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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 20:11:11 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 20:11:11 -0700 |
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diff --git a/old/orig38804-h/images/portrait.jpg b/old/orig38804-h/images/portrait.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..36cec72 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/orig38804-h/images/portrait.jpg diff --git a/old/orig38804-h/images/titlepage.jpg b/old/orig38804-h/images/titlepage.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5f1bbeb --- /dev/null +++ b/old/orig38804-h/images/titlepage.jpg diff --git a/old/orig38804-h/main.htm b/old/orig38804-h/main.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c4efabd --- /dev/null +++ b/old/orig38804-h/main.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9759 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html lang="en" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content= +"text/html; charset=us-ascii" /> +<title>The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Volume 4 (of 12) by Robert +G. Ingersoll</title> + +<style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[*/ + <!-- + body { text-align:justify} + P { margin:15%; + margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + hr.full { width: 100%; } + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + .play { margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; text-align: justify; font-size: 100%; } + img {border: 0;} + blockquote {font-size: 97%; margin-left: 30%; margin-right: 20%;} + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 1%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: left; + color: gray; + } /* page numbers */ + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 10%; margin-left: 1%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; + margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 40%; margin-bottom: .75em; font-size: 110%;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 5%;} + .indent {font-style: italic; font-size: 100%; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + CENTER { padding: 10px;} + PRE { font-family: Times; font-style: italic; font-size: 100%; margin-left: 25%;} + --> +/*]]>*/ +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div style="height: 8em;"><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /></div> +<a name="title" id="title"></a> +<h1>THE WORKS OF ROBERT G. INGERSOLL</h1> +<br /> +<h2>By Robert G. Ingersoll</h2> +<br /> +<h3>"The Hands That Help Are Better Far Than Lips That Pray."</h3> +<br /> +<h4>In Twelve Volumes, Volume IV.</h4> +<br /> +<h2>LECTURES</h2> +<h3>1900</h3> +<br /> +<h3>THE DRESDEN EDITION</h3> +<br /> +<center><img alt="titlepage (63K)" src="images/titlepage.jpg" +height="1084" width="653" /></center> +<br /> +<br /> +<center><img alt="portrait (61K)" src="images/portrait.jpg" height= +"833" width="600" /></center> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h3>Contents</h3> +<p class="toc"><a href="#linkTOC">CONTENTS OF VOLUME IV.</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#link0001">WHY I AM AN AGNOSTIC.</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#link0002">THE TRUTH.</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#link0004">HOW TO REFORM MANKIND.</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#link0005">A THANKSGIVING SERMON.</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#link0006">A LAY SERMON.</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#link0007">THE FOUNDATIONS OF +FAITH.</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#link0008">SUPERSTITION.</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#link0009">THE DEVIL.</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#link0010">PROGRESS.</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#link0012">WHAT IS RELIGION?</a></p> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="linkTOC" id="linkTOC"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /></div> +<h2>CONTENTS OF VOLUME IV.</h2> +<blockquote> +<p class="toc"><a href="#link0001">WHY I AM AN AGNOSTIC.</a></p> +<br /> +(1896.)<br /> +I. Influence of Birth in determining Religious Belief—Scotch, +Irish,<br /> +English, and Americans Inherit their Faith—Religions of +Nations<br /> +not Suddenly Changed—People who Knew—What they were +Certain<br /> +About—Revivals—Character of Sermons +Preached—Effect of Conversion—A<br /> +Vermont Farmer for whom Perdition had no Terrors—The Man and +his<br /> +Dog—Backsliding and Re-birth—Ministers who were +Sincere—A Free Will<br /> +Baptist on the Rich Man and Lazarus—II. The Orthodox +God—The<br /> +Two Dispensations—The Infinite Horror—III. Religious +Books—The<br /> +Commentators—Paley's Watch Argument—Milton, Young, and +Pollok—IV.<br /> +Studying Astronomy—Geology—Denial and Evasion by the +Clergy—V. The<br /> +Poems of Robert Burns—Byron, Shelley, Keats, and +Shakespeare—VI.<br /> +Volney, Gibbon, and Thomas Paine—Voltaire's Services to +Liberty—Pagans<br /> +Compared with Patriarchs—VII. Other Gods and Other +Religions—Dogmas,<br /> +Myths, and Symbols of Christianity Older than our Era—VIII. +The Men<br /> +of Science, Humboldt, Darwin, Spencer, Huxley, Haeckel—IX. +Matter and<br /> +Force Indestructible and Uncreatable—The Theory of +Design—X. God an<br /> +Impossible Being—The Panorama of the Past—XI. Free from +Sanctified<br /> +Mistakes and Holy Lies.<br /> +<p class="toc"><a href="#link0002">THE TRUTH.</a></p> +<br /> +(1897.)<br /> +I. The Martyrdom of Man—How is Truth to be Found—Every +Man should be<br /> +Mentally Honest—He should be Intellectually +Hospitable—Geologists,<br /> +Chemists, Mechanics, and Professional Men are Seeking for the +Truth—II.<br /> +Those who say that Slavery is Better than Liberty—Promises +are not<br /> +Evidence—Horace Greeley and the Cold Stove—III. "The +Science of<br /> +Theology" the only Dishonest Science—Moses and Brigham +Young—Minds<br /> +Poisoned and Paralyzed in Youth—Sunday Schools and +Theological<br /> +Seminaries—Orthodox Slanderers of Scientists—Religion +has nothing<br /> +to do with Charity—Hospitals Built in Self-Defence—What +Good has the<br /> +Church Accomplished?—Of what use are the Orthodox Ministers, +and<br /> +What are they doing for the Good of Mankind—The Harm they +are<br /> +Doing—Delusions they Teach—Truths they Should Tell +about the<br /> +Bible—Conclusions—Our Christs and our Miracles.<br /> +<p class="toc"><a href="#link0004">HOW TO REFORM MANKIND.</a></p> +<br /> +(1896.)<br /> +I. "There is no Darkness but Ignorance"—False Notions +Concerning<br /> +All Departments of Life—Changed Ideas about Science, +Government and<br /> +Morals—II. How can we Reform the World?—Intellectual +Light the First<br /> +Necessity—Avoid Waste of Wealth in War—III. Another +Waste—Vast Amount<br /> +of Money Spent on the Church—IV. Plow can we Lessen +Crime?—Frightful<br /> +Laws for the Punishment of Minor Crimes—A Penitentiary should +be a<br /> +School—Professional Criminals should not be Allowed to +Populate the<br /> +Earth—V. Homes for All-Make a Nation of +Householders—Marriage<br /> +and Divorce-VI. The Labor Question—Employers cannot +Govern<br /> +Prices—Railroads should Pay Pensions—What has been +Accomplished<br /> +for the Improvement of the Condition of Labor—VII. Educate +the<br /> +Children—Useless Knowledge—Liberty cannot be Sacrificed +for the Sake<br /> +of Anything—False worship of Wealth—VIII. We must Work +and Wait.<br /> +<p class="toc"><a href="#link0005">A THANKSGIVING SERMON.</a></p> +<br /> +(1897.)<br /> +I. Our fathers Ages Ago—From Savagery to +Civilization—For the<br /> +Blessings we enjoy, Whom should we Thank?—What Good has the +Church<br /> +Done?-Did Christ add to the Sum of Useful Knowledge—The +Saints—What<br /> +have the Councils and Synods Done?—What they Gave us, and +What they<br /> +did Not—Shall we Thank them for the Hell Here and for the +Hell of<br /> +the Future?—II. What Does God Do?—The Infinite Juggler +and his<br /> +Puppets—What the Puppets have Done—Shall we Thank +these<br /> +Gods?—Shall we Thank Nature?—III. Men who deserve our +Thanks—The<br /> +Infidels, Philanthropists and Scientists—The Discoverers +and<br /> +Inventors—Magellan—Copernicus—Bruno—Galileo—Kepler, +Herschel,<br /> +Newton, and LaPlace—Lyell—What the Worldly have +Done—Origin and<br /> +Vicissitudes of the Bible—The Septuagint—Investigating +the Phenomena<br /> +of Nature—IV. We thank the Good Men and Good Women of the +Past—The<br /> +Poets, Dramatists, and Artists—The Statesmen—Paine, +Jefferson,<br /> +Ericsson, Lincoln. Grant—Voltaire, Humboldt, Darwin.<br /> +<p class="toc"><a href="#link0006">A LAY SERMON.</a></p> +<br /> +(1886.)<br /> +Prayer of King Lear—When Honesty wears a Rag and Rascality a +Robe-The<br /> +Nonsense of "Free Moral Agency "—Doing Right is not +Self-denial-Wealth<br /> +often a Gilded Hell—The Log House—Insanity of +Getting<br /> +More—Great Wealth the Mother of Crime—Separation of +Rich and<br /> +Poor—Emulation—Invention of Machines to Save +Labor—Production and<br /> +Destitution—The Remedy a Division of the Land—Evils of +Tenement<br /> +Houses—Ownership and Use—The Great Weapon is the +Ballot—Sewing<br /> +Women—Strikes and Boycotts of No Avail—Anarchy, +Communism, and<br /> +Socialism—The Children of the Rich a Punishment for +Wealth—Workingmen<br /> +Not a Danger—The Criminals a Necessary +Product—Society's Right<br /> +to Punish—The Efficacy of Kindness—Labor is +Honorable—Mental<br /> +Independence.<br /> +<p class="toc"><a href="#link0007">THE FOUNDATIONS OF +FAITH.</a></p> +<br /> +(1895.)<br /> +I. The Old Testament—Story of the Creation—Age of the +Earth and<br /> +of Man—Astronomical Calculations of the Egyptians—The +Flood—The<br /> +Firmament a Fiction—Israelites who went into +Egypt—Battles of the<br /> +Jews—Area of Palestine—Gold Collected by David for the +Temple—II. The<br /> +New Testament—Discrepancies about the Birth of +Christ—Herod and<br /> +the Wise Men—The Murder of the Babes of Bethlehem—When +was Christ<br /> +born—Cyrenius and the Census of the World—Genealogy of +Christ<br /> +according to Matthew and Luke—The Slaying of +Zacharias—Appearance of<br /> +the Saints at the Crucifixion—The Death of Judas +Iscariot—Did<br /> +Christ wish to be Convicted?—III. Jehovah—IV. The +Trinity—The<br /> +Incarnation—Was Christ God?—The Trinity +Expounded—"Let us pray"—V.<br /> +The Theological Christ—Sayings of a Contradictory +Character—Christ a<br /> +Devout Jew—An ascetic—His Philosophy—The +Ascension—The Best that Can<br /> +be Said about Christ—The Part that is beautiful and +Glorious—The Other<br /> +Side—VI. The Scheme of Redemption—VII. +Belief—Eternal Pain—No Hope<br /> +in Hell, Pity in Heaven, or Mercy in the Heart of God—VIII. +Conclusion.<br /> +<p class="toc"><a href="#link0008">SUPERSTITION.</a></p> +<br /> +(1898.)<br /> +I. What is Superstition?—Popular Beliefs about the +Significance<br /> +of Signs, Lucky and Unlucky Numbers, Days, Accidents, Jewels,<br /> +etc.—Eclipses, Earthquakes, and Cyclones as Omens—Signs +and Wonders<br /> +of the Heavens—Efficacy of Bones and Rags of +Saints—Diseases and<br /> +Devils—II. Witchcraft—Necromancers—What is a +Miracle?—The Uniformity<br /> +of Nature—III. Belief in the Existence of Good Spirits or +Angels—God<br /> +and the Devil—When Everything was done by the +Supernatural—IV. All<br /> +these Beliefs now Rejected by Men of Intelligence—The Devil's +Success<br /> +Made the Coming of Christ a Necessity—"Thou shalt not Suffer +a Witch<br /> +to Live"—Some Biblical Angels—Vanished Visions—V. +Where are Heaven<br /> +and Hell?—Prayers Never Answered—The Doctrine of +Design—Why Worship<br /> +our Ignorance?—Would God Lead us into +Temptation?—President McKinley's<br /> +Thanks giving for the Santiago Victory—VI. What Harm Does +Superstition<br /> +Do?—The Heart Hardens and the Brain Softens—What +Superstition has Done<br /> +and Taught—Fate of Spain—Of Portugal, Austria, +Germany—VII. Inspired<br /> +Books—Mysteries added to by the Explanations of +Theologians—The<br /> +Inspired Bible the Greatest Curse of Christendom—VIII. +Modifications<br /> +of Jehovah—Changing the Bible—IX. Centuries of +Darkness—The Church<br /> +Triumphant—When Men began to Think—X. Possibly these +Superstitions are<br /> +True, but We have no Evidence—We Believe in the +Natural—Science is the<br /> +Real Redeemer.<br /> +<p class="toc"><a href="#link0009">THE DEVIL.</a></p> +<br /> +(1899.)<br /> +I. If the Devil should Die, would God Make Another?—How was +the Idea<br /> +of a Devil Produced—Other Devils than Ours—Natural +Origin of these<br /> +Monsters—II. The Atlas of Christianity is The Devil—The +Devil of the<br /> +Old Testament—The Serpent in Eden—"Personifications" of +Evil—Satan<br /> +and Job—Satan and David—III. Take the Devil from the +Drama<br /> +of Christianity and the Plot is Gone—Jesus Tempted by the +Evil<br /> +One—Demoniac Possession—Mary Magdalene—Satan and +Judas—Incubi<br /> +and Succubi—The Apostles believed in Miracles and +Magic—The Pool of<br /> +Bethesda—IV. The Evidence of the Church—The Devil was +forced to<br /> +Father the Failures of God—Belief of the Fathers of the +Church<br /> +in Devils—Exorcism at the Baptism of an Infant in the +Sixteenth<br /> +Century—Belief in Devils made the Universe a Madhouse +presided over by<br /> +an Insane God—V. Personifications of the Devil—The +Orthodox Ostrich<br /> +Thrusts his Head into the Sand—If Devils are Personifications +so are<br /> +all the Other Characters of the Bible—VI. Some Queries about +the<br /> +Devil, his Place of Residence, his Manner of Living, and his Object +in<br /> +Life—Interrogatories to the Clergy—VII. The Man of +Straw the Master<br /> +of the Orthodox Ministers—His recent +Accomplishments—VIII. Keep the<br /> +Devils out of Children—IX. Conclusion.—Declaration of +the Free.<br /> +<p class="toc"><a href="#link0010">PROGRESS.</a></p> +<br /> +(1860-64.)<br /> +The Prosperity of the World depends upon its +Workers—Veneration for the<br /> +Ancient—Credulity and Faith of the Middle Ages—Penalty +for Reading<br /> +the Scripture in the Mother Tongue—Unjust, Bloody, and Cruel +Laws—The<br /> +Reformers too were Persecutors—Bigotry of Luther and +Knox—Persecution<br /> +of Castalio—Montaigne against Torture in +France—"Witchcraft" (chapter<br /> +on)—Confessed Wizards—A Case before Sir Matthew +Hale—Belief<br /> +in Lycanthropy—Animals Tried and Executed—Animals +received<br /> +as Witnesses—The Corsned or Morsel of Execution—Kepler +an<br /> +Astrologer—Luther's Encounter with the +Devil—Mathematician<br /> +Stoefflers, Astronomical Prediction of a Flood—Histories +Filled with<br /> +Falsehood—Legend about the Daughter of Pharaoh invading +Scotland and<br /> +giving the Country her name—A Story about Mohammed—A +History of the<br /> +Britains written by Archdeacons—Ingenuous Remark of +Eusebius—Progress<br /> +in the Mechanic Arts—England at the beginning of the +Eighteenth<br /> +Century—Barbarous Punishments—Queen Elizabeth's Order +Concerning<br /> +Clergymen and Servant Girls—Inventions of Watt, Arkwright, +and<br /> +Others—Solomon's Deprivations—Language (chapter +on)—Belief that the<br /> +Hebrew was< the original Tongue—Speculations about the +Language<br /> +of Paradise—Geography (chapter on)—The Works of +Cosmas—Printing<br /> +Invented—Church's Opposition to Books—The +Inquisition—The<br /> +Reformation—"Slavery" (chapter on)—Voltaire's Remark on +Slavery as<br /> +a Contract—White Slaves in Greece, Rome, England, Scotland, +and<br /> +France—Free minds make Free Bodies—Causes of the +Abolition of White<br /> +Slavery in Europe—The French Revolution—The African +Slave Trade,<br /> +its Beginning and End—Liberty Triumphed (chapter +head)—Abolition of<br /> +Chattel Slavery—Conclusion.<br /> +<p class="toc"><a href="#link0012">WHAT IS RELIGION?</a></p> +(1899.)<br /> +I. Belief in God and Sacrifice—Did an Infinite God Create the +Children<br /> +of Men and is he the Governor of the Universe?—II. If this +God Exists,<br /> +how do we Know he is Good?—Should both the Inferior and the +Superior<br /> +thank God for their Condition?—III. The Power that Works +for<br /> +Righteousness—What is this Power?—The Accumulated +Experience of the<br /> +World is a Power Working for Good?—Love the Commencement of +the Higher<br /> +Virtues—IV. What has our Religion Done?—Would +Christians have been<br /> +Worse had they Adopted another Faith?—V. How Can Mankind be +Reformed<br /> +Without Religion?—VI. The Four Corner-stones of my +Theory—VII. Matter<br /> +and Force Eternal—Links in the Chain of Evolution—VIII. +Reform—The<br /> +Gutter as a Nursery—Can we Prevent the Unfit from Filling the +World<br /> +with their Children?—Science must make Woman the Owner and +Mistress<br /> +of Herself—Morality Born of Intelligence—IX. Real +Religion and Real<br /> +Worship.<br /></blockquote> +<a name="link0001" id="link0001"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /></div> +<h2>WHY I AM AN AGNOSTIC.</h2> +<center>I.</center> +<p>FOR the most part we inherit our opinions. We are the heirs of +habits and mental customs. Our beliefs, like the fashion of our +garments, depend on where we were born. We are moulded and +fashioned by our surroundings.</p> +<p>Environment is a sculptor—a painter.</p> +<p>If we had been born in Constantinople, the most of us would have +said: "There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet." If +our parents had lived on the banks of the Ganges, we would have +been worshipers of Siva, longing for the heaven of Nirvana.</p> +<p>As a rule, children love their parents, believe what they teach, +and take great pride in saying that the religion of mother is good +enough for them.</p> +<p>Most people love peace. They do not like to differ with their +neighbors. They like company. They are social. They enjoy traveling +on the highway with the multitude. They hate to walk alone.</p> +<p>The Scotch are Calvinists because their fathers were. The Irish +are Catholics because their fathers were. The English are +Episcopalians because their fathers were, and the Americans are +divided in a hundred sects because their fathers were. This is the +general rule, to which there are many exceptions. Children +sometimes are superior to their parents, modify their ideas, change +their customs, and arrive at different conclusions. But this is +generally so gradual that the departure is scarcely noticed, and +those who change usually insist that they are still following the +fathers.</p> +<p>It is claimed by Christian historians that the religion of a +nation was sometimes suddenly changed, and that millions of Pagans +were made into Christians by the command of a king. Philosophers do +not agree with these historians. Names have been changed, altars +have been overthrown, but opinions, customs and beliefs remained +the same. A Pagan, beneath the drawn sword of a Christian, would +probably change his religious views, and a Christian, with a +scimitar above his head, might suddenly become a Mohammedan, but as +a matter of fact both would remain exactly as they were +before—except in speech.</p> +<p>Belief is not subject to the will. Men think as they must. +Children do not, and cannot, believe exactly as they were taught. +They are not exactly like their parents. They differ in +temperament, in experience, in capacity, in surroundings. And so +there is a continual, though almost imperceptible change. There is +development, conscious and unconscious growth, and by comparing +long periods of time we find that the old has been almost +abandoned, almost lost in the new. Men cannot remain stationary. +The mind cannot be securely anchored. If we do not advance, we go +backward. If we do not grow, we decay. If we do not develop, we +shrink and shrivel.</p> +<p>Like the most of you, I was raised among people who +knew—who were certain. They did not reason or investigate. +They had no doubts. They knew that they had the truth. In their +creed there was no guess—no perhaps. They had a revelation +from God. They knew the beginning of things. They knew that God +commenced to create one Monday morning, four thousand and four +years before Christ. They knew that in the eternity—back of +that morning, he had done nothing. They knew that it took him six +days to make the earth—all plants, all animals, all life, and +all the globes that wheel in space. They knew exactly what he did +each day and when he rested. They knew the origin, the cause of +evil, of all crime, of all disease and death.</p> +<p>They not only knew the beginning, but they knew the end. They +knew that life had one path and one road. They knew that the path, +grass-grown and narrow, filled with thorns and nettles, infested +with vipers, wet with tears, stained by bleeding feet, led to +heaven, and that the road, broad and smooth, bordered with fruits +and flowers, filled with laughter and song and all the happiness of +human love, led straight to hell. They knew that God was doing his +best to make you take the path and that the Devil used every art to +keep you in the road.</p> +<p>They knew that there was a perpetual battle waged between the +great Powers of good and evil for the possession of human souls. +They knew that many centuries ago God had left his throne and had +been born a babe into this poor world—that he had suffered +death for the sake of man—for the sake of saving a few. They +also knew that the human heart was utterly depraved, so that man by +nature was in love with wrong and hated God with all his might.</p> +<p>At the same time they knew that God created man in his own image +and was perfectly satisfied with his work. They also knew that he +had been thwarted by the Devil, who with wiles and lies had +deceived the first of human kind. They knew that in consequence of +that, God cursed the man and woman; the man with toil, the woman +with slavery and pain, and both with death; and that he cursed the +earth itself with briers and thorns, brambles and thistles. All +these blessed things they knew. They knew too all that God had done +to purify and elevate the race. They knew all about the +Flood—knew that God, with the exception of eight, drowned all +his children—the old and young—the bowed patriarch and +the dimpled babe—the young man and the merry maiden—the +loving mother and the laughing child—because his mercy +endureth forever. They knew too, that he drowned the beasts and +birds—everything that walked or crawled or flew—because +his loving kindness is over all his works. They knew that God, for +the purpose of civilizing his children, had devoured some with +earthquakes, destroyed some with storms of fire, killed some with +his lightnings, millions with famine, with pestilence, and +sacrificed countless thousands upon the fields of war. They knew +that it was necessary to believe these things and to love God. They +knew that there could be no salvation except by faith, and through +the atoning blood of Jesus Christ.</p> +<p>All who doubted or denied would be lost. To live a moral and +honest life—to keep your contracts, to take care of wife and +child—to make a happy home—to be a good citizen, a +patriot, a just and thoughtful man, was simply a respectable way of +going to hell.</p> +<p>God did not reward men for being honest, generous and brave, but +for the act of faith. Without faith, all the so-called virtues were +sins, and the men who practiced these virtues, without faith, +deserved to suffer eternal pain.</p> +<p>All of these comforting and reasonable things were taught by the +ministers in their pulpits—by teachers in Sunday schools and +by parents at home. The children were victims. They were assaulted +in the cradle—in their mother's arms. Then, the schoolmaster +carried on the war against their natural sense, and all the books +they read were filled with the same impossible truths. The poor +children were helpless. The atmosphere they breathed was filled +with lies—lies that mingled with their blood.</p> +<p>In those days ministers depended on revivals to save souls and +reform the world.</p> +<p>In the winter, navigation having closed, business was mostly +suspended. There were no railways and the only means of +communication were wagons and boats. Generally the roads were so +bad that the wagons were laid up with the boats. There were no +operas, no theatres, no amusement except parties and balls. The +parties were regarded as worldly and the balls as wicked. For real +and virtuous enjoyment the good people depended on revivals.</p> +<p>The sermons were mostly about the pains and agonies of hell, the +joys and ecstasies of heaven, salvation by faith, and the efficacy +of the atonement. The little churches, in which the services were +held, were generally small, badly ventilated, and exceedingly warm. +The emotional sermons, the sad singing, the hysterical amens, the +hope of heaven, the fear of hell, caused many to lose the little +sense they had. They became substantially insane. In this condition +they flocked to the "mourners bench"—asked for the prayers of +the faithful—had strange feelings, prayed and wept and +thought they had been "born again." Then they would tell their +experience—how wicked they had been—how evil had been +their thoughts, their desires, and how good they had suddenly +become.</p> +<p>They used to tell the story of an old woman who, in telling her +experience, said:—"Before I was converted, before I gave my +heart to God, I used to lie and steal, but now, thanks to the grace +and blood of Jesus Christ, I have quit 'em both, in a great +measure."</p> +<p>Of course all the people were not exactly of one mind. There +were some scoffers, and now and then some man had sense enough to +laugh at the threats of priests and make a jest of hell. Some would +tell of unbelievers who had lived and died in peace.</p> +<p>When I was a boy I heard them tell of an old farmer in Vermont. +He was dying. The minister was at his bedside—asked him if he +was a Christian —if he was prepared to die. The old man +answered that he had made no preparation, that he was not a +Christian—that he had never done anything but work. The +preacher said that he could give him no hope unless he had faith in +Christ, and that if he had no faith his soul would certainly be +lost.</p> +<p>The old man was not frightened. He was perfectly calm. In a weak +and broken voice he said: "Mr. Preacher, I suppose you noticed my +farm. My wife and I came here more than fifty years ago. We were +just married. It was a forest then and the land was covered with +stones. I cut down the trees, burned the logs, picked up the stones +and laid the walls. My wife spun and wove and worked every moment. +We raised and educated our children—denied ourselves. During +all these years my wife never had a good dress, or a decent bonnet. +I never had a good suit of clothes. We lived on the plainest food. +Our hands, our bodies are deformed by toil. We never had a +vacation. We loved each other and the children. That is the only +luxury we ever had. Now I am about to die and you ask me if I am +prepared. Mr. Preacher, I have no fear of the future, no terror of +any other world. There may be such a place as hell—but if +there is, you never can make me believe that it's any worse than +old Vermont."</p> +<p>So, they told of a man who compared himself with his dog. "My +dog," he said, "just barks and plays—has all he wants to eat. +He never works—has no trouble about business. In a little +while he dies, and that is all. I work with all my strength. I have +no time to play. I have trouble every day. In a little while I will +die, and then I go to hell. I wish that I had been a dog."</p> +<p>Well, while the cold weather lasted, while the snows fell, the +revival went on, but when the winter was over, when the steamboat's +whistle was heard, when business started again, most of the +converts "backslid" and fell again into their old ways. But the +next winter they were on hand, ready to be "born again." They +formed a kind of stock company, playing the same parts every winter +and backsliding every spring.</p> +<p>The ministers, who preached at these revivals, were in earnest. +They were zealous and sincere. They were not philosophers. To them +science was the name of a vague dread—a dangerous enemy. They +did not know much, but they believed a great deal. To them hell was +a burning reality—they could see the smoke and flames. The +Devil was no myth. He was an actual person, a rival of God, an +enemy of mankind. They thought that the important business of this +life was to save your soul—that all should resist and scorn +the pleasures of sense, and keep their eyes steadily fixed on the +golden gate of the New Jerusalem. They were unbalanced, emotional, +hysterical, bigoted, hateful, loving, and insane. They really +believed the Bible to be the actual word of God—a book +without mistake or contradiction. They called its cruelties, +justice—its absurdities, mysteries—its miracles, facts, +and the idiotic passages were regarded as profoundly spiritual. +They dwelt on the pangs, the regrets, the infinite agonies of the +lost, and showed how easily they could be avoided, and how cheaply +heaven could be obtained. They told their hearers to believe, to +have faith, to give their hearts to God, their sins to Christ, who +would bear their burdens and make their souls as white as snow.</p> +<p>All this the ministers really believed. They were absolutely +certain. In their minds the Devil had tried in vain to sow the +seeds of doubt.</p> +<p>I heard hundreds of these evangelical sermons—heard +hundreds of the most fearful and vivid descriptions of the tortures +inflicted in hell, of the horrible state of the lost. I supposed +that what I heard was true and yet I did not believe it. I said: +"It is," and then I thought: "It cannot be."</p> +<p>These sermons made but faint impressions on my mind. I was not +convinced.</p> +<p>I had no desire to be "converted," did not want a "new heart" +and had no wish to be "born again."</p> +<p>But I heard one sermon that touched my heart, that left its +mark, like a scar, on my brain.</p> +<p>One Sunday I went with my brother to hear a Free Will Baptist +preacher. He was a large man, dressed like a farmer, but he was an +orator. He could paint a picture with words.</p> +<p>He took for his text the parable of "the rich man and Lazarus." +He described Dives, the rich man—his manner of life, the +excesses in which he indulged, his extravagance, his riotous +nights, his purple and fine linen, his feasts, his wines, and his +beautiful women.</p> +<p>Then he described Lazarus, his poverty, his rags and +wretchedness, his poor body eaten by disease, the crusts and crumbs +he devoured, the dogs that pitied him. He pictured his lonely life, +his friendless death.</p> +<p>Then, changing his tone of pity to one of triumph—leaping +from tears to the heights of exultation—from defeat to +victory—he described the glorious company of angels, who with +white and outspread wings carried the soul of the despised pauper +to Paradise—to the bosom of Abraham.</p> +<p>Then, changing his voice to one of scorn and loathing, he told +of the rich man's death. He was in his palace, on his costly couch, +the air heavy with perfume, the room filled with servants and +physicians. His gold was worthless then. He could not buy another +breath. He died, and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in +torment.</p> +<p>Then, assuming a dramatic attitude, putting his right hand to +his ear, he whispered, "Hark! I hear the rich man's voice. What +does he say? Hark! 'Father Abraham! Father Abraham! I pray thee +send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and +cool my parched tongue, for I am tormented in this flame.'"</p> +<p>"Oh, my hearers, he has been making that request for more than +eighteen hundred years. And millions of ages hence that wail will +cross the gulf that lies between the saved and lost and still will +be heard the cry: 'Father Abraham! Father Abraham! I pray thee send +Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my +parched tongue, for I am tormented in this flame.'"</p> +<p>For the first time I understood the dogma of eternal +pain—appreciated "the glad tidings of great joy." For the +first time my imagination grasped the height and depth of the +Christian horror. Then I said: "It is a lie, and I hate your +religion. If it is true, I hate your God."</p> +<p>From that day I have had no fear, no doubt. For me, on that day, +the flames of hell were quenched. From that day I have passionately +hated every orthodox creed. That Sermon did some good.</p> +<center>II.</center> +<p>FROM my childhood I had heard read and read the Bible. Morning +and evening the sacred volume was opened and prayers were said. The +Bible was my first history, the Jews were the first people, and the +events narrated by Moses and the other inspired writers, and those +predicted by prophets were the all important things. In other books +were found the thoughts and dreams of men, but in the Bible were +the sacred truths of God.</p> +<p>Yet in spite of my surroundings, of my education, I had no love +for God. He was so saving of mercy, so extravagant in murder, so +anxious to kill, so ready to assassinate, that I hated him with all +my heart. At his command, babes were butchered, women violated, and +the white hair of trembling age stained with blood. This God +visited the people with pestilence—filled the houses and +covered the streets with the dying and the dead—saw babes +starving on the empty breasts of pallid mothers, heard the sobs, +saw the tears, the sunken cheeks, the sightless eyes, the new made +graves, and remained as pitiless as the pestilence.</p> +<p>This God withheld the rain—caused the famine—saw the +fierce eyes of hunger—the wasted forms, the white lips, saw +mothers eating babes, and remained ferocious as famine.</p> +<p>It seems to me impossible for a civilized man to love or +worship, or respect the God of the Old Testament. A really +civilized man, a really civilized woman, must hold such a God in +abhorrence and contempt.</p> +<p>But in the old days the good people justified Jehovah in his +treatment of the heathen. The wretches who were murdered were +idolaters and therefore unfit to live.</p> +<p>According to the Bible, God had never revealed himself to these +people and he knew that without a revelation they could not know +that he was the true God. Whose fault was it then that they were +heathen?</p> +<p>The Christians said that God had the right to destroy them +because he created them. What did he create them for? He knew when +he made them that they would be food for the sword. He knew that he +would have the pleasure of seeing them murdered.</p> +<p>As a last answer, as a final excuse, the worshipers of Jehovah +said that all these horrible things happened under the "old +dispensation" of unyielding law, and absolute justice, but that now +under the "new dispensation," all had been changed—the sword +of justice had been sheathed and love enthroned. In the Old +Testament, they said, God is the judge—but in the New, Christ +is the merciful. As a matter of fact, the New Testament is +infinitely worse than the Old. In the Old there is no threat of +eternal pain. Jehovah had no eternal prison—no everlasting +fire. His hatred ended at the grave. His revenge was satisfied when +his enemy was dead.</p> +<p>In the New Testament, death is not the end, but the beginning of +punishment that has no end. In the New Testament the malice of God +is infinite and the hunger of his revenge eternal.</p> +<p>The orthodox God, when clothed in human flesh, told his +disciples not to resist evil, to love their enemies, and when +smitten on one cheek to turn the other, and yet we are told that +this same God, with the same loving lips, uttered these heartless, +these fiendish words: "Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire, +prepared for the devil and his angels."</p> +<p>These are the words of "eternal love."</p> +<p>No human being has imagination enough to conceive of this +infinite horror.</p> +<p>All that the human race has suffered in war and want, in +pestilence and famine, in fire and flood,—all the pangs and +pains of every disease and every death—all this is as nothing +compared with the agonies to be endured by one lost soul.</p> +<p>This is the consolation of the Christian religion. This is the +justice of God—the mercy of Christ.</p> +<p>This frightful dogma, this infinite lie, made me the implacable +enemy of Christianity. The truth is that this belief in eternal +pain has been the real persecutor. It founded the Inquisition, +forged the chains, and furnished the fagots. It has darkened the +lives of many millions. It made the cradle as terrible as the +coffin. It enslaved nations and shed the blood of countless +thousands. It sacrificed the wisest, the bravest and the best. It +subverted the idea of justice, drove mercy from the heart, changed +men to fiends and banished reason from the brain.</p> +<p>Like a venomous serpent it crawls and coils and hisses in every +orthodox creed.</p> +<p>It makes man an eternal victim and God an eternal fiend. It is +the one infinite horror. Every church in which it is taught is a +public curse. Every preacher who teaches it is an enemy of mankind. +Below this Christian dogma, savagery cannot go. It is the infinite +of malice, hatred, and revenge.</p> +<p>Nothing could add to the horror of hell, except the presence of +its creator, God.</p> +<p>While I have life, as long as I draw breath, I shall deny with +all my strength, and hate with every drop of my blood, this +infinite lie.</p> +<p>Nothing gives me greater joy than to know that this belief in +eternal pain is growing weaker every day—that thousands of +ministers are ashamed of it. It gives me joy to know that +Christians are becoming merciful, so merciful that the fires of +hell are burning low—flickering, choked with ashes, destined +in a few years to die out forever.</p> +<p>For centuries Christendom was a madhouse. Popes, cardinals, +bishops, priests, monks and heretics were all insane.</p> +<p>Only a few—four or five in a century were sound in heart +and brain. Only a few, in spite of the roar and din, in spite of +the savage cries, heard reason's voice. Only a few in the wild rage +of ignorance, fear and zeal preserved the perfect calm that wisdom +gives.</p> +<p>We have advanced. In a few years the Christians will +become—let us hope—humane and sensible enough to deny +the dogma that fills the endless years with pain. They ought to +know now that this dogma is utterly inconsistent with the wisdom, +the justice, the goodness of their God. They ought to know that +their belief in hell, gives to the Holy Ghost—the +Dove—the beak of a vulture, and fills the mouth of the Lamb +of God with the fangs of a viper.</p> +<center>III.</center> +<p>IN my youth I read religious books—books about God, about +the atonement—about salvation by faith, and about the other +worlds. I became familiar with the commentators—with Adam +Clark, who thought that the serpent seduced our mother Eve, and was +in fact the father of Cain. He also believed that the animals, +while in the ark, had their natures' changed to that degree that +they devoured straw together and enjoyed each other's +society—thus prefiguring the blessed millennium. I read +Scott, who was such a natural theologian that he really thought the +story of Phaeton—of the wild steeds dashing across the +sky—corroborated the story of Joshua having stopped the sun +and moon. So, I read Henry and MacKnight and found that God so +loved the world that he made up his mind to damn a large majority +of the human race. I read Cruden, who made the great Concordance, +and made the miracles as small and probable as he could.</p> +<p>I remember that he explained the miracle of feeding the +wandering Jews with quails, by saying that even at this day immense +numbers of quails crossed the Red Sea, and that sometimes when +tired, they settled on ships that sank beneath their weight. The +fact that the explanation was as hard to believe as the miracle +made no difference to the devout Cruden.</p> +<p>To while away the time I read Calvin's Institutes, a book +calculated to produce, in any natural mind, considerable respect +for the Devil.</p> +<p>I read Paley's Evidences and found that the evidence of +ingenuity in producing the evil, in contriving the hurtful, was at +least equal to the evidence tending to show the use of intelligence +in the creation of what we call good.</p> +<p>You know the watch argument was Paley's greatest effort. A man +finds a watch and it is so wonderful that he concludes that it must +have had a maker. He finds the maker and he is so much more +wonderful than the watch that he says he must have had a maker. +Then he finds God, the maker of the man, and he is so much more +wonderful than the man that he could <i>not</i> have had a maker. +This is what the lawyers call a departure in pleading.</p> +<p>According to Paley there can be no design without a +designer—but there can be a designer without a design. The +wonder of the watch suggested the watchmaker, and the wonder of the +watchmaker, suggested the creator, and the wonder of the creator +demonstrated that he was not created—but was uncaused and +eternal.</p> +<p>We had Edwards on The Will, in which the reverend author shows +that necessity has no effect on accountability—and that when +God creates a human being, and at the same time determines and +decrees exactly what that being shall do and be, the human being is +responsible, and God in his justice and mercy has the right to +torture the soul of that human being forever. Yet Edwards said that +he loved God.</p> +<p>The fact is that if you believe in an infinite God, and also in +eternal punishment, then you must admit that Edwards and Calvin +were absolutely right. There is no escape from their conclusions if +you admit their premises. They were infinitely cruel, their +premises infinitely absurd, their God infinitely fiendish, and +their logic perfect.</p> +<p>And yet I have kindness and candor enough to say that Calvin and +Edwards were both insane.</p> +<p>We had plenty of theological literature. There was Jenkyn on the +Atonement, who demonstrated the wisdom of God in devising a way in +which the sufferings of innocence could justify the guilty. He +tried to show that children could justly be punished for the sins +of their ancestors, and that men could, if they had faith, be +justly credited with the virtues of others. Nothing could be more +devout, orthodox, and idiotic. But all of our theology was not in +prose. We had Milton with his celestial militia—with his +great and blundering God, his proud and cunning Devil—his +wars between immortals, and all the sublime absurdities that +religion wrought within the blind man's brain.</p> +<p>The theology taught by Milton was dear to the Puritan heart. It +was accepted by New England, and it poisoned the souls and ruined +the lives of thousands. The genius of Shakespeare could not make +the theology of Milton poetic. In the literature of the world there +is nothing, outside of the "sacred books," more perfectly +absurd.</p> +<p>We had Young's Night Thoughts, and I supposed that the author +was an exceedingly devout and loving follower of the Lord. Yet +Young had a great desire to be a bishop, and to accomplish that end +he electioneered with the king's mistress. In other words, he was a +fine old hypocrite. In the "Night Thoughts" there is scarcely a +genuinely honest, natural line. It is pretence from beginning to +end. He did not write what he felt, but what he thought he ought to +feel.</p> +<p>We had Pollok's Course of Time, with its worm that never dies, +its quenchless flames, its endless pangs, its leering devils, and +its gloating God. This frightful poem should have been written in a +madhouse. In it you find all the cries and groans and shrieks of +maniacs, when they tear and rend each other's flesh. It is as +heartless, as hideous, as hellish as the thirty-second chapter of +Deuteronomy.</p> +<p>We all know the beautiful hymn commencing with the cheerful +line: "Hark from the tombs, a doleful sound." Nothing could have +been more appropriate for children. It is well to put a coffin +where it can be seen from the cradle. When a mother nurses her +child, an open grave should be at her feet. This would tend to make +the babe serious, reflective, religious and miserable.</p> +<p>God hates laughter and despises mirth. To feel free, +untrammeled, irresponsible, joyous,—to forget care and +death—to be flooded with sunshine without a fear of +night—to forget the past, to have no thought of the future, +no dream of God, or heaven, or hell—to be intoxicated with +the present—to be conscious only of the clasp and kiss of the +one you love—this is the sin against the Holy Ghost.</p> +<p>But we had Cowper's poems. Cowper was sincere. He was the +opposite of Young. He had an observing eye, a gentle heart and a +sense of the artistic. He sympathized with all who +suffered—with the imprisoned, the enslaved, the outcasts. He +loved the beautiful. No wonder that the belief in eternal +punishment made this loving soul insane. No wonder that the +"tidings of great joy" quenched Hope's great star and left his +broken heart in the darkness of despair.</p> +<p>We had many volumes of orthodox sermons, filled with wrath and +the terrors of the judgment to come—sermons that had been +delivered by savage saints.</p> +<p>We had the Book of Martyrs, showing that Christians had for many +centuries imitated the God they worshiped.</p> +<p>W|e had the history of the Waldenses—of the Reformation of +the Church. We had Pilgrim's Progress, Baxter's Call and Butler's +Analogy.</p> +<p>To use a Western phrase or saying, I found that Bishop Butler +dug up more snakes than he killed—suggested more difficulties +than he explained—more doubts than he dispelled.</p> +<center>IV.</center> +<p>AMONG such books my youth was passed. All the seeds of +Christianity—of superstition, were sown in my mind and +cultivated with great diligence and care.</p> +<p>All that time I knew nothing of any science—nothing about +the other side—nothing of the objections that had been urged +against the blessed Scriptures, or against the perfect +Congregational creed. Of course I had heard the ministers speak of +blasphemers, of infidel wretches, of scoffers who laughed at holy +things. They did not answer their arguments, but they tore their +characters into shreds and demonstrated by the fury of assertion +that they had done the Devil's work. And yet in spite of all I +heard—of all I read, I could not quite believe. My brain and +heart said No.</p> +<p>For a time I left the dreams, the insanities, the illusions and +delusions, the nightmares of theology. I studied astronomy, just a +little—I examined maps of the heavens—learned the names +of some of the constellations—of some of the +stars—found something of their size and the velocity with +which they wheeled in their orbits—obtained a faint +conception of astronomical spaces—found that some of the +known stars were so far away in the depths of space that their +light, traveling at the rate of nearly two hundred thousand miles a +second, required many years to reach this little world—found +that, compared with the great stars, our earth was but a grain of +sand—an atom—found that the old belief that all the +hosts of heaven had been created for the benefit of man, was +infinitely absurd.</p> +<p>I compared what was really known about the stars with the +account of creation as told in Genesis. I found that the writer of +the inspired book had no knowledge of astronomy—that he was +as ignorant as a Choctaw chief—as an Eskimo driver of dogs. +Does any one imagine that the author of Genesis knew anything about +the sun—its size? that he was acquainted with Sirius, the +North Star, with Capella, or that he knew anything of the clusters +of stars so far away that their light, now visiting our eyes, has +been traveling for two million years?</p> +<p>If he had known these facts would he have said that Jehovah +worked nearly six days to make this world, and only a part of the +afternoon of the fourth day to make the sun and moon and all the +stars?</p> +<p>Yet millions of people insist that the writer of Genesis was +inspired by the Creator of all worlds.</p> +<p>Now, intelligent men, who are not frightened, whose brains have +not been paralyzed by fear, know that the sacred story of creation +was written by an ignorant savage. The story is inconsistent with +all known facts, and every star shining in the heavens testifies +that its author was an uninspired barbarian.</p> +<p>I admit that this unknown writer was sincere, that he wrote what +he believed to be true—that he did the best he could. He did +not claim to be inspired—did not pretend that the story had +been told to him by Jehovah. He simply stated the "facts" as he +understood them.</p> +<p>After I had learned a little about the stars I concluded that +this writer, this "inspired" scribe, had been misled by myth and +legend, and that he knew no more about creation than the average +theologian of my day. In other words, that he knew absolutely +nothing.</p> +<p>And here, allow me to say that the ministers who are answering +me are turning their guns in the wrong direction. These reverend +gentlemen should attack the astronomers. They should malign and +vilify Kepler, Copernicus, Newton, Herschel and Laplace. These men +were the real destroyers of the sacred story. Then, after having +disposed of them, they can wage a war against the stars, and +against Jehovah himself for having furnished evidence against the +truthfulness of his book.</p> +<p>Then I studied geology—not much, just a little—just +enough to find in a general way the principal facts that had been +discovered, and some of the conclusions that had been reached. I +learned something of the action of fire—of water—of the +formation of islands and continents—of the sedimentary and +igneous rocks—of the coal measures—of the chalk cliffs, +something about coral reefs—about the deposits made by +rivers, the effect of volcanoes, of glaciers, and of the all +surrounding sea—just enough to know that the Laurentian rocks +were millions of ages older than the grass beneath my +feet—just enough to feel certain that this world had been +pursuing its flight about the sun, wheeling in light and shade, for +hundreds of millions of years—just enough to know that the +"inspired" writer knew nothing of the history of the +earth—nothing of the great forces of nature—of wind and +wave and fire—forces that have destroyed and built, wrecked +and wrought through all the countless years.</p> +<p>And let me tell the ministers again that they should not waste +their time in answering me. They should attack the geologists. They +should deny the facts that have been discovered. They should launch +their curses at the blaspheming seas, and dash their heads against +the infidel rocks.</p> +<p>Then I studied biology—not much—just enough to know +something of animal forms, enough to know that life existed when +the Laurentian rocks were made—just enough to know that +implements of stone, implements that had been formed by human +hands, had been found mingled with the bones of extinct animals, +bones that had been split with these implements, and that these +animals had ceased to exist hundreds of thousands of years before +the manufacture of Adam and Eve.</p> +<p>Then I felt sure that the "inspired" record was false—that +many millions of people had been deceived and that all I had been +taught about the origin of worlds and men was utterly untrue. I +felt that I knew that the Old Testament was the work of ignorant +men—that it was a mingling of truth and mistake, of wisdom +and foolishness, of cruelty and kindness, of philosophy and +absurdity—that it contained some elevated thoughts, some +poetry,—-a good deal of the solemn and +commonplace,—some hysterical, some tender, some wicked +prayers, some insane predictions, some delusions, and some chaotic +dreams.</p> +<p>Of course the theologians fought the facts found by the +geologists, the scientists, and sought to sustain the sacred +Scriptures. They mistook the bones of the mastodon for those of +human beings, and by them proudly proved that "there were giants in +those days." They accounted for the fossils by saying that God had +made them to try our faith, or that the Devil had imitated the +works of the Creator.</p> +<p>They answered the geologists by saying that the "days" in +Genesis were long periods of time, and that after all the flood +might have been local. They told the astronomers that the sun and +moon were not actually, but only apparently, stopped. And that the +appearance was produced by the reflection and refraction of +light.</p> +<p>They excused the slavery and polygamy, the robbery and murder +upheld in the Old Testament by saying that the people were so +degraded that Jehovah was compelled to pander to their ignorance +and prejudice.</p> +<p>In every way the clergy sought to evade the facts, to dodge the +truth, to preserve the creed.</p> +<p>At first they flatly denied the facts—then they belittled +them—then they harmonized them—then they denied that +they had denied them. Then they changed the meaning of the +"inspired" book to fit the facts.</p> +<p>At first they said that if the facts, as claimed, were true, the +Bible was false and Christianity itself a superstition. Afterward +they said the facts, as claimed, were true and that they +established beyond all doubt the inspiration of the Bible and the +divine origin of orthodox religion.</p> +<p>Anything they could not dodge, they swallowed, and anything they +could not swallow, they dodged.</p> +<p>I gave up the Old Testament on account of its mistakes, its +absurdities, its ignorance and its cruelty. I gave up the New +because it vouched for the truth of the Old. I gave it up on +account of its miracles, its contradictions, because Christ and his +disciples believed in the existence of devils—talked and made +bargains with them, expelled them from people and animals.</p> +<p>This, of itself, is enough. We know, if we know anything, that +devils do not exist—that Christ never cast them out, and that +if he pretended to, he was either ignorant, dishonest or insane. +These stories about devils demonstrate the human, the ignorant +origin of the New Testament. I gave up the New Testament because it +rewards credulity, and curses brave and honest men, and because it +teaches the infinite horror of eternal pain.</p> +<center>V.</center> +<p>HAVING spent my youth in reading books about +religion—about the "new birth"—the disobedience of our +first parents, the atonement, salvation by faith, the wickedness of +pleasure, the degrading consequences of love, and the impossibility +of getting to heaven by being honest and generous, and having +become somewhat weary of the frayed and raveled thoughts, you can +imagine my surprise, my delight when I read the poems of Robert +Burns.</p> +<p>I was familiar with the writings of the devout and insincere, +the pious and petrified, the pure and heartless. Here was a natural +honest man. I knew the works of those who regarded all nature as +depraved, and looked upon love as the legacy and perpetual witness +of original sin. Here was a man who plucked joy from the mire, made +goddesses of peasant girls, and enthroned the honest man. One whose +sympathy, with loving arms, embraced all forms of suffering life, +who hated slavery of every kind, who was as natural as heaven's +blue, with humor kindly as an autumn day, with wit as sharp as +Ithuriel's spear, and scorn that blasted like the simoon's breath. +A man who loved this world, this life, the things of every day, and +placed above all else the thrilling ecstasies of human love.</p> +<p>I read and read again with rapture, tears and smiles, feeling +that a great heart was throbbing in the lines.</p> +<p>The religious, the lugubrious, the artificial, the spiritual +poets were forgotten or remained only as the fragments, the half +remembered horrors of monstrous and distorted dreams.</p> +<p>I had found at last a natural man, one who despised his +country's cruel creed, and was brave and sensible enough to say: +"All religions are auld wives' fables, but an honest man has +nothing to fear, either in this world or the world to come."</p> +<p>One who had the genius to write Holy Willie's Prayer—a +poem that crucified Calvinism and through its bloodless heart +thrust the spear of common sense—a poem that made every +orthodox creed the food of scorn—of inextinguishable +laughter.</p> +<p>Burns had his faults, his frailties. He was intensely human. +Still, I would rather appear at the "Judgment Seat" drunk, and be +able to say that I was the author of "A man's a man for 'a that," +than to be perfectly sober and admit that I had lived and died a +Scotch Presbyterian.</p> +<p>I read Byron—read his Cain, in which, as in Paradise Lost, +the Devil seems to be the better god—read his beautiful, +sublime and bitter lines—read his Prisoner of +Chillon—his best—a poem that filled my heart with +tenderness, with pity, and with an eternal hatred of tyranny.</p> +<p>I read Shelley's Queen Mab—a poem filled with beauty, +courage, thought, sympathy, tears and scorn, in which a brave soul +tears down the prison walls and floods the cells with light. I read +his Skylark—a winged flame—passionate as +blood—tender as tears—pure as light.</p> +<p>I read Keats, "whose name was writ in water"—read St. +Agnes Eve, a story told with such an artless art that this poor +common world is changed to fairy land—the Grecian Urn, that +fills the soul with ever eager love, with all the rapture of +imagined song—the Nightingale—a melody in which there +is the memory of morn—a melody that dies away in dusk and +tears, paining the senses with its perfectness.</p> +<p>And then I read Shakespeare, the plays, the sonnets, the +poems—read all. I beheld a new heaven and a new earth; +Shakespeare, who knew the brain and heart of man—the hopes +and fears, the loves and hatreds, the vices and the virtues of the +human race; whose imagination read the tear-blurred records, the +blood-stained pages of all the past, and saw falling athwart the +outspread scroll the light of hope and love; Shakespeare, who +sounded every depth—while on the loftiest peak there fell the +shadow of his wings.</p> +<p>I compared the Plays with the "inspired" books—Romeo and +Juliet with the Song of Solomon, Lear with Job, and the Sonnets +with the Psalms, and I found that Jehovah did not understand the +art of speech. I compared Shakespeare's women—his perfect +women—with the women of the Bible. I found that Jehovah was +not a sculptor, not a painter—not an artist—that he +lacked the power that changes clay to flesh—the art, the +plastic touch, that moulds the perfect form—the breath that +gives it free and joyous life—the genius that creates the +faultless.</p> +<p>The sacred books of all the world are worthless dross and common +stones compared with Shakespeare's glittering gold and gleaming +gems.</p> +<center>VI.</center> +<p>UP to this time I had read nothing against our blessed religion +except what I had found in Burns, Byron and Shelley. By some +accident I read Volney, who shows that all religions are, and have +been, established in the same way—that all had their Christs, +their apostles, miracles and sacred books, and then asked how it is +possible to decide which is the true one. A question that is still +waiting for an answer.</p> +<p>I read Gibbon, the greatest of historians, who marshaled his +facts as skillfully as Cæsar did his legions, and I learned +that Christianity is only a name for Paganism—for the old +religion, shorn of its beauty—that some absurdities had been +exchanged for others—that some gods had been killed—a +vast multitude of devils created, and that hell had been +enlarged.</p> +<p>And then I read the Age of Reason, by Thomas Paine. Let me tell +you something about this sublime and slandered man. He came to this +country just before the Revolution. He brought a letter of +introduction from Benjamin Franklin, at that time the greatest +American.</p> +<p>In Philadelphia, Paine was employed to write for the +<i>Pennsylvania Magazine</i>. We know that he wrote at least five +articles. The first was against slavery, the second against +duelling, the third on the treatment of prisoners—showing +that the object should be to reform, not to punish and +degrade—the fourth on the rights of woman, and the fifth in +favor of forming societies for the prevention of cruelty to +children and animals.</p> +<p>From this you see that he suggested the great reforms of our +century.</p> +<p>The truth is that he labored all his life for the good of his +fellow-men, and did as much to found the Great Republic as any man +who ever stood beneath our flag.</p> +<p>He gave his thoughts about religion—about the blessed +Scriptures, about the superstitions of his time. He was perfectly +sincere and what he said was kind and fair.</p> +<p>The Age of Reason filled with hatred the hearts of those who +loved their enemies, and the occupant of every orthodox pulpit +became, and still is, a passionate maligner of Thomas Paine.</p> +<p>No one has answered—no one will answer, his argument +against the dogma of inspiration—his objections to the +Bible.</p> +<p>He did not rise above all the superstitions of his day. While he +hated Jehovah, he praised the God of Nature, the creator and +preserver of all. In this he was wrong, because, as Watson said in +his Reply to Paine, the God of Nature is as heartless, as cruel as +the God of the Bible.</p> +<p>But Paine was one of the pioneers—one of the Titans, one +of the heroes, who gladly gave his life, his every thought and act, +to free and civilize mankind.</p> +<p>I read Voltaire—Voltaire, the greatest man of his century, +and who did more for liberty of thought and speech than any other +being, human or "divine." Voltaire, who tore the mask from +hypocrisy and found behind the painted smile the fangs of hate. +Voltaire, who attacked the savagery of the law, the cruel decisions +of venal courts, and rescued victims from the wheel and rack. +Voltaire, who waged war against the tyranny of thrones, the greed +and heartlessness of power. Voltaire, who filled the flesh of +priests with the barbed and poisoned arrows of his wit and made the +pious jugglers, who cursed him in public, laugh at themselves in +private. Voltaire, who sided with the oppressed, rescued the +unfortunate, championed the obscure and weak, civilized judges, +repealed laws and abolished torture in his native land.</p> +<p>In every direction this tireless man fought the absurd, the +miraculous, the supernatural, the idiotic, the unjust. He had no +reverence for the ancient. He was not awed by pageantry and pomp, +by crowned Crime or mitered Pretence. Beneath the crown he saw the +criminal, under the miter, the hypocrite.</p> +<p>To the bar of his conscience, his reason, he summoned the +barbarism and the barbarians of his time. He pronounced judgment +against them all, and that judgment has been affirmed by the +intelligent world. Voltaire lighted a torch and gave to others the +sacred flame. The light still shines and will as long as man loves +liberty and seeks for truth.</p> +<p>I read Zeno, the man who said, centuries before our Christ was +born, that man could not own his fellow-man.</p> +<p>"No matter whether you claim a slave by purchase or capture, the +title is bad. They who claim to own their fellow-men, look down +into the pit and forget the justice that should rule the +world."</p> +<p>I became acquainted with Epicurus, who taught the religion of +usefulness, of temperance, of courage and wisdom, and who said: +"Why should I fear death? If I am, death is not. If death is, I am +not. Why should I fear that which cannot exist when I do?"</p> +<p>I read about Socrates, who when on trial for his life, said, +among other things, to his judges, these wondrous words: "I have +not sought during my life to amass wealth and to adorn my body, but +I have sought to adorn my soul with the jewels of wisdom, patience, +and above all with a love of liberty."</p> +<p>So, I read about Diogenes, the philosopher who hated the +superfluous—the enemy of waste and greed, and who one day +entered the temple, reverently approached the altar, crushed a +louse between the nails of his thumbs, and solemnly said: "The +sacrifice of Diogenes to all the gods." This parodied the worship +of the world—satirized all creeds, and in one act put the +essence of religion.</p> +<p>Diogenes must have know of this "inspired" +passage—"Without the shedding of blood there is no remission +of sins."</p> +<p>I compared Zeno, Epicurus and Socrates, three heathen wretches +who had never heard of the Old Testament or the Ten Commandments, +with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, three favorites of Jehovah, and I +was depraved enough to think that the Pagans were superior to the +Patriarchs—and to Jehovah himself.</p> +<center>VII.</center> +<p>MY attention was turned to other religions, to the sacred books, +the creeds and ceremonies of other lands—of India, Egypt, +Assyria, Persia, of the dead and dying nations.</p> +<p>I concluded that all religions had the same foundation—a +belief in the supernatural—a power above nature that man +could influence by worship—by sacrifice and prayer.</p> +<p>I found that all religions rested on a mistaken conception of +nature—that the religion of a people was the science of that +people, that is to say, their explanation of the world—of +life and death—of origin and destiny.</p> +<p>I concluded that all religions had substantially the same +origin, and that in fact there has never been but one religion in +the world. The twigs and leaves may differ, but the trunk is the +same.</p> +<p>The poor African that pours out his heart to his deity of stone +is on an exact religious level with the robed priest who +supplicates his God. The same mistake, the same superstition, bends +the knees and shuts the eyes of both. Both ask for supernatural +aid, and neither has the slightest thought of the absolute +uniformity of nature.</p> +<p>It seems probable to me that the first organized ceremonial +religion was the worship of the sun. The sun was the "Sky Father," +the "All Seeing," the source of life—the fireside of the +world. The sun was regarded as a god who fought the darkness, the +power of evil, the enemy of man.</p> +<p>There have been many sun-gods, and they seem to have been the +chief deities in the ancient religions. They have been worshiped in +many lands—by many nations that have passed to death and +dust.</p> +<p>Apollo was a sun-god and he fought and conquered the serpent of +night. Baldur was a sun-god. He was in love with the Dawn—a +maiden. Chrishna was a sun-god. At his birth the Ganges was +thrilled from its source to the sea, and all the trees, the dead as +well as the living, burst into leaf and bud and flower. Hercules +was a sun-god and so was Samson, whose strength was in his +hair—that is to say, in his beams. He was shorn of his +strength by Delilah, the shadow—the darkness. Osiris, +Bacchus, and Mithra, Hermes, Buddha, and Quetzalcoatl, Prometheus, +Zoroaster, and Perseus, Cadom, Lao-tsze, Fo-hi, Horus and Rameses, +were all sun-gods.</p> +<p>All of these gods had gods for fathers and their mothers were +virgins. The births of nearly all were announced by stars, +celebrated by celestial music, and voices declared that a blessing +had come to the poor world. All of these gods were born in humble +places—in caves, under trees, in common inns, and tyrants +sought to kill them all when they were babes. All of these sun-gods +were born at the winter solstice—on Christmas. Nearly all +were worshiped by "wise men." All of them fasted for forty +days—all of them taught in parables—all of them wrought +miracles—all met with a violent death, and all rose from the +dead.</p> +<p>The history of these gods is the exact history of our +Christ.</p> +<p>This is not a coincidence—an accident. Christ was a +sun-god. Christ was a new name for an old biography—a +survival—the last of the sun-gods. Christ was not a man, but +a myth—not a life, but a legend.</p> +<p>I found that we had not only borrowed our Christ—but that +all our sacraments, symbols and ceremonies were legacies that we +received from the buried past. There is nothing original in +Christianity.</p> +<p>The cross was a symbol thousands of years before our era. It was +a symbol of life, of immortality—of the god Agni, and it was +chiseled upon tombs many ages before a line of our Bible was +written.</p> +<p>Baptism is far older than Christianity—than Judaism. The +Hindus, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans had Holy Water long before a +Catholic lived. The eucharist was borrowed from the Pagans. Ceres +was the goddess of the fields—Bacchus of the vine. At the +harvest festival they made cakes of wheat and said: "This is the +flesh of the goddess." They drank wine and cried: "This is the +blood of our god."</p> +<p>The Egyptians had a Trinity. They worshiped Osiris, Isis and +Horus, thousands of years before the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost +were known.