1
10
3
-
https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/4d5bf0de749f85c54fed9e9ee2e90c16.pdf?Expires=1712793600&Signature=jd5m1fyYs%7ERoP18milI-0g5Zu-1qSSLp5Cfx0gfBB32Z4B78i3LSyTiSQG5nT31I6kCS5cqP3X6JP4AuFZJDjZtboKxYtUZnbv51fn5GBcyAkcSV0bmb1q7EAYw9Cjyqkio6qeeY3NYxkulPnX2cDY-lAac%7ERaZUzjGwupxfKUa65urlWULJK6UnUKlXxBOWtBSajl-SLLBBEMeXNWkhmXM4bqFHkNwWk5sgpIKl6SiS5cz%7Euz3YxVMiX2rbDQ7kpAPGkNHNyw9u%7EDKCeSA3DygaLytaKN9ZY7cVYWHD28Db2CVlE-nInAjRkJP5aFwy42Jfaw%7E3yQS6FoEy6VF2Lg__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
7a5913e6d6860cf1c56958e1a9b8bf34
PDF Text
Text
It
1 nJE
Gospel
OF
Common
i
Sense
IV
��Moy
NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY
THE GOSPEL
OF
COMMON SENSE
��THE
GOSPEL
OF
COMMON SENSE
BY
STEPHEN CLAYE
LONDON
SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & CO.
LIMITED
STATIONERS’ HALL COURT, E.C.
��INTRODUCTION.
The writer does not claim that there
is anything new in these pages. Com
mon sense is as old as the everlasting
hills, but it is to the lifting of this
quality into a virtue of vital import
ance that the present effort is di
rected. This little boat is launched
with feelings of intense reverence for
the Divine authority over all things.
The Almighty is, to the writer, a liv
ing, energising reality, of whom he
has never lost hold, although he
may have wandered in the fields of
honest doubt and floundered hope
lessly among the creeds. But he
ranks among those who no longer
consider it an honour to be classed
as a Christian. If there is to be
labelling at all, he would rather be
designated as one who is seeking
honestly and fervently to take up
all the duties of life as they present
themselves. He has been led to
�6
this state of mind by the utter un
reasonableness of many religious
teachers, and the absence of any
striking virtues in not a few pro
fessors of exceptional piety.
This, to some, may seem a startling
position. In the never-ending strife
between the many forms of religion,
dogma and creed hold so absorbing
a place that the loop-hole into which
the element of common sense can
creep does not seem a large one.
The religious teachers of all sections
appear to be so anxious to do the
thinking for their several communi
ties, that it will be described as a
bold effort to break away from this
recognised order of things. It is not
enough to say that mankind should
go to the clerics for their religion, as
they go to the doctor for medical help
and to the lawyer for things with a
legal bearing.
Life is such an intensely real
thing, and to many thousands of
both sexes it is full of sadness.
The whole of our existence is a com
plex mosaic. The uncertainties and
«
�7
unrealities of what has been taught
with regard to a future existence
are so apparent, that whatever may
cause thought and heart-searching
is deserving of consideration, how
ever much that attempt may depart
from the old grooves and forms of
expression.
Everything in life, or appertaining
to life, is the result of growth, and
growth so gradual that we lose sight
of the principle in the shibboleths
of parties and sects. Growth, it is
acknowledged, is only another name
for evolution, but evolution is a
process rather than a principle, and
that is why the term growth is used.
It is in the acute realisation of
growth that the heart warms to the
Father heart, and feels that the lot
of the individual is a small speck in
the economy of time which may be
measured by millions of years.
Paul, at Athens, fixed his keen in
telligence upon the temple devoted
to the worship of the unknown God.
The devotees accustomed to gather
in that temple may have been nearer
�8
in thought and aspiration to the true
God, than were the eager worship
pers in the temple of Delphi, waiting
to learn the report of the oracles.
These oracular utterances, there is
no doubt, were nothing more than
the tricks of priests.
The critics will be good enough to
remember that the writer accepts
the biblical records as they stand.
He is at variance with the custom of
literal interpretation which prevails,
and the insistence upon a particular
view being accepted as attaching to
a particular passage or incident. He
claims that it is perfectly justifiable
to deal with the records as we have
them in the Bible, exactly as we
should with any other old record or
book. It is not improbable, that
had the destruction of books in the
early centuries not taken place at
Alexandria and Constantinople, we
should have been in possession of
literature which would have changed
the whole current of the world’s
thought.
�THINGS ETHEREAL/
Nature holding the Balance.
It is extremely doubtful whether the
balancing power in Nature, as a force
in human life, has been sufficiently
recognised. The ever-present ele
ments of Conservatism and Liberal
ism, Socialism and Individualism,
Sacerdotalism and the search after
simplicity in worship, extreme re
ligionism and growing agnosticism
are always at war with each other.
These provide the elements which
give the balances to life, and make
human thought and energies so very
gradual in their influences and effects.
Were it not for these balancing
powers being ever present, improve, ment in any department of life would
become the despair of humanity,
either in being too stationary on
the one hand, or too revolutionary
on the other hand. Nature gives
�10
something for all, and the leaders
of every school of thought are at all
times ready to see gleams of en
couragement as current events pre
sent themselves to their particular
point of view.
All history records the same fact.
The golden age of Greece gave us its
Solon and its tyrants immediately
followed. The centuries during which
the power of Rome was on the wane
were filled with opposing forces,
which to many must have seemed to
make the real decay of the great
power of Rome an event beyond
the range of possibility. By the side
of the growing Saxon predominance
of centuries ago were the sapping
powers of excessive religious imagina
tion. At the time of the Refor
mation there were intellects battling
for the mastery over thought, and
others striving for personal freedom
of action in religious matters. So
at whatever period attention may
be directed, the advancing and
the retarding streams are found
running together side by side, now
�11
intercepting each other, and now
overwhelming each other, in the
effort to gain the dominating power.
These conflicting forces were scarce
ly ever more potent than is the case
at the end of this century. The priest
for the moment is very much in evi
dence, and the ever-widening dislike
towards the priest and all his works
is causing many to look with distrust
upon what the man of form and cere
mony is endeavouring to build up.
The strife is inevitable, and thef
priest would like to stifle this war
among conflicting forces. And out
of this heterogeneous warfare man
kind is realising some of its best
thoughts and most vitalising energies.
Thought and effort are at issue
with the priest, and the present at
tempt is merely to take stock and to
see how the land lies for the coming
days of the new century.
The preacher is, like the poor, al
ways with us. He comes in with the
cradle years of infancy, and he re
mains until the eventide of age, when
the things of vanity and vexation are
�12
put aside for the quiet of the grave.
Whether the good man really helps
or hinders us is the question into
which inquiry is to be made. There
is no desire to be unnecessarily harsh,
but while in the ordinary departments
of life average discretion is exercised
in the selection of men, it is too much
absent in the selecting of men for the
Christian ministry, no matter what
the sect may be. Judging from numer
ous specimens of the genus, it Would
appear that any one seems good
enough to show people the way to
the kingdom of heaven.
There is no desire to attack a class
or combination of classes. Some of
the dearest friendships in the life of
the present writer have been among
the class frequently referred to in
these pages. It would be manifestly
unfair to withhold credit for the ex
ceedingly useful social work done by
the large and ever-extending body of
clergymen and ministers of all de
nominations. Homes and individuals
have been cheered, and the sad and
distressed everywhere have, by their
�ministrations, had the burdens of life
lightened and made more bearable.
Whether charity has been abused,
and indolence and dishonesty en
couraged, by the profuse distribution
of blankets and soup, is another
matter.
To premise then. Fault is found
with the man and his methods, or
rather with the class and their pre
tentious claims. It is alleged against
him that he frequently stifles and
harasses, when he, in point of fact,
seeks to guide and to aid.
If there was any purpose in the
creation of the human mind, that pur
pose was to give the intellect the
freest play and the widest latitude for
its development. Man in the image
of his All-wise Creator is so in his
intellect, if at all. That ever-present
and ever-working marvellous machin
ery which compasses the universe in
its operations, as represented by man,
comes nearest in heart and brain to
the full-souled Father of the begin
nings of all things. The priest hides
this Father, and gives humanity but
�14
a poor caricature of Him. And he
does this not wilfully, but with a per
petual mental twist, the inevitable
result of which has been universal dis
tortion, and man driven farther and
farther away from the sheet-anchor of
all that goes to make up the sum total
of life and thought.
It is a far cry from a cadet of the
Salvation Army to the newest owner
of a cardinal’s red hat. Between the
silence of the Friends’ meeting-house
and the gorgeous ritual of Lincoln
Cathedral, there lies a sea of life so
vast that it is impossible not to be
awed in the contemplation of it. But
from the one end to the other of
ministerial preparation and after work
mistakes are made, from which the
preachers of all denominations rarely
ever wholly recover. Theology is not
an exact science, and the supposition
that its laws and principles are as
rigidly discoverable as are the laws and
principles attaching to mathematics,
chemistry and all the other sciences, is
a mistaken one. The text-books of the
ministerial colleges in use everywhere
�15
start their teaching from this sup
position, and seek to close every
avenue that would tend to encourage
independent thought in any direction.
It is this violation of a natural law,
perpetrated during his education, from
which the average cleric, be he estab
lished or unestablished as classifica
tion goes, never seems to fully recover.
He rather appears to take it out of
humanity by treating him as a plaster
cast of some intricate piece of me
chanism, which requires its propor
tions of fuel, occasional applications
of oil, and the constant attention of
the engineer to keep him in due work
ing order.
The present writer finds fault with
this cast-iron view of theology. Is
there in all the wilderness of theo
logical teaching a single dogma, creed
or assertion which is absolutely and
unalterably beyond the range of
question and doubt? The universal
acceptance of a Creator is a fact and
not a dogma.
If the purely evangelical view of
religion were so capable of proof as
�is claimed by its professors, would the
nations of the universe be so insane
as to turn a deaf ear to it ? By
“ evangelical view ” is meant the me
chanical process of so much sin, origi
nal or otherwise, so much repentance,
and so much eternal salvation, giving
the believer ecstatic joy and continual
days of happiness here below, and a
positive claim for these blessings in a
larger form in the world to come.
The vitalising force of the evangelical
view of things is at once admitted,
and is in fact the only prevailing
power among the theologians. Why
it should be so is not easy to se@i
The place and influence of the
rhapsodist have never been absent.
Simon Stylites, with his nearly forty
years of life on his sixty-foot high
pillar of three-foot diameter, had his
latest descendant, on the religious
but not the ascetic side, in the
singularly beautiful life of the late
C. H. Spurgeon. Both believed im
plicitly in the rigidly exact view
which gave to man his fall and his
salvation. The rhapsody of both was
�17
very much on parallel lines, and in
the age of either, a countless number
have been the willing believers of the
teaching. It would thus be folly to
deny to the rhapsodist not only that
he has filled a large place in religious
thought, but that the very existence
and propaganda of religion demanded
his presence. That he is a creation
of the priest for his own purposes
would not be so readily conceded.
The present effort is a plea for
natural religion and the ever-widen
ing love of the great First-cause, by
whatever name He may be known.
Man does not require the theo
logian to teach him this, and these
truths would have been evident ir
respective of all theological teach
ing. The plea is that theological
teaching has rather beclouded than
made these facts clear, and has
driven humanity rather away from
them, than brought him, in many
cases, to a clearer view of either one
or the other.
The theologian is the last to be
reformed in all the universe. He ,
B
�18
" ”*■» seems to come absolutely at the
I tail of everything. In the orthodox
genesis of things, first was created
the world, then man, followed by
woman, and after these came the
| priest, and he has been after them
' ever since, and seems doomed to
never overtake them.
He resents criticism, and has his
own peculiarly polite way of dealing
with his critics. But when his fum
ing is over, the fact remains that after
every other class have absorbed and
assimilated changes and reforms, the
cleric remains in his concrete form,
almost unchanged and unchangeable.
He is ever the figure in armour, splut
tering about with his weapons, fight
ing in an imaginary tournament, chiefly
of his own creation. The ages jog on,
and leave him stranded very dry out
of the water, gradually, but surely,
accepting, when no other course is
left, every modification of belief which
he has protested that he never would
accept.
No, never, he reiterates
again and again, will he ever accept
the changes, even were the last ditch
�19
in sight, and the figure in armour were
to die there in presence of his beloved
flock, especially the feminine part of
his oommunity. He ever remains the
figure dragged at the tail of every
movement. He never leads unless he
makes a hash of it, as in educational
matters, and is only impelled along
because he cannot resist the current
which drives him forward. His pre
tentious claims have become a by-word.
His arrogance knows no limits, and
his intelligence is very often the re
sult chiefly of his denominational
newspaper, and the current opinions
of the female members of his con
gregation.
