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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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