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PUBLISHED BY THOMAS SCOTT,
II THE
TERRACE, FARQUHAR ROAD,
UPPER NORWOOD,
LONDON, S.E.
A FAREWELL ADDRESS.
T is now more than fifteen years since I began the
work, which,—so far as regards the periodical
issue of my publications,—I must now relinquish, in
consequence of continued ill-health and increasing
bodily infirmity.
The spectacle of millions of my fellow-countrymen,
bound hand and foot by metaphysical and priestly
exclusiveness, made so painful an impression upon my
mind that I felt irresistibly impelled to expose dog
matic assumptions and promote free theological in
quiry as the undoubted right of all thoughtful minds.
I
�2
Without under-estimating the formidable difficulties
which clerical prejudice and bigotry might be expected
to interpose in the way of such an enterprise, I
entered upon it single-handed and entirely on my
own responsibility; resolved in a courteous but un
compromising spirit to do my utmost to bring all my
forces to bear upon the errors and superstitions so
degrading to man’s highest nature, and to follow
truth, and truth only, wheresoever it might lead me.
In reviewing the past I contemplate with extreme
satisfaction the remarkable strides which Free
Thought has made in all orthodox sects; but espe
cially in the Church of England. The present agita
tion among a considerable section of the clergy in
favour of Ritualism, which at first sight might be
regarded as a retrograde movement, I look upon as
necessarily transient, and having no influence upon
the highest intellect within the Church. It is but the
last convulsive effort of priestcraft to keep hold of
the mind of the country, which is fast growing dis
satisfied with the arid pastures of ecclesiasticism, and
repairing to the spacious and fertile meadows of
reason and science.
Even at the period when my labours commenced,
intelligent persons interested in the relation of ortho
doxy to the age could not fail to observe that the
artillery of Science and advanced Biblical scholarship
had already been directed against Church dogmas.
Secret doubts and difficulties respecting the doc
trines of Biblical inspiration, the atonement, and
supernaturalism, here and there disquieted both lay
�3
and clerical minds ; but the war was, for the most
part, limited to learned critics in the hostile camps.
The conviction was forced upon me that a series of
pamphlets discussing the vexed questions in a search
ing yet reverent manner would be welcomed by large
numbers of thoughtful inquirers, and stimulate those
who might be desirous of obtaining satisfaction to
the free and independent scrutiny of theories errone
ously held by the churches to be founded on the
“Word of God.”
My first efforts met with a much wider and more
cordial reception than in my highest expectations I
had reason to anticipate.
On the first appearance of my publications, expres
sions of sympathy with my design and offers of co
operation in the work reached me from what seemed
to be the most unlikely quarters, and, for a consider
able period afterwards, able and highly-educated
clergymen forwarded me manuscripts for publication,
containing attacks on the false bulwarks of ecclesiasticism, and expositions of absolute moral verities.
Cultivated and earnest laymen, capable of dealing
with the points at issue, also came forward volun
tarily and contributed useful papers to the series.
While the movement has been under my direction,
essays on every branch of theology have been issued,
illustrating the unhistorical character of many Bible
records, the gradual development of beliefs and cere
monies from Solar and Phallic worship to Christianity,
the Priestly Origin of creeds, and the true inductive
method of investigation. But while destructive criti-
�4
cism has been freely employed against the mythical
element in the Old and New Testament, and the
legendary traditions of the Church, which have been
put forward by the orthodox as facts, there has been
in many of the pamphlets a due recognition of Natu
ral Law and essential Morality as the only solid and
sufficient principles for the government of human
conduct.
It is one of the most striking evidences of the wide
spread scepticism throughout Protestant Christendom
respecting the foundations of religious faith, that
many thousands of persons in all classes of society,
—and in all parts of the world,—lay and clerical,
have applied to me for my pamphlets, notwithstanding
that I have never made use of any other medium of
advertising them than their own contents.
The work in which I have been engaged has brought
me into very extensive correspondence and personal
intimacy with officials and adherents of various
churches, and afforded me special opportunities for
studying current ecclesiastical and theological move
ments, and I am forcibly, impressed with the belief
that there are influences at work which are destined,
sooner or later, to cause the disintegration of all
existing systems of religion that are based on mere
traditional authority, and to emancipate the human
mind from the thraldom of priestcraft in every form.
Experience and observation combine to convince me
that the tendencies of the age point to the ultimate
substitution of the authority of reason for that of
alleged book revelation.
�5
The persuasion gains ground everywhere that
the only true orthodoxy is loyalty to reason, and
the only infidelity which merits censure is dis
loyalty to reason. The exaltation of blind and un
thinking sentiment above calm and clear judgment
constitutes the real offence which the orthodox have
unwittingly branded as the “ sin against the Holy
Ghost.”
. It is no little gratification to me to note how
many clergymen and ministers, now liberated from
the bondage of creeds and detached from the
worse than useless occupation of teaching dogmas,
received their first impulse to free inquiry from the
perusal of my publications. Recent charges delivered
by Archbishops and Bishops unmistakably convey the
impression that they are beginning to tremble for
the Ark of Orthodoxy. The most observant digni
taries of the Church openly confess that it is not
Ritualism so much as Rationalism which they fear.
Nor is their alarm groundless, for the rapid diffusion
of the light of science and criticism will eventually
disclose the hollowness of the pretensions on which
are based the claims of the Christian Scriptures to
the attributes of authenticity, genuineness, and mira
culous inspiration. No leader of theological opinion
affects to deny that the work which, at my own risk,
I have carried on, has been an appreciable factor in
the general movement of Free Thought within the
Church and Nonconformist bodies.
The seed which has been sown, must, in the nature
of things, remain for a time, in some instances, appa
�6
rently unproductive. There is a rapidly increasing
number of Liberal thinkers who continue to occupy
pulpits, and many more who frequent places of wor
ship, that can hardly be expected to sever suddenly
their connexion with their ecclesiastical associations.
There are preachers convinced of the false position
they hold who, from regard to social standing or from
the imperious necessity of earning a living for their
families, persist in doing violence to their intellectual
and moral nature by reiterating creeds and enforc
ing dogmas which they have inwardly renounced.
There are Liberal thinkers in every sphere of
life who keep up a questionable semblance of
evangelical devotion from fear of the social “Mrs.
Grundy,” and in order to avoid injuring the
prospects of their sons and daughters in the walks
of fashion. But over all such untoward agencies the
cause of Freedom of Thought and Freedom of Expres
sion will certainly triumph ; and every anathema of
priests and denunciation by bigots will but tend to
accelerate its progress.
My work has absorbed most of my time and thought
and a considerable portion of my private means from
the outset. At the same time it has been to myself,
as well as to Mrs. Scott, who has throughout ren
dered me unremitted assistance, a source of unspeak
able pleasure. But the work is now done as far as
I am concerned, and has already been followed by
results far surpassing any expectations I may have
ventured to entertain when I began it. I can only
trust that genuine sympathy with the object for
�7
which I have laboured may incite others to redoubled
zeal in the same cause; for many a blow will still have
to be levelled at the fortress of superstition ere it be
finally razed to the ground. To those who have aided
me with able pen and liberal purse I tender my most
hearty and grateful thanks. For the unfailing cour
tesy and assistance ever rendered me in my work by
my printers my sincere acknowledgments are justly
due. It is with the deepest regret that I feel myself
compelled, most reluctantly, to bid my readers
farewell.
While life remains, however, I shall cherish a
watchful interest in the movement which I have
done my best to promote. Nor can I doubt that those
who have derived mental benefit from my labours
will do their utmost to guide others, who are seek
ing the light, towards that simple code of religion
and morals which is comprehended in being good and
doing good, not in hope of reward, not from fear of
punishment, but because it is good.
THOMAS SCOTT.
11 The Terrace, Farquhar Road,
Upper Norwood, London, S.E.,
March, 1877.
C. W. REYNELL, PRINTER, LITTLE PULTENEY STREET, HAYMARKET, W.
�
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Victorian Blogging
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Title
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A farewell address
Creator
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Scott, Thomas [1808-1878.]
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 7 p. ; 18 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Printed by C.W. Reynell, Little Pulteney Street, London. "It is now more than fifteen years since I began the work, - so far as regards the periodical issue of my periodicals.- I must now relinquish ... increasing bodily infirmity'. [Opening paragraph]. A reference possibly to Signs of the Times. Signed and dated March 1877.
Publisher
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Thomas Scott
Date
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[1877]
Identifier
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G5460
Subject
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Free thought
Publications
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (A farewell address), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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application/pdf
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Text
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English
Conway Tracts
Free Thought
Press
Thomas Scott
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256aa3d87a5b48d42296a9b93cf25b34
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Text
ORATI O N
NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY
ON
THOMAS PAINE.
COLONEL ROBERT G. INGERSOLL.
LONDON:
FREETHOUGHT PUBLISHING COMPANY,
28, Stonecutter Street, E.C.
PRICE FOURPENCE.
�LONDON :
PRINTED BY CHARLES BRADLAUGH AND ANNIE BESANT,
28, STONECUTTER STREET, E.C.
�b'L l S &
ORATION ON THOMAS PAINE.
i
>
To speak the praises of the brave and thoughtful dead is to
me a labour of gratitude and love.
Through all the centuries gone, the mind of man has
been beleaguered by the mailed hosts of superstition.
Slowly and painfully has advanced the army of deliver
ance. Hated by those they wished to rescue, despised by
those they were dying to save, these grand soldiers, these
immortal deliverers, have fought without thanks, laboured
without applause, suffered without pity, and they have died
execrated and abhorred, h or the good of mankind they
accepted isolation, poverty, and calumny. They gave up
all, sacrificed all, lost all but truth and self-respect.
One of the bravest soldiers in this army was Thomas
Paine; and for one, I feel indebted to him for the liberty
we are enjoying this day. Born among the poor, where
children are burdens ; in a country where real liberty was
unknown ; where the privileges of class were guarded with
infinite jealousy, and the rights of the individual trampled
beneath the feet of .priests and nobles; where to advocate
justice was treason; where intellectual freedom was infi
delity, it is wonderful that the idea of true liberty ever
entered his brain.
- Poverty was his mother—necessity his master.
He had more brains than books; more sense than education ; more courage than politeness ; more strength than
polish. He had no veneration for old mistakes—no admi
ration for ancient lies. He loved the truth for the truth’s
sake, and for man’s sake. He saw oppression on every
hand ; injustice everywhere—hypocrisy at the altar, venality
. On the bench, tyranny on the throne ; and with a splendid
courage he espoused the cause of the weak against the
strong—-of the enslaved many against the titled few.
In England he was nothing. He belonged to' the lower
classes. There was no avenue open for him. The people
�4
ORATION ON THOMAS PAINE.
hugged their chains, and the whole power of the Govern
ment was ready to crush any man who endeavoured to
Strike a blow for the right.
At the age of thirty-seven, Thomas Paine left England for
America with the high hope of being instrumental in the
establishment of a free Government. In his own country
he could accomplish nothing. Those two vultures—Church
and State—were ready to tear in pieces and devour the heart
of anyone who might deny their divine right to enslave the
world.
Upon his arrival in this country, he found himself pos
sessed of a letter of introduction, signed by another infidel,
the illustrious Franklin. This, and his native genius, con
stituted his entire capital; and he needed no more. He
found the colonies clamouring for justice ; whining about
their grievances; upon their knees at the foot of the throne,
imploring that mixture of idiocy and insanity, George III.
by the grace of God, for a restoration of their ancient
privileges. They were not endeavouring to become free
men, but were trying to soften the heart of their master.
They were perfectly willing to make brick if Pharaoh would
furnish the straw. The colonists wished for, hoped for,
and prayed for reconciliation. They did not dream of
independence.
Paine gave to the world his “ Common Sense.” It was
the first argument for separation, the first assault upon the
British form of government, the first blow for a republic,
and it aroused our fathers like a trumpet’s blast.
He was the first to perceive the destiny of the New
World.
■No other pamphlet ever accomplished such wonderful
results. It was filled with argument, reason, persuasion,
and unanswerable logic. It opened a new world. It filled
the present with hope, and the future with honour. Every
where the people responded, and in a few months the Con
tinental Congress declared the colonies free and independent
States.
A new nation was born.
It is simple justice to say that Paine did more to cause
the Declaration of Independence than any other man.
Neither should it be forgotten that his attacks upon
Great Britain were also attacks upon monarchy; and while
he convinced the people that the colonies ought to
separate from the mother country, he also proved to the^
�ORATION ON THOMAS PAINE.
'
.5
that a free government is the best that can be instituted
among men.
In my judgment, Thomas Paine was the best political
writer that ever lived. “ What he wrote was pure nature?
and his soul and his pen ever went together.” Ceremony^
pageantry, and all the paraphernalia of power had no
effect upon him. He examined into the why and where
fore of things. He was perfectly radical in his mode of
thought. Nothing short of the bed-rock satisfied him.
His enthusiasm for what he believed to be right knew no
bounds. During all the dark scenes of the Revolution,
never for one moment did he despair. Year after year his
brave words were ringing through the land, and by the
bivouac fires the weary soldiers read the inspiring words of
“ Common Sense,” filled with ideas sharper than their
swords, and consecrated themselves anew to the cause of
freedom.
Paine was not content with having aroused the spirit of
independence, but he gave every energy of his soul to keep
that spirit alive. He was with the army. He shared its
defeats, its dangers, and its glory. When the situation
became desperate, when gloom settled upon all, he gave
them the “ Crisis.” It was a cloud by day and a pillar of
fire by night, leading the way to freedom, honour, and glory.
He shouted to them, “ These are the times that try men’s
souls. The summer soldier, and the sunshine patriot, will,
in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country ; but
he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man
and woman.”
To those who wished to put the war off to some future
day, with a lofty and touching spirit of self-sacrifice he
said: “ Every generous parent should say, ‘ If there must
be war, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.’ ”
To the cry that Americans were rebels, he replied : “ He
that rebels against reason is a real rebel; but he that, in
defence of reason, rebels against tyranny, has a better
title to ‘ Defender of the Faith ’ than George the Third.”
Some said it was not to the interest of the colonies to be
free. Paine answered this by saying : “ To know whether it
be the interest of the Continent to be independent, we need
ask only this simple, easy question, ‘ Is it the interest of a
man to be a boy all his life ? ’ ” He found many who would
listen to nothing, and to them he said, “ That to argue with
a gran who has renounced his reason is like giving medi-
�C-RATION ON THOMÄS'' PAINE:
cine to the dead.” This sentiment ought to adorn the
walls of every orthodox church.
There is a world of political wisdom in this : “ England
lost her liberty in a long chain of right reasoning from
wrong principles
and there is real discrimination in
saying, “The Greeks and Romans were strongly possessed
of the spirit of liberty, but not the principles, for at
the time that they were determined not to be slaves them
selves, they employed their power to enslave the rest of
mankind.”
In his letter to the British people, in which he tried to
convince them that war was not to their interest, occurs the
following passage brimful of common sense : “War never
can be the interest of a trading nation any more than
quarrelling can be profitable to a man in business. But to
make war with those who trade with us, is like setting a
bull-dog upon a customer at the shop door.”
The writings of Paine fairly glitter with simple, compact,
logical statements, that carry conviction to the dullest and
most prejudiced. He had the happiest possible way of
putting the case ; in asking questions in such a way that
they answer themselves, and in stating his premises so
clearly that the deduction could not be avoided.
Day and night he laboured for America ; month after
month, year after year, he gave himself to the great cause,
until there was “ a government of the people and for the
people,” and until the banner of the stars floated over a
continent redeemed and consecrated to the happiness of
mankind.
At thé close of the Revolution, no one stood higher in
America than Thomas Paine. The best, the wisest, the
most patriotic were his friends and admirers j and had he
been thinking only of his own good, he might have rested
from his toils and spent the remainder of his life in comfort
and in ease. He could have been what the world is pleased
to call “ respectable.” He could have died surrounded by
clergymen, warriors, and statesmen. At his death there
would have been an imposing funeral, miles of carriages,
civic societies, salvos of artillery, a nation in mourning, and,
above all, a splendid monument covered with lies.
He chose rather to benefit mankind.
At that time the seeds sown by the great Infidels were
beginning to bear fruit in France. The people were begin
ning to think.
�ORATION ON THOMAS PAINE.
7
The Eighteenth Century was crowning its gray hairs with
the wreath of progress.
On every hand Science was bearing testimony against the
Church. Voltaire had .filled Europe with light ; D’Holbach
was giving to the ZZz'A of Paris the principles contained in
his i: System of Nature.” The Encyclopaedists had attacked
•superstition with information for the masses. The founda
tion of things began to be examined. A few had the
courage to keep their shoes on and let the bush burn.
Miracles began to get scarce. Everywhere the people
began to inquire. America had set an example to the
world. The word liberty began to be in the mouths of
men, and they began to wipe the dust from their knees.
The dawn of a new day had appeared.
Thomas Paine went to France. Into the new movement
he threw all his energies. His fame had gone before him,
and he was welcomed as a friend of the human race, and as
a champion of free government.
He had never relinquished ’ his intention of pointing out
to his countrymen the defects, absurdities, and abuses of
the English Government. For this purpose he composed
and published his greatest political work, “ The Rights ef
Man.” This work should be read by every man and
woman. It is concise, accurate, natural, convincing, and
unanswerable. It shows great thought, an intimate know
ledge of the various forms of government, deep insight into
the very springs of human action, and a courage that com
pels respect and admiration. The most difficult political
problems are solved in a few sentences. The venerable
arguments in favour of wrong are refuted with a question—
answered with a word. For forcible illustration, apt com
parison, accuracy and clearness of statement, and absolute
thoroughness, it has never been excelled.
The fears of the administration were ' aroused, and Paine
was prosecuted for libel and found guilty ; and yet there is
not a sentiment in the entire work that will not challenge
the admiration of every civilized man. It is a magazine of
political wisdom, an arsenal of ideas, and an honour, not
only to Thomas Paine, but to human nature itself. It
could have been written only by the man who had the
generosity, the exalted patriotism, the goodness to say,
“ The world is my country, and to do good my religion.”
There is in all the utterances of the world no grander, no
sublimer sentiment. There is no creed that can be com
�8
ORATION ON THOMAS PAINE.
pared with it for a moment It should be wrought in gold,
adorned with jewels, and impressed upon every human
heart—“ The world is my country, and to do good my reli
gion-”
In 1792 Paine was elected by the department of Calais
as their representative in the National Assembly. So great
was his popularity in France that he was selected about
the same time by the people of no less than four depart
ments.
Upon taking his place in the Assembly he was appointed
as one of a committee to draft a constitution for France.
Had the French people taken the advice of Thomas Paine,
there would have been no “ Reign of Terror.” The streets
of Paris would not have been filled with blood. The Revolu
tion would have been the grandest success of the world.
The truth is, that Paine was too conservative to suit the
leaders of the French Revolution. They, to a great extent,
were carried away by hatred, and a desire to destroy. They
had suffered so long, they had borne so much, that it was
impossible for them to be moderate in the hour of victory.
Besides all this, the French people had been so robbed by
the Government, so degraded by the Church, that they were
not fit material with which to construct a Republic. Many
of the leaders longed to establish a beneficent and just
government, but the people asked for revenge.
Paine was filled with a real love for mankind. His phi
lanthropy was boundless. He wished to destroy monarchy
—not the monarch. He voted for the destruction of
tyranny, and against the death of the king. He wished toestablish a government on a new basis; one that would for
get the past; one that would give privileges to none, and
protection to all.
In the Assembly, where nearly all were demanding the
execution of the king—where to differ from the majority was
to be suspected, and where to be suspected was almost cer
tain death—Thomas Paine had the courage, the goodness,
and the justice to vote against death. To vote against the
execution of the king was a vote against his own life. This
was the sublimity of devotion to principle. For this he was
arrested, imprisoned, and doomed to death.
Search the records of the world, and you will find but few
sublimer acts than that of Thomas Paine voting against the
king’s death. He, the hater of despotism, the abhorrer of
monarchy, the champion of the rights of mao, the republi
�ORATION ON THOMAS PAINE.
9
can, accepting death to save the. life of a deposed tyrant—
of a throneless king. This was the last grand act of his
political life—the sublime conclusion of his political career.
All his life he had been the disinterested friend of man.
He had laboured—not for money, not for fame, but for the
general good. He had aspired to no office; had asked no
recognition of his services, but had ever been content to
labour as a common soldier in the army of progress. Con
fining his efforts to no country, looking upon the world as
his field of action, filled with a genuine love for the right,
he found himself imprisoned by the very people he had
striven to save.
Had his enemies succeeded in bringing him to the block,
he would have escaped the calumnies and the hatred of the
Christian world. In this country, at least, he would have
ranked with the proudest names. On the anniversary of the
Declaration his name would have been upon the lips of all
the orators, and his memory in the hearts of all of the
people.
Thomas Paine had not finished his career.
He had spent his life thus far in destroying the power of
kings, and now he turned his attention to the priests. He
knew that every abuse had been embalmed in Scripture—
that every outrage was in partnership with some holy text
He knew that the throne skulked behind the altar, and both
behind a pretended revelation from God. By this time he
had found that it was of little use to free the body and leave
the mind in chains. He had explored the foundations of
despotism, and had found them infinitely 'rotten. He had
dug under the throne, and it occurred to him that he would
take a look behind the altar.
The result of his investigations was given to the world in
the “ Age of Reason.” From the moment of its publication
he became infamous. He was calumniated beyond measure.
To slander him was to secure the thanks of the Church. AU
his services were instantly forgotten, disparaged, or denied.
He was shunned has tough he had been a pestilence. Most
of his old friends forsook him. He was regarded as a moral
plague, and at the bare mention of his name the bloody
hands of the Church were raised in horror. He was de
nounced as the most despicable of men.
Not content with following him to the grave, they pur
sued him with redoubled fury, and recounted with infinite
Jgusto and satisfaction the supposed horrors of his death
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ORATION ON THOMAS PAINE.
bed; gloried in the feet that he was forlorn and friendless,
and gloated like fiends over what they supposed to be the
agonising remorse of his lonely death.
It is wonderful that all his services were thus forgotten.
It is amazing that one kind word did not fall from some
pulpit ; that some one did not accord to him, at least—■
honesty. Strange that in the general _ denunciation some
one did not remember his labour for liberty, his devotion
to principle, his zeal for the rights of his fellow-men. He
had by brave and splendid effort, associated his name with
the cause of progress. He had made it impossible to write
the history of political freedom with his name left out. He
was one of the creators of light ; one of the heralds of the
dawn. He hated tyranny in the name of kings, and in the
name of God, with every drop of his noble blood. He be
lieved in liberty and justice, and in the sacred doctrine of
human equality. Under these divine banners he fought the
battle of his life. In both worlds he offered his, blood for
the good of man. In the wilderness of America, in the
French Assembly, in the sombre cell waiting for death, he
was the same unflinching, unwavering friend of his race,
the same undaunted champion of universal freedom.. And
for this he has been hated ; for this the Church has violated
even his grave.
,
This is enough to make one believe that nothing is more
natural than for men to devour their benefactors The
people in all ages have crucified and glorified. Whoever
lifts his voice against abuses, whoever arraigns the past at
the bar of the present, whoever asks the king to show his
. commission, or questions the authority of the priest, wi be
denounced as the enemy of man and God. . In all ages
reason has been regarded as the enemy of religion. Nothing
has been considered so pleasing to the Deity as a total
denial of the authority of your own mind. Self-reliance has
been thought a deadly sin ; and the idea of living and dying
without the aid and consolation of superstition has always
horrified the Church. By some unaccountable infatuation
FaIW has been and still is, considered of immense import
ance All religions have been based upon the idea that God
wm for ever reward the true believer, and eternally damn the
who doubts or denies. Belief is regarded as the one
esæntial thing. To practise justice, to love mercy, is not
enough You must believe in some incomprehensible creed.
You must say, “Once one is three, and three times one i
�ORATION ON THOMAS PAINE.
II
one.” The man who practised every virtue, but failed to
believe, was execrated. Nothing so outrages the feelings of
the Church as a moral unbeliever—nothing so horrible as a
charitable Atheist.
When Paine was born, the world was religious. The
pulpit was the real throne, and the churches were making
every effort to crush out of the brain the idea that it had
the right to think.
The splendid saying of Lord Bacon, that “the inquiry of
truth, which is the love-making or wooing of it, the know
ledge of truth, which is the presence of it, and the belief
of truth, which is the enjoying of it, are the sovereign
good of human nature,” has been, and ever will be, rejected
by religionists. Intellectual liberty, as a matter of neces
sity, for ever destroys the idea that belief is either praise or
blameworthy, and is wholly inconsistent with every creed in
Christendom. Paine recognised this truth. He also, saw that
as long as. the Bible was considered inspired this infamous
doctrine of the virtue of belief would be believed and
preached. He examined the Scriptures for himself, and
found them filled with cruelty, absurdity, and immorality.
He again made up his mind to sacrifice himself for the
.good of his fellow-men.
He commenced with the assertion, “ That any system of
religion that has anything in it that shocks the mind of a
child cannot be a true system.” What a beautiful, what a
tender sentiment! No wonder that the Church began to
hate him. He believed in one God, and no more. After
this life he hoped for happiness. He believed that true re
ligion consisted in doing justice, loving mercy, in endea
vouring to make our fellow-creatures happy, and in offering
to God the fruit of the heart. He denied the inspiration of
the Scriptures. This was his crime.
He contended that it is a contradiction in terms to call
anything a revelation that comes to us at second-hand,
either verbally or in writing. He asserted that revelation is'
’ necessarily limited to the first communication, and that after
that it is only an account of something which another person
says was a revelation to him. We have only his word for it,
as it was never made to us. This argument never has been,
and probably never will be answered. He denied the divine
origin of Christ, and showed conclusively that the pretended
prophecies of the Old Testament had no reference to him
whatever; and yet he believed that Christ was a virtuous and
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ORATION ON THOMAS PAINE,
amiable mail: that the morality he taught and practised was
of the most benevolent and elevated character, and that it
had not been exceeded by any. Upon this point hd. entergained the same sentiments now held by the Unitarians, and
in fact by the most enlightened Christians.
In his time the Church believed and taught that every
word in the Bible was absolutely true. Since his day it has
been proven false in its cosmogony, false in its astronomy,
false in its chronology, false in its history, and, so far as the
Old Testament is concerned, false in almost everything.
There are but few if any scientific men who apprehend that
the Bible is literally true. Who on earth at this day would
pretend to settle any scientific question by a text from the
Bible ? The old belief is confined to the ignorant and
zealous. The Church itself will before long be driven to
occupy the position of Thomas Paine. The best minds of
the orthodox world, to-day, are endeavouring to prove the
existence of a personal Deity. All other questions occupy a
minor place. You are no longer asked to swallow the Bible
whole, whale, Jonah and all. You are simply required to
believe in God and pay your pew-rent. There is not now an
enlightened minister in the world who will seriously contend
that Samson’s strength was in his hair, nor that the necro
mancers of Egypt could turn water into blood, and pieces of
wood into serpents. These follies have passed away, and the
only reason that the religious world can now have for dis
liking Paine is that they have been forced to adopt so many
of his opinions.
Paine thought the barbarities of the Old Testament incon
sistent with what he deemed the real character of God.
He believed that murder, massacre, and indiscriminate
slaughter had never been commanded by the Deity. He re
garded much of the Bible as childish, unimportant, and
foolish. The scientific world entertains the same opinion.
Paine attacked the Bible precisely in the same spirit in which
he had attacked the pretensions of kings. He used the same
weapons. All the pomp in the world could not make him
cower. His reason knew no “ holy of holies,” except the
abode of truth. The sciences were then in their infancy.
The attention of the really learned had not been directed to
an impartial examination of our pretended revelation. It
was accepted by most as a matter of course. The Church
was all-powerful; and no one, unless thoroughly imbued with
the spirit of self-sacrifice, thought for a moment of disputing
�ORATION ON THOMAS PAINE.
I
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the fundamental doctrines of Christianity. The infamous
doctrine that salvation depends upon belief—upon a mere
intellectual conviction—was then believed and preached»
To doubt was to secure the damnation of your soul. This
absurd and devilish doctrine shocked the common sense of
Thomas Paine, and he denounced it with the fervour of
honest indignation. This doctrine, although infinitely ridicu-*
lous, has been nearly universal, and has been as hurtful . as
senseless. For the overthrow of the infamous tenet Paine
exerted all his strength. He left few arguments to be used
by those who should come after him, and he used none that
have been refuted. The combined wisdom and genius of all
mankind cannot possibly conceive of an argument against
liber y of thought. Neither can they show why anyor. e should
be punished, either in this world or another, for acting
honestly in accordance with reason ; and yet, a doctrine with
every possible argument against it has been, and still is, be
lieved and defended by the entire orthodox world. Can it be
possible that we have been endowed with reason simply that
our souls may be caught in its toils and snares, that we may
be led by its false and delusive glare out of the narrow path
that leads to joy into the broad way of everlasting death ? Is
it possible that we have been given reason simply that we
may through faith ignore its deductions, and avoid its con
clusions ? Ought the sailor to throw away his compass and
depend entirely upon the fog? If reason is not to be de
pended upon in matters of religion, that is to say, in respect
to our duties to the Deity, why should it be relied upon in
matters respecting the rights of our fellows ? Why should
we throw away the laws given to Moses by God himself, and
have the audacity to make some of our own ? How dare we
drown the thunders of Sinai by calling the ayes and noes in
a petty legislature ? If reason can determine what is merci
ful, what is just, the duties of man to man, what more do we
want, either in time or eternity ?
Down, for ever down, with any religion that requires upon
its ignorant altar the sacrifice of the goddess Reason ; that
compels her to abdicate for ever the shining throne of the
soul, strips from her form the imperial purple, snatches from
her hand the sceptre of thought, and makes her the bond
woman of a senseless faith !
If a man should tell you that he had the most beautiful
painting in the world, and after taking you where it was,
should insist upon having your eyes shut, you would likely
�H
ORATION ON THOMAS PAINE.
suspect, either that he had no painting or that it was some
pitiable daub. Should he tell you that he was a most excel
lent performer on the violin, and yet refuse to play unless
your ears were stopped, you would think, to say the least of
it, that he had an odd way of convincing you of his musical
ability. But would his conduct be any more wonderful than
that of a religionist who asks that, before examining his
creed, you will have the kindness to throw away your reason ?
The first gentleman says, “ Keep your eyes shut, my picture
will bear everything but being seen“ keep your ears
stopped, my music objects to nothing but being heard.”
The last says, “Away with your reason, my religion dreads
nothing but being understood.”
So far as I am concerned, I most cheerfully admit that
most Christians are honest, and most ministers sincere. We
do not attack them; we attack their creed. We accord to
them the same rights that we ask for ourselves. We believe
that their doctrines are hurtful. We believe that the fright
ful text, “ He that believes shall be saved, and he that
believeth not shall be damned,” has covered the earth with
blood It has filled the world with arrogance, cruelty, and
murder. It has caused the religious wars ; bound hundreds
of thousands to the stake; founded inquisitions; filled
dungeons; invented instruments of torture; taught the
mother to hate her child ; imprisoned the mind; filled the
earth with ignorance; persecuted the lovers of wisdom
built the monasteries and convents ; made happiness a
crime, investigation a sin, and self-reliance a blasphemy. It
has poisoned the springs of learning; misdirected the ener
gies of the world; filled all the countries with want; housed
the people in hovels; fed them with famine ; and, but for
the efforts of a few brave Infidels, it would have taken the
world back to the midnight of barbarism, and left the
heavens without a star.
The maligners of Paine say that he had no right to attack
this doctrine because he was unacquainted with the dead
languages; and for this reason, it was a piece of pure impu
dence in him to investigate the Scriptures.
Is it necessary to understand Hebrew in order to know
that cruelty is not a virtue, and that murder is inconsistent
with infinite goodness, and that eternal punishment can be
inflicted upon man only by an eternal fiend ? Is it really
essential to conjugate the Greek verbs before you can make
up your mind as to the probability of dead people getting
�ORATION ON THOMAS FAINE.
î5
out of their graves ? Must one be versed in Latin . before
he is entitled to express his opinion as to the genuineness
of a pretended revelation from God? _ Common sense
belongs exclusively to no tongue. Logic is not confined to,
nor has it been buried with, the dead languages. Paine
attacked the Bible as it is translated. If the translation is
wrong, let its defenders correct it.
The Christianity of Paine’s day is not the Christianity of
our time. There has been a great improvement since then.
One hundred and fifty years ago the foremost preachers of
our time would have perished at the stake. A Umversalist ■
would have been torn in pieces in England, Scotland and
America; Unitarians would have found themselves in the
stocks, pelted by the rabble with dead cats, after which
their ears would have been cut off, their tongues bored^and
their foreheads branded. Less than one hundred and fifty
years ago the following law was in force in Maryland :—
“ Be it enacted by the Right Honourable, the Lord Proprietor, by arid
with the advice and consent of his lordship s governor, and the upper and
lower houses of the Assembly, and the authority of the same :
“That if any person should hereafter, within this province, wittingly,
■ maliciously, and advisedly, by writing or speaking, blaspheme or curM
God, or deny our Saviour Jesus Christ to be the Son of God, or shall
deny the Holy Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, or the God
head of any of the three persons, or the unity of the Godhead, or shall
utter any profane words concerning the Holy T rinity, 01 any of the
persons thereof, and shall thereof be convict by verdict, shall, for the
first offence be bored through the tongue, and be fined twenty pounds,
to be levied off his body. And for the second offence, the offender shall
be stigmatized by burning in the forehead with the lettei B, and fined
forty pounds. And that for the third offence, the offender shall suffer
death without the benefit of clergy.”
The strange thing about the law is, that it has never been,
repealed, and is still in force in the District of Columbia.
Laws like these were in force in most of the colonies, and in all
countries where the Church had power.
In the Old Testament, the death penalty was attached to
hundreds of offences. It has been the same in all Christian
countries. To-day, in civilized Governments, the death
penalty is attached only to murder and treason, and in
some it has been entirely abolished. What a commentary
upon the divine humbugs of the world !
In the day of Thomas Paine the Church was ignorant,
bloody, and relentless. In Scotland the “ Kirk ” was at the
summit of its power. It was a full sister of the Spanish In
quisition. It waged war upon human nature. It was the
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ORATIONON THOMAS PAINE.
enemy of happiness, the hater of joy, and the despiser of
religious liberty. It taught parents to murder their children
rather than to allow them to propagate error. If the mother
held opinions of which the infamous “Kirk” disapproved,
her children were taken from her arms, her babe from her
very bosom, and she was not allowed to see them, or to write
them a word. It would not allow shipwrecked sailors to be
rescued on Sunday. It sought to annihilate pleasure, to
pollute the heart by filling it with religious cruelty and
gloom, and to change mankind into a vast horde of pious,
heartless fiends. One of the most famous Scotch divines
said: “The Kirk holds that religious toleration is not far
from blasphemy.” And this same Scotch Kirk denounced,
beyond measure, the man who had the moral grandeur to
say, “The world is my country, and to do good my religion.”
