theory that God is the +author of the Bible? +</p> + +<p> +It must be admitted by all that one mind could +not have written or inspired both of these stories, +and it must also be admitted that if one is true the +<pb n='048'/><anchor id='Pg048'/> +other is false. What is the natural conclusion +that an unprejudiced mind would arrive at after +reading the account of the carrying of the cross for +the crucifixion of Jesus in the four gospels? Is it +not that no such cross was ever carried for any +such purpose? +</p> + +<p> +There are too many gospels, too many stories +of Jesus. It would have been better for Christianity +had all but one of these narratives been destroyed. +They contradict each other in so many +essential points as to make them totally unreliable +as records of facts. It is plain that <emph>not one of the +writers of the four gospels knew of what he was +writing</emph>. +</p> + +<p> +We must in honesty say that no one knows who +carried the cross on which Jesus was crucified, and +no one knows whether Jesus was crucified or not, +and no one knows whether any such person as +Jesus ever lived, to be crucified. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Civilization has come about by going to school +more than to church. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Nature is the volume from which all of our knowledge +has been translated. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='049'/><anchor id='Pg049'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Modern Disciples Of Jesus</head> + +<p> +The modern disciples do not resemble very +closely the ancient disciples of Jesus. In fact +it is very hard to find a reason why Christian +preachers call themselves disciples of Jesus at +all. According to the narrative of the New Testament +Jesus was not in love with money and what +money will buy; he did not have a high appreciation +of the good things of the world; he did not +express any anxiety about his food or dress, nor +manifest any desire to have aesthetic surroundings. +</p> + +<p> +And if we can credit the story of the gospels, +Jesus charged his disciples to be and do pretty +much as he himself was and did. He said to them: +<q>Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, +cast out devils; ... Provide neither gold nor silver, +nor brass in your purses, nor scrip for your journey, +neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet +staves, for the workman is worthy of his meat.... +It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Whether or not the ancient disciples heeded +these words of their master, and carried out his +instructions, we do not know, but there is abundant +evidence that his modern disciples do not +pay his commands the compliment of obedience. +If there is one item that the clergyman of to-day +looks after it is his salary. He deliberately disobeys +all of the injunctions of Jesus to his disciples, +and thinks he is doing his duty to do so. +</p> + +<p> +This is the funny part of his discipleship to us. +<pb n='050'/><anchor id='Pg050'/> +He does not consider the charge of Jesus worthy +of being heeded. When we point to the commands +of Jesus, and ask some Christian minister why he +does not obey them, he coolly informs us that it +would be the height of folly in this age to attempt +to do as Jesus commanded his first disciples. In +other words the Christian clergyman acts upon the +ground that the orders of Jesus to his apostles are +incompatible with personal dignity and decent +living, and that only a person utterly devoid of all +sense of fitness and social responsibility would +undertake to follow his directions. +</p> + +<p> +We agree with the action of the modern disciple +of Jesus in regarding his commands as foolish and +unfit to be obeyed, but we want him to take an +honest stand before the world and say so like a +man. Now he is a hypocrite, when he assumes +a place in the Christian ranks but refuses to obey +the orders of his master. The modern disciple of +Jesus is more concerned about putting money in a +bank or investing it in real estate than he is about +<q>laying up treasures in heaven.</q> +</p> + +<p> +If there is one person who believes thoroughly +in looking after himself and his in the world, and +getting all the good things out of it, it is the Christian +minister. He is well housed, well fed, well +dressed, and, as a rule, has a comfortable income. +How he must laugh when he reads the New Testament! +He probably regards Jesus as a chump to +tell men and women to take no thought for what +they shall eat and drink and wear, and not to lay +<pb n='051'/><anchor id='Pg051'/> +up a few dollars for a rainy day. He has to make +believe honor the poor, unsophisticated peasant +of Galilee, in order to get his fat living. He has +to fool the fools that support him in luxury, but +all the reverence he has for Jesus you could put +in your eye. +</p> + +<p> +If it paid better to tell the truth and to take an +honest position in the world, we presume that most +ministers would quit playing the hypocrite, but +as long as Christianity pays its preachers more +than they can get from any other source, we may +expect them to profess to follow Jesus and then +do as they please. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Every fact is backed up by the whole universe. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Christianity is a black spot on the page of civilization. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The church is a bank that is continually receiving +deposits but never pays a dividend. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='052'/><anchor id='Pg052'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>A Poor Excuse</head> + +<p> +The excuse of the poor for not going to church +is a poor excuse. The woman who does not go +to church because she cannot dress well enough, +cannot have much respect for her master. Jesus +did not rail against the poor, but the rich. He +did not condemn Lazarus, but Dives. Christian +churches should be filled with rags, not silks; with +paupers, not bankers. No one can be too poor +to feel at home in the church of him who was too +poor to have a place to lay his head. A Christian +church is the church of poverty, and its minister +should welcome the tramp, the beggar, the rag-muffin, +and should give the cold shoulder to the +rich merchant, the well-dressed politician, the +prosperous citizen. +</p> + +<p> +It is a singular thing that while silks despise +rags, rags respect silks. The poor Christians +ought to glory in their poverty, ought to be proud +of their patches. They should have utter contempt +for good clothes, and go to the church of +Jesus with a feeling of pride that they honor him +by being poor, as he was. Velvet, satin and broad-cloth +are insults to him whose ragged royalty +they profess to reverence. +</p> + +<p> +If the poor were not as big hypocrites as the +rich, they would drive the richly-dressed worshipers +out of the church dedicated to the poverty-stricken +Nazarene, who has been elected to the +office of savior. A person has not very much +Christianity when his religion is ashamed of his +old clothes. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='053'/><anchor id='Pg053'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Profession And Practice</head> + +<p> +There are a great many persons who are anxious +to pass for more than they are worth, to stand +for more than they represent. They always get +on the side of the majority, because that is considered +the safe side, the side that is most likely +to have the largest number of loaves and fishes. +These people are willing to pay the price of popularity; +willing to do anything that is regarded as +respectable, even to denying their own souls. The +easiest way to win favor is by professing the popular +faith, no matter what it is. A true man will +be true to his convictions, true to his principles; +but such a man may not receive applause, may +not make money, may not be allowed to enter the +door of society. In order to win the favor and +secure the good-will of the majority, it is necessary +to go with it, no matter where it is going. The +thoughtless, the weak and simple, follow the crowd. +</p> + +<p> +Profession is demanded of him who would join +the ranks of the pious. Profession is required of +the man or woman who belongs to the church. +The performance of every duty, the practice of +every virtue, is not a sufficient recommendation +to popular favor. It is a fact that profession without +practice is accepted in preference to practice +without profession. +</p> + +<p> +The man who gives his life to man without +thought or care about God is considered a bad +man, while he who gives his life to God without +<pb n='054'/><anchor id='Pg054'/> +thought or care about man is regarded as holy +and saintly. Nobody can do God any good or +any harm, and all the worship that is offered him +is a waste of time. +</p> + +<p> +The man who stands up in public and asks +God in prayer to help the poor, to bless the suffering, +is looked upon as a good man, while he who +does not pray nor ask God to do anything, but +helps his needy brothers and sisters, is pronounced +wicked and sinful. Values have become strangely +mixed in the eyes of mankind. Religion is considered +as worth more than morality; worship +more than work; prayer more than performance +and profession more than practice. This is wrong, +false and foolish. +</p> + +<p> +Profession is a mighty poor jewel, a cheap and +flashy substitute for the diamond of practice. It +is a confession of fraud; a mask for a face; a coward's +excuse; a hypocrite's wile. Honesty need +not profess to be honest. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +When a minister says that God will help you, ask +him to put up the collateral. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The church spends thousands of dollars to save +a dogma, where it spends a cent to find a truth. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='055'/><anchor id='Pg055'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Where Is Truth</head> + +<p> +Men have enthroned truth in some far-off kingdom, +away from the world, as though it were too +pure to live on earth. It has been made supernatural, +and only to be known by being revealed. +But truth is everywhere; its voice is heard in +everything. The very pebble at our feet holds its +image, and its light twinkles in the white splendor +of the distant star. +</p> + +<p> +Man has searched for truth in books, but has +not found it there. He has invented words to +conceal his disappointment, such as God, heaven, +providence, etc. Nature contains all the truth, +and so far as men have read Nature aright they +have learned what is true, but we cannot catch +and hold Nature in our philosophies. She breaks +through all the finely-woven theories we put about +her, and man, in his attempt to bind Nature with +his thoughts, binds only himself. +</p> + +<p> +Men in all ages have tried to read the secret of +the universe. We have been told that God directs +it, that a divine mind planned it and keeps it in +motion. Why not let the universe explain itself? +Why not read it by its own light? Why not confess +our ignorance? God is a figure of speech, but +Nature is a reality. Let us trust what we know. +Nature is never capricious. Fire will always burn, +water will always drown, frost will always freeze. +Though we have confidence in Nature, let us acknowledge +that we do not yet comprehend the +<pb n='056'/><anchor id='Pg056'/> +meaning of things. The old habit of inventing +words to hide our ignorance has been adopted by +science as well as by religion. Evolution does not +reduce the mystery of existence to a simple problem. +What we call truth is more than we have +yet found. The unknown is still provocative of +investigation, and the only prayer of the mind is, +more light. We must beware of accepting dogmas, +whether of science or religion. No statement is +the last word of truth. Doubt is the first step of +progress, and inquiry is the way to knowledge. +</p> + +<p> +There is nothing that stands more in the way of +human advancement than the authority of opinions. +Some dragon of assertion ever disputes our right +to the golden fleece of truth. If we ask for proof +of God's existence or man's immortality, we are +answered with a text, but a text is only the dead +opinion of a dead man. This age demands truth, +not the belief of a person who lived centuries ago. +</p> + +<p> +Because superstition holds the contents of a +book sacred we are not to enslave reason to its +statements. We will not be bound by the opinions +of others, neither must we bind others to our opinions. +We must make freedom sacred, and cease +condemning men for disbelief or unbelief. The +bondage of faith is the slavery of the soul. It +makes man unjust, unwise and unkind. Allegiance +to a creed makes us ill use a man simply because +he does not believe as we do. +</p> + +<pb n='057'/><anchor id='Pg057'/> + +<p> +No church has all the truth, and no school either. +So-called religion merely shows where the search +after truth ended. But truth is the infinite reality, +and it will always be for man to find. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Christianity is like a slow clock—always being +moved ahead. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The day of the Bible is passed. Books have +taken its place. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Better be late to church Sunday morning than +late at home Saturday night. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Man to-day has more and better ways of getting +a living than at any time in the history of the race. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='058'/><anchor id='Pg058'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>What Does It Prove</head> + +<p> +Christians say that the resurrection of Jesus +proves his claim to be the Messiah. But what +proves the resurrection? Certainly not the contradictory +stories of the gospels. The story of the +resurrection of Jesus from the tomb merely proves +that somebody lied, that is all. A pretty Messiah +Jesus was! The Messiah of the Jews was to be a +king who should restore the lost splendor of the +house of David; who should overthrow the power +of the Romans and build up the Israelitish kingdom. +This king never came. Jesus was just +about as much a Jewish Messiah as Crispus Attucks +was a President of the United States. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +No creed can be stretched to the size of +truth; no church can be made as large as man. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +To correct in ourselves what we condemn +in others would remove most of the evils of life. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='059'/><anchor id='Pg059'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Human Responsibility</head> + +<p> +There is nothing that tends to perpetuate the +weakness of humanity more than religion. Men +have been taught for ages that they were dependent +upon God for all they have. This kind of teaching +must be corrected; it is false. Man is dependent +upon man. No God will help or hurt him. Be +he ever so good no God will praise him; be he ever +so bad no God will blame him. What he wants to +escape is his own condemnation. +</p> + +<p> +In order to develop an independent spirit in +man it is necessary to increase his responsibility. +Man must be taught to rely upon his own strength, +upon his own body and mind. He must learn his +relations to Nature and abide by the laws of his +being. He must know this: if he would have anything +he must deserve it. Human destiny follows +human conduct. +</p> + +<p> +The old notion that man is responsible to God +cannot be proved. There are no facts that corroborate +that notion. Man is responsible to himself. +It is this truth that is calculated to elevate and +ennoble human life. Let human beings understand +that there is that within themselves that is +to be respected, and that they are responsible to +themselves for all they do, and they will be more +worthy of respect and live more worthy lives. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='060'/><anchor id='Pg060'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Abolish Dirt</head> + +<p> +We should like to see one generation brought up +to hate dirt. Every child ought to be taught that +clean hands and face and clean clothes help to a +clean life. There are too many homes on this +earth that human beings live in that are dirty, in +which those three household gods—the broom, +the mop, and the dust-rag—have no place. +</p> + +<p> +Children should be taught to drive dirt out of +the house as they would a mad dog. Dirt is the +food of disease. It is the enemy of health and +happiness. Abolish dirt. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +If God exists, what objection can he have +to saying so? +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +When we have nothing to give a beggar, +we can at least tell him so kindly. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='061'/><anchor id='Pg061'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Religion And Morality</head> + +<p> +A religious man is not trusted to-day because +he is religious. Faith in vicarious atonement is +not accepted as a moral substitute for meeting one's +obligations. Worship of God is not equivalent +to helping your neighbor. The fact that a man +is religious may not be proof that he is a bad man, +but it is no evidence that he is a good man. The +most contemptible wretch that ever robbed the +widow or orphan could shine in a prayer-meeting, +where words are passed for virtues. The veriest +scoundrel can pay a pew tax and march up the +aisle of the church with sanctimonious countenance. +Religion is such a superficial affair that it carries +no moral recommendation. Without morality religion +could not borrow a dollar on its name, while +morality without religion can get all the accommodation +it asks for. The real virtues of a man do +not depend upon religion. Men have lived good +lives while believing in dozens of gods and without +faith in a single god. Morality is not the offspring +of theology. You cannot pick out a moral man +by hearing him pray. A great deal of religion is +worn to conceal moral defects. +</p> + +<p> +We should watch the man who stands up in +public and says: I am moral. We should say to +him: It is not necessary for you to proclaim your +morality; your daily life will show how moral +you are. The world is becoming suspicious of +him who stands up in public and says: I am religious. +</p> + +<pb n='062'/><anchor id='Pg062'/> + +<p> +A great many people seem to think if they profess +to love God it is not necessary for them to love man. +</p> + +<p> +We are not denying that a great many good +men and women are religious; that a great many +good men and women go to church and prayer-meeting. +We do not deny that a great many +moral men and women profess faith in total depravity, +in vicarious atonement, but we do not see +how their faith has anything to do with their morality. +There is no particular necessity for Christians +to be good. Their faith saves them, not their +conduct. Religion is not doing, it is believing, +or pretending to. +</p> + +<p> +There is a big opportunity to lie in religion. You +cannot tell when a person says he believes in God +whether he is telling the truth or not. It is mighty +easy to be religious. But the moral man has no +such chance. He is not judged by his professions, +but by his actions. +</p> + +<p> +Religion makes hypocrisy easy, but morality +offers the hypocrite no show whatever. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Never forget the good deeds that others do to +you, nor remember those that you do to others. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='063'/><anchor id='Pg063'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Jesus As A Model</head> + +<p> +It is common to speak of Jesus as though he +touched the borders of every human experience, +and sounded the depths of every joy and every woe, +but there is no warrant for such statements. +</p> + +<p> +He lived a very narrow life, and his brief career +cannot be stretched to cover the limits of our earthly +existence. He is held up for us to imitate, as +though he had left a pattern for every hour of our +lives, and a model for every day from the cradle +to the grave. This is simply nonsense. This +<q>model</q> business has been overworked. Jesus +had a great many crude, foolish ideas, and did a +great many deeds that are not worth repeating. +As a model of what is best in this age he is a wretched +failure. It is a mistake to look upon Jesus as a +fit person to lead our century to a higher life. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +There is nothing to live for in the past. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +We must condemn christianity, not christians; +strike the church, but spare the heart. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='064'/><anchor id='Pg064'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Singing Lies</head> + +<p> +Go into any Christian church and you will hear +the choir and the congregation singing lies. Is it +not time to stop it? Is music married irrevocably +to falsehood? Take up an ordinary hymn-book +and you will hardly find a sensible line in it. The +entire contents of the book is about God, heaven, +salvation, and other equally unknown quantities, +states and conditions. Why not sing sense? Why +not sing facts? Why not sing truth? Why not +sing the glories of Nature, of life, of man? +</p> + +<p> +Music is a wonderful power, a wonderful educator +of the feelings and emotions. It is essential, +therefore, that music be inspired by what is true, +by what is good, by what is right. Truth should +be set to music and the lips taught to sing what +science has discovered, what art has done, what the +universe reveals, what the world is living for. +</p> + +<p> +The common Christian music is a wail of despair, +a cry of sorrow, a shriek of fear. It is composed +of false conceptions of Nature, of humanity, of life. +It is a <q>doleful sound.</q> The triumph of faith +which it celebrates is not a full, round, complete +joy. +</p> + +<p> +The Church does not know the music of laughter, +the music of the heart. Its song seems always to +hover on the brink of fear. It is not the glad note +of natural freedom, but the uncertain joy of the +escaped convict. +</p> + +<p> +The free song must come from the free heart, +<pb n='065'/><anchor id='Pg065'/> +must denote the free thought. Let life that is +healthy, happy and human be set to music. Let us +sing as we live, as we think, as we feel. The music of +the hand, the mind, the heart, should be on the lips. +If we could only sing what sings through us, the +world would listen with rapture. We do not want +<q>harmonious madness</q> nor harmonious idiocy. +Pious music is stupid, false. It is inspired by the +sickness of the world. We need a stronger note, +a sturdier song. +</p> + +<p> +Lies enough have been sung. Let truth now +fill the air. Out of the great hope of the race let +new songs come. We are beginning to live for +life on earth, for happiness here, for love here, for +victory here. Let the hands and feet, the brains +and hearts of men and women move to the music +of truth. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +There is not a village where poverty does +not pinch the stomach or starve the mind, where +misery does not need charity and where wealth +could not bless. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Piety could do nothing better than imitate +morality. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='066'/><anchor id='Pg066'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>A Walk Through A Cemetery</head> + +<p> +In walking through a country graveyard one sees +a prominent granite or marble monument here +and there, but more of the stones that mark the +resting-places of the dead are modest in appearance, +plain and humble. But there are some +graves that are unmarked by any outward token +of remembrance. Such graves may hold the dust +of as great and good men and women as those spots +above which has been raised the lofty shaft and +costly design. +</p> + +<p> +Graveyards are just as deceptive as are the +homes of the living. A fine house is not proof of +the moral, the manly or womanly worth of its occupant. +Saints do not sleep beneath the gilded +roof any more than under a leaky thatch. So +also the wise, the good, the true, are not the ones +over whose ashes rises the chiseled stone. The +dead may deserve monuments that the living are +not able to buy. +</p> + +<p> +A graveyard might be called a library of lies. Epitaphs +are to be read, and believed, if you can believe +them. We have found as big falsehoods in +cemeteries as in newspapers. <q>Say nothing bad +of the dead</q> is kindly counsel, but, say nothing of +the dead on a tombstone, is wiser. +</p> + +<p> +We have seen a towering stone covered with +words of praise over the ashes of a man, who, while +living, was simply a lover of money. We have +seen the sunken grave of a woman, with no marble +<pb n='067'/><anchor id='Pg067'/> +to adorn it, who lived a heroic life of love and duty +beyond words to tell. If virtues bore monuments +one would rise over the neglected grave of that +saintly woman that would reach the clouds, and +that other grave would be stripped of its marble +and left to oblivion. +</p> + +<p> +Though a cemetery is more or less a museum of +vanity and pride, there is at the bottom of the +costly display of granite and marble a tender feeling, +a commendable virtue. There may be as +much love and respect for those in unmarked +graves as for those who sleep in costly masonry or +beneath sculptured stone. In walking through a +graveyard, if our steps should go to the places +where no monument invited the eye, they would +be more likely to walk over the dust of those who +did life's duty well, than if they paused only before +the imposing shaft or read the marble tale of +virtue that never was told in deeds. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +God never helps those who need the help of +men and women. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +No man ever knew Providence to interpose when +his neighbor's hens are scratching up his garden. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='068'/><anchor id='Pg068'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Peace With God</head> + +<p> +A good, pious lady said to us not long ago: +<q>Don't you think that you ought to make your +peace with God?</q> We have never had a bit of +trouble with God. We have got along with him +tip top. He has never shown that it was at all +necessary for us to make peace with him. We +have never quarrelled. If we are not at peace +with God, we did not know it. We have no wish +to have a row with anyone, and if God has the +idea that we are mad with him or want to injure +him in any way, we wish to disabuse his mind of +such a notion. +</p> + +<p> +We wish to say that we have never had any +dealings with God, to our knowledge. If we have +seen him, we did not know it. If he has spoken +to us, we were not aware of the fact. If he has +been in our presence at any time, we were not conscious +of it. +</p> + +<p> +We do not know that we have ever wronged +God or that God has ever wronged us. We do not +say that some word or act of ours may not have +injured God. +</p> + +<p> +All we can say is that we have no way of finding +out whether such is the fact or not. Of course, +we could not take the word of a priest or minister +on this point. We want God's own assurance +in the matter. +</p> + +<p> +Up to this time God has made no complaint to +us that we have wronged him, or that we need to +<pb n='069'/><anchor id='Pg069'/> +make our peace with him, and until we hear from +his own lips that we owe him an apology, we do +not intend to make one. +</p> + +<p> +God is just as good to us as though he was dead. +He does not cross our path, stand in our light, dog +our steps, or interfere with what we are doing. He +does not get in our way any more than if he lived +in the planet Jupiter. So we do not see that we +need to make our peace with him. We do not +comprehend how there can be any collision between +us. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Priests will pardon thieves but not philosophers. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Priest and God have formed some of the worst +combinations in history. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Too long has this world been at the feet of the +priest. Man is never in that position for his own +benefit, but for the benefit of the priest. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='070'/><anchor id='Pg070'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Saving The Soul</head> + +<p> +The man who can deliberately, and in cold blood, +as it were, try to save his soul, must be grossly +selfish. To do that which shall redound to one's +own advantage or profit, without care or consideration +of another, shows little humanity. The +finer feeling is that which looks after others rather +than one's self. It can only increase selfishness +to seek salvation. +</p> + +<p> +When a man gets the idea that his soul must be +saved, and goes to work to save it, the things that +he will do in order to insure its salvation tend to +lessen its value; and by the time he thinks his soul +is saved it is generally not worth saving. The +more willing we are to be lost, the more chance +there is that we will not be. +</p> + +<p> +The cheapest method of saving one's soul is by +believing something. This requires but little effort +and no brains. Christianity is organized gullibility. +It tells people to believe what it teaches +and it will save their souls. It remains to be seen +whether Christianity fulfils its part of the contract. +</p> + +<p> +It occurs to us that before we try to save our +soul we ought to know that we have a soul and that +it needs saving. We fail to see any necessity for +anxiety on account of our soul. We do not care +to go into the salvation business and let the priest +get all the dividends. Any person who can seriously +talk about <q>saving his soul</q> ought to have a +guardian. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='071'/><anchor id='Pg071'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Search For Something To +Worship</head> + +<p> +What is there in the universe that deserves +worship? Is there anything? What is there +that men and women should kneel to, pray to +and adore? If there is anything that deserves +such worship from human beings, where is it? +Let us see if we can find any such thing. +</p> + +<p> +We look at the earth and its inhabitants, and +while we see much which calls for admiration, we +find nothing to worship. The mountain impresses +us with its towering grandeur, the ocean with its +vast extent and terrible power, but we cannot get +on our knees to rocks, no matter how high they are +piled; nor pray to water, no matter how much there +is of it. The flower elicits our wondering delight, +but we cannot adore a rose, a sunflower or a daisy. +We own the marvelous beauty of the animal form, +but we cannot worship a horse, a tiger or a dog. +We hear the gladness and madness of melody which +comes from the throat of the bird, but sweet and +entrancing as it is, we cannot adore a skylark, a +nightingale or a thrush. We see man, the fairest +form that walks the earth, the most marvelous +piece of work that Nature reveals to our senses, but +we cannot worship our own image. +</p> + +<p> +Beyond earth the eye looks, and cloud, black +or bright, is seen and the endless blue beyond the +cloud, but man cannot get on his knees to vapor +or pray to the sky. In the daytime the sun is seen, +<pb n='072'/><anchor id='Pg072'/> +and at night the moon and countless stars, but +man cannot worship a ball of fire nor a dying planet, +or adore a point of light. +</p> + +<p> +We can find nothing on the earth or in the heavens +that we can worship. Is there something not on +the earth or in the heavens? If so, what is it and +where is it? What do men and women kneel to? +Nothing. What do men and women pray to? +Nothing. What do men and women worship? +Nothing. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Coals out of the ashes of love will never light the +fires of friendship. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The names of most men live on account of the +falsehoods told about them. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +We should scorn the person who would be mean +enough to allow his fellow-being to be punished +for his deeds. Yet we have a religion in our +midst that is founded on this kind of meanness. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='073'/><anchor id='Pg073'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Where Are They</head> + +<p> +Where are the sons of gods that loved the +daughters of men? +</p> + +<p> +Where are the nymphs, the goddesses of the +winds and waters? +</p> + +<p> +Where are the gnomes that lived inside the earth? +</p> + +<p> +Where are the goblins that used to play tricks +on mortals? +</p> + +<p> +Where are the fairies that could blight or bless +the human heart? +</p> + +<p> +Where are the ghosts that haunted this globe? +</p> + +<p> +Where are the witches that flew in and out of +the homes of men? +</p> + +<p> +Where is the devil that once roamed over the +earth? +</p> + +<p> +Where are they? Gone with the ignorance +that believed in them. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +No man was ever yet canonized for minding +his own business. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +No man was ever yet sorry to find that he had +married a good cook. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='074'/><anchor id='Pg074'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Some Questions For Christians To +Answer</head> + +<p> +How do ministers know what pleases God? +</p> + +<p> +What is <q>inspiration of God?</q> +</p> + +<p> +When God <q>inspired men of old,</q> what did he +do to them? +</p> + +<p> +What has God revealed to man that has ever +helped him get a living? +</p> + +<p> +If we do not need to worship God six days in the +week why do we need to worship him on the seventh? +</p> + +<p> +If there were no ministers and no priests, how +long would there be any churches? +</p> + +<p> +If God will answer prayer, what is the necessity +of working? +</p> + +<p> +If God weeps when the poor suffer, what does he +make it so cold for? +</p> + +<p> +If rich men cannot enter the kingdom of God, +what business have rich men to be in Christian +churches? +</p> + +<p> +If God is our <q>father,</q> does he take very good +care of his children? +</p> + +<p> +If God sends what blesses us, who sends what +curses us? +</p> + +<p> +If Christianity makes the world better, why is +there so much vice and crime? +</p> + +<p> +If <q>salvation is free,</q> why is anybody lost? +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='075'/><anchor id='Pg075'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Image Of God</head> + +<p> +We wonder if anyone knows what is meant by +the expression, <q>the image of God.</q> It is said in +the Bible that God <q>created man in his own image.</q> +</p> + +<p> +If man makes anything in his image we know +how this thing looks, but when God creates something +in <emph>his</emph> image we are at a loss to comprehend +what is meant unless God has the likeness of man. +In ancient times there is no doubt but what the +assertion that God <q>created man in his own image</q> +was accepted literally, that the people looked upon +God as a big man. Later they came to look upon +man as a little god. +</p> + +<p> +But we are dealing with the brain of the twentieth +century, with the common sense of a scientific +age, when it is no longer believed that God <q>created</q> +man at all. To-day the <q>image of God</q> is a +puzzle. If God <q>created man in his own image,</q> +in whose image did he create the elephant, the lion, +the bear, the ox, the goat, the snake, the beetle, +the bee, the fly, the gnat? These could not all +have been created in the divine image, unless the +divine image is a multitudinous likeness. +</p> + +<p> +Is it not about time that a few literary murders +were committed, that some one went through our +literature and killed off a lot of nonsensical expressions +that, if they ever meant anything, are +meaningless today? If there was more honesty +in the pulpit a great many Bible expressions would +go out of fashion. One of the first that needs to +<pb n='076'/><anchor id='Pg076'/> +die or be killed is this foolish expression, <q>the +image of God.</q> It may be religious, but it lacks +sense. It means nothing in this age. God is a +term that eludes definition. It is a survival of +an age of ignorance. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +A man may be a fool and not know it, but he +cannot be a fool without others knowing it. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +There is a pious regard for certain men and women +who have in past ages been, as it were, the +world's salvation. We would honor these men +wherever piety offers her praise, but we would not, +like piety, forbid man the right to excel them. +We all know how much easier it is to be saved by +another than to save ourselves, but it cannot be +denied that there is a certain respect, a feeling of +admiration, a thrill of reverence for the man who +says: I am a free moral being and scorn to allow +another to suffer for my sins. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='077'/><anchor id='Pg077'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Religion And Science</head> + +<p> +When religion attacks science it is like trying +to cut down the tree of truth with the hatchet of +falsehood. It is unfortunate for Christianity that +it was founded on the book of Genesis. A scientific +fact is higher authority today than a religious +fable. Science has found so many facts that contradict +the stories of Genesis that to accept these +stories as divine truth is to make falsehood the +word of God. +</p> + +<p> +The one particular enemy of every religion is +science. With merciless labor her votaries have +dethroned one after another idol of man. Science +has no creed, no dogmas. Her search is for facts, +and on these she stands. If what is discovered by +lovers of truth is contrary to the tenets of religion, +such tenets must be abandoned, for what is scientifically +false cannot be religiously true. +</p> + +<p> +The Christian church is built upon a lot of divine +say-soes. Science has found that these say-soes +are not so. The only honest thing for Christians +to do is to give up the book of Genesis as a +reliable record. What men have said that God +has said is not necessarily sacred. Men may have +lied, and lies are not holy. Christianity has been +afraid of the divine name. What it has found in +the name of God it has blindly worshiped as the +word of God. This stupid action has been a +prolific source of mischief. Faith has carried on its +innocent back a thousand impositions through fear +to doubt. +</p> + +<pb n='078'/><anchor id='Pg078'/> + +<p> +Science has not found the name of God in the +earth or in the heavens. It has ignored the guide-board +which the priest of religion nailed to the +Bible, <q>this book shows the way to truth,</q> and has +studied the volume of Nature instead. Whatever +it has found has been told. What may be honestly +inferred from the facts of science is that all religions +are humbugs, and that Christianity is a fraud. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The only way to a better life is by living better. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The person who tells a lie does not know what he +will have to do next. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +A great many persons have the idea that the universe +would run off the track but for them. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Have a good time, make life cheerful and bright, +dance if you want to, sing if you can, play as long +as you live and leave the world with a smile. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='079'/><anchor id='Pg079'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Bible And The Child</head> + +<p> +The longer we live the more are we convinced +that no adult person would accept the Bible as a +divine work if he had not been taught the dogma +of the Bible's divinity when a child. Let the +matured mind come to the perusal of the Bible +without the religious prejudice in favor of its divine +character, and it would reject the book as unworthy +the consideration of the intelligent, educated man. +Let the refined sense, which all education in art, +manners and social morals seeks to cultivate, begin +to read the Bible, without the religious prejudice +in favor of its sacred character, and before a +dozen pages had been read, it would close the volume +with disgust and hide it out of sight, or burn it as +soon as possible. +</p> + +<p> +The Bible's divinity rests upon the mental and +moral corruption of the young. Were children +not taught that this book was sacred, men and +women would look upon it as unholy. Do people +realize what harm they are doing to the mind of the +child when they teach it to accept the Bible as God's +word? They are telling the child that falsehood +is sacred; that ignorance is holy; that foul stories +are pure; that vile words are clean, in the mouth of +God. Fathers and mothers would not tell their +children what they, and what priests and ministers, +tell them God wrote or inspired man to write. +</p> + +<p> +What is needed to-day is to tell the truth about +the Bible. Tell men and women that ignorant, +<pb n='080'/><anchor id='Pg080'/> +uncultured, unrefined men wrote it hundreds of +years ago, and that it is unfit in its present shape +to put into the hands of a child that a mother wishes +to grow up honest, true and pure. +</p> + +<p> +Liberals should not allow their children to touch +the Bible. They should keep it from them until +they are old enough to know that no book was ever +written by a God, and then, if they read the Bible, +they would see its true character. We must guard +the minds of our children from Christian influences. +We pity the child that is taught that the Bible is +the word of God, but we despise the man that +teaches this falsehood. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Most men would kill the truth if truth would +kill their religion. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The truths which God revealed have been overthrown +by the truths which man has discovered. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +People used to think that to mix religion with +business spoiled the religion, now they think it +spoils the business. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='081'/><anchor id='Pg081'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>When To Help The World</head> + +<p> +Recently an old man, over eighty years of age, +lay on his death-bed. He could no longer keep +possession of the wealth he had accumulated. In +a few hours he must leave it to the world from +which he had taken it and kept it so many years. +He had not been a generous man. He had loved +money. He loved to get it and loved to keep it, +and if he could have carried his wealth with him, +whither he was going with that unknown guide, +Death, there is no doubt but that he would have +done so. He had given nothing to the world while +he lived and he would not have given anything +when he died, only that he was obliged to do so. +This is the only charity of a great many people. +</p> + +<p> +When death comes, then the hand of avarice +must open. Nothing can be carried through the +grave. So the old man must at last release his +hold upon his gains. He must leave his loved dollars +to somebody. He had gathered them for +himself, not for others. He had thought only of +himself when he gathered them, and now, when he +was to part with them, he did not know what disposition +to make of them. The lawyer was present +at his bedside; the minister was also with him. +</p> + +<p> +The will had been drawn. He had bequeathed +certain sums to public charities and remembered +the church. Life was almost gone. He hesitated +yet to give up the control of his money to others. +The pen was placed in his dying fingers for him to +<pb n='082'/><anchor id='Pg082'/> +affix his name to the will. But he had waited too +long. He died with the name unwritten, the pen +unused in his dead hand. +</p> + +<p> +Not voluntarily did he part with a cent of his +fortune. His millions will now be divided by +the law. +</p> + +<p> +Is there in the bare possession of money the +happiness that men desire, that men dream of, that +men <emph>want</emph>? Is a dollar the highest goal of human +effort, the crown of human endeavor? Is this dollar, +the insignia of fortune, the true sign of good +fortune? We believe not. The man who works +for this and nothing else, is the slave of avarice; as +hard, as cruel, as merciless a tyrant as ever cursed +the earth. +</p> + +<p> +Let every man strive for independence. Let +man be rewarded well for his labor. Let every +hand keep busy, but let there be a desire higher +than money, a dream nobler than of gain, a want +above the possession of riches. +</p> + +<p> +There is a better charity than that unwilling gift +which death compels us to make; it is to help the +world while we live. There are two ways of doing +this: by giving back a part of what we take,—that +is one way and a good way—and by taking less +from others, that is another way and a better way. +The help that men need to-day is justice. Thousands +are poor that one may be rich. Thousands +toil that one may live in idleness. Thousands are +in want that one may live in luxury. Thousands +<pb n='083'/><anchor id='Pg083'/> +have not a dollar that one may have millions. This +is not right, not fair, not just. Men must take less +while they go through life. +</p> + +<p> +It is not enough that a man on his deathbed give +a college a million, a public library a million, a +public park a million. <emph>He should have no millions +to give.</emph> He should live a more just life and help +others by trying to get less for himself. The public +bequest is the popular atonement for large fortunes, +but such atonement does not efface the +sufferings of poverty and want they entail. +</p> + +<p> +We say to the rich, do not wait until you die before +you try to help your fellow-men. Help them +while you are living. When a man has made money +he should make a noble use of it, or he wrongs himself +and the world. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Where the cross has been planted only superstitions +have grown. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Religion is no more the parent of morality than +an incubator is the mother of a chicken. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Unless some people change their habits before +they die, there will be a lot of dirty angels in the +next world, if there is any next world. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='084'/><anchor id='Pg084'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Judgment Of God</head> + +<p> +We hear less of what is called the <q>judgment of +God</q> than formerly, but quite enough to show that +this foolish superstition still lingers in the human +mind. It used to be believed that God was on the +lookout for the bad boy who went fishing or skating +on his holy sabbath and that when he caught +him he immediately made use of him to prove his +loving-kindness and tender mercy by making him +get into the water where he could drown him. It +was never related that God took this boy by the +shoulder or even by the ear and led him back home +to his parents with the request that they take +better care of him in the future. This was not +God's way. There would be no judgment in this. +God must murder the poor boy who could see no +difference in the conduct of the birds and fishes on +Sunday from their conduct on Saturday, and have +him carried back to his father's arms and his mother's +heart a corpse, a cold, dead thing, no longer needing +love, kindness, and a parent's great, forgiving +charity. This was God's way. He delighted in +seeing a dead boy taken out of the frozen stream +and laid down in the presence of his poor, grief-crazed +mother. He thought this would make the +mother love him more and other boys keep his holy +sabbath. So when any misfortune befell on Sunday +a human being who was not on his way to God's +house, or engaged in other pious occupation, it was +believed to be a judgment of God and people took +<pb n='085'/><anchor id='Pg085'/> +care to avoid a similar punishment. This kind of +religious teaching does not enjoy the reputation +that it once did for the reason that it has become +discredited by human experience. All things considered +it is just as safe to go sailing or swimming, +fishing, or driving, on Sunday as on Monday and +men have learned that no penalty attaches to violation +of the fourth commandment. As people become +sensible they cease to be religious. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Prayer is begging from a pauper. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The egg of prayer never yet became a chicken. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Prayer is like a pump in an empty well, it makes +lots of noise, but brings no water. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +A great many people who worship Jesus would +not let him come in at the back door. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='086'/><anchor id='Pg086'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Christianity And Freethought</head> + +<p> +Christianity is opposed to freedom, and consequently +freedom is opposed to Christianity. A +Christian cannot be a freethinker, and a freethinker +cannot be a Christian. When a man is required to +believe certain doctrines, he is not free to think. A +creed is to keep the mind from inquiry. Questions +lead to doubt, and doubt is the death of faith. +</p> + +<p> +The church condemns freethought, because freethought +cannot be bound by its chain of dogma. +There is no place in the Christian church for the +exercise of liberty. If the mind finds a new truth +that contradicts the old dogma, the truth must be +strangled that the dogma may hold its power over +the thoughts and deeds of men. +</p> + +<p> +To be a Christian is to surrender to the priest or +minister in the name of Christ. It is to be a monkey +on the end of an ecclesiastical string to get +pennies for his master. It is to crawl at the feet +of superstition. +</p> + +<p> +To be a freethinker is to search for truth without +fear. Where there is love of freedom there is no +reverence for authority. There is no faith in God +as sacred as love of man. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +There may be lots of Providence in the world, +but no man seems to know just where it can be +found. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='087'/><anchor id='Pg087'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Brotherhood And Freedom +Of Man</head> + +<p> +From the fall of Rome a new era marks the history +of man; a new soul was born out of human experience. +The idea which had been prophesied by the +philosophers of India, Egypt and Greece now appeared +in life, and what had been hoped for seemed +about to be realized. Born in an age of slaughter +and inhumanity the thought of the brotherhood of +man fell upon the world like a star out of the night's +sky. Though the power of this idea was not fully +comprehended by the people upon whom it blazed +forth, still the promise it contained was able to kindle +enthusiasm in the hearts of the few, who bequeathed +it to the world as the destiny of mankind. +Human life was inspired with a new purpose under +the power of this grand and noble sentiment. Although +it was not understood and the subject of +much misapprehension, the thought of uniting man +in one great endeavor grew and endowed nations +with a feeling that never before had moved their +hearts. Its advent gave the world a new ambition +and the mind was enlisted in the great cause of love +and fellowship of man. +</p> + +<p> +There was another sentiment not less true or +beautiful but more revolutionary, which about the +same time began to assume likeness in human +affairs, which must be considered of larger importance +in the new social movement, which, during +the first century of the so-called Christian era, commenced +<pb n='088'/><anchor id='Pg088'/> +to be felt. The declaration of the sovereignty +of man was more prophetic of change in government +and society than the doctrine of the brotherhood +of man. No government taught that man +ought to judge for himself what is right, and no +church preached that man should love his neighbor +as himself. +</p> + +<p> +Political and religious organizations then as now +were arrayed against individual rights. The state +and the church controlled the person. Man was +crucified between these two thieves. One robbed +him of his body, the other of his soul. Our history +assigns the origin of these two great principles—man's +right to judge for himself and his duty to +help his fellow-being—to Christianity. But one +was born before the beginning of the Christian era +and the other long after the Christian church was +established. One represents man as opposed to +authority; the other the soul resisting tradition. +</p> + +<p> +There is more or less talk about the freedom and +brotherhood of man, but they exist as ideas yet +more than as facts. It is true that man enjoys a +certain measure of liberty in many directions, but +the victory of freedom has not yet been won. So +too is there a kind of human sympathy in society, +but the broad and magnificent destiny which dwells +in the bosom of human brotherhood is more a dream +than a reality. +</p> + +<p> +There has been too much time wasted in disputing +who was the human author of these great and sublime +conceptions, and too little expended in trying +<pb n='089'/><anchor id='Pg089'/> +to plant them in human hearts and cultivate them +in human lives. It is unimportant who first stood +against the world of tyranny and demanded his +right of independence, or who first felt indignation +for the wrongs inflicted upon his race and pity for +the victims of cruelty, and pleaded for more humanity +towards man. The secret can never be wrested +from the silent past, and we can gain nothing by +fighting over graves. +</p> + +<p> +The world seems nearer the full realization of human +freedom and brotherhood than ever before. +What is needed now to hasten the fruition of the +glad promise of a better destiny for the world is to +take authority from the priest and selfishness from +man. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Prayer is a hook that never caught any fish. It +is a gun that never brought down any game. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +No man ever got an answer to prayer that he +could show to another person. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='090'/><anchor id='Pg090'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Whatever Is Is Right</head> + +<p> +There are a great many familiar sayings, that +are in the mouths of nearly everybody, which are +perfect nonsense, and one of these many sayings is +the one we have chosen for the subject of this article. +One would imagine that falsehood became sacred +by repetition, judging from the way that certain +untruths live in the literature and language of +mankind. Many a holy text is only holy by being +with what is true, as we pay respect to many a man +whom we know to be unworthy because he is related +to respectable people. +</p> + +<p> +The saying that <q>whatever is is right,</q> is a +dogma of the philosophy of indifference. To anyone +who works for the right and suffers wrong, such a +dogma is impertinent. Is the deed that sinks a man +to the realm of brutes, and the deed that lifts him +to heights where virtue in her high estate dwells +alone, both right? The worst light for a human soul +is that light in which a bad act looks like a good one. +We cannot afford to trifle with things pure and true. +To succeed grandly in life we must side with what is +right. +</p> + +<p> +There is a class of people that hold a don't-care +philosophy. These people don't care what they +say or do; they don't care what takes place in the +world or what the world suffers or endures. The +tent in which they dwell is pitched above the plane +of human wants and sufferings. They look +from their serene abode upon the troubled elements +<pb n='091'/><anchor id='Pg091'/> +below, and, in contemplation of what is beneath +them, pronounce with pious gravity the highest +text of their system of philosophy: <q>Whatever is is +right.</q> +</p> + +<p> +To those who have never seen the bitter tear +start under the infliction of injury; to those who +have never heard the sigh that disappointment and +deception have wrung from a breaking heart; to +those who have never witnessed the sufferings which +tyranny imposes upon its victims; to those who have +never felt the miseries which selfishness heaps upon +human beings, this doctrine may seem true; but to +those who have beheld the consequences of evil doing, +and felt the hard hand of injustice upon their +lives; to those who have been the victims of deception, +and realized the terrible fate of disappointment; +to those who have been trodden upon and +denied the rights of men; to those who have been the +slaves of the world's cruel masters, how false it is! +</p> + +<p> +We cannot disguise the fact that there is wrong +in the world. It haunts every dwelling-place of +man. It follows man to his business, to his work. +It goes with him when he seeks his pleasure. It +does not leave him when he enters his home. +</p> + +<p> +Every harsh word is wrong, every unjust judgment +is wrong, every cruel act is wrong, every deception +is wrong, every wicked or impure thought +is wrong. Go where we will we shall meet the ugly +face of wrong. On the street its presence will bring +shame into the face; in our dealings with the world +<pb n='092'/><anchor id='Pg092'/> +it will come before our eyes in all its hideous reality. +Even when alone we cannot keep this phantom +away. +</p> + +<p> +Is it right that a human being should cause another +pain and anguish that will leave their marks on +the heart and brow for life? Is it right to make a +man suffer unjustly, to add to misfortune the weight +of cruelty? Is it right to deprive one of honor, of +fortune, of life? Is it right to bear false witness +against a brother-man, to abuse a neighbor, to slander +and malign a human soul? Is wrong right? +</p> + +<p> +Go to the garret of the poor wretch where want +stares him in the face, where extortion robs his +family of every joy and every comfort, where the +day is made dark from no ray of human love coming +into the heart, and the night darker from the absence +of warmth and light. Go to the home rent +asunder by vice and see the broken promises once +so fair and bright, now blushing with shame; hear +curses from lips that once spoke in love; see the +skeletons of vows beautiful when breathed by the +lips of the holiest passion on earth, but now hideous +in their ruin. Go to the den of wickedness, to the +house of crime supported by lust and greed; look +upon the pictures of wretchedness and sorrow, of +sin and guilt painted by the hand of wrong; behold +the wrecked human lives that are floating on the sea +of existence, only drifting until some sudden wave +shall overwhelm them and sink them out of sight, +leaving behind a memory that man should contemplate +<pb n='093'/><anchor id='Pg093'/> +with pity and which kindness would blot +out forever. See the world in its vice, in its suffering, +in its misery, in its tears and its shame and let +your lips say, if they can, that <q>Whatever is is right.