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THE
NEW
GOSPEL
OF
PEACE
ABSORBING TO
ST.
BENJAMIN.
Manchester:
ABEL HEYWOOD, PRINTER, 56 & 58, OLDHAM STREET
London:
BACON & CO., 48, PATERNOSTER ROW.
��THE NEW GOSPEL OF PEACE
ACCORDING TO ST. BENJAMIN.
CHAPTER I.
1 The Mystery. 2 War in the Land of Unculpsalm. o Phernandiwud. 10 Seeketh a partner. 17 Searcheth the Scripture.
19 Findeth something 1$ his advantage. 24 And walketh
slantindicularly. 25 Is brought before the Judge. Wl Showeth
his innocence.
1. The mystery of the new gospel of peace.
2. In the days of Abraham, when there was war in the
land of Unculpsalm, and all the people fought with weapons
of iron, and with shipm®$$B®n.
3. (For there came a man eufcof the country beyond the
North Sea, a son of Tubal Cain, and joined himself unto
trie people of Unculpsalm, aridt made unto them ships of
iron, with towers upon the decks thereof, and beaks upon
the prows thereof, very mighty and marvellous),
4. There went out one who preached a new gospel of
peace. And it was in fhisiwise.
5. It came to pass in those days that in the country of
Mannatton, in the city which is called Gotham, that is over
against Jarzee, as thou goest down by the great river, the
River Hutzoon, to Communipah, there was a man whose
name was Phernandiwud.
6. And he was a just man, and a righteous; and he
walked uprightly before the world.
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THE NEW GOSPEL OF PEACE.
28. And he clid so. And Phernandiwud went out from,
before him justified in his wisdom and his innocence.
CHAPTER II.
1 The Pahdees. 2 They govern Gotham. 5 Phernandiwud
maketh friends of the Pahdees. 8 Who make him Chief Ruler
of the City. 10 And together they devour the substance of the
Men of Gotham. 14 The Watchmen of Gotham removed
from the rule of Phemandiwud. 17 Who gathereth together
the Hittites and the Ilammerites. 18 And conceiveth with the
Mystery of the New Gospel of Peace.
1. Now, it came to pass that in the city of Gotham were
many Pahdees, like unto, locusts for multitude. And they
were not of the land of Unculpsalm, But came from an island
beyond the great sea^a land of famine and oppression.
And they knew nothing. They read not, neither did they
write, and like the multitudes of Nineveh, many of them
did not know their right hand from their left.
2. Therefore the men of Unculpsalm, who dwelt in
Gotham, troubled themselves fettle to govern the city, and
paid the Pahdees richly to govern it for them.
3. For the men of Gotham were great merchants and
artificers, trading to the ends of the earth; diligent and
cunning in their busing’ , wise and orderly in their houses
holds; and they got great gain, and the fame of their wisdom
and their diligence was Spread abroad. Wherefore they
said, why shall we leave our crafts and our merchandise,
and our ships, and our feasts, and the gathering together of
our wives and our daughters, and our men-singers and our
women-singers, to give our time to ruling the city ? Behold,
here are the Pahdees who know nothing, who read not,
neither do they write, and who know not their right hand
�THE NEW GOSPEL OF PEACE.
7
from their left, and who have never governed even them
selves, and will he glad to govern the city in our stead.
4. Wherefore the men of Unculpsalm who dwelt in
Gotham, went the one to his craft, the other to his ships,
and the other to his merchandise; and the Pahdees gov
erned Gotham.
5. Now Phernandiwud saw that the men whom the
Pahdees appointed to be officers in Gotham fed at the pub
lic crib, and waxed fat, and, increased in substance. More
over, so great and mighty was the city of Gotham that they
who ruled it were powerful in the. land of Unculpsalm;
stretching out their hands from the North even unto'the
South, and from the East even unto the West; but most of
all were they powerful with the men of the South.
6. And Phernandiwud said within himself, Shall I not
feed at the public crib, and wax fat, and increase in sub
stance, and become a man of, power in the land of Uncul
psalm ?
7. So he made friends unto himsgjf among the Pahdees,
and of certain men of Unculpsalm who had joined them
selves unto the Pahdees, and .who called themselves Dim
michrats.
8. And he became a great man among them. And they
made him chief ruler of the.gity, And it was of the Pah
dees that he was firsts called Phernandiwud.
9. Now, when Phernandiwud was ©hief ruler of Gotham,
the Pahdees, and the men, of Unculpsalm which were also
Dimmichrats, did what was right in their own eyes ; and
they worked confusion in the city, and\ devoured the sub
stance of the men of Gotham. And the watchmen of the
city were as clay in the hands of Phernandiwud.
10. For he said, I will have a one man power; and the
one man shall be me, even me Phernandiwud; and the
Pahdees, and the Dimmichrats, and the watchmen of
Gotham, shall do my will; and after they have done my
will they may do what is right in their own eyes, and work
confusion, and devour the people’s substance.
�THE NEW GOSPEL OF PEACE.
11. And the men of Gotham were amazed and confounded;
and they said one to another,
12. Behold, we are held as naught by Phernandiwud and
them that are under him, and he will destroy us and our
eity.
13. But they could not cast him out, because of the
Pahdees, and the men of Unculpsalm who also were Dimmichrats.
14. Wherefore they said, we will pray the governor and
rulers of the province to take the watchmen of the city from
under his hand, and putin other watchmen who shall guard
the city, and the country round about the same; and he
shall no longer work confusion^and devour our substance,
and destroy our city.
15. Wherefore the watchmen were taken from under his
rule, and there were appointed other watchmen, whose
captains were not Pahdees and followers of Phernandiwud.
16. But Phernandiwud, because he loved the people, and
himself first, as number one of the people, withstood the
watchmen which the governor and the rulers of the province
had appointed. And he gathered together his watchmen
and much people of the Pahdees, and of the men of Uncul
psalm which also were Dimmichrats.
17. Hittites, so called, because they hit from the shoulder,
and Hammerites, because they brake the heads of all them
that set themselves up against them.
18. And the watchmen of Phernandiwud, and the Pahdees,
and the Hittites and the Hammerites, fought with the
watchmen appointed by the governor and chief rulers of the
province, doing in this the will of Phernandiwud. And
they fought many times, and they brake each the heads of
the other: yet was neither vanquished.
19. And when the judges of the province saw this, they
declared unto the governor, that by the great law of the
province, he could march an army upon Pherandiwud, and
his watchmen, and his Pahdees, and his Hittites, and his
Hammerites, and put them to the sword.
�THE NEW GOSPEL OF PEACE.
20. And when Phernandiwud read this declaration of the
Judges, he saw that there was an end of his rule over the
watchmen, of his one man power in Gotham, and he said
unto the watchmen, and to the Pahdees, and the Hittites,
and the Hammerites, Get you to: your houses, I have no ■
thing more to give unto you.
21. But he charged the cost thereof unto the city.
22. And this was th®, first tirne that Phernandiwud con
ceived in his mind th© mystery of the new gospel of peace,
CHAPTER. III.
1 The War in the land of Unculpsalm. 3 The Great Covenant.
5 The greatness of the land of Unculpsalm. I Provoked the
hatred of Kings and tffjpressws. 8 27ie Niggahs. 11 And
the Covenant concerning them. 14 The Niggahs. 16 There
arise men in Belial. 19 The Tshivulree. 22 And what the
Tshivulree did to the men of Belial. 24 The Dimmichrats
join themselves to the Tshivulree. 26 Thfr Everlasting Niggah. 27 Phillip of Atoms', aPrw$of Beelzebub. 29 Isaiah
• thrusteth him out of the Tabernacle. 31 But the Men of
Belial prevail. 35 And the spirit Bak Bohn possesseth their
Disciples. 39 The Phiretahs and Prestenbruux.
1. Now the war in the. land* of Unculpsalm was in this
-•wise.
2. The people were of one blood, but the land was in
many provinces. And the people ofi'the provinces joined
themselves together and cast off the yokeof a stubborn
king who oppressed them beyond the great sea. And
they said let us hake no king, but let us choose for our
selves a man to rule over us; and let us no longer be many
provinces, but one nation; only in those things which con
cern not the nation let the people in each province do what
fig right in their own eyes.
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THE NEW GOSPEL OF PEACE.
3. And let it be written upon parchment and be for a
covenant between us and our children, and our children’s
children forever—like unto a law of the Medes and Per
sians which altereth not.
4. And they did so. And the Great Covenant became
the beginning and the end of all things unto the men of
Unculpsalm.
5. And the men of Unculpsalm waxed great and mighty
and rich : and the earth was filled with the fame of their
power and their riches; and their ships covered the sea.
And all nations feared them. But they were men of peace,
and went not to war of their own accord ; neither did
they trouble or oppress the men of other nations; but
sought each man to sit under his own vine and his own
fig tree. And there were no poor men and few that did
evil born in that land, : except thou go southward of the
border of Masunandicsun.
6. And this was noised abroad; and it came to pass
that the poor and the down-trodden, and the oppressed of
other lands left the lands in which they were born, and
went and dwelt in the land of Unculpsalm, and prospered
therein, and no man molested them. And they loved that
land.
7. Wherefore, the kings and the oppressors of other lands,
and they that devoured the substance of the people, hated
the men of Unculpsalm. Yet, although they were men of
peace, they made not war upon them; for they were
many and mighty. Moreover ■ they were rich and bought
merchandise of othef nations, and sent them corn and gold.
8. Now there were inthe land of Unculpsalm Ethiopi
ans, which the men of Unculpsalm called Niggahs. And
their skins were black, and for hair they had wool, and
their shins bent out forward and their heels thrust out
backward; and their ill savor went up.
9. Wherefore the forefathers of the men of Unculpsalm,
had made slaves of the Niggahs, and bought them ancL
sold them like cattle.
�THE NEW GOSPEL OF PEACE.
11
10. But so it was that when the people Of the land of
Unculpsalm made themselves into one nation, the men of
the North said, We will no longer buy and sell the Nig
gahs, but will set them free; neither shall more be brought
from Ethiopia for slaves unto this land.
11. And the men of the Sduth answered and said, We
will buy and sell our Niggahs; and moreover we will beat
them with stripes, and they shsftl be our heWers of wood
and drawers of water forever | < and when our Niggahs
flee into your provinces, ye shall give them to us, every
man his Niggah; and after a time there shaft. no more be
brought from Ethiopias < as ye say. And this shall be a
part of the great covenant.«
12. And it was a covehant between the men of the
North and the men of thb South.
13. And it came to p&sg that thereafter the men of the
South and the Dimmichrats of the North, and the Pahdees
gave themselves night and day to the preservation of this
covenant about theNiggahs. ' ■ <
o.b i,>.
14. And the Niggahs increased and multiplied till they
darkened all the land of the South. And the men of
Unculpsalm who dwelt in the -South took their women for
concubines and went in unto them, and begat of them sons
and daughters. And they bought and sold: their sons and
daughters, even the fruit of their loins; and beat them
with stripes, and made them hewers of wood and drawers
of water.
: .r.< ,<d
15. For they said, are not, thesd Niggahs otir Niggahs?
Yea, even more than, the other Niggah&<: For the other
Niggahs we bought, or our fathers^ with money; but these,
are they not flesh of our flesh, M -blood Uf Our blood, and
bone of our bone; and shall we not do What we will with
our own?
316. But there arose men in the northern provinces of
the land of Unculpsalm and in the countries beyond the
great sea, iniquitous men, saying, Man’s blood cannot be
�12
THE NEW GOSPEL OK PEACE.
bought with money; foolish men saying, Though the Niggah’s skin be black and his hair woolly, and his shins like
unto cucumbers, and his heels thrusting out backward,
and though he have an ill savor not to be endured by those
who get not children of Niggah women, is yet a man;
men of Belial which said, All things whatsoever ye would
that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for
this is the law and the prophets.
17. And the slaves were for a reproach throughout all
the world unto the men of the South, and even to the
whole land of Unculpsalm. But by reason of the great
covenant and the laws of the provinces, the men of the
North had naught to do fe this matter.
18. But the men of the South which had Niggahs (for
there were multitudes which had no Niggahs, and they
were poor and oppressed) heeded it not; for they were a
stiffnecked generation. And they said we will not let
our Niggahs go free; for they are our chattels, even as
our horses and our sheep, our swine and our oxen; and
we will beat them, and slay them, and sell them, and be
get children of them, and no man shall gainsay us. We
stand by the Great Covenant.
19. Moreover we are Tshivulree.
20. Now to be of the Tshivulree was the chief boast
among the men of the South, because it had been a great
name upon the earth. For of olden time he who was of
the Tshivulree was bound by an oath to defend the weak
and succor the oppressed, yea, even though he gave his
life for them. But among the men of the South he only
was of the Tshivulree who ate his bread in the sweat of
another’s face, who robbed the laborer of his hire, who
oppressed the weak, and set his foot upon the neck of the
lowly, and who sold from the mother the fruit of her
womb and the nursling of her bosom. Wherefore the
name of Tshivulree stank in the nostrils of all the nations 21. l or they were in the darkness of a false dispensa-.
�THE NEW GOSPEL OF PEACE.
13
tion, and had not yet learned the mystery of the new gospel
of peace.
22. And when the Tshivulree found within their borders
those men of the North, iniquitous men which said that
man’s blood cannot be bought, and men of Belial which
said, Do ye unto all men as ye would have all men do unto
you, they seized upon them and beat them with many
stripes, and hanged them upon trees, and roasted them with
fire, and poured hot pitch upon them, and rode them upon
sharp beams, very grievous to bestride, and persecuted
them even as it was fitting such pestilent fellows should be
persecuted.
23. And they said unto the men of the North, cease ye
now to send among us »these men of Belial preaching
iniquity, cease also to listen unto them yourselves, and re
spect the Great Covenant, or we will destroy this nation.
24. Then the men of Unculpsalm which called them
selves Dimmichrats, and the Pahdees, seeing that the
Tshivulree of the South had only one thought, and that
was for the Niggah, said, We will*, join ourselves unto the
Tshivulree, and we will have, but one thought with them,
even tbe Niggah; and we shall rule the land of Uncul
psalm, and we shall divide the spoilfr i
25. And they joined themselves Unto the Tshivulree;
and the Tshivulree of the South, and the men of the North,
which called themselves Dimmichrats, and the Pahdees
ruled the land of Unculpsalm' for many years; and they
divided the spoil. And theja had but ofic^ thought-; even
for the Niggah.
26. Wherefore he was called the everlasting Niggah.
27. Now, about these days came Philip, from the new
Athens, a priest of Beelze bub, and he taught in the Taber
nacle at Gotham.
28. And Philip had many words, but only one thought;
and that, like the thought of the men of the South, was
for the Niggah. But he respected not the Great Coveu-
�14
THE NEW GOSPEL OF PEACE.
ant. And he said unto the people ye ought to set the
Niggah free.
29. And it came to pass that when he was teaching in
the Tabernacle one Isaiah entered (not the prophet, but he
who was captain of a band of the Hammerites) and pro
tested unto him that he should no more teach such pesti
lent doctrine. And having his band of Hammerites with
him, he knocked Philip down, and thrust him from the
pulpit wherein he was speaking, and drave him out of the
Tabernacle.
30. Now this was the first ministration of the new gospel
of peace. But as yet it was not preached; for it had no
apostle.
31. But in process of time the ministers of Belial turned
the hearts of many men, even of them which called them
selves Dimmichrats fife iniquity;; and they all began to say
that the strength of the great nation of Unculpsalm should
not be used to oppress the Niggah; declaring in the
wickedness of their imaginations and; the hardness of their
hearts, that whatsoever the people of Uuculpsalm would
that bthers should do to them, even so they should do to
others, even unto Niggahs. '■
32. But they had respecteunto the Great Covenant, and
sought not to set the Niggahs free; and they returned unto
the men of the South the Niggahs that fled from their
provinces, according to the Great Covenant.
33. Moreover the men of the North made soft answers
unto the men of the South, and strove to turn away their
wrath, and to live with them as brethren. For though they
feared them not, neither hated them, they did fear that they
would destroy the nation.
34. And the Tshivulree of the South saw that the men
of the North feared their threats ; and they waxed bolder,
and said we will not only keep our Niggahs in our own
provinces, but we will take them into all the country of
Unculpsalm, which is not yet divided into provinces. And,
they went roaring up and down the land.
�THE NEW GOSPEL OF PEACE.
15
35. But in process of time it came to pass that the spirit
of their forefathers appeared among the men of the North,
even the great spirit Bak Bohn; and he stiffened up the
people mightily.
36. So that they said unto the men of the South, Hear
us, our brethren! We would live with you in peace, and
love you, and respect the Great Covenant. And the
Niggahs in your provinces: ye shall keep, and slay, and
sell, they and. the children: which-, ye beget of them, into
slavery,( for" bond men and bond women for ever. Yours
be the sin before the Lord,, not ours; for it is your doing,
and we are not answerable for it* And your Niggahs
that flee from your provinces they shall be returned unto
you, according to the Great Covenant. Only take care
lest peradventure ye make captives the Niggahs of our
provinces which we have made Free men. Ye shall in no
wise take a Niggah of them.
37. Thus shall it be i wij/h your Niggahs and in your
provinces, and ydurs shall be the< blame forever. But out
of your provinces, into the common land of Unculpsalm,
ye shall not carry your Niggahs except they be made
thereby free. For that land is common, and your laws
and the statutes of your provinces, by which alone ye make
bondmen, run not in that land. And for all that is done in
that land we must bear the blame: with you. For that
land is common; and we share whatever is done therein;
and the power of this nation and the might of its banner
shall no longer be used to oppress the lowly and to fasten
the chain upon the captive. Keep ye then your bondmen
within your own provinces.' 1 1 '■■■. ■
38. Then the Tshivulree of the South waxed wroth, and
foamed in their anger, and the air of the land was filled
with their cursings and their revilings. And certain of
them which were men of blood, and which were possessed
of devils, and had difficulties, and slew each other with
knives and shooting irons, did nothing all their time but
rave through the land about the Niggah.
�16
THE NEW GOSPEL OF PEACE.
39. Now these men were the fore-runners of him that
preached the new gospel of peace, and prepared the way
before him. Wherefore they were called Phiretahs.
40. And it came to pass that one of the Phiretahs, whose
name was Prestenbruux, was wroth with Charles, who
was surnamed the Summoner, who was one of the chief
law-givers of the land of Unculpsalm, and also one of the
men of Belial, who taught iniquity, saying, whatsoever ye
would that men should do to you do ye even so to them,
even unto Niggahs.
For Charles the Summoner had declared that it was not
lawful for the men of the South to take their Niggahs out
of their own provinces^ And thus it was that Prestenbruux
was offended in him.
41. Wherefore Prestenbruux took unto himself other
Phiretahs, and he sought Charles the Summoner, and
found him alone at a table, writing in the great hall of
Unculpsalm. And he came upon him unawares, and he
smote him and beat him to the ground, so that he was
nigh unto death.
42. And this was the second ministration of the new
gospel of peace. But even now it was not preached, for
it had yet no apostle.
43. And after these things, James, whose surname being
interpreted meaneth Facing-both-ways, ruled in the land
of Unculpsalm.
CHAPTER IV.
1 The choice of Abraham the Honest. 10 The Phiretas rebel
against him. 14 Compromise. 17 The Phiretahs will have
no more Compromise. 18 Ken Edee and Robert of Joarji.
23 Phernandiwud compromiseth unto Robert. 24 The
men of the North wax wroth.
�THE NEW GOSPEL OF PEACE.
17
1; Now the time drew nigh when James should cease
40 rule in the land of Unculpsalm.
2. And the men of the North, save the Dimmichrats,
among whom were the Pahdees, strove to have Abraham,
who was surnamed the honest, made ruler in the place of
James Facing-both-ways.
3. But the Phiretahs of the South said,- Let us choose,
and let the voices be numbered, and if oui? man be chosen,
it is well, but if Abraham, we will’ destroy the nation.
4. But the men of the North believed them not, because
of the Great Covenant, and because they trusted them to
be of good faith in this matter. For among the men of
the North, even those who lived by casting lots for gold,
stood by the lot when it was cast; And the men of the
North believed not that men -of their own blood, whose
sons were married unto their daughters, and whose daugh
ters unto their sons, would faithlessly do this thing which
they threatened.
p 5. But the men of th® North knew not how the Niggah
-had driven out all, other thoughts from the hearts of the
men of the South, even so that they would violate the
Great Covenant, and set at nought the election according
thereunto if it went against them.
