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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/38804-8.txt b/38804-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c056a74 --- /dev/null +++ b/38804-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10907 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 4 +(of 12), by Robert G. Ingersoll + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 4 (of 12) + Dresden Edition--Lectures + +Author: Robert G. Ingersoll + +Release Date: February 9, 2012 [EBook #38804] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORKS OF INGERSOLL *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + + +THE WORKS OF ROBERT G. INGERSOLL + +By Robert G. Ingersoll + +"The Hands That Help Are Better Far Than Lips That Pray." + +In Twelve Volumes, Volume IV. + +1900 + +THE DRESDEN EDITION + + + +CONTENTS OF VOLUME IV. + +WHY I AM AN AGNOSTIC. + +(1896.) + +I. Influence of Birth in determining Religious Belief--Scotch, Irish, +English, and Americans Inherit their Faith--Religions of Nations +not Suddenly Changed--People who Knew--What they were Certain +About--Revivals--Character of Sermons Preached--Effect of Conversion--A +Vermont Farmer for whom Perdition had no Terrors--The Man and his +Dog--Backsliding and Re-birth--Ministers who were Sincere--A Free Will +Baptist on the Rich Man and Lazarus--II. The Orthodox God--The +Two Dispensations--The Infinite Horror--III. Religious Books--The +Commentators--Paley's Watch Argument--Milton, Young, and Pollok--IV. +Studying Astronomy--Geology--Denial and Evasion by the Clergy--V. The +Poems of Robert Burns--Byron, Shelley, Keats, and Shakespeare--VI. +Volney, Gibbon, and Thomas Paine--Voltaire's Services to Liberty--Pagans +Compared with Patriarchs--VII. Other Gods and Other Religions--Dogmas, +Myths, and Symbols of Christianity Older than our Era--VIII. The Men +of Science, Humboldt, Darwin, Spencer, Huxley, Haeckel--IX. Matter and +Force Indestructible and Uncreatable--The Theory of Design--X. God an +Impossible Being--The Panorama of the Past--XI. Free from Sanctified +Mistakes and Holy Lies. + +THE TRUTH. + +(1897.) + +I. The Martyrdom of Man--How is Truth to be Found--Every Man should be +Mentally Honest--He should be Intellectually Hospitable--Geologists, +Chemists, Mechanics, and Professional Men are Seeking for the Truth--II. +Those who say that Slavery is Better than Liberty--Promises are not +Evidence--Horace Greeley and the Cold Stove--III. "The Science of +Theology" the only Dishonest Science--Moses and Brigham Young--Minds +Poisoned and Paralyzed in Youth--Sunday Schools and Theological +Seminaries--Orthodox Slanderers of Scientists--Religion has nothing +to do with Charity--Hospitals Built in Self-Defence--What Good has the +Church Accomplished?--Of what use are the Orthodox Ministers, and +What are they doing for the Good of Mankind--The Harm they are +Doing--Delusions they Teach--Truths they Should Tell about the +Bible--Conclusions--Our Christs and our Miracles. + +HOW TO REFORM MANKIND. + +(1896.) + +I. "There is no Darkness but Ignorance"--False Notions Concerning +All Departments of Life--Changed Ideas about Science, Government and +Morals--II. How can we Reform the World?--Intellectual Light the First +Necessity--Avoid Waste of Wealth in War--III. Another Waste--Vast Amount +of Money Spent on the Church--IV. Plow can we Lessen Crime?--Frightful +Laws for the Punishment of Minor Crimes--A Penitentiary should be a +School--Professional Criminals should not be Allowed to Populate the +Earth--V. Homes for All-Make a Nation of Householders--Marriage +and Divorce-VI. The Labor Question--Employers cannot Govern +Prices--Railroads should Pay Pensions--What has been Accomplished +for the Improvement of the Condition of Labor--VII. Educate the +Children--Useless Knowledge--Liberty cannot be Sacrificed for the Sake +of Anything--False worship of Wealth--VIII. We must Work and Wait. + +A THANKSGIVING SERMON. + +(1897.) + +I. Our fathers Ages Ago--From Savagery to Civilization--For the +Blessings we enjoy, Whom should we Thank?--What Good has the Church +Done?-Did Christ add to the Sum of Useful Knowledge--The Saints--What +have the Councils and Synods Done?--What they Gave us, and What they +did Not--Shall we Thank them for the Hell Here and for the Hell of +the Future?--II. What Does God Do?--The Infinite Juggler and his +Puppets--What the Puppets have Done--Shall we Thank these +Gods?--Shall we Thank Nature?--III. Men who deserve our Thanks--The +Infidels, Philanthropists and Scientists--The Discoverers and +Inventors--Magellan--Copernicus--Bruno--Galileo--Kepler, Herschel, +Newton, and LaPlace--Lyell--What the Worldly have Done--Origin and +Vicissitudes of the Bible--The Septuagint--Investigating the Phenomena +of Nature--IV. We thank the Good Men and Good Women of the Past--The +Poets, Dramatists, and Artists--The Statesmen--Paine, Jefferson, +Ericsson, Lincoln. Grant--Voltaire, Humboldt, Darwin. + +A LAY SERMON. + +(1886.) + +Prayer of King Lear--When Honesty wears a Rag and Rascality a Robe-The +Nonsense of "Free Moral Agency "--Doing Right is not Self-denial-Wealth +often a Gilded Hell--The Log House--Insanity of Getting +More--Great Wealth the Mother of Crime--Separation of Rich and +Poor--Emulation--Invention of Machines to Save Labor--Production and +Destitution--The Remedy a Division of the Land--Evils of Tenement +Houses--Ownership and Use--The Great Weapon is the Ballot--Sewing +Women--Strikes and Boycotts of No Avail--Anarchy, Communism, and +Socialism--The Children of the Rich a Punishment for Wealth--Workingmen +Not a Danger--The Criminals a Necessary Product--Society's Right +to Punish--The Efficacy of Kindness--Labor is Honorable--Mental +Independence. + +THE FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH. + +(1895.) + +I. The Old Testament--Story of the Creation--Age of the Earth and +of Man--Astronomical Calculations of the Egyptians--The Flood--The +Firmament a Fiction--Israelites who went into Egypt--Battles of the +Jews--Area of Palestine--Gold Collected by David for the Temple--II. The +New Testament--Discrepancies about the Birth of Christ--Herod and +the Wise Men--The Murder of the Babes of Bethlehem--When was Christ +born--Cyrenius and the Census of the World--Genealogy of Christ +according to Matthew and Luke--The Slaying of Zacharias--Appearance of +the Saints at the Crucifixion--The Death of Judas Iscariot--Did +Christ wish to be Convicted?--III. Jehovah--IV. The Trinity--The +Incarnation--Was Christ God?--The Trinity Expounded--"Let us pray"--V. +The Theological Christ--Sayings of a Contradictory Character--Christ a +Devout Jew--An ascetic--His Philosophy--The Ascension--The Best that Can +be Said about Christ--The Part that is beautiful and Glorious--The Other +Side--VI. The Scheme of Redemption--VII. Belief--Eternal Pain--No Hope +in Hell, Pity in Heaven, or Mercy in the Heart of God--VIII. Conclusion. + +SUPERSTITION. + +(1898.) + +I. What is Superstition?--Popular Beliefs about the Significance +of Signs, Lucky and Unlucky Numbers, Days, Accidents, Jewels, +etc.--Eclipses, Earthquakes, and Cyclones as Omens--Signs and Wonders +of the Heavens--Efficacy of Bones and Rags of Saints--Diseases and +Devils--II. Witchcraft--Necromancers--What is a Miracle?--The Uniformity +of Nature--III. Belief in the Existence of Good Spirits or Angels--God +and the Devil--When Everything was done by the Supernatural--IV. All +these Beliefs now Rejected by Men of Intelligence--The Devil's Success +Made the Coming of Christ a Necessity--"Thou shalt not Suffer a Witch +to Live"--Some Biblical Angels--Vanished Visions--V. Where are Heaven +and Hell?--Prayers Never Answered--The Doctrine of Design--Why Worship +our Ignorance?--Would God Lead us into Temptation?--President McKinley's +Thanks giving for the Santiago Victory--VI. What Harm Does Superstition +Do?--The Heart Hardens and the Brain Softens--What Superstition has Done +and Taught--Fate of Spain--Of Portugal, Austria, Germany--VII. Inspired +Books--Mysteries added to by the Explanations of Theologians--The +Inspired Bible the Greatest Curse of Christendom--VIII. Modifications +of Jehovah--Changing the Bible--IX. Centuries of Darkness--The Church +Triumphant--When Men began to Think--X. Possibly these Superstitions are +True, but We have no Evidence--We Believe in the Natural--Science is the +Real Redeemer. + +THE DEVIL. + +(1899.) + +I. If the Devil should Die, would God Make Another?--How was the Idea +of a Devil Produced--Other Devils than Ours--Natural Origin of these +Monsters--II. The Atlas of Christianity is The Devil--The Devil of the +Old Testament--The Serpent in Eden--"Personifications" of Evil--Satan +and Job--Satan and David--III. Take the Devil from the Drama +of Christianity and the Plot is Gone--Jesus Tempted by the Evil +One--Demoniac Possession--Mary Magdalene--Satan and Judas--Incubi +and Succubi--The Apostles believed in Miracles and Magic--The Pool of +Bethesda--IV. The Evidence of the Church--The Devil was forced to +Father the Failures of God--Belief of the Fathers of the Church +in Devils--Exorcism at the Baptism of an Infant in the Sixteenth +Century--Belief in Devils made the Universe a Madhouse presided over by +an Insane God--V. Personifications of the Devil--The Orthodox Ostrich +Thrusts his Head into the Sand--If Devils are Personifications so are +all the Other Characters of the Bible--VI. Some Queries about the +Devil, his Place of Residence, his Manner of Living, and his Object in +Life--Interrogatories to the Clergy--VII. The Man of Straw the Master +of the Orthodox Ministers--His recent Accomplishments--VIII. Keep the +Devils out of Children--IX. Conclusion.--Declaration of the Free. + +PROGRESS. + +(1860-64.) + +The Prosperity of the World depends upon its Workers--Veneration for the +Ancient--Credulity and Faith of the Middle Ages--Penalty for Reading +the Scripture in the Mother Tongue--Unjust, Bloody, and Cruel Laws--The +Reformers too were Persecutors--Bigotry of Luther and Knox--Persecution +of Castalio--Montaigne against Torture in France--"Witchcraft" (chapter +on)--Confessed Wizards--A Case before Sir Matthew Hale--Belief +in Lycanthropy--Animals Tried and Executed--Animals received +as Witnesses--The Corsned or Morsel of Execution--Kepler an +Astrologer--Luther's Encounter with the Devil--Mathematician +Stoefflers, Astronomical Prediction of a Flood--Histories Filled with +Falsehood--Legend about the Daughter of Pharaoh invading Scotland and +giving the Country her name--A Story about Mohammed--A History of the +Britains written by Archdeacons--Ingenuous Remark of Eusebius--Progress +in the Mechanic Arts--England at the beginning of the Eighteenth +Century--Barbarous Punishments--Queen Elizabeth's Order Concerning +Clergymen and Servant Girls--Inventions of Watt, Arkwright, and +Others--Solomon's Deprivations--Language (chapter on)--Belief that the +Hebrew was< the original Tongue--Speculations about the Language +of Paradise--Geography (chapter on)--The Works of Cosmas--Printing +Invented--Church's Opposition to Books--The Inquisition--The +Reformation--"Slavery" (chapter on)--Voltaire's Remark on Slavery as +a Contract--White Slaves in Greece, Rome, England, Scotland, and +France--Free minds make Free Bodies--Causes of the Abolition of White +Slavery in Europe--The French Revolution--The African Slave Trade, +its Beginning and End--Liberty Triumphed (chapter head)--Abolition of +Chattel Slavery--Conclusion. + +WHAT IS RELIGION? + +(1899.) + +I. Belief in God and Sacrifice--Did an Infinite God Create the Children +of Men and is he the Governor of the Universe?--II. If this God Exists, +how do we Know he is Good?--Should both the Inferior and the Superior +thank God for their Condition?--III. The Power that Works for +Righteousness--What is this Power?--The Accumulated Experience of the +World is a Power Working for Good?--Love the Commencement of the Higher +Virtues--IV. What has our Religion Done?--Would Christians have been +Worse had they Adopted another Faith?--V. How Can Mankind be Reformed +Without Religion?--VI. The Four Corner-stones of my Theory--VII. Matter +and Force Eternal--Links in the Chain of Evolution--VIII. Reform--The +Gutter as a Nursery--Can we Prevent the Unfit from Filling the World +with their Children?--Science must make Woman the Owner and Mistress +of Herself--Morality Born of Intelligence--IX. Real Religion and Real +Worship. + + + + +WHY I AM AN AGNOSTIC. + + +I. + +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. + +Environment is a sculptor--a painter. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +In those days ministers depended on revivals to save souls and reform +the world. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +These sermons made but faint impressions on my mind. I was not +convinced. + +I had no desire to be "converted," did not want a "new heart" and had no +wish to be "born again." + +But I heard one sermon that touched my heart, that left its mark, like a +scar, on my brain. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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.'" + +"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.'" + +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." + +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. + + +II. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +These are the words of "eternal love." + +No human being has imagination enough to conceive of this infinite +horror. + +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. + +This is the consolation of the Christian religion. This is the justice +of God--the mercy of Christ. + +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. + +Like a venomous serpent it crawls and coils and hisses in every orthodox +creed. + +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. + +Nothing could add to the horror of hell, except the presence of its +creator, God. + +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. + +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. + +For centuries Christendom was a madhouse. Popes, cardinals, bishops, +priests, monks and heretics were all insane. + +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. + +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. + + +III. + +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. + +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. + +To while away the time I read Calvin's Institutes, a book calculated to +produce, in any natural mind, considerable respect for the Devil. + +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. + +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 _not_ have had a maker. This is what the lawyers call a departure +in pleading. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +And yet I have kindness and candor enough to say that Calvin and Edwards +were both insane. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +We had the Book of Martyrs, showing that Christians had for many +centuries imitated the God they worshiped. + +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. + +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. + + +IV. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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? + +Yet millions of people insist that the writer of Genesis was inspired by +the Creator of all worlds. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +In every way the clergy sought to evade the facts, to dodge the truth, +to preserve the creed. + +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. + +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. + +Anything they could not dodge, they swallowed, and anything they could +not swallow, they dodged. + +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. + +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. + +V. + +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. + +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. + +I read and read again with rapture, tears and smiles, feeling that a +great heart was throbbing in the lines. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The sacred books of all the world are worthless dross and common stones +compared with Shakespeare's glittering gold and gleaming gems. + + +VI. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +In Philadelphia, Paine was employed to write for the _Pennsylvania +Magazine_. 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. + +From this you see that he suggested the great reforms of our century. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +No one has answered--no one will answer, his argument against the dogma +of inspiration--his objections to the Bible. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +I read Zeno, the man who said, centuries before our Christ was born, +that man could not own his fellow-man. + +"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." + +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?" + +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." + +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. + +Diogenes must have know of this "inspired" passage--"Without the +shedding of blood there is no remission of sins." + +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. + + +VII. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The history of these gods is the exact history of our Christ. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +The Egyptians had a Trinity. They worshiped Osiris, Isis and Horus, +thousands of years before the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were known. + +The Tree of Life grew in India, in China, and among the Aztecs, long +before the Garden of Eden was planted. + +Long before our Bible was known, other nations had their sacred books. + +The dogmas of the Fall of Man, the Atonement and Salvation by Faith, are +far older than our religion. + +In our blessed gospel,--in our "divine scheme,"--there is nothing +new--nothing original. All old--all borrowed, pieced and patched. + +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. + + +VIII. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The theological view began to look small and mean. + +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. + +Theology looked more absurd than ever. + +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. + +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. + +Theology looked smaller still. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +IX. + +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. + +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. + +Then I took another step. + +If matter cannot be destroyed, cannot be annihilated, it could not have +been created. + +The indestructible must be uncreateable. + +And then I asked myself: What is force? + +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. + +If force cannot be destroyed it could not have been created. It is +eternal. + +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. + +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. + +Matter and force were not created. They have existed from eternity. They +cannot be destroyed. + +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? + +There can be goodness without much intelligence--but it seems to me +that perfect intelligence and perfect goodness must go together. + +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. + +To me it seems infinitely cruel for life to feed on life--to create +animals that devour others. + +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. + +How can the orthodox Christian explain these things? + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +The same God made the eagle, the vulture, the hawk, and their helpless +prey. + +On every hand there seems to be design to defeat design. + +If God created man--if he is the father of us all, why did he make the +criminals, the insane, the deformed and idiotic? + +Should the inferior man thank God? Should the mother, who clasps to her +breast an idiot child, thank God? Should the slave thank God? + +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? + +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? + +And yet, according to the theologians, this is exactly the course +pursued by God. + +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. + +Who has ingenuity enough to explain this? + +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? + +If God governs the world, why is innocence not a perfect shield? Why +does injustice triumph? + +Who can answer these questions? + +In answer, the intelligent, honest man must say: I do not know. + + +X. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +For thousands of ages men and women have been trying to love the +gods--trying to soften their hearts--trying to get their aid. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Is there a God? + +I do not know. + +Is man immortal? + +I do not know. + +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. + +We wait and hope. + + +XI. + +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. + +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. + +Let us be true to ourselves--true to the facts we know, and let us, +above all things, preserve the veracity of our souls. + +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. + +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. + + + + +THE TRUTH. + + +I. + +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. + +But the world is changing. We are tired of barbarian bibles and savage +creeds. + +Nothing is greater, nothing is of more importance, than to find amid the +errors and darkness of this life, a shining truth. + +Truth is the intellectual wealth of the world. + +The noblest of occupations is to search for truth. + +Truth is the foundation, the superstructure, and the glittering dome of +progress. + +Truth is the mother of joy. Truth civilizes, ennobles, and purifies. The +grandest ambition that can enter the soul is to know the truth. + +Truth gives man the greatest power for good. Truth is sword and shield. +It is the sacred light of the soul. + +The man who finds a truth lights a torch. + +How is Truth to be Found? + +By investigation, experiment and reason. + +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. + +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. + +There is no real investigation without freedom--freedom from the fear of +gods and men. + +So, all investigation--all experiment--should be pursued in the light of +reason. + +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, _in +accordance with his reason_, should be his guide and master. + +To love the truth, thus perceived, is mental virtue--intellectual +purity. This is true manhood. This is freedom. + +To throw away your reason at the command of churches, popes, parties, +kings or gods, is to be a serf, a slave. + +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. + +Every Man Should be Mentally Honest. + +He should preserve as his most precious jewel the perfect veracity of +his soul. + +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. + +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. + +He Should be Intellectually Hospitable. + +Prejudice, egotism, hatred, contempt, disdain, are the enemies of truth +and progress. + +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. + +Nothing but falsehood needs the assistance of fame and place, of robes +and mitres, of tiaras and crowns. + +The wise, the really honest and intelligent, are not swayed or governed +by numbers--by majorities. + +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. + +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. + +This is the course pursued by wise and honest men, and no other course +is possible for them. + +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. + +The chemist, with crucible and retort, with countless experiments, is +trying to find the qualities of substances--to ravel what nature has +woven. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Every man should have the courage to give his honest thought. This makes +the finder and publisher of truth a public benefactor. + +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. + +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. + +Who knows that they are sacred? Can anything be sacred to us that we do +not know to be true? + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +II. + +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. + +All the popes and priests, all the orthodox churches and clergymen, say +that they have a revelation from God. + +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." + +"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!" + +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." + +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." + +This is the freedom of the Catholic Church. + +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. + +It is his duty to cast out from the temple of his soul the goddess +Reason, and bow before the coiled serpent of Fear. + +This is what the church calls virtue. + +Under these conditions what can thought be worth? The brain, swept by +the sirocco of God's curse, becomes a desert. + +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. + +To those who believe, it promises the endless ecstasies of heaven. If it +cannot frighten, it will bribe. It relies on fear and hope. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Is it honest to offer a reward for belief? + +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. + +The bribe is not evidence. + +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. + +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? + +Intelligent people would ask not for rewards, but reasons. Only +hypocrites would ask for the money. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The true man, when asked to believe, asks for evidence. The true man, +who asks another to believe, offers evidence. + +But this is not all. + +In spite of the threat of eternal pain--of the promise of everlasting +joy, unbelievers increased, and the churches took another step. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +They warm their hands at the imaginary fires of hell. + +I show them that hell does not exist and they denounce me for destroying +their consolation. + +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. + +In a few minutes, a little boy who clerked in the store said: "Mr. +Greeley, there aint no fire in that stove." + +"You d----d little rascal," said Greeley, "What did you tell me for, I +was getting real warm." + + +III. + +"THE SCIENCE OF THEOLOGY." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +There is none. + +Theology is entirely independent of evidence. + +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? + +The theologians depend on assertions. They have no evidence. They +claim that their inspired book is superior to reason and independent of +evidence. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +You see every soul is a sculptor that fashions the features, and in this +way reveals itself. + +Every thought leaves its impress. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +In every orthodox pulpit stood a traducer of the greatest of +scientists--of one who filled the world with intellectual light. + +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. + +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. + +What valuable fact has been proclaimed from an orthodox pulpit? What +ecclesiastical council has added to the intellectual wealth of the +world? + +Many centuries ago the church gave to Christendom a code of laws, +stupid, unphilosophic and brutal to the last degree. + +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? + +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. + +So, ministers say that they teach charity. This is natural. They live on +alms. All beggars teach that others should give. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The church denies the eternal, inexorable sequence of events. + +What Good has the Church Accomplished? + +It claims to have preached peace because its founder said, "I came not +to bring peace but a sword." + +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. + +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. + +In the name of Christ, who threatened eternal revenge, it has preached +forgiveness. + +Of what Use are the Orthodox Ministers? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +What are the Orthodox Clergy Doing for the Good of Mankind? + +Absolutely nothing. + +What harm are they doing? + +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. + +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. + +Superstition is the serpent that crawls and hisses in every Eden and +fastens its poisonous fangs in the hearts of men. + +It is the deadliest foe of the human race. + +Superstition is a beggar--a robber, a tyrant. + +Science is a benefactor. + +Superstition sheds blood. + +Science sheds light. + +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. + +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. + +All these mistakes and illusions and delusions--all these miracles and +myths must fade from the minds of intelligent men. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +These ministers ought to know that their creeds are based on imagined +facts and demonstrated by assertion. + +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. + +The God of the Christian is an enthroned guess--a perhaps--an inference. + +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. + +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. + +We know that men and women and children exist. We know that happiness, +for the most part, depends on conduct. + +We are satisfied that all the gods are phantoms and that the +supernatural does not exist. + +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. + + +CONCLUSION. + +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. + +The nursery should not be an asylum for lies. + +Parents should be modest enough to be truthful--honest enough to +admit their ignorance. Nothing should be taught as true that cannot be +demonstrated. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Ignorance is the mother of mystery and misery, of superstition and +sorrow, of waste and want. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +A new era is dawning on the world. We are beginning to believe in the +religion of usefulness. + +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. + +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. + + + + +HOW TO REFORM MANKIND. + + * This address was delivered before the Militant Church at + the Columbia Theatre, Chicago, Ills., April 12, 1896. + + +I. + +"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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Every brain is a field where nature sows the seeds of thought, and the +crop depends upon the soil. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +In medicine he believed in charms, magic, amulets, and incantations. It +never occurred to the savage that diseases were natural. + +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. + +In mechanics he searched for perpetual motion, believing that he, by +some curious combinations of levers, could produce, could create a +force. + +In government, he found the source of authority in the will of the +supernatural. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Every science rests on the natural, on demonstrated facts. So, morality +and religion must find their foundations in the necessary nature of +things. + + +II. HOW CAN WE REFORM THE WORLD? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + + +III. ANOTHER WASTE. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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: + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +Now, it seems to me that such a congregation in a few years would become +the most intelligent people in the United States. + +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. + + "There is no darkness but ignorance." + There is no light but intelligence, + +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. + +I blame no one; I call in question the motives of no person; I admit +that the world has acted as it must. + +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. + +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. + + +IV. HOW CAN WE LESSEN CRIME? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Neither the diseases nor the deformities of the mind or body should be +perpetuated. Life at the fountain should not be polluted. + + +V. HOMES FOR ALL. + +THE home is the unit of the nation. The more homes the broader the +foundation of the nation and the more secure. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +There will never be a generation of great men until there has been a +generation of free women--of free mothers. + +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! + + +VI. THE LABOR QUESTION. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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"? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +VII. EDUCATE THE CHILDREN. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +VIII. WE MUST WORK AND WAIT. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + "There is no darkness but ignorance." + Let us flood the world with intellectual light. + + + + +A THANKSGIVING SERMON. + +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. + +These poor wretches were the slaves of fear, the sport of dreams. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +For the blessings we enjoy--for the happiness that is ours, we ought to +be grateful. Our hearts should blossom with thankfulness. + +Whom, what, should we thank? + +Let us be honest--generous. + +Should we thank the church? + +Christianity has controlled Christendom for at least fifteen hundred +years. + +During these centuries what have the orthodox churches accomplished, for +the good of man? + +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. + +What good has the church done? + +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? + +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? + +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? + +What has the church done? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +What has the church done? + +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. + +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. + +What has the church done? + +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. + +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." + +What has the church done? + +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? + +I admit that they looked over a number of Jewish books and picked out +the ones that Jehovah wrote. + +Did they find the medicinal virtue that dwells in any weed or flower? + +I know that they decided that the Holy Ghost was not created--not +begotten--but that he proceeded. + +Did they teach us the mysteries of the metals and how to purify the ores +in furnace flames? + +They shouted: "Great is the mystery of Godliness." + +Did they show us how to improve our condition in this world? + +They informed us that Christ had two natures and two wills. + +Did they give us even a hint as to any useful thing? + +They gave us predestination, foreordination and just enough "free will" +to go to hell. + +Did they discover or show us how to produce anything for food? + +Did they produce anything to satisfy the hunger of man? + +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. + +Did they tell us anything about chemistry--how to combine and separate +substances--how to subtract the hurtful--how to produce the useful? + +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. + +What has the church done? + +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. + +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." + +What has the church done? + +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. + +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. + +Man had no right to prevent disease--diseases were sent by God as +judgments. + +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. + +What has the church done? + +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. + +What has the church done? + +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. + +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. + +Hundreds of like instances could be given, as the war waged between +demons and priests was long and bitter. + +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. + +What has the church done? + +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. + +For my part, I would as soon be a widow as the bride of a man who had +been dead for eighteen hundred years. + +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. + +These loving women gave their hearts to a phantom, their lives to a +dream. + +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." + +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. + +What has the church done? + +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. + +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. + +To insure your life was to insult heaven. + +What has the church done? + +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. + +What has the church done? + +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. + +This was the literature of the church. + +I admit that the priests were honest--as honest as ignorant. More could +not be said. + +What has the church done? + +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. + +What has the church done? + +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. + +What has the church done? + +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. + +The church filled the world with faith and crime. + +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. + +It gave us angels with wings--cherubim and seraphim and a heaven with +harps and hallelujahs--with streets of gold and gates of pearl. + +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? + +Shall we thank them for the hell they made here? Shall we thank them for +the hell of the future? + + +II. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +What I say is that every honest teacher of the supernatural has been and +is an unconscious enemy of the human race. + +What is the philosophy of the church--of those who believe in the +supernatural? + +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. + +The play is a continuous performance. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Have these cringings and crawlings--these cruelties and +absurdities--this faith and foolishness pleased the gods? + +We do not know. + +Has any disaster been averted--any blessing obtained? We do not know. + +Shall we thank these gods? + +Shall we thank the church's God? + +Who and what is he? + +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. + +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. + +Has this God good sense? + +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. + +What is the matter with this God? Well, sometimes he is +foolish--sometimes he is cruel and sometimes he is insane. + +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? + +We do not know. + +Shall we thank Nature? + +Does Nature care for us more than for leaves, or grass, or flies? + +Does Nature know that we exist? We do not know. + +But we do know that Nature is going to murder us all. + +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? + + +III. + +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? + +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. + +Passing over the Hindus, the Egyptians, the Greeks and Romans, their +poets, philosophers and metaphysicians--we will come to modern times. + +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. + +"They were the first to publish pharmacopoeias and dispensatories. + +"In mechanics they determined the laws of falling bodies. They +understood the mechanical powers, and the attraction of gravitation. + +"They taught hydrostatics and determined the specific gravities of +bodies. + +"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." + +"They were manufacturers of cotton, leather, paper and steel. + +"They gave us the game of chess. + +"They produced romances and novels and essays on many subjects. + +"In their schools they taught the modern doctrines of evolution and +development." They anticipated Darwin and Spencer. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +In 1543 Copernicus published his book, "On the Revolutions of the +Heavenly Bodies." + +He had some idea of the vastness of the stars--of the astronomical +spaces--of the insignificance of this world. + +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. + +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. + +What have the wordly done? + +In 1608, Lippersheim, a Hollander, so arranged lenses that objects were +exaggerated. + +He invented the telescope. + +He gave countless worlds to our eyes, and made us citizens of the +Universe. + +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." + +What did the church do? + +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. + +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. + +Astronomy became a science and Christianity a superstition. + +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. + +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. + +What have the wordly done? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +We are no longer misled by myths and legends. We rely upon facts. The +world is our witness and the stars testify for us. + +What have the worldly done? + +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. + +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. + +They found that all the sacred books were filled with inspired mistake +and sacred absurdity. + +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. + +Let me tell you about it. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +What became of this Bible? + +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. + +And this Holy Bible has never been seen or heard of since. So much for +that. + +Then there was a copy, or rather a translation, called the Septuagint. + +How was that made? + +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. + +At that time the Jewish Bible did not contain Daniel, Ecclesiastes, but +few of the Psalms and only a part of Isaiah. + +What became of this translation known as the Septuagint? + +It was burned in the Bruchium Library forty-seven years before Christ. + +Then there was another so-called copy of part of the Bible, known as the +Samaritan Roll of the Pentateuch. + +But this is not considered of any value. + +Have we a true copy of the Bible that was in the temple at +Jerusalem--the one sent to Vespasian? + +Nobody knows. + +Have we a true copy of the Septuagint? + +Nobody knows. + +What is the oldest manuscript of the Bible we have in Hebrew? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +What have the worldly done? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +IV. + +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. + +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. + +I thank the industrious men, the loving mothers, the useful women. They +are the benefactors of our race. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +With all my heart I thank them all. + + + + +A LAY SERMON. + + * Delivered before the Congress of the American Secular + Union, at Chickering Hall, New York, Nov. 14, 1885. + + +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: + + "I'll pray, and then I'll sleep." + +And this prayer is my text: + + "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." + +That is one of the noblest prayers that ever fell from human lips. If +nobody has too much, everybody will have enough! + +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. + +I want you to remember that everybody is as he _must_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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: + + "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." + +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. + +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! + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The tenement house is the enemy of modesty, the enemy of virtue, the +enemy of patriotism. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +Did you ever read that wonderful poem about the sewing woman? Let me +tell you the last verse: + + "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!" + +I cannot call this civilization. There must be something nearer a fairer +division in this world. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +"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. + +Now, we have in this country another class. We call them "criminals." +Let me take another step: + + "'Tis not enough to help the feeble up, + But to support him after." + +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. + +None but the noblest should inflict punishment, even on the basest. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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: + + "If happiness have not her seat + And center in the breast, + We may be wise, or rich, or great, + But never can be blest." + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +THE FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH. + + +I. THE OLD TESTAMENT. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +But there is still another question. How long has man been upon the +earth? + +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. + +According to the sacred Scriptures man has been on this earth five +thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine years and no more. + +Is this true? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +It is therefore certain that many, many thousands of years before Adam +lived, men, women and children inhabited the earth. + +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. + +Let me give you another fact: + +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. + +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. + +In other words, Adam was two or three hundred years old when the +Egyptian astronomers made these representations. + +Nothing can be more absurd. + +Again I say that the writers of the Bible were mistaken. + +How do I know? + +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? + +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. + +There is another mistake in the Bible. + +According to that book the sun was made after the earth was created. + +Is this true? + +Did the earth exist before the sun? + +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. + +The writers of the Bible were mistaken. + +There is another point: + +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? + +This is the record: + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +Can we rely on the historical parts of the Bible? + +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. + +This makes thirty-five thousand eight hundred and forty, (35,840.) +instead of three millions. + +Can we believe the accounts of the battles? + +Take one instance: + +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. + +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. + +The soil is poor. + +If the Bible is inspired, is it true? + +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. + +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. + +Is this true? + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +Probably the architect was inspired. + +Is there a sensible man in the world who believes that David collected +seven thousand million dollars worth of gold or silver? + +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. + +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. + +The Old Testament must be thrown aside. It is no longer a foundation. It +has crumbled. + + +II. THE NEW TESTAMENT + +BUT we have the New Testament, the sequel of the Old, in which +Christians find the fulfillment of prophecies made by inspired Jews. + +The New Testament vouches for the truth, the inspiration, of the Old, +and if the old is false, the New cannot be true. + +In the New Testament we find all that we know about the life and +teachings of Jesus Christ. + +It is claimed that the writers were divinely inspired, and that all they +wrote is true. + +Let us see if these writers agree. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +Then Herod called the wise men and asked them when the star appeared, +and told them to go to Bethlehem and report to him. + +When they left Herod, the star again appeared and went before them until +it stood over the place where the child was. + +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. + +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. + +So Joseph took Mary and the child to Egypt and remained there until the +death of Herod. + +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." + +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. + +So he went back and dwelt in Nazareth. + +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? + +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. + +Must we believe that Herod murdered the babes of Bethlehem? + +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? + +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. + +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. + +Do the accounts in Matthew and Luke agree? Can both accounts be true? + +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. + +Both of these accounts cannot be true. Will some Christian scholar tell +us which to believe? + +When was Christ born? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Will some Christian scholar have the goodness to harmonize these +"inspired" accounts? + +There is another thing. + +Matthew and Luke both try to show that Christ was of the blood of David, +that he was a descendant of that virtuous king. + +As both of these writers were inspired and as both received their +information from God, they ought to agree. + +According to Matthew there was between David and Jesus twenty-seven +generations, and he gives all the names. + +According to Luke there were between David and Jesus forty-two +generations, and he gives all the names. + +In these genealogies--both inspired--there is a difference between David +and Jesus, a difference of some fourteen or fifteen generations. + +Besides, the names of all the ancestors are different, with two +exceptions. + +Matthew says that Joseph's father was Jacob. Luke says that Heli was +Joseph's father. + +Both of these genealogies cannot be true, and the probability is that +both are false. + +There is not in all the pulpits ingenuity enough to harmonize these +ignorant and stupid contradictions. + +There are many curious mistakes in the words attributed to Christ. + +We are told in Matthew, chapter xxiii, verse 35, that Christ said: + +"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." + +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. + +There is still another mistake. + +Zacharias was not the son of Barachias--no such + +Zacharias was killed. The Zacharias that was slain was the son of +Baruch. + +But we must not expect the "inspired" to be accurate. + +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 _after_ his resurrection, and went into the holy city +and appeared unto many." + +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. + +They were polite enough to sit in their open graves and wait for Christ +to rise first. + +To whom did these saints appear? What became of them? Did they slip back +into their graves and commit suicide? + +Is it not wonderful that Mark, Luke and John never heard of these +saints? + +What kind of saints were they? Certainly they were not Christian saints. + +So, the inspired writers do not agree in regard to Judas. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +Matthew says Judas repented and gave back the money. + +Peter says that he bought a field with the money. + +Matthew says that Judas hanged himself. Peter says that he fell down and +burst asunder. Which of these accounts is true? + +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. + +Yet, according to the New Testament, Christ did not know that one of his +disciples was to betray him. + +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. + +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." + +Why did Christ a year afterward, tell Judas that he should sit on a +throne and judge one of the tribes of Israel? + +There is still another trouble. + +Paul says that Jesus after his resurrection appeared to the twelve +disciples. According to Paul, Jesus appeared to Judas with the rest. + +Certainly Paul had not heard the story of the betrayal. + +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? + +Why did he fail to defend himself before Pilate? + +According to the accounts, Pilate wanted to save him. Did Christ wish to +be convicted? + +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. + + +III. JEHOVAH. + +GOD the Father. + +The Jehovah of the Old Testament is the God of the Christians. + +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. + +This shows his goodness. + +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. + +This shows his impartiality. + +The pious negro who commenced his prayer: "O thou great and unscrupulous +God," was nearer right than he knew. + +Ministers ask: Is it possible for God to forgive man? + +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? + +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? + +Is not this unthinkable God a guess, an inference? + +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? + +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? + +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. + +Of the existence of such a being there can be, in the nature of things, +no evidence. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Why should Christians insist that a God of infinite wisdom, goodness and +power governs the world? + +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? + + +IV. THE TRINITY + +THE New Testament informs us that Christ was the son of Joseph and the +son of God, and that Mary was his mother. + +How is it established that Christ was the son of God? + +It is said that Joseph was told so in a dream by an angel. + +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. + +How is it possible to prove that the Holy Ghost was the father of +Christ? + +Who knows that such a being as the Holy Ghost ever existed? + +How was it possible for Mary to know anything about the Holy Ghost? + +How could Joseph know that he had been visited by an angel in a dream? + +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? + +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. + +Matthew and Luke give the genealogy and both show that Christ was the +son of Joseph. + +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. + +It is claimed not only that Christ was the Son of God, but that he was, +and is, God. + +Was he God before he was born? Was the body of Mary the dwelling place +of God? + +What evidence have we that Christ was God? + +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. + +Somebody who was "inspired" has said that Christ was of the blood of +David through his father Joseph. + +This is all the evidence we have. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +How is it possible to prove the existence of the Trinity? + +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? + +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. + +At this point, absurdity having reached its limit, nothing more can be +said except: "Let us pray." + + +V. THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST + +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. + +My own observation has led me to believe that men are generally +consistent in their theories and inconsistent in their lives. + +So, I think that Christ in his utterances was true to his theory, to his +philosophy. + +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. + +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. + +The following passages show that Christ was a devout Jew. + +"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." + +"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." + +So, when he cured a leper, he said: "Go thy way, show thyself unto the +priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded." + +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." + +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." + +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. + +So, when the young man asked him what he must do to be saved, he said: +"Keep the commandments." + +Christ said: "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat, all +therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do." + +"And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the +law to fail." + +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." + +"We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews." + +Certainly all these passages were written by persons who regarded Christ +as the Messiah. + +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. + +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." + +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." + +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." + +"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." + +"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." + +Christ it seems had a philosophy. + +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. + +"Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +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?" + +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. + +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." + +"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." + +"But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, +bring hither and slay them before me." + +This passage built dungeons and lighted fagots. + +"Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his +angels." + +"I came not to bring peace but a sword." + +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. + +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? + +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. + +This is no longer possible. The contradictions are too many, too +glaring. There are contradictions of fact not only, but of philosophy, +of theory. + +The accounts of the trial, the crucifixion, and ascension of Christ do +not agree. They are full of mistakes and contradictions. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +These contradictions are gross and palpable and demonstrate that the +New Testament is not inspired, and that many of its statements must be +false. + +If we wish to save the character of Christ, many of the passages must be +thrown away. + +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. + +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. + +The same may be said in regard to Mark, Luke and John. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +For many centuries this great Peasant of Palestine has been worshiped as +God. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +VI. THE "SCHEME" + +WE have also the scheme of redemption. + +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. + +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. + +In spite of all his efforts, the people grew gradually worse. They would +not, they could not keep his laws. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +This is the scheme of Redemption,--the atonement. + +It is impossible to conceive of anything more utterly absurd. + +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. + +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. + +There is no sense in sacrifice, never was and never will be. + +Make restitution, reparation, undo the wrong and you need shed no blood. + +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." + +But that is not the law. The law says, not that somebody shall be +hanged, but that the murderer shall suffer death. + +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. + +This, Christians call, "satisfying the law." + + +VII. BELIEF. + +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. + +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. + +Where is this heaven? The Christians do not know. + +Does the Christian go there at death, or must he wait for the general +resurrection? + +They do not know. + +The Testament teaches that the bodies of the dead are to be raised? +Where are their souls in the meantime? They do not know. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +Christians believe in infinite torture, in eternal pain. + +Eternal Pain! + +All the meanness of which the heart of man is capable is in that one +word--Hell. + +That word is a den, a cave, in which crawl the slimy reptiles of +revenge. + +That word certifies to the savagery of primitive man. + +That word is the depth, the dungeon, the abyss, from which civilized man +has emerged. + +That word is the disgrace, the shame, the infamy, of our revealed +religion. + +That word fills all the future with the shrieks of the damned. + +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. + +That word adds an infinite horror to death, and makes the cradle as +terrible as the coffin. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +That word blots from the firmament the star of hope and leaves the +heavens black. + +That word makes the Christian's God an eternal torturer, an everlasting +inquisitor--an infinite wild beast. + +This is the Christian prophecy of the eternal future: + +No hope in hell. + +No pity in heaven. + +No mercy in the heart of God. + + +VIII. CONCLUSION + +THE Old Testament is absurd, ignorant and cruel,--the New Testament is +a mingling of the false and true--it is good and bad. + +The Jehovah of the Jews is an impossible monster. The Trinity absurd and +idiotic, Christ is a myth or a man. + +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. + +Some may ask, "Are you trying to take our religion away?" + +I answer, No--superstition is not religion. Belief without evidence is +not religion. Faith without facts is not religion. + +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. + +But, says the prejudiced priest, the malicious minister, "You take away +a future life." + +I am not trying to destroy another world, but I am endeavoring to +prevent the theologians from destroying this. + +If we are immortal it is a fact in nature, and that fact does not depend +on bibles, or Christs, or priests or creeds. + +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. + +The wanderers hope for home.--Hope builds the house and plants the +flowers and fills the air with song. + +The sick and suffering hope for health.--Hope gives them health and +paints the roses in their cheeks. + +The lonely, the forsaken, hope for love.--Hope brings the lover to their +arms. They feel the kisses on their eager lips. + +The poor in tenements and huts, in spite of rags and hunger hope for +wealth.--Hope fills their thin and trembling hands with gold. + +The dying hopes that death is but another birth, and Love leans above +the pallid face and whispers, "We shall meet again." + +Hope is the consolation of the world. + +Let us hope, if there be a God that he is wise and good. + +Let us hope that if there be another life it will bring peace and joy to +all the children of men. + +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. + + + + +SUPERSTITION. + + +I. WHAT IS SUPERSTITION? + +To believe in spite of evidence or without evidence. To account for one +mystery by another. + +To believe that the world is governed by chance or caprice. + +To disregard the true relation between cause and effect. + +To put thought, intention and design back of nature. + +To believe that mind created and controls matter. To believe in force +apart from substance, or in substance apart from force. + +To believe in miracles, spells and charms, in dreams and prophecies. + +To believe in the supernatural. + +The foundation of superstition is ignorance, the superstructure is faith +and the dome is a vain hope. + +Superstition is the child of ignorance and the mother of misery. + +In nearly every brain is found some cloud of superstition. + +A woman drops a cloth with which she is washing dishes, and she +exclaims: "That means company." + +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. + +A man catches a glimpse of the new moon over his left shoulder, and he +says: "This is bad luck." + +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. + +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." + +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. + +Thousands of persons believe in lucky and unlucky days, numbers, signs +and jewels. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Overturning the salt is very unlucky, but spilling the vinegar makes no +difference. + +Why salt should be revengeful and vinegar forgiving has never been told. + +If the first person who enters a theatre is crosseyed, the audience will +be small and the "run" a failure. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Let us take another step: + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +This belief in amulets and charms, in ghosts and devils, is +superstition, pure and simple. + +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. + +In those days the priests were fishers for money, and they used these +relics for bait. + + +II. + +Let us take another step: + +This belief in the Devil and evil spirits laid the foundation for +another belief: Witchcraft. + +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! + +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! + +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. + +Let us take another step: + +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. + + +WHAT IS A MIRACLE? + +An act performed by a master of nature without reference to the facts in +nature. This is the only honest definition of a miracle. + +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. + +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. + +Miracles are not simply impossible, but they are unthinkable by any man +capable of thinking. + +Now an intelligent man cannot believe that a miracle ever was, or ever +will be, performed. + +Ignorance is the soil in which belief in miracles grows. + + +III. + +Let us take another step: + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +IV. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +John Wesley was right when he said that to give up a belief in +witchcraft was to give up the Bible. + +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? + +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. + +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?" + +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. + +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. + + +V. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +After all, why should we worship our ignorance, why should we kneel to +the Unknown, why should we prostrate ourselves before a guess? + +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? + +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. + +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. + +And yet Christians implore their God not to do wrong. + +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. + + "Lead us not into temptation." + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +VI. + +What harm does superstition do? What harm in believing in fables, in +legends? + +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. + +The heart hardens and the brain softens. + +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. + +Superstition is, always lias been, and forever will be, the enemy of +liberty. + +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. + +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. + +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 +_Auto da Fe_. 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! + +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. + + +VII. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +Think of the hearts hardened, of the hearts broken, of the cruelties +inflicted, of the agonies endured, of the lives darkened. + +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. + + +VIII. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +To them the Bible means exactly what it says. + +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." + +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. + +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. + + +IX. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +But, in spite of all, a few men began to think. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +X. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +It all rests on dreams and visions of the insane. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +THE DEVIL. + + +IF THE DEVIL SHOULD DIE WOULD GOD MAKE ANOTHER? + +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. + +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. + +When I read these answers I thought of this line from Heine: "Christ +rode on an ass, but now asses ride on Christ." + +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." + +Now, where did the idea that a Devil exists come from? How was it +produced? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +These ideas about gods and devils often changed, because in the days of +Socrates a demon was not a devil, but a guardian angel. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +This is only one instance. There are thousands. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +II. THE ATLAS OF CHRISTIANITY IS THE DEVIL. + +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. + +Take the Devil from the scheme of salvation--from the atonement--from +the dogma of eternal pain--and the foundation is gone. + +The Devil is the keystone of the arch. + +He inflicted the wounds that Christ came to heal. He corrupted the human +race. + +The question now is: Does the Old Testament teach the existence of the +Devil? + +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. + +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? + +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? + +Admit that God is infinitely wise. Has he ingenuity enough to frame an +excuse for the creation of the Devil? + +Does the Old Testament teach the existence of a real, living Devil? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +How men--good men--can worship this God; how women--good women--can love +this Jehovah, is beyond my imagination. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Is it possible to say that the Devil in Job was only a personification +of evil? + +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. + +Was this Devil who tempted David a personification of evil, or was +Jehovah a personification of the devilish? + +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. + +If words convey any meaning, the Old Testament teaches the existence of +the Devil. + +All the passages about witches and those having familiar spirits were +born of a belief in the Devil. + +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." + + +III. TAKE THE DEVIL FROM THE DRAMA OF CHRISTIANITY AND THE PLOT IS GONE. + +The next question is: Does the New Testament teach the existence of the +Devil? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Was Jesus tempted? If he was tempted, who tempted him? Did anybody offer +him the kingdoms of the world? + +Did the writer of the account try to convey to the reader the thought +that Christ was tempted by the Devil? + +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? + +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. + +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? + +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?" + +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? + +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." + +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? + +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. + +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? + +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? + +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. + +Now, what did Christ mean by devils? + +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." + +Jesus answered by saying: "Every kingdom divided against itself is +brought to desolation. If Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against +himself." + +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? + +Another question: Did the Pharisees believe in the existence of devils, +or had they the personification idea? + +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." + +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. + +Did Christ believe in the existence of the Devil? + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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: + +"And straightway coming up out of the water he saw the heavens opened, +and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him. + +"And there came a voice from heaven, saying: 'Thou art my beloved Son, +in whom I am well pleased.' + +"And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness." + +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. + +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. + +Were these angels real angels, or were they personifications of good, of +comfort? + +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. + +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? + +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? + +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. + +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: + +"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. + +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.'" + +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." + +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? + +Could personifications of evil enter a herd of swine, or could +personifications of evil make a bargain with Christ? + +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. + +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." + +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." + +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." + +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." + +Then Christ said: "Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of +him, and enter no more into him." + +"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.'" + +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." + +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. + +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." + +Now, it is hardly possible that personifications of evil are dumb or +deaf. That is to say, that they have physical imperfections. + +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." + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +As a matter of fact, the apostles seemed to have relied upon the +evidence of devils to substantiate the divinity of their Lord. + +Jesus said to this devil: "Hold thy peace and come out of him." And the +devil, after throwing the man down, came out. + +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.'" + +It is also said that Christ rebuked them and suffered them not to speak, +for they knew that he was Christ. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +In the twenty-second chapter an account of the betrayal of Christ by +Judas is given in these words: + +"Then entered Satan into Judas Iscariot, being of the number of the +twelve." + +"And he went his way and communed with the chief priests and captains +how he might betray him unto them. + +"And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Certainly the writers of the New Testament believed in the existence of +the Devil. + +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. + +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: + +"And supper being ended, the Devil having now put into the heart of +Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him."