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diff --git a/38103.txt b/38103.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..03adb63 --- /dev/null +++ b/38103.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2452 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Trial of C. B. Reynolds For Blasphemy, by +Robert G. Ingersoll + +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 included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Trial of C. B. Reynolds For Blasphemy + Defence by Robert G. Ingersoll, at Morristown, N. J., May 1887 + +Author: Robert G. Ingersoll + +Release Date: November 22, 2011 [EBook #38103] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRIAL OF REYNOLDS *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + +TRIAL OF C. B. REYNOLDS FOR BLASPHEMY, + +AT Morristown, N. J., May 1887. + +DEFENCE BY Robert G. Ingersoll. + +Stenographically Reported by I. N. Baker, and Revised by the Author. + +1888. + + + + +PUBLISHER'S PREFACE. + +MR. C. B. REYNOLDS, the accused, is an accredited missionary of +freethought and speech who, under the guarantees of the Constitution, +went from town to town in New Jersey, lecturing and preaching to +those--had invited him and to all who chose to come. His methods of +invitation were the ordinary ones of circulars, newspaper notices, bill +posters, and personal address. His meetings were attended by the best +people of the place, and were orderly and quiet except as disturbed by +Christian mobs, unrestrained by local officials. + +At one of these meetings, in Boonton, he was attacked with missiles of +every kind, while speaking--his tent destroyed, and he compelled to seek +safety in flight. An action for damages against the town resulted in +a counter action for disturbing the peace. Through the cowardice and +inaction of the authorities the issue was never joined. + +Not daunted by persecution he continued his labors, making Morristown +his next field of operations. Here he circulated a pamphlet giving +his views of theology, and appended a satirical cartoon of his Boonton +experience. This cartoon was the gravamen of his offence. For this he +was indicted on a charge of "Blasphemy," and brought before a Morristown +jury. The religious farce ended in a fine of $25.00. + +C. P. Farrell. + + + + +MR. INGERSOLL'S ARGUMENT + +Gentlemen of the Jury: I regard this as one of the most important cases +that can be submitted to a jury. It is not a case that involves a little +property, neither is it one that involves simply the liberty of one man. +It involves the freedom of speech, the intellectual liberty of every +citizen of New Jersey. + +The question to be tried by you is whether a man has the right to +express his honest thought; and for that reason there can be no case of +greater importance submitted to a jury. And it may be well enough for +me, at the outset, to admit that there could be no case in which I could +take a greater--a deeper interest For my part, I would not wish to live +in a world where I could not express my honest opinions. Men who deny to +others the right of speech are not fit to live with honest men. + +I deny the right of any man, of any number of men, of any church, of +any State, to put a padlock on the lips--to make the tongue a convict. +I passionately deny the right of the Herod of authority to kill the +children of the brain. + +A man has a right to work with his hands, to plow the earth, to sow the +seed, and that man has a right to reap the harvest. If we have not that +right, then all are slaves except those who take these rights from their +fellow-men. If you have the right to work with your hands and to gather +the harvest for yourself and your children, have you not a right to +cultivate your brain? Have you not the right to read, to observe, to +investigate--and when you have so read and so investigated, have you not +the right to reap that field? And what is it to reap that field? It +is simply to express what you have ascertained--simply to give your +thoughts to your fellow-men. + +If there is one subject in this world worthy of being discussed, worthy +of being understood, it is the question of intellectual liberty. Without +that, we are simply painted clay; without that, we are poor miserable +serfs and slaves. If you have not the right to express your opinions, +if the defendant has not this right, then no man ever walked beneath +the blue of heaven that had the right to express his thought. If others +claim the right, where did they get it? How did they happen to have it, +and how did you happen to be deprived of it? Where did a church or a +nation get that right? + +Are we not all children of the same Mother? Are we not all compelled to +think, whether we wish to or not? Can you help thinking as you do? When +you look out upon the woods, the fields,--when you look at the solemn +splendors of the night--these things produce certain thoughts in your +mind, and they produce them necessarily. No man can think as he desires +No man controls the action of his brain, any more than he controls the +action of his heart. The blood pursues its old accustomed ways in spite +of you. The eyes see, if you open them, in spite of you. The ears hear, +if they are unstopped, without asking your permission. And the brain +thinks, in spite of you. Should you express that thought? Certainly you +should, if others express theirs. You have exactly the same right. He +who takes it from you is a robber. For thousands of years people have +been trying to force other people to think their way. Did they succeed? +No. Will they succeed? No. Why? Because brute force is not an argument. +You can stand with the lash over a man, or you can stand by the prison +door, or beneath the gallows, or by the stake, and say to this man: +"Recant, or the lash descends, the prison door is locked upon you, the +rope is put about your neck, or the torch is given to the fagot." And +so the man recants. Is he convinced? Not at all. Have you produced a new +argument? Not the slightest. And yet the ignorant bigots of this world +have been trying for thousands of years to rule the minds of men by +brute force. They have endeavored to improve the mind by torturing the +flesh--to spread religion with the sword and torch. They have tried to +convince their brothers by putting their feet in iron boots, by +putting fathers, mothers, patriots, philosophers and philanthropists in +dungeons. And what has been the result? Are we any nearer thinking alike +to-day than we were then? + +No orthodox church ever had power that it did not endeavor to make +people think its way by force and flame. And yet every church that +ever was established commenced in the minority, and while it was in the +minority advocated free speech--every one. John Calvin, the founder +of the Presbyterian Church, while he lived in France, wrote a book on +religious toleration in order to show that all men had an equal right +to think; and yet that man afterwards, clothed in a little authority, +forgot all his sentiments about religious liberty, and had poor Servetus +burned at the stake, for differing with him on a question that +neither of them knew anything about. In the minority, Calvin advocated +toleration--in the majority, he practised murder. + +I want you to understand what has been done in the world to force men +to think alike. It seems to me that if there is some infinite being who +wants us to think alike, he would have made us alike. Why did he not do +so? Why did he make your brain so that you could not by any possibility +be a Methodist? Why did he make yours so that you could not be a +Catholic? And why did he make the brain of another so that he is an +unbeliever--why the brain of another so that he became a Mohammedan--if +he wanted us all to believe alike? + +After all, may be Nature is good enough, and grand enough, and broad +enough to give us the diversity born of liberty. May be, after all, it +would not be best for us all to be just the same. What a stupid world, +if everybody said yes to everything that everybody else might say. + +The most important thing in this world is liberty. More important than +food or clothes--more important than gold or houses or lands--more +important than art or science--more important than all religions, is the +liberty of man. + +If civilization tends to do away with liberty, then I agree with +Mr. Buckle that civilization is a curse. Gladly would I give up the +splendors of the nineteenth century--gladly would I forget every +invention that has leaped from the brain of man--gladly would I see all +books ashes, all works of art destroyed, all statues broken, and all +the triumphs of the world lost--gladly, joyously would I go back to +the abodes and dens of savagery, if that is necessary to preserve the +inestimable gem of human liberty. So would every man who has a heart and +brain. + +How has the church in every age, when in authority, defended itself? +Always by a statute against blasphemy, against argument, against free +speech. And there never was such a statute that did not stain the book +that it was in, and that did not certify to the savagery of the men who +passed it. Never. By making a statute and by defining blasphemy, the +Church sought to prevent discussion--sought to prevent argument--sought +to prevent a man giving his honest opinion. Certainly a tenet, a dogma, +a doctrine is safe when hedged about by a statute that prevents your +speaking against it. In the silence of slavery it exists. It lives +because lips are locked. It lives because men are slaves. + +If I understand myself, I advocate only the doctrines that in my +judgment will make this world happier and better. If I know myself, +I advocate only those things that will make a man a better citizen, a +better father, a kinder husband--that will make a woman a better wife, +a better mother--doctrines that will fill every home with sunshine and +with joy. And if I believed that anything I should say to-day would have +any other possible tendency, I would stop. I am a believer in liberty. +That is my religion--to give to every other human being every right +that I claim for myself, and I grant to every other human being, not the +right--because it is his right--but instead of granting I declare that +it is his right, to attack every doctrine that I maintain, to answer +every argument that I may urge--in other words, he must have absolute +freedom of speech. + +I am a believer in what I call "intellectual hospitality." A man comes +to your door. If you are a gentleman and he appears to be a good man, +you receive him with a smile. You ask after his health. You say: "Take +a chair; are you thirsty, are you hungry, will you not break bread with +me?" That is what a hospitable, good man does--he does not set the dog +on him. Now how should we treat a new thought? I say that the brain +should be hospitable and say to the new thought: "Come in; sit down; I +want to cross-examine you; I want to find whether you are good or bad; +if good, stay; if bad, I don't want to hurt you--probably you think you +are all right,--but your room is better than your company, and I will +take another idea in your place." Why not? Can any man have the egotism +to say that he has found it all out? No. Every man who has thought, +knows not only how little he knows, but how little every other human +being knows, and how ignorant after all the world must be. + +There was a time in Europe when the Catholic church had power. And I +want it distinctly understood with this jury, that while I am opposed +to Catholicism I am not opposed to Catholics--while I am opposed to +Presbyterianism I am not opposed to Presbyterians. I do not fight +people,--I fight ideas, I fight principles, and I never go +into personalities. As I said, I do not hate Presbyterians, but +Presbyterianism--that is I am opposed to their doctrine. I do not hate a +man that has the rheumatism--I hate the rheumatism when it has a man. So +I attack certain principles because I think they are wrong, but I always +want it understood that I have nothing against persons--nothing against +victims. + +There was a time when the Catholic church was in power in the Old World. +All at once there arose a man called Martin Luther, and what did +the dear old Catholics think? "Oh," they said, "that man and all his +followers are going to Hell." But they did not go. They were very good +people. They may have been mistaken--I do not know. I think they were +right in their opposition to Catholicism--but I have just as much +objection to the religion they founded as I have to the Church they +left. But they thought they were right, and they made very good +citizens, and it turned out that their differing from the Mother Church +did not hurt them. And then after awhile they began to divide, and there +arose Baptists, and the other gentlemen, who believed in this law that +is now in New Jersey, began cutting off their ears so that they could +hear better; they began putting them in prison so that they would have +a chance to think. But the Baptists turned out to be good folks--first +rate--good husbands, good fathers, good citizens. And in a little while, +in England, the people turned to be Episcopalians, on account of a +little war that Henry the Eighth had with the Pope,--and I always sided +with the Pope in that war--but it made no difference; and in a little +while the Episcopalians turned out to be just about like other folks--no +worse--not as I know of, any better. + +After awhile arose the Puritan, and the Episcopalian said, "We don't +want anything of him--he is a bad man;" and they finally drove some of +them away and they settled in New England, and there were among +them Quakers, than whom there never were better people on the +earth--industrious, frugal, gentle, kind and loving--and yet these +Puritans began hanging them. They said: "They are corrupting our +children; if this thing goes on, everybody will believe in being kind +and gentle and good, and what will become of us?" They were honest about +it. So they went to cutting off ears. But the Quakers were good people +and none of the prophecies were fulfilled. + +In a little while there came some Unitarians and they said, "The world +is going to ruin, sure;"--but the world went on as usual, and the +Unitarians produced men like Channing--one of the tenderest spirits that +ever lived--they produced men like Theodore Parker--one of the greatest +brained and greatest hearted men produced upon this continent--a good +man--and yet they thought he was a blasphemer--they even prayed for his +death--on their bended knees they asked their God to take time to kill +him. Well, they were mistaken. Honest, probably. + +After awhile came the Universalists, who said: "God is good. He will not +damn anybody always, just