6. And there were throughout the provinces of the land
of Unculpsalm at the North great multitudes, Dimmichrats,
of whom were the Pahdees, who' were friends of the
Phiretahs of the Sonth, and wished them well, and labored
with them; for they said, It is by thd alliance of the men
of the South, and by reason of the everlasting Niggah,
that we rule the land.
7. But they deceived themselves; for it was the Phire
tahs which ruled the land, using the Dimmichrats, and by
the one thought of the everlasting Niggah.
8. Yet it came to pass that when the voices of the people
were numbered, according to the Great Covenant, Abraham
was chosen.
�18
THE NEW GOSPEL OF PEACE.
9. Then the Phiretahs of the South began to do as they
had threatened ; and they gathered together in their pro
vinces, and said, Our provinces shall no longer be a part of
the land of Unculpsalm, for we will not have this man
Abraham to rule over us.
10. Yet were there men of the South, a great multitude,
among whom was Stephen, of Joarji, who said, not so.
Why will ye do this great evil and destroy the nation ? It
is right for us to respect the Great Covenant. If the man
who had our voices had been chosen,, the men of the North
would have received, him, and obeyed him as the chief ruler
in the land of Unigulpsalm; and it is meet and right
that we should do likewise, even according to the Great
Covenant. Moreover, we have suffered no wrong at the
hands of the new rulers; and the old were men of our own
choosing. Will ye make this land like unto Mecsicho ?
11. But the Phiretahs would not hearken unto these men,
and went on their way, and beat some of them, and hanged
others, and threatened noisily, and> gathering unto them all
the people of the baser sort, and inflaming them with hate
and strong drink, they set up a rule of terror through
out their provinces. Bor the Phiretahs were men of blood.
So the Phiretahs prevailed over the men who would have
respected the Great Covenant.
12. And the men of the North, both they who had given
their voices for Abraham and they who had given their voices
with the men of the (South against him, were amazed and
stood astounded. And they said among themselves, This
is vain boasting, and vaunting, such as we have seen afore
time, done for the sake of more compromise.
13. (Now in the land of Unculpsalm, when a man humbled
himself before another which threatened him, he was said
to compromise.)
14. And the Dimmichrats, save those who had hearkened
unto the ministers of Belial, said, Let us compromise our
selves again unto our Southern brethren, and it shall bewell with us.
�THE NEW GOSPEL OF PEACE.
19
15. For they said among themselves, If the men of the
South go, they and their provinces, there will be no more
everlasting Niggah; and we shall cease to rule the land.
And if they go not, behold then they will remember that
we have compromised unto them, and they will again be
gracious unto their servants, and will admit us unto a share
in the government, and we shall rule the land as aforetime.
16. But the Phiretahs were wise in their generation, and
they saw that the Dimmichrats were of no more use unto
them, and that because the Hen Of Belial had prevailed
against the Dimmichrats, their power was gone in their
provinces; and so as they could no more use the Diminichrats, they would not listen to them, and spurned their
compromising, and spat upon it, and went on to destroy the
nation, and prepared to make war against Abraham if he
should begin to rule over them.
17. Now in those days there Was a man in Gotham named
Ken Edee, who was chief captain of the watchmen of the
city and the region round About; and in Joarji was a man
named Robert, who dwelt among the tombs, and who was
possessed of an evil spirit whose name was Blustah. And
Robert was a Phiretah.
18. And Ken Edee, chief d&pfain of the watch in Gotham,
found arms going from Gotham to the Phiretahs in Joarji,
and he seized them. For he said, Lest they be used to
destroy the nation, and against1 the Great Covenant, which
is the supreme law in the land of‘Unculpsalm, to which first
belongeth my obedience.
19. Then Robert, who dwelt among the tombs, being
seized upon by his demon Blustah, sent a threatening mes
sage unto Phernandiwud.
20. (For at this time Phernandiwud was chief ruler in
the city of Gotham.)
21. Saying, Wherefore keep ye the arms of the Phir
etahs ? Give them unto us that we may make war against
you, or it shall be worse for you.
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THE NEW GOSPEL OF PEACE.
22. Then Phernandiwud, because he hated the chief of
the watchmen of Gotham, and because he hoped for the
good success of the Phiretahs, compromised himself unto
Robert, and crawled on his belly before him in the dust,
and said, Is thy servant a man that he should do this thing?
Thy servant kept no arms, neither would he do so. Let
them who have the evil spirit Bak Bohn do thus unto my
lords the Phiretahs. Behold, thy servant is no man, but a
Phlunkee.
23. (Now the Phlunkees were men who had never had
the spirit Bak Bohn, or who had had it, cast out of them,
because when they would, have prostrated, themselves and
humbled themselves in the dust and compromised to their
profit, the spirit rent them sore. So they had each of them
his Bak Bohn cast out of him.)
24. And the Phiretahs went on their way without hindrance. For James, by facing both ways, faced neither; and
both of the men of the South and the men of the North he
was not regarded. And the nation spued him out of its
mouth.
25. And Abraham ruled the land. But the Phiretahs
withstood him, and made wai' upon him, and drove his
captains out of the strongholds which were in their provinces,
and humbled the banners of Unculpsalm.
26. Then all the men of the North, even the Dimmi
chrats, of whom were the Pahdees, were exceedingly wroth;
and they rose up against the Phiretahs of the South, and
marched against them to drive them out of the strong places
which they had seized, and to plant thereon again the banner
of Unculpsalm.
27. For they all had exceeding reverence for the Great
Covenant, and they were filled with pride of their nation,
its might, and its wealth, and its vastness, and chiefly that
its people were more free than any other people, and that
its tillers of the soil and its wayfaring men could read and
understand, and that there each man sat under his own
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21
vine and under his own fig tree with none to molest him
or make him afraid. And they worshipped the banner of
Unculpsalm, and its folds were unto them as the wings of
a protecting angel.
28. Moreover, the Dimmichrats said, We have striven
for our brethren of the South against the men of Belial,
who teach that it is wrong to oppress the Niggah by the
power of Unculpsalm, and now they can no longer use us
they cast us off. Behold, we will fight against them, lest,
also, they make good their threats, and sever their provinces
from our provinces, and there be no more everlasting Nig
gah, and our occupation be departed forever.
29. And thus it came to pass that there was war in the
land of Unculpsalm.
CHAPTER V. .
1 The Men of Gotham assemble. 2 Having each a Bak Bohn.
3 And Phernandiwud getteth a B$jt Bohn. 5 And speaketh
to the People. 8 Benjamin the Scribe goeth not to the
Assembly, but remaineth at home, mourning. 13 His policy
and his prosperity. 18 The War continueth for two years.
19 And why. 26 The Rulers of Jonbool help the Phiretahs.
1. Now, when the news came that the Phiinetahs of the
South with five thousand men, even a great multitude, had
driven one of the captains of Unculpsalm with a band of
ninety out of his stronghold, and whe# a proclamation of
Abraham was spread abroad, calling on the men of Un
culpsalm for the defence of their nation, and the retaking
of its strongholds, and the setting up of its banner which
mad been cast down, the men of Gotham gathered them
selves together in an open place before the world. And
Phemandiwud came also among them.
2. And each man that day out of whom had been cast
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the spirit Bak Bohn, took to himself another worse than
the first. And it seemed that day that in all Gotham there
was not one Phlunkee.
3. And Phernandiwud saw this. So he also straightway
took to himself a Bak Bohn.
4. For he said, Lest they also declare that I shall no
longer be chief ruler of the city.
5. And many men of Gotham spake unto the people.
Phernandiwud also lifted up his voice and said, Hear 0
men of Unculpsalm! give ear, 0 men of Gotham ! The
rulers of this land of Unculpsalm, chosen according to the
Great Covenant, have been defied. The Great Covenant
itself hath been set at naught. The banner of Unculpsalm
hath been cast down. The men of the South begin to
make good their threats that they would destroy this
nation.
6. But I say unto you, in the words of the great ruler Jah
Xunn, whom to our sorrow we have gathered to his fathers,
This nation must and shall be preserved, peaceably if we
can, forcibly if we must. And let us have a strong rule
and a splendid despotism, that we may do this thing as
becometh a great nation. For I have said always afore
time, as ye can bear me witness, Let us strengthen the
hands of the chief rulers, being myself chief ruler of this
city. Hear therefore my pledge unto you this day, I throw
myself wholly into this strife, with all my power and with
all my might.
7. Now there were men who noted that Phernandiwud
pledged himself with all his power and with all his might,
but not with all his soul. And they said, It is because he
hath sold his soul to the mighty spirit Sathanas, that he
should help him. And others said, Not so; for he had no
soul to sell. But these were scoffers and men of Belial.
8. But Benjamin, the brother of Phernandiwud, even
Benjamin the scribe, came not unto the congregation of
the people, but remained at home in his house, exceeding
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23
wroth and very sorrowful.
For he said, Behold this
people is given over to the spirit Bak Bohn, and into the
hands of the men of Belial, who teach that the power of
Unculpsalm, and the might of the banner of Unculpsalm,
may not be used to oppress the Niggah. And this people
will no more compromise itself before the men of the
South; and there will be no more Phlunkees, and the
everlasting Niggah shall cease from off the land. And he
wept him sore; and cried out aloud, The sceptre hath departed
from the Dimmichrats, and the glory from the tents of
Tamunee!
9. And he wrote against the people of the North; and
sought to exorcise the mighty spii'it Bak Bohn, and to cast
it out of them. But he could not.
10. Now Benjamin the scribe was also a just man, and
a righteous, and walked .nprigh^y before the law.
11. For the law said, Thou shalt not live by casting lots
for gold. For he who liveth by casting lots for gold deceiveth the foolish man to his hurt, and defraudeth the widow
and the fatherless. It is an abomination. And he that
liveth by casting lots for gold shall be guilty and shall be
cast into prison.
12. Wherefore Benjamin being a just man and a right
eous, said, I will not live by casting lots for gold. Far be
it from me to do this thing which is unlawful, and which
will get me into prison. But I will sell policies ; and this
shall be the craft by which I will livby . ■
13. For what saith the prophet Daniel (not Sickles) ?
** And through his policy also shall he cause craft to prosper
in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart.”
14. For Benjamin also searched the Scripture, saying:
Peradventure I may find something therein to my advantage.
15. Wherefore Benjamin the scribe, through his policies
caused craft to prosper in his hand, and magnified himself
in his heart.
16. And he said within himself, I will be a lawgiver in
�TH® NEW GOSPEL OF PEACE.
the land of Unculpsalm, even for the men of Gotham.
Wherefore, he also made Unto himself friends among the
Pahdees; and he became a lawgiver in the land.
17. ' But the men of Gotham cast out Phernandiwud from
his office of chief ruler of the city; because they remem
bered that he had compromised upon his belly to Robert
who dwelt among the tombs, and had eaten dirt before him.
Also that he had said, Let us take our city out of the
nation. So they ,piit no trust in him18. Now so it was that after the space of nearly two
years the war which was in the land of Unculpsalm came
not to an end.
19. For the men of the North and the men Of the South
were of one blood; and both were valiant. And the men
of the North were more in number than the men of the
South. But the men of the South multiplied themselves
because of their Niggahs. For their Niggahs went not
to war, but stayed at home to 'till the soil. Moreover, they
were fighting upon their own ground; and much of their
land was mire and marshes, desert land and wilderness,
through which the armies of Unculpsalm wandered vainly,
and where they stuck fast. And the men of the South
cast up mounds upon their roads and before their cities,
and made strong their high places with towers. And their
land was filled with strong places, and with men of war
and engines of war, such as the men of the North looked
not to see in that land.
20. For the men of the South were astonished when the
men of the North marched against them; because the men
of the North had so often compromised themselves unto
them, that they thought they were all Phlunkees, and that
the spirit Bak Bohn had been utterly cast out of them.
And without that spirit men cannot fight.
21. Wherefore, the men of the South which had Nig
gahs, even the Tshivulree and the Phiretahs, seeing that
their case was desperate, forced all the men of their coun-
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23
try into their armies, and took the men which had respect
unto the government of Unculpsalm, according to the
.Great Covenant, and loved the banner of Unculpsalm, and
would not fight against it, and they cast them into pits and
into dungeons, and scourged them, and hanged them upon
trees, after their manner. And being men of blood, and
seeing that their case was desperate/ they made it a terror
to live in their country except unto them that professed to
desire the destruction of the nation-.So all men professed
to desire it, or held their peace.
< r' r :
22. But in the land of the men of the North no man was
molested. And men of the South dwelt there, and were
spies and helpers unto their hEethrem And men of the
North, men of Peace, which also were. Phlunkees, helped
their masters the Tshivulree and the Phiretahs.
23. And the men of the South had among them great
captains; men of might and, wisdom in battle. And they
chose to be ruler over them Jeph, surnamed the Bepudiator.
24. (Now among the men of Unculpsalm when a man
would neither pay the debt that-he owed, nor acknowledge
it and ask it to be forgiven him, hewas? called-a repudiator.)
25. And Jeph had been captain over a thousand in the
armies of Unculpsalm when they went into Mecsicho, and
had also been one of the Great Council: and he was a
bold man, and a crafty, one who,knew neither fear nor
scruple.
26. Moreover, the mem of the South wero helped might
ily from beyond the sea, even by the men of, the kingdom
of Jonbool, from which their land was wrested by the
forefathers of the men of Unculpsalm.
27. Yet the men of Unculpsalm would have' loved the
men of that nation, even as a son loveth his mother which
bore him. But the nobles and the rich men of Jonbool
scorned the men of Unculpsalm, and would none of their
affection, and made light of their honor,
ohm vino -. ‘L h !
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THE NEW GOSPEL OF PEACE.
28. For the men of Unculpsalm had forgiven the meh
of Jonbool their oppression and their scorn, and had
shown their Prince great honor; but the men who gov
erned that nation had not forgiven the men of Unculpsalm
their victory. And the prosperity and the glory of that
land was an offence to them. And certain of their scribes,
which also were Phlunkees, wrote scornfully against the
land of Unculpsalm, and bore false witness against it from
generation to generation, and got thereby gold and honor
in the land of Jonbool.
29. Wherefore, when the Tshivulree and the Phiretahs
lifted up the standard of revolt, the rulers of the land of
Jonbool said one to another,
30. Lo, the time for which we have waited without hope
draweth nigh; and the land of Unculpsalm may be
divided, and the nation destroyed, and the pride of the
people cast down. And the might of their power shall be
broken, and the glory of that land shall no longer be an
offence unto us; and we shall be avenged without peril
and without cost.
31. Likewise, also said the nobles and the great men of
other lands, where the few devoured the substance of the
many.
32. So the rulers of the land of Jonbool made proclama
tion to all the earth, that in that war they would regard
the men of the South which had revolted even as they
regarded the rulers of the land chosen according to the
Great Covenant. For they said, Thus shall we encourage
them, and give aid to them; and it shall cost us nothing:
and after this they will be more ashamed to submit them
selves unto the law which they have broken, and to the
rulers which they have defied.
33. And the nobles and the merchants of that land,
which aforetime had cursed and reviled the Tshivulree and
the Phiretahs, and had imputed the deeds which were
theirs only unto all the men of Unculpsalm, said Amen,
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27
34. And the merchants of Jonbool sold the Phiretas
merchandise, and the armorers made them arms, and the
ship-men builded them ships, swift and mighty, wherewith
to destroy the ships of the men of the North. For they
said, Thus shall we be avenged, and turn, also every man,
an honest penny. State-craft and business shall prosper
together, and profit shall go hand in hand with pleasure.
35. And thus was the rebellion strengthened in the land
of Unculpsalm; so that although the armies of Unculpsalm
drove the men of the South out of much country where
they had set up their banner®, and captured their chief
cities, and held all that they had taken; yet after two years
were not their armies scattered qr destroyed, or their ships
which the men of Johnbobl had builded for them, driven
from the sea.
, r<
CHAPTER Vt.
1 Abraham and his Counsellors not wise in their generation.
6 Which is well pleasing tocertain Pimmfchrats. 10 Who
seek to work confusion. 12 And to compromise themselves
unto the Phiretahs. 13 And do compromise themselves unto
the Ambassador of Joribool. 16 Who is crafty and tumeth
neither to the right ri&r to thowrohg. 17 The wrath of the
men of the North. 21 The
of Peace Men. 25 The
House of Hiram the P^blica/n. 26 A Woman of the
Phiretahs. 28 Samuel Seeketh her and ministereth unto
her. 30 Abraham ministOreth ' occasion unto the Peace
men. They have a Martyr.
; 1. Now Abraham was honest; but he was not wise in
his generation.
2. Likewise also of the chief counsellors that he ap
pointed, that one that was counsellor for the war wrought
only mischief and confusion; even so that Abraham, who
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THE NEW GOSPEL OF PEACE.
was long-suffering and slow to anger, would sometimes
put down his foot in wrath.
3. Now Abraham’s foot was heavy, but his head was
light, and his knees were feeble. So his foot came down
in the wrong place or at the wrong time, or else it con
tinued not down until the end was accomplished.
4. Wherefore he prevailed not. And he was called
Abraham the well meaning. And men pitied him.
5. And Abraham and his counsellors should have ruled
with a firm hand and a mighty arm, and have bound the
land together with bands of steel; and have smitten down
the strong and set at naught the proud, and been gracious
unto the feeble. But they wavered, and shrank from the
voice of threatening, both in their own land and in the
land of Jonbool.
6. And this was well pleasing unto certain men of the
Dimmichrats. For they said in their hearts, If this nation
can be saved by the rule of the Dimmichrats of our faction,
let it be saved; but if not, let it perish, and let us rule in
our own provinces.
7. But they said not this openly; for they feared the
people.
8. For in all this time the hearts of the men of the
North failed not, neither did they alter in their wicked
purpose to preserve their nation from destruction.
9. And of the Dimmichrats it was only they who were
faithful to their masters the Tschivulree and the Phiretahs,
and who were meek and lowly, and who sought to com
promise unto them, and crawl on their bellies before
them, which was well fitting for them to do, and to say
unto them, What would our masters have ? and what shall
their servants do, that they may be gracious unto their
servants, and allow them a little share in the ruling of this
land?—it was these only among the Dimmichrats who
were well pleased because Abraham and his counsellors
prevailed not.
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29
10. And these men held not up the hands of Abraham
their ruler, but sought occasion to prevent his purposes
and to bring his counsels to confusion, and his doings to
naught.
11. And when Abraham’s foot came down in the wrong
place, or continued not down until the end was accom
plished, and men’s hearts were sick with disappointment,
they sought to turn them in favor of Jeph the Repudiator
and his counsellors.
12. And they said, Let us not have war with our mas
ters the Tshivulree and the Phiretahs; but let us com
promise unto them, and crawl on our bellies before them,
even as we did aforetime; for it is meet and right and a
pleasant thing to be humble.
13. And they sent messengers unto the Tshivulree, and
the Phiretahs, saying these th«ihgsf> and their scribes wrote
them in books by night and sent them out unto the people
by day. But the Tshivulree and the Phiretahs spurned
them; for now that they could no more use them, they
looked at them with loathing.
14. Likewise also some of them went privily to the am
bassador of the land of Jonbool, even that land which
sought the destruction of the nation of Unculpsalm.
15. And they said unto him, Let u!s take counsel together
that we may bring about this great end, the ceasing of the
war without the putting down of the rebellion.
16. But he was crafty and answered them nothing.
And he wrote letters unto the rulers of hiS land, saying, I
will watch faithfully, and I will turn aside neither to the
right nor to the wrong, going which way it may be need
ful, if it leadeth to our profit. So shall I show myself wor
thy to be a ruler in the land of Jonbool.
17. Now when this letter was noised abroad in the land
of Unculpsalm, the men of the north were incensed, and
the fire of their anger was hot against the Dimmichrats
that called themselves Peace men. For upon this matter
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tiie men of Belial, and the Dimmichrats which were not
Peace men* and the Pahdees were of one mind.
18. And they said, Who is it that hath dared thus to
humble this nation? Let him come out before us. And
no man answered.
19. For they whieh had done it saw that they could not
stand before the people and live. Yet still they said in
their hearts, If this nation can be saved by the rule of the
Dimmichrats of our faction, let it be saved ; but if not, let
it perish, and let us rule in our own provinces. For now
they had but one thought; not how the rebellious Tshivulree and Phiretahs might be subdued and compelled again
to their obedience, but how they might again rule the land
and divide the spoil, and have again their everlasting
Niggah.
20. Whereof they cried aloud for war, but labored in
secret to bring the war to naught, and turn the minds
of the people to peace, that they might compromise unto
the Phiretahs as they did aforetime. And they watched
for their occasion.