And this same Kirk abhorred the man who said, “Any
system of religion that shocks the mind of a child cannot be
a. true system.”
At that time nothing so delighted the Church as the beauties
of endless torment, and listening to the weak wailings of in
fants struggling in the slimy coils and poisonous folds of the
worm that never dies.
About the beginning of the nineteenth century, a boy by
the name of Thomas Aikenhead was indicted and tried at
Edinburgh Tor having denied the inspiration of the Scrip
tures, and for having, on several occasions, when cold, wished
himself in hell that he might get warm. Notwithstanding
the poor boy recanted and begged for mercy, he was found
guilty and hanged. His body was thrown in a hole at the
foot of the scaffold and covered with stones.
Prosecutions and executions like this were common in
every Christian country, and all of them were based upon the
belief that an intellectual conviction is a crime.
No wonder the Church hated and traduced the author of
the “ Age of Reason.”
England was filled with Puritan gloom and Episcopat
ceremony. All religious conceptions were of the grossest
nature. The ideas of crazy fanatics and extravagant poets
were taken as sober facts. Milton had clothed Christianity
in thé soiled and faded finery of the gods—had added to the
story of Christ the fables of Mythology. He gave to the
Protestant Church the most outrageously material ideas of the
Deity. He turned all the angels into soldiers—made
Heaven a battle-field, put Christ in uniform, and described
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ORATION ON THOMAS PAINE.
1
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God as a militia general. His works were considered by the
Protestants nearly as sacred as the Bible itself, and the
imagination of the people was thoroughly polluted by the
horrible imagery, the sublime absurdity of the blind
Milton.
Heaven and hell were realities—the judgment-day was ex
pected—books of account would be opened. Every man
would hear the charges against him read. God was sup
posed to sit on a golden throne, surrounded by the tallest
angels, with harps in their hands and crowns on their heads.
• The goats would be thrust into eternal fire on the left, while
the orthodox sheep, on the right, were to gambol on sunny
slopes for ever and for ever.
The nation was profoundly ignorant, and consequently extremly religious, so far as belief was concerned.
• . .
In Europe, Liberty was lying chained in the Inquisity—
her white bosom stained with blood. In the new world the
Puritans had been hanging and burning in the name of
God, and selling white Quaker children into, slavery in the
name of Christ, who said, “ Suffer little children to come
unto me.”
Under such conditions progress was impossible. Some one
had to lead the way. The Church is, and always has been, in
capable of a forward movement. Religion always looks back.
The Church has already reduced Spain to a guitar, Italy to
a hand-organ, and Ireland to exile.
Someone not connected with the Church had to attack the
monster that was eating out the heart of the world. Some'
one had to sacrifice himself for the good of all. The people
were in the most abject slavery; their manhood had been
taken from them by pomp, by pageantry, and power. Pro
gress is born of doubt and inquiry. The Church never
doubts—never inquires. To doubt is heresy to inquire is
to admit that you do not know—-the Church does neither.
More than a century ago Catholicism, wrapped in robes
red with the innocent blood of millions, holding in her frantic
clutch crowns and sceptres, honours and gold, the keys of
heaven and hell, trampling beneath her feet the liberties of
nations, in the proud moment of almost universal dominion,
felt within her heartless breast the deadly dagger of Voltaire.
From that blow the Church never can recover. Livid
with hatred, she launched her eternal anathema at the great
destroyer, and ignorant Protestants have echoed the curse of
Rome.
B
�ORATION ON THOMAS PAINE.
_ In our country the Church was all-powerful, and, although
divided into many sects, would instantly unite to repel a
common foe.
Paine struck the first grand blow.
The “ Age of Reason ” did more to undermine the power
of the Protestant Church than all other books then known.
It furnished an immense amount of food for thought. It
was written for the average mind, and is a straightforward,
honest investigation of the Bible, and of the Christian
system.
. Paine did not falter from the first page to the last. He
gives you his candid thought, and candid thoughts are
always valuable.
The “ Age of Reason ” has liberalised us all. It put argu
ments in the mouths of the people ; it put the Church on
the defensive j it enabled somebody in every village to
corner the parson ; it made the world wiser, and the Church
better; it took power from the pulpit and divided it among
the pews.
°
Just in proportion that the human race has advanced,
the Church has lost power. There is no exception to this
rule.
No nation ever materially advanced that held strictly to
the religion of its founders.
No nation ever gave itself wholly to the control of the
Church without losing its power, its honour, and existence.
Every Church pretends to have found the exact truth.
This is the end of progress. Why pursue that which you
have ? Why investigate when you know ?
Every creed is a rock in running water: humanity sweeps
by it.. Every creed cries to the Universe, “Halt !” A
creed is the ignorant past bullying the enlightened present.
The ignorant are not satisfied with what can be demon
strated. Science is too slow for them, and so they invent
creeds. They demand completeness. A sublime segment,
a grand fragment, are of no value to them. They demand
the complete circle—the entire structure.
In music they want a melody with a recurring accent at
measured periods. In religion they insist upon immediate
answers to the questions of creation and destiny. The alpha
and omega of all things must be in the alphabet of their
superstition. A religion that cannot answer every question,
and guess every conundrum, is, in their estimation, worse
than worthless. They desire a kind of theological diction-
�ORATION ON THOMAS PAINE.
19
ary—a religious ready-reckoner, together with guideboards
at all crossings and turns. They mistake impudence. for
authority, solemnity for wisdom, and pathos for inspiration.
The beginning and the end are what they demand. The
grand flight of the eagle is nothing to them. . They want
the nest in which he was hatched, and especially the dry
limb upon which he roosts. Anything that can be learned
is hardly worth knowing. The present is considered.of no
value in itself. Happiness must not be expected this side
of the clouds, and can only be attained by self-denial and
faith ; not seif-denial for the good of others, but for the sal
vation of your own sweet self.
Paine denied the authority of bibles and creeds—this w’as
his crime—and for this the vzorld shut the door in his face,
and emptied its slops upon him from the windows.
I challenge the world to show that Thomas . Paine ever
wrote one line, one word in favour of tyranny—in favour of
immorality; one line, one ivord against what he believed to
be for the highest and the best interests of mankind ; one
line, one word against justice, charity, or liberty; and yet he
has been pursued as though he had been a fiend from hell.
His memory has been execrated as though he had murdered
some Uriah for his wife ; driven some Hagar into the. desert
to starve with his child upon her bosom ; defiled his. own
daughters ; ripped open rvith the sword the sweet bodies of
loving and innocent women ; advised one brother to assas
sinate another ; kept a harem w’ith seven hundred waves, and
three hundred concubines, or had persecuted Christians
even unto strange cities.
The Church has pursued Paine to deter others. No effort
has been in any age of the world spared to crush out oppo
sition. The Church used painting, music, and architecture,
simply to degrade mankind. But there are men that, nothing
can awe. There have been at all times brave spirits that
dared even the gods. Some proud head has always been
above the waves. In every age some Diogenes has sacrificed
to all the gods. True genius never cowers, and there is
always some Samson feeling for the pillars of authority.
Cathedrals and domes, and chimes and chants—temples
frescoed and groined and carved, and gilded with gold—
altars and tapers, and paintings of virgin and babe—censer
and chalice, chasuble, paten and alb—organs and anthems
and incense rising to the winged and blest—maniple, amice
and stole—crosses and crosiers, tiaras and crowms—mitres
�20
ORATION ON THOMAS PAINE.
and missals and masses—rosaries, relics and robes—martyrs
and saints, and windows stained as with the blood of Christ,—
never for one moment awed the brave, proud spirit of the
Infidel. He knew that all the pomp and glitter had been
purchased with liberty—-that priceless jewel of the soul. In
looking at the cathedral he remembered the dungeon. The
music of the organ was not loud enough to drown the clank
of fetters. He could not forget that the taper had lighted
the fagot. He knew that the cross adorned the hilt of the
sword, and so, where others worshipped, he wept and scorned.
The doubter, the investigator, the Infidel, have been the
saviours of liberty. The truth is beginning to be realised,
and the intellectual are beginning to honour the brave
thinkers of the past.
But the Church is as unforgiving as ever, and still wonder
why any Infidel should be wicked enough to endeavour to
destroy her power.
I will tell the Church why.
You have imprisoned the human mind; you have been
the enemy of liberty; you have burned us at the stake—
wasted us upon slow fires—torn our flesh with iron , you
have covered us with chains—treated us as outcasts ; you
have filled the world with fear; you have taken our wives
and children from our arms; you have confiscated our pro
perty ; you have denied us the right to testify in .courts of
justice, you have branded us with infamy j you have torn
out our tongues; you have refused us burial. In the name
of your religion, you have robbed us of every right; and
after having inflicted upon us every evil that can be inflicted
in this world, you have fallen upon your knees, and with
clasped hands implored your God to torment us for ever.
Can you wonder that we hate your doctrines—that we
despise your creeds—that we feel proud to know that we
are beyond your power—that we are free in spite of you—
that we can express our honest thought, and that the whole
world is grandly rising into the blessed light ?
Can you wonder that we point with pride to the fact, that
Infidelity has ever been found battling for the rights of man,
for the liberty of conscience, and for the happiness of all ?
Can you wonder that we are proud to know that we have
always been disciples of Reason, and soldiers of Freedom ;
that we have denounced tyranny and superstition, and have
kept our hands unstained with human blood ?
We deny that religion is the end or object of this life.
�ORATION ON THOMAS PAINE.
21
When it is so considered it becomes destructive of happiness
—the real end of life. It becomes a hydra-headed monster,
reaching in terrible coils from the heavens, and thrusting its
thousand fangs into the bleeding, quivering hearts of men.
It devours their substance, builds palaces for God (who
dwells not in temples made with hands), and allows his
children to die in huts and hovels. It fills the earth with
mourning, heaven with hatred, the present with fear, and all
the future with despair.
Virtue is a subordination of the passions to the intellect.
It is to act in accordance with your highest convictions. It
does not consist in believing, but in doing.
This is the sublime truth that the Infidels in all ages have
uttered. They have handed the torch from one to the other
through all the years that have fled. Upon the altar of Reason
they have kept the sacred fire, and through the long mid
night of faith they fed the divine flame.
Infidelity is liberty; all religion is slavery. In every
creed, man is the slave of God—woman is the slave of man,
and the sweet children are the slaves of all.
We do not want creeds; we want knowledge—we want
happiness.
And yet we are told by the Church that we have accom
plished nothing; that we are simply destroyers; that we tear
down without building again.
Is it nothing to free the mind ? Is it nothing to civilize
mankind? Is it nothing to fill the world with light, with
discovery, with science ? Is it nothing to dignify man and
exalt the intellect ? Is it nothing to grope your way into the
dreary prisons, the damp and dropping dungeons, the dark
and silent cells, where the souls of men are chained to the
floors of stone, to greet them like a ray of light, like the
song of a bird, the murmur of a stream; to see the dull eyes
open and grow slowly bright, to feel yourself grasped by the
shrunken and unused hands, and hear yourself thanked by a
strange and hollow voice ?
Is it nothing to conduct these souls gradually into the
blessed light of day—to let them see again the happy fields,
the sweet, green earth, and hear the everlasting music of the
waves ? Is it nothing to make men wipe the dust from their
swollen knees, the tears from their blanched and furrowed
cheeks ? Is it a small thing to reave the heavens of an
insatiate monster and write upon the eternal dome, glittering
with stars, the grand word—Freedom ?
�22
ORATION ON THOMAS PAINE.
Is. it a small thing to quench the flames of hell with the
holy tears of pity—to unbind the martyr from the stake
break all the chains—put out the fires of civil war—stay the
sword of the fanatic, and tear the bloody hands of the
Church from the white throat of Science ?
Is it a small thing to make men truly free—to destroy the
dogmas of ignorance, prejudice, and power—the poisoned
fables of superstition, and drive from the beautiful face of
the earth the fiend of Fear?
It does seem as though the most zealous Christian must at
times entertain some doubt as to the divine origin of his
religion. For eighteen hundred years the doctrine has been
preached. For more than a thousand years the Church had,
to a great extent, control of the civilized world, and what
has been the result ? Are the Christian nations patterns of
charity and forbearance ?
On the contrary, their principal business is to destroy
each other. More than five millions of Christians are
trained, educated, and drilled to murder their fellowChristians. Every nation is groaning under a vast debt in
curred in carrying on war against other Christians, or
defending themselves from Christian assault. The world is
covered with forts to protect Christians from Christians ; and
every sea is covered with iron monsters ready to "blow
Christian brains into eternal froth. Millions upon millions
are annually expended in the effort to construct still more
deadly and terrible engines of death. Industry is crippled,
honest toil is robbed, and even beggary is taxed to defray
the expenses of Christian warfare. There must be some other
way to reform this world. We have tried creed and dogma
and fable, and they have failed; and they have failed in all
the nations dead.
The people perish for the lack of knowledge.
Nothing but education—scientific education—can benefit
mankind. We must find out the laws of nature and conform
to them.
We need free bodies and free minds—free labour and free
thought—chainless hands, and fetterless'brains. Free labour
will give us wealth. Free thought will give us truth.
We need men with moral courage to speak and write their
real thoughts, and to stand by their convictions, even to the
very death. We nee^ have no fear of being too radical
The future will verify all grand and brave predictions. Paine
�ORATION ON THOMAS PAINE.
23
was splendidly in advance of his time; but he was orthodox
compared with the Infidels of to-day.
Science, the great Iconoclast, has been busy since 1809,
and by the highway of Progress are the broken images of the
past.
On every hand the people advance. The Vicar of God
has been pushed from the throne of the Caesars, and upon
the roofs of the Eternal City falls once more the shadow of
the Eagle.
All has been accomplished by the heroic few. The men
of science have explored heaven and earth, and with infinite
patience have furnished the facts. The brave thinkers have
used them. The gloomy caverns of superstition have been
transformed into temples of thought, and the demons of the
past are the angels of to-day.
Science took a handful of sand, constructed a telescope,
and with it explored the starry depths of heaven. Science
wrested from the gods their thunderbolts ; and now the
electric spark, freighted with thought and love, flashes under
all the waves of the sea. Science took a tear from the cheek
of unpaid labour, converted it into steam, created a giant that
turns with tireless arm the countless wheels of toil.
Thomas Paine was one of the intellectual heroes—one of
the men to whom we are indebted. His name is associated
for ever with the Great Republic. As long as free govern
ment exists he will be remembered, admired, and honoured.
He lived a long, laborious and useful life. The world is
better for his having lived. For the sake of truth he ac
cepted hatred and reproach for his portion. He ate the
bitter bread of sorrow. His friends were untrue to him
because he was true to himself and true to them. He lost
the respect of what is called society, but kept his own. His
life is what the world calls failure, and what history calls
success.
If to love your fellow-men more than self is goodness,
Thomas Paine was good.
If to be in advance of your time, to be a pioneer in the
direction of light, is greatness, Thomas Paine was great.
If to avow your principles and to discharge your duty
in the presence of death is heroic, Thomas Paine was &
hero.
At the age of seventy-three death touched his tired heart.
He died in the land his genius defended—under the flag he
^..gave to_the skies. Slander cannot touch him now—hatred
�24
ORATION ON THOMAS PAINE.
cannot reach him more. He sleeps in the sanctuary of the
tomb, beneath the quiet of the stars.
A few more years—a few more brave men—a few more
rays of light, and mankind will venerate the memory of him
who said :
“Any system of religion that shocks the mind of a child
cannot be a true system.”
“The world is my country, and to do good my religion.”
�
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Victorian Blogging
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Title
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Oration on Thomas Paine
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Ingersoll, Robert Green [1833-1899]
Description
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Place of publication: London
Collation: 24 p. ; 17 cm.
Notes: Date of publication from Stein's checklist (Item 78d). Printed by Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
Publisher
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Freethought Publishing Company
Date
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[1877]
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N380
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Thomas Paine
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Oration on Thomas Paine), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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application/pdf
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Text
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English
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Thomas Paine
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8450359937ee5db15d9d5edd9355fea2
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Text
ENTERING SOCIETY:
A DISCOURSE
BY
MONCURE D. CONWAY, M.A.
DELIVERED AT
SUNDAY, 29th July, 1877.
frige twopence.
�LONDON :
PRINTED BY WATERLOW & SONS LIMITED
LONDON WALL.
I
�ENTERING SOCIETY.
Every physical law runs through the universe; ex
plains equally the rolling world and rolling pebble ;
harmonises flowers and constellations. In the moral
and social world there is a like self-similarity. A
certain unity may be discovered in the culture of a
child, a nation, or the human race. »
Constant is the unity of interests, feelings, thoughts,
making what we term society. There is an endless
variety in human nature, but its distinction from all
lower nature is that its varieties can be utilized to
form a society. In animal swarms and herds same
ness is their strength; feather flocks with-its feathei.
There is a strange tribe of American Indians who
have a tradition that mankind is descended from the
animal world. There was, they say, a mountainous
monster who devoured all manner of animals. He
swallowed them alive, and once, when he had taken
this various meal, a certain Little Wolf that had
�4
been swallowed, found the animals inside the monster
quarrelling with each other; and he persuaded them
that instead of quarrelling they should one and all
unite, and contribute their several powers of horn,
tooth, or other faculty to get out of the monster and
slay him. The animals co-operated; liberated them
selves ; slew the monster; and, in doing that, they
were changed to men, and the human race began.
It is a much more moral and scientific genesis of man
than that in the Bible. Intelligent co-operation of
different species imply humanity; and there are
facts enough to show that, on the other hand, pro
longed strife disintegrates society, and men may be
transformed back to animals.
All human beings are born members of society.
Some pietists and fanatics have tried to escape this
necessity, because society is what they call worldly ;
but, though they hide in nunneries, monasteries,
caves and deserts, they do not get out of society any
more than they get out of the world. If society were
to cease its work of coining, baking, weaving, trading,
then the hermit would get out of it in the one way
possible—death.
There is nothing more grotesque, were we not so
familiar with it, than where the abject language of her
mits who fled society,—and sometimes escaped from
it by the door of death,—and their anathemas on the
�5
world are repeated by Christians enjoying society and
ambitious of its rewards. Possibly they feel bound
for form’s sake to carry the skeleton of asceticism
round the banquet, but, as in the Egyptian custom,
the performance only seems to stimulate the more the
avidity with which the so-called pious utilise and enjoy
the kingdom of this world. The Church of England
merits the credit of having to a large extent abolished
the fiction of a world of sinners and an un-world (so to
say) of saints; and it might become a fairly good
church if it were to lay aside its pretence that the
world is morally an invalid in need of its holy medi
caments. The temptation is great where the deceived
patient is rich, for priests as well as for the doctors
who proffer bread-pills. (The “ Priest in Absolution
really believes in the deadly situation of human nature,
and goes on with the old practice of drugging, blister
ing and bleeding.)
The unpardonable sin of nearly every theology ■
the sin by which it must perish—is the separation it
has effected between two parts of man’s nature, the
antagonism instituted between his social and spiritual
activities, in whose harmony man’s well-being can
alone be found. That only a few eccentric priests
believe and act on that principle does not mitigate the
evil fact that all are taught it, and that the young and
simple have their consciences bruised and their lives
�6
misdirected by it. A result of this figment lias been
that the strongest moral agencies, which a true religion
would have cultivated, have been left to trail or climb
as they could; no sect being willing to acknowledge
that any good force belonged to human nature. Still,
without any aid from the churches, and mostly against
their opposition, Society has been partially able to
cultivate the motives, feelings, aims which constitute
the actual religion,—the guiding, moulding, animating
religion,-—of each civilised community, so far as it is
really guided, leaving the churches to become more
and more museums of antiquarian dogmatic remains.
What is the Social Religion ? Its motive is the
sentiment of honour, the sin it specially hates is
meanness : these two—love of the honourable, hatred
of the dishonourable—branch out from the individual
heart into endless adaptations. Out of the social
sentiment of honour emerge patriotism, justice, forti
tude, supporting states; and that loyalty in personal
relations, generating sympathy and friendliness, which,
when men make the most of them, will cement the
w'orld better than gunpowder. No state can ever be
perfectly civilised until it is held together by simple
force of friendliness.
There is a print often seen in shop-windows which
has been sent by thousands through the world. It is
inscribed—“Simplyto thy cross I cling,” and repre
�7
sents a young woman with the waves of a sea dashing
around her, clasping for safety a cross which rises
from the mid-ocean. It is a perfect mirror of Chris
tian idolatry: it is translatable into many systems of
superstition, where above the billows Faith clings now
to a lingam, next to a wheel, or it may be, to the
symbol of a serpent. But from what engulphing
waves will a stone cross, or any of the like idols, save
those who cling to them? From billows of sorrow,
loss of their friends, or from disease, pain, and death ?
By no means. It is truly written in the Bible that
one fate happens to all alike, whatever be their
prayers and sacrifices; and it almost broke the hearts
of the old prophets and psalmists that the pious got
no advantage at all over others in these things; in
fact, nature’s strict impartiality between the prayerful
and the prayerless was a main reason why priests fell
to abusing nature and building up a cloudy realm, in
which, being its sole creators, they could like other
romancers have things turn out as they liked—all the
“ pious ” happy, all the rest damned. In that world
where cause and effect are of no importance all
the stone crosses are in order. They are effective
enough to save clinging Faith from imaginary billows,
from storms that are not raging, floods non-existent,
' waves of delusive sin against a demonic majesty, and
fabulous furies of a phantasmal hell.
�But for all of these the real religion that grows
around us day by day -will substitute the definite
recognition of actual moral dangers, and the study of
■rational methods by which they may be escaped,
and the health of man and society be preserved.
Even now the finest hearts and minds in this
world are impressing upon us the real hells
beside which those of the sects appear petty and
ridiculous. While the “ lake of fire,” to an increasing
number, reads like something seen by Baron Mun
chausen on his travels, it is no dream that bright and
sweet children are growing up to people asylums and
prisons, to break hearts and desolate homes, and to
pass into degradations which sometimes make death .
seem a tardy joy. If a man has ever had the sorrow
of seeing one youth beginning with promise, throwing
away his life in debauchery and selfishness, much
more if he have seen the anguish of a home when all
its fairest promises are broken, he will hardly require
more to show him the absurdity of priest-made horrors
in the presence of these that are real.
I think it not too soon to maintain that somewhat
more gravity—even solemnity, if you please—should
be associated with what is called “entering society.”
That phrase usually denotes participation in festal
society—a realm of gaiety, beauty, mutual felicitation,
where persons are seen in picturesque tableau.
�9
There are some silly moralists who look upon all that
as vanity j all the beauty of raiment, each effort to
look the best, to be happy and make others happy, as
ministering to ostentation and selfishness, and as
injurious to modesty, humility, and simplicity.
Nothing of the kind. It will never harm the modesty
of youth to enjoy life’s springtide, as nature invites
with her blossom and melody. All that purity
requires is that their mirth and dance keep always in
the light, and that there be no blind ways such as
priests in absolution” provide, and other spiders
that weave their webs along the flower-fringed paths of
early life. There are hard, odious men (not many
.women I hope), who would turn this world into a coal
depot, or a grocer’s shop; but the social health is too
vigorous for them ; and it is a satisfaction to know
that there is a demand for roses as well as cabbages.
They who wear the roses, or other decoration, are
they vain? On the contrary they are conscious of
their need of the rose or the gem to supply that
wherein they fall short. Nor are they selfish; they
do not array themselves for self-admiration; they long
to contribute their part to the general happiness, to
make the social circle beautiful, tasteful, and worthy
of the enormous cost and toil by which it is sup
ported.
The only danger is that the young will believe some
�IO
evil whisper that their circle of social enjoyment is
quite apart from their round of religious interests and
moral duties. They may not indeed adopt the vulgar
cant that these are opposed to each other—one holy,
the other wicked. But even where that notion is not
found, some regard society as a worldly thing, a region
of persons not of principles. The merchant who regards
religion as a thing for Sunday and not Monday; who
conceives the commandments proper between lids of
the Bible, out of place between lids of the ledger ; the
preacher who on Sunday rehearses creeds declaring the
human race under a doom, and everybody moving
amid satanic snares, and then passes the rest of his
week as smilingly as if there were no danger;—these,
and others like them, are generally so unconscious of
the duplicity of their lives that we may see plainly
that the actual every-day world and the so-called
religious world are to those they represent as different
as two planets. But it is impossible that this tradition
can be suffered to go on much longer. That religious
world which has no relation to society, but only to an
anthropomorphic deity and another world, has already
received the verdict of human intelligence that it is
no real religion at all, but a morbid excrescence on
the body of Humanity. The verdict has been passed,
and the sentence can not long be delayed; for it is
impossible that the real interests of man can be
�preserved if his energies, his means, above all his
moral enthusiasm, are diverted from a society in need
to a deity not in need ; from actually existent men and
women to possibly existent angels; from the momen
tous day that is to that which is not.
The fundamental law of society is one with the
fundamental law of religion. It is a higher law than
the Hebrew golden rule (though not inharmonious
with it), for it teaches us that our self-love must not
equal our love of others. In every case the social
instinct requires our personal interest to be held
subordinate to the general good; and there is no other*
foundation of either morality or religion than just that:
self-denial, self-restraint, even self-sacrifice, for things
larger than self, are varied growths from the one germ
of our moral nature—the social self rising above the
personal self.
Unless the endless combinations of society be at
tended and supervised by the moral principle just
stated, increase of wealth and power is but increase
of things anti-social, selfish, unprogressive. An irre
ligious society is self-disintegrating; but how is society
to be kept in pure elevation when religion is off at
tending to mansions in heaven; and when the majority
of young people are taught such notions of religion
that they are only too glad to get rid of it during the
rational days of the week ? They are perfectly right;
�12
the introduction of cant and sanctimoniousness into
the drawing-room, or theatre, or club, or business,
would be like the new beetle amid grain ; for that is
vast selfishness disguised as religion. But there is such
a religion as charity and kindness, as self-control and
love and service to others ; the spirit that desires to
learn and be set right; the courtesy, the sympathy,
which alone can make the true gentleman or gentle
woman j and if this kind of religion does not beat as
pulse of the social heart to transfuse the social body
and all its members, the life of these will be coarse,
their end corruption.
Let us for example consider one of the great social
growths of modern times—the club system. To what
is called polite society the club is almost as important
a development as the railway system to trade. It re
sults from the application of the principle of co-opera
tion to secure personal intercourse under favourable
conditions, and all manner of comfort and culture
with utmost economy of means. That is the most
powerful principle in the world—combination and
though society is itself a product of it, it has hardly
imagined its farther results. But what are the social
effects of club life at present? It appears to me that
great as are their advantages they are fostering some
very serious evils, and it is to be feared, even vices.
Every respectable young man has the opportunity of
�13
entering one or another of the innumerable clubs, and
if he obtains a little means the club almost doubles
them. The average home cannot rival the average
club for comfort, luxury, or various society. The wife
may make herself a slave, but if great wealth be not
given her she cannot make her home compete with
the ample attractions of the club. And how little the
cost 1 A young man, for little more than half of
what it would cost him to marry and found a home of
moderate comfort, may live luxuriously, passing his free
hours in the finest library, with all the current litera
ture of the world, amid decorated rooms for use
or amusement, dining magnificently with clever com
pany ; and all by combining his small means with the
small means of other young men. All very good, and
rightly helpful to many a youth. But for that youth
duties are waiting, tasks presently clamour to be done
by him j and if he remains in his palace after ne has
heard their voice, it becomes to him tne Castle of In
dolence, and probably also the home of sensuality. It
is no narrow or ascetic judgment to say that large
numbers of young men of high tastes and talents are
sinking into lives of selfishness, dilettantism, and
worthlessness through the enticing luxuries of club
life. Nor is the evil much, if at all, diminished when
we consider how many homes after they are foimed
are robbed of their rights by this overpowering growth
of modern society.
�14
How are such evils to be met ? Is there any case
for a crusade against clubs ? If there were it would
be a quixotic crusade. But clubs are not an evil; they
supply great and necessary advantages. All we need
is that there shall be a social religion attending and
guarding these vast social formations. Our need is
that moral culture shall turn from star-gazing and face
moral facts, and a religion rise up to teach every man
from the cradle to the grave that his duty is not
to a dead Christ but to a living humanity, not to a
Virgin Mary but to womanhood around him, not to a
« Holy Ghost” but to a principle of honour,—aye, an
honour which, when it has a religious sanction, will not
be unarmed, but remand every idler in club or else
where to his task, will place every self-indulgent circle
under ban of intolerable shame, and get from each
his or her high duty, with every pure pleasure in its
train.
When there is a religion appealing to the highest
motives in every human heart, that leads each youth
of either sex who enters society to consider that every
advantage corresponds with a duty, then all develop
ments of power and wealth in any direction must be
diffused through every part of society as benefit. We
hear a great deal of social science ; there is one very
old piece of social science confirmed by ages of experi
ence_ that we are members one of another. Hand
�cannot be so well off if foot is lame ; all are weak if
one is weak. Great nations have learned at terrible
cost that when one class or interest advances very far
it is sure to be brought to a stop till other classes gain
their share. The white people in America found lately
that their own freedom could not last another year
unless the black people enjoyed the same. Europe is
learning a severe lesson of the same kind about some
long neglected Eastern tribes. But the law holds with
equal truth of any community, or any social circle in
it. If, for example, co-operation has exemplified its
power in the club, the club cannot monopolise it with
out danger; it must become the economy of homes
also ; both sexes must share it; working men and
working women must share it. And if there is any
society where wise principles are not thus diffused
those who belong to it will be themselves fragmentary
and inharmonious.
Every man or woman entering society should carry
a whole heart into it. Not one instinct or faculty
should be reserved, or left to take the veil. Each and
all, let them enter into life, love it, enjoy it, and not
fail to do their duty by it. The price is not fairly
paid unless you endeavour to diffuse what there is
acquired. You enter the hive to create the sweet as
well as to enjoy it. And in the human hive the
creation means the progressive purification, and per-
�i6
fection of it. In society you have found new thoughts
—higher truth—liberal views ; they all belong to the
hive. And in a high sense your debt to all is secured :
you can have no benefit genuinely unless by giving it.
If God himself were to offer you a private favour and
advantage of which nobody else could reap the least
good, far better decline it. That which is sweet to you
That which is pure and true to
is sweet to others.
you, would be so to others if they felt it as you do.
Then give others your very best. So shall you stimulate
them to diffuse their best; and all shall become
apostles of the sunshine.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Victorian Blogging
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Conway Hall Library & Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Conway Hall Ethical Society
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Pamphlet
Dublin Core
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Entering society : a discourse delivered at South Place Chapel, Finsbury, Sunday 29th July 1877
Creator
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Conway, Moncure Daniel [1832-1907.]
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: [London]
Collation: 16 p. ; 15 cm.
Notes: Part of Morris Miscellaneous Tracts 1. Printed by Waterlow & Sons, London Wall.
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[South Place Chapel]
Date
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[1877]
Identifier
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G3336
Subject
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Religion
Society
Ethics
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Entering society : a discourse delivered at South Place Chapel, Finsbury, Sunday 29th July 1877), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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application/pdf
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Text
Language
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English
Moncure Conway
Morris Tracts
Religion and Civil Society
Social Ethics
Social Justice
Society
-
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7cae06ef10f7c811792109ab1df1c095
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SOUTH PLACE CHAPEL AND INSTITUTE.
SOIREES,
1877.
The Soiree Committee beg to infoi'm the Members tand
Friends of this Society that the next series of Soirees will be held
on the First Monday in February, March and April respectively.
The Programme for February 5th will include Selections for
Pianoforte and Stringed Instruments, Songs, &c.
The objects of interest for,/the evening will be Old. Books,
Tapestry and Needlework.
. In March, Statuettes, Coins, Photographs,
exhibited, and in April, Flowers.
be
Tickets of Admission for the Serie^ price One Shilling and
Sixpence (including Refreshment),, may be obtained in the
Library, or of the Soiree Committee.*
It is hoped that all Seatholders will suppcBf the Soirees, in
order that they may continue to be successful in promoting social
intercourse among the Members of the Congregation and their
Friends.
The balance in hand, afte^feaying working expe%Hs| will be
handed over as heretofore to the Treasurer.
By order of the Committee,
(Tcorrie b.
grant,
Hon. SseT)
January 22nd, 1877.
8, Serjeants’ Ink, E.C.
�
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The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Victorian Blogging
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
Creator
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
Date
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2018
Publisher
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Original Format
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Pamphlet
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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South Place Chapel and Institute [soiree programme, 1877]
Creator
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South Place Religious Society
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 1 p. ; 22 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway.
Date
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[1877]
Identifier
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G5713
Subject
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
Rights
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<img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /><br /><span>This work (South Place Chapel and Institute [soiree programme, 1877]), identified by </span><span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk">Humanist Library and Archives</a></span><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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application/pdf
Type
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Text
Language
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English
Conway Hall Ethical Society
Conway Tracts
South Place Chapel
-
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c179ac9aae431656445da798a7dd9dfd
PDF Text
Text
ALCE8TI8 IN ENGLAND
A DISCOURSE
DELIVERED AT
SOUTH PLACE CHAPEL,
FINSBURY.
JANUARY 21,
1877.
BY
MONCURE D.
Price 2d.
CONWAY.
��ALCESTIS IN ENGLAND.
Not long ago the Alcestis of Euripides was pro
duced at the Crystal Palace, with- accompaniment of
beautiful music by an English composer, Mr. Henry
Gadsby. The large audience was profoundly interested,
and evinced genuine sympathy with all that was
noble, and abhorrence of what was base, in the
characters and action brought before them. The event
has appeared to me significant. Alcestis is one of
the few ancient Greek melodramas. The majority of
dramas left us by the poets of Greece turn upon
religious themes, and usually they are tragedies. It
is evident that to them the popular religion around
them was itself a tragedy. Their heroes and heroines
—such as Prometheus and Macaria—were generally
victims of the jealousy or caprice of the gods ; and
�though the poets display in their dramas the irresistible
power of the gods, they do so without reverence for
that power, and generally show the human victims
to be more honourable than the gods. But the Alcestis
of Euripides is not a tragedy : it ends happily, and in
the rescue of one of those victims of the gods. It
stands as about the first notice served on the gods
that the human heart had got tired of their high
handed proceedings, and they might prepare to quit
the thrones of the universe unless they could exhibit
more humanity.
The story of Alcestis opens with the decree of
the Fates that a certain man, Admetus, shall die.
But Apollo, who had been befriended by Admetus,
asks the Fates to spare him. The Fates say they
are willing, provided any one can be found to die in
his place ; for the powers below have been promised
their victim and must not be cheated, though it does
not matter whether their victim be Admetus or
somebody else. Upon this, Alcestis, the wife of
Admetus, steps forward and offers to die in his stead.
Admetus accepts this vicarious arrangement, but Apollo
feels that it is a rather mean affair; so when Death
comes to claim Alcestis, Apollo tries to argue the
case with him. But Death plants himself upon the
principle of divine justice. The notion of justice
among the gods is, that either the sentenced culprit
shall die or else some innocent person for him.