for a little mistake he made here. This is +a very short life; the path we travel is very dim, and a great many +shadows fall in the way, and if a man happens to stub his toe, God will +not burn him forever." And then all the rest of the sects cried +out, "Why, if you do away with hell, everybody will murder just for +pastime--everybody will go to stealing just to enjoy themselves." But +they did not. The Universalists were good people--just as good as any +others. Most of them much better. None of the prophecies were fulfilled, +and yet the differences existed. + +And so we go on until we find people who do not believe the bible at +all, and when they say they do not, they come within this statute. + +Now gentlemen, I am going to try to show you, first, that this statute +under which Mr. Reynolds is being tried is unconstitutional--that it is +not in harmony with the Constitution of New Jersey; and I am going to +try to show you in addition to that, that it was passed hundreds of +years ago, by men who believed it was right to burn heretics and tie +Quakers at the end of a cart, men and even modest women--stripped +naked--and lash them from town to town. They were the men who originally +passed that statute, and I want to show you that it has slept all this +time, and I am informed--I do not know how it is--that there never has +been a prosecution in this state for blasphemy. + +Now gentlemen, what is blasphemy? Of course nobody knows what it is, +unless he takes into consideration where he is. What is blasphemy in +one country would be a religious exhortation in another. It is owing to +where you are and who is in authority. And let me call your attention +to the impudence and bigotry of the American christians. We send +missionaries to other countries. What for? To tell them that their +religion is false, that their Gods are myths and monsters, that their +Saviours and apostles were imposters, and that our religion is true. +You send a man from Morris-town--a Presbyterian, over to Turkey. He goes +there, and he tells the Mohammedans--and he has it in a pamphlet and he +distributes it--that the Koran is a lie, that Mohammet was not a prophet +of God, that the angel Gabriel is not so large that it is four hundred +leagues between his eyes--that it is all a mistake--that there never +was an angel as large as that. Then what would the Turks do? Suppose +the Turks had a law like this statute in New Jersey. They would put the +Morristown missionary in jail, and he would send home word, and then +what would the people of Morris-town say? Honestly--what do you think +they would say? They would say, "Why look at those poor, heathen +wretches. We sent a man over there armed with the truth, and yet +they were so blinded by their idolatrous religion, so steeped in +superstition, that they actually put that man in prison." Gentlemen, +does not that show the need of more missionaries? I would say, yes. + +Now let us turn the tables. A gentleman comes from Turkey to Morristown. +He has got a pamphlet. He says, "The Koran is the inspired book, +Mohammed is the real prophet, your bible is false and your Saviour +simply a myth." Thereupon the Morristown people put him in jail. +Then what would the Turks say? They would say, "Morristown needs more +missionaries," and I would agree with them. + +In other words, what we want is intellectual hospitality. Let the +world talk. And see how foolish this trial is: I have no doubt but the +prosecuting attorney agrees with me to-day, that whether this law is +good or bad, this trial should not have taken place. And let me tell you +why. Here comes a man into your town and circulates a pamphlet. Now if +they had just kept still, very few would ever have heard of it. That +would have been the end. The diameter of the echo would have been a few +thousand feet. But in order to stop the discussion of that question, +they indicted this man, and that question has been more discussed in +this country since this indictment than all the discussions put together +since New Jersey was first granted to Charles the Second's dearest +brother James, the Duke of York. And what else? A trial here that is to +be reported and published all over the United States, a trial that will +give Mr. Reynolds a congregation of fifty millions of people. And yet +this was done for the purpose of stopping a discussion of this subject. +I want to show you that the thing is in itself almost idiotic--that it +defeats itself, and that you cannot crush out these things by force. Not +only so, but Mr. Reynolds has the right to be defended, and his counsel +has the right to give his opinions on this subject. + +Suppose that we put Mr. Reynolds in jail. The argument has not been sent +to jail. That is still going the rounds, free as the winds. Suppose you +keep him at hard labor a year--all the time he is there hundreds and +thousands of people will be reading some account, or some fragment, of +this trial. There is the trouble. If you could only imprison a thought, +then intellectual tyranny might succeed. If you could only take an +argument and put a striped suit of clothes on it--if you could only +take a good, splendid, shining fact and lock it up in some dungeon of +ignorance, so that its light would never again enter the mind of man, +then you might succeed in stopping human progress. Otherwise, no. + +Let us see about this particular statute. In the first place, the State +has a Constitution. That Constitution is a rule, a limitation to the +power of the legislature, and a certain breast-work for the protection +of private rights, and the Constitution says to this sea of passions +and prejudices: "Thus far and no farther." The Constitution says to each +individual: "This shall panoply you; this is your complete coat of mail; +this shall defend your rights." And it is usual in this country to make +as a part of each Constitution several general declarations--called the +Bill of Rights. So I find that in the old Constitution of New Jersey, +which was adopted in the year of grace 1776, although the people at that +time were not educated as they are now--the spirit of the Revolution at +that time not having permeated all classes of society--a declaration in +favor of religious freedom. The people were on the eve of a Revolution. +This Constitution was adopted on the third day of July, 1776, one day +before the immortal Declaration of Independence. Now what do we find +in this--and we have got to go by this light, by this torch, when we +examine the statute. + +I find in that Constitution, in its Eighteenth Section, this: "No person +shall ever in this State be deprived of the inestimable privilege +of worshipping God in a manner agreeable to the dictates of his own +conscience; nor under any pretence whatever be compelled to attend any +place of worship contrary to his own faith and judgment; nor shall he +be obliged to pay tithes, taxes, or any other rates for the purpose +of building or repairing any church or churches, contrary to what he +believes to be true." That was a very great and splendid step. It was +the divorce of Church and State. It no longer allowed the State to levy +taxes for the support of a particular religion, and it said to every +citizen of New Jersey: All that you give for that purpose must be +voluntarily given, and the State will not compel you to pay for the +maintenance of a Church in which you do not believe. So far so good. + +The next paragraph was not so good. "There shall be no establishment of +any one religious sect in this State in preference to another, and no +Protestant inhabitants of this State shall be denied the enjoyment of +any civil right merely on account of his religious principles; but all +persons professing a belief in the faith of any Protestant sect, who +shall demean themselves peaceably, shall be capable of being elected to +any office of profit or trust, and shall fully and freely enjoy every +privilege and immunity enjoyed by other citizens." + +What became of the Catholics under that clause, I do not know--whether +they had any right to be elected to office or not under this Act. But +in 1844, the State having grown civilized in the meantime, another +Constitution was adopted. The word Protestant was then left out. +There was to be no establishment of one religion over another. But +Protestantism did not render a man capable of being elected to office +any more than Catholicism, and nothing is said about any religious +belief whatever. So far, so good. + +"No religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office +of public trust. No person shall be denied the enjoyment of any civil +right on account of his religious principles." + +That is a very broad and splendid provision. "No person shall be denied +any civil right on account of his religious principles." That was +copied from the Virginia Constitution, and that clause in the Virginia +Constitution was written by Thomas Jefferson, and under that clause men +were entitled to give their testimony in the courts of Virginia whether +they believed in any religion or not, in any bible or not, or in any God +or not. + +That same clause was afterwards adopted by the State of Illinois, also +by many other States, and wherever that clause is, no citizen can be +denied any civil right on account of his religious principles. It is a +broad and generous clause. This statute under which this indictment is +drawn, is not in accordance with the spirit of that splendid sentiment. +Under that clause, no man can be deprived of any civil right on account +of his religious principles, or on account of his belief. And yet, on +account of this miserable, this antiquated, this barbarous and savage +statute, the same man who cannot be denied any political or civil right, +can be sent to the penitentiary as a common felon for simply expressing +his honest thought. And before I get through I hope to convince you that +this statute is unconstitutional. + +But we will go another step: "Every person may freely speak, write, or +publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse +of that right." + +That is in the Constitution of nearly every State in the Union, and the +intention of that is to cover slanderous words--to cover a case where a +man under pretence of enjoying the freedom of speech falsely assails or +accuses his neighbor. Of course he should be held responsible for that +abuse. + +Then follows the great clause in the Constitution of 1844--more +important than any other clause in that instrument--a clause that shines +in that Constitution like a star at night.-- + +"No law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or +of the press." + +Can anything be plainer--anything more forcibly stated? + +"No law shall be passed to abridge the liberty of speech." + +Now while you are considering this statute, I want you to keep in mind +this other statement: + +"No law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or +of the press." + +And right here there is another thing I want to call your attention to. +There is a Constitution higher than any statute. There is a law higher +than any Constitution. It is the law of the human conscience, and no man +who is a man will defile and pollute his conscience at the bidding of +any legislature. Above all things one should maintain his self-respect, +and there is but one way to do that, and that is to live in accordance +with your highest ideal. + +There is a law higher than men can make. The facts as they exist in this +poor world--the absolute consequences of certain acts--they are +above all. And this higher law is the breath of progress, the very +outstretched wings of civilization, under which we enjoy the freedom +we have. Keep that in your minds. There never was a legislature great +enough--there never was a Constitution sacred enough, to compel a +civilized man to stand between a black man and his liberty. There never +was a Constitution great enough to make me stand between any human being +and his right to express his honest thoughts. Such a Constitution is an +insult to the human soul, and I would care no more for it than I would +for the growl of a wild beast. But we are not driven to that necessity +here. This Constitution is in accord with the highest and noblest +aspirations of the heart--"No law shall be passed to restrain or abridge +the liberty of speech." + +Now let us come to this old law--this law that was asleep for a hundred +years before this Constitution was adopted--this law coiled like a +snake beneath the foundations of the government--this law, cowardly, +dastardly--this law passed by wretches who were afraid to discuss--this +law passed by men who could not, and who knew they could not, defend +their creed--and so they said: "Give us the sword of the State and we +will cleave the heretic down." And this law was made to control the +minority. When the Catholics were in power they visited that law upon +their opponents. When the Episcopalians were in power, they tortured and +burned the poor Catholic who had scoffed and who had denied the truth of +their religion. Whoever was in power used that, and whoever was out of +power cursed that--and yet, the moment he got in power he used it. The +people became civilized--but that law was on the statute book. It simply +remained. There it was, sound asleep--its lips drawn over its long and +cruel teeth. Nobody savage enough to waken it. And it slept on, and New +Jersey has flourished. Men have done well. You have had average health +in this country. Nobody roused the statute until the defendant in this +case went to Boonton, and there made a speech in which he gave his +honest thought, and the people not having an argument handy, threw +stones. Thereupon Mr. Reynolds, the defendant, published a pamphlet on +Blasphemy and in it gave a photograph of the Boonton christians. That is +his offence. Now let us read this infamous statute: + +"_If any person shall wilfully blaspheme the holy name of God by +denying, cursing, or contumeliously reproaching his being_."