</p> +<p>The Tree of Life grew in India, in China, and among the Aztecs, +long before the Garden of Eden was planted.</p> +<p>Long before our Bible was known, other nations had their sacred +books.</p> +<p>The dogmas of the Fall of Man, the Atonement and Salvation by +Faith, are far older than our religion.</p> +<p>In our blessed gospel,—in our "divine scheme,"—there +is nothing new—nothing original. All old—all borrowed, +pieced and patched.</p> +<p>Then I concluded that all religions had been naturally produced, +and that all were variations, modifications of one,—then I +felt that I knew that all were the work of man.</p> +<center>VIII.</center> +<p>THE theologians had always insisted that their God was the +creator of all living things—that the forms, parts, +functions, colors and varieties of animals were the expressions of +his fancy, taste and wisdom—that he made them all precisely +as they are to-day—that he invented fins and legs and +wings—that he furnished them with the weapons of attack, the +shields of defence—that he formed them with reference to food +and climate, taking into consideration all facts affecting +life.</p> +<p>They insisted that man was a special creation, not related in +any way to the animals below him. They also asserted that all the +forms of vegetation, from mosses to forests, were just the same +to-day as the moment they were made.</p> +<p>Men of genius, who were for the most part free from religious +prejudice, were examining these things—were looking for +facts. They were examining the fossils of animals and +plants—studying the forms of animals—their bones and +muscles—the effect of climate and food—the strange +modifications through which they had passed.</p> +<p>Humboldt had published his lectures—filled with great +thoughts—with splendid generalizations—with suggestions +that stimulated the spirit of investigation, and with conclusions +that satisfied the mind. He demonstrated the uniformity of +Nature—the kinship of all that lives and grows—that +breathes and thinks.</p> +<p>Darwin, with his Origin of Species, his theories about Natural +Selection, the Survival of the Fittest, and the influence of +environment, shed a flood of light upon the great problems of plant +and animal life.</p> +<p>These things had been guessed, prophesied, asserted, hinted by +many others, but Darwin, with infinite patience, with perfect care +and candor, found the facts, fulfilled the prophecies, and +demonstrated the truth of the guesses, hints and assertions. He +was, in my judgment, the keenest observer, the best judge of the +meaning and value of a fact, the greatest Naturalist the world has +produced.</p> +<p>The theological view began to look small and mean.</p> +<p>Spencer gave his theory of evolution and sustained it by +countless facts. He stood at a great height, and with the eyes of a +philosopher, a profound thinker, surveyed the world. He has +influenced the thought of the wisest.</p> +<p>Theology looked more absurd than ever.</p> +<p>Huxley entered the lists for Darwin. No man ever had a sharper +sword—a better shield. He challenged the world. The great +theologians and the small scientists—those who had more +courage than sense, accepted the challenge. Their poor bodies were +carried away by their friends.</p> +<p>Huxley had intelligence, industry, genius, and the courage to +express his thought. He was absolutely loyal to what he thought was +truth. Without prejudice and without fear, he followed the +footsteps of life from the lowest to the highest forms.</p> +<p>Theology looked smaller still.</p> +<p>Haeckel began at the simplest cell, went from change to +change—from form to form—followed the line of +development, the path of life, until he reached the human race. It +was all natural. There had been no interference from without.</p> +<p>I read the works of these great men—of many +others—and became convinced that they were right, and that +all the theologians—all the believers in "special creation" +were absolutely wrong.</p> +<p>The Garden of Eden faded away, Adam and Eve fell back to dust, +the snake crawled into the grass, and Jehovah became a miserable +myth.</p> +<center>IX.</center> +<p>I TOOK another step. What is matter—substance? Can it be +destroyed—annihilated? Is it possible to conceive of the +destruction of the smallest atom of substance? It can be ground to +powder—changed from a solid to a liquid—from a liquid +to a gas—but it all remains. Nothing is lost—nothing +destroyed.</p> +<p>Let an infinite God, if there be one, attack a grain of +sand—attack it with infinite power. It cannot be destroyed. +It cannot surrender. It defies all force. Substance cannot be +destroyed.</p> +<p>Then I took another step.</p> +<p>If matter cannot be destroyed, cannot be annihilated, it could +not have been created.</p> +<p>The indestructible must be uncreateable.</p> +<p>And then I asked myself: What is force?</p> +<p>We cannot conceive of the creation of force, or of its +destruction. Force may be changed from one form to +another—from motion to heat—but it cannot be +destroyed—annihilated.</p> +<p>If force cannot be destroyed it could not have been created. It +is eternal.</p> +<p>Another thing—matter cannot exist apart from force. Force +cannot exist apart from matter. Matter could not have existed +before force. Force could not have existed before matter. Matter +and force can only be conceived of together. This has been shown by +several scientists, but most clearly, most forcibly by +Büchner.</p> +<p>Thought is a form of force, consequently it could not have +caused or created matter. Intelligence is a form of force and could +not have existed without or apart from matter. Without substance +there could have been no mind, no will, no force in any form, and +there could have been no substance without force.</p> +<p>Matter and force were not created. They have existed from +eternity. They cannot be destroyed.</p> +<p>There was, there is, no creator. Then came the question: Is +there a God? Is there a being of infinite intelligence, power and +goodness, who governs the world?</p> +<p>There can be goodness without much intelligence—but it +seems to me that perfect intelligence and perfect goodness must go +together.</p> +<p>In nature I see, or seem to see, good and +evil—intelligence and ignorance—goodness and +cruelty—care and carelessness—economy and waste. I see +means that do not accomplish the ends—designs that seem to +fail.</p> +<p>To me it seems infinitely cruel for life to feed on +life—to create animals that devour others.</p> +<p>The teeth and beaks, the claws and fangs, that tear and rend, +fill me with horror. What can be more frightful than a world +at-war? Every leaf a battle-field—every flower a +Golgotha—in every drop of water pursuit, capture and death. +Under every piece of bark, life lying in wait for life. On every +blade of grass, something that kills,—something that suffers. +Everywhere the strong living on the weak—the superior on the +inferior. Everywhere the weak, the insignificant, living on the +strong—the inferior on the superior—the highest food +for the lowest—man sacrificed for the sake of microbes. +Murder universal. Everywhere pain, disease and death—death +that does not wait for bent forms and gray hairs, but clutches +babes and happy youths. Death that takes the mother from her +helpless, dimpled child—death that fills the world with grief +and tears.</p> +<p>How can the orthodox Christian explain these things?</p> +<p>I know that life is good. I remember the sunshine and rain. Then +I think of the earthquake and flood. I do not forget health and +harvest, home and love—but what of pestilence and famine? I +cannot harmonize all these contradictions—these blessings and +agonies—with the existence of an infinitely good, wise and +powerful God.</p> +<p>The theologian says that what we call evil is for our +benefit—that we are placed in this world of sin and sorrow to +develop character. If this is true I ask why the infant dies? +Millions and millions draw a few breaths and fade away in the arms +of their mothers. They are not allowed to develop character.</p> +<p>The theologian says that serpents were given fangs to protect +themselves from their enemies. Why did the God who made them, make +enemies? Why is it that many species of serpents have no fangs?</p> +<p>The theologian says that God armored the hippopotamus, covered +his body, except the under part, with scales and plates, that other +animals could not pierce with tooth or tusk. But the same God made +the rhinoceros and supplied him with a horn on his nose, with which +he disembowels the hippopotamus.</p> +<p>The same God made the eagle, the vulture, the hawk, and their +helpless prey.</p> +<p>On every hand there seems to be design to defeat design.</p> +<p>If God created man—if he is the father of us all, why did +he make the criminals, the insane, the deformed and idiotic?</p> +<p>Should the inferior man thank God? Should the mother, who clasps +to her breast an idiot child, thank God? Should the slave thank +God?</p> +<p>The theologian says that God governs the wind, the rain, the +lightning. How then can we account for the cyclone, the flood, the +drought, the glittering bolt that kills?</p> +<p>Suppose we had a man in this country who could control the wind, +the rain and lightning, and suppose we elected him to govern these +things, and suppose that he allowed whole States to dry and wither, +and at the same time wasted the rain in the sea. Suppose that he +allowed the winds to destroy cities and to crush to shapelessness +thousands of men and women, and allowed the lightnings to strike +the life out of mothers and babes. What would we say? What would we +think of such a savage?</p> +<p>And yet, according to the theologians, this is exactly the +course pursued by God.</p> +<p>What do we think of a man, who will not, when he has the power, +protect his friends? Yet the Christian's God allowed his enemies to +torture and burn his friends, his worshipers.</p> +<p>Who has ingenuity enough to explain this?</p> +<p>What good man, having the power to prevent it, would allow the +innocent to be imprisoned, chained in dungeons, and sigh against +the dripping walls their weary lives away?</p> +<p>If God governs the world, why is innocence not a perfect shield? +Why does injustice triumph?</p> +<p>Who can answer these questions?</p> +<p>In answer, the intelligent, honest man must say: I do not +know.</p> +<center>X.</center> +<p>THIS God must be, if he exists, a person—a conscious +being. Who can imagine an infinite personality? This God must have +force, and we cannot conceive of force apart from matter. This God +must be material. He must have the means by which he changes force +to what we call thought. When he thinks he uses force, force that +must be replaced. Yet we are told that he is infinitely wise. If he +is, he does not think. Thought is a ladder—a process by which +we reach a conclusion. He who knows all conclusions cannot think. +He cannot hope or fear. When knowledge is perfect there can be no +passion, no emotion. If God is infinite he does not want. He has +all. He who does not want does not act. The infinite must dwell in +eternal calm.</p> +<p>It is as impossible to conceive of such a being as to imagine a +square triangle, or to think of a circle without a diameter.</p> +<p>Yet we are told that it is our duty to love this God. Can we +love the unknown, the inconceivable? Can it be our duty to love +anybody? It is our duty to act justly, honestly, but it cannot be +our duty to love. We cannot be under obligation to admire a +painting—to be charmed with a poem—or thrilled with +music. Admiration cannot be controlled. Taste and love are not the +servants of the will. Love is, and must be free. It rises from the +heart like perfume from a flower.</p> +<p>For thousands of ages men and women have been trying to love the +gods—trying to soften their hearts—trying to get their +aid.</p> +<p>I see them all. The panorama passes before me. I see them with +outstretched hands—with reverently closed +eyes—worshiping the sun. I see them bowing, in their fear and +need, to meteoric stones—imploring serpents, beasts and +sacred trees—praying to idols wrought of wood and stone. I +see them building altars to the unseen powers, staining them with +blood of child and beast. I see the countless priests and hear +their solemn chants. I see the dying victims, the smoking altars, +the swinging censers, and the rising clouds. I see the half-god +men—the mournful Christs, in many lands. I see the common +things of life change to miracles as they speed from mouth to +mouth. I see the insane prophets reading the secret book of fate by +signs and dreams. I see them all—the Assyrians chanting the +praises of Asshur and Ishtar—the Hindus worshiping Brahma, +Vishnu and Draupadi, the whitearmed—the Chaldeans sacrificing +to Bel and Hea—the Egyptians bowing to Ptah and Ra, Osiris +and Isis—the Medes placating the storm, worshiping the +fire—the Babylonians supplicating Bel and Morodach—I +see them all by the Euphrates, the Tigris, the Ganges and the Nile. +I see the Greeks building temples for Zeus, Neptune and Venus. I +see the Romans kneeling to a hundred gods. I see others spurning +idols and pouring out their hopes and fears to a vague image in the +mind. I see the multitudes, with open mouths, receive as truths the +myths and fables of the vanished years. I see them give their toil, +their wealth to robe the priests, to build the vaulted roofs, the +spacious aisles, the glittering domes. I see them clad in rags, +huddled in dens and huts, devouring crusts and scraps, that they +may give the more to ghosts and gods. I see them make their cruel +creeds and fill the world with hatred, war, and death. I see them +with their faces in the dust in the dark days of plague and sudden +death, when cheeks are wan and lips are white for lack of bread. I +hear their prayers, their sighs, their sobs. I see them kiss the +unconscious lips as their hot tears fall on the pallid faces of the +dead. I see the nations as they fade and fail. I see them captured +and enslaved. I see their altars mingle with the common earth, +their temples crumble slowly back to dust. I see their gods grow +old and weak, infirm and faint. I see them fall from vague and +misty thrones, helpless and dead. The worshipers receive no help. +Injustice triumphs. Toilers are paid with the lash,—babes are +sold,—the innocent stand on scaffolds, and the heroic perish +in flames. I see the earthquakes devour, the volcanoes overwhelm, +the cyclones wreck, the floods destroy, and the lightnings +kill.</p> +<p>The nations perished. The gods died. The toil and wealth were +lost. The temples were built in vain, and all the prayers died +unanswered in the heedless air.</p> +<p>Then I asked myself the question: Is there a supernatural +power—an arbitrary mind—an enthroned God—a +supreme will that sways the tides and currents of the +world—to which all causes bow?</p> +<p>I do not deny. I do not know—but I do not believe. I +believe that the natural is supreme—that from the infinite +chain no link can be lost or broken—that there is no +supernatural power that can answer prayer—no power that +worship can persuade or change—no power that cares for +man.</p> +<p>I believe that with infinite arms Nature embraces the +all—that there is no interference—no chance—that +behind every event are the necessary and countless causes, and that +beyond every event will be and must be the necessary and countless +effects.</p> +<p>Man must protect himself. He cannot depend upon the +supernatural—upon an imaginary father in the skies. He must +protect himself by finding the facts in Nature, by developing his +brain, to the end that he may overcome the obstructions and take +advantage of the forces of Nature.</p> +<p>Is there a God?</p> +<p>I do not know.</p> +<p>Is man immortal?</p> +<p>I do not know.</p> +<p>One thing I do know, and that is, that neither hope, nor fear, +belief, nor denial, can change the fact. It is as it is, and it +will be as it must be.</p> +<p>We wait and hope.</p> +<center>XI.</center> +<p>WHEN I became convinced that the Universe is natural—that +all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, +into my soul, into every drop of my blood, the sense, the feeling, +the joy of freedom. The walls of my prison crumbled and fell, the +dungeon was flooded with light and all the bolts, and bars, and +manacles became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf or a slave. +There was for me no master in all the wide world—not even in +infinite space. I was free—free to think, to express my +thoughts—free to live to my own ideal—free to live for +myself and those I loved—free to use all my faculties, all my +senses—free to spread imagination's wings—free to +investigate, to guess and dream and hope—free to judge and +determine for myself—free to reject all ignorant and cruel +creeds, all the "inspired" books that savages have produced, and +all the barbarous legends of the past—free from popes and +priests—free from all the "called" and "set apart"—free +from sanctified mistakes and holy lies—free from the fear of +eternal pain—free from the winged monsters of the +night—free from devils, ghosts and gods. For the first time I +was free. There were no prohibited places in all the realms of +thought—no air, no space, where fancy could not spread her +painted wings—no chains for my limbs—no lashes for my +back—no fires for my flesh—no master's frown or +threat—no following another's steps—no need to bow, or +cringe, or crawl, or utter lying words. I was free. I stood erect +and fearlessly, joyously, faced all worlds.</p> +<p>And then my heart was filled with gratitude, with thankfulness, +and went out in love to all the heroes, the thinkers who gave their +lives for the liberty of hand and brain—for the freedom of +labor and thought—to those who fell on the fierce fields of +war, to those who died in dungeons bound with chains—to those +who proudly mounted scaffold's stairs—to those whose bones +were crushed, whose flesh was scarred and torn—to those by +fire consumed—to all the wise, the good, the brave of every +land, whose thoughts and deeds have given freedom to the sons of +men. And then I vowed to grasp the torch that they had held, and +hold it high, that light might conquer darkness still.</p> +<p>Let us be true to ourselves—true to the facts we know, and +let us, above all things, preserve the veracity of our souls.</p> +<p>If there be gods we cannot help them, but we can assist our +fellow-men. We cannot love the inconceivable, but we can love wife +and child and friend.</p> +<p>We can be as honest as we are ignorant. If we are, when asked +what is beyond the horizon of the known, we must say that we do not +know. We can tell the truth, and we can enjoy the blessed freedom +that the brave have won. We can destroy the monsters of +superstition, the hissing snakes of ignorance and fear. We can +drive from our minds the frightful things that tear and wound with +beak and fang. We can civilize our fellow-men. We can fill our +lives with generous deeds, with loving words, with art and song, +and all the ecstasies of love. We can flood our years with +sunshine—with the divine climate of kindness, and we can +drain to the last drop the golden cup of joy.</p> +<a name="link0002" id="link0002"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /></div> +<h2>THE TRUTH.</h2> +<center>I.</center> +<p>THROUGH millions of ages, by countless efforts to satisfy his +wants, to gratify his passions, his appetites, man slowly developed +his brain, changed two of his feet into hands and forced into the +darkness of his brain a few gleams and glimmerings of reason. He +was hindered by ignorance, by fear, by mistakes, and he advanced +only as he found the truth—the absolute facts. Through +countless years he has groped and crawled and struggled and climbed +and stumbled toward the light. He has been hindered and delayed and +deceived by augurs and prophets—by popes and priests. He has +been betrayed by saints, misled by apostles and Christs, frightened +by devils and ghosts—enslaved by chiefs and +kings—robbed by altars and thrones. In the name of education +his mind has been filled with mistakes, with miracles, and lies, +with the impossible, the absurd and infamous. In the name of +religion he has been taught humility and arrogance, love and +hatred, forgiveness and revenge.</p> +<p>But the world is changing. We are tired of barbarian bibles and +savage creeds.</p> +<p>Nothing is greater, nothing is of more importance, than to find +amid the errors and darkness of this life, a shining truth.</p> +<p>Truth is the intellectual wealth of the world.</p> +<p>The noblest of occupations is to search for truth.</p> +<p>Truth is the foundation, the superstructure, and the glittering +dome of progress.</p> +<p>Truth is the mother of joy. Truth civilizes, ennobles, and +purifies. The grandest ambition that can enter the soul is to know +the truth.</p> +<p>Truth gives man the greatest power for good. Truth is sword and +shield. It is the sacred light of the soul.</p> +<p>The man who finds a truth lights a torch.</p> +<p>How is Truth to be Found?</p> +<p>By investigation, experiment and reason.</p> +<p>Every human being should be allowed to investigate to the extent +of his desire—his ability. The literature of the world should +be open to him—nothing prohibited, sealed or hidden. No +subject can be too sacred to be understood. Each person should be +allowed to reach his own conclusions and to speak his honest +thought.</p> +<p>He who threatens the investigator with punishment here, or +hereafter, is an enemy of the human race. And he who tries to bribe +the investigator with the promise of eternal joy is a traitor to +his fellow-men.</p> +<p>There is no real investigation without freedom—freedom +from the fear of gods and men.</p> +<p>So, all investigation—all experiment—should be +pursued in the light of reason.</p> +<p>Every man should be true to himself—true to the inward +light. Each man, in the laboratory of his own mind, and for himself +alone, should test the so-called facts—the theories of all +the world. Truth, <i>in accordance with his reason</i>, should be +his guide and master.</p> +<p>To love the truth, thus perceived, is mental +virtue—intellectual purity. This is true manhood. This is +freedom.</p> +<p>To throw away your reason at the command of churches, popes, +parties, kings or gods, is to be a serf, a slave.</p> +<p>It is not simply the right, but it is the duty of every man to +think—to investigate for himself—and every man who +tries to prevent this by force or fear, is doing all he can to +degrade and enslave his fellow-men.</p> +<p>Every Man Should be Mentally Honest.</p> +<p>He should preserve as his most precious jewel the perfect +veracity of his soul.</p> +<p>He should examine all questions presented to his mind, without +prejudice,—unbiased by hatred or love—by desire or +fear. His object and his only object should be to find the truth. +He knows, if he listens to reason, that truth is not dangerous and +that error is. He should weigh the evidence, the arguments, in +honest scales—scales that passion or interest cannot change. +He should care nothing for authority—nothing for names, +customs or creeds—nothing for anything that his reason does +not say is true.</p> +<p>Of his world he should be the sovereign, and his soul should +wear the purple. From his dominions should be banished the hosts of +force and fear.</p> +<p>He Should be Intellectually Hospitable.</p> +<p>Prejudice, egotism, hatred, contempt, disdain, are the enemies +of truth and progress.</p> +<p>The real searcher after truth will not receive the old because +it is old, or reject the new because it is new. He will not believe +men because they are dead, or contradict them because they are +alive. With him an utterance is worth the truth, the reason it +contains, without the slightest regard to the author. He may have +been a king or serf—a philosopher or servant,—but the +utterance neither gains nor loses in truth or reason. Its value is +absolutely independent of the fame or station of the man who gave +it to the world.</p> +<p>Nothing but falsehood needs the assistance of fame and place, of +robes and mitres, of tiaras and crowns.</p> +<p>The wise, the really honest and intelligent, are not swayed or +governed by numbers—by majorities.</p> +<p>They accept what they really believe to be true. They care +nothing for the opinions of ancestors, nothing for creeds, +assertions and theories, unless they satisfy the reason.</p> +<p>In all directions they seek for truth, and when found, accept it +with joy—accept it in spite of preconceived opinions—in +spite of prejudice and hatred.</p> +<p>This is the course pursued by wise and honest men, and no other +course is possible for them.</p> +<p>In every department of human endeavor men are seeking for the +truth—for the facts. The statesman reads the history of the +world, gathers the statistics of all nations to the end that his +country may avoid the mistakes of the past. The geologist +penetrates the rocks in search of facts—climbs mountains, +visits the extinct craters, traverses islands and continents that +he may know something of the history of the world. He wants the +truth.</p> +<p>The chemist, with crucible and retort, with countless +experiments, is trying to find the qualities of substances—to +ravel what nature has woven.</p> +<p>The great mechanics dwell in the realm of the real. They seek by +natural means to conquer and use the forces of nature. They want +the truth—the actual facts.</p> +<p>The physicians, the surgeons, rely on observation, experiment +and reason. They become acquainted with the human body—with +muscle, blood and nerve—with the wonders of the brain. They +want nothing but the truth.</p> +<p>And so it is with the students of every science. On every hand +they look for facts, and it is of the utmost importance that they +give to the world the facts they find.</p> +<p>Their courage should equal their intelligence. No matter what +the dead have said, or the living believe, they should tell what +they know. They should have intellectual courage.</p> +<p>If it be good for man to find the truth—good for him to be +intellectually honest and hospitable, then it is good for others to +know the truths thus found.</p> +<p>Every man should have the courage to give his honest thought. +This makes the finder and publisher of truth a public +benefactor.</p> +<p>Those who prevent, or try to prevent, the expression of honest +thought, are the foes of civilization—the enemies of truth. +Nothing can exceed the egotism and impudence of the man who claims +the right to express his thought and denies the same right to +others.</p> +<p>It will not do to say that certain ideas are sacred, and that +man has not the right to investigate and test these ideas for +himself.</p> +<p>Who knows that they are sacred? Can anything be sacred to us +that we do not know to be true?</p> +<p>For many centuries free speech has been an insult to God. +Nothing has been more blasphemous than the expression of honest +thought. For many ages the lips of the wise were sealed. The +torches that truth had lighted, that courage carried and held +aloft, were extinguished with blood.</p> +<p>Truth has always been in favor of free speech—has always +asked to be investigated—has always longed to be known and +understood. Freedom, discussion, honesty, investigation and courage +are the friends and allies of truth. Truth loves the light and the +open field. It appeals to the senses—to the judgment, the +reason, to all the higher and nobler faculties and powers of the +mind. It seeks to calm the passions, to destroy prejudice and to +increase the volume and intensity of reason's flame.</p> +<p>It does not ask man to cringe or crawl. It does not desire the +worship of the ignorant or the prayers and praises of the +frightened. It says to every human being, "Think for yourself. +Enjoy the freedom of a god, and have the goodness and the courage +to express your honest thought."</p> +<p>Why should we pursue the truth? and why should we investigate +and reason? and why should we be mentally honest and hospitable? +and why should we express our honest thoughts? To this there is but +one answer: for the benefit of mankind.</p> +<p>The brain must be developed. The world must think. Speech must +be free. The world must learn that credulity is not a virtue and +that no question is settled until reason is fully satisfied.</p> +<p>By these means man will overcome many of the obstructions of +nature. He will cure or avoid many diseases. He will lessen pain. +He will lengthen, ennoble and enrich life. In every direction he +will increase his power. He will satisfy his wants, gratify his +tastes. He will put roof and raiment, food and fuel, home and +happiness within the reach of all.</p> +<p>He will drive want and crime from the world. He will destroy the +serpents of fear, the monsters of superstition. He will become +intelligent and free, honest and serene.</p> +<p>The monarch of the skies will be dethroned—the flames of +hell will be extinguished. Pious beggars will become honest and +useful men. Hypocrisy will collect no tolls from fear, lies will +not be regarded as sacred, this life will not be sacrificed for +another, human beings will love each other instead of gods, men +will do right, not for the sake of reward in some other world, but +for the sake of happiness here. Man will find that Nature is the +only revelation, and that he, by his own efforts, must learn to +read the stories told by star and cloud, by rock and soil, by sea +and stream, by rain and fire, by plant and flower, by life in all +its curious forms, and all the things and forces of the world.</p> +<p>When he reads these stories, these records, he will know that +man must rely on himself,—that the supernatural does not +exist, and that man must be the providence of man.</p> +<p>It is impossible to conceive of an argument against the freedom +of thought—against maintaining your self-respect and +preserving the spotless and stainless veracity of the soul.</p> +<center>II.</center> +<p>ALL that I have said seems to be true—almost +self-evident,—and you may ask who it is that says slavery is +better than liberty. Let me tell you.</p> +<p>All the popes and priests, all the orthodox churches and +clergymen, say that they have a revelation from God.</p> +<p>The Protestants say that it is the duty of every person to read, +to understand, and to believe this revelation—that a man +should use his reason; but if he honestly concludes that the Bible +is not a revelation from God, and dies with that conclusion in his +mind, he will be tormented forever. They say:—"Read," and +then add: "Believe, or be damned."</p> +<p>"No matter how unreasonable the Bible may appear to you, you +must believe. No matter how impossible the miracles may seem, you +must believe. No matter how cruel the laws, your heart must approve +them all!"</p> +<p>This is what the church calls the liberty of thought. We read +the Bible under the scowl and threat of God. We read by the glare +of hell. On one side is the devil, with the instruments of torture +in his hands. On the other, God, ready to launch the infinite +curse. And the church says to the readers: "You are free to decide. +God is good, and he gives you the liberty to choose."</p> +<p>The popes and the priests say to the poor people: "You need not +read the Bible. You cannot understand it. That is the reason it is +called a revelation. We will read it for you, and you must believe +what we say. We carry the key of hell. Contradict us and you will +become eternal convicts in the prison of God."</p> +<p>This is the freedom of the Catholic Church.</p> +<p>And all these priests and clergymen insist that the Bible is +superior to human reason—that it is the duty of man to accept +it—to believe it, whether he really thinks it is true or not, +and without the slightest regard to evidence or reason.</p> +<p>It is his duty to cast out from the temple of his soul the +goddess Reason, and bow before the coiled serpent of Fear.</p> +<p>This is what the church calls virtue.</p> +<p>Under these conditions what can thought be worth? The brain, +swept by the sirocco of God's curse, becomes a desert.</p> +<p>But this is not all. To compel man to desert the standard of +Reason, the church does not entirely rely on the threat of eternal +pain to be endured in another world, but holds out the reward of +everlasting joy.</p> +<p>To those who believe, it promises the endless ecstasies of +heaven. If it cannot frighten, it will bribe. It relies on fear and +hope.</p> +<p>A religion, to command the respect of intelligent men, should +rest on a foundation of established facts. It should appeal, not to +passion, not to hope and fear, but to the judgment. It should ask +that all the faculties of the mind, all the senses, should assemble +and take counsel together, and that its claims be passed upon and +tested without prejudice, without fear, in the calm of perfect +candor.</p> +<p>But the church cries: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou +shalt be saved." Without this belief there is no salvation. +Salvation is the reward for belief.</p> +<p>Belief is, and forever must be, the result of evidence. A +promised reward is not evidence. It sheds no intellectual light. It +establishes no fact, answers no objection, and dissipates no +doubt.</p> +<p>Is it honest to offer a reward for belief?</p> +<p>The man who gives money to a judge or juror for a decision or +verdict is guilty of a crime. Why? Because he induces the judge, +the juror, to decide, not according to the law, to the facts, the +right, but according to the bribe.</p> +<p>The bribe is not evidence.</p> +<p>So, the promise of Christ to reward those who will believe is a +bribe. It is an attempt to make a promise take the place of +evidence. He who says that he believes, and does this for the sake +of the reward, corrupts his soul.</p> +<p>Suppose I should say that at the center of the earth there is a +diamond one hundred miles in diameter, and that I would give ten +thousand dollars to any man who would believe my statement. Could +such a promise be regarded as evidence?</p> +<p>Intelligent people would ask not for rewards, but reasons. Only +hypocrites would ask for the money.</p> +<p>Yet, according to the New Testament, Christ offered a reward to +those who would believe, and this promised reward was to take the +place of evidence. When Christ made this promise he forgot, +ignored, or held in contempt the rectitude of a brave, free and +natural soul.</p> +<p>The declaration that salvation is the reward for belief is +inconsistent with mental freedom, and could have been made by no +man who thought that evidence sustained the slightest relation to +belief.</p> +<p>Every sermon in which men have been told that they could save +their souls by believing, has been an injury. Such sermons dull the +moral sense and subvert the true conception of virtue and duty.</p> +<p>The true man, when asked to believe, asks for evidence. The true +man, who asks another to believe, offers evidence.</p> +<p>But this is not all.</p> +<p>In spite of the threat of eternal pain—of the promise of +everlasting joy, unbelievers increased, and the churches took +another step.</p> +<p>The churches said to the unbelievers, the heretics: "Although +our God will punish you forever in another world—in his +prison—the doors of which open only to receive, we, unless +you believe, will torment you now."</p> +<p>And then the members of these churches, led by priests, popes, +and clergymen, sought out their unbelieving neighbors—chained +them in dungeons, stretched them on racks, crushed their bones, cut +out their tongues, extinguished their eyes, flayed them alive and +consumed their poor bodies in flames.</p> +<p>All this was done because these Christian savages believed in +the dogma of eternal pain. Because they believed that heaven was +the reward for belief. So believing, they were the enemies of free +thought and speech—they cared nothing for conscience, nothing +for the veracity of a soul,—nothing for the manhood of a man. +In all ages most priests have been heartless and relentless. They +have calumniated and tortured. In defeat they have crawled and +whined. In victory they have killed. The flower of pity never +blossomed in their hearts and in their brain. Justice never held +aloft the scales. Now they are not as cruel. They have lost their +power, but they are still trying to accomplish the impossible. They +fill their pockets with "fool's gold" and think they are rich. They +stuff their minds with mistakes and think they are wise. They +console themselves with legends and myths, have faith in fiction +and forgery—give their hearts to ghosts and phantoms and seek +the aid of the non-existent.</p> +<p>They put a monster—a master—a tyrant in the sky, and +seek to enslave their fellow-men. They teach the cringing virtues +of serfs. They abhor the courage of manly men. They hate the man +who thinks. They long for revenge.</p> +<p>They warm their hands at the imaginary fires of hell.</p> +<p>I show them that hell does not exist and they denounce me for +destroying their consolation.</p> +<p>Horace Greeley, as the story goes, one cold day went into a +country store, took a seat by the stove, unbuttoned his coat and +spread out his hands.</p> +<p>In a few minutes, a little boy who clerked in the store said: +"Mr. Greeley, there aint no fire in that stove."</p> +<p>"You d——d little rascal," said Greeley, "What did +you tell me for, I was getting real warm."</p> +<center>III.</center> +<center>"THE SCIENCE OF THEOLOGY."</center> +<p>ALL the sciences—except Theology—are eager for +facts—hungry for the truth. On the brow of a finder of a fact +the laurel is placed.</p> +<p>In a theological seminary, if a professor finds a fact +inconsistent with the creed, he must keep it secret or deny it, or +lose his place. Mental veracity is a crime, cowardice and hypocrisy +are virtues.</p> +<p>A fact, inconsistent with the creed, is denounced as a lie, and +the man who declares or announces the fact is a blasphemer. Every +professor breathes the air of insincerity. Every one is mentally +dishonest. Every one is a pious fraud. Theology is the only +dishonest science—the only one that is based on +belief—on credulity,—the only one that abhors +investigation, that despises thought and denounces reason.</p> +<p>All the great theologians in the Catholic Church have denounced +reason as the light furnished by the enemy of mankind—as the +road that leads to perdition. All the great Protestant theologians, +from Luther to the orthodox clergy of our time, have been the +enemies of reason. All orthodox churches of all ages have been the +enemies of science. They attacked the astronomers as though they +were criminals—the geologists as though they were assassins. +They regarded physicians as the enemies of God—as men who +were trying to defeat the decrees of Providence. The biologists, +the anthropologists, the archaeologists, the readers of ancient +inscriptions, the delvers in buried cities, were all hated by the +theologians. They were afraid that these men might find something +inconsistent with the Bible.</p> +<p>The theologians attacked those who studied other religions. They +insisted that Christianity was not a growth—not an +evolution—but a revelation. They denied that it was in any +way connected with any natural religion.</p> +<p>The facts now show beyond all doubt that all religions came from +substantially the same source—but there is not an orthodox +Christian theologian who will admit the facts. He must defend his +creed—his revelation. He cannot afford to be honest. He was +not educated in an honest school. He was not taught to be honest. +He was taught to believe and to defend his belief, not only against +argument but against facts.</p> +<p>There is not a theologian in the whole world who can produce the +slightest, the least particle of evidence tending to show that the +Bible is the inspired word of God.</p> +<p>Where is the evidence that the book of Ruth was written by an +inspired man? Where is the evidence that God is the author of the +Song of Solomon? Where is the evidence that any human being has +been inspired? Where is the evidence that Christ was and is God? +Where is the evidence that the places called heaven and hell exist? +Where is the evidence that a miracle was ever wrought?</p> +<p>There is none.</p> +<p>Theology is entirely independent of evidence.</p> +<p>Where is the evidence that angels and ghosts—that devils +and gods exist? Have these beings been seen or touched? Does one of +our senses certify to their existence?</p> +<p>The theologians depend on assertions. They have no evidence. +They claim that their inspired book is superior to reason and +independent of evidence.</p> +<p>They talk about +probability—analogy—inferences—but they present +no evidence. They say that they know that Christ lived, in the same +way that they know that Cæsar lived. They might add that they +know Moses talked with Jehovah on Sinai the same way they know that +Brigham Young talked with God in Utah. The evidence in both cases +is the same,—none in either.</p> +<p>How do they prove that Christ rose from the dead? They find the +account in a book. Who wrote the book? They do not know. What +evidence is this? None, unless all things found in books are +true.</p> +<p>It is impossible to establish one miracle except by +another—and that would have to be established by another +still, and so on without end. Human testimony is not sufficient to +establish a miracle. Each human being, to be really convinced, must +witness the miracle for himself.</p> +<p>They say that Christianity was established, proven to be true, +by miracles wrought nearly two thousand years ago. Not one of these +miracles can be established except by impudent and ignorant +assertion—except by poisoning and deforming the minds of the +ignorant and the young. To succeed, the theologians invade the +cradle, the nursery. In the brain of innocence they plant the seeds +of superstition. They pollute the minds and imaginations of +children. They frighten the happy with threats of pain—they +soothe the wretched with gilded lies.</p> +<p>This perpetual insincerity stamps itself on the +face—affects every feature. We all know the theological +countenance,—cold, unsympathetic, cruel, lighted with a pious +smirk,—no line of laughter—no dimpled mirth—no +touch of humor—nothing human.</p> +<p>This face is a rebuke, a reprimand to natural joy. It says to +the happy: "Beware of the dog"—"Prepare for death." This +face, like the fabled Gorgon, turns cheerfulness to stone. It is a +protest against pleasure—a warning and a threat.</p> +<p>You see every soul is a sculptor that fashions the features, and +in this way reveals itself.</p> +<p>Every thought leaves its impress.</p> +<p>The student of this science of theology must be taught in +youth,—in his mother's arms. These lies must be sown and +planted in his brain the first of all. He must be taught to +believe, to accept without question. He must be told that it is +wicked to doubt, that it is sinful to inquire—that Faith is a +virtue and unbelief a crime.</p> +<p>In this way his mind is poisoned, paralyzed. On all other +subjects he has liberty—and in all other directions he is +urged to study and think. From his mother's arms he goes to the +Sunday school. His poor little mind is filled with miracles and +wonders. He is told about a God who made the world and who rewards +and punishes. He is told that this God is the author of the +Bible—that Christ is his son. He is told about original sin +and the atonement, and he believes what he hears. No reasons are +given—no facts—no evidence is presented—nothing +but assertion. If he asks questions, he is silenced by more solemn +assertions and warned against the devices of the evil one. Every +Sunday school is a kind of inquisition where they torture and +deform the minds of children—where they force their souls +into Catholic or Protestant moulds—and do all they can to +destroy the originality, the individuality, and the veracity of the +soul. In the theological seminary the destruction is complete.</p> +<p>When the minister leaves the seminary, he is not seeking the +truth. He has it. He has a revelation from God, and he has a creed +in exact accordance with that revelation. His business is to stand +by that revelation and to defend that creed. Arguments against the +revelation and the creed he will not read, he will not hear. All +facts that are against his religion he will deny. It is impossible +for him to be candid. The tremendous "verities" of eternal joy, of +everlasting pain are in his creed, and they result from believing +the false and denying the true.</p> +<p>Investigation is an infinite danger, unbelief is an infinite +offence and deserves and will receive infinite punishment. In the +shadow of this tremendous "fact" his courage dies, his manhood is +lost, and in his fear he cries out that he believes, whether he +does or not.</p> +<p>He says and teaches that credulity is safe and thought +dangerous. Yet he pretends to be a teacher—a leader, one +selected by God to educate his fellow-men.</p> +<p>These orthodox ministers have been the slanderers of the really +great men of our century. They denounced Lyell, the great +geologist, for giving facts to the world. They hated and belittled +Humboldt, one of the greatest and most intellectual of the race. +They ridiculed and derided Darwin, the greatest naturalist, the +keenest observer, the best judge of the value of a fact, the most +wonderful discoverer of truth that the world has produced.</p> +<p>In every orthodox pulpit stood a traducer of the greatest of +scientists—of one who filled the world with intellectual +light.</p> +<p>The church has been the enemy of every science, of every real +thinker, and for many centuries has used her power to prevent +intellectual progress.</p> +<p>Ministers ought to be free. They should be the heralds of the +ever coming day, but they are the bats, the owls that inhabit +ruins, that hate the light. They denounce honest men who express +their thoughts, as blasphemers, and do what they can to close their +mouths. For their Bible they ask the protection of law. They wish +to be shielded from laughter by the Legislature. They ask that the +arguments of their opponents be answered by the courts. This is the +result of a due admixture of cowardice, hypocrisy and malice.</p> +<p>What valuable fact has been proclaimed from an orthodox pulpit? +What ecclesiastical council has added to the intellectual wealth of +the world?</p> +<p>Many centuries ago the church gave to Christendom a code of +laws, stupid, unphilosophic and brutal to the last degree.</p> +<p>The church insists that it has made man merciful and just. Did +it do this by torturing heretics—by extinguishing their +eyes—by flaying them alive? Did it accomplish this result +through the Inquisition—by the use of the thumb-screw, the +rack and the fagot? Of what science has the church been the friend +and champion? What orthodox church has opened its doors to a +persecuted truth? Of what use has Christianity been to man?</p> +<p>They tell us that the church has been and is the friend of +education. I deny it. The church founded colleges not to educate +men, but to make proselytes, converts, defenders. This was in +accordance with the instinct of self-preservation. No orthodox +church ever was, or ever will be in favor of real education. A +Catholic is in favor of enough education to make a Catholic out of +a savage, and the Protestant is in favor of enough education to +make a Protestant out of a Catholic, but both are opposed to the +education that makes free and manly men.</p> +<p>So, ministers say that they teach charity. This is natural. They +live on alms. All beggars teach that others should give.</p> +<p>So, they tell us that the church has built hospitals. This is +not true. Men have not built hospitals because they were +Christians, but because they were men. They have not built them for +charity—but in self-defence.</p> +<p>If a man comes to your door with the smallpox, you cannot let +him in, you cannot kill him. As a necessity, you provide a place +for him. And you do this to protect yourself. With this +Christianity has had nothing to do.</p> +<p>The church cannot give, because it does not produce. It is +claimed that the church has made men and women forgiving. I admit +that the church has preached forgiveness, but it has never forgiven +an enemy—never. Against the great and brave thinkers it has +coined and circulated countless lies. Never has the church told, or +tried to tell, the truth about an honest foe.</p> +<p>The church teaches the existence of the supernatural. It +believes in the divine sleight-of-hand—in the "presto" and +"open sesame" of the Infinite; in some invisible Being who produces +effects without causes and causes without effects; whose caprice +governs the world and who can be persuaded by prayer, softened by +ceremony, and who will, as a reward for faith, save men from the +natural consequences of their actions.</p> +<p>The church denies the eternal, inexorable sequence of +events.</p> +<p>What Good has the Church Accomplished?</p> +<p>It claims to have preached peace because its founder said, "I +came not to bring peace but a sword."</p> +<p>It claims to have preserved the family because its founder +offered a hundred-fold here and life everlasting to those who would +desert wife and children.</p> +<p>So, it claims to have taught the brotherhood of man and that the +gospel is for all the world, because Christ said to the woman of +Samaria that he came only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, +and declared that it was not meet to take the bread of the children +and cast it unto dogs.</p> +<p>In the name of Christ, who threatened eternal revenge, it has +preached forgiveness.</p> +<p>Of what Use are the Orthodox Ministers?</p> +<p>They are the enemies of pleasure. They denounce dancing as one +of the deadly sins. They are shocked at the wickedness of the +waltz—the pollution of the polka. They are the enemies of the +theatre. They slander actors and actresses. They hate them because +they are rivals. They are trying to preserve the sacredness of the +Sabbath. It fills them with malice to see the people happy on that +day. They preach against excursions and picnics—against those +who seek the woods and the sea, the shadows and the waves. They are +filled with holy wrath against bicycles and bloomers. They are +opposed to divorces. They insist that for the glory of God, +husbands and wives who loathe each other should be compelled to +live together. They abhor all works of fiction, and love the Bible. +They declare that the literary master-pieces of the world are unfit +to be read. They think that the people should be satisfied with +sermons and poems about death and hell. They hate art—abhor +the marbles of the Greeks, and all representations of the human +form. They want nothing painted or sculptured but hands, faces and +clothes. Most of the priests are prudes, and publicly denounce what +they secretly admire and enjoy. In the presence of the nude they +cover their faces with their holy hands, but keep their fingers +apart. They pretend to believe in moral suasion, and want +everything regulated by law. If they had the power, they would +prohibit everything that men and women really enjoy. They want +libraries, museums and art galleries closed on the Sabbath. They +would abolish the Sunday paper—stop the running of cars and +all public conveyances on the holy day, and compel all the people +to enjoy sermons, prayers and psalms.</p> +<p>These dear ministers, when they have poor congregations, thunder +against trusts, syndicates, and corporations—against wealth, +fashion and luxury. They tell about Dives and Lazarus, paint rich +men in hell and beggars in heaven. If their congregations are rich +they turn their guns in the other direction.</p> +<p>They have no confidence in education—in the development of +the brain. They appeal to hopes and fears. They ask no one to +think—to investigate. They insist that all shall believe. +Credulity is the greatest of virtues, and doubt the deadliest of +sins.</p> +<p>These men are the enemies of science—of intellectual +progress. They ridicule and calumniate the great thinkers. They +deny everything that conflicts with the "sacred Scriptures." They +still believe in the astronomy of Joshua and the geology of Moses. +They believe in the miracles of the past, and deny the +demonstrations of the present. They are the foes of facts—the +enemies of knowledge. A desire to be happy here, they regard as +wicked and worldly—but a desire to be happy in another world, +as virtuous and spiritual.</p> +<p>Every orthodox church is founded on mistake and falsehood. Every +good orthodox minister asserts what he does not know, and denies +what he does know.</p> +<p>What are the Orthodox Clergy Doing for the Good of Mankind?</p> +<p>Absolutely nothing.</p> +<p>What harm are they doing?</p> +<p>On every hand they sow the seeds of superstition. They paralyze +the minds, and pollute the imaginations of children. They fill +their hearts with fear. By their teachings, thousands become +insane. With them, hypocrisy is respectable and candor +infamous.</p> +<p>They enslave the minds of men. Under their teachings men waste +and misdirect their energies, abandon the ends that can be +accomplished, dedicate their lives to the impossible, worship the +unknown, pray to the inconceivable, and become the trembling slaves +of a monstrous myth born of ignorance and fashioned by the +trembling hands of fear.</p> +<p>Superstition is the serpent that crawls and hisses in every Eden +and fastens its poisonous fangs in the hearts of men.</p> +<p>It is the deadliest foe of the human race.</p> +<p>Superstition is a beggar—a robber, a tyrant.</p> +<p>Science is a benefactor.</p> +<p>Superstition sheds blood.</p> +<p>Science sheds light.</p> +<p>The dear preachers must give up the account of +creation—the Garden of Eden, the mud-man, the rib-woman, and +the walking, talking, snake. They must throw away the apple, the +fall of man, the expulsion, and the gate guarded by angels armed +with swords. They must give up the flood and the tower of Babel and +the confusion of tongues. They must give up Abraham and the +wrestling match between Jacob and the Lord. So, the story of +Joseph, the enslavement of the Hebrews by the Egyptians, the story +of Moses in the bullrushes, the burning bush, the turning of sticks +into serpents, of water into blood, the miraculous creation of +frogs, the killing of cattle with hail and changing dust into lice, +all must be given up. The sojourn of forty years in the desert, the +opening of the Red Sea, the clothes and shoes that refused to wear +out, the manna, the quails and the serpents, the water that ran up +hill, the talking of Jehovah with Moses face to face, the giving of +the Ten Commandments, the opening of the earth to swallow the +enemies of Moses—all must be thrown away.</p> +<p>These good preachers must admit that blowing horns could not +throw down the walls of a city, that it was horrible for Jephthah +to sacrifice his daughter, that the day was not lengthened and the +moon stopped for the sake of Joshua, that the dead Samuel was not +raised by a witch, that a man was not carried to heaven in a +chariot of fire, that the river Jordan was not divided by the +stroke of a cloak, that the bears did not destroy children for +laughing at a prophet, that a wandering soothsayer did not collect +lightnings from heaven to destroy the lives of innocent men, that +he did not cause rain and make iron float, that ravens did not keep +a hotel where preachers got board and lodging free, that the shadow +on a dial was not turned back ten degrees to show that a king was +going to recover from a boil, that Ezekiel was not told by God how +to prepare a dinner, that Jonah did not take cabin passage in a +fish—and that all the miracles in the old Testament are not +allegories, or poems, but just old-fashioned lies. And the dear +preachers will be compelled to admit that there never was a +miraculous babe without a natural father, that Christ, if he lived, +was a man and nothing more. That he did not cast devils out of +folks—that he did not cure blindness with spittle and clay, +nor turn water into wine, nor make fishes and loaves of bread out +of nothing—that he did not know where to catch fishes with +money in their mouths—that he did not take a walk on the +water—that he did not at will become invisible—that he +did not pass through closed doors—that he did not raise the +dead—that angels never rolled stones from a +sepulchre—that Christ did not rise from the dead and did not +ascend to heaven.</p> +<p>All these mistakes and illusions and delusions—all these +miracles and myths must fade from the minds of intelligent men.</p> +<p>My dear preachers, I beg you to tell the truth. Tell your +congregations that Moses was not the author of the Pentateuch. Tell +them that nobody knows who wrote the five books. Tell them that +Deuteronomy was not written until about six hundred years before +Christ. Tell them that nobody knows who wrote Joshua, or Judges, or +Ruth, Samuel, Kings, or Chronicles, Job, or the Psalms, or the Song +of Solomon. Be honest, tell the truth. Tell them that nobody knows +who wrote Esther—that Ecclesiastes was written long after +Christ—that many of the prophecies were written after the +events pretended to be foretold had happened. Tell them that +Ezekiel and Daniel were insane. Tell them that nobody knows who +wrote the gospels, and tell them that no line about Christ written +by a contemporary has been found. Tell them it is all +guess—and may be, and perhaps. Be honest. Tell the truth, +develop your brains, use all your senses and hold high the torch of +Reason.</p> +<p>In a few years the pulpits will be filled with teachers instead +of preachers—with thoughtful, brave, and honest men. The +congregations will be civilized—intellectually honest and +hospitable.</p> +<p>Now, most of the ministers insist that the old falsehoods shall +be treated with reverence—that ancient lies with long white +beards—wrinkled and bald-headed frauds—round-shouldered +and toothless miracles, and palsied mistakes on crutches, shall be +called allegories, parables, oriental imagery, inspired poems. In +their presence the ungodly should remove their hats. They should +respect the mould and moss of antiquity. They should remember that +these lies, these frauds, the miracles and mistakes, have for +thousands of years ruled, enslaved, and corrupted the human +race.</p> +<p>These ministers ought to know that their creeds are based on +imagined facts and demonstrated by assertion.</p> +<p>They ought to know that they have no evidence,—nothing but +promises and threats. They ought to know that it is impossible to +conceive of force existing without and before matter—that it +is equally impossible to conceive of matter without +force—that it is impossible to conceive of the creation or +destruction of matter or force,—that it is impossible to +conceive of infinite intelligence dwelling from eternity in +infinite space, and that it is impossible to conceive of the +creator, or creation, of substance.</p> +<p>The God of the Christian is an enthroned guess—a +perhaps—an inference.</p> +<p>No man, and no body of men, can answer the questions of the +Whence and Whither. The mystery of existence cannot be explained by +the intellect of man.</p> +<p>Back of life, of existence, we cannot go—beyond death we +cannot see. All duties, all obligations, all knowledge, all +experience, are for this life, for this world.</p> +<p>We know that men and women and children exist. We know that +happiness, for the most part, depends on conduct.</p> +<p>We are satisfied that all the gods are phantoms and that the +supernatural does not exist.</p> +<p>We know the difference between hope and knowledge, we hope for +happiness here and we dream of joy hereafter, but we do not know. +We cannot assert, we can only hope. We can have our dream. In the +wide night our star can shine and shed its radiance on the graves +of those we love. We can bend above our pallid dead and say that +beyond this life there are no sighs—no tears—no +breaking hearts.</p> +<a name="linkCONC" id="linkCONC"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /></div> +<h2>CONCLUSION.</h2> +<p>LET us be honest. Let us preserve the veracity of our souls. Let +education commence in the cradle—in the lap of the loving +mother. This is the first school. The teacher, the mother, should +be absolutely honest.</p> +<p>The nursery should not be an asylum for lies.</p> +<p>Parents should be modest enough to be truthful—honest +enough to admit their ignorance. Nothing should be taught as true +that cannot be demonstrated.</p> +<p>Every child should be taught to doubt, to inquire, to demand +reasons. Every soul should defend itself—should be on its +guard against falsehood, deceit, and mistake, and should beware of +all kinds of confidence men, including those in the pulpit.</p> +<p>Children should be taught to express their doubts—to +demand reasons. The object of education should be to develop the +brain, to quicken the senses. Every school should be a mental +gymnasium. The child should be equipped for the battle of life. +Credulity, implicit obedience, are the virtues of slaves and the +enslavers of the free. All should be taught that there is nothing +too sacred to be investigated—too holy to be understood.</p> +<p>Each mind has the right to lift all curtains, withdraw all +veils, scale all walls, explore all recesses, all heights, all +depths for itself, in spite of church or priest, or creed or +book.</p> +<p>The great volume of Nature should be open to all. None but the +intelligent and honest can really read this book. Prejudice clouds +and darkens every page. Hypocrisy reads and misquotes, and +credulity accepts the quotation. Superstition cannot read a line or +spell the shortest word. And yet this volume holds all knowledge, +all truth, and is the only source of thought. Mental liberty means +the right of all to read this book. Here the Pope and Peasant are +equal. Each must read for himself—and each ought honestly and +fearlessly to give to his fellow-men what he learns.</p> +<p>There is no authority in churches or priests—no authority +in numbers or majorities. The only authority is Nature—the +facts we know. Facts are the masters, the enemies of the ignorant, +the servants and friends of the intelligent.</p> +<p>Ignorance is the mother of mystery and misery, of superstition +and sorrow, of waste and want.</p> +<p>Intelligence is the only light. It enables us to keep the +highway, to avoid the obstructions, and to take advantage of the +forces of nature. It is the only lever capable of raising mankind. +To develop the brain is to civilize the world. Intelligence reaves +the heavens of winged and frightful monsters—drives ghosts +and leering fiends from the darkness, and floods with light the +dungeons of fear.</p> +<p>All should be taught that there is no evidence of the existence +of the supernatural—that the man who bows before an idol of +wood or stone is just as foolish as the one who prays to an +imagined God,—that all worship has for its foundation the +same mistake—the same ignorance, the same fear—that it +is just as foolish to believe in a personal god as in a personal +devil—just as foolish to believe in great ghosts as little +ones.</p> +<p>So, all should be taught that the forces, the facts in Nature, +cannot be controlled or changed by prayer or praise, by +supplication, ceremony, or sacrifice; that there is no magic, no +miracle; that force can be overcome only by force, and that the +whole world is natural.</p> +<p>All should be taught that man must protect himself—that +there is no power superior to Nature that cares for man—that +Nature has neither pity nor hatred—that her forces act +without the slightest regard for man—that she produces +without intention and destroys without regret.</p> +<p>All should be taught that usefulness is the bud and flower and +fruit of real religion. The popes and cardinals, the bishops, +priests and parsons are all useless. They produce nothing. They +live on the labor of others. They are parasites that feed on the +frightened. They are vampires that suck the blood of honest toil. +Every church is an organized beggar. Every one lives on +alms—on alms collected by force and fear. Every orthodox +church promises heaven and threatens hell, and these promises and +threats are made for the sake of alms, for revenue. Every church +cries: "Believe and give."</p> +<p>A new era is dawning on the world. We are beginning to believe +in the religion of usefulness.</p> +<p>The men who felled the forests, cultivated the earth, spanned +the rivers with bridges of steel, built the railways and canals, +the great ships, invented the locomotives and engines, supplying +the countless wants of man; the men who invented the telegraphs and +cables, and freighted the electric spark with thought and love; the +men who invented the looms and spindles that clothe the world, the +inventors of printing and the great presses that fill the earth +with poetry, fiction and fact, that save and keep all knowledge for +the children yet to be; the inventors of all the wonderful machines +that deftly mould from wood and steel the things we use; the men +who have explored the heavens and traced the orbits of the +stars—who have read the story of the world in mountain range +and billowed sea; the men who have lengthened life and conquered +pain; the great philosophers and naturalists who have filled the +world with light; the great poets whose thoughts have charmed the +souls, the great painters and sculptors who have made the canvas +speak, the marble live; the great orators who have swayed the +world, the composers who have given their souls to sound, the +captains of industry, the producers, the soldiers who have battled +for the right, the vast host of useful men—these are our +Christs, our apostles and our saints. The triumphs of science are +our miracles. The books filled with the facts of Nature are our +sacred scriptures, and the force that is in every atom and in every +star—in everything that lives and grows and thinks, that +hopes and suffers, is the only possible god.</p> +<p>The absolute we cannot know—beyond the horizon of the +Natural we cannot go. All our duties are within our reach—all +our obligations must be discharged here, in this world. Let us love +and labor. Let us wait and work. Let us cultivate courage and +cheerfulness—open our hearts to the good—our minds to +the true. Let us live free lives. Let us hope that the future will +bring peace and joy to all the children of men, and above all, let +us preserve the veracity of our souls.</p> +<a name="link0004" id="link0004"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /></div> +<h2>HOW TO REFORM MANKIND.</h2> +<pre> + * This address was delivered before the Militant Church at + the Columbia Theatre, Chicago, Ills., April 12, 1896. +</pre> +<center>I.</center> +<p>"THERE is no darkness but ignorance." Every human being is a +necessary product of conditions, and every one is born with defects +for which he cannot be held responsible. Nature seems to care +nothing for the individual, nothing for the species.</p> +<p>Life pursuing life and in its turn pursued by death, presses to +the snow line of the possible, and every form of life, of instinct, +thought and action is fixed and determined by conditions, by +countless antecedent and co-existing facts. The present is the +child, and the necessary child, of all the past, and the mother of +all the future.</p> +<p>Every human being longs to be happy, to satisfy the wants of the +body with food, with roof and raiment, and to feed the hunger of +the mind, according to his capacity, with love, wisdom, philosophy, +art and song.</p> +<p>The wants of the savage are few; but with civilization the wants +of the body increase, the intellectual horizon widens and the brain +demands more and more.</p> +<p>The savage feels, but scarcely thinks. The passion of the savage +is uninfluenced by his thought, while the thought of the +philosopher is uninfluenced by passion. Children have wants and +passions before they are capable of reasoning. So, in the infancy +of the race, wants and passions dominate.</p> +<p>The savage was controlled by appearances, by impressions; he was +mentally weak, mentally indolent, and his mind pursued the path of +least resistance. Things were to him as they appeared to be. He was +a natural believer in the supernatural, and, finding himself beset +by dangers and evils, he sought in many ways the aid of unseen +powers. His children followed his example, and for many ages, in +many lands, millions and millions of human beings, many of them the +kindest and the best, asked for supernatural help. Countless altars +and temples have been built, and the supernatural has been +worshiped with sacrifice and song, with self-denial, ceremony, +thankfulness and prayer.