�5
Apollo is too well read in heavenly law to dispute this
code, but he is rather ashamed of it, and then follows
something peculiar. Knowing that neither he nor any
other deity can legally resist the decree of another
deity, Apollo is reduced to hope for help from man.
Human justice may save where divine justice sacrifices.
He prophesies to Death that although he may seize
Alcestis, a man will come who will conquer him, and
deliver that woman from the infernal realm. There
is then a pathetic scene in which Alcestis dies, making
her last request to her husband to devote himself to
her children, and reminding him of the happiness she
had left in her father’s palace to share his destiny,
and at last die for him. But, now, when she is dead,
Admetus’ father, Pheres, bitterly reproaches his son
for accepting life on such base terms as the death of
another. The people generally reproach him in the
same way, and at length Admetus feels that he has
acted a disgraceful part, and his life so unworthily
saved becomes worthless and miserable.
Then Hercules comes on the scene. He has been
slaying lion and dragon, and he now resolves to
conquer Death and deliver Alcestis. This he does ;
he descends into Hades, and delivers her from prison.
He brings her to her husband amid the general
joy.
There are several points in the story which present
a significant parallelism to the very letter of the legend,
�6
that arose some centuries later, of Christ’s descent into
Hell. For instance, when the rescued and risen
Alcestis is brought into the presence of Admetus he
cannot recognise her : she has yet too much that is
ghostly about her. Hercules tells Admetus it is not
lawful for her to speak to him “ until she is unbound
from her consecration to the gods beneath, and the
third day come.” So we see whence this idea of
rising on the third day is derived, and what notions
surrounded him who reported Jesus as at first not
recognised by Maiy, and then as saying to her, “ Touch
me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father.”'
The consecration of Hades was still upon him.
However, it is not to such details as these that I
wish to call your attention. It is more important to
consider that the entire drama turns upon the same
principles as the popular religion of England. It
only requires a change of names to make Alcestis a
Christian Passion-play. We have in it the unappeas
able law of Fate corresponding to the divine decree,
by which Jehovah himself was so fettered that there
could be no remission of sentence without the shed
ding of blood. We have the barbaric notion that
justice is satisfied by the vicarious suffering of anyone
at all, willing to sacrifice himself for the person in
volved punishment by proxy. And then, we have a
being who is a god in power, but man in heart: the
god-man Hercules, whose father was Jupiter, but
�7
whose mother was a woman, Alcmene ; and this in
carnate son of God vanquishes the infernal powers,
where a mere deity was powerless to do so on account
of the heavenly etiquette, and the gods’ peculiar notion
of justice.
The god-man Hercules went through the earth
■destroying earthly evils in twelve great Labours. The
legend was one of the most widespread and impres
sive throughout the Greek and Roman world at the
time of the establishment of Christianity. From the
old pictures of Christ’s triumphal pilgrimage on earth,
parallels to the chief labours of Hercules may be
found. Christ is shown treading on the lion, the asp,
the dragon, and Satan; and all the myths converge
in his conquest of Death and Hell. In the old
pictures of Christ delivering souls from Hades, Eve is
generally shown coming out first in suggestive simi
larity to Eurydice following Orpheus, and Alcestis
Hercules.
Such Greek myths mark an ascent of the human
mind above the idea of their early theology, which had
become a sort of pagan Calvinism. The advanced
minds had plainly grown ashamed of gods who
reigned with such an unjust idea as that of vicarious
.suffering; and Euripides dealt with the notion just as a
Freethinker now deals with the same. The audience
at the Crystal Palace applauded Pheres when he
■denounced his own son for the meanness of accepting
�8
salvation through the suffering of another. What
they applauded was an attack on the Christian scheme
of redemption. Pheres only anticipated James Marti
neau, who once similarly rebuked the baseness of those
who would not rather go to hell than be saved by the
death and suffering of an innocent being. What would
the audience have said to Pheres’ sentiment, if it had
been told them that they themselves were so many
Admetuses, accepting safety at the cost of the innocent
Alcestis of Calvary ? What, if they had been reminded
that the principle represented by Death, that justioe
is satisfied by so much suffering without respect to
who is the sufferer, is precisely the same as that by
which Christianity declares that the divine law required
a victim, but was quite satisfied if the innocent suffer
for the guilty ? The audience would, perhaps, have
regarded such suggestions with horror, and yet they
applauded the principle by which Christianity is now
assailed. We need not complain of this. It is much
to congratulate ourselves upon that in Art, at least,
we may have high and noble principles brought before
the people, and responded to by them. It is much
that a miserable superstition, though it may have
enfeebled the moral sentiment of the people, has not
yet eaten into their heart and instinct so far as to make
them really put darkness for light, and honour disease
as health.
In the ancient Greek religion, Jupiter stood just
�9
where Jehovah stood in the Jewish religion. They
were both stern, jealous, vindictive deities,—personi
fications of thunder and lightning,—with no humanity
about them. Gradually, the Greeks became ashamed
of Jupiter, and they began to worship heroes who had
human hearts,—such as Hercules. In the same way,
in another line of development, men became ashamed
of Jehovah, and had to set up the human-hearted
Christ instead of him. In the early days when the
worship of Christ meant an appeal against deified
despotism, it w’as a healthy and noble worship. But
that was before there was anything in the world called
Christianity. Christianity was the overthrow of Christ.
It was the invention of a priesthood who found that
this novel idea of Christ, that God is Love, sending
sunshine alike on good and evil, would prove fatal to
their power. For their purpose men must be terrified.
So they contrived and intrigued until they unseated
Christ with his Gospel of Love, by tacking on to him
the discredited Jove and Jehovah, and setting their
lightnings to work again. They were but too success
ful. He who came “not to condemn but to save”
was made into an awful Judge of the quick and dead.
They have transmitted to us precisely those ideas of
death and hell, vicarious suffering and remorseless,
divine decrees, which the Heraclean apotheosis in
Greece at one period and Christ-worship at another,
overthrew for a time; and they have compelled us
�IO
to do the whole protestant work over again, and re
cover Christ by a rebellion against Christianity.
To-day, again, we see rising a certain shame of
theologic dogmas. Though the Church declares the
Bible to be the word of God, it excludes much of it
from its Lectionary, as unfit to be read in public. The
preachers are so ashamed of their dogmas that they
are angry at hearing them quoted, and say they are
caricatures even when taken literally from their creeds
and confessions. Lately the honour has been conferred
upon us of having our heresies made the subject of spe
cial treatment by the Christian Evidence Society, over
which the Archbishop of Canterbury presides, assisted
by many other prelates. Some recent controversies
which we have had in Holloway led that Society
to delegate four eminent clergymen to demolish our
principles during the Sundays of Advent. Now, those
sermons have been published; 1 have read them care
fully ; and in not one of them is there any defence of
Christianity at all. Not one of them deals with the
fall of man, human depravity, the atonement, or hell
fire. Not one of them has touched on anything
distinctive in Christianity. They eulogise Christ’s
character, applaud his charity, praise the sermon on
the mount, and discourse of everything but the real
points at issue. No Hindoo, reading those Advent
sermons, could gather from any word in them that
English religion believed in the Devil at all, much less
�II
as the natural Father of the human family; or in
eternal hell-fire, or vicarious atonement to an un
relenting God. And yet these men were especially
appointed to defend Christianity !
Why did they not defend it ? Why, they are scholars,
and scholars are ashamed of such dogmas. They are
ashamed of a God who says he will laugh at the
calamity of men and mock when their fear cometh ;
they blush for a dogma which says there was a bargain
struck between the Divine Sovereign and Christ,—so
much sin ransomed with so much blood; they feel the
scandal of such guilty calumnies on men and God as
human depravity and future tortures : they dare not
defend such things. So they surround themselves with
a cloud of verbal incense to Christ and Christianity,
and hope people will understand that at the heart of
the rhetorical cloud there is sound orthodoxy. But I
have never seen so startling a manifestation of the
irresistible rationalism of this age as that four clergy
men—among them a Professor of History, and a
Bampton Lecturer—delegated by a Society of Bishops
and clergy to defend Christianity, should pass over its
every distinctive dogma to praise virtues common to all
religions of the world.
As Balaam in the legend was sent for by Balak to
curse Israel but proceeded to bless them, these
defenders of the faith have left at the end of their
labours an impressive testimony that their so-called
�12
faith is indefensible, and that the most Superstition
can hope for is a golden bridge for its retreat before
the reason and sentiment of our time.
I say the “ sentiment ” of our time, for the orthodox
theology is not only repudiated by disciplined reasoners,
but the whole population have become so ashamed of
it that it cannot be taught in the public schools. The
religion now taught in the National Schools is nearly
the religion of Dr. Channing. It mainly depends now
upon the advance of a higher order of teachers, such
as is sure to appear, that those schools shall diffuse a
rational religion. Such a phenomenon would be im
possible were it not that the people have become
ashamed of the traditional dogmas. It has become
possible for our daily papers to write of “the un
pardonable sin ” as a curious survival of antiquity, as
if it were not in both Bible and Theology. An inquest
was recently held on a poor lady who died of the belief
that she had committed that Scriptural sin, and a leading
*
newspaper recommends the seaside for such diseases.
It also says such persons should be surrounded by
friendship and love. Exactly so. Like Alcestis they
are under the dark, deadly shadow of some heartless,
though happily imaginary, deity or demon—some
phantom of the terrors in nature,—and like Alcestis
they are to be brought from that region of shadows by
such love as dwells in human hearts.
* See Daily News, January 19th, 1877.
�All this means a new religion subtilely penetrating,
widely transfusing, the whole heart and brain of
Society. Mankind are saved by a divine humanity.
This is what our ancestors tried to express, as they
fled from gods of the storm to deities of love, incarnate
in human hearts,-—-born of human mothers that they
may bear a maternal tenderness to meet the needs of
a humanity born of woman. “ Had men been angels,”
says the Koran, “ we had sent them an angel out of
heaven; but we have sent them a man like themselves.”
All the incarnations believed in—Vishnu, Krishna,
Christ—meant the universal love recognised in human
love, as the sun might sign its course on a dial. Omar
Kheyam said, “ Diversity of Worship has divided the
human race into seventy-two nations ; from among all
their doctrines I have selected one—Divine Love.
And now, seven centuries after him, the civilised
world is making the same selection. It is quietly
hiding out of sight, secretly burying, the dismal
dogmas of divine wrath.
But we must take warning by the fact that this pro
cess has been gone through before our time j it has
been gone through again and again, but in every case
has been followed by relapse. Every bright incarna
tion marks a period when the human heart rebelled
against some heavenly tyrant; but invariably has the
new form been coerced into the vesture of the old, and
the fallen thunderbolts pressed back into his hand-
�I4
And this has always been done by one and the same
power—that of self-interested priesthood. No priest
hood can be strong except through fear. Many ages
have proved that. To cultivate religious fear has
always been their life in the past ; and now, when the
community has outgrown infra-natural fears—at least
in civilised centres—-they must invent some new kind
of terror, or else abdicate. The investment in Chris
tianity is too great for such abdication in this country,
and so the priestly interest is busily conjuring up
phantoms of another—a social—kind. It is declared
that all morality depends upon churches and sects.
There is still enough superstition to influence women
■and children, and this, we are told, must be carefully
retained and fostered, or else men will break all restraints
and carry society to rack and ruin. We are warned
that our institutions are all built up together like an
arch, Christianity among them ; and if one stone gives
way all the rest will tumble.
The only dark feature of our age is the spread of
this guilty notion, that falsehood is essential to the
welfare of human society. It is just that hypocrisy
which really endangers society. If ever the loyalty of
the people to law fails, it will be because the law insists
on maintaining proven error, and on turning the means
of education and happiness to the repression of science
under superstition.
That the social edifice needs pious fraud to support
�it is the last superstition surviving among the educated
and it is that we have mainly to combat.
And neither Hercules or Christ ever had a more
monstrous thing to encounter. To identify the interests
of superstition with those of social morality is not
mere atheism, it is antitheism; it is not mere belief
that there is no God; it is going against God : it is
pitting falsehood against truth—upholding darkness
against light—ascribing to ignorance more potency
than right knowledge : it is to declare a universe whose
every corner-stone is a lie !
The only saving faith of to-day is a faith that right
can never do wrong, that truth can never misguide
those who trust in it. The absence of this faith is the
only scepticism of our time worth a moment’s con
cern. The downfall of Jehovah, or the Trinity, is no
more than the vanishing away of Jupiter and Diana
who preceded them. Our posterity will witness the
performance of “ Paradise Lost ” as calmly as we now
do the same plot in the play of Alcestis These things
will pass away. But human society will not pass away;
the habit of mind—whether it be truthful or untruth
ful ; the human character—-whether it be faithful or
faithless ;—these will not pass away. We are to-day
weaving the destinies of the future, and every false
rotten thread we weave in will tell in the woof. We
are weaving not for our own race alone, but for
Humanity. As the priestly frauds of seventeen centuries
�i6
-ago are fettering millions to-day—among them many
of our own friends, and ourselves more than we know
—so will every lie sustained to-day bequeath a chain
to those who come after us. Is Humanity nothing to
us ? Then may we creep through our little conven
tional life, enjoy its petty rewards; but it will still be
true that he who has not known the love of Humanity,
nor felt its inspiration, has missed and lost the great
gospel of his time.
We must learn to read these ever new, though most
ancient, revelations of the life in nature to be unfolded
through man. Long ago has Alcestis been set to the
still sad music of humanity, for those who can listen
deep. All around us there is a Hades, and many
there be that go in thereat. Even while we claim
the triumphs of reason, and mark the skulking retreat
of dogmatic phantoms waylaid by the morn, the shadow
falls again upon us from the miasma of moral infidelity.
Out of it darts the double-tongue, striking at the heart
of all manly character. This is the Inferno of those
who see the truth, and applaud when it confronts the
wrongs of distant ages, but before the errors of
to-day cringe and crawl, and have one tongue for
the conventional, another for the secret audience.
Even honest ritualism is better than this unfaithful
rationalism.
Each manly heart has an Alcestis to deliver. Each
must combat with Death,—whether it be the skeleton
�!7
-•arms of a dead creed holding the mind in deadly
grip of fear; or be it the moral death which has
cheated our brother of his soul, and left him the
social simulacrum of a man.
It does not require of us the might of Hercules,
nor cost the blood of Christ, to make some rescues
at least from the dark abodes of faithlessness and fear;
but it does require still that we shall be filled with
■divine love, that we shall be animated by that alone,
till in our human hearts there flame a passion for saving
men, women and children from the bondage of fear
and the degradation of falsehood.
��
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Victorian Blogging
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
Creator
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Alcestis in England : a discourse delivered at South Place Chapel, Finsbury, January 21 1877
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CONWAY, Moncure Daniel [1832-1907]
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Place of publication: [London]
Collation: 17 p. ; 15 cm.
Notes: Part of Morris Miscellaneous Tracts 1. Includes a bibliographical reference.
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[South Place Chapel]
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[1877]
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G3334
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Free thought
Mythology
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Alcestis in England : a discourse delivered at South Place Chapel, Finsbury, January 21 1877), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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application/pdf
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Text
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English
Belief and Doubt
Drama-Greek
Faith and Reason-Christianity
Free Thought
Greek literature
Morris Tracts
-
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c7cfb4ff88d55caee826c58e02230b03
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Text
THE CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES.
BY
T. L. STRANGE.
PUBLISHED BY THOMAS SCOTT,
NO.
11,
THE TERRACE,
FARQUHAR ROAD,
UPPER NORWOOD, LONDON, S.E.
Price Sixpence.
�j-
h
i
I
�THE CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES.
N my article for this series on. “ The Portraiture ana
Mission of Jesus ” I dealt with Prebendary Row’s
book, issued at the instance of the Christian Evidence
Society, and designed to be a reply to the first portion
of the anonymous publication entitled, “ Supernatural
Religion,” which treats of the asserted Christian
miracles. I now take up the work of the Rev. W.
Sanday, also put forth in behalf of the said Society,
and offered to meet the latter portion of “ Supernatural
Religion,” which discusses the integrity of the received
gospels so far as this depends upon the supports of the
•early Christian writers.
The author of “ Supernatural Religion ” does not
advance beyond the school Fof German critics, who
make concessions in respect of the early history of
Christianity which I, for one, am not prepared to
subscribe to ; but he has done the cause of free thought
the inestimable service of putting forth his views in so
masterly and comprehensive a form as to have engaged
public attention, and thus has forced the advocates of
Christianity to leave their shelter of silence and come
forward to answer, as best they can, the representations
of an enlightened and modern adversary. Mr Sanday’s
volume is thus to be hailed by us with satisfaction,
and it occupies even a more important sphere con
nected with current pending questions, than does that
of Prebendary Row, which we have already welcomed.
Mr Sanday allows, as all must do, that there is ££ a
manifest gap between the reality and the story of”
I
�6
The Christian Evidences.
Christianity (8).* The matter to be solved, as nearly
as we can, is the extent of this gap. He also raises
the question “ What is Revelation ” ? but only to show
that this is still an unsettled term (9, 10). We have
consequently to follow him in a bare line of critical
examination, to ascertain, as far as we possibly may
at this date, of what value the Christian statements can
be held to be in the light of history, the acceptability
of Christianity turning mainly on this issue.
And here I am prepared to admit, what is not the
line taken by the author of “ Supernatural Religion,”
or the generality of adverse critics, that where any
early Christian writer may show a knowledge of the
facts and doctrines belonging to Christianity, that
circumstance serves to fill up the “gap” respecting
which our investigation is to be maintained, even when
it is not exactly apparent that such writer is making
use of the canonical scriptures. But it is obvious that
to be of value for the purpose in view, it is absolutely
necessary that the era of such writer should be satis
factorily ascertained. And just in respect of this
vital question, Mr Sanday leaves us without materials,
saving the martialling of sundry names current in
critical circles of those who can only be said to have
made guesses on this subject; whereby it becomes
apparent that tangible facts, on which we may be
permitted to exercise judgment for ourselves on these
points, cannot be readily put before us. He says, “ To
go at all thoroughly into all the questions that may
be raised as to the date and character of the Christian
writings, in the early part of the second century, would
need a series of somewhat elaborate monographs, and,
important as it is that the data should be fixed with
the utmost precision, the scaffolding thus raised would,
in a work like the present, be out of proportion to the
superstructure erected upon it. These are matters that
* Here, and elsewhere, when figures are thus introduced, they
refer to pages in Mr Sanday’s work.
�The Christian Evidences.
must be decided by the authority of those who have
made the provinces to which they belong a subject of
special study : all we can do will be to test the value
of the several authorities in passing ” (58).
Thus on two very serious considerations involved in
the discussion of Christianity, we are left by this
advocate, when meeting a formidable adversary, un
aided by information ; namely as to the precise times
of the earliest writers who show a knowledge of
Christianity, and the value of the accepted scriptures,
whenever it was that we got them, as being based
upon that divine authority which is currently alleged
for them.
Mr Sanday sets out with an appeal to certain of the
Pauline epistles as the “undoubted writings of St
Paul,” here making use of the unguarded and un
warrantable admission by the German critics of four of
these epistles, and from this source he naturally holds
that there is early “historical attestation” for the
Christian miracles, and especially for the great miracle
of the Resurrection, in respect of which “ external
evidence, in the legal sense,” he observes with satisfac
tion, that “ it is probably the best that can be produced,
and it has been entirely untouched so far” (11, 12).
But if it can be shown that there is no evidence for
the existence of Christianity during the first century,
or for far on in the second; that there has been no
such age as the asserted apostolic age; and that these
Pauline epistles have the characteristics of forgeries,
put together at some unknown times, by Gentile hands,
this source of support disappears, and we have to look
elsewhere for the first traces of Christianity.*
Before occupying ourselves with those who are com
monly considered to be the earliest Christian writers,
* See The. Twelve Apostles ; Our First Century ; Primitive Church
History; The Pauline Epistles; The Portraiture and Mission of
Jesus, all in this series; and The Sources and Development of
Christianity (Triibner & Co.).
�8
The Christian Evidences.
it will be well to examine the pretensions of those on
whom dependence is placed for the existence and
times of the supposed primitive writers.
The first who claims attention is necessarily the
ecclesiastical historian Eusebius. In his day, it is
apparent, Christianity was an established circumstance,
and our task, consequently, is to endeavour to discern
its earliest traces in the period anterior to him. Writ
ing about the year a.d. 315, Eusebius admits that in
prosecuting his investigations, he was “ the first ” who
had engaged in such an attempt, and that he had
entered upon his researches on “ a kind of trackless
and unbeaten path,” “ totally unable to find even the
bare vestiges of those who may have travelled the way
before him,” unless “ in certain partial narratives,” and
with a dubious light to guide him as that of “ torches
at a distance.” The result is, with these imperfect
means, he presents us with a volume, purporting to be
an exhibition of multitudinous facts, but at the same
time shows himself to be one not qualified to act as a
pioneer whom we may safely follow in the difficult
field before him.
The age he had to deal with, was one abounding in
literary forgeries, especially on the part of Christian
writers, who justified themselves, by supposing that
the importance of the cause they sought to promote,
warranted the means they took to advance it. Euse
bius has vouched for, and given currency to, such
forgeries, not having detected them; he was personally
credulous ; and he has been guilty of historical incon
sistencies and uncritical representations.* Dr Donald
son says of him, “ Like all the rest of his age, he was
utterly uncritical in his estimate of evidence, and
where he, as it were, translates the language of others
into his own, not giving their words but his own idea
of their meaning, he is almost invariably wrong.
Every statement therefore which he makes himself, is
* The Sources and Development of Christianity, pp. 2-16.
�The Christian Evidences.
9
to be received with caution”; and yet the learned
doctor, in endeavouring to place Christianity on an
historical basis, has to add, il my first, my best, and
almost my only authority is Eusebius. ... All
subsequent writers have simply repeated his statements,
sometimes indeed misrepresenting them, Eusebius
therefore stands as my first and almost only authority
(“ Hist, of Christ. Lit.” I. 13, 14). For whatever relates
to the first two centuries of the alleged Christian era,
in respect of its facts and dates, we have to look to this
writer, and no impartial mind can rest satisfied with
the statements of one circumstanced as he was, and
shown to be what he is, unless these may be found
reasonably supported with such corroborative materials
as should naturally belong to them.
The next name of importance to the Christian cause
is that of Irenaeus, an authority constantly cited by
Eusebius, and to whom is traceable the first notice we
have that the received gospels are four in number. In
treating of this supposed person, I am under d.eep
obligations to an article in this series entitled “ Primi
tive Church History,” and a forthcoming one by the
same learned writer on “ Irenaeus,” which I have been
privileged to see in the manuscript.
Beyond being frequently cited by Eusebius, Irenaeus
is mentioned by Tertullian, but no others of the
alleged early writers, not even Hippolytus who
is said to have been his pupil, show any knowledge of
him. There is a treatise “ Against Heresies ” bearing
his name of which some fragments in the original
Greek remain, and a version in barbarous Latin.
There is no certainty as to the date of his birth ; he is
said by some to have been of Greece, by others of
Smyrna or elsewhere in Asia Minor; Mr Sanday
speaks of “his well-known visit to Home in 178 a.d.”
(199), not however citing his authority, who is probably
Eusebius; Tertullian is reported to say that he was
made bishop of Gaul, it is supposed about a.d. 180 ;
�io
The Christian Evidences.
otherwise we have no particulars of his life. We hear
of his martyrdom in a.d. 202 from Eusebius, but
there being no other authority for the circumstance,
we may consider the date of his death to be as un
certain as that of his birth.
Mr Sanday holds that the treatise “ Against Heresies ”
must have been written between the years a.d. 180
and 190 (326). This production shows an acquaint
ance with the various branches of Gnostic heretics, and
the writer assumes an ascendancy over them as belong
ing to the orthodox party in the church, denouncing
all 44unauthorized meetings” as opposed to apostolic
traditions and the “ pre-eminent authority ” of “ the
very ancient ” church of Home. To have lived at a
time when orthodoxy had raised itself above surrounding
heresies, and when supremacy and a lengthened
measure of antiquity could be ascribed to the church at
Rome, necessarily places the writer at a period much
nearer the time of Eusebius than is supposed, unless,
indeed, his writings have been tampered with at a later
day. That he belongs to an era not so remote as is
assigned to him, appears also from other indications.
He speaks of “ good and ancient copies ” of the book
of Revelation (329), and of the existence of many
ancient copies of the “ Shepherd ” of Hermas (“ Against
Heresies” v., c. 30); moreover Saturninus, writing it is
thought in the beginning of the fourth century, says,
“ scattered churches of a few Christians arose in some
cities of Gaul in the 3rd century,” from which we
may judge that no bishopric could have been erected
there in the second century.
Tertullian is quite as questionable an authority as
Eusebius, and the collateral and internal evidence
certainly points to the time of the writer of the treatise
in question, being of a considerably later date than is
assigned to him. But we may even doubt whether
the name of Irenaeus, which figures so prominently
in the ecclesiastical history, attaches to a real person
�The Christian Evidences.
11
age. The word
va/og, as observed by Eusebius,
and dwelt upon by the learned writer I have before
referred to, signifies “peaceful,” and affixed to a
treatise designed to put down heresies and induce
concord of religious sentiment, it may very well
have been adopted by the writer as a designation
appropriate to the purpose of his work, so that we
may be entitled to end our examination with the
supposition that it is quite possible we have nothing
before us, under the heading of Irenaeus, but an
anonymous production, written when or by whom we
know not, saving that it came out at some time ante
cedent to Tertullian and Eusebius.
Tertullian is known of from Eusebius and the
writings he has left behind him. He is said to have
been of about the period of the supposed Irenaeus,
but we can only say that he preceded Eusebius.
He is described to have been a bishop of Carthage,
but we have no incidents of his life or death. He
wrote against Valentinus, Marcion, and other “heretics,”
which places him beyond the earliest times of Chris
tianity. He was of an age when the sacred text had
become extensively corrupted by various readings,
and had his part therein. Mr Sanday is engaged
with this subject in connection with Tertullian from
page 332 to 343. He says, “The phenomena that
have to be accounted for are not, be it remembered,
such as might be caused by the carelessness of a
single scribe. They are spread over whole groups of
MSS. together. We can trace the gradual accessions of
corruption at each step as we advance in the history
of the text. A certain false reading comes in at such
a point and spreads over all the manuscripts that
start from that; another comes in at a further
stage, and vitiates succeeding copies there ; until at
last a process of correction and revision sets in ; re
course is had to the best standard manuscripts, and a
purer text is recovered by comparison with these. It
�12
The Christian Evidences.
is precisely such a text that is presented by the Old
Latin Codex F. which we find accordingly shows a max
imum difference from Tertullian ! ” Then assuming
that we have the real time of Tertullian, he observes,
“ To bring the text into the state in which it is
found in the writings of Tertullian, a century is not
at all too long a period to allow. In fact I doubt
whether any subsequent century saw changes so
great, though we should naturally suppose that cor
ruption would proceed at an advancing rate for every
fresh copy that was made.”
Now it is apparent that the argument can be turned
quite another way. If nothing is known of the
appearance of the received scriptures till a late time,
say the latter part of the second century, as a large
class of critics maintain, then the condition of the
text and Tertullianus part in it, according to this
reasoning, would place him a century later, or far
on in the third century. The fact is, throughout
this investigation we are left to the operation of
the merest guesses. We know not when the text
came out, or when it was interfered with by Ter
tullian and others. The end is that of the actual
time of Tertullian we remain ignorant, but see that
there may be grounds for placing it considerably
nearer that of Eusebius than has been currently
asserted.
Whatever was the period filled by Tertullian, as an
authority to be appealed to he proves himself to be
utterly unreliable. In the first place he was very
credulous. He recognized in certain osseous remains
the bones of the giants. He believed in the agency of
good and evil angels, and that most people had a
demon attached to them, who could rule their des
tinies. He says, “ There is hardly a human being who
is unattended by a demon; and it is well known
to many that premature and violent deaths, which
men ascribe to accidents, are in fact brought about
�Ehe Christian Evidences.
13
by ’demons.” He makes use of the fable of the
Phoenix as an actuality illustrating the resurrection.
He says, as if coming within his personal knowledge.
“ I am acquainted, with the case of a woman, the
daughter of Christian parents, who in the very flower
of her age and. beauty slept peaceably (in Jesus), after
a singularly happy though brief married life. Before
they laid her in her grave, and when the priest began
the appointed office, at the first breath of his prayer
she withdrew her hands from her sides, placed them
in an attitude of devotion, and after the holy service
was concluded, restored them to their lateral position.
Then again, there is that well known story among
our own people, that a body voluntarily made way
in a certain cemetery, to afford room for another
body to be placed near it ” (“ On the Resurrection of
the Flesh,” c. xlii. ; “On the Soul,” c. xxxix., li.,
lvii.). . If we are reading Tertullian, and not introduced
monkish fables, the writer is shown to be positively
untruthful, as well as possessed of an inordinate love
of the marvellous.
That Tertullian in his aim to support the Chris
tian cause was little restrained by scruples in making
his statements, is very apparent. He is Eusebius’
warrant for the fact that Pontius Pilate transmitted
to the emperor Tiberius an account of the miracles
of Jesus, and of his resurrection from the dead, re
presenting that the mass of the people believed him
to be a god, on which Tiberius proposed to admit
Jesus into the Roman pantheon; so that knowledge
from Rome reaches Carthage, of a character to establish
the incidents of Christianity, after a lapse of say
nearly two centuries, which had escaped the notice of
all others occupying the intervening space and time.
In respect of the tale of the Thundering Legion, when
in a time of extremity the Christian soldiers in the
ranks of Marcus Aurelius are said to have called down
rain by their prayers, and so saved the army from
�14
The Christian Evidences.
perishing of thirst, Eusebius likewise received the state
ment Tertullian has had the assurance to make, that
there were letters by the emperor still extant recounting
the occurrence, Carthage again standing alone in supply
ing us with information from Rome. And in his tract
“Against the Jews,” he boasts, with little attention
to truth, of the vast spread of the Christian faith,
saying-—In whom but the Christ now come have all
nations believed ? For in whom do all other nations
(except the Jews) confide ? Parthians, Medes, Elamites,
and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, Armenia, Phrygia,
Cappadocia, and inhabitants of Pontus, and Asia,
and Pamphylia; the dwellers in Egypt, and inhabitants
of the region beyond Cyrene ; Romans and strangers ;
and in Jerusalem, both Jews and Proselytes; so
that the various tribes of the Getuli and the num
erous hordes of the' Moors, all the Spanish clans,
and the different nations of Gaul, and those regions
of the Britons inaccessible to the Romans, but sub
ject to Christ, and of the Sarmatians, and the
Dacians, and Germans, and Scythians, and many
unexplored nations and provinces, and islands un
known to us, and which we cannot enumerate: in
all which places the name of Christ, who has already
come, now reigns.” This wonderful observer was
not only able, in the behalf of Christianity, to draw
upon records in the archives of Rome unseen by
any other eye, but, as Mosheim points out, he can
give us intelligence of “ what was done in unex
plored regions and unknown islands and provinces ; ”
and, as observed upon by the author of “ Primitive
Church History,” from whom I have the passage,
he can people Jerusalem with Jews at a time when
under the ban of Hadrian not one of that race could
revisit the land without incurring death.
Clement of Alexandria and Hippolytus are the
next authorities relied on by Mr Sanday, as by Chris
tian advocates in general. They are mentioned by
�The Christian Evidences.
*5
Eusebius, and having left writings behind them, it
may be conceded that there were such persons, but
the notice of them by Eusebius is too meagre to afford
satisfaction. They are said to have been about the
time of Tertullian, but the end is that we know no
more of their true age than we do of his.
The last of those who are now in question as
authorities cited by Mr Sanday, is Origen. Eusebius
says that this writer suffered persecution in the reign
of Decius (a.d. 249-251). Niebuhr, while con
sidering the earlier alleged persecutions to have been
highly exaggerated, accepts that by Decius as the first
“ vehement ” one suffered by the Christians, because
mentioned by Pagan as well as Christian writers, the
Pagan authorities being the “ Historia Augusta ” and
Zosimus (“Prim. Ch. Hist.,” 67). We may thus with
apparent safety admit Origen as of the period attributed
to him, namely, as having lived somewhere towards the
middle of the third century.
We have now to consider the circumstances of the
earlier Christians, standing as it thought nearest to the
time alleged for Christianity, in view of judging what
testimony is to be had from this source. I take the
names in the order in which Mr Sanday has arranged them.
Clement of Rome (58-70). Mr Sanday says that
the learned place this individual at from a.d. 95-100,
but that some put him back to a.d. 70. The dates
depend upon purely ideal considerations. There are
many writings attributed to this Clement, the whole of
which are rejected by Eusebius and the modern crit
ics, with the exception of an epistle addressed to the
Corinthians. Mr Sanday cannot satisfy himself that
this epistle makes use of the canonical gospels which
is the point of his inquiries.
The state of the case is this. Eusebius considers
Clement to have been the third bishop of Rome on the
word of the doubtful Irenaeus, who says that “ the
blessed Apostles Peter and Paul ” founded this church
�16
The Christian Evidences.
and appointed Linus to be the first bishop, that after
him came Anencletus, and then Clement. According
to the epistle to the Romans, the church of Rome was
flourishing before Paul had visited it. He consequently,
pursuant to Christian authority, was not instrumental
in founding this church. Peter, according to the
epistle to the Galatians, was to confine his labours to
the Jews, and the Protestants universally disallow that
he set up the church at Rome. There is even room to
doubt that there were Christians in Rome, during the
so-called apostolic days, it appearing, notwithstanding
what is said of the world-wide fame of this church in the
epistle to the Romans, that when Paul is represented
to have gone to Rome, his inquiring Jewish brethren
there'knew nothing of the circumstances of the Christian
faith (Acts xxviii. 22). Josephus, moreover, who was at
Rome from a.d. 70 to 93, whenhe wrote his “Antiquities,”
makes no mention of Christianity prevailing there or
elsewhere. Wrong as to the foundations of this church,
the so-called Irenaeus may be equally wrong as to its
third successional bishop. Tertullian has it that
Clement was the first bishop of Rome, so that such
statements as have been made on the subject are con
tradictory. Of the epistle attributed to this Clement,
on which his existence may be considered to depend,
we have really no evidence. In 1628 the Patriarch of
Constantinople presented our Charles I. with an ancient
MS. as derived from Alexandria, and therefore styled
the Alexandrine Codex, but its further history is un
known. Attached thereto is an epistle to the Corin
thians, the writer of which is unnamed. Hence it be
comes a bold statement, after alleging with Eusebius, on
the very questionable grounds before him, that there
was a Clement bishop of Rome, to declare this epistle
to be his work.
Barnabas (71-76). The time of this person is given
as a.d. 130. For this conclusion Mr Sanday has nothing
to'offer, but that he has arrived at it by “arguing
AL
7
�The Christian Evidences.
