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diff --git a/old/64568-0.txt b/old/64568-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 3986f08..0000000 --- a/old/64568-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3393 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of I don't know, do you?, by Marilla M. Ricker - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: I don't know, do you? - -Author: Marilla M. Ricker - -Release Date: February 15, 2021 [eBook #64568] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Carlos Colón, the New York Public Library and the Online - Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This - file was produced from images generously made available by The - Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK I DON'T KNOW, DO YOU? *** - - - - - Transcriber's Notes: - - Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold text by - =equal signs=. - - Small uppercase have been replaced with regular uppercase. - - Blank pages have been eliminated. - - Variations in spelling and hyphenation have been left as in the - original. - - A few typographical errors have been corrected. - - - - -[Illustration: _Marilla M. Ricker._] - - - - - I DON'T KNOW, DO YOU? - - BY - - MARILLA M. RICKER - - - [Illustration] - - - DONE INTO - A PRINTED BOOK BY THE ROYCROFTERS - AT THEIR SHOPS, WHICH ARE IN - EAST AURORA, NEW YORK - MCMXVI - - - - - Copyright, 1916 - By - Marilla M. Ricker - - - - - You are what you think, and to believe in a Hell for other people - is literally to go to Hell yourself.--_Elbert Hubbard._ - - A religious man is a man scared. - - - - -FOREWORD - - -_There is in the city of Boston a memorial building to Thomas Paine. -This Paine Memorial was finished and dedicated forty-two years ago. It -is the finest monument to Thomas Paine on the earth._ - -_For twenty years Ralph Washburn Chainey has been the Manager of this -building and the Treasurer of the Paine Memorial Corporation. Under his -wise and prudent management the building was freed from debt, and today -it is a monument to the energy and devotion of its Manager as much as -to the genius and labors of Thomas Paine._ - -_Ralph Washburn Chainey is only forty-two, and as great an example of -thrift as Ben Franklin was. Very early in life he acquired the habit of -thrift--which is the basis of all virtues. He learned early that time -was money and he is always at work. He is not only able to take care -of himself, but he can and does take care of others. He is sufficient -unto himself, and when one is right with himself he is right with all -the world. I have known him intimately for more than a quarter of a -century, and if he has faults I have yet to learn what they are._ - -_In appreciation, therefore, of his great service to the cause of -Freethought, I dedicate this volume to_ - - RALPH WASHBURN CHAINEY - - --_Marilla M. Ricker_. - -_Dover, New Hampshire December, Nineteen Hundred Fifteen_ - - - - - As man advances, as his intellect enlarges, as his knowledge - increases, as his ideals become nobler, the Bibles and creeds will - lose their authority, the miraculous will be classed with the - impossible, and the idea of special providence will be discarded. - Thousands of religions have perished, innumerable gods have died, - and why should the religion of our time be exempt from the common - fate? - - --_Robert Ingersoll._ - - - - -CONTENTS - - - FOREWORD 7 - - CREEDS AGAINST CIVILIZATION 11 - - WHAT I KNOW ABOUT SOME CHURCHES, - AND WHY I AM AN AGNOSTIC 33 - - A LETTER AND THE REJOINDER 55 - - THE HOLY GHOST 65 - - HOW CAN WE "TAKE" CHRIST? 71 - - COLONEL ROBERT G. INGERSOLL 81 - - MARK TWAIN'S BEST THOUGHT 85 - - AN IRRELIGIOUS DISCOURSE ON RELIGION 89 - - DECAY OF CHRISTIAN MORALITY 107 - - - - - I know of no other book that so fully teaches the subjection and - degradation of woman as the Bible. - - --_Elizabeth Cady Stanton._ - - - That God had to come to earth to find a mother for his son reveals - the poverty of Heaven. - - - - -CREEDS AGAINST CIVILIZATION - - - - - Any system of religion that shocks the mind of a child can not be a - true system. - - --_Thomas Paine._ - - - Hell is a place invented by priests and parsons for the sake of - being supported. - - - - -[Illustration] - - - -CREEDS AGAINST CIVILIZATION - - -One hundred fifty years ago, there was not a single white man in what -is now Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. What is now the most -flourishing part of the United States was then as little known as the -country in the heart of Africa itself. It was not until Seventeen -Hundred Seventy-six that Boone left his home in North Carolina to -become the first settler in Kentucky; and the pioneers of Ohio did not -settle that territory until twenty years later. - -Canada belonged to France one hundred fifty-three years ago, and -Washington was a modest Virginia Colonel, and the United States was -the most loyal part of the British Empire, and scarcely a speck on the -political horizon indicated the struggle that in a few years was to lay -the foundation of the greatest republic in the world. - -One hundred fifty years ago there were but four small newspapers in -America; steam-engines had not been imagined; and locomotives and -railroads, and telegraphs and postal cards, and friction-matches, -and revolvers and percussion-caps, and breechloading-guns and Mauser -rifles, and stoves and furnaces, and gas and electricity and rubber -shoes, and Spaulding's glue, and sewing-machines and anthracite coal, -and photographs, and kerosene-oil, free schools, and spring-beds and -hair-mattresses, and lever-watches and greenbacks were unknown. The -spinning-wheel was in almost every family, and clothing was spun and -woven and made up in the family; and the printing-press was a cumbrous -machine worked by hand. - -Down to Eighteen Hundred Fourteen every paper in the world was printed -one side at a time, on an ordinary hand-press; and a nail, or a brick, -or a knife, or a pair of shears or scissors, or a razor, or a woven -pair of stockings, or an ax or a hoe or a shovel, or a lock and key, or -a plate of glass of any size, was not made in what is now the United -States. - -In Seventeen Hundred Ninety, there were only seventy-five post-offices -in the country, and the whole extent of our post-routes was less -than nineteen hundred miles; cheap postage was unheard of; so were -envelopes; and had any one suggested the transmission of messages with -lightning speed, he would have been thought insane. The microscope on -the one hand and the telescope on the other were in their infancy as -instruments of science; and geology and chemistry were almost unknown, -to say nothing of the telephone and all the other various phones, and -the X-rays, and hundreds of other new things. - -In Seventeen Hundred Sixty-two there were only six stagecoaches running -in all England, and these were a novelty. A man named John Crosset -thought they were so dangerous an innovation that he wrote a pamphlet -against them. "These coaches," he wrote, "make gentlemen come to London -upon every small occasion which otherwise they would not do, except -upon urgent necessity. The conveniency of the passage makes their wives -come often up, who, rather than come such long journeys on horseback, -would stay at home. Then when they come to town they must be in the -'wade' [probably that is where the word _swim_ comes in now], get fine -clothes, go to plays, and treats, and by these means get such a habit -of idleness and love of pleasure that they are uneasy ever after." - - * * * * * - -We can all see how much improvement there has been in all things but -_creeds_. Improvements can come, and old things go, but _creeds_ go on -forever! A creed implies something fixed and immovable. In other words, -it means you have a "heel-rope on." - -The word "creed" is from _credo_, "I believe." We have had a great -deal of compulsion of belief, and a thousand years of almost absolute -unanimity. Liberty was dead and the ages were dark. We call them -the Middle Ages because they were the death between the life that -was before and the life that came after. Then came a new birth of -thought--a "Renaissance"--and after this, some reformation in the form -of a Protestantism. - -Since then, the Protestants have continued to protest, not only against -the old, but against each other. And this is the best thing they have -done. Thus liberty has been saved, for each would have coerced its -fellow organization, as did their infamous mother, the Roman Catholic -Church, before them. From "creed" comes "credulous" and "credulity." -And they have filled the world with their kind. In the United States -alone, there are about one hundred forty types. Each is a system of -credulity pitted against a hundred and thirty-nine others. They all -rest on authority. They all denounce investigation--unless it has for -its end the support of their authority. - -Hence, with the exception of two or three denominations, to become a -professed Christian means to accept credulously and without question -a system of belief about Nature and man and the world which you would -deny in toto if you reasoned as you do about other things, and which -you do practically deny by re-explaining and refining it into anything -but what is stated. Down deep in your heart you do not, and never -did, believe it in the same honest way in which you form your other -opinions. - -Think for a moment of the Christian idea of the world, its origin, its -shape, place, importance, and its final end. Does any man or woman who -has been through a common-school geography believe the ideas implied in -the common Christian dogmas regarding the world? We must remember that -the world taught in the geography is not the Christian world. - -The world taught in the Christian dogmas is beneath the heavens--not a -rolling sphere flying through space. It is flat, and the sun and stars -pass over it daily. It is the chief object of God's creation on which -to place man. It is God's footstool, and his throne is Heaven above. He -created it just four thousand and four years before the Christian era -began. Now we _all_ know that this is _not_ true; that there is no up -nor down; that the earth is not the center; that it is _not_ flat; that -the sun does not go round it; that it is a very insignificant little -orb; that "up in Heaven" is an utterly meaningless expression; and that -the world is not a creation, but an evolution. - -And yet thousands of people credulously cling to creeds which embody -the notions of barbarous or uncivilized ages. - -Take the dogma of revelation. It tells us that the Bible is a -revelation of the will and wisdom of an omniscient God; that it is a -perfect and sufficient rule of faith and practise. What, in the name -of humanity, causes people to make such statements today? It is like -trying to light the house with a saucer of tallow in which a rag is -immersed, instead of using gas or electricity. - -Take an example of this Bible. In Deuteronomy xiv: 21, we read, "Ye -shall not eat of anything that dieth of itself: thou mayest give it -unto the sojourner that is within thy gates, that he may eat it; or -thou mayest sell it unto a foreigner: for _thou_ art a holy people unto -Jehovah thy God." In Matthew vii: 12, we read, "Whatsoever ye would -that men should do unto you, even so do ye also unto them." - -Why do you talk about the infallibility, the inerrancy, or even the -moral unity of a volume written by many hands at widely different -times? Are such people so ignorant that they have not read the Book -they are swearing by? Are they moral idiots and do not know the -plainest right and wrong? Are they scoundrels and have some deceitful -reason for urging such a book as an authority? Or are they the dupes of -their own credulity, clinging without thought to the beliefs in which -they have been reared? They are evidently not using commonsense in an -honest way. - -I often hear the Bible spoken of as a holy book, full of a holy -spirit. I sometimes reply: "Have you read the conduct of Moses, Joshua, -Samuel, David, Solomon, and other ancient worthies, who were said to be -men after the heart of the bloodthirsty and avenging Jehovah? How long -would you keep out of prison if you took them for your models? Have you -read the Thirty-fifth, Fifty-eighth, Sixty-ninth and One Hundred Ninth -Psalms? If not, read them, and tell me what you think of them." - -There never was any intrinsic reason for believing the Bible except -that a designing priesthood said so, and stupid people trusted them. - -Here, by common consent, people agree to be duped. Ages and ages ago, -they began to make admissions that two and two might be six, or even -sixteen, in religion. They had sense enough to say that two and two are -four in other things. In Divine Revelation they shut their eyes to all -mistakes and wilful lies. If people should deceive in other matters as -the priests, parsons and teachers do in religion, they would not escape -arrest. - -Another central doctrine is that of the Atonement. This is derived -from the moral character of the Jewish God; he governed the world of -humanity on the principle of primitive society. Men were responsible to -him in everything. Any infraction of his supposed laws rendered them -subject to his vengeance. That is why the Jew thought that God sent a -thunderstorm to punish him for eating pork. - -What explanation besides credulity can be suggested for the -continuation of this belief century after century? Preachers shout -it from the pulpits, and Salvation Army people hawk it through the -streets. Not one of them knows what he is talking about. Each learned -it from some one who told him to say it. They all do it because it is -a part of a system which they have inherited, but the reason for which -they do not know, and have never allowed themselves to seek. - -This cringing credulity keeps the masses from using their powers. They -seem to believe that if they should lose these superstitions they would -be lost. - - * * * * * - -And the dogma regarding Jesus is inextricably mixed up in Christian -theology with that of the Atonement. One assumption bolsters the -other. He is made to occupy the central place in this scheme of -blood-redemption through that other highly rational fable of the -immaculate conception. If Jesus was not immaculately conceived, then -Matthew and Luke have deceived; then Jesus is not God; then he is a -mere man; and if so, he is not the Redeemer. Man could not redeem -himself according to the first premise of the scheme. Man has been and -_is_ redeeming himself by learning Nature's laws and through them -rising to a higher life ever since he reached the stage of humanity. -Take the theory of the Resurrection. The account of it was written long -after the assumed occurrence, and by credulous men with superstitious -inclinations. Men and women of these days, understanding the laws of -Nature, can not give assent to the crude beliefs which easily commanded -the minds of ancient times. - -Both Protestantism and Catholicism are systems built on essentially the -same foundation. Remove any of these stones, and the systems will have -to be rebuilt. If there is no special revelation, there is no special -scheme of salvation. If there is no vengeful, blood-seeking God, there -is no theological reconciliation. If there was no fall, there is no -hopeless depravity. If there was no immaculate conception, there is -no Redeemer in a special ecclesiastical sense. If there is no total -depravity, there is no lost world. If there is no lost world, there is -no yawning Hell. One and all, these fictions have their only ground for -continuance in a _selfish_ and unreasoning priesthood and clergy, and a -credulous people. - -In the place of the "fall," science has put the "rise" of man. It finds -the Garden of Eden to have been a jungle. It finds the mythical perfect -Adam to have been a savage. It finds the Biblical "origin of evil" -to have been a puerile legend. It finds that sin and evil are made by -the seeing of higher states. It finds that there was no bad until the -better was reached. It finds that it is the advancing good which makes -the existing bad. It finds that among the worst of sinners are those -who live in and propagate outworn doctrines upon their own and others' -credulity. - -In the olden times, God was made a king--the world was his kingdom. -His powers, virtues and vices were simply those of earthly kings -exaggerated. Jewish and Christian liturgies are full of expressions -showing the attitude of slaves and serfs to a tyrant. Sin has been -manufactured as heresy and disobedience to the so-called orthodox -system instead of to the laws of Nature. - -Science has shown that the bottomless pit did not even have a top. -Columbus sailed over the Western edge of the flat Christian world on -which all this Christian system depended, and found that the material -Heaven and Hell were unfounded myths; but the preachers and priests -still threaten _hell_ to the most ignorant and credulous, but they tell -some of us that there is a _final judgment_. - - * * * * * - -In the old days, we used to hear a great deal about judgments. A -certain honest, good-natured, old farmer in New Hampshire, who was a -freethinker, but had a very pious wife, lost many cattle when the -black tongue was an epidemic in the State. - -One day the hired man came in and told him the red oxen were dead. - -"Are they?" said the old man. "Well, they were 'breechy cusses.' Take -off their hides and carry them down to Fletcher's. They will bring the -cash." - -An hour or so later the man came back with the news that Lineback and -his mate were both