</p> +<p>During all these ages, the brain of man was being slowly and +painfully developed. Gradually mind came to the assistance of +muscle, and thought became the friend of labor. Man has advanced +just in the proportion that he has mingled thought with his work, +just in the proportion that he has succeeded in getting his head +and hands into partnership. All this was the result of +experience.</p> +<p>Nature, generous and heartless, extravagant and miserly as she +is, is our mother and our only teacher, and she is also the +deceiver of men. Above her we cannot rise, below her we cannot +fall. In her we find the seed and soil of all that is good, of all +that is evil. Nature originates, nourishes, preserves and +destroys.</p> +<p>Good deeds bear fruit, and in the fruit are seeds that in their +turn bear fruit and seeds. Great thoughts are never lost, and words +of kindness do not perish from the earth.</p> +<p>Every brain is a field where nature sows the seeds of thought, +and the crop depends upon the soil.</p> +<p>Every flower that gives its fragrance to the wandering air +leaves its influence on the soul of man. The wheel and swoop of the +winged creatures of the air suggest the flowing lines of subtle +art. The roar and murmur of the restless sea, the cataract's solemn +chant, the thunder's voice, the happy babble of the brook, the +whispering leaves, the thrilling notes of mating birds, the sighing +winds, taught man to pour his heart in song and gave a voice to +grief and hope, to love and death.</p> +<p>In all that is, in mountain range and billowed plain, in winding +stream and desert sand, in cloud and star, in snow and rain, in +calm and storm, in night and day, in woods and vales, in all the +colors of divided light, in all there is of growth and life, decay +and death, in all that flies and floats and swims, in all that +moves, in all the forms and qualities of things, man found the +seeds and symbols of his thoughts; and all that man has wrought +becomes a part of nature's self, forming the lives of those to be. +The marbles of the Greeks, like strains of music, suggest the +perfect, and teach the melody of life. The great poems, paintings, +inventions, theories and philosophies, enlarge and mould the mind +of man. All that is is natural. All is naturally produced. Beyond +the horizon of the natural man cannot go.</p> +<p>Yet, for many ages, man in all directions has relied upon, and +sincerely believed in, the existence of the supernatural. He did +not believe in the uniformity of nature; he had no conception of +cause and effect, of the indestructibility of force.</p> +<p>In medicine he believed in charms, magic, amulets, and +incantations. It never occurred to the savage that diseases were +natural.</p> +<p>In chemistry he sought for the elixir of life, for the +philosopher's stone, and for some way of changing the baser metals +into gold.</p> +<p>In mechanics he searched for perpetual motion, believing that +he, by some curious combinations of levers, could produce, could +create a force.</p> +<p>In government, he found the source of authority in the will of +the supernatural.</p> +<p>For many centuries his only conception of morality was the idea +of obedience, not to facts as they exist in nature, but to the +supposed command of some being superior to nature. During all these +years religion consisted in the praise and worship of the invisible +and infinite, of some vast and incomprehensible power, that is to +say, of the supernatural.</p> +<p>By experience, by experiment, possibly by accident, man found +that some diseases could be cured by natural means; that he could +be relieved in many instances of pain by certain kinds of leaves or +bark.</p> +<p>This was the beginning. Gradually his confidence increased in +the direction of the natural, and began to decrease in charms and +amulets, The war was waged for many centuries, but the natural +gained the victory. Now we know that all diseases are naturally +produced, and that all remedies, all curatives, act in accordance +with the facts in nature. Now we know that charms, magic, amulets +and incantations are just as useless in the practice of medicine as +they would be in solving a problem in mathematics. We now know that +there are no supernatural remedies.</p> +<p>In chemistry the war was long and bitter; but we now no longer +seek for the elixir of life, and no one is trying to find the +philosopher's stone. We are satisfied that there is nothing +supernatural in all the realm of chemistry. We know that substances +are always true to their natures; we know that just so many atoms +of one substance will unite with just so many of another. The +miraculous has departed from chemistry; in that science there is no +magic, no caprice and no possible use for the supernatural. We are +satisfied that there can be no change, that we can absolutely rely +on the uniformity of nature; that the attraction of gravitation +will always remain the same; and we feel that we know this as +certainly as we know that the relation between the diameter and +circumference of a circle can never change.</p> +<p>We now know that in mechanics the natural is supreme. We know +that man can by no possibility create a force; that by no +possibility can he destroy a force. No mechanic dreams of depending +upon or asking for any supernatural aid. He knows that he works in +accordance with certain facts that no power can change.</p> +<p>So we in the United States believe that the authority to govern, +the authority to make and execute laws, comes from the consent of +the governed and not from any supernatural source. We do not +believe that the king occupied his throne because of the will of +the supernatural. Neither do we believe that others are subjects or +serfs or slaves by reason of any supernatural will.</p> +<p>So, our ideas of morality have changed, and millions now believe +that whatever produces happiness and well-being is in the highest +sense moral. Unreasoning obedience is not the foundation or the +essence of morality. That is the result of mental slavery. To act +in accordance with obligation perceived is to be free and noble. To +simply obey is to practice what might be called a slave virtue; but +real morality is the flower and fruit of liberty and wisdom.</p> +<p>There are very many who have reached the conclusion that the +supernatural has nothing to do with real religion. Religion does +not consist in believing without evidence or against evidence. It +does not consist in worshiping the unknown or in trying to do +something for the Infinite. Ceremonies, prayers and inspired books, +miracles, special providence, and divine interference all belong to +the supernatural and form no part of real religion.</p> +<p>Every science rests on the natural, on demonstrated facts. So, +morality and religion must find their foundations in the necessary +nature of things.</p> +<center>II. HOW CAN WE REFORM THE WORLD?</center> +<p>IGNORANCE being darkness, what we need is intellectual light. +The most important things to teach, as the basis of all progress, +are that the universe is natural; that man must be the providence +of man; that, by the development of the brain, we can avoid some of +the dangers, some of the evils, overcome some of the obstructions, +and take advantage of some of the facts and forces of nature; that, +by invention and industry, we can supply, to a reasonable degree, +the wants of the body, and by thought, study and effort, we can in +part satisfy the hunger of the mind.</p> +<p>Man should cease to expect any aid from any supernatural source. +By this time he should be satisfied that worship has not created +wealth, and that prosperity is not the child of prayer. He should +know that the supernatural has not succored the oppressed, clothed +the naked, fed the hungry, shielded the innocent, stayed the +pestilence, or freed the slave.</p> +<p>Being satisfied that the supernatural does not exist, man should +turn his entire attention to the affairs of this world, to the +facts in nature.</p> +<p>And, first of all, he should avoid waste—waste of energy, +waste of wealth. Every good man, every good woman, should try to do +away with war, to stop the appeal to savage force. Man in a savage +state relies upon his strength, and decides for himself what is +right and what is wrong. Civilized men do not settle their +differences by a resort to arms. They submit the quarrel to +arbitrators and courts. This is the great difference between the +savage and the civilized. Nations, however, sustain the relations +of savages to each other. There is no way of settling their +disputes. Each nation decides for itself, and each nation endeavors +to carry its decision into effect. This produces war. Thousands of +men at this moment are trying to invent more deadly weapons to +destroy their fellow-men. For eighteen hundred years peace has been +preached, and yet the civilized nations are the most warlike of the +world. There are in Europe to-day between eleven and twelve +millions of soldiers, ready to take the field, and the frontiers of +every civilized nation are protected by breastwork and fort. The +sea is covered with steel clad ships, filled with missiles of +death.</p> +<p>The civilized world has impoverished itself, and the debt of +Christendom, mostly for war, is now nearly thirty thousand million +dollars. The interest on this vast sum has to be paid; it has to be +paid by labor, much of it by the poor, by those who are compelled +to deny themselves almost the necessities of life. This debt is +growing year by year. There must come a change, or Christendom will +become bankrupt.</p> +<p>The interest on this debt amounts at least to nine hundred +million dollars a year; and the cost of supporting armies and +navies, of repairing ships, of manufacturing new engines of death, +probably amounts, including the interest on the debt, to at least +six million dollars a day. Allowing ten hours for a day, that is +for a working day, the waste of war is at least six hundred +thousand dollars an hour, that is to say, ten thousand dollars a +minute.</p> +<p>Think of all this being paid for the purpose of killing and +preparing to kill our fellow-men. Think of the good that could be +done with this vast sum of money; the schools that could be built, +the wants that could be supplied. Think of the homes it would +build, the children it would clothe.</p> +<p>If we wish to do away with war, we must provide for the +settlement of national differences by an international court. This +court should be in perpetual session; its members should be +selected by the various governments to be affected by its +decisions, and, at the command and disposal of this court, the rest +of Christendom being disarmed, there should be a military force +sufficient to carry its judgments into effect. There should be no +other excuse, no other business for an army or a navy in the +civilized world.</p> +<p>No man has imagination enough to paint the agonies, the horrors +and cruelties of war. Think of sending shot and shell crashing +through the bodies of men! Think of the widows and orphans! Think +of the maimed, the mutilated, the mangled!</p> +<center>III. ANOTHER WASTE.</center> +<p>LET us be perfectly candid with each other. We are seeking the +truth, trying to find what ought to be done to increase the +well-being of man. I must give you my honest thought. You have the +right to demand it, and I must maintain the integrity of my +soul.</p> +<p>There is another direction in which the wealth and energies of +man are wasted. From the beginning of history until now man has +been seeking the aid of the supernatural. For many centuries the +wealth of the world was used to propitiate the unseen powers. In +our own country, the property dedicated to this purpose is worth at +least one thousand million dollars. The interest on this sum is +fifty million dollars a year, and the cost of employing persons, +whose business it is to seek the aid of the supernatural and to +maintain the property, is certainly as much more. So that the cost +in our country is about two million dollars a week, and, counting +ten hours as a working day, this amounts to about five hundred +dollars a minute.</p> +<p>For this vast amount of money the returns are remarkably small. +The good accomplished does not appear to be great. There is no +great diminution in crime. The decrease of immorality and poverty +is hardly perceptible. In spite, however, of the apparent failure +here, a vast sum of money is expended every year to carry our ideas +of the supernatural to other races. Our churches, for the most +part, are closed during the week, being used only a part of one day +in seven. No one wishes to destroy churches or church +organizations. The only desire is that they shall accomplish +substantial good for the world. In many of our small +towns—towns of three or four thousand people—will be +found four or five churches, sometimes more. These churches are +founded upon immaterial differences; a difference as to the mode of +baptism; a difference as to who shall be entitled to partake of the +Lord's supper; a difference of ceremony; of government; a +difference about fore-ordination; a difference about fate and free +will. And it must be admitted that all the arguments on all sides +of these differences have been presented countless millions of +times. Upon these subjects nothing new is produced or anticipated, +and yet the discussion is maintained by the repetition of the old +arguments.</p> +<p>Now, it seems to me that it would be far better for the people +of a town, having a population of four or five thousand, to have +one church, and the edifice should be of use, not only on Sunday, +but on every day of the week. In this building should be the +library of the town. It should be the clubhouse of the people, +where they could find the principal newspapers and periodicals of +the world. Its auditorium should be like a theatre. Plays should be +presented by home talent; an orchestra formed, music cultivated. +The people should meet there at any time they desire. The women +could carry their knitting and sewing; and connected with it should +be rooms for the playing of games, billiards, cards, and chess. +Everything should be made as agreeable as possible. The citizens +should take pride in this building. They should adorn its niches +with statues and its walls with pictures. It should be the +intellectual centre. They could employ a gentleman of ability, +possibly of genius, to address them on Sundays, on subjects that +would be of real interest, of real importance. They could say to +this minister:</p> +<p>"We are engaged in business during the week; while we are +working at our trades and professions, we want you to study, and on +Sunday tell us what you have found out."</p> +<p>Let such a minister take for a series of sermons the history, +the philosophy, the art and the genius of the Greeks. Let him tell +of the wondrous metaphysics, myths and religions of India and +Egypt. Let him make his congregation conversant with the +philosophies of the world, with the great thinkers, the great +poets, the great artists, the great actors, the great orators, the +great inventors, the captains of industry, the soldiers of +progress. Let them have a Sunday school in which the children shall +be made acquainted with the facts of nature; with botany, +entomology, something of geology and astronomy.</p> +<p>Let them be made familiar with the greatest of poems, the finest +paragraphs of literature, with stories of the heroic, the +self-denying and generous.</p> +<p>Now, it seems to me that such a congregation in a few years +would become the most intelligent people in the United States.</p> +<p>The truth is that people are tired of the old theories. They +have lost confidence in the miraculous, in the supernatural, and +they have ceased to take interest in "facts" that they do not quite +believe.</p> +<pre> + "There is no darkness but ignorance." + There is no light but intelligence, +</pre> +<p>As often as we can exchange a mistake for a fact, a falsehood +for a truth, we advance. We add to the intellectual wealth of the +world, and in this way, and in this way alone, can be laid the +foundation for the future prosperity and civilization of the +race.</p> +<p>I blame no one; I call in question the motives of no person; I +admit that the world has acted as it must.</p> +<p>But hope for the future depends upon the intelligence of the +present. Man must husband his resources. He must not waste his +energies in endeavoring to accomplish the impossible.</p> +<p>He must take advantage of the forces of nature. He must depend +on education, on what he can ascertain by the use of his senses, by +observation, by experiment and reason. He must break the chains of +prejudice and custom. He must be free to express his thoughts on +all questions. He must find the conditions of happiness and become +wise enough to live in accordance with them.</p> +<center>IV. HOW CAN WE LESSEN CRIME?</center> +<p>IN spite of all that has been done for the reformation of the +world, in spite of all the inventions, in spite of all the forces +of nature that are now the tireless slaves of man, in spite of all +improvements in agriculture, in mechanics, in every department of +human labor, the world is still cursed with poverty and with +crime.</p> +<p>The prisons are full, the courts are crowded, the officers of +the law are busy, and there seems to be no material decrease in +crime.</p> +<p>For many thousands of years man has endeavored to reform his +fellow-men by imprisonment, torture, mutilation and death, and yet +the history of the world shows that there has been and is no +reforming power in punishment. It is impossible to make the penalty +great enough, horrible enough to lessen crime.</p> +<p>Only a few years ago, in civilized countries, larceny and many +offences even below larceny, were punished by death; and yet the +number of thieves and criminals of all grades increased. Traitors +were hanged and quartered or drawn into fragments by horses; and +yet treason flourished.</p> +<p>Most of these frightful laws have been repealed, and the repeal +certainly did not increase crime. In our own country we rely upon +the gallows, the penitentiary and the jail. When a murder is +committed, the man is hanged, shocked to death by electricity, or +lynched, and in a few minutes a new murderer is ready to suffer a +like fate. Men steal; they are sent to the penitentiary for a +certain number of years, treated like wild beasts, frequently +tortured. At the end of the term they are discharged, having only +enough money to return to the place from which they were sent. They +are thrown upon the world without means—without +friends—they are convicts. They are shunned, suspected and +despised. If they obtain a place, they are discharged as soon as it +is found that they were in prison. They do the best they can to +retain the respect of their fellow-men by denying their +imprisonment and their identity. In a little while, unable to gain +a living by honest means, they resort to crime, they again appear +in court, and again are taken within the dungeon walls. No +reformation, no chance to reform, nothing to give them bread while +making new friends.</p> +<p>All this is infamous. Men should not be sent to the +pentitentiary as a punishment, because we must remember that men do +as they must. Nature does not frequently produce the perfect. In +the human race there is a large percentage of failures. Under +certain conditions, with certain appetites and passions and with a +certain quality, quantity and shape of brain, men will become +thieves, forgers and counterfeiters. The question is whether +reformation is possible, whether a change can be produced in the +person by producing a change in the conditions. The criminal is +dangerous and society has the right to protect itself. The criminal +should be confined, and, if possible, should be reformed. A +pentitentiary should be a school; the convicts should be educated. +So, prisoners should work, and they should be paid a reasonable sum +for their labor. The best men should have charge of prisons. They +should be philanthropists and philosophers; they should know +something of human nature. The prisoner, having been taught, we +will say, for five years—taught the underlying principles of +conduct, of the naturalness and harmony of virtue, of the discord +of crime; having been convinced that society has no hatred, that +nobody wishes to punish, to degrade, or to rob him; and being at +the time of his discharge paid a reasonable price for his labor; +being allowed by law to change his name, so that his identity will +not be preserved, he could go out of the prison a friend of the +government. He would have the feeling that he had been made a +better man; that he had been treated with justice, with mercy, and +the money he carried with him would be a breastwork behind which he +could defy temptation, a breastwork that would support and take +care of him until he could find some means by which to support +himself. And this man, instead of making crime a business, would +become a good, honorable and useful-citizen.</p> +<p>As it is now, there is but little reform. The same faces appear +again and again at the bar; the same men hear again and again the +verdict of guilty and the sentence of the court, and the same men +return again and again to the prison cell. Murderers, those +belonging to the dangerous classes, those who are so formed by +nature that they rush to the crimes of desperation, should be +imprisoned for life; or they should be put upon some island, some +place where they can be guarded, where it may be that by proper +effort they could support themselves; the men on one island, the +women on another. And to these islands should be sent professional +criminals, those who have deliberately adopted a life of crime for +the purpose of supporting themselves, the women upon one island, +the men upon another. Such people should not populate the +earth.</p> +<p>Neither the diseases nor the deformities of the mind or body +should be perpetuated. Life at the fountain should not be +polluted.</p> +<center>V. HOMES FOR ALL.</center> +<p>THE home is the unit of the nation. The more homes the broader +the foundation of the nation and the more secure.</p> +<p>Everything that is possible should be done to keep this from +being a nation of tenants. The men who cultivate the earth should +own it. Something has already been done in our country in that +direction, and probably in every State there is a homestead +exemption. This exemption has thus far done no harm to the creditor +class. When we imprisoned people for debt, debts were as insecure, +to say the least, as now. By the homestead laws, a home of a +certain value or of a certain extent, is exempt from forced levy or +sale; and these laws have done great good. Undoubtedly they have +trebled the homes of the nation.</p> +<p>I wish to go a step further. I want, if possible, to get the +people out of the tenements, out of the gutters of degradation, to +homes where there can be privacy, where these people can feel that +they are in partnership with nature; that they have an interest in +good government. With the means we now have of transportation, +there is no necessity for poor people being huddled in festering +masses in the vile, filthy and loathsome parts of cities, where +poverty breeds rags, and the rags breed diseases. I would exempt a +homestead of a reasonable value, say of the value of two or three +thousand dollars, not only from sale under execution, but from sale +for taxes of every description. These homes should be absolutely +exempt; they should belong to the family, so that every mother +should feel that the roof above her head was hers; that her house +was her castle, and that in its possession she could not be +disturbed, even by the nation. Under certain conditions I would +allow the sale of this homestead, and exempt the proceeds of the +sale for a certain time, during which they might be invested in +another home; and all this could be done to make a nation of +householders, a nation of land-owners, a nation of +home-builders.</p> +<p>I would invoke the same power to preserve these homes, and to +acquire these homes, that I would invoke for acquiring lands for +building railways. Every State should fix the amount of land that +could be owned by an individual, not liable to be taken from him +for the purpose of giving a home to another, and when any man owned +more acres than the law allowed, and another should ask to purchase +them, and he should refuse, I would have the law so that the person +wishing to purchase could file his petition in court. The court +would appoint commissioners, or a jury would be called, to +determine the value of the land the petitioner wished for a home, +and, upon the amount being paid, found by such commission, or jury, +the land should vest absolutely in the petitioner.</p> +<p>This right of eminent domain should be used not only for the +benefit of the person wishing a home, but for the benefit of all +the people. Nothing is more important to America than that the +babes of America should be born around the firesides of homes.</p> +<p>There is another question in which I take great interest, and it +ought, in my judgment, to be answered by the intelligence and +kindness of our century.</p> +<p>We all know that for many, many ages, men have been slaves, and +we all know that during all these years, women have, to some extent +been the slaves of slaves. It is of the utmost importance to the +human race that women, that mothers, should be free. Without doubt, +the contract of marriage is the most important and the most sacred +that human beings can make. Marriage is the most important of all +institutions. Of course, the ceremony of marriage is not the real +marriage. It is only evidence of the mutual flames that burn +within. There can be no real marriage without mutual love. So I +believe in the ceremony of marriage, that it should be public; that +records should be kept. Besides, the ceremony says to all the world +that those who marry are in love with each other.</p> +<p>Then arises the question of divorce. Millions of people imagine +that the married are joined together by some supernatural power, +and that they should remain together, or at least married, during +life. If all who have been married were joined together by the +supernatural, we must admit that the supernatural is not infinitely +wise.</p> +<p>After all, marriage is a contract, and the parties to the +contract are bound to keep its provisions; and neither should be +released from such a contract unless, in some way, the interests of +society are involved. I would have the law so that any husband +could obtain a divorce when the wife had persistently and +flagrantly violated the contract; such divorce to be granted on +equitable terms. I would give the wife a divorce if she requested +it, if she wanted it.</p> +<p>And I would do this, not only for her sake, but for the sake of +the community, of the nation. All children should be children of +love. All that are born should be sincerely welcomed. The children +of mothers who dislike, or hate, or loathe the fathers, will fill +the world with insanity and crime. No woman should by law, or by +public opinion, be forced to live with a man whom she abhors. There +is no danger of demoralizing the world through divorce. Neither is +there any danger of destroying in the human heart that divine thing +called love. As long as the human race exists, men and women will +love each other, and just so long there will be true and perfect +marriage. Slavery is not the soil or rain of virtue.</p> +<p>I make a difference between granting divorce to a man and to a +woman, and for this reason: A woman dowers her husband with her +youth and beauty. He should not be allowed to desert her because +she has grown wrinkled and old. Her capital is gone; her prospects +in life lessened; while, on the contrary, he may be far better able +to succeed than when he married her. As a rule, the man can take +care of himself, and as a rule, the woman needs help. So, I would +not allow him to cast her off unless she had flagrantly violated +the contract. But, for the sake of the community, and especially +for the sake of the babes, I would give her a divorce for the +asking.</p> +<p>There will never be a generation of great men until there has +been a generation of free women—of free mothers.</p> +<p>The tenderest word in our language is maternity. In this word is +the divine mingling of ecstasy and agony—of love and +self-sacrifice. This word is holy!</p> +<center>VI. THE LABOR QUESTION.</center> +<p>HERE has been for many years ceaseless discussion upon what is +called the labor question; the conflict between the workingman and +the capitalist. Many ways have been devised, some experiments have +been tried for the purpose of solving this question. Profit-sharing +would not work, because it is impossible to share profits with +those who are incapable of sharing losses. Communities have been +formed, the object being to pay the expenses and share the profits +among all the persons belonging to the society. For the most part +these have failed.</p> +<p>Others have advocated arbitration. And, while it may be that the +employers could be bound by the decision of the arbitrators, there +has been no way discovered by which the employees could be held by +such decision. In other words, the question has not been +solved.</p> +<p>For my own part, I see no final and satisfactory solution except +through the civilization of employers and employed. The question is +so complicated, the ramifications are so countless, that a solution +by law, or by force, seems at least improbable. Employers are +supposed to pay according to their profits. They may or may not. +Profits may be destroyed by competition. The employer is at the +mercy of other employers, and as much so as his employees are at +his mercy. The employers cannot govern prices; they cannot fix +demand; they cannot control supply; and at present, in the world of +trade, the laws of supply and demand, except when interfered with +by conspiracy, are in absolute control.</p> +<p>Will the time arrive, and can it arrive, except by developing +the brain, except by the aid of intellectual light, when the +purchaser will wish to give what a thing is worth, when the +employer will be satisfied with a reasonable profit, when the +employer will be anxious to give the real value for raw material; +when he will be really anxious to pay the laborer the full value of +his labor? Will the employer ever become civilized enough to know +that the law of supply and demand should not absolutely apply in +the labor market of the world? Will he ever become civilized enough +not to take advantage of the necessities of the poor, of the hunger +and rags and want of poverty? Will he ever become civilized enough +to say: "I will pay the man who labors for me enough to give him a +reasonable support, enough for him to assist in taking care of wife +and children, enough for him to do this, and lay aside something to +feed and clothe him when old age comes; to lay aside something, +enough to give him house and hearth during the December of his +life, so that he can warm his worn and shriveled hands at the fire +of home"?</p> +<p>Of course, capital can do nothing without the assistance of +labor. All there is of value in the world is the product of labor. +The laboring man pays all the expenses. No matter whether taxes are +laid on luxuries or on the necessaries of life, labor pays every +cent.</p> +<p>So we must remember that, day by day, labor is becoming +intelligent. So, I believe the employer is gradually becoming +civilized, gradually becoming kinder; and many men who have made +large fortunes from the labor of their fellows have given of their +millions to what they regarded as objects of charity, or for the +interests of education. This is a kind of penance, because the men +that have made this money from the brain and muscle of their +fellow-men have ever felt that it was not quite their own. Many of +these employers have sought to balance their accounts by leaving +something for universities, for the establishment of libraries, +drinking fountains, or to build monuments to departed greatness. It +would have been, I think, far better had they used this money to +better the condition of the men who really earned it.</p> +<p>So, I think that when we become civilized, great corporations +will make provision for men who have given their lives to their +service. I think the great railroads should pay pensions to their +worn out employees. They should take care of them in old age. They +should not maim and wear out their servants and then discharge +them, and allow them to be supported in poorhouses. These great +companies should take care of the men they maim; they should look +out for the ones whose lives they have used and whose labor has +been the foundation of their prosperity. Upon this question, public +sentiment should be aroused to such a degree that these +corporations would be ashamed to use a human life and then throw +away the broken old man as they would cast aside a rotten tie.</p> +<p>It may be that the mechanics, the workingmen, will finally +become intelligent enough to really unite, to act in absolute +concert. Could this be accomplished, then a reasonable rate of +compensation could be fixed and enforced. Now such efforts are +local, and the result up to this time has been failure. But, if all +could unite, they could obtain what is reasonable, what is just, +and they would have the sympathy of a very large majority of their +fellow-men, provided they were reasonable.</p> +<p>But, before they can act in this way, they must become really +intelligent, intelligent enough to know what is reasonable and +honest enough to ask for no more.</p> +<p>So much has already been accomplished for the workingman that I +have hope, and great hope, of the future. The hours of labor have +been shortened, and materially shortened, in many countries. There +was a time when men worked fifteen and sixteen hours a day. Now, +generally, a day's work is not longer than ten hours, and the +tendency is to still further decrease the hours.</p> +<p>By comparing long periods of time, we more clearly perceive the +advance that has been made. In 1860, the average amount earned by +the laboring men, workmen, mechanics, per year, was about two +hundred and eighty-five dollars. It is now about five hundred +dollars, and a dollar to-day will purchase more of the necessaries +of life, more food, clothing and fuel, than it would in 1860. These +facts are full of hope for the future.</p> +<p>All our sympathies should be with the men who work, who toil; +for the women who labor for themselves and children; because we +know that labor is the foundation of all, and that those who labor +are the Caryatides that support the structure and glittering dome +of civilization and progress.</p> +<center>VII. EDUCATE THE CHILDREN.</center> +<p>EVERY child should be taught to be self-supporting, and every +one should be taught to avoid being a burden on others, as they +would shun death.</p> +<p>Every child should be taught that the useful are the honorable, +and that they who live on the labor of others are the enemies of +society. Every child should be taught that useful work is worship +and that intelligent labor is the highest form of prayer.</p> +<p>Children should be taught to think, to investigate, to rely upon +the light of reason, of observation and experience; should be +taught to use all their senses; and they should be taught only that +which in some sense is really useful. They should be taught the use +of tools, to use their hands, to embody their thoughts in the +construction of things. Their lives should not be wasted in the +acquisition of the useless, or of the almost useless. Years should +not be devoted to the acquisition of dead languages, or to the +study of history which, for the most part, is a detailed account of +things that never occurred. It is useless to fill the mind with +dates of great battles, with the births and deaths of kings. They +should be taught the philosophy of history, the growth of nations, +of philosophies, theories, and, above all, of the sciences.</p> +<p>So, they should be taught the importance, not only of financial, +but of mental honesty; to be absolutely sincere; to utter their +real thoughts, and to give their actual opinions; and, if parents +want honest children, they should be honest themselves. It may be +that hypocrites transmit their failing to their offspring. Men and +women who pretend to agree with the majority, who think one way and +talk another, can hardly expect their children to be absolutely +sincere.</p> +<p>Nothing should be taught in any school that the teacher does not +know. Beliefs, superstitions, theories, should not be treated like +demonstrated facts. The child should be taught to investigate, not +to believe. Too much doubt is better than too much credulity. So, +children should be taught that it is their duty to think for +themselves, to understand, and, if possible, to know.</p> +<p>Real education is the hope of the future. The development of the +brain, the civilization of the heart, will drive want and crime +from the world. The schoolhouse is the real cathedral, and science +the only possible savior of the human race. Education, real +education, is the friend of honesty, of morality, of +temperance.</p> +<p>We cannot rely upon legislative enactments to make people wise +and good; neither can we expect to make human beings manly and +womanly by keeping them out of temptation. Temptations are as thick +as the leaves of the forest, and no one can be out of the reach of +temptation unless he is dead. The great thing is to make people +intelligent enough and strong enough, not to keep away from +temptation, but to resist it. All the forces of civilization are in +favor of morality and temperance. Little can be accomplished by +law, because law, for the most part, about such things, is a +destruction of personal liberty. Liberty cannot be sacrificed for +the sake of temperance, for the sake of morality, or for the sake +of anything. It is of more value than everything else. Yet some +people would destroy the sun to prevent the growth of weeds. +Liberty sustains the same relation to all the virtues that the sun +does to life. The world had better go back to barbarism, to the +dens, the caves and lairs of savagery; better lose all art, all +inventions, than to lose liberty. Liberty is the breath of +progress; it is the seed and soil, the heat and rain of love and +joy.</p> +<p>So, all should be taught that the highest ambition is to be +happy, and to add to the well-being of others; that place and power +are not necessary to success; that the desire to acquire great +wealth is a kind of insanity. They should be taught that it is a +waste of energy, a waste of thought, a waste of life, to acquire +what you do not need and what you do not really use for the benefit +of yourself or others.</p> +<p>Neither mendicants nor millionaires are the happiest of mankind. +The man at the bottom of the ladder hopes to rise; the man at the +top fears to fall. The one asks; the other refuses; and, by +frequent refusal, the heart becomes hard enough and the hand greedy +enough to clutch and hold.</p> +<p>Few men have intelligence enough, real greatness enough, to own +a great fortune. As a rule, the fortune owns them. Their fortune is +their master, for whom they work and toil like slaves. The man who +has a good business and who can make a reasonable living and lay +aside something for the future, who can educate his children and +can leave enough to keep the wolf of want from the door of those he +loves, ought to be the happiest of men.</p> +<p>Now, society bows and kneels at the feet of wealth. Wealth gives +power. Wealth commands flattery and adulation. And so, millions of +men give all their energies, as well as their very souls, for the +acquisition of gold. And this will continue as long as society is +ignorant enough and hypocritical enough to hold in high esteem the +man of wealth without the slightest regard to the character of the +man.</p> +<p>In judging of the rich, two things should be considered: How did +they get it, and what are they doing with it? Was it honestly +acquired? Is it being used for the benefit of mankind? When people +become really intelligent, when the brain is really developed, no +human being will give his life to the acquisition of what he does +not need or what he cannot intelligently use.</p> +<p>The time will come when the truly intelligent man cannot be +happy, cannot be satisfied, when millions of his fellow-men are +hungry and naked. The time will come when in every heart will be +the perfume of pity's sacred flower. The time will come when the +world will be anxious to ascertain the truth, to find out the +conditions of happiness, and to live in accordance with such +conditions; and the time will come when in the brain of every human +being will be the climate of intellectual hospitality.</p> +<p>Man will be civilized when the passions are dominated by the +intellect, when reason occupies the throne, and when the hot blood +of passion no longer rises in successful revolt.</p> +<p>To civilize the world, to hasten the coming of the Golden Dawn +of the Perfect Day, we must educate the children, we must commence +at the cradle, at the lap of the loving mother.</p> +<center>VIII. WE MUST WORK AND WAIT.</center> +<p>THE reforms that I have mentioned cannot be accomplished in a +day, possibly not for many centuries; and in the meantime there is +much crime, much poverty, much want, and consequently something +must be done now.</p> +<p>Let each human being, within the limits of the possible be +self-supporting; let every one take intelligent thought for the +morrow; and if a human being supports himself and acquires a +surplus, let him use a part of that surplus for the unfortunate; +and let each one to the extent of his ability help his fellow-men. +Let him do what he can in the circle of his own acquaintance to +rescue the fallen, to help those who are trying to help themselves, +to give work to the idle. Let him distribute kind words, words of +wisdom, of cheerfulness and hope. In other words, let every human +being do all the good he can, and let him bind up the wounds of his +fellow-creatures, and at the same time put forth every effort, to +hasten the coming of a better day.</p> +<p>This, in my judgment, is real religion. To do all the good you +can is to be a saint in the highest and in the noblest sense. To do +all the good you can; this is to be really and truly spiritual. To +relieve suffering, to put the star of hope in the midnight of +despair, this is true holiness. This is the religion of science. +The old creeds are too narrow, they are not for the world in which +we live. The old dogmas lack breadth and tenderness; they are too +cruel, too merciless, too savage. We are growing grander and +nobler.</p> +<p>The firmament inlaid with suns is the dome of the real +cathedral. The interpreters of nature are the true and only +priests. In the great creed are all the truths that lips have +uttered, and in the real litany will be found all the ecstasies and +aspirations of the soul, all dreams of joy, all hopes for nobler, +fuller life. The real church, the real edifice, is adorned and +glorified with all that Art has done. In the real choir is all the +thrilling music of the world, and in the star-lit aisles have been, +and are, the grandest souls of every land and clime.</p> +<pre> + "There is no darkness but ignorance." + Let us flood the world with intellectual light. +</pre> +<a name="link0005" id="link0005"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /></div> +<h2>A THANKSGIVING SERMON.</h2> +<p>MANY ages ago our fathers were living in dens and caves. Their +bodies, their low foreheads, were covered with hair. They were +eating berries, roots, bark and vermin. They were fond of snakes +and raw fish. They discovered fire and, probably by accident, +learned how to cause it by friction. They found how to warm +themselves—to fight the frost and storm. They fashioned clubs +and rude weapons of stone with which they killed the larger beasts +and now and then each other. Slowly, painfully, almost +imperceptibly they advanced. They crawled and stumbled, staggered +and struggled toward the light. To them the world was unknown. On +every hand was the mysterious, the sinister, the hurtful. The +forests were filled with monsters, and the darkness was crowded +with ghosts, devils, and fiendish gods.</p> +<p>These poor wretches were the slaves of fear, the sport of +dreams.</p> +<p>Now and then, one rose a little above his fellows—used his +senses—the little reason that he had—found something +new—some better way. Then the people killed him and afterward +knelt with reverence at his grave. Then another thinker gave his +thought—was murdered—another tomb became +sacred—another step was taken in advance. And so through +countless years of ignorance and cruelty—of thought and +crime—of murder and worship, of heroism, suffering, and +self-denial, the race has reached the heights where now we +stand.</p> +<p>Looking back over the long and devious roads that lie between +the barbarism of the past and the civilization of to-day, thinking +of the centuries that rolled like waves between these distant +shores, we can form some idea of what our fathers suffered—of +the mistakes they made—some idea of their ignorance, their +stupidity—and some idea of their sense, their goodness, their +heroism.</p> +<p>It is a long road from the savage to the scientist—from a +den to a mansion—from leaves to clothes—from a +flickering rush to the arc-light—from a hammer of stone to +the modern mill—a long distance from the pipe of Pan to the +violin—to the orchestra—from a floating log to the +steamship—from a sickle to a reaper—from a flail to a +threshing machine—-from a crooked stick to a plow—from +a spinning wheel to a spinning jenny—from a hand loom to a +Jacquard—a Jacquard that weaves fair forms and wondrous +flowers beyond Arachne's utmost dream—from a few +hieroglyphics on the skins of beasts—on bricks of +clay—to a printing press, to a library—a long distance +from the messenger, traveling on foot, to the electric +spark—from knives and tools of stone to those of +steel—a long distance from sand to telescopes—from echo +to the phonograph, the phonograph that buries in indented lines and +dots the sounds of living speech, and then gives back to life the +very words and voices of the dead—a long way from the trumpet +to the telephone, the telephone that transports speech as swift as +thought and drops the words, perfect as minted coins, in listening +ears—a long way from a fallen tree to the suspension +bridge—from the dried sinews of beasts to the cables of +steel—from the oar to the propeller—from the sling to +the rifle—from the catapult to the cannon—a long +distance from revenge to law—from the club to the +Legislature—from slavery to freedom—from appearance to +fact—from fear to reason.</p> +<p>And yet the distance has been traveled by the human race. +Countless obstructions have been overcome—numberless enemies +have been conquered—thousands and thousands of victories have +been won for the right, and millions have lived, labored and died +for their fellow-men.</p> +<p>For the blessings we enjoy—for the happiness that is ours, +we ought to be grateful. Our hearts should blossom with +thankfulness.</p> +<p>Whom, what, should we thank?</p> +<p>Let us be honest—generous.</p> +<p>Should we thank the church?</p> +<p>Christianity has controlled Christendom for at least fifteen +hundred years.</p> +<p>During these centuries what have the orthodox churches +accomplished, for the good of man?</p> +<p>In this life man needs raiment and roof, food and fuel. He must +be protected from heat and cold, from snow and storm. He must take +thought for the morrow. In the summer of youth he must prepare for +the winter of age. He must know something of the causes of +disease—of the conditions of health. If possible he must +conquer pain, increase happiness and lengthen life. He must supply +the wants of the body—and feed the hunger of the mind.</p> +<p>What good has the church done?</p> +<p>Has it taught men to cultivate the earth? to build homes? to +weave cloth to cure or prevent disease? to build ships, to navigate +the seas? to conquer pain, or to lengthen life?</p> +<p>Did Christ or any of his apostles add to the sum of useful +knowledge? Did they say one word in favor of any science, of any +art? Did they teach their fellow-men how to make a living, how to +overcome the obstructions of nature, how to prevent +sickness—how to protect themselves from pain, from famine, +from misery and rags?</p> +<p>Did they explain any of the phenomena of nature? any of the +facts that affect the life of man? Did they say anything in favor +of investigation—of study—of thought? Did they teach +the gospel of self-reliance, of industry—of honest effort? +Can any farmer, mechanic, or scientist find in the New Testament +one useful fact? Is there anything in the sacred book that can help +the geologist, the astronomer, the biologist, the physician, the +inventor—the manufacturer of any useful thing?</p> +<p>What has the church done?</p> +<p>From the very first it taught the vanity—the worthlessness +of all earthly things. It taught the wickedness of wealth, the +blessedness of poverty. It taught that the business of this life +was to prepare for death. It insisted that a certain belief was +necessary to insure salvation, and that all who failed to believe, +or doubted in the least would suffer eternal pain. According to the +church the natural desires, ambitions and passions of man were all +wicked and depraved.</p> +<p>To love God, to practice self-denial, to overcome desire, to +despise wealth, to hate prosperity, to desert wife and children, to +live on roots and berries, to repeat prayers, to wear rags, to live +in filth, and drive love from the heart—these, for centuries, +were the highest and most perfect virtues, and those who practiced +them were saints.</p> +<p>The saints did not assist their fellow-men. Their fellow-men +assisted them. They did not labor for others. They were +beggars—parasites—vermin. They were insane. They +followed the teachings of Christ. They took no thought for the +morrow. They mutilated their bodies—scarred their flesh and +destroyed their minds for the sake of happiness in another world. +During the journey of life they kept their eyes on the grave. They +gathered no flowers by the way—they walked in the dust of the +road—avoided the green fields. Their moans made all the music +they wished to hear. The babble of brooks, the songs of birds, the +laughter of children, were nothing to them. Pleasure was the child +of sin, and the happy needed a change of heart. They were sinless +and miserable—but they had faith—they were pious and +wretched—but they were limping towards heaven.</p> +<p>What has the church done?</p> +<p>It has denounced pride and luxury—all things that adorn +and enrich life—all the pleasures of sense—the +ecstasies of love—the happiness of the hearth—the clasp +and kiss of wife and child.</p> +<p>And the church has done this because it regarded this life as a +period of probation—a time to prepare—to become +spiritual—to overcome the natural—to fix the affections +on the invisible—to become passionless—to subdue the +flesh—to congeal the blood—to fold the wings of +fancy—to become dead to the world—so that when you +appeared before God you would be the exact opposite of what he made +you.</p> +<p>What has the church done?</p> +<p>It pretended to have a revelation from God. It knew the road to +eternal joy, the way to death. It preached salvation by faith, and +declared that only orthodox believers could become angels, and all +doubters would be damned. It knew this, and so knowing it became +the enemy of discussion, of investigation, of thought. Why +investigate, why discuss, why think when you know? It sought to +enslave the world. It appealed to force. It unsheathed the sword, +lighted the fagot, forged the chain, built the dungeon, erected the +scaffold, invented and used the instruments of torture. It branded, +maimed and mutilated—it imprisoned and tortured—it +blinded and burned, hanged and crucified, and utterly destroyed +millions and millions of human beings. It touched every nerve of +the body—produced every pain that can be felt, every agony +that can be endured.</p> +<p>And it did all this to preserve what it called the +truth—to destroy heresy and doubt, and to save, if possible, +the souls of a few. It was honest. It was necessary to prevent the +development of the brain—to arrest all progress—and to +do this the church used all its power. If men were allowed to think +and express their thoughts they would fill their minds and the +minds of others with doubts. If they were allowed to think they +would investigate, and then they might contradict the creed, +dispute the words of priests and defy the church. The priests cried +to the people: "It is for us to talk. It is for you to hear. Our +duty is to preach and yours is to believe."</p> +<p>What has the church done?</p> +<p>There have been thousands of councils and synods—thousands +and thousands of occasions when the clergy have met and discussed +and quarreled—when pope and cardinals, bishops and priests +have added to or explained their creeds—and denied the rights +of others. What useful truth did they discover? What fact did they +find? Did they add to the intellectual wealth of the world? Did +they increase the sum of knowledge?</p> +<p>I admit that they looked over a number of Jewish books and +picked out the ones that Jehovah wrote.</p> +<p>Did they find the medicinal virtue that dwells in any weed or +flower?</p> +<p>I know that they decided that the Holy Ghost was not +created—not begotten—but that he proceeded.</p> +<p>Did they teach us the mysteries of the metals and how to purify +the ores in furnace flames?</p> +<p>They shouted: "Great is the mystery of Godliness."</p> +<p>Did they show us how to improve our condition in this world?</p> +<p>They informed us that Christ had two natures and two wills.</p> +<p>Did they give us even a hint as to any useful thing?</p> +<p>They gave us predestination, foreordination and just enough +"free will" to go to hell.</p> +<p>Did they discover or show us how to produce anything for +food?</p> +<p>Did they produce anything to satisfy the hunger of man?</p> +<p>Instead of this they discovered that a peasant girl who lived in +Palestine, was the mother of God. This they proved by a book, and +to make the book evidence they called it inspired.</p> +<p>Did they tell us anything about chemistry—how to combine +and separate substances—how to subtract the hurtful—how +to produce the useful?</p> +<p>They told us that bread, by making certain motions and mumbling +certain prayers, could be changed into the flesh of God, and that +in the same way wine could be changed to his blood. And this, +notwithstanding the fact that God never had any flesh or blood, but +has always been a spirit without body, parts or passions.</p> +<p>What has the church done?</p> +<p>It gave us the history of the world—of the stars, and the +beginning of all things. It taught the geology of Moses—the +astronomy of Joshua and Elijah. It taught the fall of man and the +atonement—proved that a Jewish peasant was +God—established the existence of hell, purgatory and +heaven.</p> +<p>It pretended to have a revelation from God—the Scriptures, +in which could be found all knowledge—everything that man +could need in the journey of life. Nothing outside of the inspired +book—except legends and prayers—could be of any value. +Books that contradicted the Bible were hurtful, those that agreed +with it—useless. Nothing was of importance except faith, +credulity—belief. The church said: "Let philosophy alone, +count your beads. Ask no questions, fall upon your knees. Shut your +eyes, and save your souls."</p> +<p>What has the church done?</p> +<p>For centuries it kept the earth flat, for centuries it made all +the hosts of heaven travel around this world—for centuries it +clung to "sacred" knowledge, and fought facts with the ferocity of +a fiend. For centuries it hated the useful. It was the deadly enemy +of medicine. Disease was produced by devils and could be cured only +by priests, decaying bones, and holy water. Doctors were the rivals +of priests. They diverted the revenues.</p> +<p>The church opposed the study of anatomy—was against the +dissection of the dead. Man had no right to cure disease—God +would do that through his priests.</p> +<p>Man had no right to prevent disease—diseases were sent by +God as judgments.</p> +<p>The church opposed inoculation—vaccination, and the use of +chloroform and ether. It was declared to be a sin, a crime for a +woman to lessen the pangs of motherhood. The church declared that +woman must bear the curse of the merciful Jehovah.</p> +<p>What has the church done?</p> +<p>It taught that the insane were inhabited by devils. Insanity was +not a disease. It was produced by demons. It could be cured by +prayers—gifts, amulets and charms. All these had to be paid +for. This enriched the church. These ideas were honestly +entertained by Protestants as well as Catholics—by Luther, +Calvin, Knox and Wesley.</p> +<p>What has the church done?</p> +<p>It taught the awful doctrine of witchcraft. It filled the +darkness with demons—the air with devils, and the world with +grief and shame. It charged men, women and children with being in +league with Satan to injure their fellows. Old women were convicted +for causing storms at sea—for preventing rain and for +bringing frost. Girls were convicted for having changed themselves +into wolves, snakes and toads. These witches were burned for +causing diseases—for selling their souls and for souring +beer. All these things were done with the aid of the Devil who +sought to persecute the faithful, the lambs of God. Satan sought in +many ways to scandalize the church. He sometimes assumed the +appearance of a priest and committed crimes.</p> +<p>On one occasion he personated a bishop—a bishop renowned +for his sanctity—allowed himself to be discovered and dragged +from the room of a beautiful widow. So perfectly did he counterfeit +the features and form of the bishop, that many who were well +acquainted with the prelate, were actually deceived, and the widow +herself thought her lover was the bishop. All this was done by the +Devil to bring reproach upon holy men.</p> +<p>Hundreds of like instances could be given, as the war waged +between demons and priests was long and bitter.</p> +<p>These popes and priests—these clergymen, were not +hypocrites. They believed in the New Testament—in the +teachings of Christ, and they knew that the principal business of +the Savior was casting out devils.</p> +<p>What has the church done?</p> +<p>It made the wife a slave—the property of the husband, and +it placed the husband as much above the wife as Christ was above +the husband. It taught that a nun is purer, nobler than a mother. +It induced millions of pure and conscientious girls to renounce the +joys of life—to take the veil woven of night and death, to +wear the habiliments of the dead—made them believe that they +were the brides of Christ.</p> +<p>For my part, I would as soon be a widow as the bride of a man +who had been dead for eighteen hundred years.</p> +<p>The poor deluded girls imagined that they, in some mysterious +way, were in spiritual wedlock united with God. All worldly desires +were driven from their hearts. They filled their lives with +fastings—with prayers—with self-accusings. They forgot +fathers and mothers and gave their love to the invisible. They were +the victims, the convicts of superstition—prisoners in the +penitentiaries of God. Conscientious, good, +sincere—insane.</p> +<p>These loving women gave their hearts to a phantom, their lives +to a dream.</p> +<p>A few years ago, at a revival, a fine buxom girl was +"converted," "born again." In her excitement she cried, "I'm +married to Christ—I'm married to Christ." In her delirium she +threw her arms around the neck of an old man and again cried, "I'm +married to Christ." The old man, who happened to be a kind of +skeptic, gently removed her hands, saying at the same time: "I +don't know much about your husband, but I have great respect for +your father-in-law."</p> +<p>Priests, theologians, have taken advantage of women—of +their gentleness—their love of approbation. They have lived +upon their hopes and fears. Like vampires, they have sucked their +blood. They have made them responsible for the sins of the world. +They have taught them the slave virtues—meekness, +humility—implicit obedience. They have fed their minds with +mistakes, mysteries and absurdities. They have endeavored to weaken +and shrivel their brains, until, to them, there would be no +possible connection between evidence and belief—between fact +and faith.</p> +<p>What has the church done?</p> +<p>It was the enemy of commerce—of business. It denounced the +taking of interest for money. Without taking interest for money, +progress is impossible. The steamships, the great factories, the +railroads have all been built with borrowed money, money on which +interest was promised and for the most part paid.</p> +<p>The church was opposed to fire insurance—to life +insurance. It denounced insurance in any form as gambling, as +immoral. To insure your life was to declare that you had no +confidence in God—that you relied on a corporation instead of +divine providence. It was declared that God would provide for your +widow and your fatherless children.</p> +<p>To insure your life was to insult heaven.</p> +<p>What has the church done?</p> +<p>The church regarded epidemics as the messengers of the good God. +The "Black Death" was sent by the eternal Father, whose mercy +spared some and whose justice murdered the rest. To stop the +scourge, they tried to soften the heart of God by kneelings and +prostrations—by processions and prayers—by burning +incense and by making vows. They did not try to remove the cause. +The cause was God. They did not ask for pure water, but for holy +water. Faith and filth lived or rather died together. Religion and +rags, piety and pollution kept company. Sanctity kept its odor.</p> +<p>What has the church done?</p> +<p>It was the enemy of art and literature. It destroyed the marbles +of Greece and Rome. Beauty was Pagan. It destroyed so far as it +could the best literature of the world. It feared thought—but +it preserved the Scriptures, the ravings of insane saints, the +falsehoods of the Fathers, the bulls of popes, the accounts of +miracles performed by shrines, by dried blood and faded hair, by +pieces of bones and wood, by rusty nails and thorns, by +handkerchiefs and rags, by water and beads and by a finger of the +Holy Ghost.</p> +<p>This was the literature of the church.</p> +<p>I admit that the priests were honest—as honest as +ignorant. More could not be said.</p> +<p>What has the church done?</p> +<p>Christianity claims, with great pride, that it established +asylums for the insane. Yes, it did. But the insane were treated as +criminals. They were regarded as the homes—as the +tenement-houses of devils. They were persecuted and tormented. They +were chained and flogged, starved and killed. The asylums were +prisons, dungeons, the insane were victims and the keepers were +ignorant, conscientious, pious fiends. They were not trying to help +men, they were fighting devils—destroying demons. They were +not actuated by love—but by hate and fear.</p> +<p>What has the church done?</p> +<p>It founded schools where facts were denied, where science was +denounced and philosophy despised. Schools, where priests were +made—where they were taught to hate reason and to look upon +doubts as the suggestions of the Devil. Schools where the heart was +hardened and the brain shriveled. Schools in which lies were sacred +and truths profane. Schools for the more general diffusion of +ignorance—schools to prevent thought—to suppress +knowledge. Schools for the purpose of enslaving the world. Schools +in which teachers knew less than pupils.</p> +<p>What has the church done?</p> +<p>It has used its influence with God to get rain and +sunshine—to stop flood and storm—to kill insects, rats, +snakes and wild beasts—to stay pestilence and famine—to +delay frost and snow—to lengthen the lives of kings and +queens—to protect presidents—to give legislators +wisdom—to increase collections and subscriptions. In +marriages it has made God the party of the third part. It has +sprinkled water on babes when they were named. It has put oil on +the dying and repeated prayers for the dead. It has tried to +protect the people from the malice of the Devil—from ghosts +and spooks, from witches and wizards and all the leering fiends +that seek to poison the souls of men. It has endeavored to protect +the sheep of God from the wolves of science—from the wild +beasts of doubt and investigation. It has tried to wean the lambs +of the Lord from the delights, the pleasures, the joys, of life. +According to the philosophy of the church, the virtuous weep and +suffer, the vicious laugh and thrive, the good carry a cross, and +the wicked fly. But in the next life this will be reversed. Then +the good will be happy, and the bad will be damned.</p> +<p>The church filled the world with faith and crime.</p> +<p>It polluted the fountains of joy. It gave us an ignorant, +jealous, revengeful and cruel God—sometimes +merciful—sometimes ferocious. Now just, now +infamous—sometimes wise—generally foolish. It gave us a +Devil, cunning, malicious, almost the equal of God, not quite as +strong—but quicker—not as profound—but +sharper.</p> +<p>It gave us angels with wings—cherubim and seraphim and a +heaven with harps and hallelujahs—with streets of gold and +gates of pearl.</p> +<p>It gave us fiends and imps with wings like bats. It gave us +ghosts and goblins, spooks and sprites, and little devils that +swarmed in the bodies of men, and it gave us hell where the souls +of men will roast in eternal flames. Shall we thank the church? +Shall we thank the orthodox churches?</p> +<p>Shall we thank them for the hell they made here? Shall we thank +them for the hell of the future?</p> +<center>II.</center> +<p>WE must remember that the church was founded and has been +protected by God, that all the popes, and cardinals, all the +bishops, priests and monks, all the ministers and exhorters were +selected and set apart—all sanctified and enlightened by the +infinite God—that the Holy Scriptures were inspired by the +same Being, and that all the orthodox creeds were really made by +him.</p> +<p>We know what these men—filled with the Holy +Ghost—have done. We know the part they have played. We know +the souls they have saved and the bodies they have destroyed. We +know the consolation they have given and the pain they have +inflicted—the lies they have defended—the truths they +have denied. We know that they convinced millions that celibacy is +the greatest of all virtues—that women are perpetual +temptations, the enemies of true holiness—that monks and +priests are nobler than fathers, that nuns are purer than mothers. +We know that they taught the blessed absurdity of the +Trinity—that God once worked at the trade of a carpenter in +Palestine. We know that they divided knowledge into sacred and +profane—taught that Revelation was sacred—that Reason +was blasphemous—that faith was holy and facts false. That the +sin of Adam and Eve brought disease and pain, vice and death into +the world. We know that they have taught the dogma of special +providence—that all events are ordered and regulated by +God—that he crowns and uncrowns kings—preserves and +destroys—guards and kills—that it is the duty of man to +submit to the divine will, and that no matter how much evil there +may be—no matter how much suffering—how much pain and +death, man should pour out-his heart in thankfulness that it is no +worse.</p> +<p>Let me be understood. I do not say and I do not think that the +church was dishonest, that the clergy were insincere. I admit that +all religions, all creeds, all priests, have been naturally +produced. I admit, and cheerfully admit, that the believers in the +supernatural have done some good—not because they believed in +gods and devils—but in spite of it.</p> +<p>I know that thousands and thousands of clergymen are honest, +self-denying and humane—that they are doing what they believe +to be their duty—doing what they can to induce men and women +to live pure and noble lives. This is not the result of their +creeds—it is because they are human.</p> +<p>What I say is that every honest teacher of the supernatural has +been and is an unconscious enemy of the human race.</p> +<p>What is the philosophy of the church—of those who believe +in the supernatural?