Had he the power, he would again
bring into use the thumbscrew and
the stake. And did he in reality hold
the keys of the kingdom of heaven it
would go hard with humanity. Man
kind owes to him no branch of human
progress, but has cheerfully submitted
to feed and clothe him as a parasite
upon its organism. He is the great
est gigantic body corporate of the
day. As a social factor he has no
�20
I
\
j
•
peer, and in his aggregate form could
become, and has on a few state
occasions become, a veritable Poly
phemus.
In his days of youth, when he
is supposed to be acquiring his
ministerial training, he is indeed
a nondescript. Were it not that
there is around him a double-barred
castle composed of ladies, he would
be laughed out of society in scorn.
Those dear creatures, who do so
much to make life happy and joyous,
would look with scorn upon their
non-clerical male friends, were they
so insufferably conceited, and so
contemptibly mean, as the average
student undergoing his ministerial
training.
No other class in society receive
so much homage with so little intellectual power to support it, as do
the clerical party. True, the adula
tion is not what it was even some
few years ago, and this is a cause
for great lamentation among the
select circles composed chiefly of their
own cloth.
�21
When the time of incubation is
over and the marrying time comes,
what a serious business, for them, it
becomes! Wealth and beauty lay
themselves at the feet of the wearers
of white ties. From the pulpit there
fall thunders against the love of filthy
lucre, and the preacher comes down
from his pedestal and marries the
richest woman upon whom he can set
eyes. The average member of the
male persuasion stands no chance
whatever if a parson is in the running.
He is the upper crust of the matri
monial market. “ I used to positively
venerate ministers,” said a lady once
in the hearing of the writer, “ until I
married one, and then I didn’t.” At
a tea-meeting, on one occasion, a
speaker stated that it seemed to him
remarkable how many ministers had
married rich wives, and shortly after
wards become afflicted with a sore
throat, and had retired from pastoral
work to a position of independence.
He knew, he said, of three such cases
in their county. At the close of the
meeting one presenttaxedthe speaker,
�22
who made the statement, with being
unnecessarily hard upon ministers
who had married rich wives. “ May
I ask if you married a rich wife ? ”
“Well, yes, I had some money with
my wife.” “ And have you resigned
your pastorate ? ” “Yes----- ” “Ahl
you are a fourth. I did not know of
you.”
Are these gentlemen, who are sup
posed to live very near heaven, so
much better than ordinary mortals ?
He would be a bold man who claimed
that they were better in any respect
whatever. They are no better than
• other men, and in many cases are not
nearly as good, notwithstanding their
comfortable and enviable surround
ings. In their relations with each
other, clergymen and ministers are
notoriously mean and captious. It
would be interesting to tabulate the
opinions about lay preachers held by
the regulars. They have rarely, when
off the platform, a generous word for
a ministerial brother. The quantity
of praise distributed among each other
at public meetings leaves nothing to
�be desired in that direction. But in
private the bickerings and jealousies
among the brethren of white tie in
signia would discredit the green-room
of a theatre. In truth, the chief claim
to any holiness at all, in far too many
instances, lies in the particular cos
tume which these gentlemen assume.
Eighty Thousand Sermons,
it is estimated, are preached every
Sunday all the year round. To claim
that a tithe of this Sabbath eloquence
represents a stream of wisdom would
cause general amusement. If on
any subject in the whole range of
literature so much triviality and
common-place drivel were talked, as
is uttered under the name of a sermon,
the whole process would be laughed
out of court. But they are sermons :
the object, it is argued, must of ne
cessity be good, and it is, say some,
no great hardship to bear so much
infliction. God made the preacher
for a man, and his sermon is in
tended as a contribution towards
human poverty, therefore let him
�24
pass for a man, and think kindly of
his homily.
The Cords of Conventionality
are more firmly tied round the neck
of clergymen and ministers than is
the case with any other section of
the community.
There are some
excellent gentlemen among them,
whose nobility of soul is as trans
parent as glass, who chafe under
the existing conditions and environ
ment of their work. This is, for
that particular section, very unfor
tunate. It is furthermore never easy
to work freely when surrounded by
so many great expectations. Those
over whom he ministers are jealous
of the pastor’s reputation, not only
as to his orthodoxy, but for general
things. Consequently the poor man
hears at once if his gown is not on
quite straight, or his wife’s go-tomeeting bonnet is a little too showy.
Congregations are notoriously exact
ing. A political constituency is as
child’s play to keep all the parts going
Smoothly, when compared with the
�25
whims which an average shepherded
flock will display. This atmosphere
of conventionalism is responsible for
much of the feeling of having to
work in chains which does prevail in
not a few minds. Why there is not
enough inherent strength among the
fraternity to throw off this yoke and
make a bold stand for liberty of
personal thought and action, it is not
easy to conceive. That the usual
course of procedure has led to a good
deal of lack of honesty is clear. So
many pastors, it is reasonably to be
feared, do not preach what they be
lieve, and a large number of others
do not believe what they preach.
The mental reservation with regard
to certain tenets to which some have
to subscribe is too often taken as
sufficient salve for the conscience.
The prevailing absence of mental
honesty is indeed alarming.
Fictitious Value of Paraded Piety.
Surely it is high time that there
was a new price set upon the head of
advertised piety. Some of the most
�26
rampant humbug ever inflicted upon
mankind, has been done, and is being
done, under the guise of piety. Why
it should be expected that much
prayer and imaginary fasting should
make the individual more worthy of
trust, it is hard to say. Shop-keepers
are known to mix pious expressions
with the sale of soft goods. A
master builder has looked earnestly
upwards, and at the same time de
frauded his men out of as much of
their wages as he could succeed in
keeping. These classes are not put
forward as worse than others. The
fault seems to lie in a sort of general
feeling that there is a demand for
expressions of piety, and the supply
is quite equal to the demand. The
churches have fed this feeling, and
still feed it so lavishly that one well
known to the investing public, in
his intervals of company promoting,
presents a prominent church with a
gold communion service, upon which
is duly inscribed his name, and
was afterwards confirmed by leading
ecclesiastics, who seem ever ready
�27
to lend their services for this sort of
show business.
It is time that this fictitious
value thus attached to paraded piety
should receive a check. If a man or
a woman is a greater fraud than
usual, the chances are that they rank
amongst the most obviously pious.
Soft-heads and impracticable people
generally, who harass and clog the
wheels of life, are striking examples
of fluency in public prayer and regu
lar attendance at religious services.
Any man of experience, and who is
scarcely yet up to middle life, has
been fortunate if he cannot call to
mind instances of this character.
Religious Drunkenness.
This excessive parade of piety has
produced its corollary of religious in
toxication. The May meetings and
church congresses are prolific in the
number of cases of religious drunken
ness, of which they are the immediate
cause. The rushing from meeting to
meeting, the following of a favourite
�28
pastor about from place to place, and
hanging in rapt adoration upon his
very adjectives, are the common
sights of the month of May, and
are again repeated when the autumn
days come along. Alack-a-day for
many a man and his children, if he
and they are afflicted with a wife and
mother who suffers from periodical
spells of religious drunkenness.
The place of the revivalist in re
ligious life is a very mixed one. Con
verted colliers, prize-fighters, and the
rest of the family must have made
really a very handsome thing out of
revival meetings. The choice lan
guage, home-made words and illustra
tions of these gentlemen are decidedly
fetching. One distinguished lady of
this persuasion, whose fees vary from
two to ten guineas a service, is war
ranted to fetch tears on any occasion.
In seafaring life freight ships which
take occasional journeys are dubbed
as tramps, and are not much loved by
the regular services. Why the regu
lars in clerical life should tolerate
this select body of speakers it is not
�easy to see. The writer remembers
a converted pugilist on one occasion
taking off his coat, and going for a
supposed opponent, strutting about
the platform during the process like
an enraged bantam. This was all
done with the idea of making people
see the error of their ways, and
coming to a right mind.
The Clerics in Educational
Matters.
Could this absence of common
honesty receive any stronger proof
than it does in educational matters ?
It is dogma and creed first, clerical
influence second, and education a long
way last. Our national system of
education ought to be a thing too
sacred for the petty jealousies of
creeds. The men of the street pay
the piper in the form of rates, and
the clerics call the tune, and the tune
they would set to the narrowest
and most rigid dogmas that ever
blasted humanity, and destroyed the
vigour of the individual intellect.
The average man does not know what
�30
to make of these preachers of honesty
who themselves set such a poor ex
ample of common honesty.
The clerics never will know how
deep the iron has entered into men’s
souls over this education question,
and the spirit which has been dis
played by the clerical section. The
men who pay the bills, and are asked
to leave control to the clerics, are full
of dismay, and will never again wholly
trust, either with regard to this life or
the life to come, the so-called leaders
who have played them false, and to
whom the child to be educated is
merely the pawn on the religious
chess-board.
The Catch Phrases in Early
Religious Instruction.
The inner heart of the writer stands
still when he looks backward across
many days to the religious terrorism
of his young years. Time after time
has it been his lot to go to bed in
abject and quaking terror at the
dreadful things he heard from the
pulpit of a village place of worship.
�Thank God ! that has become a thing
of the past, and the youth of to-day
little recognise how great for them
has been the gain. The pet and
favourite phrase so commonly heard
about “giving one’s heart to Christ ’’
had to the writer always the meaning,
that it represented a willingness and
a desire to die. He never heard the
expression without associating it with
this interpretation. It is all very
well for the preacher to assert that
he never meant this, but the fact re
mains as related, and this is only a
sample of many others which could
be quoted.
It is the Revulsion of Feeling
which leaves so many scars behind.
Having to unlearn what has been
learnt from these teachers, and to
learn over again, is a process so very
disastrous that now the advice of the
wise father to his child of inquiring
mind is, to be fearless in search for
truth. Fear not, my boy or my
daughter, he says, in effect, what the
honest search for truth compels thee
�32
to recognise. Only be sure that the
search is a truly honest one. Look
conclusions straight in the face, and
fear no consequences in the upsetting
of previously cherished convictions.
The Age of the World.
That which has been the cause
of much mental doubt and trouble
in the human mind, is the limited
duration of time given as the age
of the world. The clerics gave, years
ago, some 6000 years as the period
of time covered by everything. All,
according to them, was in due chrono
logical order, from the date of the
apple business down to the begin
ning of the new era.
There is
nothing the preacher likes so much
as the chart, imaginary or otherwise,
outlining for him where each event
falls, and its full sequence and effect
on all other occurrences. The march
of intelligence has caused him some
what to drop this 6000 years’ esti
mate, now that he finds he is not
believed, as he has so frequently
dropped other teachings when he
�discovered that they were received
with doubt. Still the ill effects of
the teachings have been left behind,
and it requires an almost lifelong
education to realise the full meaning
of the age of the world.
There
is a consensus of opinion that the
world is millions of years old. Scien
tists give as their reasons how long
it would take for the earth to cool
down from a heated mass to freezing
point. It is not enough to say that
this calculation is purely speculative,
for the earth has been always losing
heat. A period of time has been
estimated for this, of from 15,000,000
to 30,000,000 years.
In general terms it has been esti
mated that the world has been in
existence 100,000,000 years, and
that there have been human beings
on it for 1,000,000 years. Whether
this be so or not is not vital to the
present argument.
All that it is
desired to emphasise is that the
few thousand years, formerly accepted
as the period of time since the crea
tion of the world took place, are
�34
really but the merest drop in the
ocean of time that has elapsed since
things began to take form.
A new theory, not generally known,
may be mentioned here, although it
has no immediate bearing upon the
matter, and that is, that the human
body is surrounded by an invisible
fluid, or, as some physiologists term it,
a magnetic fluid. Nothing definite has
been known of this until recent ex
periments have made the fact clear
that this is really the case. A scien
tist has been at work for some years
on this question. In a laboratory
illuminated by a red light only, he
placed a plate at the bottom of a tray
containing hydrochinone developer.
At the end of twenty minutes the
plate, upon which the extremities of a
man’s fingers had been held, revealed
not only the marks of the fingers
but also round each mark a luminous
zone, which was clearly indicated.
Science has never been antagonistic
to right views of God. It may have
clashed now and again with the
strained theories of the Almighty
�35
which have been advanced, and
clashed it certainly has with some of
the assertions put forward by overzealous religionists.
The Advocates of Verbal Inspira
tion
do not seem to have had a very good
time during recent years. To claim
full and direct intercourse with the Al
mighty for the writers of the Old and
New Testaments is a system of logic
peculiar to itself. Some of these
friends will scarcely admit even varie
ties or grades of inspiration, notwith
standing that the difference all the way
through the books is so very appar
ent. The actual spoken word of the
Almighty Father is recorded, say they,
from cover to cover, and many of them
honestly believe that this is the case.