21. Now the chiefs of this sect in Gotham were these:
22. Phernandiwud, who had been chief ruler of the city,
and Benjamin his brother; James the scribe, which knew
nothing, and Erastus his brother; Samuel, who was rich in
butter; Hiram the publican, who was also a sinner, and
Elijah, who smelled the battle afar in the tents of
Tamnee; Cyrus (not he that was taught to ride, to shoot
the bow, and to speak the truth, yet did this Cyrus shoot
with a longer bow than the other); Primus the scribe,
whose beard was like Aaron’s, and who dwelt among the
merchants; Samuel, who made the lightnings of heaven
his messengers; Ker Tiss, who wrote concerning the
Great Covenant; and one who dwelt in the elbows of the
Min cio, and destroyed the heerts of women; Isaiah, who
was a captain of the Hammerites; Samuel whose surname
was Brinnzmaid, and whose fathers ate hasty-pudding; and
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31
Augustus the money-changer, who aforetime was called
Schomberg.
23. Now the others were Gentiles, but Augustus was
of the circumcision.
24. And all these men served diligently their master,
who was Jeph the Repudiator. And many of them were
Scribes, but all of them Were Pharisees; for they held to
the letter of the law, but knew not its spirit. And they
taught, like them of old, concerning th© Sabbath, that the
nation was made for th® Great Covenant, and not the
Great Covenant for the nation.
25. And the inn of Hiram, which before the war began
1 in-the land of Unculpsalm had been filled with Tshivulree
and Phiretahs, and with Plunkees compromising them
selves unto their masters- the Phiretahs, and crawling upon
their bellies before them, became now the chief place of
resort for them that still served the Tshivulree and labored
to prosper1 the rebellion. There they gathered themselves
together and plotted in secret how they might ensnare the
rulers of Unculpsalm, and rejoiced openly when the banner
of the Phiretahs prevailed against the] banner of Uncul
psalm. So did the inn of Hiram become the synagogue
-of rebellion.
26. And there came a woman'of the Phiretahs into Go
tham. And she was married); yet was her husband not
with her. And she was comely and fair to look upon.
27. And it was told unto the rulers of Unculpsalm, Be
hold, this woman of the Phiretahs cometh to spy out the
nakedness of the land.. Wherefore the rulers sent a mes
sage unto Ken Edee, chief of the Watchmen of Gotham,
that he should take her and put her in ward. And he did
so.
28. Now when Samuel, whose surname was Brinnzmaid,
heard that Ken Edee had taken a woman of the Ph iretabs
and put her in ward, he went to her; and when he saw
that her husband was not with her, and that she was comely
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THE NEW GOSPEL OK PEACE.
and fair to look upon, and that she had come to spy out
the nakedness of the land, he succored her and ministeredunto her. And he caused Ken Edee to take her out of
ward; and when he had kept her in Gotham for awhile,,
that she might be comforted and see the nakedness of the
land, he sent her back into the land of Tshivulree.
29. So all these men, and many others which followed
them, did nothing else night and day but strive to get the
land again into the hands of their faction that they might
serve their master Jeph the Repudiator, and compromise,
unto him, and preserve their everlasting Niggah.
30. Now while they were waiting their occasion, Abra
ham himself ministered it unto them. For one of the
captains in the army of Unculpsalm, took Clement, a law
giver, because he had said that Abraham was a usurper,
and a tyrant, in that he resisted Jeph the Repudiator, and
had sought to diminish the armies of Unculpsalm, and cast
him into prison; and to a scribe which did likewise, the
captain sent armed men that stood over him with drawn
swords, saying, Ye shall no longer thus stir up the people
to sedition.
31. And immediately the chief men of the Dimmicrats
throughout the land raised a great uproar, for they said,
Now cometh our opportunity.
32. For there was a law in the land of Unculpsalm that
every man might speak and write freely all the promptings
of his heart, so that he slandered not his neighbor, and
that no man should be cast into prison save by a judge,
when he had been condemned by twelve good men of his
province. And the people of the land of Unculpsalm
prized this law above all their other laws; and it was a
part of the Great Covenant and of the Great Charter of
the liberties of that people.
33. But it was written in the Great Covenant that in
times of sedition, privy conspiracy, and rebellion this law
should cease and be of no effect; for the safety of the
nation.
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3a
34. Now the leaders of the Dimmichrats, who were wise
in their generation, and who sought first to get power,
into their own hands, and afterwards the salvation of the
nation, said among themselves, Lo, Abraham has given us
a martyr; and it is better than if he had given the armies
of Unculpsalm a victory. Now, therefore, let us bewail
the woes of Clement and the violence to the Great Cove
nant and the ancient Charter: and we will declare that it
is to preserve this nation from destruction, and we shall
regain the hearts of this people.
35. And they did so. And the people forgat the peril
of the land, and how it was in more danger from traitors
that were within than from foes that were without; and
they forgat also the provision of the Great Covenant
against such perils; and there was a great commotion’.
36. And Abraham said, L'et not Clement be kept in
prison ; but let him be sent among the Phiretahs; for they
are his friends, and he is'our enemy; and let the scribe
continue his writing. And it was done. So Clement be
came a martyr; and the scribe hardened his heart and
was tenfold more the servant of the Phiretahs than before.
■ For he said, Abraham feareth the Dimmichrats, and even
the men of Belial fear them also, and the spirit Bak Bohn
is again cast out of them.
CHAPTER VII.
1 Phernandiwud summoneth liis disciples to hear the New Gospel
of Peace at the Hall of Peter the Barrelmaker. 8 Who came
not to the assembly. 9 And why. 13 Who came. 17 Pher
nandiwud proclaimeth the New Gospel of Peace. 20 The Hit
tites and Hammerites are well pleased. 22 But have groanings
about the freedom of the Niggah. 25 Phernandiwud showeth
that there is no right but Peace and Everlasting Niggah. 26
And Free Speech. 32 Meekness of Phernandiwud. 33 And
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THE NEW GOSPEL OF PEACE.
of the Hittites and the Hammerites. 38 Isaiah telleth of a
ministration of Peace. 45 The Neu Gospel of Peace spreadeth beyond the border of Masunandicsun.
1. Now Phernandiwud saw that his time was come.
2. And he said unto his familiars and to them which did
his bidding, (for he had a great following in Gotham),
Behold, the spirit of peace hath descended upon me; and
I go forth to declare the mystery of a new gospel of peace,
a gospel of great gain, unto me first, and afterward unto
the Dimmichrats. And I shall reward them who are
faithful unto me.
3. Go now therefore and summon the Dimmichrats who
serve Jeph the Repudiator and the Phiretahs in Gotham.
4. James the scribe and Erastus his brother, who know
nothing, and my brother Benjamin, who knoweth some
things; Samuel, who is rich in butter, Hiram the publican;
Elijah, who smelleth the battle afar off; Cyrus who shooteth with a longer bow than the first Cyrus; Primus, who
dwelleth among the merchants; Ker Tiss, of the Great
Covenant; Isaiah, captain of the Hammerites; Samuel,
who sendeth the lightning on his errand, and the other
Samuel, whose surname is Brinnzmaid; and Augustus,
the money-changer.
5. And say unto them, Gather yourselves together, ye
and your following, every man of you in the hall of Peter
who is called the barrel-maker, and in the open spaee
round about, that ye may hear from my lips the new
gospel of peace.
6. (Now this Peter made the substance whereby one
thing sticketh unto another thing. Wherefore he was for
union; and he called the hall which he had builded, the
Union; (for he said, Thus shall I stick this nation to
gether,) but the people called it after his own name. And
he was rich and he offended no man. Now in the land of
Unculpsalm, whosoever was rich and offended no man, be-
�THE NEW GOSPEL OF PEACE.
35.
came one of the chief men of his place, and of his country.
Moreover, Peter gave of his substance unto the people.
And this was he who, at a feast given unto the Prince of
the land of Jonbool, clapped the Prince upon the
shoulder and said unto him, My lord the Prince shall
dance next with my daughter. For he was a gracious
man and a courteous, and he knew that his daughter was
comely.)
7. And Phernandiwud looked for the assembling of the
men which he had summoned, they and their following, at
the hall of Peter the Ba®el-make®, and the space round
about.
8. But these men came n®t: James the scribe, and
Erastus his brother; Samuel, whose sirname is Brinnzmaid
and the other Samuel; Benjamin the brother of Phernan
diwud, and Elijah of Tamunee; Hiram the publican, and
Cyrus, Primus, and Augustus the money-changer, and
their following.
9. For they said within^ themselves, This gospel of
peace will be an offence untpL the people, who are perverse
in their hearts, and who love the banner of Unculpsalm,
and have respect unto the rulers chosen according to the
Great Covenant, even although the men be not to their
liking, and who are foolishly bent on destroying the armies
and the power of them who would destroy the nation.
10. Wherefore we will not be ;seen listening to the gos
pel of peace. For it shall be better for us to cry out for
war, and meanwhile to hinder the war in secret, and to
seek every occasion to bring the rulers of our country to
scorn and derision in the time of her trial, and to aid J eph
the Repudiator, and his spies, and his emissaries, and to
work confusion in the land.
11. For so shall the people be weary of their rulers, and
bewildered with our confusion; and they shall trust us,
and turn unto us in their desolation, and say, Verily, theseare men, and make us rulers of the land.
�36
THE NEW GOSPEL OF PEACE.
IS. Then will we compromise ourselves again unto our
masters the Tshivulree and the Phiretahs, as it is meet, and
right, and pleasant for us to do; and we shall find yet
deeper dust wherein to crawl before them; and we shall
loosen the bonds of these provinces, and make each gov
ernor of a province thereof a little satrap, but great in
his own eyes and in the eyes of the Phlunkees, which will
surround him, that he may defy the chief ruler of the land;
and we shall divide the spoil.
13. But these men came to the hall of Peter the barrel-maker
to hear Phernandiwud declare the new gospel of peace.
14. Din Ninny, who was chief ruler of the assembly,
and who directed all the doings thereof; Isaiah, who was
captain of the Hammerites; and many others of the sect of
Smalphri among the Dimmichrats.
15. And with them there came a great multitude of the
Hittites and the Hammerites, and of the Dedrabitz from
Koubae beyond Boueree, and the dwellers in Phyvpintz,
which is nigh unto the tombs where they buried Juz Tiss.
(Now Juz Tiss was not of kin unto that Ker Tiss who
wrote of the Great Covenant), and in Makkurilvil, and in
the country as thou goest by the shore of the river on the
East, unto Shyppyardz.
.16. And all these men gathered themselves together,
fiercely bent upon peace. And they filled the hall of Peter
the Barrel-maker, and the open space round about.
17. And when Phernandiwud stood up and beckoned
unto them they shouted for about the space of half an hour.
For they remembered what he had done for them afore
time : and they looked for a ministration of the gospel of
peace, such as there had been between the watchmen of
Phernandiwud and those which had been appointed by
the governor and rulers of the province. And they said
within themselves, Now shall we again break the heads
of the watchmen of Ken Edee • and there shall be peace
again in the land.
�THE NEW GOSPEL OF PEACE.
37
18. And Phemandiwud said unto them, Hearken, O
men of Gotham! I come before you this day preaching a
new gospel of peace. Peace on earth and good-will to
men. Peace on earth, that I and my faithful followers
may get what is due unto us, and good-will unto men who
are of our persuasion, among the Dimmichrats.
19. For there be Dimmichrats, yea, verily, even Pahdees,
who are not of our persuasion and who enter not into our
congregation. Let them be accursed.
20. And all the people said, Hi! hi! For such is the
manner of the Hittites and the Hammerites of Gotham
when they are well pleased.
21. And again Phernandiwud opened his mouth and
said, 0, my brethren, the day of calamity cometh upon the
land of Unculpsalm, and there is no man able to help.
Therefore have I come hither that I may save this nation.
No man raiseth the banner of peace. Therefore will I
raise it, that war and hate, which are the children of Satan,
may be at an end, except for the Dimmichrats which are
not of our persuasion, arid the men of Belial which preach
freedom unto the Niggah.; Them let us hate with a
perfect hatred, and upon them let’us make war without
ceasing.
’ •
;■
■
22. (And when the Hittites and Hammerites heard of
liberty to the Niggah, they all groaned with an exceeding
loud groan, as it were if each man had been seized with
pangs of griping in his bowels1. For to hear of freedom to
the Niggah is gall and wormwood to the Hittites and the
Hammerites.)
23. Then said Fernandiwud, Through the pride of
their hearts, and the vanity and wickedness of their imagi
nations, the rulers of this land have sinned and done
wickedly in that they have not allowed the Tshivulree and
kthe Phiretahs to destroy this nation without making war
upon it.
24. For the land of Unculpsalm hath no right to a go-
�38
THE NEW GOSPEL OF PEACE.
vemment, neither have the people of Unculpsalm any right
to be a nation. Neither is the Great Covenant a covenant
to be kept, except by the men of each province, so long as
it is pleasing in their eyes.
25. But these only are right, Peace and the everlasting
Niggah. Such peace as we had aforetime, ere the ac
cursed spirit Bak Bohn took possession of this people.
Peace which will enable our brethren of the South to eat,
their bread in the sweat of another’s face; to rob the,
laborer of his hire; to oppress the weak, and set their foot
upon the neck of the lowly; to beat their Niggahs with
many stripeb, to hunt them with dogs, and to slay them
to take their women for concubines, and to beget of them
sons and daughters; and to sell from the mother the fruit
of her womb and the nursling of her bosom; to make mer
chandise of the fruit of their own loins, and to sell their
own flesh and blood into bondage forever.
27. Peace, my brethren, which will also restore our right
of free speech according to the Great Covenant; of which
we have been robbed by the rulers of this land, that they
may wage their wicked war upon the Phiretahs.
28. For, O men of Gotham, ye see this day how your
rulers oppress you, and will allow no man to speak evil of
them, that they may wage this war without let or hinderance; and that all men’s mouths are shut by fear of the
gallows or the dungeon, who will not prophesy smooth
things of their damnable doings, and cover up their wick
edness and glorify their abominations.
29. Therefore I declare unto you that we must have the
peace, the peace which ensueth from free speech. So that
when men of Belial seek to turn the hearts of the men of
the South to setting their bondsmen free, and taking away
from us our everlasting Niggah, the Phiretahs may seize
upon them, and beat them with many stripes, and hang
them upon trees, and roast them with fire, and pour hot
pitch upon them, and ride them upon sharp beams very
�THE NEW GOSPEL OE PEACE,
39
■grievous to bestride. Peace and free speech, such as there
was on the day when Prestenbruux smote down Charles
the Summoner, and beat him until he was nigh unto
■death.
30. Let this Peace hover over the land, scattering balm
from her outstretching wings. Balm for the wounded
souls of the Tshivulree and the Phiretahs; balm for the
wounds which the Dimmichratic brethren have inflicted on
each other; balm for my bruised spirit and defrauded ex
pectations.
31. Let this peace come to us, my brethren, and the lion
of the South and the lamb of the North shall lie down
together, and there shall no more be contention between
them; for the lamb shall be inside of the lion.
32. Let us then be lambs, 0 men of Gotham! Yea,
let us be meek as lambs. Por'ft is written that the meek
shall inherit the earth.
33. Then the Hittites and the Hamm erites again cried
out Hi! hi! after their fashion; and in a twinkling many
of them took an oath that ■ they were the meek, and that
they should inherit the earth.
34. Then Phernandiwud said, All now is well with us,
my brethren, and with the land of Unculpsalm. Peace
and free-speech shall prevail among us now and forever.
35. Then the Hittites and the Hammerifes shouted with
a great shout, and they cldfeched’’their fist® and said, God
do so to us and more also, if we break not every man his
head which saith there shall n^henceforth be peace and
free-speech throughout th^lstnd!. ■
36. And no man answered. So they said, Lo there is
peace.
B7. And Phernandiwud said these things many times.
38. Now when Phernandiwud had made an end of
speaking unto the people, there arose Isaiah, he who was
captain of a band of the Hammerites, and which was one
of the chief disciples of Phernandiwud. And he said,
�40
THE NEW GOSPEL OF PEACE.
39. Shall there not be peace, my brethren ? Remember
ye not the time when Philip, the priest of Beelzebub came
here preaching deliverence to the captive and the setting
at liberty even of the Niggah? and how he entered into the
Tabernacle and gathered unto him iniquitous men, men of
Belial who hearkened unto him, and believed in him ?
40. And remember ye not how I, with you Hammerites,
who break the heads of all them who set themselves
against you, and you, 0 Hittites, who hit from the shoulder,
went into the Tabernacle and broke up their congregation
and scattered their assembly ?
41. And I knocked. down Philip, and dragged him out
of the pulpit wherein he was speaking, and drave him out
of the Tabernacle ?
42. Yea, verily, I knocked him down; for I am a man
of peace; and dragged him out of his pulpit and drave him
forth of the Tabernacle; for I love free speech.
43. Then the Hittites and the Hammerites and the Dim
michrats which had joined themselves unto the faction of
Jeph the Repudiator, burst out into a great shouting. And
for the space of about an hour they did nothing but cry
Peace and Free Speech, and death unto him that sayeth to
the contrary.
44. And when they were weary of shouting, they went
each man unto his own home.
45. And the new gospel of peace spread abroad, and
prevailed mightily.
46. And it went throughout all the land of Unculpsalmeven beyond the border of Masunandicsun.
47. So that in about ten days the chief captain of the
Tshivulree, whose name was Robbutleeh (he who had
forced Litulmak, who was surnamed the Unready, to
change his base, and sent Joseph, whose surname showeth
that it was not he which fled from the wife of Potiphar,
back from whence he came), took an army of the Phiretahs
and marched into two of the provinces of the land of
�THE NEW GOSPEL OF PEACE.
41
Unculspalm, proclaiming the new gospel of peace at the
point of the sword.
48. And he laid parts of those provinces waste with fire,
and he destroyed the bridges that were over the rivers,
and carried off their horses, and their corn and their cattle;
and put all them that resisted the new gospel of peace to
the sword.
49. So the people began to understand- the mystery of
the new gospel; and they glorified it; and they said, yet a
little while, and the Niggah shall be restored to his bon
dage, and the Tshivulree, and the Phiretahs shall be our
masters, and peace shall rule the land with a rod of iron,
and we shall compromise ourselves for ever. And there
was great rejoicing.
50. Now I, even I, Benjamin the scribe, the brother of
Phernandiwud, have written these things, not of my own
will, or of the promptings of my own heart, for the truth
is not in me. But forasmuch as the spirit of prophecy
hath descended upon me, like Balaam, the son of Beor, I
have uttered the innermost thoughts of my heart in mine
own despite, and I have written the mystery of the new
gospel of peace.
51. And to few shall it be given to comprehend this
mystery.
52. And the acts of Phernandiwud, whose walk was
slantindicular, and of his disciples, after the proclamation
of the new gospel of peace, and of James the scribe, and
of Erastus his brother, and of Samuel who is rich in
butter, and Samuel who sendeth the lightning whither he
will, and Hiram the publican, and that other Samuel, who
ministered unto the Phiretah woman : and of Elijah, who
smelleth the battle afar off in the tents of Tamunee; and
of Cyrus, and Primus, and Kerr Tiss, and Isaiah of the
Hammerites, which were Gentiles; and of Augustus, the
money-changer, which was of the circumcision, and of the
other Pharisees and Phlunkees, shall not I, Benjamin the
�42
THE NEW GOSPEL OF PEACE.
scribe, write them in a book ? and they shall be spread
abroad in all lands for the enlightening of all nations.
■’t
Abel Heywood, Printer, Oldham Street, Manchester.^
���
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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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The new gospel of peace according to St. Benjamin
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White, Richard Grant [1821-1885.]
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Place of publication: Manchester; London
Collation: 42 p. : ill. (accompanying fold-out black and white illustration) ; 19 cm.
Notes: A satire on American politics. From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. The author is not named on the title page. Date of publication from KVK. Accompanying fold-out black and white illustration titled 'What the Peace Party wishes the North to do'.
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Abel Heywoord; Bacon & Co.
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[1877]
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G5228
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USA
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Conway Tracts
Satire
United States-Politics and Government
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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
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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
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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
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*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
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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
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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
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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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The Christian Evidences.
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 Christian Evidences.
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
�The Christian Evidences.
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
�28
The Christian Evidences.
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,”
�The Christian Evidences.
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
�30
The Christian Evidences.
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
�The Christian Evidences.
31
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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The Christian Evidences.
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,
�The Christian Evidences.
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
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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.
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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-
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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\
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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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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>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
Date
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2018
Publisher
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
Text
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Pamphlet
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Title
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The Christian evidences
Creator
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Strange, Thomas Lumisden
Description
An account of the resource
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.