</p> +<p>Back of all that is—back of all events—Christians +put an infinite Juggler who with a wish creates, preserves, +destroys. The world is his stage and mankind his puppets. He fills +them with wants and desires, with appetites and +ambitions—with hopes and fears—with love and hate. He +touches the springs. He pulls the strings—baits the hooks, +sets the traps and digs the pits.</p> +<p>The play is a continuous performance.</p> +<p>He watches these puppets as they struggle and fail. Sees them +outwit each other and themselves—leads them to every crime, +watches the births and deaths—hears lullabies at cradles and +the fall of clods on coffins. He has no pity. He enjoys the +tragedies—the desperation—the despair—the +suicides. He smiles at the murders, the assassinations,—the +seductions, the desertions—the abandoned babes of shame. He +sees the weak enslaved—mothers robbed of babes—the +innocent in dungeons—on scaffolds. He sees crime crowned and +hypocrisy robed.</p> +<p>He withholds the rain and his puppets starve. He opens the earth +and they are devoured. He sends the flood and they are drowned. He +empties the volcano and they perish in fire. He sends the cyclone +and they are torn and mangled. With quick lightnings they are +dashed to death. He fills the air and water with the invisible +enemies of life—the messengers of pain, and watches the +puppets as they breathe and drink. He creates cancers to feed upon +their flesh—their quivering nerves—serpents, to fill +their veins with venom,—beasts to crunch their bones—to +lap their blood.</p> +<p>Some of the poor puppets he makes insane—makes them +struggle in the darkness with imagined monsters with glaring eyes +and dripping jaws, and some are made without the flame of thought, +to drool and drivel through the darkened days. He sees all the +agony, the injustice, the rags of poverty, the withered hands of +want—the motherless babes—the deformed—the +maimed—the leprous, knows the tears that flow—hears the +sobs and moans—sees the gleam of swords, hears the roar of +the guns—sees the fields reddened with blood—the white +faces of the dead. But he mocks when their fear cometh, and at +their calamity he fills the heavens with laughter. And the poor +puppets who are left alive, fall on their knees and thank the +Juggler with all their hearts.</p> +<p>But after all, the gods have not supported the children of men, +men have supported the gods. They have built the temples. They have +sacrificed their babes, their lambs, their cattle. They have +drenched the altars with blood. They have given their silver, their +gold, their gems. They have fed and clothed their priests—but +the gods have given nothing in return. Hidden in the shadows they +have answered no prayer—heard no cry—given no +sign—extended no hand—uttered no word. Unseen and +unheard they have sat on their thrones, deaf and +dumb—paralyzed and blind. In vain the steeples rise—in +vain the prayers ascend.</p> +<p>And think what man has done to please the gods. He has renounced +his reason—extinguished the torch of his brain, he has +believed without evidence and against evidence. He has slandered +and maligned himself. He has fasted and starved. He has mutilated +his body—scarred his flesh—given his blood to vermin. +He has persecuted, imprisoned and destroyed his fellows. He has +deserted wife and child. He has lived alone in the desert. He has +swung-censers and burned incense, counted beads and sprinkled +himself with holy water—shut his eyes, clasped his +hands—fallen upon his knees and groveled in the +dust—but the gods have been silent—silent as +stones.</p> +<p>Have these cringings and crawlings—these cruelties and +absurdities—this faith and foolishness pleased the gods?</p> +<p>We do not know.</p> +<p>Has any disaster been averted—any blessing obtained? We do +not know.</p> +<p>Shall we thank these gods?</p> +<p>Shall we thank the church's God?</p> +<p>Who and what is he?</p> +<p>They say that he is the creator and preserver of all that has +been—of all that is—of all that will be—that he +is the father of angels and devils, the architect of heaven and +hell—that he made the earth—a man and woman—that +he made the serpent who tempted them, made his own rival—gave +victory to his enemy—that he repented of what he had +done—that he sent a flood and destroyed all of the children +of men with the exception of eight persons—that he tried to +civilize the survivors and their children—tried to do this +with earthquakes and fiery serpents —with pestilence and +famine. But he failed. He intended to fail. Then he was born into +the world, preached for three years, and allowed some savages to +kill him. Then he rose from the dead and went back to heaven.</p> +<p>He knew that he would fail, knew that he would be killed. In +fact he arranged everything himself and brought everything to pass +just as he had predestined it an eternity before the world was. All +who believe these things will be saved and they who doubt or deny +will be lost.</p> +<p>Has this God good sense?</p> +<p>Not always. He creates his own enemies and plots against +himself. Nothing lives, except in accordance with his will, and yet +the devils do not die.</p> +<p>What is the matter with this God? Well, sometimes he is +foolish—sometimes he is cruel and sometimes he is insane.</p> +<p>Does this God exist? Is there any intelligence back of Nature? +Is there any being anywhere among the stars who pities the +suffering children of men?</p> +<p>We do not know.</p> +<p>Shall we thank Nature?</p> +<p>Does Nature care for us more than for leaves, or grass, or +flies?</p> +<p>Does Nature know that we exist? We do not know.</p> +<p>But we do know that Nature is going to murder us all.</p> +<p>Why should we thank Nature? If we thank God or Nature for the +sunshine and rain, for health and happiness, whom shall we curse +for famine and pestilence, for earthquake and cyclone—for +disease and death?</p> +<center>III.</center> +<p>IF we cannot thank the orthodox churches—if we cannot +thank the unknown, the incomprehensible, the supernatural—if +we cannot thank Nature—if we can not kneel to a Guess, or +prostrate ourselves before a Perhaps—whom shall we thank?</p> +<p>Let us see what the worldly have done—what has been +accomplished by those not "called," not "set apart," not +"inspired," not filled with the Holy Ghost—by those who were +neglected by all the Gods.</p> +<p>Passing over the Hindus, the Egyptians, the Greeks and Romans, +their poets, philosophers and metaphysicians—we will come to +modern times.</p> +<p>In the 10th century after Christ the Saracens—governors of +a vast empire—"established colleges in Mongolia, Tartary, +Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Egypt, North Africa, Morocco, Fez and +in Spain." The region owned by the Saracens was greater than the +Roman Empire. They had not only colleges—but observatories. +The sciences were taught. They introduced the ten +numerals—taught algebra and trigonometry—understood +cubic equations—knew the art of surveying—they made +catalogues and maps of the stars—gave the great stars the +names they still bear—they ascertained the size of the +earth—determined the obliquity of the ecliptic and fixed the +length of the year. They calculated eclipses, equinoxes, solstices, +conjunctions of planets and occultations of stars. They constructed +astronomical instruments. They made clocks of various kinds and +were the inventors of the pendulum. They originated +chemistry—discovered sulphuric and nitric acid and +alcohol.</p> +<p>"They were the first to publish pharmacopoeias and +dispensatories.</p> +<p>"In mechanics they determined the laws of falling bodies. They +understood the mechanical powers, and the attraction of +gravitation.</p> +<p>"They taught hydrostatics and determined the specific gravities +of bodies.</p> +<p>"In optics they discovered that a ray of light did not proceed +from the eye to an object—but from the object to the +eye."</p> +<p>"They were manufacturers of cotton, leather, paper and +steel.</p> +<p>"They gave us the game of chess.</p> +<p>"They produced romances and novels and essays on many +subjects.</p> +<p>"In their schools they taught the modern doctrines of evolution +and development." They anticipated Darwin and Spencer.</p> +<p>These people were not Christians. They were the followers, for +the most part, of an impostor—of a pretended prophet of a +false God. And yet while the true Christians, the men selected by +the true God and filled with the Holy Ghost were tearing out the +tongues of heretics, these wretches were irreverently tracing the +orbits of the stars. While the true believers were flaying +philosophers and extinguishing the eyes of thinkers, these godless +followers of Mohammed were founding colleges, collecting +manuscripts, investigating the facts of nature and giving their +attention to science. Afterward the followers of Mohammed became +the enemies of science and hated facts as intensely and honestly as +Christians. Whoever has a revelation from God will defend it with +all his strength—will abhor reason and deny facts.</p> +<p>But it is well to know that we are indebted to the +Moors—to the followers of Mohammed—for having laid the +foundations of modern science. It is well to know that we are not +indebted to the church, to Christianity, for any useful fact.</p> +<p>It is well to know that the seeds of thought were sown in our +minds by the Greeks and Romans, and that our literature came from +those seeds. The great literature of our language is Pagan in its +thought—Pagan in its beauty—Pagan in its perfection. It +is well to know that when Mohammedans were the friends of science, +Christians were its enemies. How consoling it is to think that the +friends of science—the men who educated their +fellows—are now in hell, and that the men who persecuted and +killed philosophers are now in heaven! Such is the justice of +God.</p> +<p>The Christians of the Middle Ages, the men who were filled with +the Holy Ghost, knew all about the worlds beyond the grave, but +nothing about the world in which they lived. They thought the earth +was flat—a little dishing if anything—that it was about +five thousand years old, and that the stars were little sparkles +made to beautify the night.</p> +<p>The fact is that Christianity was in existence for fifteen +hundred years before there was an astronomer in Christendom. No +follower of Christ knew the shape of the earth.</p> +<p>The earth was demonstrated to be a globe, not by a pope or +cardinal—not by a collection of clergymen—not by the +"called" or the "set apart," but by a sailor. Magellan left +Seville, Spain, August 10th, 1519, sailed west and kept sailing +west, and the ship reached Seville, the port it left, on Sept. 7th, +1522.</p> +<p>The world had been circumnavigated. The earth was known to be +round. There had been a dispute between the Scriptures and a +sailor. The fact took the sailor's side.</p> +<p>In 1543 Copernicus published his book, "On the Revolutions of +the Heavenly Bodies."</p> +<p>He had some idea of the vastness of the stars—of the +astronomical spaces—of the insignificance of this world.</p> +<p>Toward the close of the sixteenth century, Bruno, one of the +greatest men this world has produced, gave his thoughts to his +fellow-men. He taught the plurality of worlds. He was a Pantheist, +an Atheist, an honest man. He called the Catholic Church the +"Triumphant Beast." He was imprisoned for many years, tried, +convicted, and on the 16th day of February, 1600, burned in Rome by +men filled with the Holy Ghost, burned on the spot where now his +monument rises. Bruno, the noblest, the greatest of all the +martyrs. The only one who suffered death for what he believed to be +the truth. The only martyr who had no heaven to gain, no hell to +shun, no God to please. He was nobler than inspired men, grander +than prophets, greater and purer than apostles. Above all the +theologians of the world, above the makers of creeds, above the +founders of religions rose this serene, unselfish and intrepid +man.</p> +<p>Yet Christians, followers of Christ, murdered this incomparable +man. These Christians were true to their creed. They believed that +faith would be rewarded with eternal joy, and doubt punished with +eternal pain. They were logical. They were pious and +pitiless—devout and devilish—meek and +malicious—religious and revengeful—Christ-like and +cruel—loving with their mouths and hating with their hearts. +And yet, honest victims of ignorance and fear.</p> +<p>What have the wordly done?</p> +<p>In 1608, Lippersheim, a Hollander, so arranged lenses that +objects were exaggerated.</p> +<p>He invented the telescope.</p> +<p>He gave countless worlds to our eyes, and made us citizens of +the Universe.</p> +<p>In 1610, on the night of January 7th, Galileo demonstrated the +truth of the Copernican system, and in 1632, published his work on +"The System of the World."</p> +<p>What did the church do?</p> +<p>Galileo was arrested, imprisoned, forced to fall upon his knees, +put his hand on the Bible, and recant. For ten years he was kept in +prison—for ten years until released by the pity of death. +Then the church—men filled with the Holy Ghost—denied +his body burial in consecrated ground. It was feared that his dust +might corrupt the bodies of those who had persecuted him.</p> +<p>In 1609, Kepler published his book "Motions of the Planet Mars." +He, too, knew of the attraction of gravitation and that it acted in +proportion to mass and distance. Kepler announced his Three Laws. +He found and mathematically expressed the relation of distance, +mass, and motion. Nothing greater has been accomplished by the +human mind.</p> +<p>Astronomy became a science and Christianity a superstition.</p> +<p>Then came Newton, Herscheland Laplace. The astronomy of Joshua +and Elijah faded from the minds of intelligent men, and Jehovah +became an ignorant tribal god.</p> +<p>Men began to see that the operations of Nature were not subject +to interference. That eclipses were not caused by the wrath of +God—that comets had nothing to do with the destruction of +empires or the death of kings, that the stars wheeled in their +orbits without regard to the actions of men. In the sacred East the +dawn appeared.</p> +<p>What have the wordly done?</p> +<p>A few years ago a few men became wicked enough to use their +senses. They began to look and listen. They began to really see and +then they began to reason. They forgot heaven and hell long enough +to take some interest in this world. They began to examine soils +and rocks. They noticed what had been done by rivers and seas. They +found out something about the crust of the earth. They found that +most of the rocks had been deposited and stratified in the +water—rocks 70,000 feet in thickness. They found that the +coal was once vegetable matter. They made the best calculations +they could of the time required to make the coal, and concluded +that it must have taken at least six or seven millions of years. +They examined the chalk cliffs, found that they were composed of +the microscopic shells of minute organisms, that is to say, the +dust of these shells. This dust settled over areas as large as +Europe and in some places the chalk is a mile in depth. This must +have required many millions of years.</p> +<p>Lyell, the highest authority on the subject, says that it must +have required, to cause the changes that we know, at least two +hundred million years. Think of these vast deposits caused by the +slow falling of infinitesimal atoms of impalpable dust through the +silent depths of ancient seas! Think of the microscopical forms of +life, constructing their minute houses of lime, giving life to +others, leaving their mansions beneath the waves, and so through +countless generations building the foundations of continents and +islands.</p> +<p>Go back of all life that we now know—back of all the +flying lizards, the armored monsters, the hissing serpents, the +winged and fanged horrors—back to the Laurentian +rocks—to the eozoon, the first of living things that we have +found—back of all mountains, seas and rivers—back to +the first incrustation of the molten world—back of wave of +fire and robe of flame—back to the time when all the +substance of the earth blazed in the glowing sun with all the stars +that wheel about the central fire.</p> +<p>Think of the days and nights that lie between!—think of +the centuries, the withered leaves of time, that strew the desert +of the past!</p> +<p>Nature does not hurry. Time cannot be wasted—cannot be +lost. The future remains eternal and all the past is as though it +had not been—as though it were to be. The infinite knows +neither loss nor gain.</p> +<p>We know something of the history of the world—something of +the human race; and we know that man has lived and struggled +through want and war, through pestilence and famine, through +ignorance and crime, through fear and hope, on the old earth for +millions and millions of years.</p> +<p>At last we know that infallible popes, and countless priests and +clergymen, who had been "called," filled with the Holy Ghost, and +presidents of colleges, kings, emperors and executives of nations +had mistaken the blundering guesses of ignorant savages for the +wisdom of an infinite God.</p> +<p>At last we know that the story of creation, of the beginning of +things, as told in the "sacred book," is not only untrue, but +utterly absurd and idiotic. Now we know that the inspired writers +did not know and that the God who inspired them did not know.</p> +<p>We are no longer misled by myths and legends. We rely upon +facts. The world is our witness and the stars testify for us.</p> +<p>What have the worldly done?</p> +<p>They have investigated the religions of the world—have +read the sacred books, the prophecies, the commandments, the rules +of conduct. They have studied the symbols, the ceremonies, the +prayers and sacrifices. And they have shown that all religions are +substantially the same—produced by the same causes—that +all rest on a misconception of the facts in nature—that all +are founded on ignorance and fear, on mistake and mystery.</p> +<p>They have found that Christianity is like the rest—that it +was not a revelation, but a natural growth—that its gods and +devils, its heavens and hells, were borrowed—that its +ceremonies and sacraments were souvenirs of other +religions—that no part of it came from heaven, but that it +was all made by savage man. They found that Jehovah was a tribal +god and that his ancestors had lived on the banks of the Euphrates, +the Tigris, the Ganges and the Nile, and these ancestors were +traced back to still more savage forms.</p> +<p>They found that all the sacred books were filled with inspired +mistake and sacred absurdity.</p> +<p>But, say the Christians, we have the only inspired book. We have +the Old Testament and the New. Where did you get the Old Testament? +From the Jews?—Yes.</p> +<p>Let me tell you about it.</p> +<p>After the Jews returned from Babylon, about 400 years before +Christ, Ezra commenced making the Bible. You will find an account +of this in the Bible.</p> +<p>We know that Genesis was written after the +Captivity—because it was from the Babylonians that the Jews +got the story of the creation—of Adam and Eve, of the +Garden—of the serpent, and the tree of life—of the +flood—and from them they learned about the Sabbath.</p> +<p>You find nothing about that holy day in Judges, Joshua, Samuel, +Kings or Chronicles—nothing in Job, the Psalms, in Esther, +Solomon's Song or Ecclesiastes. Only in books written by Ezra after +the return from Babylon.</p> +<p>When Ezra finished the inspired book, he placed it in the +temple. It was written on the skins of beasts, and, so far as we +know, there was but one.</p> +<p>What became of this Bible?</p> +<p>Jerusalem was taken by Titus about 70 years after Christ. The +temple was destroyed and, at the request of Josephus, the Holy +Bible was sent to Vespasian the Emperor, at Rome.</p> +<p>And this Holy Bible has never been seen or heard of since. So +much for that.</p> +<p>Then there was a copy, or rather a translation, called the +Septuagint.</p> +<p>How was that made?</p> +<p>It is said that Ptolemy Soter and his son Ptolemy Philadelphus +obtained a translation of the Jewish Bible. This translation was +made by seventy persons.</p> +<p>At that time the Jewish Bible did not contain Daniel, +Ecclesiastes, but few of the Psalms and only a part of Isaiah.</p> +<p>What became of this translation known as the Septuagint?</p> +<p>It was burned in the Bruchium Library forty-seven years before +Christ.</p> +<p>Then there was another so-called copy of part of the Bible, +known as the Samaritan Roll of the Pentateuch.</p> +<p>But this is not considered of any value.</p> +<p>Have we a true copy of the Bible that was in the temple at +Jerusalem—the one sent to Vespasian?</p> +<p>Nobody knows.</p> +<p>Have we a true copy of the Septuagint?</p> +<p>Nobody knows.</p> +<p>What is the oldest manuscript of the Bible we have in +Hebrew?</p> +<p>The oldest manuscript we have in Hebrew was written in the 10th +century after Christ. The oldest pretended copy we have of the +Septuagint written in Greek was made in the 5th century after +Christ.</p> +<p>If the Bible was divinely inspired, if it was the actual word of +God, we have no authenticated copy. The original has been lost and +we are left in the darkness of Nature.</p> +<p>It is impossible for us to show that our Bible is correct. We +have no standard. Many of the books in our Bible contradict each +other. Many chapters appear to be incomplete and parts of different +books are written in the same words, showing that both could not +have been original. The 19th and 20th chapters of 2nd Kings and the +37th and 38th chapters of Isaiah are exactly the same. So is the +36th chapter of Isaiah from the 2nd verse the same as the 18th +chapter of 2nd Kings from the 2nd verse.</p> +<p>So, it is perfectly apparent that there could have been no +possible propriety in inspiring the writers of Kings and the +writers of Chronicles. The books are substantially the same, +differing in a few mistakes—in a few falsehoods. The same is +true of Leviticus and Numbers. The books do not agree either in +facts or philosophy. They differ as the men differed who wrote +them.</p> +<p>What have the worldly done?</p> +<p>They have investigated the phenomena of nature. They have +invented ways to use the forces of the world, the weight of falling +water—of moving air. They have changed water to steam, +invented engines—the tireless giants that work for man. They +have made lightning a messenger and slave. They invented movable +type, taught us the art of printing and made it possible to save +and transmit the intellectual wealth of the world. They connected +continents with cables, cities and towns with the +telegraph—brought the world into one family—made +intelligence independent of distance. They taught us how to build +homes, to obtain food, to weave cloth. They covered the seas with +iron ships and the land with roads and steeds of steel. They gave +us the tools of all the trades—the implements of labor. They +chiseled statues, painted pictures and "witched the world" with +form and color. They have found the cause of and the cure for many +maladies that afflict the flesh and minds of men. They have given +us the instruments of music and the great composers and performers +have changed the common air to tones and harmonies that intoxicate, +exalt and purify the soul.</p> +<p>They have rescued us from the prisons of fear, and snatched our +souls from the fangs and claws of superstition's loathsome, +crawling, flying beasts. They have given us the liberty to think +and the courage to express our thoughts. They have changed the +frightened, the enslaved, the kneeling, the prostrate into men and +women—clothed them in their right minds and made them truly +free. They have uncrowned the phantoms, wrested the scepters from +the ghosts and given this world to the children of men. They have +driven from the heart the fiends of fear and extinguished the +flames of hell.</p> +<p>They have read a few leaves of the great volume—deciphered +some of the records written on stone by the tireless hands of time +in the dim past. They have told us something of what has been done +by wind and wave, by fire and frost, by life and death, the +ceaseless workers, the pauseless forces of the world.</p> +<p>They have enlarged the horizon of the known, changed the +glittering specks that shine above us to wheeling worlds, and +filled all space with countless suns.</p> +<p>They have found the qualities of substances, the nature of +things—how to analyze, separate and combine, and have enabled +us to use the good and avoid the hurtful.</p> +<p>They have given us mathematics in the higher forms, by means of +which we measure the astronomical spaces, the distances to stars, +the velocity at which the heavenly bodies move, their density and +weight, and by which the mariner navigates the waste and trackless +seas. They have given us all we have of knowledge, of literature +and art. They have made life worth living. They have filled the +world with conveniences, comforts and luxuries.</p> +<p>All this has been done by the worldly—by those, who were +not "called" or "set apart" or filled with the Holy Ghost or had +the slightest claim to "apostolic succession." The men who +accomplished these things were not "inspired." They had no +revelation—no supernatural aid. They were not clad in sacred +vestments, and tiaras were not upon their brows. They were not even +ordained. They used their senses, observed and recorded facts. They +had confidence in reason. They were patient searchers for the +truth. They turned their attention to the affairs of this world. +They were not saints. They were sensible men. They worked for +themselves, for wife and child and for the benefit of all.</p> +<p>To these men we are indebted for all we are, for all we know, +for all we have. They were the creators of civilization—the +founders of free states—the saviors of liberty—the +destroyers of superstition and the great captains in the army of +progress.</p> +<center>IV.</center> +<p>WHOM shall we thank? Standing here at the close of the 19th +century—amid the trophies of thought—the triumphs of +genius—here under the flag of the Great +Republic—knowing something of the history of man—here +on this day that has been set apart for thanksgiving, I most +reverently thank the good men, the good women of the past, I thank +the kind fathers, the loving mothers of the savage days. I thank +the father who spoke the first gentle word, the mother who first +smiled upon her babe. I thank the first true friend. I thank the +savages who hunted and fished that they and their babes might live. +I thank those who cultivated the ground and changed the forests +into farms—those who built rude homes and watched the faces +of their happy children in the glow of fireside flames—those +who domesticated horses, cattle and sheep—those who invented +wheels and looms and taught us to spin and weave—those who by +cultivation changed wild grasses into wheat and corn, changed +bitter things to fruit, and worthless weeds to flowers, that sowed +within our souls the seeds of art. I thank the poets of the +dawn—the tellers of legends—the makers of +myths—the singers of joy and grief, of hope and love. I thank +the artists who chiseled forms in stone and wrought with light and +shade the face of man. I thank the philosophers, the thinkers, who +taught us how to use our minds in the great search for truth. I +thank the astronomers who explored the heavens, told us the secrets +of the stars, the glories of the constellations—the +geologists who found the story of the world in fossil forms, in +memoranda kept in ancient rocks, in lines written by waves, by +frost and fire—the anatomists who sought in muscle, nerve and +bone for all the mysteries of life—the chemists who unraveled +Nature's work that they might learn her art—the physicians +who have laid the hand of science on the brow of pain, the hand +whose magic touch restores—the surgeons who have defeated +Nature's self and forced her to preserve the lives of those she +labored to destroy.</p> +<p>I thank the discoverers of chloroform and ether, the two angels +who give to their beloved sleep, and wrap the throbbing brain in +the soft robes of dreams. I thank the great inventors—those +who gave us movable type and the press, by means of which great +thoughts and all discovered facts are made immortal—the +inventors of engines, of the great ships, of the railways, the +cables and telegraphs. I thank the great mechanics, the workers in +iron and steel, in wood and stone. I thank the inventors and makers +of the numberless things of use and luxury.</p> +<p>I thank the industrious men, the loving mothers, the useful +women. They are the benefactors of our race.</p> +<p>The inventor of pins did a thousand times more good than all the +popes and cardinals, the bishops and priests—than all the +clergymen and parsons, exhorters and theologians that ever +lived.</p> +<p>The inventor of matches did more for the comfort and convenience +of mankind than all the founders of religions and the makers of all +creeds—than all malicious monks and selfish saints.</p> +<p>I thank the honest men and women who have expressed their +sincere thoughts, who have been true to themselves and have +preserved the veracity of their souls.</p> +<p>I thank the thinkers of Greece and Rome, Zeno and Epicurus, +Cicero and Lucretius. I thank Bruno, the bravest, and Spinoza, the +subtlest of men.</p> +<p>I thank Voltaire, whose thought lighted a flame in the brain of +man, unlocked the doors of superstition's cells and gave liberty to +many millions of his fellow-men. Voltaire—a name that sheds +light. Voltaire—a star that superstition's darkness cannot +quench.</p> +<p>I thank the great poets—the dramatists. I thank Homer and +Aeschylus, and I thank Shakespeare above them all. I thank Burns +for the heart-throbs he changed into songs, for his lyrics of +flame. I thank Shelley for his Skylark, Keats for his Grecian Urn +and Byron for his Prisoner of Chillon. I thank the great novelists. +I thank the great sculptors. I thank the unknown man who moulded +and chiseled the Venus de Milo. I thank the great painters. I thank +Rembrandt and Corot. I thank all who have adorned, enriched and +ennobled life—all who have created the great, the noble, the +heroic and artistic ideals.</p> +<p>I thank the statesmen who have preserved the rights of man. I +thank Paine whose genius sowed the seeds of independence in the +hearts of '76. I thank Jefferson whose mighty words for liberty +have made the circuit of the globe. I thank the founders, the +defenders, the saviors of the Republic. I thank Ericsson, the +greatest mechanic of his century, for the monitor. I thank Lincoln +for the Proclamation. I thank Grant for his victories and the vast +host that fought for the right,—for the freedom of man. I +thank them all—the living and the dead.</p> +<p>I thank the great scientists—those who have reached the +foundation, the bed-rock—who have built upon facts—the +great scientists, in whose presence theologians look silly and feel +malicious.</p> +<p>The scientists never persecuted, never imprisoned their +fellow-men. They forged no chains, built no dungeons, erected no +scaffolds—tore no flesh with red hot pincers—dislocated +no joints on racks—crushed no bones in iron +boots—extinguished no eyes—tore out no tongues and +lighted no fagots. They did not pretend to be inspired—did +not claim to be prophets or saints or to have been born again. They +were only intelligent and honest men. They did not appeal to force +or fear. They did not regard men as slaves to be ruled by torture, +by lash and chain, nor as children to be cheated with illusions, +rocked in the cradle of an idiot creed and soothed by a lullaby of +lies.</p> +<p>They did not wound—they healed. They did not +kill—they lengthened life. They did not enslave—they +broke the chains and made men free. They sowed the seeds of +knowledge, and many millions have reaped, are reaping, and will +reap the harvest of joy.</p> +<p>I thank Humboldt and Helmholtz and Haeckel and Büchner. I +thank Lamarck and Darwin—Darwin who revolutionized the +thought of the intellectual world. I thank Huxley and Spencer. I +thank the scientists one and all.</p> +<p>I thank the heroes, the destroyers of prejudice and +fear—the dethroners of savage gods—the extinguishers of +hate's eternal fire—the heroes, the breakers of +chains—the founders of free states—the makers of just +laws—the heroes who fought and fell on countless +fields—the heroes whose dungeons became shrines—the +heroes whose blood made scaffolds sacred—the heroes, the +apostles of reason, the disciples of truth, the soldiers of +freedom—the heroes who held high the holy torch and filled +the world with light.</p> +<p>With all my heart I thank them all.</p> +<a name="link0006" id="link0006"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /></div> +<h2>A LAY SERMON.</h2> +<pre> + * Delivered before the Congress of the American Secular + Union, at Chickering Hall, New York, Nov. 14, 1885. +</pre> +<p>LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: In the greatest tragedy that has ever been +written by man—in the fourth scene of the third act—is +the best prayer that I have ever read; and when I say "the greatest +tragedy," everybody familiar with Shakespeare will know that I +refer to "King Lear." After he has been on the heath, touched with +insanity, coming suddenly to the place of shelter, he says:</p> +<pre> + "I'll pray, and then I'll sleep." +</pre> +<p>And this prayer is my text:</p> +<pre> + "Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are, + That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm, + How shall your unhoused heads, your unfed sides, + Your looped and windowed raggedness, defend you + From seasons such as these? + + Oh, I have ta'en + Too little care of this. + Take physic, pomp; + Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel, + That thou may'st shake the superflux to them, + And show the heavens more just." +</pre> +<p>That is one of the noblest prayers that ever fell from human +lips. If nobody has too much, everybody will have enough!</p> +<p>I propose to say a few words upon subjects that are near to us +all, and in which every human being ought to be +interested—and if he is not, it may be that his wife will be, +it may be that his orphans will be; and I would like to see this +world, at last, so that a man could die and not feel that he left +his wife and children a prey to the greed, the avarice, or the +cruelties of mankind. There is something wrong in a government +where they who do the most have the least. There is something +wrong, when honesty wears a rag, and rascality a robe; when the +loving, the tender, eat a crust, while the infamous sit at +banquets. I cannot do much, but I can at least sympathize with +those who suffer. There is one thing that we should remember at the +start, and if I can only teach you that, to-night—unless you +know it already—I shall consider the few words I may have to +say a wonderful success.</p> +<p>I want you to remember that everybody is as he <i>must</i> be. I +want you to get out of your minds the old nonsense of "free moral +agency;" and then you will have charity for the whole human race. +When you know that they are not responsible for their dispositions, +any more than for their height; not responsible for their acts, any +more than for their dreams; when you finally understand the +philosophy that everything exists as the result of an efficient +cause, and that the lightest fancy that ever fluttered its painted +wings in the horizon of hope was as necessarily produced as the +planet that in its orbit wheels about the sun—when you +understand this, I believe you will have charity for all +mankind—including even yourself.</p> +<p>Wealth is not a crime; poverty is not a virtue—although +the virtuous have generally been poor. There is only one good, and +that is human happiness; and he only is a wise man who makes +himself and others happy.</p> +<p>I have heard all my life about self-denial. There never was +anything more idiotic than that. No man who does right practices +self-denial. To do right is the bud and blossom and fruit of +wisdom. To do right should always be dictated by the highest +possible selfishness and the most perfect generosity. No man +practices self-denial unless he does wrong. To inflict an injury +upon yourself is an act of self-denial. He who denies justice to +another denies it to himself. To plant seeds that will forever bear +the fruit of joy, is not an act of self-denial. So this idea of +doing good to others only for their sake is absurd. You want to do +it, not simply for their sake, but for your own; because a +perfectly civilized man can never be perfectly happy while there is +one unhappy being in this universe.</p> +<p>Let us take another step. The barbaric world was to be rewarded +in some other world for acting sensibly in this. They were promised +rewards in another world, if they would only have self-denial +enough to be virtuous in this. If they would forego the pleasures +of larceny and murder; if they would forego the thrill and bliss of +meanness here, they would be rewarded hereafter for that +self-denial. I have exactly the opposite idea. Do right, not to +deny yourself, but because you love yourself and because you love +others. Be generous, because it is better for you. Be just, because +any other course is the suicide of the soul. Whoever does wrong +plagues himself, and when he reaps that harvest, he will find that +he was not practicing self-denial when he did right.</p> +<p>If you want to be happy yourself, if you are truly civilized, +you want others to be happy. Every man ought, to the extent of his +ability, to increase the happiness of mankind, for the reason that +that will increase his own. No one can be really prosperous unless +those with whom he lives share the sunshine and the joy.</p> +<p>The first thing a man wants to know and be sure of is when he +has got enough. Most people imagine that the rich are in heaven, +but, as a rule, it is only a gilded hell. There is not a man in the +city of New York with genius enough, with brains enough, to own +five millions of dollars. Why? The money will own him. He becomes +the key to a safe. That money will get him up at daylight; that +money will separate him from his friends; that money will fill his +heart with fear; that money will rob his days of sunshine and his +nights of pleasant dreams. He cannot own it. He becomes the +property of that money. And he goes right on making more. What for? +He does not know. It becomes a kind of insanity. No one is happier +in a palace than in a cabin. I love to see a log house. It is +associated in my mind always with pure, unalloyed happiness. It is +the only house in the world that looks as though it had no mortgage +on it. It looks as if you could spend there long, tranquil autumn +days; the air filled with serenity; no trouble, no thoughts about +notes, about interest—nothing of the kind; just breathing +free air, watching the hollyhocks, listening to the birds and to +the music of the spring that comes like a poem from the earth.</p> +<p>It is an insanity to get more than you want. Imagine a man in +this city, an intelligent man, say with two or three millions of +coats, eight or ten millions of hats, vast warehouses full of +shoes, billions of neckties, and imagine that man getting up at +four o'clock in the morning, in the rain and snow and sleet, +working like a dog all day to get another necktie! Is not that +exactly what the man of twenty or thirty millions, or of five +millions, does to-day? Wearing his life out that somebody may say, +"How rich he is!" What can he do with the surplus? Nothing. Can he +eat it? No. Make friends? No. Purchase flattery and lies? Yes. Make +all his poor relations hate him? Yes. And then, what worry! +Annoyed, nervous, tormented, until his poor little brain becomes +inflamed, and you see in the morning paper, "Died of apoplexy." +This man finally began to worry for fear he would not have enough +neckties to last him through.</p> +<p>So we ought to teach our children that great wealth is a curse. +Great wealth is the mother of crime. On the other hand are the +abject poor. And let me ask, to-night: Is the world forever to +remain as it was when Lear made his prayer? Is it ever to remain as +it is now? I hope not. Are there always to be millions whose lips +are white with famine? Is the withered palm to be always extended, +imploring from the stony heart of respectable charity, alms? Must +every man who sits down to a decent dinner always think of the +starving? Must every one sitting by the fireside think of some poor +mother, with a child strained to her breast, shivering in the +storm? I hope not. Are the rich always to be divided from the +poor,—not only in fact, but in feeling? And that division is +growing more and more every day The gulf between Lazarus and Dives +widens year by year, only their positions are changed—Lazarus +is in hell, and he thinks Dives is in the bosom of Abraham.</p> +<p>And there is one thing that helps to widen this gulf. In nearly +every city of the United States you will find the fashionable part, +and the poor part. The poor know nothing of the fashionable part, +except the outside splendor; and as they go by the palaces, that +poison plant called envy, springs and grows in their poor hearts. +The rich know nothing of the poor, except the squalor and rags and +wretchedness, and what they read in the police records, and they +say, "Thank God, we are not like those people!" Their hearts are +filled with scorn and contempt, and the hearts of the others with +envy and hatred. There must be some way devised for the rich and +poor to get acquainted. The poor do not know how many well-dressed +people sympathize with them, and the rich do not know how many +noble hearts beat beneath the rags. If we can ever get the loving +poor acquainted with the sympathizing rich, this question will be +nearly solved.</p> +<p>In a hundred other ways they are divided. If anything should +bring mankind together it ought to be a common belief. In Catholic +countries, that does have a softening influence upon the rich and +upon the poor. They believe the same. So in Mohammedan countries +they can kneel in the same mosque, and pray to the same God. But +how is it with us? The church is not free. There is no welcome in +the velvet for the velveteen. Poverty does not feel at home there, +and the consequence is, the rich and poor are kept apart, even by +their religion. I am not saying anything against religion. I am not +on that question; but I would think more of any religion, provided +that even for one day in the week, or for one hour in the year, it +allowed wealth to clasp the hand of poverty and to have, for one +moment even, the thrill of genuine friendship.</p> +<p>In the olden times, in barbaric life, it was a simple' thing to +get a living. A little hunting, a little fishing, pulling a little +fruit, and digging for roots—all simple; and they were nearly +all on an equality, and comparatively there were fewer failures. +Living has at last become complex. All the avenues are filled with +men struggling for the accomplishment of the same thing:</p> +<pre> + "For emulation hath a thousand sons + That one by one pursue: if you give way, + Or hedge aside from the direct forthright, + Like to an entered tide, they all rush by, + And leave you hindmost;— + Or, like a gallant horse, fallen in first rank, + Lie there for pavement to the abject rear." +</pre> +<p>The struggle is so hard. And just exactly as we have risen in +the scale of being, the per cent, of failures has increased. It is +so that all men are not capable of getting a living. They have not +cunning enough, intellect enough, muscle enough—they are not +strong enough. They are too generous, or they are too negligent; +and then some people seem to have what is called "bad +luck"—that is to say, when anything falls, they are under it; +when anything bad happens, it happens to them.</p> +<p>And now there is another trouble. Just as life becomes complex +and as everyone is trying to accomplish certain objects, all the +ingenuity of the brain is at work to get there by a shorter way, +and, in consequence, this has become an age of invention. Myriads +of machines have been invented—every one of them to save +labor. If these machines helped the laborer, what a blessing they +would be!</p> +<p>But the laborer does not own the machine; the machine owns him. +That is the trouble. In the olden time, when I was a boy, even, you +know how it was in the little towns. There was a +shoemaker—two of them—a tailor or two, a blacksmith, a +wheelwright. I remember just how the shops used to look. I used to +go to the blacksmith shop at night, get up on the forge, and hear +them talk about turning horse-shoes. Many a night have I seen the +sparks fly and heard the stories that were told. There was a great +deal of human nature in those days! Everybody was known. If times +got hard, the poor little shoemakers made a living mending, +half-soling, straightening up the heels. The same with the +blacksmith; the same with the tailor. They could get +credit—they did not have to pay till the next January, and if +they could not pay then, they took another year, and they were +happy enough. Now one man is not a shoemaker. There is a great +building—several hundred thousand dollars' worth of +machinery, three or four thousand people—not a single +mechanic in the whole building. One sews on straps, another greases +the machines, cuts out soles, waxes threads. And what is the +result? When the machines stop, three thousand men are out of +employment. Credit goes. Then come want and famine, and if they +happen to have a little child die, it would take them years to save +enough of their earnings to pay the expense of putting away that +little sacred piece of flesh. And yet, by this machinery we can +produce enough to flood the world. By the inventions in +agricultural machinery the United States can feed all the mouths +upon the earth. There is not a thing that man uses that can not +instantly be over-produced to such an extent as to become almost +worthless; and yet, with all this production, with all this power +to create, there are millions and millions in abject want. +Granaries bursting, and famine looking into the doors of the poor! +Millions of everything, and yet millions wanting everything and +having substantially nothing!</p> +<p>Now, there is something wrong there. We have got into that +contest between machines-and men, and if extravagance does not keep +pace with ingenuity, it is going to be the most terrible question +that man has ever settled. I tell you, to-night, that these things +are worth thinking about. Nothing that touches the future of our +race, nothing that touches the happiness of ourselves or our +children, should be beneath our notice. We should think of these +things—must think of them—and we should endeavor to see +that justice is finally done between man and man.</p> +<p>My sympathies are with the poor. My sympathies are with the +workingmen of the United States. Understand me distinctly. I am not +an Anarchist. Anarchy is the reaction from tyranny. I am not a +Socialist. I am not a Communist. I am an Individualist. I do not +believe in tyranny of government, but I do believe in justice as +between man and man.</p> +<p>What is the remedy? Or, what can we think of—for do not +imagine that I think I know. It is an immense, an almost infinite, +question, and all we can do is to guess. You have heard a great +deal lately upon the land subject. Let me say a word or two upon +that. In the first place I do not want to take, and I would not +take, an inch of land from any human being that belonged to him. If +we ever take it, we must pay for it—condemn it and take +it—do not rob anybody. Whenever any man advocates justice, +and robbery as the means, I suspect him.</p> +<p>No man should be allowed to own any land that he does not use. +Everybody knows that—I do not care whether he has thousands +or millions. I have owned a great deal of land, but I know just as +well as I know I am living that I should not be allowed to have it +unless I use it. And why? Don't you know that if people could +bottle the air, they would? Don't you know that there would be an +American Air-bottling Association? And don't you know that they +would allow thousands and millions to die for want of breath, if +they could not pay for air? I am not blaming anybody. I am just +telling how it is. Now, the land belongs to the children of Nature. +Nature invites into this world every babe that is born. And what +would you think of me, for instance, to-night, if I had invited you +here—nobody had charged you anything, but you had been +invited—and when you got here you had found one man +pretending to occupy a hundred seats, another fifty, and another +seventy-five, and thereupon you were compelled to stand +up—what would you think of the invitation? It seems to me +that every child of Nature is entitled to his share of the land, +and that he should not be compelled to beg the privilege to work +the soil, of a babe that happened to be born before him. And why do +I say this? Because it is not to our interest to have a few +landlords and millions of tenants.</p> +<p>The tenement house is the enemy of modesty, the enemy of virtue, +the enemy of patriotism.</p> +<p>Home is where the virtues grow. I would like to see the law so +that every home, to a small amount, should be free not only from +sale for debts, but should be absolutely free from taxation, so +that every man could have a home. Then we will have a nation of +patriots.</p> +<p>Now, suppose that every man were to have all the land he is able +to buy. The Vanderbilts could buy to-day all the land that is in +farms in the State of Ohio—every foot of it. Would it be for +the best interest of that State to have a few landlords and four or +five millions of serfs? So, I am in favor of a law finally to be +carried out—not by robbery, but by compensation, under the +right, as the lawyers call it, of eminent domain—so that no +person would be allowed to own more land than he uses. I am not +blaming these rich men for being rich. I pity the most of them. I +had rather be poor, with a little sympathy in my heart, than to be +rich as all the mines of earth and not have that little flower of +pity in my breast. I do not see how a man can have hundreds of +millions and pass every day people that have not enough to eat. I +do not understand it. I might be just the same way myself. There is +something in money that dries up the sources of affection, and the +probability is, it is this: the moment a man gets money, so many +men are trying to get it away from him that in a little while he +regards the whole human race as his enemy, and he generally thinks +that they could be rich, too, if they would only attend to business +as he has. Understand, I am not blaming these people. There is a +good deal of human nature in us all. You remember the story of the +man who made a speech at a Socialist meeting, and closed it by +saying, "Thank God, I am no monopolist," but as he sank to his seat +said, "But I wish to the Lord I was!" We must remember that these +rich men are naturally produced. Do not blame them. Blame the +system!</p> +<p>Certain privileges have been granted to the few by the +Government, ostensibly for the benefit of the many; and whenever +that grant is not for the good of the many, it should be taken from +the few—not by force, not by robbery, but by estimating +fairly the value of that property, and paying to them its value; +because everything should be done according to law and order.</p> +<p>What remedy, then, is there? First, the great weapon in this +country is the ballot. Each voter is a sovereign. There the poorest +is the equal of the richest. His vote will count just as many as +though the hand that cast it controlled millions. The poor are in +the majority in this country. If there is any law that oppresses +them, it is their fault. They have followed the fife and drum of +some party. They have been misled by others. No man should go an +inch with a party—no matter if that party is half the world +and has in it the greatest intellects of the earth—unless +that party is going his way. No honest man should ever turn round +to join anything. If it overtakes him, good. If he has to hurry up +a little to get to it, good. But do not go with anything that is +not going your way; no matter whether they call it Republican, or +Democrat, or Progressive Democracy—do not go with it unless +it goes your way.</p> +<p>The ballot is the power. The law should settle many of these +questions between capital and labor. But I expect the greatest good +to come from civilization, from the growth of a sense of justice; +for I tell you to-night, a civilized man will never want anything +for less than it is worth—a civilized man, when he sells a +thing, will never want more than it is worth—a really and +truly civilized man, would rather be cheated than to cheat. And +yet, in the United States, good as we are, nearly everybody wants +to get everything for a little less than it is worth, and the man +that sells it to him wants to get a little more than it is worth? +and this breeds rascality on both sides. That ought to be done away +with. There is one step toward it that we will take: we will +finally say that human flesh, human labor, shall not depend +entirely on "supply and demand." That is infinitely cruel. Every +man should give to another according to his ability to +give—and enough that he may make his living and lay something +by for the winter of old age.</p> +<p>Go to England. Civilized country they call it. It is not. It +never was. I am afraid it never will be. Go to London, the greatest +city of this world, where there is the most wealth—the +greatest glittering piles of gold. And yet, one out of every six in +that city dies in a hospital, a workhouse or a prison. Is that the +best that we are ever to know? Is that the last word that +civilization has to say? Look at the women in this town sewing for +a living, making cloaks for less than forty-five cents, that sell +for $45! Right here—here, amid all the palaces, amid the +thousands of millions of property—here! Is that all that +civilization can do? Must a poor woman support herself, or her +child, or her children, by that kind of labor, and with such +pay—and do we call ourselves civilized?</p> +<p>Did you ever read that wonderful poem about the sewing woman? +Let me tell you the last verse:</p> +<pre> + "Winds that have sainted her, tell ye the story + Of the young life by the needle that bled, + Making a bridge over death's soundless waters + Out of a swaying, and soul-cutting thread— + Over it going, all the world knowing + That thousands have trod it, foot-bleeding, before: + God protect all of us! God pity all of us, + Should she look back from the opposite shore!" +</pre> +<p>I cannot call this civilization. There must be something nearer +a fairer division in this world.</p> +<p>You can never get it by strikes. Never. The first strike that is +a great success will be the last, because the people who believe in +law and order will put the strikers down. The strike is no remedy. +Boycotting is no remedy. Brute force is no remedy. These questions +have to be settled by reason, by candor, by intelligence, by +kindness; and nothing is permanently settled in this world that has +not for its corner-stone justice, and is not protected by the +profound conviction of the human mind.</p> +<p>This is no country for Anarchy, no country for Communism, no +country for the Socialist. Why? Because the political power is +equally divided. What other reason? Speech is free. What other? The +press is untrammeled. And that is all that the right should ever +ask—a free press, free speech, and the protection of person. +That is enough. That is all I ask. In a country like Russia, where +every mouth is a bastile and every tongue a convict, there may be +some excuse. Where the noblest and the best are driven to Siberia, +there may be a reason for the Nihilist. In a country where no man +is allowed to petition for redress, there is a reason, but not +here. This—say what you will against it—this is the +best Government ever founded by the human race! Say what you will +of parties, say what you will of dishonesty, the holiest flag that +ever kissed the air is ours!</p> +<p>Only a few years ago morally we were a low people—before +we abolished slavery—but now, when there is no chain except +that of custom, when every man has an opportunity, this is the +grandest Government of the earth. There is hardly a man in the +United States to-day, of any importance, whose voice anybody cares +to hear, who was not nursed at the loving breast of poverty. Look +at the children of the rich. My God, what a punishment for being +rich! So, whatever happens, let every man say that this Government, +and this form of government, shall stand.</p> +<p>"But," say some, "these workingmen are dangerous." I deny it. We +are all in their power. They run all the cars. Our lives are in +their hands almost every day. They are working in all our homes. +They do the labor of this world. We are all at their mercy, and yet +they do not commit more crimes, according to number, than the rich. +Remember that. I am not afraid of them. Neither am I afraid of the +monopolists, because, under our institutions, when they become +hurtful to the general good, the people will stand it just to a +certain point, and then comes the end—not in anger, not in +hate, but from a love of liberty and justice.</p> +<p>Now, we have in this country another class. We call them +"criminals." Let me take another step:</p> +<pre> + "'Tis not enough to help the feeble up, + But to support him after." +</pre> +<p>Recollect what I said in the first place—that every man is +as he must be. Every crime is a necessary product. The seeds were +all sown, the land thoroughly plowed, the crop well attended to, +and carefully harvested. Every crime is born of necessity. If you +want less crime, you must change the conditions. Poverty makes +crime. Want, rags, crusts, failure, misfortune—all these +awake the wild beast in man, and finally he takes, and takes +contrary to law, and becomes a criminal. And what do you do with +him? You punish him. Why not punish a man for having the +consumption? The time will come when you will see that that is just +as logical. What do you do with the criminal? You send him to the +penitentiary. Is he made better? Worse. The first thing you do is +to try to trample out his manhood, by putting an indignity upon +him. You mark him. You put him in stripes. At night you put him in +darkness. His feeling for revenge grows. You make a wild beast of +him, and he comes out of that place branded in body and soul, and +then you won't let him reform if he wants to. You put on airs above +him, because he has been in the penitentiary. The next time you +look with scorn upon a convict, let me beg of you to do one thing. +Maybe you are not as bad as I am, but do one thing: think of all +the crimes you have wanted to commit; think of all the crimes you +would have committed if you had had the opportunity; think of all +the temptations to which you would have yielded had nobody been +looking; and then put your hand on your heart and say whether you +can justly look with contempt even upon a convict.</p> +<p>None but the noblest should inflict punishment, even on the +basest.</p> +<p>Society has no right to punish any man in revenge—no right +to punish any man except for two objects—one, the prevention +of crime; the other, the reformation of the criminal. How can you +reform him? Kindness is the sunshine in which virtue grows. Let it +be understood by these men that there is no revenge; let it be +understood, too, that they can reform. Only a little while ago I +read of a case of a young man who had been in a penitentiary and +came out. He kept it a secret, and went to work for a farmer. He +got in love with the daughter, and wanted to marry her. He had +nobility enough to tell the truth—he told the father that he +had been in the penitentiary. The father said, "You cannot have my +daughter, because it would stain her life." The young man said, +"Yes, it would stain her life, therefore I will not marry her." He +went out. In a few moments afterward they heard the report of a +pistol, and he was dead. He left just a little note saying: "I am +through. There is no need of my living longer, when I stain with my +life the one I love." And yet we call our society civilized. There +is a mistake.</p> +<p>I want that question thought of. I want all my fellow-citizens +to think of it. I want you to do what you can to do away with all +cruelty. There are, of course, some cases that have to be treated +with what might be called almost cruelty; but if there is the +smallest seed of good in any human heart, let kindness fall upon it +until it grows, and in that way I know, and so do you, that the +world will get better and better day by day.</p> +<p>Let us, above all things, get acquainted with each other. Let +every man teach his son, teach his daughter, that labor is +honorable. Let us say to our children: It is your business to see +that you never become a burden on others. Your first duty is to +take care of yourselves, and if there is a surplus, with that +surplus help your fellow-man. You owe it to yourself above all +things not to be a burden upon others. Teach your son that it is +his duty not only, but his highest joy, to become a home-builder, a +home-owner. Teach your children that the fireside is the happiest +place in this world. Teach them that whoever is an idler, whoever +lives upon the labor of others, whether he is a pirate or a king, +is a dishonorable person. Teach them that no civilized man wants +anything for nothing, or for less than it is worth; that he wants +to go through this world paying his way as he goes, and if he gets +a little ahead, an extra joy, it should be divided with another, if +that other is doing something for himself. Help others help +themselves.</p> +<p>And let us teach that great wealth is not great happiness; that +money will not purchase love; it never did and never can purchase +respect; it never did and never can purchase the highest happiness. +I believe with Robert Burns:</p> +<pre> + "If happiness have not her seat + And center in the breast, + We may be wise, or rich, or great, + But never can be blest." +</pre> +<p>We must teach this, and let our fellow-citizens know that we +give them every right that we claim for ourselves. We must discuss +these questions and have charity—and we will have it whenever +we have the philosophy that all men are as they must be, and that +intelligence and kindness are the only levers capable of raising +mankind.</p> +<p>Then there is another thing. Let each one be true to himself. No +matter what his class, no matter what his circumstances, let him +tell his thought. Don't let his class bribe him. Don't let him talk +like a banker because he is a banker. Don't let him talk like the +rest of the merchants because he is a merchant. Let him be true to +the human race instead of to his little business—be true to +the ideal in his heart and brain, instead of to his little present +and apparent selfishness—let him have a larger and more +intelligent selfishness—a generous philosophy, that includes +not only others but himself.</p> +<p>So far as I am concerned, I have made up my mind that no +organization, secular or religious, shall be my master. I have made +up my mind that no necessity of bread, or roof, or raiment shall +ever put a padlock on my lips. I have made up my mind that no hope +of preferment, no honor, no wealth, shall ever make me for one +moment swerve from what I really believe, no matter whether it is +to my immediate interest, as one would think, or not. And while I +live, I am going to do what little I can to help my fellow-men who +have not been as fortunate as I have been. I shall talk on their +side, I shall vote on their side, and do what little I can to +convince men that happiness does not lie in the direction of great +wealth, but in the direction of achievement for the good of +themselves and for the good of their fellow-men. I shall do what +little I can to hasten the day when this earth shall be covered +with homes, and when by countless firesides shall sit the happy and +the loving families of the world.</p> +<a name="link0007" id="link0007"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /></div> +<h2>THE FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH.</h2> +<center>I. THE OLD TESTAMENT.</center> +<p>ONE of the foundation stones of our faith is the Old Testament. +If that book is not true, if its authors were unaided men, if it +contains blunders and falsehoods, then that stone crumbles to +dust.</p> +<p>The geologists demonstrated that the author of Genesis was +mistaken as to the age of the world, and that the story of the +universe having been created in six days, about six thousand years +ago could not be true.</p> +<p>The theologians then took the ground that the "days" spoken of +in Genesis were periods of time, epochs, six "long whiles," and +that the work of creation might have been commenced millions of +years ago.</p> +<p>The change of days into epochs was considered by the believers +of the Bible as a great triumph over the hosts of infidelity. The +fact that Jehovah had ordered the Jews to keep the Sabbath, giving +as a reason that he had made the world in six days and rested on +the seventh, did not interfere with the acceptance of the "epoch" +theory.</p> +<p>But there is still another question. How long has man been upon +the earth?</p> +<p>According to the Bible, Adam was certainly the first man, and in +his case the epoch theory cannot change the account. The Bible +gives the age at which Adam died, and gives the generations to the +flood—then to Abraham and so on, and shows that from the +creation of Adam to the birth of Christ it was about four thousand +and four years.</p> +<p>According to the sacred Scriptures man has been on this earth +five thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine years and no more.</p> +<p>Is this true?</p> +<p>Geologists have divided a few years of the worlds history into +periods, reaching from the azoic rocks to the soil of our time. +With most of these periods they associate certain forms of life, so +that it is known that the lowest forms of life belonged with the +earliest periods, and the higher with the more recent. It is also +known that certain forms of life existed in Europe many ages ago, +and that many thousands of years ago these forms disappeared.</p> +<p>For instance, it is well established that at one time there +lived in Europe, and in the British Islands some of the most +gigantic mammals, the mammoth, the woolly-haired rhinoceros, the +Irish elk, elephants and other forms that have in those countries +become extinct. Geologists say that many thousands of years have +passed since these animals ceased to inhabit those countries.</p> +<p>It was during the Drift Period that these forms of life existed +in Europe and England, and that must have been hundreds of +thousands of years ago.</p> +<p>In caves, once inhabited by men, have been found implements of +flint and the bones of these extinct animals. With the flint tools +man had split the bones of these beasts that he might secure the +marrow for food.</p> +<p>Many such caves and hundreds of such tools, and of such bones +have been found. And we now know that in the Drift Period man was +the companion of these extinct monsters.</p> +<p>It is therefore certain that many, many thousands of years +before Adam lived, men, women and children inhabited the earth.</p> +<p>It is certain that the account in the Bible of the creation of +the first man is a mistake. It is certain that the inspired writers +knew nothing about the origin of man.</p> +<p>Let me give you another fact:</p> +<p>The Egyptians were astronomers. A few years ago representations +of the stars were found on the walls of an old temple, and it was +discovered by calculating backward that the stars did occupy the +exact positions as represented about seven hundred and fifty years +before Christ. Afterward another representation of the stars was +found, and by calculating in the same way, it was found that the +stars did occupy the exact positions represented about three +thousand eight hundred years before Christ.</p> +<p>According to the Bible the first man was created four thousand +and four years before Christ If this is true then Egypt was +founded, its language formed, its arts cultivated, its astronomical +discoveries made and recorded about two hundred years after the +creation of the first man.</p> +<p>In other words, Adam was two or three hundred years old when the +Egyptian astronomers made these representations.</p> +<p>Nothing can be more absurd.</p> +<p>Again I say that the writers of the Bible were mistaken.</p> +<p>How do I know?