17
entirely from authority.” He allows that there is no
certainty that the epistle attributed to this individual
has any citation from the received scriptures, though he
thinks it probable that such has been the case. All
therefore connected with this name rests upon the
merest surmise.
An epistle by Barnabas is first mentioned by Clement
of Alexandria. Eusebius knew of such a production
but considered it spurious. The Sinaitic Codex, itself
a document of doubtful origin, has an epistle appended
to it which it is supposed may be the work of this
Barnabas, but as it does not bear its author’s name, or
show to whom it is addressed, or from whence it was
written, it requires the utmost hardihood to accept such
a production as evidence for Barnabas.
Ignatius (76-82). To this person many spurious
writings have been attributed. Mr Sanday relies on the
criticisms of Dr Lightfoot for such of his ascribed works
as may be genuine. Dr Lightfoot does not appear to
acknowledge the seven epistles in the shorter Greek
recension as from the pen of Ignatius, but says they
may be “accepted as valid testimony at all events for
the middle of the second century,” the grounds for which
conclusion are not stated. The three Syriac epistles
Dr Lightfoot looks upon as “the work of the genuine
Ignatius,” while Mr Sanday cautiously observes that
they may “probably” be such. There are two dates
for the martrydom of Ignatius, namely a.d. 107 and
115, to one or other of which Mr Sanday supposes
these Syriac epistles may be attached, but as respects
any testimony to be derived therefrom, in support of
the canonical scriptures, he is unable to come to a
satisfactory conclusion.
Of fifteen epistles ascribed to Ignatius, eight, being
unmentioned by Eusebius and Jerome, are universally
disallowed. There are two Greek editions of the seven
others, a longer and a shorter one, but the learned have
been divided as to which to accept. The tendency has
B
�18
The Christian Evidences.
been to relinquish the longer edition, which Mr Sanday
has not deemed it necessary even to notice. Dr Cureton
has brought to light three epistles in Syriac to which
critics now preferably lean, thus abandoning the Greek
versions altogether. According to Eusebius Ignatius
wrote his alleged seven epistles when he was on his way
to suffer martyrdom, but as he describes himself as then
bound to ten men guarding him on the way, of such
ferocity as to be referred to as ££ wild beasts ” and
“ leopards,” opportunity for such effusions is not pro
perly conceivable. Not only the date but the place of
the asserted martyrdom is uncertain, some saying it
occurred at Rome, and some at Antioch. This Ignatius
is spoken of by the dubious Irenaeus, whose testimony
meets us at every turn, and by Polycarp whose person
ality is also most questionable. The statement offered
in the name of Polycarp is also weakened by its
acknowledging the whole of the fifteen epistles
attributed to Ignatius, when, according to Eusebius,
there were but seven.
Polycarp (82-87). We hear of him and his epistle
to the Philippians from Irenaeus, which, believing in
this name, Mr Sanday considers to be “ external
evidence ” of unanswerable weight. Polycarp is said
to have been martyred about a.d. 167 or 168, but Mr
Sanday prefers Mr Waddington’s surmise that it was
in a.d. 155 or 156. He considers it not clear that
Polycarp drew from the canonical scriptures.
The statement imputed to Irenaeus is that Polycarp
had held “familiar intercourse with John” and others
“ that had seen the Lord,” and had often recounted
their discourses in his hearing. Judging by the
ordinary limits of human life, these contemporaries of
the Lord may have survived to a.d. 80 or 90. If
Polycarp were martyred in A.D. 155, sixty-five or
seventy-five years had then passed away from their
time; if in a.d. 168, seventy-eight or eighty-eight
years had gone by. We may reasonably ask of what
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19
age Polycarp could have been when he listened to and
profited by the said discourses'? Assuming that he
lived to be ninety, he was possibly then from two to
twelve years of age, or from fifteen to twenty-five, but
the whole is a matter of uncertainty and depending
upon the seemingly fictitious Irenaeus.
Mr Sanday has not ventured to touch upon the
particulars associated with the martyrdom of Polycarp,
which are of a fabulous order. The saint, it is said,
was taken to the stadium there to be put an end to; a
voice from heaven greeted him ; he was bound to a
stake to be burnt alive, but the flames arched round his
sacred person and refused to invade it; then he was
stabbed to death, and the blood gushing out from his
body extinguished the flames. He was thus dealt with
simply because he was a Christian, and yet a body of
his fellow Christians were allowed to witness the
spectacle themselves unscathed. They are stated to
have written an account of what they had seen, and the
same has been transmitted to us through the neverfailing Irenaeus.
Mr Sanday sums up his examination of the writings
of the above parties with the supposition that they
either employed the accepted gospels, or some other
writings closely resembling them, so that they thereby
establish “ the essential unity and homogeneity of the
evangelical tradition,” a verdict which will ill satisfy
those who are looking for early traces of the inspired
record. And thus ends this little band of “ Apostolic
Fathers,” the imperceptible links to the undiscernible
Apostles.
Justin Martyr (88-137). “Ko one,” observes Mr
Sanday further back (59), “ doubts the Apologies and
the Dialogue with Tryphon” attributed to Justin
Martyr.
“Modern critics,” he says, “seem pretty
generally to place the two Apologies in the years
147-150 a.d. and the Dialogue against Tryphon a little
latter.” Following Mr Hort, Mr Sanday considers that
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these productions were put forth from a.d. 145-147,
and that in the next year Justin died. It appears that
Justin had a substantial knowledge of the Christian
narratives and doctrines, but what text he followed is
a matter of doubt. Mr Sanday’s conclusion is that
“either Justin used our Gospels, or else he used a
document later than our Gospels, and pre-supposing
them” (102). “If Justin did not use our Gospels in
their present shape, as they have come down to us, he
used them in a later shape, not in an earlier.” “ Our
Gospels form a secondary stage in the history of the
text, Justin’s quotations a tertiary.” “This however
does not exclude the possibility that Justin may at times
quote from uncanonical Gospels as well” (128, 129).
He followed a corrupted text, which Mr Sanday argues
“ is a proof of the antiquity of originals so corrupted ”
(13 6), an argument however not helping us to understand
when these Gospels were written and corrupted.
Justin and his works have hitherto been accepted
upon trust, while being clearly open to question. I am
thus more concerned in testing the authenticity of these
works than in judging of the acquaintance they exhibit
with the Christian scriptures.
“ The best part of the information which we have
with regard to Justin Martyr,” says Dr Donaldson, “is
derived from his own writings. The few particulars
which we gather from others relate almost exclusively
to his death.” He is spoken of as having been a
martyr by Irenaeus, Tertullian, Hippolytus, and
Eusebius, “ the circumstances of his death, however,
are involved in doubt.” “There is no clue to exact
dates in the history of Justin.” “The ‘Chronicon
Paschale’ places ” his martyrdom in a.d. 165, a probable
date; but there is no reason to suppose that it is any
thing more than a guess.” “ If we cannot trust
Eusebius, our only authority for placing Justin’s
martyrdom in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, we know
nothing in regard to the date of Justin’s death. The
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21
value of Eusebius’ opinion is not great, but it is infinitely
to be preferred to the utterly uncritical statements of
Epiphanius or Cedrenus,” who suggest that he died in
the reign of Hadrian, or onwards to the year a.d. 148
(“Hist, of Christ. Lit.” II. 62-74, 85). I think it is
apparent that whatever is to be known of Justin, must
be gathered from his imputed works, and should these
prove not genuine, that we shall have to part with this
long cherished name as that of an evidence for early
Christianity.
“ Probably,” says Mr Sanday, “ not one half of the
writings attributed to Justin Martyr are genuine” (59).
This should induce caution as to the remaining works
assigned to the same name. Of the two “ Apologies ”
ascribed to Justin, the second, if not incorporated in
the first, which is a matter of doubt, has been lost.
The “Apology” we possess is addressed to the Emperor
Antoninus Pius, his adopted sons Verissimus and
Lucius, the holy Senate, and the whole people of the
Romans, and its asserted object was to obtain for the
Christians a fair trial, to ascertain in what they might
have offended the laws of the state, in lieu of subjecting
them to death, simply because they were Christians.
On such a subject- an appeal to the Emperor as the
Chief Magistrate, responsible for the due administration
of the laws, would be all that would be required, and
it would be an indignity to him to make it appear that
his authority had to be supported by that of his sons,
the Senate, and the Roman nation at large. The one
referred tosby his familiar cognomen of Verissimus, who
was the heir to the empire, would assuredly in a public
document have been addressed by his proper designa
tion of Marcus JElius Aurelius Verus Caesar. The
other son, Lucius, was at the asserted time a child, and
could not have been thus appealed to. The so-called
“ Apology ” transgresses its required ends in entering
upon the tenets of Christian heretics, discussions which
could have been only irksome to Roman authorities
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It is also contentious and provocatory, in lieu of being
deferential and conciliatory, as such an appeal, if a
real instrument, would naturally be. The gods of the
Romans are described as sensual and false-hearted
demons who had imitated the circumstances associated
with Christ in the Jewish prophetic scriptures in order
to defeat the mission of Christ when he should come,
and the rulers addressed are adverted to as possibly no
better than robbers. And if Christians suffered death
in the time of Antoninus Pius, merely because known
as such, Justin exposed himself to that fate in openly
putting forth this “ Apology,” and is yet said to have
survived to address a second Apology to Marcus
Aurelius. Melito is represented to have offered an
Apology to this latter Emperor, in which, to urge his
case, he said, “ Eor now the race of the pious is perse
cuted, an event that never took place before” (Donald
son, “Hist, of Christ. Lit.” III. 230), a statement
giving the assurance that no persecution of Christians
occurred under Antoninus Pius, and thus putting an
end to the “ Apology ” of Justin.
The genuineness of the “Dialogue withTryphon” has
been questioned by some, and not without very sufficient
cause. It begins with an apparently fanciful representa
tion after the method of the fictitious dialogues in
Lucian and Plato—“While I was walking in the
morning in the walks of the Xystus, some one, accom
panied by others, met me with the words Hail, Philo
sopher!” and so induced the discussion. Justin
describes the course of his own studies. At first, in
pursuit of the “ knowledge of God,” he “ surrendered
himself to a certain Stoic.” Then, leaving him, he
“ betook himself to another, who was called a Peri
patetic.” After this he “ came to a Pythagorean, very
celebrated—a man who thought much of his own
wisdom,” but was dismissed by him because ignorant
of music, astronomy, and geometry. In his helplessness
“ it occurred to him to have a meeting with the Pla-
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23
tonists, for their fame was great,” and he fell in with
“ a sagacious man, holding a high position ” in this
school. Finally, when meditating in a “ certain field
not far from the sea,” he was followed by “ a certain
old man, by no means contemptible in appearance, ex
hibiting meek and venerable manners,” who made a
convert of him to Christianity. All is here vague and
unreal. We are not told who were these celebrities—
the Stoic, the Peripatetic, the Pythagorean, the
Platonist, and above all the venerable Christian
teacher who might have been an intimate of those of
the apostolic age. Tryphon, with whom the dialogue
is conducted, is unknown, as is Marcus Pompeius to
whom the production is dedicated. A Jew is
represented as courting discussion on religious subjects
with a Gentile philosopher, whose opinions to him
would be valueless, and with facile complaisance
habitually yields the victory to his opponent; and
every word that passed between them is reported over
a space covering in the translation above a hundred
and eighty pages of the Antenicene Christian Library.
The circumstances have only to be set forth to expose
the true character of this composition.
Hegisippus (138-145). Mr Sanday supposes this
author to have written in the time of the alleged
Irenaeus, or about a.d. 177. He thinks he must have
made use of the canonical Gospels, but this is only
problematical.
We hear of this person from Eusebius who says he
wrote an ecclesiastical history, no part of which is
extant. He is stated to have been of the period of
Hadrian (a.d. 117-138) and to have “lived during the
time of the first succession of the apostles.” Knowing
of him only from Eusebius we can have no assurance
of the age he belonged to, saving that he preceded
Eusebius.
Papias (145-160). This individual Mr Sanday
observes is reported to have suffered as a martyr about
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the same time that Polycarp was martyred. A com
mentary on the Oracles of the Lord is attributed to
him, from which Eusebius presents statements. After
discussing these extracts Mr Sanday says : “ Every
where we meet with difficulties and complexities.
The testimony of Papias remains an enigma that can only
be solved—if ever it is solved—by close and detailed
investigations.” He concludes that as far as he can
see “ the works to which Papias alludes cannot be our
present Gospels in their present form.” We derive
our knowledge of Papias from the so-called Irenaeus,
upon whom no dependence is to be placed.
The Clementine Homilies and Recognitions (161187). “ It is unfortunate,” says Mr Sanday, “ that
there are not sufficient materials for determining the
date of the Clementine Homilies.” “ Whether the
Recognitions or the Homilies came first in order of
time is a question much debated among critics, and the
even way in which the best opinions seem to be.
divided is a proof of the uncertainty of the data.”
These writings Mr Sanday believes draw upon the
Synoptic Gospels.
Clement of Rome purports to be the author of these
productions, but they are universally allowed to be
spurious. The editor of the Antenicene Christian
Library looks upon the “ Recognitions ” as “ a kind of
philosophical and theological romance.”
Basilides (188-196). This person was a Gnostic
who is said to have taught at Alexandria in the reign
of Hadrian (a.d. 117-137). He is spoken of by
Clement of Alexandria, Hippolytus, Origen and Euse
bius, as also by Epiphanius who is said to be of a.d.
367. There is a gospel attributed to him, hut what it
contained appears to be subject of doubt. Mr Sanday
thinks he or his followers may have served themselves
of the first and third accepted gospels.
The authorities cited are too far removed from the
time alleged for Basilides to be satisfactory as to his
�The .Christian Evidences.
date, nor does it appear that the facts or doctrines of
Christianity are properly traceable to him. “Practi
cally,” says Mr Sanday, “the statements in regard to
the Commentary of Basilides lead to nothing.”
Valentinus (196-203). Our knowledge of this
Gnostic teacher is derivable chiefly from the supposed
and ever-ready Irenaeus, but Mr Sanday allows that “ it
cannot be alleged positively that any of the quotations
or allusions,” ascribed to this person, “were really
made” by him, it being possible that they come
from his school.
The acceptance of the four
gospels in this quarter he observes, “ rests upon the
statement of Irenaeus as well as upon that of the less
scrupulous and accurate Tertullian.” A passage asso
ciated with the third gospel is given by Hippolytus,
but “it is not certain that the quotation is made from
the master and not from his scholars.” Mr Sanday
claims for this teacher and his followers a time spread
ing from A.D. 140 to 180, but the dates must be taken
as merely supposititious.
Marcion (204-237). Mr Sanday places this person
at about A.D. 139-142, but allows that in connection
with him “there is some confusion in the chronological
data.” “ The most important evidence is that of
Justin,” but who is to answer for Justin himself?
Mr Sanday also seeks to support himself with the
shadowy and never-failing Irenaeus, the untrustworthy
Tertullian, and Epiphanius, himself an ignorant un
critical man,* and standing too far removed from the
time spoken of to be an authority on that head. “A
certain Gospel ” is attributed to Marcion, but “ the ex
act contents and character of that Gospel are not quite
so clear.” In judging thereof, Mr Sanday points out,
that a critic of “ the nineteenth century should be able
to thread all the mazes in the mind of a Gnostic or an
Ebionite in the second.” The question is did Marcion
mutilate our third Gospel, “ or is it not possible that
* The Sources and Development of Christianity, p. 38.
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the converse may be true, and that Marcion’s Gospel
was the original and ours an interpolated version?”
At this date of time it is not possible to decide such a
question, though Mr Sanday and others have their
opinions on the subject.
Tatian (238-242). This individual is said to have
been converted to Christianity by Justin Martyr. “ The
death of Justin,” says Mr Sanday, “is clearly the pivot
on which his date will hinge.” “ An address to the
Greeks ” is attributed to Tatian, “ but it contains no
references,” as Mr Sanday allows, “ to the Synoptic
Gospels upon which stress canbelaid.” A “Diatessaron”
is traced to him which the ever-ready Irenaeus
describes as having been a harmony of the accepted
Gospels.
Justin’s era, and even identity or personal existence,
being matters of uncertainty, we are equally in the
dark as to what relates to his alleged disciple Tatian.
“We know nothing of the time of his birth, or of his
parents, or of his early training.” Irenaeus “speaks
as if he knew very little about him.” “Nothing is
known of his death ” (Donaldson, “ Hist, of Christ.
Lit.” III. 4, 8-10, 20).
Dionysius of Corinth (242, 243). The interest in
this person turns upon his use of the phrase “The
Scriptures of the Lord,” which, having “ Irenaeus in
his mind’s eye,” Mr Sanday thinks may probably refer
to the canonical Gospels. We know of him only from
Eusebius whose information relates almost exclusively
to his letters. To his date there seems to be no clue.
Meuto (244, 245). Mr Sanday says nothing as to
this person’s time, and observes that the fragments
imputed to him “ contain nothing especial on the
Gospels.”
He is said to have addressed an Apology to Marcus
Aurelius. “We know nothing of his life,” says Dr
Donaldson, “ except that he went, as he tells us himself,
to the East.” “ Our principal authority in regard to
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the works of Melito is Eusebius ” (“ Hist, of Christ.
Lit.” III. 221-223).
Apollinaris (246-248). He is said to. have
addressed an Apology to Marcus Aurelius, and is thus
placed by Mr Sanday at from a.d. 176-180. There is
a fragment attributed to him connected with the Paschal
controversy by a writer in the “ Paschal Chronicle, but
as this takes us to the seventh century, Mr Sanday does
not insist upon the reliability of the fragment. He
is mentioned by Eusebius who cites one Serapion, but
who he was no one knows.
Athenagoras (248-251). Though not noticed by
either Eusebius or Jerome, Mr Sanday looks upon this
person as “an author of a certain importance.” An
Apology addressed to Marcus Aurelius and Commodus,
and a treatise on the Resurrection, are ascribed to him.
The Apology, Mr Sanday considers may be dated about
a.d. 177. He cites a passage from this writer having
a close correspondence with one in the first Gospel, but
says that “he cannot, on the whole, be regarded as a very
powerful witness ” for the Synoptic Gospels..
The earliest to mention Athenagoras is Philip of Sida,
a Christian writer of the fifth century, removed by about
two centuries and a half from the alleged time of the
author spoken of, and concerning whom no one appears
to have had knowledge during this long interval. . Dr
Donaldson looks upon Philip of Sida as an unreliable
writer.
The Epistle of Vienne and Lyons (251-253). .The
persecution spoken of in this letter Mr Sanday considers
to have occurred in a.d. 177. He is satisfied that
there is a phrase in the letter taken from the third Gospel.
The extracts we have from this letter come from
Eusebius. In his history he says the persecution, in
question occurred in the seventeenth year of the reign
of Marcus Aurelius, which is the statement Mr Sanday
has followed, but in his “ Chronicon” it is alleged to have
happened ten years earlier. In the letter the allegation
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is that Christians, on the mere ground that they were
Christians, were fastened into iron chains and burnt to
death, ot thrown before wild beasts and torn to pieces,
acts said to have been sanctioned by the mild, philo
sophic, and law-respecting emperor we have in view.
Dr Donaldson appears to accept the letter as a genuine
production by some unknown writer of the period, but
says, “The style is loose. It abounds in antitheses
and strong expressions. It also mixes up incongruous
figures. Its statements are not, therefore, to be looked
on as cold historical accuracies ” (“ Hist, of Christ. Lit.”
III. 250-274). In treating of Irenaeus I have pointed
out that there is room to question the existence of
churches in Gaul during the second century, and it •will
be seen hereafter that these alleged early persecutions
cannot be said to rest upon any true historical basis.
Ptolemaeus and Heraclion (254-260). These are
Gnostic teachers who are spoken of by Irenaeus,
Clement of Alexandria, and Hippolytus. Mr Sanday
considers that Irenaeus wrote of Ptolemaeus in a.d. 182,
and may have met with him on his visit to Home in a.d.
178 when he had already formed a school. Clement of
Alexandria shows that Heraclion was acquainted with
the third Gospel, and Origen says he wrote a commentaryon the fourth. Epiphanius attributes to him an
epistle to one Flora containing references to the first
Gospel. Heraclion is always coupled with Ptolemaeus,
and is therefore supposed to be of the same standing.
We can derive no certainty of the times of these
Gnostic teachers from Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria,
and Hippolytus, whose own eras are so uncertain.
From the testimony of Origen we may admit their
existence at some period preceding the middle of the
third century.
Celsus (260-263). We know of this writer through
the pages of his opponent Origen, who considered him
to be an Epicurean of the time of Hadrian or later;
“ exact and certain knowledge, however, about Celsus,”
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29
Mr Sanday observes, “ Origen did not possess.”
Towards establishing his period the effort is made
to identify this Epicurean with one bearing the name of
Celsus who was a Neo-platonist, and a friend of Lucian,
whose time is known of, and this identity is maintained
by Keim, whom Mr Sanday considers it safe to follow;
and it is on these hypothetical grounds that Origen, who
wrote at some time during the first half of the third
century, is supposed to have been matching himself with
Celsus of about a.d. 178. Mr Sanday appears, however,
a little uncertain about the position, as he winds up by
saying, “ At whatever date Celsus wrote, it appears to
be sufficiently clear that he knew and used all the four
Canonical Gospels.”
The Canon of Muratori (263-268). A fragment
of this canon alone is extant, beginning with a reference
to the third and fourth Gospels, whence Mr Sanday
fairly enough concludes that in the wanting part of the
document the first and second Gospels were included.
Most of the other writings of the New Testament are
spoken of in the fragment in question. “ The Pastor” of
Hermas is alluded to as a then recent production put
forth in the time of Pius, the brother of the author,
who was bishop of Rome. Pius is said to have occupied
the episcopate from a.d. 142-157, on which grounds Mr
Sanday presumes that the Muratorian Fragment was
put forth from a.d. 170-180.
We have first of all to accept as reliable the statement
which would associate this canon with the asserted
Pius of Rome, and having done this we have to accept
his time ; but we are without any assurance that there
was such a bishop other than the appearance of that
name in the list of bishops of Rome given by Euse
bius for which he has adduced no authority.
Mr Sanday concludes with discussing the evidences
to the recognition of the fourth Gospel, and the
state of the canon in the latter part of the second
century, but as his dependence in respect of these
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matters is on the names we have already discussed, it is
not necessary to go over these grounds with him.
It has not fallen within the scope of Mr Sanday’s
work to introduce possible evidences for Christianity
in the early times from the circle of writers outside
the Christian field, but it is essential to the position
I have to maintain that this branch of the subject
should be understood. I state my conclusions on
this part of the inquiry, but must refer my readers
for the supports thereto to my work on the Sources
and Development of Christianity.
The Jewish writers of the period alleged for the
uprise of Christianity naturally first deserve our atten
tion. The earliest of these is Philo Judaeus, whose
works are fortunately extant, and untampered with.
He wrote upon the Old Testament and other associated
subjects of interest to his people, and being of Alex
andria and of the Neo-platonic school there prevailing,
he embarked in representations of the Logos, or per
sonified Word of God, corresponding closely to what
were afterwards attributed to Christ in the fourth
Gospel. He is seen to have visited the temple at
Jerusalem as every devout Jew was bound to do,
and he also went on a mission to Borne in a.d. 42. The
next to be noticed is Nicolaus of Damascus, a learned
and eloquent Jew, more than once the chosen advocate
of his people, and the friend and defender of Herod
and of his successor Archelaus before the court of
Borne. We hear of him through Josephus. The third
is Justus of Tiberias, that city on the border of the
lake of Gennesareth with which so much of the action
described in the Gospel histories is connected. He
was a contemporary of Josephus and opposed his
measures in Galilee. He was thus of the generation
succeeding that alleged for Christ, and wrote a his
tory of the Jews which is referred to by Josephus,
and has been described by Photius, a well-known
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Byzantine writer of the ninth century. The fourth
is Josephus who was born in a.d. 37, and wrote his
account of the Wars of the Jews in a.d. 75, and his
“Antiquities” in a.d. 93. He was of Jerusalem, was
deputed to put down a sedition in Gralilee, was cog
nizant of the circumstances of Antioch and Damas
cus, and lived at Rome from a.d. 70 to the close.of
the century. He was one occupied with Jewish in
terests, and familiar with all the alleged earliest centres
of Christianity in the generations when it is said that
the faith first prevailed and was promulgated.. The
last source to be considered is the Talmud. This vol
uminous collection of writings represents the phases of
Jewish thought, religious, scientific, literary, and his
torical, for about a thousand years calculated from the
return from the Babylonish captivity. The earliest
edition thereof certainly dates after the establish
ment of Christianity, but it is looked upon as a faith
ful record of the more ancient traditions. Now. if
Jesus was what he is declared in matured Christianity
to have been, a god on earth, filling the regions round
about him with the fame of his wondrous works, and
realizing the position of the Jewish Messiah, he must
have been heard of in the quarters occupied by the
writers described, and he himself, and the movement
he is said to have instituted, would have found a
place in their several historical and literary productions;
but not a notice of him or his followers appears there
in, from which silence, on such a subject, by the in
terested Jews, no other conclusion can be fairly drawn
than that the narratives we have of this personage are
not based upon actual occurrences, but are mere fanciful
representations composed in later times for the support
of an ideal and highly artificial faith. So clearly did
it appear to the early Christians that some allusion to
Christ and his people should have occurred in these
Jewish histories, that they have not hesitated to intro
duce in the pages of Josephus passages respecting Christ,
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John the Baptist, and James the just“ the brother of the
Lord,” which, when exposed as forgeries, serve to prove
the barrenness of a cause that has to be thus supported.
When we turn to Pagan sources for any genuine
record of the existence of early Christianity, the
same absolute dearth of evidence and unscrupulous
attempts to 'supply the need, meet us. The writings
of Pliny the younger, Tacitus, and Suetonius, have
been tampered with in a manner similar to that adopted
in the instance of Josephus, in order to make it appear
that Roman writers of note were cognizant of the move
ment ; but, as noticed by the author of “ Primitive
Church History,” the persons so guilty of endeavouring
to practise upon our credulity, in furnishing materials of
evidence for the -first century of the asserted Chris
tian era, have committed the mistake of overlooking
that to keep up the fictitious representation it was re
quisite that similar evidence should have flowed on in
the second century.
A fertile expedient for the exhibition of Chris
tianity in the early days asserted for its existence,
is the statement that Christians in those times
frequently suffered persecution because of the faith
they held. The emperors Nero, Domitian, Trajan,
Hadrian, Antoninus, Aurelius, Severus, and Maximin,
re J said so to have oppressed them at various times
from a.d. 64 to the early part of the third century,
leading to formal apologies, or explanations of the tenets
of Christianity, being presented to avert such per
secutions. Hadrian is stated thus to have been
addressed by Quadratus, and Aristides; Antoninus
Pius and Marcus Aurelius in succession by Justin
Martyr ; and the latter emperor furthermore by Melito,
Apollinarius, and Athenagoras ; and ostensibly to his
reign the epistle of the Churches of Vienne and Lyons
belongs. The persecution by Nero depends on passages
in Tacitus and Suetonius, and that by Trajan on the
alleged letter of Pliny the younger to that emperor,
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33
all of which may be shown to be fabrications ; * and
the testimony of Melito clears all preceding Marcus
Aurelius of the imputation in question.f The remain
ing Apologies, four in number, coupled with the letter
ascribed to the Churches in Gaul, are associated with the
pamp, of Aurelius. The selection made of this emperor
for the support of the Christian allegations is an
unfortunate one, his character being quite other than
would belong to an oppressor and destroyer of harmless
people. He was styled Verissimus because of his
sincerity and love of truth; when Cassius sought
to usurp his throne he mercifully forgave those con
cerned in the conspiracy; he devoted himself to
philosophy and literature; “in jurisprudence especially,
he laboured throughout life with great activity, and
his constitutions are believed to have filled many
volumes ; ” his “ education and pursuits ” “ exercised
the happiest influence upon a temper and disposition
naturally calm and benevolent.” “ He was firm without
being obstinate; he steadily maintained his own prin
ciples without manifesting any overweening contempt
for the opinion of those who differed from himself;
his justice was tempered with gentleness and mercy.”
“ In public life, he sought to demonstrate practically the
truth of the6Platonic maxim, ever on his lips, that those
states only could be truly happy which were governed
by philosophers, or in which the kings and rulers were
guided by the tenets of pure philosophy.” “No
monarch was ever more widely or more deeply be
loved. The people believed that he had been sent
down by the gods, for a time, to bless mankind, and
had now returned to the heaven from which he des
cended” (Smith’s “Diet, of Greek and Roman Bio
graphy”). This was certainly not the man to have in
itiated the violent and cruel persecutions with which the
Christians charge him.
* The Sources and Development of Christianity, pp. 32-36.
t See ante, p. 22.
C
�34
The Christian Evidences.
From such questionable and unsupported accusations
we may turn to something like reliable history.
“ After many years,” says Lactantius, who lived to a.d.
325, “that execrable animal appeared, Decius, who
persecuted the church.” “ Most of the Roman
emperors of this (second) century,” observes Mosheim,
“were of [a mild character.” “But when Decius
Trajan came to the imperial throne (a.d. 249), war, in
all its horrors, burst upon the Christians.” Decius,
says Niebuhr, “was the first who instituted a vehement
persecution of the Christians, for which he is cursed by
the ecclesiastical writers as much as he is praised by
the Pagan historians ” (the latter being the writers of
the “Historia Augusta” and Zosimus). “The
accounts,” Niebuhr continues, “ which we have of
earlier persecutions are highly exaggerated, as fHenry
Dodwell has justly pointed out. The persecution by
Decius, however, was really a very serious one ; it in
terrupted the peace which the Christian church had en
joyed for a long time” (“Prim. Ch. Hist.”, pp. 66,
67).
The learned author of “ Primitive Church History ”
takes his stand upon this event—the persecution of
the Christians by the emperor Decius—as affording the
first date connected with Christianity, historically
demonstratable, that can be put before us, and in this
conclusion I entirely concur. We are not to be in
fluenced by mere authority on such a subject. Credner, Volkmar, Hilgenfeld, Baur, Ewald, Keim, and a
host of others of the German school, and Westcott,
Scrivener, Lightfoot, Hort, and M'Clellan of the
English school, depended upon more or less by Mr
Sanday, are not more likely to see the unseen or dis
cover the non-existent than others. What we look for
are facts, and not surmises, however ingeniously arrived
at or learnedly sustained, and if there be a date, resting
on independent grounds, for any event or person con
nected with Christianity, antecedently to a.d. 249, we
4
�The Christian Evidences.
35
are persuaded that it has yet to be brought to light
and put before us.
It is apparent that there were Christians in existence
before the time of Decius, who, meeting with them,
sought to put them down by violent measures; but
it is not necessary to suppose that it occupied any
lengthened period to establish Christianity, even in its
matured form. The various phases of Christianity have
had their antecedent expression of doctrinal belief; the
Gnostics grew out of the Neo-platonists of Alexandria;
the Judaic Christians or Ebionites followed Judaism,
■especially as exhibited by the Essenes and Therapeuts ;
and the Pauline Christians, finally becoming the
orthodox party, are derivable from Grecian Paganism.*
We have seen how readily diversities of religious
persuasions can be built up on what has gone before,
and can suppose for Christianity a like facile origin.
Thus Mahommedanism flourished in the days of
Mahommed; Protestantism in those of Luther; the
Quakers became a considerable body in the time of their
founder George Fox; Wesleyanism was established
on broad foundations in that of John Wesley ; Irvingism in that of Edward Irving; Puseyism, leading on to
Eitualism, in that of Dr Pusey • Brethrenism in that of
John Darby; Mormonism in that of Joseph Smith ; and
New Forest Shakerism in that of Mrs Girling. A genera
tion or two therefore might have sufficed to produce
■the Christianity against which Decius Trajan set his face.
The positive evidence for Christianity in its asserted
•early times having failed us, we become entitled to
weigh the negative evidence affecting the question. The
time of Nicolaus of Damascus covers the period of the
.alleged divine nativity of Jesus and of the slaughter
by Herod of the infants of Bethlehem; that of Philo
Judseus embraces the whole period attributed to Jesus ;
those of Justus of Tiberias and Josephus represent
the generation following Jesus, the time of Josephus as
* The Pauline Epistles.
�36
The Christian Evidences.
an author extending to a.d. 93 ; the times of Pliny the
younger, Tacitus, and Suetonius occupy from a.d. 106
to 110; and the Talmudic traditions comprehend the
age ascribed to Jesus and several centuries preceding him.
These being sources from which evidence for Christian
ity might be reasonably looked for, and none appearing
therein but what has been fabricated, we may conclude
that to inquiring and interested minds of the earliest
periods nothing was known of Christ or his followers
through his asserted life-time and onwards to a.d. 110.
The Synoptic Gospels, in the guise of a prophecy,
show a demolition of the temple at Jerusalem so com
plete that not one stone was left upon another, and in
1 Thess. ii. 16 we hear that the “wrath” of God had
“ come upon ” the Jews “to the uttermost”; circum
stances true of the time of Hadrian rather than of that
of Titus, and advancing us to a.d. 135. The scripture
records containing these material statements we may
presume were not put together till after the year in
question when Hadrian devastated Judea. The Apolo
gists are represented to have lived and written of
persecutions occurring from the era of Hadrian to that
of Marcus Aurelius, or from a.d. 117 to 180; but when
it becomes apparent that these representations are
destitute of foundation, we may be satisfied that they
have been introduced to support Christianity with
proofs of its prevalence at times when there was no
real evidence of its existence to be offered. We arrive
thus at the conclusion that to the year a.d. 180, or for
five generations following the period assigned for the
death of Jesus, there was no such thing known of or
professed as Christianity.
There occur then about seventy years to the time of
Decius, during which we are to presume that Christian
ity had its rise, and prevailed sufficiently to have
attracted the opposition of this persecuting emperor.
The writer of the third Gospel shows us that “ many
had taken in hand ” to describe the life of Christ be-
�The Christian Evidences.
37
fdre the appearance of his effort. These were necessar
ily unauthorized or apocryphal scriptures, as Origen has
recognized to have been the fact, of which we know
that there were upwards of fifty such apocryphal
gospels, whereof seven are still extant. The earliest
Christian writers made use of these unauthorized
scriptures, as for example the reputed Clement of Rome,
Justin Martyr, Papias, and the author of the Clemen
tine Homilies. The heretics, who were a numerous
body, held to these and not to the accepted scriptures.
The so-called Irenaeus, while limiting the gospels to
four in number, cites the “Shepherd” of Hermas and
incidents still found in the gospel according to
Nicodemus as authoritative, and in disregard of
the statements in the canonical scriptures, maintains,
from some other source, that it was necessary that
Christ should pass through the different stages of
human existence, and thus did not end his days till he
was upwards of fifty years of age. Athenasius, in the
fourth century, followed the gospel of Nicodemus in
respect of the descent of Christ to Hades, an event
also indicated, we may assume from the same source,
in the accepted scriptures (Eph. iv. 9 ; 1. Pet. iii. 19 ;
iv. 6), and which has been presented as an object of
belief to the church in what is called the Apostle’s
Creed. At the same period Eusebius informs us that
the gospel according to the Hebrews maintained its
ground with some to his time (“ Ec. Hist.” III. 25).