... + +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. + +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." + +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." + +Paul and Silas, it would seem, cast out this spirit, and by reason of +that suffered great persecution. + +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?" + +"And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them so that they +fled naked and wounded." + +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?" + +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. + +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." + +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? + +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." + +Are people devoured by personifications or myths? Has an allegory an +appetite, or is a poem a cannibal? + +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." + +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. + +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." + +No Devil--no Christ. + +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. + +"And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. + +"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. + +"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." + +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. + +In the twentieth chapter of Revelation is the following: + +"And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the +bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. + +"And he laid Hold on the dragon--that old serpent, which is the Devil +and Satan--and bound him a thousand years. + +"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." + +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. + +We are further told that "when the thousand years are expired Satan +shall be loosed out of his prison." + +"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." + +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. + +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." + +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. + +The apostles, like their fellows, believed in miracles and magic. +Credulity was regarded as a virtue. + +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. + +There is one story in the New Testament that illustrates my meaning. + +In the fifth chapter of John is the following: + +"Now, there is at Jerusalem, by the sheep market, a pool, which is +called in the Hebrew tongue 'Bethesda,' having five porches. + +"In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk--of blind, halt, +withered--waiting for the moving of the water. + +"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. + +"And a certain man was there which had an infirmity thirty and eight +years. + +"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??' + +"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.' + +"Jesus saith unto him: 'Rise, take up thy bed and walk.' + +"And immediately the man was made whole and took up his bed and walked." + +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? + +Was the water troubled by an angel? Possibly, what apostles and +theologians call an angel a scientist knows as carbonic acid gas. + +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. + +What is the evidence of John worth? + +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. + +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. + +Beneath the structure called "Christianity" are four corner-stones--the +Father, Son, Holy Ghost and Devil. + + +IV. THE EVIDENCE OF THE CHURCH. + +The Devil, was Forced to Father the Failures of God. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +At that time the fathers--the theologians, the commentators--agreed that +unbaptized children, including those that were born dead, went to hell. + +And these same fathers--theologians and commentators--said: "God is +love." + +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! + +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. + +Millions of men and women were destroyed because they had sold +themselves to the Devil. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +Christians did not ask these questions. They believed the Bible; they +had confidence in the words of Christ. + + +V. PERSONIFICATIONS OF EVIL. + +The Orthodox Ostrich Thrusts His Head into the Sand. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +It is impossible for any man who believes in the inspiration of the +Bible to explain away the Devil. + +If the Bible is true the Devil exists. There is no escape from this. + +If the Devil does not exist the Bible is not true. There is no escape +from this. + +I admit that the Devil of the Bible is an impossible contradiction; an +impossible being. + +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? + +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. + +Any clergyman who can read the Bible and then say that devils are +personifications of evil is himself a personification of stupidity or +hypocrisy. + + +VI. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +But let me ask the clergy a few questions: + +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. + +Why was God so unpopular? Why were the angels so bad? + +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? + +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? + +How foolish is infinite wisdom! + +How malicious is mercy! + +How revengeful is boundless love! + +Again, I say that no sensible man in all the world believes in devils. + +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? + +Does he want his children misled and corrupted so that he can have the +pleasure of damning their souls? + + +VII. THE MAN OF STRAW. + +Some of the preachers who have answered me say that I am fighting a man +of straw. + +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. + +The ministers pretend that they have advanced--that they do not believe +the things that I attack. In this they are not honest. + +Who is the "man of straw"? + +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. + +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. + +The man of straw closed the mouth of Prof. Smith, and he has not opened +it since. + +The man of straw would not allow the Presbyterian creed to be changed. + +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. + +The man of straw pitched Prof. Swing out of the pulpit and drove the +Rev. Mr. Thomas from the Methodist Church. + +Let me tell the orthodox ministers that they are trying to cover their +retreat. + +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. + +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. + +The man of straw will then be dead. + +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. + +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. + +Beyond this idiocy cannot go. + + +VIII. KEEP THE DEVILS OUT OF CHILDREN. + +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." + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + + +IX. CONCLUSION. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +And yet it were better far that all this should be false than that all +of the New Testament should be true. + +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. + +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?" + +Let me now give you the declaration of a creed. + + +DECLARATION OF THE FREE + + 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. + + + + +PROGRESS. + + * 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. + + +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 * * + +Conscience * * tends * * indirectly * * truly we * * physically * * to +develop the wonderful powers of the mind is progress. + +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 * +* service of civil * * and crumbles * * of all, and yet even in free +America labor is not honored as it deserves. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +WITCHCRAFT + +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. + +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. + +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. + +On some occasions animals were received as witnesses in judicial +proceedings. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +LANGUAGE. + +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. + +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. + + +GEOGRAPHY. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _Law_. 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. + + +SLAVERY. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Some of the Roman nobles were the owners of as many as twenty thousand +slaves. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +On the 28th day of August, 1833, England abolished slavery throughout +the British Colonies, thus giving liberty to nearly one million slaves. + +The United States was then the greatest slave-holding power in the +civilized world. + +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, + + "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." + +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. + + +LIBERTY TRIUMPHED. + +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. + +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. + + +CONCLUSION + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +WHAT IS RELIGION? + + * This was Col. Ingersoll's last public address, delivered + before the American Free Religious Association, in the + Hollis Street Theatre, Boston, June 2, 1899. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +_First_.--Did an infinite God create the children of men? + +Why did he create the intellectually inferior? + +Why did he create the deformed and helpless? + +Why did he create the criminal, the idiotic, the insane? + +Can infinite wisdom and power make any excuse for the creation of +failures? + +Are the failures under obligation to their creator? + +_Second_.--Is an infinite God the governor of this world? + +Is he responsible for all the chiefs, kings, emperors, and queens? + +Is he responsible for all the wars that have been waged, for all the +innocent blood that has been shed? + +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? + +Is this God responsible for religious persecution, for the Inquisition, +for the thumb-screw and rack, and for all the instruments of torture? + +Did this God allow the cruel and vile to destroy the brave and virtuous? +Did he allow tyrants to shed the blood of patriots? + +Did he allow his enemies to torture and burn his friends? + +What is such a God worth? + +Would a decent man, having the power to prevent it, allow his enemies to +torture and burn his friends? + +Can we conceive of a devil base enough to prefer his enemies to his +friends? + +If a good and infinitely powerful God governs this world, how can we +account for cyclones, earthquakes, pestilence and famine? + +How can we account for cancers, for microbes, for diphtheria and the +thousand diseases that prey on infancy? + +How can we account for the wild beasts that devour human beings, for the +fanged serpents whose bite is death? + +How can we account for a world where life feeds on life? + +Were beak and claw, tooth and fang, invented and produced by infinite +mercy? + +Did infinite goodness fashion the wings of the eagles so that their +fleeing prey could be overtaken? + +Did infinite goodness create the beasts of prey with the intention that +they should devour the weak and helpless? + +Did infinite goodness create the countless worthless living things that +breed within and feed upon the flesh of higher forms? + +Did infinite wisdom intentionally produce the microscopic beasts that +feed upon the optic nerve? + +Think of blinding a man to satisfy the appetite of a microbe! + +Think of life feeding on life! Think of the victims! Think of the +Niagara of blood pouring over the precipice of cruelty! + +In view of these facts, what, after all, is religion? + +It is fear. + +Fear builds the altar and offers the sacrifice. + +Fear erects the cathedral and bows the head of man in worship. + +Fear bends the knees and utters the prayer. + +Fear pretends to love. + +Religion teaches the slave-virtues--obedience, humility, self-denial, +forgiveness, non-resistance. + +Lips, religious and fearful, tremblingly repeat this passage: "Though he +slay me, yet will I trust him." This is the abyss of degradation. + +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. + + +II. + +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? + +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? + +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? + +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? + +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? + +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. + +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? + +Why, then, should we say that God is good? + +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. + + +III. THE POWER THAT WORKS FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS. + +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. + +What is this power? + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Man is a social being. We live together in families, tribes and nations. + +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. + +The members who add to the misery of the family, the tribe or the +nation, are considered bad members. + +They are blamed, despised, punished. They are regarded as immoral. + +The family, the tribe, the nation, creates a standard of conduct, of +morality. There is nothing supernatural in this. + +The greatest of human beings has said, "Conscience is born of love." + +The sense of obligation, of duty, was naturally produced. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +All the metaphysicians of the spiritual type, from Plato to Swedenborg, +have manufactured their facts, and all founders of religion have done +the same. + +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. + +Think of the egotism of a man who believes that an infinite being wants +his praise! + + +IV. + +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. + +Has Christianity done good? Has it made men nobler, more merciful, +nearer honest? When the church had control, were men made better and +happier? + +What has been the effect of Christianity in Italy, in Spain, in +Portugal, in Ireland? + +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? + +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? + +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. + +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? + +Let me refer to just one fact showing the influence of a belief in the +Bible on human beings. + +"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." + +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. + +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? + + +VII. HOW CAN MANKIND BE REFORMED WITHOUT RELIGION? + +RELIGION has been tried, and in all countries, in all times, has failed. + +Religion has never made man merciful. + +Remember the Inquisition. + +What effect did religion have on slavery? + +What effect upon Libby, Saulsbury and Andersonville? + +Religion has always been the enemy of science, of investigation and +thought. + +Religion has never made man free. + +It has never made man moral, temperate, industrious and honest. + +Are Christians more temperate, nearer virtuous, nearer honest than +savages? + +Among savages do we not find that their vices and cruelties are the +fruits of their superstitions? + +To those who believe in the Uniformity of Nature, religion is +impossible. + +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? + +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? + +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. + +Has man obtained any help from heaven? + + +VI. + +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. + +I have a theory and I have four corner-stones. + +The first stone is that matter--substance--cannot be destroyed, cannot +be annihilated. + +The second stone is that force cannot be destroyed, cannot be +annihilated. + +The third stone is that matter and force cannot exist apart--no matter +without force--no force without matter. + +The fourth stone is that that which cannot be destroyed could not have +been created; that the indestructible is the uncreatable. + +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. + +It follows that nothing has been or can be created; that there never has +been or can be a creator. + +It follows that there could not have been any intelligence, any design +back of matter and force. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +In the universe there is no chance, no caprice. Every event has parents. + +That which has not happened, could not. The present is the necessary +product of all the past, the necessary cause of all the future. + +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. + + +VII. + +IF matter and force are from eternity, then we can say that man had no +intelligent creator--that man was not a special creation. + +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. + +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. + +We have all the links of the chain, twenty-six links inclusive from +moner to man. + +We did not get our information from inspired books. We have fossil facts +and living forms. + +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. + +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. + +We now believe that the universe is natural and we deny the existence of +the supernatural. + + +VIII. Reform. + +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. + +Why have the reformers failed? I will tell them why. + +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. + +Against this inundation of vice the forces of reform are helpless, and +charity itself becomes an unconscious promoter of crime. + +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. + +The real question is, can we prevent the ignorant, the poor, the +vicious, from filling the world with their children? + +Can we prevent this Missouri of ignorance and vice from emptying into +the Mississippi of civilization? + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +IX. + +RELIGION can never reform mankind because religion is slavery. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +This is real religion. This is real worship. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. +4 (of 12), by Robert G. Ingersoll + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORKS OF INGERSOLL *** + +***** This file should be named 38804-8.txt or 38804-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/8/0/38804/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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Ingersoll, Volume 4 (of 12) by Robert G. Ingersoll + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 4 +(of 12), by Robert G. Ingersoll + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 4 (of 12) + Dresden Edition--Lectures + +Author: Robert G. Ingersoll + +Release Date: February 9, 2012 [EBook #38804] +Last Updated: November 15, 2012 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORKS OF INGERSOLL *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <a name="title" id="title"></a> + </p> + <h1> + THE WORKS OF ROBERT G. INGERSOLL + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Robert G. Ingersoll + </h2> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h3> + "The Hands That Help Are Better Far Than Lips That Pray." + </h3> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h4> + In Twelve Volumes, Volume IV. + </h4> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + LECTURES + </h2> + <h3> + 1900 + </h3> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h3> + THE DRESDEN EDITION + </h3> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto" cellpadding="4" border="3"> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td> + <big><big><a + href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38804/old/orig38804-h/main.htm">This + file has been formatted in a very plain format for use with tablet + readers. Those wishing to view this eBook in its normal more + appealing format for laptops and other computers may click on this + line to to view the original HTML file.</a></big></big> + </td> + </tr> + </tbody> + </table> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> + <img alt="titlepage (63K)" src="images/titlepage.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> + <img alt="portrait (61K)" src="images/portrait.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <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> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="linkTOC" id="linkTOC"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <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> + <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> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link0002">THE TRUTH.</a> + </p> + <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> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link0004">HOW TO REFORM MANKIND.</a> + </p> + <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> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link0005">A THANKSGIVING SERMON.</a> + </p> + <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> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link0006">A LAY SERMON.</a> + </p> + <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> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link0007">THE FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH.</a> + </p> + <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> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link0008">SUPERSTITION.</a> + </p> + <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> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link0009">THE DEVIL.</a> + </p> + <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> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link0010">PROGRESS.</a> + </p> + <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> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link0012">WHAT IS RELIGION?