Publisher
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Thomas Scott
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
[1877]
Identifier
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G5473
Subject
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Book reviews
Christianity
Rights
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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 (The Christian evidences), 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
Book Reviews
Conway Tracts
Gospels
-
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PDF Text
Text
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.
�
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
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
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
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Title
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South Place Chapel and Institute [soiree programme, 1877]
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
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
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
[1877]
Identifier
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G5713
Subject
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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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
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Text
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English
Conway Hall Ethical Society
Conway Tracts
South Place Chapel
-
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3d7e18b16c31f8053a6cf23f9222d703
PDF Text
Text
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.
�
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
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
A farewell address
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Scott, Thomas [1808-1878.]
Description
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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.
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Thomas Scott
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[1877]
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G5460
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Free thought
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English
Conway Tracts
Free Thought
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Thomas Scott
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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
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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
�IO
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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*3
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
�l6
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
�17
ORATION ON THOMAS PAINE.
1
IL.
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y
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;
1
I
I
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1
!
I
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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Oration on Thomas Paine
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Ingersoll, Robert Green [1833-1899]
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Place of publication: London
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Notes: Date of publication from Stein's checklist (Item 78d). Printed by Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
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[1877]
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Thomas Paine
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Thomas Paine
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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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Heretics and heresies
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Ingersoll, Robert Green [1833-1899]
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Place of publication: London
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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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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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Arraignment of the Church and a plea for individuality
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Ingersoll, Robert Green [1833-1899]
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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.
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Freethought Publishing Company
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[1877]
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N331
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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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English
Christianity
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NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY
ORATION ON THE GODS.
BY
COLONEL ROBT. G. INGERSOLL.
LONDON:
FREETHOUGHT PUBLISHING COMPANY,
28, Stonecutter Street, E.C.
PRICE SIXPENCE.
�LONDON :
PRINTED BY ANNIE BESANT AND CHARLES BRADLAUGH
23, STONECUTTER STREET, E.C.
�ORATION
ON
THE
GODS.
“ An Honest God is the Noblest Work of Man.'"
Nearly every people have created a god, and the god has
always resembled his creators. He hated and loved' what
they hated and loved, and he was invariably found on the
side of those in power. Each god was intensely patriotic,
and detested all nations but his own. All these gods
demanded praise, flattery, and worship. Most of them were
pleased with sacrifice, and the smell of innocent blood has
ever been considered a divine perfume. All these gods
have insisted upon having a vast number of priests, and the
priests have always insisted upon being supported by the
people, and the principal business of these priests has been
to boast about their god, and to insist that he could easily
vanquish all the other gods put together.
These gods have been manufactured after numberless
models, and according to the most grotesque fashions.
Some have a thousand arms, some a hundred heads, some
are adorned with necklaces of living snakes, some are
armed with clubs, some with sword and shield, some with
bucklers, and some have wings as a cherub ; some were in
visible, some would show themselves entire, and some would
only show their backs; some were jealous, some were
foolish, some turned themselves into men, some into swans,
some into bulls, some into doves, and some into Holy
Ghosts, and made love to the beautiful daughters of men.
Some were married—all ought to have been—and some
were considered as old bachelors from all eternity. Some
had children, and the children were turned into gods and
worshipped- as their fathers had been. Most of these gods
were revengeful, savage, lustful, and ignorant. As they
generally depended upon their priests for information, their
ignorance can hardly excite our astonishment.
These gods did not even know the shape of the worlds
they had created, but supposed them perfectly flat. Some
�4
ORATION ON THE GODS.
thought the day could be lengthened by stopping the sun,
that the blowing of horns could throw down the walls of a
city, and all knew so little of the real nature of the people
they had created, that they commanded the people to love
them. Some were so ignorant as to suppose that man could
believe just as he might desire, or as they might command,
and that to be governed by observation, reason, and expe
rience is a most foul and damning sin. None of these gods
could give a true account of the creation of this little earth.
All were wofully deficient in geology and astronomy. As a
rule, they were most miserable legislators, and as executives,
they were far inferior to the average of American presidents..
/"XThese deities have demanded the most abject and de
grading obedience. In order to please them, man must lay
his very face in the dust. Of course, they have always been
partial to the people who created them, and have generally
shown their partiality by assisting those people to rob and
destroy others, and to ravish their wives and daughters.
Nothing is so pleasing to these gods, as the butchery of
unbelievers. Nothing so enrages them, even now, as to
have some one deny their existence.
Few nations have been so poor as to have but one god.
Gods were made so easy, and the raw material cost so little,
that generally the god-market was fairly glutted, and heaven
crammed with these phantoms. These gods not only
attended to the skies, but were supposed to interfere in
all the affairs of men. They presided over everybody and
everything. They attended to every department. All was
supposed to be under their immediate control. Nothing
was too small—nothing too large : the falling of sparrows,
the flatulence of the people, and the motions of the planets
were alike attended to by these industrious and observing
deities. From their starry thrones they frequently came to
the earth for the purpose of imparting information, to man.
It is related of one, that he came amid thunderings and
lightnings, in order to tell the people that they should not
cook a kid in its mother’s milk. Some left their shining
abodes to tell women that they should, or should not, have
children—to inform a priest how to cut and wear his apron,
and to give directions as to the proper manner of cleaning
the intestines of a bird.
When the people failed to worship one of these gods, or
failed to feed and clothe his priests (which was much the
same thing), he generally visited them with pestilence and
�ORATION ON THE GODS.
5
famine. Sometimes he allowed some other nation to drag I 1
them into slavery—to sell their wives and children; but - \
generally he glutted his vengeance by murdering their firstborn. The priests always did their whole duty, not only- n
in predicting these calamities, but in proving, when they
did happen, that they were brought upon the people I
because they had not given quite enough to them.
These gods differed justasthenations differed: the greatest
and most powerful had the most powerful god, while the
weaker ones were obliged to content themselves with the
very off-scourings of the heavens. Each of these gods pro
mised happiness here and hereafter to all his slaves, and
threatened to eternally punish all who either disbelieved
in his existence, or suspected that some other god might
be his.superior; but to deny the existence of all gods was, .
and is, the crime of crimes. Redden your hands with
human blood ; blast by slander the fair fame of the inno
cent ; strangle the smiling child upon its mother’s knees ;
deceive, ruin, and desert the beautiful girl who loves and
trusts you—and your case is not hopeless. For all this, 1
and for all these you may be forgiven. For all this, and j
for all these, that bankrupt court established by the gospel
will give you a discharge; but deny the existence of these |
divine ghosts, of these gods, and the sweet and tearful
face of Mercy becomes livid with eternal hate. Heaven’s I
golden gates are shut, and you, with an infinite curse I
ringing in your ears, with the brand of infamy upon your
brow, commence your endless wanderings in the lurid
gloom of hell—an immortal vagrant—an eternal outcast—
a deathless convict.
One of these gods, and one who demands our love, our
admiration, and our worship, and one who is worshipped, if
mere heartless ceremony is worship, gave to his chosen
people, Tor their guidance, the following laws of war:—
“ When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then
proclaim peace unto it. And it shall be if it make thee
answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be that
all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto
thee, and they shall serve thee. And if it will make no peace
with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shall
besiege it. And when the Lord thy God hath delivered it
into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with j
the edge of the sword. But the women, and the little ones,
and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil
�6
ORATION ON THE GODS.
thereof shalt thou take unto thyself, and thou shalt eat the
spoil of thine enemies which the Lord thy God hath given
thee. Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very
far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations.
But of the cities of these people which the Lord thy God
doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive
nothing that breaiheth.”
Is it possible for man to conceive of anything more per
fectly infamous ? Can you believe that such directions were
given by any being except an infinite fiend ? Remember
that the army receiving these instructions was one of inva
sion. Peace was offered upon condition that the people sub
mitting should be the slaves of the invader; but if any
should have the courage to defend their homes, to fight for
the love of wife and child, then the sword was to spare none
—not even the prattling, dimpled babe.
And we are called upon to worship such a god; to get
upon our knees and tell him that he is good, that he is
merciful, that he is just, that he is love. We are asked to
stifle every noble sentiment of the soul, and to trample
under foot all the sweet charities of the heart. Because we
refuse to stultify ourselves—refuse to become liars—we are
denounced, hated, traduced, and ostracised here; and this
same God threatens to torment us in eternal fire the moment
death allows him to fiercely clutch our naked, helpless souls.
Let the people hate—let the god threaten; we will educate
them, and we will despise and defy him.
The book, called the Bible, is filled with passages equally
horrible, unjust, and atrocious. This is the book to be
read in schools, in order to make our children loving, kind,
and gentle ! This is the book to be recognised in our Con
stitution as the source of all authority and justice !
Strange ! that no one has ever been persecuted by the
church for believing God bad, while hundreds of millions
have been destroyed for thinking him good. The orthodox
church never will forgive the Universalists for saying, “ God
is love.” It has always been considered as one of the very
highest evidences of true and undefiled religion to insist
that all men, women, and children deserve eternal damna
tion. It has always been heresy to say “ God will at last
save all.”
We are asked to justify these frightful passages—these in
famous laws of war—because the Bible is the word of God.
As a matter of fact, there never was, and there never can
�ORATION ON THE GODS.
7
be, an argument, even tending to prove the inspiration of
any book whatever. In the absence of positive evidence,
analogy, and experience, argument is simply impossible, and
at the very best can amount only to a useless agitation of
the air. The instant we admit that a book is too sacred to
be doubted, or even reasoned about, we are mental serfs.
It is infinitely absurd to suppose that a god would address
a communication to intelligent beings, and yet make it a
crime, to be punished in eternal flames, for them to use
their intelligence for the purpose of understanding his com
munication. If we have the right to use our reason, we cer
tainly have the right to act in accordance with it, and no
god can have the right to punish us for such action.
The doctrine that future happiness depends upon belief is
monstrous. It is the infamy of infamies. The idea that
faith in Christ is to be rewarded by an eternity of bliss,
while a dependence upon reason, observation, and experi
ence merits everlasting pain, is too absurd for refutation,
and can be believed only by that unhappy mixture of in
sanity and ignorance, called “ faith.” What man, who ever
thinks, can believe that blood can appease God ? And yet,
our entire system of religion is, based upon that belief. The
Jews pacified Jehovah with the blood of animals, and, ac
cording to the Christian system, the blood of Jesus softened
the heart of God a little, and rendered possible the salva
tion of a fortunate few. It is hard to conceive how the
human mind can give its assent to such terrible ideas, or
how any sane man can read the Bible, and still believe in
the doctrine of inspiration.
Whether the Bible is true or false, is of no consequence
in comparison with the mental freedom of the race.
Salvation through slavery is worthless. Salvation from
slavery is inestimable.
As long as man believes the Bible to be infallible, that
book is his master. The civilisation of this century is not
the child of faith, but of unbelief—the result of free
thought.
All that is necessary, as it seems to me, to convince any
reasonable person that the Bible is simply and purely of
human invention—of barbarian invention—is to read it.
Read it as you would any other book; think of it as you
would of any other; get the bandage of reverence from your
eyes ; drive from your heart the phantom of fear ; push from
th& throne, of yfiur brain the cowled form of superstition—
�ORATION ON THE GODS.
then read the holy Bible, and you will be amazed that you
ever, for one moment, supposed a being of infinite wisdom.,
goodness and purity, to be the author of such ignorance
and of such atrocity.
Our ancestors not only had their god-factories, but they
made devils as well. These devils were generally disgraced
and fallen gods. Some had headed unsuccessful revolts ;
some had been caught sweetly reclining in the shadowy folds
of some fleecy cloud, kissing the wife of the god of gods.
These devils generally sympathised with man. There is in
regard to them a most wonderful fact: in nearly all the the
ologies, mythologies, and religions, the devils have been
much more humane and merciful than the gods. No devil
ever gave one of his generals an order to kill children and
to rip open the bodies of pregnant women. Such barbari
ties were always ordered by the good gods. The pestilences
were sent by the most merciful gods. The frightful famine,
during which the dying child with pallid lips sucked the
withered bosom of a dead mother, was sent by the loving
gods. No devil was ever charged with such fiendish brutality.
One of these gods, according to the account, drowned an
entire world, with the exception of eight persons. The old,
the young, the beautiful, and the helpless were remorselessly
devoured by the shoreless sea. This, the most fearful tra
gedy .that the imagination of ignorant priests ever conceived,
was the act, not of a devil, but of a god, so-called, whom
men ignorantly worship unto this day. What a stain such
an act would leave upon the character of a devil ! One of
the prophets of one of these gods, having in his power a cap
tured king, hewed him in pieces in the sight of all the.
people. Was ever any imp of any devil guilty of such
savagery ?
One of these gods is reported to have given the following
directions concerning human slavery : “If thou buy a Hebrew
servant, six years shall he serve, and in the seventh he shall
go out free for nothing. If he came in by himself, he shall
go out by himself. If he were married, then his wife shall
go out with him. If his master have given him a wife, and
she have borne him sons dr daughters, the wife and her
children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by hinw
self. And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my mast»®
my wife, and my children, I will not go out free. ThenJhis
master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also l^ipg
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�ORATION ON THE GODS.
J?
v
.
9
him unto the door, or unto the door-post; and his master
shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve
him for ever.”
According to this, a man was given liberty upon condition.
that he would desert for ever his wife and children. Did
any devil ever force upon a husband, upon a father, so cruel
and so heartless an alternative ? Who can worship such a
god? Who can bend the knee to such a monster ? Who
can pray to such a fiend ?
All these gods threatened to torment for ever the souls of
their enemies. Did any devil ever make so infamous a
threat ? The basest thing recorded of the devil is what he
did concerning Job and his family, and that was done by
the express permission of one of these gods, and to decide
a little difference of opinion between their “ serene high»
nesses” as to the character of “my servant Job.”
The first account we have of the devil is found in that
purely scientific book called Genesis, and is as follows:
“ Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the
field which the Lord God had made, and he said unto the
woman, Yea, hath God said, ‘Ye shall not eat of the fruit
of the trees of the garden ? And the woman said unto the
serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden j
but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden
God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch
it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye
shall not surely die. For God doth know that in the day
ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall
be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman
saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was plea
sant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise,
she took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto
her husband with her, and he did eat. * * * • And the
Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to
know good and evil; and now lest he put forth his hand»
and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live for ever.
Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of
Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he
drove out the man, and he placed at the east of the garden
of Eden cherubims and a flaming sword, which turned every
way to keep the way of the tree of life.”
According to this account, the promise of the devil was
fulfilled to the very letter. Adam and Eve did not die,
and they did become as gods, knowing good and evik _
�IO
ORATION ON THE GODS.
The account shows, however, that the gods dreaded edu
cation and knowledge then just as they do now. The
c.lurch still faithfully guards the dangerous tree of know
ledge,. and has exerted in all ages her utmost power to keep
mankind from eating the fruit thereof. The priests have
never ceased repeating the old falsehood and the old
threat : “ Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it,
lest ye die.” From every pulpit comes the same cry, born
of the same fear: “ Lest they eat and become as gods,
knowing good and evil.” For this reason, religion hates
science, faith detests reason, theology is the sworn enemy
of philosophy, and the church with its flaming sword still
guards the hated tree, and, like its supposed founder, curses
to the lowest depths the brave thinkers who eat and become
as gods.
If the account given in Genesis is really true, ought we
not after all to thank this serpent ? He was the first school
master, the first advocate of learning, the first enemy of
ignorance, the first to whisper in human ears the sacred
word “liberty,” the creator of ambition, the author of
modesty, of inquiry, of doubt, of investigation, of progress,
and of civilization.
Give me the storm and tempest of thought and action,
rather than the dead calm of ignorance and faith ! Banish
me from Eden when you will; but first let me eat of the
fruit of the tree of knowledge !
Some nations have borrowed their gods ; of this number,
we are compelled to say, is our own. The Jews having
ceased to exist as a nation, and having no further use for a
god, our ancestors appropriated him, and adopted their devil
at the same time. This borrowed god is still an object of
some adoration, and this adopted devil still excites the ap
prehensions of our people. He is still supposed to be
setting his traps and snares for the purpose of catching our
. unwary souls, and is still, with reasonable success, waging
the old war against our god.
To me, it seems easy to account for these ideas concern- *
ing gods and devils. They are a perfectly natural produc
tion. Man has created them all, and under the same cir
cumstances would create them again. Man has not only
created all these gods, but he has created them out of the
materials by which he has been surrounded. Generally he
has modelled them after himself, and has given them hands,
feet, eyes, ears, and organs of speech. Each nation made
�ORATION ON THE GODS.
II
its gods and devils speak its language not only, but put in
their mouths the same mistakes in history, geography, astro
nomy, and in all matters of fact, generally made _ by th®
people. No god was ever in advance of the nation that
created him. The negroes represented their deities with
black skins and curly hair. The Mongolian gave to his a
yellow complexion and dark almond-shaped eyes. The
Jews were not allowed to paint theirs, or we should have
seen Jehovah with a full beard, an oval face, and an aqui
line nose. Jove was a perfect Greek, and Jupiter looked
as though a member of the Roman senate. The gods of
Egypt had the patient face and placid look of the loving
people who made them. The gods of northern countries
were represented warmly clad in robes of fur ; those of the
tropic were naked. The gods of India were often mounted
upon elephants ; those of some islanders were great swim
mers, and the deities of the Arctic zone were passionately
fond of whale’s blubber. Nearly all people have carved or
painted representations of their gods, 'and these representa
tions were, by the lower classes, generally treated as the real
gods, and to these images and idols they addressed prayers
and offered sacrifice.
In some countries, even at this day, if the people, after
long praying do not obtain their desires, they turn their
images off as impotent gods, or upbraid them in a most re
proachful manner, loading them with blows and curses.
“ How now, dog of a spirit,” they say, “ we give you lodging
in a magnificent temple, we gild you with gold, feed you with
the choicest food, and offer incense to you, yet after all this
care you are so ungrateful as to refuse us what we ask.”
Hereupon they will pull the god down and drag him through
the filth of the street. ■ If in the meantime it happens that
they obtain their request, then, with a great deal of ceremony,
'they wash him clean, carry him back and place him in his
temple again, where they fall down and make excuses for
what they have done. “ Of a truth,” say they, “we were a
little too hasty, and you were a little too long in your grant.
Why should you bring this beating on yourself? But what
is done cannot be undone. Let us not think of it any more.
If you will forget what is past we will gild you over again
brighter than before.”
Man has never been at a loss for gods. He has worshipped
almost everything, including the vilest and most disgusting
has worshipped fire, earth, air, water, light, stars,
�12
ORATION ON THE GODS.
and for hundreds of ages prostrated himself before enormous
snakes. Savage tribes often make gods of articles they get
from civilised people. The Todas worship a cow-bell. The
Kotas worship two silver plates, which they regard as hus
band and wife, and another tribe manufactured a god out of
a king of hearts.
Man having always been the physical superior of woman,
accounts for the fact that most of the high gods have been
males. Had woman been the physical superior, the powers
supposed to be the rulers of Nature would have been women,
and instead of being represented in the apparel of man, they
would have luxuriated in trains, low-necked dresses, laces, and
back-hair.
Nothing can be plainer than that each nation gives to its
god its peculiar characteristics, and that every individual gives
to his god his personal peculiarities.
Man has no ideas, and can have none, except those sug
gested by his surroundings. He cannot conceive of anything
utterly unlike what he has seen or felt. He can exaggerate,
diminish, combine, separate, deform, beautify, improve, mul
tiply, and compare what he sees, what he feels, what he hears,
and all of which he takes cognizance through the medium of
the senses ; but he cannot create. Having seen exhibitions
of power, he can say, omnipotent. Having lived, he can
say, immortality. Knowing something of time, he can say
eternity. Conceiving something of intelligence, he can say,
God. Having seen exhibitions of malice, he can say, devil.
A few gleams of happiness having fallen athwart the gloom
of his life, he can say, heaven. Pain, in its numberless
forms, having been experienced, he can say, hell. Yet all
these ideas have a foundation in fact, and only a foundation.
The superstructure has been reared by exaggerating,
diminishing, combining, separating, deforming, beautifying,
improving or multiplying realities, so that the edifice, or
fabric, is but the incongruous grouping of what man has per
ceived through the medium of the senses. It is as though
we should give to a lion the wings of an eagle, the hoofs
of a bison, the tail of a horse, the pouch of a kangaroo,
and the trunk of an elephant. We have in imagination
created an impossible monster. And yet the various parts
of this monster really exist. So it is with all the gods that
man has made.
Beyond nature man cannot go, even in thought; above nature
he cannot rise, below nature he cannot fall.
�ORATION ON THE GODS.