-- + +I want to say right here--many a man has cursed the God of another man. +The Catholics have cursed the God of the Protestant. The Presbyterians +have cursed the God of the Catholics--charged them with idolatry--cursed +their images, laughed at their ceremonies. + +And these compliments have been interchanged between all the religions +of the world. But I say here to-day that no man, unless a raving maniac, +ever cursed the God in whom he believed. No man, no human being, has +ever lived who cursed his own idea of God. He always curses the idea +that somebody else entertains. No human being ever yet cursed what he +believed to be infinite wisdom and infinite goodness--and you know +it. Every man on this jury knows that. He feels that that must be an +absolute certainty. Then what have they cursed? Some God they did not +believe in--that is all. And has a man that right? I say yes. He has a +right to give his opinion of Jupiter, and there is nobody in Morristown +who will deny him that right. But several thousand years ago it would +have been very dangerous for him to have cursed Jupiter, and yet Jupiter +is just as powerful now as he was then, but the Roman people are not +powerful, and that is all there was to Jupiter--the Roman people. + +So there was a time when you could have cursed Zeus, the god of the +Greeks, and like Socrates, they would have compelled you to drink +hemlock. Yet now everybody can curse this god. Why? Is the god dead? No. +He is just as alive as he ever was. Then what has happened? The Greeks +have passed away. That is all. So in all of our Churches here. Whenever +a Church is in the minority it clamors for free speech. When it gets in +the majority, no. I do not believe the history of the world will show +that any orthodox Church when in the majority ever had the courage to +face the free lips of the world. It sends for a constable. And is it +not wonderful that they should do this when they preach the gospel of +universal forgiveness--when they say, "if a man strike you on one cheek +turn to him the other also"--but if he laughs at your religion, put him +in the penitentiary? Is that the doctrine? Is that the law? + +Now read this law. Do you know as I read this law I can almost hear John +Calvin laugh in his grave. That would have been a delight to him. It +is written exactly as he would have written it. There never was an +inquisitor who would not have read that law with a malicious smile. The +Christians who brought the fagots and ran with all their might to be at +the burning, would have enjoyed that law. You know that when they used +to burn people for having said something against religion, they used +to cut their tongues out before they burned them. Why? For fear that if +they did not, the poor burning victims might say something that would +scandalize the Christian gentlemen who were building the fire. All these +persons would have been delighted with this law. + +Let us read a little further: + +"_Or by cursing or contumeliously reproaching Jesus Christ_." + +Why, whoever did, since the poor man, or the poor God, was crucified? +How did they come to crucify him? Because they did not believe in free +speech in Jerusalem. How else? Because there was a law against blasphemy +in Jerusalem--a law exactly like this. Just think of it. O, I tell you +we have passed too many milestones on the shining road of human progress +to turn back and wallow in that blood, in that mire. + +No. Some men have said that he was simply a man. Some believed that he +was actually a God. Others believed that he was not only a man, but that +he stood as the representative of infinite love and wisdom. No man ever +said one word against that being for saying "Do unto others as ye would +that others should do unto you." No man ever raised his voice against +him because he said "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain +mercy." And are they the "merciful" who when some man endeavors to +answer their argument, put him in the penitentiary? No. The trouble is, +the priests--the trouble is, the ministers--the trouble is, the people +whose business it was to tell the meaning of these things, quarreled +with each other and they put meanings upon human expressions by malice, +meanings that the words will not bear. And let me be just to them. +I believe that nearly all that has been done in this world has been +honestly done. I believe that the poor savage who kneels down and prays +to a stuffed snake--prays that his little children may recover from the +fever--is honest, and it seems to me that a good God would answer his +prayer if he could, if it was in accordance with wisdom, because the +poor savage was doing the best he could, and no one can do any better +than that. + +So I believe that the Presbyterians who used to think that nearly +everybody was going to hell, said exactly what they believed. They were +honest about it, and I would not send one of them to jail--would never +think of such a thing--even if he called the unbelievers of the world +"wretches," "dogs," and "devils." What would I do? I would simply answer +him--that is all; answer him kindly. I might laugh at him a little, but +I would answer him in kindness. + +So these divisions of the human mind are natural. They are a necessity. +Do you know that all the mechanics that ever lived--take the best +ones--cannot make two clocks that will run exactly alike one hour, one +minute? They cannot make two pendulums that will beat in exactly the +same time, one beat. If you cannot do that, how are you going to make +hundreds, thousands, billions of people, each with a different quality +and quantity of brain, each clad in a robe of living, quivering flesh, +and each driven by passion's storm over the wild sea of life--how are +you going to make them all think alike? This is the impossible thing +that Christian ignorance and bigotry and malice have been trying to do. +This was the object of the Inquisition and of the foolish legislature +that passed this statute. + +Let me read you another line from this ignorant statute:-- + +"_Or the Christian religion_." + +Well, what is the Christian religion? "If you scoff at the Christian +religion--if you curse the Christian religion." Well what is it? +Gentlemen, you hear Presbyterians every day attack the Catholic +Church. Is that the Christian religion? The Catholic believes it is the +Christian religion, and you have to admit that it is the oldest one, and +then the Catholics turn round and scoff at the Protestants. Is that the +Christian religion? If so, every Christian religion has been cursed +by every other Christian religion. Is not that an absurd and foolish +statute? + +I say that the Catholic has the right to attack the Presbyterian and +tell him, "Your doctrine is all wrong." I think he has the right to say +to him, "You are leading thousands to hell." If he believes it, he not +only has the right to say it, but it is his duty to say it; and if the +Presbyterian really believes the Catholics are all going to the devil, +it is his duty to say so. Why not? I will never have any religion that +I cannot defend--that is, that I do not believe I can defend. I may be +mistaken, because no man is absolutely certain that he knows. We all +understand that. Every one is liable to be mistaken. The horizon of each +individual is very narrow, and in his poor sky the stars are few and +very small. + +"_Or the word of God,--_" + +What is that? + +"_The canonical Scriptures contained in the books of the Old and New +Testaments_." + +Now what has a man the right to say about that? Has he the right to +show that the book of Revelation got into the canon by one vote, and one +only? Has he the right to show that they passed in convention upon what +books they would put in and what they would not? Has he the right +to show that there were twenty-eight books called "The Books of the +Hebrews?" Has he the right to show that? Has he the right to show that +Martin Luther said he did not believe there was one solitary word of +gospel in the Epistle to the Romans? Has he the right to show that +some of these books were not written till nearly two hundred years +afterwards? Has he the right to say it, if he believes it? I do not say +whether this is true or not, but has a man the right to say it if he +believes it? + +Now suppose I should read the bible all through right here in +Morristown, and after I got through I should make up my mind that it is +not a true book--what ought I to say? Ought I to clap my hand over my +mouth and start for another State, and the minute I got over the line +say, "It is not true, It is not true?" Or, ought I to have the right +and privilege of saying right here in New Jersey, "My fellow citizens, I +have read the book--I do not believe that it is the word of God?" + +Suppose I read it and think it is true, then I am bound to say so. If +I should go to Turkey and read the Koran and make up my mind that it is +false, you would all say that I was a miserable poltroon if I did not +say so. + +By force you can make hypocrites--men who will agree with you from the +teeth out, and in their hearts hate you. We want no more hypocrites. +We have enough in every community. And how are you going to keep from +having more? By having the air free,--by wiping from your statute books +such miserable and infamous laws as this. + +"_The Holy Scriptures_." + +Are they holy? Must a man be honest? Has he the right to be sincere? +There are thousands of things in the Scriptures that everybody believes. +Everybody believes the Scriptures are right when they say, "Thou shalt +not steal"--everybody. And when they say "Give good measure, heaped up +and running over," everybody says, "Good!" So when they say "Love your +neighbor," everybody applauds that. Suppose a man believes that, and +practices it, does it make any difference whether he believes in the +flood or not? Is that of any importance? Whether a man built an ark or +not--does that make the slightest difference? A man might deny it and +yet be a very good man. Another might believe it and be a very mean +man. Could it now, by any possibility, make a man a good father, a good +husband, a good citizen? Does it make any difference whether you believe +it or not? Does it make any difference whether or not you believe that +a man was going through town and his hair was a little short, like mine, +and some little children laughed at him, and thereupon two bears from +the woods came down and tore to pieces about forty of these children? Is +it necessary to believe that? Suppose a man should say, "I guess that is +a mistake. They did not copy that right. I guess the man that reported +that was a little dull of hearing and did not get the story exactly +right." Any harm in saying that? Is a man to be sent to the penitentiary +for that? Can you imagine an infinitely good God sending a man to hell +because he did not believe the bear story? + +So I say if you believe the bible, say so; if you do not believe it, say +so. And here is the vital mistake, I might almost say, in Protestantism +itself. The Protestants when they fought the Catholics said: "Read the +bible for yourselves--stop taking it from your priests--read the sacred +volume with your own eyes. It is a revelation from God to his children, +and you are the children." And then they said: "If after you read it you +do not believe it, and you say anything against it, we will put you in +jail, and God will put you in hell." That is a fine position to get a +man in. It is like a man who invited his neighbor to come and look at +his pictures, saying: "They are the finest in the place, and I want your +candid opinion. A man who looked at them the other day said they were +daubs, and I kicked him down stairs--now I want your candid judgment." +So the Protestant Church says to a man, "This bible is a message from +your Father,--your Father in heaven. Read it. Judge for yourself. But +if after you have read it you say it is not true, I will put you in the +penitentiary for one year." The Catholic Church has a little more sense +about that--at least more logic. It says: "This bible is not given +to everybody. It is given to the world, to be sure, but it must be +interpreted by the Church. God would not give a bible to the world +unless he also appointed some one, some organization, to tell the +world what it means." They said: "We do not want the world filled with +interpretations, and all the interpreters fighting each other." And +the Protestant has gone to the infinite absurdity of saying: "Judge for +yourself, but if you judge wrong you will go to the penitentiary here +and to hell hereafter." + +Now let us see further: + +"_Or by profane scoffing expose them to ridicule_." Think of such a law +as that, passed under a Constitution that says, "No law shall abridge +the liberty of speech." But you must not ridicule the Scriptures. Did +anybody ever dream of passing a law to protect Shakespeare from being +laughed at? Did anybody ever think of such a thing? Did anybody ever +want any legislative enactment to keep people from holding Robert Burns +in contempt? The songs of Burns will be sung as long as there is love +in the human heart Do we need to protect him from ridicule by a statute? +Does he need assistance from New Jersey? Is any statute needed to keep +Euclid from being laughed at in this neighborhood? And is it possible +that a work written by an infinite being has to be protected by a +legislature? Is it possible that a book cannot be written by a God so +that it will not excite the laughter of the human race? + +Why gentlemen, humor is one of the most valuable things in the human +brain. It is the torch of the mind--it sheds light. Humor is the +readiest test of truth--of the natural, of the sensible--and when you +take from a man all sense of humor, there will only be enough left +to make a bigot. Teach this man who has no humor--no sense of +the absurd--the Presbyterian creed, fill his darkened brain with +superstition and his heart with hatred--then frighten him with the +threat of hell, and he will be ready to vote for that statute. Such men +made that law. + +Let us read another clause:-- + +"_And every person so offending shall, on conviction, be fined not +exceeding two hundred dollars, or imprisoned at hard labor not exceeding +twelve months, or both:_" + +I want you to remember that this statute was passed in England hundreds +of years ago--just in that language. The punishment, however, has +been somewhat changed. In the good old days when the king sat on the +throne--in the good old days when the altar was the right-bower of +the throne--then, instead of saying: "fined two hundred dollars and +imprisoned one year," it was: "All his goods shall be confiscated; his +tongue shall be bored with a hot iron, and upon his forehead he shall +be branded with the letter B; and for the second offence he shall suffer +death by burning." Those were the good old days when people maintained +the orthodox religion in all its purity and in all its ferocity. + +The first question for you, gentlemen, to decide in this case is: Is +this statute constitutional? Is this statute in harmony with that part +of the Constitution of 1844 which says: "The liberty of speech shall not +be abridged?" That is for you to say. Is this law constitutional, or +is it simply an old statute that fell asleep, that was forgotten, that +people simply failed to repeal? I believe I can convince you, if you +will think a moment, that our fathers never intended to establish a +government like that. When they fought for what they believed