There are other passages of the received scriptures, as
pointed out by the author of “ Primitive Church
History,” which would seem to be traceable to
apocryphal productions, such as occur in Matt, xxiii.
35; Acts xx. 35; Rom. xv. 19, 24; 1 Cor. xv. 6;
Jude 14.
Mr Sanday’s very candid treatment of the testimony
of Papias affords valuable material in dealing with the
subject now before us. He admits freely that the
Gospel of Mark to which Papias referred is not the one
�8
The Christian Evidences.
admitted into the canonical collection, this latter, accord
ing to the conclusion he is obliged to arrive at, not
being “original but based upon another document
previously existing” (149). “No doubt,” he continues
to observe, “this is an embarrassing result. The
question is easy to ask and difficult to answer—If our'
St Mark does not represent the original form, of the
document, what does represent it”? Papias had
described the Gospel of Mark he knew of as not written
in order, while Mr .Sanday finds that “the second
Gospel is written in order,” and therefore cannot be the
“original document” of which Papias has spoken (151).
The testimony affecting the canonical Gospel according
to Matthew is of an equally fatal nature. This Gospel,
as Papias has shown, should have appeared in Hebrew,
which was the form in which he was acquainted with
it, but ours is in Greek, and as Mr Sanday further
notices it uses the Septuagint and not the, Hebrew
Scriptures, and it has “ turns of language which have
the stamp of an original Greek idiom and could not
have come in through translation.” “ Can it have been,”
he asks, “ an original document at all”? To which his
reply is, “ The work to which Papias referred clearly
was such, but the very same investigation which shows
that our present St Mark was not original, tells with
increased force against St Matthew” (152).
We may next consider the condition in which these
writings have been transmitted to us, and no one could
-more faithfully and unreservedly describe this than has
done Mr Sanday.
The scheme of the New Testament is avowedly based
upon what appears in the Old Testament. Mr Sanday
says, “the whole subject of Old Testament quotations
is highly perplexing. Most of the quotations that we
meet with are taken from the LXX. version: and the
text of that version was at this particular time
especially uncertain and fluctuating” (16, 17). Mr
Sanday is here occupied with the quotations made b\
�The Christian Evidences.
39
the early Christian writers, but the time alleged for
them approaches that asserted for the Canonical Scrip
tures, and Mr Sanday’s observations embrace the latter
description of writings also. He says, for example,
that “in Eph. iv. 8 St Paul quotes Ps. lxxviii. 19, but
with a, marked variation from all the extant texts of the
LXX.” (17). Again he adds, “ Strange to say, in five
other passages which are quoted variantly by St Paul,
Justin also agrees with him” (18). “ In two places at
least Clement agrees, or nearly agrees, with St Paul,
where both differ from the LXX.” (19). “Another
disturbing influence, which will affect especially the
quotations in the Gospels, is the possibility, perhaps
even probability, that many of these are made, not'
directly from either Hebrew or LXX., but through the
Targums. This would seem to be the case especially
with the remarkable applications of prophecy in St
Matthew” (19). Mr Turpie is referred to for the
details he exhibits. Of 275 quotations from the Old
Testament in the New, 37 agree with the LXX., but
not with the Hebrew; 76 differ both from the Hebrew
and the LXX., where the two are together; 99 differ
from them where they diverge; and 3, “though in
troduced with marks of quotation, have no assignable
original in the Old Testament at all” (20, 21). “But
little regard—or what according to our modern habits
would be considered little regard—is paid to the sense
and original context of the passage quoted,” the in
stances given being Matt. viii. 17; xi. 10 ; 2 Cor. vi. 17;
and Heb. i. 7 (24). “ Sometimes the sense of the
original is so far departed from that a seemingly
opposite sense is substituted for it,” the instances
being Matt. ii. 6; Rom. xi. 26; and Eph. iv. 8 (24).
In Matt, xxvii. 9, 10, Jeremiah has been cited in lieu
of Zechariah; in Mark ii. 26, Abiathar has been
named in lieu of Abimelech; and “in Acts vii. 16
there seems to be a confusion between the purchase of
Machpelah near Hebron by Abraham and Jacob’s
�40
The Christian Evidences.
purchase of land from Hamor the father of Shechem”
(25). Matt. ii. 23; John vii. 38, 42; Eph. v. 14, and
the second of the citations in 1. Tim. v. 18, “can he
assigned to no Old Testament original ” (25).
The text of the scripture in the various versions
made thereof became corrupted, of which Origen and
Jerome have seriously complained. Mr Sanday cites
Dr Scrivener who observes, “ now it may be said with
out extravagance that no set of Scriptural records
affords a text less probable in itself, less sustained by
any rational principles of external evidence, than that
of Cod. D. of the latin Codices, and (so far as it accords
with them) of Cureton’s Syriac. Interpolations as
insipid in themselves as unsupported by other
evidence abound in them all .... It is no
less true to fact than paradoxical in sound, that the
worst corruptions to which the New Testament has ever
been subjected originated within a hundred years after
it was composed.” To which Mr Sanday adds, “This
is a point on which text critics of all schools are
substantially agreed. However much they may differ
in other respects, no one of them has ever thought of
taking the text of the Old Syriac and Old Latin tranlations as the basis of an edition. There is no question
that this text belongs to an advanced, though early,
stage of corruption” (135, 136).
“The first two
i chapters [of Matthew] clearly belong to a different stock
of materials from the rest of the Gospel.” “ If Luke had
had before him the first two chapters of Matthew, he
could not have written his own first two chapters as
he has done” (153). “For minor variations the text
of Irenaeus cannot be used satisfactorily, because it is
always doubtful whether the Latin version has correctly
reproduced the original.” The text of Tertullian hav
ing “ been edited in a very exact and careful form,” Mr
Sanday says, “I shall illustrate what has been said
respecting the corruptions introduced in the second
century chiefly from him” (332, 333). Mr Sanday
�The Christian Evidences.
4i
quotes from Dr Scrivener who states, “ Origen’s is the
highest name among the critics and expositors of the
early church; he is perpetually engaged in the discus
sion of various readings of the New Testament, and
employs language in describing the then state of the
text, which would be deemed strong if applied even to
its present condition with the changes which sixteen
more centuries must needs have produced ....
‘ But now,’ saith he, ‘ great in truth has become the
diversity of copies, be it from negligence of certain
scribes, or from the evil daring of some who correct
what is written, or from those who in correcting add or
take away what they think fit ’ ” (328).
In the Pauline epistles, the author constantly refers
to his having written them with his own hand (1 Cor.
xvi. 21; Gal. vi. 11; Col. iv. 18; Philemon 19),this being
“ the token in every epistle” (2 Thess. iii. 17), and when
another hand was employed, he was mentioned by name
(Rom. xvi. 22). The reason for the alleged caution
apparently is that the churches were disturbed by
spurious epistles as coming from the alleged Paul
(2 Thess. ii. 2). Peter is represented as using the like
precaution of naming his scribe (1 Pet. v. 12). If these
autographs were of importance to establish the auth
enticity of the text, it is clear that we should have had
the autographs as well as the text. Tertullian, to whom
it cost little to make an assertion, assured those he
addressed that there were such autographs (327), other
wise they have never been heard of. Speaking of
Origen, Dr Scrivener says, “respecting the sacred
autographs, their fate or their continued existence, he
seems to have had no information, and to have enter
tained no curiosity : they had simply passed by and
were out of his reach,” (328), or, it may be better
concluded, had never existed.
We may now judge of the tale of Christianity by its
proper historical foundations. A divinity is born on earth
�42
The Christian Evidences.
visibly moving among mankind; heavenly voices
announce his advent; when he opens his ministry the
spirit of God alights upon him in visible form, and the
Deity acknowledges his divine origin in audible tones ;
Satan appears in bodily form to subvert him with
temptations, but is defeated ; he turns water into wine
and creates cooked food out of nothing for the support
of thousands; he controls the elements, quelling a
storm and walking on water as on dry land; he heals
the sick with a word or a touch, restoring the lame, the
deaf, and the blind; the devils then infesting mankind
leave their victims and vanish at his command; the
dead rise to life obedient to his word ; the ancient
Hebrew worthies, Moses and Elijah, return to earth to
glorify him; angels come and minister to him; he is
publicly put to an ignominious death, but rises from,
the grave, visits and comforts his followers, and ascends
before them into heaven; from thence he sends forth
the Spirit of God to be for ever with his people, guiding
and instructing them in all things till he should
speedily return and take them to himself.
One would think that the revelation of such a being,
attended by demonstrations designed to attract attention
and fill all minds with wonder and awe, would not fall
dead upon the generation so visited, and that every
word and outward manifestation from the divine
personage so exhibiting himself for the benefit of man
kind, would have had its due and full effect, and have
left its impress upon the favoured witnesses of these
occurrences, and those who immediately succeeded
them. Equally should we expect that the mission of
the Holy Ghost would not be in vain, that the task
committed to him would be duly performed, and that
the divinely taught and guided people would stand out
in open relief as an exemplar to the darkened world
that was to be illuminated by their presence and
benefitted by their instructions. Nor could we antici
pate that the promise of the early return of the divine
�The Christian Evidences.
43
founder would remain, even at a distant day, unre
deemed, as a vain utterance, not to be realized. Such,
however, is the imaginary portraiture, and such the
reverse with which the stern progress of events
indubitably presents us.
The facts offered for acceptance are of a character to
contradict all experience, and involve a series. of
disturbances of the governing laws in nature which
operate around us in unvarying consistency; a fatal
interval of five generations occurs between the facts and
their known acceptance by any one, and we have to
depend for them, not on witnesses, but on records
suspiciously introduced at a later era j nor has the
integrity of these records, though said to have been
divinely inspired, been preserved. The first to avow
belief in the founder of the new faith are those who
are condemned as heretics, and the earliest representa
tions about him are in documents rejected as unauthor
ized and apocryphal. The Holy Ghost abstains from
action for five generations and upwards,. leaving the
field open to the enemy, who occupies it with false
professors and spurious narrations. At length a body
claiming to be orthodox make their appearance and
produce four accounts of the founder for which they
claim divine support. With the aid of a Christian
advocate we may assure ourselves that two of these are
not what they purport to be, but are substitutes for the
original writings which in some unaccountable manner
have disappeared. A third hangs upon these two and
necessarily falls with them. The fourth contradicts all
that has gone before it, is obviously framed for dogmatic
effect, and is so surrounded with difficulties as to its
authenticity as to have become a vehicle for disputations
never to be solved satisfactorily by those who would
uphold it. On the other hand improving knowledge
sets us above the condition of those who in ignorance
have accepted these more than questionable scriptures.
The proved antiquity of the human race makes us bid
�
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The Christian evidences
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Strange, Thomas Lumisden
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Place of publication: London
Collation: 44 p. ; 18 p.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. The oval portrait on title page is a photo [of the author?] that has been cut out and pasted. A review of the Rev. W. Sanday's work: "The Gospels in the Second Century." Includes bibliographical references. Date of publication from KVK. Printed by Turnbull and Spears, Edinburgh.
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Book Reviews
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Gospels
-
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PDF Text
Text
THE
RELIGION OF CHILDREN
A DISCOURSE, WITH READINGS AND MEDITATION,
given at
SOUTH PLACE CHAPEL,
OCTOBER
2i, 1877,
BY
MONCURE D. CONWAY, M.A.
frige twopence.
�ORDER
1. Hymn 132—
“ Smiles on past misfortune’s brow.”—Gray.
2. Readings, pages 3 to 7.
3. Hymn 180—
“I think if thou could’st know.”—Adelaide Procter.
4. Meditation, p. 8.
5. Anthem 22—
“Gently fall the dews of eveP—Saralt P. Adams.
6. Discourse, p. 9.
7. Hymn, 191 —
“ Oh yet we trust that somehow good
Will be the final goal of ill. ”—Tennyson.
8.
Dismissal.
�HYMN 132.
READINGS.
HEBREW PROVERBS.
My son, if base men entice thee,
■Consent thou not.
Walk not in the way with them :
Keep back thy foot from their paths :
Tor their feet run to evil.
.'Surely in vain the net is spread,
In the sight of any bird ;
But these lay snares for their own lives.
.Such are the ways of everyone greedy of gain;
The life of those addicted to it, it taketh away.
Because they hated knowledge,
Therefore they shall eat of the fruit of their own way,
And from their own counsel they shall be filled.
T’or the turning away of the simple shall slay them,
And the carelessness*of fools shall destroy them.
�4
ORIENTAL FABLE.
The learned Saib, who was entrusted with the education of the
son of the Sultan Carizama, related to him each day a story.
One day he told him this from the annals of Persia
“A magi
cian presented himself before King Zohak, and breathing on his
breast, caused two serpents to come forth from the region of the
king’s heart. The king in wrath was about to slay him, but the
magician said, ‘ These two serpents are tokens of the glory
of your reign. They must be fed, and with human blood. Thisvon may obtain by sacrificing to them the lowest of your people ;
but they will bring you happiness, and whatever pleases you isjust.’ Zohak was at first shocked ; but gradually he accustomed
himself to the counsel, and his subjects were sacrificed to the
serpents. But the people only saw in Zohak a monster bent on
their destruction. They revolted, and shut him up in a cavern
of the mountain Damarend, where he became a prey to the two
serpents whose voracity he could no longer appease.
“ What a horrible history ! ” exclaimed the young prince, when
his preceptor had ended it. “ Pray tell me another that I can
hear without shuddering.” “ Willingly, my lord,” replied Saib.
“ Here is a very simple one :—-A young sultan placed his confi
dence in an artful courtier, who filled his mind with false ideas of
glory and happiness, and introduced into his heart pride and volup
tuousness. Absorbed by these two passions, the young monarch
sacrificed his people to them, insomuch that in their wretchedness
they tore him from the throne. He lost his crown and his
treasures, but his pride and voluptuousness remained, and being
now unable to satisfy them, he died of rage and despair.” The
young prince of Carizama said, “ I like this story better than theother.” “ Alas, prince,” replied his preceptor, “itis neverthelessthe same.”
�5
FROM “THE SPIRIT’S TRIALS.”
By J. A. Froude.
A TALENT, of itself unhealthily precocious, was most unwisely
pushed forward and encouraged out by everybody—by teachers
Ld schoolmasters, from the vanity of having a little monster to
display as their workmanship; by his father, because he vms
anxious for the success of his children in life, and the quicker
they <mt on the better : they would the sooner assume a position
It had struck no one there might be a mistake about it. Tw one
could have ever cared to see even if it were possible they migat,
or five minutes’ serious talk with the boy, or to have listened to
his laurh, would have shown the simplest of them that t rey we. e
but developing a trifling quickness of faculty ; that the powe
which should have gone for the growth of the entire rec
bein-directed off into a single branch, which was su ed g
disproportioned magnitude, while the stem was quietly decaying.
L to the character, of the entire boy-his temper, dispos tion, health of tone in heart and mind, all that was presumem
It made no show at school exhibitions, and at east due dy
assumed no form of positive importance as regarded after
So this was all left to itself. Of course, if a boy knew half the
Iliad by heart at ten, and had construed the Odyssey through a
eleven, all other excellences were a matter of course. . .
was naturally timid, and shrunk from all the amusements and
Xes of other boys. So much the better : he would keep to his
books
He was under-grown for ms age, infirm, an un
healthy'"and a disposition might have been observed in him
even then in all his dealings with other boys and with Ins master
X evade difficulties instead of meeting them-a feature whi
should have called for the most delicate handling, anc uou
have far better repaid the time and attention which were w
�6
in forcing him beyond his years, in a few miserable attainments,
. . In a scene so crowded as this world is, or as the little world
of a public school is, with any existing machinery it is impossible
to attend to minute shades of character. There is a sufficient
likeness among boys to justify the use of general, very general
laws indeed. They are dealt with in the mass. An average
treatment is arrived at. If an exception does rise, and it happens
to disagree, it is a pity, but it cannot be helped. “Punish,” not
“prevent,” is the old-fashioned principle. If a boy goes wrong,
whip him. Teach him to be afraid of going wrong by the pains
and penalties to ensue—just the principle on which gamekeepers
used to try to break dogs. But men learned to use gentler
methods soonest with the lower animals. As to the effects of the
treatment, results seem to show pretty much alike in both cases ;
but with the human animal an unhappy notion clung on to it,
and still clings, and will perpetuate the principle and its disas
trous consequences, that men and boys deserve their whipping,
as if they could have helped doing what they did in a way dogs
cannot. . . It would be well if people would so far take
example from what they find succeed with their dogs, as to learn
there are other ways at least as efficacious, and that the desired
conduct is better if produced in any other way than in that. . .
On the whole, general rules should have no place in family
education. It is just there, and there perhaps alone, that there
are opportunities of studying shades of difference, and it should
be the business of affection to attend to them. When affection
i s really strong, it will be an equal security against indulgence
and over-hasty severity. . . .
I take it to be a matter of the most certain experience in
dealing with boys of an amiable, infirm disposition, that exactly
the treatment they receive from you they will deserve. In a
general way it is true of all persons of unformed character who.
�7
Come in contact with you as your inferiors, although with men it
cannot be relied on with the same certainty, because their feel
ings are less powerful, and their habit of moving this way or that
wZy under particular circumstances more determinate. But with
the very large class of boys of a yielding nature who have very
little self-confidence, are very little governed by a determined
will or judgment, but sway up and down under the impulses of
the moment, if they are treated generously and trustingly, it
may be taken for an axiom that their feelings will be always
strong enough to make them ashamed not to deserve it. Treat
them as if they deserved suspicion, and as infallibly they soon
actually will deserve it. People seem to assume that to be
governed by impulse means, only “ bad impulse,” and they
endeavour to counteract it by trying to work upon the judg
ment, a faculty which these boys have not got, and so cannot
possibly be influenced by it. There never was a weak boy yet
that was deterred from doing wrong by ultimate distant con
sequences he was to learn from thinking about them. It is idle
to attempt to manage him otherwise than by creating and foster
ing generous impulses to keep in check the baser ones. And
the greatest delicacy is required in effecting this. It is not
enough to do a substantial good. Substantial good is Oiten diy
or repulsive on the surface, and must be understood to be
valued ; just, again, what boys are unable to do. . . Strong
natures may understand and value the reality. Women, and
such children as these, will not be affected by it, unless it shows
on the surface what is in the heart. Provided you will do it in
a kind, sympathising manner, you may do what you please with
them ; otherwise nothing you do will affect them at all.
HYMN iSo.
�8
MEDITATION.
As we gather to-day, apart from the conventional world of
worshippers, we are still between those vast realms of moral
good and evil which are reflected in all human consciousness.
Beneath, stretches that abyss which human imagination has
peopled with demons and devils, and the manifold tortures of
souls in eternal pain and despair ; above, the fair realms of joy
with its spirits of light, angels, cherubim and seraphim. But
these are all within each of us. All those demons mean only
hearts sunk low in selfishness ; all those angels mean hearts
raised high in burning love. Not mean or poor is any lot which
gives room to deny self, to put all self-seeking passions under
foot, to ascend by the ardour and spirit of love. There is the
grand conflict between angel and demon waged, the struggle
between light and darkness, and there the victory is being won.
Great is love 1 Whether it sends its sweet influence through a
community or a home, whether it is saving a world or a heart,
great and divine is love! For it closes over and hides
the dark region of guilt and baseness within us, it quickens the
mind and expands the heart to their fulness of life. In each
heart are the two doors—one opening downward to the pit of
selfishness in all its forms, one opening upwards to the purest
joys ; and it is when we give all to the spirit of Love that the
hell is for ever conquered, and we build around us henceforth our
eternal heaven.
ANTHEM 22.
�THE RELIGION OF CHILDREN.
In some respects the child living in the present age
finds its lines fallen in pleasant places. It is not, like
its ancestors, tortured with nauseous drugs, nor so
much with the rod. The clergyman no longer pro
nounces over the babe at baptism, as he once did,
“ I command thee, unclean spirit, that thou come out
of this infantnor delivers it up to be dealt with as
if its natural temper and will were efforts of the unclean
spirit to get back again. In Iceland the old people
account for elves by saying that once when the Al
mighty visited Eve after the fall, she kept most of her
children out of the way because they were not washed;
on which these were sentenced to be always invisible,
were turned into elves, and became the progenitors of
such. But we are beginning to be more merciful than
that even for the unwashed, and have gone a consider
able way towards humanising them and making them
presentable.
�Id
As to their literary culture and entertainment, there
were probably more good and attractive books for
children published in the last ten years than in the
whole of the last century. Many of the finest writers
of our generation—Dickens, Thackeray, Hawthorne,
Kingsley—the list would be long—have rightly thought
it a high task of genius to write books for children.
But in religious matters the children can hardly be
congratulated on the age upon which they have fallen.
The child is a piece of nature—physical, mental, moral
nature. Heaven and earth meet in it; the laws of
reason are in its instincts as well as zoologic laws;
and these harmonise in it. The child is a unit. Con
science is for a time external; it knows good and evil
in the parental conscience, not in itself. There is no
divorce between the two kinds of goodness—what
is good for eye and mouth, and what is good, for the
soul. There is no fruit inwardly forbidden. Confucius
said 11 Heaven and earth are without doubleness,’’ but
Hebrew Scriptures say God has made all things double
—one is set against the other. Our theology has been
largely evolved out of this Hebraism, but our children
live morally in that primitive age which cannot realise
profoundly any dualism. The child, therefore, lives in
a heaven and earth without doubleness; if its parent
only consents to a thing, it feels no misgiving; but it
is early introduced to a religion full, not only of double-
�II
ness, but of duplicity. It is the gangrene of our
age that it says one thing and means another; professes one thing and believes another; and nearly
.
every child, taught any religion at all, is taug t mgs
incongruous. I used, in childhood, to wonder about
the meaning of that prayer in the Zh Dam,
e
us never be confounded;” but as time went on,
whatever else was obscure, the confusion grew clear.
Not only that old sense of a word which reqmres
philology to explain ; but the sense of every chapter
•n the Bible, every sentence in the Catechism,
requires the interpretation of knowledge and. expe
rience; whilst the sentences being m Eng ,
apparently, the young mind is compelled
p
some meaning into them-a meaning pretty certain
to be wrong—or else be put to confusion It is not,
however, the double tongue of formal teaching wh 1
is worst; the mental confusion is not so bad as the
moral; and there it is impossible to conceive anything
more anomalous than most of the rehg.ous induct o
—so-called—around us. It is the necessity of the
home, the nursery, and of the school, that the c>
should be taught to be forgiving, gentle knd and
never angry or hateful. It is instructed that all
X be «». But just so fast, and so far as
dogmas can be crammed into the child, it is1 asyste
which begins with God’s wrath against the whole
�12
world, and ends with Christ’s damnation of vast
multitudes. A little boy in an American family with
which I am acquainted, being in a passion with his
playmate, declared that he hated him, and never
would see him again. His sister rebuked him, told
him that was very wrong, and not like Christ. “ Christ
never hated and abused others, not even his enemies.”
“No,” said the boy, “but he’s going to.”
It may be that only one boy in many would be
clear-headed enough to say that, but many can feel
what one or none can say. It is impossible that
children can be taught in one breath a vindictive
Christianity and a gentle Christianity—dogmas of
fear and principles of trust—and not imbibe either
muddy waters of confusion or the waters of bitterness,
where they should find only fountains of light and joy.
In one respect the Reformation had an unhappy effect
upon the work of nurturing little children. It trans
ferred the care of “ saving its soul,” as it is called,
from the outside to the inside of a head too small to
manage it. In the Catholic family the drop of holy
water and sign of the cross on the child’s forehead are
alone required; and for many years it is mainly left to a
natural growth; at any rate, not encouraged to grapple
with everlasting problems.
Under the reformed
religion there grew an increasing anxiety as to how
the souls of the children were to be saved; and the
�13
way fixed on was to stimulate strongly its fears and its
hopes.
Luther brought with him a bright children s para
dise from the Church of Rome. Here is his letter to
his son, aged 4 :—•
il Grace and peace in Christ, my dearly beloved
little son. I am glad to know that you are learning
well and that you say your prayers. So do, my little
son, and persevere; and^hen I come home I will
bring home with me a present from the annual fair.
I know of a pleasant and beautiful garden into which
many children go, where they have golden little coats,
and gather pretty apples under the trees, and pears,
and cherries, and plums (pflaumen), and yellow
plums (spillen); where they sing, leap, and are
merry; where they also have beautiful little horses,
with golden bridles and silver saddles. When I
asked the man that owned the garden ‘ Whose are
these children ? ’ he said ‘ They are the children that
love to learn, and to pray, and are pious.’
“ Then I said, ‘ Dear Sir, I also have a son I he is
called Johnny Luther (Hanischen Luther). May he
not come into the garden, that he may eat such
beautiful apples and pears, and ride such a little
horse, and play with these children ? ’ Then the man
said ‘ If he loves to pray and to learn, and is pious,
he shall also come into the garden; Philip too, and
�14
little James; and if they all come together, then they
may have likewise whistles, kettle-drums, lutes and
harps; they may dance also, and shoot with little
crossbows.’
“Then he showed me a beautiful green grass
plot in the garden prepared for dancing, where hang
nothing but golden fifes, drums, and elegant silver
cross-bows. But it was now early, and the children
had not yet eaten. Thereupon I could not wait for
the dancing, and I said to the man, ‘ Ah, dear Sir,
I will instantly go away and write about all of this to
my little son John; that he may pray earnestly, and
learn well, and be pious, so that he may also come
into this garden; but he has an aunt Magdalene,
may he bring her with him ? ’ Then said the man,
(So shall it be ; go and write to him with confidence.’
Therefore, dear little John, learn and pray with de
light ; and tell Philip and James, too, that they must
learn and pray; so you shall come with one another
into the garden. With this I commend you to
Almighty God—and give my love to aunt Magdalene ;
give her a kiss for me. Your affectionate father,
Martin Luther.” (In the year 1530.)
It is plain that the man who wrote that letter was
himself a child. Thunder for the Emperor, lightning
for the Pope, but a shower of rainbows for little
Johnny. But that child’s paradise is now as obsolete
�iS
as the Elysian Fields, or the Indian’s happy hunting
ground There was already a worm amid its blossoms
while Luther described them: for Calvinism was
lurking near, with terrors to blacken not only the earth
but the blue sky. Happily for Johnny, his father was
not logical, else it might have occurred to him that if
prayer and piety were the way to reach the heavenly
garden, they would naturally be the chief occupation
there. But Calvin was logical; and there is no worse
affliction than your logical man when his premisses
are false. Calvinism made heaven into a large Presby
terian assembly, all the children turned to rigidly
righteous elders ; no children there at all. One by one
in the child’s paradise the blossoms fell blighted.
Instead of the dance, behold a Puritan Sabbath school;
instead of plums and cherries, texts and hymns ; cross
bows yield to catechisms ; and the child learned at last
that its heaven was to be a place where congrega
tions ne’er break up, and Sabbaths have no end.
Well, we have measurably recovered from that. . At
least, many well-to-do families have; the Puritan
paradise is one we are generally quite willing to give to
the poor. It is still largely the ragged-school para
dise, and I suspect that endless Sabbath fixes m many
a ragged boy the resolve never to go there. Meanwhi e,
for the children of a happier earthly lot, the fading away
of the little Luther paradise has left them almost none at
�i6
all. Protestantism, with its education, has shot out
into various theories of the future life for grown-up
people. The Reformer hopes for a scene of endless
progress. The Theologian imagines the supreme bliss
of seeing his own doctrines proved true, and his oppo
nents’ all wrong. The Baptist’s heaven shows the
sprinkling parson confounded; and the Wesleyan will
shout glory at the convicted Calvinist. “ There,” say all
of them, “ we shall see eye to eye”—that is, everybody
shall see as we always saw.
But what has all this to do with the children ? They
do not care for the theological heaven, nor the heaven
of endless progress. The learned Protestant world is
so absorbed in the controversy whether there be any
future at all, that it forgets the little ones who would
like to know whether it be a future worth having.
What is provided for them as the reward of their
prayers, piety, and self-denial ? They go to church ;
they read the Bible; they sit through the tragedy;
but when they look for the curtain to rise on beauty
and happiness, it rises on metaphysical mist, not by
any means attractive or even penetrable to a child.
Since, for us, Luther’s plum-paradise, and the
Puritan paradise, are equally gone beyond recall, we
may look at them calmly and impartially; and we
may see that both have their suggestiveness, and
point to a truth. Luther’s letter is a celebration of
�17
the child’s nature—the purity and sweetness and
even holiness of its little aims and joys. It is like
birds singing over again the old theme—“ Of such
is the kingdom of heaven.’’ But the paradise
Luther promised his child was much too definite.
He went too far into detail; and when little
Johnny grew from the age of four to ten or
twelve, and during that time had learned his lessons,
he would see his paradise losing its summer beauty.
By that time he might have outgrown the whistles, and
become careless of kettle-drums. He might prefer
gold in his pocket to a golden coat. He might find
it, as time went on, impossible to stimulate prayer by
a prospect of silver cross-bows, or even of yellow
plums. And so leaf by leaf, blossom by blossom, his
paradise would fade away; and it could never bloom
again.
On the other hand, the Puritan paradise, with all its
sombreness, did have the advantage of raising the
mind to large conceptions. It was false—cruelly false
__in crushing the innocent mirth and despising the
little aims of the child. That which Puritanism called
petty, was not petty. The boy at his sports is training
the sinews which master the world. The doll quickens
to activity maternal tenderness. It is said Zoroaster
was born laughing, and a sage prophesied he would
be greatest of men. That sage was wiser than the
�i8
Puritan. But it is not necessary to chill the mirth or
to dispel the illusions of childhood, in order to
keep it from the delusion of holding on to its small
pleasures as if the use of existence lay between a
penny trumpet on earth and a golden trumpet in
heaven.
It appears to me that the true religion of a child
is to grow ; and when it is old, its religion will
still be to grow. The child ■will turn from its toys ;
will return to them after longer and longer intervals ;
and lastly leave them, and turning say, “ Mother, what
shall I be when I grow up ? ”
If the mother only knew it, all the catechisms on
earth have no question so sacred as that! The
child that dreams of its future in the great wrorld has
already learned far enough for the time the pettiness
of life’s transient aims : it is already overarched by
an infinite heaven. In the great roaring world, seen
from afar, nothing is defined, nothing limited—it is a
boundless splendour of possibility. All that man
or woman may dream of heaven, a child may dream
of the great world of thought and action into which it
must enter at last, and find there a heaven or a helk
Religion can teach the child no higher lesson than
that, nor stimulate its good motives by any nobler
conception. As its sports train to manly strength, its
little pleasures develop the longing for intellectual
�i9
and moral joys. And if the parent’s tongue is not
equal to the high task of telling the truth about the
tragic abyss of evil to be shunned, or the beautiful
heights of excellence to be won, there are noble
books awaiting the child, the boy, the youth j ready
to meet every phase of the growth, and follow every
fading leaf with a flower more fair, more full of
promise than the cast-off toy or pastime.
What a training for the child entering upon school
life are the stories of Miss Edgeworth—a training in
manliness, independence, sincerity, and justice,
which can make the playground the arena of heroism
and duty ! And there is Scott: the horizon grows
lustrous with noble presences, as the boy reads.
Dickens will tell him the romance of humble life
how kindness and sympathy can find pearls in London
gutters, and scatter them again wherever they go.
Plutarch’s “Lives” frescoe earth and heaven with
heroic forms that remain through life as guardians of
conscience and measures of honourable conduct.
Happily the catalogue is long—too long to be now
repeated—of the good books which tell the young,
what brave and faithful men have done, and can do,
to help the weak, redress wrong, uplift truth and
justice, and make human lives melodious and beau
tiful amid the jarring discords of the world.
And the lives of noblest men and women have for
�20
their dark background the evils they conquered, the
wrongs they assailed; evils and wrongs which are the
■only real hell to be shunned. It is only the fictitious
hell that terrifies the child. The snare set on pur
pose to injure it by a “ ghostly enemy ” ; the dangers it
incurs unknowingly, from an invisible assailant it
may not avoid; these are the terrors that unnerve
and unman. The real dangers of life, when seen,
nerve the strength, man the heart, endow with resolu
tion and courage.
The old man said to a child afraid to go into the
dark—“Go on, child; you will see nothing worse
than yourself.” And that is the fundamental doctrine
for a child. All the hells—their mouths wide open
on the street—the seductive haunts of vice in all its
shapes—they are the creations of human passion and
appetite. According to what they find in us do those
fell dragons devour us, or else feel the point of our
spear in their throat.
And even so we make or mar our own heaven.
Our acts our angels are, or good or ill,
Our fatal shadows that walk by us still.
The little boy came to his mother, angry and weep
ing, complaining that in the hills some other boy
had called him bad names. He had searched, but
could not find him. But the mother well knew that
other concealed abuser of her son. il It was,” she said,
�21
“but the echo of your own voice. Had you called
out pleasant names, pleasant names had been returned
to you; and all through life, as you give forth to the
world, so shall it be returned unto you.
Amid these ever-present hells and heavens your
child must move—onward from the cradle to the
grave : why give it dismay or hope of heavens and
hells not present ? Do not pour that living heart into
ancient moulds and examples, even the best. While
it has to thread its way through London, why give it
the map of Jerusalem? While it must live high or
low in the nineteenth century, why bid it build for a
distant age or clime? True it is, that a noble and
brave life is worthy to be studied, whether lived mthe
year One or One thousand or in r877 J but its noble
ness is in itself, not in its accidents of time and space,
not in its vesture of name and scenery. When a youth
reads of the fidelity of Phocion, is it that he may
confront Alexander, or withstand the follies oi
Athenians ? It is that he may be true and faithful m
his relations to living men and women. If he fancies
that it is like Phocion to slay the slain, and deal with
dead issues, let him repair to Don Quixote, and see
what comes of fighting phantoms and giants that do
not exist And if the life be that of Christ, the fact is
nowise changed. That life is not yet written ; we have
the figure-head of a Jewish sect, painted to suit itself, and
�22
-called Christ; the figure-head of Gentile sect, painted
to suit itself, and called Christ; and so we have a Greek,
an Alexandrian, a Roman, a Protestant Christ, each
with its sectarian colours and glosses; each an anomaly
.and an impossibility. There is no volume you can put
into the hand of a child, and honestly call the Life of
Christ. The time has not come when that great man
can be brought forth as he really was, to quicken men
instead of supporting prejudice. But where there is
no prejudice instilled, the heart may be trusted to
pick out from the New Testament the record of a
valiant soul, the deeds of a hero, thoughts of a sage,
death of a martyr; and these too will help to idealise
life for the young, and teach them its magnificent
possibilities. Let the child know well that all it reads
of Christ is true of itself. Let him know that all he
reads there or elsewhere which marks that or any
■other life off from human life, as something miracu
lous, is mere fable• and that his own daily life
is passed amid wonders equally great, and conditions
just as sacred and sublime. Ah, how sublime!