</q> +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +It is necessary to distinguish between the virtue +and the vice of obedience. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +I believe that if God dwelt above the earth in the +twelfth century of the Christian era, and witnessed +the cruelty of priests and heard the cries +of their poor victims when their bones were broken +upon the rack or their flesh was burning in the +wicked flames, and these priests should have lifted +up their voices to this God and given him the glory +of the awful sacrifice, he would have said to them: +You lie; I never commanded one of my children to +murder another. You are no ministers of mine, +and your victims, with their heresies, are a thousand +times holier in my sight than are you with +your pious dogmas and holy sacraments. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='094'/><anchor id='Pg094'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Object Of Life</head> + +<p> +Men live for less than their advancement. The +object of life is not human improvement. Ambition +has not self-denial for a mark but self-gratification. +A thousand pander to one. Passion, instead of +principle, is the power that guides. We do not save +to help save the world, to aid progress and truth, +but to have means to satisfy selfish desires. The +highest consideration of mankind is self. Everything +is done for one. Humanity is a word of little +meaning. It is not often regarded as a great, living, +suffering being, which demands of every person his +or her best life. Man is not loved as the supreme +fact of Nature. When not a beast of burden, he is +too often a beast of pleasure. +</p> + +<p> +As long as self is to be preferred to all, it matters +little what is employed to promote it. Self is alone +sacred to selfishness. General interest is sacrificed +to individual possession. Every man thinks the +world <emph>his</emph> first. It is regarded as magnanimous to +leave what you cannot take. +</p> + +<p> +The world no longer permits the stronger to kill +the weaker, but it allows the wealthy to oppress the +poor. Money is holier than man. Human life is +less sacred than property. To save a dollar is regarded +as a more necessary virtue than to save a +human heart. Society cares more for fortune than +for truth. It is easier to win your way with hypocrisy +than with honesty. The world does not ask: +What are you worth morally? but, what are you +<pb n='095'/><anchor id='Pg095'/> +worth financially? Self-interest has made it the +object of life to injure our fellows. To get an advantage +over another is the victory man seeks. +One must fall that another may rise. +</p> + +<p> +Those who are at the bottom support those who +are on top. The toilers are the foundation of +society. We need to be more careful of what is beneath +us than of what is above us. <q>I write not +these things to shame you, but to warn you.</q> +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +When you are falling, you cannot stop where you +wish to. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The power that conquers men to-day must be the +power of enlightened opinion. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Two dollars given to the son do not atone for +one stolen from the father. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='096'/><anchor id='Pg096'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Man</head> + +<p> +The Hebrew psalmist sings of man:—<q>Thou +madest him a little lower than the angels.</q> A +modern psalmist writing on this subject says:—<q>Man +was made a little higher than the brutes.</q> +Man is a rare animal; he is the only animal that can +make a fire, but he is more than a brute. We do +not know how much less than an angel he is, for we +do not know the dimensions of an angel. +</p> + +<p> +What we do know is, that this strange, rare being, +called man, is capable of doing a good deed, but is +prone to do a bad one; that he has developed virtues +above the brute and vices below the brute; that he +is better in public than in private, and yet take him +all in all he might be worse. We have had the weakness +of human nature preached until we have almost +come to expect man to be immoral and vicious, and +are surprised if anyone asserts that man is strong +enough to resist temptation, and disappointed if he +does not come up, or down, to our expectations of +vileness and wickedness. +</p> + +<p> +While we have faith in man in the minority rather +than in the majority, still we are inclined to think +that most men are bad from circumstance more than +from choice. We trust to better conditions for +better men, and depend upon our best men to establish +such conditions. +</p> + +<p> +There is some criticism of virtue that vice offers +which is as pertinent as the censure of vice which +virtue indulges in. We admit that there are a great +<pb n='097'/><anchor id='Pg097'/> +many sinners that are preferable to some kinds of +saints, who are no more to blame for their sins than +their more fortunate fellow-beings are for their +saintliness. But we do not mean to say that every +good man is a villain in disguise, nor every rogue a +righteous man who has not been found out. +</p> + +<p> +There are men and women whose goodness is +looked upon as <q>flat, stale, and unprofitable</q> because +it is that kind that is good from favorable +circumstances, and not from the exercise of any +strength of their own, but such virtue is better than +vice. We cannot afford to lose any power that protects +the world from evil, and we rejoice in all the +favorable circumstances that guard human beings. +</p> + +<p> +Men are educated into bad habits through the +constant assertion of human weakness, and the publicity +which is given to bad deeds. We can never +build man very high on the foundation of <q>total +depravity.</q> It is to be regretted that we think so +meanly of mankind. We must start with a better +assumption of human nature than that held by +Christianity. +</p> + +<p> +We ought to emphasize man's strength and give +prominence to the good deeds of men. It is not +necessary to lie about human nature one way more +than another. Man has been painted worse than he +is. We do not ask to have him painted better than +he is. We want a true likeness. Man will make +the best picture without any fictitious coloring. +</p> + +<p> +We are aware that we have not yet outgrown our +animal inheritance, that we are still fettered to +<pb n='098'/><anchor id='Pg098'/> +earthly things. Man can more easily deny his soul +than he can his stomach, but for all this there is +greatness in him. While man can fall to the lowest +depths from which he sprung, he can rise to the +height which is visible in his purest hours. What +we ought to do is to encourage, all we can, the conditions +most favorable to the development of the +noblest part of man. Every temptation to vice +should be driven from the public gaze. If man +must fall, let him fall out of sight. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +People who rely most on God rely least on +themselves. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The original sin was not in eating of the forbidden +fruit, but in planting the tree that bore the fruit. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The people who boast the loudest of carrying +their cross are never around when man cries for +help. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +An audience composed of the best-dressed people +in a town stands for "pure religion and undefiled" +to-day. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='099'/><anchor id='Pg099'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Dogma Of The Divine Man</head> + +<p> +There are growing indications all along the +Christian line that the dogma of the divinity of Jesus +is being abandoned. It is seen that such a dogma +involves confusion and misapprehension. When +the question, <q>How can a God who is infinite exist +in a form that is finite?</q> is pressed to an answer, no +satisfactory reply is forthcoming. There is apparent +absurdity in this doctrine. The general definition +of God, as put forth to-day by the Christian +Church, is irreconcilable with the dogma of the +divinity of Jesus. If Jesus was God he was not a +man; if he was a man, he was not God. To talk +about his divinity is to talk nonsense, if Joseph was +his father and Mary his mother. Man is not divine; +God is not human. The mixing up of these +two terms is done simply to impose upon the credulous +and superstitious. We cannot think that +any man of real good sense believes this Orthodox +dogma. It seems impossible for intelligence to so +contradict itself. The brain stoops that accepts +this dogma. For a man to confess his faith in Jesus +as divine is to admit that his hat is not full. The +evidence adduced to prove the divinity of Jesus +proves the divinity of Apollo, of Hercules, of Prometheus, +of hundreds of mythological heroes. Are +Christians prepared to admit this? If not, then +they are called upon to tell the world why not. +What is meant by divine? What kind of a man is +a divine man? Let us see. Divine means superhuman, +<pb n='100'/><anchor id='Pg100'/> +supernatural, God-like; hence a divine +man is a superhuman man, a supernatural man, a +God-like man. Does anyone know what these +definitive terms mean? Does a person know what +he is talking about when he says a man is superhuman? +Can a man be more than man, more than +human, more than natural? +</p> + +<p> +The dogma of a divine man is a dogma of deception. +It is a theological cobweb. It is spread +to catch flies. +</p> + +<p> +The idea prevailed in the past that what could +not be understood must necessarily be profound, as +though muddy water was deep water. +</p> + +<p> +Does anyone comprehend the dogma of the +Trinity? It is believed because it cannot be comprehended. +The tribute of faith has been paid to +occult nonsense long enough. +</p> + +<p> +How does anyone know what is superhuman? +What is human? The fact is, Jesus has had his +day. His reign is drawing to a close. He is being +seen for what he is,—a myth. Faith in him as a +God is dying. The belief that Jesus was divine is a +blot on the intelligence of this century. But the +blot is growing smaller. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Lots of men who would not associate with infidels +for fear of contaminating their characters +are not yet out of jail. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='101'/><anchor id='Pg101'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Rich Man's Gospel</head> + +<p> +The presence of numberless rich men in Christian +pews leads one to wonder if the gospel of Jesus has +been kicked out of the church. Such men do not, +and cannot, respect the person to whom every +church is dedicated. The gospel of Jesus is not the +gospel of the rich, but of the poor; not of the banker, +but of the beggar. It is impossible for the wealthy +man to be a Christian. If he had any faith in the +doctrines of Jesus he would <q>sell what he has and +give to the poor.</q> And not only this, but he would +be poor himself. +</p> + +<p> +Jesus never said a kind word of the rich. He +never uttered a word that contains any consolation +for the millionaire. He never gave any command +that encourages the <q>laying up treasures upon earth.</q> +What is a rich man in the Christian church for? +He has no business there, if he is an honest man. +He is living exactly opposite to the life Jesus commanded. +He is doing what Jesus told men not to +do. He refuses to do what Jesus said a man must +do in order to be his disciple. +</p> + +<p> +Either the rich man who joins the church is a +hypocrite, or the minister, that receives such a man +into the church, is. There is a hypocrite somewhere. +You do not find that Jesus went into the +temple to flatter the money-changers; he went in +there to drive them out with a whip. +</p> + +<p> +The rich man's gospel is not found in the New +Testament. That is sure. It may be preached +<pb n='102'/><anchor id='Pg102'/> +from a Christian pulpit by a so-called Christian +minister, but the man who preaches this gospel +denies his professed Lord and Master. Jesus did +not say, <q>Lay up treasures upon earth.</q> Take all +you can from the poor. Form trusts and combinations +to enrich yourselves. Worship Mammon. +There is a misunderstanding evidently on the part +of the rich man who joins the Christian church. +If he would read the New Testament he would +learn his mistake, and see that he was in the wrong +place. He does not seem to be aware what Jesus +preached. There is one thing certain, the Christian +church that receives into fellowship a millionaire, +has more reverence for the millionaire than for +Jesus. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The beating of humanity's heart cannot be felt +by placing the finger on the church's pulse. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +What a queer thing is Christian salvation! +Believing in firemen will not save a burning house; +believing in doctors will not make one well, but +believing in a savior saves men. Fudge! +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='103'/><anchor id='Pg103'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Speak Well Of One Another</head> + +<p> +There is nothing that will make this world brighter +and happier than to speak well of one another. +We sometimes wonder how a mean story about a +fellow-mortal gets started, and how it is kept going. +Surely no base report ever had birth in a +kind intention, and no mouth ever repeated it with +the wish to make the world better. +</p> + +<p> +Envy, malice and ill-will can make no decent defence +of themselves. Now, it costs no more to +say a good word of a brother or sister than to say a +bad one, and there is no obligation on the part of a +person to blacken human reputation. It is a mean +heart that cannot do justice to another. If we +must speak of our neighbors, let us speak kindly. +Let us refer to those things that are pleasant, and +discuss that in their characters that is worthy of +praise. It hurts us to say bad things of other people, +and it may hurt them. There is certainly +some part of everyone's life that can be commended. +What we know of others that is not +good, let us not refer to. Silence is never more +charitable than when it spares a human heart. +</p> + +<p> +There are many of our friends who are striving +to make a success in life. Nothing will aid them +more than to speak well of them. Everybody can +be generous with kind words, and yet they are worth +more than gold. They are the diamonds of speech, +which the poorest can wear. +</p> + +<p> +Don't be afraid to speak well of men, to praise +<pb n='104'/><anchor id='Pg104'/> +good deeds. No one will think worse of you for +speaking kindly of others. It is not necessary that +we speak well only of those deeds that men sing in +words of song. There are scores of little every-day +acts, that give the perfume of self-denial, of sacrifice, +and that deserve praise. If we were to give +any advice to a man or woman, who wished to help +the world as they passed through it, it would be +this, Speak well of men and women. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +A receipt for bringing up a child will not apply +to a whole family. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +To build one house for man is better than to +build a dozen houses to God. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +We often hear a man say that the world owes +him a living. So it does, if he earns it. But man +owes the world something. The debt is on both +sides, and it is only by giving what is due to others +that we get what is due to ourselves. We receive +assistance when we render it, and it is by a law +of our nature that the world turns from a man +who turns from the world. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='105'/><anchor id='Pg105'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Disgraceful Partnerships</head> + +<p> +Six marriages out of ten are disgraceful partnerships. +The ones to question our assertion will be +the married men, and the very ones, too, responsible +for the disgrace. Marriage is a union where +the two partners should share alike the profits and +the losses. There should be no head of the firm in +the sense of making one subservient in any way to +the other. The wife has just the same right to +handle the money of the firm as the husband. The +family purse should not be carried in the husband's +pocket unless he is willing to pass it out whenever +his partner requests it, and no questions asked. +</p> + +<p> +Most men treat their wives worse than servants. +If a wife asks for some money, the husband, in +most instances, wants to know what she is going to +do with it and how much she wants, instead of giving +her what is her right. Married men do not +recognize their wives as equal partners in the family +concern. They think they should have what they +want and their wives what they are pleased to give +them. How many homes have been broken up by +carrying out such a principle as this? More than +men will confess. +</p> + +<p> +This state of things is not confined to the homes +of poverty. Not at all. It exists where there is +plenty. Many a proud woman is almost daily +humiliated by a man to whom she is obliged to go +for what money she needs. The pain that niggardly +husbands inflict upon sensitive wives is only +<pb n='106'/><anchor id='Pg106'/> +known by themselves. Many a woman has said: +<q>I would rather go without the money than have so +much trouble to get it from my husband.</q> What +must a woman have suffered to be forced to make +such a confession as that! +</p> + +<p> +A marriage in which a woman is daily made to +feel her dependence upon a man, is attended with +the gravest moral perils. The only just rule is for +the husband to allow his wife a fair share of his +income, for her to do with as she pleases. Not +only marital harmony would be promoted by such +an arrangement as this, but love would burn longer +and purer on the family altar, private morality +would be conserved, and all the relations of life +elevated and dignified thereby. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The most beautiful thing is the beauty we see in +those we love. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The money that men waste would make them +rich, and the time they waste would make them +wise. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='107'/><anchor id='Pg107'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Science And Theology</head> + +<p> +Every day we are told of some wonderful discovery +of science. But what has theology discovered? +The scientist is searching for the truth; +the theologian is trying to save his idols. Of all +the great inventions and discoveries that go to +make human life easier, happier, more rich and +glorious, not one can be laid to the work of theology. +These triumphs all belong to science. Some day +the world will become wise enough to confess that +the priest is of no benefit to mankind. The investigator, +the student, the inventor, is the true philanthropist, +the real benefactor. He finds what is useful +to his race, what adds comfort and joy to existence. +Science is the hope of the world, the only +savior that humanity has had adown the ages or +will have as man lives on through the centuries. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Many a man who was too good to play cards +has broken a bank. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +A dog can get rid of another dog that cannot get +rid of the flea on his back. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='108'/><anchor id='Pg108'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Unequal Remuneration</head> + +<p> +A great many small men draw large salaries, and a +great many large men draw small salaries. Of +course we measure men by their ability to do something +of value to their race. It is a sorry fact that +one person is paid ten thousand dollars a year for +playing base ball or riding a race-horse, and that +another person in unable to earn seven hundred and +fifty dollars for the same length of time by performing +some useful labor. A mechanic, who +actually adds to the wealth of the nation, who produces +something of value, is paid less than a jockey +or a base ball pitcher whose business (?) is chiefly +maintained for purposes of gambling. +</p> + +<p> +But there are other phases of this question that +present equally disproportionate features. An +actor, who merely repeats the words of another, receives +one thousand dollars a night for his performance, +while a lecturer who imparts original +knowledge to his hearers, is paid twenty dollars and +his expenses for his thought and labor. A singer +is given five thousand dollars for appearing three +nights of a week upon the stage, and a reformer is +allowed what her audience will drop into the contribution +box. One explanation of this is: <q>There +is only one Caruso.</q> +</p> + +<p> +There is another explanation, and that is: People +will pay more to be entertained, to be pleased, than +to be instructed, to be enlightened or to be told what +is right and best. +</p> + +<pb n='109'/><anchor id='Pg109'/> + +<p> +It is a sad fact that many are paid too little for +what they do. As a rule the actual laborers, the +real workers of the world, both male and female, +do not receive fair compensation for their work, +while thousands of people who merely hold an office +are paid far more than they are worth. Teachers, +writers and professors are all underpaid. The +highest work that man or woman is doing is the +work of education, training the human mind to +think truly, to act nobly, and yet a lawyer receives +more in a day than a teacher in a year. +</p> + +<p> +The world that will pay one thousand dollars an +hour to hear the voice of Melba, will grumble at +paying ten cents an hour to a washerwoman. The +world that will give a person ten thousand dollars +a year for pitching base ball will object to raising +the wages of our mill operatives five per cent. +The world that will pay ten thousand dollars a year +for riding a horse, wants a woman to teach school +for fifty dollars a month. +</p> + +<p> +We say, pay talent well and genius generously, +but pay well also the arm that toils; pay the needle, +the saw, the spade, the hoe, the mop. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Every man who claims the right to <q>life, liberty +and the pursuit of happiness,</q> is bound to show +that he deserves this right. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='110'/><anchor id='Pg110'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Old And The New</head> + +<p> +This is essentially an age of change. Things +which have been established for centuries are no +longer regarded as fixed. That which has been +looked upon as absolute is now respectfully held to +be uncertain. The foundations of old ideas are being +disturbed and man finds that he has built upon +sandy bottom. Much which in times past answered +the human soul, now affords no satisfaction. It is +plain that a revolution has commenced that will be +far reaching and important in its actions and reactions. +There is to be a general overhauling of +matters secular and religious, political and social +and a wholesale clearing out of old words and forms, +of outgrown habits and customs, may be expected. +The world of man is about to take account of stock +and to have a universal comparison of estimates +of values. Too long have we been subsisting upon +the say-soes of our ancestors and taking their eyes +and ears as infallible. +</p> + +<p> +For many years men have regarded all questions +of religion as settled, and that the whole duty of +this and future generations was to accept the conclusions +of the past upon all religious matters. +We do not understand how men ever came to regard +such conclusions as final or how they came to +expect the whole human race to receive them as the +utmost of human knowledge. We do not look upon +the questions of religion as settled, and the growing +doubts of the infallibility of the common religious +<pb n='111'/><anchor id='Pg111'/> +ideas demand that we reconsider these questions. +To do this we have not to go into any +theological discussion. No learned authorities are +to be consulted to establish or refute any line of +argument. No dictionary of terms is to be examined +to settle the meanings of words. We have +only to decide whether mankind had better facilities +for observing and studying the phenomena of +the universe in past times than we have to-day; +whether their eyes and ears were better than ours, +and their methods and opportunities for ascertaining +the truth of things higher than those of this age. +</p> + +<p> +If men in the past had facilities inferior to ours +for observing the phenomena of the universe, it +would follow that their ideas of the universe would +be inferior. Now, if we have superior ideas of the +universe, ideas nearer the truth of things, why +should we be expected to surrender these and hold +ideas which are false? +</p> + +<p> +It seems to us that the questions of religion may +be settled by deciding whether or not we are to believe +our own eyes and ears and trust our own +knowledge and experience. It is certain that if we +can trust our senses and our knowledge, the old +ideas of the universe, of the origin of earth, of life, +of man, and of good and evil and the whole catalogue +of religious things are incorrect; and if we +accept them we do so contrary to our reason and +understanding. +</p> + +<p> +With faith in the present, and in all that makes +<pb n='112'/><anchor id='Pg112'/> +it peculiar,—its scientific tendencies,—and with the +belief that out of the doubt and uncertainty that +are now around us will come higher convictions +which will deepen and widen life's purpose and +make humanity a fairer word and a fairer reality, +we say: +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>Ring out the old, ring in the new;</q></l> +<l><q rend='post'>Ring out the false, ring in the true.</q></l> +</lg> +</quote> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Hell is where cowards have sent heroes. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +A man never fell down stairs that he did not +blame the stairs. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The cross people carry to-day is made of gold +or set with diamonds. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +There is nothing in this world of ours that will +work harder, fight harder, wait more patiently +and suffer longer than love, unless it be hate. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='113'/><anchor id='Pg113'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Guard The Ear</head> + +<p> +Much of our character depends upon what we +hear. A person may be saved or lost by what reaches +him through the ear. The ear has no defense. +It is open to every sound. It cannot be deaf. It +<emph>must</emph> hear. We cannot open it to one person or +shut it to another. It is filled with songs of deepest +thoughts or words of ugliest shape without +choosing either. It is at the mercy, and the soul +as well, of whatever is uttered. The ear is falsehood's, +as well as truth's, servant. It carries what +it hears, and is as faithful to the vilest as to the +purest speech. It is temptation's peculiar channel. +The eyes may be shut, the lips may be closed, but +the ear is always open. We may decide what we +will say, what we will see, but not what we shall +hear. +</p> + +<p> +We perceive how important it is that none but +pure, true, brave and sincere words be spoken. If +a person never heard a bad word he would never +utter one. The character of everyone born into +the world is determined largely by the world. Men +do pretty much what they are taught to do. The +heart at birth is pure, and were it not taught impurity, +would remain so. We regard the ear as the +chief door of the assault against the human heart. +Guard the ear and you save the boy and girl. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='114'/><anchor id='Pg114'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Character Of God</head> + +<p> +The character of God would stand vastly higher +in human estimation if he had visited the garden in +which he had placed the first human pair and picked +up the serpent and cast him over the garden wall +before he had a chance to tempt Eve, instead of +waiting until the mischief was done, and then +cursing the whole lot for what he might so easily +have prevented. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +No man can be himself with fear always at his +heels. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Death can get into a house when everything +else can be kept out. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +It is plain enough that men and women care for +God. This is too apparent to be disputed, unless +men and women are hypocrites. What is not so +plain is that God cares for men and women. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='115'/><anchor id='Pg115'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Not Important</head> + +<p> +A Christian contemporary says: <q>No question is +so important to mankind as religion.</q> We wonder +how a person could write that sentence without +writing after it, a la Artemus Ward, <q>This is a goak.