to be +religious liberty--when they fought for what they believed to be liberty +of speech, they believed that all such statutes would be wiped from the +statute books of all the States. + +Let me tell you another reason why I believe this. We have in this +country naturalization laws. Persons may come here irrespective of their +religion. They must simply swear allegiance to this country--they must +forswear allegiance to every other potentate, prince and power--but they +do not have to change their religion. A Hindoo may become a citizen of +the United States, and the Constitution of the United States, like the +Constitution of New Jersey, guarantees religious liberty. That Hindoo +believes in a God--in a God that no Christian does believe in. +He believes in a sacred book that every Christian looks upon as a +collection of falsehoods. He believes, too, in a Saviour--in Buddha. +Now I ask you,--when that man comes here and becomes a citizen--when the +Constitution is about him, above him--has he the right to give his ideas +about his religion? Has he the right to say in New Jersey: "There is +no God except the Supreme Brahm--there is no Saviour except Buddha the +Illuminated, Buddha the Blest?" I say that he has that right--and you +have no right, because in addition to that he says, "You are mistaken; +your God is not God; your bible is not true, and your religion is a +mistake," to abridge his liberty of speech. He has the right to say it, +and if he has the right to say it, I insist before this Court and before +this jury, that he has the right to give his reasons for saying it; and +in giving those reasons, in maintaining his side, he has the right, not +simply to appeal to history, not simply to the masonry of logic, but +he has the right to shoot the arrows of wit, and to use the smile of +ridicule. Anything that can be laughed out of this world ought not to +stay in it. + +So the Persian--the believer in Zoroaster, in the spirits of Good and +Evil, and that the spirit of Evil will finally triumph forever--if that +is his religion--has the right to state it, and the right to give his +reasons for his belief. How infinitely preposterous for you, one of the +States of this Union, to invite a Persian or a Hindoo to come to your +shores. You do not ask him to renounce his God. You ask him to renounce +the Shah. Then when he becomes a citizen, having the rights of every +other citizen, he has the right to defend his religion and to denounce +yours. + +There is another thing. What was the spirit of our government at that +time? You must look at the leading men. Who were they? What were their +opinions? Were most of them as guilty of blasphemy as is the defendant +in this case? Thomas Jefferson--and there is in my judgment only one +name on the page of American history greater than his--only one name +for which I have a greater and a tenderer reverence--and that is Abraham +Lincoln, because of all men who ever lived and had power, he was the +most merciful. And that is the way to test a man. How does he use power? +Does he want to crush his fellow citizens? Does he like to lock somebody +up in the penitentiary because he has the power of the moment? Does he +wish to use it as a despot, or as a philanthropist--like a devil, or +like a man? + +Thomas Jefferson entertained about the same views entertained by the +defendant in this case, and he was made President of the United States. +He was the author of the Declaration of Independence, founder of the +University of Virginia, writer of that clause in the Constitution of +that State that made all the citizens equal before the law. And when I +come to the very sentences here charged as blasphemy, I will show you +that these were the common sentiments of thousands of very great, of +very intellectual and admirable men. + +I have no time, and it may be this is not the place and the occasion, +to call your attention to the infinite harm that has been done in almost +every religious nation by statutes such as this. Where that statute is, +liberty can not be; and if this statute is enforced by this jury and +by this Court, and if it is afterwards carried out, and if it could be +carried out in the States of this Union, there would be an end of all +intellectual progress. We would go back to the dark ages. Every man's +mind, upon these subjects at least, would become a stagnant pool, +covered with the scum of prejudice and meanness. + +And wherever such laws have been enforced, have the people been friends? +Here we are to-day in this blessed air--here amid these happy fields. +Can we imagine, with these surroundings, that a man for having been +found with a crucifix in his poor little home had been taken from his +wife and children and burned--burned by Protestants? You cannot conceive +of such a thing now. Neither can you conceive that there was a time when +Catholics found some poor Protestant contradicting one of the dogmas of +the Church, and took that poor honest wretch--while his wife wept--while +his children clung to his hands--to the public square, drove a stake in +the ground, put a chain or two about him, lighted the fagots, and let +the wife whom he loved and his little children see the flames climb +around his limbs--you cannot imagine that any such infamy was ever +practiced. And yet I tell you that the same spirit made this detestable, +infamous, devilish statute. + +You can hardly imagine that there was a time when the same kind of men +that made this law said to another man: "You say this world is round?" +"Yes, sir; I think it is, because I have seen its shadow on the moon." +"You have?"--Now can you imagine a society outside of hyenas and boa +constrictors that would take that man, put him in the penitentiary, in +a dungeon, turn the key upon him, and let his name be blotted from the +book of human life? Years afterward some explorer amid ruins finds a few +bones. The same spirit that did that, made this statute--the same spirit +that did that, went before the grand jury in this case--exactly. Give +the men that had this man indicted the power, and I would not want to +live in that particular part of the country. I would not willingly live +with such men. I would go somewhere else, where the air is free, where +I could speak my sentiments to my wife, to my children, and to my +neighbors. + +Now this persecution differs only in degree from the infamies of the +olden time. What does it mean? It means that the State of New Jersey has +all the light it wants. And what does that mean? It means that the State +of New Jersey is absolutely infallible--that it has got its growth, and +does not propose to grow any more. New Jersey knows enough, and it will +send teachers to the penitentiary. + +It is hardly possible that this State has accomplished all that it is +ever going to accomplish. Religions are for a day. They are the clouds. +Humanity is the eternal blue. Religions are the waves of the sea. These +waves depend upon the force and direction of the wind--that is to say, +of passion; but Humanity is the great sea. And so our religions change +from day to day, and it is a blessed thing that they do. Why? Because we +grow, and we are getting a little more civilized every day,--and any +man that is not willing to let another man express his opinion, is not a +civilized man, and you know it. Any man that does not give to everybody +else the rights he claims for himself, is not an honest man. + +Here is a man who says, "I am going to join the Methodist Church." What +right has he? Just the same right to join it that I have not to join +it--no more, no less. But if you are a Methodist and I am not, it simply +proves that you do not agree with me, and that I do not agree with +you--that is all. Another man is a Catholic. He was born a Catholic, or +is convinced that Catholicism is right. That is his business, and any +man that would persecute him on that account, is a poor barbarian--a +savage; any man that would abuse him on that account, is a barbarian--a +savage. + +Then I take the next step. A man does not wish to belong to any church. +How are you going to judge him? Judge him by the way he treats his wife, +his children, his neighbors. Does he pay his debts? Does he tell the +truth? Does he help the poor? Has he got a heart that melts when he +hears grief's story? That is the way to judge him. I do not care what +he thinks about the bears, or the flood, about bibles or gods. When some +poor mother is found wandering in the street with a babe at her breast, +does he quote Scripture, or hunt for his pocket-book? That is the way +to judge. And suppose he does not believe in any bible whatever? If +Christianity is true, that is his misfortune, and everybody should pity +the poor wretch that is going down the hill. Why kick him? You will get +your revenge on him through all eternity--is not that enough? + +So I say, let us judge each other by our actions, not by theories, not +by what we happen to believe--because that depends very much on where we +were born. + +If you had been born in Turkey, you probably would have been a +Mohammedan. If I had been born among the Hindoos, I might have been a +Buddhist--I can't tell. If I had been raised in Scotland, on oat meal, +I might have been a Covenanter--nobody knows. If I had lived in Ireland, +and seen my poor wife and children driven into the street, I think I +might have been a Home Ruler--no doubt of it. You see it depends on +where you were born--much depends on our surroundings. + +Of course, there are men born in Turkey who are not Mohammedans, and +there are men born in this country who are not Christians--Methodists, +Unitarians, or Catholics, plenty of them, who are unbelievers--plenty +of them who deny the truth of the Scriptures--plenty of them who say: +"I know not whether there be a God or not." Well, it is a thousand times +better to say that honestly than to say dishonestly that you believe in +God. + +If you want to know the opinion of your neighbor, you want his honest +opinion. You do not want to be deceived. You do not want to talk with a +hypocrite. You want to get straight at his honest mind--and then you are +going to judge him, not by what he says but by what he does. It is very +easy to sail along with the majority--easy to sail the way the boats are +going--easy to float with the stream; but when you come to swim against +the tide, with the men on the shore throwing rocks at you, you will get +a good deal of exercise in this world. + +And do you know that we ought to feel under the greatest obligation to +men who have fought the prevailing notions of their day? There is not a +Presbyterian in Morristown that does not hold up for admiration the +man that carried the flag of the Presbyterians when they were in the +minority--not one. There is not a Methodist in this state who does not +admire John and Charles Wesley and Whitefield, who carried the banner +of that new and despised sect when it was in the minority. They glory +in them because they braved public opinion, because they dared to oppose +idiotic, barbarous and savage statutes like this. And there is not a +Universalist that does not worship dear old Hosea Ballon--I love him +myself--because he said to the Presbyterian minister: "You are going +around trying to keep people out of hell, and I am going around trying +to keep hell out of the people." Every Universalist admires him and +loves him because when despised and railed at and spit upon, he stood +firm, a patient witness for the eternal mercy of God. And there is not a +solitary Protestant who does not honor Martin Luther--who does not honor +the Covenanters in poor Scotland, and that poor girl who was tied out +on the sand of the sea by Episcopalians, and kept there till the rising +tide drowned her, and all she had to do to save her life was to say, +"God save the king;" but she would not say it without the addition +of the words, "If it be God's will." No one, who is not a miserable, +contemptible wretch, can fail to stand in admiration before such +courage, such self-denial--such heroism. No matter what the attitude of +your body may be, your soul falls on its knees before such men and such +women. + +Let us take another step. Where would we have been if authority had +always triumphed? Where would we have been if such statutes had always +been carried out? We have now a science called Astronomy. That science +has done more to enlarge the horizon of human thought than all things +else. We now live in an infinite universe. We know that the sun is a +million times larger than our earth, and we know that there are other +great luminaries millions of times larger than our sun. We know that +there are planets so far away that light, traveling at the rate of +one hundred and eighty-five thousand miles a second, requires fifteen +thousand years to reach this grain of sand, this tear, we call the +earth--and we now know that all the fields of space are sown thick with +constellations. If that statute had been enforced, that Science would +not now be the property of the human mind. That Science is contrary to +the bible, and for asserting the truth you become a criminal. For +what sum of money, for what amount of wealth, would the world have the +science of Astronomy expunged from the brain of man? We learned the +story of the stars in spite of that statute. + +The first men who said the world was round were scourged for scoffing at +the Scriptures. And even Martin Luther, speaking of one of the greatest +men that ever lived, said: "Does he think with his little lever to +overturn the Universe of God?" Martin Luther insisted that such men +ought to be trampled under foot. If that statute had been carried into +effect, Galileo would have been impossible. Kepler, the discoverer of +the three laws, would have died with the great secret locked in his +brain, and mankind would have been left ignorant, superstitious, and +besotted. And what else? If that statute had been carried out, the +world would have been deprived of the philosophy of Spinoza; of the +philosophy, of the literature, of the wit and wisdom, the justice and +mercy of Voltaire, the greatest Frenchman that ever drew the breath of +life--the man who by his mighty pen abolished torture in a nation, and +helped to civilize a world. + +If that statute had been enforced, nearly all the books that enrich the +libraries of the world could not have been written. If that statute had +been enforced, Humboldt could not have delivered the lectures now known +as "The Cosmos." If that statute had been enforced, Charles Darwin would +not have been allowed to give to the world his discoveries that have +been of more benefit to mankind than all the sermons ever uttered. In +England they have placed his sacred dust in the great Abbey. If he had +lived in New Jersey, and