13
Man, in his ignorance, supposed that all phenomena were
produced by some intelligent powers, and with direct refer
ence to him. To preserve friendly relations with these
powers was, and still is, the object of all religions. Man
knelt through fear and to implore assistance, or through
gratitude for some favour which he supposed had been ren
dered. He endeavoured by supplication to appease some
being who, for some reason, had, as he believed, become
enraged. The lightning and thunder terrified him. In the
presence of the volcano he sank upon his knees. The
great forests filled with wild and ferocious beasts, the mon
strous serpent crawling in mysterious depths, the boundless
sea, the flaming comets, the sinister eclipses, the awful
calmness of the stars, and, more than all, the perpetual pre
sence of death, convinced him that he was the sport and
prey of unseen and malignant powers. The strange and
frightful diseases to which he was subject, the freezings and
burnings of fever, the contortions of epilepsy, the sudden
palsies, the darkness of night, and the wild, terrible, and
fantastic dreams that filled his brain, satisfied him that he
was haunted and pursued by countless spirits of evil. For
some reason he supposed that these spirits differed in power
—that they were not all alike malevolent—that the higher
controlled the lower, and that his very existence depended
upon gaining the assistance of the more powerful. For this
purpose he resorted to prayer, to flattery, to worship, and to
sacrifice. These ideas appear to have been almost universal
in savage man.
For ages, all nations supposed that the sick and insane
were possessed by evil spirits. For thousands of years the
practice of medicine consisted in frightening these spirits
away. Usually the priests would make the loudest and
most discordant noises possible. They would blow horns,
beat upon rude drums, clash cymbals, and in the meantime
utter the most unearthly yells. If the noise-remedy failed,
they would implore the aid of some more powerful spirit.
To pacify these spirits was considered of infinite import
ance. The poor barbarian, knowing that men could be
softened by gifts, gave to these spirits that which to him
seemed of the most value. With bursting heart he would
offer the blood of his dearest child. It was impossible for
him to conceive of a god utterly unlike himself, and he
naturally supposed that these powers of the air would be
affected a little at the sight of so great and so deep a sorrow.
�14
ORATION ON THE GODS.
It was with the barbarians then as with the civilized
now : one class lived upon and made merchandise of the
fears of another. Certain persons took it upon themselves
to appease the gods, and to instruct the people in their
duties to these unseen powers. This was the origin of the
priesthood. The priest pretended to stand between the
wrath of the gods and the helplessness of man. He was
man’s attorney at the court of heaven. He carried to the
invisible world a flag of truce, a protest and a request. He
came back with a command, with authority, and with power.
Man fell upon his knees before his own servant, and the
priest, taking advantage of the awe inspired by his supposed
influence with the gods, made of his fellow-man a cringing
hypocrite and slave. Even Christ, the supposed son of God,
taught that persons were possessed of evil spirits, and fre
quently, according to the account, gave proof of his divine
origin and mission by frightening droves of devils out of his
unfortunate countrymen. Casting out devils was his prin
cipal employment, and the devils thus damaged generally
took occasion to acknowledge him as the true Messiah;
which was not only very kind of them, but quite fortunate
for him. The religious people have always regarded the
testimony of these devils as perfectly conclusive, and the
writers of the New Testament quote the words of these imps
of darkness with great satisfaction.
The fact that Christ could withstand the temptations of
the devil was considered as conclusive evidence that he was
assisted by some god, or at least by some being superior to
man. St. Matthew gives an account of an attempt made by
the devil to tempt the supposed son of God; and it has
always excited the wonder of Christians that the temptation
was so nobly and ^heroically withstood. The account to
which I refer is as follows :
“Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness
to be tempted of the devil. And when the tempter came
to him, he said, ‘ If thou be the son of God command that
these stones be made bread.’ But he answered and said,
‘ It is written : man shall not live by bread alone, but by
every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then
the devil taketh him up into the holy city and.setteth him
upon a pinnacle of the temple and saith unto him, If thou
be the son of God, cast thyself down; for it is written, He
shall give his angels charge concerning thee, lest at any time
thou shalt dash thy foot against a stone.’ Jesus said unto
�ORATION ON THE GODS.
IS
him, ‘ It is written, again, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy
God.’ Again the devil taketh him up into an exceeding
high mountain and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the
world, and the glory of them, and saith unto him, ‘All
these will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship
me.’ ”
The Christians now claim that Jesus was God. If he
was God, of course the devil knew that fact, and yet, accord
ing to this account the devil took the omnipotent God and
placed him upon a pinnacle of the temple, and endeavoured
to induce him to dash himself against the earth. Failing in
that, he took the creator, and owner, and governor of the
universe up into an exceeding high mountain, and offered
him this world—this grain of sand, if he, the God of all
the worlds, would fall down and worship him, a poor devil,
without even a tax title to one foot of dirt! Is it possible the
devil was such an idiot ? Should any great credit be given to
this deity for not being caught with such chaff? Think of it !
The devil—the prince of sharpers—the king of cunning
—the master of finesse, trying to bribe God with a grain
of sand that belonged to God !
Is there in all the religious literature of the world anything,
more grossly absurd than this ?
These devils, according to the Bible, were of various
kinds,—some could speak and hear, others were deaf and
dumb. All could not be cast out in the same way. The
deaf and dumb spirits were quite difficult to deal with.
St. Mark tells of a gentleman who brought his son to Christ.
The boy, it seems, was possessed of a dumb spirit, over
which the disciples had no control. “Jesus said unto the
spirit, ‘ Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee come out
of him, and enter no more into him.’ ” Whereupon, the
deaf spirit (having heard what was said) cried out (being
dumb) and immediately vacated the premises. The ease
with which Christ controlled this deaf and dumb spirit
excited the wonder of his disciples, and they asked him
privately why they could not cast that spirit out. To whom
he replied : “ This kind can come forth by nothing but
prayer and fasting.” Is there a Christian in the whole world
who would believe such a story, if found in any other book ?
The trouble is, these pious people shut up their reason, and
then open their Bibles.
In the olden times, the existence of devils was universally
admitted. The people had no doubt upon that subject, and
�16
ORATION ON THE GODS.
from such belief it followed as a matter of course, that a
person, in order to vanquish these devils, had either to be a
god, or assisted by one. All founders of religions have
established their claims to divine origin by controlling evil
spirits and suspending the laws of nature. Casting out
devils was a certificate of divinity. A prophet, unable to
cope with the powers of darkness, was regarded with con
tempt. The utterance of the highest and noblest senti
ments, the most blameless and holy life, commanded but
little respect, unless accompanied by power to work miracles
and command spirits.
This belief in good and evil powers had its origin in the
fact that man was surrounded by what he was pleased to
■call good and evil phenomena. Phenomena affecting man
pleasantly were ascribed to good spirits, while those affecting
him unpleasantly or injuriously were ascribed to evil spirits.
It being admitted that all phenomena were produced by
spirits, the spirits were divided according to the pheno
mena, and the phenomena were good or bad as they affected
man. Good spirits were supposed to be the authors of good
phenomena, and evil spirits of the evil: so that the idea of
a devil has been as universal as the idea of a god.
Many writers maintain that an idea to become universal
must be true ; that all universal ideas are innate; and that
innate ideas can not be false. If the fact, that an idea has
been universal, proves that it is innate, and if the fact, that
an idea is innate, proves that it is correct, then the believers
in innate ideas must admit that, the evidence of a god
superior to nature, and of a devil superior to nature, is
exactly the same, and that the existence of such a devil
must be as self-evident as the existence of such a god. The
truth is, a god was inferred fropi good, and a devil from bad
phenomena. And it is just as natural and logical to sup
pose that a devil would cause happiness, as to suppose that
a god would produce misery. Consequently, if an intelli
gence, infinite and supreme, is the immediate author, of all
phenomena, it is difficult to determine whether such intelli
gence is the friend or enemy of man. If phenomena were
all good, we might say they were all produced by a perfectly
beneficent being. If they were all bad, we might say they
were produced by a perfectly malevolent power ; but as
phenomena are, as they affect man, both good and bad,
they must be produced by different and antagonistic spirits;
by one who is sometimes actuated by kindness, and some
�ORATION ON THE GODS.
17
times by malice ; or all must be produced of necessity, and
without reference to their consequences upon man.
The foolish doctrine, that all phenomena can be traced to
the interference of good and evil spirits, has been, and still
is, almost universal. That most people still believe in some
spirit that can change the natural order of events, is proven
by the fact, that nearly all resort to prayer. Thousands, at
this very moment, are probably imploring some supposed
power to interfere in their behalf. Some want health
restored; some ask that the loved and absent be watched
over and protected; some pray for riches ; some for rain ;
some want diseases stayed ; some vainly ask for food ; some
ask for revivals ; a few ask for more wisdom, and now and
then one tells the Lord to do as he may think best. Thou
sands ask to be protected from the devil; some, like David,
pray for revenge, and some implore, even God, not to lead
them into temptation. All these prayers rest upon, and are
produced by the idea that some power not only can, but
probably will, change the order of the universe. This belief
has been among the great majority of tribes and nations.
All sacred books are filled with the accounts of such inter
ferences, and our own Bible is no exception to this rule.
If we believe in a power superior to nature, it is perfectly
natural to suppose that such power can and will interfere in
the affairs of this world. If there is no interference, of what
practical use can such power be ? The scriptures give us the
most wonderful accounts of divine interference : Animals
talk like men; springs gurgle from dry bones ; the sun and
moon stop in the heavens in order that General Joshua may
have more time to murder; the shadow on a dial goes back
ten degrees to convince a petty king of a barbarous people
that he is not going to die of a boil; fire refuses to burn ;
water positively declines to seek its level, but stands up like
a wall; grains of sand become lice; common walking-sticks,
to gratify a mere freak, twist themselves into serpents, and
then swallow each other by way of exercise; murmuring
streams, laughing at the attraction of gravitation, run up hill
for years, following wandering tribes from a pure love of
frolic : prophecy becomes altogether easier than history ; the
sons of God become enamoured of the world’s girls; women
are changed into salt for the purpose of keeping a great event
fresh in the minds of men; an excellent article of brimstone
is imported from heaven free of duty ; clothes refuse to wear
out for forty years; birds keep restaurants and feed wanB
�18
ORATION ON THE GODS.
dering prophets free of expense; bears tear children in
pieces for laughing at old men without wigs; muscular
development depends upon the length of one’s hair; dead
people come to life, simply to get a joke on their enemies
and heirs; witches and wizards converse freely with the
souls of the departed, and God himself becomes a stone
cutter and engraver, after having been a tailor and dress
maker.
The veil between heaven and earth was always rent or
lifted. The shadows of this world, the radiance of heaven,
and the glare of hell mixed and mingled until man became
uncertain as to which country he really inhabited. Man
dwelt in an unreal world. He mistook his ideas, his dreams,
for real things. His fears became terrible and malicious
monsters. He lived in the midst of furies and fairies,
nymphs and naiads, goblins and ghosts, witches and wizards,
sprites and spooks, deities and devils. The obscure and
gloomy depths were filled with claw and wing—with beak
and hoof—with leering looks and sneering mouths—with the
malice of deformity—with the cunning of hatred, and with
all the slimy forms that fear can draw and paint upon the
shadowy canvas of the dark.
It is enough to make one almost insane with pity to think
what man in the long night has suffered ; of the tortures he
has endured, surrounded, as he supposed, by malignant
powers and clutched by the fierce phantoms of the air. No
wonder that he fell upon his trembling knees—that he built
altars and reddened them even with his own blood. No
wonder that he implored ignorant priests and impudent magi
cians for aid. No wonder that he crawled grovelling in the
dust to the temple’s door, and there, in the insanity of
despair, besought the deaf gods to hear his bitter cry of
agony and fear.
The savage, as he emerges from a state of barbarism,
gradually loses faith in his idols of wood and stone, and in
their place puts a multitude of spirits. As he advances in
knowledge, he generally discards the petty spirits, and in
their stead believes in one, whom he supposes to be infinite
and supreme. Supposing this great spirit to be superior to
nature, he offers worship or flattery in exchange for assist
ance. At last, finding that he obtains no aid from this sup
posed deity—finding that every search after the absolute must
of necessity end in failure—finding that man cannot by any
possibility conceive of the conditionless—he begins to inves-
�ORATION ON THE GODS.
í /•
il
19
tigate the facts by which he is surrounded, and to depend
upon himself.
The people are beginning to think, to reason, and to
investigate. Slowly, painfully, but surely, the gods are being
driven from the earth. Only upon rare occasions are they,
even by the most religious, supposed to interfere with the
affairs of men. In most matters we are at last supposed to
be free. Since the invention of steamships and railways, so
that the products of all countries can be easily interchanged,
the gods have quit the business of producing famine. Now
and then they kill a child because it is idolized by its
parents. As a rule they have given up causing accidents on
railroads, exploding boilers, and bursting kerosene lamps.
Cholera, yellow fever, and small-pox are still considered
heavenly weapons; but measles, itch, and ague are now at
tributed to natural causes. As a general thing, the gods
have stopped drowning children, except as a punishment for
violating the Sabbath. They still pay some attention to the
affairs of kings, men of genius, and persons of great wealth;
but ordinary people are left to shirk for themselves as best
they may. In wars between great nations, the gods still
interfere; but in prize fights, the best man, with an honest
referee, is almost sure to win.
The church cannot abandon the idea of special provi
dence. To give up that doctrine, is to give up all. The
church must insist that prayer is answered—that some power
superior to nature hears the grants and requests of the sin
cere and humble Christian, and that this same power in some
mysterious way provides for all.
A devout clergyman sought every opportunity to impress
upon the mind of his son the fact that God takes care of all
creatures ; that the falling sparrow attracts his attention, and
that his loving kindness is over all his works. Happening,
one day, to see a crane wading in quest of food, the good
man pointed out to his son the perfect adaptation of the
crane to get his living in that manner. “ See,” said he,
“ how his legs are formed for wading ! What a long, slender
bill he has ! Observe how nicely he folds his feet when
putting them in or drawing them out of the water? He
does not cause the slightest ripple. He is thus enabled to
approach the fish without giving them any notice of Ms
arrival. My son,” said he, “ it is impossible to look at
that bird without recognizing the design, as well as the
goodness of God, in thus providing the means of subsistB 2
�20
ORATION ON THE GODS.
ence.” “ Yes,” replied the boy, “ I think I see the goodness
of God, at least so far as the crane is concerned : but after
all, father, don’t you think the arrangement a little tough on
the fish ?”
Even the advanced religionist, although disbelieving in
any great amount of interference by the gods in this age of
the world, still thinks that, in the beginning, some god made
the laws governing the universe. He believes that in con
sequence of these laws a man can lift a greater weight with,
than without, a lever ; that this god so made matter, and so
established the order of things, that two bodies cannot
occupy the same space at the same time; so that a body
once put in motion will keep moving until it is stopped; so
that it is a greater distance around, than across a circle; so
that a perfect square has four equal sides, instead of five or
seven. He insists that it took a direct interposition of pro
vidence to make a whole greater than a part, and that had
it not been for this power superior to nature, twice one
might have been more than twice two, and sticks and strings
might have had only one end apiece. Like the old Scotch
divine, he thanks God that Sunday comes at the end instead
of in the middle of the week, and that death comes at the
close instead of at the commencement of life, thereby giving
us time to prepare for that holy day and that most solemn
event. These religious people see nothing but design every
where, and personal, intelligent interference in everything;
They insist that the universe has been created', and that the
adaptation of means to ends is perfectly' apparent. They
point us to the sunshine, to the flowers, to the April rain,
and to all there is of beauty and of use in the world. Did
it ever occur to them that a cancer is as beautiful in its de
velopment as is the reddest rose? That what they are
pleased to call the adaptation of means to ends, is as apparent
in the cancer as in the April rain? How beautiful the process
of digestion ! By what ingenious methods the blood is
poisoned so that the cancer shall have food ! By what won
derful contrivances the entire system of man is made to pay
tribute to this divine and charming cancer ! See by what
admirable instrumentalities it feeds itself from the surround
ing quivering, dainty flesh ! See how it gradually, but surely,
expands and grows ! By what marvellous mechanism it is
supplied with long and slender roots that reach out to the
?, most secret nerves of pain for sustenance and life ! What
* beautiful colours it presents ! Seen through the microscoj^
�ORATION ON THE GODS,
2I
a miracle of order and beauty. AU the ingenuity gf
man cannot stop its growth. Think of the amount qf
thought it must have required to invent a way by which the
life of one man might be given to produce one cancer ? Is
it possible to look upon it and doubt that there is design ini
the universe, and that the inventor of this wonderful cancer^
must be infinitely powerful, ingenious, and good ?
We are told that the universe was designed and created,
and that it is absurd to suppose that matter has existed
from eternity, but that it is perfectly self-evident that a god
has.
If a god created the universe, then, there must have been
a time when he commenced to create. Back of that time
there must have been an eternity, during which there had
existed nothing—absolutely nothing—except this supposed
god. According to this theory, this god spent an eternity, Í
so to speak, in an infinite vacuum, and in perfect idleness. A
Admitting that a god did' create the universe, the question then arises, of what did he create it ? It certainly was«
not made of nothing. Nothing, considered in the light of A
a raw material, is a most decided failure. It follows, thenBB
that the god must have made the universe out of himself, &
he being the only existence. The universe is material, and
if it was made of god, the god must have been material«
With this very thought in his mind, Anaximander, of K
Miletus, said: “ Creation is the decomposition of the in- $
finite.”
It has been demonstrated that the earth would fall to i|
the sun, only for the fact that it is attracted by other H
worlds, and those worlds must be attracted by other worlds >
still beyond them, and so on, without end. This proves ■
the material universe to be infinite. If an infinite universe ■
has been made out of an infinite god, how much of the god
is left ?
The idea of a creative deity is gradually being abandoned,
and nearly all truly scientific minds admit that matter must
have existed from eternity. It is indestructible, and the
indestructible cannot be created. It is the crowning glory
of our century to have demonstrated the indestructibility
and the eternal persistence of force. Neither matter nor
force can be increased nor diminished. Force cannot exist
apart from matter. Matter exists only in connection with
force, and consequently a force apart from matter, and
superior to nature, is a demonstrated impossibility.
it is
�22
ORATION ON THE GODS.
Force, then, must have also existed from eternity, and
could not have been created. Matter, in its countless
forms, from dead earth to the eyes of those we love, and
force in all its manifestations, from simple motion to the
* grandest thought, deny creation and defy control.
J
Thought is a form of force. We walk with the same
1
force with which we think. Man is an organism, that
| changes several forms of force into thought-force. Man is
£ a machine, into which we put what we call food, and pro
li,. duce what we call thought. . Think of that wonderful
k chemistry by which bread was changed into the divine
A tragedy of Hamlet!
E, A god must not only be material, but he must be an
Morganism, capable of changing other forms of force into
■ thought-force. This is what we call eating. Therefore, if
Shhe god thinks, he must eat, that is to say, he must of
■ necessity have some means of supplying the force with
'Ij which to think. It is impossible to conceive of a being
■ who can eternally impart force to matter, and yet have no
■ means of supplying the force thus imparted.
'
If neither matter nor force were created, what evidence
have we then of the existence of a power superior to nature ?
i The theologian will probably reply, “ We have law and
I order, cause and effect, and besides all this, matter could
1 not have put- itself in motion.”
' Suppose, for the sake of the argument, that there is
no being superior is so, then you that matter and and
Ibe an effect. If thisto nature, and have matter, force,force
have existed from eternity. Now suppose that two atoms
should come together, would there be an effect ? Yes.
Suppose they came in exactly opposite directions with equal
force, they would be stopped, to say the least. This would
effect without a being superior to nature. Now, suppose
that two other atoms, just like the first two, should come
together under precisely the same circumstances, would not
the effect be exactly the same ? Yes. Like causes produc
ing like effects is what we mean by law and order. Then
we have matter, force, effect, law, and order without a being
Superior to nature. Now, we know that every effect must
also be a cause, and that every cause must be an effect.
The atoms coming together did produce an effect, and as
"every effect must also be a cause, the effect produced by
the collision of the atoms, must as to something else have
tbeen a cause. Then we have matter, force, law, order,
�ORATION ON THE GODS.
I
23
cause, and effect, without a being superior to nature. Nothing
is left for the supernatural but empty space. His throng
is a void, and his boasted realm is without matter, without
force, without law, without cause, and without effect.
But what put all this matter in motion ? If matter ancM
force have existed from eternity, then matter must havell
always been in motion. There can be no force without
motion. Force is forever active, and there is, and there!;
can be, no cessation. If, therefore, matter and force have»
existed from eternity, so has motion. In the whole universe
there is not even one atom in a state of rest.