</p> +<p>According to that same Bible there was a flood some fifteen or +sixteen hundred years after Adam was created that destroyed the +entire human race with the exception of eight persons, and +according to the Bible the Egyptians descended from one of the sons +of Noah. How then did the Egyptians represent the stars in the +position they occupied twelve hundred years before the flood?</p> +<p>No one pretends that Egypt existed as a nation before the flood. +Yet the astronomical representations found, must have been made +more than a thousand years before the world was drowned.</p> +<p>There is another mistake in the Bible.</p> +<p>According to that book the sun was made after the earth was +created.</p> +<p>Is this true?</p> +<p>Did the earth exist before the sun?</p> +<p>The men of science are believers in the exact opposite. They +believe that the earth is a child of the sun—that the earth, +as well as the other planets belonging to our constellation, came +from the sun.</p> +<p>The writers of the Bible were mistaken.</p> +<p>There is another point:</p> +<p>According to the Bible, Jehovah made the world in six days, and +the work done each day is described. What did Jehovah do on the +second day?</p> +<p>This is the record:</p> +<p>"And God said: Let there be a firmament in the midst of the +waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made +the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament +from the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so, and +God called the firmament heaven. And the evening and the morning +were the second day."</p> +<p>The writer of this believed in a solid firmament—the floor +of Jehovah's house. He believed that the waters had been divided, +and that the rain came from above the firmament. He did not +understand the fact of evaporation—did not know that the rain +came from the water on the earth.</p> +<p>Now we know that there is no firmament, and we know that the +waters are not divided by a firmament. Consequently we know that, +according to the Bible, Jehovah did nothing on the second day. He +must have rested on Tuesday. This being so, we ought to have two +Sundays a week.</p> +<p>Can we rely on the historical parts of the Bible?</p> +<p>Seventy souls went down into Egypt, and in two hundred and +fifteen years increased to three millions. They could not have +doubled more than four times a century. Say nine times in two +hundred and fifteen years.</p> +<p>This makes thirty-five thousand eight hundred and forty, +(35,840.) instead of three millions.</p> +<p>Can we believe the accounts of the battles?</p> +<p>Take one instance:</p> +<p>Jereboam had an army of eight hundred thousand men, Abijah of +four hundred thousand. They fought. The Lord was on Abijah's side, +and he killed five hundred thousand of Jereboam's men.</p> +<p>All these soldiers were Jews—all lived in Palestine, a +poor miserable little country about one-quarter as large as the +State of New York. Yet one million two hundred thousand soldiers +were put in the field. This required a population in the country of +ten or twelve millions. Of course this is absurd. Palestine in its +palmiest days could not have supported two millions of people.</p> +<p>The soil is poor.</p> +<p>If the Bible is inspired, is it true?</p> +<p>We are told by this inspired book of the gold and silver +collected by King David for the temple—the temple afterward +completed by the virtuous Solomon.</p> +<p>According to the blessed Bible, David collected about two +thousand million dollars in silver, and five thousand million +dollars in gold, making a total of seven thousand million +dollars.</p> +<p>Is this true?</p> +<p>There is in the bank of France at the present time (1895) nearly +six hundred million dollars, and so far as we know, it is the +greatest amount that was ever gathered together. All the gold now +known, coined and in bullion, does not amount to much more than the +sum collected by David.</p> +<p>Seven thousand millions. Where did David get this gold? The Jews +had no commerce. They owned no ships. They had no great factories, +they produced nothing for other countries. There were no gold or +silver mines in Palestine. Where then was this gold, this silver +found? I will tell you: In the imagination of a writer who had more +patriotism than intelligence, and who wrote, not for the sake of +truth, but for the glory of the Jews.</p> +<p>Is it possible that David collected nearly eight thousand tons +of gold—that he by economy got together about sixty thousand +tons of silver, making a total of gold and silver of sixty-eight +thousand tons?</p> +<p>The average freight car carries about fifteen tons—David's +gold and silver would load about four thousand five hundred and +thirty-three cars, making a train about thirty-two miles in length. +And all this for the temple at Jerusalem, a building ninety feet +long and forty-five feet high and thirty wide, to which was +attached a porch thirty feet wide, ninety feet long and one hundred +and eighty feet high.</p> +<p>Probably the architect was inspired.</p> +<p>Is there a sensible man in the world who believes that David +collected seven thousand million dollars worth of gold or +silver?</p> +<p>There is hardly five thousand million dollars of gold now used +as money in the whole world. Think of the millions taken from the +mines of California, Australia and Africa during the present +century and yet the total scarcely exceeds the amount collected by +King David more than a thousand years before the birth of Christ. +Evidently the inspired historian made a mistake.</p> +<p>It required a little imagination and a few ciphers to change +seven million dollars or seven hundred thousand dollars into seven +thousand million dollars. Drop four ciphers and the story becomes +fairly reasonable.</p> +<p>The Old Testament must be thrown aside. It is no longer a +foundation. It has crumbled.</p> +<center>II. THE NEW TESTAMENT</center> +<p>BUT we have the New Testament, the sequel of the Old, in which +Christians find the fulfillment of prophecies made by inspired +Jews.</p> +<p>The New Testament vouches for the truth, the inspiration, of the +Old, and if the old is false, the New cannot be true.</p> +<p>In the New Testament we find all that we know about the life and +teachings of Jesus Christ.</p> +<p>It is claimed that the writers were divinely inspired, and that +all they wrote is true.</p> +<p>Let us see if these writers agree.</p> +<p>Certainly there should be no difference about the birth of +Christ. From the Christian's point of view, nothing could have been +of greater importance than that event.</p> +<p>Matthew says: "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in +the days of Herod the King, behold there came wise men from the +east to Jerusalem.</p> +<p>"Saying, where is he that is born king of the Jews? for we have +seen his star in the east and are come to worship him."</p> +<p>Matthew does not tell us who these wise men were, from what +country they came, to what race they belonged. He did not even know +their names.</p> +<p>We are also informed that when Herod heard these things he was +troubled and all Jerusalem with him; that he gathered the chief +priests and asked of them where Christ should be born and they told +him that he was to be born in Bethlehem.</p> +<p>Then Herod called the wise men and asked them when the star +appeared, and told them to go to Bethlehem and report to him.</p> +<p>When they left Herod, the star again appeared and went before +them until it stood over the place where the child was.</p> +<p>When they came to the child they worshiped him,—gave him +gifts, and being warned by God in a dream, they went back to their +own country without calling on Herod.</p> +<p>Then the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and +told him to take Mary and the child into Egypt for fear of +Herod.</p> +<p>So Joseph took Mary and the child to Egypt and remained there +until the death of Herod.</p> +<p>Then Herod, finding that he was mocked by the wise men, "sent +forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem and in all +the coasts thereof from two years old and under."</p> +<p>After the death of Herod an angel again appeared in a dream to +Joseph and told him to take mother and child and go back to +Palestine.</p> +<p>So he went back and dwelt in Nazareth.</p> +<p>Is this story true? Must we believe in the star and the wise +men? Who were these wise men? From what country did they come? What +interest had they in the birth of the King of the Jews? What became +of them and their star?</p> +<p>Of course I know that the Holy Catholic Church has in her +keeping the three skulls that belonged to these wise men, but I do +not know where the church obtained these relics, nor exactly how +their genuineness has been established.</p> +<p>Must we believe that Herod murdered the babes of Bethlehem?</p> +<p>Is it not wonderful that the enemies of Herod did not charge him +with this horror? Is it not marvelous that Mark and Luke and John +forgot to mention this most heartless of massacres?</p> +<p>Luke also gives an account of the birth of Christ. He says that +there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus that all the +world should be taxed; that this was when Cyrenius was governor of +Syria; that in accordance with this decree, Joseph and Mary went to +Bethlehem to be taxed; that at that place Christ was born and laid +in a manger. He also says that shepherds, in the neighborhood, were +told of the birth by an angel, with whom was a multitude of the +heavenly host; that these shepherds visited Mary and the child, and +told others what they had seen and heard.</p> +<p>He tells us that after eight days the child was named, Jesus; +that forty days after his birth he was taken by Joseph and Mary to +Jerusalem, and that after they had performed all things according +to the law they returned to Nazareth. Luke also says that the child +grew and waxed strong in spirit, and that his parents went every +year to Jerusalem.</p> +<p>Do the accounts in Matthew and Luke agree? Can both accounts be +true?</p> +<p>Luke never heard of the star, and Matthew knew nothing of the +heavenly host. Luke never heard of the wise men, nor Matthew of the +shepherds. Luke knew nothing of the hatred of Herod, the murder of +the babes or the flight into Egypt. According to Matthew, Joseph, +warned by an angel, took Mary and the child and fled into Egypt. +According to Luke they all went to Jerusalem, and from there back +to Nazareth.</p> +<p>Both of these accounts cannot be true. Will some Christian +scholar tell us which to believe?</p> +<p>When was Christ born?</p> +<p>Luke says that it took place when Cyrenius was governor. Here is +another mistake. Cyrenius was not appointed governor until after +the death of Herod, and the taxing could not have taken place until +ten years after the alleged birth of Christ.</p> +<p>According to Luke, Joseph and Mary lived in Nazareth, and for +the purpose of getting them to Bethlehem, so that the child could +be born in the right place, the taxing under Cyrenius was used, but +the writer, being "inspired" made a mistake of about ten years as +to the time of the taxing and of the birth.</p> +<p>Matthew says nothing about the date of the birth, except that he +was born when Herod was king. It is now known that Herod had been +dead ten years before the taxing under Cyrenius. So, if Luke tells +the truth, Joseph, being warned by an angel, fled from the hatred +of Herod ten years after Herod was dead. If Matthew and Luke are +both right Christ was taken to Egypt ten years before he was born, +and Herod killed the babes ten years after he was dead.</p> +<p>Will some Christian scholar have the goodness to harmonize these +"inspired" accounts?</p> +<p>There is another thing.</p> +<p>Matthew and Luke both try to show that Christ was of the blood +of David, that he was a descendant of that virtuous king.</p> +<p>As both of these writers were inspired and as both received +their information from God, they ought to agree.</p> +<p>According to Matthew there was between David and Jesus +twenty-seven generations, and he gives all the names.</p> +<p>According to Luke there were between David and Jesus forty-two +generations, and he gives all the names.</p> +<p>In these genealogies—both inspired—there is a +difference between David and Jesus, a difference of some fourteen +or fifteen generations.</p> +<p>Besides, the names of all the ancestors are different, with two +exceptions.</p> +<p>Matthew says that Joseph's father was Jacob. Luke says that Heli +was Joseph's father.</p> +<p>Both of these genealogies cannot be true, and the probability is +that both are false.</p> +<p>There is not in all the pulpits ingenuity enough to harmonize +these ignorant and stupid contradictions.</p> +<p>There are many curious mistakes in the words attributed to +Christ.</p> +<p>We are told in Matthew, chapter xxiii, verse 35, that Christ +said:</p> +<p>"That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the +earth from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, +son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the +altar."</p> +<p>It is certain that these words were not spoken by Christ. He +could not by any possibility have known that the blood of Zacharias +had been shed. As a matter of fact, Zacharias was killed by the +Jews, during the seige of Jerusalem by Titus, and this seige took +place seventy-one years after the birth of Christ, thirty-eight +years after he was dead.</p> +<p>There is still another mistake.</p> +<p>Zacharias was not the son of Barachias—no such</p> +<p>Zacharias was killed. The Zacharias that was slain was the son +of Baruch.</p> +<p>But we must not expect the "inspired" to be accurate.</p> +<p>Matthew says that at the time of the crucifixion—"the +graves were opened and that many bodies of the saints which slept +arose and came out of their graves <i>after</i> his resurrection, +and went into the holy city and appeared unto many."</p> +<p>According to this the graves were opened at the time of the +crucifixion, but the dead did not arise and come out until after +the resurrection of Christ.</p> +<p>They were polite enough to sit in their open graves and wait for +Christ to rise first.</p> +<p>To whom did these saints appear? What became of them? Did they +slip back into their graves and commit suicide?</p> +<p>Is it not wonderful that Mark, Luke and John never heard of +these saints?</p> +<p>What kind of saints were they? Certainly they were not Christian +saints.</p> +<p>So, the inspired writers do not agree in regard to Judas.</p> +<p>Certainly the inspired writers ought to have known what happened +to Judas, the betrayer. Matthew being duly "inspired" says that +when Judas saw that Jesus had been condemned, he repented and took +back the money to the chief priests and elders, saying that he had +sinned in betraying the innocent blood. They said to him: "What is +that to us? See thou to that." Then Judas threw down the pieces of +silver and went and hanged himself.</p> +<p>The chief priests then took the pieces of silver and bought the +potter's field to bury strangers in, and it is called the field of +blood.</p> +<p>We are told in Acts of the apostles that Peter stood up in the +midst of the disciples and said: "Now this man, (Judas) purchased a +field with the reward of iniquity—and falling headlong he +burst asunder and all his bowels gushed out—that field is +called the field of blood."</p> +<p>Matthew says Judas repented and gave back the money.</p> +<p>Peter says that he bought a field with the money.</p> +<p>Matthew says that Judas hanged himself. Peter says that he fell +down and burst asunder. Which of these accounts is true?</p> +<p>Besides, it is hard to see why Christians hate, loathe and +despise Judas. According to their scheme of salvation, it was +absolutely necessary that Christ should be killed—necessary +that he should be betrayed, and had it not been for Judas, all the +world, including Christ's mother, and the part of Christ that was +human, would have gone to hell.</p> +<p>Yet, according to the New Testament, Christ did not know that +one of his disciples was to betray him.</p> +<p>Jesus, when on his way to Jerusalem, for the last time, said, +speaking to the twelve disciples, Judas being present, that they, +the disciples should thereafter sit on twelve thrones judging the +twelve tribes of Israel.</p> +<p>Yet, more than a year before this journey, John says that Christ +said, speaking to the twelve disciples: "Have not I chosen you +twelve, and one of you is a devil." And John adds: "He spake of +Judas Iscariot, for it was he that should betray him."</p> +<p>Why did Christ a year afterward, tell Judas that he should sit +on a throne and judge one of the tribes of Israel?</p> +<p>There is still another trouble.</p> +<p>Paul says that Jesus after his resurrection appeared to the +twelve disciples. According to Paul, Jesus appeared to Judas with +the rest.</p> +<p>Certainly Paul had not heard the story of the betrayal.</p> +<p>Why did Christ select Judas as one of his disciples, knowing +that he would betray him? Did he desire to be betrayed? Was it his +intention to be put to death?</p> +<p>Why did he fail to defend himself before Pilate?</p> +<p>According to the accounts, Pilate wanted to save him. Did Christ +wish to be convicted?</p> +<p>The Christians are compelled to say that Christ intended to be +sacrificed—that he selected Judas with that end in view, and +that he refused to defend himself because he desired to be +crucified. All this is in accordance with the horrible idea that +without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.</p> +<center>III. JEHOVAH.</center> +<p>GOD the Father.</p> +<p>The Jehovah of the Old Testament is the God of the +Christians.</p> +<p>He it was who created the Universe, who made all substance, all +force, all life, from nothing. He it is who has governed and still +governs the world. He has established and destroyed empires and +kingdoms, despotisms and republics. He has enslaved and liberated +the sons of men. He has caused the sun to rise on the good and on +the evil, and his rain to fall on the just and the unjust.</p> +<p>This shows his goodness.</p> +<p>He has caused his volcanoes to devour the good and the bad, his +cyclones to wreck and rend the generous and the cruel, his floods +to drown the loving and the hateful, his lightning to kill the +virtuous and the vicious, his famines to starve the innocent and +criminal and his plagues to destroy the wise and good, the ignorant +and wicked. He has allowed his enemies to imprison, to torture and +to kill his friends. He has permitted blasphemers to flay his +worshipers alive, to dislocate their joints upon racks, and to burn +them at the stake. He has allowed men to enslave their brothers and +to sell babes from the breasts of mothers.</p> +<p>This shows his impartiality.</p> +<p>The pious negro who commenced his prayer: "O thou great and +unscrupulous God," was nearer right than he knew.</p> +<p>Ministers ask: Is it possible for God to forgive man?</p> +<p>And when I think of what has been suffered—of the +centuries of agony and tears, I ask: Is it possible for man to +forgive God?</p> +<p>How do Christians prove the existence of their God? Is it +possible to think of an infinite being? Does the word God +correspond with any image in the mind? Does the word God stand for +what we know or for what we do not know?</p> +<p>Is not this unthinkable God a guess, an inference?</p> +<p>Can we think of a being without form, without body, without +parts, without passions? Why should we speak of a being without +body as of the masculine gender?</p> +<p>Why should the Bible speak of this God as a man?—of his +walking in the garden in the cool of the evening—of his +talking, hearing and smelling? If he has no passions why is he +spoken of as jealous, revengeful, angry, pleased and loving?</p> +<p>In the Bible God is spoken of as a person in the form of man, +journeying from place to place, as having a home and occupying a +throne. These ideas have been abandoned, and now the Christian's +God is the infinite, the incomprehensible, the formless, bodiless +and passionless.</p> +<p>Of the existence of such a being there can be, in the nature of +things, no evidence.</p> +<p>Confronted with the universe, with fields of space sown thick +with stars, with all there is of life, the wise man, being asked +the origin and destiny of all, replies: "I do not know. These +questions are beyond the powers of my mind." The wise man is +thoughtful and modest. He clings to facts. Beyond his intellectual +horizon he does not pretend to see. He does not mistake hope for +evidence or desire for demonstration. He is honest. He neither +deceives himself nor others.</p> +<p>The theologian arrives at the unthinkable, the inconceivable, +and he calls this God. The scientist arrives at the unthinkable, +the inconceivable, and calls it the Unknown.</p> +<p>The theologian insists that his inconceivable governs the world, +that it, or he, or they, can be influenced by prayers and +ceremonies, that it, or he, or they, punishes and rewards, that it, +or he, or they, has priests and temples.</p> +<p>The scientist insist that the Unknown is not changed so far as +he knows by prayers of people or priests. He admits that he does +not know whether the Unknown is good or bad—whether he, or +it, wants or whether he, or it, is worthy of worship. He does not +say that the Unknown is God, that it created substance and force, +life and thought. He simply says that of the Unknown he knows +nothing.</p> +<p>Why should Christians insist that a God of infinite wisdom, +goodness and power governs the world?</p> +<p>Why did he allow millions of his children to be enslaved? Why +did he allow millions of mothers to be robbed of their babes? Why +has he allowed injustice to triumph? Why has he permitted the +innocent to be imprisoned and the good to be burned? Why has he +withheld his rain and starved millions of the children of men? Why +has he allowed the volcanoes to destroy, the earthquakes to devour, +and the tempest to wreck and rend?</p> +<center>IV. THE TRINITY</center> +<p>THE New Testament informs us that Christ was the son of Joseph +and the son of God, and that Mary was his mother.</p> +<p>How is it established that Christ was the son of God?</p> +<p>It is said that Joseph was told so in a dream by an angel.</p> +<p>But Joseph wrote nothing on that subject—said nothing so +far as we know. Mary wrote nothing, said nothing. The angel that +appeared to Joseph or that informed Joseph said nothing to anybody +else. Neither has the Holy Ghost, the supposed father, ever said or +written one word. We have received no information from the parties +who could have known anything on the subject. We get all our facts +from those who could not have known.</p> +<p>How is it possible to prove that the Holy Ghost was the father +of Christ?</p> +<p>Who knows that such a being as the Holy Ghost ever existed?</p> +<p>How was it possible for Mary to know anything about the Holy +Ghost?</p> +<p>How could Joseph know that he had been visited by an angel in a +dream?</p> +<p>Could he know that the visitor was an angel? It all occurred in +a dream and poor Joseph was asleep. What is the testimony of one +who was asleep worth?</p> +<p>All the evidence we have is that somebody who wrote part of the +New Testament says that the Holy Ghost was the father of Christ, +and that somebody who wrote another part of the New Testament says +that Joseph was the father of Christ.</p> +<p>Matthew and Luke give the genealogy and both show that Christ +was the son of Joseph.</p> +<p>The "Incarnation" has to be believed without evidence. There is +no way in which it can be established. It is beyond the reach and +realm of reason. It defies observation and is independent of +experience.</p> +<p>It is claimed not only that Christ was the Son of God, but that +he was, and is, God.</p> +<p>Was he God before he was born? Was the body of Mary the dwelling +place of God?</p> +<p>What evidence have we that Christ was God?</p> +<p>Somebody has said that Christ claimed that God was his father +and that he and his father were one. We do not know who this +somebody was and do not know from whom he received his +information.</p> +<p>Somebody who was "inspired" has said that Christ was of the +blood of David through his father Joseph.</p> +<p>This is all the evidence we have.</p> +<p>Can we believe that God, the creator of the Universe, learned +the trade of a carpenter in Palestine, that he gathered a few +disciples about him, and after teaching for about three years, +suffered himself to be crucified by a few ignorant and pious +Jews?</p> +<p>Christ, according to the faith, is the second person in the +Trinity, the Father being the first and the Holy Ghost the third. +Each of these three persons is God. Christ is his own father and +his own son. The Holy Ghost is neither father nor son, but both. +The son was begotten by the father, but existed before he was +begotten—just the same before as after. Christ is just as old +as his father, and the father is just as young as his son. The Holy +Ghost proceeded from the Father and Son, but was equal to the +Father and Son before he proceeded, that is to say, before he +existed, but he is of the same age of the other two.</p> +<p>So, it is declared that the Father is God, and the Son God and +the Holy Ghost God, and that these three Gods make one God.</p> +<p>According to the celestial multiplication table, once one is +three, and three times one is one, and according to heavenly +subtraction if we take two from three, three are left. The addition +is equally peculiar, if we add two to one we have but one. Each one +is equal to himself and the other two. Nothing ever was, nothing +ever can be more perfectly idiotic and absurd than the dogma of the +Trinity.</p> +<p>How is it possible to prove the existence of the Trinity?</p> +<p>Is it possible for a human being, who has been born but once, to +comprehend, or to imagine the existence of three beings, each of +whom is equal to the three?</p> +<p>Think of one of these beings as the father of one, and think of +that one as half human and all God, and think of the third as +having proceeded from the other two, and then think of all three as +one. Think that after the father begot the son, the father was +still alone, and after the Holy Ghost proceeded from the father and +the son, the father was still alone—because there never was +and never will be but one God.</p> +<p>At this point, absurdity having reached its limit, nothing more +can be said except: "Let us pray."</p> +<center>V. THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST</center> +<p>IN the New Testament we find the teachings and sayings of +Christ. If we say that the book is inspired, then we must admit +that Christ really said all the things attributed to him by the +various writers. If the book is inspired we must accept it all. We +have no right to reject the contradictory and absurd and accept the +reasonable and good. We must take it all just as it is.</p> +<p>My own observation has led me to believe that men are generally +consistent in their theories and inconsistent in their lives.</p> +<p>So, I think that Christ in his utterances was true to his +theory, to his philosophy.</p> +<p>If I find in the Testament sayings of a contradictory character, +I conclude that some of those sayings were never uttered by him. +The sayings that are, in my judgment, in accordance with what I +believe to have been his philosophy, I accept, and the others I +throw away.</p> +<p>There are some of his sayings which show him to have been a +devout Jew, others that he wished to destroy Judaism, others +showing that he held all people except the Jews in contempt and +that he wished to save no others, others showing that he wished to +convert the world, still others showing that he was forgiving, +self-denying and loving, others that he was revengeful and +malicious, others, that he was an ascetic, holding all human ties +in utter contempt.</p> +<p>The following passages show that Christ was a devout Jew.</p> +<p>"Swear not, neither by heaven, for it is God's throne, nor by +the earth for it is his footstool, neither by Jerusalem for it is +his holy city."</p> +<p>"Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets, I +am not come to destroy, but to fulfill." "For after all these +things, (clothing, food and drink) do the Gentiles seek."</p> +<p>So, when he cured a leper, he said: "Go thy way, show thyself +unto the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded."</p> +<p>Jesus sent his disciples forth saying: "Go not into the way of +the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not, but +go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."</p> +<p>A woman came out of Canaan and cried to Jesus: "Have mercy on +me, my daughter is sorely vexed with a devil"—but he would +not answer. Then the disciples asked him to send her away, and he +said: "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of +Israel."</p> +<p>Then the woman worshiped him and said: "Lord help me." But he +answered and said: "It is not meet to take the children's bread and +cast it unto dogs." Yet for her faith he cured her child.</p> +<p>So, when the young man asked him what he must do to be saved, he +said: "Keep the commandments."</p> +<p>Christ said: "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat, +all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and +do."</p> +<p>"And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle +of the law to fail."</p> +<p>Christ went into the temple and cast out them that sold and +bought there, and said: "It is written, my house is the house of +prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves."</p> +<p>"We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews."</p> +<p>Certainly all these passages were written by persons who +regarded Christ as the Messiah.</p> +<p>Many of the sayings attributed to Christ show that he was an +ascetic, that he cared nothing for kindred, nothing for father and +mother, nothing for brothers or sisters, and nothing for the +pleasures of life.</p> +<p>Christ said to a man: "Follow me." The man said: "Suffer me +first to go and bury my father." Christ answered: "Let the dead +bury their dead." Another said: "I will follow thee, but first let +me go bid them farewell which are at home."</p> +<p>Jesus said: "No man having put his hand to the plough, and +looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. If thine right eye +offend thee pluck it out. If thy right hand offend thee cut it +off."</p> +<p>One said unto him: "Behold thy mother and thy brethren stand +without, desiring to speak with thee." And he answered: "Who is my +mother, and who are my brethren?" Then he stretched forth his hand +toward his disciples and said: "Behold my mother and my +brethren."</p> +<p>"And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren or +sisters, or father or mother, or wife or children, or lands for my +name's sake shall receive an hundred fold and shall inherit +everlasting life."</p> +<p>"He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of +me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy +of me."</p> +<p>Christ it seems had a philosophy.</p> +<p>He believed that God was a loving father, that he would take +care of his children, that they need do nothing except to rely +implicitly on God.</p> +<p>"Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy."</p> +<p>"Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them +that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and +persecute you."</p> +<p>"Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat or what ye +shall drink, nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on.... For +your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these +things."</p> +<p>"Ask and it shall be given you. Whatsoever ye would that men +should do to you, do ye even so to them. If ye forgive men their +trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you. The very +hairs of your head are all numbered."</p> +<p>Christ seemed to rely absolutely on the protection of God until +the darkness of death gathered about him, and then he cried: "My +God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me?"</p> +<p>While there are many passages in the New Testament showing +Christ to have been forgiving and tender, there are many others, +showing that he was exactly the opposite.</p> +<p>What must have been the spirit of one who said: "I am come to +send fire on the earth? Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on +earth? I tell you, nay, but rather division. For from henceforth +there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and +two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and +the son against the father, the mother against the daughter and the +daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her +daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her +mother-in-law."</p> +<p>"If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother, and +wife, and children and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life +also, he cannot be my disciple."</p> +<p>"But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign +over them, bring hither and slay them before me."</p> +<p>This passage built dungeons and lighted fagots.</p> +<p>"Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil +and his angels."</p> +<p>"I came not to bring peace but a sword."</p> +<p>All these sayings could not have been uttered by the same +person. They are inconsistent with each other. Love does not speak +the words of hatred. The real philanthropist does not despise all +nations but his own. The teacher of universal forgiveness cannot +believe in eternal torture.</p> +<p>From the interpolations, legends, accretions, mistakes and +falsehoods in the New Testament is it possible to free the actual +man? Clad in mist and myth, hidden by the draperies of gods, +deformed, indistinct as faces in clouds, is it possible to find and +recognize the features, the natural face of the actual Christ?</p> +<p>For many centuries our fathers closed their eyes to the +contradictions and inconsistencies of the Testament and in spite of +their reason harmonized the interpolations and mistakes.</p> +<p>This is no longer possible. The contradictions are too many, too +glaring. There are contradictions of fact not only, but of +philosophy, of theory.</p> +<p>The accounts of the trial, the crucifixion, and ascension of +Christ do not agree. They are full of mistakes and +contradictions.</p> +<p>According to one account Christ ascended the day of, or the day +after his resurrection. According to another he remained forty days +after rising from the dead. According to one account, he was seen +after his resurrection only by a few women and his disciples. +According to another he was seen by the women, by his disciples on +several occasions and by hundreds of others.</p> +<p>According to Matthew, Luke and Mark, Christ remained for the +most part in the country, seldom going to Jerusalem. According to +John he remained mostly in Jerusalem, going occasionally into the +country, and then generally to avoid his enemies.</p> +<p>According to Matthew, Mark and Luke, Christ taught that if you +would forgive others God would forgive you. According to John, +Christ said that the only way to get to heaven was to believe on +him and be born again.</p> +<p>These contradictions are gross and palpable and demonstrate that +the New Testament is not inspired, and that many of its statements +must be false.</p> +<p>If we wish to save the character of Christ, many of the passages +must be thrown away.</p> +<p>We must discard the miracles or admit that he was insane or an +impostor. We must discard the passages that breathe the spirit of +hatred and revenge, or admit that he was malevolent.</p> +<p>If Matthew was mistaken about the genealogy of Christ, about the +wise men, the star, the flight into Egypt and the massacre of the +babes by Herod,—then he may have been mistaken in many +passages that he put in the mouth of Christ.</p> +<p>The same may be said in regard to Mark, Luke and John.</p> +<p>The church must admit that the writers of the New Testament were +uninspired men—that they made many mistakes, that they +accepted impossible legends as historical facts, that they were +ignorant and superstitious, that they put malevolent, stupid, +insane and unworthy words in the mouth of Christ, described him as +the worker of impossible miracles and in many ways stained and +belittled his character.</p> +<p>The best that can be said about Christ is that nearly nineteen +centuries ago he was born in the land of Palestine in a country +without wealth, without commerce, in the midst of a people who knew +nothing of the greater world—a people enslaved, crushed by +the mighty power of Rome. That this babe, this child of poverty and +want grew to manhood without education, knowing nothing of art, or +science, and at about the age of thirty began wandering about the +hills and hamlets of his native land, discussing with priests, +talking with the poor and sorrowful, writing nothing, but leaving +his words in the memory or forgetfulness of those to whom he +spoke.</p> +<p>That he attacked the religion of his time because it was cruel. +That this excited the hatred of those in power, and that Christ was +arrested, tried and crucified.</p> +<p>For many centuries this great Peasant of Palestine has been +worshiped as God.</p> +<p>Millions and millions have given their lives to his service. The +wealth of the world was lavished on his shrines. His name carried +consolation to the diseased and dying. His name dispelled the +darkness of death, and filled the dungeon with light. His name gave +courage to the martyr, and in the midst of fire, with shriveling +lips the sufferer uttered it again, and again. The outcasts, the +deserted, the fallen, felt that Christ was their friend, felt that +he knew their sorrows and pitied their sufferings.</p> +<p>The poor mother, holding her dead babe in her arms, lovingly +whispered his name. His gospel has been carried by millions to all +parts of the globe, and his story has been told by the self-denying +and faithful to countless thousands of the sons of men. In his name +have been preached charity,—forgiveness and love.</p> +<p>He it was, who according to the faith, brought immortality to +light, and many millions have entered the valley of the shadow with +their hands in his.</p> +<p>All this is true, and if it were all, how beautiful, how +touching, how glorious it would be. But it is not all. There is +another side.</p> +<p>In his name millions and millions of men and women have been +imprisoned, tortured and killed. In his name millions and millions +have been enslaved. In his name the thinkers, the investigators, +have been branded as criminals, and his followers have shed the +blood of the wisest and best. In his name the progress of many +nations was stayed for a thousand years. In his gospel was found +the dogma of eternal pain, and his words added an infinite horror +to death. His gospel filled the world with hatred and revenge; made +intellectual honesty a crime; made happiness here the road to hell, +denounced love as base and bestial, canonized credulity, crowned +bigotry and destroyed the liberty of man.</p> +<p>It would have been far better had the New Testament never been +written—far better had the theological Christ never lived. +Had the writers of the Testament been regarded as uninspired, had +Christ been thought of only as a man, had the good been accepted +and the absurd, the impossible, and the revengeful thrown away, +mankind would have escaped the wars, the tortures, the scaffolds, +the dungeons, the agony and tears, the crimes and sorrows of a +thousand years.</p> +<center>VI. THE "SCHEME"</center> +<p>WE have also the scheme of redemption.</p> +<p>According to this "scheme," by the sin of Adam and Eve in the +Garden of Eden, human nature became evil, corrupt and depraved. It +became impossible for human beings to keep, in all things, the law +of God. In spite of this, God allowed the people to live and +multiply for some fifteen hundred years, and then on account of +their wickedness drowned them all with the exception of eight +persons.</p> +<p>The nature of these eight persons was evil, corrupt and +depraved, and in the nature of things their children would be +cursed with the same nature. Yet God gave them another trial, +knowing exactly what the result would be. A few of these wretches +he selected and made them objects of his love and care, the rest of +the world he gave to indifference and neglect. To civilize the +people he had chosen, he assisted them in conquering and killing +their neighbors, and gave them the assistance of priests and +inspired prophets. For their preservation and punishment he wrought +countless miracles, gave them many laws and a great deal of advice. +He taught them to sacrifice oxen, sheep, and doves, to the end that +their sins might be forgiven. The idea was inculcated that there +was a certain relation between the sin and the sacrifice,—the +greater the sin, the greater the sacrifice. He also taught the +savagery that without the shedding of blood there was no remission +of sin.</p> +<p>In spite of all his efforts, the people grew gradually worse. +They would not, they could not keep his laws.</p> +<p>A sacrifice had to be made for the sins of the people. The sins +were too great to be washed out by the blood of animals or men. It +became necessary for. God himself to be sacrificed. All mankind +were under the curse of the law. Either all the world must be lost +or God must die.</p> +<p>In only one way could the guilty be justified, and that was by +the death, the sacrifice of the innocent. And the innocent being +sacrificed must be great enough to atone for the world; There was +but one such being—God.</p> +<p>Thereupon God took upon himself flesh, was born into the +world—was known as Christ—was murdered, sacrificed by +the Jews, and became an atonement for the sins of the human +race.</p> +<p>This is the scheme of Redemption,—the atonement.</p> +<p>It is impossible to conceive of anything more utterly +absurd.</p> +<p>A man steals, and then sacrifices a dove, or gives a lamb to a +priest. His crime remains the same. He need not kill something. Let +him give back the thing stolen, and in future live an honest +life.</p> +<p>A man slanders his neighbor and then kills an ox. What has that +to do with the slander. Let him take back his slander, make all the +reparation that he can, and let the ox alone.</p> +<p>There is no sense in sacrifice, never was and never will be.</p> +<p>Make restitution, reparation, undo the wrong and you need shed +no blood.</p> +<p>A good law, one springing from the nature of things, cannot +demand, and cannot accept, and cannot be satisfied with the +punishment, or the agony of the innocent. A god could not accept +his own sufferings in justification of the guilty.—This is a +complete subversion of all ideas of justice and morality. A god +could not make a law for man, then suffer in the place of the man +who had violated it, and say that the law had been carried out, and +the penalty duly enforced. A man has committed murder, has been +tried, convicted and condemned to death. Another man goes to the +governor and says that he is willing to die in place of the +murderer. The governor says: "All right, I accept your offer, a +murder has been committed, somebody must be hung and your death +will satisfy the law."</p> +<p>But that is not the law. The law says, not that somebody shall +be hanged, but that the murderer shall suffer death.</p> +<p>Even if the governor should die in the place of the criminal, it +would be no better. There would be two murders instead of one, two +innocent men killed, one by the first murderer and one by the +State, and the real murderer free.</p> +<p>This, Christians call, "satisfying the law."</p> +<center>VII. BELIEF.</center> +<p>WE are told that all who believe in this scheme of redemption +and have faith in the redeemer will be rewarded with eternal joy. +Some think that men can be saved by faith without works, and some +think that faith and works are both essential, but all agree that +without faith there is no salvation. If you repent and believe on +Jesus Christ, then his goodness will be imputed to you and the +penalty of the law, so far as you are concerned, will be satisfied +by the sufferings of Christ.</p> +<p>You may repent and reform, you may make restitution, you may +practice all the virtues, but without this belief in Christ, the +gates of heaven will be shut against you forever.</p> +<p>Where is this heaven? The Christians do not know.</p> +<p>Does the Christian go there at death, or must he wait for the +general resurrection?</p> +<p>They do not know.</p> +<p>The Testament teaches that the bodies of the dead are to be +raised? Where are their souls in the meantime? They do not +know.</p> +<p>Can the dead be raised? The atoms composing their bodies enter +into new combinations, into new forms, into wheat and corn, into +the flesh of animals and into the bodies of other men. Where one +man dies, and some of his atoms pass into the body of another man +and he dies, to whom will these atoms belong in the day of +resurrection?</p> +<p>If Christianity were only stupid and unscientific, if its God +was ignorant and kind, if it promised eternal joy to believers and +if the believers practiced the forgiveness they teach, for one I +should let the faith alone.</p> +<p>But there is another side to Christianity. It is not only +stupid, but malicious. It is not only unscientific, but it is +heartless. Its god is not only ignorant, but infinitely cruel. It +not only promises the faithful an eternal reward, but declares that +nearly all of the children of men, imprisoned in the dungeons of +God will suffer eternal pain. This is the savagery of Christianity. +This is why I hate its unthinkable God, its impossible Christ, its +inspired lies, and its selfish, heartless heaven.</p> +<p>Christians believe in infinite torture, in eternal pain.</p> +<p>Eternal Pain!</p> +<p>All the meanness of which the heart of man is capable is in that +one word—Hell.</p> +<p>That word is a den, a cave, in which crawl the slimy reptiles of +revenge.</p> +<p>That word certifies to the savagery of primitive man.</p> +<p>That word is the depth, the dungeon, the abyss, from which +civilized man has emerged.</p> +<p>That word is the disgrace, the shame, the infamy, of our +revealed religion.</p> +<p>That word fills all the future with the shrieks of the +damned.</p> +<p>That word brutalizes the New Testament, changes the Sermon on +the Mount to hypocrisy and cant, and pollutes and hardens the very +heart of Christ.</p> +<p>That word adds an infinite horror to death, and makes the cradle +as terrible as the coffin.</p> +<p>That word is the assassin of joy, the mocking murderer of hope. +That word extinguishes the light of life and wraps the world in +gloom. That word drives reason from his throne, and gives the crown +to madness.</p> +<p>That word drove pity from the hearts of men, stained countless +swords with blood, lighted fagots, forged chains, built dungeons, +erected scaffolds, and filled the world with poverty and pain.</p> +<p>That word is a coiled serpent in the mother's breast, that lifts +its fanged head and hisses in her ear:—"Your child will be +the fuel of eternal fire."</p> +<p>That word blots from the firmament the star of hope and leaves +the heavens black.</p> +<p>That word makes the Christian's God an eternal torturer, an +everlasting inquisitor—an infinite wild beast.</p> +<p>This is the Christian prophecy of the eternal future:</p> +<p>No hope in hell.</p> +<p>No pity in heaven.</p> +<p>No mercy in the heart of God.</p> +<center>VIII. CONCLUSION</center> +<p>THE Old Testament is absurd, ignorant and cruel,—the New +Testament is a mingling of the false and true—it is good and +bad.</p> +<p>The Jehovah of the Jews is an impossible monster. The Trinity +absurd and idiotic, Christ is a myth or a man.</p> +<p>The fall of man is contradicted by every fact concerning human +history that we know. The scheme of redemption—through the +atonement—is immoral and senseless. Hell was imagined by +revenge, and the orthodox heaven is the selfish dream of heartless +serfs and slaves. The foundations of the faith have crumbled and +faded away. They were miracles, mistakes, and myths, ignorant and +untrue, absurd, impossible, immoral, unnatural, cruel, childish, +savage. Beneath the gaze of the scientist they vanished, confronted +by facts they disappeared. The orthodox religion of our day has no +foundation in truth. Beneath the superstructure can be found no +fact.</p> +<p>Some may ask, "Are you trying to take our religion away?"</p> +<p>I answer, No—superstition is not religion. Belief without +evidence is not religion. Faith without facts is not religion.</p> +<p>To love justice, to long for the right, to love mercy, to pity +the suffering, to assist the weak, to forget wrongs and remember +benefits—to love the truth, to be sincere, to utter honest +words, to love liberty, to wage relentless war against slavery in +all its forms, to love wife and child and friend, to make a happy +home, to love the beautiful in art, in nature, to cultivate the +mind, to be familiar with the mighty thoughts that genius has +expressed, the noble deeds of all the world, to cultivate courage +and cheerfulness, to make others happy, to fill life with the +splendor of generous acts, the warmth of loving words, to discard +error, to destroy prejudice, to receive new truths with gladness, +to cultivate hope, to see the calm beyond the storm, the dawn +beyond the night, to do the best that can be done and then to be +resigned this is the religion of reason, the creed of science. This +satisfies the brain and heart.</p> +<p>But, says the prejudiced priest, the malicious minister, "You +take away a future life."</p> +<p>I am not trying to destroy another world, but I am endeavoring +to prevent the theologians from destroying this.</p> +<p>If we are immortal it is a fact in nature, and that fact does +not depend on bibles, or Christs, or priests or creeds.</p> +<p>The hope of another life was in the heart, long before the +"sacred books" were written, and will remain there long after all +the "sacred books" are known to be the work of savage and +superstitious men. Hope is the consolation of the world.</p> +<p>The wanderers hope for home.—Hope builds the house and +plants the flowers and fills the air with song.</p> +<p>The sick and suffering hope for health.—Hope gives them +health and paints the roses in their cheeks.</p> +<p>The lonely, the forsaken, hope for love.—Hope brings the +lover to their arms. They feel the kisses on their eager lips.</p> +<p>The poor in tenements and huts, in spite of rags and hunger hope +for wealth.—Hope fills their thin and trembling hands with +gold.</p> +<p>The dying hopes that death is but another birth, and Love leans +above the pallid face and whispers, "We shall meet again."</p> +<p>Hope is the consolation of the world.</p> +<p>Let us hope, if there be a God that he is wise and good.</p> +<p>Let us hope that if there be another life it will bring peace +and joy to all the children of men.</p> +<p>And let us hope that this poor earth on which we live, may be a +perfect world—a world without a crime—without a +tear.</p> +<a name="link0008" id="link0008"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /></div> +<h2>SUPERSTITION.</h2> +<center>I. WHAT IS SUPERSTITION?</center> +<p>To believe in spite of evidence or without evidence. To account +for one mystery by another.</p> +<p>To believe that the world is governed by chance or caprice.</p> +<p>To disregard the true relation between cause and effect.</p> +<p>To put thought, intention and design back of nature.</p> +<p>To believe that mind created and controls matter. To believe in +force apart from substance, or in substance apart from force.</p> +<p>To believe in miracles, spells and charms, in dreams and +prophecies.</p> +<p>To believe in the supernatural.</p> +<p>The foundation of superstition is ignorance, the superstructure +is faith and the dome is a vain hope.</p> +<p>Superstition is the child of ignorance and the mother of +misery.</p> +<p>In nearly every brain is found some cloud of superstition.</p> +<p>A woman drops a cloth with which she is washing dishes, and she +exclaims: "That means company."</p> +<p>Most people will admit that there is no possible connection +between dropping the cloth and the coming of visitors. The falling +cloth could not have put the visit desire in the minds of people +not present, and how could the cloth produce the desire to visit +the particular person who dropped it? There is no possible +connection between the dropping of the cloth and the anticipated +effects.</p> +<p>A man catches a glimpse of the new moon over his left shoulder, +and he says: "This is bad luck."</p> +<p>To see the moon over the right or left shoulder, or not to see +it, could not by any possibility affect the moon, neither could it +change the effect or influence of the moon on any earthly thing. +Certainly the left-shoulder glance could in no way affect the +nature of things. All the facts in nature would remain the same as +though the glance had been over the right shoulder. We see no +connection between the left-shoulder glance and any possible evil +effects upon the one who saw the moon in this way.</p> +<p>A girl counts the leaves of a flower, and she says: "One, he +comes; two, he tarries; three, he courts; four, he marries; five, +he goes away."</p> +<p>Of course the flower did not grow, and the number of its leaves +was not determined with reference to the courtship or marriage of +this girl, neither could there have been any intelligence that +guided her hand when she selected that particular flower. So, +count' ing the seeds in an apple cannot in any way determine +whether the future of an individual is to be happy or +miserable.</p> +<p>Thousands of persons believe in lucky and unlucky days, numbers, +signs and jewels.</p> +<p>Many people regard Friday as an unlucky day—as a bad day +to commence a journey, to marry, to make any investment. The only +reason given is that Friday is an unlucky day.</p> +<p>Starting across the sea on Friday could have no possible effect +upon the winds, or waves, or tides, any more than starting on any +other day, and the only possible reason for thinking Friday unlucky +is the assertion that it is so.</p> +<p>So it is thought by many that it is dangerous for thirteen +people to dine together. Now, if thirteen is a dangerous number, +twenty-six ought to be twice as dangerous, and fifty-two four times +as terrible.</p> +<p>It is said that one of the thirteen will die in a year. Now, +there is no possible relation between the number and the digestion +of each, between the number and the individual diseases. If +fourteen dine together there is greater probability, if we take +into account only the number, of a death within the year, than +there would be if only thirteen were at the table.</p> +<p>Overturning the salt is very unlucky, but spilling the vinegar +makes no difference.</p> +<p>Why salt should be revengeful and vinegar forgiving has never +been told.</p> +<p>If the first person who enters a theatre is crosseyed, the +audience will be small and the "run" a failure.</p> +<p>How the peculiarity of the eyes of the first one who enters, +changes the intention of a community, or how the intentions of a +community cause the cross-eyed man to go early, has never been +satisfactorily explained. Between this so-called cause and the +so-called effect there is, so far as we can see, no possible +relation.</p> +<p>To wear an opal is bad luck, but rubies bring health. How these +stones affect the future, how they destroy causes and defeat +effects, no one pretends to know.</p> +<p>So, there are thousands of lucky and unlucky tilings, warnings, +omens and prophecies, but all sensible, sane and reasoning human +beings know that every one is an absurd and idiotic +superstition.</p> +<p>Let us take another step:</p> +<p>For many centuries it was believed that eclipses of the sun and +moon were prophetic of pestilence or famine, and that comets +foretold the death of kings, or the destruction of nations, the +coming of war or plague. All strange appearances in the +heavens—the Northern Lights, circles about the moon, sun +dogs, falling stars—filled our intelligent ancestors with +terror. They fell upon their knees—did their best with +sacrifice and prayer to avoid the threatened disaster. Their faces +were ashen with fear as they closed their eyes and cried to the +heavens for help. The clergy, who were as familiar with God then as +the orthodox preachers are now, knew exactly the meaning of +eclipses and sun dogs and Northern Lights; knew that God's patience +was nearly exhausted; that he was then whetting the sword of his +wrath, and that the people could save themselves only by obeying +the priests, by counting their beads and doubling their +subscriptions.</p> +<p>Earthquakes and cyclones filled the coffers of the church. In +the midst of disasters the miser, with trembling hands, opened his +purse. In the gloom of eclipses thieves and robbers divided their +booty with God, and poor, honest, ignorant girls, remembering that +they had forgotten to say a prayer, gave their little earnings to +soften the heart of God.</p> +<p>Now we know that all these signs and wonders in the heavens have +nothing to do with the fate of kings, nations or individuals; that +they had no more reference to human beings than to colonies of +ants, hives of bees or the eggs of insects. We now know that the +signs and eclipses, the comets, and the falling stars, would have +been just the same if not a human being had been upon the earth. We +know now that eclipses come at certain times and that their coming +can be exactly foretold.</p> +<p>A little while ago the belief was general that there were +certain healing virtues in inanimate things, in the bones of holy +men and women, in the rags that had been tom from the foul clothing +of still fouler saints, in hairs from martyrs, in bits of wood and +rusty nails from the true cross, in the teeth and finger nails of +pious men, and in a thousand other sacred things.</p> +<p>The diseased were cured by kissing a box in which was kept some +bone, or rag, or bit of wood, some holy hairs, provided the kiss +was preceded or followed by a gift—a something for the +church.</p> +<p>In some mysterious way the virtue in the bone, or rag, or piece +of wood, crept or flowed from the box, took possession of the sick +who had the necessary faith, and in the name of God drove out the +devils who were the real disease.</p> +<p>This belief in the efficacy of bones or rags and holy hair was +born of another belief—the belief that all diseases were +produced by evil spirits. The insane were supposed to be possessed +by devils. Epilepsy and hysteria were produced by the imps of +Satan. In short, every human affliction was the work of the +malicious emissaries of the god of hell. This belief was almost +universal, and even in our time the sacred bones are believed in by +millions of people.</p> +<p>But to-day no intelligent man believes in the existence of +devils—no intelligent man believes that evil spirits cause +disease—consequently, no intelligent person believes that +holy bones or rags, sacred hairs or pieces of wood, can drive +disease out, or in any way bring back to the pallid cheek the rose +of health.</p> +<p>Intelligent people now know that the bone of a saint has in it +no greater virtue than the bone of any animal. That a rag from a +wandering beggar is just as good as one from a saint, and that the +hair of a horse will cure disease just as quickly and surely as the +hair of a martyr. We now know that all the sacred relics are +religious rubbish; that those who use them are for the most part +dishonest, and that those who rely on them are almost idiotic.</p> +<p>This belief in amulets and charms, in ghosts and devils, is +superstition, pure and simple.</p> +<p>Our ancestors did not regard these relics as medicine, having a +curative power, but the idea was that evil spirits stood in dread +of holy things—that they fled from the bone of a saint, that +they feared a piece of the true cross, and that when holy water was +sprinkled on a man they immediately left the premises. So, these +devils hated and dreaded the sound of holy bells, the light of +sacred tapers, and, above all, the ever-blessed cross.</p> +<p>In those days the priests were fishers for money, and they used +these relics for bait.</p> +<center>II.</center> +<p>Let us take another step:</p> +<p>This belief in the Devil and evil spirits laid the foundation +for another belief: Witchcraft.</p> +<p>It was believed that the devil had certain things to give in +exchange for a soul. The old man, bowed and broken, could get back +his youth—the rounded form, the brown hair, the leaping heart +of life's morning—if he would sign and seal away his soul. +So, it was thought that the malicious could by charm and spell +obtain revenge, that the poor could be enriched, and that the +ambitious could rise to place and power. All the good things of +this life were at the disposal of the Devil. For those who resisted +the temptations of the Evil One, rewards were waiting in another +world, but the Devil rewarded here in this life. No one has +imagination enough to paint the agonies that were endured by reason +of this belief in witchcraft. Think of the families destroyed, of +the fathers and mothers cast in prison, tortured and burned, of the +firesides darkened, of the children murdered, of the old, the poor +and helpless that were stretched on racks mangled and flayed!</p> +<p>Think of the days when superstition and fear were in every +house, in every mind, when accusation was conviction, when +assertion of innocence was regarded as a confession of guilt, and +when Christendom was insane!</p> +<p>Now we know that all of these horrors were the result of +superstition. Now we know that ignorance was the mother of all the +agonies endured. Now we know that witches never lived, that human +beings never bargained with any devil, and that our pious savage +ancestors were mistaken.</p> +<p>Let us take another step:</p> +<p>Our fathers believed in miracles, in signs and wonders, eclipses +and comets, in the virtues of bones, and in the powers attributed +to evil spirits. All these belonged to the miraculous. The world +was supposed to be full of magic; the spirits were sleight-of-hand +performers—necromancers. There were no natural causes behind +events. A devil wished, and it happened. One who had sold his soul +to Satan made a few motions, uttered some strange words, and the +event was present. Natural causes were not believed in. Delusion +and illusion, the monstrous and miraculous, ruled the world. The +foundation was gone—reason had abdicated. Credulity gave +tongues and wings to lies, while the dumb and limping facts were +left behind—were disregarded and remained untold.</p> +<center>WHAT IS A MIRACLE?</center> +<p>An act performed by a master of nature without reference to the +facts in nature. This is the only honest definition of a +miracle.</p> +<p>If a man could make a perfect circle, the diameter of which was +exactly one-half the circumference, that would be a miracle in +geometry. If a man could make twice four, nine, that would be a +miracle in mathematics. If a man could make a stone, falling in the +air, pass through a space of ten feet the first second, twenty-five +feet the second second, and five feet the third second, that would +be a miracle in physics. If a man could put together hydrogen, +oxygen and nitrogen and produce pure gold, that would be a miracle +in chemistry. If a minister were to prove his creed, that would be +a theological miracle. If Congress by law would make fifty cents +worth of silver worth a dollar, that would be a financial miracle. +To make a square triangle would be a most wonderful miracle. To +cause a mirror to reflect the faces of persons who stand behind it, +instead of those who stand in front, would be a miracle. To make +echo answer a question would be a miracle. In other words, to do +anything contrary to or without regard to the facts in nature is to +perform a miracle.</p> +<p>Now we are convinced of what is called the "uniformity of +nature." We believe that all things act and are acted upon in +accordance with their nature; that under like conditions the +results will always be substantially the same; that like ever has +and ever will produce like. We now believe that events have natural +parents and that none die childless.</p> +<p>Miracles are not simply impossible, but they are unthinkable by +any man capable of thinking.</p> +<p>Now an intelligent man cannot believe that a miracle ever was, +or ever will be, performed.</p> +<p>Ignorance is the soil in which belief in miracles grows.</p> +<center>III.</center> +<p>Let us take another step:</p> +<p>While our ancestors filled the darkness with evil spirits, +enemies of mankind, they also believed in the existence of good +spirits. These good spirits sustained the same relation to God that +the evil ones did to the Devil. These good spirits protected the +faithful from the temptations and snares of the Evil One. They took +care of those who carried amulets and charms, of those who repeated +prayers and counted beads, of those who fasted and performed +ceremonies. These good spirits would turn aside the sword and arrow +from the breast of the faithful. They made poison harmless, they +protected the credulous, and in a thousand ways defended and +rescued the true believer. They drove doubts from the minds of the +pious, sowed the seeds of credulity and faith, saved saints from +the wiles of women, painted the glories of heaven for those who +fasted and prayed, made it possible for the really good to dispense +with the pleasures of sense and to hate the Devil.</p> +<p>These angels watched over infants who had been baptized, over +persons who had made holy vows, over priests and nuns and wandering +beggars who believed.</p> +<p>These spirits were of various kinds: Some had once been men or +women, some had never lived in this world, and some had been angels +from the commencement. Nobody pretended to know exactly what they +were, or exactly how they looked, or in what way they went from +place to place, or how they affected or controlled the minds of +men.</p> +<p>It was believed that the king of all these evil spirits was the +Devil, and that the king of all the good spirits was God. It was +also believed that God was in fact the king of all, and that the +Devil himself was one of the children of this God. This God and +this Devil were at war, each trying to secure the souls of men. God +offered the rewards of eternal joy and threatened eternal pain. The +Devil baited his traps with present pleasure, with the +gratification of the senses, with the ecstasies of love, and +laughed at the joys of heaven and the pangs of hell. With malicious +hand he sowed the seeds of doubt—induced men to investigate, +to reason, to call for evidence, to rely upon themselves; planted +in their hearts the love of liberty, assisted them to break their +chains, to escape from their prisons and besought them to think. In +this way he corrupted the children of men.</p> +<p>Our fathers believed that they could by prayer, by sacrifice, by +fasting, by performing certain ceremonies, gain the assistance of +this God and of these good spirits. They were not quite logical. +They did not believe that the Devil was the author of all evil. +They thought that flood and famine, plague and cyclone, earthquake +and war, were sometimes sent by God as punishment for unbelief. +They fell upon their knees and with white lips, prayed the good God +to stay his hand. They humbled themselves, confessed their sins, +and filled the heavens with their vows and cries. With priests and +prayers they tried to stay the plague. They kissed the relics, fell +at shrines, besought the Virgin and the saints, but the prayers all +died in the heartless air, and the plague swept on to its natural +end. Our poor fathers knew nothing of any science. Back of all +events they put spirits, good or bad, angels or demons, gods or +devils. To them nothing had what we call a natural cause. +Everything was the work of spirits. All was done by the +supernatural, and everything was done by evil spirits that they +could do to ruin, punish, mislead and damn the children of men. +This world was a field of battle, and here the hosts of heaven and +hell waged war.</p> +<center>IV.