dead. - -"Are they?" said the old man. "Well, I took them of B---- to save a bad -debt that I never expected to get. Take the hides down to Fletcher's. -They will bring the cash." - -After the lapse of another hour the man came back to tell him that the -nigh brindle was dead. - -"Is he?" said the old man. "Well, he was a very old ox. Take off his -hide and send it down to Fletcher's. It is worth cash and will bring -more than two of the others." - -Hereupon his wife reminded him that his loss was a judgment of Heaven -upon him. - -"Is it?" said the old chap. "Well, if they will take the judgment in -cattle, it is the easiest way I can pay it." - -But they know no more about final judgments than they did about the -lake of fire and brimstone which commenced to drain off in Columbus' -day. Science has vaporized the notion of a future judgment by the same -method it has that of a past Creation. From the _facts_, it has learned -_laws_. But credulity is always half-hearted with facts. It does not -know enough of truth to love it. It is ever glowing over and setting -up as a dogma the little it knows, or assumes to know, of the truth of -former times. It has no faith in the newly discovered, because it knows -nothing of it. - -Hence, age after age we see the spectacle of men who have not studied -the science of their own day denouncing it in pulpit and councils; -of men who have steeped themselves in the traditions of the past -pronouncing shallow invectives against the demonstrations of (science) -the present. - - * * * * * - -Many church people say immortality must be true, or the great majority -would not believe in it. But do they? They do not talk or write as if -they did. If language means anything, I think the majority believe in -annihilation. Most people speak of the dead body of a man as though -it were the man. They say, "He was buried at Greenwood," or, "She was -cremated at Forest Hills." And we hear the "late" Mr. Smith left an -immense fortune. If Mr. Smith still exists, why do they say the _late_ -Mr. Smith? If people didn't believe that the soul and body are one, -and that life ceases and mind expires when the body dies, why do they -say, "They were"? What little the Church has learned has been by _main -force_ so to speak. - -A friend of mine many years ago was a college student. At that time -they were all compelled to attend the college church. On one occasion -he heard the preacher, who was also a college professor, make these -statements: - -_First_, that the _elect_ alone would be saved. - -_Second_, that among those who by the world were called Christians, -probably not more than one in a hundred belonged really and truly to -the _elect_. - -_Third_, that the others, by reason of their Christian privileges, -would suffer more hereafter than the heathen, who had never heard the -Gospel at all. - -The young man made a note of these propositions, and on the strength -of them drew up a petition to the Faculty soliciting exemption from -further attendance at church, as only preparing for himself a more -terrible future. - -He said: "The congregation here amounts to six hundred persons, -and nine of these are the college professors. Now if only one in a -hundred is to be saved, it follows that three even of the professors -must be damned, and I, being a mere student, could not expect to be -saved in preference to a professor." Far, he said, be it from him to -cherish so presumptuous a hope. Nothing remained for him, therefore, -but perdition. In this melancholy state of affairs he was anxious to -abstain from anything that might aggravate his future punishment; -and as church attendance had been shown to have this influence on the -_non-elect_, he trusted that the Faculty would for all time exempt him -from it. - -The result was he came very near being expelled from the -college--simply by heeding their sermons. The professors of some -colleges have learned something, and do not insist on the students -attending church. - - * * * * * - -Ponder for a moment on the many dishonest ways churches have for -raising money. Think of the amount of money they can raise at a -church-fair--alias, a confidence-game. - -A young man from Kentucky told me that he attended one at Chicago. -First he went to the table where refreshments were sold. A beautiful -siren with big black eyes and small white hands spread the edibles -before him. When he arose from the table he handed her a five-dollar -bill. She put it in a little box and forgot to give him any change. She -smiled sweetly at him, and asked him if he would like to walk about the -room and look at the fancy articles, all to be sold for the good of the -church. - -She took his arm and murmured, "We are not strangers; we both feel -interested in the church." - -"We soon came," said the young man in telling me the story, "to a -silver tea-set that was to be 'raffled off.' Would I take a chance? Of -course I did. Then came a cake with a valuable ring concealed in it. -Would I take a chance in that? Of course I did. - -"So things glided on until I concluded if I took many more chances, my -chances for getting home would be slim. So I refused to tempt fortune -any further, until the little black-eyed scoundrel took me on a new -tack. Leaning heavily on my arm, and resting her cheek on my shoulder, -she said, 'Please take a chance for me.' - -"It is needless to add that I took the chance, and kept on taking -chances for the beautiful and unprincipled wretch that had me in tow, -until I had not a dollar left. Yes, I was penniless, and then it -began to dawn on me that she was working me for the success of the -church. There I was, bankrupt in money and self-respect. I had been -robbed--yes, robbed, for where is the difference between a pair of -pistols and a pair of black eyes in a robbery? You part with your money -because you can not help it. - -"I know that Society looks with lenient eyes upon church-fairs, but it -is my opinion that all robbers will take sentence, and when that little -Chicago robber receives her sentence, she will take her place by the -side of Jack Sheppard!" - -You see he still believes in Judgments. He is learning by main force. - -A very pious woman whose father was a missionary, now living in Hawaii, -wrote not long ago that professional men flocking to the Islands will -be disappointed unless they are friends of old families; and the old -families are descendants of missionaries who went there in the early -days and took lands and everything else from the natives. - -There seems to be nothing like being a descendant from a missionary -family. These people, equally pious and provident, thought it a -good scheme to cheat the sinful savages out of all their worldly -possessions, in order that they might be taught humility and holiness -through the chastening influence of poverty. So they robbed the -unregenerate to the glory of God. - -Who says it doesn't pay to save the heathen? Think of the ignorance and -superstition of the majority of the preachers of the present day. - - * * * * * - -Up in Northern Minnesota, less than fifty years ago, an old Baptist -was preaching on the death of Moses on the Mount, and his not being -permitted to go over into the Promised Land. The preacher said: - -"I have always felt sorry for Moses. It has seemed so hard to me that -he could not go over with Caleb and Joshua, the only two of the host -which he had led out of Egypt, and enjoy with his people the good -country towards which they had been so long traveling. When as a boy -I read that in the Bible for the first time, I sat down and cried for -sympathy with him. But Moses had a hard time from the first. He was no -sooner born than his life was threatened. His mother had to hide him to -save it. After three months she could hide him no longer, and so she -made an ark of bulrushes and set him afloat on the river. Indeed, it -seemed as though the Lord had all he could do to raise Moses." - -But the people of this generation do not take the story of Moses so -seriously. A bright young girl of ten, on being asked by her Sabbath -School teacher, "Where did Pharaoh's daughter get Moses?" replied, with -the accent on the _said_, "She _said_ she 'found him in the bulrushes.'" - -I attended a campmeeting in North Carolina. The exhortations and -prayers would cause a graven image to smile audibly. One old Baptist -preacher said he always felt so sorry to think that "Ingine corn" -didn't grow in Palestine, because he would like to think that the -little Jesus had a good time playing with cob-houses. - -But those preachers compare favorably with the Reverend George F. Hall, -of Decatur, Illinois, and the Reverend Doctor John P. D. John, and the -Reverend Doctor Frederick Bell, late of the Metropolitan Temple of -San Francisco, California, who at various times challenged Robert G. -Ingersoll to debate with them. It shows what ignorance, superstition -and egotism combined can do. - -Darwin said the herding instinct in animals has its base in fear. Sheep -and cattle go in droves, while a lion simply flocks with his mate. -Those who wish to lead have always fostered fear, encouraging this -tendency to herd, promising protection, and offering what they call -knowledge in return for a luxurious living. - -In other words, the men who preach and pray, always want the people -who _work_ to divide with them. They work on the line that fear will -compel men to join churches. This joining instinct is a manifestation -of weakness. By going with a gang they hope to get to Heaven. But the -moment you eliminate the Devil from Christianity, there is nothing -left. You can not have a revival, alias an epidemic, of religion, -without the Devil. If there were no Devil, there would be nothing to -pray about, and all these people who are gifted in prayer would be -without a job. - -Think of the chaplains of the Army and Navy, in Congress and in the -Legislatures being turned out to browse for themselves. Think of their -being obliged to earn an honest living. They could not do it. I am -amused when I think of the prayers that are exchanged in war times. One -side will pray that the wrath of Heaven will descend on the other, and -the other side will return the compliment with ten per cent interest. - -I remember when I was a child of reading the prayer of a Hungarian -officer. He said: "O Lord, I will not ask thee to help us, and I know -that thou wilt not help the Austrians. But if thou wilt sit on yonder -hill, thou shalt not be ashamed of thy children." - -The famous Bishop Leslie prayed before a battle in Ireland, "O God, for -our unworthiness we are not fit to claim thy help, but if we are bad, -our enemies are worse, and if thou seest not meet to help us, we pray -thee help them not, but stand thou neutral this day, and leave it to -the arm of flesh." - -All this dramatic power would be lost without the Devil. So it behooves -the Christian churches to hold fast to the Devil. Get a good grip on -his hoofs, horns and tail, for without him they would be relegated to -"innocuous desuetude." He should be incorporated as the fourth person -in the Orthodox Godhead, and respectfully addressed as "Holy Devil." - - _There is no truth in the dogma of the divinity of Jesus, no sense - in it, no religion in it. It is the product of mythology and has no - claim upon this age._ - - - - - This is my doctrine: Give every other human being every right - you claim for yourself. Keep your mind open to the influences of - Nature. Receive new thoughts with hospitality. Let us advance. - - The man who does not do his own thinking is a slave, and is a - traitor to himself and to his fellowmen. - - As far as I am concerned, I wish to be out on the high seas. I wish - to take my chances with wind and wave and star. And I had rather - go down in the glory and grandeur of the storm, than to rot in any - orthodox harbor whatever. - - --_Robert Ingersoll._ - - - - -WHAT I KNOW ABOUT SOME CHURCHES AND WHY I AM AN AGNOSTIC - - - - - The ignorance of the masses insures abundant contributions to the - clergy and to religion.--_Ralph W. Chainey._ - - The mother who teaches her child to pray makes a mistake. - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -WHY I AM AN AGNOSTIC - - -The Millerites--or Second Adventists, as they now call themselves--are -the first sect that I remember. They are a people of remarkable vigor: -they have been at work for seventy years to bring this world to an end, -and although they have been wrong in their arithmetic all these years, -they rub out the slate and begin again. - -And they prove everything by the Bible, as all other denominations do. -The "time" has been set at least twenty times since I can remember. I -recollect having awful palpitations in the kneepans upon one of the -eventful days, and crawling under the barn so as not to be in the -way. They used to congregate on the height of land near my father's, -"to go up," and one man climbed upon an old shed, and fell and broke -his hip; he fainted, and they thought he was dead. As soon as he had -revived a little, they asked him if he had any requests to make before -he died. He replied, "I want you to work in 'durn fool' somewhere on -my tombstone." He recovered, and lived many years, but he was cured of -Millerism. - -A large share of the students of the Second Advent doctrine came into -this world, not only naked, but without any brains, nor any place -suitable to put any; and the first business they do is to wonder about -their souls and talk about being "born again." They never seem to -realize that to be well born is much more essential than to be "born -again." I never knew immortality to be secured at the second birth. - -I attended one of their meetings this year, and asked one of the -sisters for their _creed_. She said, "Our creed is the whole Bible, -from the first book of Genesis to the last word of the last chapter of -Revelations." - -I thought of what a boy said when the Baptist Elder came and took tea -at his home, and asked a "blessing." - -The boy said: "Is that the way you ask a blessing? My father doesn't -ask it that way." - -"How does he ask it?" - -"Oh, he sat down to the table the other evening, and looked it all -over, and said, 'My God, what a supper!'" - -And I thought, "My God, what a creed!" - -I was tempted to ask the Millerite sister what she thought of the -discrepancy between the first and the second chapter of Genesis. In the -first chapter Man and Woman were a simultaneous creation. In the second -chapter, Woman was an afterthought. But I had the deep sagacity to -hold my tongue, and leave her and her _creed_ in peace. - - * * * * * - -The second church that I remember anything about is the Free-Will -Baptist. My mother was a devout member of that church. I have heard -thousands of times, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, -he can not enter into the Kingdom of God." And man included woman--it -always did, so far as pains and penalties were concerned. - -I remember distinctly a sermon I heard on Hell. You younger people can -not have the faintest idea of the terrific sermons that were preached -in those days. - -That sermon commenced in this wise: - -"Now we will look into Hell and see what we can see. It is all red-hot -like red-hot iron. Streams of burning pitch and sulphur run through it. -The floor blazes up to the roof. Look at the walls--the enormous stones -are red-hot. Sparks of fire are always falling down from them. Lift -up your eyes to the roof of Hell. It is like a sheet of blazing fire. -Hell is filled with a fog of fire. In Hell, torrents not of water, but -of fire and brimstone, are rained down. You may have seen a house on -fire, but you never saw a house made of fire. Hell is a house made of -fire. The fire of Hell burns the devils, who are spirits, for it was -prepared for them. But it will burn the body as well as the soul. -Take a little spark out of Hell--less than the size of a pin-head--and -throw it into the ocean, and it will not go out. In one moment it -would dry up all the waters of the ocean, and set the whole world in a -blaze! Listen to the terrific noise of Hell--to the horrible uproar of -countless millions of tormented creatures, mad with the fury of Hell! -Oh, the screams of fear, the groanings of horror, the yells of rage, -the cries of pain, the shouts of agony, the shrieks of despair, from -millions on millions. You hear them roaring like lions, hissing like -serpents, howling like dogs, and wailing like dragons! And above all, -you hear the roaring of the thunder of God's anger, which shakes Hell -to its foundations. Little children, if you go to Hell, there will be a -devil at your side to strike you. How will you feel after you have been -struck every minute for a hundred millions of years? Look into this -inner room of Hell, and see a girl of about sixteen. She stands in the -middle of a red-hot floor; her feet are bare; sleep can never come to -her; she can never forget for one moment in all the eternity of years." - -And so this description of Hell went on for nearly two hours. Do you -wonder that I, a child of ten years, said to my father, who was a -freethinker, infidel, atheist, or whatever else you please to call him: -"I _hate_ my mother's church. I will _not_ go there again!" - - * * * * * - -The next church I became acquainted with was the Calvin Baptist Church. -That church seemed to think that the most of us were born to be damned -anyway! - -The great Ingersoll had it right when he said it was the -damned-if-you-do-and-the-damned-if-you-don't church. - -The only difference between the Free-Will Baptists and the Calvin -Baptists that I can see, is, that you are allowed to exercise your -_will_. The Free-Will Baptists will