To question this at all may lead, they
are fond of repeating, to a Sahara in
the opposite direction. Suppose that
a collection of some passages and
narratives were withdrawn from their
setting and issued in a separate form,
what would be the result ? And yet
�36
these very same passages and records
are shown surreptitiously from youth
to youth of both sexes. There is
belief implicitly in the principle of in
spiration. But it should apply to
every great and good writer who has
added to the world’s wisdom, and
given it thoughts that breathe, and
words that burn into the human
mind, to make it the better and the
holier for the work done.
It is only of late that the revised
version is entering into more general
use in the pulpit. The people, say the
clerics, were not prepared for the
changes made in the translation.
That is the reason, it is to be sup
posed, why still greater and more
numerous changes were not made by
the revisionists. The people are in
ignorance, and let them remain so, is
in effect the verdict of the good
friends who have this life and the
next under their especial charge.
Literal Interpretation
has followed the teaching of verbal
inspiration as a natural sequence.
�37
And we have been landed in chaos,
worse confusion, by literal interpre
tation. To be informed that we are
to take the records as they stand,
without any question or thought
whatever, is an insult upon human
intelligence. These good teachers
who claim to know so much of the
inner workings of the mind of the
Almighty Father, speak of its being
dishonouring to God to give utterance
to any query which seeks light where
there now appears darkness. Herds
of swine smitten with madness,
bushes which burn and are not con
sumed, and Jericho walls crumbling
at the blast of the human voice,
must, forsooth, remain as they stand
to puzzle the generations to come as
they have puzzled the ages that have
gone, because, say they, these are
part of the everlasting pillars of truth.
Men begin to doubt whether some
of these records and incidents are
among these pillars of truth, and are
no longer afraid to state their reasons
why they so doubt.
�38
The Tyranny of Texts
is a natural child of literal interpre
tation. It is delectable to meet the
man or the woman of texts. No
matter what the circumstances or
conditions of life may be, out comes
a text as pat as a little slice of butter
from the hands of the dairymaid.
The whole universe, according to
these “unco guid ” folks, is governed
by texts, and some of them verily
believe that the Creator is Himself
subject to texts.
Ecclesiastical Conundrums.
The bewildered layman may fairly
ask for some respite from the re
ligious conundrums which are ever
filling the air. At one time it was
the great question of the eastern
position. Now it is candles on the
communion table, and it is hard to
say when the matter is to be settled
and never heard of again. The con
flict is between the High Church and
Low Church, and a solemn judgment
was given recently in the Consistory
Court, to the effect that the aforesaid
�39
candles may be placed at each end of
the table, but must only be lighted
when it is too dark to see without
them. The delightful thing is that
the extreme section of the Establish
ment finds so many petty ways of
evading great ecclesiastical decisions.
The Church has never been without
these conundrums. Some of the
most characteristic panoramas of
word-painting that are to be found
in Gibbon are in his chapters descrip
tive of the internal conflicts of the
early Churches. The controversy
which raged a few years ago, in and
around the diocese of Lincoln, roused
to a fever heat the whole of the
Anglican ecclesiastical world. The
judgment which filled many columns
of a day’s issue of the largest daily
paper, was the finest masterpiece of
casuistryever published, and has never
yet been equalled by the sacred college
of the Jesuits. There is nothing that
the cleric loves so much as ecclesi
astical nuts to crack. Heresy-hunt
ing is such a delightful pastime, and
there is no telling what it may pro-
�40
duce, or to what point the contro
versy may lead. Hair-splitting lifted
to a science, is what some of these
discussions might be labelled. A
state of white heat, merely in the pre
liminary talk as to the definition of
terms, is a common occurrence, and
woe to the ministerial brother who
does not toe the line. The first duty
of a parson is to talk, and he does it
with a persistency which completely
obscures the small peR^ntage of
men in parliament, who are ready at
a moment’s notice to advise the
nation at length upon any subject
under the sun.
What has been the gain from these
everlasting ecclesiastical conundrums
is not very clear. The wearied lay
man hopes that some day he may be
less troubled with them.
He is
perhaps under the impression that
there are in life things more import
ant than the burning of candles, the
wearing of caps, and the gymnastics
of a gorgeously attired sweet young
man who has, perhaps for the first
time in his life, just left his dear
�41
mother’s side. What is to be the
ultimate outcome of the numerous
secret societies of the ritualistic
clergy, time alone will reveal, but the
presence of these societies does not
betoken good for the nation.
The military authorities might be
excused if they suggested a counter
attraction to these ecclesiastical
conundrums. The time may come
when the defence of old England will
become a-real necessity. Or if not
this, when the absence of the trained
troops will leave home defence to the
civil powers. Why should there not
be a parsons’ corps ? As champion
cricketers and tennis-players they are
supreme. It is only a step from this
to the handling of a rifle. These gen
tlemen are so accustomed to the ad
justment of the niceties between pro
fession and action that they could
quickly bridge the apparent incon
gruity of men of peace undergoing a
state of preparation for war. A
present is made of the suggestion to
those who govern the powder and
shot of the nation. One thing is be
�42
coming clearer, as the march of events
brings the changes in the kaleidoscope,
that the defence of home and nation
is not beyond the range of possi
bility. When that time arrives the
clerical party will no doubt be found
engaged in the congenial task of
splitting straws and not in shoulder
ing a musket.
The Biblical Records.
Preachers are rarely very definite
in their exegesis as given to their
people.
How remarkably few are
the preachers who relate anything
beyond the commonplace facts as
to how the particular record under
their observation came to be written,
how many years after the incident
happened that the record was written,
and follow on with some of the less
known characteristics of the writer!
Biblical students do not fully realise
that, with the exception of Luke,
every other writer, so far as or
dinary information goes, was a Jew.
The Jew, as historian and recorder,
has not at all times been the guile
�43
less creature that he claims for him
self. He looks at everything through
intensely Jewish eyes. The Jew is
first and foremost to the Jew, and the
non-Jewish world has, in all ages, been
material for the contempt of his race,
who are the blessed of Jehovah. To
the Jews of the early centuries and
especially to the Jews who wrote the
biblical records, the Almighty was
simply a highly magnified Jew. His
favoured people have always been the
Jews—in Jewish estimation. The
Jew had but to lift up his eyes to
heaven, and blessings rained on his de
voted head. Did he long for personal
or national gain, it was all the same.
So vastly is everything steeped in this
feeling that the biblical records, in
their eternal adulation of the Jew,
often pall upon the Gentile mind, and
give the reader a longing for some
thing less Hebrew in context and
tone.
The presupposed Jewish nation
ality of the Creator accounts largely
for the Jew’s way of looking at things.
Seven-eighths of his life,his aspirations
�44
and feelings were saturated with super
naturalism. He would far rather ex
plain the most ordinary and natural
things of life as being of the miracu
lous than their being of the nature of
ordinary everyday occurrences. Of
two methods of describing an event,
the simple matter of fact and the in
troduction of the miraculous element,
he would always select the latter.
The Jew, in his most simple character
istics, is very imaginative, but the be
setting sin of the Oriental Jew has been
threefold imagination, which made it
impossible for him to look at anything
from a natural point of view. This is
a vital factor in the survey of records,
and the writer holds that preachers
never touch upon this matter, and
become indignant when questions are
put upon the trustworthiness of the
records.
Prayer.
Prayer should be the earnest re
source of the human soul. The heart,
in its deepest sadness and affliction,
turns its desires to a source other than
�45
human. In its best and healthiest
aspects it should be the truest form of
naturalness known. Yet to judge from
the torrent of prayers uttered in public
it would seem to be the constant and
first resource of mankind. The gates
of heaven have to be stormed, and the
Almighty is told many things that He
must be exceedingly amazed to hear.
The immediate effect of very many
public prayers, were they effective,
would be to cause a series of miracles
to be worked. It would appear to be
the impossible things of life which are
most in request, judging from numer
ous samples of public prayers.
It is possible to meet occasionally
the man who seems, from his own
point of view, to have made a bargain
with the Almighty. The supposed
bargain has the appearance of so
much commercial success for so
many prayers and so much money
given for charity.
The greatest religious lack of the
day is that of reverence, and preachers
are responsible for its absence. The
familiar way in which they speak of,
�46
and address the Almighty, has pro
duced this disastrous result.
Oh that more reverence in all man
kind might dwell! The simple heart
which can—in the garden among the
birds, or in the field, in any place
where the works of Nature are, and
that means everywhere—take off the
hat, bow the head and bend in honest
reverence, cannot surely be long un
blessed. The stream of chatter run
ning through the Churches cannot
produce this feeling, or give much aid
in the cultivation of it. The garden
of reverence is indeed the Lord’s
own, and the soul must go direct to
the Almighty for its supplies of pure
and unalloyed heart-felt joy.
So many of what are usually
termed means of grace are merely
perfunctory observances, which are
not looked upon as privileges but as a
duty, and these same means of grace
are not mended in the process.
The Place of the Jew In Life.
The Jew has through all ages oc
cupied so large a place in history
�47
that there is much excuse for intro
ducing him here. He represents a
nationality without a nation. When
ever he has been the outcast of
nations, he has taken indirectly, when
opportunity has presented itself, a
terrible revenge. Always the same
in all ages in his pursuits and idiosyn
crasies. N ever the hewer of wood and
drawer of water since the old Egyptian
and Babylonian days. Even then it
is likely that he was the jeweller and
silversmith. But to find him, since
that period or the time of his captiv
ity, as a stonemason or engineer,
would be to discover a curiosity.
He is never a trouble as a citizen.
But for dirt, selfishness, sensuality,
prevarication and the capacity for
corrupting, he has few equals. No
other nationality of which we have
any record would have required the
Levitical law in order to keep clean
in himself bodily, and in his sur
roundings, as did the Jew. The
minuteness of those instructions is
a monument of the needs of the Jew.
Had he not been told that out of the
�48
mouth of Jehovah there came the
law that he was not to step more
than a few yards away from his
bed without washing himself, he
never would have washed himself,
until absolute need required the
operation. But why he should have
been allowed to dominate the in
telligence of the universe and govern
its thoughts, is one of the mysteries
of the centuries.
In his own
estimation, when Jehovah his God
has not given him lands and
countries to possess, He has given
him the minds of nations to order
and to control. The promise of the
land of Canaan to the Jew is one of
the prettiest fictions in all Christen
dom.
And yet what a part this plays in
all history since those memorable
days, and how everything of import
ance since then is overshadowed by
these family troubles of the Jew !
When in the fulness of time he
was to possess the said land, and
spies were sent to prospect, they
straightway find their way to the
�49
house of Rahab the harlot. Their
geographical knowledge of Jericho
was evidently extensive and peculiar,
like Dick Swiveller’s knowledge of
London, and the Oriental Jew could
scarcely have given, to the generations
that have followed, a more striking
proof that he has always been amongst
the most unclean of humanity. It
is argued that this gives proof for
not accepting as absolutely veracious
everything that the Jew has been
pleased to throw at the door of
human thought and inquiry.
Miracles.
The great stumbling-block of Chris
tian evidences is that of the miracles.
Do the everlasting truths which re
late to life in all its aspects need the
proof of miracles to support them ?
The craving for the supernatural in
the Oriental mind at the time of
Christ was an unnatural and vitiated
one. The one great fact of the uni
verse is that of human life, and yet
after centuries of thought it remains
as much a mystery to-day as it was in
D
�50
the beginning. Miracles are a species
of fungus growth. If they ever really
happened they are utterly useless as
props for truth. Greater than any
miracle which ever could be con
ceived is natural law by which
everything is governed. There is
nothing which so fills the contem
plative mind with awe and reverence
as to see around on every hand the
evidences of the supernatural wisdom
and wonderful love so clearly ex
pressed. The minutest insects, the
simplest species and varieties of
flowers, and the mammoth creatures
of the universe, alike show this
amazing dominant force, and yet
a force so silent that it seems
completely lost in the blaze and
confusion of the religious sects.
The love of the Creator, evidenced
in the working of these natural
laws, is so clear, that the wonder
is a sect of natural-law worship
pers have not established them
selves long ago, and to-day are not
as numerous as are the Fire Wor
shippers. A love so Divine and flow
�51
ing like an everlasting stream that
knows no beginning or ending, must
send the devout worshipper to his
knees. Is it not reasonable to sup
pose that the Almighty Father, who
could endow the universe with this
proof of His power, would, had there
been any necessity, have indeed
worked miracles in reality, and would
not have left the recorded miracles
standing on such a flimsy foundation ?
It is very possible that there may be
forces in Nature that are not now
understood, and which, when we do
understand them, will make the socalled miracles perfectly clear to the
ordinary mind. But then, when those
new forces are thus captured, the in
cidents will cease to be looked upon
as miracles.
Electricity is not a new force, but
it has remained for modern times to
capture it and reduce it within the
scope of natural laws. Hypnotism
is not a new force; but the merest
rudiments of the power are not
yet understood. When that under
standing does become possible the
�52
miracles of healing may become clear
to all.
The modern miracles of Lourdes
and Holywell are really as wonder
ful as some of the New Testament
miracles. Pent-up enthusiasm, gigan
tic faith, and actual healing waters,
accompanied by careful and constant
massage have accomplished wonders.