this statute could have been enforced, he would +have lived one year at least in your penitentiary. Why? That man went +so far as not simply to deny the truth of your bible, but absolutely +to deny the existence of your God. Was he a good man? Yes, one of the +noblest and greatest of men. Humboldt, the greatest German who ever +lived, was of the same opinion. + +And so I might go on with the great men of to-day. Who are the men +who are leading the race upward and shedding light in the intellectual +world? They are the men declared by that statute to be criminals. Mr. +Spencer could not publish his books in the State of New Jersey. He would +be arrested, tried, and imprisoned; and yet that man has added to the +intellectual wealth of the world. + +So with Huxley, so with Tyndal, so with Helmholz--so with the greatest +thinkers and greatest writers of modern times. + +You may not agree with these men--and what does that prove? It simply +proves that they do not agree with you--that is all. Who is to blame? +I do not know. They may be wrong, and you may be right; but if they had +the power, and put you in the penitentiary simply because you differed +with them, they would be savages; and if you have the power and imprison +men because they differ from you, why then, of course, you are savages. + +No; I believe in intellectual hospitality. I love men that have a little +horizon to their minds--a little sky, a little scope. I hate anything +that is narrow and pinched and withered and mean and crawling, and that +is willing to live on dust. I believe in creating such an atmosphere +that things will burst into blossom. I believe in good will, good +health, good fellowship, good feeling--and if there is any God on the +earth, or in heaven, let us hope that he will be generous and grand. Do +you not see what the effect will be? I am not cursing you because you +are a Methodist, and not damning you because you are a Catholic, or +because you are an Infidel--a good man is more; than all of these. The +grandest of all things is to be in the highest and noblest sense a man. + +Now let us see the frightful things that this man, the defendant in this +case, has done. Let me read the charges against him as set out in this +indictment. + +I shall insist that this statute does not cover any publication--that +it covers simply speech--not in writing, not in book or pamphlet. Let us +see: + +"This bible describes God as so loving that he drowned the whole world +in his mad fury." + +Well, the great question about that is, is it true? Does the bible +describe God as having drowned the whole world with the exception of +eight people? Does it, or does it not? I do not know whether there is +anybody in this county who has really read the bible, but I believe the +story of the flood is there. It does say that God destroyed all flesh, +and that he did so because he was angry. He says so himself, if the +bible be true. + +The defendant has simply repeated what is in the bible. The bible says +that God is loving, and says that he drowned the world, and that he was +angry. Is it blasphemy to quote from the "Sacred Scriptures?" + +"_Because it was so much worse than he, knowing all things, ever +supposed it could be._"-- + +Well, the bible does say that he repented having made man. Now is +there any blasphemy in saying that the bible is true? That is the only +question. It is a fact that God, according to the bible, did drown +nearly everybody. If God knows all things, he must have known at the +time he made them that he was going to drown them. Is it likely that +a being of infinite wisdom would deliberately do what he knew he must +undo? Is it blasphemy to ask that question? Have you a right to think +about it at all? If you have, you have the right to tell somebody what +you think--if not, you have no right to discuss it, no right to think +about it. All you have to do is to read it and believe it--to open your +mouth like a young robin, and swallow--worms or shingle nails--no matter +which. + +The defendant further blasphemed and said that:-- + +"_An all-wise, unchangeable God, who got out of patience with a world +which was just what his own stupid blundering had made it, knew no +better way out of the muddle than to destroy it by drowning!_" + +Is that true? Was not the world exactly as God made it? Certainly. Did +he not, if the bible is true, drown the people? He did. Did he know he +would drown them when he made them? He did. Did he know they ought to +be drowned when they were made? He did. Where, then, is the blasphemy +in saying so? There is not a minister in this world who could explain +it--who would be permitted to explain it--under this statute. And yet +you would arrest this man and put him in the penitentiary. But after you +lock him in the cell, there remains the question still. Is it possible +that a good and wise God, knowing that he was going to drown them, made +millions of people? What did he make them for? I do not know. I do not +pretend to be wise enough to answer that question. Of course, you cannot +answer the question. Is there anything blasphemous in that? Would it +be blasphemy in me to say I do not believe that any God ever made men, +women and children--mothers, with babes clasped to their breasts, and +then sent a flood to fill the world with death? + +A rain lasting for forty days--the water rising hour by hour, and the +poor wretched children of God climbing to the tops of their houses--then +to the tops of the hills. The water still rising--no mercy. The people +climbing higher and higher, looking to the mountains for salvation--the +merciless rain still falling, the inexorable flood still rising. +Children falling from the arms of mothers--no pity. The highest hills +covered--infancy and old age mingling in death--the cries of women, the +sobs and sighs lost in the roar of waves--the heavens still relentless. +The mountains are covered--a shoreless sea rolls round the world, and on +its billows are billions of corpses. + +This is the greatest crime that man has imagined, and this crime is +called a deed of infinite mercy. + +Do you believe that? I do not believe one word of it, and I have the +right to say to all the world that this is false. + +If there be a good God, the story is not true. If there be a wise +God, the story is not true. Ought an honest man to be sent to the +penitentiary for simply telling the truth? + +Suppose we had a statute that whoever scoffed at Science--whoever +by profane language should bring the Rule of Three into contempt, or +whoever should attack the proposition that two parallel lines will never +include a space, should be sent to the penitentiary--what would you +think of it? It would be just as wise and just as idiotic as this. + +And what else says the defendant? + +"_The bible-God says that his people made him jealous" "Provoked him to +anger._" + +Is that true? It is. If it is true, is it blasphemous? + +Let us read another line-- + +"_And now he will raise the mischief with them; that his anger burns +like hell_." + +That is true. The bible says of God--"My anger burns to the lowest +hell." And that is all that the defendant says. Every word of it is +in the bible. He simply does not believe it--and for that reason is a +"blasphemer." + +I say to you now, gentlemen,--and I shall argue to the Court,--that +there is not in what I have read a solitary blasphemous word--not a word +that has not been said in hundreds of pulpits in the Christian world. +Theodore Parker, a Unitarian, speaking of this bible-God, said: "Vishnu +with a necklace of skulls, Vishnu with bracelets of living, hissing +serpents, is a figure of Love and Mercy compared to the God of the Old +Testament." That, we might call "blasphemy," but not what I have read. + +Let us read on:-- + +"_He would destroy them all were it not that he feared the wrath of the +enemy_." + +That is in the bible--word for word. Then the defendant in astonishment +says: + +"_The Almighty God afraid of his enemies!_" + +That is what the bible says. What does it mean? If the bible is true, +God was afraid. + +"_Can the mind conceive of more horrid blasphemy?_" + +Is not that true? If God be infinitely good and wise and powerful, is +it possible he is afraid of anything? If the defendant had said that God +was afraid of his enemies, that might have been blasphemy--but this man +says the bible says that, and you are asked to say that it is blasphemy. +Now, up to this point there is no blasphemy, even if you were to enforce +this infamous statute--this savage law. + +"_The Old Testament records for our instruction in morals the most foul +and bestial instances of fornication, incest, and polygamy, perpetrated +by God's own saints, and the New Testament indorses these lecherous +wretches as examples for all good Christians to follow_." + +Now is it not a fact that the Old Testament does uphold polygamy? +Abraham would have gotten into trouble in New Jersey--no doubt of that. +Sarah could have obtained a divorce in this state,--no doubt of that. +What is the use of telling a falsehood about it? Let us tell the truth +about the patriarchs. + +Everybody knows that the same is true of Moses. We have all heard of +Solomon--a gentleman with five or six hundred wives, and three or four +hundred other ladies with whom he was acquainted. This is simply what +the defendant says. Is there any blasphemy about that? It is only the +truth. If Solomon were living in the United States to-day, we would put +him in the penitentiary. You know that under the Edmunds' Mormon law +he would be locked up. If you should present a petition signed by his +eleven hundred wives, you could not get him out. + +So it was with David. There are some splendid things about David, of +course. I admit that, and pay my tribute of respect to his courage--but +he happened to have ten or twelve wives too many, so he shut them up, +put them in a kind of penitentiary and kept them there till they died. +That would not be considered good conduct even in Morristown. You know +that. Is it any harm to speak of it? There are plenty of ministers here +to set it right--thousands of them all over the country, every one with +his chance to talk all day Sunday and nobody to say a word back. The pew +cannot reply to the pulpit, you know; it has just to sit there and +take it. If there is any harm in this, if it is not true, they ought to +answer it. But it is here, and the only answer is an indictment. + +I say that Lot was a bad man. So I say of Abraham, and of Jacob. Did you +ever know of a more despicable fraud practiced by one brother on another +than Jacob practiced on Esau? My sympathies have always been with Esau. +He seemed to be a manly man. Is it blasphemy to say that you do not like +a hypocrite, a murderer, or a thief, because his name is in the bible? +How do you know what such men are mentioned for? May be they are +mentioned as examples, and you certainly ought not to be led away and +induced to imagine that a man with seven hundred wives is a pattern +of domestic propriety, one to be followed by yourself and your sons. I +might go on and mention the names of hundreds of others who committed +every conceivable crime, in the name of religion--who declared war, and +on the field of battle killed men, women and babes, even children yet +unborn, in the name of the most merciful God. The Bible is filled with +the names and crimes of these sacred savages, these inspired beasts. Any +man who says that a God of love commanded the commission of these crimes +is, to say the least of it, mistaken. If there be a God, then it is +blasphemous to charge him with the commission of crime. But let us read +further from this indictment: "The aforesaid printed document contains +other scandalous, infamous and blasphemous matters and things to +the tenor and effect following, that is to say,"--Then comes this +particularly blasphemous line: "_Now, reader, take time and calmly think +it over_." Gentlemen, there are many things I have read that I should +not have expressed in exactly the same language used by the defendant, +and many things that I am going to read I might not have said at all, +but the defendant had the right to say every word with which he is +charged in this indictment. He had the right to give his honest thought, +no matter whether any human being agreed with what he said or not, and +no matter whether any other man approved of the manner in which he said +these things. I defend his right to speak, whether I believe in what he +spoke or not, or in the propriety of saying what he did. I should defend +a man just as cheerfully who had spoken against my doctrine, as one who +had spoken against the popular superstitions of my time. It would +make no difference to me how unjust the attack was upon my belief--how +maliciously ingenious; and no matter how sacred the conviction that +was attacked, I would defend the freedom of speech. And why? Because no +attack can be answered by force, no argument can be refuted by a blow, +or by imprisonment, or by fine. You may imprison the man, but the +argument is free; you may fell the man to the earth, but the statement +stands. + +The defendant in this case has attacked certain beliefs, thought by the +Christian world to be sacred. Yet, after all, nothing is sacred but the +truth, and by truth I mean what a man sincerely and honestly believes. +The defendant says: + +"_Take time to calmly think it over: Was a Jewish girl the mother of +God, the mother of your God?_" + +The defendant probably asked this question supposing that it must +be answered by all sensible people in the negative. If the Christian +religion is true, then a Jewish girl was the mother of Almighty God. +Personally, if the doctrine is true, I have no fault to find with the +statement that a Jewish maiden was the mother of God.--Millions believe +that this is true--I do not believe,--but who knows? If a God came from +the throne of the universe, came to this world and became the child of +a pure and loving woman, it would not lessen, in my eyes, the dignity or +the greatness of that God. + +There is no more perfect picture on the earth, or within the imagination +of man, than a mother holding in her thrilled and happy arms a child, +the fruit of love. + +No matter how the statement is made, the fact remains the same. A Jewish +girl became the mother of God. If the bible is true, that is true, and +to repeat it, even according to your law, is not blasphemous, and to +doubt it, or to express the doubt, or to deny it, is not contrary to +your Constitution. + +To this defendant it seemed improbable that God was ever born of woman, +was ever held in the lap of a mother; and because he cannot believe +this, he is charged with blasphemy. Could you pour contempt on +Shakespeare by saying that his mother was a woman,--by saying that he +was once a poor crying little helpless child? Of course he was; and +he afterwards became the greatest human being that ever touched the +earth,--the only man whose intellectual wings have reached from sky to +sky; and he was once a crying babe. What of it? Does that cast any scorn +or contempt upon him? Does this take any of the music from "Midsummer +Night's Dream"?