damn you if you wish to be, and the -Calvinists will damn you anyway! - -The next church to which I was introduced was the Congregationalist, -alias the Orthodox. Their creed is rather complex from a mathematical -standpoint. They seem to think that three Gods are one God, and one God -is three Gods. - -I, having been taught that figures don't lie, couldn't understand it, -until I thought of a boy who said to his teacher when she explained to -him that figures didn't lie: "You should see my sisters at home, and -then on the street. You will find that figures do lie." - - * * * * * - -I then went to Italy, and became conversant with the _outside_ -doings of the Roman Catholic Church. I visited many of them, saw the -beggars eating crusts at the doors, and the well-fed priests saying -masses inside; saw the white hand of famine always extended, in -bitter contrast to the magnificent cathedrals; saw well-dressed, -intelligent-looking men and women going upstairs on their hands and -knees, and saw hundreds of them kissing the toe of the bronze statue of -Saint Peter; saw monks of every shade and description; and all begging -for the Holy Catholic Church! - -I attended a church festival at Rome at the Ara Cœli, where the most -"Holy Bambino" is kept, a little wooden doll about two feet long. It is -said to be the image of Jesus. It had a crown of gold on its head and -was fairly ablaze with diamonds. It has great power to heal the sick. -It is taken to visit patients in great style--that is, if the patients -are rich. The Bambino is placed in a coach accompanied by priests in -full dress. The Great Festival of the Bambino is celebrated annually. -Military bands and the Soldiers of the Guard dance attendance. Saint -Gennaro is held to be the guardian saint of Naples. The alleged miracle -by which the blood of this holy person, contained in a glass tube, -changes from a solid to a liquid state, is well known. Thousands go to -see the miracle performed. When the priest first held up the sacred -vial with its clotted contents we could hear all about us: "Holy -Gennaro, save and protect us! Bless the City of Naples, and keep it -free from plagues and earthquakes and other ills. Do this miracle so -that we can see that thy power and thy favor are still with us." And -so it went on for an hour or more, until the great throng was nearly -hysterical. - -At last the priest stepped forward, showing that the blood flowed -freely in the tube, and then such a shout went up from the big crowd as -one hears only in Southern climes. - - * * * * * - -I have never been introduced to the Church of England, alias, the -Episcopalian, but I've always thought if a man had a good voice, and -understood the mysteries of the corkscrew, he would make a good rector. - -I became acquainted with a High-Church Episcopalian woman not long ago, -and she showed me a prayer-rug and praying-costume imported from Paris. -I told her that she looked like an angel in it, as she ought after -going to all that expense and trouble; if she didn't, dressmakers might -as well give it up and wait for Gabriel. The attitude of prayer threw -the back breadths of the skirt into graceful prominence, and hence the -necessity (which will be at once recognized by all the truly _pious_) -of increased attention to the frills and embroidery required by the -religious attitude of prayer. - -An old farmer in Indiana said he was a "Piscopal." - -"To what parish do you belong?" - -"I don't know nothing about parishes." - -"Who confirmed you?" - -"Nobody." - -"Then how do you belong to the Episcopalian Church?" - -"Well, last Winter I went down to Arkansas visiting, and while I was -there, I went to a church and it was called 'Piscopal,' and I heard -them say that they had done the things they ought not to have done, and -left undone the things they ought to have done, and I says to myself, -'That is my fix exactly,' and ever since then I've considered myself a -'Piscopal'!" - -And I came to the conclusion that that is why the membership of that -church is so large! - - * * * * * - -I know but little about the Methodists, but I do know that John Wesley, -one of the founders of that church, believed in witchcraft, and was one -of the latest of its supporters. - -History tells us that Brother Wesley preached a sermon entitled, _The -Cause and Cure of Earthquakes_. He said that earthquakes were caused -by sin, and the only way to stop them was to believe in his theology -and teachings, thus showing great knowledge of seismology; but people -who bank on gullibility are usually safe. I know the Methodists make a -great hullabaloo about their religion, and appear to think their God is -deaf. - -The Methodist Conference has refused to allow women to be delegates to -the General Conference. The Methodist sisters should discipline the -Church. - - * * * * * - -What I know about the Universalists I like. They seem to think that -we are all in the same boat, and that one stands as good a chance as -another, of which I approve. When I was a child, Sylvanus Cobb, at that -time the great Universalist preacher, preached in the adjoining town. -One Sunday, my father and I went to hear him. His sermon caused a great -commotion, and the Baptist who preached that terrific sermon about Hell -said to my mother, "There is a wicked man about here preaching that -everybody is to be saved; but, Sister Young, let us hope for better -things!" - - * * * * * - -I believe that the Unitarians, as a class, think for themselves. I -approve of that, and the Evangelical Alliance disapproves of them. That -is in their favor. - -I taught school at Lee, New Hampshire, fifty years ago. One of the -committee was a Unitarian, and one was a Quaker. I was tired of -selecting suitable reading matter from that obscene old book, the -Bible, and I suggested that we read from some other book, which we did -for two mornings, when the Unitarian materialized at the schoolhouse, -and with much suavity suggested that we read from the Bible every -morning, and recite the Lord's Prayer; and I, teaching school for my -bread and butter, bowed to the suggestion, and the next morning said: -"Pupils, Mr. Smith prefers that we read from the Bible. Therefore, we -will this morning read the startling and authentic account of Jonah -whilst he was stopping at the submarine hotel." That is the most -narrow-minded thing I ever knew about a Unitarian; but I always thought -Mr. Smith voiced the opinion of the parents of the pupils rather than -his own. - -I am somewhat acquainted with the Church of the Latter-Day Saints, -alias the Mormons. They are a prudent, industrious, painstaking people, -and only about two per cent of them ever _did_ practise polygamy, and -that is a very small proportion for any Christian church. Brigham -Young never did have but seventeen wives, but Solomon had five hundred -wives, and one thousand other lady friends, and David, whose honor -and humility show greater in his psalms than in the history of his -ordinary, every-day life, was, as the Bible says, a man after God's own -heart. - -I am sure that Brigham Young compared favorably with David. And if God -interviewed Moses, why shouldn't he have interviewed Joe Smith? - -There are more than one thousand religions. They are founded mostly on -fraud. All their saviors had virgins for mothers, and gods for fathers. - -The churches own more than thirteen billions of property, and they are -_all_ too dishonest to pay honest taxes. Many of the churches couldn't -be run three weeks without the women. They do all the work, for which -they get no credit. - -The churches claim all the distinguished people, especially after -they are dead and hence can not deny their claims. They have many -times claimed that Abraham Lincoln was a churchman. The Honorable -H. C. Deming, of Connecticut, an old friend of Lincoln, said it is -false. Lincoln belonged to no church, and at one time said, "I have -never united myself to any church, because I have found difficulty in -giving my assent without mental reservation to the long, complicated -statements of Christian doctrine, which characterize their articles of -belief, and confessions of faith." But still they claim him. Honest, -very! - - * * * * * - -No institution in modern civilization is so tyrannical and so unjust to -women as is the Christian church. The history of the Church does not -contain a single suggestion for the equality of woman with man, and -still the Church claims that woman owes her advancement to the Bible. -She owes it much more to the dictionary. - -History, both ancient and modern, tells us that the condition of women -is most degraded in those countries where Church and State are in -closest affiliation (such as, Spain, Italy, Russia and Ireland), and -most advanced in nations where the power of ecclesiasticism is markedly -on the wane. It has been proved that, whatever progress woman has made -in any department of effort, she has accomplished independent of, and -in opposition to, the so-called inspired and infallible Word of God; -and that the Bible has been of more injury to her than has any other -book ever written in the history of the world. - -William Root Bliss, in his _Side Glimpses From the Colonial -Meetinghouse_, tells us many startling truths concerning the Puritans, -and reminds me of what Chauncey M. Depew said--that the _first_ thing -the Puritans did, after they landed at Plymouth, was to fall on their -knees, and the _second_ thing was to fall on the Aborigines. - -The business of trading in slaves was not immoral by the estimate of -public opinion in Colonial times. A deacon of the church in Newport -esteemed the slave trade, with its rum accessories, as home missionary -work. It is said that on the first Sunday after the arrival of his -slaves he was accustomed to offer thanks that an overruling Providence -had been pleased to bring to this land of freedom another cargo of -benighted heathen to enjoy the blessings of a Gospel dispensation. - -At a Bridgewater town meeting of the year Sixteen Hundred Seventy-six, -a vote was called to see what should be done with the money that was -made from selling the Indians. - -John Bacon of Barnstable directed in his will that his Indian slave -Dinah be sold and the proceeds used "by my executors in buying Bibles." -By men who sat in the Colonial meetinghouse, the first fugitive-slave -law was formed. This law became a part of the Articles of Confederation -between all the New England Colonies. - -The affinity between _rum_ and the religion of Colonial times was -exemplified in the license granted John Vyall to keep a house of -entertainment in Boston. He must keep it near the meetinghouse of the -Second Church, where he extended his invitation to thirsty sinners who -were going to hear John Mayo or Increase Mather preach. - - * * * * * - -The importation of slaves began early. The first arrival at Boston -was by the ship _Desire_, on February Twenty-sixth, Sixteen Hundred -Thirty-seven, bringing negroes, tobacco and cotton from Barbados. She -had sailed from Boston eleven months before, carrying Indian captives -to the Bermudas to be sold as slaves, and thus she became noted as the -first New England slave-ship. - -In time, slaves were brought to Boston direct from Africa. - -Advertisements of just-arrived negroes to be sold may be seen in the -Boston _News Letter_ of the years Seventeen Hundred Twenty-six and -Seventeen Hundred Twenty-seven. The pious Puritans did not hesitate to -sell slaves on the auction-block. I find in the Boston _News Letter_ -of September Nineteenth, Seventeen Hundred Fifteen, a notice of an -auction-sale at Newport, Rhode Island, of several Indians, men and -boys, and a very likely negro man. They were treated in all respects as -merchandise, and were rated with horses and cattle. - -Peter Faneuil, to whom Boston is indebted for its Cradle of Liberty, -was deep in the business. In an inventory of the property of Parson -Williams of Deerfield, in Seventeen Hundred Twenty-nine, his slaves -were rated with his horses and cows. "Believe and be baptized" is all -that was essential. I think many of them would have been improved by -anchoring them out overnight. - -A negro preacher whom I knew came to me when I was in Florida, and -said: "What shall I preach about tomorrow? I'se done preached myself -'plumb out.' I'se worked on election sanctification and damnation -predestination till I can't say another word to save my life." - -I said, "Preach a sermon on 'Thou shalt not steal' for a text." - -"Yes," he said, "that certainly _is_ a good text, but I am monstros -'fraid it will produce a coolness in my congregation!" - -Doubtless it would produce a coolness in many a congregation today. - - * * * * * - -Now I want to talk a little about _law_ and its penalty. We want to -consider the invariable laws of Nature. Let us look at it in the way in -which we became acquainted with it--through experience. - -To the child, law is an educator; he plays with fire and is burned. -Law and its penalty have done their work. A burnt child dreads the -fire. On that point his education is complete. He cuts himself with a -knife; again the law works. Do not play with edged tools is the lesson. -And so, whenever he comes in contact with external objects, he learns -something very definite from them; and if he has any sense, he soon -conforms to the order which he sees in force all around him. He does -what he can to act in such a way as not to run counter to Nature's -laws; or, at least, Nature teaches him to do so by repeated suffering -when he acts otherwise. The law thus far is all in favor of life, -and is teaching the child to preserve it. He must eat not to starve; -he must be clothed not to freeze; he must not be burned, or cut, or -crushed. In one word, he must take care of himself, and be careful of -external objects, or he must be hurt. - -But his education has another connection with law. If he has proper -parents he learns that he can not lie, or steal, or do many other -things without suffering a penalty. If he has no home education in -this matter, the reform-school and the jail step in and take up the -lesson. - -And so the law teaches him that his actions must be of a certain -quality, both with respect to external Nature and his fellowmen, or -that he must pay a penalty. - -Thus he comes to man's estate, and law has been to him an educator and -a good one. He has learned that Nature's law means punishment every -time it is violated, and that man's law, whatever it may attain to, -_aims_ at the same object as Nature's law. - -But neither his education nor his contact with law ends with his -youth. Hitherto he has obeyed blindly for fear of the penalty. He now -obeys intelligently, and connected with the penalty to be incurred by -disobedience is the reward to be obtained through obedience. He finds -that every act, every thought, of his brings him in direct contact -with law. He can not elude it by standing still, for no man can stand -still. He must go forward, or backward. This is an inexorable law; -with progress, improvement; without progress, what? Rest? Repose? -No! Deterioration. No man can stand still in this universe for a day -without losing something. The man who means to do anything in life must -go forward; if he falters, another goes ahead; and then he learns that -the penalty of faltering is failure. - -Nature works no special miracles in any one's favor. Nature works -no miracles, anyway. The sun and the moon did _not_ stand still at -Joshua's command! - -No riches and influence can buy exemption from Nature. - -Law says to the poor man who is dependent on his daily toil: "You have -only yourself to rely upon. Take care of your health; be temperate, -honest and industrious, for sickness, imprisonment, idleness, mean to -you death." - -It says to the rich man: "Inherited wealth has exempted you from -_daily_ labor of body, but it has not earned for you rest. Go to work; -do something, or your mind and body will be enfeebled; your sympathies -will disappear; you will become dry as the summer's dust; you will sink -into a nonentity." - -The whole cry of Nature's law is onward and upward. Evolution is the -word--there is no God about it. It is not alone the survival of the -fittest--that is only a part of the process. It is the fittest of one -generation becoming something better and higher for the next. - -It is the fashion now to say that the struggle for existence becomes -yearly more fierce, but that is not so. The truth is that those who -struggle become with each survival fitter to struggle, and that for -which they struggle is placed one step forward. Men used to want -thousands and hundreds of thousands; now, they want millions and -hundreds of millions. They used to want general knowledge; now, they -are all specialists, and cry out that life is too short. Steam used -to content them; now, electricity does not satisfy them, and they are -grasping at the possibilities of the mighty currents of air caused by -the revolutions of the earth itself. - -The law of progress is not limited to the mind. The body shares in -it. Men are stronger, larger, longer-lived than they have ever been. -Even with the animals, finer, better breeds are constantly producing -themselves under law. - -This law of the survival of the fittest and the elevation of the type -of the fittest pronounced against slavery, and a nation paid the -penalty in blood, as Spain has, and other nations will pay it. It has -pronounced against the subjection of women, and let those who stand in -the way, beware, lest some ruin crush them as it falls! - -The type of sympathy has become higher and tenderer. Sweet hands of -mercy are now stretched down even to the brutes. Let