</center> +<p>Now no man in whose brain the torch of reason bums, no man who +investigates, who really thinks, who is capable of weighing +evidence, believes in signs, in lucky or unlucky days, in lucky or +unlucky numbers. He knows that Fridays and Thursdays are alike; +that thirteen is no more deadly than twelve. He knows that opals +affect the wearer the same as rubies, diamonds or common glass. He +knows that the matrimonial chances of a maiden are not increased or +decreased by the number of leaves of a flower or seeds in an apple. +He knows that a glance at the moon over the left shoulder is as +healthful and lucky as one over the right. He does not care whether +the first comer to a theatre is crosseyed or hump-backed, +bow-legged, or as well-proportioned as Apollo. He knows that a +strange cat could be denied asylum without bringing any misfortune +to the family. He knows that an owl does not hoot in the full of +the moon because a distinguished man is about to die. He knows that +comets and eclipses would come if all the folks were dead. He is +not frightened by sun dogs, or the Morning of the North when the +glittering lances pierce the shield of night.</p> +<p>He knows that all these things occur without the slightest +reference to the human race. He feels certain that floods would +destroy and cyclones rend and earthquakes devour; that the stars +would shine; that day and night would still pursue each other +around the world; that flowers would give their perfume to the air, +and light would paint the seven-hued arch upon the dusky bosom of +the cloud if every human being was unconscious dust.</p> +<p>A man of thought and sense does not believe in the existence of +the Devil. He feels certain that imps, goblins, demons and evil +spirits exist only in the imagination of the ignorant and +frightened. He knows how these malevolent myths were made. He knows +the part they have played in all religions. He knows that for many +centuries a belief in these devils, these evil spirits, was +substantially universal. He knows that the priest believed as +firmly as the peasant. In those days the best educated and the most +ignorant were equal dupes. Kings and courtiers, ladies and clowns, +soldiers and artists, slaves and convicts, believed as firmly in +the Devil as they did in God.</p> +<p>Back of this belief there is no evidence, and there never has +been. This belief did not rest on any fact. It was supported by +mistakes, exaggerations and lies. The mistakes were natural, the +exaggerations were mostly unconscious and the lies were generally +honest. Back of these mistakes, these exaggerations, these lies, +was the love of the marvelous. Wonder listened with greedy ears, +with wide eyes, and ignorance with open mouth.</p> +<p>The man of sense knows the history of this belief, and he knows, +also, that for many centuries its truth was established by the Holy +Bible. He knows that the Old Testament is filled with allusions to +the Devil, to evil spirits, and that the New Testament is the same. +He knows that Christ himself was a believer in the Devil, in evil +spirits, and that his principal business was casting out devils +from the bodies of men and women. He knows that Christ himself, +according to the New Testament, was not only tempted by the Devil, +but was carried by his Satanic Highness to the top of the temple. +If the New Testament is the inspired word of God, then I admit that +these devils, these imps, do actually exist and that they do take +possession of human beings.</p> +<p>To deny the existence of these evil spirits, to deny the +existence of the Devil, is to deny the truth of the New Testament. +To deny the existence of these imps of darkness is to contradict +the words of Jesus Christ. If these devils do not exist, if they do +not cause disease, if they do not tempt and mislead their victims, +then Christ was an ignorant, superstitious man, insane, an +impostor, or the New Testament is not a true record of what he said +and what he pretended to do. If we give up the belief in devils, we +must give up the inspiration of the Old and New Testament. We must +give up the divinity of Christ. To deny the existence of evil +spirits is to utterly destroy the foundation of Christianity. There +is no half-way ground. Compromise is impossible. If all the +accounts in the New Testament of casting out devils are false, what +part of the Blessed Book is true?</p> +<p>As a matter of fact, the success of the Devil in the Garden of +Eden made the coming of Christ a necessity, laid the foundation for +the atonement, crucified the Savior and gave us the Trinity.</p> +<p>If the Devil does not exist, the Christian creeds all crumble, +and the superstructure known as "Christianity," built by the +fathers, by popes, by priests and theologians—built with +mistakes and falsehoods, with miracles and wonders, with blood and +flame, with lies and legends borrowed from the savage world, +becomes a shapeless ruin.</p> +<p>If we give up the belief in devils and evil spirits, we are +compelled to say that a witch never lived. No sensible human being +now believes in witchcraft. We know that it was a delusion. We now +know that thousands and thousands of innocent men, women and +children were tortured and burned for having been found guilty of +an impossible crime, and we also know, if our minds have not been +deformed by faith, that all the books in which the existence of +witches is taught were written by ignorant and superstitious men. +We also know that the Old Testament asserted the existence of +witches. According to that Holy Book, Jehovah was a believer in +witchcraft, and said to his chosen people: "Thou shalt not suffer a +witch to live."</p> +<p>This one commandment—this simple line—demonstrates +that Jehovah was not only not God, but that he was a poor, +ignorant, superstitious savage. This one line proves beyond all +possible doubt that the Old Testament was written by men, by +barbarians.</p> +<p>John Wesley was right when he said that to give up a belief in +witchcraft was to give up the Bible.</p> +<p>Give up the Devil, and what can you do with the Book of Job? How +will you account for the lying spirits that Jehovah sent to mislead +Ahab?</p> +<p>Ministers who admit that witchcraft is a superstition will read +the story of the Witch of Endor—will read it in a solemn, +reverential voice—with a theological voice—and will +have the impudence to say that they believe it.</p> +<p>It would be delightful to know that angels hover in the air; +that they guard the innocent, protect the good; that they bend over +the cradles and give health and happy dreams to pallid babes; that +they fill dungeons with the light of their presence and give hope +to the imprisoned; that they follow the fallen, the erring, the +outcasts, the friendless, and win them back to virtue, love and +joy. But we have no more evidence of the existence of good spirits +than of bad. The angels that visited Abraham and the mother of +Samson are as unreal as the ghosts and goblins of the Middle Ages. +The angel that stopped the donkey of Balaam, the one who walked in +the furnace flames with Meshech, Shadrack and Abed-nego, the one +who slew the Assyrians and the one who in a dream removed the +suspicions of Joseph, were all created by the imagination of the +credulous, by the lovers of the marvelous, and they have been +handed down from dotage to infancy, from ignorance to ignorance, +through all the years. Except in Catholic countries, no winged +citizen of the celestial realm has visited the world for hundreds +of years. Only those who are blind to facts can see these beautiful +creatures, and only those who reach conclusions without the +assistance of evidence can believe in their existence. It is told +that the great Angelo, in decorating a church, painted some angels +wearing sandals. A cardinal looking at the picture said to the +artist: "Whoever saw angels with sandals?" Angelo answered with +another question: "Whoever saw an angel barefooted?"</p> +<p>The existence of angels has never been established. Of course, +we know that millions and millions have believed in seraphim and +cherubim; have believed that the angel Gabriel contended with the +Devil for the body of Moses; that angels shut the mouths of the +lions for the protection of Daniel; that angels ministered unto +Christ, and that countless angels will accompany the Savior when he +comes to take possession of the world. And we know that all these +millions believe through blind, unreasoning faith, holding all +evidence and all facts in theological contempt.</p> +<p>But the angels come no more. They bring no balm to any wounded +heart. Long ago they folded their pinions and faded from the earth +and air. These winged guardians no longer protect the innocent; no +longer cheer the suffering; no longer whisper words of comfort to +the helpless. They have become dreams—vanished visions.</p> +<center>V.</center> +<p>In the dear old religious days the earth was flat—a little +dishing, if anything—and just above it was Jehovah's house, +and just below it was where the Devil lived. God and his angels +inhabited the third story, the Devil and his imps the basement, and +the human race the second floor.</p> +<p>Then they knew where heaven was. They could almost hear the +harps and hallelujahs. They knew where hell was, and they could +almost hear the groans and smell the sulphurous fumes. They +regarded the volcanoes as chimneys. They were perfectly acquainted +with the celestial, the terrestrial and the infernal. They were +quite familiar with the New Jerusalem, with its golden streets and +gates of pearl. Then the translation of Enoch seemed reasonable +enough, and no one doubted that before the flood the sons of God +came down and made love to the daughters of men. The theologians +thought that the builders of Babel would have succeeded if God had +not come down and caused them to forget the meaning of words.</p> +<p>In those blessed days the priests knew all about heaven and +hell. They knew that God governed the world by hope and fear, by +promise and threat, by reward and punishment. The reward was to be +eternal and so was the punishment. It was not God's plan to develop +the human brain, so that man would perceive and comprehend the +right and avoid the wrong. He taught ignorance nothing but +obedience, and for obedience he offered eternal joy. He loved the +submissive—the kneelers and crawlers. He hated the doubters, +the investigators, the thinkers, the philosophers. For them he +created the eternal prison where he could feed forever the hunger +of his hate. He loved the credulous—those who believed +without evidence—and for them he prepared a home in the realm +of fadeless light. He delighted in the company of the +questionless.</p> +<p>But where is this heaven, and where is this hell? We now know +that heaven is not just above the clouds and that hell is not just +below the earth. The telescope has done away with the ancient +heaven, and the revolving world has quenched the flames of the +ancient hell. These theological countries, these imagined worlds, +have disappeared. No one knows, and no one pretends to know, where +heaven is; and no one knows, and no one pretends to know, the +locality of hell. Now the theologians say that hell and heaven are +not places, but states of mind—conditions.</p> +<p>The belief in gods and devils has been substantially universal. +Back of the good, man placed a god; back of the evil, a devil; back +of health, sunshine and harvest was a good deity; back of disease, +misfortune and death he placed a malicious fiend.</p> +<p>Is there any evidence that gods and devils exist? The evidence +of the existence of a god and of a devil is substantially the same. +Both of these deities are inferences; each one is a perhaps. They +have not been seen—they are invisible—and they have not +ventured within the horizon of the senses. The old lady who said +there must be a devil, else how could they make pictures that +looked exactly like him, reasoned like a trained +theologian—like a doctor of divinity.</p> +<p>Now no intelligent man believes in the existence of a +devil—no longer fears the leering fiend. Most people who +think have given up a personal God, a creative deity. They now talk +about the "Unknown," the "Infinite Energy," but they put Jehovah +with Jupiter. They regard them both as broken dolls from the +nursery of the past.</p> +<p>The men or women who ask for evidence—who desire to know +the truth—care nothing for signs; nothing for what are called +wonders; nothing for lucky or unlucky jewels, days or numbers; +nothing for charms or amulets; nothing for comets or eclipses, and +have no belief in good or evil spirits, in gods or devils. They +place no reliance on general or special providence—on any +power that rescues, protects and saves the good or punishes the +vile and vicious. They do not believe that in the whole history of +mankind a prayer has been answered. They think that all the +sacrifices have been wasted, and that all the incense has ascended +in vain. They do not believe that the world was created and +prepared for man any more than it was created and prepared for +insects. They do not think it probable that whales were invented to +supply the Eskimo with blubber, or that flames were created to +attract and destroy moths. On every hand there seems to be evidence +of design—design for the accomplishment of good, design for +the accomplishment of evil. On every side are the benevolent and +malicious—something toiling to preserve, something laboring +to destroy. Everything surrounded by friends and enemies—by +the love that protects, by the hate that kills. Design is as +apparent in decay, as in growth; in failure, as in success; in +grief, as in joy. Nature with one hand building, with one hand +tearing down, armed with sword and shield—slaying and +protecting, and protecting but to slay. All life journeying toward +death, and all death hastening back to life. Everywhere waste and +economy, care and negligence.</p> +<p>We watch the flow and ebb of life and death—the great +drama that forever holds the stage, where players act their parts +and disappear; the great drama in which all must act—ignorant +and learned, idiotic and insane—without rehearsal and without +the slightest knowledge of a part, or of any plot or purpose in the +play. The scene shifts; some actors disappear and others come, and +again the scene shifts; mystery everywhere. We try to explain, and +the explanation of one fact contradicts another. Behind each veil +removed, another. All things equal in wonder. One drop of water as +wonderful as all the seas; one grain of sand as all the world; one +moth with painted wings as all the things that live; one egg from +which warmth, in darkness, woos to life an organized and breathing +form—a form with sinews, bones and nerves, with blood and +brain, with instincts, passions, thoughts and wants—as all +the stars that wheel in space.</p> +<p>The smallest seed that, wrapped in soil, has dreams of April +rains and days of June, withholds its secret from the wisest men. +The wisdom of the world cannot explain one blade of grass, the +faintest motion of the smallest leaf. And yet theologians, popes, +priests, parsons, who speechless stand before the wonder of the +smallest thing that is, know all about the origin of worlds, know +when the beginning was, when the end will be, know all about the +God who with a wish created all, know what his plan and purpose +was, the means he uses and the end he seeks. To them all mysteries +have been revealed, except the mystery of things that touch the +senses of a living man.</p> +<p>But honest men do not pretend to know; they are candid and +sincere; they love the truth; they admit their ignorance, and they +say, "We do not know."</p> +<p>After all, why should we worship our ignorance, why should we +kneel to the Unknown, why should we prostrate ourselves before a +guess?</p> +<p>If God exists, how do we know that he is good, that he cares for +us? The Christians say that their God has existed from eternity; +that he forever has been, and forever will be, infinite, wise and +good. Could this God have avoided being God? Could he have avoided +being good? Was he wise and good without his wish or will?</p> +<p>Being from eternity, he was not produced. He was back of all +cause. What he is, he was, and will be, unchanged, unchangeable. He +had nothing to do with the making or developing of his +character.</p> +<p>Nothing to do with the development of his mind. What he was, he +is. He has made no progress. What he is, he will be, there can be +no change. Why then, I ask, should we praise him? He could not have +been different from what he was and is. Why should we pray to him? +He cannot change.</p> +<p>And yet Christians implore their God not to do wrong.</p> +<p>The meanest thing charged against the Devil is that he leads the +children of men into temptation, and yet, in the Lord's Prayer, God +is insultingly asked not to imitate the king of fiends.</p> +<pre> + "Lead us not into temptation." +</pre> +<p>Why should God demand praise? He is as lie was. He has never +learned anything; has never practiced any self-denial; was never +tempted, never touched by fear or hope, and never had a want. Why +should he demand our praise?</p> +<p>Does anyone know that this God exists; that he ever heard or +answered any prayer? Is it known that he governs the world; that he +interferes in the affairs of men; that he protects the good or +punishes the wicked? Can evidence of this be found in the history +of mankind? If God governs the world, why should we credit him for +the good and not charge him with the evil? To justify this God we +must say that good is good and that evil is also good. If all is +done by this God we should make no distinction between his +actions—between the actions of the infinitely wise, powerful +and good. If we thank him for sunshine and harvest we should also +thank him for plague and famine. If we thank him for liberty, the +slave should raise his chained hands in worship and thank God that +he toils unpaid with the lash upon his naked back. If we thank him +for victory we should thank him for defeat.</p> +<p>Only a few days ago our President, by proclamation, thanked God +for giving us the victory at Santiago. He did not thank him for +sending the yellow fever. To be consistent the President should +have thanked him equally for both.</p> +<p>The truth is that good and evil spirits—gods and +devils—are beyond the realm of experience; beyond the horizon +of our senses; beyond the limits of our thoughts; beyond +imagination's utmost flight.</p> +<p>Man should think; he should use all his senses; he should +examine; he should reason. The man who cannot think is less than +man; the man who will not think is traitor to himself; the man who +fears to think is superstition's slave.</p> +<center>VI.</center> +<p>What harm does superstition do? What harm in believing in +fables, in legends?</p> +<p>To believe in signs and wonders, in amulets, charms and +miracles, in gods and devils, in heavens and hells, makes the brain +an insane ward, the world a madhouse, takes all certainty from the +mind, makes experience a snare, destroys the kinship of effect and +cause—the unity of nature—and makes man a trembling +serf and slave. With this belief a knowledge of nature sheds no +light upon the path to be pursued. Nature becomes a puppet of the +unseen powers. The fairy, called the supernatural, touches with her +wand a fact, it disappears. Causes are barren of effects, and +effects are independent of all natural causes. Caprice is king. The +foundation is gone. The great dome rests on air. There is no +constancy in qualities, relations or results. Reason abdicates and +superstition wears her crown.</p> +<p>The heart hardens and the brain softens.</p> +<p>The energies of man are wasted in a vain effort to secure the +protection of the supernatural. Credulity, ceremony, worship, +sacrifice and prayer take the place of honest work, of +investigation, of intellectual effort, of observation, of +experience. Progress becomes impossible.</p> +<p>Superstition is, always lias been, and forever will be, the +enemy of liberty.</p> +<p>Superstition created all the gods and angels, all the devils and +ghosts, all the witches, demons and goblins, gave us all the +augurs, soothsayers and prophets, filled the heavens with signs and +wonders, broke the chain of cause and effect, and wrote the history +of man in miracles and lies. Superstition made all the popes, +cardinals, bishops and priests, all the monks and nuns, the begging +friars and the filthy saints, all the preachers and exhorters, all +the "called" and "set apart." Superstition made men fall upon their +knees before beasts and stones, caused them to worship snakes and +trees and insane phantoms of the air, beguiled them of their gold +and toil, and made them shed their children's blood and give their +babes to flames. Superstition built the cathedrals and temples, all +the altars, mosques and churches, filled the world with amulets and +charms, with images and idols, with sacred bones and holy hairs, +with martyrs' blood and rags, with bits, of wood that frighten +devils from the breasts of men. Superstition invented and used the +instruments of torture, flayed men and women alive, loaded +millions, with chains and destroyed hundreds of thousands with +fire. Superstition mistook insanity for inspiration and the ravings +of maniacs for prophesy, for the wisdom of God. Superstition +imprisoned the virtuous, tortured the thoughtful, killed the +heroic, put chains on the body, manacles on the brain, and utterly +destroyed the liberty of speech. Superstition gave us all the +prayers and ceremonies; taught all the kneelings, genuflections and +prostrations; taught men to hate themselves, to despise pleasure, +to scar their flesh, to grovel in the dust, to desert their wives +and children, to shun their fellow-men, and to spend their lives in +useless pain and prayer. Superstition taught that human love is +degrading, low and vile; taught that monks are purer than fathers, +that nuns are holier than mothers, that faith is superior to fact, +that credulity leads to heaven, that doubt is the road to hell, +that belief is better than knowledge, and that to ask for evidence +is to insult God. Superstition is, always has been, and forever +will be, the foe of progress, the enemy of education and the +assassin of freedom. It sacrifices the known to the unknown, the +present to the future, this actual world to the shadowy next. It +has given us a selfish heaven, and a hell of infinite revenge; it +has filled the world with hatred, war and crime, with the malice of +meekness and the arrogance of humility. Superstition is the only +enemy of science in all the world.</p> +<p>Nations, races, have been destroyed by this monster. For nearly +two thousand years the infallible agent of God has lived in Italy. +That country has been covered with nunneries, monasteries, +cathedrals and temples—filled with all varieties of priests +and holy men. For centuries Italy was enriched with the gold of the +faithful. All roads led to Rome, and these roads were filled with +pilgrims bearing gifts, and yet Italy, in spite of all the prayers, +steadily pursued the downward path, died and was buried, and would +at this moment be in her grave had it not been for Cavour, Mazzini +and Garibaldi. For her poverty, her misery, she is indebted to the +holy Catholic Church, to the infallible agents of God. For the life +she has she is indebted to the enemies of superstition. A few years +ago Italy was great enough to build a monument to Giordano +Bruno—Bruno, the victim of the "Triumphant +Beast;"—Bruno, the sublimest of her sons.</p> +<p>Spain was at one time owner of half the earth, and held within +her greedy hands the gold and silver of the world. At that time all +nations were in the darkness of superstition. At that time the +world was governed by priests. Spain clung to her creed. Some +nations began to think, but Spain continued to believe. In some +countries, priests lost power, but not in Spain. The power behind +her throne was the cowled monk. In some countries men began to +interest themselves in science, but not in Spain. Spain told her +beads and continued to pray to the Virgin. Spain was busy-saving +her soul. In her zeal she destroyed herself. She relied on the +supernatural; not on knowledge, but superstition. Her prayers were +never answered. The saints were dead. They could not help, and the +Blessed Virgin did not hear. Some countries were in the dawn of a +new day, but Spain gladly remained in the night. With fire and +sword she exterminated the men who thought. Her greatest festival +was the <i>Auto da Fe</i>. Other nations grew great while Spain +grew small. Day by day her power waned, but her faith increased. +One by one her colonies were lost, but she kept her creed. She gave +her gold to superstition, her brain to priests, but she faithfully +counted her beads. Only a few days ago, relying on her God and his +priests, on charms and amulets, on holy water and pieces of the +true cross, she waged war against the great Republic. Bishops +blessed her armies and sprinkled holy water on her ships, and yet +her armies were defeated and captured, lier ships battered, beached +and burned, and in her helplessness she sued for peace. But she has +her creed; her superstition is not lost. Poor Spain, wrecked by +faith, the victim of religion!</p> +<p>Portugal, slowly dying, growing poorer every day, still clings +to the faith. Her prayers are never answered, but she makes them +still. Austria is nearly gone, a victim of superstition. Germany is +traveling toward the night. God placed her Kaiser on the throne. +The people must obey. Philosophers and scientists fall upon, their +knees and become the puppets of the divinely crowned.</p> +<center>VII.</center> +<p>The believers in the supernatural, in a power superior to +nature, in God, have what they call "inspired books." These books +contain the absolute truth. They must be believed. He who denies +them will be punished with eternal pain. These books are not +addressed to human reason. They are above reason. They care nothing +for what a man calls "facts." Facts that do not agree with these +books are mistakes. These books are independent of human +experience, of human reason.</p> +<p>Our inspired books constitute what we call the "Bible." The man +who reads this inspired book, looking for contradictions, mistakes +and interpolations, imperils the salvation of his soul. While he +reads he has no right to think, no right to reason. To believe is +his only duty.</p> +<p>Millions of men have wasted their lives in the study of this +book—in trying to harmonize contradictions and to explain the +obscure and seemingly absurd. In doing this they have justified +nearly every crime and every cruelty. In its follies they have +found the profoundest wisdom. Hundreds of creeds have been +constructed from its inspired passages.</p> +<p>Probably no two of its readers have agreed as to its meaning. +Thousands have studied Hebrew and Greek that they might read the +Old and New Testament in the languages in which they were written. +The more they studied, the more they differed. By the same book +they proved that nearly everybody is to be lost, and that all are +to be saved; that slavery is a divine institution, and that all men +should be free; that polygamy is right, and that no man should have +more than one wife; that the powers that be are ordained of God, +and that the people have a right to overturn and destroy the powers +that be; that all the actions of men were +predestined—preordained from eternity, and yet that man is +free; that all the heathen will be lost; that all the heathen will +be saved; that all men who live according to the light of nature +will be damned for their pains; that you must be baptized by +sprinkling; that you must be baptized by immersion; that there is +no salvation without baptism; that baptism is useless; that you +must believe in the Trinity; that it is sufficient to believe in +God; that you must believe that a Hebrew peasant was God; that at +the same time he was half man, that he was of the blood of David +through his supposed father Joseph, who was not his father, and +that it is not necessary to believe that Christ was God; that you +must believe that the Holy Ghost proceeded; that it makes no +difference whether you do or not; that you must keep the Sabbath +holy; that Christ taught nothing of the kind; that Christ +established a church; that he established no church; that the dead +are to be raised; that there is to be no resurrection; that Christ +is coming again; that he has made his last visit; that Christ went +to hell and preached to the spirits in prison; that he did nothing +of the kind; that all the Jews are going to perdition; that they +are all going to heaven; that all the miracles described in the +Bible were performed; that some of them were not, because they are +foolish, childish and idiotic; that all the Bible is inspired; that +some of the books are not inspired; that there is to be a general +judgment, when the sheep and goats are to be divided; that there +never will be any general judgment; that the sacramental bread and +wine are changed into the flesh and blood of God and the Trinity; +that they are not changed; that God has no flesh or blood; that +there is a place called "purgatory;" that there is no such place; +that unbaptized infants will be lost; that they will be saved; that +we must believe the Apostles' Creed; that the apostles made no +creed; that the Holy Ghost was the father of Christ; that Joseph +was his father; that the Holy Ghost had the form of a dove; that +there is no Holy Ghost; that heretics should be killed; that you +must not resist evil; that you should murder unbelievers; that you +must love your enemies; that you should take no thought for the +morrow, but should be diligent in business; that you should lend to +all who ask, and that One who does not provide for his own +household is worse than an infidel.</p> +<p>In defence of all these creeds, all these contradictions, +thousands of volumes have been written, millions of sermons have +been preached, countless swords reddened with blood, and thousands +and thousands of nights made lurid with the faggot's flames.</p> +<p>Hundreds and hundreds of commentators have obscured and darkened +the meaning of the plainest texts, spiritualized dates, names, +numbers and even genealogies. They have degraded the poetic, +changed parables to history, and imagery to stupid and impossible +facts. They have wrestled with rhapsody and prophecy, with visions +and dreams, with illusions and delusions, with myths and miracles, +with the blunders of ignorance, the ravings of insanity and the +ecstasy of hysterics. Millions of priests and preachers have added +to the mysteries of the inspired book by explanation, by showing +the wisdom of foolishness, the foolishness of wisdom, the mercy of +cruelty and the probability of the impossible.</p> +<p>The theologians made the Bible a master and the people its +slaves. With this book they destroyed intellectual veracity, the +natural manliness of man. With this book they banished pity from +the heart, subverted all ideas of justice and fairness, imprisoned +the soul in the dungeon of fear and made honest doubt a crime.</p> +<p>Think of what the world has suffered from fear. Think of the +millions who were driven to insanity. Think of the fearful +nights—nights filled with phantoms, with flying, crawling +monsters, with hissing serpents that slowly uncoiled, with vague +and formless horrors, with burning and malicious eyes.</p> +<p>Think of the fear of death, of infinite wrath, of everlasting +revenge in the prisons of fire, of an eternity, of thirst, of +endless regret, of the sobs and sighs, the shrieks and groans of +eternal pain!</p> +<p>Think of the hearts hardened, of the hearts broken, of the +cruelties inflicted, of the agonies endured, of the lives +darkened.</p> +<p>The inspired Bible has been and is the greatest curse of +Christendom, and will so remain as long as it is held to be +inspired.</p> +<center>VIII.</center> +<p>Our God was made by men, sculptured by savages who did the best +they could. They made our God somewhat like themselves, and gave to +him their passions, their ideas of right and wrong.</p> +<p>As man advanced he slowly changed his God—took a little +ferocity from his heart, and put the light of kindness in his eyes. +As man progressed he obtained a wider view, extended the +intellectual horizon, and again he changed his God, making him as +nearly perfect as he could, and yet this God was patterned after +those who made him. As man became civilized, as he became merciful, +he began to love justice, and as his mind expanded his ideal became +purer, nobler, and so his God became more merciful, more +loving.</p> +<p>In our day Jehovah has been outgrown. He is no longer the +perfect. Now theologians talk, not about Jehovah, but about a God +of love, call him the Eternal Father and the perpetual friend and +providence of man. But, while they talk about this God of love, +cyclones wreck and rend, the earthquake devours, the flood +destroys, the red bolt leaping from the cloud still crashes the +life out of men, and plague and fever still are tireless reapers in +the harvest fields of death.</p> +<p>They tell us now that all is good; that evil is but blessing in +disguise, that pain makes strong and virtuous men—makes +character—while pleasure enfeebles and degrades. If this be +so, the souls in hell should grow to greatness, while those in +heaven should shrink and shrivel.</p> +<p>But we know that good is good. We know that good is not evil, +and that evil is not good. We know that light is not darkness, and +that darkness is not light. But we do not feel that good and evil +were planned and caused by a supernatural God. We regard them both +as necessities. We neither thank nor curse. We know that some evil +can be avoided and that the good can be increased. We know that +this can be done by increasing knowledge, by developing the +brain.</p> +<p>As Christians have changed their God, so they have accordingly +changed their Bible. The impossible and absurd, the cruel and the +infamous, have been mostly thrown aside, and thousands are now +engaged in trying to save the inspired word. Of course, the +orthodox still cling to every word, and still insist that every +line is true. They are literalists.</p> +<p>To them the Bible means exactly what it says.</p> +<p>They want no explanation. They care nothing for commentators. +Contradictions cannot disturb their faith. They deny that any +contradictions exist. They loyally stand by the sacred text, and +they give it the narrowest possible interpretation. They are like +the janitor of an apartment house who refused to rent a flat to a +gentleman because he said he had children. "But," said the +gentleman, "my children are both married and live in Iowa." "That +makes no difference," said the janitor, "I am not allowed to rent a +flat to any man who has children."</p> +<p>All the orthodox churches are obstructions on the highway of +progress. Every orthodox creed is a chain, a dungeon. Every +believer in the "inspired book" is a slave who drives reason from +her throne, and in her stead crowns fear.</p> +<p>Reason is the light, the sun, of the brain. It is the compass of +the mind, the ever-constant Northern Star, the mountain peak that +lifts itself above all clouds.</p> +<center>IX.</center> +<p>There were centuries of darkness when religion had control of +Christendom. Superstition was almost universal. Not one in twenty +thousand could read or write. During these centuries the people +lived with their back to the sunrise, and pursued their way toward +the dens of ignorance and faith. There was no progress, no +invention, no discovery. On every hand cruelty and worship, +persecution and prayer. The priests were the enemies of thought, of +investigation. They were the shepherds, and the people were their +sheep and it was their business to guard the flock from the wolves +of thought and doubt. This world was of no importance compared with +the next. This life was to be spent in preparing for the life to +come. The gold and labor of men were wasted in building cathedrals +and in supporting the pious and the useless. During these Dark Ages +of Christianity, as I said before, nothing was invented, nothing +was discovered, calculated to increase the well-being of men. The +energies of Christendom were wasted in the vain effort to obtain +assistance from the supernatural.</p> +<p>For centuries the business of Christians was to wrest from the +followers of Mohammed the empty sepulcher of Christ. Upon the altar +of this folly millions of lives were sacrificed, and yet the +soldiers of the impostor were victorious, and the wretches who +carried the banner of Christ were scattered like leaves before the +storm.</p> +<p>There was, I believe, one invention during these ages. It is +said that, in the thirteenth century, Roger Bacon, a Franciscan +monk, invented gunpowder, but this invention was without a fellow. +Yet we cannot give Christianity the credit, because Bacon was an +infidel, and was great enough to say that in all things reason must +be the standard. He was persecuted and imprisoned, as most sensible +men were in those blessed days. The church was triumphant. The +sceptre and mitre were in her hands, and yet her success was the +result of force and fraud, and it carried within itself the seeds +of its defeat. The church attempted the impossible. It endeavored +to make the world of one belief; to force all minds to a common +form, and utterly destroy the individuality of man. To accomplish +this it employed every art and artifice that cunning could suggest +It inflicted every cruelty by every means that malice could +invent.</p> +<p>But, in spite of all, a few men began to think.</p> +<p>They became interested in the affairs of this world—in the +great panorama of nature. They began to seek for causes, for the +explanations of phenomena. They were not satisfied with the +assertions of the church. These thinkers withdrew their gaze from +the skies and looked at their own surroundings. They were +unspiritual enough to desire comfort here. They became sensible and +secular, worldly and wise.</p> +<p>What was the result? They began to invent, to discover, to find +the relation between facts, the conditions of happiness and the +means that would increase the well-being of their fellow-men.</p> +<p>Movable types were invented, paper was borrowed from the Moors, +books appeared, and it became possible to save the intellectual +wealth so that each generation could hand it to the next. History +began to take the place of legend and rumor. The telescope was +invented. The orbits of the stars were traced, and men became +citizens of the universe. The steam engine was constructed, and now +steam, the great slave, does the work of hundreds of millions of +men. The Black Art, the impossible, was abandoned, and chemistry, +the useful, took its place. Astrology became astronomy. Kepler +discovered the three great laws, one of the greatest triumphs of +human genius, and our constellation became a poem, a symphony. +Newton gave us the mathematical expression of the attraction of +gravitation. Harvey discovered the circulation of the blood. He +gave us the fact, and Draper gave us the reason. Steamships +conquered the seas and railways covered the land. Houses and +streets were lighted with gas. Through the invention of matches +fire became the companion of man. The art of photography became +known; the sun became an artist. Telegraphs and cables were +invented. The lightning became a carrier of thought, and the +nations became neighbors. Anaesthetics were discovered and pain was +lost in sleep. Surgery became a science. The telephone was +invented—the telephone that carries and deposits in listening +ears the waves of words. The phonograph, that catches and retains +in marks and dots and gives again the echoes of our speech.</p> +<p>Then came electric light that fills the night with day, and all +the wonderful machines that use the subtle force—the same +force that leaps from the summer cloud to ravage and destroy.</p> +<p>The Spectrum Analysis that tells us of the substance of the sun; +the Röntgen rays that change the opaque to the transparent. +The great thinkers demonstrated the indestructibility of force and +matter—demonstrated that the indestructible could not have +been created. The geologist, in rocks and deposits and mountains +and continents, read a little of the story of the world—of +its changes, of the glacial epoch—the story of vegetable and +animal life.</p> +<p>The biologists, through the fossil forms of life, established +the antiquity of man and demonstrated the worthlessness of Holy +Writ. Then came evolution, the survival of the fittest and natural +selection. Thousands of mysteries were explained and science +wrested the sceptre from superstition. The cell theory was +advanced, and embryology was studied; the microscope discovered +germs of disease and taught us how to stay the plague. These great +theories and discoveries, together with countless inventions, are +the children of intellectual liberty.</p> +<center>X.</center> +<p>After all we know but little. In the darkness of life there are +a few gleams of light. Possibly the dropping of a dishcloth +prophesies the coming of company, but we have no evidence. Possibly +it is dangerous for thirteen to dine together, but we have no +evidence. Possibly a maiden's matrimonial chances are determined by +the number of seeds in an apple, or by the number of leaves on a +flower, but we have no evidence. Possibly certain stones give good +luck to the wearer, while the wearing of others brings loss and +death. Possibly a glimpse of the new moon over the left shoulder +brings misfortune. Possibly there are curative virtues in old +bones, in sacred rags and holy hairs, in images and bits of wood, +in rusty nails and dried blood, but the trouble is we have no +evidence. Possibly comets, eclipses and shooting stars foretell the +death of kings, the destruction of nations or the coming of plague. +Possibly devils take possession of the bodies and minds of men. +Possibly witches, with the Devil's help, control the winds, breed +storms on sea and land, fill summer's lap with frosts and snow, and +work with charm and spell against the public weal, but of this we +have no evidence. It may be that all the miracles described in the +Old and New Testament were performed; that the pallid flesh of the +dead felt once more the thrill of life; that the corpse arose and +felt upon his smiling lips the kiss of wife and child. Possibly +water was turned into wine, loaves and fishes increased, and +possibly devils were expelled from men and women; possibly fishes +were found with money in their mouths; possibly clay and spittle +brought back the light to sightless eyes, and possibly words cured +disease and made the leper clean, but of this we have no +evidence.</p> +<p>Possibly iron floated, rivers divided, waters burst from dry +bones, birds carried food to prophets and angels flourished drawn +swords, but of this we have no evidence.</p> +<p>Possibly Jehovah employed lying spirits to deceive a king, and +all the wonders of the savage world may have happened, but the +trouble is there is no proof.</p> +<p>So there may be a Devil, almost infinite in cunning and power, +and he may have a countless number of imps whose only business is +to sow the seeds of evil and to vex, mislead, capture and imprison +in eternal flames the souls of men. All this, so far as we know, is +possible. All we know is that we have no evidence except the +assertions of ignorant priests.</p> +<p>Possibly there is a place called "hell," where all the devils +live—a hell whose flames are waiting for, all the men who +think and have the courage to express their thoughts, for all who +fail to credit priests and sacred books, for all who walk the path +that reason lights, for all the good and brave who lack credulity +and faith—but of this, I am happy to say, there is no +proof.</p> +<p>And so there may be a place called "heaven," the home of God, +where angels float and fly and play on harps and hear with joy the +groans and shrieks of the lost in hell, but of this there is no +evidence.</p> +<p>It all rests on dreams and visions of the insane.</p> +<p>There may be a power superior to nature, a power that governs +and directs all things, but the existence of this power has not +been established.</p> +<p>In the presence of the mysteries of life and thought, of force +and substance, of growth and decay, of birth and death, of joy and +pain, of the sufferings of the good, the triumphs of wrong, the +intelligent honest man is compelled to say: "I do not know."</p> +<p>But we do know how gods and devils, heavens and hells, have been +made. We know the history of inspired books—the origin of +religions. We know how the seeds of superstition were planted and +what made them grow. We know that all superstitions, all creeds, +all follies and mistakes, all crimes and cruelties, all virtues, +vices, hopes and fears, all discoveries and inventions, have been +naturally produced. By the light of reason we divide the useful +from the hurtful, the false from the true.</p> +<p>We know the past—the paths that man has traveled—his +mistakes, his triumphs. We know a few facts, a few fragments, and +the imagination, the artist of the mind, with these facts, these +fragments, rebuilds the past, and on the canvas of the future +deftly paints the things to be.</p> +<p>We believe in the natural, in the unbroken and unbreakable +succession of causes and effects. We deny the existence of the +supernatural. We do not believe in any God who can be pleased with +incense, with kneeling, with bell-ringing, psalm-singing, +bead-counting, fasting or prayer—in any God who can be +flattered by words of faith or fear.</p> +<p>We believe in the natural. We have no fear of devils, ghosts or +hells. We believe that Mahatmas, astral bodies, materializations of +spirits, crystal gazing, seeing the future, telepathy, mind reading +and Christian Science are only cunning frauds, the genuineness of +which is established by the testimony of incompetent, honest +witnesses. We believe that Cunning plates fraud with the gold of +honesty, and veneers vice with virtue.</p> +<p>We know that millions are seeking the impossible—trying to +secure the aid of the supernatural—to solve the problem of +life—to guess the riddle of destiny, and to pluck from the +future its secret. We know that all their efforts are in vain.</p> +<p>We believe in the natural. We believe in home and +fireside—in wife and child and friend—in the realities +of this world. We have faith in facts—in knowledge—in +the development of the brain. We throw away superstition and +welcome science. We banish the phantoms, the mistakes and lies and +cling to the truth. We do not enthrone the unknown and crown our +ignorance. We do not stand with our backs to the sun and mistake +our shadow for God.</p> +<p>We do not create a master and thankfully wear his chains. We do +not enslave ourselves. We want no leaders—no followers. Our +desire is that every human being shall be true to himself, to his +ideal, unbribed by promises, careless of threats. We want no tyrant +on the earth or in the air.</p> +<p>We know that superstition has given us delusions and illusions, +dreams and visions, ceremonies and cruelties, faith and fanaticism, +beggars and bigots, persecutions and prayers, theology and torture, +piety and poverty, saints and slaves, miracles and mummeries, +disease and death.</p> +<p>We know that science has given us all we have of value. Science +is the only civilizer. It has freed the slave, clothed the naked, +fed the hungry, lengthened life, given us homes and hearths, +pictures and books, ships and railways, telegraphs and cables, +engines that tirelessly turn the countless wheels, and it has +destroyed the monsters, the phantoms, the winged horrors that +filled the savage brain.</p> +<p>Science is the real redeemer. It will put honesty above +hypocrisy; mental veracity above all belief. It will teach the +religion of usefulness. It will destroy bigotry in all its forms. +It will put thoughtful doubt above thoughtless faith. It will give +us philosophers, thinkers and savants, instead of priests, +theologians and saints. It will abolish poverty and crime, and +greater, grander, nobler than all else, it will make the whole +world free.</p> +<a name="link0009" id="link0009"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /></div> +<h2>THE DEVIL.</h2> +<center>IF THE DEVIL SHOULD DIE WOULD GOD MAKE ANOTHER?</center> +<p>A little while ago I delivered a lecture on "Superstition," in +which, among other things, I said that the Christian world could +not deny the existence of the Devil; that the Devil was really the +keystone of the arch, and that to take him away was to destroy the +entire system.</p> +<p>A great many clergymen answered or criticised this statement. +Some of these ministers avowed their belief in the existence of his +Satanic Majesty, while others actually denied his existence; but +some, without stating their own position, said that others +believed, not in the existence of a personal devil, but in the +personification of evil, and that all references to the Devil in +the Scriptures could be explained on the hypothesis that the Devil +thus alluded to was simply a personification of evil.</p> +<p>When I read these answers I thought of this line from Heine: +"Christ rode on an ass, but now asses ride on Christ."</p> +<p>Now, the questions are, first, whether the Devil does really +exist; second, whether the sacred Scriptures teach the existence of +the Devil and of unclean spirits, and third, whether this belief in +devils is a necessary part of what is known as "orthodox +Christianity."</p> +<p>Now, where did the idea that a Devil exists come from? How was +it produced?</p> +<p>Fear is an artist—a sculptor—a painter. All tribes +and nations, having suffered, having been the sport and prey of +natural phenomena, having been struck by lightning, poisoned by +weeds, overwhelmed by volcanoes, destroyed by earthquakes, believed +in the existence of a Devil, who was the king—the +ruler—of innumerable smaller devils, and all these devils +have been from time immemorial regarded as the enemies of men.</p> +<p>Along the banks of the Ganges wandered the Asuras, the most +powerful of evil spirits. Their business was to war against the +Devas—that is to say, the gods—and at the same time +against human beings. There, too, were the ogres, the Jakshas and +many others who killed and devoured human beings.</p> +<p>The Persians turned this around, and with them the Asuras were +good and the Devas bad. Ormuzd was the good—the +god—Ahriman the evil—the devil —and between the +god and the devil was waged a perpetual war. Some of the Persians +thought that the evil would finally triumph, but others insisted +that the good would be the victor.</p> +<p>In Egypt the devil was Set—or, as usually called, +Typhon—and the good god was Osiris. Set and his legions +fought against Osiris and against the human race.</p> +<p>Among the Greeks, the Titans were the enemies of the gods. Ate +was the spirit that tempted, and such was her power that at one +time she tempted and misled the god of gods, even Zeus himself.</p> +<p>These ideas about gods and devils often changed, because in the +days of Socrates a demon was not a devil, but a guardian angel.</p> +<p>We obtain our Devil from the Jews, and they got him from +Babylon. The Jews cultivated the science of Demonology, and at one +time it was believed that there were nine kinds of demons: +Beelzebub, prince of the false gods of the other nations; the +Pythian Apollo, prince of liars; Belial, prince of mischief-makers; +Asmodeus, prince of revengeful devils; Satan, prince of witches and +magicians; Meresin, prince of aerial devils, who caused +thunderstorms and plagues; Abaddon, who caused wars, tumults and +combustions; Diabolus, who drives to despair, and Mammon, prince of +the tempters.</p> +<p>It was believed that demons and sorcerers frequently came +together and held what were called "Sabbats;" that is to say, +orgies. It was also known that sorcerers and witches had marks on +their bodies that had been imprinted by the Devil.</p> +<p>Of course these devils were all made by the people, and in these +devils we find the prejudices of their makers. The Europeans always +represent their devils as black, while the Africans believed that +theirs were white.</p> +<p>So, it was believed that people by the aid of the Devil could +assume any shape that they wished. Witches and wizards were changed +into wolves, dogs, cats and serpents. This change to animal form +was exceedingly common.</p> +<p>Within two years, between 1598 and 1600, in one district of +France, the district of Jura, more than six hundred men and women +were tried and convicted before one judge of having changed +themselves into wolves, and all were put to death.</p> +<p>This is only one instance. There are thousands.</p> +<p>There is no time to give the history of this belief in devils. +It has been universal. The consequences have been terrible beyond +the imagination. Millions and millions of men, women and children, +of fathers and mothers, have been sacrificed upon the altar of this +ignorant and idiotic belief.</p> +<p>Of course, the Christians of to-day do not believe that the +devils of the Hindus, Egyptians, Persians or Babylonians existed. +They think that those nations created their own devils, precisely +the same as they did their own gods. But the Christians of to-day +admit that for many centuries Christians did believe in the +existence of countless devils; that the Fathers of the church +believed as sincerely in the Devil and his demons as in God and his +angels; that they were just as sure about hell as heaven.</p> +<p>I admit that people did the best they could to account for what +they saw, for what they experienced. I admit that the devils as +well as the gods were naturally produced—the effect of nature +upon the human brain. The cause of phenomena filled our ancestors +not only with wonder, but with terror. The miraculous, the +supernatural, was not only believed in, but was always +expected.</p> +<p>A man walking in the woods at night—just a glimmering of +the moon—everything uncertain and shadowy—sees a +monstrous form. One arm is raised. His blood grows cold, his hair +lifts. In the gloom he sees the eyes of an ogre—eyes that +flame with malice. He feels that the something is approaching. He +turns, and with a cry of horror takes to his heels. He is afraid to +look back. Spent, out of breath, shaking with fear, he reaches his +hut and falls at the door. When he regains consciousness, he tells +his story and, of course, the children believe. When they become +men and women they tell father's story of having seen the Devil to +their children, and so the children and grandchildren not only +believe, but think they know, that their father—their +grandfather—actually saw a devil.</p> +<p>An old woman sitting by the fire at night—a storm raging +without—hears the mournful sough of the wind. To her it +becomes a voice. Her imagination is touched, and the voice seems to +utter words. Out of these words she constructs a message or a +warning from the unseen world. If the words are good, she has heard +an angel; if they are threatening and malicious, she has heard a +devil. She tells this to her children and they believe. They say +that mother's religion is good enough for them. A girl suffering +from hysteria falls into a trance—has visions of the infernal +world. The priest sprinkles holy water on her pallid face, saying: +"She hath a devil." A man utters a terrible cry; falls to the +ground; foam and blood issue from his mouth; his limbs are +convulsed. The spectators say: "This is the Devil's work."</p> +<p>Through all the ages people have mistaken dreams and visions of +fear for realities. To them the insane were inspired; epileptics +were possessed by devils; apoplexy was the work of an unclean +spirit. For many centuries people believed that they had actually +seen the malicious phantoms of the night, and so thorough was this +belief—so vivid—that they made pictures of them. They +knew how they looked. They drew and chiseled their hoofs, their +horns—all their malicious deformities.</p> +<p>Now, I admit that all these monsters were naturally produced. +The people believed that hell was their native land; that the Devil +was a king, and that lie and his imps waged war against the +children of men. Curiously enough some of these devils were made +out of degraded gods, and, naturally enough, many devils were made +out of the gods of other nations. So that frequently the gods of +one people were the devils of another.</p> +<p>In nature there are opposing forces. Some of the forces work for +what man calls good; some for what he calls evil. Back of these +forces our ancestors put will, intelligence and design. They could +not believe that the good and evil came from the same being. So +back of the good they put God; back of the evil, the Devil.</p> +<center>II. THE ATLAS OF CHRISTIANITY IS THE DEVIL.</center> +<p>The religion known as "Christianity" was invented by God himself +to repair in part the wreck and ruin that had resulted from the +Devil's work.</p> +<p>Take the Devil from the scheme of salvation—from the +atonement—from the dogma of eternal pain—and the +foundation is gone.</p> +<p>The Devil is the keystone of the arch.</p> +<p>He inflicted the wounds that Christ came to heal. He corrupted +the human race.</p> +<p>The question now is: Does the Old Testament teach the existence +of the Devil?</p> +<p>If the Old Testament teaches anything, it does teach the +existence of the Devil, of Satan, of the Serpent, of the enemy of +God and man, the deceiver of men and women.</p> +<p>Those who believe the Scriptures are compelled to say that this +Devil was created by God, and that God knew when he created him +just what he would do—the exact measure of his success; knew +that he would be a successful rival; knew that he would deceive and +corrupt the children of men; knew that, by reason of this Devil, +countless millions of human beings would suffer eternal torment in +the prison of pain. And this God also knew when he created the +Devil, that he, God, would be compelled to leave his throne, to be +bom a babe in Palestine, and to suffer a cruel death. All this he +knew when he created the Devil. Why did he create him?</p> +<p>It is no answer to say that this Devil was once an angel of +light and fell from his high estate because he was free. God knew +what he would do with his freedom when he made him and gave him +liberty of action, and as a matter of fact must have made him with +the intention that he should rebel; that he should fall; that he +should become a devil; that he should tempt and corrupt the father +and mother of the human race; that he should make hell a necessity, +and that, in consequence of his creation, countless millions of the +children of men would suffer eternal pain. Why did he create +him?</p> +<p>Admit that God is infinitely wise. Has he ingenuity enough to +frame an excuse for the creation of the Devil?</p> +<p>Does the Old Testament teach the existence of a real, living +Devil?</p> +<p>The first account of this being is found in Genesis, and in that +account he is called the "Serpent." He is declared to have been +more subtle than any beast of the field. According to the account, +this Serpent had a conversation with Eve, the first woman. We are +not told in what language they conversed, or how they understood +each other, as this was the first time they had met. Where did Eve +get her language? Where did the Serpent get his? Of course, such +questions are impudent, but at the same time they are natural.</p> +<p>The result of this conversation was that Eve ate the forbidden +fruit and induced Adam to do the same. This is what is called the +"Fall," and for this they were expelled from the Garden of +Eden.</p> +<p>On account of this, God cursed the earth with weeds and thorns +and brambles, cursed man with toil, made woman a slave, and cursed +maternity with pain and sorrow.</p> +<p>How men—good men—can worship this God; how +women—good women—can love this Jehovah, is beyond my +imagination.</p> +<p>In addition to the other curses the Serpent was +cursed—condemned to crawl on his belly and to eat dust. We do +not know by what means, before that time, he moved from place to +place—whether he walked or flew; neither do we know on what +food he lived; all we know is that after that time he crawled and +lived on dust. Jehovah told him that this he should do all the days +of his life. It would seem from this that the Serpent was not at +that time immortal—that there was somewhere in the future a +milepost at which the life of this Serpent stopped. Whether he is +living yet or not, I am not certain.</p> +<p>It will not do to say that this is allegory, or a poem, because +this proves too much. If the Serpent did not in fact exist, how do +we know that Adam and Eve existed? Is all that is said about God +allegory, and poetic, or mythical? Is the whole account, after all, +an ignorant dream?</p> +<p>Neither will it do to say that the Devil—the +Serpent—was a personification of evil. Do personifications of +evil talk? Can a personification of evil crawl on its belly? Can a +personification of evil eat dust? If we say that the Devil was a +personification of evil, are we not at the same time compelled to +say that Jehovah was a personification of good; that the Garden of +Eden was the personification of a place, and that the whole story +is a personification of something that did not happen? Maybe that +Adam and Eve were not driven out of the Garden; they may have +suffered only the personification of exile. And maybe the cherubim +placed at the gate of Eden, with flaming swords, were only +personifications of policemen.</p> +<p>There is no escape. If the Old Testament is true, the Devil does +exist, and it is impossible to explain him away without at the same +time explaining God away.</p> +<p>So there are many references to devils, and spirits of +divination and of evil which I have not the time to call attention +to; but, in the Book of Job, Satan, the Devil has a conversation +with God. It is this Devil that brings the sorrows and losses on +the upright man. It is this Devil that raises the storm that wrecks +the homes of Job's children. It is this Devil that kills the +children of Job. Take this Devil from that book, and all meaning, +plot and purpose fade away.</p> +<p>Is it possible to say that the Devil in Job was only a +personification of evil?</p> +<p>In Chronicles we are told that Satan provoked David to number +Israel. For this act of David, caused by the Devil, God did not +smite the Devil, did not punish David, but he killed 70,000 poor +innocent Jews who had done nothing but stand up and be counted.</p> +<p>Was this Devil who tempted David a personification of evil, or +was Jehovah a personification of the devilish?</p> +<p>In Zachariah we are told that Joshua stood before the angel of +the Lord, and that Satan stood at his right hand to resist him, and +that the Lord rebuked Satan.</p> +<p>If words convey any meaning, the Old Testament teaches the +existence of the Devil.</p> +<p>All the passages about witches and those having familiar spirits +were born of a belief in the Devil.</p> +<p>When a man who loved Jehovah wanted revenge on his enemy he fell +on his holy knees, and from a heart full of religion he cried: "Let +Satan stand at his right hand."</p> +<center>III. TAKE THE DEVIL FROM THE DRAMA OF CHRISTIANITY AND THE +PLOT IS GONE.</center> +<p>The next question is: Does the New Testament teach the existence +of the Devil?</p> +<p>As a matter of fact, the New Testament is far more explicit than +the Old. The Jews, believing that Jehovah was God, had very little +business for a devil. Jehovah was wicked enough and malicious +enough to take the Devil's place.</p> +<p>The first reference in the New Testament to the Devil is in the +fourth chapter of Matthew. We are told that Jesus was led by the +Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil.</p> +<p>It seems that he was not led by the Devil into the wilderness, +but by the Spirit; that the Spirit and the Devil were acting +together in a kind of pious conspiracy.</p> +<p>In the wilderness Jesus fasted forty days, and then the Devil +asked him to turn stones into bread. The Devil also took him to +Jerusalem and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and tried to +induce him to leap to the earth. The Devil also took him to the top +of a mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and +offered them all to him in exchange for his worship. Jesus refused. +The Devil went away and angels came and ministered to Christ.</p> +<p>Now, the question is: Did the author of this account believe in +the existence of the Devil, or did he regard this Devil as a +personification of evil, and did he intend that his account should +be understood as an allegory, or as a poem, or as a myth.</p> +<p>Was Jesus tempted? If he was tempted, who tempted him? Did +anybody offer him the kingdoms of the world?</p> +<p>Did the writer of the account try to convey to the reader the +thought that Christ was tempted by the Devil?</p> +<p>If Christ was not tempted by the Devil, then the temptation was +bom in his own heart. If that be true, can it be said that he was +divine? If these adders, these vipers, were coiled in his bosom, +was he the son of God? Was he pure?</p> +<p>In the same chapter we are told that Christ healed "those which +were possessed of devils, and those which were lunatic, and those +that had the palsy." From this it is evident that a distinction was +made between those possessed with devils and those whose minds were +affected and those who were afflicted with diseases.</p> +<p>In the eighth chapter we are told that people brought unto +Christ many that were possessed with devils, and that he cast out +the spirits with his word. Now, can we say that these people were +possessed with personifications of evil, and that these +personifications of evil were cast out? Are these personifications +entities? Have they form and shape? Do they occupy space?</p> +<p>Then comes the story of the two men possessed with devils who +came from the tombs, and were exceeding fierce. It is said that +when they saw Jesus they cried out: "What have we to do with thee, +Jesus, thou Son of God? Art thou come hither to torment us before +the time?"</p> +<p>If these were simply personifications of evil, how did they know +that Jesus was the Son of God, and how can a personification of +evil be tormented?</p> +<p>We are told that at the same time, a good way off, many swine +were feeding, and that the devils besought Christ, saying: "If thou +cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine." And he +said unto them: "Go."</p> +<p>Is it possible that personifications of evil would desire to +enter the bodies of swine, and is it possible that it was necessary +for them to have the consent of Christ before they could enter the +swine? The question naturally arises: How did they enter into the +body of the man? Did they do that without Christ's consent, and is +it a fact that Christ protects swine and neglects human beings? Can +personifications have desires?</p> +<p>In the ninth chapter of Matthew there was a dumb man brought to +Jesus, possessed with a devil. Jesus cast out the devil and the +dumb man spake.</p> +<p>Did a personification of evil prevent the dumb man from talking? +Did it in some way paralyze his organs of speech? Could it have +done this had it only been a personification of evil?</p> +<p>In the tenth chapter Jesus gives his twelve disciples power to +cast out unclean spirits. What were unclean spirits supposed to be? +Did they really exist? Were they shadows, impersonations, +allegories?</p> +<p>When Jesus sent his disciples forth on the great mission to +convert the world, among other things he told them to heal the +sick, to raise the dead and to cast out devils. Here a distinction +is made between the sick and those who were possessed by evil +spirits.</p> +<p>Now, what did Christ mean by devils?</p> +<p>In the twelfth chapter we are told of a very remarkable case. +There was brought unto Jesus one possessed with a devil, blind and +dumb, and Jesus healed him. The blind and dumb both spake and saw. +Thereupon the Pharisees said: "This fellow doth not cast out devils +but by Beelzebub, the prince of devils."</p> +<p>Jesus answered by saying: "Every kingdom divided against itself +is brought to desolation. If Satan cast out Satan, he is divided +against himself."</p> +<p>Why did not Christ tell the Pharisees that he did not cast out +devils—only personifications of evil; and that with these +personifications Beelzebub had nothing to do?</p> +<p>Another question: Did the Pharisees believe in the existence of +devils, or had they the personification idea?</p> +<p>At the same time Christ said: "If I cast out devils by the +Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you."</p> +<p>If he meant anything by these words he certainly intended to +convey the idea that what he did demonstrated the superiority of +God over the Devil.</p> +<p>Did Christ believe in the existence of the Devil?