These are events which may be simply
repeating themselves, just as in every
other section of life, events and
incidents repeat themselves.
That wise law-giver, Moses, one of
the greatest Jews, as well as one of
the truest leaders of men ever known ,
was, as every great hero has been, a
man greatly in advance of his age.
He knew the need of vivifying his
power as well as magnifying the
authority which was associated with
the hidden prophet. The whole of the
plagues of Egypt, it is contended by
the writer, are explainable by natura
causes. The burning bush was the
great central burning thought of the
man’s mind which absorbed every in
terest and every spark of enthusi
�53
asm of the man’s passion for his
nation. Was there not a burning
bush in the mind of Buddha, Soc
rates, Christ, Alfred, Savonarola,
Luther, William the Silent, and Crom
well ? These names are grouped to
gether with all reverence.
The
striking of the rock for water may
have been the work of the earliest
water-finder of which we have any
record. The modern water-finder
with his wand is a reality, who will,
for his usual fee, tell where there
is water, and what course the water
takes. The last plague of all is pos
sibly explainable on the ground that
the Israelites may have been exempt
from some terrible epidemic which
afflicted the Egyptians, and especially
attacked the elder part of the com
munity. The simplicity of life, whole
some diet, abstinence from pork may,
had we only the complete details, ex
plain much. Trichinosis would be
known as a disease then as now, only
the system of therapeutics was much
more limited than now.
The whole contention of the writer
�54
is that it requires such unlimited
faith to accept these incidents as
miracles, and so much has been taken
for granted. It is infinitely more
satisfactory to try and discover
whether, after all, there is not
some natural law underlying the
whole series of events. This can be
done without any excessive attempt
to merely explain away. The entire
records are accepted implicitly, but it
is argued that the details are incom
plete, and this being the case we are not
bound to look upon them as miracles,
in the usual sense of the term.
The young mind is staggered on the
very threshold of inquiry and belief
if these events are to be taken as
miracles. Far preferable aTid wiser,
it is urged, is the plan of keeping as
close to Nature and Nature’s methods
as it is possible to keep.
Attention is reverently turned to
the miracles of healing of Him who
delighted to call Himself the Son of
Man. All disease, the Jew thought
and taught, was just punishment for
sin. Whatever was being suffered
�55
was deserved, said the priest, and he
urged that there was no right in try
ing to get rid of it, or to get away
from the affliction. This was perhaps
the most high and mighty dogma or
doctrine that the high priest, with
his satellites the Pharisees, had to
enforce, and they did it with a brutal
directness which was bound to make
them ultimately the most despised of
men. Of human, tender sympathy
for suffering from man to man there
was none in public. Go down to your
grave in pain, said they, and anathema
to the One who came with soft and
gentle touch to ease the lot of the
suffering, and assuage the paroxysms
of pain. Oh those sleek and wellfed rulers and teachers of the Jews!
The tenderest human voice ever
known was heard amidst this din and
inhuman religious teaching. Instead
of harshness there was softness and
helpfulness. Instead of damnation
there was blessing. The mystic
power of human sympathy sweeps
over that part of the earth, and joy
takes the place of weeping. Surely
�56
with such a change as this the won
der would have been had miracles of
healing not taken place.
The Claim of the Blood Sacrifice.
There is no part of this little book
that the writer approaches with more
fear and trembling than the present
section. The Christ is to him so in
finitely real in His aspect as the Son
of Man that he cannot imagine any
need for that sacred person to be
classed in any loftier capacity. Son
of God He unquestionably was, but
as every true hero has been, who
has bowed his head to the yoke and
enriched humanity with his life.
The private report of Pilate to the
Roman Emperor, discovered in the
Vatican archives, and made public in
the autumn of 1897, did not add much
to biblical information, whether the
document is a genuine one or not.
It gave a very matter-of-fact account
of the proceedings, such as might have
been written by the Roman governor.
The fabric of the fall of man re
quired a strong corner-stone to com
�57
plete the structure. The element of
blood sacrifice, flowing through the
ages and pervading the old religions,
is exactly like the thin red cord which
runs through every naval rope, to
show, as long as that rope shall last,
its national and royal use.
An angry and enraged Deity re
quiring to be appeased with the shed
ding of blood is not by any means
found only in the Christian religion.
The late king of Benin knew something
of the same doctrine with, let us say,
a different Deity. Does it truly lift
the estimation of an ever-loving Al
mighty in the human mind that He
should, with that massive tenderness
which is pictured as an attribute,
have shown less love for His Son,
than a very average mortal would
show for his offspring in the present
century ? Does the net-work of the
centuries absolutely need the theory
of the blood sacrifice, outside the
fabric of clerical necessity for propa
ganda purposes ?
It would indeed have been wonder
ful had Christ not paid with His
�58
life for His open and vigorous de
fiance of the entire circle of Jewish
law and order. The Master’s en
thusiasm for humanity was bound to
bring this punishment upon His
sacred head. The high priest, in his
communion with the Divine in the
holy of holies, could not admit of a
competitor. The kernel of Christ’s
work was to bring mankind back to
a loving Father. The priests had
clouded the majesty and goodness of
the Almighty. The Nazarene Teacher
tore away the clouds and gave hu
manity such a glimpse behind the
holy of holies of which the high priest
in his cloisters had never dreamed.
This work He sealed with His life,
and the work, taking it on its national
and human level, could not have been
complete without the shedding of His
life’s blood.
Sacred head, wounded for His
fellows! Yes, ten thousand times
deeper and truer than the creed
of shedding His blood to appease a
Father’s heart, ever helps us to real
ise. That there was haste in the
�59
burial owing to the nearness of the
Sabbath, is admitted by the records.
It is within the range of possibility
that resuscitation followed this pre
mature burial, and so gave us the
theory of the resurrection through
the minds of followers who, under the
accepted rule, went infinitely farther
than their Master, in the claims made
on His behalf.
The theory of the Divine concep
tion is inseparably linked with the
foregoing. They were bound to be
indissolubly connected. To accept
both theories without question of any
kind is the simplest way out of the
difficulty. To adopt this course is to
need the faith which is to remove
mountains. How much faith has
never been defined I A human mother
and not a human father, must inevit
ably be a serious problem to many
adults. The children of the gods in
the old religions form a numerous
company.
Many things might have been
different, had Christ left behind some
of His own writings.
�The Ministry of Hymns.
The one man service in religious
worship, unless that one man be
a man of many and varied gifts,
often becomes very trying. There is
much cause for doubt whether the
ministry of hymns fills the place in
public religious worship that should
be the case. By this it is not meant
merely the singing of hymns, for of
singing there is enough. What is
meant is that the thoroughly spiritual
hymns should be lifted into a pro
minence which would cause them to
fill naturally their place as prayer
hymns. Some of the best known
hymns have a power within them of
expressing the longing of the inner
most heart. They are often far
sweeter to the devout soul than are
the dreamy extempore prayers of the
preacher. The Havergal, the Whittier,
and many other hymns, are among
the most divinely inspired of religious
writings. They give the individual
soul glimpses of the eternal which
may become the most acceptable, as
well as the most helpful part, of the
�61
entire service. Passages from some
hymns could be named, that are
among the loftiest thoughts ever
uttered by man or woman.
How rarely any but the most per
functory place is given in the service to
hymns! Batches of verses are some
times omitted, and whatever is read
of the hymn is too often read in the
most slovenly way possible. Yet the
history attaching to a large range of
hymns would afford material for a
number of sermons, and material more
interesting than much of the compo
sition so frequently heard. To take
one as a sample, and that, perhaps, the
best known of all hymns. Few hearts
cannot but be stirred by the grand
strains of “ Rock of Ages.” This hymn
was originally written at the end of
an article on the national debt. It
®tsas used as an illustration to show
the magnitude of man’s debt to God.
Toplady, the writer of it, born in 1740,
was a Calvinist, and waged constant
wordy wars with Wesley, and Toplady
could utter some scorching things.
It is the whole pathos of the Gospel
�62
reduced to a poem, and it forms a glori
ous prayer. There are few languages
into which it has not been translated.
Toplady’s life covered a brief span of
existence, but no man ever raised a
finer monument to his own memory
than did the writer of these familiar
verses. Some of the sweetest hymns
known have been written by Unitarians.
A plea is put in for the prayerful
ness of hymns, a little less of the
preacher and a little more of some
body else. The ministry of the
prayer hymns, and the devotional
character of our sacred poems, are
deserving of more attention at the
hands of our religious leaders.
The Ministry of Nature.
There are days in each of the
seasons when all Nature seems to de
mand the worship of mankind. Foli
age, verdure, the song of birds, water,
hills and valley make all Nature full
of a Divinity so real that to doubt
the presence of a Creator would be
to doubt one’s own actual existence.
If religious services could only be
�held at such seasons out of doors., how
straight from the heart on many oc
casions would be the worship. Lin
naeus fell on his knees on seeing a field
of gorse all in golden splendour. A
rose garden, a bank of heather, a field
of ripe corn, an orchard, or, in fact, any
section of Nature, is well calculated
to arouse similar feelings in all but
the most deadened minds and hearts.
It is the marvellous variety in Nature
which takes possession of the mind.
This can only be fully grasped by
close attention to some department
of Nature, such as insect collecting,
flower or fern growing, or some other
section of natural science. Then the
truth comes home with vivid realism,
and this not alone to the enthusiast,
but even to the one who takes only an
indifferent interest in these matters.
The sanctification of the hobby
rider would form a capital text, and
has often done so for many a clergy
man who is himself a hobby-rider.
Among the finest rose growers in the
world are some country clergymen.
The man without a hobby is indeed a
�man to be pitied, as it is the finest
safeguard against moping ever in
vented. Hobby-riders do not very
frequently display a suicidal ten
dency.
Nature keeps her secrets to be
dug out by the student or ardent
admirer, and when she begins to
reveal, she fills the soul of her devotee
with a passion for her handiwork
which is ever expanding. Her lessons
are absolutely limitless. It is easy
enough to begin at one end of the
study of any given subject in natural
science, but one never reaches the
other end.
Thank Heaven for something that
can fill a longing heart, and this
is done by dear mother Nature,
which simply teems with evidences of
the abounding love of an ever-existent
Deity.
The Ministry of Common Things.
The old teaching of the religionists
used to be, that nobody could claim
entrance to the kingdom of heaven
unless they brought in their trail
�65
some other soul they had been instru
mental in saving as a brand from the
burning. This idea is now tapering
down somewhat, but still prevails in
some communities. Many more un
likely things may happen than being
abruptly questioned, in a railway
carriage or other public place, as to
the welfare of your soul.
The
members of the Salvation Army are
greatly given to this sort of thing, and
the person not ready with satisfactory
answers may have a very bad ten
minutes. Much is made, as a rule,
of the making use of the regular
means of grace, and this, by a freak
of the parson’s, always includes the
systematic giving of contributions
towards public worship.
Many a sad and weary heart,
buffeted and badgered by surround
ing circumstances, is among the
most saintly to be found anywhere.
Heaven help humanity if church
membership is the only entrance to
the state of being blessed. Life
seems to get sadder as the years
creep on, and after a certain period
E
�66
of years there ceases to be a surprise
at whatever happens. The only anti
dote to this is the personal ownership
of some Pandora’s box, to be opened
in secret it may be, to give renewed
strength for another round of the
same humdrum duties, the same
trials and vexings of spirit which be
come the common lot of mankind.
The aged, who have become grey in
trying to pay their way, and who have
again perhaps in late years to take
up the burdens of life for grand
children,—the mother, full of the
cares of the household, and who does
not get the help she should get from
the partner of her life,—the husband,
keeping business worries and life’s
strain all to himself because he has an
unsympathetic and unhelpful wife, to
whom it is no use telling them,—the
maid with her longing to be loved,
and looking in vain for the love that
never comes,—the man, younger or
elder, animated by strong feelings,
and who has left a place in his mind
for the new commandment, Thou shalt
not:—-these and many other types
�67
may be included in the ministry of
common things in daily life, which
become so common that they seem
to be overshadowed by the appeals
for the heroic one hears at times
from the pulpit.
Were it possible to gather statis
tics of the lives that have been
saddened, the homes made unhappy,
by a too persistent absence of the
father or mother at religious meetings
and kindred gatherings, there would
indeed be surprises. It would be a
new doctrine to hear in some dis
course that there were possibly some
among the hearers who would best
serve the Almighty by remaining at
home, rather than in attending wor
ship. And yet this would be the
simple truth in more instances than
it would be pleasant to chronicle.
The poet’s “ Psalm of Life ” is re
sponsible for a good deal of mis
conception.
The sublimity of a
mother mending a pair of juvenile
trousers, or a father rolling across
the floor with his child, may not be
of a distinctive order. But never
�68
theless some of these trivial things
do leave behind them along the sands
of time the sweetest recollections of
faithful love, which attach themselves
to one’s life.