those lovers of -the past who can see no progress in the present, who would question -this onward tendency, and the result of law, let them remember -that they must run rapidly to keep from being overwhelmed by the -_expansionists_. - -Nature's law teaches us that like begets like. You plant a grain of -wheat, and you reap wheat. You breed Morgan stock and the foal is of -Morgan blood. The child is the offspring of certain parents, and it -inherits their blood. If parents choose to unfit themselves to be -healthy parents, who shall be blamed? - - * * * * * - -Shall gravitation cease as I go by? Teach children that no amount of -so-called religion will compensate for rheumatism; that Christianity -has nothing to do with morality; that "vicarious atonement" is a fraud, -and a lie; that to be born well and strong is the highest birth; that -to be honest and pay one's debts spells peace of mind; that the Bible -is no more inspired than the dictionary; that _sin_ is a transgression -of the laws of life, and that the blood of all the bulls and goats -and lambs of ancient times, and the blood of Christ or any other man, -never had, and never can have, the least effect in making a life what -it would have been had it obeyed the laws of life. If you have marred -your life, you must bear the consequences. If you have made a mistake, -be more careful in the future. Let the thought that the past is -irretrievable make you more careful in the present and for the future. - -And, above all, teach children that prayer is idiotic. There may be -one God or twenty. I do not know or care. I am not afraid, and no -priest or parson can make me believe that my title to a future life, if -there be one, is defective. And the great and good man Thomas Paine, -who wrote the _Age of Reason_, and said, "The world is my country, and -to do good my religion," is a good enough god for me. And the great -Ingersoll, who said, "I belong to the great Church that holds the world -within its starlit aisles; that claims the great and good of every -race and clime; that finds with joy the grain of gold in every creed -and floods with light and love the germs of good in every soul," is -in my opinion an excellent god--as good as any that ever lived, from -Confucius to Christ. A friend of mine said to me, "Ingersoll should -have been a Christian." I replied, "The dog-collar of Christianity did -not belong on his neck: he preached the truth; he preferred that to the -Bible. I can not imagine the great Ingersoll preaching from II Kings -xiv: 35." - - _When I was a child I heard very little about Christmas and nothing - about Lent and Easter. I was taught to be honest and truthful and - to pay one hundred cents on a dollar. In my opinion there is no - Bible extant so good as Ingersoll's Complete Works._ - - - - -A LETTER AND THE REJOINDER - - - - - Fear paralyzes the brain. Progress is born of courage. Fear - believes--courage doubts. Fear falls upon the earth and - prays--courage stands erect and thinks. Fear retreats--courage - advances. Fear is barbarism--courage is civilization. Fear believes - in witchcraft, in devils and in ghosts. Fear is religion--courage - is science. - - There are real crimes enough without creating artificial ones. All - progress in legislation has for centuries consisted in repealing - the laws of the ghosts. - - --_Robert Ingersoll._ - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -A LETTER AND THE REJOINDER - -A LABOR OF FOLLY - -_From the Portsmouth "Times"_ - - -Our old friend, Marilla M. Ricker, of Dover, lifelong advocate of -"woman's rights," zealous champion of "freethought," admirer of Bob -Ingersoll, worshiper of Tom Paine, and collaborator of Elbert Hubbard, -who fears neither God, man nor the Devil, because she does not believe -particularly in any of them, is engaged in a labor of folly, in that -she is fighting the doctrine of the immortality of the human soul. - -In the prosecution of her warfare she has gone into print and issued -a pamphlet in which she takes issue, primarily, with one Elder E. A. -Kenyon upon his proposition of a universal consciousness that "if a man -die he shall live again," and even goes so far as to assert that the -majority of mankind believe in annihilation. Moreover, she pronounces -the doctrine of personal immortality "a most selfish and harmful one," -"pernicious in its results," and operating for the enslavement of -mankind, filling the world with gloom and making of man a crawling -coward. - -We invite no controversy with Marilla, and will have none. We concede -her right to believe anything, or nothing, to say what she thinks, -write what she pleases, get it printed where she may, and circulate -it as she can; but our advice to the dear sister is to "let up" on -this contention, wherein she is out-Ingersolling Ingersoll. He did not -believe in immortality, but he did not deny it. He claimed that he did -not know, and that no man could know it to be a fact; but he never -sought to blot out hope. And the truth is that but for this hope of -immortal existence, entertained by the vast majority of the race, in -all lands and ages, life would not be worth living, and men and women -everywhere would lie down and perish in despair. It is this hope, or -faith, or consciousness--however we may express it--of life beyond -the grave, or the immortality of the soul, that inspires mankind to -all that is noble and heroic in the great struggle for progress and -development here. Without it there would be no incentive effort beyond -that which impels the brute. Without it, in fact, man would be mere -brute, and nothing else. - -That the horrid doctrines of Calvinism were dinned into Mrs. Ricker's -ears in childhood, and the fear of eternal torment held up before her, -instead of the infinite love of a God of Mercy and Justice, may have -impelled her to repudiate all idea of God or Justice, or life to -come; but she ought to be intelligent enough to sift the error from -the truth and cling to the latter. If not, she should at least be -willing to allow others to do so. She may repudiate the old Calvinism, -or even Christianity itself. She may become a Mohammedan, a Buddhist, -an Agnostic or an out-and-out "heathen" if she will. She may accept -annihilation as the universal fate of humanity; but she should be -willing to allow mankind in general its indulgence in that one "Great -Hope," which has illumined with immortal splendor the darkest passages -of human life, and sustains the soul of man and woman in the severest -trials and conflicts of earth. - - -THE REJOINDER - -(_From the Portsmouth "Times"_) - -I was amused when I read in the Portsmouth _Times_ an article from my -friend Metcalf, entitled, A _Labor of Folly_. The genial Henry said -I was a lifelong advocate of "woman's rights," which is true. And an -admirer of Ingersoll. Could any one help admire that great and good -man? And a worshiper of Thomas Paine. Worship is rather a strong word -to apply to me, but I think the man who said, "The world is my country, -and to do good my religion," and who did more than any other man to -put the stars on our flag and to give that flag to the breeze, should -be loved and respected. - -He, the aforesaid Henry, said I collaborated with Elbert Hubbard. I am -proud of that, whether it is true or not. - -I consider Hubbard the most brilliant writer in this country. - -Henry also said I feared neither God, man nor the Devil, because I did -not believe particularly in any of them. If he would add an "o" to -God and make it good, take the "d" from devil and make it evil, then -I would have something tangible to write about besides man, in whom I -believe. - -Henry also said that I was engaged in a "labor of folly," fighting the -doctrine of the immortality of the soul. - -I simply expressed my opinion on the subject. My friend Henry wrote me -not long ago that there was no earthly need of a Freethought paper; -that thought was as free as air always and everywhere. I take issue -with him there, and I call his attention to the _Little Journey_ to -the home of Copernicus--of January, Nineteen Hundred Five--by Elbert -Hubbard. Copernicus was the founder of modern astronomy. - -If Henry will read his life he can see what freethought meant at that -time. I also call his attention to Giordano Bruno. He can see what -happened to him and how free thought was at that time. Henry said I -could write what I pleased, and get it printed where I could. - -That was well added, for I could not in the year Nineteen Hundred Nine, -in the city of Dover, New Hampshire, get my article on Immortality -printed in the only paper in the city; so you see how freethought is up -to date. - -I certainly "take issue" with Henry, "That the hope or consciousness -of life beyond the grave, or immortality of the soul, inspires mankind -to all that is noble and heroic in the great struggle for progress and -development here." - -Robert Ingersoll did not believe in immortality, but he was a great, -tender-hearted man, full of kindness, full of generous impulses. No man -ever loved the true, the good and the beautiful more than he. He would -take the case of a poor man into court without pay; he would give a -young reporter an interview when he could sell every word he spoke for -a dollar; he would present the proceeds of a lecture to some worthy -object as though he were throwing a nickel to an organ-grinder; and -when there was persecution he was on the side of the persecuted. - -I do not believe in individual immortality, but I do the best I can, -pay one hundred cents on the dollar, and I am not afraid to die. I -know thousands who believe as I do. - -John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, believed in the immortality -of the soul--so do his followers. He also believed that sin was the -cause of earthquakes, and the only way to stop them was to believe in -the Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't know much about seismology, but he -certainly had faith, plus. - -John Calvin founded the Presbyterian Church; he believed in the -immortality of the soul. So do his followers; but Calvin was a murderer. - -Henry, it is absurd to say that without hope of immortality we should -be degraded to brutes; in my opinion it is not true. What we want is a -religion that will pay debts; that will practise honesty in business -life; that will treat employees with justice and consideration; -that will render employers full and faithful work; that will keep -bank-cashiers true, officeholders patriotic, and reliable citizens -interested in the purity of politics (and the woman citizen will -be)--such a religion is real, vital and effective. But a religion that -embraces vicarious atonement, miraculous conception, regeneration by -faith, baptism, individual immortality and other monkey business is, in -my opinion, degrading, absurd and unworthy. - -Henry, you say you want no controversy with me. I enjoy controversy, -but if you are averse to it I'll stop and we will unite in singing one -stanza of that Christian hymn: - - King David and King Solomon - Led merry, merry lives - With their many, many lady friends - And their many, many wives; - But when old age came o'er them - With its many, many qualms, - (It was said) - King Solomon wrote the Proverbs - And King David wrote the Psalms. - -But did they? - -[Illustration] - - - - - Where religion is afraid of liberty, liberty should be afraid of - religion.--_Lemuel K. Washburn._ - - So long as man believes that he has an immortal soul, he will fear - the future. - - - - -THE HOLY GHOST - - - - - For ages, a deadly conflict has been waged between a few brave men - and women of thought and genius upon the one side, and the great - ignorant religious mass on the other. This is the war between - Science and Faith. The few have appealed to reason, to honor, - to law, to freedom, to the known, and to happiness here in this - world. The many have appealed to prejudice, to fear, to miracle, - to slavery, to the unknown, and to misery hereafter. The few have - said, "Think!" The many have said, "Believe!" - - --_Robert Ingersoll._ - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -THE HOLY GHOST - - -Of all the weird, fanciful and fabulous stories appertaining to -the gods and other pious frauds, that concerning the Holy Ghost -ranks them all! Now listen to what the Bible has to say about -that mythical personage--alias, the Holy Ghost. You will see that -scarcely any two references to it agree in assigning it the same -character or attributes. (It reminds me of what an old lady said at a -prayer-meeting: "Dear brothers and sisters, it seems to me that there -are no two of a mind here tonight, nor hardly one!") - -In John xiv: 26, the Holy Ghost is spoken of as a person or personal -God. In Luke iii: 22, the Holy Ghost changes and assumes the form of -a dove. In Matthew xiii: 16, the Holy Ghost becomes a spirit. In John -i: 32, the Holy Ghost is presented as an inanimate senseless object. -In I John v: 7, the Holy Ghost becomes a God--the third member of -the Trinity. In Acts ii: 1, the Holy Ghost is averred to be a mighty -rushing wind. In Acts x: 38, the Holy Ghost, we infer from its mode -of application, is an ointment. In John xx: 22, the Holy Ghost is the -breath, as we legitimately infer by its being breathed into the mouth -of the recipient after the ancient Oriental custom. In Acts ii: 3, we -learn the Holy Ghost "sat upon each of them." In Acts ii: 1, the Holy -Ghost appears as cloven tongues of fire. In Luke ii: 26, the Holy Ghost -is the author of a revelation or inspiration. In Mark i: 8, the Holy -Ghost is a medium or element for baptism. In Acts xxviii: 25, the Holy -Ghost appears with vocal organs and speaks. In Hebrews vi: 4, the Holy -Ghost is dealt out or imparted by measure. In Luke iii: 22 the Holy -Ghost appears with a tangible body. In Luke i: 5, we are taught that -people are filled with the Holy Ghost. In Matthew xi: 15, the Holy Ghost -falls upon the people as a ponderable substance. In Luke iv: 1, the Holy -Ghost is a God within a God--Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost. - -These are only a few quotations. There are many more, but we can all -see what a multifarious personage, or rather _he_, _she_, or _it_ the -Holy Ghost is. - - * * * * * - -I remember hearing much about the unpardonable sin against the Holy -Ghost. The sin against the Holy Ghost consisted in resisting its -operations in the second birth--that is, the regeneration of the heart -or soul by the Holy Ghost. And it was considered unpardonable simply -because as the pardoning and cleansing process consisted in, or was at -least always accompanied with, baptism by water, in which operation -the Holy Ghost was the agent in effecting the "new birth," therefore, -when the ministrations or operations of this indispensable agent were -resisted or rejected, there was no channel, no means, no possible mode -left for the sinner to find a renewed acceptance with God. - -When a person sinned against the Father or the Son, he could find a -door of forgiveness through the baptizing processes, spiritual or -elementary, of the Holy Ghost. But an offense committed against this -third limb of the Godhead had the effect of closing and barring the -door so that there could be no forgiveness, either in this life or in -that which is to come. - -To sin against the Holy Ghost was to tear down the scaffold by which -the door of Heaven was to be reached. This _sin_ against the Holy Ghost -has caused thousands of the disciples of the Christian faith the most -agonizing hours of alarm and despair. - -It has always been my opinion that many people who thought they had -sinned against the Holy Ghost simply had dyspepsia. - - _If people should deceive in other matters as the priests, parsons - and teachers do in religion, they would not escape arrest._ - - - - - The destruction of religions and superstition means the upbuilding - of charity and ethics.