What tears are there to be wiped away ; what faces
of agony to which smiles may be called ; what wrongs
to be righted, high causes to be helped; what heights
of excellence to be won—summits all shining with the
saintly souls that have climbed them, and radiant with
the glories of which poets and prophets have dreamed I
�23
That teaching which belittles our own time, and
lowers our powers beneath those of any other, may be
called a religion, but it is a moral blight and a curse.
When we demand of our children the very highest
aims that were ever aspired to, the very truest,
noblest lives ever lived—nor let them be overshadowed
by any names, however great—then shall we see rising
our own prophets and heroes, and see our own world
redeemed by a devotion not wasted on a buried society,
by an enthusiasm no longer lavished on a world for us
unborn.
HYMN 191.
Oh yet we trust that somehow good
Will be the final goal of ill,
To pangs of nature, sins-of will,
Defects of doubt, and taints of blood.
DISMISSAL.
Printed
by waterlow and sons limited,
London wall, London.
�WORKS TO BE OBTAINED IN THE LIBRARY.
BY M. D. CONWAY, M.A.
The Sacred Anthology: A Book
of Ethnical Scriptures.........................
The Earthward Pilgrimage
Do.
do.
Republican Superstitions.........................
Christianity
>.....................................
Human Sacrifices in England ..
David Frederick Strauss.........................
Sterling and Maurice.........................
Intellectual Suicide .
.........................
The First Love again.........................
Our Cause and its Accusers
Alcestis in England
.........................
Unbelief: its nature, cause, and cure ..
Entering Society ..
PRICES.
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NEW WORK BY M. D. CONWAY, M. A.
Idols and Ideals {including the Essay
on Christianity^ 350 pp.
7 6
Members of the Congregation can obtain this
work in the Library at 5/-.
BY A. J. ELLIS, B.A., F.R.S., &c., &c.
Salvation....................................................... 0
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Truth
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Speculation
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Duty
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The Dyer's Hand........................................... 0
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BY REV. P. H. WICKSTEED, M.A.
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The Modern Analogue of the Ancient
Prophet....................................................... 0
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Going Through and Getting Over
••
BY REV. T. W. FRECKELTON.
BY W. C. COUPLAND, M.A.
The Conduct of Life
Hymns and Anthems
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V-, 2Si-
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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The religion of children : a discourse, with readings and meditation, given at South Place Chapel, October 21, 1877
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Conway, Moncure Daniel, 1832-1907
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Place of publication: [London]
Collation: 23, [1] p. ; 15 cm.
Notes: Includes extract from the text of 'The spirit's trials' by J.A. Froude. Printed by Waterlow and Sons Limited, London Wall. With a list of 'works to be obtained in the Library' of South Place Chapel at the end of pamphlet. Part of Morris Miscellaneous Tracts 1.
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[South Place Chapel]
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[1877]
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G3337
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Religion
Education
Child rearing
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<img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /><br /><span>This work (The religion of children : a discourse, with readings and meditation, given at South Place Chapel, October 21, 1877), identified by </span><span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk">Humanist Library and Archives</a></span><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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Text
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English
Child Rearing-Moral and Ethical Aspects
Children
Moral Education
Morris Tracts
Religious Education
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CT
THE
CHALDEAN ACCOUNT OF GENESIS.
BY
Sir GEORGE WILLIAM DENYS, Bart.
PUBLISHED BY THOMAS SCOTT,
NO.
11,
THE TERRACE,
FARQUHAR ROAD,
UPPER NORWOOD, LONDON, S.E.
Price Fourpence.
��THE CHALDEAN ACCOUNT OF GENESIS *
N the thirteenth page of this most remarkable and
interesting work, Mr Smith says, “ The first series
I may call the ‘ story of the Creation and Fall/ and the
history is much fuller and longer than the correspond
ing account in the book of Genesis. With respect to
these Genesis narratives a furious strife has existed for
many years, every word has been scanned by eager
scholars, and every possible meaning which the various
passages could bear has been suggested; while the age
and authenticity of the narratives have been discussed
on all sides. In particular it may be said that the
account of the fall of man, the heritage of all Christian
countries, has been the centre of the controversy, for it
is one of the pivots on which the Christian religion
turns. The world-wide importance of these subjects will
therefore give the newly discovered inscriptions, and
especially the one relating to ‘the Fall’ an unparal
leled value.”
But is this “Fall of Man ” the heritage of Christian
countries only, as Mr Smith remarks ? Is not the old
story of temptation also the heritage of all heathen
times and countries ? Is there a cosmogony or theogony,
however ancient, in which, under one form or another,
the Adamic legend is not traceable ?
“ The symbol of the serpent associates itself with the
rise of all societies, is at the root of all mythologies, its
trace is lost in the far off depths of time, but amongst
animal symbol worship this is the most singular and
I
* By George Smith.
Sampson and Low, 1876.
�4
The Chaldean Account of Genesis.
the widest spread.” Whether the serpent, prime agent
in “the fall,” be regarded as wisdom personified, as by
the Gnostic sect of Ophites, who honoured it as the
father of all science and knowledge, the key that un
locked for man the secret that should make him “ as
the gods knowing all things,” or as temptation under
the guise of a beautiful woman, (Bochart explains
how Eve in the Chaldee means serpent), the story
of Eden in the Mosaic narrative appears to be only
another phase of this ancient myth, though it is in
Genesis alone that the serpent is at once the prime
agent and symbol of evil.
Certainly the greatest interest must attach to the
unearthing of what we conceive to be the sources of
the Bible history, inasmuch as they tend to prove that
there is no more rational ground for accepting this
particular explanation of the origin of evil, than there
is for accepting any other hypothesis.
Mr Smith was certainly not sent out to Assyria by
the Daily Telegraph for the purpose of upsetting
the Mosaic cosmogony; but if in the course of his
investigations he was led materially to modify his own
previous convictions, we think that in the interest of
science and of truth he is bound to tell us so. We
do not hesitate therefore, “ in limine,” to put to him
the crucial question, Does he or does he not ascribe
to the Assyrian tablets an earlier origin than to the
Mosaic record? Eor it is upon this “pivot” that the
question of the inspiration of the Jewish record turns.
The art of reading Assyrian cuneiform is one of those
astonishing results of modern scientific research, which
appears destined to upset the time-honoured opinions
and beliefs of the greater part of the civilized world.
We know not whether to be sorry or glad; but few
there will be amongst those who have entered the last
decade of life, who will see without pain and sadness
that they have been trusting to the support of broken
reeds, and that they have to spend the remainder of
�The Chaldean Account of Genesis.
5
their lives in unlearning that which has taken them so
much time and pains to acquire.
Who that has passed middle life can there be who
has not thought long and seriously upon the origin and
destiny of the human race 1 Who has not waded
through innumerable works upon religion, history, and
science, in the hope of attaining an unassailable con
viction that the persuasions and convictions of his
earlier years were founded upon incontrovertible facts ?
Yet with every desire to stand by the ancient and timehonoured beliefs, truth compels us to say, the evidence
upon which we trusted, when weighed in the balance,
has been found wanting.
We cannot close our eyes to the light which is now
shining upon the dark pages of the primeval history of
man. The light will pierce whether we will or no.
Let us not waste the few remaining hours of life in
unavailing regrets, but rather thank God for the true
light which now shineth, and follow its beacon.
It is scarcely possible to speak of the “ Chaldean
Genesis ” without hurting the feelings of the orthodox.
My. desire is to speak tenderly and reverently of
writings which are still held sacred by the vast
majority of Christians, and of convictions which I
myself fully shared for the greater part of my life,
which are interwoven with all our dearest sympathies
and associations, hut still to speak with perfect sin
cerity.
If we hope to induce others to lay aside any of their
early prejudices, and to take heed to the results of
modern scientific discovery, we must lay aside all
hatred and uncharitableness, and in a calm and loving
manner place before them the results of the patient
labours of men, not a whit more irreligious than the
most orthodox of churchmen, and leave the remedy to
work its own cure.
The “Times” of December 4, 1875, reviewed with
its usual ability “ The Chaldean Account of Genesis,”
�6
The Chaldean Account of Genesis.
but I venture in all humility to dissent in part from
the verdict of the writer in the leading journal. The
writer says “ that exegetical theology will see in it a
strong confirmation of the truth of an universal deluge.”
Possibly it may, but nobody else will. The existence
of the story at that early period, and of a universal
belief in it, would be no proof of the fact, but only of
the belief. It is the quod semper quod ubique quod
cd) omnibus, which never can prove a physical impossi
bility. Geological science no doubt proves that every
part of the stratified crust of the earth has not only
once, but repeatedly, been below the level of the sea;
but that fact will never prove “that the tops of the
highest hills ” were at one and the same time covered
with water.
It is also proved, by Geological Science, that at
sundry periods in past geological time the crust of the
earth has been unusually convulsed, great changes of
climate, great upheavals, great subsidings have occurred;
it is possible that not one, but several of these convul
sions may have happened since man first made his
appearance upon the earth, that a tradition of such a
catastrophe may have been retained by the early in
habitants, and clothed during the subsequent ages with
all the miraculous adjuncts natural to ages of ignorance.
The universal prevalence of such legends could only
strengthen a rational belief in local catastrophes.
Diodorus Siculus says, “ the ignorance prevailing re
garding the sense of the myths, on which religion is
founded, results from the thread of tradition having
been violently snapt by that great catastrophe which
we call the deluge, which caused the Pelasgians, the
ancestors of the Greeks, to lose the remembrance of
anterior events, and even the meaning of the graphic
signs destined to transmit them to posterity.” Hence
we may ask, can the Noachian deluge have occurred
anywhere near the Pelasgian era? Can we identify
the deluge of Diodorus with that of Berosus, with the
�The Chaldean Account of Genesis.
7
Assyrian tablets, and with the deluge of Noah ? We
find in Smith’s Classical Dictionary under Diodorus,
that in compiling his history, Diodorus exercised
neither judgment nor criticism. He simply collected
what he found in his different authorities, and thus
jumbled together history, myths, and fiction. He
cannot therefore be a trustworthy authority. Like
those impecunious Frenchmen who habitually ascribe
their poverty to having lost all “ dans la revolution,”
he ascribes his own ignorance, and that of his con
temporaries of these “graphic writings,” to the deluge.
May not these “graphic writings” have been these
very cuneiform inscriptions of which we are now
writing ? Of the Pelasgians we know very little, and
their fabled progenitor Pelasgus may have arisen out
of the sea like Joannes, or any other fabulous person
age ; but it is quite possible that Diodorus when on
his travels may have come across the same tradition of
a deluge which was related by Berosus.
Mr G. Smith has, we think, satisfactorily established
the identity of Noah, Hasisadra, and the Xisithrus of
the Assyrian tablets,—at least, the following accounts
from the “ clays” so exactly tallies with the Genesis
version of the flood that Noah and Xisithrus can
only be one and the same person. “ In the time of
Xisuthrus, tenth King of Chaldea, happened a great
deluge,” which is thus described : “ The Deity Cronos
appeared to Xisuthrus in a vision and warned him that
on the 15th day of the month Dsesius there would be
a flood by which mankind should be destroyed. Cronos,
therefore, enjoined Xisuthrus to write a history of the
beginning, procedure, and conclusion of all things, and
to bury it in the city of the Sun at Sippara, and to
build a vessel, and take with him into it his friends
and relations, and to convey on board everything neces
sary to sustain life, together with the different animals,
both birds and quadrupeds, and trust himself fearlessly
to the deep. Having asked the Deity Cronos (another
�8
‘ The Chaldean Account of Genesis.
name for Saturn)* whither he was to sail, he was
answered, “to the Gods,” upon which Xisuthrus offered
up a prayer for the good of mankind. He forthwith
obeys the “ divine admonition,” he builds a vessel of
five stadia in length and two in width, (we do not
know whether this is equivalent to Noah’s three hun
dred cubits) and conveys into it all the quadrupeds, and
his relations and friends. “ After the flood had been
upon the earth, and was in time abated, Xisuthrus sent
out birds from the vessel, which not finding any food,
nor any place whereupon they might rest their feet,
returned to him again; he sent them forth a second
time and they returned with their feet tinged with
mud;” the parallel between the two accounts is further
continued : “ Noah when he left the ark built an altar
unto the Lord, and took of every clean beast and of
every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the
altar.” “ Xisuthrus when he found his birds returned
no more the third time judged the surface of the earth
had appeared above the waters; he therefore made an
opening in the vessel, and upon looking out found it
was stranded upon the side of some mountain, upon
which he inmediately quitted it with his wife, his
daughter, and the pilot.” “ On reaching terra firma,”
we read, “ Xisuthrus then paid his adoration to the
earth; and having constructed an altar offered sacri
fices to the gods, and with those who had come out of
the vessel with him disappeared.” In Genesis we
read, that on descending from the ark, Noah also
offered sacrifice; but he did not disappear, and, hence
forward, the two accounts differ. The parallelism
between the Chaldean and the Genesis accounts of the
* In the Greek and Latin inscriptions of Syria, lately published
by Mr Waddington, we find mention of monuments of the worship
of Cronos or Kronos, as the Greeks called El. This word El means
chief or greatest, “ The Supreme.”
According to the great
Phoenician authority, Sanchoniathon, Kronos or Saturn was called
El by the Phoenicians. The God of Israel was also El-Elion, ElShaddai, El-Kanna. El in the Semitic pantheon is equivalent toDjaus in the Indo-European, the prefix of all gods.
�The Chaldean Account of Genesis.
9
flood up to this point are, however, so striking, that we
cannot resist the conclusion that the one springs from
the other.
If we turn for a moment to compare the account of
creation in the first chapter of Genesis with the Greek
cosmogony, we shall also find a parallelism.
In the cosmogony of the Greeks we read, according
to’ a learned authority, that “ Zeus,” the Supreme God
of the Greeks, engendered “ Ether and Chaos,” from
which he formed the egg of the world. Here we may
indeed be said to have arrived at the beginnings of
everything ! In all cosmogonies the “ Supreme God”
had somehow to engender this egg; the author of
“ Les Temps Mythologiques ” writes, “ Plutarch relates
that Osiris having produced the egg of the world there
shut up twelve white figures, but Typhon the Ethiopian
God, the genius of evil, introduced into it twelve black
figures, whence arose the mixture of good and evil.
The simple explanation of this is the fusion of the
black and white races.”
The Egyptian hieroglyphics very often place the
“ egg of the world” in the mouth of the viper Hof,
emblem of the sovereignty of Egypt.
In most of the cosmogonies the primordial egg is
floating on the waters ; Genesis repudiates the cos
mogonic egg, but we find there the primitive waters
anterior to all creation; “ And the Spirit of God moved
on the face of the waters.” * “ We have seen that all
mythologies express this singular idea of the waters
being coexistent with God before the formation of the
world, and in the Egyptian Ritual of the Dead there is
a passage which has perhaps served as text for the first
line of all cosmogonies. It is I,” said Osiris, “ who
have navigated the waters with the Celestial Gnomon,
* We may here remark how Professor Huxley’s scientific dicta
regarding all generative beginnings receives testimony from the
texts of these ancient cosmogonies, for he proves from long research
into the secrets of the womb of nature, that without a state of
fluid there is no possibility of life being engendered.
�io
The Chaldean Account of Genesis.
and have manifested myself.” The very term “Spirit
of God ” is of Egyptian origin, and the Serpent holding
in his mouth the egg of the world is often called “ the
Spirit of God.”*
To quote again “Les Temps Mythologiques: ”—“The
most important truth that results from the study of
comparative mythologies is the identity of the principle
•on which all are based ; and we can only conclude that
there was but one theme on which all those documents
were based, and on which each successive race impressed
the genius of its special character.
“ Under what inspiration did this thesis spring to life ?
Was it due to the rhapsodical and imaginative East ?
to the pantheistic naturalism of India, which reached
the far off West ? Is it the heritage of the profound
wisdom of Egypt carried into Asia by her colonists,
and must we here seek for vestiges of the most ancient
of peoples ? There is no doubt that as time went on
the learned priests of different ages assembled together
to elaborate the grave questions as to the formation of
the world and the birth of man, in which, assisted by
the rare documents that had escaped the deluge, they
constructed the cosmogonies of their different countries.
“ Thus are explained the variations in the Phoenician
document, without doubt the nearest to our own times,
and which variation has greatly puzzled both French
and German savans as to them, there appeared many
cosmogonies, the same au fond but different in form.
This which first suggested doubts as to the authenticity
of the document became instead the strongest proof in its
support.”
In the Assyrian version of the deluge we read that
“ Xisuthrus deposited his account of all that had been
the procedure and the end of all things, in the City of
the Sun, Sippara.”
By a very singular coincidence, the writings of
Thoth are also said to have been discovered at this
* “Monsieur de Rouge.”
�The Chaldean Account of Cenesis.
1 I
same city of Sippara in Chaldea. Philon of Byblos,
who lived about a.d. 24, published in Greek a trans
lation of Sanchoniathon’s “History of the Phoenicians;”
the work is lost, a few fragments only of it being
preserved by Eusebius. Sanchoniathon is by some
thought to have been a contemporary of Semiramis,
b.c. 2000, by others of Moses, b.c. 1700; others again
as low as b.c. 1200. In the fragments preserved of
Philo, Byblos’ Greek translation, he states, that his
-document regarding the creation of the world was
written before the flood.
We read under the head of Thoth in Bouillet’s
“Dictionary of Universal History,” that Thoth was an
Egyptian God, that it was he who sent Osiris to the
earth. That the forty-two volumes of Egyptian sacred
books were written by him. He was represented
sometimes with an Ibis’ head. By some he is con
sidered the same as the Greek Hermes or Mercury;
and the Hermes Trismegistus of the Alchemists’ Trismegistus, meaning thrice great. This entirely fabulous
personage is placed also at B.c. 2000, at which distance
of time the invention of language, of the alphabet, of
writing, geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, and medicine,
together with all the arts and sciences, may be safely
attributed to him, for no one will be at the pains to
disprove it. Bouillet further states, that a quantity of
religious books were attributed to him, called “ Livres
hermetiques,” and that Hermes Trismegistus appears
to have been for the Ancients at once “ the symbol of
the divine intelligence, the Logos of Plato, and the
personification of the Egyptian priesthood.” Of these
works one remains entitled “ On the Nature of Things
and the Creation of the World,” probably as apo
cryphal as Hermes himself. The singularity, however,
remains, of the existence of the tradition that the
works of an Egyptian should have been buried in
Sippara, a city of Chaldea. We have probably here
also an identity of different phases of the same mythus,
�12
The Chaldean Account of Genesis.
with a confusion of names and places. This would alsoexplain why “ the various cosmogonies that have come
down to us all bear such a family likeness, the Hebrew,
the Greek, and the Phoenician have all drawn from
the same source.”
The writer in the 11 Times,” to whom we must now
revert, says: “It is evident that the Chaldean
account differs essentially from the deluge of Noah.”
That the Hebrews had retained a simpler and conse
quently older version of the deluge is clear, for the
scriptural narrative at all events is prior to the building
of ships and construction of rudders.” In my opinion
the “ simpler” version of the Jews proves the compara
tively modern and improved edition of an old story
more suitable to the advanced conceptions of the Jews
at the time of the Babylonian captivity, during which
they had ample opportunities of studying the Baby
lonian records, when we know that the Old Testament
was in great part re-written.
Is it likely that at a time when the Jews as a nation
were non-existent, when they were a set of “ wandering
Nomads in search of a home,” * they should have been
in possession of more authentic records than a nation in
so high a state of civilization as the Babylonians ?
The “ Times ” continues, “ every effort will be made
to rescue and preserve the pieces which lie hidden in
the recesses of the valley of the Tigris. Till all these
pieces are visible to the eye of the discoverer, the pro
blems of chronology, mythology, and history, are am
biguous oracles or inexplicable riddles. They will
neither disturb faith nor dissipate doubt, but will be
the raw material for the intellect to spin and weave
into a connected woof.”
I venture to think that if every baked brick in
Assyria were discovered tomorrow, we should be no
nearer the solution of the “ inexplicable ” than we are
* Vide Introduction to Pentateuch and book of Joshua, by a
Physician. Scott’s Series.
�The Chaldean Account of Genesis.
13
now. History and chronology can never be founded on
myths or legends. Facts are what the historian wants.
Now the facts which have been proved by the
Assyrian discoveries are the following :—
The Assyrian baked bricks date from the fifteenth
century b.c. lt There is reason to think (says the
‘ Times ’) that some of the transcripts are as old as
twenty, and certainly not later than fifteen centuries
B.c. At such an early period the pentateuch could not
have been written (w'cte Introduction to Pentateuch,
before quoted), for it has long since been definitely
shown that writing in the proper sense of the word
appears not to have been practised by the Jews so
relatively recent as the days of David.
“ The Hebrew word for ink is of Persian derivation,
and the art of writing on prepared sheep and goat skins
among them, dates from no more remote an age than the
Babylonian captivity.”
We find, then, amid a vast series of records of myths,
legends, or whatever we may please to call them—stories
of the creation, of the fall, the tree of life, the serpent,
the war in heaven, and the casting out of the dragon,
the flood with the ark or ship, and the sending forth of
the raven and the dove, the grounding of the ark upon
a mountain; of the institution of the Sabbath, and of
the building of the tower of Babel, besides Bel and the
dragon, and many other fabulous tales. What are we
to infer from these things ? Is it not infinitely more
probable that the Jews copied from the Babylonians
during the captivity, adapting many things to their
then more advanced conceptions, than that the Baby
lonians copied from the Jews? We find that the
Assyrians did so, for these are all transcripts or copies,
and the Assyrians tell us so. Why not the Jews also ?
We know they took subsequently many religious ideas
from the Persians. But what follows if they did ? The
reverse of what the “ Times ” states, for faith will be
shaken and doubts will be disseminated. The faith of
�14
The Chaldean Account of Genesis.
those who, in spite of all the biblical critics, Colenso,
Kalisch, Kuenen, and the rest, still believed in the
historical accuracy of Genesis ; for if the Mosaic narra
tive instead of being inspired from on high turns out to
be a copy, or rather an adaptation of an ancient tradi
tion, how can it do otherwise than shake their belief 1
“ The pious people who, in person or by delegate, have
been so busy excavating in Palestine and Babylonia
with a view to demonstrate the divine origin and his
torical truth of the Hebrew scriptures, seem verily to
be pursuing their work to their own discomfiture.” *
Those who doubted before will have their doubts
confirmed, for such an amount of cumulative evidence
it is impossible to withstand.
It is quite possible that Abraham, supposing him to
have been an historical personage, and to have come
from Ur of the Chaldees, may have brought away with
him many of the Babylonian traditions.
The author of the Chaldean Genesis modestly and
wisely refrains from dogmatising or pronouncing any
opinion which might excite the “ odium theologicum.”
He says, page 284, “ Biblical criticism is, however, a
subject on which I am not competent to pronounce an
independent opinion,” and that he “ could not take up
any of the prevailing views without being a party to the
controversy.” He thinks, however, “that all will admit
a connection of some sort between the biblical narrative
and the cuneiform texts.” I cannot, however, admit
that there was “ such a total difference between the
religious ideas of the two peoples (as he states), the
Jews believing in one God, the Creator and Lord of
the Universe, while the Babylonians worshipped gods
and lords many, every city having its local deity, and
these being joined by complicated relations in a poetical
mythology, which was in marked contrast to the severe
simplicity of the Jewish system,” p. 285. The pure
monotheistic worship to which the Jews ultimately at* Introduction to Book of Joshua, by a Physician.
�The Chaldean Account of Genesis.
15
tained was the work of ages.* Their entire history
proves how prone they were to worship the gods of the
surrounding nations. The great value of the inscrip
tions describing the Flood, p. 286, consists not in the
fact that they form an independent testimony in favour
of the biblical narrative at a much earlier date than any
other evidence, for the earlier narrative cannot testify
in favour of the later.
The two accounts are no doubt records of the same
event, of which other versions, over and above that of
Berosus, may one day be discovered, but the endeavour
to reconcile their many conflicting statements is about
as hopeless an affair as the endeavour to reconcile the
Mosaic cosmogony with modern geological science.
With regard to the vexed question of our chronology
and its correctness, I have no pretensions as a chronologist, but in so far as I have studied the subject I
must confess that I have no faith in the correctness of
any date prior to the first Olimpiad, or b.o. 776. The
verification of any dates subsequent to that, the identi
fication of the names of different kings in divers ancient
historical tablets downwards from a firm historical
standpoint is no doubt an interesting subject of study
for the archeologist, but from the moment we ascend
into the mythical period all chronology must be at
fault and whether we take the lists of Manetho,
Berosus, or his 380,000 years, the ante-diluvian
patriarchs or any other, we are compelled to class them
all together as rude attempts to explain the inexplicable,
to construct fact out of fiction.
Far easier would it be to write the history of our
paleolithic and neolithic ancestors, for they at any rate
have left no lying legends behind them to confuse us.
They have not left records of any ancestors with heads
* Sabaoth, the Jehovah of the Gnostics, recalls very closely
the Jupiter Sabazius of antiquity that the Jewish colony adored
in Rome, 139 B.c., and for which cause they were expelled from
the city, and even from Italy. Jao is also a name for Bacchus,
Sabazius, or Saturn.
�16
The Chaldean Account of Genesis.
of birds or of beasts. They had no need to invent
tales of the slaughter of giants and other fabulous
monsters of sea and land to bolster up their courage
with posterity, for the testimony of the rocks is there
to tell of their heroic deeds, of the ages they lived and
reigned upon this our earth. They needed no baked
bricks, for deep down in the bowels of the earth their
fossil bones lie buried side by side with those of the
elephas primigenius and other gigantic but real animals
with whom, in their hard struggle for existence, they
had to contend, and the simple instruments they wielded
in the contest. On the horns of the reindeer are admir
ably etched the portrait of the Mammoth, proving the
love of art even in that remote age.
When I look at these simple relics of an heroic
people, when I think of the “ antres vast and deserts
idle” in which they were compelled to live, of the
struggle for existence they were compelled to endure
with the huge extinct mammals, I am lost in admiration
at their hardihood and in pity at their fate; but when
I turn to look at a picture of Izdubar struggling with
a rampant bull, one hand holding the tail and the
other a horn, I am simply disgusted at such ludicrous
absurdity.
Izdubar may have been for all that a real king and
a hero, but when we come to fix his reign as the start
ing point of history, that is quite another matter.
Mr G. Smith puts the age of Izdubar, i.e. Nimrod, at B.c.
The deluge of IS oah, according to our chronology, was ,,
Menes founds the Egyptian monarchy
.
.
„
Nimrod, according to our chronology, founds Assyrian
monarchy ...
....
2500.
2348.
2233.
2233.
If our chronology is to be trusted, the two great
monarchies, the Egyptian and the Assyrian, were
founded 115 years after the flood. Where did the
people come from ? every soul having perished except
Noah and his family 115 years before.
If Smith’s date for Izdubar is right he must have
�The Chaldean Account of Genesis.
17
lived 152 years before the flood, and could not there
fore have founded an empire which that catastrophe
must have destroyed. The earliest monuments known,
date, according to Mr Smith, 250 years later than the
time of Izdubar, and the traditions on which those
legends are founded arose shortly after his death.
“ Chaldean Genesis,” p. 106.
Surely the flood, if it. happened at all, must have
swept away the traditions as it did the people.
Amid such a mass of fable the search for historical
truth is very like searching for the needle in the hay
stack.
Compare Izdubar, b.c.
Joshua, ,,
Hercules, ,,
Gideon,. „
Samson, ,,
2500 j
1451 ; also Deluge of Noah, b.c. 2348
1330
Deluge of Ogyges, ' „ 1796
1245!
Deluge of Deucalion ,, 1503
1136 J
If from mythical events, we turn to mythical in
dividuals, we cannot fail being struck with the extraor
dinary family likeness in the characters and deeds of
the different heroes. Mr Smith in speaking of Izdubar,
p. 294, says :—“Every nation has its hero, and it was
only natural on the revival of his empire, that the
Babylonians should consecrate his memory,” and in
another place he says that, “ the natural tendency of
those superstitious times was to invest their great men
with all sorts of miraculous powers, to attribute to
them heroic deeds, that we are not on that account
justified in doubting the real existence of the King or
Hero in question. He is of opinion that Izdubar was
the Nimrod of Genesis, that Hasisadra was the Noah
of Genesis, and that the Xisuthrus of Berosus, and his
account of the flood was only another version of the
Babylonian legend.
The labours of Hercules, and the deeds of Samson
are strangely alike, as are also the births of Moses and
Sargon the first, the latter having been placed by his
mother in an ark of rushes, launched upon the Euphrates,
�18
. •
The. Chaldean Account of Genesis.
and rescued by a water-carrier, who brought him up as
his son.” (Smith’s “ Assyrian Discoveries,” p. 228.)
Without entering upon the vexed question of the
dates of these legends, it must be allowed at all events,
that priority belongs to the profane rather than to the
sacred legends. The Assyrian Tablets constitute there
fore our earliest “ Book of Origins,” origins, it must be
allowed, not of history, for no one in his senses would
attempt to found history, or base his religion upon what
are after all nothing but the rude attempts of the most
ancient civilized nation we know of, to dive into the
secrets of the early ages of mankind. They are deeply
interesting and poetical myths, nothing more. What
then should be our conclusion 1
If the so-called Mosaic account “ turns out after all
to be neither history, nor original revelation from
Jehovah to the Jews, but stories found among neigh
bours.” If we have found out at last that we have
been building our house upon the sand, what then ?
Let us not be downhearted, neither let us be dismayed,
rather let us say, “ let God be true and every man a
liar.” Let us be thankful to God for the light given
to us in this our day, through the unwearied labours of
men like Rawlinson, Smith, Layard, Loftus, Rassam,
earnest seekers after truth and lovers of science. Dog
matic theology may suffer ; but true religion will never
suffer from any scientific discovery. The tendency not
of one, but of all the sciences, is to exalt all our religious
conceptions. Theology has debased them !
In concluding these remarks, I cannot do better than
by again quoting from the work of the able physician
(Pentateuch and Book of Joshua, p. 14).
“ Shah we who measure our distance from the sun
and fixed stars, calculate their masses, weigh them as
in a balance, analyse their light, and thereby learn that
they are all units in one stupendous whole, continue to
look with respect on tales that tell of the arrest of the
sun and moon in their apparent path through heaven,
�The Chaldean Account of Genesis.
19
to the end that a barbarous horde may have light
effectually to exterminate the unoffending people,
they have come—by God’s command, too, it is said—
to plunder and to murder ? It were surely time to
quit us of such worse than childish folly.”
May the spirit of truth guide us into all truth, to .
the truth which will break our fetters and make us free
indeed, to the truth which will widen our vision/
strengthen and exalt our hopes, and enlarge our
charity.
TURNBULL AND SPEARS, PRINTERS, GEORGE STREET, EDINBURGH.
�
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Victorian Blogging
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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The Chaldean account of Genesis
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Denys, George William [Sir, Bart.]
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Place of publication: London
Collation: 19 p. ; 18 cm.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references. From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. A critique of 'The Chaldean Account of Genesis' by George Smith (Sampson and Low, 1876).
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Thomas Scott
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[1877]
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CT202
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Bible
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Bible-O.T.-Genesis
Book Reviews
Conway Tracts
George Smith
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Text
HERETICS AND HERESIES.
NATIONAL SECT n a n
COLONEL ROBERT G. INGERSOLL.
LONDON:
FREETHOUGHT PUBLISHING COMPANY,
28,, Stonecutter Street, E.C.
PRICE FOURPENCE.
�LONDON :
PRINTED BY ANNIE BESANT AND CHARLES BRADLAUGITr
28, STONECUTTER STREET, E.C.
�HERETICS
AND
HERESIES.
“Liberty, a word without which all other words are vain.'1
' x
Whoever has an opinion of his own, and honestly expresses
it, will be guilty of heresy. Heresy is what the minority
believe; it is a name given by the powerful to the doctrine
of the weak. This word was born of the hatred, arrogance,
and cruelty of those who love their enemies, and who, when
smitten on one cheek, turn the other. This -word was born
of intellectual slavery in the feudal ages of thought. It was
an epithet used in the place of argument. From the com
mencement of the Christian era, every art has been exhausted,
and every conceivable punishment inflicted, to force ail
people to hold the same religious opinions. This effort was
born of the idea that a certain belief was necessary to the
salvation of the soul. Christ taught, and the Church still
teaches, that unbelief is the blackest of crimes. God is sup
posed to hate with an infinite and implacable hatred, every
heretic upon the earth, and the heretics who have died are
supposed, at this moment, to be suffering the agonies of the
damned. The Church persecutes the living, and her God
burns the dead.
It is claimed that God wrote a book called the Bible, and
it is generally admitted that this book is somewhat difficult
to understand. As long as the Church had all the copies of
this book, and the people were not allowed to read it, there
was comparatively little heresy in the world; but when it
was printed and read, people began honestly to differ as to
its meaning. A few were independent and brave enough to>
give the world their real thoughts, and for the extermination
of these men the Church used all her power. Protestants,
and Catholics vied with each other in the work of enslaving
the human mind. For ages they were rivals in the infamous
effort to rid the earth of honest people. They infested every
country, every city, town, hamlet, and family. They appealed
to the worst passions of the human heart. They sowed the
seeds of discord and hatred in every land. Brother denounced
brother, wives informed against their husbands, mothers ac
�4
HERETICS AND HERESIES.
cused their children, dungeons were crowded with the inno
cent ; the flesh of the good and the true rotted in the clasp
of chains, the flames devoured the heroic, and in the name
of the most merciful God his children were exterminated
with famine, sword, and fire. Over the wild waves of battle
.rose and fell the banner of Jesus Christ. For sixteen hundred
years the robes of the Church were red with innocent blood.
The ingenuity of Christians was exhausted in devising punish
ment severe enough to be inflicted upon other Christians
who honestly and sincerely differed with them upon any
ipoint whatever.
Give any orthodox Church the power, and to-day they
would punish heresy with whip, and chain, and fire. As
long as a Church deems a certain belief essential to sal
vation, just so long it will kill and burn if it has the power.
Why should the Church pity a man whom her God hates?
Why should she show mercy to a kind and noble heretic whom
her God will burn in eternal fire ? Why should a Christian
be better than his God ? It is impossible for the imagination
to conceive of a greater atrocity than has been perpetrated
by the Church.
Let it be remembered that all Churches have persecuted
heretics to the extent of their power. Every nerve in the
human body capable of pain has been sought out and
touched by the Church. Toleration has increased only
when and where the power of the Church has diminished.
From Augustine until now the spirit of the Christian has re
mained the same. There has been the same intolerance,
the same undying hatred of all who think for themselves,
the same determination to crush out of the human brain all
knowledge inconsistent with the ignorant creed.