</q> +Of course, a preacher is the author of it, or a person +who gets his living out of religion. Had the writer +said, <q>No question is so important to ministers and +priests as religion,</q> he would have told the truth; +but as it stands, it is a falsehood. We can mention +several questions of more importance to mankind +than religion. The question of something to eat +and the question of something to wear are of vastly +greater importance than that of religion. So, too, +is the question of education, or the question of +government, of more importance than religion. It +is first necessary for man to live, then to find a place +to live, then to find the things to sustain life, then to +live happily and well. All this is prior to any religious +consideration. We believe the church as an +organization would go to pieces but for clergymen +and those who are interested in keeping it alive in +order to get a living out of it. It would be nearer +the truth to say: No question is less important to +mankind than religion. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +A man's reputation oftentimes depends upon the +success he has had in hiding his character. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='116'/><anchor id='Pg116'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Oaths</head> + +<p> +The superstition prevails that unless man swears +to tell the truth he will tell a lie. This superstition +makes the sanctity of the oath. But is it a fact +that a person will, under oath, always tell <q>the +truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?</q> +It is the general opinion that judicial swearing is +simply a judicial farce. We concur in the general +opinion. +</p> + +<p> +An oath is the liar's retreat. Behind it falsehood +puts on the robes of truth. The perjurer delights +in swearing, for the act invests him with the appearance +of honesty. An oath makes the tongue +of vice as pure as the lips of virtue. It gives a rogue +the weapon of the gentleman. It permits guilt to +wear the dress of innocence. +</p> + +<p> +The man who is willing to tell the truth feels that +his honesty is impeached when asked to take an +oath, while the knave, who is bound to lie, feels that +his knavery is protected by the God in whose +name he swears. No more senseless custom survives +in our age than the administration of the oath. We +do not believe that a judge or lawyer has one whit +more confidence in human testimony because it is +given in the divine name. +</p> + +<p> +Is it not time to recognize this fact, that men can +tell the truth without the help of God, and that +those, who cannot do so, do not succeed any better +with his help? In other words, an oath is calculated +to pass a scoundrel for an honest man. While +<pb n='117'/><anchor id='Pg117'/> +it does not insure truth-telling, it does serve to dignify +a falsehood. It is time that a lie was obliged +to stand on its own bottom, and not be passed for +what it is not, because it is told in the name of God. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +God's name is not considered good at the banks. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +To depend upon God is like holding on to the +tail-end of nothing. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +A man cannot be happy who believes in hell, +any more than he can sweeten his coffee with a +pickle. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The church wants us to believe that God will go +out of his way to strike a blasphemer and work a +week to save the soul of a murderer. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='118'/><anchor id='Pg118'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Dead Words</head> + +<p> +There is not one real, true, live word in the +Christian vocabulary of salvation. Eden, the +stage on which was performed the tragedy of original +sin, is a dead word; devil, the name of the scaly +gentleman who took the leading part in this tragedy +is a dead word; hell, the abode of all those who descended +from the original sinners, is a dead word; +Christ, the title of the man who offered to ransom +the human race and save men and women from hell, +is a dead word; atonement, the word that stands for +the expiation to be made by Christ, is a dead word. +These words that the Christian church uses in its +exhortations to mankind have no heart of truth in +them. They stand for no facts; they represent no +realities. Take away these dead words from the +Christian preacher, and you take away his powder, +shot and wads. Let the Christian be held to facts +and obliged to tell the truth, and his lips would be +dumb. There never was such a place as the Garden +of Eden; never such an individual as the devil. +There is no such place as hell. There never was a +Christ, and no atonement made, for there was no +necessity of any being made. If there was no such +thing as faith, Christianity could not make a convert +on the earth. If ministers were obliged to furnish +the proof of their statements, there would +be no preaching. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='119'/><anchor id='Pg119'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Confession Of Sin</head> + +<p> +When the church teaches that <q>confession is good +for the soul,</q> it teaches false doctrine; it is only good +for the church. Men once confessed their sins, believing +that it was the evidence of the loftiest courage +to acknowledge that they had made fools of +themselves or that they were the veriest knaves. +But never was a greater mistake made. Confession +is itself a sin, a base betrayal of one's own +heart. It shows utter lack of shame. Our sins +should be sacred. We should let no eyes see them +but our own. To exhort one to confess one's sins +is to ask the sinner to become the slave of his confessor. +</p> + +<p> +Man has learned to keep still in respect to those +things that concern no one but himself. He has +found that where he has done wrong it is wiser to +hold his tongue than to speak. We are not likely +to confess what will harm us. This prudence is +utility in morals. A wanton confession of wrongdoing +shows a loss of self-respect, and a virtuous +confession is proof of mental weakness. No human +necessity requires self-degradation. To tell what +we have done is to pay a compliment to prurient +curiosity which it does not deserve. When we are +commanded to do such a thing, resistance is a +greater virtue than compliance. +</p> + +<p> +The human conscience to-day says: <q>Hands off.</q> +It is impertinent to touch the soul against its will. +Secrecy is our right. No one can demand that we +<pb n='120'/><anchor id='Pg120'/> +expose our indiscretions. If the church asks if we +have sinned, we feel justified in answering: <q>It is +none of your business.</q> A man's sins are his own. +Our actions are private and subject only to voluntary +betrayal. We are at liberty to own our weakness +or our meanness and to tell whatever we have +done; but when another attempts to coerce a confession +from us, we refuse to submit to such unwarrantable +authority, and assert our right to be +custodians of our own deeds. The court which does +not require a man to criminate himself is higher than +the church which bids a man lay bare his soul. +</p> + +<p> +There is no ear pure enough to listen to the story +of the secret struggles of the human heart. The +doctrine of <q>confession of sin,</q> which has been +taught by the Christian church, is detrimental to +manhood and womanhood. It is a police arrangement +where the private conscience is under the eye +of the priest. There can be no independence where +the soul has surrendered to another. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +To make crime easy is to make criminals. One +cannot rob the clothes-line if the clothes are in the +house. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='121'/><anchor id='Pg121'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Death's Philanthropy</head> + +<p> +Every now and then a man dies and the world +praises his name, and men die every day whose +names we never hear. +</p> + +<p> +Why is the one lifted up above the other? +</p> + +<p> +In the case we have in mind it was because the +man, when he died, left several millions of dollars +to churches, to charities, and to public benefactions. +</p> + +<p> +This age honors the accumulation of wealth. It +puts its stamp of honor upon the man who gathers +a large fortune into his hands. If this man at his +death bequeathes all of his fortune, or a large portion +of it, for what the world is pleased to call charitable +purposes, he is called a good man, and his +name is spoken with pride and praise. +</p> + +<p> +Now, we believe in all the virtues that would +make a man wealthy, but not in the vices: and we +believe that a man may have all of these virtues +and not have much money when he becomes old, or +when he reaches the banks of the river of death. +We want to praise the man that the world does not +praise, the man who does not live or die for praise, +and who does not care for it. We do not think that +death's philanthropy is as grand and beautiful as +life's philanthropy. +</p> + +<p> +The man who lives to get money and to keep +money, that at the last, when he can no longer keep +it, he may bestow it where it will be a monument to +his name, is not half so noble as the man who lives +<pb n='122'/><anchor id='Pg122'/> +in such a way that he makes life easier for his fellow-beings, +giving his little every week, here and there, +and letting his gift fall quietly and out of sight of +men. It is the truest philanthropy not to rob man, +not to take money from the world and hold it until +the stronger hand of death opens the strong hand +of greed. This is man's noblest way to live; to take +only what can be used for profit or pleasure. To +take more than this is to rob mankind. +</p> + +<p> +What generosity is there in parting with money +only when death makes the fingers let go? Men +who carry their millions to the grave would carry +them beyond it, if they could. When only death +can conquer selfishness, its noblest bequest merits +but little praise. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +There is no vicarious suffering for the one who +has eaten too much. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The nation that proclaims the right of free +speech, but will not protect that right, has abandoned +its principles. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='123'/><anchor id='Pg123'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Our Attitude Towards Nature</head> + +<p> +The idea that Nature is to be worshipped, either +as God, the unknown, or the incomprehensible, is +being seriously questioned. We wish first to know +what good such worship does. It cannot be of any +benefit to Nature. Is it of any benefit to man? +This is the only question to be answered. +</p> + +<p> +Almost everybody is ready to say that man should +not worship the sun, the moon, the stars, or any +earthly thing; but a great many still think that +man should worship the mysterious something +of which everything is a manifestation. We have +outgrown the worship of objects. We look upon +the person who sees a God in any natural object as +an idolater; as one whose mental vision is unillumined +by any true idea of the universe. But there +is a demand that man shall worship God, or the unknown +force or power in Nature that is the source +of all things. +</p> + +<p> +We admit the unknown quantity of the universe; +but we do not see the necessity of worshiping it. +We do not see any good in praying to it, or in singing +to it. Nature is all a mystery and all the mystery +there is, but why do we need to keep saying so +in prayer and praise when the silent fact is ever before +our eyes? We do not need to go down on our +knees to every mysterious thing, and stay there. +Let us freely and frankly confess that Nature is incomprehensible, +and then go about our business +like men, and try to learn what will help ourselves +and our fellow-beings. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='124'/><anchor id='Pg124'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Reverence For Motherhood</head> + +<p> +An author of some note, in an article published +in a Protestant journal, while admitting that +the <q>holy Catholic church</q> had been about as +unholy an institution as could well exist, claimed +that Romanism had its good points. Among +them he instanced <q>its reverence for motherhood.</q> +For proof of his assertion he pointed to the homage +paid to the image of Mary and her child by the +average Roman Catholic. +</p> + +<p> +We admit the homage, but deny the reverence. +To begin with, where is the reverence for motherhood +among the Roman Catholic priests? Why, +these men have not respect enough for woman to +elevate her to the dignity and honor of motherhood. +These men are married to the church, to Christ +and not to women. Their sacred office would be +lowered by taking a wife. +</p> + +<p> +The holy vows of these priests are not half as +holy as the marriage vow. A priest never had +half as pure a thought as is born in the heart of a +father. He never performed a rite half as consecrating +as dancing a laughing child on his knee. +These holy old bachelors have done all their +religion would allow them to dishonor motherhood. +</p> + +<p> +The pretence that woman as woman, as mother, +as wife, as sister, or daughter, is particularly +respected by Roman Catholics is simply absurd. +To prove this we point to the homes of the Roman +Catholics. We confess that the Romish church encourages +<pb n='125'/><anchor id='Pg125'/> +motherhood, that Roman Catholics are +urged to help increase the church membership, but +we claim that nowhere is there less reverence of +woman as woman, as mother, as wife, as sister, as +daughter, than among the Roman Catholics. +</p> + +<p> +Because a Catholic crosses himself before a +wooden Madonna, or a plaster-paris image of the +mother of Jesus, it is no proof of his reverence for +motherhood. Not a bit. The Catholic reverences +Mary as the mother of God; he pays her homage as +a divine person; worships her, not as a mother, +but as a superior being. +</p> + +<p> +The man that has reverence for motherhood is +the man who loves and tenderly cares for his own +mother and the mother of his children, but the +man who prostrates his mind before a carved +figure of the <q>Virgin Mary</q> and pounds his wife +and kicks his daughter into the street has reverence +for nothing. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Adam might have obeyed God, but he could not +resist Eve. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +It looks easy to break off a bad habit that somebody +else has got. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='126'/><anchor id='Pg126'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The God Of The Bible</head> + +<p> +The blind, foolish faith in the Bible is the cause +of intellectual dishonesty, moral hypocrisy, and +religious tergiversations without number. This +faith makes the twentieth century kneel to a +God that it would be ashamed to introduce among +civilized beings. +</p> + +<p> +We would no sooner go to Moses to learn about +deity than we would go to Noah to learn how to +build a steamship. We do not believe in getting +divinity through a straw three thousand years long. +If we must have a God, let us have one that has had +the advantages of civilization. We might possibly +give this Lord God of the Bible a quarter of mutton, +as did Abel, or a peck of potatoes, as did Cain, if +we were convinced that he was living anywhere in +the universe, just to keep on the right side of him, +but we would not care to be on an out-of-the-way +road with him after dark unless we had a revolver +with us. We know of no more villainous character +in all literature; and for men and women, who +pretend to love what is pure and good, who pretend +to honor what is upright and just and who +pretend to revere what is noble and true, to worship +this God of Christianity, this God of Moses, +this God of the Bible, is a sad commentary on +human intelligence and human integrity. +</p> + +<p> +We know that all theological discussions have +been wretchedly barren of results; we know that +theology has made no contribution to actual +knowledge; we know that no one knows anything +<pb n='127'/><anchor id='Pg127'/> +about any such being as God, and we also know +that every God worshipped to-day by men and +women is only an imaginary person or thing. No +one knows what God is or where he is, and yet ministers +speak about him just as though they had +been to his house and taken tea with him. +</p> + +<p> +Theology has received attention out of proportion +to its achievements. It has done the cackling +while science has laid the egg. +</p> + +<p> +We do not like to hear men say: <q>God did this</q> +and <q>God said this,</q> when he has never opened his +lips to speak to man and never lifted his hand to +help him. We call such language dishonest, and +the time will come when the men who have made +such use of the divine name will be condemned +as impostors. +</p> + +<p> +What this generation should do is to take the +Lord God of the Israelites, that lies dead on the +banks of time and bury him from human sight +forever. Not another human being born on this +earth should be allowed to read of his cruel deeds, +and if Christian ministers were honest, and had +the courage of their honesty, they would tell the +world that the being called God in the Bible was +no God, only an idol of a rude and barbarous age. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +A theologian is a person who uses the word <q>God</q> +to hide his ignorance. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='128'/><anchor id='Pg128'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Measure Of Suffering</head> + +<p> +The little boy who asked his mother <q>if hell was +worse than the toothache?</q> imagined that the +limits of suffering were reached in his agony. +Many of us have doubtless experienced pain that +we thought marked the utmost of endurance. In +the Christian dream of future punishment man is +represented as burning eternally. Fire probably +inflicts the intensest pain that the human body has +ever suffered. Hell is fitly represented by fire. +</p> + +<p> +Suffering takes various shapes. Pain comes in a +thousand forms. But there is a limit to the endurance +of pain. Unconsciousness comes to the +relief of the mind when agony can no longer be borne. +Hell, such as has been taught by Christianity, is +not a logical conclusion. All suffering that we +know anything about ends itself. The victim is +released by exhaustion. Hell is impossible. +</p> + +<p> +The finer suffering which is called remorse, which +follows wrong-doing, gradually wears out. Its lash +loses its sting. The sinner becomes callous to his +act or finds a balm for his regret in the lapse of +years. The finger of time erases the memory of +every wrong, and soothes with its touch every pang. +We can escape the fate of wrong-doing by doing +better. Reform opens the door of every hell invented +for man's punishment. The man who does +right, wherever he is, will have the reward of right-doing, +the fate of right-doing. +</p> + +<p> +It is this fact which makes the idea of endless pain +<pb n='129'/><anchor id='Pg129'/> +for man's deeds done on earth illogical. Man can +turn around on the road of evil as well as on the road +of good, and hence he can change his fate whenever +he changes his life. The measure of human suffering +makes it impossible for man to endure pain forever. +He must either perish utterly as a sentient +being or be driven by his punishment to better +behavior. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +No man ever yet tore down his altar and found +a God behind it. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Trying to find God is a good deal like looking +for money one has lost in a dream. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +We could believe in God if he shortened the road +for the lame, led the blind or fed the starving. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +We are told that <q>all things are possible with +God,</q> and yet God cannot boil an egg in cold water. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='130'/><anchor id='Pg130'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Nature</head> + +<p> +Some people are afraid of the word Nature. They +cross themselves when they hear it pronounced. It +has a sound like <q>Old Nick</q> in their ears. To these +pious souls the word Nature banishes God from the +universe. This is looked upon by many as the highest +offence of language. It has been the custom for +several centuries to abuse Nature, to call it bad +names, and associate it with depravity and everything +evil. Theology has condemned the word, and +the pulpit has touched it only with the tips of its +fingers. To speak of Nature as anything good is +regarded as throwing dirt in the eyes of God. +</p> + +<p> +Nothing clings to the world like a superstition. +Start a fear in the human breast, and it will make +every heart quake before it can be driven out. Let +a bad habit become fixed, and it will be as hard to +dislodge it as it is to plant a good habit. +</p> + +<p> +But men are getting over their fright somewhat. +The natural is found to be the true, not the false; +the right, not the wrong; the good, not the bad. +Nature has been slandered, lied about. It was once +thought necessary to assassinate this word in order +to preserve the Orthodox religion. The necessity +still remains, but orthodoxy is dying. +</p> + +<p> +Nature is a large word. It means about all there +is. If there is a God, he is natural. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='131'/><anchor id='Pg131'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Creeds</head> + +<p> +This is the age of revision. Churches are all +hurrying to catch up with the world. There is a +desire to square ideas with facts, and shape beliefs +with knowledge. Religion must suffer in this process. +Something will be lost, but only what is bad, +false and wrong. Creeds are out of date. They +are behind the times. They are the dead leaves +from the tree of knowledge, the dead branches on +the tree of life. The world's faith is in the living; +in the bud, the blossom, the promise of things—not +in the husk, the shell, in dead and useless things. +</p> + +<p> +New creeds are to take the place of old ones. +What people believe now, not what people believed +hundreds or thousands of years ago, must be put +into a profession of faith. For a man to profess +what his father and mother believed is to make +birth useless and existence valueless. We are to +live to add to life, not to repeat it. Is theology the +only thing that people put their trust in? A theological +creed has to be accepted with the eyes shut. +We want a creed of the heart, of the head, of the +senses, of the whole man. There is no theology +worth believing in. The creed of the church is a +gravestone. +</p> + +<p> +If we were to make a creed for the world of men +to accept we would make it out of human hearts. +We would go where a man had helped another; +where a woman had sat beside the sick and suffering; +where man had been crucified for being true; +<pb n='132'/><anchor id='Pg132'/> +where he had been burned for being honest; where +he had stood against the world protesting against +its wrongs and proclaiming the right, and where he +had fallen with a martyr's crown upon his forehead; +and we would write these into a creed, and have +men say: I believe in men and women who have +lived good lives, who have taken the unfortunate +by the hand and lifted up the fallen, who have pardoned +a woman's fault, who have shown their love +of truth by being true, and who have done right +even when they were wronged for so doing. +</p> + +<p> +The grandest life is the grandest creed; and, if +man's faith was faith in what has made the world +better and brighter and happier, he would be better +off than by believing in a God that is cruel, unjust +and unkind, and in a heaven where the highest joy +is found in laughing at those who are in hell. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +It has been discovered that the man who was +lost in thought was not a church member. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +We do not say that another world is not worth +a single thought, but rather that this world is +worth all our thoughts, and needs them. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='133'/><anchor id='Pg133'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Don't Try To Stop The Sun Shining</head> + +<p> +If there is one person on earth who is to be envied +it is the happy, cheerful man or woman who always +sees the bright side of life, the good side of a fellow-being, +and the warm, sunny side of what belongs +to earth. If there is a person to be pitied, it is the +sour, gloomy man or woman, who sees only the +dark side of life, the bad side of a fellow-being, and +the cold, cloudy side of what belongs to earth. +Everything bright, beautiful, fair, sweet, and good +grows in the sunshine. We would not have a +flower without the sun. Cheerfulness is to the human +heart what the sunbeam is to the earth—the +source of gladness. +</p> + +<p> +We ought to cultivate happiness. We ought to +have the home filled with what is beautiful. We +ought to let the sun shine into our lives. People +who are sour and moody look upon the smiling, +happy person as foolish, and wonder what there is +in life that one can find to enjoy. They want to +tear the flower to pieces, stop the bird singing, +trample upon the joy of the child, and hush the +laugh of mirth. If you cannot enjoy life, don't try +to prevent others from doing so. Don't throw a +shadow on the human heart. Don't try to stop +the sun shining. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Laying up treasures in heaven never kept a +man out of the poor-house. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='134'/><anchor id='Pg134'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Follow Me</head> + +<p> +Jesus said: <q>Follow me.</q> But we decline; we +had rather not. We do not wish to follow a person +until we know where he is going. +</p> + +<p> +If by following Jesus is meant living as he lived, +doing as he did, believing as he believed, teaching +as he taught and dying as he died, we are not in it. +We shall have to say: Thank you, we guess not. +We prefer to go some other way. +</p> + +<p> +We do not see any necessity of following anybody +very far, if at all. This following business is +played out. Those who profess to follow Jesus +don't do it in the daytime. +</p> + +<p> +But we can go a little farther and say that we +do not think Jesus was a man that a self-respecting +person would like to follow. He does not inspire +us with any particular admiration. The man who +could let his lips forget to speak kindly of his mother +cannot have our admiration. The man who +came not to bring peace, but a sword, to the world +cannot have our admiration. The man who said: +<q>believe and be saved, believe not and be damned,</q> +cannot have our admiration. +</p> + +<p> +If we follow anybody, it is going to be a person +that commands our respect, whose greatness and +goodness compel our admiration, and who did not +try to win men by tricks. We regard Jesus, as he +is painted in the four gospels, as a character below +the ideal of this age, a character that, to imitate, +would dwarf the noblest man. If Jesus were alive +it would be his duty to-day to follow others, rather +than to command others to follow him. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='135'/><anchor id='Pg135'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Can We Never Get Along Without +Servants?</head> + +<p> +We recently overheard a remark which made us +query if we cannot get along without servants? +A lady was commenting on the character of the +<q>help,</q> which one was obliged to employ to-day, +and expressed the opinion that, if our public schools +continued to fill the heads of children with the notion +that one person was as good as another, it +would not be long before it would be impossible to +get help at all. +</p> + +<p> +There seems to be an idea abroad in this land as +well as in others, that a certain class of people are +for the purpose of producing servants for another +class of people, and that this servant-producing +class has no right to give their children an education +that is calculated to elevate them above the +position of their parents. We are not in sympathy +with this idea. If there is one person on this +earth that is of less account than another it is +the person who is helpless, who is dependent upon +others for everything that makes life possible or +endurable. We must confess that there are too +many people in this country who are of this kind, +who must have someone to do for them what they +ought to do for themselves. +</p> + +<p> +Why should one person be expected to wait upon +another? Why should a man or woman look upon +a fellow-being as fit only to be a servant? Is one +born to serve and the other to be waited upon? +</p> + +<pb n='136'/><anchor id='Pg136'/> + +<p> +Such notions have no right on our democratic soil. +In this country there must be no caste, no division +of society into classes. +</p> + +<p> +We rejoice that such a criticism of the character +of the <q>help</q> employed in the houses of the rich as +we overheard, is true, for it reveals a condition of +things that may lead to what is much needed to-day, +viz.: a simpler mode of living on the part of a +great many of our American people. Is it necessary +to live in such a way that a dozen or more servants +are required in a home to keep it in order? +</p> + +<p> +We believe the community in which all are independent +and none are servants is the ideal one. +Why should not this be the ambition of the race, +to live in a manner that will leave others their independence +and encourage in them the desire for a +home? Our children all ought to be taught to +work, and be made to work, and not be brought up +with the notion that they have the right to expect +others to wait upon them. +</p> + +<p> +We do not wish to imply that one individual +should not consider it his or her duty to help another +or to work for another. What we desire to +convey is this, that if people did more of their own +work, and waited upon their own wants more, they +would not only be doing what is best for themselves, +but also what is best for the community in general. +For men or women to be dependent upon servants +and almost helpless without them, is not a +condition to be proud of, but to be ashamed of. +The man who cannot harness or drive his horse; the +<pb n='137'/><anchor id='Pg137'/> +woman who cannot buy and cook a dinner for her +family, has not been properly educated. +</p> + +<p> +The home in which there are the fewest servants +is the happiest home. The father that brings up +his sons to work, to know how to earn a living; the +mother who teaches her daughters to cook, to sew, +to do housework, is doing them good, not harm. +There are too many know-nothings and do-nothings +in the world. It is honorable to be useful in this +world, and it ought to be dishonorable to be useless. +Let us work for the day when we can get +along without servants; when life shall be so simple +that each family can do its own work. The servant +system is but little different from the slave +system, and it ought to be abolished. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The money man gives to get him into heaven +is what he ought to use to improve the earth. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The Unitarian walks with a cane, the Congregationalist, +Methodist, Presbyterian and Baptist +go with crutches, the Episcopalian has to be +pushed about in an invalid's chair, while the Roman +Catholic crawls on his hands and knees and +is led around with a ring in his nose by a priest. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='138'/><anchor id='Pg138'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>A Heavenly Father</head> + +<p> +It may pay some persons to talk about a heavenly +father who cares for his earthly children, but we +prefer to get money in a more honorable business. +Honor bright, now, gentlemen of the pulpit, did +you ever see anything that convinced you that +there is a power in the universe outside of the human +body, that cared a snap for men, that showed any +more love for a child than for a crocodile? Tell +the truth, and let us see how far apart we are on +this question. +</p> + +<p> +We have no objection to being taken care of by a +heavenly father, or by any person or power that is +wiser and kinder than man. But we do not want +to put our trust in such a being or power and then, +just when we needed most the help and counted on +it, find that we had been deceived. We admit the +good that is in Nature, the beautiful, the attractive, +but we cannot put faith in the God of earthquakes. +When we listen to a bird's full-throated song, and +surrender ourselves in delicious rapture to the spell +of its wondrous melody, we are ready to acknowledge +that a benignant power gave life to this sweet +little charmer, that can start such a flood of joy in +the human heart, but when in strolling among the +meadow's blossoms we are confronted with the repulsive +head and ominous attitude of the rattlesnake, +we ask: Who made you? We admire Nature +in some forms, but detest it in others. We +pick the rose with a blessing on its perfect beauty +<pb n='139'/><anchor id='Pg139'/> +and perfumed breath, but we shun the white flower +of the dogwood—the poisonous hypocrite. When +the sky is fair and blue, and a smile is on the face +of heaven, we feel that only kindness and love sit +enthroned above us, but when the blue changes to +black and the smile to a frown, which grows deeper +and darker until the whole heavens threaten destruction +to earth; when the heedless lightning, with +brutal stroke, fells at our feet a form we love, we +wonder where the kindness and love have gone that +we saw only a few hours before. Nature does not +keep one mood long. She has made things fair and +things foul; she blesses, but she curses also; she wins +us with some temptation of beauty, and then punishes +us for yielding; she puts in our heart an angel +of love, but she puts there, too, a devil of hate; she +caresses us one minute and kicks us the next; she +licks our hand, and then without warning she bites +us. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +There is more power to-day in a drop of ink than +in a ton of powder. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +A man may have respect for old age and not like +to find gray hairs in his butter. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='140'/><anchor id='Pg140'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Worship Not Needed</head> + +<p> +The world will never throb with new life until +the spell of worship is broken. Nothing holds mankind +down so much as veneration for its idols. +Shake off the lethargy that worship has brought +upon the soul. Live like men, and you need not +worship gods. When we live true to the soul we +cease to ask for anything. Worship is denial of +self. Let us have no disputes about divinity. Let +God take care of himself. The light of the stars +proves their existence. The universe needs no counsel +of defence. That which is evident need not be +explained. +</p> + +<p> +The great question for us to answer is not what +God wants, but what men need. Let us live to ourselves. +Worship is interruption. Let our life satisfy. +Worship is apology. If we are doing our best, +what need to excuse our work? What good does it +do to praise God? That is the true love which +obeys, not that which adores. We want willing +hands, not lifted ones. Worship is superfluous. It +adds nothing to the soul. It increases our cares, +not our virtues. The test of everything is, does it +help man? +</p> + +<p> +We challenge the church to prove its claim to +man's support. It throws a shadow upon the earth +instead of letting more light upon it. The priest is +in man's way. Worship is a compliment to the +deity that he does not need, and a burden upon man +which he is not able to bear. Nature does not worship. +<pb n='141'/><anchor id='Pg141'/> +She grows. Worship is opposition to reform. +It palsies the world's thought. It means stagnation. +It is difficult to get advocated what will correct +society, because mankind spends so much time +in the church that it has no time to spend in the +theatre of improvement. Worship is hypocrisy's +disguise. What a train of splendid deceit marches +up the aisles of the church! What a mask is worship, +but the world can see through it. When falsehood +kneels in praise of truth; when extortion and +cruelty call God father; when meanness and vice +are the disciples of Jesus, and when crime and sin +say, <q>Thy will be done,</q> the name of religion is a +blush on the forehead of the world. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +We would not dethrone the world's heroes. The +more human beings we can get the world to honor +and respect the better humanity will be, but when +a man or woman has been for ages almost worshipped +by the world; when time, with its forgiving +hand, has erased deed after deed until naught else +is left of the man or woman but a holy memory, an +unreal soul, whose virtues are as ghostly as shadows +cast by the moon, it behooves us to look with unprejudiced +mind at this phantom of existence and +to see with naked eye this object of adoration, for +one may be certain that beneath the idol's robes +will be found a human form and with it all the +peculiarities of human nature. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='142'/><anchor id='Pg142'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Was Jesus A Good Man</head> + +<p> +We denied in the presence of a Christian, who +wished to have a religious talk with us, that Jesus +was divine. This denial was somewhat anticipated, +we imagine, as the gentleman who challenged our +views was knowing to the fact that we did not pay +pew rent anywhere. But he thought to secure assent +from us by saying, <q>You will have to admit +that Jesus was a good man.</q> What constitutes a +good man? A good man is a man who is kind, loving, +merciful, reasonable, and just. Would a just +man pay the laborer who had worked but one hour +as much as he paid him who had toiled all day? +Would a reasonable man curse a fig tree because +it did not have fruit on it out of season? Would a +loving man say: He that hateth not father and +mother is not worthy of me? Would a merciful +man send those who did not agree with him into +everlasting fire? Would a kind-hearted man +bring a sword rather than peace on earth? +</p> + +<p> +The truth is, we do not know <emph>what</emph> kind of a man +Jesus was. Good men have been killed by bad +ones, and bad men killed by good ones. If Jesus +was killed because he was a blasphemer the chances +are that he was better than those who put him +to death, but if he was killed because he sought +to overturn the government and secure the throne +for himself, he may have been a very bad man. +But by the gospel-record we hold that Jesus was +not a man for this age to honor or imitate. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='143'/><anchor id='Pg143'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>How To Help Mankind</head> + +<p> +There are various ways of helping the world, and +all are to be commended. Perhaps the way that +costs the least, and consequently helps the least, +is the giving of good advice. This, we believe, is +about the poorest thing that can be given to man. +It is a gratuity on the giver's part which is never +received quite as it is bestowed. But it is usually +born of good intentions, and so we have to be thankful +for it, even if we do not use it. To those who +are inclined, however, to render assistance to their +fellow-beings, we would say: Give good advice last, +or, at any rate, give something with it. There is +no use telling a poor man where there is a good +restaurant when he has no money in his purse. +</p> + +<p> +Another way of helping the world is the material +way—giving something that will relieve its wants, +pay its debts, or add to its independence. The +sympathy that takes the shape of dollars and cents +always reaches the heart. The rarest virtue in this +world of ours is generosity, and the rarest man is he +who gives to the world asking for no dividends but +in the happiness of his fellow-creatures. Money, +when wisely bestowed, comes about as near the +shape of an angel as any earthly thing can assume. +</p> + +<p> +But there are other ways of assisting the world, +and while we admit all the good that can be done +with money, men and women need to-day to be +helped with truth, helped with justice. Mankind +are suffering from falsehoods, from wrongs as well +<pb n='144'/><anchor id='Pg144'/> +as from ignorance, from want and poverty. Those +who are unjust to their fellows should help them by +dealing justly by them. Those who are keeping +the world in darkness should help it by telling the +truth. Truth and justice are every man's right, +and every man's due. You can help the world by +being just to it, by using your fellow-beings honestly, +squarely, justly. You can help it by telling +the truth and by concealing nothing that is true. +</p> + +<p> +Man needs an education in unselfishness. He +must learn to work for himself without working +against others. The advantage which a man gains +to-day is too often at the disadvantage of his brother +or sister. It is a poor victory which inflicts suffering. +The true measure of man's success is the joy +his life confers upon the world. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The man who wants to be an angel is never in a +hurry to begin. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The man who gets on his knees has not learned +the right use of his legs. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Ignorance is all that saves some people: if they +knew more they would do worse. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='145'/><anchor id='Pg145'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>On The Cross</head> + +<p> +Christianity teaches that Jesus was divine. To +admit that he was not divine is to give up Christianity. +In the light of this teaching let us look at +Jesus on the cross. After a brief, but rather peaceful +career, Jesus is arrested, tried and convicted as a +blasphemer, and sentenced to be put to death. It +is said that he died on a cross. How did he die? +It is said by Christians <q>like a God.</q> +</p> + +<p> +There have been brave deaths on the gallows and +at the stake. Men have died sublimely whom +society has condemned as criminals. In our day +there has been as lofty heroism evinced in the face +of the most terrible of deaths as ever martyr of old +manifested when dying for his faith. We know +that men have walked into the arms of an ignominious +death without a tremor, and with magnificent +courage shining in their faces. +</p> + +<p> +Brave dying proves less than brave living. The +sacrifice of a lifetime shows the courage that commands +our deepest admiration. Some mother, +some sister, or daughter who has offered herself for +years upon the hidden altar of duty has performed +a deed beside which a moment's suffering is as +naught. But the average mind fails to discern heroism, +except where the suffering is apparent. +</p> + +<p> +We will admit for the moment that Jesus died +upon the cross. We will allow all the pain and agony +of such a cruel and terrible death. We will +let every picture of his suffering that has drawn tears +<pb n='146'/><anchor id='Pg146'/> +from the eyes of women be accepted as true. We +would not rob the manner of his death of a single +pang. It was merciless, pitiless, devilish. Crucifixion +is the essence of cruelty, the refinement of torture, +the invention of brutality. We acknowledge +all the horrors of the cross. We do not wonder that +a man should shrink from being nailed to its arms, +but we do wonder that a God should. We are not +surprised that human weakness should cry out of its +breaking heart for sympathy and help, but we cannot +understand why divine strength should ask for +pity or aid. If Jesus was God he should have died +in divine silence. The record of the last hours of +Jesus shows that he died disappointed. The cross +proves that Jesus was human. When he cried out: +"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me," a +keener anguish pierced his heart than when the cruel +iron was driven through his flesh. +</p> + +<p> +The dogma of the divinity of Jesus should have +died on the cross, when the man of Nazareth gave up +the ghost. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The man who does no thinking before he acts +does twice as much afterwards. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Adam may not have been so perfect after the +<q>fall,</q> but he was not so big a fool. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='147'/><anchor id='Pg147'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Equal Moral Standards</head> + +<p> +Why are girls brought up with more care as to +their personal habits than boys? And why do women +have fewer vices than men? It is an undeniable +fact that what is looked upon with indifference +in a man would be regarded with disgust, if not horror, +in a woman. Boys do things that would not +be tolerated in girls. Why are there two standards +of behavior? Why is one sex held to stricter moral +account than the other? Why is a man allowed +to do what is condemned in a woman? +</p> + +<p> +The average daughter is better behaved, has +better personal habits, than the average son. The +average mother has fewer vices than the average +father. The average woman is less vicious than the +average man. Whose fault is it that this is so? It +is somebody's. Whose is it? It is time to find out. +Have men fixed the standard for women, and women +for men? It is approximately true that either +sex is what the other demands of it. Women are +too indulgent towards the other sex. We believe +it lies with them more than with men to elevate the +moral standard of the world. +</p> + +<p> +A father would not take his daughter to places +where he takes his son, would not condone in her +habits which he overlooks, if not encourages, in his +boy. Picture a father going to a saloon with his +daughter, and there treating her to a <q>Tom and +Jerry,</q> or a <q>beer,</q> and then calling for cigars for +two, and sitting there smoking together for half an +<pb n='148'/><anchor id='Pg148'/> +hour or so! A man will do this with his boy but not +with his girl. Why not? If it is right and harmless +for one, why not for the other? Is it true or +not that what is right for men is wrong for women? +</p> + +<p> +We ought to have only one moral standard. The +sexes should be held to like behavior. Men can +have just as good habits as women. We do not believe +in forgiving in one what we condemn in another, +in allowing a young man to do with impunity what +we will not tolerate in a young woman. +</p> + +<p> +If we are to have one standard of morals, which +shall it be? Shall it be the highest or lowest? +Shall it be the standard for man or for woman? +Shall we permit women to do as men do, or shall we +insist that men shall be equally pure in personal +habits with women? The divided standard of conduct +which now exists should be done away with. +Let us demand equal behavior of the sexes, and +let that behavior be fashioned after the highest +moral demand of society. We do not wish to educate +boys to be girls, but we can educate boys to +have as good habits as girls have, which would be a +great gain to the world. +</p> + +<p> +We must hold women largely responsible for the +vices of men. There is not a vicious habit which a +man would not lay at the feet of woman did she demand +it. Not a man would tolerate in a woman +what a woman tolerates in a man. Let us have one +moral standard for men and women, for both sexes, +and mete out to each the same punishment for violation +of its restrictions. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='149'/><anchor id='Pg149'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Authority</head> + +<p> +The man that does what his reason says is right +is the man that should be honored by men. There +can be no higher authority for doing a thing than +that it is right. It is not whether a thing has ever +been done before, but, <emph>Is it right</emph>? If there is no +precedent, then it is a duty to establish one. +</p> + +<p> +How many accept the opinions of others because +they fear to question their authority! This regard +for what other people think and say is well enough +only when it does not destroy independence of +thought and speech in ourselves. Another's opinion +is not to be respected when it is a fetter to our +freedom. +</p> + +<p> +We need not rehearse the evils which the world +has borne on account of its fear to do right <emph>alone</emph>. +Man must have someone to share the danger, to +share the blame, but a dozen cowards are not worth +so much as one brave man, and right is no <emph>more</emph> +right because ten say it instead of one. A thousand +felt what Luther said; a thousand believed +what Parker did. The best man in us is often the +one that does not speak. The truest belief of the +heart is the one never confessed. Man seldom +comes to the surface. He rarely has a call to be +himself, but to be somebody that will please the +world. Man is obliged to make himself into a +theological likeness; into a political representation. +It will be centuries before men can assert themselves +fearlessly without injury. +</p> + +<pb n='150'/><anchor id='Pg150'/> + +<p> +It is no easy matter for a man to set himself +against popular opinion and maintain his position. +Every power is brought to bear upon him that +falsehood can invent and malice employ. A person +who refuses to acknowledge the authority of the +hour asserts a higher. When a man slaps the world +in the face he should have truth on his side and +courage to meet the stake and the cross. The +majority never forgives him who denies its judgment. +The individual that challenges the majority +must prove his right of defiance. When a man +is greater or better than men he must pay the penalty. +The world cannot yet forgive anyone for excelling +it. Authority when it debases man should +be disputed; when it denies man his rights should +be rejected. +</p> + +<p> +It is plain to be seen, without illustration or example, +that man's authority is not found in his own +mind. He has no history that reaches beyond custom. +Man begins with man so far as facts prove. +Society rests upon hearsay and religion upon tradition. +A claim has only to be made upon ignorance +to be granted. This good-natured world of +ours would believe anything, or make-believe believe +it, to save its soul. It takes either a very +shrewd man or a moderately mean one to dodge +every duty of life and remain respectable. It is +dangerous to go outside the beaten path, not only +on account of the persecution of the present but on +account of the folly of the future. The world can +easily twist an action into a law or a man into a God +<pb n='151'/><anchor id='Pg151'/> +if profit hang on the end of its deed. The authority +of half man's actions to-day depends upon some +accident or fraud of the past. Man wants a little +of the fabulous yet in his meat and drink. He +loves to think that Jesus is present when he drinks +his wine and eats his bit of bread, although it is a +mystery. +</p> + +<p> +Popular opinion is the authority of most words +and actions. We speak to men as to children—to +please them. We tell them some parable or fairy +story instead of telling them their faults honestly +and trying to make them better. Most men begin +by bowing to public opinion and end by carrying +it on their backs. +</p> + +<p> +The authority of the world may be disputed without +any of the stars being thrown out of their course +or any of the processes of life being disturbed. The +notion that all has been discovered that is essential +to the welfare of man is a mistaken one. The other +notion that the preservation of whatever is elevating +and refining depends upon the religious opinions +of mankind, is equally delusive. The authority of +the Bible, of Jesus, of the church, has been quoted +until the world is prepared for a better. We might +lose the Bible and not lose our place in the ranks of +civilization. Jesus might be forgotten and man +would still strive for a higher life. The church +might perish in a night and not a single particle of +goodness be lost. If we speak honest words, do +honest work and live honest lives, we need not ask +for God's help or the help of anybody. We do not +<pb n='152'/><anchor id='Pg152'/> +give to immorality the hours we redeem from superstition. +We give to manhood and womanhood +every hour which we make natural and free. It is +not necessary for a man to go to church in order to +be righteous. The world found assistance before +Jesus was born. There has always been saints outside +of a convent. We need no book holy that good +counsel shall be valuable. The highest authority +is the highest human enlightenment. It needs no +priest back of opinion to give it force. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Why does a man enter the Christian ministry? +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The reason that revelation is always made to the +simple is that the wise could not be imposed upon. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +There is no sadder grief than that which lies at +the bottom of a life that has been wrecked through +deception. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +An organization that requires the suppression of +facts and the discouragement of knowledge in +order to maintain its supremacy, is the relic of a +tyranny which our free age and our free thought +are in duty bound to remove from the earth. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='153'/><anchor id='Pg153'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>A Clean Sabbath</head> + +<p> +In a discussion with a lady, recently, upon the +Sunday question, after the various pros and cons +had been set up and bowled down, she exclaimed: +<q>For mercy's sake, don't say any more against the +sabbath. Why, if it were not for Sunday, most +people would never wash themselves nor change +their clothes.</q> Sunday, then, is to be established +for the sake of cleanliness. The command for keeping +the sabbath should therefore read: Six days +shalt thou labor and do all thy work, and on the +seventh day wash thyself and change thy clothes. +If people will not keep clean without a divine command, +we are in favor of cleanliness. We do not +know of any better use to put God's name to. Sunday +is certainly the cleanest day of the week. If +people will make themselves clean and neat only +for God's sake, we are willing to endure a little superstition +for the blessing of cleanliness. But is +there any ground for the assertion of the lady? As +everyone knows, religion has produced the filthiest +specimens of humanity that ever offended the +senses of man. Dirt, and not cleanliness, was +deemed next to godliness by the saints of old. The +filthier a human being became, the holier he grew. +It was regarded in the middle ages, that is, in the +ages when everything was sacrificed to religion, as +almost a sin to keep clean. It was waste of time to +care for the body. It was taught that it was holier +to worship than to wash. Nor did these dirty old +<pb n='154'/><anchor id='Pg154'/> +saints of old go nasty entirely on their own authority. +They were nasty for Christ's sake. They +went unclean because Jesus had encouraged nastiness. +He believed more in clean hearts than in +clean hands. He taught his disciples that <q>to eat +with unwashed hands defileth not a man.</q> Dirty +Christians are still plenty, but civilization prevails +over superstition and the reign of dirt is doomed. +The follower of Jesus quotes his master to defend +his filthy condition in vain to-day. The gospel of +decency has been preached, and what is manly and +womanly is honored more than what is godly and +pious. Clean infidelity is preferable in good society +to nasty piety. There may be honor in rags, but +there is none in dirt. Soap and water cost less than +religion, but are worth a thousand times as much to +the world. If Romanism required its devotees to +take a bath instead of going to mass, it would confer +a greater boon upon the world. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +No man gets estimated for exactly what he is, +and it is lucky he doesn't. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +A great many men and women are remembered +for what somebody has said about them. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='155'/><anchor id='Pg155'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Human Integrity</head> + +<p> +It is hard for a man to be a man. It is easier to +be almost anything else. We do not find the reason +for what we do in ourselves, but seek it in someone +else, or somewhere else. Manhood is not our +standard of action. Human integrity is generally +looked upon as an eccentricity. We almost despise +a person who is more upright than the conventional +man. Throughout society there runs a stream of +circumstance upon which lives float like chips. +The man who turns against this stream, and seeks +to stem it, is looked upon as a madman or a fool. +Everybody admits that the world is hardly going +right, but everybody goes with it. The current of +human life can be turned into a larger channel by a +larger man. Mind follows mind. +</p> + +<p> +We do not demand the truth; we do not insist +upon the right; we are satisfied with less than integrity. +It is not in a spirit of carping that we say +this, but because it is true. Let us glance at the +world as it lies before us. Theories pass for facts, +faith for evidence. We assert without knowledge; +we are positive without proof. Man is condemned +for not believing, although living a pure and noble +life; he is praised for believing, although living a +selfish and cruel life. Men are not judged by human +nature, but by opinions which are uppermost in +public esteem. Men and women are bad according +to the standard of one age; good according to +that of another. Theologies, which may be wrong, +<pb n='156'/><anchor id='Pg156'/> +condemn men who may be right. Justice is never +man's precedent. The world quotes Moses, David, +Paul, Jesus, to defend its conduct or prove its guilt. +</p> + +<p> +Authority is another's opinion. Law is what +has been done and sanctioned by mankind. The +decision of one court binds another. One text is +quoted to prove another. A man's act is made a +rule of life. We say, to defend ourselves: <q>He did +it.</q> The world's power of attorney is in its own +handwriting. Our appeal is to some one else. We +get our politics from our fathers, our religion from +our mothers. The church is preaching what others +believed. +</p> + +<p> +The mind still leans. Only a few could stand +without a support. The props of the world keep it +from falling. Men are not upright of their own +strength. No man's action is the patent of manhood. +The world does not ask, <q>What virtues are +yours?</q> but, <q>What creed do you accept?</q> A +dozen agree and call some one else a doubter, a +Freethinker, an Infidel, an Atheist. To be able to +stand alone is to be blamed by those who cannot do +so. +</p> + +<p> +Man must learn this, that he has no greater +strength than his own; that he has no higher +duty than to obey the behest of his own nature. +When we forsake the world's follies and shams we +shall find something better. We are never abandoned +until we have been abandoned by ourselves. +</p> + +<pb n='157'/><anchor id='Pg157'/> + +<p> +When we refuse to do our duty we must still expect +Nature to do hers. The sun and moon do not +stand still at man's command. It is greater to +keep one's integrity than it is to gain the whole +world. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +It is harder to live when those we love are dead. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The trouble with divine revelation is that we do +not know who did the business. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +A person has not much excuse for living who can +make no better use of life than passing it in a +nunnery. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Men talk of alleviating the aching hearts and +souls of the world, but if they would relieve the +aching backs and arms of men and women by being +kinder to those who toil, there would be fewer +suffering hearts for their sympathy's consolation. +It sounds vulgar, perhaps, to speak of backaching, +but the pains of work are among the saddest facts +of human life. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='158'/><anchor id='Pg158'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Is It True</head> + +<p> +There is a lot of sentiment going around the world +strangely at variance with human action. No one +lives as he professes to believe, as he says he thinks. +Men declare a thing to be true but act as though +they wished it false. It is frequently stated that: +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>Honor and shame from no condition rise,</q></l> +<l><q rend='post'>Act well your part, there all the honor lies.</q></l> +</lg> +</quote> + +<p> +Who believes it? Did Pope when he wrote it? +Does a person that reads it? I doubt it. +</p> + +<p> +It ought to be true, perhaps, that men should be +respected, honored, and praised just as much for +carrying a hod well as for writing a poem or acting +Hamlet well, but it is not so regarded. +</p> + +<p> +A man as a man may be just as worthy, just as +honorable, just as much deserving the respect of +his fellows who uses a pick and shovel on the highway, +but it is a fact that the common laborer as +such is not respected nor honored as much as the +man who pays him for his labor. All the honor +may lie in doing well whatever he has to do, but it is +<emph>what a man does</emph>, not how he does it, that receives +the honor of the world, just the same. Probably +thousands of women are acting well their part as +washerwomen in Boston at this time, but are they +honored as Sarah Bernhardt is for acting Cleopatra? +Would wealthy women pay ten dollars to see a woman +scrub a floor, even if she could scrub better +than any woman who ever scrubbed before? We +guess not. There is the point. +</p> + +<pb n='159'/><anchor id='Pg159'/> + +<p> +There is no such epitaph as this on the marble of +the world: He acted well his part as a coal-heaver. +It is true that Lincoln is pointed to as having been +a rail-splitter when a young man, but had he never +been anything else he would not have had a monument +an inch above the ground. It is not Garfield +the tow-boy, but Garfield the statesman, the +President, that is honored. +</p> + +<p> +It is a fact that merit is not always appreciated, +but it is equally a fact that no merit is seen in the +common occupations of life. A person might wear +his fingers to bones in what is regarded as menial +employment, and all his giant labor would not call +forth a single word of praise. A dollar or two a day +is all the reward the world gives for manual labor. +No one sees heroism in farm work, in kitchen work. +No one contributes money to erect a statue to the +hod-carrier. Work is not honored. The man or +woman who is obliged to work in order to live is regarded +with pity or contempt by those who live upon +the labor of others. +</p> + +<p> +It is not true that all the honor lies in doing well +whatever we have to do. Such a saying is as false +as to say <q>Ask, and you shall receive.</q> Honor is +not given gratuitously. It has to be earned. But +it is a fact that we do not honor all labor, all virtue, +equally. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='160'/><anchor id='Pg160'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Keep The Children At Home</head> + +<p> +Fathers and mothers want to see their children +grow up into good, moral, respectable men and women. +How to insure this desirable result is a serious +problem. It is seen that the school is not +sufficient to insure character, nor does the church +exert sufficient influence to guide the feet in right +paths. +</p> + +<p> +We have the deepest faith in what the school is +doing and trying to do, and would help it in every +way to promote the instruction in those branches +of knowledge which are deemed essential to a sound +and useful education, but we cannot fail to see that +the school, however much it may assist the child in +the formation of good habits, is not of itself competent +to build up character. The school cannot +take the place of the home, nor can the teacher do +the work of the parent. We believe that the best +way to have good boys and girls, and therefore good +men and women, is to have good homes for them to +live in. If parents gave more attention to making +their homes attractive to their children, they would +not be so apt to seek amusement in other places. +The more a child is kept at home, the more certain +it will be to escape the evils of life. A good home +is the first and most powerful factor in forming the +character of children. +</p> + +<p> +There is too much thought given by parents generally +to the church and too little to the home. +They shirk their duty and their responsibility, and +<pb n='161'/><anchor id='Pg161'/> +pray God to look after what they neglect. With +the father at work and the mother at mass, the +children will be in the street. Those parents who +put the home above the church are throwing around +their children the best influences that earth affords. +When children are left to the care of God they too +often fall into the hands of the policeman. Let the +path between the home and the school be well worn, +but never mind if the grass grows in the road that +leads to the church. +</p> + +<p> +The child will usually love home if home is made +lovely. If parents wish to drive their children into +temptation, let them shut the sunshine of joy out +of the house, forbid the playing of games, burn up +the pack of cards that is found in one of the boy's +rooms, call a ball-room the <q>devil's headquarters,</q> +and pronounce a malediction upon all youthful +sports. It is easy enough to drive a boy or girl out +into the dark. Put out the lights at home. Those +parents who know the evil influences of the world +will make their homes bright and beautiful and +then keep their children there as long as they can. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The doctrine of salvation by faith is a libel on +justice and has done more to undermine the virtue +of the world than vice itself. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='162'/><anchor id='Pg162'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Teacher And Preacher</head> + +<p> +There is one great change which we hope to see +brought about in the near future, because we think +it ought to be brought about as a matter of justice. +It is this: the elevation of teachers above preachers. +Civilization, and all that this word stands for today, +depends more upon the school than upon the +church. It is the teacher and not the preacher that +trains the growing minds of our children, that +builds the structure of character for future men and +women, and gives to the young the sacred touch +that keeps them in right paths. The world does +not half appreciate the work done by the school +teacher, while it exaggerates out of all proportion +to its worth, the work done by the preacher. The +church may fall, but if the school stands, liberty +will remain; the paths of knowledge will be free; the +brow of civilization will still shine white against the +skies of life, and the glorious cup of learning be +pressed to the thirsting mouth of youth; but should +the school fall, though the church might stand, all +this would be reversed;—liberty would be driven +from the earth, the highways of knowledge would +be closed, civilization would fade into the night of +the "dark ages," and the thirsting lips of life be fed +with Bible scraps and the logic of dead creeds. The +teacher is the mighty power in this republic, the +truest friend of our nation's institutions, the one +person above all others that this country should +<pb n='163'/><anchor id='Pg163'/> +honor and reward. One teacher is worth a thousand +priests; one school, a thousand churches. +</p> + +<p> +The person whose duty it is to direct the education +of the young holds the sceptre of a nation's +destiny, and the school teacher occupies the most +important station to which one can be elected. We +fear that the profession of teaching is not rightly +prized by the American people, and we are sure it is +not justly rewarded. No class in the land are paid +so poorly, according to the service they perform, as +our school teachers, while no class should be paid so +well. Far more valuable to our government is the +teacher than the preacher, and yet the salary of the +latter exceeds the former in every city and town in +the land. This should be changed. Preaching a +superstition is no benefit but an injury to a people, +while training the mind to read, to think, to gather +knowledge is the highest service which one can +perform. +</p> + +<p> +We have the greatest respect for the men and +women who have prepared themselves for the high +office of teacher, and we would see them rewarded +for their labor as it deserves. The hope of a country +is in the right education of its people, and the +way to secure such education is to encourage the +teacher by showing a just appreciation of his or her +labors. So we say, put the school above the church, +the teacher above the preacher. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='164'/><anchor id='Pg164'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Fear Of Doubts</head> + +<p> +We cannot help thinking that Goethe showed +lack of courage when he said: <q>I will listen to any +one's convictions, but pray keep your doubts to +yourself, I have plenty of my own!</q> It seems to us +that only a coward is afraid of doubts. If our convictions +are false is it not better to know it and correct +them? Doubt is the way to truth. It is the +attitude of the mind that wants to know things just +as they are. They who are unwilling to be deceived +are the ones to doubt, to inquire. Let us hear all +the doubts of the world, for they are knocks at the +door of knowledge. To accept without question is +to be the willing dupe of imposition. +</p> + +<p> +The doubter is the safe man; the man who can be +depended upon. He does not build upon a foundation +of guesswork, and the structure he erects will +stand. Let us not fear doubt, but rather fear to +have falsehood passed for truth. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +There is no authority that can be quoted against +a man but the authority of some other man. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Nine times out of ten the man who declares that +God is tender to the sparrow that falls is not the +man to buy a winter's coal for a poor widow. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='165'/><anchor id='Pg165'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Bible-Backing</head> + +<p> +There is less backing one's thoughts with the +Bible than formerly. The world is getting weaned +from this book. The idea is gaining ground that, +if anything is true, it can support itself. When a +man leans on God he is so much less a man. Mental +uprightness disdains the Bible's support. Honest +thought can defend itself without appealing to +divine authority. +</p> + +<p> +Once a man hardly dared speak unless he quoted +from the Scriptures a line or verse that ran parallel +with his speech. +</p> + +<p> +To-day men say what they think, without caring +whether Moses, or David, or John, agree with them +or not. We have reached a healthy independence. +We have commenced to trust our convictions. Such +a stage of intellectual development is not favorable +to the divinity of one's thoughts. The report of one +mind is no more divine than that of another, and no +more to be trusted, only as it is more accurate. +There is a higher standard than the word of God +for this age—that is, the word of truth. Whosoever +speaks truth can face the world alone. +</p> + +<p> +When a man needs to go to the Bible to sustain +his argument he has a weak argument. When a +dogma does not commend itself to human intelligence +it is useless to declare it infallible. It will +die, even though it be professed a thousand years. +It can be accepted only by ignorance and avowed +only by hypocrisy. +</p> + +<pb n='166'/><anchor id='Pg166'/> + +<p> +Any man who will quote a Bible-text to defend +his opinion in the sense that such text proves his +opinion true, proves himself a dolt. A Bible-text +is only a human opinion, and as humanity surpasses +it in the evolution of experience, it loses its authority +and force. We have learned that human reason +does not need to be backed by the Bible, and we +have learned also that the Bible <emph>does</emph> need to be +backed by human reason, or it has no value. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The heart that can deride misfortune confesses +its own deformity. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +When we are satisfied with the present we do +not think of the future. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The more mystery is encouraged, the more +deceit can impose upon the human mind. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +If wisdom and diamonds grew on the same tree +we could soon tell how much men loved wisdom. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='167'/><anchor id='Pg167'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Beggars</head> + +<p> +We have come to look upon the poor beggar as a +nuisance; upon the man who comes to our doors for +food or clothes as one who has no claim upon our +charity. The common beggar is, as a rule, a worthless +character, but let us be fair to him. He asks +for but little; seldom for more than a bite, or for a +few pennies. The poor beggar has only himself to +enforce his appeal, and often he is an injury to his +own cause. A dirty, ragged, vice-stained wreck of +humanity is a poor argument to offer for sympathy +or help. The man who begs in the name of man, +and with that name rubbed in the dirt besides, gets +little for his asking. +</p> + +<p> +We do not like any beggars, but we need to understand +that it is not the man in rags, who asks for a +piece of bread or meat, that is the only beggar in the +world. There is another and more dangerous beggar +that we open our doors to, and treat with politeness +and respect, and whose appeals we honor; +it is the well-dressed beggar who asks for the money +which the arm of labor has coined from its strength, +who takes not pennies where he can get dollars, and +who enforces his appeal with the name of God; it +is the ecclesiastical beggar, whose hand is stretched +out to take the earnings of toil, or the profits of +trade; whose hand would as soon take little from +poverty as plenty from affluence. +</p> + +<p> +The rich beggar is a worse enemy to society and +to the nation than the poor beggar. It is the priest, +<pb n='168'/><anchor id='Pg168'/> +and not the tramp, whose begging we need to scorn. +The man who asks for food in the name of hunger, +for help in the name of want, makes, at least, an +honest appeal to our generosity, but the man who +begs in the name of God is an impostor. The +tramp's appeal is the truth—the priest's is a lie. +God never yet commissioned a human being to beg +for him, and the person who uses the divine name +to enforce his demand is little better than a thief. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +In the paths of our life may be seen the footprints +of our ancestors. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +If you are poor, be thankful that you have the +power of bettering your circumstances by bettering +yourself; if you are rich, do not forget that you +have the means of doing good, a luxury that is too +seldom indulged. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Men need nothing so much to-day as self-reliance; +courage to stand up manfully for the right, all alone, +without prop or pay, daring everything for an idea, +counting not the cost, but seeing only the grand +result which would follow its triumph and working +for that with single purpose and courageous fidelity. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='169'/><anchor id='Pg169'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Habits</head> + +<p> +Habit makes the man, but man makes the habit. +It is here where we want to get in a word. A habit +seems a little thing in itself, but it is the most terrible +tyrant that rules the world. And it <emph>does</emph> rule it, +say what we will. Now, it is essential in this life +of ours to start right if we are going to come out +right. And the best thing to start with is a good +habit. It is just as easy when a young man is forming +his habits to form good ones as bad ones. Good +habits are not expensive. A virtue does not cost a +quarter as much to support as does a vice. +</p> + +<p> +We sometimes wonder how it is that a being with +brains, with intelligence, with reason, could ever +become a slave to habit. It does not seem possible +that a MAN cannot order his conduct. But +we must recognize facts. Men are victims of +habits. They do not perceive that they are bound +until they try to be free, and then the strong power +of habit asserts itself. How does this terrible +despot conquer the mind, the will, the man? What +is this invisible force that drives the strongest and +the brightest with a whip of iron? It is only an act +repeated again and again, but it has become a second +nature, a part of the man, and it has conquered +by the power of reinforcement by repetition. +</p> + +<p> +The only way to be superior to bad habits is never +to acquire them. Do not do the <emph>first</emph> bad act. Stop +before you begin to go wrong. The time when a +man is saved is when he is young. The time to +<pb n='170'/><anchor id='Pg170'/> +plant or sow is in the Spring. The harvest depends +upon the seed. We cannot pick figs from thistles. +A bad habit will end in a bad life. Watch the feet +of the boy and the man's will not need watching. +We must begin with the young, and see that right +habits are acquired in early life. +</p> + +<p> +It is only a foot from a good habit to a bad one, +but it is a mile back again. We may lose in an hour +all we have made in a year. We can undo in a day +what we have done in a lifetime. A habit is a +plant of which an act is the seed. It will bear fruit +if it be a good act, but ashes if it be a bad act. It +is the first step that starts the race. To start right +is the best way to go right and to end right. Never +let a bad habit fasten to your life. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +It takes the shingles from the widow's cottage +to put paint on the house of God. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Many persons who claim that they are <q>clothed +with righteousness</q> do not seem to have got +very good fits. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='171'/><anchor id='Pg171'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Can Poverty Be Abolished</head> + +<p> +Is poverty a malady of the individual or of society? +To answer this question is to determine +how to treat the disease. If the individual is alone +responsible for being poor, then he alone is to apply +the remedy; but if society is to blame for poverty, +then must society take the steps to effect a cure. +Poverty is an evil. A human being who is starved +physically is starved mentally and morally. Civilization +begins when man has risen above want. +Man is only a brute when all of his energies are absorbed +in the effort to get bread. +</p> + +<p> +In the present state of society we have dependence +and independence; a few have escaped from +the burdens of toil, but the many are still slaves +to physical wants. But the few enjoy their independence +at the expense of those beneath them, and +oftentimes by inflicting wrong and injustice upon +their fellows. Such a condition ought not to be +allowed. Prosperity is the accumulated efforts of +mankind. No man has created all the benefits he +enjoys; no one has sowed all that he reaps. The +rich man to-day is rich because he has, by advantageous +circumstances, obtained possession of more +than his share of the world's wealth, or because he +has inherited what others have obtained in the same +way, or because by thrift and economy and good +luck he has succeeded in getting money and keeping +it. +</p> + +<p> +But what makes the poor man? Not one thing, +<pb n='172'/><anchor id='Pg172'/> +or one condition. He is the victim sometimes of +his own follies, vices or laziness, although he is often +not to be blamed for his poverty. There are individual +cases where doubtless destitution is the child +of misfortune, but the general poverty of the world, +and of this country in particular, cannot be charged +to any such account. +</p> + +<p> +In our land there is a balance every year to the +credit of wealth, but is it not true that this balance +finds its way to the pockets already filled, rather +than to those that are empty? <emph>What diverts the products +of labor from the hands of labor?</emph> Find out +that, and then we will begin to give labor its due. +There is enough produced every year to make every +person in the land better off at the end of the year. +Why are so few richer, and so many poorer, or, at +least, no better off? There is one thing sure,—labor, +thrift, economy, virtue and good habits are to +be commended and encouraged, while idleness, vice, +profligacy and bad habits are to be condemned and +discouraged. We do not look to any external +change in society for a remedy for poverty, but +rather to an internal change in man. It is not social +revolution that will help the world, but humanity—the +willingness to do what is right. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +<q>It rains on the just and the unjust,</q> but rarely +just enough on either. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='173'/><anchor id='Pg173'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Roman Catholic God</head> + +<p> +Cicero said that <q>men, having exhausted all the +mad extravagancies they are capable of, have yet +never entertained the idea of eating the God whom +they adore.</q> The extravagance which was beyond +the contemplation of the Pagan mind, is an every +day affair with a large part of the Christian world. +The Roman Catholic eats his God every week, and +Catholics have been guilty of this religious cannibalism +for centuries. +</p> + +<p> +In the celebration of the eucharist, which is a +service commemorative of the death of Jesus, bread +and wine are used in Protestant churches as emblems +of the body and blood of the crucified one. +But in Roman Catholic churches the real presence +of Jesus is seen in the <q>host,</q> which, in itself, is a +little wafer of baked flour and water, but when consecrated +by the priest and offered as a sacrifice, +during mass, becomes the actual body of God. +According to Roman Catholic doctrine, dough is +changed to Deity by the mumbling of a few Latin +words over it by a priest. When the priest swallows +the consecrated wafer he really swallows this +God he adores. +</p> + +<p> +There is an absurdity which the doctrine of +transubstantiation is accountable for, which cannot +be paralleled among all the religions of heathenism. +Not only does this doctrine make it possible for one +God to be eaten by one priest, but for thousands of +gods to be thus devoured. The Roman Catholic +<pb n='174'/><anchor id='Pg174'/> +religion teaches that God is manufactured out of +flour and water by a pastry cook. Every time a +wafer is turned into a <q>host,</q> a God is made. +</p> + +<p> +Were there a tribe in Asia or Africa guilty of such +ridiculous practices as are witnessed in the Roman +Catholic church, missionaries would be sent out to +them. It seems to us, that if people know no better +than to believe that when the priest swallows a +little lump of bread he is actually swallowing the +body of a person who lived eighteen hundred years +ago, whom they look upon as God, they are not intelligent +enough to be ranked in the army of progress +and civilization. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +No one is to blame for what no one knows. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +It is singular that people want to live another +life when it is so hard to live this. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +A church that sets up a religious faith as more +essential than purity, than kindness, charity or +goodness, is a dangerous institution. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='175'/><anchor id='Pg175'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Human Cruelty</head> + +<p> +The mosquito inflicts his sting upon the place +whence he draws his life. Not unlike this venomed +insect is the person who, through malice, wounds +the feelings of a human being. There seems to be +in certain organizations the poison of hatred, and +woe betide those on whom it falls. The heart that +can take delight in saying cruel things, in raising +unkind doubts or starting unpleasant thoughts, +ought never to have had a human face to hide behind. +Such an individual ought to crawl in its native +shape that it might be crushed under the heel +of scorn. +</p> + +<p> +The only way to treat a human viper is to keep +away from it, ignore its presence, and to shut the +ears to its venomed hiss. We know of no more +cruel occupation than wounding human hearts and +human feelings. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +A great many men believe in providence until +they get caught in a railroad accident. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Treasures well used on earth will help the world +more than treasures laid up in heaven. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='176'/><anchor id='Pg176'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Infidelity</head> + +<p> +When the minister wants to frighten his congregation +he draws a picture of infidelity. The infidel +has been used for years to scare weak-minded persons +into accepting Christianity. Outwardly the +infidel is painted like a man, but the world is warned +not to trust to appearances, for the infidel is not +what he looks to be; he is <q>a fiend in human shape;</q> +he is <q>a moral monster,</q> and a mirror in which +everything bad and vicious can see its face. +</p> + +<p> +We do not wonder that a minister paints the infidel +in black. He has hurt the minister's business, +and so must suffer for what he has done. But we +do wonder that so large a part of the world is frightened +at the word <q>infidelity.</q> +</p> + +<p> +It is a fact that an infidel would never be known +if he himself did not disclose his character. To +conceal his infidelity he has only to keep still, to +hide behind silence. +</p> + +<p> +Infidelity is nothing more or less than intellectual +fidelity, and an infidel is a man too honest to disguise +his real thoughts and convictions. Had the +infidel not been honest he would still be in the +church, a hypocrite, to be sure, but this could not +affect his religious status at all. Intellectual and +moral uprightness is the distinguishing characteristic +of modern infidelity. The modern infidel trusts +his brain and his heart; he accepts as true what appeals +to his reason, and makes known his convictions +as though to conceal them were a vice or a crime. +</p> + +<pb n='177'/><anchor id='Pg177'/> + +<p> +The infidel gains nothing by avowing his convictions; +on the contrary, he is condemned for making +them known. The Christian presumes upon +the right to damn infidels here and to teach that +God will damn them hereafter. It is in the face of +a fate, in many instances cruel, that a man acknowledges +that his honest thoughts, his honest +convictions place him in antagonism to the popular +faith, and yet he is denounced, rather than praised, +for his brave action. +</p> + +<p> +Infidelity is the proof of an honest man. Hypocrisy +cannot hide in its shadow. Every man in +the Christian church may be a hypocrite, a knave, +a pretender professing its faith, while laughing inwardly +at its foolish superstitions, but every man +who espouses infidelity must reveal his true character, +must show exactly what he is. +</p> + +<p> +A dishonest or hypocritical infidel is an impossibility. +There is nothing to be gained, but much to be +lost, by confessing one's disbelief of the Christian +dogmas. It is the man who prizes self-respect above +the world's approval who takes the fate of infidelity—be +it what it may. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Don't put too much faith in the man who wants +to know the distance to the nearest church before +he has written his name in the hotel register. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='178'/><anchor id='Pg178'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Atheism</head> + +<p> +What is called atheism is not a light, flippant +assertion, but a calm, thoughtful conclusion. It is +a conviction which human experience and human +reflection have generated. Atheism is not the irresponsible +opinion of moral debauchery; it is the +outcome of an intelligent consideration of Nature +and life. The atheist has been honest with himself +and with the world. He has made a careful +survey of the universe, as far as he is able, and has +canvassed the facts of life which have come within +the range of his observation, and he has candidly +declared the result of his study and freely related +the reasons for his conclusions. +</p> + +<p> +Atheism is the universe as science finds it and as +interpreted by human understanding. It is an +attempt to state the simple truth, to give a fair +likeness of things, to photograph facts. Atheism +is denial of nothing true, of nothing good, of nothing +that can be proved. We see no good reason for +abusing the atheist. His opinions don't make him +a bad citizen or a bad man. He is as moral as his +Christian neighbor, and is as ready to help a fellow-being. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +In countries where atheism is a crime, hypocrisy +is more honored than integrity. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +A great many who expect to hear the angels sing +always get near the stage at a comic opera. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='179'/><anchor id='Pg179'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Christian Happiness</head> + +<p> +Christians are constantly telling <q>how happy +their religion makes them,</q> how happy they feel +<q>since they found Jesus.</q> We will take them at +their word and believe that they are just as happy +as they say they are. What has their religion done +for them, what has Jesus done for them, that they +should be so happy? They will answer that they +have been saved, that their souls have been rescued +from destruction. Without going into the question +whether they need to be saved or whether their +souls are in any danger of destruction, let us +see what kind of happiness the Christian enjoys. +The great song of Christians is: <emph>My</emph> soul is saved. +The Christian is happy on his own account alone; +he rejoices in his own good fortune; he is pleased to +think that he is out of it. The Christian's happiness +is a purely selfish feeling. In his exultation +is no thought of another's condition, of another's +lot. +</p> + +<p> +If some are saved, others are lost, for all do not +accept the Christian faith, all do not find Jesus. +The Christian can be happy while others are +miserable; he can rejoice while knowing that others +are in peril; he can exult over his own salvation +while seeing others going to destruction. This is a +fiendish happiness, a devilish joy. For one to be +happy while knowing that a brother or sister is lost +shows a hard, selfish, cruel heart. +</p> + +<p> +Think of the Christian mother being happy for +<pb n='180'/><anchor id='Pg180'/> +having been rescued from her burning home in +whose fatal flames her children all perished! Think +of the Christian father filled with joy at his escape +from the sinking ship in which his wife and babe +sailed to the port of death! Think of a Christian +man or woman exulting over their good fortune in +not having a disease which took away those who +were nearest and dearest! Such joy, such happiness, +as this is not human, it is brutish. +</p> + +<p> +The Christian is welcome to all the happiness +his heartless religion affords him. I want none of +it. Such a religion would drive me mad. +</p> + +<p> +The loving heart is happiest in the joy of those it +loves; it is happy in seeing others happy, but there +could be no joy for it to be saved while those it +loved were lost. Christianity is a heartless religion, +a cruel faith, a selfish scheme, and it is for those who +care more about being saved than saving others. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The highest freedom is the freedom to say +what we believe to be right. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +It was a childless woman who said: The happiest +woman is she whose bosom pillows the sweet head +of a child. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='181'/><anchor id='Pg181'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>What God Knows</head> + +<p> +We see in Christian papers a great deal about +what God knows. How does any one know what +God knows? It has been the habit, where man +lacked any particular knowledge, of saying, <q>God +knows.</q> But what is the good of God knowing +anything if he keeps his knowledge to himself? If +he will not tell what he knows, how is man improved +or benefited by all the wisdom in the divine +cranium? What is known by the inhabitants of +Venus does the inhabitants of earth no good. But +let us come down to facts. Is there any proof that +God knows anything? Let men own up, and not +try to deceive themselves or others any longer. +What God knows nobody else knows. +</p> + +<p> +There is no evidence that God knows what man +does not, and it is bare assumption only to ascribe +knowledge to deity. It is first necessary for man to +know that there is a God, before endowing him with +mental wealth or attributes. The Christian practice +of saying that <q>God loves man,</q> and that <q>God +cares for man</q> has no basis of facts to stand upon, +and it is only pious conceit that indulges in such +statements. +</p> + +<p> +There is nothing in the universe but the universe +itself; nothing in the universe that reveals a God. +The earth does not, the sun does not, the moon does +not, and not a planet or star reveals the existence of +a God. All these reveal their own existence; so of a +flower, of a tree, of a man. It is only divinity that +<pb n='182'/><anchor id='Pg182'/> +can reveal the existence of divinity. Who has seen +or heard this divinity? No one. Men have said, +or men have made other men say, that they have +seen God, heard God, and talked with God. But +they lied. No human eye ever saw the divine form +or features; no human ear ever heard the divine +voice; no human being ever had any knowledge of a +divine being. +</p> + +<p> +It is a waste of words to talk about God and what +he knows and what he does. No man knows that +God does anything, that God knows anything, or +that there is a God. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Blessings on the man who first dared to doubt. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The improvement in ways of travel and methods +of labor has altered our reverence. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Every kiss of love imprinted by a mother's lips +on the face of her babe gives the lie to the Christian +doctrine of total depravity, and every gift which +the heart of pity lays in the hand of misfortune +brands this doctrine as false and a libel on our +human nature. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='183'/><anchor id='Pg183'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Meaning Of The Word God</head> + +<p> +I do not deny that the word <q>God</q> has today a +moral and religious meaning which is derived from +his supposed beneficence, but this idea is not the one +that I find at the bottom of the Christian faith. I +object very seriously to the attempt, which is being +made by certain interested parties, to represent the +God of Christianity better than he is. This word +loses its terror when we realize that it stands for an +unknown quantity. It is the attempt to account +for what we cannot understand; the effort to explain +the universe. The word <q>God</q> is a definition +of human ignorance. It represents what we do +not know. This word does not stand for a person, an +object, or a thing. It is an idea that we can have no +idea of, a thought of what one cannot think. People +who use the word <q>God</q> do not know what they +are talking about. The word fits nothing that has +yet been discovered. Theology is the science of +what no one knows anything about. It does not +belong to the family of knowledge. When the +hands of theology are laid on a man's head his brains +are consecrated to do nothing. Every time a +minister is made, a man is lost. Nothing disgraces +American civilization more than the theology +preached in Christian churches. It is worse than +childish; it is old-womanish. The dark ages cast +their shadows across the bright skies of the twentieth +century, and the relics of that benighted time, +the priests, are still walking the streets, like ghosts +of bad deeds. +</p> + +<pb n='184'/><anchor id='Pg184'/> + +<p> +Every theology ends in a creed. A creed is the +night-cap of religion. It is a sign that the intellect +is asleep. When faith is in, sense is out. A man +with a creed has bought the coffin for his mind. The +rest of his life will be a funeral service for the dead. +A creed is the grave of thought. When a person +subscribes to certain articles of belief, he has no further +use for his brains. It does not require any +mental exercise to believe. Belief does not signify +any process of intellectual assimilation or digestion. +When a man joins a church, he makes his last will +and testament. When reason abdicates in favor +of credulity, crime becomes a saint, and folly a +martyr. Too much faith makes a Pocasset tragedy. +The foolishness of trying to make God intelligible to +human understanding is shown in the creeds of +Christendom. The dogma of the trinity ought +not to pass to any further generation. It is not the +<q>likeness of anything that is in the heaven above, +or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the +water under the earth.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='185'/><anchor id='Pg185'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>What Has Jesus Done For The +World</head> + +<p> +A great deal is said about <q>what Jesus has done +for the world.</q> We wish some of those people who +repeat this statement would take ten or fifteen minutes +and tell us just what Jesus <emph>has</emph> done for the +world. It would puzzle the most ardent admirer +of the Galilean reformer to point out anything that +Jesus ever did to help man in this life. There is too +much of this thoughtless, senseless praise of Jesus. +Not a Christian on this earth but what owes a thousand +times more to his father and mother than he +owes to Jesus, but who ever heard one acknowledge +it? We could name hundreds of men who have +lightened the labor of the world by their inventions. +Did Jesus do anything of the kind? We can name +hundreds of men who have made the homes of mankind +brighter and more enjoyable by their genius +and toil. Did Jesus do anything of the kind? +</p> + +<p> +The imaginary service which this imaginary person +did is of no consequence to the poor, to the +workers, to the starvers. What the poor man wants +is not a Savior for another world, but a helper for +this world, and the person who lessens the poverty +and misery of earth is worth a thousand times +more to humanity than Jesus. +</p> + +<p> +We are told that Jesus died for man. Well! +What of it? Socrates died for man. Bruno died +for man. Emmet died for man. John Brown died +for the black man. Every day somebody is dying +<pb n='186'/><anchor id='Pg186'/> +for man. Why emphasize the death of Jesus more +than the death of another? The fact that Jesus +died does not help you or me. He could have +helped us far more by living, if he had lived wisely +and well. +</p> + +<p> +The great fact in regard to Jesus is this: He does +not touch this age; its aspirations, its interests, its +reforms, its work, its spirit. We are living contrary +to Jesus, contrary to all he taught and did. +He is left behind, outgrown, and, consequently, +whatever he did is of no value to this age. His +star is set. He has had his day. Instead of trying +to bring about a kingdom of poverty, a millennium +of idleness, the world is striving for a kingdom +of plenty and a good time for everybody. +</p> + +<p> +Everything connected with Jesus has been exaggerated. +The man himself has been exaggerated, +his words have been exaggerated, his performances +have been exaggerated, and his importance has been +exaggerated. He has been given a character that +he is not entitled to, and his teachings have been +clothed with a value which they do not possess. +Jesus has been passed for more than he is worth. +Let his name no longer bear the stamp of divinity. +Let his deeds no longer be called miracles. The +real Jesus of fact would be a very ordinary man. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='187'/><anchor id='Pg187'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Agnostic's Position</head> + +<p> +Some avowed Liberal writers are engaged in abusing +the Agnostic. One looks upon him as a +fool, while another considers him a hypocrite. One +pities him for his ignorance, the other abuses him +for confessing it. I side with the Agnostic. I sit +down with the ignorant. I take my place in the +class of <q>I-don't-know.</q> The difference between +people is this: Some don't know, and some don't +know that they don't know, and the rest won't admit +that they don't know. +</p> + +<p> +It seems to me that the Agnostic's position is an +honest one. He is asked the question; Is there a +future life for man? What shall he answer? If he +does not know whether there is not, why should he +not say so? To say: I believe there is, is not an +answer to the question. He must say, I know, or, +I do not know. On this question are we not all +Agnostics? +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The foolish and cruel notion that a wife is to obey +her husband has sent more women to the grave +than to the courts for a divorce. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='188'/><anchor id='Pg188'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Orthodoxy</head> + +<p> +There is as much perfumery in petroleum as there +is righteousness in orthodoxy. Its dead theology +and make-believe piety have no value only to the +priest. Orthodoxy survives only by right of possession. +Turn it out of the churches and it would +never re-enter them. The church to-day is a hospital +for sick dogmas. Every Christian doctrine is +a cripple; not one can walk or stand alone. Orthodoxy +has put a false valuation on things. It calls +a man good who goes to church, offers a prayer in +public and accepts the Bible as the word of God; it +calls a man bad who stays at home and enjoys himself +with his family on Sunday, who eats without +asking God to bless his food, and who does not expect +to go to heaven on the vicarious railroad. +</p> + +<p> +The thirty-nine articles of orthodoxy are only +the ashes of the mind. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Honesty is never seen sitting astride the fence. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +A handsome bonnet covers a multitude of sins. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='189'/><anchor id='Pg189'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Ideas Of Jesus</head> + +<p> +There is a vast difference between knowledge of +the Bible and knowledge. A person may know all +there is in the Bible, and not know but little. In +fact, so much of the Bible is either pure fiction or +doubtful history that one is not sure when he has +got hold of what is reliable. Probably no person +whose name appears in the Bible is less a historical +figure than Jesus. As we see him in either gospel +he is more the product of the artist than the +work of the biographer. He is less a human being +than the character of a drama. +</p> + +<p> +Had Jesus been pictured as a man, who was born +as men are born, who worked as men worked, who +lived and died as men live and die, then there +would be less divergence in the views entertained +respecting him. To-day, the Jesus of Galilee is +looked upon as either a God or a tramp; a divine +Savior or an impostor; the perfect man or a lunatic. +</p> + +<p> +The reason of this is that the gospels are found, +as it were, photographs of all those characters +labelled Jesus. A person with no fixed idea of what +Jesus was, whether human or divine, whether a +Christ or a madman, would be unable, after reading +the gospels to come to any intelligent conclusion +as to what he was. He certainly could not accept +the statements of the authors and regard Jesus +as a man. +</p> + +<p> +We fail to understand how anyone can read the +New Testament story of Jesus and not regard him +<pb n='190'/><anchor id='Pg190'/> +as a myth. No being ever lived on earth and performed +the miracles recorded in the gospels. That +is just as sure as the light of the stars. Miracles +are not evidence of divinity, but of falsehood. +Where we read that a man was raised from the dead +we know that somebody has written what is not +true. How human beings, who are possessed of +ordinary intelligence, can accept the accounts of +miraculous events in the four gospels as records of +actual facts surpasses our comprehension. +</p> + +<p> +Those persons who see in the words of Jesus evidence +of <emph>his</emph> divine character, see in such words, +when in the mouth of any other person, proof of +insanity. +</p> + +<p> +There are contradictory ideas of Jesus contained +in the gospels. He is spoken of as a man, as a +Christ, as a son of God, and as God himself. Now, +he could not have been all these. Which was he? +Was he God? Was he the son of God? Was he +the Christ or King of the Jews? Was he the son of +Mary and Joseph? Was he a man? Or was he +neither? +</p> + +<p> +Our opinion is that Jesus is a myth, that no such +being as is painted in the New Testament ever lived. +This seems to be the only rational idea of Jesus. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='191'/><anchor id='Pg191'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Silence Of Jesus</head> + +<p> +A Christian minister not long ago spoke upon +the subject: <q>When the Bible is Silent.</q> He said +a great many silly things about his subject, but not +one sensible one. This preacher wishes us to believe +that when the Bible is silent it is because we +cannot hear. He said the silence of Jesus before +Caiaphas, Pilate and Herod, shows that Jesus knew +they would not have understood his words if he had +answered them. He further said that Jesus <q>treated +each with whom he came in contact according to the +spirit that was in him.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Is it not more likely that Jesus knew he could not +impose upon these men as he could upon his ignorant, +superstitious followers, and hence dared not +speak? Is not his silence a confession of his weakness? +Had he been able to answer Caiaphas, Pilate +and Herod, think you he would not have done +so? Of course he would. It is a little singular that +the <emph>most momentous questions ever put to Jesus were +not answered by him</emph>. The very things the people +wished to know he did not reveal. Why not? Why, +because he <emph>could</emph> not. +</p> + +<p> +Should we to-day pronounce a man wise and good +who professed to possess knowledge that would benefit, +if not save, the world, but who refused to impart +that knowledge? We reckon not. We should +either denounce him as the foe of man or else as a +charlatan. +</p> + +<p> +When Jesus was taken before the high priest, +<pb n='192'/><anchor id='Pg192'/> +Caiaphas, and was asked about the charges against +him, he <q>held his peace.</q> +</p> + +<p> +When he was asked by Pilate. <q>What is truth?</q> +Jesus was silent; and when Pilate again asked, +<q>Whence art thou?</q> Jesus <q>gave him no answer.</q> +</p> + +<p> +When Herod <q>questioned with him in many +words,</q> <q>he answered him nothing.</q> +</p> + +<p> +What are we to infer from this silence? What +the minister wishes us to infer, or that Jesus saw +that he was unable to maintain his claim and so +sought refuge in silence? +</p> + +<p> +The silence of Jesus condemns him. He was in +duty bound to prove that he was the Christ, the +Son of God, as he claimed to be, or else have impostor +written on his forehead. +</p> + +<p> +The world will some day grow large enough not +to be fooled by a minister. When it does, Jesus will +take his place where he belongs,—in the graveyard +of the gods. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='193'/><anchor id='Pg193'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Does The Church Save</head> + +<p> +The church pretends to save man from a hell +hereafter, but does it do so? How are we to know +whether it does or not? We cannot take its word +for it. We want the proof. We do not want to pay +for work unless the work is done. We do not want +to believe in order to be saved, unless we are sure +that the church can deliver the salvation it takes +pay for. The world has taken the promise to save +long enough. It has not seen a single soul that has +been saved, nor does it know for a fact that a single +soul has been saved. +</p> + +<p> +Is it not time that the church showed that it can +do what it claims to do? We want salvation demonstrated. +Let the church produce a specimen of +its work; let it exhibit a soul that it has saved, or +let it publish the affidavit, duly subscribed and +affirmed, of a soul that has escaped the fate of hell +through the efficacy of faith in Jesus. Anything +less than this is deception, is imposition, is false +pretense. Either this should be done by the church +or else it should go out of the salvation-business +altogether. +</p> + +<p> +It is astonishing how long the priest has carried +on his trade. Here is a man who claims to deal in +the affairs of another world for which he demands +pay in this world, but he does not show that he +carries out his part of the agreement. Men have +been paying the priest for thousands of years, for +doing what it is impossible to prove has been, or +<pb n='194'/><anchor id='Pg194'/> +can be, done. Can anything more stupid than this +be imagined? The business of saving man's soul +is a cheat, a fraud. Every priest and minister who +preaches that man can be saved from hell hereafter +by believing in Jesus, or anybody else, is preaching +what they know nothing about, and they are doing +it for the money in it. The church is cheating man, +defrauding him, practicing upon his ignorance, his +superstition, his fear. Religion, as far as it relates +to any other life than this, has no foundation. Its +God no one knows anything about; its heaven and +hell no one has ever seen, nor does anyone know +where they are; its whole business is run on fictitious +capital. +</p> + +<p> +The only thing that the church has saved so far +is itself. +</p> + +<p> +Freethought Precepts +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<lg> +<l>The strong should be gentle to the weak.</l> +<l>The rich should not oppress the poor.</l> +<l>The prosperous should be generous to the unfortunate.</l> +<l>The self-reliant should give a hand to the helpless.</l> +<l>The educated should pity the ignorant.</l> +<l>The virtuous should not be cruel to the vicious.</l> +<l>The beautiful should be kind to the plain.</l> +</lg> +</quote> + +</div> + +<pb n='195'/><anchor id='Pg195'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Save The Republic</head> + +<p> +Which shall it be, Christianity or the Republic? +It is apparent that the Christian church under a +purely secular government, where justice is granted +to all and where favors are allowed to none, cannot +long survive. The Christian church in this country +to-day is the worst foe of our free republic that +exists within its borders. If the state survives it is +plain to us that the church must perish, and the +church can only flourish on the ruins of free institutions. +We may have Christianity with a certain +form of human government in America, but if the +principles embodied in the Declaration of Independence +and the rights implied in the national constitution +are to survive, then we cannot have Christianity +in this land. +</p> + +<p> +The next conflict in our nation is to be between +secularism and ecclesiasticism, between men who +love liberty and priests who uphold tyranny, between +the lovers of our republic and the foes of secular +institutions. This conflict is nearer than the +public imagines; in fact, it is already going on, and +the growth of sentiment in the next generation in +favor of human freedom and human rights will determine +whether secularism will be upheld in our +nation, or whether the reign of ecclesiasticism is to +be dethroned. +</p> + +<p> +The work of the Christian church throughout the +land is to prevent the spread of secular principles and +to hinder the further secularization of the government. +<pb n='196'/><anchor id='Pg196'/> +This is the only hope of saving Christianity. +If the state will not continue to exempt church property +from taxation, to uphold the Christian sabbath, +to prescribe prayers and Bible-reading in the +public schools, to enforce the oath in courts of justice, +and to otherwise lend its aid and support to the +Christian religion, there is no chance of this religion +resisting the spread of science and the arguments of +rationalism. +</p> + +<p> +Every victory won by Christianity is a nail in the +coffin of this republic. Our government at the present +time is a travesty of free institutions. Where +does the freethinker have equal rights with the +Christian, equal freedom, equal justice? He is +obliged to take a Christian oath or have his word +discredited in court; he is taxed to help support +Christian chaplains in the state prisons, in the legislatures, +and in the army and navy; he is made by +law to pay the taxes on church property which is +no benefit to him; he has to send his children to +schools where religious services are conducted that +to him are false and foolish, and in many other ways +help maintain a religion that he considers more injurious +than beneficial to the world. +</p> + +<p> +The church in this country is not working for the +good of the nation; it is working to save itself. +What they, who love our free land, should do, is to +make the government secular in every part, and +compel Christianity to take its grasp off of the nation's +life. We must destroy Christianity if we +would save the republic. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='197'/><anchor id='Pg197'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>A Woman's Religion</head> + +<p> +The Christian church of to-day is the church of +women. Woman is certainly the better-half of Christianity. +She is the minister's right bower. The +Christian soldier is an Amazon. The first at the +prayer-meeting, at the donation party, at the missionary +convention, at the Sunday service, at the +altar, at the Sunday school is woman, and the last +is woman, too. Without its female members, adherents +and workers the Christian church would be +an abandoned wreck within a week. It is true +that men give money to the church, but they do it +generally to please the women or at their solicitation. +</p> + +<p> +The Christian religion is a female religion. It is +emotional piety. There is nothing robust, independent +about it, nothing that appeals to strength, +intellect, reason. It is a vine, not an oak. Even +its chief idol was fashioned for female worship. +The songs of Christianity were written for women +to sing, rather than men. The God of Christianity +is a father, its savior is a young man, and its angels +are all of the masculine gender. The Christian +heaven is a he-kingdom, as far as its administration +is concerned—a sort of celestial harem—for +certainly ten women go there to one man, if the +membership of the church determines the election +of candidates to heavenly bliss. The two favorite +hymns at the prayer-meeting, the two that are +sung with most feeling, are <q>Jesus, lover of my soul,</q> +and <q>Nearer, my God, to thee.</q> +</p> + +<pb n='198'/><anchor id='Pg198'/> + +<p> +Religion was invented to catch women. The +priest is the spider and woman the fly. Upon the +altar of every faith woman has been the sacrifice. +Religion claims its female victims in this age just +as surely as when the Hindoo widow was sent to +join her dead husband on wings of flame. Woman +to-day is not killed to appease a God, but she is still +made a fool of by the priest. The spirit of the offering +is the same, the form, only, is different. The +foundation of every Christian church is woman; +the salary-raiser of every Christian minister is woman. +Woman is the keystone in every arch of +Christian endeavor that spans the earth. She is +"the bright, particular star" of the church's hope. +Men are not so easily caught by the Christian +scheme of salvation as women. They want to see +some return for their money on earth. It is the +woman who is caught in the religious toils; it is the +woman who is the slave of God, the victim of +priest and minister. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The declaration that will kindle enthusiasm +in the human breast most quickly is that a new +way has been discovered to get rich. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='199'/><anchor id='Pg199'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Sacrifice Of Jesus</head> + +<p> +A great deal has been written, preached and said +about the great sacrifice which Jesus made for the +world. We deny that he made any such sacrifice +as is claimed for him by the Christian church. In +fact, we cannot see, find or learn from any record of +the New Testament that he made any sacrifice at +all. This whole idea about the sacrifice of Jesus +depends upon a theological assumption. +</p> + +<p> +Jesus had no earthly honor, position or estate to +sacrifice, even had he been disposed to offer such +for the good of mankind. Not only is there no evidence +of any tangible renunciation possible by +Jesus, but there is no proof and no sign that Jesus +possessed even the spirit of sacrifice. We challenge +the Christian admirer of Jesus to point to a +single act of this hero that can honestly be called a +sacrifice. We know of no such act. We have +studied the gospels to find such an act, and we have +studied them in vain. +</p> + +<p> +When a mother sees her boy pinned to the timbers +of a wrecked car where the scalding steam must +escape into his face and destroy his life, and to save +her boy, voluntarily stands where this steam, with +its hot breath, will take her life instead of her boy's, +this mother makes a sacrifice that is apparent, real. +Such an act is sublime, grand, beyond heroism. +Such an act wipes the Christian slander of total depravity +from human nature. Such an act makes +us almost worship the heart great enough to perform +it. +</p> + +<pb n='200'/><anchor id='Pg200'/> + +<p> +Jesus did no such things as this. He braved no +danger for another. He did not walk in the path +of peril to save the life of friend or fellow. On the +contrary, he seemed bent on a selfish mission, inspired +by a purely personal ambition. He did not +say: This world is suffering from oppression; I will +lay down my life to make it free. He did not seek +to destroy the throne and the sceptre that bear so +heavily on the poor and weak; but he sought a +throne and a sceptre for himself that <emph>he</emph> might rule +the world. +</p> + +<p> +Jesus sacrifice himself for the world! No! He +demanded that the world sacrifice itself to exalt +him! A poorer specimen of self-sacrifice could hardly +be found in all the historical out-of-the-way +places that we know anything about. Jesus had +nothing to give up, nothing to renounce, nothing +but his life to offer to the world, <emph>and this, even when +it was taken, did the world no good</emph>. +</p> + +<p> +The only incident in the whole career of Jesus +which has been construed as a sacrifice was his crucifixion, +but this was not voluntary on the part of +the victim. <emph>Jesus, in dying, made no sacrifice.