A deity outside of nature exists in nothing, and is nothing.
Nature embraces with infinite arms all matter and all force!
That which is beyond her grasp is destitute of both, ano
can hardly be worth the worship and adoration even of a
man.
There is but one way to demonstrate the existence of a
power independent of and superior to nature, and that is by
breaking, if only for one moment, the continuity of cause
and effect. Pluck from the endless chain of existence one
little link; stop for one instant the grand procession, and
you have shown beyond all contradiction that nature has a
master. Change the fact, just for one second, that matter
attracts matter, and a god appears.
The rudest savage has always known this fact, and for
that reason always demanded the evidence of miracle. The
founder of a religion must be able to turn water into wine~
cure with a word the blind and lame, and raise with a
simple touch the dead to life. It was necessary for him to
demonstrate to the satisfaction of his barbarian disciple
that he was superior to nature. In times of ignorance, this
was easy to do. The credulity of the savage was almost
boundless. - To him the marvellous was the beautiful, the
mysterious was the sublime. Consequently, every religion
has for its foundation a miracle—that is to say, a violation
■of nature—that is to say, a falsehood.
No one, in the world’s whole history, ever attempted to
substantiate a truth by a miracle. Truth scorns the assist
ance of miracle. Nothing but falsehood ever attested itself
by signs and wonders. No miracle ever was performed,
and no sane man ever thought he had performed one, and
until one is performed, there can be no evidence of the
existence of any power superior to and independent of
nature.
�24
ORATION ON THE GODS.
The church wishes us to believe. Let the church, or one
of its intellectual saints, perform a miracle, and we will
believe. We are told that nature has a superior. Let this
superior, for one single instant, control nature, and we will
admit the truth of your assertions.
We have heard talk enough. We have listened to all the
drowsy, idealess, vapid sermons that we wish to hear. We
have read your Bible, and the works of your best minds.
We have heard your prayers, your solemn groans, and your
reverential amens. All these amount to less than nothing.
We want one fact. We beg at the doors of your churches
for just one little fact. We pass our hats along your pews
and under your pulpits, and implore you for just one fact.
We know all about your mouldy wonders and your stale
miracles. We want a this year’s fact. We ask only one.
Give us one fact for charity. Your miracles are too
ancient. The witnesses have been dead for nearly two
thousand years. Their reputation for “ truth and veracity ”
in the neighbourhood where they resided is wholly un
known to us. Give us a new miracle, and substantiate it by
witnesses who still have the cheerful habit of living in this
world. Do not send us to' Jericho to hear the winding
horns, nor put us in the fire with Meshech, Shadrach, and
Abednego. Do not compel us to navigate the sea with
Captain Jonah, nor dine with Mr. Ezekiel. There is no
sort of use in sending us fox-hunting with Samson. We
have positively lost all interest in that little speech so
eloquently delivered by Balaam’s inspired donkey. It is
worse than useless to show us fishes with money in their
mouths, and call our attention to vast multitudes stuffing
themselves with five crackers and two sardines. We de
mand a new miracle, and we demand it now. Let the
church furnish at least one, or for ever after hold her peace.
In the olden time, the church, by violating the order of
nature, proved the existence of her God. At that time
miracles were performed with the most astonishing ease.
They became so common that the church ordered her
priests to desist. And now this same church—the people
having found some little sense—admits, not only that she
cannot perform a miracle, but insists’ that the absence of
miracle—the steady, unbroken march of cause and effect—
prove the existence of a power superior to nature. The fact
is, however, that the indissoluble chain of cause and effect
proves exactly the contrary.
�ORATION ON THE GODS.
25
Sir William Hamilton, one of the pillars of modern
theology, in discussing this very subject, uses the following
language : “ The phenomena of matter, taken by . them
selves, so far from warranting any inference to the existence
of a god, would, on the contrary, ground even an argument
to his negation. The phenomena of the material world are
subjected to immutable laws ; are produced and reproduced
in the same invariable succession, and manifest only the
blind force of a mechanical necessity.”
Nature is but an endless series of efficient causes. She
cannot create, but she eternally transforms. There was no
beginning, and there can be no end.
The best minds, even in the religious world, admit that
in material nature there is no evidence of what they are
pleased to call a god. They find their evidence in the
phenomena of intelligence, and very innocently assert that
intelligence is above, and, in fact, opposed to nature, dhey
insist that man, at least, is a special creation; that he has
somewhere in his brain a divine spark, a little portion of the
“ Great First Cause.” They say that matter cannot produce
thought, but that thought can produce matter. They tell
us that man has intelligence, and, therefore, there must be
in intelligence greater than his? Why not say, God has
intelligence, therefore there must be an intelligence greater
than his ? So far as we know there is no intelligence apart
from matter. We' cannot conceive of thought, except as
produced within a brain.
The science by means of which they demonstrate the
existence of an impossible intelligence, and an incompre
hensible power, is called metaphysics, or theology. The
theologians admit that the phenomena of matter tend, at
least, to disprove the existence of any power superior to
nature, because in such phenomena we see nothing but an
endless chain of efficient causes—nothing but the force of
a mechanical necessity. They therefore appeal to what
they denominate the phenomena of mind to establish this
superior power.
x
The trouble is, that in the phenomena of mind we find ’
the same endless chain of efficient causes, the same mechameal necessity. Every thought must have had an efficient |
cause. Every motive, every desire, every fear, hope, and
dream must have been necessarily produced. There is no
room in the mind of man for providence or chance. The |<
facts and forces governing thought are as absolute as those »
�26
ORATION ON THE GODS.
governing the motions of the planets« A poem is produced
by the forces of nature, and is as necessarily and naturally
produced as mountains and seas. You will seek in vain for
a thought in man s brain without its efficient cause. Every
mental operation is the necessary result of certain facts and
conditions. Mental phenomena are considered more com
plicated than those of matter, and, consequently, more mys
terious. Being more mysterious, they are considered better
evidence of the existence of a god. No one infers a god
¡from the simple, from the known, from what is under
stood, but from the complex, from the unknown, and in|comprehensible. Our ignorance is God, what we know is
science.
~
When we abandon the doctrine that some infinite being
created matter and force, and enacted a code of laws for
their government, the idea of interference will be lost. The
real priest will then be, not the mouthpiece of some pre
tended deity, but the interpreter of nature. From that
moment the church ceases to exist. The tapers will die
out upon the dusty altar; the moths will eat the fading
velvet of pulpit and pew ; the Bible will take its place with
the Shastras, Puranas, Vedas, Eddas, Sagas, and Korans,
and the fetters of a degrading faith will fall from the minds
•of men.
“ But,” says the religionist, “you cannot explain every-,
thing; you cannot understand everything; and that which
you cannot explain, that which you do not comprehend, is
my God.”
We are explaining more every day. We are understanding
more every day ; consequently your God is growing smaller
every day.
Nothing daunted, the religionist then insists, that nothing
can exist without a cause, except cause, and that this uncaused
cause is God.
To this we again reply: Every cause must produce an
effect, because until it does produce an effect, it is not a
cause. Every effect must in its turn become a cause.
Therefore, in the nature of things, there cannot be a last
cause, for the reason that a so-called last cause would neces
sarily produce an effect, and that effect must of necessity be
come a cause. The converse of these propositions must be
true. Every effect must have had a cause, and every cause
must have been an effect. Therefore there could have been no
first cause. A first cause is just as impossible as a last effect.
1
41
�ORATION ON THE GODS.
27
Beyond the universe there is nothing, and within the uni
verse the supernatural does not and can not exist.
The moment these great truths are understood and ad
mitted, a belief in general or special providence becomes
impossible. From that instant men will cease their vain
efforts to please an imaginary being, and will give their time
and attention to the affairs of this world. They will abandon
the idea of attaining any object by prayer and supplication.
The element of uncertainty will, in a great measure, be
removed from the domain of the future, and man, gathering
courage from a succession of victories over the obstructions
of nature, will attain a serene grandeur unknown to the dis
ciples of any superstition. The plans of mankind will no
longer be interfered with by the finger of a supposed omni»
potence, and no one will believe that nations or individuals
are protected or destroyed by any deity whatever. Science,
freed from the chains of pious custom and evangelical pre
judice, will, within her sphere, be supreme. The mind will
investigate without reverence, and publish its conclusion
without fear. Agassiz will no longer hesitate to declare the
Mosaic cosmogony utterly inconsistent with the demon
strated truths of geology, and will cease pretending. any
reverence for the Jewish scriptures. The moment science
succeeds in rendering the church powerless for evil, the real
thinkers will be outspoken. The little flags of truce carried
by timid philosophers, will disappear, and the cowardly
parley will give place to victory—lasting and universal.
If we admit that some infinite being has controlled the
destinies of persons and peoples, history becomes a most
cruel and bloody farce. Age after age, the strong have
trampled upon the weak ; the crafty and heartless have en
snared and enslaved the simple and innocent, and nowhere,
in all the annals of mankind, has any god succoured the
oppressed.
Man should cease to expect aid from on high. By thy!
time he should know that heaven has no ear to hear, and no.
hand to help. The present is the necessary child of all the
past. There has been no chance, and there can be no inter
ference.
If abuses are destroyed, man must destroy them. If
slaves are freed, man must free them. If new truths are
discovered, man must discover them. If the naked are
clothed; if the hungry are fed ; if justice is done; if labour
is rewarded; if superstition is driven from the mind; if the
�28
ORATION.ON THE GODS.
defenceless are protected, and if the right finally triumphs,
all must be the work of man. The grand victories of the
future must be won by man, and by man alone.
Nature, so far as we can discern, without passion and with
out intention, forms, transforms, and re-transforms for ever.
She neither weeps nor rejoices. She produces man without
purpose, and obliterates him without regret. She knows no
distinction between the beneficial and the hurtful. Poison
and nutrition, pain and joy, life and death, smiles and tears
are alike to her. She is neither merciful nor cruel. She
cannot be flattered by worship nor melted by tears. She
does not know even the attitude of prayer. She appreciates
no difference between poison in the fangs of snakes and
mercy in the hearts of men. Only through man does nature
take cognizance of the good, the true, and the beautiful; and,
so far as we know, man is the highest intelligence.
And yet man continues to believe that there is some power
independent of and superior to nature, and still endeavours,
by form, ceremony, supplication, hypocrisy, and sacrifice, to
obtain its aid. His best energies have been wasted in the
service of this phantom. The horrors of witchcraft were all
born of an ignorant belief in the existence of a totally de
praved being superior to nature, acting in perfect indepen
dence of her laws, and all religious superstition has had for
its basis a belief in at least two beings, one good and the
other bad, both of whom could arbitrarily change the order
of the universe. The history of religion is simply the story
of man’s efforts in all ages to avoid one of these powers, and
to pacify the other. Both powers have inspired little else
than abject fear. The cold, calculating sneer of the devil
and the frown of God were equally terrible. In any event,
man’s fate was to be arbitrarily fixed for ever by an unknown
power superior to all law, and to all fact. Until this belief
is thrown aside, man must consider himself the slave of
phantom, masters—neither of whom promise liberty in this
world nor the next.
Man must learn to rely upon himself. Reading Bibles
will not protect him from the blasts of winter; but houses,
fires, and clothing will. To prevent famine, one plough is
worth a million sermons, and even patent medicines will cure
more diseases than all the prayftrs uttered since the beginning
of the world.
Although many eminent men have endeavoured to har
monize necessity and free will, the existence of evil, and
�OkAÏIOK '©W THE GObS.
«9
the infinite power and goodness of God, they have only suc
ceeded in producing learned and ingenious failures. In>
mense efforts have been made to reconcile ideas utterly
inconsistent with the facts by which we are surrounded, and
all persons who have failed to perceive the pretended recon
ciliation have been denounced as infidels, atheists, and
scoffers. The whole power of the church has been brought
to bear against philosophers and scientists in order to com
pel a denial of the authority of demonstration, and to induce
some Judas to betray Reason, one of the saviours of man
kind.
During that frightful period known as the 11 Dark Ages/*
Faith reigned, with scarcely a rebellious subject. Her
temples were “ carpeted with knees,” and the wealth of
nations adorned her countless shrines. The great painters
prostituted their genius to immortalise her vagaries, while
the poets enshrined them in song. At her bidding, man
covered the earth with blood. The scales of justice were
turned with her gold, and for her use were invented all the
cunning instruments of pain. She built cathedrals for God,
and dungeons for men. She peopled the clouds with angels
and the earth with slaves. For centuries the world was re
tracing its steps — going steadily back towards barbaric
night. A few infidels—a few heretics cried, “ Halt !” to the
great rabble of ignorant devotion, and made it’ possible for
the genius of the nineteenth century to revolutionise the
cruel creeds and superstitions of mankind.The thoughts of man, in order to be of any real worth,
must be free. Under the influence of fear, the brain is
paralysed, «and instead of bravely solving a problem for
itself, trembling adopts the solution of another. As long as
a majority of men will cringe to the very earth before some
petty prince or king, what must be the infinite abjectness of
their little souls in the presence of their supposed creator
and God ? Under such circumstances, what can their
thoughts be worth ?
The originality of repetition, and the mental vigour of
acquiescence, are all that we have any right to expect from
the Christian world. As long as every question is answered
by the word “ god,” scientific inquiry is simply impossible.
As fast as phenomena are satisfactorily explained, the
•domain of the power, supposed to be superior to nature,
must decrease, while the horizon of the known must as con
stantly continue to’ enlarge.
�3°
ORATION ON THE GUIRE
It is no longer satisfactory to account for the fall and rise
of nations by saying :—“ It is the will of God.” Such an
explanation puts ignorance and education upon an exact
equality, and does away with the idea of really accounting
for anything whatever.
Will the religionist pretend that the real end of science
is, to ascertain how, and why, God acts ? Science, from
such a standpoint, would consist in investigating the law of
arbitrary action, and in a grand endeavour to ascertain the
rules necessarily obeyed by infinite caprice.
From a philosophic point of view, science is a knowledge
of the laws of life ; of the conditions of happiness ; of the
facts by which we are surrounded, and the relations we sus
tain to men and things—by means of which, man, so to
speak, subjugates nature, and bends the elemental powers
to his will, making blind force the servant of his brain.
A belief in special providence does away with the spirit
of investigation, and is inconsistent with personal effort.
Why should man endeavour to thwart the designs of God ?
“ Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit to
his stature ?” Under the influence of this belief, man, bask
ing in the sunshine of a delusion, considers the lilies of the
field and refuses to take any thought for the morrow. Be• ' lieving himself in the power of an infinite being, who can,
at any moment, dash him to the lowest hell or raise him to
the highest heaven, he necessarily abandons the idea of ac
complishing anything by his own efforts. As long as this
belief was general, the world was filled with ignorance,
superstition, and misery. The energies of man were wasted
in a vain effort to obtain the aid of this power, supposed to
be superior to nature. For countless ages, even men were
sacrificed upon the altar of this impossible god. To please
him, mothers have shed the blood of their own babes;
martyrs have chanted triumphant songs in the midst of
flame; priests have gorged themselves with blood; nuns
have foresworn the ecstacies of love ; old men have trem
blingly implored; women have sobbed and entreated ; every
pain has been endured, and every horror has been perpe
trated.
Through the dim, long years that have fled, humanity has
suffered more than can be conceived. Most of the misery
has been endured by the weak, the loving, and the innocent.
Women have been treated like poisonous beasts, and little
children trampled upon as though they had been vermin.
�ORATION ON THE GODS.
31
Numberless altars have been reddened, even with the blood
of babes; beautiful girls have been given to slimy serpents s
whole races of men doomed to centuries of slavery, and
everywhere there has been outrage beyond the power of
genius to express. During all these years, the suffering have
supplicated ; the withered lips of famine have prayed ; the
pale victims have implored, and Heaven has been deaf and
blind.
Of what use have the gods been to man ?
It is no answer to say that some god created the worlds
established certain laws, and then turned his attention to
other matters, leaving his children weak, ignorant, and un
aided, to fight the battle of life alone. It is no solution to
declare that in some other world this god will render a few,
or even all, his subjects happy. What right have we to ex
pect that a perfectly wise, good, and powerful being will
ever do better than he has done, and is doing ? The world
is filled with imperfections. If it was made by an infinite
being what reason have we for saying that he will render it
nearer perfect than it now is ? If the infinite “ Father”
allows a majority of his children to live in ignorance and
wretchedness now, what evidence is there that he will ever
improve their condition ? Will God have more power ? Will
he become more merciful ? Will his love for his poor crea
tures increase ? Can the conduct of infinite wisdom, power,
and love ever change ? Is the infinite capable of any im
provement whatever ?
We are informed, by the clergy that this world is a kind of
school; that the evils by which we are surrounded are for
the purpose of developing our souls, and that only by suffer
ing can men become pure, strong, virtuous, and grand.
. Supposing this to be true, what is to become of those who
die in infancy ? The little children, according to this phi
losophy, can never be developed. They were so fortunate
as to escape the ennobling influences of pain and misery,
and as a consequence, are doomed to an eternity of mental
inferiority. If the clergy are right on this question, none
are so unfortunate as the happy, and we should envy only
the suffering and distressed. If evil is necessary to the de
velopment of man in this life, how it is possible for the soul
to improve in the perfect joy of paradise ?
Since Paley found his watch, the argument of “ design”'
has been relied upon- as unanswerable. The Church
teaches that this world, and all it contains, was created sub
�32
ORATION ON THE GODS.
stantially as we now see it; that the grasses, the flowers,
the trees, and all animals, including man, were special
creations, and that they sustain no necessary relation to
each other. The most orthodox will admit that some earth
has been washed into the sea ; that the sea has encroached
a little upon the land, and that some mountains may be
a trifle lower than in the morning of creation. The theory
of gradual development was unknown to our fathers; the
idea of evolution did not occur to them. That most
wonderful observer, Charles Darwin, had not then given
to the world his wonderful philosophy.
Our fathers
looked upon the then arrangement of things as the primal
arrangement. The earth appeared to them fresh from the
hands of a deity. They knew nothing of the slow evolu
tions of countless years, but supposed that the almost
infinite variety of vegetable and animal forms had existed
from the first.
Suppose that upon some island we should find a man a
million years of age, and suppose that we should find him
in the possession of a most beautiful carriage, constructed
upon the perfect model.
And suppose further that he
should tell us that it was the result of several hundred
thousand-years of labour and of thought; that for fifty
thousand years he used as flat a log as he could find,
before it occurred to him that, by splitting the log, he could
have the same surface with only half the weight; that it
took him many thousand years to invent wheels for this
log ; that the wheels he first used were solid, and that fifty
thousand years of thought suggested the use of spokes and
tire ; that for many centuries he used the wheels without
linch-pins ; that it took a hundred thousand years more to
think of using four wheels, instead of two; that for ages he
walked behind the carriage when going down hill, in order
to hold it back, and that only by a lucky chance he invented
the tongue;—would we conclude that this man, from the very
first, had been an infinitely ingenious and perfect mechanic ?
Suppose we found him living in an elegant mansion, and he
should inform us that he lived in that house for five hundred
thousand years before he thought of putting on a roof, and
that he had but recently invented windows and doors,
would we say that from the beginning he had been an infi
nitely accomplished and scientific architect ?
Does not an improvement in the things created show a
corresponding improvement in the creator ?
�ORATION ON THE GODS.
33
Would an infinitely wise, good, and powerful God, intend
ing to produce man, commence with the lowest possible ••
forms of life; with the simplest organism that can be ■
imagined, and during immeasurable periods of time, slowlyH
and almost imperceptibly improve upon the rude begin- |
ning, until man was evolved ? Would countless ages thus
be wasted in the production of awkward forms, afterwards S
abandoned ? Can the intelligence of man discover the least ?
Wisdom in covering the earth with crawling, creepin^M
horrors, that live only upon the agonies and pangs of
others ? Can we see the propriety of so constructing the |
earth, that only an insignificant portion of its surface is f
capable of producing an intelligent man ? Who can appre-;
ciate the mercy of so making the world that all animals I
devour animals ; so that every mouth is a slaughter-house, |
and every stomach a tomb ? Is it possible to discover infi
nite intelligence and love in universal and eternal carnage ?