--any of the passionate wealth from "Antony and +Cleopatra," any philosophy from "Macbeth," any intellectual grandeur +from "King Lear"? On the contrary, these great productions of the brain +show the growth of the dimpled babe, give every mother a splendid +dream and hope for her child, and cover every cradle with a sublime +possibility. + +The defendant is also charged with having said that "_God cried and +screamed._" + +Why not? If he was absolutely a child, he was like other children,--like +yours, like mine. I have seen the time, when absent from home, that I +would have given more to have heard my children cry, than to have heard +the finest orchestra that ever made the air burst into flower. What if +God did cry? It simply shows that his humanity was real and not assumed, +that it was a tragedy, real, and not a poor pretense. And the defendant +also says that if the orthodox religion be true, that the "_God of the +Universe kicked, and flung about his little arms, and made aimless +dashes into space with his little fists_." + +Is there anything in this that is blasphemous? One of the best pictures +I ever saw of the Virgin and Child was painted by the Spaniard, Murillo. +Christ appears to be a truly natural, chubby, happy babe. Such a +picture takes nothing from the majesty, the beauty, or the glory of the +incarnation. + +I think it is the best thing about the Catholic Church that it lifts +up for adoration and admiration, a mother,--that it pays what it calls +"Divine honors" to a woman. There is certainly goodness in that, and +where a Church has so few practices that are good, I am willing to point +this one out. It is the one redeeming feature about Catholicism that it +teaches the worship of a woman. + +The defendant says more about the childhood of Christ. He goes so far as +to say, that + +"_He was found staring foolishly at his own little toes._" + +And why not? The bible says, that "he increased in wisdom and stature." +The defendant might have referred to something far more improbable. In +the same verse in which St. Luke says that Jesus increased in wisdom and +stature, will be found the assertion that he increased in favor with God +and man. The defendant might have asked how it was that the love of God +for God increased. + +But the defendant has simply stated that the child Jesus grew, as other +children grow; that he acted like other children, and if he did, it is +more than probable that he did stare at his own toes. I have laughed +many a time to see little children astonished with the sight of their +feet. They seem to wonder what on earth puts the little toes in motion. +Certainly there is nothing blasphemous in supposing that the feet of +Christ amused him, precisely as the feet of other children have amused +them. There is nothing blasphemous about this; on the contrary, it is +beautiful. If I believed in the existence of God, the creator of this +world, the being who, with the hand of infinity, sowed the fields of +space with stars, as a farmer sows his grain, I should like to think +of him as a little dimpled babe, overflowing with joy, sitting upon the +knees of a loving mother. The ministers, themselves, might take a lesson +even from the man who is charged with blasphemy, and make an effort to +bring an infinite God a little nearer to the human heart. + +The defendant also says, speaking of the infant Christ, "He was nursed +at Mary's breast." + +Yes, and if the story be true, that is the tenderest fact in it. Nursed +at the breast of woman. No painting, no statue, no words can make a +deeper and a tenderer impression upon the heart of man than this: The +Infinite God, a babe, nursed at the holy breast of woman. + +You see these things do not strike all people the same. To a man +that has been raised on the Orthodox desert, these things are +incomprehensible. He has been robbed of his humanity. He has no humor, +nothing but the stupid and the solemn. His fancy sits with folded wings. + +Imagination, like the atmosphere of Spring, woes every seed of earth +to seek the blue of heaven, and whispers of bud and flower and fruit. +Imagination gathers from every field of thought and pours the wealth +of many lives into the lap of one. To the contracted, to the cast-iron +people who believe in heartless and inhuman creeds, the words of the +defendant seem blasphemous, and to them the thought that God was a +little child is monstrous. + +They cannot bear to hear it said that he nursed at the breast of a +maiden, that he was wrapped in swaddling clothes, that he had the joys +and sorrows of other babes. I hope, gentlemen, that not only you, +but the attorneys for the prosecution, have read what is known as the +"Apocryphal New Testament," books that were once considered inspired, +once admitted to be genuine, and that once formed a part of our New +Testament. I hope you have read the books of Joseph and Mary, of the +Shepherd of Hermes, of the Infancy and of Mary, in which many of the +things done by the youthful Christ are described--books that were once +the delight of the Christian world; books that gave joy to children, +because in them they read that Christ made little birds of clay, that +would at his command stretch out their wings and fly with joy above his +head. If the defendant in this case had said anything like that, here +in the State of New Jersey, he would have been indicted; the Orthodox +Ministers would have shouted "blasphemy," and yet, these little stories +made the name of Christ dearer to children. + +The Church of to-day lacks sympathy; the theologians are without +affection. After all, sympathy is genius. A man who really sympathizes +with another understands him. A man who sympathizes with a religion +instantly sees the good that is in it, and the man who sympathizes with +the right, sees the evil that a creed contains. + +But the defendant, still speaking of the infant Christ, is charged with +having said, + +"_God smiled when he was comfortable. He lay in a cradle and was rocked +to sleep_." + +Yes, and there is no more beautiful picture than that Let some great +religious genius paint a picture of this kind--of a babe smiling with +content, rocked in the cradle by the mother who bends tenderly and +proudly above him. There could be no more beautiful, no more touching, +picture than this. What would I not give for a picture of Shakespeare as +a babe,--a picture that was a likeness,--rocked by his mother? I would +give more for this than for any painting that now enriches the walls of +the world. + +The defendant also says, that + +"_God was sick when cutting his teeth_." + +And what of that? We are told that he was tempted in all points, as we +are. That is to say, he was afflicted, he was hungry, he was thirsty, +he suffered the pains and miseries common to man. Otherwise, he was not +flesh, he was not human. + +"_He caught the measles, the mumps, the scarlet fever and the whooping +cough_." + +Certainly he was liable to have these diseases, for he was, in fact, +a child. Other children have them. Other children, loved as dearly by +their mothers as Christ could have been by his, and yet they are taken +from the little family by fever; taken, it may be, and buried in the +snow, while the poor mother goes sadly home, wishing that she was lying +by its side. All that can be said of every word in this address, about +Christ and about his childhood, amounts to this; that he lived the +life of a child; that he acted like other children. I have read you +substantially what he has said, and this is considered blasphemous. + +He has said, that-- + +"_According to the Old Testament, the God of the Christian world +commanded people to destroy each other._" + +If the bible is true, then the statement of the defendant is true. Is it +calculated to bring God into contempt to deny that he upheld polygamy, +that he ever commanded one of his generals to rip open with the sword +of war, the woman with child? Is it blasphemy to deny that a God of +infinite love gave such commandments? Is such a denial calculated to +pour contempt and scorn upon the God of the Orthodox? Is it blasphemous +to deny that God commanded his children to murder each other? Is it +blasphemous to say that he was benevolent, merciful and just? + +It is impossible to say that the bible is true and that God is good. +I do not believe that a God made this world, filled it with people and +then drowned them. I do not believe that infinite wisdom ever made a +mistake. If there be any God he was too good to commit such an infinite +crime, too wise to make such a mistake. Is this blasphemy? Is it +blasphemy to say that Solomon was not a virtuous man, or that David was +an adulterer? + +Must we say when this ancient king had one of his best generals placed +in the front of the battle--deserted him and had him murdered for the +purpose of stealing his wife, that he was "a man after God's own heart"? +Suppose the defendant in this case were guilty of something like that? +Uriah was fighting for his country, fighting the battles of David, the +king. David wanted to take from him his wife. He sent for Joab, his +commander in chief, and said to him: + +"Make a feint to attack a town. Put Uriah at the front of the attacking +force and when the people sally forth from the town to defend its gate, +fall back so that this gallant, noble, patriotic man may be slain." + +This was done and the widow was stolen by the king. Is it blasphemy to +tell the truth and to say exactly what David was? Let us be honest with +each other; let us be honest with this defendant. + +For thousands of years men have taught that the ancient patriarchs were +sacred, that they were far better than the men of modern times that +what was in them a virtue, is in us a crime. Children are taught in +Sunday-schools to admire and respect these criminals of the ancient +days. The time has come to tell the truth about these men, to call +things by their proper names, and above all, to stand by the right, by +the truth, by mercy and by justice. If what the defendant has said is +blasphemy under this statute then the question arises, is the statute in +accordance with the Constitution? If this statute is constitutional, why +has it been allowed to sleep for all these years? I take this position: +Any law made for the preservation of a human right, made to guard a +human being, cannot sleep long enough to die; but any law that deprives +a human being of a natural right--if that law goes to sleep, it never +wakes, it sleeps the sleep of death. + +I call the attention of the Court to that remarkable case in England +where, only a few years ago, a man appealed to trial by battle. The law +allowing trial by battle had been asleep in the statute book of England +for more than two hundred years, and yet the Court held that, in spite +of the fact that the law had been asleep--it being a law in favor of a +defendant--he was entitled to trial by battle. And why? Because it was +a statute at the time made in defence of a human right, and that statute +could not sleep long enough or soundly enough to die. In consequence +of this decision, the Parliament of England passed a special act, doing +away forever with the trial by battle. + +When a statute attacks an individual right the State must never let it +sleep. When it attacks the right of the public at large and is allowed +to pass into a state of slumber, it cannot be raised for the purpose of +punishing an individual. + +Now gentlemen, a few words more. I take an almost infinite interest in +this trial, and before you decide, I am exceedingly anxious that you +should understand with clearness the thoughts I have expressed upon this +subject. I want you to know how the civilized feel, and the position now +taken by the leaders of the world. + +A few years ago almost everything spoken against the grossest possible +superstition was considered blasphemous. The altar hedged itself about +with the sword; the Priest went in partnership with the King. In those +days statutes were leveled against all human speech. Men were convicted +of blasphemy because they believed in an actual personal God; because +they insisted that God had body and parts. Men were convicted of +blasphemy because they denied that God had form. They have been +imprisoned for denying the doctrine of tran-substantiation, and they +have been torn in pieces for defending that doctrine. There are but few +dogmas now believed by any Christian church that have not at some time +been denounced as blasphemous. + +When Henry the VIII. put himself at the head of the Episcopal church a +creed was made, and in that creed there were five dogmas that must, +of necessity, be believed. Anybody who denied any one, was to be +punished--for the first offence, with fine, with imprisonment, or +branding, and for the second offence, with death. Not one of these five +dogmas is now a part of the creed of the Church of England. + +So I could go on for days and weeks and months, showing that hundreds +and hundreds of religious dogmas, to deny which was death, have been +either changed or abandoned for others nearly as absurd as the old ones +were. It may be, however, sufficient to say, that where-ever the Church +has had power it has been a crime for any man to speak his honest +thought. No Church has ever been willing that any opponent should give +a transcript of his mind. Every Church in power has appealed to brute +force, to the sword, for the purpose of sustaining its creed. Not one +has had the courage to occupy the open field: The Church has not been +satisfied with calling infidels and unbelievers blasphemers. Each Church +has accused nearly every other Church of being a blasphemer. Every +pioneer has been branded as a criminal. The Catholics called Martin +Luther a blasphemer, and Martin Luther called Copernicus a blasphemer. +Pious ignorance always regards intelligence as a kind of blasphemy. Some +of the greatest men of the world, some of the best, have been put to +death for the crime of blasphemy, that is to say, for the crime of +endeavoring to benefit their fellow men. + +As long as the Church has the power to close the lips of men, so long +and no longer will superstition rule this world. + +Blasphemy is the word that the majority hisses into the ear of the few. + +After every argument of the Church has been answered, has been refuted, +then the Church cries, "blasphemy!" + +Blasphemy is what an old