The grandeur of simplicity, in life
and conduct, is deserving of more
attention. There is ofttimes more
strength of character in those whose
voices are never heard outside their
own limited circle, than there is in
those who, for ceaseless chatter at
meetings, whether for prayer or talk,
would merit a first prize.
The good qualities of the unpromi
nent and the undistinguished, are the
things to which attention is called.
A fresh handful of flowers from the
Master’s lips for the weary and heavy
laden is what the writer would like to
bestow. The charmed circle of church
members absorbs so much of the
blessing, that there is none left for
the still larger circle outside.
An elder was once heard to say
that he never knew what devilry was
until he became a member of the diaconate of a large church, and had seen
�69
exhibitions of it within that board of
management. But this is by the way.
It is sacrilege to hint at such a thing.
The breaking of a pastor’s heart by
heartless and cruel deacons—the
deliberate wrecking of a church by a
mediocre but disappointed parson,
never could, of course, happen any
where. These things have, how
ever, happened, and will happen
again.
The old Greeks ran their races in
the national games for simple crowns
of laurel or parsley. The laurel and
the parsley would need to be widely
distributed, if those received their due
share who are simply good, and who
try to do their best although they
may often stumble and fall, and this
under difficulties which, if they were
generally known, would astound the
flippant users of texts whose talk is
so frequently full of fiery illustrations.
Natural Religion.
A cursory acquaintance with litera
ture shows how the professors of re
�ligious systems are reluctant to devote
much attention to natural religion.
They will not admit that there is much
to lament in the teaching of some
Christian circles, where the idea of
God has been degraded by childish
and little-minded views. In the most
elementary of civilisations there is
some idea of a God, of a being beyond
and out of themselves, whose wrath
is to be appeased or who is to be
worshipped. The heart of man, says
the Book, is deceitful above all things,
and desperately wicked. But when
this is granted, there is much in the
heart of man, in its better moments,
which turns to things higher and that
which is holier than itself. Whether
this natural religion is helped or
hindered by much of the creed and
dogma of the day is a question open
to discussion.
Leaders of Christian thought are
a little too much given to describing
any school of thought which differs
from their own as antagonistic to
religion.
One distinguished man
spoke of positivism lately as a “ once
�71
clamant and pretentious rival of the
Gospel.”
The positive philosophy
has never pretended to be a rival of
the Gospel. This is not by any means
a treatise issued on behalf of posi
tivism, but justice should be done,
and justice to opponents is not a
striking virtue with the leaders of
Christian thought. The same speaker
went on to refer to the coarser forms
of secularism and the assertive schools
of materialism. From this he pro
ceeded to say that the decay of these
systems had issued in the spread of
agnosticism, “ which, like the general
weakness of the body, is more difficult
to treat than positive disease.” This
is very pretty, but the most ingenious
part of the whole address was when
he proceeded to reconcile science and
faith. Here he took credit to the
Christian Church for its having gradu
ally accepted and incorporated truths
which were at first denounced as
subversive of the faith, and learned,
though with culpable tardiness,
how to extract from criticism the
elements of reconstruction.
The
�whole address—and it was delivered in
the autumn of 1897 before an im
portant section of the free churches—
was an amazing example of Christian
apologetics. The despised “ systems ”
which have never been or even sought
to be rivals of the Gospel, have, it is
clear, accomplished some good, if
only to gain a confession that the
best of their teaching has been tardily
assimilated into Christian beliefs.
These same despised “ systems ”
have kept clearly in view the natural
religion within man, and have insisted
upon the cultivation of this, not by
means of creeds and dogmas, but in
a keener grasp of the realities of life.
It is not enough to say that a merely
natural religion has not strength
enough for the part it is called to
fulfil. It has strength enough to
bring a man closer to his God, and
there is much to be heard in the
Churches and seen in the lives of the
saints of to-day, which it would be a
great charity to suppose led one very
far in his search for God and truth.
�73
Heaven.
The book of Daniel and the book
of Revelation are responsible for the
unhinging of many minds. The spirit
of prophecy and the spirit of revela
tion were inborn in the Oriental
Jewish brain. The especial depart
ment of the devout Jew was to be
come the mouthpiece of the Almighty.
The school of prophecy was peculiarly
his own, prior to the Christian
era. Far be it from the writer to
undervalue this. It has had many
uses, and literature and history would
be the poorer were there not those
weird lamentations and prophecies
of Jeremiah, the beautiful poems
of David, the depths of wisdom dis
played by Job, and the truly national
zeal of the father of diplomatists—
Daniel. All these, and much else
that could be named from the pages
of Holy Writ, have had a utility for the
whole world which is rarely ever
touched upon by preachers.
The
adapting of the prophecies, uttered
hundreds of years previously, to the
events of the first century of the
�74
present era was inevitable, but the
doing so is chiefly made up of asser
tion unaccompanied by much direct
proof.
No part of religious teaching has
become more changed of recent years
than the views promulgated with re
gard to heaven. The heaven of our
childhood was a very real place, and
as Wordsworth beautifully says,
heaven lies about us in our infancy.
The white robes, pearly gates, golden
streets, and the strains of harps and
hallelujahs were all as tangible as
were the descriptions of a city we
had never seen. The rapid success
of Christianity in the early centuries
owed much to this teaching. The
daily life of its adherents had little of
joy in it, and the world in which they
had to live their life was at the best
a burdensome place, out of which
they were eager to get at the earliest
opportunity.
Martyrdom afforded
the readiest and most glorious exit.
Thousands then, as they would
to-day, readily lay down their life
in order to merit the glorious
�75
hereafter, which has for ages been
pictured in terms so entrancing, that
there is a natural disinclination to
part with a single one of the beautiful
ideas regarding this place prepared
for the blessed. There is the same
feeling about parting with the stories
of the fairies. Life has not much
imagination in it, and all admit that
the culture of the imagination has its
uses, but it should not be done at the
expense of truth.
Now the preachers dwell less and
less with the book of Revelation, and
the dreams of the spiritually-minded
John in Patmos. Heaven, they say,
is a condition of mind and not a place.
The kingdom of God is within you,
taught the deep-souled Christ; and
so gradually a new order of thought
is taking the place of the old. This
is certainly a gain, and childhood is
indebted for so much.
It would be folly to suggest any
new theory in a field which is so
completely one of conjecture. That
man has within him some immortal
part is quite clear.
The loving
||
�76
Father would hardly inflict upon
His children such a terrible schooling
below, merely that it should end with
death. Out of all apparent death there
comes a new life of some kind, and
even a bundle of dead leaves illus
trates this axiom. What that im
mortal part is, will probably never be
fully known, and the old discussions
as to whether it is mind or matter,
are now vanishing.
That there are other worlds than
our own, and worlds which have no
possible use to our planet, or this
world to them, has long ago been
shown us by astronomers.
That
they may have some use as new
worlds for departed spirits, is not
improbable.
There is no desire
to advance theories of Swedenborg
or to defend the nirvana in the
teaching of Buddha. Both are in
themselves beautiful, and may have
touched a higher plane of probability
I than is generally acknowledged. Man
is such a little speck in the wide
expanse of time behind us, and pos! sibly in the still wider expanse of
|
�77
z
time in front of us, that the preachers
have committed no more serious error
than in seeking to limit so precisely
the plans of the Almighty in their
teachings about heaven.
Slow and imperceptible growth is
the all-pervading law. The begin
ning in a new world, wherever that
may be, at exactly the point we leave
off in this world, in the progress and
discipline of the soul, is not mere
chimera. The distribution of natural
gifts, and the wide diversion which
rules the possibilities, longings and
achievements of the individual mind
and soul, are so real, that some such
prospect is worthy of consideration.
Nature, at the same time, is scru
pulously fair to her children, giving
to all in some way or other, and at
some time or other, a chance ; and
this is why Nature may be better
trusted than may the clerics, who
desire to so microscopically prescribe
her aims and ends.
�78
Hell.
The old teaching that we should
be good in order to escape hell and
so gain heaven, is to appeal to the
very lowest and most trivial motives
in the human soul. When the old
divines sounded the blasts of hell
terrorism could go no farther. Ever
lasting torment and punishment was
a picture in which they positively
revelled. The writer has, on more
than one occasion, heard an Irish
Roman Catholic priest secure obedi
ence and respect by threatening to
send a child to hell. Realism could
not one whit surpass what it has
achieved in its descriptions of hell.
To be cast out of the synagogue was
the highest form of punishment that
could be inflicted on the rebellious
Jew. The Gehenna outside the city
walls had a corresponding place in
his mind. Here the dead and the
filth of the city lay, and that to him
was hell.
In this lies the basis of the dogmas
about hell, and the bogey of the
devil is capable of just as simple an
�79
explanation. That there is a spirit
of evil as well as a spirit of good
within man and in the world, requires
neither theory nor dogma to substan
tiate, but the preachers might, with
a little thought and more honesty,
have spared some of the terrors in
the childhood of those who are the
middle-aged of to-day.
Thank Heaven for the gospel of
hope and of love which is slowly
permeating the Christian Church.
For this we are indebted, first to
the poets, and after them to Non
conformity, for giving voice to gentler
and more humane teaching.
�THINGS MUNDANE.
The Social Revolution.
That a complete social revolution
is gradually coming about is patent
enough.
In the home there is the neverending trouble with regard to those
who serve. In business life it looks
very much as if a maximum of pay
and a minimum of work governed the
action of the majority. There is an
increasing difficulty in securing the
services of trustworthy people. The
employer is too often looked upon
merely as the figure-head of the ship,
and as one who is of no more im
portance than the youngest clerk in
his employ. He is often regarded
as one fattening on the labour of
those around him, and some do not
hesitate to call him a stealer of other
men’s labours. Labour is primary
and capital secondary. The god of
�81
some newspapers is the working man
in his aggregate form. He it is who
is to save the world, and with his
eight hours’ day and enlarged intelli
gence he is to usher in the reign of
peace and plenty, and so prepare
mankind for the millennium. How
he is misled by his so-called leaders
recent events only too well illustrate.
Some assert that the new woman
only exists within the covers of works
of fiction. But although the speci
mens may not be so pronounced as
the novelists’ characters, she does
actually exist, although in a modified
form, in the home and social life.
Man has ruled so long, say they,
that it is time woman had a turn.
Man, they are good enough to assert,
has used his power with such gross
unfairness that the only way to bring
him to his senses will be to deprive
him of his power altogether. To
reduce the general statements made
into plain English, the husband and
head of the house is simply the poor
creature who pays the bills. When
he has performed that function he has
F
�82
carried out the purpose of his exist
ence.
All this is becoming increasingly
evident, and there is in each instance
the usual corollary of result—smaller
houses are taken, in order to require
fewer servants; employers buy goods
more constantly from abroad, rather
than have the trouble incident to
manufacturing ; a marked disinclina
tion to marriage on the part of men is
proved by the returns. And so on all
through, the social revolution is per
meating our national life, and no
amount of preaching will stem its
current. The old feeling of mutual
interest between employer and em
ployed, whether in the home, the
workshop, or the counting-house, is
disappearing, and is giving place to
a merely pounds, shillings and pence
view of everything.
Parsons pretend to be close read
ers of the signs of the times. But
the handwriting must sink deep into
the wall before they can read it, in
order to do something that will tend,
in a serviceable way, to aid and direct
�83
the better and deeper currents of our
national life. The charge is that the
preachers live in too artificial and
unreal an atmosphere to influence
materially the everyday life of the
people. The particular cut of a sur
plice or a waistcoat is of so much
vaster importance than the encourage
ment of the smaller virtues of life.
Man must work out his own salva
tion with fear and trembling, whether
as applied to religion, commerce or
politics. He will get precious little
help from the beneficed or unbeneficed
clergy. The plain fact is that being
a parson is very much of a business,
just as much of a business indeed
as being a pawnbroker or a grocer.
The Lord’s call is an interesting fic
tion in too many instances. The
Lord would have to call a long time
if there were not some solid ad
vantages in what presents itself at
the other end of the call. Possess
ing, as the preachers do, enormous
facilities and gigantic power to be
come a factor in the nation’s life,
it is not easy to define whether that
�84
power is in a helpful direction or
otherwise.
Several of the old revolutions may
have to be fought over again. The
struggle against priestcraft, the aboli
tion of duties known as the Free
Trade war, and other old causes
may recur, and shake society to the
roots.
Waste.
One of the greatest evils of modern
times is that of waste. Nature provides
bountifully of everything, and man, in
his superior wisdom, wastes on all
hands. Were there no waste any
where, there is not a single person
on the face of the earth who would
be without food or would go without
a single real want unsatisfied. The
Churches, which ought to lead, are
themselves the most prolific of wast
ers. Waste in words, waste in work,
waste in buildings, and waste follows
their steps along the whole route of
religious effort and activity. To begin
with, the colleges of each denomina
tion, established or unestablished, are
�85
greatly in excess of the need. Four
or five of these institutions for a
meagre supply of students, and the
whole machinery of study provided for
tens when there are only units to be
instructed. Almost everywhere this
is the case with denominations of
every conceivable shade and name.