What would we think of a father who should give a farm B
to his children, and before giving them possession should /
plant upon it thousands of deadly shrubs and vines ; should
stock it with ferocious beasts and poisonous reptiles ; should ■
take pains to put a few swamps in the neighbourhood tob
bleed malaria; should so arrange matters that the ground
would occasionally open and swallow a few of his darlings, £
and, besides all this, should establish a few volcanoes in the
immediate vicinity, that might at any moment overwhelm®
his children with rivers of fire? Suppose that this father fneglected to tell his children which of the plants were I
deadly ; that the reptiles were poisonous ; failed to say any- thing about the earthquakes, and kept the volcano business |
a profound secret, would we pronounce him angel or fiend? |
And yet this is exactly what the orthodox God has done. I
According to the . theologians, God prepared this globe I
expressly for the habitation of his loved children, and yet he |
filled the forests with ferocious beasts; placed serpents ini B
every path, stuffed the world with earthquakes, and adornedB
its surface with mountains of flame.
f
Notwithstanding all this, we are told that the world is I
perfect; that it was created by a perfect being, and is there- H
fore necessarily perfect.
The next moment, the same |
persons will tell us tnat the world was cursed; covered with |
brambles, thistles, and thorns, and that man was doomed to W
disease •tod death, simply because our poor dear mother ate I
an apple contrary to the command of an arbitrary God.
�34
ORATION ON THE GODS.
A very pious friend of mine, having heard that I had said
the world was full of imperfections, asked me if the report
was true. Upon being informed that it was, he expressed
great surprise that any one could be guilty of such pre
sumption. He said that, in his judgment, it was impossible
to point out an imperfection. “ Be kind enough,” said he,
“ to name even one improvement that you could make, if
you had the power.” “Well,” said I, “ I would make good
health catching, instead of disease.” The truth is, it is im
possible to harmonize all the ills, and pains, and agonies of
this world with the idea that we were created by, and are
watched over and protected by, an infinitely wise, powerful,
and beneficent God, who is superior to, and independent of,
nature.
The clergy, however, balance all the real ills of this life
with the expected joys of the next. We are assured that
all is perfection in heaven : there the skies are cloudless,
there all is serenity and peace. Here empires may be over
thrown ; dynasties may be extinguished in blood; millions of
slaves may toil beneath the fierce rays of the sun and the
cruel strokes of the lash, yet all is happiness in heaven.
Pestilence may strew the earth with corpses of the loved;
the survivors may bend above them in agony—yet the placid
bosom of heaven is unruffled. Children may expire vainly
asking for bread; babes may be devoured by serpents, while
the gods sit smiling in the clouds. The innocent may
languish unto death in the obscurity of dungeons; brave
men and heroic women may be changed to ashes at the
bigot’s stake, while heaven is filled with song and joy. Out
on the wide sea, in darkness and in storm, the shipwrecked
struggle with the cruel waves, while the angels play upon
their golden harps. The streets of the world are filled with
the diseased, the deformed, and the helpless; the chambers
of pain are crowded with the pale forms of the suffering,
while the angels float and fly in the happy realms of day. In
heaven they are too happy to have sympathy; too busy
singing to aid the imploring and distressed. Their eyes are
blinded, their ears are stopped, and their hearts are turned
to stone by the infinite selfishness of joy. The saved
mariner is too happy when he touches the shore to give a
moment’s thought to his drowning brothers. With the in
difference of happiness, with the contempt of bliss, heaven
barely glances at the miseries of earth. Cities are devoured
by the rushing lava; the earth opens and thousands perish ;
k
�ORATION ON THE GODS.
35
women raise their clasped hands towards heaven, but the
gods are too happy to aid their children. The smiles of the
deities are unacquainted with the tears of men. The shouts
of heaven drown the sobs of earth.
• In all ages man has prayed for help, and then helped
himself.
Having shown how man created gods, and how he became
the trembling slave of his own creation, the question naturally
arises: How did he free himself, even a little, from these
monarchs of the sky ; from these despots of the clouds ;
from this aristocracy of the air ? How did he, even to the
extent that he has, outgrow his ignorant, abject terror, and
throw off the yoke of superstition ?
Probably, the first thing that tended to disabuse his mind
was the discovery of order, of regularity, of periodicity in the
universe. From this, he began to suspect that everything
did not happen purely with reference to him. He noticed
that, whatever he might do, the motions of the planets were
always the same ; that eclipses were periodical, add that
even comets came at certain intervals. This convinced him
that eclipses and comets had nothing to do with him, and
that his conduct had nothing to do with them. He per
ceived that that they were not caused for his benefit nor
injury. He thus learned to regard them with admiration in
stead of fear. He began to suspect that famine was not sent
by some enraged and revengeful deity, but resulted often
from the neglect and ignorance of man. He learned that
diseases were not produced by evil spirits. He found that
sickness was occasioned by natural causes, and could be
cured by natural means. He demonstrated, to his own
satisfaction at least, that prayer is not a medicine. He found
by sad experience that his gods were of no practical use, as
they never assisted him, except when he was perfectly able
to help himself. At last he began to discover that his
individual action had nothing whatever to do with strange
appearances in the heavens; that it was impossible for him
to be bad enough to cause a whirlwind, ox good enough to
stop one. After many centuries of thought, he about half
concluded that making mouths at a priest would not neces
sarily cause an earthquake. He noticed, and no doubt with
considerable astonishment, that very good men were occa
sionally struck by lightning, while very bad ones escaped.
He was frequently forced to the painful conclusion (and it is
the most painful to which any human being ever was forced)
�3$
ORATION ON THE GODS.
that the right did not always prevail. He noticed that the
gods did not interfere in behalf of the weak and innocent.
He was now and then astonished by seeing an unbeliever in
the enjoyment of most excellent health.
He finally
ascertained that there could be no possible connection
between an unusually severe winter and his failure to give a
sheep to a priest. He began to suspect that the order of
the universe was not constantly being changed to assist him
because he repeated a creed. He observed that some
children would steal after having been regularly baptized.
He noticed a vast difference between religion and justice, and
that the worshipers of the same god took delight in cutting
each others’ throats. He saw that these religious disputes
filled the world with hatred and slavery. At last he had the
courage to suspect that no god at any time interferes with
the order of events. He learned a few facts, and these facts
positively refused to harmonize with the ignorant supersti
tions of his fathers. Finding his sacred books incorrect
and false in some particulars, his faith in their authenticity
began to be shaken ; finding his priests ignorant upon some
points, he began to lose respect for the cloth; this was the
commencement of intellectual freedom.
The civilisation of man has increased just to the same ex
tent that religious power has decreased. The intellectual
advancement of man depends upon how often he can ex
change an old superstition for a new truth. The Church
never enabled a human being to make even one of these
exchanges; on the contrary, all her power has been used to
prevent them. In spite, however, of the Church, man found
that some of his religious conceptions were wrong. By
reading his Bible, he found that the ideas of his god weremore cruel and brutal than those of the most depraved
savage. He also discovered that this holy book was filled
with ignorance, and that it must have been written by
persons wholly unacquainted with the nature of the pheno
mena by which we are surrounded, and now and then some
man had the goodness and courage to speak his honest
thoughts. In every age some thinker, some doubter, some
investigator, some hater of hypocrisy, some despiser of sham,
some brave lover of the right, has gladly, proudly, and
heroically braved the ignorant fury of superstition for the
sake of man and truth. These divine men were generally
torn in pieces by the worshippers of the gods. Socrates was
poisoned because he lacked reverence for some of the
�ORATION ON THE GODS.
37
deities. Christ was crucified by a religious rabble for the
crime of blasphemy. Nothing is more gratifying to a
religionist than to destroy his enemies at the command of
God. Religious persecution springs from a due admixture
of love towards God and hatrea. towards man.
The terrible religious wars that inundated the. world with
blood tended, at least, to bring all religion into disgrace and
hatred. Thoughtful people began to question the divine
origin of a religion that made its believers hold the rights
of others in absolute contempt. A few began to compare
Christianity with the religions of heathen people, and were
forced to admit that the difference was hardly worth dying
for. They also found that other nations were even happier
and more prosperous than their own. They began to
suspect that their religion, after all, was not of much real
value.
For three hundred years the Christian world endeavoured
to rescue from the “ Infidel ” the empty sepulchre of Chiist.
For three hundred years the armies of the Cross were baffled
and beaten by the victorious hosts of an impudent impostor.
This immense fact sowed the seeds oi distrust throughout
all Christendom, and millions began tp lose confidence in a
God who had been vanquished by Mohammed. The people
also found that commerce made friends where religion made
enemies, and that religious zeal was utterly incompatible
with peace between nations or individuals. Tney disco
vered that those who loved'the gods most were apt to lo’. e
men least j that the arrogance of universal forgiveness was
amazing j that the most malicious had the effrontery to pray
for their enemies, and that humility and tyranny were the
fruit of the same tree.
For ages, a deadly conflict has been waged between a few
brave men and women of thought and genius on the one
side, and the great ignorant religious mass on the other.
This is the war between Science and Faith. The few have
appealed to reason, to honour, to law, to freedom, to the
known, and to happiness here in this, world. The many
have appealed to prejudice, to fear, to miracle, to slavery, to
the unknown, and to misery hereafter. .The few have said,
“Think ! ” The many have said, “ Believe !”
The first doubt was the womb and the cradle of progress,
and from the first doubt man has continued to advance.
Men began to investigate and the Church began to oppose.
The astroriomer scanned the heavens, while the Church
�3§
ORATION ON THE GODS.
branded his grand forehead with the word “ Infidel,” and
now not a glittering star in all the vast expanse bears a
Christian name. In spite of all religion, the geologist pene
trated the earth, read her history in books of stone, and
found hidden within her bosom souvenirs of all ages. Old
ideas perished in the retort of the chemist, and useful truths
took their places. One by one religious conceptions have
been placed in the crucibles of science, and thus far nothing
but dross has been found. A new world has been disco
vered by the microscope; everywhere has been found the infi
nite ; in every direction man has investigated and explored,
and nowhere, in earth nor stars, has been found the footstep
of any being superior to or independent of nature. Nowhere
has been discovered the slightest evidence of any inter
ference from without.
These are the sublime truths that enabled man to throw
off the yoke of superstition. These are the splendid facts
that snatched the sceptre of authority from the hands of
priests.
In that vast cemetery, called the past, are most of the reli
gions of men, and there, too, are nearly all their gods. The
sacred temples of India were ruins long ago. Over column
and cornice; over the painted and pictured walls, cling and
creep the trailing vines. Brahma, the golden, with four
heads and four arms : Vishnu, the sombre, the punisher of
the wicked, with his three eyes, his crescent and his necklace
of skulls; Siva, the destroyer, red with seas of blood ; Kali,
the goddess ; Draupadi, the white-armed; and Chrishna, the
Christ, all passed away and left the thrones of heaven deso
late. Along We banks of the sacred Nile, Isis no longer
wandering weeps, searching for the dead Osiris. The shadow
of Typhon’s scowl falls no more upon the waves. The sun
rises as of yore, and his golden beams still smite the lips of
Memnon, but Memnon is as voiceless as the Sphinx. The
sacred fanes are lost in desert sands; the dusty mummies
are still waiting for the resurrection promised by their priests,
and the old beliefs, wrought in curiously sculptured stone,
sleep in the mystery of a language lost and dead. Odin, the
author of life and soul, Vili and Ve, and the mighty giant
Yamir, strode long ago from the icy halls of the North; and
Thor, with iron glove and glittering hammer, dashes moun
tains to the earth no more. Broken are the circles and
cromlechs of the ancient Druids ; fallen upon the summits
of the hills and covered with the centuries’ moss are the
�ORATION ON THE GODS.
3<?
sacred cairns. The divine fires of Pefsia and of the Aztecs
have died out in the ashes of the past, and there is none torekindle and none to feed the holy flames. The harp of
Orpheus is still; the drained cup of Bacchus has been
thrown aside; Venus lies dead in stone, and her white bosom
heaves no more with love. The streams still murmur, but
no Naiads bathe; the trees still wave, but in the forest aisles
no Dryads dance. The gods have flown from high Olympus.
Not even the beautiful women can lure them back, and even
Danse lies unnoticed, naked to the stars. Hushed for ever
are the thunders of Sinai; lost are the voices of the prophets,
and the land, once flowing with milk and honey, is but a desert
waste. One by one the myths have faded from the clouds ;
one by one the phantom host has disappeared, and one by
one, facts, truths, and realities have taken their places. The
supernatural has almost gone, but the natural remains. The
gods have fled, but man is here.
“ Nations, like individuals, have their periods of youth, of
manhood, and decay/’ Religions are the same. The same
inexorable destiny awaits them all. The gods, created by
the nations, must perish with their creators. They were
created by men, and like men they must pass away. The
deities of one age are the by-words of the next. The reli
gion of our day and country is no more exempt from the
sneer of the future than the others have been. When India
was supreme, Brahma sat upon the world’s throne. When
the sceptre passed to Egypt, Isis and Osiris received the
homage of mankind. Greece, with her fierce valour, swept
to empire, and Jove put on the purple of atg:hority. The
earth trembled with the tread of Rome’s intrepid sons, and
Jupiter grasped with mailed hand the thunderbolts of heaven.
Rome fell, and Christians from her territory, with the red
sword of war, carved out the ruling nations of the world,
and now Christ sits upon the old throne. Who will be his
successor ?
Day by day religious conceptions grow less and less
intense. Day by day the old spirit dies out of book and
creed. The burning enthusiasm, the quenchless zeal- of the
early Church have gone, never, never to return. The cere
monials remain, but the ancient faith is «fading out of the
human heart. The worn-out arguments fail to convince,
and denunciations that once blanched the faces of a race
excite in us only derision and disgust. As time rolls on, the
miracles' grow mean and small, and the evidences our
�40
ORATION ON THE GODS,.
fathers thought conclusive utterly fail to satisfy us. There
is an “irrepressible conflict” between religion and science,
and they cannot peaceably occupy.the same brain nor the
same world.
While utterly discarding all creeds, and denying the truth
of all religions, there is neither in my heart nor upon my
lips a sneer for the hopeful, loving, and tender souls who
believe that from all this discord will result a perfect har
mony; that every evil will in some mysterious way become a
good, and that above and over all there is a being who, in
some way will reclaim and glorify every one of the children
of men ; but for the creeds of those who glibly prove
that salvation is almost impossible; that damnation is
almost certain ; that the highway of the universe leads to
hell, who fill life with fear, and death with horror; who
curse the cradle and mock the tomb ;—it is impossible to
entertain other than feelings of pity, contempt, and scorn.
Reason, Observation, and Experience—the Holy Trinity
of Science—have taught us that happiness is the only good :
that the time to be happy is now, and the way to be happy
is to make others so. This is enough for us. In this belief
we are content to live and die. If, by any possibility, the
existence of a power superior to and independent of nature
shall be demonstrated, there will then be time enough to
kneel. Until then, let us stand erect.
Nothwithstanding the fact that Infidels in all ages have
battled for the rights of man, and have at all times been the
fearless advocates of liberty and justice, we are constantly
charged by the Church with tearing down without building
again. The Church should by this time know that it is
utterly impossible to rob men of their opinions. The
history of religious persecution fully establishes the fact that
the mind necessarily resists and defies every attempt to con
trol it by violence. The mind necessarily clings to old ideas
until prepared for the new. The moment we comprehend
the truth, all erroneous ideas are of necessity cast,aside.
A surgeon once called upon a poor cripple and kindly
offered to render him any assistance in his power. The
surgeon began to discourse very learnedly upon the nature
and origin of disease; of the curative properties of certain
medicines ; of the advantages of exercise, air, and light, and
of the various ways in which health and strength could be
restored. These remarks were so full of good sense, and
discovered so much profound thought anti accurate know
�ORATION ON THE GODS.
41
ledge, that the cripple, becoming thoroughly alarmed, cried
out, “Do not, I pray you, take away my crutches. They
are my only support, and without them I should be miser
able indeed !” “I am not going,” said the surgeon, “ to take
away your crutches; I am going to cure you, and then you
will throw the crutches away yourself.”
For the vagaries of the clouds the Infidels propose to
substitute the realities of earth; for superstition, the
splendid demonstrations and achievements of Science ; and
for theological tyranny, the chainless liberty of Thought.
We do not say that we have discovered all; that our
doctrines are the all-in-all of truth. We know of no
end to the development of man.
We cannot unravel
the infinite complications of matter and force.
The
history of one monad is as unknown as the universe ; one
drop of water is as wonderful as all the seas; one leaf as all
the forests ; and one grain of sand as all the stars.
We are not endeavouring to chain the future, but to free
the present. We are not forging fetters for our children,
but we are breaking those our fathers made for us. We are
the advocates of inquiry, of investigation, and thought.
This of itself is an admission that we are not perfectly satis*
fied with all our conclusions.
Philosophy has not the
egotism of faith.
While superstition builds walls and
creates obstructions, science opens all the highways of
thought. We do not pretend to have circumnavigated
everything, and to have solved all difficulties, but we do
believe that it is better to love men than to fear gods; that
it is grander and nobler to think and investigate for yourself
than to repeat a creed, or quote scripture like a religious
parrot, with the countenance of a dyspeptic owl. We are
satisfied that there can be but little liberty on earth, while
men worship a tyrant in heaven. We do not expect to
accomplish everything in our day; but we want to do what
good we can, and to render all the service possible in the
holy cause of human progress. We know that doing away
with gods and supernatural persons and powers is not an
end. It is a means to an end: the real end being the
happiness of man.
Felling forests is not the end of agriculture. Driving
pirates from the sea is not all there is of commerce.
We are laying the foundations of the grand temple of the
future—-not the temple of all the gods, but of all the people
—wherein, with appropriate rite's, will be celebrated the
�42
ORATION ON THE GODS.
religion of Humanity. We are doing what little we can to
hasten the coming of the day when society shall cease profamishpd1; H°natireS Td Kmendicants~gorged indolence and
crowned1 mdustry~iru^ln
and superstition robed and
shah
for the time when the useful
shall be the honourable ; when the true shall be the beautih Atnd/hen ?^S0N’ thJoned upon the world’s brain, shall
be the King of kings and God of gods.
�
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Oration on the gods
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Ingersoll, Robert Green [1833-1899]
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Place of publication: London
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Notes: Date of publication from Stein's checklist (Item 28g). Printed by Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh. Annotations in pencil and red crayon. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
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[1877]
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God
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Gods
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ORATION ON HUMBOLDT.
, NXHONALSECUlMaötU^
COLONEL ROBERT G. INGERSOLL.
LONDON:
FREETHOUGHT PUBLISHING COMPANY,
28, Stonecutter Street, E.C.
PRICE TWOPENCE.
�LONDON:
PRINTED BY ANNIE BESANT AND CHARLES BRADLAUGH
28, STONECUTTER STREET, E.C.
�6 0.73S
Kl 3.77
ORATION ON HUMBOLDT.
The Universe is Governed by Law.
Great men seem to be part of the infinite, brothers of the
mountains and the seas. Humboldt was one of these. He
was one of those serene men, in some respects like our own
Franklin, whose names have all the lustre of a star. He was
one of the few great enough to rise above the superstition
and prejudice of his time, and to know that experience,
observation, and reason are the only basis of knowledge.
He became one of the greatest of men, in spite of having
been born rich and noble—in spite of position. I say in
spite of these things, because wealth and position are gene
rally the enemies of genius, and the destroyers of talent.
It is often said of this or that man, that he is a self-made
man—that he was born of the poorest and humblest of
parents, and that, with every obstacle to overcome, he became
great. This is a mistake. Poverty is generally an advan
tage. Most of the intellectual giants of the world have been
nursed at the sad and loving breast of poverty. Most of
those who have climbed highest on the shining ladder of
fame commenced at the lowest round. They were reared
in the straw-thatched cottages of Europe ; in the log-houses
of America; in the factories of the great cities ; in the
midst of toil; in the smoke and din of labour, and on the
verge of want. They were rocked by the feet of mothers
whose hands, at the same time, were busy with the needle
or the wheel.
It is hard for the rich to resist the thousand allurements
of pleasure, and so I say, that Humboldt, in spite of having
�4
ORATION ON HUMBOLDT.
been born to wealth and high social position, became truly
and grandly great.
. In the antiquated and romantic castle of Tegel by the
side of the pine forest, on the shore of the charming lake
near the beautiful city of Berlin, the great Humboldt, one
hundred years ago, was born, and there he was educated
after the method suggested by Rousseau,—Campe, the
philologist and critic, and the intellectual Kunth being his
tutors. There he received the impressions that determined
his career; there the great idea that the Universe is governed
by law took possession of his mind, and there he dedicated
his life to the demonstration of this sublime truth.
He came to the conclusion that the source of man’s un
happiness is his ignorance of nature.