</p> +<p>In the fifteenth chapter is the account of the woman of Canaan +who cried unto Jesus, saying: "Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son +of David. My daughter is sorely vexed with a devil." On account of +her faith Christ made the daughter whole.</p> +<p>In the sixteenth chapter a man brought his son to Jesus. The boy +was a lunatic, sore vexed, oftentimes falling in the fire and +water. The disciples had tried to cure him and had failed. Jesus +rebuked the devil, and the devil departed out of him and the boy +was cured. Was the devil in this case a personification of +evil?</p> +<p>The disciples then asked Jesus why they could not cast that +devil out. Jesus told them that it was because of their unbelief, +and then added: "Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and +fasting." From this it would seem that some personifications were +easier to expel than others.</p> +<p>The first chapter of Mark throws a little light on the story of +the temptation of Christ. Matthew tells us that Jesus was led up of +the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil. In Mark +we are told who this Spirit was:</p> +<p>"And straightway coming up out of the water he saw the heavens +opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him.</p> +<p>"And there came a voice from heaven, saying: 'Thou art my +beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.'</p> +<p>"And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the +wilderness."</p> +<p>Why the Holy Ghost should hand Christ over to the tender mercies +of the Devil is not explained. And it is all the more wonderful +when we remember that the Holy Ghost was the third person in the +Trinity and Christ the second, and that this Holy Ghost was, in +fact, God, and that Christ also was, in fact, God, so that God led +God into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil.</p> +<p>We are told that Christ was in the wilderness forty days tempted +of Satan, and was with the wild beasts, and that the angels +ministered unto him.</p> +<p>Were these angels real angels, or were they personifications of +good, of comfort?</p> +<p>So we see that the same Spirit that came out of heaven, the same +Spirit that said "This is my beloved son," drove Christ into the +wilderness to be tempted of Satan.</p> +<p>Was this Devil a real being? Was this Spirit who claimed to be +the father of Christ a real being, or was he a personification? Are +the heavens a real place? Are they a personification? Did the wild +beasts live and did the angels minister unto Christ? In other +words, is the story true, or is it poetry, or metaphor, or mistake, +or falsehood?</p> +<p>It might be asked: Why did God wish to be tempted by the Devil? +Was God ambitious to obtain a victory over Satan? Was Satan foolish +enough to think that he could mislead God, and is it possible that +the Devil offered to give the world as a bribe to its creator and +owner, knowing at the same time that Christ was the creator and +owner, and also knowing that he (Christ) knew that he (the Devil) +knew that he (Christ) was the creator and owner?</p> +<p>Is not the whole story absurdly idiotic? The Devil knew that +Christ was God, and knew that Christ knew that the tempter was the +Devil.</p> +<p>It may be asked how I know that the Devil knew that Christ was +God. My answer is found in the same chapter. There is an account of +what a devil said to Christ:</p> +<p>"Let us alone. What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of +Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee. Thou art the +holy one of God." Certainly, if the little devils knew this, the +Devil himself must have had like information. Jesus rebuked this +devil and said to him: "Hold thy peace, and come out of him." And +when the unclean spirit had torn him and cried with a loud voice, +he came out of him.</p> +<p>So we are told that Jesus cast out many devils, and suffered not +the devils to speak because they knew him. So it is said in the +third chapter that "unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down +before him and cried, saying, 'Thou art the son of God.'"</p> +<p>In the fifth chapter is an account of casting out the devils +that went into the swine, and we are told that "all the devils +besought him saying, 'Send us into the swine.' And Jesus gave them +leave."</p> +<p>Again I ask: Was it necessary for the devils to get the +permission of Christ before they could enter swine? Again I ask: By +whose permission did they enter into the man?</p> +<p>Could personifications of evil enter a herd of swine, or could +personifications of evil make a bargain with Christ?</p> +<p>In the sixth chapter we are told that the disciples "cast out +many devils and anointed with oil many that were sick." Here again +the distinction is made between those possessed by devils and those +afflicted by disease. It will not do to say that the devils were +diseases or personifications.</p> +<p>In the seventh chapter a Greek woman whose daughter was +possessed by a devil besought Christ to cast this devil out. At +last Christ said: "The devil is gone out of thy daughter."</p> +<p>In the ninth chapter one of the multitude said unto Christ: "I +have brought unto thee my son which hath a dumb spirit. I spoke +unto thy disciples that they should cast him out, and they could +not."</p> +<p>So they brought this boy before Christ, and when the boy saw +him, the spirit tare him, and he fell on the ground and "wallowed, +foaming."</p> +<p>Christ asked the father: "How long is it ago since this came +unto him?" And he answered: "Of a child, and ofttimes it hath cast +him into the fire and into the waters to destroy him."</p> +<p>Then Christ said: "Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, +come out of him, and enter no more into him."</p> +<p>"And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him; +and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, 'He is dead.'"</p> +<p>Then the disciples asked Jesus why they could not cast them out, +and Jesus said: "This kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer +and fasting."</p> +<p>Is there any doubt about the belief of the man who wrote this +account? Is there any allegory, or poetry, or myth in this story? +The devil, in this case, was not an ordinary, every-day devil. He +was dumb and deaf; it was no use to order him out, because he could +not hear. The only way was to pray and fast.</p> +<p>Is there such a thing as a dumb and deaf devil? If so, the +devils must be organized. They must have ears and organs of speech, +and they must be dumb because there is something the matter with +the apparatus of speaking, and they must be deaf because something +is the matter with their ears. It would seem from this that they +are not simply spiritual beings, but organized on a physical basis. +Now, we know that the ears do not hear. It is the brain that hears. +So these devils must have brains; that is to say, they must have +been what we call "organized beings."</p> +<p>Now, it is hardly possible that personifications of evil are +dumb or deaf. That is to say, that they have physical +imperfections.</p> +<p>In the same chapter John tells Christ that he saw one casting +out devils in Christ's name who did not follow with them, and Jesus +said: "Forbid him not."</p> +<p>By this he seemed to admit that some one, not a follower of his, +was casting out devils in his name, and he was willing that he +should go on, because, as he said: "For there is no man which shall +do a miracle in my name that can lightly speak evil of me." In the +fourth chapter of Luke the story of the temptation of Christ by the +Devil is again told with a few additions. All the writers, having +been inspired, did not remember exactly the same things.</p> +<p>Luke tells us that the Devil said unto Christ, having shown him +all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time: "All this power +will I give thee and the glory of them, for that is delivered unto +me, and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou wilt worship me, +all shall be thine."</p> +<p>We are also told that when the Devil had ended all the +temptation he departed from him for a season. The date of his +return is not given.</p> +<p>In the same chapter we are told that a man in the synagogue had +a "spirit of an unclean devil." This devil recognized Jesus and +admitted that he was the Holy One of God.</p> +<p>As a matter of fact, the apostles seemed to have relied upon the +evidence of devils to substantiate the divinity of their Lord.</p> +<p>Jesus said to this devil: "Hold thy peace and come out of him." +And the devil, after throwing the man down, came out.</p> +<p>In the forty-first verse of the same chapter it is said: "And +devils also came out of many, crying out and saying, 'Thou art +Christ, the Son of God.'"</p> +<p>It is also said that Christ rebuked them and suffered them not +to speak, for they knew that he was Christ.</p> +<p>Now, it will not do to say that these devils were diseases, +because diseases could not talk, and diseases would not recognize +Christ as the Son of God. After all, epilepsy is not a theologian. +I admit that lunacy comes nearer.</p> +<p>In the eighth chapter is told again the story of the devils and +the swine. In this account, Jesus asked the devil his name, and the +devil replied "Legion." In the ninth chapter is told the story of +the devil that the disciples could not cast out, but was cast out +by Christ, and in the thirteenth chapter it is said that the +Pharisees came to Jesus, telling him to go away, because Herod +would kill him, and Jesus said unto these Pharisees; "Go ye, and +tell that fox, behold, I cast out devils."</p> +<p>What did he mean by this? Did he mean that he cured diseases? +No. Because in the same sentence he says, "And I do cures to-day," +making a distinction between devils and diseases.</p> +<p>In the twenty-second chapter an account of the betrayal of +Christ by Judas is given in these words:</p> +<p>"Then entered Satan into Judas Iscariot, being of the number of +the twelve."</p> +<p>"And he went his way and communed with the chief priests and +captains how he might betray him unto them.</p> +<p>"And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money."</p> +<p>According to Christ the little devils knew that he was the Son +of God. Certainly, then, Satan, king of all the fiends, knew that +Christ was divine. And he not only knew that, but he knew all about +the scheme of salvation. He knew that Christ wished to make an +atonement of blood by the sacrifice of himself.</p> +<p>According to Christian theologians, the Devil has always done +his utmost to gain possession of the souls of men. At the time he +entered into Judas, persuading him to betray Christ, he knew that +if Christ was betrayed he would be crucified, and that he would +make an atonement for all believers, and that, as a result, he, the +Devil, would lose all the souls that Christ gained.</p> +<p>What interest had the Devil in defeating himself? If he could +have prevented the betrayal, then Christ would not have been +crucified. No atonement would have been made, and the whole world +would have gone to hell. The success of the Devil would have been +complete. But, according to this story, the Devil outwitted +himself.</p> +<p>How thankful we should be to his Satanic Majesty. He opened for +us the gates of Paradise and made it possible for us to obtain +eternal life. Without Satan, without Judas, not a single human +being could have become an angel of light. All would have been +wingless devils in the prison of flame. In Jerusalem, to the extent +of his power, Satan repaired the wreck and ruin he had wrought in +the Garden of Eden.</p> +<p>Certainly the writers of the New Testament believed in the +existence of the Devil.</p> +<p>In the eighth chapter it is said that out of Mary Magdalene were +cast seven devils. To me Mary Magdalene is the most beautiful +character in the New Testament. She is the one true disciple. In +the darkness of the crucifixion she lingered near. She was the +first at the sepulcher. Defeat, disaster, disgrace, could not +conquer her love. And yet, according to the account, when she met +the risen Christ, he said: "Touch me not." This was the reward of +her infinite devotion.</p> +<p>In the Gospel of John we are told that John the Baptist said +that he saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and that +it abode upon Christ. But in the Gospel of John nothing is said +about the Spirit driving Christ into the wilderness to be tempted +by the Devil. Possibly John never heard of that, or forgot it, or +did not believe it. But in the thirteenth chapter I find this:</p> +<p>"And supper being ended, the Devil having now put into the heart +of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him."...</p> +<p>In John there are no accounts of the casting out of devils by +Christ or his apostles. On that subject there is no word. Possibly +John had his doubts.</p> +<p>In the fifth chapter of Acts we are told that the people brought +the sick and those which were vexed with unclean spirits to the +apostles, and the apostles healed them. Here again there is made a +clear distinction between the sick and those possessed by devils. +And in the eighth chapter we are told that "unclean spirits, crying +with a loud voice, came out of them."</p> +<p>In the thirteen chapter Paul calls Elymas the child of the +Devil, and in the sixteenth chapter an account is given of "a +damsel possessed with a spirit of divination, who brought her +masters much gain by soothsaying."</p> +<p>Paul and Silas, it would seem, cast out this spirit, and by +reason of that suffered great persecution.</p> +<p>In the nineteenth chapter certain vagabond Jews pronounced over +those who had evil spirits the name of Jesus, and the evil spirits +answered: "Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are ye?"</p> +<p>"And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them so that +they fled naked and wounded."</p> +<p>Paul, writing to the Corinthians, in the eighth chapter says; "I +would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. Ye cannot +drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils. Ye cannot be +partakers of the Lord's table and the table of devils. Do we +provoke the Lord to jealousy?"</p> +<p>In the eleventh chapter he says that long hair is the glory of +woman, but that she ought to keep her head covered because of the +angels.</p> +<p>In those intellectual days people believed in what were called +the Incubi and the Succubi. The Incubi were male angels and the +Succubi were female angels, and according to the belief of that +time nothing so attracted the Incubi as the beautiful hair of +women, and for this reason Paul said that women should keep their +heads covered. Paul calls the Devil the "prince of the power of the +air."</p> +<p>So in Jude we are told "that Michael, the archangel, when +contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, +durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, 'The +Lord rebuke thee.'" Was this devil with whom Michael contended a +personification of evil, or a poem, or a myth?</p> +<p>In First Peter we are told to be sober, vigilant, "because your +adversary, the Devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking +whom he may devour."</p> +<p>Are people devoured by personifications or myths? Has an +allegory an appetite, or is a poem a cannibal?</p> +<p>So in Ephesians we are warned not to give place to the Devil, +and in the same book we are told: "Put on the whole armor of God, +that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil."</p> +<p>And in Hebrews it is said that "him that had the power of +death—that is, the Devil;" showing that the Devil has the +power of death.</p> +<p>And in James it is said that if we resist the Devil he will flee +from us; and in First John we are told that he that committeth sin +is of the Devil, for the reason that the Devil sinneth from the +beginning; and we are also told that "for this purpose was the Son +of God manifested, that he may destroy the works of the Devil."</p> +<p>No Devil—no Christ.</p> +<p>In Revelation, the insanest of all books, I find the following: +"And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against +the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels.</p> +<p>"And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in +heaven.</p> +<p>"And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the +Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out +into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.</p> +<p>"Therefore, rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe +to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea; for the devil is +come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he +hath but a short time."</p> +<p>From this it would appear that the Devil once lived in heaven, +raised a rebellion, was defeated and cast out, and the inspired +writer congratulates the angels that they are rid of him and +commiserates us that we have him.</p> +<p>In the twentieth chapter of Revelation is the following:</p> +<p>"And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the +bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.</p> +<p>"And he laid Hold on the dragon—that old serpent, which is +the Devil and Satan—and bound him a thousand years.</p> +<p>"And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set +a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more till +the thousand years should be fulfilled; and after he must be loosed +a little season."</p> +<p>It is hard to understand how one could be confined in a pit +without a bottom, and how a chain of iron could hold one in eternal +fire, or what use there would be to lock a bottomless pit; but +these are questions probably suggested by the Devil.</p> +<p>We are further told that "when the thousand years are expired +Satan shall be loosed out of his prison."</p> +<p>"And the Devil was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone +where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented +day and night forever."</p> +<p>In the light of the passages that I have read we can clearly see +what the writers of the New Testament believed. About this there +can be no honest difference. If the gospels teach the existence of +God—of Christ—they teach the existence of the Devil. If +the Devil does not exist—if little devils do not enter the +bodies of men—the New Testament may be inspired, but it is +not true.</p> +<p>The early Christians proved that Christ was divine because he +cast out devils. The evidence they offered was more absurd than the +statement they sought to prove. They were like the old man who said +that he saw a grindstone floating down the river. Some one said +that a grindstone would not float. "Ah," said the old man, "but the +one I saw had an iron crank in it."</p> +<p>Of course, I do not blame the authors of the gospels. They lived +in' a superstitious age, at a time when Rumor was the historian, +when Gossip corrected the "proof," and when everything was believed +except the facts.</p> +<p>The apostles, like their fellows, believed in miracles and +magic. Credulity was regarded as a virtue.</p> +<p>The Rev. Mr. Parkhurst denounces the apostles as worthless +cravens. Certainly I do not agree with him. I think that they were +good men. I do not believe that any one of them ever tried to +reform Jerusalem on the Parkhurst plan. I admit that they honestly +believed in devils—that they were credulous and +superstitious.</p> +<p>There is one story in the New Testament that illustrates my +meaning.</p> +<p>In the fifth chapter of John is the following:</p> +<p>"Now, there is at Jerusalem, by the sheep market, a pool, which +is called in the Hebrew tongue 'Bethesda,' having five porches.</p> +<p>"In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk—of blind, +halt, withered—waiting for the moving of the water.</p> +<p>"For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool and +troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the +water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.</p> +<p>"And a certain man was there which had an infirmity thirty and +eight years.</p> +<p>"When Jesus saw him he and knew that he had been now a long time +in that case, he saith unto him: 'Wilt thou be made whole??'</p> +<p>"The impotent man answered him: 'Sir, I have no man when the +water is troubled to put me into the pool; but while I am coming +another steppeth down before me.'</p> +<p>"Jesus saith unto him: 'Rise, take up thy bed and walk.'</p> +<p>"And immediately the man was made whole and took up his bed and +walked."</p> +<p>Does any sensible human being now believe this story? Was the +water of Bethesda troubled by an angel? Where did the angel come +from? Where do angels live? Did the angel put medicine in the +water—just enough to cure one? Did he put in different +medicines for different diseases, or did he have a medicine, like +those that are patented now, that cured all diseases just the +same?</p> +<p>Was the water troubled by an angel? Possibly, what apostles and +theologians call an angel a scientist knows as carbonic acid +gas.</p> +<p>John does not say that the people thought the water was troubled +by an angel, but he states it as a fact. And he tells us, also, as +a fact, that the first invalid that got in the water after it had +been troubled was cured of what disease he had.</p> +<p>What is the evidence of John worth?</p> +<p>Again I say that if the Devil does not exist the gospels are not +inspired. If devils do not exist Christ was either honestly +mistaken, insane or an impostor.</p> +<p>If devils do not exist the fall of man is a mistake and the +atonement an absurdity. If devils do not exist hell becomes only a +dream of revenge.</p> +<p>Beneath the structure called "Christianity" are four +corner-stones—the Father, Son, Holy Ghost and Devil.</p> +<center>IV. THE EVIDENCE OF THE CHURCH.</center> +<p>The Devil, was Forced to Father the Failures of God.</p> +<p>All the fathers of the church believed in devils. All the saints +won their crowns by overcoming devils. All the popes and cardinals, +bishops and priests, believed in devils. Most of their time was +occupied in fighting devils. The whole Catholic world, from the +lowest layman to the highest priest, believed in devils. They +proved the existence of devils by the New Testament. They knew that +these devils were citizens of hell. They knew that Satan was their +king. They knew that hell was made for the Devil and his +angels.</p> +<p>The founders of all the Protestant churches—the makers of +all the orthodox creeds—all the leading Protestant +theologians, from Luther to the president of Princeton +College—were, and are, firm believers in the Devil. All the +great commentators believed in the Devil as firmly as they did in +God.</p> +<p>Under the "Scheme of Salvation" the Devil was a necessity. +Somebody had to be responsible for the thorns and thistles, for the +cruelties and crimes. Somebody had to father the mistakes of God. +The Devil was the scapegoat of Jehovah.</p> +<p>For hundreds of years, good, honest, zealous Christians +contended against the Devil. They fought him day and night, and the +thought that they had beaten him gave to their dying lips the smile +of victory.</p> +<p>For centuries the church taught that the natural man was totally +depraved; that he was by nature a child of the Devil, and that +new-born babes were tenanted by unclean spirits.</p> +<p>As late as the middle of the sixteenth century, every infant +that was baptized was, by that ceremony, freed from a devil. When +the holy water was applied the priest said: "I command thee, thou +unclean spirit, in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the +Holy Ghost, that thou come out and depart from this infant, whom +our Lord Jesus Christ has vouchsafed to call to his holy baptism, +to be made a member of his body, and of his holy congregation."</p> +<p>At that time the fathers—the theologians, the +commentators—agreed that unbaptized children, including those +that were born dead, went to hell.</p> +<p>And these same fathers—theologians and +commentators—said: "God is love."</p> +<p>These babes were pure as Pity's tears, innocent as their +mother's loving smiles, and yet the makers of our creeds believed +and taught that leering, unclean fiends inhabited their dimpled +flesh. O, the unsearchable riches of Christianity!</p> +<p>For many centuries the church filled the world with +devils—with malicious spirits that caused storm and tempest, +disease, accident and death—that filled the night with +visions of despair; with prophecies that drove the dreamers mad. +These devils assumed a thousand forms—countless disguises in +their efforts to capture souls and destroy the church. They +deceived sometimes the wisest and the best; made priests forget +their vows. They melted virtue's snow in passion's fire, and in +cunning ways entrapped and smirched the innocent and good. These +devils gave witches and wizards their supernatural powers, and told +them the secrets of the future.</p> +<p>Millions of men and women were destroyed because they had sold +themselves to the Devil.</p> +<p>At that time Christians really believed the New Testament. They +knew it was the inspired word of God, and so believing, so +knowing—as they thought—they became insane.</p> +<p>No man has genius enough to describe the agonies that have been +inflicted on innocent men and women because of this absurd belief. +How it darkened the mind, hardened the heart, and poisoned life! It +made the Universe a madhouse presided over by an insane God.</p> +<p>Think! Why would a merciful God allow his children to be the +victims of devils? Why would a decent God allow his worshipers to +believe in devils, and by reason of that belief to persecute, +torture and burn their fellow-men?</p> +<p>Christians did not ask these questions. They believed the Bible; +they had confidence in the words of Christ.</p> +<center>V. PERSONIFICATIONS OF EVIL.</center> +<p>The Orthodox Ostrich Thrusts His Head into the Sand.</p> +<p>Many of the clergy are now ashamed to say that they believe in +devils. The belief has become ignorant and vulgar. They are ashamed +of the lake of fire and brimstone. It is too savage.</p> +<p>At the same time they do not wish to give up the inspiration of +the Bible. They give new meanings to the inspired words. Now they +say that devils were only personifications of evil. If the devils +were only personifications of evil, what were the angels? Was the +angel who told Joseph who the father of Christ was, a +personification? Was the Holy Ghost only the personification of a +father? Was the angel who told Joseph that Herod was dead a +personification of news?</p> +<p>Were the angels who rolled away the stone and sat clothed in +shining garments in the empty sepulcher of Christ a couple of +personifications? Were all the angels described in the Old +Testament imaginary shadows—bodiless personifications? If the +angels of the Bible are real angels, the devils are real +devils.</p> +<p>Let us be honest with ourselves and each other and give to the +Bible its natural, obvious meaning. Let us admit that the writers +believed what they wrote. If we believe that they were mistaken, +let us have the honesty and courage to say so. Certainly we have no +right to change or avoid their meaning, or to dishonestly correct +their mistakes. Timid preachers sully their own souls when they +change what the writers of the Bible believed to be facts to +allegories, parables, poems and myths.</p> +<p>It is impossible for any man who believes in the inspiration of +the Bible to explain away the Devil.</p> +<p>If the Bible is true the Devil exists. There is no escape from +this.</p> +<p>If the Devil does not exist the Bible is not true. There is no +escape from this.</p> +<p>I admit that the Devil of the Bible is an impossible +contradiction; an impossible being.</p> +<p>This Devil is the enemy of God and God is his. Now, why should +this Devil, in another world, torment sinners, who are his friends, +to please God, his enemy?</p> +<p>If the Devil is a personification, so is hell and the lake of +fire and brimstone. All these horrors fade into allegories; into +ignorant lies.</p> +<p>Any clergyman who can read the Bible and then say that devils +are personifications of evil is himself a personification of +stupidity or hypocrisy.</p> +<center>VI.</center> +<p>Does any intelligent man now, whose brain has not been deformed +by superstition, believe in the existence of the Devil? What +evidence have we that he exists? Where does this Devil live? What +does he do for a livelihood? What does he eat? If he does not eat, +he cannot think. He cannot think without the expenditure of force. +He cannot create force; he must borrow it—that is to say, he +must eat. How does lie move from place to place? Does he walk or +does he fly, or has he invented some machine? What object has he in +life? What idea of success? This Devil, according to the Bible, +knows that he is to be defeated; knows that the end is absolute and +eternal failure; knows that every step he takes leads to the +infinite catastrophe. Why does he act as he does?</p> +<p>Our fathers thought that everything in this world came from some +other realm; that all ideas of right and wrong came from above; +that conscience dropped from the clouds; that the darkness was +filled with imps from perdition, and the day with angels from +heaven; that souls had been breathed into man by Jehovah.</p> +<p>What there is in this world that lives and breathes was produced +here. Life was not imported. Mind is not an exotic. Of this planet +man is a native. This world is his mother. The maker did not +descend from the heavens. The maker was and is here. Matter and +force in their countless forms, affinities and repulsions produced +the living, breathing world.</p> +<p>How can we account for devils? Is it possible that they creep +into the bodies of men and swine? Do they stay in the stomach or +brain, in the heart or liver?</p> +<p>Are these devils immortal or do they multiply and die? Were they +all created at the same time or did they spring from a single pair? +If they are subject to death what becomes of them after death? Do +they go to some other world, are they annihilated, or can they get +to heaven by believing on Christ?</p> +<p>In the brain of science the devils have never lived. There you +will find no goblins, ghosts, wraiths or imps—no witches, +spooks or sorcerers. There the supernatural does not exist. No man +of sense in the whole world believes in devils any more than he +does in mermaids, vampires, gorgons, hydras, naiads, dryads, +nymphs, fairies or the anthropophagi—any more than he does in +the Fountain of Youth, the Philosopher's Stone, Perpetual Motion or +Fiat Money.</p> +<p>There is the same difference between religion and science that +there is between a madhouse and a university—between a +fortune teller and a mathematician—between emotion and +philosophy—between guess and demonstration.</p> +<p>The devils have gone, and with them they have taken the miracles +of Christ. They have carried away our Lord. They have taken away +the inspiration of the Bible, and we are left in the darkness of +nature without the consolation of hell.</p> +<p>But let me ask the clergy a few questions:</p> +<p>How did your Devil, who was at one time an angel of light, come +to sin? There was no other devil to tempt him. He was in perfectly +good society—in the company of God—of the Trinity. All +of his associates were perfect. How did he fall? He knew that God +was infinite, and yet he waged war against him and induced about a +third of the angels to volunteer. He knew that he could not +succeed; knew that he would be defeated and cast out; knew that he +was fighting for failure.</p> +<p>Why was God so unpopular? Why were the angels so bad?</p> +<p>According to the Christians, these angels were spirits. They had +never been corrupted by flesh—by the passion of love. Why +were they so wicked?</p> +<p>Why did God create those angels, knowing that they would rebel? +Why did he deliberately sow the seeds of discord in heaven, knowing +that he would cast them into the lake of eternal fire—knowing +that for them he would create the eternal prison, whose dungeons +would echo forever the sobs and shrieks of endless pain?</p> +<p>How foolish is infinite wisdom!</p> +<p>How malicious is mercy!</p> +<p>How revengeful is boundless love!</p> +<p>Again, I say that no sensible man in all the world believes in +devils.</p> +<p>Why does God allow these devils to enjoy themselves at the +expense of his ignorant children? Why does he allow them to leave +their prison? Does he give them furloughs or tickets-of-leave?</p> +<p>Does he want his children misled and corrupted so that he can +have the pleasure of damning their souls?</p> +<center>VII. THE MAN OF STRAW.</center> +<p>Some of the preachers who have answered me say that I am +fighting a man of straw.</p> +<p>I am fighting the supernatural—the dogma of +inspiration—the belief in devils—the atonement, +salvation by faith—the forgiveness of sins and the savagery +of eternal pain. I am fighting the absurd,-the monstrous, the +cruel.</p> +<p>The ministers pretend that they have advanced—that they do +not believe the things that I attack. In this they are not +honest.</p> +<p>Who is the "man of straw"?</p> +<p>The man of straw is their master. In every orthodox pulpit +stands this man of straw—stands beside the +preacher—stands with a club, called a "creed," in his +upraised hand. The shadow of this club falls athwart the open +Bible—falls upon the preacher's brain, darkens the light of +his reason and compels him to betray himself.</p> +<p>The man of straw rules every sectarian school and +college—every orthodox church. He is the censor who passes on +every sermon. Now and then some minister puts a little sense in his +discourse—tries to take a forward step. Down comes the club, +and the man of straw demands an explanation—a retraction. If +the minister takes it back—good. If he does not, he is +brought to book. The man of straw put the plaster of silence on the +lips of Prof. Briggs, and he was forced to leave the church or +remain dumb.</p> +<p>The man of straw closed the mouth of Prof. Smith, and he has not +opened it since.</p> +<p>The man of straw would not allow the Presbyterian creed to be +changed.</p> +<p>The man of straw took Father McGlynn by the collar, forced him +to his knees, made him take back his words and ask forgiveness for +having been abused.</p> +<p>The man of straw pitched Prof. Swing out of the pulpit and drove +the Rev. Mr. Thomas from the Methodist Church.</p> +<p>Let me tell the orthodox ministers that they are trying to cover +their retreat.</p> +<p>You have given up the geology and astronomy of the Bible. You +have admitted that its history is untrue. You are retreating still. +You are giving up the dogma of inspiration; you have your doubts +about the flood and Babel; you have given up the witches and +wizards; you are beginning to throw away the miraculous; you have +killed the little devils, and in a little while you will murder the +Devil himself.</p> +<p>In a few years you will take the Bible for what it is worth. The +good and true will be treasured in the heart; the foolish, the +infamous, will be thrown away.</p> +<p>The man of straw will then be dead.</p> +<p>Of course, the real old petrified, orthodox Christian will cling +to the Devil. He expects to have all of his sins charged to the +Devil, and at the same time he will be credited with all the +virtues of Christ. Upon this showing on the books, upon this +balance, he will be entitled to his halo and harp. What a glorious, +what an equitable, transaction! The sorcerer Superstition changes +debt to credit. He waves his wand, and he who deserves the tortures +of hell receives an eternal reward.</p> +<p>But if a man lacks faith the scheme is exactly reversed. While +in one case a soul is rewarded for the virtues of another, in the +other case a soul is damned for the sins of another. This is +justice when it blossoms in mercy.</p> +<p>Beyond this idiocy cannot go.</p> +<center>VIII. KEEP THE DEVILS OUT OF CHILDREN.</center> +<p>William Kingdon Clifford, one of the greatest men of this +century, said: "If there is one lesson that history forces upon us +in every page, it is this: Keep your children away from the priest, +or he will make them the enemies of mankind."</p> +<p>In every orthodox Sunday school children are taught to believe +in devils. Every little brain becomes a menagerie, filled with wild +beasts from hell. The imagination is polluted with the deformed, +the monstrous and malicious. To fill the minds of children with +leering fiends—with mocking devils—is one of the +meanest and basest of crimes. In these pious prisons—these +divine dungeons—these Protestant and Catholic +inquisitions—children are tortured with these cruel lies. +Here they are taught that to really think is wicked; that to +express your honest thought is blasphemy; and that to live a free +and joyous life, depending on fact instead of faith, is the sin +against the Holy Ghost.</p> +<p>Children thus taught—thus corrupted and +deformed—become the enemies of investigation—of +progress. They are no longer true to themselves. They have lost the +veracity of the soul. In the language of Prof. Clifford, "they are +the enemies of the human race."</p> +<p>So I say to all fathers and mothers, keep your children away +from priests; away from orthodox Sunday schools; away from the +slaves of superstition.</p> +<p>They will teach them to believe in the Devil; in hell; in the +prison of God; in the eternal dungeon, where the souls of men are +to suffer forever. These frightful things are a part of +Christianity. Take these lies from the creed and the whole scheme +falls into shapeless ruin. This dogma of hell is the infinite of +savagery—the dream of insane revenge. It makes God a wild +beast—an infinite hyena. It makes Christ as merciless as the +fangs of a viper. Save poor children from the pollution of this +horror. Protect them from this infinite lie.</p> +<center>IX. CONCLUSION.</center> +<p>I admit that there are many good and beautiful passages in the +Old and New Testament; that from the lips of Christ dropped many +pearls of kindness—of love. Every verse that is true and +tender I treasure in my heart. Every thought, behind which is the +tear of pity, I appreciate and love. But I cannot accept it all. +Many utterances attributed to Christ shock my brain and heart. They +are absurd and cruel.</p> +<p>Take from the New Testament the infinite savagery, the shoreless +malevolence of eternal pain, the absurdity of salvation by faith, +the ignorant belief in the existence of devils, the immorality and +cruelty of the atonement, the doctrine of non-resistance that +denies to virtue the right of self-defence, and how glorious it +would be to know that the remainder is true! Compared with this +knowledge, how everything else in nature would shrink and shrivel! +What ecstasy it would be to know that God exists; that he is our +father and that he loves and cares for the children of men! To know +that all the paths that human beings travel, turn and wind as they +may, lead to the gates of stainless peace! How the heart would +thrill and throb to know that Christ was the conqueror of Death; +that at his grave the all-devouring monster was baffled and beaten +forever; that from that moment the tomb became the door that opens +on eternal life! To know this would change all sorrow into +gladness. Poverty, failure, disaster, defeat, power, place and +wealth would become meaningless sounds. To take your babe upon your +knee and say: "Mine and mine forever!" What joy! To clasp the woman +you love in your arms and to know that she is yours and +forever—yours though suns darken and constellations vanish! +This is enough: To know that the loved and dead are not lost; that +they still live and love and wait for you. To know that Christ +dispelled the darkness of death and filled the grave with eternal +light. To know this would be all that the heart could bear. Beyond +this joy cannot go. Beyond this there is no place for hope.</p> +<p>How beautiful, how enchanting, Death would be! How we would long +to see his fleshless skull! What rays of glory would stream from +his sightless sockets, and how the heart would long for the touch +of his stilling hand! The shroud would become a robe of glory, the +funeral procession a harvest home, and the grave would mark the end +of sorrow, the beginning of eternal joy.</p> +<p>And yet it were better far that all this should be false than +that all of the New Testament should be true.</p> +<p>It is far better to have no heaven than to have heaven and hell; +better to have no God than God and Devil; better to rest iii +eternal sleep than to be an angel and know that the ones you love +are suffering eternal pain; better to live a free and loving +life—a life that ends forever at the grave—than to be +an immortal slave.</p> +<p>The master cannot be great enough to make slavery sweet. I have +no ambition to become a winged servant, a winged slave. Better +eternal sleep. But they say, "If you give up these superstitions, +what have you left?"</p> +<p>Let me now give you the declaration of a creed.</p> +<center>DECLARATION OF THE FREE</center> +<pre> + We have no falsehoods to defend— + We want the facts; + Our force, our thought, we do not spend + In vain attacks. + And we will never meanly try + To save some fair and pleasing lie. + + The simple truth is what we ask, + Not the ideal; + We've set ourselves the noble task + To find the real. + If all there is is naught but dross, + We want to know and bear our loss. + + We will not willingly be fooled, + By fables nursed; + Our hearts, by earnest thought, are schooled + To bear the worst; + And we can stand erect and dare + All things, all facts that really are. + + We have no God to serve or fear, + No hell to shun, + No devil with malicious leer. + When life is done + An endless sleep may close our eyes, + A sleep with neither dreams nor sighs. + + We have no master on the land— + No king in air— + Without a manacle we stand, + Without a prayer, + Without a fear of coming night, + We seek the truth, we love the light. + + We do not bow before a guess, + A vague unknown; + A senseless force we do not bless + In solemn tone. + When evil comes we do not curse, + Or thank because it is no worse. + + When cyclones rend—when lightning blights, + 'Tis naught but fate; + There is no God of wrath who smites + In heartless hate. + Behind the things that injure man + There is no purpose, thought, or plan. + + We waste no time in useless dread, + In trembling fear; + The present lives, the past is dead, + And we are here, + All welcome guests at life's great feast— + We need no help from ghost or priest. + + Our life is joyous, jocund, free— + Not one a slave + Who bends in fear the trembling knee, + And seeks to save + A coward soul from future pain; + Not one will cringe or crawl for gain. + + The jeweled cup of love we drain, + And friendship's wine + Now swiftly flows in every vein + With warmth divine. + And so we love and hope and dream + That in death's sky there is a gleam. + + We walk according to our light, + Pursue the path + That leads to honor's stainless height, + Careless of wrath + Or curse of God, or priestly spite, + Longing to know and do the right. + + We love our fellow-man, our kind, + Wife, child, and friend. + To phantoms we are deaf and blind, + But we extend + The helping hand to the distressed; + By lifting others we are blessed. + + Love's sacred flame within the heart + And friendship's glow; + While all the miracles of art + Their wealth bestow + Upon the thrilled and joyous brain, + And present raptures banish pain. + + We love no phantoms of the skies, + But living flesh, + With passion's soft and soulful eyes, + Lips warm and fresh, + And cheeks with health's red flag unfurled, + The breathing angels of this world. + + The hands that help are better far + Than lips that pray. + Love is the ever gleaming star + That leads the way, + That shines, not on vague worlds of bliss, + But on a paradise in this. + + We do not pray, or weep, or wail; + We have no dread, + No fear to pass beyond the veil + That hides the dead. + And yet we question, dream, and guess, + But knowledge we do not possess. + + We ask, yet nothing seems to know; + We cry in vain. + There is no "master of the show" + Who will explain, + Or from the future tear the mask; + And yet we dream, and still we ask + + Is there beyond the silent night + An endless day? + Is death a door that leads to light? + We cannot say. + The tongueless secret locked in fate + We do not know.— + + We hope and wait. +</pre> +<a name="link0010" id="link0010"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /></div> +<h2>PROGRESS.</h2> +<pre> + * This is the first lecture ever delivered by Mr. Ingersoll. + The stars indicate the words missing in the manuscript. It + was delivered in Pekin, 111., in 1860, and again in + Bloomington, 111., in 1804. +</pre> +<p>IT is admitted by all that happiness is the only good, happiness +in its highest and grandest sense and the most * * springs * * of * +* refined * * generous * *</p> +<p>Conscience * * tends * * indirectly * * truly we * * physically +* * to develop the wonderful powers of the mind is progress.</p> +<p>It is impossible for men to become educated and refined without +leisure and there can be no leisure without wealth and all wealth +is produced by labor, nothing else. Nothing can * * the hands * * +and * * fabrics *</p> +<hr /> +<p>America labor is not honored as it deserves.</p> +<p>We should remember that the prosperity of the world depends upon +the men who walk in the fresh furrows and through the rustling +corn, upon those whose faces are radiant with the glare of +furnaces, upon the delvers in dark mines, the workers in shops, +upon those who give to the wintry air the ringing music of the axe, +and upon those who wrestle with the wild waves of the raging +sea.</p> +<p>And it is from the surplus produced by labor that schools are +built, that colleges and universities are founded and endowed. From +this surplus the painter is paid for the immortal productions of +the pencil. This pays the sculptor for chiseling the shapeless rock +into forms of beauty almost divine, and the poet for singing the +hopes, the loves and aspirations of the world.</p> +<p>This surplus has erected all the palaces and temples, all the +galleries of art, has given to us all the books in which we +converse, as it were, with the dead kings of the human race, and +has supplied us with all there is of elegance, of beauty and of +refined happiness in the world.</p> +<p>I am aware that the subject chosen by me is almost infinite and +that in its broadest sense it is absolutely beyond the present +comprehension of man.</p> +<p>I am also aware that there are many opinions as to what progress +really is, that what one calls progress, another denominates +barbarism; that many have a wonderful veneration for all that is +ancient, merely because it is ancient, and they see no beauty in +anything from which they do not have to blow the dust of ages with +the breath of praise.</p> +<p>They say, no masters like the old, no governments like the +ancient, no orators, no poets, no statesmen like those who have +been dust for two thousand years. Others despise antiquity and +admire only the modern, merely because it is modern. They find so +much to condemn in the past, that they condemn all. I hope, +however, that I have gratitude enough to acknowledge the +obligations I am under to the great and heroic minds of antiquity, +and that I have manliness and independence enough not to believe +what they said merely because they said it, and that I have moral +courage enough to advocate ideas, however modern they may be, if I +believe that they are right. Truth is neither young nor old, is +neither ancient nor modern, but is the same for all times and +places and should be sought for with ceaseless activity, eagerly +acknowledged, loved more than life, and abandoned—never. In +accordance with the idea that labor is the basis of all prosperity +and happiness, is another idea or truth, and that is, that labor in +order to make the laborer and the world at large happy, must be +free. That the laborer must be a free man, the thinker must be +free. I do not intend in what I may say upon this subject to carry +you back to the remotest antiquity,—back to Asia, the cradle +of the world, where we could stand in the ashes and ruins of a +civilization so old that history has not recorded even its decay. +It will answer my present purpose to commence with the Middle Ages. +In those times there was no freedom of either mind or body in +Europe. Labor was despised, and a laborer was considered as +scarcely above the beasts. Ignorance like a mantle covered the +world, and superstition ran riot with the human imagination. The +air was filled with angels, demons and monsters. Everything assumed +the air of the miraculous. Credulity occupied the throne of reason +and faith put out the eyes of the soul. A man to be distinguished +had either to be a soldier or a monk. He could take his choice +between killing and lying. You must remember that in those days +nations carried on war as an end, not as a means. War and theology +were the business of mankind. No man could win more than a bare +existence by industry, much less fame and glory. Comparatively +speaking, there was no commerce. Nations instead of buying and +selling from and to each other, took what they wanted by brute +force. And every Christian country maintained that it was no +robbery to take the property of Mohammedans, and no murder to kill +the owners with or without just cause of quarrel. Lord Bacon was +the first man of note who maintained that a Christian country was +bound to keep its plighted faith with an Infidel one. In those days +reading and writing were considered very dangerous arts, and any +layman who had acquired the art of reading was suspected of being a +heretic or a wizard.</p> +<p>It is almost impossible for us to conceive of the ignorance, the +cruelty, the superstition and the mental blindness of that period. +In reading the history of those dark and bloody years, I am amazed +at the wickedness, the folly and presumption of mankind. And yet, +the solution of the whole matter is, they despised liberty; they +hated freedom of mind and of body. They forged chains of +superstition for the one and of iron for the other. They were ruled +by that terrible trinity, the cowl, the sword and chain.</p> +<p>You cannot form a correct opinion of those ages without reading +the standard authors, so to speak, of that time, the laws then in +force, and by ascertaining the habits and customs of the people, +their mode of administering the laws, and the ideas that were +commonly received as correct. No one believed that honest error +could be innocent; no one dreamed of such a thing as religious +freedom. In the fifteenth century the following law was in force in +England: "That whatsoever they were that should read the Scriptures +in the mother tongue, they should forfeit land, cattle, body, life, +and goods from their heirs forever, and so be condemned for +heretics to God, enemies to the crown, and most arrant traitors to +the land." The next year after this law was in force, in one day +thirty-nine were hanged for its violation and their bodies +afterward burned.</p> +<p>Laws equally unjust, bloody and cruel were in force in all parts +of Europe. In the sixteenth century a man was burned in France +because he refused to kneel to a procession of dirty monks. I could +enumerate thousands of instances of the most horrid cruelty +perpetrated upon men, women and even little children, for no other +reason in the world than for a difference of opinion upon a subject +that neither party knew anything about. But you are all, no doubt, +perfectly familiar with the history of religious persecution.</p> +<p>There is one thing, however, that is strange indeed, and that is +that the reformers of those days, the men who rose against the +horrid tyranny of the times, the moment they attained power, +persecuted with a zeal and bitterness never excelled. Luther, one +of the grand men of the world, cast in the heroic mould, although +he gave utterance to the following sublime sentiment: "Every one +has the right to read for himself that he may prepare himself to +live and to die," still had no idea of what we call religious +freedom. He considered universal toleration an error, so did +Melancthon, and Erasmus, and yet, strange as it may appear, they +were exercising the very right they denied to others, and +maintaining their right with a courage and energy absolutely +sublime.</p> +<p>John Knox was only in favor of religious freedom when he was in +the minority, and Baxter entertained the same sentiment. Castalio, +a professor at Geneva, in Switzerland, was the first clergyman in +Europe who declared the innocence of honest error, and who +proclaimed himself in favor of universal toleration. The name of +this man should never be forgotten. He had the goodness, the +courage, although surrounded with prisons and inquisitions, and in +the midst of millions of fierce bigots, to declare the innocence of +honest error, and that every man had a right to worship the good +God in his own way.</p> +<p>For the utterance of this sublime sentiment his professorship +was taken from him, he was driven from Geneva by John Calvin and +his adherents, although he had belonged to their sect.</p> +<p>He was denounced as a child of the Devil, a dog of Satan, as a +murderer of souls, as a corrupter of the faith, and as one who by +his doctrines crucified the Savior afresh. Not content with merely +driving him from his home, they pursued him absolutely to the +grave, with a malignity that increased rather than diminished. You +must not think that Calvin was alone in this; on the contrary he +was fully sustained by public opinion, and would have been +sustained even though he had procured the burning of the noble +Castalio at the stake. I cite this instance not merely for the +purpose of casting odium upon Calvin, but to show you what public +opinion was at that time, when such things were ordinary +transactions. Bodi-nus, a lawyer in France, about the same time +advocated something like religious liberty, but public opinion was +overwhelmingly against him and the people were at all times ready +with torch and brand, chain, and fagot to get the abominable heresy +out of the human mind, that a man had a right to think for himself. +And yet Luther, Calvin, Knox and Baxter, in spite, as it were, of +themselves, conferred a great and lasting benefit upon mankind; for +what they did was at least in favor of individual judgment, and one +successful stand against the church produced others, all of which +tended to establish universal toleration. In those times you will +remember that failing to convert a man or woman by the ordinary +means, they resorted to every engine of torture that the ingenuity +of bigotry could devise; they crushed their feet in what they +called iron boots; they roasted them upon slow fires; they plucked +out their nails, and then into the bleeding quick thrust needles; +and all this to convince them of the truth. I suppose that we +should love our neighbor as ourselves.</p> +<p>Montaigne was the first man who raised his voice against torture +in France; a man blessed with so much common sense, that he was the +most uncommon man of the age in which he lived. But what was one +voice against the terrible cry of ignorant millions?—a +drowning man in the wild roar of the infinite sea. It is impossible +to read the history of the long and seemingly hopeless war waged +for religious freedom, without being filled with horror and +disgust. Millions of men, women and children, at least one hundred +millions of human beings with hopes and loves and aspirations like +ourselves, have been sacrificed upon the altar of bigotry. They +have perished at the stake, in prisons, by famine and by sword; +they have died wandering, homeless, in deserts, groping in caves, +until their blood cried from the earth for vengeance. But the +principle, gathering strength from their weakness, nourished by +blood and flame, rendered holier still by their +sufferings—grander by their heroism, and immortal by their +death, triumphed at last, and is now acknowledged by the whole +civilized world. Enormous as the cost has been the principle is +worth a thousand times as much. There must be freedom in religion, +for without freedom there can be no real religion. And as for +myself I glory in the fact that upon American soil that principle +was first firmly established, and that the Constitution of the +United States was the first of any great nation in which religious +toleration was made one of the fundamental laws of the land. And it +is not only the law of our country but the law is sustained by an +enlightened public opinion. Without liberty there is no +religion—no worship. What light is to the eyes—what air +is to the lungs—what love is to the heart, liberty is to the +soul of man. Without liberty, the brain is a dungeon, where the +chained thoughts die with their pinions pressed against the +hingeless doors.</p> +<center>WITCHCRAFT</center> +<p>THE next fact to which I call your attention is, that during the +Middle Ages the people, the whole people, the learned and the +ignorant, the masters and the slaves, the clergy, the lawyers, +doctors and statesmen, all believed in witchcraft—in the evil +eye, and that the devil entered into people, into animals and even +into insects to accomplish his dark designs. And all the people +believed it their solemn duty to thwart the devil by all means in +their power, and they accordingly set themselves at work hanging +and burning everybody suspected of being in league with the Enemy +of mankind. If you grant their premises, you justify their actions. +If these persons had actually entered into partnership with the +devil for the purpose of injuring their neighbors, the people would +have been justified in exterminating them all. And the crime of +witchcraft was proven over and over again in court after court in +every town of Europe. Thousands of people who were charged with +being in league with the devil confessed the crime, gave all the +particulars of the bargain, told just what the devil said and what +they replied, and exactly how the bargain was consummated, admitted +in the presence of death, on the very edge of the grave, when they +knew that the confession would confiscate all their property and +leave their children homeless wanderers, and render their own names +infamous after death.</p> +<p>We can account for a man suffering death for what he believes to +be right. He knows that he has the sympathy of all the truly good, +and he hopes that his name will be gratefully remembered in the far +future, and above all, he hopes to win the approval of a just God. +But the man who confessed himself guilty of being a wizard, knew +that his memory would be execrated and expected that his soul would +be eternally lost. What motive could then have induced so many to +confess? Strange as it is, I believe that they actually believed +themselves guilty. They considered their case hopeless; they +confessed and died without a prayer. These things are enough to +make one think that sometimes the world becomes insane and that the +earth is a vast asylum without a keeper. I repeat that I am +convinced that the people that confessed themselves guilty believed +that they were so. In the first place, they believed in witchcraft +and that people often were possessed of Satan, and when they were +accused the fright and consternation produced by the accusation, in +connection with their belief, often produced insanity or something +akin to it, and the poor creatures charged with a crime that it was +impossible to disprove, deserted and abhorred by their friends, +left alone with their superstitions and fears, driven to despair, +looked upon death as a blessed relief from a torture that you and I +cannot at this day understand. People were charged with the most +impossible crimes. In the time of James the First, a man was burned +in Scotland for having produced a storm at sea for the purpose of +drowning one of the royal family. A woman was tried before Sir +Matthew Hale, one of the most learned and celebrated lawyers of +England, for having caused children to vomit-crooked pins. She was +also charged with nursing demons. Of course she was found guilty, +and the learned Judge charged the jury that there was no doubt as +to the existence of witches, that all history, sacred and profane, +and that the experience of every country proved it beyond any +manner of doubt. And the woman was either hanged or burned for a +crime for which it was impossible for her to be guilty. In those +times they also believed in Lycanthropy—that is, that persons +of whom the devil had taken possession could assume the appearance +of wolves.</p> +<p>One instance is related where a man was attacked by what +appeared to be a wolf. He defended himself and succeeded in cutting +off one of the wolf's paws, whereupon the wolf ran and the man +picked up the paw and putting it in his pocket went home. When he +took the paw out of his pocket it had changed to a human hand, and +his wife sat in the house with one of her hands gone and the stump +of her arm bleeding. He denounced his wife as a witch, she +confessed the crime and was burned at the stake. People were burned +for causing frosts in the summer, for destroying crops with hail, +for causing cows to become dry, and even for souring beer. The life +of no one was secure, malicious enemies had only to charge one with +witchcraft, prove a few odd sayings and queer actions to secure the +death of their victim. And this belief in witchcraft was so intense +that to express a doubt upon the subject was to be suspected and +probably executed. Believing that animals were also taken +possession of by evil spirits and also believing that if they +killed an animal containing one of the evil spirits that they +caused the death of the spirit, they absolutely tried animals, +convicted and executed them. At Basle, in 1474, a rooster was +tried, charged with having laid an egg, and as rooster eggs were +used only in making witch ointment it was a serious charge, and +everyone of course admitted that the devil must have been the +cause, as roosters could not very well lay eggs without some help. +And the egg having been produced in court, the rooster was duly +convicted and he together with his miraculous egg were publicly and +with all due solemnity burned in the public square. So a hog and +six pigs were tried for having killed, and partially eaten a child, +the hog was convicted and executed, but the pigs were acquitted on +the ground of their extreme youth. Asiate as 1740 a cow was +absolutely tried on a charge of being possessed of the devil. Our +forefathers used to rid themselves of rats, leeches, locusts and +vermin by pronouncing what they called a public exorcism.</p> +<p>On some occasions animals were received as witnesses in judicial +proceedings.</p> +<p>The law was in some of the countries of Europe, that if a man's +house was broken into between sunset and sunrise and the owner +killed the intruder, it should be considered justifiable +homicide.</p> +<p>But it was also considered that it was just possible that a man +living alone might entice another to his house in the night-time, +kill him and then pretend that his victim was a robber. In order to +prevent this, it was enacted that when a person was killed by a man +living alone and under such circumstances, the solitary householder +should not be held innocent unless he produced in court some +animal, a dog or a cat, that had been an inmate of the house and +had witnessed the death of the person killed. The prisoner was then +compelled in the presence of such animal to make a solemn +declaration of his innocence, and if the animal failed to +contradict him, he was declared guiltless,—the law taking it +for granted that the Deity would cause a miraculous manifestation +by a dumb animal, rather than allow a murderer to escape. It was +the law in England that any one convicted of a crime, could appeal +to what was called corsned or morsel of execration. This was a +piece of cheese or bread of about an ounce in weight, which was +first consecrated with a form of exorcism desiring that the +Almighty, if the man were guilty, would cause convulsions and +paleness, and that it might stick in his throat, but that it might +if the man were innocent, turn to health and nourishment. Godwin, +the Earl of Kent, during the reign of Edward the Confessor, +appealed to the corsned, which sticking in his throat, produced +death. There were also trials by water and by fire. Persons were +made to handle red hot iron, and if it burned them their guilt was +established; so their hands and feet were tied, and they were +thrown into the water, and if they sank they were pronounced guilty +and allowed to drown. I give these instances to show you what has +happened, and what always will happen, in countries where ignorance +prevails, and people abandon the great standard of reason. And also +to show to you that scarcely any man, however great, can free +himself of the superstitions of his time. Kepler, one of the +greatest men of the world, and an astronomer second to none, +although he plucked from the stars the secrets of the universe, was +an astrologer and thought he could predict the career of any man by +finding what star was in the ascendant at his birth. This +infinitely foolish stuff was religiously believed by him, merely +because he had been raised in an atmosphere of boundless credulity. +Tycho Brahe, another astronomer who has been, and is called the +prince of astronomers—not only believed in astrology, but +actually kept an idiot in his service, whose disconnected and +meaningless words he carefully wrote down and then put them +together in such a manner as to make prophecies, and then he +patiently and confidently awaited their fulfillment.</p> +<p>Luther believed that he had actually seen the devil not only, +but that he had had discussions with him upon points of theology. +On one occasion getting excited, he threw an inkstand at his +majesty's head, and the ink stain is still to be seen on the wall +where the stand was broken. The devil I believe, was untouched, he +probably having an inkling of Luther's intention, made a successful +dodge.</p> +<p>In the time of Charles the Fifth, Emperor of Germany, +Stoefflerer, a noted mathematician and astronomer, a man of great +learning, made an astronomical calculation according to the great +science of astrology and ascertained that the world was to be +visited by another deluge. This prediction was absolutely believed +by the leading men of the empire not only, but of all Europe. The +commissioner general of the army of Charles the Fifth recommended +that a survey be made of the country by competent men in order to +find out the highest land. But as it was uncertain how high the +water would rise this idea was abandoned.</p> +<p>Thousands of people left their homes in low lands, by the rivers +and near the sea and sought the more elevated ground. Immense +suffering was produced. People in some instances abandoned the +aged, the sick and the infirm to the tender mercies of the expected +flood, so anxious were they to reach some place of security.</p> +<p>At Toulouse, in France, the people actually built an ark and +stocked it with provisions, and it was not till long after the day +upon which the flood was to have come, had passed, that the people +recovered from their fright and returned to their homes. About the +same time it was currently reported and believed that a child had +been born in Silesia with a golden tooth. The people were again +filled with wonder and consternation. They were satisfied that some +great evil was coming upon mankind. At last it was solved by some +chapter in Daniel wherein is predicted somebody with a golden head. +Such stories would never have gained credence only for the reason +that the supernatural was expected. Anything in the ordinary course +of nature was not worth telling. The human mind was in chains; it +had been deformed by slavery. Reason was a trembling coward, and +every production of the mind was deformed, every idea was a +monster. Almost every law was unjust. Their religion was nothing +more or less than monsters worshiping an imaginary monster. Science +could not, properly speaking, exist. Their histories were the +grossest and most palpable falsehoods, and they filled all Europe +with the most shocking absurdities. The histories were all written +by the monks and bishops, all of whom were intensely superstitious, +and equally dishonest. Everything they did was a pious fraud. They +wrote as if they had been eye-witnesses of every occurrence that +they related. They entertained, and consequently expressed, no +doubt as to any particular, and in case of any difficulty they +always had a few miracles ready just suited for the occasion, and +the people never for an instant doubted the absolute truth of every +statement that they made. They wrote the history of every country +of any importance. They related all the past and present, and +predicted nearly all the future, with an ignorant impudence +actually sublime. They traced the order of St. Michael in France +back to the Archangel himself, and alleged that he was the founder +of a chivalric order in heaven itself. They also said that the +Tartars originally came from hell, and that they were called +Tartars because Tartarus was one of the names of perdition. They +declared that Scotland was so called after Scota, a daughter of +Pharaoh, who landed in Ireland and afterward invaded Scotland and +took it by force of arms. This statement was made in a letter +addressed to the Pope in the 14th century and was alluded to as a +well-known fact. The letter was written by some of the highest +dignitaries of the church and by direction of the king himself. +Matthew, of Paris, an eminent historian of the 13th century, gave +the world the following piece of valuable information: "It is well +known that Mohammed originally was a Cardinal and became a heretic +because he failed in his design of being elected Pope."