Every Church pretends that it has a revelation from God,
and that this revelation must be given to the people through
the Church; that the Church acts through its priests, and
that ordinary mortals must be content with a revelation—not
from God—but from the Church. Had the people sub
mitted to this preposterous claim, of course there could
have been but one Church, and that Church never could
have advanced. It might have retrograded, because it is not
necessary to think, or investigate, in order to forget. With
out heresy there could have been no progress.
The highest type of the orthodox Christian does not for
get. Neither does he learn. He neither advances nor
recedes. He is a living fossil, imbedded in.that rock called
�HERETICS AND HERESIES.
5
faith. He makes no effort to better his condition, because
all his strength is exhausted in keeping other people from
improving theirs. The supreme desire of his heart is to force
all others to adopt his creed, and in order to accomplish this
object he denounces all kinds of Freethinking as a crime,
and this crime he calls heresy. When he had the power,
heresy was the most terrible and formidable of words. It
meant confiscation, exile, imprisonment, torture, and death.
In those days the cross and rack were inseparable com
panions. Across the open Bible lay the sword and fagot.
Not content with burning such heretics as were alive, they
even tried the dead, in order that the Church might rob
their wives and children. The property of all heretics was
confiscated, and on this account they charged the dead with
being heretical—indicted, as it were, their dust—-to the end
that the Church might clutch the bread of orphans. Learned
divines discussed the propriety of tearing out the tongues of
heretics before they were burned, and the general opinion
was that this ought to be done, so that the heretics should
not be able, by uttering blasphemies, to shock the Christians
who were burning them. With a mixture of ferocity and
Christianity, the priests insisted that heretics ought to be
burned at a slow fire, giving as a reason that more time
was given them for repentance.
No wonder that Jesus Christ said, “ I came not to bring
peace but a sword ! ”
Every priest regarded himself as the agent of God. He
answered all questions by authority, and to treat him with
disrespect was an insult offered to God. No one was asked
to think, but all were commanded to obey.
In 1208 the Inquisition was established. Seven years
afterward, the fourth council of the Lateran enjoined all
kings and rulers to swear an oath that they would extermi
nate heretics from their dominions. The sword of the
Church was unsheathed, and the world was at the mercy of
ignorant and infuriated priests, whose eyes feasted upon the
agonies they inflicted. Acting as they believed, or pre
tended to believe, under the command of God, stimulated
by the hope of infinite reward in another world—hating
heretics with every drop of their bestial blood—savage be
yond description — merciless beyond conception — these
infamous priests, in a kind of frenzied joy, leaped upon the
helpless victims of their rage. They crushed their bones in
iron boots, tore their quivering flesh with iron hooks and
�6
HERETICS AND HERESIES.
pincers, cut off their lips and eyelids, pulled out their nails,
and into the bleeding quick thrust needles, tore out their
tongues, extinguished their eyes, stretched them upon racks,
flayed them alive, crucified them with their head downward,
exposed them to wild beasts, burned them at the stake,
mocked their cries and groans, ravished their wives, robbed
their children, and then prayed God to finish the holy work
in hell.
Millions upon millions were sacrificed upon the altars of
bigotry. The Catholic burned the Lutheran, the Lutheran
burned the Catholic ; the Episcopalian tortured the Presby
terian, the Presbyterian tortured the Episcopalian. Every
denomination killed all it could of every other; and each
Christian felt in duty bound to exterminate every other
Christian who denied the smallest fraction of his creed.
In the reign of Henry VIII., that pious and moral
founder of the Apostolic Episcopal Church, there was
passed by the Parliament of England an Act entitled, “An
Act for Abolishing of Diversity, of Opinion.” And in this
Act was set forth what a good Christian was obliged to
believe. .
First, that in the sacrament was the real body and blood
of Jesus Christ.
Second, that the body and blood of Jesus Christ was in
the bread, and the blood and body of Jesus Christ was in
the wine.
Third, that the priest should not marry.
Fourth, that vows of chastity were of perpetual obligation.
Fifth, that private masses ought to be continued.
And sixth, that auricular confession to a priest must be
maintained.
This creed was made by law, in order that all men might
know just what to believe by simply reading the statute.
The Church hated to see the people wearing out their
brains in thinking upon these subjects. It was thought far
better that a creed should be made by Parliament, so that
■whatever might be lacking in evidence might be made up in
force. The punishment for denying the first article was
death by fire. For the denial of any other article, imprison
ment, and for the second offence—death.
Your attention is called to these six articles, established
during the reign of Henry VIII., and by the Church of
England, simply because not one of these articles is believed
by that Church to-day. If the law then made by the
�HERETICS AND HERESIES.
7
"Church could be enforced now, every Episcopalian would
be burned at the stake.
Similar'laws were passed in most Christian countries, as
4111 orthodox Churches firmly believed that mankind could
be legislated into heaven. According to the creed of every
Church, slavery leads to heaven, liberty leads to hell. It
was claimed that God had founded the Church, and that to
deny the authority of the Church was to be a traitor to God,
and consequently an ally of the Devil. To torture and
destroy one of the soldiers of Satan was a duty no good
Christian cared to neglect. Nothing can be sweeter than to
'earn the gratitude of God by killing your own enemies.
Such a mingling of profit and revenge, of heaven for yofirself and damnation for those you dislike, is a temptation
that your ordinary Christian never resists.
1
According to the theologians, God, the Father of us all,
wrote a letter to his children. The children have always
differed somewhat as to the meaning of this letter. /In
consequence of these honest differences, these brothers
began to cut out each other’s hearts. In every land, where
this letter from God has been read, the children to wIiqIti
and for whom it was written have been filled with hatred
and malice. They have imprisoned and murdered each
other and the wives and children of each other. In
the name of God every possible crime has been com
mitted, every conceivable outrage has been perpetrated.
Brave men, tender and loving women, beautiful girls, and
prattling babes have been exterminated in the name of Jesus
Christ. For more than fifty generations the Church h&s
■carried the black flag. Her vengeance has been measured
■only by her power. During all these years of infamy no
heretic has ever been forgiven. With the heart of a fiend
she has hated; with the clutch of avarice she has grasped ;
with the jaws of a dragon she has devoured, pitiless., as
famine, merciless as fire, with the conscience of a serpent.,
.Such is the history of the Church of God.
I do not say, and I do not believe, that Christians are'as
bad as their creeds. In spite of Church and dogma, there
have been millions and millions of men and women true to
the loftiest and most generous promptings of the human
heart. They have been true to their convictions, and with
a self-denial and fortitude excelled by none, have laboured
and suffered for the salvation of men. Imbued with
the spirit of self-sacrifice, believing that by personal effort
�8
HERETICS AND HERESIES.
they could rescue at least a few souls from the infinite
shadow of hell, they have cheerfully endured every hardship
and scorned danger and death. And yet, notwithstanding;
all this, they believed that honest error was a crime. They
knew that the Bible so declared, and they believed that all
unbelievers would be eternally lost. They believed that
religion was of God, and all heresy of the Devil. They
killed heretics in defence of their own souls and the souls,
of their children. They killed them, because, according to.
their idea, they were the enemies of God, and because theBible teaches that the blood of the unbeliever is a most
acceptable sacrifice to heaven. Nature never prompted a
loving mother to th'roA her child into the Ganges.
Nature never prompted men to exterminate each other
for a difference of opinion concerning the baptism of infants..
These crimes have been produced by religions filled with
all that is illogical, cruel, and hideous. These religions,
were produced for the most part by ignorance, tyranny, and
hypocrisy. Under the impression that the infinite Ruler and
Creator of the Universe had commanded the destruction of
heretics and infidels, the Church perpetrated all these crimes.
Men and women have been burned for thinking therewas but one God; that there was none; that the Holy
Ghost is younger than God; that God was somewhat older
than his son; for insisting that good works will save a man,
without faith ; that faith will do without good works ; for
declaring that a sweet babe will not be burned eternally,
because its parents failed to have its head wet by a priest
for speaking of God as though he had a nose ; for denying;
that Christ was his own father; for contending that three
persons, rightly added together, make more than one; for
believing in purgatory; for denying the reality of hell; for
pretending that priests can forgive sins ; for preaching that
God is an essence ; for denying that witches rode through
the air on sticks; for doubting the total depravity of the
human heart; for laughing at irresistible grace, predesti
nation, and particular redemption ; for denying that good
bread could be made of the body of a dead man; for pre
tending that the Pope was not managing this world for God,
and in place of God ; for disputing the efficacy of a vicarious
atonement; for thinking that the Virgin Mary was born like
other people; for thinking that a man’s rib was hardly
sufficient to make a good sized woman ; for denying that
God used his finger for a pen ; for asserting that prayers are-
�HERETICS AND HERESIES.
9
not answered, that diseases are not sent to punish unbelief;
for denying the authority of the Bible; for having a Bible
in their possession; for attending mass, and for refusing to
attend ; for wearing a surplice ; for carrying a cross, and for
refusing; for being a Catholic, and for being a Protestant,
for being an Episcopalian, a Presbyterian, a Baptist, and for
being a Quaker. In short, every virtue has been a crime,
and every crime a virtue. The Church has burned honesty
' and rewarded hypocrisy, and all this she did because it was
commanded by a book—a book that men had been taught
implicitly to believe, long before they knew one word that
was in it. They had been taught that to doubt the truth of
this book, to examine it, even, was a crime of such enor
mity that it could not be forgiven, either in this world or in
the next.
The Bible was the real persecutor. The Bible burned
heretics, built dungeons, founded the Inquisition, and
trampled upon all the liberties of men.
How, long, O how long will mankind worship a book?
How long will they grovel in the dust before the ignorant
legends of the barbaric past ? How long, O how long will
they pursue phantoms in a darkness deeper than death ?
Unfortunately for the world, about the beginning of the
sixteenth century a man by the name of Gerard Chauvin
was married to Jeanne Lefranc, and still more unfortunately
for the world the fruit’ of this marriage was a son, called
John Chauvin, who afterward became as famous as John
Calvin, the founder of the Presbyterian Church.
This man forged five fetters for the brain. These fetters
he called points. That is to say, predestination, particular
redemption, total depravity, irresistible grace, and the per
severance of the saints. About the neck of each follower
he put a collar, bristling with these five iron points. The
presence of all these points on the collar is still the test of
orthodoxy in the church he founded. This man, when in
the flush of youth, was elected to the office of preacher in
Geneva. He at once, in union with Farel, drew up a con
densed statement of the Presbyterian doctrine, and all the
citizens of Geneva, on pain of banishment, were compelled
to take ar oath that they believed this statement. Of this
proceeding Calvin very innocently remarked that it pro
duced great satisfaction. A man by the name of Caroli had
the audacity to dispute with Calvin. For this outrage he
was banished.
�io
HERETICS AND HERESIES.
To show you what great subjects occupied the attention
of Calvin, it is only necessaty to state that he furiously dis
cussed the question as to whether the sacramental bread
should be leavened or unleavened. He drew up laws regu
lating the cut of the citizens’ clothes, and prescribing their
diet, and all whose garments were not in the Calvin fashion
were refused the sacrament. At last, the people becoming
tired of this petty, theological tyranny, banished Calvin. In
a few years, however, he was recalled and received with
great enthusiasm. After this, he was supreme, and the will
of Calvin' became the law of Geneva.
Under the benign administration of Calvin, James Cruet
was beheaded because he had written some profane verses.
The slightest word against Calvin or his absurd doctrine
was punished as a crime.
In *553, a man was tried at Vienne by the Catholic
Church for heresy. He was convicted and sentenced to
death by burning. It was his good fortune to escape.
Pursued by the sleuth hounds of intolerance, he fled to
Geneva for protection. A dove flying from hawks, sought
safety in the best of a vulture. This fugitive from the
cruelty of Rome asked shelter from John Calvin, who had
written a book in favour of religious toleration. Servetus
had forgotten that this book was written by Calvin when in
the minority ; that it was written in weakness, to be forgotten
in power; that it was produced by fear instead of principle.
He did not know that Calvin had caused his arrest at
Vienne, in France, and had sent a copy of his work, which
was claimed to be blasphemous, to the archbishop. He did
not then know that the Protestant Calvin was acting as one
of the detectives of the Catholic Church, and had been
instrumental in procuring his conviction for heresy. Igno
rant of all this unspeakable infamy, he put himself in the
power of this very Calvin. The maker of the Presbyterian
creed caused the fugitive Servetus to be arrested for bias1
phemy. He was tried; Calvin was his accuser. He was
convicted and condemned to death by fire. On the morn
ing of the fatal day Calvin saw him, and Servetus, the
victim, asked forgiveness of. Calvin, the murderer, for any
thing he might have said that had wounded his feelings.
Servetus was bound to the stake, the fagots were lighted.
The wind carried the flames somewhat away from his body,
so that he slowly roasted for hours. Vainly he implored a
speedy death. At last the flame climbed around his form ;
�HERETICS AND HERESIES.
11
through smoke and fire his murderers saw a white, heroic
face. And there they watched until a man became a
charred and shrivelled mass.
Liberty was banished from Geneva, and nothing but
Presbyterianism was left. Honour, justice, mercy, reason,
and charity were all exiled; but the five points of predestin
ation, particular redemption, irresistible grace, total de
pravity, and the certain perseverance of the saints, remained
instead.
Calvin founded a little theocracy in Geneva, modelled
after the Old Testament, and succeeded in erecting the
most detestable government that ever existed, except the
one from which it was copied.
Against all this intolerance, one man, a minister, raised
his voice. The name of this man should never be forgotten.
It was Castellio. This brave man had the goodness and
the courage to declare the innocence of honest error. He
was the first of the so-called reformers to take this noble
ground. I .wish I had the genius to pay a fitting tribute
to his memory. Perhaps it would be impossible to pay
him a grander compliment than to say, Castellio was in
all things the opposite of Calvin. To plead for the right
of individual judgment was considered as a crime, and Cas
tellio was driven from Geneva by John Calvin. By him he
was denounced as a child of the Devil, as a dog of Satan,
as a beast from Hell, and as one who, by this horrid blas
phemy of the innocence of honest error, crucified Christ
afresh, and by him he was pursued until rescued by the
hand of death.
Upon the name of Castellio, Calvin heaped every epithet,
until his malice was satisfied and his imagination exhausted.
It is impossible to conceive how human nature can become
so frightfully perverted as to pursue a fellow-man with the
malignity of a fiend, simply because he is good, just, and
generous.
Calvin was of a pallid, bloodless complexion, thin, sickly,
irritable, gloomy, impatient, egotistic, tyrannical, heartless,
and infamous. He was a strange compound of revengeful
morality, malicious forgiveness, ferocious charity, egotistichumility, and a kind of hellish justice. In other words,
he was as near like the God of the Old Testament as his
health permitted'.
The best thing, however, about the Presbyterians of Ge
neva was that they denied the power of the Pope, and the
�T2
HERETICS AND HERESIES.
best thing about the Pope was that he was not a Presby
terian.
The doctrines of Calvin spread rapidly, and were eagerly
accepted by multitudes on the Continent. But Scotland,
in a few years, became the real fortress of Presbyterianism.
The Scotch rivalled the adherents of Calvin, and succeeded
in establishing the same kind of theocracy that flourished
in Geneva. The clergy took possession and control of
everybody and everything. It is impossible to exaggerate
the slavery, the mental degradation, the abject superstition
of the people of Scotland during the reign of Presby
terianism. Heretics were hunted and devoured as though
. they had been wild beasts. The gloomy insanity of Presby
terianism took possession of a great majority of the people.
They regarded .their ministers as the Jews did Moses and
Aaron. They believed that they were the especial agents
of God, and that whatsoever they bound in Scotland would
be bound in heaven. There was not one particle of intel
lectual freedom. No one was allowed to differ from the
Church, or to even contradict a priestx Had Presbyterianism*
-"maintained its ascendancy, Scotland would have been peo
pled by savages to-day. The revengeful spirit of Calvin
took possession of the Puritans, and caused them to redden
the soil of the New World with the brave blood of honest
men. Clinging to the five points of Calvin, they, too, estab
lished governments in accordance with the teachings of the
Old Testament. They, too, attached the penalty of death
to the expression of honest thought. They, too, believed
their Church supreme, and exerted all their power to curse
this Continent with a spiritual despotism as infamous as it
was absurd. They believed with Luther that universal
toleration is universal error, and universal error is universal
hell. Toleration was denounced as a crime.
Fortunately for us, civilization has had a softening effect
upon the Presbyterian Church. To the ennobling, influence
of the arts and sciences the savage spirit of Calvinism has,
in some slight degree, succumbed. True, the old creed
remains substantially as it was written, but by a kind of
tacit understanding it has come to be regarded as a relic of
the past. The cry of “heresy” has been growing fainter
and fainter, and, as a consequence, the ministers of that
denomination have ventured now and then to express
doubts as to the damnation of infants, and the doctrine
of total depravity. The fact is, the old ideas became a
�HERETICS AND HERESIES.
>3
little monotonous to the people. The fall of man, the
scheme of redemption and irresistible grace, began to have
a familiar sound. The preachers told the old stories while
the congregation slept. Some of the ministers became
tired of these stories themselves. The five points grew
dull, and they felt that nothing short of irresistible grace
could bear this endless repetition. The outside world was
full of progress, and in every direction men advanced,
while the Church, anchored to creed, idly rotted on the
shore. Other denominations, imbued some little with the
spirit of investigation, were springing up on every side, while
the old Presbyterian ark. rested on the Ararat of the past,
filled with the theological monsters of another age.
Lured by the splendours of the outer world, tempted? by
the achievements of science, longing to feel the throb and
beat of the mighty march of the human race, a few of the
ministers of this conservative denomination were compelled,
by irresistible sense, to say a few words in harmony with
the splendid ideas of to-day.
These utterances have upon several occasions so nearly
awakened some of the members, that, rubbing their eyes,
they have feebly inquired whether these grand ideas were
not somewhat heretical? Those ministers found that just
in proportion as their orthodoxy decreased, their congre
gations increased. Those who dealt in the pure unadulter
ated article, found themselves demonstrating the five points
to a less number of hearers than they had points. Stung
to .madness by this bitter truth, this galling contrast, this
harassing fact, the really othodox have raised the cry ot
heresy, and expect with this cry to seal the lips of honesty
men. One of these ministers, and one who has been
enjoying the luxury of a little honest thought, and the
real rapture of expressing it, has already been indicted
and is about to be tried by the Presbytery of Illinois.
He has been charged :
First. With speaking in an ambiguous language in re1 lation to the dear old doctrine of the fall of man. With
having neglected to preach - that most comforting and
consoling truth, the eternal damnation of the soul.
Surely that man must be a monster who could wish to
blot this blessed doctrine out and rob earth’s wretched
children of this blissful hope !
Who can estimate the misery that has been caused by
this most infamous doctrine of eternal punishment ? Think
of the lives it has blighted—of the tears it has caused—of
�14
HERETICS AND HERESIES.
the agony it has produced. Think of the millions who
have been driven to insanity by this most terrible of dogmas.
This doctrine renders God the basest and most cruel being
in the universe. Compared with him, the most frightful
deities of the most barbarous and degraded tribes are
miracles of goodness and mercy. There is nothing more
degrading than to worship such a God. Lower than this
the soul can never sink. / If the doctrine of eternal damna
tion is true, let me have my portion in hell, rather than in
heaven with a God infamous enough to inflict eternal misery
upon any of the sons of men.
Second. With having spoken a few kind words of Robert
Collyer and John Stuart Mill.
I have the honour of a slight acquaintance with Robert
Collyer. I have read with pleasure some of his ‘exquisite
productions. He has a brain full of the dawn, the head of
a philosopher, the imagination of a poet, and the sincere
heart of a child.
Is a minister to be silenced because he speaks fairly of a
noble and candid adversary ? Is it a crime to compliment
a lover of justice, an advocate of liberty; one who devoted
his life to the elevation of man, the discovery of truth, and
the promulgation of what he believed to be right ?
Can that tongue be palsied by a presbytery that praises a
self-denying and heroic life ? Is it a sin to speak a chari
table word over the grave of John Stuart Mill? Is it
heretical to pay a just and graceful tribute to departed
worth ? Must the true Presbyterian violate the sanctity of
the tomb, dig open the grave, and ask his God to curse the
silent dust ? Is Presbyterianism so narrow that it conceives
of no excellence, of no purity of intention, of no spiritual
and moral grandeur outside of its barbaric creed ? Does it
still retain within its stony heart all the malice of its founder ?
Is it still warming its fleshless hands at the flames that con
sumed Servetus ? Does it still glory in the damnation of
infants, and does it still persist in emptying the cradle in
order that perdition may be filled ? Is it still starving the
soul and famishing the heart? Is it still trembling and
shivering, crouching and crawling, before its ignorant con
fession of faith ?
Had such men as Robert Collyer and John Stuart Mill been
present at the burning of Servetus, they would have extin
guished the flames with their tears. Had the Presbytery of
Chicago been there, they would have quietly turned their backs,
solemnly divided their coat-tails, and warmed themselves.
�HERETICS AND HERESIES.
i
Third. With having spoken disparagingly of the doctrine
of predestination.
If there is any dogma that ought to be protected by law,
predestination is that doctrine. Surely it is a cheerful,
joyous thing, to one who is labouring, struggling, and suffer
ing in this weary world, to think that before he existed,
before the earth was, before a star had glittered in the
heavens, before a ray of light had left the quiver of the sun,
his destiny had been irrevocably fixed, and that for an
eternity before his birth he had been doomed to bear eternal
pain !
Fourth. With having failed to preach the efficacy of
“vicarious sacrifice.”
Suppose a man had been convicted of murder, and was
about to be hanged—the governor acting as the executioner.
And suppose that just as the doomed man > was to suffer
death, some one in the crowd should step forward and say,
“ I am willing to die in the place of that murderer. He has
a family, and I have none.” And suppose further that the
governor should reply, “ Come forward, young man, your offer
is accepted. A murder has been committed, and somebody
must be hung, and your death will satisfy the law just as
well as the death of the murderer.” What would you then
think of the doctrine of “ vicarious sacrifice ” ?
This doctrine is the consummation of two outrages—for
giving one crime and committing another.
Fifth. With having inculcated a phase of the doctrine
commonly known as “ Evolution ” or “ Development.”
The Church believes and teaches the exact opposite of this
doctrine. According to the philosophy of theology, man
has continued to degenerate for six thousand years. To
teach that there is that in nature which impels to higher
forms and grander ends, is heresy, of course. The Deity
will damn Spencer and his “ Evolution,” Darwin and his
“ Origin of Species,” Bastian and his “ Spontaneous Genera
tion,” Huxley and his “ Protoplasm,” Tyndall and his
“ Prayer Guage,” and will save those, and those only, who
'•declare that the universe has been cursed from the smallest
atom to the grandest star ; that everything tends to evil,"and
to that only ; and that the only perfect thing in nature is the
Presbyterian confession of faith.
Sixth. With having intimated that the reception of
Socrates and Penelope at heaven’s gate was, to say the
least, a trifle more cordial than that of Catharine II.
�i6
HERETICS AND HERESIES.
Penelope waiting Tpatiently and trustfully for her lord’s
return, delaying her Isuitors, while sadly weaving and un
weaving the shroud ofWaertes, is the most perfect type of
wife and woman produced by the civilization of Greece.
Socrates, whose life was above reproach, and whose death
was beyond all praise, stands to-day, in the estimation of
every thoughtful man, at least the peer of Christ.
Catharine II. assassinated her husband. ^Stepping upon
his corpse, she mounted the throne. She was the murderess
of Prince Iwan, the grand-nephew of Peter the Great, who
was imprisoned for eighteen years, and who, during all that
time, saw the sky but once. Taken all in all, Catharine
was probably one of the most intellectual beasts that ever
wore a crown.
Catharine, however, was the head of the Greek Church,
Socrates was a heretic, and Penelope lived and died without
having once heard of “particular redemption,” or “.irresist
ible grace.”
Seventh. With repudiating the idea of a “ call ” to the
ministry,” and pretending that men were “ called ” to preach
as they were to the other avocations of life.
If this doctrine is true, God, to say the least of it, is an
exceedingly poor judge of human nature. It is lhore than
a century since a man of true genius has been found in an
orthodox pulpit. Every minister is heretical just to the
extent that his intellect is above the average. The Lord
seems to be satisfied with the mediocrity ; but the people
are not.
An old deacoh, wishing to get rid of an unpopular preacher,
advised him to give up the ministry, and turn his attention
to something else. The preacher replied that he could not
conscientiously desert the pulpit, as he had a “ call ” to the
ministry. To which the deacon replied, “That may be so,
but it’s mighty unfortunate for you that when God called
you to preach, he forgot to call anybody to hear you.”
There is nothing more stupidly egotistic than the claim
of the clergy that they are, in some divine sense, set apart
to the service of the Lord; that they have been chosen and
sanctified; that there is an infinite difference between them
and persons employed in secular affairs. They teach us
that all other professions must take care of themselves; that
God allows anybody to be a doctor, a lawyer, statesman,
soldier, or artist; that the Motts and Coopers—the Mans
fields and Marshalls—the Wilberforces and Sumners—the
�HERETICS AND HERESIES.
17
Angelos and Raphaels—were never honoured by a “ call.”
These chose their professions and won their laurels without
the assistance of the Lord. All these men were left free to
follow their own inclinations, while God was busily engaged
selecting and “calling”'priests, rectors, elders, ministers,
and exhorters.
Eighth. With having doubted that God was the author
of the 109th Psalm.
The portion of that Psalm which carries with it the clearest
and most satisfactory evidences of inspiration, and which
has afforded almost unspeakable consolation to the Presby
terian Church, is as follows :
“ Set thou a wicked man over him; and let Satan stand at his right hand.
“When he shall be judged, let him be condemned; and let his
prayer become sin.
“ Let his days be few; and let another take his office.
“ Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
“ Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek
their bread also out of their desolate places.
“Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers
spoil his labour.
“ Let there be none to extend mercy unto him ; neither let there be
none to favour his fatherless children.
“ Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let
their name be blotted out.
*
*****
***
“ But do thou for me, O God the Lord, for Thy name’s sake; be
cause Thy mercy is good, deliver thou me.
*
*
*
I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth"
Think of a God wicked and malicious enough to inspire
this prayer. Think of one infamous enough to answer it.
Had this inspired Psalm been found in some temple
erected for the worship of snakes, or in the possession of
some cannibal king, written with blood upon the dried skins
of babes, there would have been a perfect harmony between
its. surroundings and its sentiments.
No wonder that the author of this inspired Psalm coldly
received Socrates and Penelope, and reserved his sweetest
smiles for Catherine the Second!
Ninth. With having said that the battles in which the
Israelites engaged with the approval and command of
Jehovah surpassed in cruelty those of Julius Caesar.
Was it Julius Caesar who said, “And the Lord our God
delivered him before us ; and we smote him, and his sons,
and all his people. And we took all his cities, and utterly
destroyed the men, and the women, and the little ones, of
every city, we left none to remain ” ?
�18
HERETICS AND HERESIES.
Uid Julius Caesar send the following report to the Roman
Senate? “And we took all his cities at that time, there
was not a city which we took not from them, three-score
cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og, in
Bashan. All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates,
and bars; besides unwalled towns a great many. And we
utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon, King of
Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children
of every city.”
Did Caesar take the pity of Jericho “and utterly destroy
all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and
old”? Did he smite “all the country of the hills, and of
the south, and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their
kings, and leave none remaining that breathed, as the Lord
God had commanded ” ?
Search the records of the whole world, find out the his
tory of every barbarous tribe, and you can find no crime
that touched a lower depth of infamy than those the Bible’s
God commanded and approved. For such a God I have
no words to express my loathing and contempt, and all the
words in all the languages of man would scarcely be suffi
cient. Away with such a God ! Give me Jupiter rather,
with Io and Europa, or even Siva, with his skulls and snakes,
or give me none.
Tenth. With having repudiated the doctrines of “ total
depravity.”
What a precious doctrine is that of the total depravity of
the human heart! How sweet it is to believe that the Jives
of all the good and great were continual sins and perpetual
crimes; that the love a mother bears her child is, in the
sight of God, a sin; that the gratitude of the natural heart
is simple meanness; that the tears of pity are impure; that
for the unconverted to live and labour for others is an offence
to heaven; that the noblest aspirations of the soul are low
and grovelling in the sight of God; that man should fall
upon his knees and ask forgiveness, simply for loving his
wife and child, and that even the act of asking forgiveness
is, in fact, a crime!
Surely it is a kind of bliss to feel that every woman and
child in the wide world, with the exception of those who
believe the five points, or some other equally cruel creed,
and such children as have been baptized, ought at'this very
moment to be dashed down to the lowest glowing gulf of
hell!
�HERETICS AND HERESIES.
T9
Take from the Christian the history of his own Church;
leave that entirely out of the question, and he has no argu
ment left with which to substantiate the total depravity of
man.
A minister once asked an old lady, a member of his
■Church, what she thought of the doctrine of total depravity,
and the dear old soul replied that she thought it a mightygood doctrine if the Lord would only give the people grace
enough to live up to it I
Eleventh. With having doubted the “perseverance of
the saints.”
I suppose the real meaning of this doctrine is, that Presby
terians are just as sure of going to heaven as all other folks
are of going to hell. The real idea being, that it all depends
upon the will of God, and not upon the character of the
person to be damned or saved; that God has the weakness
to send Presbyterians to Paradise, and the justice to doom
the rest of mankind to eternal fire.
It is admitted that no unconverted brain can see the least
of sense in this'doctrine; that it is abhorrent to all who have
not been the recipients of a “new heart”; that only the per
fectly good can justify the perfectly infamous.
It is contended that the saints do not persevere of their
own free will—that they are entitled to no credit for per
severing; but that God forces them to persevere, while, on
the other hand, every crime is committed in accordance with
the secret will of God, who does all things for his own glory.
Compared with this doctrine, there is no other, idea, that
has ever been believed by man, that can properly be called
absurd.
As to the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, I
wish with all my heart that it may prove to be a fact. I
really hope that every saint, no matter how badly he may
break on the first quarter, nor how many shoes he may cast
■at the half-mile pole, will foot it bravely down the long home
stretch, and win eternal heaven by at least a neck.
Twelfth. With having spoken and written somewhat
lightly of the idea of converting the heathen with doctrinal
sermons.
Of all the failures of which we have any history or know
ledge, the missionary effort is the most conspicuous. The
whole question has been decided here, in our own country,
.and conclusively settled. We have nearly exterminated the
Indians; but we have converted none. From the days of
�20
HERETICS AND HERESIES.
John Eliot to the execution of the last Modoc, not one In
dian has been the subject of irresistible grace or particular
redemption. The few red men who roam the Western wil
derness have no thought or care concerning the five points
of Calvin. They are utterly oblivious to the great and vital
truths contained in the Thirty-nine articles, the Saybrook
platform, and the resolution of the Evangelical Alliance. NO’
Indian has ever scalped another on account of his religious
belief. This of itself shows conclusively that the mission
aries have had no effect.
x Why should we convert the heathen of China and kill our
own? Why should we send missionaries across the seas,
and soldiers over the plains ? Why should we send Bibles
to the East and muskets to.the West? If it is impossible to
convert Indians who have no religion of their own ; no perjudice for or against the “eternal procession of the Holy
Ghost,” how can we expect to convert a heathen who has a
religion; who has plenty of gods and Bibles and prophets,
and Christs, and who has a religious literature far grander than
our own? Can we hope, with the story of Daniel6in the
lion’s den, to rival the stupendous miracles of India? Is there
anything in our Bible as lofty and loving as the prayer of the
Buddhist? Compare your “Confession of Faith” with the
following:
“Never will I seek nor receive private individual salvation,
-—never enter into final peace alone; but forever and every
where will I live and strive for the universal redemption of
every creature throughout all worlds. Until all are delivered,
never will I leave the world of sin, sorrow, and struggle, but
will remain where I am.”
Think of sending an average Presbyterian to convert a
man who daily offers this tender, this infinitely generous
and incomparable prayer! Think of reading the 109th
Psalm to a heathen who has a Bible of his own, in which is
found this passage : “ Blessed is that man, and beloved of
all the gods, who is afraid of no man, and of whom no man
is afraid ! ”
Why should you read even the New Testament to a Hin
doo, when his, own Christna has said: “If a man strike
thee, and in striking drop his staff, pick it up and hand it to
him again ” ? Why send a Presbyterian to a Sufi, who says :
“ Better one moment of silent contemplation and inward
love, than seventy thousand years of outward worship ” ?
“Whoso would carelessly tread on one worm that crawls on
�HERETICS AND HERESIES.
2I
earth, that heartless one is darkly alienate from God ; but
he that, living, embraceth all things in his love, to live with
him God bursts all bounds above, below.”
Why should we endeavour to thrust our cruel and heart
less theology upon one who prays this prayer: “ O God,
show pity toward the wicked ; for on the good thou hast
already bestowed thy mercy by having created them vir
tuous”?
.X
Compare this prayer with the curses and cruelties of the
Old Testament—with the infamies commanded and ap
proved by the being whom we are taught to worship as a
God, and with the following tender product of Presbyterian
ism : “ It may seem absurd to human wisdom that God
should harden, blind, and deliver up some men to a repro
bate sense; that he should first deliver them over to evil,
and then condemn them for that evil; but the believing,
spiritual man sees no absurdity in all this, knowing that God
would never be a whit less good, even though he should
destroy all men.”
Of all the religions that have been produced by the
egotism, the malice, the ignorance, and apabition of man,
Presbyterianism is the most hideous.
But what shall I say more ? for the time would fail me to
tell of Sabellianism, of a “ model trinity,” and the “ eternal
procession of the Holy Ghost ” ?
___ Upon these charges a minister is to be tried, here in
Chicago ; in this city of pluck and progress—this marvel of
energy, and this miracle of nerve. The cry of “ heresy,”
here, sounds like a wail from the Dark Ages—a shriek from
the Inquisition, or a groan from the grave of Calvin.
Another effort is being made to enslave a man.
It is claimed that every member of the Church has
solemnly agreed never to outgrow the creed; that he has
pledged himself to remain an intellectual dwarf. Upon
this condition the Church agrees to save his soul, and he
hands over his brains to bind the bargain. Should a fact be
found inconsistent with the creed, he binds himself to deny
the fact and curse the finder. With scraps of dogmas and
crumbs of doctrine, he agrees that his soul shall be satisfied
for ever. What an intellectual feast the confession of faith
must be ! It reminds one of the dinner described by Sydney
Smith, where everything was cold except the water, and
everything sour except the vinegar.
V Every member of a Church promises to remain orthodox,
�22
HERETICS AND HERESIES.
that is to say—stationary. Growth is heresy. Orthodox
ideas are the feathers that have been moulted by the eagle of
progress. They are the dead leaves under the majestic
palm, while heresy is the bud and blossom at the top.
Imagine a vine that grows at one end and decays at the
other. The end that grows is heresy: the end that rots isorthodox. The dead are orthodox, and your cemetery is the:
most perfect type of a well-regulated Church. No thought,
no progress, no heresy there. Slowly and silently, side by
side, the satisfied members peacefully decay. Them is only
this difference—the dead do not persecute.