After having received the most thorough education at that
time possible, and having determined to what end he would
devote the labours of his life, he turned his attention to the
sciences of geology, mining, mineralogy, botany and distri
bution of plants, the distribution of animals, and the effect
of climate upon man. All grand physical phenomena were
investigated and explained. From his youth he had felt a
great desire for travel. He felt, as he says, a violent passion
for the sea, and longed to look upon Nature in her wildest
and most rugged forms. He longed to give a physical de
scription of the Universe—a grand picture of Nature; to
account for all phenomena ; to discover the laws governing
the world ; to do away with that splendid delusion called
special providence, and to establish the fact that the Universe
is governed by law.
To establish this truth was, and is, of infinite importance
to mankind. That fact is the death-knell of superstition ; it
gives liberty to every soul, annihilates fear, and ushers in the
age of reason.
The object of this illustrious man was to comprehend the
phenomena of physical objects in their general connection,
and to represent Nature as one great whole, moved and
animated by internal forces.
For this purpose he turned his attention to descriptive
botany, traversing distant lands and mountain ranges to
ascertain definitely the geographical distribution of plants.
He investigated the laws regulating the differences of
temperature and climate, and the changes of the atmo
sphere. He studied the formation of the earth’s crust,
explored the deepest mines, ascended the highest moun
�ORATION ON HUMBOLDT.
5
tains, and wandered through the craters of extinct vol
canoes.
He became thoroughly acquainted with chemistry, with
astronomy, with terrestrial magnetism ; and as the investiga
tion of one subject leads to all others, for the reason that
there is a mutual dependence and a necessary connection
between all facts, so Humboldt became acquainted with all
the known sciences.
His fame does not depend so much upon his discoveries
(although he discovered enough to make hundreds of repu
tations), as upon his vast and splendid generalization.
He was to Science what Shakespeare was to the drama.
He found, so to speak, the world full of unconnected
facts—all portions of a vast system—parts of a great
machine. He discovered the connection which each bears
to all, put them together, and demonstrated beyond all con
tradiction that the earth is governed by law.
He knew that to discover the connection of phenomena
is the primary aim of all natural investigation. He was in
finitely practical.
Origin and destiny were questions with which he had
nothing to do.
His surroundings made him what he was.
In accordance with a law not fully comprehended he was
a production of his time.
Great men do not live alone; they are surrounded by the
great; they are the instruments used to accomplish the ten
dencies of their generation; they fulfil the prophecies of
their age.
Nearly all the scientific men of the eighteenth century
had the same idea entertained by Humboldt, but most of
them in a dim and confused way. There was, however, a
general belief among the intelligent that the world is
governed by law, and that there really exists a connection
between all facts, or that all facts are simply the different
aspects of a general fact, and that the task of science is to
discover this connection, to comprehend this general fact, or
to announce the laws of things.
Germany was full of thought, and her universities swarmed
with philosophers and grand thinkers in every department of
knowledge.
Humboldt was the friend and companion of the greatest
poets, historians, philologists, artists, statesmen, critics, and
logicians of his time.
�6
ORATION ON HUMBOLDT.
. _ He was the companion of Schiller, who believed that man
would be regenerated through the influence of the Beautiful;
of Goethe, the grand patriarch of German literature; of
Weiland, who has been called the Voltaire of Germany; of
Herder, who wrote the outlines of a philosophical history of
man of Kotzebue, who lived in the world of romance; of
Schleiermacher, the pantheist; of Schlegel, who gave to his
countrymen the enchanted realm of Shakespeare; of the
sublime Kant, author of the first work published in Germany
on Pure Reason; of Fichte, the infinite idealist; of
Schopenhauer, the European Buddhist, who followed the
great Gautama to the painless and dreamless Nirwana, and
of hundreds of others, whose names are familiar to, and
honoured by, the scientific world.
The German mind had been grandly roused from the long
lethargy of the dark ages of ignorance, fear, and faith.
Guided by the holy light of reason, every department of
knowledge was investigated, enriched, and illustrated.
Humboldt breathed the atmosphere of investigation• old
ideas were abandoned; old creeds, hallowed by centuries,
were thrown aside ; thought became courageous; the athlete,
Reason, challenged to mortal combat the monsters of
superstition.
No wonder that, under these influences, Humboldt
formed the great purpose of presenting to the world a picture
of Nature, in order that men might, for the first time, behold
the face of their mother.
Europe became too small for his genius; he visited the
tropics in the New World, where, in the most circumscribed
limits, he could find the greatest number of plants, of
animals, and the greatest diversity of climate, that he might
ascertain the laws governing the production and distribution
or plants, animals, and men, and the effects of climate upon
them all.
He sailed along the gigantic Amazon; the
mysterious Oronoco; traversed the Pampas; climbed the
Andes until he stood upon the crags of Chimborazo, more
than eighteen thousand feet above the level of the sea, and
climbed on until blood flowed from his eyes and lips. For
nearly five years he pursued his investigations in the New
World, accompanied by the intrepid Bonpland. Nothing
escaped his attention. He was the best intellectual organ
of these new revelations of science. He was calm, reflective
and eloquent; filled with the sense of the beautiful and the
love of truth. His collections were immense, and valuable
�ORATION ON HUMBOLDT.
7
beyond calculation to every science. He endured innume
rable hardships, braved countless dangers in unknown savage
lands, and exhausted his fortune for the advancement of
true learning.
Upon his return to Europe, he was hailed as toe second
'Columbus ; as the scientific discoverer of America ; as the
revealer of a New World; as the great demonstrator of the
sublime truth, that the Universe is governed by law.
I have seen a picture of the old man, sitting upon the
•mountain side, above him the eternal snow, below, the
smiling valley of the tropics filled with vine and palm, his
chin upon his breast, his eyes deep, thoughtful, and calm,
his forehead majestic—grander than the mountain upon
which he sat—-crowned with the snow of his whitened hair,
he looked the intellectual autocrat of this world.
Not satisfied with his discoveries in America, he crossed
the steppes of Asia, the wastes of Siberia, the great Ural
wange, adding to the knowledge of mankind at every step.
His energy acknowledged no obstacle, his life knew no
leisure ; every day was filled with labour and with thought..
He was one of the apostles of Science, and he served his
divine Master with a self-sacrificing zeal that knew no
abatement; with an ardour that constantly increased, and
with a devotion unwavering and constant as the polar
star.
In order that the people at large might have the benefit
of his numerous discoveries and his vast knowledge, he
delivered, at Berlin, a course of lectures, consisting of sixtyone free addresses upon the following subjects:
Five, upon the nature and limits of physical geography.
Three were devoted to a history of Science.
Two, to inducements to a study of natural science.
Sixteen, on the heavens.
Five, on the form, density, latent heat and magnetic power
of the earth, and the polar light.
Four were on the nature of the crust of the earth, on hot
springs, earthquakes and volcanoes.
Two, on mountains and the type of their formation.
Two, on the form of the earth’s surface, on the connection
of continent, and the elevation of soil over ravines.
Three, on the sea as a globular fluid surrounding the
earth.
Ten, on the atmosphere as an elastic fluid surrounding the
earth, and on the distribution of heat.
�ORATION ON HUMBOLDT.
One, on the geographic distribution- of organized matter
in general.
Three, on the geography of plants.
Three, on the geography of animals, and
Two, on the races of men.
These lectures are what is known as the Cosmos, and
present a scientific picture of the world, of infinite diversity
and unity, of ceaseless motion in the eternal grasp of law.
These lectures contain the result of his investigation,,
observation and experience; they furnish the connection;
between phenomena; they disclose some of the changes,
through which the earth has passed in the countless ages;
the history of vegetation, animals, and men; the effects of
climate upon individuals and nations, the relation we sustain
to other worlds, and demonstrate that all phenomena, whether
insignificant or grand, exist in accordance with inexorable
law.
There are some truths, however, that we never should
forget. Superstition has always been the relentless enemy
of science; faith has been a hater of demonstration;
hypocrisy has been sincere only in its dread of truth, and all
religions are inconsistent with mental freedom.
Since the murder of Hypatia, in the fifth century, when
the polished blade of Greek philosophy was broken by the
club of ignorant Catholicism, until to-day, superstition has
detested every effort of reason.
It is almost impossible to conceive of the completeness of
the victory that the Church achieved over philosophy. For
ages science was utterly ignored; thought was a poor slave;
an ignorant priest was the master of the world; faith put out
the eyes of the soul; the reason was a trembling coward;
the imagination was set on fire of hell; every human feeling;
was sought to be suppressed ; love was considered infinitely
sinful, pleasure was the road to eternal fire, and God was
supposed to be happy only when his children were miserable.
The world was governed by an Almighty’s whim ; prayers
could change the order of things, halt the grand procession
of Nature; could produce rain, avert pestilence, famine, and
death in all its forms. There was no idea of the certain ;
all depended upon divine pleasure, or displeasure rather;
heaven was full of inconsistent malevolence, and earth of
ignorance. Everything was done to appease the divine
wrath; every public calamity was caused by the sins of the
people ; by a failure to pay tithes, or for having, even in.
�ORATION ON HUMBOLDT.
9
secret, felt a disrespect for a priest. To the poor multitude,
the earth was a kind of enchanted forest, full of demons,
ready to devour, and theological serpents lurking with infinite
power to fascinate and torture the unhappy and impotent
soul. Life to them was a dim and mysterious labyrinth, in
which they wandered weary and lost, guided by priests as.
bewildered as themselves, without knowing that at every step
the Ariadne of reason offered them the long lost clue.
The very heavens were full of death ; the lightning was.
regarded as the glittering vengeance of God, and the earth
was thick with snares for the unwary feet of man. The soul
was supposed to be crowded with the wild beasts of desire;,
the heart to be totally corrupt, prompting only to crime;
virtues were regarded as only deadly sins in disguise; therewas a continual warfare being waged between the Deity and
the Devil, for the possession of every soul; the latter being;
generally considered victorious. The flood, the tornado, the
volcano, were all evidences of the displeasure of heaven and
the sinfulness of man. The blight that withered, the frost
that blackened, the earthquake that devoured, were the
messengers of the Creator.
The world was governed by fear.
Against all the evils of nature, there was known only the
defence of prayer, of fasting, of credulity, and devotion.
Man in his helplessness endeavoured to soften the heart of God.
The faces of the multitude were blanched with fear and wet
with tears; they were the prey of hypocrites, kings, andpriests.
My heart bleeds when I contemplate the sufferings endured
by the millions now dead; of those who lived when the
» .-world appeared to be insane; when the heavens were filled
with an infinite Horror, who snatched babes with dimpled
hands and rosy cheeks from the white breasts of mothers, and
dashed them into an abyss of eternal flame.
Slowly, beautifully, like the coming of the dawn, came the
grand truth that the Universe is governed by law; that
disease fastens itself upon the good and upon the bad; that
the tornado cannot be stopped by counting beads; that the
rushing lava pauses not for bended knees; the lightning for
clasped and uplifted hands ; nor the cruel waves of the sea
for prayer; that paying tithes causes, rather than prevents,
famine; that pleasure is not sin ; that happiness is the only
good; that demons and gods exist only in the imagination;
that faith is a lullaby sung to put the soul to sleep; that
devotion is a bride that fear offers to supposed power; that
�IO
ORATION ON HUMBOLDT.
offering rewards in another world for obedience in this, is
simply buying a soul on credit; that knowledge consists in
ascertaining the laws of nature, and that wisdom is the science
of happiness. Slowly, grandly, beautifully, these truths are
dawning upon mankind.
From Copernicus we learn that this earth is only a grain
of sand on the infinite shore of the Universe; that every
where we are surrounded by shining worlds, vastly greater
than our own, all moving and existing in accordance with
law. True, the earth began to grow small, but man began
to grow great.
The moment the fact was established that other worlds
are governed by law, it was only natural to conclude that
our little world was also under its dominion.
The old
theological method of accounting for physical phenomena
by the pleasure and displeasure of the Deity was, by the
intellectual, abandoned. They found that disease, death,
life, thought, heat, cold, the seasons, the winds, the dreams
of man, the instinct of animals—in short, that all physical
and mental phenomena are governed by law, absolute, eternal
and inexorable.
Let it be understood, that by the term law is meant the
same invariable relations of succession and resemblance
predicated of all facts springing from like conditions. Law
is a fact—not a cause. It is a fact, that like conditions
produce like results; this fact is Law. When we say that the
Universe is governed by law, we mean that this fact, called
law, is incapable of change—that it has been, and forever
will be, the same inexorable, immutable Fact, inseparable
from all phenomena. Law, in this sense, was not enacted
or made. It eould not have been otherwise than as it is.
That which necessarily exists has no creator.
Only a few years ago this earth was considered the real
centre of the universe; all the stars were supposed to revolve
•around this insignificant atom. The German mind, more
than any other, has done away with this piece of egotism.
Purbach and Mulleras, in the fifteenth century, contributed
most to the advancement of astronomy in their day. To
the latter, the world is indebted for the introduction of
decimal fractions, which completed our arithmetical no
tation and formed the second of the three steps, by
which, in modern times, the science of numbers has been
so greatly improved; and yet both of these men believed
in the most childish absurdities, at least in enough of
�ORATION ON HUMBOLDT.
11
them, to die without their orthodoxy having ever been
suspected.
Next came the great Copernicus, and he stands at the head
of the heroic thinkers of his time who had the courage and
the mental strength to break the chains of prejudice, custom,
and authority, and to establish truth on the basis of ex
perience, observation, and reason. He removed the earth,
so to speak, from the centre of the Universe, and ascribed
to it a two-fold motion, and demonstrated the true position
which it occupies in the solar system.
At his bidding the earth began to revolve, at the command
of his genius it commenced its grand flight ’mid the eternal
constellations round the sun.
For fifty years his discoveries were disregarded. All at
once, by the exertions of Galileo, they were kindled into so
grand a conflagration as to consume the philosophy of
Aristotle, to alarm the hierarchy of Rome, and to threaten
the existence of every opinion not founded upon experience,
observation, and reason.
The earth was no longer considered a Universe, governed
by the caprices of some revengeful deity, who had made the
stars out of what he had left after completing the world, and
had stuck them in the sky, simply to adorn the night.
I have said this much concerning astronomy because it
was the first splendid step forward ; the first sublime blow
that shattered the lance and shivered the shield of super
stition ; the first real help that man received from heaven,
because it was the first great lever placed beneath the altar
of a false religion ; the first revelation of the infinite to man ;
the first authoritative declaration that the Universe is
governed by law ; the first science that gave the lie direct
to the cosmogony of barbarism, and because it is the sublimest
victory that the reason has achieved.
In speaking of astronomy, I have confined myself to the
discoveries made since the revival of learning. Long ago,
on the banks of the Ganges, ages before Copernicus lived,
Aryabhatta taught that the earth is a sphere, and revolves on
its own axis. This, however, does not detract from the
glory of the great German. The discovery of the Hindoo
had been lost in the midnight of Europe—in the age of
faith, and Copernicus was as much a discoverer as though
Aryabhatta had never lived.
In this short address there is no time to speak of other
sciences, and to point out the particular evidence furnished
�12
ORATION ON HUMBOLDT.
by each, to establish the dominion of law, nor to more than
mention the name of Descartes, the first who undertook to
give an explanation of the celestial motions, or who formed
the vast and philosophic conception of reducing all the
phenomena of the Universe to the same law; of Montaigne,
one of the heroes of common sense; of Galvani, whose
experiments gave the telegraph to the world ; of Voltaire,
who contributed more than any other of the sons of men to
the destruction of religious intolerance; of Auguste Comte,
whose genius erected to itself a monument that still touches
the stars; of Gutenburg, Watt, Stephenson, Arkwright, all
soldiers of science in the grand army of the dead kings.
The glory of science is, that it is freeing the soul—break
ing the mental manacles—getting the brain out of bondage—•
giving courage to thought—filling the world with mercy,
justice, and joy.
Science found agriculture ploughing with a stick—reaping
with a sickle—commerce at the mercy of the treacherous
waves and the inconstant winds—a world without books—
without schools—man denying the authority of reason,
employing his ingenuity in the manufacture of instruments
of torture, in building inquisitions and cathedrals. It found
the land filled wtth malicious monks—with persecuting
Protestants and the burners of men. It found a world full
of fear; ignorance upon its knees; credulity the greatest
virtue; women treated like beasts of burden; cruelty the
only means of reformation. It found the world at the
mercy of disease and famine; men trying to read their fates
in the stars, and to tell their fortunes by signs and wonders;
generals thinking to conquer their enemies by making the
sign of the cross, or by telling a rosary. It found all history
full of petty and ridiculous falsehood, and the Almighty was
supposed to spend most of his time turning sticks into
snakes, drowning boys for swimming on Sunday, and killing
little children for the purpose of converting their parents.
It found the earth filled with slaves and tyrants, the people
in all countries down-trodden, half naked, half starved,
without hope, and without reason in the world.
Such was the condition of man when the morning of
science dawned upon his brain, and before he had heard the
sublime declaration that the Universe is governed by law.
For the change that has taken place we are indebted solely
to science—the only lever capable of raising mankind.
Abject faith is barbarism ; reason is civilization. To obey
�ORATION ON HUMBOLDT.
13
is slavish; to act from a sense of obligation perceived by the
reason is noble. Ignorance worships mystery; reason ex
plains it: the one grovels, the other soars.
No wonder that fable is the enemy of knowledge. A man
with a false diamond shuns the society of lapidaries, and it
is upon this principle that superstition abhors science.
In all ages the people have honoured those who dis
honoured them. They have worshipped their destroyers,
they have canonized the most gigantic liars and ouried the
great thieves in marble and gold. Under the loftiest monu
ment sleeps the dust of murder.
Imposture has always won a crown.
The world is beginning to change because the people are
beginning to think. To think is to advance. Everywhere
the great minds are investigating the creeds and superstitions
of men, the phenomena of nature, and the laws of things.
At the head of this great army of investigators stood
Humboldt—the serene leader of an intellectual host—-a king
by the suffrage of science and the divine right of Genius.
And to-day we are not honouring some butcher called a
soldier, some wily politician called a statesman, some robber
called a king, nor some malicious metaphysician called a
saint. We are honouring the grand Humboldt, whose vic
tories were all achieved in the arena of thought; who
destroyed prejudice, ignorance, and error—not men; who
shed light—not blood, and who contributed to the know
ledge, the wealth and the happiness of all mankind.
His life was pure, his aims lofty, his learning varied and
profound, and his achievements vast.
We honour him because he has ennobled our race, be
cause he has contributed as much as any man living or dead
to the real prosperity of the world. We honour him because
he honoured us; because he laboured for others ; because he
was the most learned man of the most learned nation; be
cause he left a legacy of glory to every human being. For
these reasons he is honoured throughout the world.
Millions are doing- homage to his genius at this moment,
and millions are pronouncing his name with reverence and
recounting what he accomplished.
We associate the name of Humboldt with oceans, palms;
the wide deserts ; the snow-tipped craters of the Andes ; with
primeval forests and European capitals; wildernesses
and universities; with savages and savans; with the
lonely rivers of unpeopled wastes; with peaks and
�14
ORATION ON HUMBOLDT.
pampas, and. steppes, and cliffs, and crags j with the progress
of the world; with every science known to man, and with
every star glittering in the immensity of space.
. Humboldt adopted none of the soul-shrinking creeds of
his day ; wasted none of his time in the stupiditieSj inanities,
and contradiction of theological metaphysics; he did not
endeavour to harmonize the astronomy and geology of a
barbarous people with the science of the nineteenth century.
Never, for one moment, did he abandon the sublime
standard of truth; he investigated, he studied, he thought,
he separated the gold from the dross in the crucible of his
grand brain. He was never found on his knees before the
altar of superstition. He stood erect by the grand tranquil
column of reason. He was an admirer, a lover, and adorer
of nature, and at the age of ninety, bowed by the weight of
nearly a century, covered with the insignia of honour, loved
by a nation, respected by a world, with kings for his servants,
he laid his weary head upon her bosom—upon the bosom of
the Universal mother—and with her loving arms around him,
sank, into that slumber called death.
History added another name to the starry scroll of the
immortals.
The world is his monument; upon the eternal granite of
her hills he inscribed his name, and there upon everlasting
stone his genius wrote this, the sublimest of truths :
“ The Universe is Governed by Law.”
�
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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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Oration on Humboldt
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Ingersoll, Robert Green [1833-1899]
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Place of publication: London
Collation: 14 p. ; 17 cm.
Notes: Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt was a Prussian polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and influential proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. Printed by Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh. Date of publication from Stein's checklist (Item 37f). Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
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[1877]
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N377
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Philosophy
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Alexander Von Humboldt
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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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<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 (The Chaldean account of Genesis), 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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English
Bible-O.T.-Genesis
Book Reviews
Conway Tracts
George Smith