The churches rear their spires, and
compete with each other, not for the
uplifting of the whole community,
but to strive for the mastery of the
saved.
Man deserves punishing
with want, for this fearful waste,
and until he gathers up the fragments
and stops the leaks of life everywhere,
he will be greatly to blame. This
much of his salvation, however, he
will have to accomplish without the
help of the parsons.
The A B C of Life.
By this is not meant the origin
of life—that greatest of all mysteries.
What was the origin of life is mere
conjecture, but there ought to be
sufficient diffidence on the part of
�86
preachers to prevent them giving
too much of the Adam and Eve inter
pretation of the beginnings of life. It
is perhaps a daring speculation that
life itself may have been brought to
the earth by an aerolite. But science
has given us many new facts which
have been scouted at first by the
preachers, and then accepted by
them when they could no longer
deny them. Some who read these
pages will be old enough to remember
the howl that went up on all hands
when Colenso’s theories about the
Pentateuch first became public. The
same people will vividly recollect how
Darwin was scoffed and rebuked for
his boldness; and from the pulpits
everywhere there came denuncia
tions against this earnest student of
the A B C of life. Darwin’s grave,
in that poem in stone, Westminster
Abbey, should ever remain a rebuke
to preachers, but it is doubtful
whether it ever presents this lesson
to them.
By the A B C of life is meant
that the early lessons to children
�87
should have a truer hold on the ori
gin of life, and also as to the meaning
of life with all its various purposes—
that this life is something more than
a preparation for another life.
The parent is not wise who gives
his child a shambling and shuffling
answer, or, worse, a lying answer to
the puzzling questions put to him.
The child learns by asking questions,
and untold mischief has been done by
the giving of answers which have had
to be unlearned in later life. The
catechism is a fruitful source of mis
chief. Much of it requires re-casting,
but such a task would be undertaken
in fear and trembling, and so what
was practicable and teachable enough
in the generation before the passing
of the Elementary Education Act is
considered good enough for the chil
dren of to-day. It is not right to
teach children so-called truths about
this life and the next, whatever that
may be, as if everything had been
absolutely settled beyond the range
of question and doubt. Assertions
are made in the teaching of children
�88
with regard to these matters as if a
new truth or a new light upon an old
truth never could be put forward.
Life’s Energies.
What has the Church to say, in a
practical way, of that which concerns
every human being in the land?
True, it fulminates about purity, but
does little to really help towards
reaching that desirable end. Every
where there are traces of the serpent.
Where groups of boys, or groups of
girls, live together or work together,
the same story could be told. And
the dear mother Church holds its
tongue, as, forsooth, these things must
be talked about with bated breath.
Why cannot simple lessons in physio
logy, especially bearing upon the
sexual functions, be given ? The
forces within are part, and probably
the most important part, of a beautiful
whole in the human frame. Their
bearing upon health is incalculable.
They are, in fact, health itself, or at all
> ,'V» events the physical thermometer of
the absence of, or presence of, health.
�89
Some wholesome and common-sense
teaching in this direction would be a
national boon. But generations go
on staggering and stumbling in the
dark. The youth of both sexes drop
into habits which may become most
disastrous. The absence of knowledge
leads in so many cases to an entire
change in the current of the individ
ual life, and this change is often for
the worse instead of for the better.
Youth must and will learn, and,
sad to relate, the newspapers, illus
trated and others, take care that at
all events plenty of information on
one side of the subject shall be dis
seminated. The cry is for more light—
that the human frame shall be taken
as a perfect whole, and the youth be
as familiar with the relations of all
the parts of the body as he is with
the laws of football or tennis. The
young of both sexes should be taught
the faculty of taking care of them
selves. If they cannot do this when
a certain age is reached, and they
have to go out into the world with
its numerous pitfalls, their elders
*
�cannot undertake the task on their
behalf.
The Relations of the Sexes.
Men and women have never had
greater capacity for being companion
able than is at present the case.
The English girl, when she is free
from the “ new woman ” nonsense, is
the sweetest, healthiest, most lovable
and most companionable being on
the face of the earth. It is lament
able to think how many of them
must go through life unmated, and
to whom there will not come the
love of husband and the clasp of
her own child’s hands. Bubbling
over with vitality, and with the feel
ings of motherhood overflowing to a
point little understood, this is a pros
pect which it is not pleasant to con
template. All these softer feelings
are part of her own dear self, and
yet in the harnessing and subduing
of them she may become harsh,
cynical and ungentle. Does Nature
really mean all this ? It may be
questioned whether the purpose
�91
of the Almighty is fulfilled when
the stereotyped injunctions of the
preacher, who is often the least
qualified to give these injunctions,
are uttered.
A visit to the West Indian Islands,
or some other part of the world
where the life of the native is un
fettered, is a curious eye-opener to
the observant mind.
Without a
want unsatisfied, the coloured popu
lation seem to live the happiest
and fullest life of any individual
in the entire universe. They are
the merriest beings to be found
anywhere. The simple fruits and
vegetables of the earth give them
food in abundance, clothing is not
dear and lasts long, and all the
shelter they require is from the rains
and the cold air of the night, and
this is easily afforded by a wooden
hut.
The effect of seeing all this is to
sometimes wonder whether civilisa
tion is an unmixed blessing. Civilisa
tion is bound to win, but there are
not a few who are beginning to ask
�92
whether all the chains which the
religionists have forged need to be
worn with civilisation.
Where the ordinary preacher comes
in when a practical solution of pro
blems of this nature is desired is not
very clear. He has little to say
about them, and is disposed to let
the problems solve themselves. So
long as his pleasures of all kinds are
assured, the rest of mankind may
take care of themselves.
The Spanish Roman Catholic
priest, probably the most unclean
morally of any class of men on the
face of the earth, has settled this
matter very conveniently for him
self. His method of life was very
neatly put by a guide in a Spanish
city, who said to the writer, in re
ferring to the priests, “ They have no
wifes but many womens.” Par be
it from the writer to suggest any
such solution as this, for it would
only lead to worse confusion than at
present exists. He simply asks that in
the attempt to solve this question com
mon sense shall play a part, and that
�93
things shall not be taken so much
for granted as we are asked to do.
Mother Nature, on the one hand, has
endowed humanity with pressing
needs; yet, on the other hand, the
preacher comes in and defies mother
Nature and all her ways, and these
ways are to be seen everywhere in
the natural world.
Marriage.
The writer believes fully in the
sacredness of marriage. The home
life of dear old England is its finest
national trait, and may Heaven spare
this to us! But it is to be regretted
that so much mischief has been
caused by erroneous teaching. It
has been a terrible shock to many to
find that after all marriages are not
made in heaven. Whether the other
place has anything to do with a good
many marriages is another matter.
That the married state is capable of
producing the highest happiness
which the heart of man or woman
can conceive, is undenied, but some
how or other the assortment is bad,
�and thus some who naturally expect
happiness in this state have to be
content with either very little or an
experience the reverse of joyous.
The writer has heard both husbands
and wives, married to partners of a
distinctly religious tendency, say that
if there is to be a knowledge of each
other when the wearing of white
robes and the walking of golden streets
comes along, they would rather there
should not be. And even, if necessary
to avoid it, they would prefer another
place, as there would be probably
better company to be found.
How little chance there is of the
sexes really and truly knowing each
other before marriage. Years of court
ship cannot do what a single week of
living together will accomplish. For
two to know each other in any useful
way they must live under the same
roof or work together for a time.
Such a plan is, however, impossible
under the existing conditions of
society.
Alas for the aching hearts among
both husbands and wives,—the un-
�95
mated and uncompanionable couples
who have, willynilly, to live their lives
together, with as much toleration as
they are able to muster! The United
States, with its youthfulness, has
perhaps unwisely settled this matter
very drastically, by permitting divorce
on the ground of incompatibility of
temper. The old country adheres to
its rigid laws about this matter, and
the Church trembles with dismay
when any alteration in the law of
divorce is suggested.
The union of two soul-knit beings in
marriage is as near the Divine as any
thing on this lower world can reach.
Every couple think that this must be
the state they are destined to reach,
but the percentage which actually does
reach it is indeed small. Surely a
larger number might reach it if the
whole theory of life, conduct, and
habits were made clearer from earliest
years.
Parentage.
There is no gladder sight in all the
range of life than the happily married
�96
English girl nursing her first baby.
Sad must be the life that cannot be
moved at such a scene. Yet it is
mournful to think how little know
ledge there is about the duties and
privileges of parentage. How much
longer it will take to annihilate the
doctrine that the Almighty is respon
sible for the existence of every child
born into the world, it is hard to say.
It is a fraud upon mankind to teach
him that this is so, and it is a con
temptibly mean attempt on the part
of man to shift his responsibility from
his own to other shoulders. The
preachers are much to blame for the
gross misconception which prevails
about this matter, beginning as it
does on the very threshold of life
itself. What a startling thing it would
be to tell congregations that the
disposition of children, the temper of
children, and much that appertains to
life are largely within their own con
trol. In the breeding of pigs and
horses man will take infinite pains,
but when it comes to the birth of a
human soul, he often cares less than
�97
he does about the next brood of
chickens in his poultry-yard.
The solemnity of parentage is a
text needing more than the orthodox
three heads in order to make it clear,
and to cause the truths attaching to
it to be learned in a way they will
never be forgotten. Parentage is the
holiest function of man or woman.
It is only by being a father or a
mother that we can understand the
depths of the Divine heart. Thank
God for the cradle, and for the sweet
faces that lie there, or have been
there in years gone by.
Amusements.
There ought to be profound admira
tion for the work done for the nation
by the Puritans during the days of
the Stuart contamination. It will
be readily granted that the Puritans
ran to excess in the opposite direction
to the Royalists. But there was
every reason why this should be the
result of their way of viewing things
and course of action. Still, in the
attempt to crush the natural gaieties
G
�98
of the human heart, they gave to
the generations that have followed
a legacy which has only very gradu
ally been put aside. An inevitable
necessity for everybody is relaxation
in one form or another, and ra
tional amusements are as essential
as is food. The attitude of many
preachers against the theatre is,
very possibly, natural. But there
are theatres and theatres, and a few
could be named which really might
be classed as educational institutions
as well as places of amusement. The
dramatic instinct is inborn in man.
To imitate is as natural as is sleep,
and whatever is part of human nature
must surely be »right and safe to
cultivate. Let young people see the
best of plays, and, it is urged, a stan
dard of excellence will be imper
ceptibly formed in the mind, and
plays of a lowering character will
cease to attract. It has remained
for the Victorian era to witness the
national pride and true appreciation
of our glorious Shakespeare.
It
should be impressed upon the juve
�99
nile mind that some passages, which
to us are coarse, in the works of
our great poet, must be taken as
the form of language in common
use at the time. This ought to
suffice with the average intellect
for a proper interpretation being
placed upon such passages. The
mere fact that now we express
ourselves differently, shows the
national advance which has been
made. Wise fathers and mothers
will accompany their young people
to the theatres of select and special
reputation. Whatever interests sons
and daughters during the teens should
interest parents. No greater mistake
can be made than to treat young
people from fourteen and upwards as
children. Young folks should be taught
the proper use of money, amusements,
and everything appertaining to life.
No defence is here put forward of
all amusements and all theatres. A
vital difference exists, and discrimina
tion is necessary. Actors and actresses
might be mentioned whose work is
elevating, and whose love for their
�100
art has made them geniuses of the
first rank.
Numerous provincial
towns and rural districts cannot of
course have these advantages. A
good play lifts the mind from its
cares and worries, and gives fresh
ness and new vigour. The place of
amusement in life is not a question
which becomes settled when the
preacher has described all theatres
as being the gates leading to perdi
tion. More music, more pictures,
more soundly good plays introduced
into life, and these with many other
advantages will enable this dear old
land of ours to hold its own for an
unlimited number of generations to
follow. The croakers in the relig
ious bodies who talk about the decay
of the British nation are on the in
crease. More help to render this
decay impossible may be asked of
them.
Excess of Zeal.
There is ample room in the world
for the enthusiast. But it will be
a sorry time if the world is ever
�101
governed exclusively by enthusiasts.
Although the author writes as an
abstainer, it is impossible to deny
that among the advocates of temper
ance some of the most intemperate in
language are to be found. It will be
readily acknowledged by many friends
of this movement that the very object
for which they are working has often
been anything but helped by the un
reasonableness of those possessing
an excess of zeal. The cold water
treatment makes sometimes a very
distressing bath, and national so
briety, for an exceedingly thirsty
nation, would be better served if
there were not so manifest a dis
position to treat all who do not quite
side with temperance advocates as
fools or drunkards, or even a mixture
of both.