--_Ralph W. Chainey._ - - Superstition is nothing but a misplaced fear of some fancied - supernatural phantasm of divinity. - - - - -HOW CAN WE "TAKE" CHRIST? - - - - - All that is good in our civilization is the result of commerce, - climate, soil, geographical position, industry, invention, - discovery, art and science. The Church has been the enemy of - progress, for the reason that it has endeavored to prevent man - from thinking for himself. To prevent thought is to prevent all - advancement except in the direction of faith. - - --_Robert Ingersoll._ - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -HOW CAN WE "TAKE" CHRIST? - - -I receive many letters from various people telling me that Christ is -mine if I will only take him. I am always amused at the solicitations -of these people and feel as President Taft did when Peary "laid the -Pole" at his feet. Taft replied he had no idea what he should do with -it. I should not know what to do with Christ if I took him. - -What can they mean by taking Christ? The word Christ is used to -designate a certain individual who died, if he ever lived, nearly two -thousand years ago. Now to take this person we should have to take -him from the earth where he was buried. I am at a loss to comprehend -what Christians mean when they offer Christ to any one. What right has -an individual today to offer another a person who has been dead two -thousand years? I fail to see any sense in such an offer. - -Certain men and women go about the world asking people to come to -Christ, to accept Christ. What do they mean--do they know? - -In my opinion the supreme dogma of Christianity is the divinity of -Jesus. If Jesus was a man, all that was related of his divine acts -in the four Gospels is false. How would a person like the Nazarene -peasant be accepted today were he to play the part of a god? - -Suppose a person who had lived in our neighborhood should come to us -and say, "I am God, and I want you to help me save the world; quit your -work and follow me." What would you think of him? Would any one pay -the least attention to him, except to think he was insane and have him -placed in an asylum for safety? - -The people who are preaching the divinity of Jesus know nothing about -him except what they read in a book that was written by unknown -authors. Jesus is the last hope of Christian theology. He is the only -solution of the divine problem that Christianity has to offer. Is -not the direction of the world's most rational thought away from the -Christian notion of Jesus? In my opinion it is. - - * * * * * - -Let us look at the once famous stronghold of New England Orthodoxy, the -Andover Theological Seminary, which was chartered on June Nineteenth, -Eighteen Hundred Seven, and opened for instruction on September -Twenty-eighth, Eighteen Hundred Eight. I think it was about seven years -ago that it was transferred to Cambridge and became a part of Harvard -University. At that time the school consisted of seven instructors, -twelve students and a library of sixty-five thousand books, with an -endowment of eight hundred fifty thousand dollars in productive funds -and an annual income of thirty-five thousand dollars. - -It has been said that the highways were scoured every Summer for -students, and enticing scholarships held out, but to no avail. No -students materialized. - -Why is this? In my opinion it is the rising generation's -dissatisfaction with traditional theology; they have outgrown it. -Ingersoll said that once in five years the President of the Seminary -summoned his professors before him to make oath that they had learned -absolutely nothing during the preceding five years and would not learn -anything for the next five years. And that promise was not subject to -recall. - -But even Andover couldn't remain in that condition. In Eighteen Hundred -Eighty-six it announced its new system of "progressive orthodoxy." This -created a division between the Old School and the New, and marked the -beginning of the end of Andover; and after much litigation it consented -to be "gathered in" by Harvard or "swallowed," or perhaps they would -say "merged." - -They have now a new building located upon land adjacent to that of -Harvard University, and the last account from the "Great Seminary" was -that they had twenty-four pupils. The library of the Seminary and -that of the Harvard Divinity School have been combined and are housed -together in Bartlett Hall. - - * * * * * - -The defenders of the Gospel of Christ don't seem to be increasing; -on the contrary, there seems to be great depression in matters -ecclesiastical these days, even in puritanical New England. It -plainly shows that the young men of the present day are not anxious -to wear the "Dog-Collar of Christianity," and as far as I've heard no -Christian arose to remark that the morals of the "Reverend" Clarence -Richeson were contaminated by reading the words of Thomas Paine, Robert -Ingersoll, Elbert Hubbard or Lemuel K. Washburn. The Reverend Clarence -seemed to be a product of the Christian Bible, and talked to the last -of his God and his Bible. - -What is left of Christianity? Who wrote the Christian Bible? The -smallest child in a Sunday School would answer the question by saying -"God," but the most learned person on the globe would say, "I do -not know." It is being admitted by thinking persons that answers to -religious questions possess nothing more than a religious value. When -a person is graduated from a Sunday School he is wiser than he will be -after he has lived forty years, provided he learns anything by living. - -"God" is a term used to express what man does not know, but it does -not seem to me necessary to assign to the Bible divine authorship, as -it can be accounted for on other grounds. It is certain that men and -women have written books. It is not certain that there is a God and, -if so, that he has written a book. If man could write the Bible, there -seems to be no need for God to do so. It is a fact that no one knows -who wrote a word of the Bible, and yet it will require many more years -to kill the foolish superstition that God inspired certain men to write -this book. - -Nothing grows slower than truth, and nothing faster than superstition. -Falsehood was never known to commit suicide. Unknown men wrote the -Christian Bible, not an unknown God. - - * * * * * - -Not many years ago I saw that a teacher in the Holyoke (Massachusetts) -High School was dismissed for saying that Jesus was one of a family of -ten. Jesus is a word that paralyzes the mental faculties. As to the -accuracy of the statement we have only the Gospels for authority. At -any rate, if Matthew and Mark are reliable he had four brothers and -sisters. - -In Matthew xiii: 54 we read: "Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not -his mother called Mary, and his brethren, James, and Joseph, and Simon, -and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us?" - -Mark confirms Matthew about the size of Mary's family. - -I tried to learn something concerning this case, but silence a yard -wide lay all about it. I fancy the teacher was silenced in some way. -Leastwise I could learn nothing. - -It doesn't take much to silence a teacher, or it didn't fifty years -ago, especially if she were dependent upon teaching for her bread and -butter, which I was. - -I, at one time, tried to substitute one of Ralph Waldo Emerson's books -to be read in school in the morning instead of the Christian Bible. I -was informed by one of the committee that the Bible must be read every -morning and the Ten Commandments repeated. The next morning I selected -the "truthful" and startling account of Jonah whilst he was sojourning -at the Submarine Hotel. I at that time made up my mind that if I were -ever financially independent I'd say what I thought concerning the -Christian religion, and no one doubts that I've done so. - - * * * * * - -Jesus is the last hope of Christian theology. It can be but a few years -at most when faith in Jesus as God will be the mark of intellectual -stupidity. It seems to me that mankind will soon be sensible enough to -dismiss this dogma to eternal oblivion. - -It is the last relic of heathen mythology that clings to modern -civilization. The Christian church is put to its utmost ingenuity to -hide the absurdity in this dogma. - -The dogma of the divinity of Jesus rests upon fictitious events, and -hence its fate is sealed. - -Many persons regard any one that calls Jesus a man as a blasphemer. -There is a great amount of pious nonsense in the world, and there -is more connected with Jesus than with any other character whom -Christendom honors. - -The reverence paid to Jesus by Christians is the homage of idolatry. - -The first thing for people to do is to get rid of the silly notion that -there is anything holy in the name of Jesus any more than in the name -of Hercules, Bacchus or Adonis. All the gods of the past are myths to -the present. Jesus stands in the way of the world's advancement. The -path of civilization is over his grave. The mind has been fettered by -worship of this myth. We want to get rid of the Christian superstition. - - _Isn't it astonishing that many children should be taught about the - "resurrection" before they can spell cat?_ - - - - - Whenever a man believes that he has the exact truth from God, there - is in that man no spirit of compromise. He has not the modesty - born of the imperfections of human nature; he has the arrogance of - theological certainty and the tyranny born of ignorant assurance. - Believing himself to be the slave of God, he imitates his master, - and of all tyrants the worst is a slave in power. - - When a man really believes that it is necessary to do a certain - thing to be happy forever, or that a certain belief is necessary to - insure eternal joy, there is in that man no spirit of concession. - He divides the whole world into saints and sinners, into believers - and unbelievers, into God's sheep and Devil's goats, into people - who will be glorified and people who will be damned. - - --_Robert Ingersoll._ - - - - -COLONEL ROBERT G. INGERSOLL - - - - - We need no myths, no miracles, no gods, no devils.--_Robert - Ingersoll._ - - The world is my country and to do good is my religion.--_Thomas - Paine._ - - The presence of a hypocrite is a sure indication that there is a - Bible and a prayer-book not very far away. - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -COLONEL ROBERT G. INGERSOLL - - -It is difficult to sketch this many-sided man. He was full of pity and -sympathy for the poor and unfortunate. He was great enough to applaud -the good, and good enough to forgive the erring. He could charm a child -with his speech, or sway thousands by his magic words. He was the -supreme philosopher of commonsense. - -He knew how to answer a fool, but he never forgot to be courteous to -an opponent. He would take the case of a poor man into court without -pay; he would give a young reporter an interview when he could sell -every word he spoke for a dollar; he would present the proceeds of a -lecture to some worthy object as though he were throwing a nickel to -an organ-grinder; he would lead a reform with a dozen workers if he -believed them in the right, just as if he had a million followers; -and where there was persecution he was on the side of the persecuted. -Ingersoll was the truest American that America ever bore. - -He was the orator of her rivers and mountains, of her hills and dales, -of her forests and flowers, of her struggles and victories, of her -free institutions, of her Stars and Stripes--the orator of the home, -of wife and child, of love and liberty. The head, heart and hand of -Ingersoll were perfectly united and worked together. As he thought -he acted; when he had anything to say, he said it aloud. He was not -ashamed of his thoughts. He did not hide or go around the corner, or -beat about the bush. He spoke honestly what he saw, what he thought, -what he knew. - -[Illustration] - - - - -MARK TWAIN'S BEST THOUGHT - - - - - The entire New Testament is the work of Catholic - Churchmen.--_Lemuel K. Washburn._ - - God is not a fact; nothing that can be seen, heard or felt; nothing - that can be found out or in. God is a verbal content. - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -MARK TWAIN'S BEST THOUGHT - - -The best thing Mark Twain ever said was, "I should like to see the -ballot in the hands of every woman." Freethinkers should also remember -him with gratitude; he said enough from our point of view to warrant -that. "Give me my glasses," were his last words. It will be but a short -time before some pious evangelical hypocrite will add, "I want to -read my Bible!" They are already writing about his "highest sphere of -thought," namely, his religious thought. - -I remember when a Presbyterian deacon said of him, "I would rather -bury a daughter of mine than have her marry such a fellow." The church -people are all anxious to avoid their own history concerning Mark Twain -and many other people. - -The Reverend Doctor Twitchell said at Mark's funeral that a simple soul -had gone trustingly to the beyond. He didn't mention where the beyond -was, and he prayed to the Christian God that courage in the faith of -immortality be given to those who mourn. - -Through all these Christian notices runs an undercurrent that Mark -Twain was only secondarily a humorist. I knew him somewhat in the old -days and have heard him lecture. He certainly laughed superstition from -the minds of thousands, and the most of his books bear witness to his -broad and liberal views. - -The Reverend Doctor Van Dyke mixed much religious sophistry with -his remarks at the funeral of Twain, but the reverend doctor is a -theological acrobat. - -He preached once on the Atonement, and said there are a thousand -true doctrines of the Atonement, which is saying substantially that -no doctrine specifically is true--for instance, the doctrine of the -Westminster Confession, to which Van Dyke pledged loyalty when he -was ordained a Presbyterian minister. He at that time ripped up the -Westminster settlement, and reopened the whole question for discussion. - -Any preacher who believes in the geology of Moses, the astronomy of -Joshua, and the mathematics of the Trinity, must do an immense amount -of "side-stepping." - - _Christianity is only a bubble of superstition, and Jesus is - reduced to a toy god of the Sunday School._ - - - - -AN IRRELIGIOUS DISCOURSE ON RELIGION - - - - - Religion is inherited fear.--_Lemuel K. Washburn._ - - In my opinion a steeple is no more to be excluded from taxation - than a smokestack. - - Faith is the cross on which man crucifies his liberty. - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -AN IRRELIGIOUS DISCOURSE - - -We are living in the Twentieth Century of what is called the Christian -Era, and we have not outgrown the superstitions of the First Century. -And worse than this, we have not had the courage to abandon the -fictions of the Book of Genesis for the truths of modern science. Just -what the world is afraid of, that it fears to trust its senses, its -reason, its knowledge, surpasses my understanding. - -One of the first things that men and women should learn is, that there -is nothing in the universe to be afraid of; that all the malignant -deities are dead; that the ancient gods that presided over the destiny -of earth and of earthly things have all fallen from the sky; that in -the realm of Nature everything is natural, and that no man is pursued -by a god of wrath and vengeance who would punish him for his unbelief. -Every god that can not hear the truth without getting mad should be -dethroned. Every priest who can not join in singing the songs of -civilization should be warned to look out for the engine while the bell -rings. - -This world of ours is a world to be enjoyed, but it can not be enjoyed -if we fear every manifestation of Nature and if we put a cruel god -behind every cloud. - -Let us live without fear, without superstition, without religion. - - * * * * * - -There is nothing above, beneath or around you that cares whether you -are a Christian or an unbeliever. The real reason why a priest hates an -unbeliever is that he can not get a dollar out of him. He damns those -who know better than to swallow his say-sos. But it still remains a -fact that an infidel can raise as many bushels of potatoes to the acre -as can the Roman Catholic. The sun will not wrong an honest man. The -stars will not punish a single human being for telling the truth. The -sky will not persecute a person who gives his thoughts, his talents, -his time, to finding ways to help mankind. - -Everything that man believes in that can not be found, that can not be -proved, that can not stand the test of commonsense: everything that -contradicts Nature, that is opposed to established facts, that is -contrary to the laws of the universe, must be given up. - -We must have a new man: the man born of woman, not the man made by -God; the man who has been growing better ever since his advent on -earth, not the man who has been growing worse; the man who started -with nothing and has conquered the earth, the sea and the air; not -the man who began perfect and has not got halfway back; the man who -made the telescope, the steam-engine, the power-loom, the telephone and -the wireless telegraph; not the man who made the thumbscrew, the rack, -the ducking-stool and the stocks; the man who has carried the torch -of liberty to enlighten the world, not the man who has carried the -crucifix to enslave mankind. - - * * * * * - -It is quite common to be told what Moses said or what Jesus said. Now, -if all that these two Hebrew gentlemen (who in my opinion never lived) -said, is preserved in the Bible, I appeal from what they said to those -who know more. I assert that Moses said a lot of stuff that isn't so, -and a lot more that never was so, and that all that Jesus is said to -have said is practically worthless to the world today; that there is -not in all of his utterances a single word that will help man to get a -living, a single word that will aid man in his struggle for knowledge; -that there is not a statement of a single scientific fact, or a plea -for human liberty in all his language. He told his generation nothing -that was not already known, except a mess of superstitious nonsense -about angels and devils, heavens and hells. His so-called gospel of -salvation was to follow him, and he landed on a cross. - -The truth is this: the world has outgrown Moses and Jesus. It does -not take commands from either. This age believes in work, not worship; -in deeds, not prayers; in men, not monks; in liberty, not in pious -obedience; in human rights, not in submission; in knowledge, not in -revelation. - -For hundreds of years man was bound by a religious faith, and the -priest was his cruel master. He dared not doubt; he dared not rebel; -he dared not dream of freedom; but there came a time when religious -tyranny could no longer be borne. Then Mankind cried out to the Church: -Give back man's brain to man; restore to him the mind you have robbed -him of; take from his head and heart the paralyzing fear that makes him -a coward and a slave, and leave to him the liberty with which Nature -dowered him, that his mind may discover and preserve those mighty -thoughts which make man brave, honest, free and happy. - -That cry was heard far. It was heard by glad ears, and liberty sprang -from the ground