And what does a trial for heresy mean? It means that
the Church says to a heretic, “ Believe as I do, or I will
withdraw my support; I will not employ you ; I will
pursue you until your garments are rags ; until your children
cry for bread; until your cheeks are furrowed with tears. I
will hunt you to the very portals of the tomb, and then my
God will do the rest. I will not imprison you. I will not
burn you. The law prevents my doing that. I helped,
make the law, not, however, to protect you, nor deprive me
of the right to exterminate you, but in order to keep otherchurches from exterminating me.”
A trial for heresy means that the spirit of persecution still
lingers in the Church ; that it still denies the right of private
judgment; that it still thinks more of creed than truth ; that
it is still determined to prevent the intellectual growth of
man. It means that churches are shambles in which are
bought and sold the souls of men. It means that the
Church is still guilty of the barbarity of opposing thought
with force. It means that if it had the power the mental
horizon would be bounded by a creed, that it would bring
again the whips, and chains, and dungeon keys, the rack
and fagot of the past.
But let me tell the Church it lacks the power. There havebeen, and still arc, too many men who own themselves—toomuch thought, too much knowledge for the Church to graspagain the sword of power. The Church must abdicate, for
the Eglon of superstition, science, has a message from truth..
The heretics have not thought and suffered and died in
vain. Every heretic has been, and is, a ray of light. Not
.in vain did Voltaire, that great man, point from the foot of
the Alps the finger of scorn at every hypocrite in Europe.
Not in vain were the splendid utterances of the infidels^
wliile .beyond all price are the discoveries, of science.
�HERETICS AND HERESIES.
2 3-
The Church has impeded, but it has not, and it cannot \
stop the onward march of the human race. Heresy cannot ]
be burned, nor imprisoned, nor starved. It laughs at pres- '
byteries and synods, at (Ecumenical councils and the impo- ■
tent thunders of Sinai. Heresy is the eternal dawn, the
morning star, the glittering herald of the day. Heresy isthe last and best thought. It is the perpetual, new world;
the unknown sea, toward which the brave all sail. It is the
eternal horizon of progress. Heresy extends the hospitali
ties of the brain to new thoughts. Heresy is a cradle :
orthodoxy a coffin.
Why should a man be afraid to think, and why should he
fear to express his thoughts ?
Is it possible that an infinite Deity is-unwilling that man
should investigate the phenomena by which he is sur
rounded ? Is it possible that a god delights in threatening
and terrifying men ? What glory, what honour and renown
a god must win in such a field ! The ocean raving at a
drop; a star envious of a candle ; the sun jealous of a fire-fly I
Go on, presbyteries and synods, go on ! Thrust the '
heretics out of the Church. That is to say, throw away
your brains—put out your eyes. The infidels will thank
you. They are willing to adopt your exiles. Every de
serter from your camp is a recruit for the army of progress.
Cling to the ignorant dogmas of the past; read the 109th
Psalm; gloat over the slaughter of mothers and babes
thank God for total depravity; shower your honours upon
hypocrites, and silence every minister who is touched with
that heresy called genius.
Be true to your history. Turn out the astronomers, the
geologists, the naturalists, the chemists, and all the honest
scientists. With a whip of scorpions, drive them all out.
We want them all. Keep the ignorant, the superstitious,
the bigoted, and the writers of charges and specifications.
Keep them, and keep them all. Repeat your pious platitudesin the drowsy ears of the faithful, and read your Bible to
heretics, as kings read some forgotten riot-act to stop and
stay the waves of revolution. You are too weak to excite
. anger. We forgive your efforts as the sun forgives a cloud
—as the air forgives the breath you waste.
How long, O how long will man listen to the threats of
God, and shut his ears to the splendid promises of Nature ?
How long, O how long will man remain the cringing slave
of a false and cruel creed?
�24
HERETICS AND HERESIES.
By this time the whole world should know that the real
Bible has not yet been written : but is being written, and
that it will never be finished until the race begins its down
ward march or ceases to exist. The real Bible is not the
work of inspired men, nor prophets, nor apostles, nor
evangelists, nor of Christ. Every man who finds a fact,
adds, as it were,, a word to this great book. It is not
attested by prophecy, by miracles, or by signs. It makes no
appeal to faith, to ignorance, to credulity, or fear. It has
no punishment for unbelief, and no reward for hypocrisy.
It appeals to man in the name of demonstration. It has
nothing to conceal. It has no fear of being read, of being
investigated and understood. It does not pretend to be
holy or sacred ; it simply claims to be true. It challenges
the scrutiny of all, and implores every reader to verify every
line for himself. It is incapable of being blasphemed.
This book appeals to all the surroundings of man. Each
thing that exists testifies of its perfection. The earth with
its h^art of fire and crowns of snow; with its forests and
plains, its rocks and seas ; with its every wave and cloud ;
with its every leaf, and bud, and flower, confirms its every
lyord, and the solemn stars, shining in the infinite abysses,
are the eternal witnesses of its truth.
��
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Victorian Blogging
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Heretics and heresies
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Ingersoll, Robert Green [1833-1899]
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Place of publication: London
Collation: 24 p. ; 18 cm.
Notes: No. 34c in Stein checklist. Date of publication from Stein. Marginal markings in pencil. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
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Freethought Publishing Company
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[1877]
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N356
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Heresy
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Heresy
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NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY
ARRAIGNMENT OF THE CHURCH.
AND
A PLEA FOR INDIVIDUALITY.
BY
COLONEL ROBT. G. INGERSOLL.
LONDON:
FREETHOUGHT PUBLISHING COMPANY,
28, Stonecutter Street, E.C.
PRICE TWOPENCE.
�ARRAIGNMENT OF THE CHURCH.
AND A PLEA FOR INDIVIDUALITY.
“His soul was like a star and dwelt aparti'
On every hand are the enemies of individuality and mental
freedom. Custom meets us at the cradle, and leaves us only
at the tomb. Our first questions are answered by ignorance,
and our last by superstition. We are pushed and dragged
by countless hands along the beaten track, and our entire
training can be summed up in the word “ suppression.”
Our desire to have a thing or to do a thing is considered
as conclusive evidence that we ought not to have it, and
ought not to do it. At every turn we run against a cherubim
and a flaming sword guarding some entrance to the Eden of
our desire. We are allowed to investigate all subjects in
which we feel no particular interest, and to express the
opinions of the majority with the utmost freedom. We are
taught that liberty of speech should never be carried to the
extent of contradicting the dead witnesses of a popular
superstition. Society offers continual rewards for self-be
trayal, and they are nearly all earned and claimed, and some
are paid.
We have all read accounts of Christian gentlemen remark
ing, when about to be hanged, how much better it would
have been for them if they had only followed a mother’s
.advice ! But, after all, how fortunate it is for the world that
the maternal advice has not been followed ! How lucky it
is for us all that it is somewhat unnatural for a human being
to obey ! Universal obedience is universal stagnation ;
disobedience is one of the conditions of progress. Select
any age of the world and tell me what would have been the
effect of implicit obedience. Suppose the Church had had
absolute control of the human mind, at any time, would not
the words “liberty” and “progress” have been blotted from
�N331
•-
ARRAIGNMENT OF THE CHURCH.
3
human speech ? In defiance of advice the world has
■advanced.
Suppose the astronomers had controlled the science of
■astronomy ■ suppose the doctors had controlled the science
of medicine ; suppose kings had been left to fix the forms
•of government; suppose our fathers had taken the advice
•of Paul, who paid, be subject to the powers that be, because
they are ordained of God ; suppose the Church could control
the world to-day, we would go back to chaos and old night.
Philosophy would be branded as infamous ; science would
■again press its pale and thoughtful face against the prison
bars; and round the limbs of liberty would climb the
bigot’s flame.
It is a blessed thing that in every age some one has had
individuality enough and courage enough to stand by his
•own convictions, some one who had the grit to say his say.
I believe it was Magellan who said: Ci The Church says the
earth is flat; but I have seen its shadow on the moon, and
I have more confidence even in a shadow than in the
Church.
On the prow of his ship were disobedience,
■defiance, scorn, and success.
The trouble with most people is that they bow to what is
■called authority; they have a certain reverence for the old
because it is old. They think a man is better for being dead, especially if he has been dead a long time, and that
the forefatheis of their nation were the greatest and best of
all mankind. All these things they implicitly believe because
it is popular and patriotic, and because they were told
so when very small, and remember distinctly hearing
mother read it out of a book, and they are all willing to
swear that mother was a good woman. It is hard to over
estimate the influence of early training in the direction of
superstition. You first teach children that a certain book is
true—that it was written by God himself—that to question
its truth is a sin, that to deny it is a crime, and that should
they die without believing that book they will be forever
damned without benefit of clergy; the consequence is that
ong before they read that book they believe it to be true.
When they do read their minds are wholly unfitted to in
vestigate its claim. They accept it as a matter of course.
In this way the reason is- overcome, the sweet instincts of
humanity are blotted.from the heart, and while reading its
infamous pages even justice throws aside her scales, shrieking
foi revenge, and charity, with bloody hands, applauds a
�4
ARRAIGNMENT OF THE CHURCH.
deed of murder. In this way we are taught that the'
revenge of man is the justice of God, that mercy is not the
same everywhere. In this way the ideas of our race .have
been subverted. In this way we have made tyrants, bigots,
and inquisitors. In this way the brain of man has. become
a kind of palimpsest upon which, and over the writings of
Nature, superstition has scribbled her countless lies. Our
o-reat trouble is that most teachers are dishonest. They
teach as certainties those things concerning which they
entertain doubts. They do not say, “ We think this is so,
but “ We know this is so.” They do not appeal to the
reason of the pupil, but they command his faith.. They
keep all doubts to themselves ; they do not explain, they
assert. All this is infamous. In this way you may make
Christians, but you cannot make men ; you cannot make
women. You can make followers but no leaders ; disciples,
but no Christs. You may promise power, honour, and
happiness to all those who will blindly follow, but you cannot
keep your promise.
.
..
,
An eastern monarch said to a hermit, ‘ Come with me and
I will give you power.” “ I have all the power that I know
how to use,” replied the hermit. “ Come, said the king,
« I will give you wealth.” “I have no wants that money can
supply.” “ I will give you honour.” “ Ah! honour cannot.be
given it must be earned.” “Come,” said the king, making
a last appeal, “ and I will give you happiness.” “ No,” said
the man of solitude, “ there is no happiness without liberty,
and he who follows cannot be free.” “You shall have liberty
too.” “ Then I will stay.” And all the king’s courtiers
thought the hermit a fool.
.
.
Now and then somebody examines, and, m spite ot all,
keeps his manhood and has courage to follow where his
reason leads. Then the pious get together and repeat wise
saws and exchange knowing nods and most prophetic winks.
The stupidly wise sit owl-like on the dead limbs of the tree
of knowledge, and solemnly hoot. Wealth sneers, and
fashion laughs, and respectability passes on the other side,
and scorn points with all her skinny fingers, and the
snakes of superstition writhe and hiss, and slander lends
her tongue, and infamy her brand, and perjury her oath,
and the law its power, and bigotry tortures and the Church
kills.
The Church hates a thinker precisely for the same, reason
that a robber dislikes a sheriff-, or that a thief despises the
�ARRAIGNMENT OF THE CHURCH,
5
■prosecuting witness. Tyranny likes courtiers, flatterers, fol
lowers, fawners, and superstition wants believers, disciples,
zealots, hypocrites, and subscribers.—The Church demands
worship, the very thing that man should give to no being,
human or divine. To worship another is to degrade your
self. Worship is awe and dread and vague fear and blind
hope. It is the spirit of worship that elevates the one
and degrades the many; that builds palaces for robbers,
■erects monuments to crime, and forges manacles even for
its own hands. The spirit of worship is the spirit of tyranny.
The worshipper always regrets that he is not the worshipped.
We should all remember that the intellect has no knees,
■and that whatever the attitude of the body may be, the
brave soul is always found erect. Whoever worships,
abdicates. Whoever believes at the command of power
tramples his own individuality beneath his feet, and volun
tarily robs himself of all that renders man superior to a
brute.
The despotism of faith is justified upon the ground that
Christian countries are the grandest and most prosperous of
the world. At one time the same thing could have been
truly said in India, in Egypt, in Greece, in Rome, and in
-every other country that has in the history of the world,
swept to empire. This argument not only proves too
much, but the assumption upon which it is based is utterly
false. Numberless circumstances and countless conditions
have produced the prosperity of the Christian world. The
truth is that we have advanced in spite of religious zeal,
ignorance, and opposition. The Church has won no vic
tories for the rights of man. Over every fortress of tyranny
has waved, and still waves, the banner of the Church.
Wherever brave blood has been shed the sword of the
Church has been wet. On every chain has been the sign
of the cross. The altar and the throne have leaned against
-and supported each other. Who can appreciate the infinite
impudence of one man assuming to think for others ? Who
can imagine the impudence of a Church that threatens to
inflict eternal punishment upon those who honestly reject
its claims and scorn its pretensions? In the presence of
the unknown we all have an equal right to guess.
Over the vast plain called life we are all travellers, and
not one traveller is perfectly certain that he is going in the
right direction. True it is, that no other plain is so well
•supplied with guide-boards. At every turn and crossing
�6
ARRAIGNMENT OF THE CHURCH.
you find them, and upon each one is written the exactdirection and distance. One great trouble is, however, that
these boards are all different, and the result is that most
travellers are confused in proportion to the number they
read. Thousands of people are around each of these signs,
and each one is doing his best to convince the traveller that
his particular board is the only one upon which the least
reliance can be placed, and that if his road is taken the
reward for so doing will be infinite and eternal, while all the
other roads are said to lead to hell, and all the makers of
the other guide-boards are declared to be heretics, hypo
crites, and liars. “ Well,” says a traveller, “ you may be
right in what you say, but allow me at least to read someof the other directions and examine a little into their
claims. I wish to rely a little upon my own judgment in a
matter of so great importance.” “No, sir!” shouts the
zealot, “ that is the very thing you are not allowed to do.
You must go my way without investigation or you are as
good as damned already.” “Well,” says the traveller, “if
that is so, I believe I had better go your way.” And so
most of them go along, taking the word of those who know
as little as themselves. Now and then comes one who, in
spite of all threats, calmly examines the claims of all, and as
calmly rejects them all.—These travellers take roads of
their own, and are denounced by all the others as Infidels,
and Atheists.
In my judgment every human being should take a road,
of his own. Every mind should be true to itself ; should
think, investigate, and conclude for itself. This is a duty
alike incumbent upon pauper and prince. Every soul
should repel dictation and tyranny, no matter from what
source they come—from earth or heaven, from men or
gods. Besides, every traveller upon this vast plain should
give to every other traveller his best idea as to the road that
should be taken. Each is entitled to the honest opinion of
all. And there is but one way to get an honest opinion
upon any subject whatever. The person giving the opinion
must be free from fear. The merchant must not fear tolose his custom, the doctor his practice, nor the preacher
his pulpit. There can be no advance without liberty.
Suppression of honest inquiry is retrogression, and must
end in intellectual night. The tendency of Orthodox reli
gion to-day is toward mental slavery and barbarism. Not
one of the Orthodox ministers dare preach what he thinks.
�arraignment of the church.
7
if he knows that a majority of his congregation think other
wise. He knows that every member of his Church stands
guard over his brain with a creed like a club in his hand.
He knows that he is not expected to search after the truth,
but that he is employed to defend the creed. Every pulpit
is a pillory in which stands a hired culprit, defending the
justice of his own imprisonment.
Is it desirable that all should be exactly alike in their
religious convictions? Is any such thing possible? Do
we not know that there are no two persons alike in the
whole world? No two trees, no two leaves, no two anythings that are alike ? Infinite diversity is the law. Religion
tries to force all minds into one mould. Knowing that all
cannot believe, the Church endeavours to make all say that
they believe. She longs for the unity of hypocrisy, and
detests the splendid diversity of individuality and freedom.
Nearly all people stand in great horror of annihilation,
and yet to give up your individuality is to annihilate your
self. Mental slavery is mental death, and every man who
has given up his intellectual freedom is the living coffin of
his dead soul. In this sense every Church is a cemetery,
and every creed an epitaph.
We should all remember that to be like other folks is to
be unlike ourselves, and that nothing can be more detest
able in character than servile imitation. The great trouble
with imitation is that we are apt to ape those who are in
reality far below us. After all, the poorest bargain that a
human being can make is to trade off his individuality for
what is called respectability.
There is no saying more degrading than this: “It is
better to be the tail of a lion than the. head of a dog.” It
is a responsibility to think and act for yourself. Most
people hate responsibility; therefore they join something
and become the tail of some lion. They say, “My party
can act for me—my Church can do my thinking. It is
enough for me to pay taxes and obey the lion to which I
belong, without troubling myself about the right, the
wrong, or the why or the wherefore of anything whatever.”
These people are respectable. They hate reformers, and
dislike exceedingly to have their mind disturbed. They
regard convictions as very disagreeable things to have.
They love forms, and enjoy, beyond everything else, telling
what a splendid tail their lion has, and what a troublesome
dog their neighbour is. Besides this natural inclination to
�ARRAIGNMENT OF THE CHURCH.
avoid personal responsibility is and always has been the
fact, that every religionist has warned men against the
presumption and wickedness of thinking for themselves.
The reason has been denounced by all Christendom as the
only unsafe guide. The Church has left nothing undone to
prevent man following the logic of his brain. The plainest
facts have been covered with the mantle of mystery. The
grossest absurdities have been declared to be self-evident
facts. The order of nature has been, as it were, reversed,
in order that the hypocritical few might govern the honest
many. The man who stood by the conclusion of his reason
was denounced as a scorner and hater of God and his holy
Church. From the organization of the first church until
this moment, to think your own thoughts has been inconsis
tent with the duties of membership. Every member has
borne the marks of collar, and chain, and whip. No man
ever seriously attempted to reform a Church without being
cast out and hunted down by the hounds of hypocrisy.
The highest crime against a creed is to change it. Reforma
tion is treason.
Thousands of young men are being educated at this
moment by the various Churches. What for ? In order
that they may be prepared to investigate the phenomena by
which we are surrounded? No! The object, and the
only object, is that they may be prepared to defend a creed.
That they may learn the arguments of their respective
Churches and repeat them in the dull ears of a thoughtless
congregation. If one after being thus trained at the expense
of the Methodists turns Presbyterian or Baptist, he is de
nounced as an ungrateful wretch. Honest investigation is
utterly impossible within the pale of any Church, for the
reason that if you think the Church is right you will not
investigate, and if you think it wrong the Church will in
vestigate you. The consequence of this is, that most of the
theological literature is the result of suppression, of fear, of
tyranny, and hypocrisy.
Every Orthodox writer necessarily said to himself, “ If I
write that, my wife and children may want for bread. I
will be covered with shame and branded with infamy; but if
I write this, I will gain position, power, and honour. My
Church rewards defenders, and burns reformers.”
Under these conditions, all your Scotts, Henrys, and
McKnights have written; and weighed in these scales what
are their commentaries worth ? They are not the ideas and
�ARRAIGNMENT OF THE CHURCH.
9
decisions of honest judges, but the sophisms of the paid
attorneys of superstition. Who can tell what the world has
lost by this infamous system of suppression ? How many,
grand thinkers have died with the mailed hand of supersti
tion on their lips ? How many splendid ideas have perished
in the cradle of the brain, strangled in the poison coils of
that Python, the Church !
For thousands of years a thinker was hunted down like
an escaped convict. To him who had braved the Church
every door was shut, every knife was open. To shelter him
from the wild storm, to give him a crust of bread when
dying, to put a cup of water to his cracked and bleeding
lips—these were all crimes, not one of which the Church
ever did forgive ; and with the justice taught of God his
helpless children were exterminated as scorpions and vipers.
Who at the present day can imagine the courage, the
devotion to principle, the intellectual and moral grandeur
it once required to be an Infidel, to brave the Church, her
racks, her fagots, her dungeons, her tongues of fire—to defy
and scorn her heaven and her devil and her God ? They
were the noblest sons of earth. They were the real saviours
of our race, the destroyers of superstition and the creators
of science. They were the real Titans who bared their
grand foreheads to all the thunderbolts of all the gods.
The Church has been, and still is, the great robber. She
has rifled not only the pockets but the brains of the world.
•She is the stone at the sepulchre of liberty ; the upas tree
in whose shade the intellect of man has withered; the
Gorgon beneath whose gaze the human heart has turned to
stone.
Under her influence even the Protestant mother expects
to be in heaven, while her brave boy who fell fighting for
the rights of man shall writhe in hell.
It is said that some of the Indian tribes place the heads
■of their children between pieces of bark until the form of
the skull is permanently changed. To us this seems a most
shocking custom, and yet, after all, is it as bad as to put
the souls of our children in the straight jacket of a creed;
to so utterly deform their minds that they regard the God
•of the Bible as a Being of infinite mercy, and really consider
it a virtue to believe a thing just because it seems unreason
able ? Every child in the Christian world has uttered its
wondering protest against this outrage. All the machinery
of the Church is constantly employed in thus corrupting
�1°
ARRAIGNMENT OF THE CHURCH.
the reason of children. In every possible way they arerobbed of their own thoughts and forced to accept the
statements of others. Every Sunday School has for its
object the crushing out of every germ of individuality.
The poor children are taught that nothing can be more
acceptable to God than unreasoning obedience and eyeless
faith, and that to believe that God did an impossible act is
far better than to do a good one yourself. They are. told
that all the religions have been simply the John the Baptist
of ours ; that all the gods of antiquity have withered and
shrunken into the Jehovah of the Jews; that all the
longings and aspirations of the race are realized in the
motto of the Evangelical alliance, “ Liberty in non-essen
tials;” that all there is or ever was of religion can be found
in the Apostle’s creed; that there is nothing left to be dis
covered; that all the thinkers are dead, and all the living
should simply be believers; that we have only to repeat,
the epitaph found on the grave of wisdom; that grave-yards
are the best possible universities, and that the children must
be forever beaten with the bones of the fathers.
It has always seemed absurd to suppose that a God
would choose for his companions during all eternity the
dear souls whose highest and only ambition is to obey. He
certainly would now and then be tempted to make the
same remark made by an English gentleman to his poor
guest. This gentleman had invited a man in humble cir
cumstances to dine with him. The man was so overcome
with honour that to everything the gentleman said he
replied, “ Yes.” Tired at last with the monotony of acqui
escence, the gentleman cried out, “ For God’s sake, my good
man, say ‘No ’ just for once, so there will be two of us.”
Is it possible that an infinite God created this world
simply to be the dwelling-place of slaves and serfs ? Simply
for the purpose of raising Orthodox Christians, that he did
a few miracles to astonish them; that all the evils of life
are simply his punishments, and that he is finally going to
turn heaven into a kind of religious museum filled with
Baptist barnacles, petrified Presbyterians, and Methodist
mummies ? I want no heaven for which I must give my
reason; no happiness in exchange for my liberty, and no
immortality that demands the surrender of my individuality.
Better rot in the windowless tomb, to which there is no
door but the red mouth of the pallid worm, than wear the
jewelled collar even of a God.
�ARRAIGNMENT of the church.
IX
Religion does not and cannot contemplate man as free.
She accepts only the homage of the prostrate, and scornsthe offerings of those who stand erect. She cannot tolerate
the liberty of thought. The wide and sunny fields belong
not to her domain. The star-lit heights of genius and.
individuality are above and beyond her appreciation and
power. Her subjects cringe at her feet covered with the
dust of obedience. They are not athletes standing posed
by rich life ’and brave endeavour like the antique statues,,
but shrivelled deformities studying with furtive glance the
cruel face of power.
*
No religionist seems capable of comprehending this plain
truth. There is this difference between thought and action :
.—For our actions we are responsible to ourselves and to
'those injuriously affected; for thoughts there can, in the
nature of things, be no responsibility to gods or men, here
or hereafter. And yet the Protestant has vied with the
Catholic in denouncing freedom of thought, and while I
was taught to hate Catholicism with every drop of my
blood, it is only justice to say that in all essential particularsit is precisely the same as every other religion. Luther
denounced mental liberty with all the coarse and brutal
vigour of his nature, Calvin despised from the very bottom
of his petrified heart anything that even looked like religious
toleration, and solemnly declared that to advocate it was to
crucify Christ afresh. All the founders of all the orthodox
churches have advocated the same infamous tenet. The
truth is that what is called religion is necessarily inconsistent
with Free Thought.
A believer is a songless bird in a cage, a Freethinker is
an eagle parting the clouds with tireless wings.
At present, owing to the inroads that have been made by
Liberals and Infidels, most of the Churches pretend to be in
favour of religious liberty. Of these Churches, we will ask
this question : “ How can a man who conscientiously believes
in religious liberty worship a God who does not ?” They
say to us: “We will not imprison you on account of your
belief, but our God will. We will not burn you because
you throw away the sacred Scriptures; but their Author
will.” “ We think it an infamous crime to persecute our
brethren for opinion’s sake; but the God whom we igno
rantly worship will on that account damn his own children
for ever.” Why is it that these Christians do not only
detest the Infidels, but so cordially despise each other ?
�12
ARRAIGNMENT OF THE CHURCH.
Why do they refuse to worship in the temples of each other ?
Why do they care so little for the damnation of men, and so
much for the baptism of children ? Why will they adorn
their churches with the money of thieves, and flatter vice
for the sake of subscription? Why will they attempt to
bribe science to certify to the writings of God? Why do they
torture the words of the great into an acknowledgment of
the truth of Christianity ? Why do they stand with hat in
hand before Presidents, Kings, Emperors, and Scientists,
begging like Lazarus for a few crumbs of religious comfort ?
Why are they so delighted to find an allusion to Providence
in the message of Lincoln ? Why are they so afraid that
some one will find out that Paley wrote an essay in favour
of the Epicurean Philosophy, and that Sir Isaac Newton
was once an Infidel? Why are they so anxious to show
that Voltaire recanted ? that Paine died palsied with fear ;
that the Emperor Julian cried out, “ Galilean thou hast
conquered; ” that Gibbon died a Catholic; that Agassiz
had a little confidence in Moses; that the old Napoleon
was once complimentary enough to say that he thought
Christ greater than himself or Ciesar; that Washington was
caught on his knees at Valley Forge ; that blunt old Ethan
Allen told his child to believe the religion of her mother ;
that Franklin said, “ Don’t unchain the tiger; ” that Volney
.got frightened in a storm at sea, and that Oakes Ames was
a wholesale liar ?
Is it because the foundation of their temple is crumbling,
because the walls are cracked, the pillars leaning, the great
dome swaying to its fall, and because science has written
over the high altar its mene, mene, tekel upharsin, the old
words destined to be the epitaph of all religions ?
Every assertion of individual independence has been a
step towards Infidelity. Luther started toward Humboldt,
Wesley toward Bradlaugh. To really reform the Church is
to destroy it. Every new religion has a little less supersti
tion than the old, so that the religion of science is but a
question of time. I will not. say the Church has been an
unmitigated evil in all respects. Its history is infamous and
glorious. It has delighted in the production of extremes.
It has furnished murderers for its own martyrs. It has
sometimes fed the body, but has always starved the soul.
It has been a charitable highwayman, a generous pirate. It
has produced some angels and a multitude of devils. It
has built more prisons than asylums. It made a hundred
t
�arraignment of the church.
13
orphans while it cared for one. In one hand it carried the
alms-dish, and in the other a sword. It has founded
schools and endowed universities for the purpose of de
stroying; true learning. It filled the world with hypocrites,
and zealots, and upon the cross of its own Christ it crucified
the individuality of man. It has sought to destroy the
independence of the soul, and put the world upon its knees.
This is its crime. The commission of this crime, was.
necessary to its existence. In order to compel obedience
it declared that it had the truth and all the truth, that God
had made it the keeper of all His secrets ; His agent and
his viceregent. It declared that all other religions were
false and infamous. It rendered all compromises im
possible, and all thought. superfluous. . Thought was its
enemy, obedience was its friend. Investigation was fraught
with danger j therefore investigation was suppressed. The
holy of holies was behind the curtain. All this was upon
the principle that forgers hate to have the signature examined
by an expert, and that imposture detests curiosity.
“ He that hath ears to hear let him hear,” has always been
one of the favourite texts of the Church.
In short, Christianity has always opposed every forward
movement of the human race. Across the. highway of pro
gress it has always been building breastworks of bibles,
tracts, commentaries, prayer-books, creeds, dogmas, and
platforms, and at every advance the Christians have gathered
behind these heaps of rubbish and shot the poisoned arrows
of malice at the soldiers of freedom.
And even the liberal Christian of to-day has his holy of
holies, and in the niche of the temple of his heart has his
idol. ’ He still clings to a part of the old superstition, and
all the pleasant memories of the old belief linger in the
horizon of his thoughts like a sunset. We associate the
memory of those we love with the religion .of our childhood.
It seems almost a sacrilege to rudely destroy the idols that
our fathers worshipped, and turn their sacred and beautiful
truths into the silly fables of barbarism. Some throw away
the Old Testament and cling to the New,, while others give
up everything except the idea that there is a personal God,
and that in some wonderful way we are the objects of His
care.
.
.
.
Even this, in my opinion, as science, the great iconoclast,
marches onward, will have to be abandoned with, the rest.
The great ghost will surely share the fate of the little ones.
�14
arraignment of the church.
They fled at the first appearance of the dawn, and the other
A. ill vanish with the perfect day. Until then, the indepen
dence of man is little more than a dream. Overshadowed
by an immense personality—in the presence of the irrespon
sible and the infinite, the individuality of man is lost, and,
he falls prostrate in the very dust of fear. Beneath the
frown of the Absolute, man stands a wretched, trembling
slave—beneath his smile he is at best only a fortunate serf.
Governed by a being whose arbitrary will is law, chained to
the chariot of power, his destiny rests in the pleasure of the
Unknown. Under these circumstances what wretched
object can he have in lengthening out his aimless life ?
And yet, in most minds, there is a vague fear of what
the gods may do, and the safe side is considered the best
side.
A gentleman walking among the ruins of Athens came
upon a fallen statue of Jupiter. Making an exceedingly low
bow, he said: “Oh, Jupiter, I salute thee.” He then
added : “ Should you ever get up in the world again, do not
forget, I pray you, that I treated you politely while you were
prostrate.”
We have all been taught by the Church that nothing is so
well calculated to excite the ire of the Deity as to express a
■doubt as to his existence, and to deny it is an unpardonable
sin. . Numerous well-attested instances were referred to, of
Atheists being struck dead for denying the existence of God.
According to these religious people, God is infinitely above us
in every respect, infinitely merciful, and yet He cannot bear
to hear a poor finite man honestly question His existence.
Knowing as He does that His children are groping in dark
ness and struggling with doubt and fear ; knowing that He
could enlighten them if He would, He still holds the ex
pression of a sincere doubt as to His existence the most
infamous of crimes.
According to the orthodox logic, God having furnished
us with imperfect minds, has a right to demand a perfect
result. Suppose Mr. Smith should overhear a couple of
■small bugs holding a discussion as to the existence of Mr.
■Smith, and suppose one should have the temerity to declare
upon the honour of a bug that he had examined the whole
■question to the best of his ability, including the argument
based upon design, and had come to the conclusion that no
man by the name of Smith had ever lived. Think, then, of
Mr. Smith flying into an ecstacy of rage, crushing the
�arraignment of the church.
15
atheist bug beneath his iron heel, while he exclaimed, “ I
will teach you, blasphemous wretch, that Smith is a diabo
lical fact ! ” What, then, call we think of a God who would
■open the artillery of heaven upon one of His own children
for simply expressing his honest thought ? And what man
■who really thinks can help repeating the words of .¿Eneas,
“ If there are gods, they certainly pay no attention to the
affairs of men.”
In religious ideas and conceptions there has been for ages
a slow and steady development. At the bottom of the
ladder (speaking of modern times) is Catholicism, and at
the top are Atheism and Science. The intermediate rounds
•of this ladder are occupied by the various sects, whose name
is legion.
But whatever may be the truth on any subject has nothing
to do with our right to investigate that subject, and express
any opinion we may form. All that I ask is the right I freely
accord to all others.
A few years ago a Methodist clergyman took it upon him
self to give me a piece of friendly advice. “Although you
may disbelieve the Bible,” said he, “ you ought not to say
.so. That you should keep to yourself.” “ Do you believe
the Bible?” said I. He replied, “Most assuredly.” To
which I retorted, “ Your answer conveys no information to
me. You may be following your own advice. You told me
to suppress my opinions. Of course, a man who will advise
others to dissimulate will not always be particular about
telling the truth himself.”
It is the duty of each and every one to maintain his indi
viduality. “ This above all, to thine own self be true, and
it must follow as the night the day, thou canst not then be
false to-any man.” It is a magnificent thing to be the sole
proprietor of yourself. It is a terrible thing to wake up at
night and say: “ There is nobody in this bed ! ” It is
humiliating to know that your ideas are all borrowed, and
that you are indebted to your memory for your principles,
that your religion is simply one of your habits, and that you
would have convictions if they were only contagious. It is
mortifying to feel that you belong to a mental mob and cry,
“ Crucify him,” because the others do. That you reap
what the great and brave have sown, and that you can
benefit the world only by leaving it.
Surely every human being ought to attain to the dignity
of the zzzzA. Surely it is worth something to be (me, and to
�I
ARRAIGNMENT OF THE CHURCH.
feel that the census of the universe would not be complete
without counting you.
Surely there is grandeur in knowing that in the realm of
thought, at least, you are without a chain; that you have
the right to explore all heights and all depths; and that
there are no walls, nor fences, nor prohibited places, nor
sacred corners in all the vast expanse of thought; that your
intellect owes no allegiance to any being human or divine ;
that you hold all in fee and upon no condition and by no
tenure whatever; that in the world of mind you are relieved
from all. personal dictation, and from the ignorant tyranny
of majorities.
Surely it is worth something to feel that there are no,
priests, no popes, no parties, no governments, no kings, no
gods to whom your intellect can be compelled to pay a
reluctant homage.
Surely it is a joy to know that all the cruel ingenuity of
bigotry can devise no prison, no lock, no cell, in which for
one instant to confine a thought; that ideas cannot be dis
located by racks, nor crushed in iron boots, nor burned
with fire.
Surely it is sublime to think that the brain is a castle, and
that within its curious bastions and winding halls the soul
in spite of all worlds and all beings is the supreme sovereign
of itself.
Printed by Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh, 28 ^necutter Street, London, E.C.
�
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Title
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Victorian Blogging
Description
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
Date
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
Text
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Pamphlet
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Arraignment of the Church and a plea for individuality
Creator
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Ingersoll, Robert Green [1833-1899]
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 16 p. ; 18 cm.
Notes: Printed by Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh. No. 40c in Stein checklist. Date of publication from Stein checklist. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
Publisher
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Freethought Publishing Company
Date
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[1877]
Identifier
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N331
Subject
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Christianity
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Arraignment of the Church and a plea for individuality), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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application/pdf
Type
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Text
Language
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English
Christianity
NSS