</a> + </p> + <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 /> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <a name="link0001" id="link0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> + </div> + <h2> + WHY I AM AN AGNOSTIC. + </h2> + <p> + I. + </p> + <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> + <p> + II. + </p> + <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> + <p> + III. + </p> + <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> + <p> + IV. + </p> + <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> + <p> + V. + </p> + <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> + <p> + VI. + </p> + <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> + <p> + VII. + </p> + <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> + <p> + VIII. + </p> + <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> + <p> + IX. + </p> + <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> + <p> + X. + </p> + <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> + <p> + XI. + </p> + <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> + <p> + <a name="link0002" id="link0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE TRUTH. + </h2> + <p> + I. + </p> + <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> + <p> + II. + </p> + <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> + <p> + III. "THE SCIENCE OF THEOLOGY." + </p> + <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> + <p> + <a name="linkCONC" id="linkCONC"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <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> + <p> + <a name="link0004" id="link0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> + </div> + <h2> + HOW TO REFORM MANKIND. + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * This address was delivered before the Militant Church at + the Columbia Theatre, Chicago, Ills., April 12, 1896. +</pre> + <p> + I. + </p> + <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> + <p> + II. HOW CAN WE REFORM THE WORLD? + </p> + <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> + <p> + III. ANOTHER WASTE. + </p> + <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 xml:space="preserve"> + "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> + <p> + IV. HOW CAN WE LESSEN CRIME? + </p> + <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> + <p> + V. HOMES FOR ALL. + </p> + <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> + <p> + VI. THE LABOR QUESTION. + </p> + <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> + <p> + VII. EDUCATE THE CHILDREN. + </p> + <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> + <p> + VIII. WE MUST WORK AND WAIT. + </p> + <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 xml:space="preserve"> + "There is no darkness but ignorance." + Let us flood the world with intellectual light. +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link0005" id="link0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <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> + <p> + II. + </p> + <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> + <p> + III. + </p> + <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> + <p> + IV. + </p> + <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> + <p> + <a name="link0006" id="link0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> + </div> + <h2> + A LAY SERMON. + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * 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 xml:space="preserve"> + "I'll pray, and then I'll sleep." +</pre> + <p> + And this prayer is my text: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "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 xml:space="preserve"> + "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 xml:space="preserve"> + "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 xml:space="preserve"> + "'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 xml:space="preserve"> + "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> + <p> + <a name="link0007" id="link0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH. + </h2> + <p> + I. THE OLD TESTAMENT. + </p> + <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> + <p> + II. THE NEW TESTAMENT + </p> + <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> + <p> + III. JEHOVAH. + </p> + <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> + <p> + IV. THE TRINITY + </p> + <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> + <p> + V. THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST + </p> + <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> + <p> + VI. THE "SCHEME" + </p> + <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> + <p> + VII. BELIEF. + </p> + <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> + <p> + VIII. CONCLUSION + </p> + <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> + <p> + <a name="link0008" id="link0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> + </div> + <h2> + SUPERSTITION. + </h2> + <p> + I. WHAT IS SUPERSTITION? + </p> + <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> + <p> + II. + </p> + <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> + <p> + WHAT IS A MIRACLE? + </p> + <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> + <p> + III. + </p> + <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> + <p> + IV. + </p> + <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> + <p> + V. + </p> + <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 xml:space="preserve"> + "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> + <p> + VI. + </p> + <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> + <p> + VII. + </p> + <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> + <p> + VIII. + </p> + <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> + <p> + IX. + </p> + <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> + <p> + X. + </p> + <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> + <p> + <a name="link0009" id="link0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE DEVIL. + </h2> + <p> + IF THE DEVIL SHOULD DIE WOULD GOD MAKE ANOTHER? + </p> + <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> + <p> + II. THE ATLAS OF CHRISTIANITY IS THE DEVIL. + </p> + <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> + <p> + III. TAKE THE DEVIL FROM THE DRAMA OF CHRISTIANITY AND THE PLOT IS GONE. + </p> + <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> + <p> + IV. THE EVIDENCE OF THE CHURCH. + </p> + <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> + <p> + V. PERSONIFICATIONS OF EVIL. + </p> + <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> + <p> + VI. + </p> + <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> + <p> + VII. THE MAN OF STRAW. + </p> + <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> + <p> + VIII. KEEP THE DEVILS OUT OF CHILDREN. + </p> + <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> + <p> + IX. CONCLUSION. + </p> + <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> + <p> + DECLARATION OF THE FREE + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 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> + <p> + <a name="link0010" id="link0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> + </div> + <h2> + PROGRESS. + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * 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> + <p> + WITCHCRAFT + </p> + <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> + <p> + LANGUAGE. + </p> + <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> + <p> + GEOGRAPHY. + </p> + <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> + <p> + SLAVERY. + </p> + <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 xml:space="preserve"> + "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> + <p> + LIBERTY TRIUMPHED. + </p> + <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> + <p> + <a name="linkCONC2" id="linkCONC2"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <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> + <p> + <a name="link0012" id="link0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> + </div> + <h2> + WHAT IS RELIGION? + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * 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> + <p> + II. + </p> + <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> + <p> + III. THE POWER THAT WORKS FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS. + </p> + <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> + <p> + IV. + </p> + <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> + <p> + VII. HOW CAN MANKIND BE REFORMED WITHOUT RELIGION? + </p> + <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> + <p> + VI. + </p> + <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> + <p> + VII. + </p> + <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> + <p> + IX. + </p> + <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> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. +4 (of 12), by Robert G. 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Ingersoll, Vol. 4 +(of 12), by Robert G. Ingersoll + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 4 (of 12) + Dresden Edition--Lectures + +Author: Robert G. Ingersoll + +Release Date: February 9, 2012 [EBook #38804] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORKS OF INGERSOLL *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + + +THE WORKS OF ROBERT G. INGERSOLL + +By Robert G. Ingersoll + +"The Hands That Help Are Better Far Than Lips That Pray." + +In Twelve Volumes, Volume IV. + +1900 + +THE DRESDEN EDITION + + + +CONTENTS OF VOLUME IV. + +WHY I AM AN AGNOSTIC. + +(1896.) + +I. Influence of Birth in determining Religious Belief--Scotch, Irish, +English, and Americans Inherit their Faith--Religions of Nations +not Suddenly Changed--People who Knew--What they were Certain +About--Revivals--Character of Sermons Preached--Effect of Conversion--A +Vermont Farmer for whom Perdition had no Terrors--The Man and his +Dog--Backsliding and Re-birth--Ministers who were Sincere--A Free Will +Baptist on the Rich Man and Lazarus--II. The Orthodox God--The +Two Dispensations--The Infinite Horror--III. Religious Books--The +Commentators--Paley's Watch Argument--Milton, Young, and Pollok--IV. +Studying Astronomy--Geology--Denial and Evasion by the Clergy--V. The +Poems of Robert Burns--Byron, Shelley, Keats, and Shakespeare--VI. +Volney, Gibbon, and Thomas Paine--Voltaire's Services to Liberty--Pagans +Compared with Patriarchs--VII. Other Gods and Other Religions--Dogmas, +Myths, and Symbols of Christianity Older than our Era--VIII. The Men +of Science, Humboldt, Darwin, Spencer, Huxley, Haeckel--IX. Matter and +Force Indestructible and Uncreatable--The Theory of Design--X. God an +Impossible Being--The Panorama of the Past--XI. Free from Sanctified +Mistakes and Holy Lies. + +THE TRUTH. + +(1897.) + +I. The Martyrdom of Man--How is Truth to be Found--Every Man should be +Mentally Honest--He should be Intellectually Hospitable--Geologists, +Chemists, Mechanics, and Professional Men are Seeking for the Truth--II. +Those who say that Slavery is Better than Liberty--Promises are not +Evidence--Horace Greeley and the Cold Stove--III. "The Science of +Theology" the only Dishonest Science--Moses and Brigham Young--Minds +Poisoned and Paralyzed in Youth--Sunday Schools and Theological +Seminaries--Orthodox Slanderers of Scientists--Religion has nothing +to do with Charity--Hospitals Built in Self-Defence--What Good has the +Church Accomplished?--Of what use are the Orthodox Ministers, and +What are they doing for the Good of Mankind--The Harm they are +Doing--Delusions they Teach--Truths they Should Tell about the +Bible--Conclusions--Our Christs and our Miracles. + +HOW TO REFORM MANKIND. + +(1896.) + +I. "There is no Darkness but Ignorance"--False Notions Concerning +All Departments of Life--Changed Ideas about Science, Government and +Morals--II. How can we Reform the World?--Intellectual Light the First +Necessity--Avoid Waste of Wealth in War--III. Another Waste--Vast Amount +of Money Spent on the Church--IV. Plow can we Lessen Crime?--Frightful +Laws for the Punishment of Minor Crimes--A Penitentiary should be a +School--Professional Criminals should not be Allowed to Populate the +Earth--V. Homes for All-Make a Nation of Householders--Marriage +and Divorce-VI. The Labor Question--Employers cannot Govern +Prices--Railroads should Pay Pensions--What has been Accomplished +for the Improvement of the Condition of Labor--VII. Educate the +Children--Useless Knowledge--Liberty cannot be Sacrificed for the Sake +of Anything--False worship of Wealth--VIII. We must Work and Wait. + +A THANKSGIVING SERMON. + +(1897.) + +I. Our fathers Ages Ago--From Savagery to Civilization--For the +Blessings we enjoy, Whom should we Thank?--What Good has the Church +Done?-Did Christ add to the Sum of Useful Knowledge--The Saints--What +have the Councils and Synods Done?--What they Gave us, and What they +did Not--Shall we Thank them for the Hell Here and for the Hell of +the Future?--II. What Does God Do?--The Infinite Juggler and his +Puppets--What the Puppets have Done--Shall we Thank these +Gods?--Shall we Thank Nature?--III. Men who deserve our Thanks--The +Infidels, Philanthropists and Scientists--The Discoverers and +Inventors--Magellan--Copernicus--Bruno--Galileo--Kepler, Herschel, +Newton, and LaPlace--Lyell--What the Worldly have Done--Origin and +Vicissitudes of the Bible--The Septuagint--Investigating the Phenomena +of Nature--IV. We thank the Good Men and Good Women of the Past--The +Poets, Dramatists, and Artists--The Statesmen--Paine, Jefferson, +Ericsson, Lincoln. Grant--Voltaire, Humboldt, Darwin. + +A LAY SERMON. + +(1886.) + +Prayer of King Lear--When Honesty wears a Rag and Rascality a Robe-The +Nonsense of "Free Moral Agency "--Doing Right is not Self-denial-Wealth +often a Gilded Hell--The Log House--Insanity of Getting +More--Great Wealth the Mother of Crime--Separation of Rich and +Poor--Emulation--Invention of Machines to Save Labor--Production and +Destitution--The Remedy a Division of the Land--Evils of Tenement +Houses--Ownership and Use--The Great Weapon is the Ballot--Sewing +Women--Strikes and Boycotts of No Avail--Anarchy, Communism, and +Socialism--The Children of the Rich a Punishment for Wealth--Workingmen +Not a Danger--The Criminals a Necessary Product--Society's Right +to Punish--The Efficacy of Kindness--Labor is Honorable--Mental +Independence. + +THE FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH. + +(1895.) + +I. The Old Testament--Story of the Creation--Age of the Earth and +of Man--Astronomical Calculations of the Egyptians--The Flood--The +Firmament a Fiction--Israelites who went into Egypt--Battles of the +Jews--Area of Palestine--Gold Collected by David for the Temple--II. The +New Testament--Discrepancies about the Birth of Christ--Herod and +the Wise Men--The Murder of the Babes of Bethlehem--When was Christ +born--Cyrenius and the Census of the World--Genealogy of Christ +according to Matthew and Luke--The Slaying of Zacharias--Appearance of +the Saints at the Crucifixion--The Death of Judas Iscariot--Did +Christ wish to be Convicted?--III. Jehovah--IV. The Trinity--The +Incarnation--Was Christ God?--The Trinity Expounded--"Let us pray"--V. +The Theological Christ--Sayings of a Contradictory Character--Christ a +Devout Jew--An ascetic--His Philosophy--The Ascension--The Best that Can +be Said about Christ--The Part that is beautiful and Glorious--The Other +Side--VI. The Scheme of Redemption--VII. Belief--Eternal Pain--No Hope +in Hell, Pity in Heaven, or Mercy in the Heart of God--VIII. Conclusion. + +SUPERSTITION. + +(1898.) + +I. What is Superstition?--Popular Beliefs about the Significance +of Signs, Lucky and Unlucky Numbers, Days, Accidents, Jewels, +etc.--Eclipses, Earthquakes, and Cyclones as Omens--Signs and Wonders +of the Heavens--Efficacy of Bones and Rags of Saints--Diseases and +Devils--II. Witchcraft--Necromancers--What is a Miracle?--The Uniformity +of Nature--III. Belief in the Existence of Good Spirits or Angels--God +and the Devil--When Everything was done by the Supernatural--IV. All +these Beliefs now Rejected by Men of Intelligence--The Devil's Success +Made the Coming of Christ a Necessity--"Thou shalt not Suffer a Witch +to Live"--Some Biblical Angels--Vanished Visions--V. Where are Heaven +and Hell?--Prayers Never Answered--The Doctrine of Design--Why Worship +our Ignorance?--Would God Lead us into Temptation?--President McKinley's +Thanks giving for the Santiago Victory--VI. What Harm Does Superstition +Do?--The Heart Hardens and the Brain Softens--What Superstition has Done +and Taught--Fate of Spain--Of Portugal, Austria, Germany--VII. Inspired +Books--Mysteries added to by the Explanations of Theologians--The +Inspired Bible the Greatest Curse of Christendom--VIII. Modifications +of Jehovah--Changing the Bible--IX. Centuries of Darkness--The Church +Triumphant--When Men began to Think--X. Possibly these Superstitions are +True, but We have no Evidence--We Believe in the Natural--Science is the +Real Redeemer. + +THE DEVIL. + +(1899.) + +I. If the Devil should Die, would God Make Another?--How was the Idea +of a Devil Produced--Other Devils than Ours--Natural Origin of these +Monsters--II. The Atlas of Christianity is The Devil--The Devil of the +Old Testament--The Serpent in Eden--"Personifications" of Evil--Satan +and Job--Satan and David--III. Take the Devil from the Drama +of Christianity and the Plot is Gone--Jesus Tempted by the Evil +One--Demoniac Possession--Mary Magdalene--Satan and Judas--Incubi +and Succubi--The Apostles believed in Miracles and Magic--The Pool of +Bethesda--IV. The Evidence of the Church--The Devil was forced to +Father the Failures of God--Belief of the Fathers of the Church +in Devils--Exorcism at the Baptism of an Infant in the Sixteenth +Century--Belief in Devils made the Universe a Madhouse presided over by +an Insane God--V. Personifications of the Devil--The Orthodox Ostrich +Thrusts his Head into the Sand--If Devils are Personifications so are +all the Other Characters of the Bible--VI. Some Queries about the +Devil, his Place of Residence, his Manner of Living, and his Object in +Life--Interrogatories to the Clergy--VII. The Man of Straw the Master +of the Orthodox Ministers--His recent Accomplishments--VIII. Keep the +Devils out of Children--IX. Conclusion.--Declaration of the Free. + +PROGRESS. + +(1860-64.) + +The Prosperity of the World depends upon its Workers--Veneration for the +Ancient--Credulity and Faith of the Middle Ages--Penalty for Reading +the Scripture in the Mother Tongue--Unjust, Bloody, and Cruel Laws--The +Reformers too were Persecutors--Bigotry of Luther and Knox--Persecution +of Castalio--Montaigne against Torture in France--"Witchcraft" (chapter +on)--Confessed Wizards--A Case before Sir Matthew Hale--Belief +in Lycanthropy--Animals Tried and Executed--Animals received +as Witnesses--The Corsned or Morsel of Execution--Kepler an +Astrologer--Luther's Encounter with the Devil--Mathematician +Stoefflers, Astronomical Prediction of a Flood--Histories Filled with +Falsehood--Legend about the Daughter of Pharaoh invading Scotland and +giving the Country her name--A Story about Mohammed--A History of the +Britains written by Archdeacons--Ingenuous Remark of Eusebius--Progress +in the Mechanic Arts--England at the beginning of the Eighteenth +Century--Barbarous Punishments--Queen Elizabeth's Order Concerning +Clergymen and Servant Girls--Inventions of Watt, Arkwright, and +Others--Solomon's Deprivations--Language (chapter on)--Belief that the +Hebrew was< the original Tongue--Speculations about the Language +of Paradise--Geography (chapter on)--The Works of Cosmas--Printing +Invented--Church's Opposition to Books--The Inquisition--The +Reformation--"Slavery" (chapter on)--Voltaire's Remark on Slavery as +a Contract--White Slaves in Greece, Rome, England, Scotland, and +France--Free minds make Free Bodies--Causes of the Abolition of White +Slavery in Europe--The French Revolution--The African Slave Trade, +its Beginning and End--Liberty Triumphed (chapter head)--Abolition of +Chattel Slavery--Conclusion. + +WHAT IS RELIGION? + +(1899.) + +I. Belief in God and Sacrifice--Did an Infinite God Create the Children +of Men and is he the Governor of the Universe?--II. If this God Exists, +how do we Know he is Good?--Should both the Inferior and the Superior +thank God for their Condition?--III. The Power that Works for +Righteousness--What is this Power?--The Accumulated Experience of the +World is a Power Working for Good?--Love the Commencement of the Higher +Virtues--IV. What has our Religion Done?--Would Christians have been +Worse had they Adopted another Faith?--V. How Can Mankind be Reformed +Without Religion?--VI. The Four Corner-stones of my Theory--VII. Matter +and Force Eternal--Links in the Chain of Evolution--VIII. Reform--The +Gutter as a Nursery--Can we Prevent the Unfit from Filling the World +with their Children?--Science must make Woman the Owner and Mistress +of Herself--Morality Born of Intelligence--IX. Real Religion and Real +Worship. + + + + +WHY I AM AN AGNOSTIC. + + +I. + +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. + +Environment is a sculptor--a painter. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +In those days ministers depended on revivals to save souls and reform +the world. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +These sermons made but faint impressions on my mind. I was not +convinced. + +I had no desire to be "converted," did not want a "new heart" and had no +wish to be "born again." + +But I heard one sermon that touched my heart, that left its mark, like a +scar, on my brain. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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.'" + +"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.'" + +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." + +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. + + +II. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +These are the words of "eternal love." + +No human being has imagination enough to conceive of this infinite +horror. + +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. + +This is the consolation of the Christian religion. This is the justice +of God--the mercy of Christ. + +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. + +Like a venomous serpent it crawls and coils and hisses in every orthodox +creed. + +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. + +Nothing could add to the horror of hell, except the presence of its +creator, God. + +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. + +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. + +For centuries Christendom was a madhouse. Popes, cardinals, bishops, +priests, monks and heretics were all insane. + +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. + +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. + + +III. + +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. + +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. + +To while away the time I read Calvin's Institutes, a book calculated to +produce, in any natural mind, considerable respect for the Devil. + +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. + +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 _not_ have had a maker. This is what the lawyers call a departure +in pleading. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +And yet I have kindness and candor enough to say that Calvin and Edwards +were both insane. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +We had the Book of Martyrs, showing that Christians had for many +centuries imitated the God they worshiped. + +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. + +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. + + +IV. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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? + +Yet millions of people insist that the writer of Genesis was inspired by +the Creator of all worlds. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +In every way the clergy sought to evade the facts, to dodge the truth, +to preserve the creed. + +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. + +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. + +Anything they could not dodge, they swallowed, and anything they could +not swallow, they dodged. + +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. + +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. + +V. + +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. + +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. + +I read and read again with rapture, tears and smiles, feeling that a +great heart was throbbing in the lines. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The sacred books of all the world are worthless dross and common stones +compared with Shakespeare's glittering gold and gleaming gems. + + +VI. + +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. + +I read Gibbon, the greatest of historians, who marshaled his facts as +skillfully as Caesar 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. + +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. + +In Philadelphia, Paine was employed to write for the _Pennsylvania +Magazine_. 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. + +From this you see that he suggested the great reforms of our century. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +No one has answered--no one will answer, his argument against the dogma +of inspiration--his objections to the Bible. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +I read Zeno, the man who said, centuries before our Christ was born, +that man could not own his fellow-man. + +"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." + +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?" + +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." + +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. + +Diogenes must have know of this "inspired" passage--"Without the +shedding of blood there is no remission of sins." + +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. + + +VII. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The history of these gods is the exact history of our Christ. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +The Egyptians had a Trinity. They worshiped Osiris, Isis and Horus, +thousands of years before the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were known. + +The Tree of Life grew in India, in China, and among the Aztecs, long +before the Garden of Eden was planted. + +Long before our Bible was known, other nations had their sacred books. + +The dogmas of the Fall of Man, the Atonement and Salvation by Faith, are +far older than our religion. + +In our blessed gospel,--in our "divine scheme,"--there is nothing +new--nothing original. All old--all borrowed, pieced and patched. + +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. + + +VIII. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The theological view began to look small and mean. + +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. + +Theology looked more absurd than ever. + +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. + +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. + +Theology looked smaller still. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +IX. + +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. + +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. + +Then I took another step. + +If matter cannot be destroyed, cannot be annihilated, it could not have +been created. + +The indestructible must be uncreateable. + +And then I asked myself: What is force? + +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. + +If force cannot be destroyed it could not have been created. It is +eternal. + +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 Buechner. + +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. + +Matter and force were not created. They have existed from eternity. They +cannot be destroyed. + +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? + +There can be goodness without much intelligence--but it seems to me +that perfect intelligence and perfect goodness must go together. + +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. + +To me it seems infinitely cruel for life to feed on life--to create +animals that devour others. + +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. + +How can the orthodox Christian explain these things? + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +The same God made the eagle, the vulture, the hawk, and their helpless +prey. + +On every hand there seems to be design to defeat design. + +If God created man--if he is the father of us all, why did he make the +criminals, the insane, the deformed and idiotic? + +Should the inferior man thank God? Should the mother, who clasps to her +breast an idiot child, thank God? Should the slave thank God? + +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? + +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? + +And yet, according to the theologians, this is exactly the course +pursued by God. + +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. + +Who has ingenuity enough to explain this? + +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? + +If God governs the world, why is innocence not a perfect shield? Why +does injustice triumph? + +Who can answer these questions? + +In answer, the intelligent, honest man must say: I do not know. + + +X. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +For thousands of ages men and women have been trying to love the +gods--trying to soften their hearts--trying to get their aid. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Is there a God? + +I do not know. + +Is man immortal? + +I do not know. + +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. + +We wait and hope. + + +XI. + +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. + +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. + +Let us be true to ourselves--true to the facts we know, and let us, +above all things, preserve the veracity of our souls. + +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. + +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. + + + + +THE TRUTH. + + +I. + +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. + +But the world is changing. We are tired of barbarian bibles and savage +creeds. + +Nothing is greater, nothing is of more importance, than to find amid the +errors and darkness of this life, a shining truth. + +Truth is the intellectual wealth of the world. + +The noblest of occupations is to search for truth. + +Truth is the foundation, the superstructure, and the glittering dome of +progress. + +Truth is the mother of joy. Truth civilizes, ennobles, and purifies. The +grandest ambition that can enter the soul is to know the truth. + +Truth gives man the greatest power for good. Truth is sword and shield. +It is the sacred light of the soul. + +The man who finds a truth lights a torch. + +How is Truth to be Found? + +By investigation, experiment and reason. + +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. + +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. + +There is no real investigation without freedom--freedom from the fear of +gods and men. + +So, all investigation--all experiment--should be pursued in the light of +reason. + +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, _in +accordance with his reason_, should be his guide and master. + +To love the truth, thus perceived, is mental virtue--intellectual +purity. This is true manhood. This is freedom. + +To throw away your reason at the command of churches, popes, parties, +kings or gods, is to be a serf, a slave. + +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. + +Every Man Should be Mentally Honest. + +He should preserve as his most precious jewel the perfect veracity of +his soul. + +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. + +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. + +He Should be Intellectually Hospitable. + +Prejudice, egotism, hatred, contempt, disdain, are the enemies of truth +and progress. + +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. + +Nothing but falsehood needs the assistance of fame and place, of robes +and mitres, of tiaras and crowns. + +The wise, the really honest and intelligent, are not swayed or governed +by numbers--by majorities. + +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. + +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. + +This is the course pursued by wise and honest men, and no other course +is possible for them. + +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. + +The chemist, with crucible and retort, with countless experiments, is +trying to find the qualities of substances--to ravel what nature has +woven. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Every man should have the courage to give his honest thought. This makes +the finder and publisher of truth a public benefactor. + +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. + +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. + +Who knows that they are sacred? Can anything be sacred to us that we do +not know to be true? + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +II. + +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. + +All the popes and priests, all the orthodox churches and clergymen, say +that they have a revelation from God. + +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." + +"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!" + +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." + +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." + +This is the freedom of the Catholic Church. + +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. + +It is his duty to cast out from the temple of his soul the goddess +Reason, and bow before the coiled serpent of Fear. + +This is what the church calls virtue. + +Under these conditions what can thought be worth? The brain, swept by +the sirocco of God's curse, becomes a desert. + +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. + +To those who believe, it promises the endless ecstasies of heaven. If it +cannot frighten, it will bribe. It relies on fear and hope. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Is it honest to offer a reward for belief? + +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. + +The bribe is not evidence. + +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. + +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? + +Intelligent people would ask not for rewards, but reasons. Only +hypocrites would ask for the money. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The true man, when asked to believe, asks for evidence. The true man, +who asks another to believe, offers evidence. + +But this is not all. + +In spite of the threat of eternal pain--of the promise of everlasting +joy, unbelievers increased, and the churches took another step. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +They warm their hands at the imaginary fires of hell. + +I show them that hell does not exist and they denounce me for destroying +their consolation. + +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. + +In a few minutes, a little boy who clerked in the store said: "Mr. +Greeley, there aint no fire in that stove." + +"You d----d little rascal," said Greeley, "What did you tell me for, I +was getting real warm." + + +III. + +"THE SCIENCE OF THEOLOGY." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +There is none. + +Theology is entirely independent of evidence. + +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? + +The theologians depend on assertions. They have no evidence. They +claim that their inspired book is superior to reason and independent of +evidence. + +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 Caesar 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +You see every soul is a sculptor that fashions the features, and in this +way reveals itself. + +Every thought leaves its impress. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +In every orthodox pulpit stood a traducer of the greatest of +scientists--of one who filled the world with intellectual light. + +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. + +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. + +What valuable fact has been proclaimed from an orthodox pulpit? What +ecclesiastical council has added to the intellectual wealth of the +world? + +Many centuries ago the church gave to Christendom a code of laws, +stupid, unphilosophic and brutal to the last degree. + +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? + +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. + +So, ministers say that they teach charity. This is natural. They live on +alms. All beggars teach that others should give. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The church denies the eternal, inexorable sequence of events. + +What Good has the Church Accomplished? + +It claims to have preached peace because its founder said, "I came not +to bring peace but a sword." + +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. + +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. + +In the name of Christ, who threatened eternal revenge, it has preached +forgiveness. + +Of what Use are the Orthodox Ministers? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +What are the Orthodox Clergy Doing for the Good of Mankind? + +Absolutely nothing. + +What harm are they doing? + +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. + +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. + +Superstition is the serpent that crawls and hisses in every Eden and +fastens its poisonous fangs in the hearts of men. + +It is the deadliest foe of the human race. + +Superstition is a beggar--a robber, a tyrant. + +Science is a benefactor. + +Superstition sheds blood. + +Science sheds light. + +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. + +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. + +All these mistakes and illusions and delusions--all these miracles and +myths must fade from the minds of intelligent men. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +These ministers ought to know that their creeds are based on imagined +facts and demonstrated by assertion. + +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. + +The God of the Christian is an enthroned guess--a perhaps--an inference. + +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. + +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. + +We know that men and women and children exist. We know that happiness, +for the most part, depends on conduct. + +We are satisfied that all the gods are phantoms and that the +supernatural does not exist. + +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. + + +CONCLUSION. + +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. + +The nursery should not be an asylum for lies. + +Parents should be modest enough to be truthful--honest enough to +admit their ignorance. Nothing should be taught as true that cannot be +demonstrated. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Ignorance is the mother of mystery and misery, of superstition and +sorrow, of waste and want. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +A new era is dawning on the world. We are beginning to believe in the +religion of usefulness. + +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. + +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. + + + + +HOW TO REFORM MANKIND. + + * This address was delivered before the Militant Church at + the Columbia Theatre, Chicago, Ills., April 12, 1896. + + +I. + +"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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Every brain is a field where nature sows the seeds of thought, and the +crop depends upon the soil. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +In medicine he believed in charms, magic, amulets, and incantations. It +never occurred to the savage that diseases were natural. + +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. + +In mechanics he searched for perpetual motion, believing that he, by +some curious combinations of levers, could produce, could create a +force. + +In government, he found the source of authority in the will of the +supernatural. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Every science rests on the natural, on demonstrated facts. So, morality +and religion must find their foundations in the necessary nature of +things. + + +II. HOW CAN WE REFORM THE WORLD? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + + +III. ANOTHER WASTE. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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: + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +Now, it seems to me that such a congregation in a few years would become +the most intelligent people in the United States. + +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. + + "There is no darkness but ignorance." + There is no light but intelligence, + +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. + +I blame no one; I call in question the motives of no person; I admit +that the world has acted as it must. + +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. + +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. + + +IV. HOW CAN WE LESSEN CRIME? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Neither the diseases nor the deformities of the mind or body should be +perpetuated. Life at the fountain should not be polluted. + + +V. HOMES FOR ALL. + +THE home is the unit of the nation. The more homes the broader the +foundation of the nation and the more secure. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +There will never be a generation of great men until there has been a +generation of free women--of free mothers. + +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! + + +VI. THE LABOR QUESTION. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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"? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +VII. EDUCATE THE CHILDREN. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +VIII. WE MUST WORK AND WAIT. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + "There is no darkness but ignorance." + Let us flood the world with intellectual light. + + + + +A THANKSGIVING SERMON. + +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. + +These poor wretches were the slaves of fear, the sport of dreams. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +For the blessings we enjoy--for the happiness that is ours, we ought to +be grateful. Our hearts should blossom with thankfulness. + +Whom, what, should we thank? + +Let us be honest--generous. + +Should we thank the church? + +Christianity has controlled Christendom for at least fifteen hundred +years. + +During these centuries what have the orthodox churches accomplished, for +the good of man? + +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. + +What good has the church done? + +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? + +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? + +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? + +What has the church done? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +What has the church done? + +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. + +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. + +What has the church done? + +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. + +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." + +What has the church done? + +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? + +I admit that they looked over a number of Jewish books and picked out +the ones that Jehovah wrote. + +Did they find the medicinal virtue that dwells in any weed or flower? + +I know that they decided that the Holy Ghost was not created--not +begotten--but that he proceeded. + +Did they teach us the mysteries of the metals and how to purify the ores +in furnace flames? + +They shouted: "Great is the mystery of Godliness." + +Did they show us how to improve our condition in this world? + +They informed us that Christ had two natures and two wills. + +Did they give us even a hint as to any useful thing? + +They gave us predestination, foreordination and just enough "free will" +to go to hell. + +Did they discover or show us how to produce anything for food? + +Did they produce anything to satisfy the hunger of man? + +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. + +Did they tell us anything about chemistry--how to combine and separate +substances--how to subtract the hurtful--how to produce the useful? + +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. + +What has the church done? + +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. + +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." + +What has the church done? + +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. + +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. + +Man had no right to prevent disease--diseases were sent by God as +judgments. + +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. + +What has the church done? + +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. + +What has the church done? + +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. + +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. + +Hundreds of like instances could be given, as the war waged between +demons and priests was long and bitter. + +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. + +What has the church done? + +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. + +For my part, I would as soon be a widow as the bride of a man who had +been dead for eighteen hundred years. + +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. + +These loving women gave their hearts to a phantom, their lives to a +dream. + +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." + +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. + +What has the church done? + +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. + +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. + +To insure your life was to insult heaven. + +What has the church done? + +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. + +What has the church done? + +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. + +This was the literature of the church. + +I admit that the priests were honest--as honest as ignorant. More could +not be said. + +What has the church done? + +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. + +What has the church done? + +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. + +What has the church done? + +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. + +The church filled the world with faith and crime. + +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. + +It gave us angels with wings--cherubim and seraphim and a heaven with +harps and hallelujahs--with streets of gold and gates of pearl. + +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? + +Shall we thank them for the hell they made here? Shall we thank them for +the hell of the future? + + +II. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +What I say is that every honest teacher of the supernatural has been and +is an unconscious enemy of the human race. + +What is the philosophy of the church--of those who believe in the +supernatural? + +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. + +The play is a continuous performance. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Have these cringings and crawlings--these cruelties and +absurdities--this faith and foolishness pleased the gods? + +We do not know. + +Has any disaster been averted--any blessing obtained? We do not know. + +Shall we thank these gods? + +Shall we thank the church's God? + +Who and what is he? + +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. + +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. + +Has this God good sense? + +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. + +What is the matter with this God? Well, sometimes he is +foolish--sometimes he is cruel and sometimes he is insane. + +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? + +We do not know. + +Shall we thank Nature? + +Does Nature care for us more than for leaves, or grass, or flies? + +Does Nature know that we exist? We do not know. + +But we do know that Nature is going to murder us all. + +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? + + +III. + +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? + +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. + +Passing over the Hindus, the Egyptians, the Greeks and Romans, their +poets, philosophers and metaphysicians--we will come to modern times. + +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. + +"They were the first to publish pharmacopoeias and dispensatories. + +"In mechanics they determined the laws of falling bodies. They +understood the mechanical powers, and the attraction of gravitation. + +"They taught hydrostatics and determined the specific gravities of +bodies. + +"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." + +"They were manufacturers of cotton, leather, paper and steel. + +"They gave us the game of chess. + +"They produced romances and novels and essays on many subjects. + +"In their schools they taught the modern doctrines of evolution and +development." They anticipated Darwin and Spencer. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +In 1543 Copernicus published his book, "On the Revolutions of the +Heavenly Bodies." + +He had some idea of the vastness of the stars--of the astronomical +spaces--of the insignificance of this world. + +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. + +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. + +What have the wordly done? + +In 1608, Lippersheim, a Hollander, so arranged lenses that objects were +exaggerated. + +He invented the telescope. + +He gave countless worlds to our eyes, and made us citizens of the +Universe. + +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." + +What did the church do? + +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. + +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. + +Astronomy became a science and Christianity a superstition. + +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. + +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. + +What have the wordly done? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +We are no longer misled by myths and legends. We rely upon facts. The +world is our witness and the stars testify for us. + +What have the worldly done? + +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. + +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. + +They found that all the sacred books were filled with inspired mistake +and sacred absurdity. + +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. + +Let me tell you about it. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +What became of this Bible? + +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. + +And this Holy Bible has never been seen or heard of since. So much for +that. + +Then there was a copy, or rather a translation, called the Septuagint. + +How was that made? + +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. + +At that time the Jewish Bible did not contain Daniel, Ecclesiastes, but +few of the Psalms and only a part of Isaiah. + +What became of this translation known as the Septuagint? + +It was burned in the Bruchium Library forty-seven years before Christ. + +Then there was another so-called copy of part of the Bible, known as the +Samaritan Roll of the Pentateuch. + +But this is not considered of any value. + +Have we a true copy of the Bible that was in the temple at +Jerusalem--the one sent to Vespasian? + +Nobody knows. + +Have we a true copy of the Septuagint? + +Nobody knows. + +What is the oldest manuscript of the Bible we have in Hebrew? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +What have the worldly done? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +IV. + +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. + +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. + +I thank the industrious men, the loving mothers, the useful women. They +are the benefactors of our race. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +I thank Humboldt and Helmholtz and Haeckel and Buechner. 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. + +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. + +With all my heart I thank them all. + + + + +A LAY SERMON. + + * Delivered before the Congress of the American Secular + Union, at Chickering Hall, New York, Nov. 14, 1885. + + +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: + + "I'll pray, and then I'll sleep." + +And this prayer is my text: + + "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." + +That is one of the noblest prayers that ever fell from human lips. If +nobody has too much, everybody will have enough! + +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. + +I want you to remember that everybody is as he _must_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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: + + "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." + +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. + +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! + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The tenement house is the enemy of modesty, the enemy of virtue, the +enemy of patriotism. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +Did you ever read that wonderful poem about the sewing woman? Let me +tell you the last verse: + + "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!" + +I cannot call this civilization. There must be something nearer a fairer +division in this world. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +"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. + +Now, we have in this country another class. We call them "criminals." +Let me take another step: + + "'Tis not enough to help the feeble up, + But to support him after." + +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. + +None but the noblest should inflict punishment, even on the basest. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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: + + "If happiness have not her seat + And center in the breast, + We may be wise, or rich, or great, + But never can be blest." + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +THE FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH. + + +I. THE OLD TESTAMENT. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +But there is still another question. How long has man been upon the +earth? + +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. + +According to the sacred Scriptures man has been on this earth five +thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine years and no more. + +Is this true? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +It is therefore certain that many, many thousands of years before Adam +lived, men, women and children inhabited the earth. + +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. + +Let me give you another fact: + +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. + +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. + +In other words, Adam was two or three hundred years old when the +Egyptian astronomers made these representations. + +Nothing can be more absurd. + +Again I say that the writers of the Bible were mistaken. + +How do I know? + +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? + +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. + +There is another mistake in the Bible. + +According to that book the sun was made after the earth was created. + +Is this true? + +Did the earth exist before the sun? + +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. + +The writers of the Bible were mistaken. + +There is another point: + +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? + +This is the record: + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +Can we rely on the historical parts of the Bible? + +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. + +This makes thirty-five thousand eight hundred and forty, (35,840.) +instead of three millions. + +Can we believe the accounts of the battles? + +Take one instance: + +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. + +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. + +The soil is poor. + +If the Bible is inspired, is it true? + +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. + +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. + +Is this true? + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +Probably the architect was inspired. + +Is there a sensible man in the world who believes that David collected +seven thousand million dollars worth of gold or silver? + +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. + +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. + +The Old Testament must be thrown aside. It is no longer a foundation. It +has crumbled. + + +II. THE NEW TESTAMENT + +BUT we have the New Testament, the sequel of the Old, in which +Christians find the fulfillment of prophecies made by inspired Jews. + +The New Testament vouches for the truth, the inspiration, of the Old, +and if the old is false, the New cannot be true. + +In the New Testament we find all that we know about the life and +teachings of Jesus Christ. + +It is claimed that the writers were divinely inspired, and that all they +wrote is true. + +Let us see if these writers agree. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +Then Herod called the wise men and asked them when the star appeared, +and told them to go to Bethlehem and report to him. + +When they left Herod, the star again appeared and went before them until +it stood over the place where the child was. + +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. + +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. + +So Joseph took Mary and the child to Egypt and remained there until the +death of Herod. + +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." + +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. + +So he went back and dwelt in Nazareth. + +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? + +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. + +Must we believe that Herod murdered the babes of Bethlehem? + +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? + +Luke also gives an account of the birth of Christ. He says that there +went out a decree from Caesar 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. + +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. + +Do the accounts in Matthew and Luke agree? Can both accounts be true? + +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. + +Both of these accounts cannot be true. Will some Christian scholar tell +us which to believe? + +When was Christ born? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Will some Christian scholar have the goodness to harmonize these +"inspired" accounts? + +There is another thing. + +Matthew and Luke both try to show that Christ was of the blood of David, +that he was a descendant of that virtuous king. + +As both of these writers were inspired and as both received their +information from God, they ought to agree. + +According to Matthew there was between David and Jesus twenty-seven +generations, and he gives all the names. + +According to Luke there were between David and Jesus forty-two +generations, and he gives all the names. + +In these genealogies--both inspired--there is a difference between David +and Jesus, a difference of some fourteen or fifteen generations. + +Besides, the names of all the ancestors are different, with two +exceptions. + +Matthew says that Joseph's father was Jacob. Luke says that Heli was +Joseph's father. + +Both of these genealogies cannot be true, and the probability is that +both are false. + +There is not in all the pulpits ingenuity enough to harmonize these +ignorant and stupid contradictions. + +There are many curious mistakes in the words attributed to Christ. + +We are told in Matthew, chapter xxiii, verse 35, that Christ said: + +"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." + +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. + +There is still another mistake. + +Zacharias was not the son of Barachias--no such + +Zacharias was killed. The Zacharias that was slain was the son of +Baruch. + +But we must not expect the "inspired" to be accurate. + +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 _after_ his resurrection, and went into the holy city +and appeared unto many." + +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. + +They were polite enough to sit in their open graves and wait for Christ +to rise first. + +To whom did these saints appear? What became of them? Did they slip back +into their graves and commit suicide? + +Is it not wonderful that Mark, Luke and John never heard of these +saints? + +What kind of saints were they? Certainly they were not Christian saints. + +So, the inspired writers do not agree in regard to Judas. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +Matthew says Judas repented and gave back the money. + +Peter says that he bought a field with the money. + +Matthew says that Judas hanged himself. Peter says that he fell down and +burst asunder. Which of these accounts is true? + +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. + +Yet, according to the New Testament, Christ did not know that one of his +disciples was to betray him. + +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. + +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." + +Why did Christ a year afterward, tell Judas that he should sit on a +throne and judge one of the tribes of Israel? + +There is still another trouble. + +Paul says that Jesus after his resurrection appeared to the twelve +disciples. According to Paul, Jesus appeared to Judas with the rest. + +Certainly Paul had not heard the story of the betrayal. + +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? + +Why did he fail to defend himself before Pilate? + +According to the accounts, Pilate wanted to save him. Did Christ wish to +be convicted? + +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. + + +III. JEHOVAH. + +GOD the Father. + +The Jehovah of the Old Testament is the God of the Christians. + +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. + +This shows his goodness. + +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. + +This shows his impartiality. + +The pious negro who commenced his prayer: "O thou great and unscrupulous +God," was nearer right than he knew. + +Ministers ask: Is it possible for God to forgive man? + +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? + +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? + +Is not this unthinkable God a guess, an inference? + +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? + +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? + +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. + +Of the existence of such a being there can be, in the nature of things, +no evidence. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Why should Christians insist that a God of infinite wisdom, goodness and +power governs the world? + +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? + + +IV. THE TRINITY + +THE New Testament informs us that Christ was the son of Joseph and the +son of God, and that Mary was his mother. + +How is it established that Christ was the son of God? + +It is said that Joseph was told so in a dream by an angel. + +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. + +How is it possible to prove that the Holy Ghost was the father of +Christ? + +Who knows that such a being as the Holy Ghost ever existed? + +How was it possible for Mary to know anything about the Holy Ghost? + +How could Joseph know that he had been visited by an angel in a dream? + +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? + +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. + +Matthew and Luke give the genealogy and both show that Christ was the +son of Joseph. + +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. + +It is claimed not only that Christ was the Son of God, but that he was, +and is, God. + +Was he God before he was born? Was the body of Mary the dwelling place +of God? + +What evidence have we that Christ was God? + +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. + +Somebody who was "inspired" has said that Christ was of the blood of +David through his father Joseph. + +This is all the evidence we have. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +How is it possible to prove the existence of the Trinity? + +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? + +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. + +At this point, absurdity having reached its limit, nothing more can be +said except: "Let us pray." + + +V. THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST + +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. + +My own observation has led me to believe that men are generally +consistent in their theories and inconsistent in their lives. + +So, I think that Christ in his utterances was true to his theory, to his +philosophy. + +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. + +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. + +The following passages show that Christ was a devout Jew. + +"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." + +"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." + +So, when he cured a leper, he said: "Go thy way, show thyself unto the +priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded." + +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." + +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." + +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. + +So, when the young man asked him what he must do to be saved, he said: +"Keep the commandments." + +Christ said: "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat, all +therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do." + +"And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the +law to fail." + +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." + +"We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews." + +Certainly all these passages were written by persons who regarded Christ +as the Messiah. + +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. + +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." + +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." + +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." + +"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." + +"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." + +Christ it seems had a philosophy. + +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. + +"Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +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?" + +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. + +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." + +"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." + +"But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, +bring hither and slay them before me." + +This passage built dungeons and lighted fagots. + +"Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his +angels." + +"I came not to bring peace but a sword." + +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. + +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? + +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. + +This is no longer possible. The contradictions are too many, too +glaring. There are contradictions of fact not only, but of philosophy, +of theory. + +The accounts of the trial, the crucifixion, and ascension of Christ do +not agree. They are full of mistakes and contradictions. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +These contradictions are gross and palpable and demonstrate that the +New Testament is not inspired, and that many of its statements must be +false. + +If we wish to save the character of Christ, many of the passages must be +thrown away. + +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. + +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. + +The same may be said in regard to Mark, Luke and John. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +For many centuries this great Peasant of Palestine has been worshiped as +God. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +VI. THE "SCHEME" + +WE have also the scheme of redemption. + +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. + +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. + +In spite of all his efforts, the people grew gradually worse. They would +not, they could not keep his laws. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +This is the scheme of Redemption,--the atonement. + +It is impossible to conceive of anything more utterly absurd. + +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. + +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. + +There is no sense in sacrifice, never was and never will be. + +Make restitution, reparation, undo the wrong and you need shed no blood. + +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." + +But that is not the law. The law says, not that somebody shall be +hanged, but that the murderer shall suffer death. + +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. + +This, Christians call, "satisfying the law." + + +VII. BELIEF. + +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. + +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. + +Where is this heaven? The Christians do not know. + +Does the Christian go there at death, or must he wait for the general +resurrection? + +They do not know. + +The Testament teaches that the bodies of the dead are to be raised? +Where are their souls in the meantime? They do not know. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +Christians believe in infinite torture, in eternal pain. + +Eternal Pain! + +All the meanness of which the heart of man is capable is in that one +word--Hell. + +That word is a den, a cave, in which crawl the slimy reptiles of +revenge. + +That word certifies to the savagery of primitive man. + +That word is the depth, the dungeon, the abyss, from which civilized man +has emerged. + +That word is the disgrace, the shame, the infamy, of our revealed +religion. + +That word fills all the future with the shrieks of the damned. + +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. + +That word adds an infinite horror to death, and makes the cradle as +terrible as the coffin. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +That word blots from the firmament the star of hope and leaves the +heavens black. + +That word makes the Christian's God an eternal torturer, an everlasting +inquisitor--an infinite wild beast. + +This is the Christian prophecy of the eternal future: + +No hope in hell. + +No pity in heaven. + +No mercy in the heart of God. + + +VIII. CONCLUSION + +THE Old Testament is absurd, ignorant and cruel,--the New Testament is +a mingling of the false and true--it is good and bad. + +The Jehovah of the Jews is an impossible monster. The Trinity absurd and +idiotic, Christ is a myth or a man. + +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. + +Some may ask, "Are you trying to take our religion away?" + +I answer, No--superstition is not religion. Belief without evidence is +not religion. Faith without facts is not religion. + +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. + +But, says the prejudiced priest, the malicious minister, "You take away +a future life." + +I am not trying to destroy another world, but I am endeavoring to +prevent the theologians from destroying this. + +If we are immortal it is a fact in nature, and that fact does not depend +on bibles, or Christs, or priests or creeds. + +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. + +The wanderers hope for home.--Hope builds the house and plants the +flowers and fills the air with song. + +The sick and suffering hope for health.--Hope gives them health and +paints the roses in their cheeks. + +The lonely, the forsaken, hope for love.--Hope brings the lover to their +arms. They feel the kisses on their eager lips. + +The poor in tenements and huts, in spite of rags and hunger hope for +wealth.--Hope fills their thin and trembling hands with gold. + +The dying hopes that death is but another birth, and Love leans above +the pallid face and whispers, "We shall meet again." + +Hope is the consolation of the world. + +Let us hope, if there be a God that he is wise and good. + +Let us hope that if there be another life it will bring peace and joy to +all the children of men. + +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. + + + + +SUPERSTITION. + + +I. WHAT IS SUPERSTITION? + +To believe in spite of evidence or without evidence. To account for one +mystery by another. + +To believe that the world is governed by chance or caprice. + +To disregard the true relation between cause and effect. + +To put thought, intention and design back of nature. + +To believe that mind created and controls matter. To believe in force +apart from substance, or in substance apart from force. + +To believe in miracles, spells and charms, in dreams and prophecies. + +To believe in the supernatural. + +The foundation of superstition is ignorance, the superstructure is faith +and the dome is a vain hope. + +Superstition is the child of ignorance and the mother of misery. + +In nearly every brain is found some cloud of superstition. + +A woman drops a cloth with which she is washing dishes, and she +exclaims: "That means company." + +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. + +A man catches a glimpse of the new moon over his left shoulder, and he +says: "This is bad luck." + +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. + +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." + +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. + +Thousands of persons believe in lucky and unlucky days, numbers, signs +and jewels. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Overturning the salt is very unlucky, but spilling the vinegar makes no +difference. + +Why salt should be revengeful and vinegar forgiving has never been told. + +If the first person who enters a theatre is crosseyed, the audience will +be small and the "run" a failure. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Let us take another step: + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +This belief in amulets and charms, in ghosts and devils, is +superstition, pure and simple. + +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. + +In those days the priests were fishers for money, and they used these +relics for bait. + + +II. + +Let us take another step: + +This belief in the Devil and evil spirits laid the foundation for +another belief: Witchcraft. + +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! + +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! + +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. + +Let us take another step: + +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. + + +WHAT IS A MIRACLE? + +An act performed by a master of nature without reference to the facts in +nature. This is the only honest definition of a miracle. + +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. + +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. + +Miracles are not simply impossible, but they are unthinkable by any man +capable of thinking. + +Now an intelligent man cannot believe that a miracle ever was, or ever +will be, performed. + +Ignorance is the soil in which belief in miracles grows. + + +III. + +Let us take another step: + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +IV. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +John Wesley was right when he said that to give up a belief in +witchcraft was to give up the Bible. + +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? + +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. + +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?" + +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. + +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. + + +V. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +After all, why should we worship our ignorance, why should we kneel to +the Unknown, why should we prostrate ourselves before a guess? + +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? + +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. + +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. + +And yet Christians implore their God not to do wrong. + +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. + + "Lead us not into temptation." + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +VI. + +What harm does superstition do? What harm in believing in fables, in +legends? + +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. + +The heart hardens and the brain softens. + +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. + +Superstition is, always lias been, and forever will be, the enemy of +liberty. + +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. + +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. + +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 +_Auto da Fe_. 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! + +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. + + +VII. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +Think of the hearts hardened, of the hearts broken, of the cruelties +inflicted, of the agonies endured, of the lives darkened. + +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. + + +VIII. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +To them the Bible means exactly what it says. + +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." + +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. + +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. + + +IX. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +But, in spite of all, a few men began to think. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The Spectrum Analysis that tells us of the substance of the sun; the +Roentgen 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. + +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. + + +X. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +It all rests on dreams and visions of the insane. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +THE DEVIL. + + +IF THE DEVIL SHOULD DIE WOULD GOD MAKE ANOTHER? + +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. + +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. + +When I read these answers I thought of this line from Heine: "Christ +rode on an ass, but now asses ride on Christ." + +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." + +Now, where did the idea that a Devil exists come from? How was it +produced? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +These ideas about gods and devils often changed, because in the days of +Socrates a demon was not a devil, but a guardian angel. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +This is only one instance. There are thousands. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +II. THE ATLAS OF CHRISTIANITY IS THE DEVIL. + +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. + +Take the Devil from the scheme of salvation--from the atonement--from +the dogma of eternal pain--and the foundation is gone. + +The Devil is the keystone of the arch. + +He inflicted the wounds that Christ came to heal. He corrupted the human +race. + +The question now is: Does the Old Testament teach the existence of the +Devil? + +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. + +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? + +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? + +Admit that God is infinitely wise. Has he ingenuity enough to frame an +excuse for the creation of the Devil? + +Does the Old Testament teach the existence of a real, living Devil? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +How men--good men--can worship this God; how women--good women--can love +this Jehovah, is beyond my imagination. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Is it possible to say that the Devil in Job was only a personification +of evil? + +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. + +Was this Devil who tempted David a personification of evil, or was +Jehovah a personification of the devilish? + +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. + +If words convey any meaning, the Old Testament teaches the existence of +the Devil. + +All the passages about witches and those having familiar spirits were +born of a belief in the Devil. + +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." + + +III. TAKE THE DEVIL FROM THE DRAMA OF CHRISTIANITY AND THE PLOT IS GONE. + +The next question is: Does the New Testament teach the existence of the +Devil? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Was Jesus tempted? If he was tempted, who tempted him? Did anybody offer +him the kingdoms of the world? + +Did the writer of the account try to convey to the reader the thought +that Christ was tempted by the Devil? + +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? + +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. + +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? + +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?" + +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? + +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." + +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? + +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. + +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? + +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? + +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. + +Now, what did Christ mean by devils? + +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." + +Jesus answered by saying: "Every kingdom divided against itself is +brought to desolation. If Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against +himself." + +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? + +Another question: Did the Pharisees believe in the existence of devils, +or had they the personification idea? + +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." + +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. + +Did Christ believe in the existence of the Devil? + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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: + +"And straightway coming up out of the water he saw the heavens opened, +and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him. + +"And there came a voice from heaven, saying: 'Thou art my beloved Son, +in whom I am well pleased.' + +"And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness." + +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. + +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. + +Were these angels real angels, or were they personifications of good, of +comfort? + +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. + +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? + +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? + +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. + +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: + +"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. + +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.'" + +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." + +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? + +Could personifications of evil enter a herd of swine, or could +personifications of evil make a bargain with Christ? + +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. + +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." + +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." + +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." + +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." + +Then Christ said: "Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of +him, and enter no more into him." + +"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.'" + +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." + +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. + +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." + +Now, it is hardly possible that personifications of evil are dumb or +deaf. That is to say, that they have physical imperfections. + +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." + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +As a matter of fact, the apostles seemed to have relied upon the +evidence of devils to substantiate the divinity of their Lord. + +Jesus said to this devil: "Hold thy peace and come out of him." And the +devil, after throwing the man down, came out. + +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.'" + +It is also said that Christ rebuked them and suffered them not to speak, +for they knew that he was Christ. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +In the twenty-second chapter an account of the betrayal of Christ by +Judas is given in these words: + +"Then entered Satan into Judas Iscariot, being of the number of the +twelve." + +"And he went his way and communed with the chief priests and captains +how he might betray him unto them. + +"And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Certainly the writers of the New Testament believed in the existence of +the Devil. + +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. + +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: + +"And supper being ended, the Devil having now put into the heart of +Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him."... + +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. + +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." + +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." + +Paul and Silas, it would seem, cast out this spirit, and by reason of +that suffered great persecution. + +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?" + +"And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them so that they +fled naked and wounded." + +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?" + +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. + +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." + +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? + +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." + +Are people devoured by personifications or myths? Has an allegory an +appetite, or is a poem a cannibal? + +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." + +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. + +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." + +No Devil--no Christ. + +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. + +"And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. + +"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. + +"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." + +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. + +In the twentieth chapter of Revelation is the following: + +"And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the +bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. + +"And he laid Hold on the dragon--that old serpent, which is the Devil +and Satan--and bound him a thousand years. + +"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." + +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. + +We are further told that "when the thousand years are expired Satan +shall be loosed out of his prison." + +"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." + +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. + +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." + +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. + +The apostles, like their fellows, believed in miracles and magic. +Credulity was regarded as a virtue. + +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. + +There is one story in the New Testament that illustrates my meaning. + +In the fifth chapter of John is the following: + +"Now, there is at Jerusalem, by the sheep market, a pool, which is +called in the Hebrew tongue 'Bethesda,' having five porches. + +"In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk--of blind, halt, +withered--waiting for the moving of the water. + +"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. + +"And a certain man was there which had an infirmity thirty and eight +years. + +"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??' + +"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.' + +"Jesus saith unto him: 'Rise, take up thy bed and walk.' + +"And immediately the man was made whole and took up his bed and walked." + +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? + +Was the water troubled by an angel? Possibly, what apostles and +theologians call an angel a scientist knows as carbonic acid gas. + +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. + +What is the evidence of John worth? + +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. + +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. + +Beneath the structure called "Christianity" are four corner-stones--the +Father, Son, Holy Ghost and Devil. + + +IV. THE EVIDENCE OF THE CHURCH. + +The Devil, was Forced to Father the Failures of God. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +At that time the fathers--the theologians, the commentators--agreed that +unbaptized children, including those that were born dead, went to hell. + +And these same fathers--theologians and commentators--said: "God is +love." + +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! + +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. + +Millions of men and women were destroyed because they had sold +themselves to the Devil. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +Christians did not ask these questions. They believed the Bible; they +had confidence in the words of Christ. + + +V. PERSONIFICATIONS OF EVIL. + +The Orthodox Ostrich Thrusts His Head into the Sand. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +It is impossible for any man who believes in the inspiration of the +Bible to explain away the Devil. + +If the Bible is true the Devil exists. There is no escape from this. + +If the Devil does not exist the Bible is not true. There is no escape +from this. + +I admit that the Devil of the Bible is an impossible contradiction; an +impossible being. + +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? + +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. + +Any clergyman who can read the Bible and then say that devils are +personifications of evil is himself a personification of stupidity or +hypocrisy. + + +VI. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +But let me ask the clergy a few questions: + +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. + +Why was God so unpopular? Why were the angels so bad? + +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? + +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? + +How foolish is infinite wisdom! + +How malicious is mercy! + +How revengeful is boundless love! + +Again, I say that no sensible man in all the world believes in devils. + +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? + +Does he want his children misled and corrupted so that he can have the +pleasure of damning their souls? + + +VII. THE MAN OF STRAW. + +Some of the preachers who have answered me say that I am fighting a man +of straw. + +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. + +The ministers pretend that they have advanced--that they do not believe +the things that I attack. In this they are not honest. + +Who is the "man of straw"? + +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. + +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. + +The man of straw closed the mouth of Prof. Smith, and he has not opened +it since. + +The man of straw would not allow the Presbyterian creed to be changed. + +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. + +The man of straw pitched Prof. Swing out of the pulpit and drove the +Rev. Mr. Thomas from the Methodist Church. + +Let me tell the orthodox ministers that they are trying to cover their +retreat. + +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. + +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. + +The man of straw will then be dead. + +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. + +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. + +Beyond this idiocy cannot go. + + +VIII. KEEP THE DEVILS OUT OF CHILDREN. + +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." + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + + +IX. CONCLUSION. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +And yet it were better far that all this should be false than that all +of the New Testament should be true. + +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. + +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?" + +Let me now give you the declaration of a creed. + + +DECLARATION OF THE FREE + + 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. + + + + +PROGRESS. + + * 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. + + +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 * * + +Conscience * * tends * * indirectly * * truly we * * physically * * to +develop the wonderful powers of the mind is progress. + +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 * +* service of civil * * and crumbles * * of all, and yet even in free +America labor is not honored as it deserves. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +WITCHCRAFT + +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. + +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. + +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. + +On some occasions animals were received as witnesses in judicial +proceedings. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +LANGUAGE. + +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. + +Andre 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. + + +GEOGRAPHY. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _Law_. 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. + + +SLAVERY. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Julius Caesar 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. + +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. + +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. + +Some of the Roman nobles were the owners of as many as twenty thousand +slaves. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +On the 28th day of August, 1833, England abolished slavery throughout +the British Colonies, thus giving liberty to nearly one million slaves. + +The United States was then the greatest slave-holding power in the +civilized world. + +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, + + "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." + +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. + + +LIBERTY TRIUMPHED. + +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. + +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. + + +CONCLUSION + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +WHAT IS RELIGION? + + * This was Col. Ingersoll's last public address, delivered + before the American Free Religious Association, in the + Hollis Street Theatre, Boston, June 2, 1899. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +_First_.--Did an infinite God create the children of men? + +Why did he create the intellectually inferior? + +Why did he create the deformed and helpless? + +Why did he create the criminal, the idiotic, the insane? + +Can infinite wisdom and power make any excuse for the creation of +failures? + +Are the failures under obligation to their creator? + +_Second_.--Is an infinite God the governor of this world? + +Is he responsible for all the chiefs, kings, emperors, and queens? + +Is he responsible for all the wars that have been waged, for all the +innocent blood that has been shed? + +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? + +Is this God responsible for religious persecution, for the Inquisition, +for the thumb-screw and rack, and for all the instruments of torture? + +Did this God allow the cruel and vile to destroy the brave and virtuous? +Did he allow tyrants to shed the blood of patriots? + +Did he allow his enemies to torture and burn his friends? + +What is such a God worth? + +Would a decent man, having the power to prevent it, allow his enemies to +torture and burn his friends? + +Can we conceive of a devil base enough to prefer his enemies to his +friends? + +If a good and infinitely powerful God governs this world, how can we +account for cyclones, earthquakes, pestilence and famine? + +How can we account for cancers, for microbes, for diphtheria and the +thousand diseases that prey on infancy? + +How can we account for the wild beasts that devour human beings, for the +fanged serpents whose bite is death? + +How can we account for a world where life feeds on life? + +Were beak and claw, tooth and fang, invented and produced by infinite +mercy? + +Did infinite goodness fashion the wings of the eagles so that their +fleeing prey could be overtaken? + +Did infinite goodness create the beasts of prey with the intention that +they should devour the weak and helpless? + +Did infinite goodness create the countless worthless living things that +breed within and feed upon the flesh of higher forms? + +Did infinite wisdom intentionally produce the microscopic beasts that +feed upon the optic nerve? + +Think of blinding a man to satisfy the appetite of a microbe! + +Think of life feeding on life! Think of the victims! Think of the +Niagara of blood pouring over the precipice of cruelty! + +In view of these facts, what, after all, is religion? + +It is fear. + +Fear builds the altar and offers the sacrifice. + +Fear erects the cathedral and bows the head of man in worship. + +Fear bends the knees and utters the prayer. + +Fear pretends to love. + +Religion teaches the slave-virtues--obedience, humility, self-denial, +forgiveness, non-resistance. + +Lips, religious and fearful, tremblingly repeat this passage: "Though he +slay me, yet will I trust him." This is the abyss of degradation. + +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. + + +II. + +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? + +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? + +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? + +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? + +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? + +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. + +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? + +Why, then, should we say that God is good? + +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. + + +III. THE POWER THAT WORKS FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS. + +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. + +What is this power? + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Man is a social being. We live together in families, tribes and nations. + +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. + +The members who add to the misery of the family, the tribe or the +nation, are considered bad members. + +They are blamed, despised, punished. They are regarded as immoral. + +The family, the tribe, the nation, creates a standard of conduct, of +morality. There is nothing supernatural in this. + +The greatest of human beings has said, "Conscience is born of love." + +The sense of obligation, of duty, was naturally produced. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +All the metaphysicians of the spiritual type, from Plato to Swedenborg, +have manufactured their facts, and all founders of religion have done +the same. + +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. + +Think of the egotism of a man who believes that an infinite being wants +his praise! + + +IV. + +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. + +Has Christianity done good? Has it made men nobler, more merciful, +nearer honest? When the church had control, were men made better and +happier? + +What has been the effect of Christianity in Italy, in Spain, in +Portugal, in Ireland? + +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? + +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? + +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. + +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? + +Let me refer to just one fact showing the influence of a belief in the +Bible on human beings. + +"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." + +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. + +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? + + +VII. HOW CAN MANKIND BE REFORMED WITHOUT RELIGION? + +RELIGION has been tried, and in all countries, in all times, has failed. + +Religion has never made man merciful. + +Remember the Inquisition. + +What effect did religion have on slavery? + +What effect upon Libby, Saulsbury and Andersonville? + +Religion has always been the enemy of science, of investigation and +thought. + +Religion has never made man free. + +It has never made man moral, temperate, industrious and honest. + +Are Christians more temperate, nearer virtuous, nearer honest than +savages? + +Among savages do we not find that their vices and cruelties are the +fruits of their superstitions? + +To those who believe in the Uniformity of Nature, religion is +impossible. + +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? + +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? + +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. + +Has man obtained any help from heaven? + + +VI. + +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. + +I have a theory and I have four corner-stones. + +The first stone is that matter--substance--cannot be destroyed, cannot +be annihilated. + +The second stone is that force cannot be destroyed, cannot be +annihilated. + +The third stone is that matter and force cannot exist apart--no matter +without force--no force without matter. + +The fourth stone is that that which cannot be destroyed could not have +been created; that the indestructible is the uncreatable. + +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. + +It follows that nothing has been or can be created; that there never has +been or can be a creator. + +It follows that there could not have been any intelligence, any design +back of matter and force. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +In the universe there is no chance, no caprice. Every event has parents. + +That which has not happened, could not. The present is the necessary +product of all the past, the necessary cause of all the future. + +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. + + +VII. + +IF matter and force are from eternity, then we can say that man had no +intelligent creator--that man was not a special creation. + +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. + +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. + +We have all the links of the chain, twenty-six links inclusive from +moner to man. + +We did not get our information from inspired books. We have fossil facts +and living forms. + +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 simiae, to the pithecanthropi, and +lastly, to man. + +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. + +We now believe that the universe is natural and we deny the existence of +the supernatural. + + +VIII. Reform. + +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. + +Why have the reformers failed? I will tell them why. + +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. + +Against this inundation of vice the forces of reform are helpless, and +charity itself becomes an unconscious promoter of crime. + +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. + +The real question is, can we prevent the ignorant, the poor, the +vicious, from filling the world with their children? + +Can we prevent this Missouri of ignorance and vice from emptying into +the Mississippi of civilization? + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +IX. + +RELIGION can never reform mankind because religion is slavery. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +This is real religion. This is real worship. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. +4 (of 12), by Robert G. Ingersoll + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORKS OF INGERSOLL *** + +***** This file should be named 38804.txt or 38804.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/8/0/38804/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..826209e --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #38804 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38804) 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> |