like the warriors from the fabled dragon-teeth of -Cadmus. The war between liberty and tyranny, between fact and fable, -between truth and falsehood, between man and priest, was on, and for -centuries this war has raged, nor is it yet over. Freedom still lies -bleeding, but victory for the right will sooner or later be won. - -That victory will not be complete until every man will dare to say: -Let come what will come, no man, be he priest, minister or judge, shall -sit upon the throne of my mind, and decide for me what is right, true -or good. I am my own master, my own teacher, my own guide. I will keep -my reason free from control and will never surrender my own convictions -to the dictates of another. - -Nature has made every man commander of his own destiny. - - * * * * * - -But we are yet victims of ecclesiastical villainy. The priest is still -the worst enemy of mankind. His church is like that monster of fiction -which lived on little children. In the name of the children I protest -against the action of the Church in stealing their tender brains, in -making them slaves of superstition before they are old enough to know -to what they are doomed. - -The age of consent to a religious faith should be determined by law, -if necessary. Today any boy or girl may be the victim of a designing -priest or clergyman, or of a designing religious system. - -No person under eighteen years of age should be allowed to join a -church or consent to a statement of faith. Mental purity should be -guarded and protected as well as physical purity. - -While the Church is powerful in numbers and while its religion is -supported by wealth and fashion, the world is becoming more and more -emancipated from its pernicious influence. The light that truth gives -is still ahead of us, but _it is there_, and some day the world will -grow warmer under its rays and men become better and kinder to one -another. - -A hundred years ago the God worshiped in orthodox churches went about -drowning little boys and girls who went skating on Sundays. Those were -the "good old days" when men and women had religion for breakfast, -dinner and supper, and took it to bed with them. It takes a long time -to get such a horrible religion out of the system. - -Men and women still have a mean faith, a faith which can see others -damned with satisfaction if they can only be saved. Nothing but a mean -religion could make men and women as mean as that. I would rather -starve than preach the doctrine of endless pain for a human being--or -even for a dog. I believe that this world is hard and dark and cruel -enough without borrowing suffering from another world to make darker -and harder the road of life and add torture to the nights of pain and -misery. - -A church must be sunk pretty low when it lives on the fears and tears -of mankind; but what lower depths of degradation does it sound when it -can deliberately create fears and tears that it may live and thrive -in its vile and cruel business! A human being without pity should be -shunned and despised; but a human being who can fill the heart with -terror should not be allowed in a civilized community. - -The mind today wants to get out into the open, into the free daylight, -wants to walk the earth, look at the stars and sky, feel the warmth of -the sun and smell the odor of the ground; it has become tired of being -shut up in a faith, in a creed, in a church; tired of being kept in -the darkness of the past, in the tomb of dead thoughts, in the moldy -caskets of unreal things, and in the dungeon of fear. - -The mind is striving to break the chains of the priest and be free from -the bonds of the Church. - -You can not have men free where the priest demands and claims their -obedience. The greatest menace to our national institutions is the -power that controls men; that controls their thoughts, their actions -and their destinies. Liberty can survive only where men are free: -free to think, free to read, free to speak and free to act. The mind -must not be bound by any vow of obedience. One man, no matter what -his office, what his position, what his rank, has no right to compel -another's obedience. This is the worst oppression on earth. - - * * * * * - -What is needed in this country is more men who dare think and speak -for themselves; who dare belong to no church; who dare work for the -right as they see it, and speak the truth as they understand it; who -dare live their own lives independent of fashion's demands or society's -usages; who dare put liberty above conformity, and who dare defy -customs, law and religion in their zeal to help their fellow-beings. - -There is more than one liberty--more than the liberty to do right--that -is partly won for every civilized being. There is another liberty that -is dangerous and that persists even where civilization exists--the -liberty to take another's liberty from him. This liberty is usually -taken from another in the name of God and what is called holy; but -there is nothing on earth so holy as liberty, and he who takes it from -another robs him of the dearest right possessed by man. Binding a human -being with the chains of faith before that being is old enough to judge -whether the faith is reasonable or true is the assassination of freedom. - -The greatest danger which confronts our nation today is not political -but religious, and the preservation of our free institutions does not -depend upon our army and navy, but upon the emancipation of the human -mind from ecclesiastical slavery. As Thomas Paine well said, "Spiritual -freedom is the root of political liberty." You can not have free -schools, free speech and a free press where the mind is not free. - -There is too much faith in this country and too little sense. Men have -given up about everything they possess to be saved; but it is more -necessary, and more commendable in the workingmen of this nation, to -save their dollars than to save their souls. - - * * * * * - -A subject that needs to be investigated quite as much as, if not more -than, the high cost of living is the high cost of worship. There may be -some justice in the criticism of the price of meats. We must remember, -however, that we do get something for our money when we buy meat, but -let us not forget that we get absolutely nothing for the money spent -for worship. Money given to the Church is lost to the world. It is -not used to improve homes; to help the poor and needy; to alleviate -suffering; to bring hope to the sick or to give a few comforts to old -age. It goes into the pocket of ecclesiastical greed. - -This country just at present is suffering from those twin curses of -humanity--religion and Bull-Mooseism. The priest and Bull-Mooseism -are the two worst trouble-makers in this country. To get rid of this -precious pair of knaves would be to bring peace on earth and hasten the -dawn. - -I don't know which is the bigger knave, the priest or the Bull-Mooser, -but I do know that the priest is engaged in the meaner business of the -two. - -When a man tries to sell me a mouse-trap to catch elephants, I am -suspicious of his mental sanity; and when a man tells me that eternal -happiness can be won by enlisting in his salvation army, I question -his moral sanity. I know that religion is offered at cut rates, but -there is no discount on morality. You can not have the reward of good -behavior unless you behave. You may save your soul by saying, "I -believe," but you have to _do_ something to save your body. - -There is too much of this "believe-in-me" business. You don't want to -believe in any one you know nothing about. The faith of a little child -in its parents is beautiful, but the faith of a grown-up man in a -priest is idiotic. Faith has ruined more than it has saved. With faith -goes obedience, and he or she who obeys is lost. - -There is no honest call today to believe, because there is opportunity -to know. Faith is hatched in the nest of imposition. He who yields -obedience is a fool, and he who demands it is a scoundrel. - -In this age, as in the past, a lie made "holy" is allowed to -assassinate the truth. Nothing is cursing this nation; nothing is -cursing human life; nothing is cursing honest effort and brave striving -so much as what is called holiness. It is holy to believe all you are -told; holy to wear the robes of hypocrisy; holy to rob the poor in the -name of God, and holy to put the poison of faith to the lips of a -child. It is holy to repudiate Nature and make a lie of your body, your -mind, your life. To purify the dwelling-place of man, it is necessary -to drive from the earth everything that religion has made holy. - -The only really sacred things were holy before a church was ever built, -before there was a priest on the globe. - -Human love and the home which human love built for its offspring were -the first holy things which men and women knew, and it is this human -love of ours which is holier than mosque, temple or church; holier than -priestly robe or ecclesiastical rite; holier by far than all the holy -things of faith. - - * * * * * - -The Church has always lived by robbing the home; the priest has always -lived on the wages of the toiler. The gods of religion have never done -aught to lighten the heavy load on the shoulders of labor. The priest -has said to mankind that his Lord left this consolation to the world: -"Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden and I will give -you rest." - -What the priest really means is this: Come unto me and I will do the -rest; and by the time he has done it, there is nothing of manhood left. - -The priest also teaches that his Lord and Master said, "Ask and ye -shall receive," and adds, "The Lord will provide." How many poor -wretches have believed those words; but their outstretched hands -withered away day by day, and at last dropped empty by their sides. -There they lay white and cold, holding not the bread they fondly -expected, but holding the hand of death. - -It may be pious and it may be beautiful to say, "The Lord will -provide," but it is a lie just the same. When, the other day, the -bodies of a mother and her two children were being carried to the -grave with the words, "starved to death," written on their faces, but -not written on their caskets, it was a sufficient refutation of the -religious teaching that "The Lord will provide." It is the plain, -unvarnished truth that the Lord will _not_ even provide the coffin for -the poor victim of such a false, deceptive, religious faith. - -In olden times it was customary for the Church to say, God's light -lights the world. Not so today. God's light has gone out. It is man's -light that lights the world and the Church too. Our enlightenment is -human, not divine. No altar of religion burns with the fire of truth. -Science carries the torch of knowledge: liberty is the way and truth is -the goal. - - * * * * * - -On our earth gods no longer make their homes. It was not safe for them -to live any more. Their sons may once have married the daughters of -men, but they can not get a license to do so today. Parents will not -stand for it. - -So the gods have gone, bag and baggage. Where they have gone, no one -knows. The skies give no sign that they are hiding up there. The -telescope has found _seventy million stars, but not one god_. - -It is time for the pulpit to stop repeating the old superstitions about -God and about what he has done for man. He has never done any more -for man than he is doing today; never spoken to man any more than he -is speaking today; never revealed himself to anybody any more than he -stands revealed to you and me and to every human being everywhere. - -Every word that ever came from the mouth of God man put in his mouth, -and every book revealed by God was written by man. - -Half the work of man for the next one hundred years will be to kill the -lies told about what God has done. - -Whether there is in all the vast universe a higher and nobler being -than man, I don't know. Whether there is in all the vast universe a -better place for man to live than on this earth, I don't know. And no -one knows any more about these matters than I do. - -We have found out much that is not so; now we want to find out all -we can that is so. And it is of no use to go to the Church to learn -anything. The Church is only a place where falsehoods are kept in cold -storage. The man who thinks and studies is the man who is helping the -world most, not the man who preaches and prays. To find the truth one -needs to get as far from the Church as possible. - -Christians of all denominations have lots of pity for the man without -a church. Let me assure these persons that the man without a church -doesn't want one. As a rule, he is satisfied with what he has. He -has a home, which is better than a church. If those persons who are -pitying men and women for not having a church would, instead, pity -the man without a home, and pity him enough to help him get one, they -would show much better sense and manifest a truer sympathy with their -fellow-beings. - - * * * * * - -I can not see any good in painting a thing white that is black, or -calling a thing beautiful that is ugly. There are persons who talk as -though they believed that a Northeast storm was sunshine. I am not made -that way. I am as ready and as willing as anybody to acknowledge the -good in Nature, or the good in life, but I do not believe in lying, in -saying that wrong is right, or that suffering is to be enjoyed. There -are lots of hard things in our life, and it does not alter facts to -call them by some other name. A man dying with a cancer can not be made -to believe that he is having a good time. - -The most that any man can do who goes through this earthly existence -is to use his fellow-mortals right and square; to give them an honest -day's work when he works for them and an honest day's pay when he hires -them; to say nothing to hurt them and everything he can to assist them; -to help them out of trouble and not get them into trouble. If one does -this, and does no more than this, he has done what beats every religion -on earth. - -We have got to deal with men and women as they are and where they are. -The man who is natural; the man who has not been made a fool of by a -priest or parson; the man who has not swapped his commonsense for a -foolish belief; the man who has not had his mind stuffed with religious -dope, knows that this life on earth is the important life, and that it -is a higher work to determine his fate here than anywhere else. - -There is not a person living who would not be well and strong and -happy here rather than hereafter. I would rather have the power to -make every cripple straight and whole; every poor, unfortunate man -and woman prosperous and contented; every sick person well, every -bad person good, and every slave to vice master of his appetite and -passions, in this life on earth, than to save the human wrecks, the -human unfortunates, the human victims of vice and crime, for another -life somewhere else. - - * * * * * - -What men and women want is happiness, not Heaven. They want a good -home on this globe, not a loafing-place in Abraham's bosom. They want -the opportunity to enjoy the good things of this life, not the promise -that they will hear the angels sing. They want better wages for their -work, better treatment from their employers, and better things to -eat and drink and wear. They want better things here, not hereafter. -They want to be happy while they are living on earth, not have the -assurance of happiness after they are dead. If I ever attempt to write -my creed, I shall say: I believe in so much that I can hardly expect to -express all of my faith in one statement. I am all the time believing -in something new. But there is one thing that I most heartily believe -in now and have believed in ever since I was a child, and that is, -SUNSHINE--external and internal and eternal sunshine. - -Sunshine is the joy of the universe, and joy is the sunshine of the -human heart. Let us be bright and cheerful. Let us be happy. Let us -give to the world the sunshine of our hearts. - - _A male trinity is repulsive; Father, Mother and Child is the - sacred triad. The Christian trinity is a monster._ - - - - -DECAY OF CHRISTIAN MORALITY - - - - - Nature has no need of a Holy Ghost.--_Lemuel K. Washburn._ - - All progress has been due to the Devil. He was the first - investigator.