The companion to the just-named
advocate is the anti-vaccinator, anti
smoker, and the vegetarian, and often
all four are to be met with in one
and the same person. The opinion
of the whole medical faculty added
together is as nothing when com-
�102
pared with the opinions of the one
who defies Jenner and all his works.
It is utterly useless to argue with
these friends. They simply attack
an opponent with a zeal that does
not give a chance for a word by
way of reply.
Others who suffer from excess of
zeal are the anti-opiumites and the
opponents of what are known as the
C. D. Acts.
The writer has no intention of dis
cussing either one or the other of
these questions. The whole desire is
to point the moral that often a little
fuller information, or a blazing side
light, will give an entirely different view
of a question affecting the community,
and prevent an excess of zeal. What
close inquiry has done in numerous
instances is to cause one to doubt
whether some of these agitations,
begun and conducted by those belong
ing to the religious communities, have
not done more harm than good. Take,
as an example, the view that an exclu
sive rice diet of the native populations
of India requires an antidote, and that
�they find that best antidote in opium,
which is taken for this purpose, and
not for its other purposes, so glow
ingly pictured by the good friends
who champion the movement on the
public platforms.
The association for preserving the
Sabbath, and others which could be
named, may also be placed under this
class.
There is another matter closely
allied to this question. If there does
not exist in the country a peace-atany-price party, there does exist in
the Churches a party who would
rather see old England down on her
knees and degraded than that she
should fight. The lads’ brigades
scattered throughout the United King
dom are an abomination to these
friends. It is cultivating the military
spirit, say they, at the expense of the
finer elements of character. The time
may come, and come sooner than the
Churches think, for England to enter
into the stiffest fight either by land
or sea that she has ever had. There
is no spirit of prophecy in this state
�104
ment. The heads of both political
parties know well that the dangers
which surround us are far more real
than are generally imagined. The
Englishman or the Englishwoman
who cannot be roused at the bravery
and entire absence of fear that have
been displayed by our troops in India,
whether British or native, lay them
selves open to be pitied.
How common is the experience that
the radicalism of one’s youth gives
place to a more sober view of things
when middle life is reached. Excess
of zeal leads the young to the feeling
that they can settle every question
under the sun in a ten minutes’ talk.
Later life brings with it the less rosy
aspect of things—that it is not so easy
to dissipate difficulties, and the mind
becomes humbled and readier to listen
to opposite views, with a greater will
ingness to learn.
The writer has cause to think that,
scattered throughout the Churches,
there are men and women who have
to acknowledge to themselves that
they do not see eye to eye with their
�105
teachers as was formerly the case..
It would be sacrilege to attempt to
disturb the beliefs of the aged. But
there are many young people who,
with the advancing strides of educa
tion, are unable to accept without
question the faith of father and
mother. It is not that there is any
less belief in religion. But it is the
excrescences of the creeds which they
find it impossible to retain in their
minds, without asking the why and the
wherefore of these things. True re
ligion is something so solemn, real,
and important, that to lose hold of it
would be a disaster to the individual.
All honour to the pastors who re
cognise these facts, and who have
honestly tried, as far as they dared
to do so, to combine with their teach
ing some of the more reasonable views
which now prevail. The progress in
this direction is, however, slow, and
during the process some may lose
hold altogether of the sense of the
Divine in life.
Within the limits of a small book it
was manifestly impossible to deal fully
o*
�106
with many matters which have been
simply touched upon. Should there
be need, the questions here raised
will be considered at length in a
future volume.
The writer finishes, as he began,
with the belief that the best interests
of religion and religious teaching will
be served by a fearless but reveren
tial attempt to treat difficulties as
they present themselves, rather than
to pass them over in silence.
*
�����
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
The gospel of common sense
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Claye, Stephen
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 106 p. ; 19 cm.
Notes: Annotations in pencil and ink. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1898
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
N088
Subject
The topic of the resource
Natural theology
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<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 gospel of common sense), 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>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Language
A language of the resource
English
Natural Theology
NSS
-
https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/2dd16d63760e36f5dafbf646a2baa8c6.pdf?Expires=1712793600&Signature=RnsX8UXhZuFxtnA2zJRMfo4xjXOAgVc2agfhPPubpg9juSOHWI3JczzpOiEV9Lbn1U-FGv-XNgjKpqCWt7ugFlLxx-D4CZzc2JeHUJpspiVkmLPd6sC3gpIU5mE5F4hEThnJ2dli8Ob-ZZjh2X0zZ90IIaFmc7ZSZo4s%7E8pn6CdlvSV3FBoakPWIbo1GFYWieJ0lbc1TBor-rF0yqYbw1QdB19Y2qu-jdUOg%7E-aXU98oALLj%7EDZd6E%7EzobjNPK%7EJ5ssRUUfw3UCcytu3RgeyVkpiJK8soNvq2XTaoQFD1ZhfyHXC55WFTbK1OfOpBxjWBbvZ5GeAYG-sa69G2wFUAQ__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
0632c3d3dd1153af452add13dc3d9993
PDF Text
Text
THE AGE OF LIGHT,
•
BT
J. KASPARY,
Humanitarian.
LONDON:
F. FARRAH, 282, STRAND.
1872.
THE GOD OF NATURE.
The existence of human intelligence and animal instinct proves
to reasoning beings the existence of unchangeable laws, according
to which the universe is governed; and the existence of these laws
proves to reasoning beings the existence of an eternal, immutable,
all-pervading, omnipotent and infinitely wise just and merciful
Being. For the universe is composed of dividable substance or
matter, and of beings or souls incapable of division, and both
classes of essential existence have changeable qualities. As the
acquisition of human intelligence and animal instinct, however,
would be impossible in an universe subject to changes according
to varying laws, and can be acquired only by life-producing souls
from the contemplation of, and reasoning on, the changes which
take place in matter and souls according to immutable laws, the
existence of human intelligence and of animal instinct there
fore proves the existence of unchangeable laws. But as neither
the whole universe nor any of its component parts has an immu
table nature or unchangeable qualities, there must necessarily
exist an eternally immutable and all-pervading cause for the pro
duction of similar effects (or change of quality) in similar means
(or matter and souls) everywhere, at all times, and even in opposi
tion to the wishes of the whole human race. The existence,
therefore, of unvarying laws according to which changes take
place, consequently proves the existence of an essential Being,
possessing a nature or the attributes of eternity, immutability,
omnipresency and omnipotency, and this Being I call the “ God
of Nature.” As all souls have derived their intelligence and
instinct, or their true ideas of wisdom or goodness, from the ob
servation of, and reasoning on, the immutable laws, which I call
“ God’s Laws of Nature,” every person possessing adequate
intelligence will know, and those having true instinct will believe,
that the “ God of Nature” i3 infinitely wise, just and merciful.
For “God’s Laws of Nature” are the only infallible criterion
by which intelligent and virtuous persons can distinguish wisdom
from folly, morality from immorality, or good from evil. Since
those thoughts desires and acts only are wise, moral or good.
�9
which are rewarded by God according to His nature or laws with
progressive happiness, and those are unwise, immoral or evil, that
are corrected by Him with increasing misery. The existence of
the “God of Nature” excludes, of course, the possibility of
miracles; for the occurrence of even a single miracle would dis
prove. the existence of immutable laws, the existence of human
intelligence and animal instinct, and consequently the existence of
the “ God of Nature/’ Believers in false gods are therefore the
only persons who have faith in miracles, because Pagans have
neither the intelligence to know, nor the instinct to believe, in the
“ God of Nature
since they have either not sufficiently culti
vated themselves, or their intelligence and instinct have been
perverted by the belief in such fictitious idols as Brahma, Jehovah,
Jupiter, the Holy Ghost and Allah, or in such real idols as
Chrishna, Christ, Kabir and Mary, the mother of the Christian idol.
All the miracles recorded in such Heathen Mythologies as the
Vedas, Bible, Tripitakas and the New Testament, are therefore
either fables suggested by priestcraft, or tricks wrought by piously
deceitful jugglers, or natural occurrences which have been re
garded as miraculous by the superstitious and ignorant
All
persons, however, who have no knowledge of, or belief in,
“God of Nature,” but worship any of the fictitious or real idols,
which theMoseses and Aarons have made for the people, are deluded
Pagans, and will be corrected by God with physical and mental
pain until they are converted into Humanitarians, when the
Religion of God will teach them that the only way of salvation is
the worship of the “ God of Nature ” by the acquisition of wis
dom and the practice of goodness.
The Lecture at Midland Railway Arch,
Delivered by the Humanitarian, J. KASPARY,
SUPERIOR TO ASD SUPERSEDING
The Ten Commandments of the Bible,
Probably composed and engraved on stone by Moses, but ascribed to Jehovah.
As Christian Jesuits have no longer the power in England to
imprison, torture and murder by Law, the intelligent and honest
persons who advocate true science and philosophy (the real words
of God), and therefore speak against the paganism, superstition,
and immoral doctrines, contained in the Christian Scriptures and
Creeds., the modern Jesuits are compelled to resort to the primitive
Christian practice, either of flattering mental idleness and en
couraging wickedness by promising salvation in return for
credulity, or by committing pious frauds in favour of their creed
and against the opinions of their opponents. One of the Bible
defenders, for instance, knowing that it is impossible to defend
Christianity, or to attack the Religion of God by fair means, told
the writer’s audience at Chelsea Bridge, only a few weeks ago, that
�3
the Ten Commandments secured to the working classes of this
country their Sunday, of which the Religion of God wanted to
rob them, giving them instead only four Mondays in the whole
year as days of rest and recreation. The few Christians present,
of course, cheered the eloquent defender of the Bible—for when did
deluded Christians and similar Heathens by mistake not love their
greatest enemies and hate their truest friends ?—the majority of
the audience, however, being composed of thinking men and women,
scarcely needed to be reminded that every Christian who does not
work on Sundays and rest on Saturdays breaks the Fourth Com
mandment of Moses, and that the Religion of God teaches “Every
Sunday, and the first Monday in January, April, July, and Octo
ber, you shall keep holy throughout the globe, as days of rest and
recreation.” This Bible defender, therefore, committed two pious
frauds,—one in favor of the Bible, and the other against the
Religion of God. The writer believes, however, that when this
Christian will cease to be his own greatest enemy, he will make
atonement by speaking truthfully against Christian paganism and
superstition and in favor of the Religion of God; for every sane
and honest person will acknowledge in time that the Lecture at
Midland Railway Arch is infinitely superior to the Ten Command
ments of the Bible, but if there be conscientious representatives
of Judaism or of any Christian sect who differ from this opinion,
they are invited to debate or to correspond with their brother, the
Humanitarian, J. KASPARY, 5,
Row, High Holborn,
London, W. C.
THE LECTURE AT MIDLAND RAILWAY ARCH,
Delivered on the two first Sundays in September, 1871, contains a translation by the
Humanitarian, J. KASPARY, of the following Eight Commandments, which the God
of Nature Himself eternally teaches by His laws of nature to every human being possess
ing adequate intelligence and goodness:—
1. You shall know that Z alone am God, the ever conscious, omnipresent, omni
potent, and infinitely wise, just, merciful, and holy Being, in Whom the universe
exists, and Who eternally pervades all divisible and indivisible essence (matter and
souls). You shall, therefore, neither believe in fictitious beings (the creatures of
human imagination, as, for instance, Brahma, Jehovah, Jupiter, Allah, the Devil,
and the Holy Ghost), nor bow down to any real idols (the objects in nature and art,
as, for instance, the sun, the elements, animals, Mary, Jesus, a golden calf, Jehovah’s
ark, and the crucifix). You shall, however, devote your whole life to worship Me
with the acquisition of wisdom and goodness ; for I, your only Lord and God, reward
the good with progressive happiness, and correct the evil with increasing misery, yet
pardon even the greatest sinners after their purification by repentance, and after
their consecration by an abode in the garden of virtues.
2. You shall not swear, but speak what you know or believe to be the truth,
your affirmation being Yes, your negation No.
3. You shall not believe that the invented Jehovah created the world in six days,
and rested on Saturday, or that the body of the real Jesus rose again from the grave
on Sunday or in similar pious frauds of priestcraft; for I, the only Lord of all
existence am eternally active, producing all the phenomena throughout infinite space
according to My own immutable nature. You shall, therefore, regard as equally
holy all the seconds of eternity and every part of the infinite universe ; but in com
memoration of the blessing I conferred upon the human race (by rewarding with a
knowledge of the only true religion your best human friend), on the first day of the
week, you shall on that day exclusively serve Me with mental and moral culture and
�rational enjoyments. Those who minister for the instruction and pleasure of the
people shall serve Me with rest and recreation the next day. On the other six days
of the week (with the exception of a few days during the year), you shall serve Me
with working moderately for the commonwealth. Remember that I am the Lord
of active life, resting death, and life and death-like sleep, clothing you with a new
body or taking it from you, rewarding you with happiness or correcting you with
misery, according to your merits.