mistake says of a newly discovered truth. + +Blasphemy is what a withered last year's leaf says of this year's bud. + +Blasphemy is the bulwark of religious prejudice. + +Blasphemy is the breastplate of the heartless. And let me say now, that +the crime of blasphemy set out in this statute, is impossible. No man +can blaspheme a book. No man can commit blasphemy telling his honest +thought. No man can blaspheme God, or a Holy Ghost, or a Son of God. The +Infinite cannot be blasphemed. + +In the olden time, in the days of savagery and superstition, when some +poor man was struck by lightning, when a blackened mark was left on +the breast of and mother, the poor savage supposed that son angered +by something he had done, had taken revenge. What else did the savage +suppose? He believed that this God had the same feelings, with to the +loyalty of his subjects, that an earthly chief or an earthly king with +regard to the loyalty or tread of members of his tribe, or citizens +of his kingdom the savage said, when his country was visited by a +calamity, when the flood swept the people away, or the storm scattered +their poor houses in fragments: "We have allowed some freethinker to +live; some one is in our town or village who has not brought his gift +to the priest, his incense to the altar; some man of our tribe or of our +country does not respect our God." Then, for the purpose of appeasing +the supposed God, for the purpose of winning a smile from Heaven, for +the purpose of securing a little sunlight for their fields and homes, +they drag the accused man from his home, from his wife and children, and +with all the ceremonies of pious brutality, shed his blood. They did it +in self-defense; they believed that they were saving their own lives +and the lives of their children; they did it to appease their God. Most +people are now beyond that point. Now, when disease visits a community, +the intelligent do not say the disease came because the people were +wicked; when the cholera comes, it is not because of the Methodists, of +the Catholics, of the Presbyterians, or of the infidels. When the wind +destroys a town in the far West, it is not because somebody there had +spoken his honest thoughts. We are beginning to see that the wind +blows and destroys without the slightest reference to man, without the +slightest care whether it destroys the good or the bad, the irreligious +or the religious. When the lightning leaps from the clouds it is just as +likely to strike a good man as a bad man, and when the great serpents of +flame climb around the houses of men, they burn just as gladly and just +as joyously, the home of virtue, as they do the den and lair of vice. + +Then the reason for all these laws has failed. The laws were made on +account of a superstition. That superstition has faded from the minds +of intelligent men and, as a consequence, the laws based on the +superstition ought to fail. + +There is one splendid thing in nature, and that is that men and nations +must reap the consequences of their acts--reap them in this world, if +they live, and in another, if there be one. That man who leaves this +world a bad man, a malicious man, will probably be the same man when +he reaches another realm, and the man who leaves this shore good, +charitable and honest, will be good, charitable and honest, no matter +on what star he lives again. The world is growing sensible upon these +subjects, and as we grow sensible, we grow charitable. + +Another reason has been given for these laws against blasphemy, the most +absurd reason that can by any possibility be given. It is this. There +should be laws against blasphemy, because the man who utters blasphemy +endangers the public peace. + +Is it possible that Christians will break the peace? Is it possible +that they will violate the law? Is it probable that Christians will +congregate together and make a mob, simply because a man has given an +opinion against their religion? What is their religion? They say, "If +a man smites you on one cheek, turn the other also." They say, "We must +love our neighbors as we love ourselves." Is it possible then, that you +can make a mob out of Christians,--that these men, who love even their +enemies, will attack others, and will destroy life, in the name of +universal love? And yet, Christians themselves say that there ought to +be laws against blasphemy, for fear that Christians, who are controlled +by universal love, will become so outraged, when they hear an honest man +express an honest thought, that they will leap upon him and tear him in +pieces. + +What is blasphemy? I will give you a definition; I will give you my +thought upon this subject. What is real blasphemy? + +To live on the unpaid labor of other men--that is blasphemy. + +To enslave your fellow-man, to put chains upon his body--that is +blasphemy. + +To enslave the minds of men, to put manacles upon the brain, padlocks +upon the lips--that is blasphemy. + +To deny what you believe to be true, to admit to be true what you +believe to be a lie--that is blasphemy. + +To strike the weak and unprotected, in order that you may gain the +applause of the ignorant and superstitious mob--that is blasphemy. + +To persecute the intelligent few, at the command of the ignorant +many--that is blasphemy. + +To forge chains, to build dungeons, for your honest fellow-men--that is +blasphemy. + +To pollute the souls of children with the dogma of eternal pain--that is +blasphemy. + +To violate your conscience--that is blasphemy. + +The jury that gives an unjust verdict, and the Judge who pronounces an +unjust sentence, are blasphemers. + +The man who bows to public opinion against his better judgment and +against his honest conviction, is a blasphemer. + +Why should we fear our fellow-men? Why should not each human being have +the right, so far as thought and its expression are concerned, of all +the world? What harm can come from an honest interchange of thought? + +I have been giving you my real ideas. I have spoken freely, and yet +the sun rose this morning, just the same as it always has. There is no +particular change visible in the world, and I do not see but that we are +all as happy to-day as though we had spent yesterday in making somebody +else miserable. I denounced on yesterday the superstitions of the +Christian world, and yet, last night I slept the sleep of peace. You +will pardon me for saying again that I feel the greatest possible +interest in the result of this trial, in the principle at stake. This is +my only apology, my only excuse for taking your time. For years I +have felt that the great battle for human liberty, the battle that has +covered thousands of fields with heroic dead, had finally-been won. When +I read the history of this world, of what has been endured, of what has +been suffered, of the heroism and infinite courage of the intellectual +and honest few, battling with the countless serfs and slaves of kings +and priests, of tyranny, of hypocrisy, of ignorance and prejudice, of +faith and fear, there was in my heart the hope that the great battle had +been fought, and that the human race, in its march towards the dawn, had +passed midnight, and that the "great balance weighed up morning." This +hope, this feeling, gave me the greatest possible joy. When I thought +of the many who had been burnt, of how often the sons of liberty had +perished in ashes, of how many of the noblest and greatest had stood +upon scaffolds, and of the countless hearts, the grandest that ever +throbbed in human breasts, that had been broken by the tyranny of Church +and State, of how many of the noble and loving had sighed themselves +away in dungeons, the only consolation was that the last Bastile had +fallen, that the dungeons of the Inquisition had been torn down and that +the scaffolds of the world could no longer be wet with heroic blood. + +You know that sometimes, after a great battle has been fought, and one +of the armies has been broken, and its fortifications carried, there +are occasional stragglers beyond the great field, stragglers who know +nothing of the fate of their army, know nothing of the victory, and for +that reason, fight on. There are a few such stragglers in the State of +New Jersey. They have never heard of the great victory. They do not know +that in all civilized countries the hosts of superstition have been put +to flight. They do not know that freethinkers, infidels, are to-day the +leaders of the intellectual armies of the world. + +One of the last trials of this character, tried in Great Britain,--and +that is the country that our ancestors fought in the sacred name of +liberty,--one of the last trials in that country, a country ruled by a +State church, ruled by a woman who was born a queen, ruled by dukes and +nobles and lords, children of ancient robbers--was in the year 1843. +George Jacob Holyoake, one of the best of the human race, was imprisoned +on a charge of Atheism, charged with having written a pamphlet and +having made a speech in which he had denied the existence of the British +God. The Judge who tried him, who passed sentence upon him, went down +to his grave with a stain upon his intellect and upon his honor. All the +real intelligence of Great Britain rebelled against the outrage. There +was a trial after that to which I will call your attention. Judge +Coleridge, father of the present Chief Justice of England, presided at +this trial. A poor man by the name of Thomas Pooley, a man who dug wells +for a living, wrote on the gate of a priest that, if people would burn +their bibles and scatter the ashes on the lands, the crops would be +better, and that they would also save a good deal of money in tithes. He +wrote several sentences of a kindred character. He was a curious man. He +had an idea that the world was a living, breathing animal. He would not +dig a well beyond a certain depth for fear he might inflict pain upon +this animal, the earth. He was tried before Judge Coleridge, on that +charge. An infinite God was about to be dethroned, because an honest +well-digger had written his sentiments on the fence of a parson. He was +indicted, tried, convicted and sentenced to prison. Afterwards, many +intelligent people asked for his pardon, on the ground that he was in +danger of becoming insane. The Judge refused to sign the petition. The +pardon was refused. Long before his sentence expired, he became a raving +maniac. He was removed to an asylum and there died. Some of the greatest +men in England attacked that Judge, among these, Mr. Buckle, author of +"The History of Civilization in England," one of the greatest books in +this world. Mr. Buckle denounced Judge Coleridge. He brought him before +the bar of English opinion, and there was not a man in England, whose +opinion was worth anything, who did not agree with Mr. Buckle, and did +not with him, declare the conviction of Thomas Pooley to be an infamous +outrage. What were the reasons given? This, among others. The law was +dead; it had been asleep for many years; it was a law passed during the +ignorance of the Middle Ages, and aw that came out of the dungeons +of religious persecution; a law that was appealed to by bigots and by +hypocrites, to punish, to imprison an honest man. + +In many parts of this country people have entertained the idea that New +England was still filled with the spirit of Puritanism, filled with +the descendants of those who killed Quakers in the name of universal +benevolence, and traded Quaker children in the Barbadoes for rum, for +the purpose of establishing the fact that God is an infinite father. + +Yet, the last trial in Massachusetts on a charge like this, was when +Abner Kneeland was indicted on a charge of atheism. He was tried for +having written this sentence: "The Universalists believe in a God which +I do not." He was convicted and imprisoned. Chief Justice Shaw upheld +the decision, and upheld it because he was afraid of public opinion; +upheld it, although he must have known that the statute under which +Kneeland was indicted, was clearly and plainly in violation of the +Constitution. No man can read the decision of Justice Shaw without +being convinced that he was absolutely dominated, either by bigotry, +or hypocrisy. One of the Judges of that court, a noble man, wrote a +dissenting opinion, and in that dissenting opinion is the argument of +a civilized, of an enlightened jurist No man can answer the dissenting +opinion of Justice Morton. The case against Kneeland was tried more +than fifty years ago, and there has been none since in the New England +States; and this case, that we are now trying, is the first ever +tried in New Jersey. The fact that it is the first, certifies to my +interpretation of this statute, and it also certifies to the toleration +and to the civilization of the people of this State. The statute is +upon your books. You inherited it from your ignorant ancestors, and they +inherited it from their savage ancestors. The people of New Jersey were +heirs of the mistakes and of the atrocities of ancient England. + +It is too late to enforce a law like this. Why has it been allowed to +slumber? Who obtained this indictment? Were they actuated by good and +noble motives? + +Had they the public weal at heart, or were they simply endeavoring to be +revenged upon this defendant? Were they willing to disgrace the State, +in order that they might punish him? + +I have given you my definition of blasphemy, and now the question +arises, what is worship? Who is a worshipper? What is prayer? What is +real religion? Let me answer these questions. + +Good, honest, faithful work, is worship. The man who ploughs the fields +and fells the forests; the man who works in mines, the man who battles +with the winds and waves out on the wide sea, controlling the commerce +of the world; these men are worshippers. The man who goes into the +forest, leading his wife by the hand, who builds him a cabin, who makes +a home in the wilderness, who helps to people and civilize and cultivate +a continent, is a worshipper. + +Labor is the only prayer that Nature answers; it is the only prayer that +deserves an answer,--good, honest, noble work. + +A woman whose husband has gone down to the gutter, gone down to +degradation and filth; the woman who follows him and lifts him out of +the mire and presses him to her noble heart, until he becomes a man once +more, this woman is a worshipper. Her act is worship. + +The poor man and the poor woman who work night and day, in order that +they may give education to their children, so that they may have a +better life than their father and mother had; the parents who deny +themselves the comforts of life, that they may lay up something to help +their children to a higher place--they are worshippers; and the children +who, after they reap the benefit