--_Ingersoll._ - - God takes care of the weed. Man must take care of the corn. - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -DECAY OF CHRISTIAN MORALITY - - -There is a great deal of exaggerated rhetoric employed in praising what -is called "Christian Morality." I have examined with considerable care -everything that may justly come within the meaning of this expression, -and I am bound to say, out of respect for the truth, that such morality -does not deserve praise and can not be praised by the honest lips of an -honest person. - -I am perfectly aware that I have made a statement which challenges the -sincerity of the Christian pulpit, but every one knows that there is -not a minister in Christendom whose practise agrees with his preaching. - -While it is common to hear a clergyman in pious ecstasy exhaust the -vocabulary of laudation in his praises of the beautiful morals of the -"Sermon on the Mount," it is exceedingly rare to see one of these -parsons sacrifice his commonsense to the nonsense of Jesus. - -We are learning that the theological morality of the Christian faith is -not the right kind of morality to make manhood and womanhood. The great -weakness of Christian morality is this: It depends upon the Christian -idea of Jesus, and when the world has outgrown the superstition about -this person, all of his moral precepts will lose their value and their -splendor. - -Men and women of any intellectual penetration know that the New -Testament story is founded upon unreliable tradition; that its heart is -a myth. - -Where men live independent of the foolish faith of the Gospels, there -is a character of self-reliance which towers like a mountain-peak -above the dead level of Christian endeavor. The person who accepts the -Christian theology is no more in sympathy with the best thought of the -age than is the man who wanders about the streets, begging his food and -sleeping wherever he can, in harmony with the highest comforts of our -civilization. - -There is a nobler purpose in a train of cars carrying grain and produce -across the continent than in a conference of clergymen trying to keep -alive a theology which teaches that God was born of a Jewish maiden -who lived and died in Palestine, and devising ways to make the people -believe the ridiculous superstition. - -Truth is born where men are allowed to think and speak their thoughts. -Error can not be maintained where man is permitted to ask questions. -The only way to preserve Christianity is to put it in a tin can and -have it hermetically sealed. - -We are getting a new examination of the universe as a basis for our -philosophy. The telescope has afforded man visions far beyond the -seventh heaven of the Apocalypse. The genesis of things is found to lie -millions of years back of the Genesis of the Bible. The chaos out of -which this world was made has been discovered to be a previous state of -existence. - -Science is laying the new foundation for our faith, and knowledge is -building the new temple of the mind. - -Men and women everywhere are stating their opinions, and the world -recognizes that there is to be a religious controversy upon this earth -which will shake to its base everything that is not true. Not one -stone of falsehood will be left standing upon another. Every dogma of -superstition must find a grave, and truth alone be reverenced by man. - - * * * * * - -The world has taken a step forward of Christianity, and in its march of -advancement has left behind the Christian God, the Christian Savior, -the Christian Bible, and the Christian Faith. But the world will not -stop here. It must go further. The question which the human mind wants -answered today is this: Is the decay of Christian theology to be -followed by the decay of Christian morality? - -I think that it is, and I also think that this morality is about as -near dead now as it can be. - -It is true that the author of this morality is painted in divine colors -for human adoration Sunday after Sunday, and that his other-world -ethics are inculcated by the pulpit; but beyond these attempts to -give the peculiar moral teachings of Jesus the show of life, there is -absolutely no sign of them in the world of man. - -The morality of the Christian system is not designed for humanity in -its present condition, nor does it possess the elements necessary -to make man into the image of any higher virtue. It is, in fact, an -unreal, unnatural morality which Jesus taught, and the notion that men -and women do not practise it because it is too far above them, depends -upon an estimate of this morality which we are not willing to allow. - -I do not wish to be misunderstood on this point. I want to say that -the general moral duties of man, as they have been taught for ages by -teachers of every race and of every religion, are not Christian, and -that Christian ethics are found in the code of moral duties taught by -Jesus _which are different from the recognized standard of morality -adopted by mankind generally_. Christian morals are Christian _only -wherein they differ from all other morals_. - -It is because they are peculiar to Christianity that they are -Christian. - -Because I do not believe in Christianity--in the Christian theology and -in Christian morals--I do not wish it said that I do not believe in -morality, for I do. I believe that man can be good and true and that he -can do right, and I believe that he ought to do right. - -I do not say that every one can reach the same moral altitude. I do -not even say that every individual can be good and true. Some persons -do not seem to be morally adjusted. I think, however, that we do not -trespass beyond the domain of truth when we predicate the power of man -to be moral. - -The notion that man can not be good has been the apology of half the -criminals of the world. It is the creed of all crime. If we affirm the -idea of human depravity, we may as well erase our statutes, for, if man -can not be good, it is the height of folly to expect him to be so. - -The healthy faith of man is faith _in_ man. - -The theology which has been preached for the past few centuries is -not calculated to make men moral. Those ministers who have shouted -themselves hoarse for the salvation of the soul, and who have made no -account of man's behavior in their scheme to save the race, are the -ones who have rubbed humanity in the dirt and undermined the moral -foundations of the world. - - * * * * * - -Every ethical principle that supports our social structure is -independent of ecclesiastical relations, and it is not essential that -we recognize any theology in order to comprehend the necessity of moral -obedience. - -There is no sympathy between right, truth and justice, and the -"Apostles' Creed." We may go so far as to say that the attempt to -establish a perpetual union between Christianity and morality would -result in an absolute divorce of these two forces. - -I wish to make it plain beyond a question that the Christian faith, in -itself, is entirely distinct from all moral effort on the part of man. - -To believe that Jesus was the Christ does not carry any obligation to -do right; does not make it incumbent upon the believer to do a single -moral action. - -It is sufficient to establish our predication that not a single church -in Christendom makes moral character the condition of membership, or -good behavior the way to Heaven. - -There is a code of Christian morals which has been taught, but never -practised. The special duties which Jesus enjoined upon his followers -have never been reduced to conduct. It is not too much to say that -the moral precepts of Jesus, if carried into action, would cause -social revolutions beyond precedent, and produce a state of existence -compared with which anarchy would be government, and confusion would be -order. - -But, before we undertake to examine the Christian morals, let us shed -a few tears of rejoicing upon the grave of Orthodox theology. We do -not ask to have a coroner's jury decide what caused the death of this -theology. We bless the cause, whatever it was. We only wish to feel -assured that it is really, truly dead, and the fact that "not a single -treatise written by a New England Puritan is a living and authoritative -book" seems to prove it beyond a question. The persons who still preach -this theology and profess to believe it are only "sitting up with the -corpse." - -While it is asserted that a wrong interpretation of this theology sent -it out of the world, it is pretty evident that a right understanding of -it inspires no wish to have it back. Much of the superstition in morals -sprang from fear of God, which the Christian church has inculcated as -the highest incentive to right doing. - -The truth, broadly and frankly stated, is this: God is no longer the -inspiration of morality. Fear of God does not check the actions of man -today, nor is the attempt to make human and divine interests identical -sufficient to insure obedience to moral laws. The ancient basis of -morals is gone, and another and better one must be found to inspire a -freer life, a fuller life, a better life, and a higher. - -We who have rejected the Christian theology are looked upon as orphans. -But, if I understand the position of freethinkers, the question of a -supreme power is neither affirmed nor denied by those who wish to have -no further business with the God of Orthodoxy. - -We read that, "the fool hath said in his heart there is no God," but -we prefer to say nothing about the matter. Theologies may come, and -theologies may go, but humanity goes on forever, and so we do not deem -it as important to worship the fleeting shadows of the universe which -are cast upon the minds of men as it is to hold fast to those realities -which make human existence a blessing and "a joy forever." - -We are called "infidels" and denounced as "unbelievers" because we -will not march in the ranks of hypocrisy, and dance to the music of -Orthodoxy. We believe no statement which our reason can not approve; we -accept no doctrine which is contrary to commonsense; we have confidence -in human nature; we believe in truth, justice and love; we accept life -as a blessing, and try to make it so; we believe in taking care of -ourselves, in helping others and in being just and kind to all, and we -say to the Christian Church, "If this be Infidelity, make the most of -it." - - * * * * * - -It is suggested by some that if man's exact relation to the Deity -were understood, the whole question of morals would be settled at -once. But would it not be truer to say that if man's exact relation to -his fellowmen were understood and respected, the highest individual -welfare, no less than the general good, would dictate the morality -which the world needs? And is not this the grand task for the human -race, to rightly interpret the effect of human action upon the -individual and the community, and to deduce from human experience the -rules for human conduct? - -I do not know that I owe to God any duty. I do know that I owe a duty -to my neighbor. I plead total indifference to the demands of divine -ethics, but I trust that I am not completely callous to the wants of -my fellow-beings. I owe it to myself to be moral. I owe it to my race, -to every man and woman that I meet in life, to be as honest, as true, -as upright, as my nature will permit. I can comprehend and appreciate -obligations to humanity, but moral indebtedness to the Deity I know -nothing about. - -The Christian morals are founded upon the assumption that the work of -man here is to do something that he may escape punishment hereafter, -and hence the morality of the Christian Church has had little -reference to the concerns of the present life. - -Christian morality is based upon the Christian faith that the human -race is under the curse of God, and that, to evade the penalty -pronounced upon him, man must perform certain duties--these duties -being taught as paramount to all we owe to self, to family, to society, -and to the world. - -But an almost universal disbelief of the Christian dogmas prevails -today, and, consequently, a new morality, with man's welfare for -its supreme object, is fast supplanting the outworn and valueless -performances of Christian duties. - -The moral teaching of the New Testament may be the highest and purest -of its kind of teaching, but it is not the kind which is needed today. -It is a false morality, yea, a dead morality for the most part, which -the Christian Church demands of men. The general conviction is that -no salvation is needed by man, and that all the virtues advertised as -requisite for such safety as the Church is prepared to secure, are -spurious virtues. - -Those actions which advance man along the way of general prosperity, -which make it easier to live and get a living on the earth, which have -their value determined by their respect for human beings, are what the -world needs. - -The generally acknowledged author of Christian morals offers no -salient points for criticism, as he can not be regarded as a historical -person whose career has been carefully followed and marked by the -biographer. He is a mythological man, with a little less of the -fabulous and a little more of the real than attaches to the gods and -goddesses of ancient Greece and Rome. - -The name of Jesus adorns an anatomy of words. It pictures a person, -not of flesh and blood, but of faith and fancy. Jesus is a man of the -imagination; but mythical as he is, certain men and women believe -in him in their own way, and are not over-tolerant of those who are -disposed to ask for the proofs of his life and works. - -This person has left no more marks of his living upon the earth than -have the birds the marks of their flight through the air. The New -Testament is no more history than is Bunyan's _Pilgrim's Progress_. -We can not make any positive assertions in regard to the life and -character of a man when we do not know who was his father, where or -when he was born, with whom he lived, nor when he died. The only -historical fact connected with Jesus which is not disputed is that Mary -was his mother. This is a very important point in his history, but it -is not sufficient to constitute a biography. - -Notwithstanding the fact that the entire narrative of Jesus is without -a single chronological date, and the vastly more significant fact that -not a single incident connected with the career of Jesus is mentioned -in contemporaneous history, we must perforce speak of him as a person -whose life was watched and noted from his miraculous advent to his -miraculous ascension, and look upon his disciples as so many Boswells -ready to mirror to the world his every speech and act. - -We must do this--Why? Because the world will not candidly and -critically study the gospel-story. - -For the present, then, we will speak of Jesus as a man, and accept him -as the author of the moral code in the New Testament. But a word or -two about the man. The Christian world sets him apart as the model of -the race, as the masterpiece of Nature, as the utmost which earth can -produce. Every man must here fetch his word of praise, and every word -be a mountain to meet the demand of the Christian Church for reverence -of Jesus. - - * * * * * - -I do not believe in the infallibility of any man, but I believe in -the improvability of all men. Is man no longer heir to the virtues of -life, that he must erect monuments of praise forever over the name of -Jesus? I shall take the liberty to express my dissent from the common -expressions of admiration for this man. I can not praise everything -which he did, nor can I think that every word he uttered is a star of -wisdom. He said some good things, but much of what he said is good -for nothing. His theology will do for Sunday Schools, but it will not -stand half a dozen questions by commonsense. His Hell is barbarous, -his Heaven childish, and his ideas of humanity show but a superficial -knowledge of human nature. His life can not be imitated with advantage -to the race, and his notions of human existence are wholly inadequate -to the complex, varied civilization of this age. - -Let us see what he did. He paid no filial respect to his parents; he -refused to acknowledge his mother and his brothers; he lived a roving, -wandering life; he paid no heed to the laws of his country; he placed -no value upon industry, and even went so far as to tell men and women -that God would feed and clothe them; he helped himself to the property -and possessions of other people without paying for them, and destroyed -what belonged to others without offering an equivalent; he had no -property, no home, not a place to lay his head; he hated the rulers, -yet sought to establish a kingdom for himself; he failed to reach the -throne he sought, and died upon the malefactor's cross. - -Is this the man for the Twentieth Century to honor? Is this the man for -men to follow in this age? Is this the man whose life all should strive -to imitate? - -The man who took the life of Jesus for a model would hate father and -mother, brother and sister; he would have neither wife nor child; he -would live from place to place; he would be a lawbreaker and an idler; -he would live the life of a wanderer and die the death of a criminal. - -Have I put a false color in this picture which I have painted? Have I -misrepresented the life of Jesus? Read the four Gospels and see. I find -this character sketched in the New Testament, and it is there called -Jesus, and it is this character which we are adjured to imitate if we -would be perfect. - -To the man or woman who declares that the life of Jesus is the way to -salvation, I have only this to say, "Why then do you not imitate it?" - -Now, I wish to ask, "What kind of morals would such a man as we have -sketched naturally teach?" - -You will answer, "The morals he lived." At least, we find such morals -taught in the New Testament. - -My point here is: If the life of Jesus was an honest, faithful exponent -of his moral teachings, then such a morality as he practised is not -wanted today--and that such a morality is not wanted is shown by the -fact that no one practises it. - -I know that it is considered respectable and pious to profess great -admiration for the doctrines taught by Jesus, and the world has paid -them the outward compliment of profession, saying that the moral -code of the New Testament was the despair of man; but it has never -seriously set to work to reduce this code to practise, which proves -that such profession is only a part of the universal accomplishment of -fashionable hypocrisy. - - * * * * * - -Do not understand me as saying that there is no moral precept contained -in the Gospels which is worthy of being practised. I make no such -declaration, and wish no such construction put upon my words. What I -desire to enforce is this: That the morality of Jesus sprang from a -philosophy which has passed away, and therefore, that it is, for the -greater part, obsolete and worthless. That Jesus shared the general -belief of his