</emph> He +surrendered his life at the command of a political +power; he did not offer it for the world's advancement. +Jesus was the sport of circumstances, the +victim of a cruel fate. He played for high stakes +and lost. He was an adventurer, and suffered the +penalty of failure. Taking the account of his +career in the gospels as true, it is totally barren of +any lofty, sublime action for the good of the human +<pb n='201'/><anchor id='Pg201'/> +race. He did not throw his efforts into the public +strife to elevate the condition of the majority, but +he loaded himself on the shoulders of his followers +to ride into divine greatness. Like hundreds of +others, he threw the dice of political chance and +was beaten. +</p> + +<p> +In following the gospel steps of the deluded Nazarene +we are not sure which are his and which are +not, but take all the stories as true which his +devoted disciples have told about him, they +do not reveal a mind consecrated to any lofty purpose. +He was working to establish the <q>kingdom +of heaven,</q> but nobody knows what that is. He +talked about his <q>father in heaven,</q> but nobody +knows who he is. He had no practical ideas, he +did no practical work. History would have written +this man's name among the unfortunate victims of +political revolutions, if it had preserved it at all, +which is doubtful, but Jesus was made by priestcraft +to play a leading part in a theological drama, +and religion has immortalized his name. +</p> + +<p> +But it is a false part that Jesus has played. No +such character has any reason for existing. The +necessity for any human offering to God does not +exist. The idea of an atoning sacrifice is a relic of at +barbarous faith. It is time to take Christianity off +the stage. It is an insult to the twentieth century. +</p> + +<p> +The silly, sickly superstition of the sacrifice of +Jesus should be left to die. It sprang from falsehood +and has no basis in fact, in reason or in truth. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='202'/><anchor id='Pg202'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Fashionable Hypocrisy</head> + +<p> +There is nothing more inconsistent than for the +rich to praise Jesus. There is dishonesty in every +word that the wealthy speak in approbation of the +poverty-preacher of Galilee. Jesus was poor, almost +a beggar. He had no house, no home. But +more than this, he did not see the good of such +things. He did not tell his disciples to work and +try to improve their earthly condition. There is no +sound, sensible advice for a man to follow, who has +to live and support his family, to be found in the so-called +teachings of Jesus. +</p> + +<p> +It is simply hypocrisy for a man who is rich or +well-to-do, and who is living to add to his wealth or +to increase his comforts, to pretend to honor Jesus. +The truth is, Jesus did not do anything that deserves +the honor of those who are trying to fill the +earth with flowers of happiness, who are laboring to +make brighter the homes they live in, and who are +sowing the seeds of plenty and joy. Jesus did not +do what this age regards as best for man, and he did +not teach the philosophy which the wisest men to-day +apply to human life. +</p> + +<p> +Now, was Jesus right or wrong? That is the +question. It is pure nonsense for the people of this +country to claim to respect Jesus. We cannot +respect a person who does what we think is foolish, +or we cannot do so and have any self-respect. We +are right or think we are, and Jesus was wrong; or +else Jesus was right. Which is it? +</p> + +<pb n='203'/><anchor id='Pg203'/> + +<p> +The whole world, Christian and unbeliever alike, +is living contrary to the precept and example of the +New Testament preacher. Is every person on earth +doing what he believes to be wrong; doing what he +believes to be injurious to himself; doing what he +considers will end in disaster and misery; doing +what he feels will bring suffering and sorrow upon +humanity? Not a bit of it. Every man is doing +what he believes to be right when he is working to +get out of poverty and degradation; when he is trying +to better his condition in society; when he is +improving his home and giving his family more +blessings, more enjoyments. +</p> + +<p> +We unhesitatingly declare that Jesus was wrong. +It is impossible to make poverty popular. There +is not an argument in its favor. Poverty has not a +single blessing. It is a curse, pure and simple, everywhere +and for everybody. It is not to be praised; +it is to be condemned and got rid of. It is the father +of vice and the mother of suffering. It sheds more +tears than grief. It cuts more throats than crime. +It breaks more hearts than cruelty. It is the one +great giant evil of earth. It is the foe that every +Knight of Labor is sworn to battle. Every heart +that loves another is pledged to drive poverty off +the earth. This monster devours more children +than disease, and tortures the aged more than pain. +Want is a flood, a drought, a famine, a pestilence. +It is a prison, a work-house, a convict's cell. It is +the hell of the twentieth century. +</p> + +<pb n='204'/><anchor id='Pg204'/> + +<p> +Can we praise Jesus and be honest? No! Jesus +and his gospel of poverty are not in harmony with +the work, the love, the desire of this age, and for any +one who is living above want, on the walls of whose +home is the sunshine of peace and comfort, to pretend +to honor Jesus or to follow his teaching is to +be guilty of hypocrisy! +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +When religion comes in at the door common +sense goes out at the window. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The churches erected in the name of God +will ere long be tombstones to his memory. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Churches do not stand for moral influence. +Not a Christian minister preaches salvation by +good behavior. What a poor business Roman +Catholicism would do among men if it advertised +to save only those who were temperate, upright, +intelligent and moral. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='205'/><anchor id='Pg205'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Saturday Half-Holiday</head> + +<p> +It is pretty certain that the laborer is hereafter +to have more time for himself. That fact is already +settled, and the demand will be conceded +sooner or later. Eat, work and sleep is the ancient +trinity of slavery. The modern life demands +leisure; the opportunity for enjoyment and self-improvement. +How it is best to be secured is a +question about which there is a variety of opinions. +One of the plans to give the workingman more time +for himself is that of the Saturday half-holiday. +We see no particular advantage in this over the +eight-hour-for-a-day's-work plan. +</p> + +<p> +It seems to us that if laborers worked eight hours +a day and had Sunday for a holiday instead of a holy +day, all their requirements would be better answered +than in any other way. We do not need a day +nor an hour when either work or play would be a +crime, and before any other portion of the week is +set apart for a holiday, let Sunday be made free to +enjoyment and recreation. +</p> + +<p> +There is the eternal bugbear of religion to oppose +this scheme, but that is all. The minister, who +under free trade on Sunday would be obliged to +close up his business, is in favor of a Sabbath law +of protection for sermons and prayers, but why +should a few clergymen who have six holidays in +the week and only one work-day, be favored +against millions of toilers, who work six days in the +week and are liable to be arrested if they do not go +<pb n='206'/><anchor id='Pg206'/> +to church on the seventh day? Not a Saturday +half-holiday but a Sunday whole-holiday is the +first rational step towards justice to the working-man. +There is very little in the average Sunday +service that is instructive and nothing that is entertaining, +and it is based upon the erroneous notion +that man owes something that he knows nothing +about, a debt of worship one day in seven. Man's +brain should be emancipated from the superstition +that there is a God in the universe that requires +him to sacrifice his own good to divine vanity. +Work is holier than worship, and to play is better +for man than to pray. +</p> + +<p> +Man wants leisure to enjoy himself, not to worship +God. He can have it when he becomes sensible +enough to demand it. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='207'/><anchor id='Pg207'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Motive For Preaching</head> + +<p> +Why does a man enter the Christian ministry? +Why do men preach the Christian faith? There is +some reason for doing so. What is it? We have +been told that the men who adopt the profession of +preaching for a living make a sacrifice of personal +advantage by doing so; that these men, had they +entered any other profession, could not only more +readily achieve greatness, but could also make more +money. We do not believe it. As a rule, we believe +that the men who are getting a living to-day +as ministers, earn more money and enjoy more +fame, than they could get in any other business or +calling. Ministers are not martyrs. That idea +needs to be given up. +</p> + +<p> +There is another idea that people have entertained +too long, and that is, that all the young men +who graduate from a divinity school are intellectual +giants. Brains are not the capital of the pulpit. +We gladly acknowledge the exception to what we +have stated as a rule, and are not only willing, but +anxious, to testify to the occasional brilliant +preacher. We are speaking of the overwhelming +majority and not of the conspicuous few. +</p> + +<p> +Most men go into the ministry because they think +they can get a living more easily by preaching than +by doing anything else. The pulpit is founded not +on spiritual sands, but on an earthly rock. It is +the salary that makes it attractive. +</p> + +<p> +Now, let us look at the facts in the case. The +<pb n='208'/><anchor id='Pg208'/> +work of the minister is less than the work of the average +laborer, and the pay of the preacher is more +than the pay of the average mechanic or working-man. +Here is the key to the pulpit for a lot of +young men. A young man who has a taste for +reading and loafing, and no genius for work, sees a +chance to employ what talent he possesses by studying +theology, and we venture to say that nine out +of ten of the candidates for the ministry enter the +profession from purely business, or, if you will, mercenary +motives. The Lord does not pick out +preachers. They pick themselves out. +</p> + +<p> +There is just as much striving for the loaves and +fishes among ministers as among other men; and +the religious society that pays the largest salary is +the vineyard that has the most applications for the +job. We do not say that preachers are worse +than other professional characters, but that they +are human. They preach for money, and where +the highest salary is there will the ministers be most +anxious to go. +</p> + +<p> +We do not wish to cut anybody's wings, but when +we read that certain new-fledged preachers are about +to <q>work for the Lord,</q> and that they have <q>entered +upon God's chosen profession through their +love of saving souls,</q> we want to correct the statements. +They are going to work for themselves the +best they know how, having entered upon their +duties, not so much because they love their fellow-men, +as because they love the good things of this +world. +</p> + +<pb n='209'/><anchor id='Pg209'/> + +<p> +The truth is this, the motive for preaching to-day +is the pay, and the religion of the pulpit is to say +nothing that will cause a panic in the pews. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Man's history is below his life, his destiny +above it. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +All that secularists ask is that their thoughts +be met fairly and honestly, and that the world +accept what will lead it in the highest and surest +way. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +If a person can join the salvation army corps +and still be respected by his fellow-beings, he +ought to be at liberty to enlist in the ranks of +reason and common sense and not forfeit respect. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +God has done nothing for men and women +except to scare them out of their wits. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='210'/><anchor id='Pg210'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Christian's God</head> + +<p> +Man is like the God he worships, and history +shows that the Christian church has been as cruel +as its God. A Christian minister damns just as +his God does. He sends every free soul to hell just +as his God does. He demands obedience just as +his God does. The tyranny of heaven is repeated +on earth and every tyrant quotes God for his authority. +</p> + +<p> +Think of the Christian superstition demanding +recognition and acceptance! It seems almost incredible +that a man can be found in this age to +preach such glaring inconsistencies and absurdities, +such a ridiculous faith, such injustice and cruelty, +as the Christian religion stands for. We can +hardly believe our own ears when we go inside of a +Christian church. We cannot understand how +this terrible superstition has obtained possession of +the mind, nor how human beings can be so blinded +and apparently stultified! Were there on this +earth a judge who should pronounce sentence upon +a person on account of his religious belief, mankind +would brand the name of that judge with the +deepest obloquy. He would be stripped of his robe +of office and disgraced forever in the eyes of every +true man and woman on the globe. His deed would +be a black spot on the page of history and his memory +a burden to the world. +</p> + +<p> +Put this judge on the throne of the universe and +you have the Christian's God. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='211'/><anchor id='Pg211'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Indifference To Religion</head> + +<p> +The pulpit complains that people are indifferent +to religion. Why shouldn't they be? It is about +time they were indifferent to it. Our wonder is, +that the people tolerate a single priest or church +on earth. Of what benefit is religion to mankind? +Come now, ye that uphold religion, tell us what it +does to make the world better, nobler, truer? Why +should man worship God? Why should he build +thousands of costly churches all over the earth, and +pay priests and ministers large salaries to preach +and pray in these churches? +</p> + +<p> +If the churches were the humblest buildings in +the land; if the ministers and priests were paid no +more than carpenters or spinners, if there were any +agreement between what religion <emph>professes to be</emph> and +what it <emph>is as matter of fact</emph>, then less could be said in +the way of condemnation of religion. But think +you that men who live in hovels can respect men +who preach in palaces as followers of the man of +Nazareth? The thing is too ridiculous. The +world is beginning to see how it has been humbugged, +and it is becoming indifferent. It may in +time become indignant. There will then be occasion +for ministers to be alarmed. +</p> + +<p> +But just now the people have reached a condition +of utter indifference respecting religion. They +don't care for it. They don't care to build it up or +tear it down. They don't care whether it is good +or bad. They don't care anything about it. +</p> + +<pb n='212'/><anchor id='Pg212'/> + +<p> +Some regret this state of things; we rejoice in it. It +shows that the people are thinking, and when the +people think long enough they will find what is +true and right. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +If +</p> + +<p> +If the government can carry a letter across +the continent for two cents, why cannot it send +a telegraphic message correspondingly cheap? +</p> + +<p> +If the government can build and manage a +navy, why cannot it build and operate a railroad? +</p> + +<p> +If the government can run the treasury +department, why cannot it run the banks? +</p> + +<p> +If the government can maintain an army of +soldiers in idleness, why cannot it support an +army of laborers at some useful occupation? +</p> + +<p> +If the government can serve at less cost +than private corporations, why does it not do so? +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='213'/><anchor id='Pg213'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Sunday Schools</head> + +<p> +Of all the stupid things we meet with, Sunday +school lessons are the stupidest. There seems to +be only one way to account for this, and that is that +stupid persons are connected with Sunday schools +and can comprehend only stupid things. It seems +to us as though a bright boy or girl at the age of +twelve years ought to be able to overthrow every +argument employed in a Sunday school to bolster +up the Christian superstition. The lessons taught +in them are adapted to undeveloped brains, and +the literature one gets from their libraries is of that +variety that is calculated to discourage any robust +independence of mind. We believe that any religious +or theological instruction is a positive injury +to the young; that it is utterly wrong to instill into +the immature mind ideas of God, of a future life, of +heaven and hell, of angels and devils. All that we +know about God is what we don't know. The +same may be said of other branches of religion. +How much better it would be to teach something +useful, something of importance, something real, +true! Parents owe it to their children to save them +from being taught the false and foolish dogmas of +Christianity. False education is the bane of humanity, +and the falsehood that is learned in Sunday +schools poisons and deforms the life of man as long +as he lives. Fear of God—the most terrible spectre +that ever haunted the human soul—is a product of +the Sunday school. The victims of this fear can be +<pb n='214'/><anchor id='Pg214'/> +counted to-day by millions. This one fact ought to +be sufficient to condemn this nursery of superstition +and evil. There is no earthly reason to fear +God, and other reasons should have no weight. +The black shadow of fear which darkens the whole +earth is the result of faith in God. The catechisms +used in the Sunday schools are mostly filled +with pious trash. The questions and answers they +contain are written out of ignorance, written, too, +in most cases, for the purpose of making the intellect +the slave of the priest and minister. There +is no mystery so shallow as a theological mystery, +because it is founded on deception. The only +mysteries that the human mind can contemplate +with real wonder are the sublime mysteries of Nature, +the mysteries of life and death, of sand and +star, of flower and feeling. Before these great, +overwhelming mysteries, that everywhere surround +us, the petty ideas of Gods and devils, of +saviors and mediators, of heaven and hell, are trivial +and cheap. We condemn Sunday schools, because +they do not teach what is real, what is true, +what is necessary to a noble human life on earth; +because they inculcate superstitions, and elevate +the belief of religious dogmas above scientific and +useful knowledge; because they put God above man, +heaven hereafter above the home here, and the performance +of religious duties above the life of honesty, +purity and love. Sunday schools are the +poorest schools on the face of the earth, and there +is only one excuse for their existence, and that is to +<pb n='215'/><anchor id='Pg215'/> +perpetuate the church, to keep alive the superstitions +upon which it was built and upon which +the clergy depend for a living. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Our duty to the god of christianity is to bury +him. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Nothing from nothing and nothing remains, +Nothing from nothing and nothing is the same. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +If the factory pays taxes and the church does +not, it follows that the church will some day own +the factory. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +When christian ministers stand up in their +pulpits and say <q>Let us pray,</q> if they would +sometimes vary the invitation and say: Let us +laugh, they would do their congregations more +good. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='216'/><anchor id='Pg216'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Going To Church</head> + +<p> +Every little while some minister wakes up to the +fact that a large proportion of the people of our +cities do not go to church, and he blames the people +for this state of affairs. Nobody blames men and +women if they keep away from the theatre, from +the library, from the art gallery, from the public +park; in fact, it is generally admitted that people +can exercise their own judgment in visiting these +places and not be liable to censure on the part of +anybody. Not so, however, when they keep away +from the church. +</p> + +<p> +Why does a man go to the theatre? Obviously +because he is pleased by the performance he witnesses +there. Why does a man not go to a church? +Obviously because he is <emph>not</emph> pleased with the performance +he witnesses <emph>there</emph>. The notion that +men and women are to go to a place where they do +not like to go, where they derive no pleasure but as a +matter of duty is about all the argument for church-going +that can be advanced to-day. We admit +that man should do his duty, no matter how disagreeable +it may be. We cannot shirk our responsibilities +on the ground that they are irksome or unpleasant. +But <emph>is</emph> it man's duty to go to church? +That is the question. If it is, then he should go. +Who is to decide the matter? Of course priests +and ministers will say that everybody ought to go +to church. But what for? Is it a man's duty to +go to <emph>every</emph> church, or only to some particular +<pb n='217'/><anchor id='Pg217'/> +church? We are told that we shall be better for +going to church. To which church? The Roman +Catholic would not admit that a man would be +better for going to a Methodist church, and the +Methodist would not advise a person to go to a Roman +Catholic church to improve his mental or moral +condition. Who shall decide the matter <emph>where</emph> we +shall go to church? +</p> + +<p> +In going to the theatre, we do not always go to +the same place, nor to hear the same play, nor to +witness the same actors; nor do we always visit the +same gallery or park when we desire to see paintings +or statuary, or to enjoy the flowers and general +beauties of Nature. Why should men <emph>join</emph> one +church and go to it all their lives? Why should +men hear only <emph>one</emph> kind of religion preached? Why +should men listen all their lives to the preaching of +one set of dogmas? +</p> + +<p> +Supposing a man were to go once or twice a week +for fifty years to see one tragedy or comedy played, +would he be a better judge of the drama than if he +had seen during that time a hundred tragedies and +comedies? The man who goes all his life to one +church is made a denominational or sectarian bigot. +Is the object of churches to make bigots? That is +about all they have made up to date. +</p> + +<p> +We hold that it is not man's duty to <emph>go</emph> to any +church, to <emph>belong</emph> to any church, or to <emph>support</emph> any +church. <emph>There are no religious duties.</emph> Man is under +no obligation whatever to worship God. +Churches must be placed upon the same ground as +<pb n='218'/><anchor id='Pg218'/> +other places of instruction and amusement, and if +they cannot be supported by legitimate patronage +then must they be given up. If a man goes to +church to hear a minister, let him pay for it like a +man, but if he is not pleased with what he hears he +need not go again. +</p> + +<p> +The notion that there is anything of greater +value to be had in the church than elsewhere cannot +be defended. This idea does not fool people of +any sense. The pulpit has no divine message for +the world, but generally talks about what no one +knows anything about. Intelligent people who do +not go to church have come to the conclusion that +they can derive more pleasure from other sources. +That is about the reason why they do not go to +church. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +We cannot go ahead without leaving something +behind. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +The convent is opposed to all that is sacred +in human nature. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='219'/><anchor id='Pg219'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Who Is The Greatest Living Man</head> + +<p> +Written November 19, 1893. +</p> + +<p> +My answer is <hi rend='italic'>Robert G. Ingersoll</hi>. +</p> + +<p> +One gets the conviction of this man's superiority +by simply being in his presence. The outer +man makes the impression of greatness upon the +mind. +</p> + +<p> +It is not the silent assertion of a splendid form +however, that persuades us. A large body serves +to accent and emphasize a large mind, but heroic +physical proportions are not essential to greatness. +The king of men to-day is not he who, like Saul, +<q>from his shoulders and upward is higher than any +of his people.</q> Dr. Watts truly said: <q>The mind's +the standard of the man.</q> +</p> + +<p> +But we cannot think of Robert G. Ingersoll with +a diminutive physical equipment. His ample form +radiates the man. But it is the royalty of his intellect +that makes him great. It is in the kingdom +of mind that he is master. Every mental tool fits +his hand. He has wit, learning, imagination, eloquence, +philosophy, and that rare quality, sense. +He is a great lawyer, a great orator, a great poet, +and a great man. He is too large for conventionalities, +too large to respect what smaller minds have +declared right, what weaker minds have made holy. +</p> + +<p> +The intellectual grandeur of the man is no less +apparent than his moral fearlessness. He is greatest +where most men are little—in the face of a +powerful and domineering superstition. He knows +<pb n='220'/><anchor id='Pg220'/> +that the highest manhood makes the trappings of +religion but the playthings of feeble minds. +</p> + +<p> +His love of liberty is only equalled by his passion +for truth, and he listens to the timid whisper of +doubt with the chivalrous attention that others +give to confident faith. He strips things of their +clothes, of fashions, of falsehood, of pretension, and +demands that they stand for what they are and no +more. He has the sincerity of greatness and his +mind wears the white robe of spotless integrity. +</p> + +<p> +Above all living men he possesses the power of +utterance. He has the highest literary instinct, +and never marries a mean word to a noble thought. +He uses language as Phidias used marble. He is +the literary artist of the age, and knows all the +colors in the brain. He can make words laugh and +weep. +</p> + +<p> +This man has a large heart. He is filled with +human sympathy. He does not care for gods, but +he pities men. The springs of feeling feed the +mighty rivers of thought that cross the continent +of his mind. There is about him the warmth, the +kindness of summer—Nature's season of forgiveness. +</p> + +<p> +He has the highest philosophy—that of cheerfulness. +The clouds never cover all his sky. He +is the apostle of good humor, and preaches the gospel +of sunshine to dry the tears of the world. +</p> + +<p> +He is true to himself, loyal to his head and his +heart, and upon his brow shines the jewel of +self-respect. +</p> + +<pb n='221'/><anchor id='Pg221'/> + +<p> +Robert G. Ingersoll has the greatness of genius. +It is useless to try to account for an intellectual +giant. Dowered by Nature, parents are of small +account. We cannot find the secret of his marvelous +power by digging in a graveyard. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +Man is what he is, because his origin was +what it was. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +God cannot be put into the national Constitution +without putting liberty out of it. +</p> + +<milestone unit='tb' rend='rule: 50%'/> + +<p> +We do not want holy books, but true ones; +not sacred writings, but sensible writings. +</p> + +</div> + +</body> +<back rend="page-break-before: right"> + <div rend="page-break-before: right"> + <divGen type="pgfooter" /> + </div> +</back> +</text> +</TEI.2> diff --git a/35539-tei/images/frontispiece.png b/35539-tei/images/frontispiece.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f0356ee --- /dev/null +++ b/35539-tei/images/frontispiece.png |