of this worship, become ashamed of +their parents, are blasphemers. + +The man who sits by the bed of his invalid wife,--a wife prematurely old +and gray,--the husband who sits by her bed and holds her thin, wan hand +in his as lovingly, and kisses it as rapturously, as passionately, as +when it was dimpled,--that is worship; that man is a worshipper; that is +real religion. + +Whoever increases the sum of human joy, is a worshipper. + +He who adds to the sum of human misery, is a blasphemer. + +Gentlemen, you can never make me believe--no statute can ever convince +me, that there is any infinite being in this universe who hates an +honest man. It is impossible to satisfy me that there is any God, or +can be any God, who holds in abhorrence a soul that has the courage to +express its thought. Neither can the whole world convince me that any +man should be punished, either in this world or the next, for being +candid with his fellow-men. If you send men to the penitentiary for +speaking their thoughts, for endeavoring to enlighten their fellows, +then the penitentiary will become a place of honor, and the victim will +step from it--not stained, not disgraced, but clad in robes of glory. + +Let us take one more step. + +What is holy? What is sacred? I reply that human happiness is holy, +human rights are holy. The body and soul of man--these are sacred. The +liberty of man is of far more importance than any book--the rights +of man, more sacred than any religion--than any Scriptures, whether +inspired or not. + +What we want is the truth, and does any one suppose that all of the +truth is confined in one book--that the mysteries of the whole world are +explained by one volume? + +All that is--all that conveys information to man--all that has been +produced by the past--all that now exists--should be considered by an +intelligent man. All the known truths of this world--all the philosophy, +all the poems, all the pictures, all the statues, all the entrancing +music--the prattle of babes, the lullaby of mothers, the words of honest +men, the trumpet calls to duty--all these make up the bible of the +world--everything that is noble and true and free, you will find in this +great book. + +If we wish to be true to ourselves,--if we wish to benefit our fellow +men--if we wish to live honorable lives--we will give to every other +human being every right that we claim for ourselves. + +There is another thing that should be remembered by you. You are the +judges of the law, as well as the judges of the facts. In a case like +this, you are the final judges as to what the law is; and if you acquit, +no Court can reverse your verdict. To prevent the least misconception, +let me state to you again what I claim: + +First. I claim that the Constitution of New Jersey declares that: + +"_The liberty of speech shall not be abridged._" + +Second. That this statute, under which this indictment is found, is +unconstitutional, because it does abridge the liberty of speech; it does +exactly that which the Constitution emphatically says shall not be done. + +Third. I claim, also, that under this law--even if it be +constitutional--the words charged in this indictment do not amount to +blasphemy, read even in the light, or rather in the darkness, of this +statute. + +Do not, I pray you, forget this point. Do not forget that, no matter +what the Court may tell you about the law--how good it is, or how bad +it is--no matter what the Court may instruct you on that subject--do not +forget one thing, and that is: that the words charged in the indictment +are the only words that you can take into consideration in this case. +Remember that, no matter what else may be in the pamphlet--no matter +what pictures or cartoons there may be of the gentlemen in Boonton who +mobbed this man in the name of universal liberty and love--do not forget +that you have no right to take one word into account except the exact +words set out in this indictment--that is to say, the words that I have +read to you. Upon this point the Court will instruct you that you have +nothing to do with any other line in that pamphlet; and I now claim, +that should the Court instruct you that the statute is constitutional, +still I insist that the words set put in this indictment do not amount +to blasphemy. + +There is still another point. This statute says: "whoever shall +_wilfully_ speak against." Now, in this case, you must find that the +defendant "wilfully" did so and so--that is to say, that he made the +statements attributed to him knowing that they were not true. If you +believe that he was honest in what he said, then this statute does not +touch him. Even under this statute, a man may give his honest opinion. +Certainly, there is no law that charges a man with "wilfully" being +honest--"wilfully" telling his real opinion--"wilfully" giving to his +fellow-men his thought. + +Where a man is charged with larceny, the indictment must set out that +he took the goods or the property with the intention to steal--with +what the law calls the _animus furandi_. If he took the goods with +the intention to steal, then he is a thief; but if he took the goods +believing them to be his own, then he is guilty of no offence. So in +this case, whatever was said by the defendant must have been "wilfully" +said. And I claim that if you believe that what the man said was +honestly said, you cannot find him guilty under this statute. + +One more point: This statute has been allowed to slumber so long, that +no man had the right to awaken it For more than one hundred years it has +slept; and so far as New Jersey is concerned, it has been sound asleep +since 1664. For the first time it is dug out of its grave. The breath of +life is sought to be breathed into it, to the end that some people may +wreak their vengeance on an honest man. + +Is there any evidence--has there been any--to show that the defendant +was not absolutely candid in the expression of his opinions? Is there +one particle of evidence tending to show that he is not a perfectly +honest and sincere man? Did the prosecution have the courage to +attack his reputation? No. The State has simply proved to you that he +circulated that pamphlet--that is all. + +It was claimed, among other things, that the defendant circulated this +pamphlet among children. There was no such evidence--not the slightest. +The only evidence about schools, or school-children was, that when the +defendant talked with the bill poster,--whose business the defendant was +interfering with,--he asked him something about the population of the +town, and about the schools. But according to the evidence, and as a +matter of fact, not a solitary pamphlet was ever given to any child, or +to any youth. According to the testimony, the defendant went into two or +three stores,--laid the pamphlets on a show case, or threw them upon a +desk--put them upon a stand where papers were sold, and in one instance +handed a pamphlet to a man. That is all. + +In my judgment, however, there would have been no harm in giving this +pamphlet to every citizen of your place. + +Again I say, that a law that has been allowed to sleep for all these +years--allowed to sleep by reason of the good sense and by reason of +the tolerant spirit of the State of New Jersey, should not be allowed +to leap into life because a few are intolerant, or because a few lacked +good sense and judgment. This snake should not be warmed into vicious +life by the blood of anger. + +Probably not a man on this jury agrees with me about the subject of +religion. Probably not a member of this jury thinks that I am right in +the opinions that I have entertained and have so often expressed. Most +of you belong to some Church, and I presume that those who do, have the +good of what they call Christianity at heart. There may be among you +some Methodists. If so, they have read the history of their Church, and +they know that when it was in the minority, it was persecuted, and they +know that they can not read the history of that persecution without +becoming indignant. They know that the early Methodists were denounced +as heretics, as ranters, as ignorant pretenders. + +There are also on this jury Catholics, and they know that there is a +tendency in many parts of this country to persecute a man now because he +is a Catholic. They also know that their Church has persecuted in +times past, whenever and wherever it had the power; and they know that +Protestants, when in power, have always persecuted Catholics; and they +know, in their hearts, that all persecution, whether in the name of law, +or religion, is monstrous, savage, and fiendish. + +I presume that each one of you has the good of what you call +Christianity at heart. If you have, I beg of you to acquit this man. If +you believe Christianity to be a good, it never can do any Church any +good to put a man in jail for the expression of opinion. Any church that +imprisons a man because he has used an argument against its creed, will +simply convince the world that it cannot answer the argument. + +Christianity will never reap any honor, will never reap any profit, +from persecution. It is a poor, cowardly, dastardly way of answering +arguments. No gentleman will do it--no civilized man ever did do it--no +decent human being ever did, or ever will. + +I take it for granted that you have a certain regard, a certain +affection, for the State in which you live--that you take a pride in the +Commonwealth of New Jersey. If you do, I beg of you to keep the record +of your State clean. Allow no verdict to be recorded against the freedom +of speech. At present there is not to be found on the records of any +inferior Court, or on those of the Supreme tribunal--any case in which a +man has been punished for speaking his sentiments. The records have not +been stained--have not been polluted,--with such a verdict. + +Keep such a verdict from the Reports of your State--from the Records of +your Courts. No jury has yet, in the State of New Jersey, decided that +the lips of honest men are not free--that there is a manacle upon the +brain. + +For the sake of your State--for the sake of her reputation through the +world--for your own sakes--for the sake of your children, and their +children yet to be--say to the world that New Jersey shares in the +spirit of this age,--that New Jersey is not a survival of the Dark +Ages,--that New Jersey does not still regard the thumb-screw as an +instrument of progress,--that New Jersey needs no dungeon to answer the +arguments of a free man, and does not send to the penitentiary men who +think, and men who speak. Say to the world, that where arguments are +without foundation, New Jersey has confidence enough in the brains of +her people to feel that such arguments can be refuted by reason. + +For the sake of your State, acquit this man. For the sake of something +of far more value to this world than New Jersey--for the sake of +something of more importance to mankind than this continent--for the +sake of Human Liberty, for the sake of Free Speech, acquit this man. + +What light is to the eyes, what love is to the heart, + +Liberty is to the soul of man. Without it, there come suffocation, +degradation and death. + +In the name of Liberty, I implore--and not only so, but I insist--that +you shall find a verdict in favor of this defendant. Do not do the +slightest thing to stay the march of human progress. Do not carry us +back, even for a moment, to the darkness of that cruel night that good +men hoped had passed away forever. + +Liberty is the condition of progress. Without Liberty, there remains +only barbarism. Without Liberty, there can be no civilization. + +If another man has not the right to think, you have not even the right +to think that he thinks wrong. If every man has not the right to think, +the people of New Jersey had no right to make a statute, or to adopt a +Constitution--no jury has the right to render a verdict, and no Court to +pass its sentence. + +In other words, without liberty of thought, no human being has the right +to form a judgment. It is impossible that there should be such a thing +as real religion, without liberty. Without liberty there can be no such +thing as conscience, no such word as justice. All human actions--all +good, all bad--have for a foundation the idea of human liberty, and +without Liberty there can be no vice, and there can be no virtue. + +Without Liberty there can be no worship, no blasphemy--no love, no +hatred, no justice, no progress. + +Take the word Liberty from human speech and all the other words become +poor, withered, meaningless sounds--but with that word realized--with +that word understood, the world becomes a paradise. + +Understand me. I am not blaming the people. I am not blaming the +prosecution, nor the prosecuting attorney. The officers of the Court +are simply doing what they feel to be their duty. They did not find the +indictment That was found by the grand jury. The grand jury did not find +the indictment of its own motion. Certain people came before the grand +jury and made their complaint--gave their testimony, and upon that +testimony, under this statute, the indictment was found. + +While I do not blame these people--they not being on trial--I do ask you +to stand on the side of right. + +I cannot conceive of much greater happiness than to discharge a public +duty, than to be absolutely true to conscience, true to judgment, no +matter what authority may say, no matter what public opinion may demand. +A man who stands by the right against the world cannot help applauding +himself, and saying: "I am an honest man." + +I want your verdict--a verdict born of manhood, of courage; and I want +to send a dispatch to-day to a woman who is lying sick. I wish you to +furnish the words of this dispatch--only two words--and these two words +will fill an anxious heart with joy. They will fill a soul with light. +It is a very short message--only two words--and I ask you to furnish +them: "Not guilty." + +You are expected to do this, because I believe you will be true to your +consciences, true to your best judgment true to the bests interests of +the people of New Jersey, true to the great cause of Liberty. + +I sincerely hope that it will never be necessary again, under the flag +of the United States--that flag for which has been shed the bravest and +best blood of the world--under that flag maintained by Washington, by +Jefferson, by Franklin and by Lincoln--under that flag in defence of +which New Jersey poured out her best and bravest blood--I hope it will +never be necessary again for a man to stand before a jury and plead for +the Liberty of Speech. + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Trial of C. B. Reynolds For Blasphemy, by +Robert G. 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