</p> +<p>The same gentleman informs us that Mohammed having drank to +excess fell drunk by the roadside, and in that condition was killed +by pigs. And this is the reason, says he, that his followers abhor +pork even unto this day. Another historian of about the same +period, tells us that one of the popes cut off his hand because it +had been kissed by an improper person, and that the hand was still +in the Lateran at Rome, where it had been miraculously preserved +from corruption for over five hundred years. After that occurrence, +says he, the Pope's toe was substituted, which accounts for this +practice. He also has the goodness to inform his readers that Nero +was in the habit of vomiting frogs. Some of the croakers of the +present day against progress would, I think, be the better of such +a vomit. The history of Charlemagne was written by Turpin the +Archbishop of Rheims, and received the formal approbation of the +Pope. In this it is asserted that the walls of a city fell down in +answer to prayer; that Charlemagne was opposed by a giant called +Fenacute who was a descendant of the ancient Goliath; that forty +men were sent to attack this giant, and that he took them under his +arms and quietly carried them away. At last Orlando engaged him +singly; not meeting with the success that he anticipated, he +changed his tactics and commenced a theological discussion; warming +with his subject he pressed forward and suddenly stabbed his +opponent, inflicting a mortal wound. After the death of the giant, +Charlemagne easily conquered the whole country and divided it among +his sons.</p> +<p>The history of the Britons, written by the Archdeacons of +Monmouth and Oxford, was immensely popular. According to their +account, Brutus, a Roman, conquered England, built London, called +the country Britain after himself. During his time it rained blood +for three days. At another time a monster came from the sea, and +after having devoured a great many common people, finally swallowed +the king himself. They say that King Arthur was not born like +ordinary mortals, but was formed by a magical contrivance made by a +wizard. That he was particularly lucky in killing giants, that he +killed one in France who used to eat several people every day, and +that this giant was clothed with garments made entirely of the +beards of kings that he had killed and eaten. To cap the climax, +one of the authors of this book was promoted for having written an +authentic history of his country. Another writer of the 15th +century says that after Ignatius was dead they found impressed upon +his heart the Greek word Theos. In all historical compositions +there was an incredible want of common honesty. The great historian +Eusebius ingenuously remarks that in his history he omitted +whatever tended to discredit the church and magnified whatever +conduced to her glory. The same glorious principle was adhered to +by most, if not all, of the writers of those days. They wrote and +the people believed that the tracks of Pharaoh's chariot wheels, +were still impressed upon the sands of the Red Sea and could not be +obliterated either by the winds or waves.</p> +<p>The next subject to which I call your attention is the wonderful +progress in the mechanical arts. Animals use the weapons nature has +furnished, and those only—the beak, the claw, the tusk, the +teeth. The barbarian uses a club, a stone. As man advances he makes +tools with which to fashion his weapons; he discovers the best +material to be used in their construction. The next thing was to +find some power to assist him—that is to say, the weight of +falling water, or the force of the wind. He then creates a force, +so to speak, by changing water to steam, and with that he impels +machines that can do almost everything but think. You will observe +that the ingenuity of man is first exercised in the construction of +weapons. There were splendid Damascus blades when plowing was done +with a crooked stick. There were complete suits of armor on backs +that had never felt a shirt. The world was full of inventions to +destroy life before there were any to prolong it or make it +endurable. Murder was always a science—medicine is not one +yet. Scalping was known and practiced long before Barret discovered +the Hair Regenerator. The destroyers have always been honored. The +useful have always been despised. In ancient times agriculture was +known only to slaves. The low, the ignorant, the contemptible, +cultivated the soil. To work was to be nobody. Mechanics were only +one degree above the farmer. In short, labor was disgraceful. +Idleness was the badge of gentle blood. The fields being poorly +cultivated produced but little at the best. Only a few kinds of +crops were raised. The result was frequent famine and constant +suffering. One country could not be supplied from another as now; +the roads were always horrible, and besides all this, every country +was at war with nearly every other. This state of things lasted +until a few years ago.</p> +<p>Let me show you the condition of England at the beginning of the +eighteenth century. At that time London was the most populous +capital in Europe, yet it was dirty, ill built, without any +sanitary provisions whatever. The deaths were one in 23 each year. +Now in a much more crowded population they are not one in forty. +Much of the country was then heath and swamp. Almost within sight +of London there was a tract, twenty-five miles round, almost in a +state of nature; there were but three houses upon it. In the rainy +season the roads were almost impassable. Through gullies filled +with mud, carriages were dragged by oxen. Between places of great +importance the roads were little known, and a principal mode of +transport was by pack horses, of which passengers took advantage by +stowing themselves away between the packs. The usual charge for +freight was 30 cents per ton a mile. After a while, what they were +pleased to call flying coaches were established. They could move +from thirty to fifty miles a day. Many persons thought the risk so +great that it was tempting Providence to get into one of them. The +mail bag was carried on horseback at five miles an hour. A penny +post had been established in the city, but many long-headed men, +who knew what they were saying, denounced it as a popish +contrivance. Only a few years before, Parliament had resolved that +all pictures in the royal collection which contained +representations of Jesus or the Virgin Mary should be burned. Greek +statues were handed over to Puritan stone masons to be made decent. +Lewis Meggleton had given himself out as the last and the greatest +of the prophets, having power to save or damn. He had also +discovered that God was only six feet high and the sun four miles +off. There were people in England as savage as our Indians. The +women, half naked, would chant some wild measure, while the men +would brandish their dirks and dance. There were thirty-four +counties without a printer. Social discipline was wretched. The +master flogged his apprentice, the pedagogue his scholar, the +husband his wife; and I am ashamed to say that whipping has not +been abolished in our schools. It is a relic of barbarism and +should not be tolerated one moment. It is brutal, low and +contemptible. The teacher that administers such punishment is no +more to blame than the parents that allow it. Every gentleman and +lady should use his or her influence to do away with this vile and +infamous practice. In those days public punishments were all +brutal. Men and women were put in the pillory and then pelted with +brick-bats, rotten eggs and dead cats, by the rabble. The +whipping-post was then an institution in England as it is now in +the enlightened State of Delaware. Criminals were drawn and +quartered; others were disemboweled and hung and their bodies +suspended in chains to rot in the air. The houses of the people in +the country were huts, thatched with straw. Anybody who could get +fresh meat once a week was considered rich. Children six years old +had to labor. In London the houses were of wood or plaster, the +streets filthy beyond expression, even muddier than Bloomington is +now. After nightfall a passenger went about at his peril, for +chamber windows were opened and slop pails unceremoniously emptied. +There were no lamps in the streets, but plenty of highwaymen and +robbers.</p> +<p>The morals of the people corresponded, as they generally do, to +their physical condition. It is said that the clergy did what they +could to make the people pious, but they could not accomplish much. +You cannot convert a man when he is hungry. He will not accept +better doctrines until he gets better clothes, and he won't have +more faith till he gets more food. Besides this, the clergy were a +little below par, so much so that Queen Elizabeth issued an order +that no clergyman should presume to marry a servant girl without +the consent of her master or mistress. During the same time the +condition of France and indeed of all Europe was even worse than +England. What has changed the condition of Great Britain? More than +any and everything else, the inventions of her mechanics. The old +moral method was and always will be a failure. If you wish to +better the condition of a people morally, better them physically. +About the close of the 18th Century, Watt, Arkwright, Hargreave, +Crompton, Cartwright, invented the steam engine, the spring frame, +the jenny, the mule, the power loom, the carding machine and a +hundred other minor inventions, and put it in the power of England +to monopolize the markets of the world. Her machinery soon became +equal to 30,000,000 of men. In a few years the population was +doubled and the wealth quadrupled; and England became the first +nation of the world through her inventors, her merchants, her +mechanics, and in spite of her statesmen, her priests and her +nobles. England began to spin for the world, cotton began to be +universally worn, clean shirts began to be seen. The most cunning +spinners of India could make a thread over 100 miles long from one +pound of cotton. The machines of England have produced one over +1000 miles in length from the same quantity. In a short time +Stephenson invented the locomotive. Railroads began to be built. +Fulton gave to the world the steamboat, and commerce became +independent of the winds. There are already railroads enough in the +United States to make a double track around the world. Man has +lengthened his arms. He reaches to every country and takes what he +wants; the world is before him; he helps himself. There can be no +more famine. If there is no food in this country, the boat and the +car will bring it from another.</p> +<p>We can have the luxuries of every climate. A majority of the +people now live better than the king used to do. Poor Solomon with +his thousand wives, and no carpets, his great temple, and no gas +light! A thousand women, and not a pin in the house; no stoves, no +cooking range, no baking powder, no potatoes—think of it! +Breakfast without potatoes! Plenty of wisdom and old saws—but +no green corn; never heard of succotash in his whole life. No clean +clothes, no music, if you except a jew's-harp, no ice water, no +skates, no carriages, because there was not a decent road in all +his dominions. Plenty of theology but no tobacco, no books, no +pictures, not a picture in all Palestine, not a piece of statuary, +not a plough that would scour. No tea, no coffee; he never heard of +any place of amusement, never was at a theatre, or a circus. "Seven +up" was then unknown to the world. He couldn't even play billiards, +with all his knowledge, never had an idea of woman's rights, or +universal suffrage; never went to school a day in his life, and +cared no more about the will of the people than Andy Johnson.</p> +<p>The inventors have helped more than any other class to make the +world what it is; the workers and the thinkers, the poor and the +grand; labor and learning, industry and intelligence; Watt and +Descartes, Fulton and Montaigne, Stephenson and Kepler, Crompton +and Comte, Franklin and Voltaire, Morse and Buckle, Draper and +Spencer, and hundreds more that I could mention. The inventors, the +workers, the thinkers, the mechanics, the surgeons, the +philosophers—these are the Atlases upon whose shoulders rests +the great fabric of modern civilization.</p> +<center>LANGUAGE.</center> +<p>IN order to show you that the most abject superstition pervaded +every department of human knowledge, or of ignorance rather, allow +me to give you a few of their ideas upon language. It was +universally believed that all languages could be traced back to the +Hebrew; that the Hebrew was the original language, and every fact +inconsistent with that idea was discarded. In consequence of this +belief all efforts to investigate the science of language were +utterly fruitless. After a time, the Hebrew idea falling into +disrepute, other languages claimed the honor of being the original +ones.</p> +<p>André Kempe published a work in 1569, on the language of +Paradise, in which he maintained that God spoke to Adam in Swedish; +that Adam answered in Danish and that the serpent (which appears +quite probable) spoke to Eve in French. Erro, in a book published +at Madrid, took the ground that Basque was the language spoken in +the Garden of Eden. But in 1580, Goropius published his celebrated +work at Antwerp, in which he put the whole matter at rest by +proving that the language spoken in Paradise was nothing more or +less than plain Holland Dutch. The real founder of the present +science of language was a German, Leibnitz—a contemporary of +Sir Isaac Newton. He discarded the idea that all language could be +traced to an original one. That language was, so to speak, a +natural growth. Actual experience teaches us that this must be +true. The ancient sages of Egypt had a vocabulary, according to +Bunsen, of only about six hundred and eighty-five words, exclusive +of proper names. The English language has at least one hundred +thousand.</p> +<center>GEOGRAPHY.</center> +<p>IN the 6th century a monk by the name of Cosmas wrote a kind of +orthodox geography and astronomy combined. He pretended that it was +all in accordance with the Bible. According to him, the world was +composed, first, of a flat piece of land and circular; this piece +of land was entirely surrounded by water which was the ocean, and +beyond the strip of water was another circle of land; this outside +circle was the land inhabited by the old world before the flood; +Noah crossed the strip of water and landed on the central piece +where we now are; on the outside land was a high mountain around +which the sun and moon revolved; when the sun was behind the +mountain it was night, and when on the side next us it was day. He +also taught that on the outer edge of the outside circle of land +the firmament or sky was fastened, that it was made of some solid +material and turned over the world like an immense kettle. And it +was declared at that time that anyone who believed either more or +less on that subject than that book contained was a heretic and +deserved to be exterminated from the face of the earth. This was +authority until the discovery of America by Columbus. Cosmas said +the earth was flat; if it was round how could men on the other side +at the day of judgment see the coming of the Lord? At the risk of +being tiresome, I have said what I have, to show you the +productions of the mind when enslaved—the consequences of +abandoning judgment and reason—the effects of wide spread +ignorance and universal bigotry.</p> +<p>I want to convince you that every wrong is a viper that will +sooner or later strike with poisoned fangs the bosom that nourishes +it. You will ask what has produced this wonderful change in only +three hundred years. You will remember that in those days it was +said that all ghosts vanished at the dawn of day; that the sprites, +the spooks, the hobgoblins and all the monsters of the imagination +fled from the approaching sun. In 1441, printing was invented. In +the next century it became a power, and it has been flooding the +world with light from that time to this. The Press has been the +true Prometheus.</p> +<p>It has been, so to speak, the trumpet blown by the Gabriel of +Progress, until, from the graves of ignorance and superstition, the +people have leaped to grand and glorious life, spurning with swift +feet the dust of an infamous past.</p> +<p>When people read, they reason, when they reason they progress. +You must not think that the enemies of progress allowed books to be +published or read when they had the power to prevent it. The whole +power of the church, of the government, was arrayed upon the side +of ignorance. People found in the possession of books were often +executed. Printing, reading and writing were crimes. Anathemas were +hurled from the Vatican against all who dared to publish a word in +favor of liberty or the sacred rights of man. The Inquisition was +founded on purpose to crush out every noble aspiration of the +heart. It was a war of darkness against light, of slavery against +liberty, of superstition against reason. I shall not attempt to +recount the horrors and tortures of the Inquisition. Suffice it to +say that they were equal to the most terrible and vivid pictures +even of Hell, and the Inquisitors were even more horrid fiends than +even a real Perdition could boast. But in spite of priests, in +spite of kings, in spite of mitres, in spite of crowns, in spite of +Cardinals and Popes, books were published and books were read. Beam +after beam of light penetrated the darkness. Star after star arose +in the firmament of ignorance. The morning of Freedom began to +dawn. Driven to madness by the prospect of ultimate defeat, the +enemies of light persecuted with redoubled fury.</p> +<p>People were burned for saying that the earth was round, for +saying that the sun was the center of a system. A woman was +executed because she endeavored to allay the pains of a fever by +singing. The very name of Philosopher became a title of +proscription, and the slightest offences were punished by death. +About the beginning of the sixteenth century Luther and Jerome, of +Prague, inaugurated the great Reformation in Germany, Ziska was at +work in Hungary, Zwinglius in Switzerland. The grand work went +forward in Denmark, in Sweden and in England. All this was +accomplished as early as 1534. They unmasked the corruption and +withstood the tyranny of the church.</p> +<p>With a zeal amounting to enthusiasm, with a courage that was +heroic, with an energy that never flagged, a determination that +brooked no opposition, with a firmness that defied torture and +death, this sublime band of reformers sprang to the attack. +Stronghold after stronghold was carried, and in a few short but +terrible years, the banner of the Reformation waved in triumph over +the bloody ensign of Saint Peter. The soul roused from the slumbers +of a thousand years began to think. When slaves begin to reason, +slavery begins to die. The invention of powder had released +millions from the army, and left them to prosecute the arts of +peace. Industry began to be remunerative and respectable.</p> +<p>Science began to unfold the wings that will finally fill the +heavens. Descartes announced to the world the sublime truth that +the Universe is governed by law.</p> +<p>Commerce began to unfold her wings. People of different +countries began to get acquainted. Christians found that Mohammedan +gold was not the less valuable on account of the doctrines of its +owners. Telescopes began to be pointed toward the stars. The +Universe was getting immense. The Earth was growing small. It was +discovered that a man could be healthy without being a Catholic. +Innumerable agencies were at work dispelling darkness and creating +light. The supernatural began to be abandoned, and mankind +endeavored to account for all physical phenomena by physical laws. +The light of reason was irradiating the world, and from that light, +as from the approach of the sun, the ghosts and spectres of +superstition wrapped their sheets around their attenuated bodies +and vanished into thin air. Other inventions rapidly followed. The +wonderful power of steam was made known to the world by Watts and +by Fulton. Neptune was frightened from the sea. The locomotive was +given to mankind by Stephenson; the telegraph by Franklin and +Morse. The rush of the ship, the scream of the locomotive, and the +electric flash have frightened the monsters of ignorance from the +world, and have left nothing above us but the heaven's eternal +blue, filled with glittering planets wheeling through immensity in +accordance with <i>Law</i>. True religion is a subordination of the +passions and interests to the perceptions of the intellect. But +when religion was considered the end of life instead of a means of +happiness, it overshadowed all other interests and became the +destroyer of mankind. It became a hydra-headed monster—a +serpent reaching in terrible coils from the heavens and thrusting +its thousand fangs into the bleeding, quivering hearts of men.</p> +<center>SLAVERY.</center> +<p>I HAVE endeavored thus far to show you some of the results +produced by enslaving the human mind. I now call your attention to +another terrible phase of this subject; the enslavement of the +body. Slavery is a very ancient institution, yes, about as ancient +as robbery, theft and murder, and is based upon them all.</p> +<p>Springing from the same fountain, that a man is not the owner of +his soul, is the doctrine that he is not the owner of his body. The +two are always found together, supported by precisely the same +arguments, and attended by the same infamous acts of cruelty. From +the earliest time, slavery has existed in all countries, and among +all people until recently. Pufendorf said that slavery was +originally established by contract. Voltaire replied, "Show me the +original contract, and if it is signed by the party that was to be +a slave I will believe you." You will bear in mind that the slavery +of which I am now speaking is white slavery.</p> +<p>Greeks enslaved one another as well as those captured in war. +Coriolanus scrupled not to make slaves of his own countrymen +captured in civil war.</p> +<p>Julius Cæsar sold to the highest bidder at onetime +fifty-three thousand prisoners of war all of whom were white. +Hannibal exposed to sale thirty thousand captives at one time, all +of whom were Roman citizens. In Rome, men were sold into bondage in +order to pay their debts. In Germany, men often hazarded their +freedom on the throwing of dice. The Barbary States held white +Christians in slavery in this, the 19th century. There were white +slaves in England as late as 1574. There were white slaves in +Scotland until the end of the 18th century.</p> +<p>These Scotch slaves were colliers and salters. They were treated +as real estate and passed with a deed to the mines in which they +worked.</p> +<p>It was also the law that no collier could work in any mine +except the one to which he belonged. It was also the law that their +children could follow no other occupation than that of their +fathers. This slavery absolutely existed in Scotland until the +beginning of the glorious 19th century.</p> +<p>Some of the Roman nobles were the owners of as many as twenty +thousand slaves.</p> +<p>The common people of France were in slavery for fourteen hundred +years. They were transferred with land, and women were often seen +assisting cattle to pull the plough, and yet people have the +impudence to say that black slavery is right, because the blacks +have always been slaves in their own country. I answer, so have the +whites until very recently. In the good old days when might was +right and when kings and popes stood by the people, and protected +the people, and talked about "holy oil and divine right," the world +was filled with slaves. The traveler standing amid the ruins of +ancient cities and empires, seeing on every side the fallen pillar +and the prostrate wall, asks why did these cities fall, why did +these empires crumble? And the Ghost of the Past, the wisdom of +ages, answers: These temples, these palaces, these cities, the +ruins of which you stand upon were built by tyranny and injustice. +The hands that built them were unpaid. The backs that bore the +burdens also bore the marks of the lash. They were built by slaves +to satisfy the vanity and ambition of thieves and robbers. For +these reasons they are dust.</p> +<p>Their civilization was a lie. Their laws merely regulated +robbery and established theft. They bought and sold the bodies and +souls of men, and the mournful winds of desolation, sighing amid +their crumbling ruins, is a voice of prophetic warning to those who +would repeat the infamous experiment. From the ruins of Babylon, of +Carthage, of Athens, of Palmyra, of Thebes, of Rome, and across the +great desert, over that sad and solemn sea of sand, from the land +of the pyramids, over the fallen Sphinx and from the lips of Memnon +the same voice, the same warning and uttering the great truth, that +no nation founded upon slavery, either of body or mind, can +stand.</p> +<p>And yet, to-day, there are thousands upon thousands endeavoring +to build the temples and cities and to administer our Government +upon the old plan. They are makers of brick without straw. They are +bowing themselves beneath hods of untempered mortar. They are the +babbling builders of another Babel, a Babel of mud upon a +foundation of sand.</p> +<p>Nothwithstanding the experience of antiquity as to the terrible +effects of slavery, bondage was the rule, and liberty the +exception, during the Middle Ages not only, but for ages +afterward.</p> +<p>The same causes that led to the liberation of mind also +liberated the body. Free the mind, allow men to write and publish +and read, and one by one the shackles will drop, broken, in the +dust. This truth was always known, and for that reason slaves have +never been allowed to read. It has always been a crime to teach a +slave. The intelligent prefer death to slavery. Education is the +most radical abolitionist in the world. To teach the alphabet is to +inaugurate revolution. To build a schoolhouse is to construct a +fort. Every library is an arsenal, and every truth is a monitor, +iron-clad and steel-plated.</p> +<p>Do not think that white slavery was abolished without a +struggle. The men who opposed white slavery were ridiculed, were +persecuted, driven from their homes, mobbed, hanged, tortured and +burned. They were denounced as having only one idea, by men who had +none. They were called fanatics by men who were so insane as to +suppose that the laws of a petty prince were greater than those of +the Universe. Crime made faces at virtue, and honesty was an +outcast beggar. In short, I cannot better describe to you the +manner in which the friends of slavery acted at that time, than by +saying that they acted precisely as they used to do in the United +States. White slavery, established by kidnapping and piracy, +sustained by torture and infinite cruelty, was defended to the very +last.</p> +<p>Let me now call your attention to one of the most immediate +causes of the abolition of white slavery in Europe. There were +during the Middle Ages three great classes of people: the common +people, the clergy and the nobility. All these people could, +however, be divided into two classes, namely, the robbed and the +robbers. The feudal lords were jealous of the king, the king afraid +of the lords, the clergy always siding with the stronger party. The +common people had only to do the work, the fighting, and to pay the +taxes, as by the law the property of the nobles was exempt from +taxation. The consequence was, in every war between the nobles and +the king, each party endeavored by conciliation to get the peasants +upon their side. When the clergy were on the side of the king they +created dissension between the people and the nobles by telling +them that the nobles were tyrants. When they were on the side of +the nobles they told the people that the king was a tyrant. At last +the people believed both, and the old adage was verified, that when +thieves fall out honest men get their dues.</p> +<p>By virtue of the civil and religious wars of Europe, slavery was +abolished, and the French Revolution, one of the grandest pages in +all history, was, so to speak, the exterminator of white slavery. +In that terrible period the people who had borne the yoke for +fourteen hundred years, rising from the dust, casting their +shackles from them, fiercely avenged their wrongs. A mob of twenty +millions driven to desperation, in the sublimity of despair, in the +sacred name of Liberty cried for vengeance. They reddened the earth +with the blood of their masters. They trampled beneath their feet +the great army of human vermin that had lived upon their labor. +They filled the air with the ruins of temples and thrones, and with +bloody hands tore in pieces the altar upon which their rights had +been offered by an impious church. They scorned the superstitions +of the past not only, but they scorned the past; for the past to +them was only wrong, imposition and outrage. The French Revolution +was the inauguration of a new era. The lava of freedom long buried +beneath a mountain of wrong and injustice at last burst forth, +overwhelming the Pompeii and Herculaneum of priestcraft and +tyranny. As soon as white slavery began to decay in Europe, and +while the condition of the white slaves was improving about the +middle of the 16th century in 1541, Alonzo Gonzales, of Portugal, +pointed out to his countrymen a new field of operations, a new +market for human flesh, and in a short time the African slave-trade +with all its unspeakable horrors was inaugurated.</p> +<p>This trade has been the great crime of modern times. It is +almost impossible to conceive that nations who professed to be +Christian, or even in any degree civilized, should have engaged in +this infamous traffic. Yet nearly all of the nations of Europe +engaged in the slave-trade, legalized it, protected it, fostered +the practice, and vied with each other in acts, the bare recital of +which is enough to make the heart stand still.</p> +<p>It has been calculated that for years, at least 400,000 Africans +were either killed or enslaved annually. They crammed their ships +so full of these unfortunate wretches, that, as a general thing, +about ten per cent, died of suffocation on the voyage. They were +treated like wild beasts. In times of danger they were thrown into +the sea. Remember that this horrible traffic commenced in the +middle of the 16th century, was carried on by nations pretending to +Christian civilization, and when do you think it was abolished by +some of the principal countries? In England, Wilberforce and +Clarkson dedicated their lives to the abolition of the slave-trade. +They were hated and despised. They persevered for twenty years, and +it was not until the 25th of March, 1808, that England pronounced +the infamous traffic in human flesh illegal, and the rejoicing in +England was redoubled on receiving the news that the United States +had done the same thing. After a time, those engaged in the +slave-trade were declared pirates.</p> +<p>On the 28th day of August, 1833, England abolished slavery +throughout the British Colonies, thus giving liberty to nearly one +million slaves.</p> +<p>The United States was then the greatest slave-holding power in +the civilized world.</p> +<p>We are all acquainted with the history of slavery in this +country. We know that it corrupted our people, that it has drenched +our land in fraternal blood, that it has clad our country in +mourning for the loss of 300,000 of her bravest sons; that it +carried us back to the darkest ages of the world, that it led us to +the very brink of destruction, forced us to the shattered gates of +eternal ruin, death and annihilation. But Liberty rising above +party prejudice, Freedom lifting itself above all other +considerations,</p> +<pre> + "As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form, + Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm,— + Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, + Eternal sunshine settles on its head." +</pre> +<p>And on the 1st day of January, 1863, the grandest New Year that +ever dawned upon this continent, in accordance with the will of the +heroic North, by the sublime act of one whose name will be sacred +through all the coming years, the justice so long delayed was +accomplished, and four millions of slaves became chainless.</p> +<center>LIBERTY TRIUMPHED.</center> +<p>LIBERTY, that most sacred word, without which all other words +are vain, without which, life is worse than death, and men are +beasts! I never see the word Liberty without seeing a halo of glory +around it. It is a word worthy of the lips of a God. Can you +realize the fact that only a few years ago, the most shocking +system of slavery—the most barbarous—existed in our +country, and that you and I were bound by the laws of the United +States to stand between a human being and his liberty? That we were +absolutely compelled by law to hand back that human being to the +lash and chain? That by our laws children were sold from the arms +of mothers, wives sold from their husbands? That we executed our +laws with the assistance of bloodhounds, owned and trained by human +bloodhounds fiercer still, and that all this was not only upheld by +politicians, but by the pretended ministers of Christ? That the +pulpit was in partnership with the auction block—that the +bloodhound's bark was only an echo from many of the churches? And +that this was all done under the sacred name of Liberty, by a +republican government that was founded upon the sublime declaration +that all men are equal? This all seems to me like a horrible dream, +a nightmare of terror, a hellish impossibility. And yet, with +cheeks glowing and burning with shame, before the bar of history, +we are forced to plead guilty to this terrible charge. We made a +whip-ping-post of the cross of Christ. It is true that in a great +degree we have atoned for this national crime. Our bravest and our +best have been sacrificed. We have borne the bloody burden of war. +The good and the true have been with us, and the women of the North +have won glory imperishable. They robbed war of half its terrors. +Not content with binding the wreath of victory upon the leader's +brow, they bandaged the soldiers' wounds, they nerved the living, +comforted the dying, and smiled upon the great victory through +their tears.</p> +<p>They have consoled the hero's widow and are educating his +orphans. They have erected a monument to enlightened charity to +which time can add only grandeur. There is much, however, to be +accomplished still. Slavery has been abolished, but Progress +requires more. We are called upon to make this a free government in +the broadest sense, to give liberty to all. Standing in the +presence of all history, knowing the experience of mankind, knowing +that the earth is covered with countless wrecks of cruel failures; +appealed to by the great army of martyrs and heroes who have gone +before; by the sacred dust filling innumerable graves; by the +memory of our own noble dead; by all the suffering of the past; by +all the hopes for the future; by all the glorious dead and the +countless millions yet to be, I pray, I beseech, I implore the +American people to lay the foundation of the Government upon the +principles of eternal justice. I pray, I beseech, I implore them to +take for the corner-stone, Universal Human Liberty—the stone +which has been heretofore rejected by all the builders of nations. +The Government will then stand, and the swelling dome of the temple +will touch the stars.</p> +<a name="linkCONC2" id="linkCONC2"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /></div> +<h2>CONCLUSION</h2> +<p>I HAVE thus endeavored to show you some of the effects of +slavery, and to prove to you that a step in order to be in the +direction of progress must be in the direction of freedom; that +slavery either of body or mind is barbarism and is practiced and +defended only by infamous tyrants or their dupes. I have endeavored +to point out some of the causes of the abolition of slavery, both +of body and mind. There is one truth, however, that you must not +forget, and that is, that every evil tends to correct and abolish +itself. I believe, however, that the diffusion of knowledge, more +than everything else combined, has ameliorated the condition of +mankind. When there was no freedom of speech and no press, then +every idea perished in the brain that gave it birth. One man could +not profit by the thought of another. The experience of the past +was in a great degree unknown. And this state of things produced +the same effect in the mental world, that confining all the water +to the springs would in the physical. Confine the water to the +springs, the rivulets would cease to murmur, the rivers to flow, +and the ocean itself would become a desert of sand. But with the +invention of printing, ideas began to circulate, born of the busy +brain of the million—little rivulets of facts running into +rivers of information, and they all flowing into the great ocean of +human knowledge.</p> +<p>This exchange of ideas, this comparison of thought, has given to +each generation the advantage of all the past. This, more than all +else, has enabled man to improve his condition. It is by this that +from the log or piece of bark on which a naked savage floated, we +have by successive improvements created a man-of-war carrying a +hundred guns and miles of canvas. By these means we have changed a +handful of sand into a telescope. In the hands of science a drop of +water has become a giant, turning with swift and tireless arm the +countless wheels. The sun has become an artist painting with +shining beams the very thoughts within our eyes. The elements have +been taught to do our bidding, and the electric spark, freighted +with human thought and love, defies distance, and devours time as +it sweeps under all the waves of the sea.</p> +<p>These are some of the results of free thought and free labor. I +have barely alluded to a few—where is improvement to stop? +Science is only in its infancy. It has accomplished all this and is +in its cradle still.</p> +<p>We are standing on the shore of an infinite ocean whose +countless waves, freighted with blessings, are welcoming our +adventurous feet. Progress has been written on every soul. The +human race is advancing.</p> +<p>Forward, oh sublime army of progress, forward until law is +justice, forward until ignorance is unknown, forward while there is +a spiritual or temporal throne, forward until superstition is a +forgotten dream, forward until the world is free, forward until +human reason, clothed in the purple of authority, is king of +kings.</p> +<a name="link0012" id="link0012"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /></div> +<h2>WHAT IS RELIGION?</h2> +<pre> + * This was Col. Ingersoll's last public address, delivered + before the American Free Religious Association, in the + Hollis Street Theatre, Boston, June 2, 1899. +</pre> +<p>IT is asserted that an infinite God created all things, governs +all things, and that the creature should be obedient and thankful +to the creator; that the creator demands certain things, and that +the person who complies with these demands is religious. This kind +of religion has been substantially universal.</p> +<p>For many centuries and by many peoples it was believed that this +God demanded sacrifices; that he was pleased when parents shed the +blood of their babes. Afterward it was supposed that he was +satisfied with the blood of oxen, lambs and doves, and that in +exchange for or on account of these sacrifices, this God gave rain, +sunshine and harvest. It was also believed that if the sacrifices +were not made, this God sent pestilence, famine, flood and +earthquake.</p> +<p>The last phase of this belief in sacrifice was, according to the +Christian doctrine, that God accepted the blood of his son, and +that after his son had been murdered, he, God, was satisfied, and +wanted no more blood.</p> +<p>During all these years and by all these peoples it was believed +that this God heard and answered prayer, that he forgave sins and +saved the souls of true believers. This, in a general way, is the +definition of religion.</p> +<p>Now, the questions are, Whether religion was founded on any +known fact? Whether such a being as God exists? Whether he was the +creator of yourself and myself? Whether any prayer was ever +answered? Whether any sacrifice of babe or ox secured the favor of +this unseen God?</p> +<p><i>First</i>.—Did an infinite God create the children of +men?</p> +<p>Why did he create the intellectually inferior?</p> +<p>Why did he create the deformed and helpless?</p> +<p>Why did he create the criminal, the idiotic, the insane?</p> +<p>Can infinite wisdom and power make any excuse for the creation +of failures?</p> +<p>Are the failures under obligation to their creator?</p> +<p><i>Second</i>.—Is an infinite God the governor of this +world?</p> +<p>Is he responsible for all the chiefs, kings, emperors, and +queens?</p> +<p>Is he responsible for all the wars that have been waged, for all +the innocent blood that has been shed?</p> +<p>Is he responsible for the centuries of slavery, for the backs +that have been scarred with the lash, for the babes that have been +sold from the breasts of mothers, for the families that have been +separated and destroyed?</p> +<p>Is this God responsible for religious persecution, for the +Inquisition, for the thumb-screw and rack, and for all the +instruments of torture?</p> +<p>Did this God allow the cruel and vile to destroy the brave and +virtuous? Did he allow tyrants to shed the blood of patriots?</p> +<p>Did he allow his enemies to torture and burn his friends?</p> +<p>What is such a God worth?</p> +<p>Would a decent man, having the power to prevent it, allow his +enemies to torture and burn his friends?</p> +<p>Can we conceive of a devil base enough to prefer his enemies to +his friends?</p> +<p>If a good and infinitely powerful God governs this world, how +can we account for cyclones, earthquakes, pestilence and +famine?</p> +<p>How can we account for cancers, for microbes, for diphtheria and +the thousand diseases that prey on infancy?</p> +<p>How can we account for the wild beasts that devour human beings, +for the fanged serpents whose bite is death?</p> +<p>How can we account for a world where life feeds on life?</p> +<p>Were beak and claw, tooth and fang, invented and produced by +infinite mercy?</p> +<p>Did infinite goodness fashion the wings of the eagles so that +their fleeing prey could be overtaken?</p> +<p>Did infinite goodness create the beasts of prey with the +intention that they should devour the weak and helpless?</p> +<p>Did infinite goodness create the countless worthless living +things that breed within and feed upon the flesh of higher +forms?</p> +<p>Did infinite wisdom intentionally produce the microscopic beasts +that feed upon the optic nerve?</p> +<p>Think of blinding a man to satisfy the appetite of a +microbe!</p> +<p>Think of life feeding on life! Think of the victims! Think of +the Niagara of blood pouring over the precipice of cruelty!</p> +<p>In view of these facts, what, after all, is religion?</p> +<p>It is fear.</p> +<p>Fear builds the altar and offers the sacrifice.</p> +<p>Fear erects the cathedral and bows the head of man in +worship.</p> +<p>Fear bends the knees and utters the prayer.</p> +<p>Fear pretends to love.</p> +<p>Religion teaches the slave-virtues—obedience, humility, +self-denial, forgiveness, non-resistance.</p> +<p>Lips, religious and fearful, tremblingly repeat this passage: +"Though he slay me, yet will I trust him." This is the abyss of +degradation.</p> +<p>Religion does not teach self-reliance, independence, manliness, +courage, self-defence. Religion makes God a master and man his +serf. The master cannot be great enough to make slavery sweet.</p> +<center>II.</center> +<p>IF this God exists, how do we know that he is-I good? How can we +prove that he is merciful, that he cares for the children of men? +If this God exists, he has on many occasions seen millions of his +poor children plowing the fields, sowing and planting the grain, +and when he saw them he knew that they depended on the expected +crop for life, and yet this good God, this merciful being, withheld +the rain. He caused the sun to rise, to steal all moisture from the +land, but gave no rain. He saw the seeds that man had planted +wither and perish, but he sent no rain. He saw the people look with +sad eyes upon the barren earth, and he sent no rain. He saw them +slowly devour the little that they had, and saw them when the days +of hunger came—saw them slowly waste away, saw their hungry, +sunken eyes, heard their prayers, saw them devour the miserable +animals that they had, saw fathers and mothers, insane with hunger, +kill and eat their shriveled babes, and yet the heaven above them +was as brass and the earth beneath as iron, and he sent no rain. +Can we say that in the heart of this God there blossomed the flower +of pity? Can we say that he cared for the children of men? Can we +say that his mercy endureth forever?</p> +<p>Do we prove that this God is good because he sends the cyclone +that wrecks villages and covers the fields with the mangled bodies +of fathers, mothers and babes? Do we prove his goodness by showing +that he has opened the earth and swallowed thousands of his +helpless children, or that with the volcanoes he has overwhelmed +them with rivers of fire? Can we infer the goodness of God from the +facts we know?</p> +<p>If these calamities did not happen, would we suspect that God +cared nothing for human beings? If there were no famine, no +pestilence, no cyclone, no earthquake, would we think that God is +not good?</p> +<p>According to the theologians, God did not make all men alike. He +made races differing in intelligence, stature and color. Was there +goodness, was there wisdom in this?</p> +<p>Ought the superior races to thank God that they are not the +inferior? If we say yes, then I ask another question: Should the +inferior races thank God that they are not superior, or should they +thank God that they are not beasts?</p> +<p>When God made these different races he knew that the superior +would enslave the inferior, knew that the inferior would be +conquered, and finally destroyed.</p> +<p>If God did this, and knew the blood that would be shed, the +agonies that would be endured, saw the countless fields covered +with the corpses of the slain, saw all the bleeding backs of +slaves, all the broken hearts of mothers bereft of babes, if he saw +and knew all this, can we conceive of a more malicious fiend?</p> +<p>Why, then, should we say that God is good?</p> +<p>The dungeons against whose dripping walls the brave and generous +have sighed their souls away, the scaffolds stained and glorified +with noble blood, the hopeless slaves with scarred and bleeding +backs, the writhing martyrs clothed in flame, the virtuous +stretched on racks, their joints and muscles torn apart, the flayed +and bleeding bodies of the just, the extinguished eyes of those who +sought for truth, the countless patriots who fought and died in +vain, the burdened, beaten, weeping wives, the shriveled faces of +neglected babes, the murdered millions of the vanished years, the +victims of the winds and waves, of flood and flame, of imprisoned +forces in the earth, of lightning's stroke, of lava's molten +stream, of famine, plague and lingering pain, the mouths that drip +with blood, the fangs that poison, the beaks that wound and tear, +the triumphs of the base, the rule and sway of wrong, the crowns +that cruelty has worn and the robed hypocrites, with clasped and +bloody hands, who thanked their God—a phantom +fiend—that liberty had been banished from the world, these +souvenirs of the dreadful past, these horrors that still exist, +these frightful facts deny that any God exists who has the will and +power to guard and bless the human race.</p> +<center>III. THE POWER THAT WORKS FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS.</center> +<p>MOST people cling to the supernatural. If they give up one God, +they imagine another. Having outgrown Jehovah, they talk about the +power that works for righteousness.</p> +<p>What is this power?</p> +<p>Man advances, and necessarily advances through experience. A man +wishing to go to a certain place comes to where the road divides. +He takes the left hand, believing it to be the right road, and +travels until he finds that it is the wrong one. He retraces his +steps and takes the right hand road and reaches the place desired. +The next time he goes to the same place, he does not take the left +hand road. He has tried that road, and knows that it is the wrong +road. He takes the right road, and thereupon these theologians say, +"There is a power that works for righteousness."</p> +<p>A child, charmed by the beauty of the flame, grasps it with its +dimpled hand. The hand is burned, and after that the child keeps +its hand out of the fire. The power that works for righteousness +has taught the child a lesson.</p> +<p>The accumulated experience of the world is a power and force +that works for righteousness. This force is not conscious, not +intelligent. It has no will, no purpose. It is a result.</p> +<p>So thousands have endeavored to establish the existence of God +by the fact that we have what is called the moral sense; that is to +say, a conscience.</p> +<p>It is insisted by these theologians, and by many of the +so-called philosophers, that this moral sense, this sense of duty, +of obligation, was imported, and that conscience is an exotic. +Taking the ground that it was not produced here, was not produced +by man, they then imagine a God from whom it came.</p> +<p>Man is a social being. We live together in families, tribes and +nations.</p> +<p>The members of a family, of a tribe, of a nation, who increase +the happiness of the family, of the tribe or of the nation, are +considered good members. They are praised, admired and respected. +They are regarded as good; that is to say, as moral.</p> +<p>The members who add to the misery of the family, the tribe or +the nation, are considered bad members.</p> +<p>They are blamed, despised, punished. They are regarded as +immoral.</p> +<p>The family, the tribe, the nation, creates a standard of +conduct, of morality. There is nothing supernatural in this.</p> +<p>The greatest of human beings has said, "Conscience is born of +love."</p> +<p>The sense of obligation, of duty, was naturally produced.</p> +<p>Among savages, the immediate consequences of actions are taken +into consideration. As people advance, the remote consequences are +perceived. The standard of conduct becomes higher. The imagination +is cultivated. A man puts himself in the place of another. The +sense of duty becomes stronger, more imperative. Man judges +himself.</p> +<p>He loves, and love is the commencement, the foundation of the +highest virtues. He injures one that he loves. Then comes regret, +repentance, sorrow, conscience. In all this there is nothing +supernatural.</p> +<p>Man has deceived himself. Nature is a mirror in which man sees +his own image, and all supernatural religions rest on the pretence +that the image, which appears to be behind this mirror, has been +caught.</p> +<p>All the metaphysicians of the spiritual type, from Plato to +Swedenborg, have manufactured their facts, and all founders of +religion have done the same.</p> +<p>Suppose that an infinite God exists, what can we do for him? +Being infinite, he is conditionless; being conditionless, he cannot +be benefited or injured. He cannot want. He has.</p> +<p>Think of the egotism of a man who believes that an infinite +being wants his praise!</p> +<center>IV.</center> +<p>WHAT has our religion done? Of course, it is admitted by +Christians that all other religions are false, and consequently we +need examine only our own.</p> +<p>Has Christianity done good? Has it made men nobler, more +merciful, nearer honest? When the church had control, were men made +better and happier?</p> +<p>What has been the effect of Christianity in Italy, in Spain, in +Portugal, in Ireland?</p> +<p>What has religion done for Hungary or Austria? What was the +effect of Christianity in Switzerland, in Holland, in Scotland, in +England, in America? Let us be honest. Could these countries have +been worse without religion? Could they have been worse had they +had any other religion than Christianity?</p> +<p>Would Torquemada have been worse had he been a follower of +Zoroaster? Would Calvin have been more bloodthirsty if he had +believed in the religion of the South Sea Islanders? Would the +Dutch have been more idiotic if they had denied the Father, Son and +Holy Ghost, and worshiped the blessed trinity of sausage, beer and +cheese? Would John Knox have been any worse had he deserted Christ +and become a follower of Confucius?</p> +<p>Take our own dear, merciful Puritan Fathers? What did +Christianity do for them? They hated pleasure. On the door of life +they hung the crape of death. They muffled all the bells of +gladness. They made cradles by putting rockers on coffins. In the +Puritan year there were twelve Decembers. They tried to do away +with infancy and youth, with prattle of babes and the song of the +morning.</p> +<p>The religion of the Puritan was an unadulterated curse. The +Puritan believed the Bible to be the word of God, and this belief +has always made those who held it cruel and wretched. Would the +Puritan have been worse if he had adopted the religion of the North +American Indians?</p> +<p>Let me refer to just one fact showing the influence of a belief +in the Bible on human beings.</p> +<p>"On the day of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth she was +presented with a Geneva Bible by an old man representing Time, with +Truth standing by his side as a child. The Queen received the +Bible, kissed it, and pledged herself to diligently read therein. +In the dedication of this blessed Bible the Queen was piously +exhorted to put all Papists to the sword."</p> +<p>In this incident we see the real spirit of Protestant lovers of +the Bible. In other words, it was just as fiendish, just as +infamous as the Catholic spirit.</p> +<p>Has the Bible made the people of Georgia kind and merciful? +Would the lynchers be more ferocious if they worshiped gods of wood +and stone?</p> +<center>VII. HOW CAN MANKIND BE REFORMED WITHOUT RELIGION?</center> +<p>RELIGION has been tried, and in all countries, in all times, has +failed.</p> +<p>Religion has never made man merciful.</p> +<p>Remember the Inquisition.</p> +<p>What effect did religion have on slavery?</p> +<p>What effect upon Libby, Saulsbury and Andersonville?</p> +<p>Religion has always been the enemy of science, of investigation +and thought.</p> +<p>Religion has never made man free.</p> +<p>It has never made man moral, temperate, industrious and +honest.</p> +<p>Are Christians more temperate, nearer virtuous, nearer honest +than savages?</p> +<p>Among savages do we not find that their vices and cruelties are +the fruits of their superstitions?</p> +<p>To those who believe in the Uniformity of Nature, religion is +impossible.</p> +<p>Can we affect the nature and qualities of substance by prayer? +Can we hasten or delay the tides by worship? Can we change winds by +sacrifice? Will kneelings give us wealth? Can we cure disease by +supplication? Can we add to our knowledge by ceremony? Can we +receive virtue or honor as alms?</p> +<p>Are not the facts in the mental world just as +stubborn—just as necessarily produced—as the facts in +the material world? Is not what we call mind just as natural as +what we call body?</p> +<p>Religion rests on the idea that Nature has a master and that +this master will listen to prayer; that this master punishes and +rewards; that he loves praise and flattery and hates the brave and +free.</p> +<p>Has man obtained any help from heaven?</p> +<center>VI.</center> +<p>IF we have a theory, we must have facts for the foundation. We +must have corner-stones. We must not build on guesses, fancies, +analogies or inferences. The structure must have a basement. If we +build, we must begin at the bottom.</p> +<p>I have a theory and I have four corner-stones.</p> +<p>The first stone is that matter—substance—cannot be +destroyed, cannot be annihilated.</p> +<p>The second stone is that force cannot be destroyed, cannot be +annihilated.</p> +<p>The third stone is that matter and force cannot exist +apart—no matter without force—no force without +matter.</p> +<p>The fourth stone is that that which cannot be destroyed could +not have been created; that the indestructible is the +uncreatable.</p> +<p>If these corner-stones are facts, it follows as a necessity that +matter and force are from and to eternity; that they can neither be +increased nor diminished.</p> +<p>It follows that nothing has been or can be created; that there +never has been or can be a creator.</p> +<p>It follows that there could not have been any intelligence, any +design back of matter and force.</p> +<p>There is no intelligence without force. There is no force +without matter. Consequently there could not by any possibility +have been any intelligence, any force, back of matter.</p> +<p>It therefore follows that the supernatural does not and cannot +exist. If these four corner-stones are facts, Nature has no master. +If matter and force are from and to eternity, it follows as a +necessity that no God exists; that no God created or governs the +universe; that no God exists who answers prayer; no God who succors +the oppressed; no God who pities the sufferings of innocence; no +God who cares for the slaves with scarred flesh, the mothers robbed +of their babes; no God who rescues the tortured, and no God that +saves a martyr from the flames. In other words, it proves that man +has never received any help from heaven; that all sacrifices have +been in vain, and that all prayers have died unanswered in the +heedless air. I do not pretend to know. I say what I think.</p> +<p>If matter and force have existed from eternity, it then follows +that all that has been possible has happened, all that is possible +is happening, and all that will be possible will happen.</p> +<p>In the universe there is no chance, no caprice. Every event has +parents.</p> +<p>That which has not happened, could not. The present is the +necessary product of all the past, the necessary cause of all the +future.</p> +<p>In the infinite chain there is, and there can be, no broken, no +missing link. The form and motion of every star, the climate of +every world, all forms of vegetable and animal life, all instinct, +intelligence and conscience, all assertions and denials, all vices +and virtues, all thoughts and dreams, all hopes and fears, are +necessities. Not one of the countless things and relations in the +universe could have been different.</p> +<center>VII.</center> +<p>IF matter and force are from eternity, then we can say that man +had no intelligent creator—that man was not a special +creation.</p> +<p>We now know, if we know anything, that Jehovah, the divine +potter, did not mix and mould clay into the forms of men and women, +and then breathe the breath of life into these forms.</p> +<p>We now know that our first parents were not foreigners. We know +that they were natives of this world, produced here, and that their +life did not come from the breath of any god. We now know, if we +know anything, that the universe is natural, and that men and women +have been naturally produced. We now know our ancestors, our +pedigree. We have the family tree.</p> +<p>We have all the links of the chain, twenty-six links inclusive +from moner to man.</p> +<p>We did not get our information from inspired books. We have +fossil facts and living forms.</p> +<p>From the simplest creatures, from blind sensation, from organism +from one vague want, to a single cell with a nucleus, to a hollow +ball filled with fluid, to a cup with double walls, to a flat worm, +to a something that begins to breathe, to an organism that has a +spinal chord, to a link between the invertebrate to the vertebrate, +to one that has a cranium—a house for a brain—to one +with fins, still onward to one with fore and hinder fins, to the +reptile mammalia, to the marsupials, to the lemures, dwellers in +trees, to the simiæ, to the pithecanthropi, and lastly, to +man.</p> +<p>We know the paths that life has traveled. We know the footsteps +of advance. They have been traced. The last link has been found. +For this we are indebted, more than to all others, to the greatest +of biologists, Ernst Haeckel.</p> +<p>We now believe that the universe is natural and we deny the +existence of the supernatural.</p> +<p>VIII. Reform.</p> +<p>FOR thousands of years men and women have been trying to reform +the world. They have created gods and devils, heavens and hells; +they have written sacred books, performed miracles, built +cathedrals and dungeons; they have crowned and uncrowned kings and +queens; they have tortured and imprisoned, flayed alive and burned; +they have preached and prayed; they have tried promises and +threats; they have coaxed and persuaded; they have preached and +taught, and in countless ways have endeavored to make people +honest, temperate, industrious and virtuous; they have built +hospitals and asylums, universities and schools, and seem to have +done their very best to make mankind better and happier, and yet +they have not succeeded.</p> +<p>Why have the reformers failed? I will tell them why.</p> +<p>Ignorance, poverty and vice are populating the world. The gutter +is a nursery. People unable even to support themselves fill the +tenements, the huts and hovels with children. They depend on the +Lord, on luck and charity. They are not intelligent enough to think +about consequences or to feel responsibility. At the same time they +do not want children, because a child is a curse, a curse to them +and to itself. The babe is not welcome, because it is a burden. +These unwelcome children fill the jails and prisons, the asylums +and hospitals, and they crowd the scaffolds. A few are rescued by +chance or charity, but the great majority are failures, They become +vicious, ferocious. They live by fraud and violence, and bequeath +their vices to their children.</p> +<p>Against this inundation of vice the forces of reform are +helpless, and charity itself becomes an unconscious promoter of +crime.</p> +<p>Failure seems to be the trademark of Nature. Why? Nature has no +design, no intelligence. Nature produces without purpose, sustains +without intention and destroys without thought. Man has a little +intelligence, and he should use it. Intelligence is the only lever +capable of raising mankind.</p> +<p>The real question is, can we prevent the ignorant, the poor, the +vicious, from filling the world with their children?</p> +<p>Can we prevent this Missouri of ignorance and vice from emptying +into the Mississippi of civilization?</p> +<p>Must the world forever remain the victim of ignorant passion? +Can the world be civilized to that degree that consequences will be +taken into consideration by all?</p> +<p>Why should men and women have children that they cannot take +care of, children that are burdens and curses? Why? Because they +have more passion than intelligence, more passion than conscience, +more passion than reason.</p> +<p>You cannot reform these people with tracts and talk. You cannot +reform these people with preach and creed. Passion is, and always +has been, deaf. These weapons of reform are substantially useless. +Criminals, tramps, beggars and failures are increasing every day. +The prisons, jails, poorhouses and asylums are crowded. Religion is +helpless. Law can punish, but it can neither reform criminals nor +prevent crime. The tide of vice is rising. The war that is now +being waged against the forces of evil is as hopeless as the battle +of the fireflies against the darkness of night.</p> +<p>There is but one hope. Ignorance, poverty and vice must stop +populating the world. This cannot be done by moral suasion. This +cannot be done by talk or example. This cannot be done by religion +or by law, by priest or by hangman. This cannot be done by force, +physical or moral.</p> +<p>To accomplish this there is but one way. Science must make woman +the owner, the mistress of herself. Science, the only possible +savior of mankind, must put it in the power of woman to decide for +herself whether she will or will not become a mother.</p> +<p>This is the solution of the whole question. This frees woman. +The babes that are then born will be welcome. They will be clasped +with glad hands to happy breasts. They will fill homes with light +and joy.</p> +<p>Men and women who believe that slaves are purer, truer, than the +free, who believe that fear is a safer guide than knowledge, that +only those are really good who obey the commands of others, and +that ignorance is the soil in which the perfect, perfumed flower of +virtue grows, will with protesting hands hide their shocked +faces.</p> +<p>Men and women who think that light is the enemy of virtue, that +purity dwells in darkness, that it is dangerous for human beings to +know themselves and the facts in Nature that affect their well +being, will be horrified at the thought of making intelligence the +master of passion.</p> +<p>But I look forward to the time when men and women by reason of +their knowledge of consequences, of the morality born of +intelligence, will refuse to perpetuate disease and pain, will +refuse to fill the world with failures.</p> +<p>When that time comes the prison walls will fall, the dungeons +will be flooded with light, and the shadow of the scaffold will +cease to curse the earth. Poverty and crime will be childless. The +withered hands of want will not be stretched for alms. They will be +dust. The whole world will be intelligent, virtuous and free.</p> +<center>IX.</center> +<p>RELIGION can never reform mankind because religion is +slavery.</p> +<p>It is far better to be free, to leave the forts and barricades +of fear, to stand erect and face the future with a smile.</p> +<p>It is far better to give yourself sometimes to negligence, to +drift with wave and tide, with the blind force of the world, to +think and dream, to forget the chains and limitations of the +breathing life, to forget purpose and object, to lounge in the +picture gallery of the brain, to feel once more the clasps and +kisses of the past, to bring life's morning back, to see again the +forms and faces of the dead, to paint fair pictures for the coming +years, to forget all Gods, their promises and threats, to feel +within your veins life's joyous stream and hear the martial music, +the rhythmic beating of your fearless heart.</p> +<p>And then to rouse yourself to do all useful things, to reach +with thought and deed the ideal in your brain, to give your fancies +wing, that they, like chemist bees, may find art's nectar in the +weeds of common things, to look with trained and steady eyes for +facts, to find the subtle threads that join the distant with the +now, to increase knowledge, to take burdens from the weak, to +develop the brain, to defend the right, to make a palace for the +soul.</p> +<p>This is real religion. This is real worship.</p> +<div style="height: 6em;"><br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<br /> +<table summary="" border="3" cellpadding="4"> +<tbody> +<tr> +<td><big><big><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38813/38813-h/38813-h.htm"> +TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR ALL 12 EBOOKS IN THIS SET</a></big></big></td> +<td></td> +</tr> +</tbody> +</table> +<br /> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /></div> +</body> +</html> |