age that the world was soon to be destroyed, is shown by -his estimate of earthly things; and that a morality founded upon such a -belief should survive and outlast the faith which inspired it reveals -a condition of things that is not flattering to our intellectual -perception or to our moral sense. - -The morals of the New Testament are founded upon a theory of the -universe which is found now only in creeds--those epitaphs of religion. -The most superficial observation is sufficient to enable us to perceive -that theology can no longer be the basis of morality, and that the -authority of the New Testament can not be accepted on this question. - -There is nothing more firmly impressed upon the mind of man than the -fact of the stability of the universe, notwithstanding an occasional -earthquake; and the value of earthly things has a higher moral -significance consequent upon the assurance of material existence. - -Morality must have a physical basis; that is, the moral code which man -can practise to his safety and his honor must not contradict human -nature. The defeat of the New Testament morals is assured by their -antagonism to the nature of man. The morals of Jesus were designed -to fit man for what he called the "Kingdom of Heaven," but the only -morality which is worth the name is that which fits man for living his -life on earth. - -Jesus constantly urged men to the performance of moral duties that they -might be rewarded by their "Father in Heaven." Such a motive for good -behavior is offensive to the rational mind, and moral commandments -which are enforced with a Heaven and a Hell do not spring from an -opinion of human nature which deserves our respect. - -The most comprehensive criticism which one can make upon the morals of -the New Testament is, that they are not practicable. Is the character -of Christians fashioned by the power and influence of the words -which Jesus left in the world? This question should be pressed to an -answer, and honesty would answer it in a way which would shake every -church-building in the land and tear the mask from the face of every -Christian worshiper on the globe. - -Jesus taught that men and women were to love him more than father or -mother, son or daughter. Imagine human beings loving a man whom they -know nothing about, and consequently can care nothing about, and who -has no more claim to their affections than has the ghost in Hamlet, -better than they love parent or child! Such morality as this is not fit -for a Hottentot. - -If any command is implanted in our nature and is a part of the bone -and fiber of our very being, it is to love beyond all else those who -have borne us and cared for us through infancy and childhood, and -those whose existence depends upon us, and to whom we stand pledged -by the holiest ties of our beings, to watch over and protect, to care -for and love, to the last days of our lives. It is love of parent and -child which is alike the supreme obligation and the supreme benefaction -of our humanity. No being has walked this earth who had the moral -right to demand a greater love than is due to father and mother, son -and daughter; and if Jesus claimed such affection, his claim is an -impertinence which we are bound to treat with indignation and scorn. - - * * * * * - -For the Christian Church to make of the words of Jesus commands to the -world is to deserve the severest condemnation. Jesus taught that men -were not to make for themselves a home, not to cultivate those virtues -which blossom into the family, and not to save the fruits of their toil -to make old age with its tottering form and feeble limbs less liable to -the hardships of the world, but he summed up all the duties of life in -these words: "Sell what thou hast and give to the poor, and come follow -me." - -To obey such teaching as this would overturn every monument of -prosperity upon the earth, blight every feeling of happiness that -gladdens the heart of man, and convert the busy, working, loving world -into one vast army of tramps, following a king without a kingdom, a -leader without a purpose, a commander with nothing to give those who -followed his command. - -Jesus taught that we were not to resist evil; that is, that if a thief -stole our watch and chain, we were bound to run after him and give him -our purse also; that if a man took away our coat, we should wrong him -if we did not send him the balance of the suit; that if a man struck -us on one side of the face, we were to invite him to strike us on -the other side also; that if, as it were, the armies of some foreign -powers were to invade our land, and burn and destroy our cities and -towns, pillage our homes and murder our families, we were in duty bound -to look upon them as benefactors and thank them for their work of -destruction, and ask them to come and do it again. - -Such moral teaching as this would make a nation of cowards and slaves. - -It is our duty to punish thieves and robbers, not to reward them; to -resist wrong and injustice, not to submit to them like cravens; to -protect our country from foes, even though we are obliged to shed their -blood and our own in so doing. - -Is there a Christian on the globe who pays the least heed to a single -one of the moral commands of Jesus? You all know there is not. - -I need not tell the Christian Church that the morality taught by Jesus -is decaying when every church is its coffin, and every minister its -grave-digger. - -If you wish to see how much respect for the moral teachings of Jesus -one of his professed followers has, just steal his coat, and if he -gives you his cloak also, as he is commanded to do by his Lord and -Master, please publish his name in the daily papers--for the benefit of -others who wish to get a cloak. - -We find among the express commands of Jesus this advice: "Lay not up -for yourselves treasures upon earth." The most liberal translation of -this counsel can not make it anything but poor advice. Every material -blessing of mankind has come from the savings of human labor, and the -value of laying up treasures upon earth is more evident than that of -laying up treasures in Heaven, whatever this saying may mean. When -every Christian tries as hard to be poor as he tries now to get rich, -we shall think that he has some regard for the moral teachings of Jesus. - - * * * * * - -It must be apparent to all that what may be claimed as Christian -morality is not only decaying, but that it ought to decay. There is -no sense in it. Imagine a man telling people in the Twentieth Century -to "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," and endeavoring -to prove that because the fowls of the air do not have to broil a -beefsteak for their breakfast or make biscuit for tea, human beings -will be fed whether they provide anything for their appetites or not. - -Jesus tells us that our Heavenly Father will feed us because we are -better than the fowls of the air, and that he will clothe us because he -clothes the grass of the field. Our earthly fathers seem to have done -more in the way of providing food and clothing for us before we were -able to take care of ourselves than any Heavenly Father. Others may put -their trust in God for something to eat and drink and wear, if they -wish to, but I prefer to give the matter a little thought myself. - -Jesus concludes these admonitions by saying, "Take no thought for the -morrow." This is bad counsel, and it shows the good sense of mankind -that it has never been followed. The whole world lives in what one of -our poets called, "The bright tomorrow of the mind." - -We will refer to only one more of the peculiar moral injunctions of -Jesus. In the fifth chapter of Matthew, in the forty-fourth verse, -we read, "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." - -If we were to do as herein commanded, we should have an inverted -morality which would place the crown of virtue upon the forehead of -vice. - -Let us see if the preacher of this doctrine practised it. - -Did Jesus bless the Scribes and Pharisees when they refused to -acknowledge his claim to be the Messiah? This is the blessing which he -pronounced upon them: "Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, -for ye devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers; -therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation." "Ye serpents, ye -generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of Hell?" That is -not a very sweet blessing! - -And these men did not curse Jesus. They only did not agree with his -opinions. Jesus, also, in his wrath against his enemies, calls them, -in the seventeenth and nineteenth verses of the twenty-third chapter -of Matthew, "Ye fools and blind," forgetting, doubtless, that he had -previously declared, when preaching on the Mount, "Whosoever shall say, -'Thou Fool,' shall be in danger of hell-fire." - -The moral teachings of Jesus were inspired by a false estimate of all -earthly things. There is no doubt that Jesus believed the world was -coming to an end in his generation. How to get into the Kingdom of -Heaven was of more consequence than how to reform mankind, or improve -the world, since the end of earthly things was near at hand. This -appears to have been the thought of Jesus, and explains much of his -language. - -But today we do not believe that the earth has run its course, and -that the end of all material things is near at hand. We are living -without fear of failure on the part of the universe, and are giving our -attention more to human wants than to divine commands. - -_Not fear of offending God, but fear of wronging man, is the highest -basis of morals._ We have reached a time when apologies are not -respected, when repentance is looked upon as the mask of villainy, -when the stature of life is most shorn of manliness by prancing in -the garb of humility, when a brave facing of life's trials and demands -counts for more than cowardly surrender in the name of God. In fact, -we have come to say to the world of humanity, "Be moral, and you need -not be religious." Work for man is coming to be a sufficient excuse for -neglect of God. - - * * * * * - -But we want no cheap moral duties held up for man to perform. It is -serious business to live this life of ours and live it well, and it -is hard work to do it. Morality sets us as high a task as we are able -to perform, and a higher task than has yet been performed by most of -mankind. The effort of this age is to expose the sham of what is called -holiness, and make sacred the surroundings of human beings. We must -throw off the past, and stand upon that sunlit height where we can feel -that "somehow life is bigger after all than any painted angel, could we -see the man that is within us." - -This is the moral duty of the world: to respect the man that is within -us. We ought to rear on the earth a range of moral Alps that would -stand and command the admiration of the world as long as eye could see -and heart could feel. We need a rational hope and a burning purpose in -this century, something noble to live for and the courage of nobility -to work and win it. - -The improvement of the world is the only object of life worthy of man. -Do and say nothing that will not improve mankind. Were this simple -admonition heeded, we should have the key to the kingdom of the only -heaven that man needs in our own pocket. - -It is time for the reign of commonsense to begin on earth; time for -men to elevate morality above religion; and time for us to say, -"Millions for the world, not a cent for the Church." The battle between -Freedom and Christianity has begun, and I believe that when it ends -Christianity will be buried beneath the ruins of its own dogmas, there -to remain forever. It possesses no spirit that can rise again from its -ashes and mount on wings of flame to a higher life. When superstition -dies, it dies to the root. - -The Christian minister can not arrest the march of liberty by crying, -"Infidelity!" and threatening with everlasting cremation all those who -refuse to heed his words. - -But let there be no base understanding of freedom. The new John the -Baptist must not be a cowboy, saying, "The kingdom of highwaymen is at -hand." As a person when in perfect bodily health knows not from any -intimation from the respective parts that he has a stomach, a brain, -or a heart, so a person when living in perfect freedom is unconscious -of law, of creed, of custom. The healthy man physically is the free -man physically; the healthy man mentally is the free man mentally; the -healthy man morally is the free man morally; liberty of the individual -is health of the individual, and a free man means a man who is true and -obedient to all natural laws. - - * * * * * - -There is a misunderstanding of freedom upon the one side, and a -misrepresentation of it upon the other, that make it hazardous for one -to employ the word. To connect this word with morality in the eyes of -many is to confound the Madonna with Mary Magdalene. It is to start the -ghost of Don Juan. - -The conservatism of society has ever regarded liberty as the black flag -of the moral marauder, the emblem of a piratical intention upon the -casket of the world that contains the jewels of honor, justice, virtue -and social order. - -So persistently and malignantly has freedom been represented as a -wrecker's light, kindled only to lure to destruction, that to represent -it as worthy to be trusted is to arouse the spirit which pursued -Voltaire to his grave with a lie, erected a shaft of calumny over the -tomb of Paine, and which now, with the coward's weapon of slander, -attacks the living who refuse to acknowledge that the voice of the -Church is the voice of God. - -But nevertheless we believe with Burns that: - - Upo' this tree there grows sic fruit, - Its virtues a' can tell, man; - It raises man aboon the brute, - It maks him ken himsel', man; - Gif ance the peasant taste a bite, - He's greater than a lord, man, - And ni' the beggar shares a mite - Of a' he can afford, man. - -And so we exclaim in the words of one of our own true poets: - - Always in thine eyes, O Liberty! - Shines that high light whereby the world is saved, - And though thou slay us, we will trust in thee. - -You have all heard of the man who refused to open his eyes for a year, -and who declared that during that time nothing could be seen on account -of the darkness. But the endeavor to perpetuate old errors by keeping -the eyes closed to the facts of science, the truths of philosophy, and -the progress of the human race, has not been crowned with success. -The further attempt to convert the world to what James Parton calls a -"kitchen religion" is merely waste of power. - -The preaching of Christianity is making "much ado about nothing." What -we want is manhood and womanhood. - -It is said by the Church that the man who lives for his family and -brings all that he can win of what is fair and bright and glad to those -he loves, may be a good man, but he is not a Christian, and therefore -has no religion. - -Give me then the man who is not a Christian, and who has no religion, -for if the man who loves his wife and children, who gives to them the -strength of his arm, the thought of his brain, the warmth of his heart, -has not religion, the world is better off without it, for these are the -highest and holiest things which man can do. - -[Illustration] - - - - - There is only one thing worth praying for: to be in the line of - evolution.--_Elbert Hubbard._ - - Jesus as Savior of the world is a theological creation, and not a - historical character. - - - - - SO HERE THEN ENDETH THAT GREAT AND GOOD BOOK "I DON'T KNOW--DO - YOU?" WRITTEN BY MARILLA M. RICKER, AND PRINTED AND BOUND FOR HER - BY THE ROYCROFTERS AT THEIR SHOP, WHICH IS IN EAST AURORA, ERIE - COUNTY AND STATE OF NEW YORK, MCMXVI. - - - - -THOMAS PAINE - - - Born Jan 29, 1737. - - Friend and adviser of Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Monroe, - etc., etc. - - Author of _Common Sense_, _The Crisis_, _Rights of Man_, and _The - Age of Reason_; - - Editor of _Pennsylvania Magazine_; - - Enlisted in Continental Army; appointed Aide-de-Camp to General - Nathaniel Greene; - - Secretary of Committee on Foreign Affairs, Congress and - Pennsylvania Assembly; - - By his writings did more for the American cause in the Revolution - than any other one person; - - First proposed American Independence; - - First suggested the Federal Union of States; - - First proposed the abolition of Negro slavery; - - First suggested protection for dumb animals; - - First proposed arbitration and international peace; - - First suggested justice to women; - - First pointed out the reality of human brotherhood; - - First pointed out the folly of hereditary succession and - monarchical government; - - First proposed old-age pensions; - - First suggested international copyright; - - First proposed the education of the children of the poor at public - expense; - - First suggested a great republic of all the nations of the world; - - First proposed "the land for the people"; - - First suggested "the religion of humanity"; - - First proposed and first wrote the words, "United States of - America"; - - Founder of the first Ethical Society; - - Proposed the purchase of the Louisiana Territory; - - Inventor of the iron bridge, the hollow candle--principle of the - modern central-draft burner, etc., etc. - - Died June 9, 1809. - - -=_This is history. But this great and good man was called "a filthy -little atheist" by a hyphenated Dutch-American._= - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK I DON'T KNOW, DO YOU? *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. 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