4. You shall be loving and grateful children towards your parents, but follow only
their good example and precepts. And when Z, the foundation of life, bless you
with children, you shall set them a good example by taking care of your own and
their physical, mental, and moral health, that Z, the universal parent, may reward
mankind with increasing bliss, and change your eternal abode into a progressive
paradise for your present and innumerable future human lives.
5. You shall not take your own life nor that of any other human being, except in
self-defence. You shall, therefore, not execute even the greatest tyrants and mur
derers when you have taken them prisoners, but liberate them after their conversion
into Humanitarian defenders of liberty. You shall, however, risk your life in the
defence of others, and rather endure imprisonment, torture, and death, than lend
yourself as a tool in an offensive war, when Zwill clothe you with a new, superior
human body and place you under the most favorable circumstances, rewarding you
with long and happy lives.
6. You shall marry only one of the other sex from rational love, and (during your
married life; forget self in the happiness of your partner, when bliss will pervade
your whole being. I shall visit, however, with misery those who prefer celibacy, or
pollute themselves with seduction, adultery, and polygamy.
7. You shall restore inherited property, stolen from the people by cunning and
force, and use your superior talents, not to accumulate excessive private fortunes, but
to enrich the commonwealth, when happiness will be your reward. Z shall correct,
however, with increasing mental and physical pain the dishonest stewards who
take more than their proper share from the gifts I have given them for distribution,
the dishonest idlers who deprive society of due labour and other thieves, until they
become converted into honest people.
8. You shall use your present and future conscious existence to examine yourself,
either to exterminate stupidity and wickedness and to develop the intelligence and
goodness acquired in your former human lives or in the present one, or to create
more talents and good desires within yourself by your thoughts and acts. Z will
bestow all My blessings upon those who keep this, My commandment, for in it are
contained all the ways that lead through the infinite regions of eternal bliss.
The Lectures at Chelsea Bridge,
Delivered by the Humanitarian, J. KASPARY,
SUPERIOR TO AND SUPERSEDING
The First Four Chapters of the New Testament,
AND
The Sermon on the Mount,
Composed by, and receiving interpolations from unknown Christians, but ascribed
to Jesus and Matthew.
The Lectures at Chelsea Bridge have been composed, delivered,
and published, in order to convince Christians that the Religion
of God, which the Humanitarian, J. Kaspary, is advocating,
teaches wiser doctrines than even the Sermon on the Mount. The
whole world will admit in time that the Lectures at Chelsea
Bridge, which contain only a small part of the eternal and infinite
Religion of God, are superior to the first seven chapters of the
New Testament ; but contemporaries, who differ from this opinion,
are earnestly requested to make an impartial comparison. These
lectures and the other publications of the Humanitarian, J. K.,
�5
will be sent to the Pope, Roman Catholic and Protestant Arch
bishops, and Bishops of Great Britain and Ireland, the Lower
House of Convocation, and the most eminent Ministers of Dissen
ters. Humanitarians invite and accept the representatives of any
Christian church or sect to examine with their representative in
debate the superiority of the Religion of God over Christianity.
They are confident that truth, though taught and defended by a
lisping foreigner, will prove victorious over error, thotigh advo
cated by the most eloquent English Christians.
THE LECTURE AT CHELSEA BRIDGE,
Delivered on Sundays in June, 1872.
Avoid the extremes of credulity and excessive scepticism, but
examine impartially and be a rational believer of probabilities in
matters in which certainty is unattainable. The superstitious
Christian who believes that Mary was still a virgin after the con
ception of her first son and that therefore Jesus had no human father,
does not indulge in much greater folly than the extreme sceptic who
denies the existence of the man Jesus on account of the impro
bable events recorded of him: for the unwise credit either every
thing or nothing, but the wise reject only fables and other evident
untruths. Humanitarians will therefore believe that weak Joseph
seduced frail Mary, and then made the best reparation by marrying
her, an example every seducer ought to imitate. This marriage of
Joseph with pregnant Mary undeniably proves to the intelligent
reader of the Gospel the seduction of Mary by Joseph, and at
least Joseph’s belief that Jesus was his son.
You shall neither honour nor despise any person on account of
ancestors, but regard all children as brothers and sisters, assisting
every one to exterminate stupidity and evil desires by the develop
ment or creation of intelligence and goodness. It is, therefore, no
disgrace to Jesus that he was procreated before the marriage of
his erring, ignorant and despised parents, or, if it were true, that
he was the descendant of the great criminal David. It is, however,
the height of Pagan folly to esteem persons because their ancestors
have been such great knaves, murderers, thieves, adulterers and
seducers, as most founders of Christian aristocratic families have
been.
The unknown Christian who wrote the genealogy of Joseph, the
husband of Mary, in order to make the reader believe that Jesus,
as the son of Joseph, was the descendant of David (Matt. i. 1—17),
cannot be the same person as the piously deceitful author, who
invented for Jesus a fictitious father, called the Holy Ghost
(Matt. i. 18—25): for every intelligent and honest critic of the
Gospels will admit that the first seventeen verses were most pro
bably composed for the perversion of the Jews, by a perverted
Jew who believed in the Biblical Messiah, whereas the last eio-ht
verses of the first chapter, ascribed to Matthew, were most pro
bably invented for the perversion of the Gentiles by a perverted
�6
Gentile who believed in the incarnation of the deity: as this idea
was always and is still rejected by the Jews but was accepted by
almost all the Heathens of antiquity, and even to-day the majority
of the inhabitants of the East Indies believe as strongly in the
incarnation of the second person of their Trinity as the veriest
Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Calvinists, Wesleyans, Methodist
Ranters, Mormon Saints and High Churchmen. The truth of the
axiom that of two contradictory propositions only one can be
true, but both may be false, will perhaps be evident even to Gospel
believers. If, therefore, the first seventeen verses (especially
Matt. i. 17) of the New Testament are true, the rest of the chap
ter (especially Matt. i. 25) must be the greatest Christian untruth;
but were even the Holy Ghost a reality, and not a mere personifi
cation of Christian priestcraft, then Matt. i. 1—17 which wants to
prove that Jesus, as the son of Joseph, was a descendant of David
and the promised Messiah of the Jews, must be a great pious
fraud of primitive Christian Jesuits. Even school boys, when
counting the generations from Abraham to Jesus in the Gospel,
will find that the Christian Holy Ghost (the reputed inspirer of
the unholy Scriptures) was deficient in arithmetic : for Matt. i. 17
states that from Abraham to Jesus are three times fourteen
generations, which according to the wisdom of this world make
forty-two generations, but according to the infallible Gospel
(Matt. i. 2—16) there are fewer than forty-two generations.
Learned Christians therefore act consistently when after swallow
ing the camels of the Scriptures they (like Dr. Newman and Arch
bishop Manning) do not strain at Papal infallibility and other
gnats of Roman Catholicism. The preceding remarks justify the
statement that only dupes conscientiously believe in the first
chapter of the Gospel: for every intelligent and honest reader
must disbelieve in the cunningly devised fables which are the
foundation-stones of Christian superstition and paganism.
You shall not pervert reason and morality by Trinitarian and
other forms of paganism and superstition, but advocate a religious
education, which alone can develop or create intelligence and good
ness in the human soul and convert mankind into Humanitarians
and our earth into a real paradise. You poison, however, the
mind of your children and perpetuate human misery by recom
mending such wolves in sheep’s clothing as the Vedas, Bible,
Tripitakas, Koran, and other Mythologies of priestcraft, since all
revealed irreligions teach more or less that folly and vice are wis
dom and virtue, and vice versa. The second chapter of the New Tes
tament, for instance, inculcates the belief in astrology, dreams
and fortune-telling. Hence the traders in Christianity have been
compelled to keep the people in ignorance, or to pervert reason by
a Biblical education which inculcates credulity, called faith, as the
highest wisdom and virtue; but stigmatises rationalism, or the re
jection of Christian fables and immoralities, called infidelity, as
the greatest folly and vice.
�7
A truly religious life consists in the acquisition of intelligence
and goodness. For intelligence is the acquired quality of the
human soul which enables man to distinguish wisdom from folly.
The acquired quality of goodness, however, inspires persons to
love and to follow the principles of virtue, but to hate and to
reject those of vice. Paganism and superstition seduce Christians
to become Ascetics, like John the Baptist, and to believe in the
third chapter of the Gospel which approves of the folly of bap
tism, and contains a silly tale, viz., that “the heavens (which have
never been shut) were opened and Jesus saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove lighting upon him : And lo, a voice from
heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased.” Humanitarians will best show their pity towards deluded
Pa er an s who believe in such fables by converting them into Humani
tarians, when the converts will purify themselves from Christian
stupidity and corruption by mental industry and good thoughts
desires and acts, and also practice external cleanliness by a fre
quent application of water, without indulging in the superstitious
rite of the Baptists and of the pilgrims to the rivers Ganges and
Jordan.
The existence of the a God of Nature,” of course, excludes the
existence of beings like the Christian Devil. For the belief in
all the various fictitious devils has its origin in the personification
of temptations which arise in corrupted human nature or through
unfavorable circumstances. The inherent egotism, ambition, stu
pidity and wickedness, and the external conditions created by
them, are therefore the only real devils which tempt human beings.
For instance, egotism and ambition enter especially on a fierce
struggle for the expulsion of wisdom and love, when men of
genius are starving in garrets, laughed at or hated by the very
people who ought to reverence and love them most. “ Follow us,”
say Egotism and Ambition to a talented young politician, “ and
our servants, the knaves and their dupes, will shower upon you
riches, honour and power. Hitherto you have listened to Wisdom
and Love and their advice has rendered you poor, despised and
powerless. We shall make of you, however, not only a leader of
the great egotistical and stupid party, but a prime minister, the
defender of church and throne on which our empire rests, and the
creator of archbishops and peers in whom the egotistical and am
bitious multitudes find their models and masters.” The aspiring
young politician listens to the seducers and follows their advice,
yet tries to delude himself with the belief that he is cheating
them, that the end in view justifies the means, that his actions are
inspired by wisdom and love, and that he has changed from a
liberal Cosmopolitan into a conservative Nationalist, not for the
sake of riches, honour and power, but for the sake of educating
the great egotistical and stupid party in the divine principles of
wisdom and love. In countries, the inhabitants of which are
mostly fools, all successful politicians must have been panderers to
�aristocratic or popular folly and vice. For none but Humanitarian
politicians will perseveringly try and succeed in obtaining a good
end by pure means. It is less wicked, however, in Pagan or
Atheistic politicians to employ impure means to obtain the good
end of establishing a Republic (or the government by the best and
the wisest), than the evil end of perpetuating a Monarchy (or the
government by the most vicious and stupid, if he happens to be
the Prince of Wales).
The geniuses of wisdom and love, however, have been and will
be repeatedly sent by the infinitely wise, just and merciful God
of Nature to illuminate the dark atmosphere of popular supersti
tion and vice, by unveiling some of the divine and inextinguishable
Light of the eternal Religion of God, the spreading of which
may be delayed, but cannot be prevented, by the friends of dark
ness or the servants of egotism and ambition. Light is therefore
in the world, although the blind people do not know it, but grope
in darkness till comparatively intelligent and good persons, who
have preserved their sight by resisting the blinding process of
priestcraft, cure them of their mental blindness. As egotism and
ambition have no dwelling-place in devotees of wisdom and good
ness, the temptations resulting from external circumstances are
easily conquered. For, wisdom teaches Humanitarians that our
own happiness, or progress in the paradise of bliss, is secured in
proportion as we forget self and become the most attentive and
loving children of our Father, the best brothers and sisters of
human beings, and the kindest masters and mistresses of useful and
harmless animals.
THE LECTURE AT CHELSEA BRIDGE.
Delivered on Sunday, July.31st, 1870.
True philosophers, or lovers of wisdom, will create eternally progressive heavens
in themselves and a real paradise npon earth, since the infinitely wise Teacher
inevitably rewards with happiness those who acquire wisdom, but corrects by misery
those who, from mental idleness, remain ignorant and credulous. Blessed, therefore,
are the rich in intellect, for their’s is the republic of heaven ; but miserable (until
their conversion) are the poor in spirit, for their’s is the kingdom of hell.
Wretched are the credulous sinners, for the God of Nature will certainly not com
fort them that waste the present by mourning over an iniquitous past, and by intoxieating themselves with the poisonous spirit of priestcraft, instead of employing their
time in making themselves happy Humanitarians, since the God of Nature gives peace
to those who were formerly sinners and are now working out their future salvation, or
that will employ the rest of their present life in exterminating stupidity and evil desires
by the persevering acquisition oi wisdom and the practice of goodness. Blessed,
therefore, are the true Humanitarians, or the constant followers of the Religion of
God, for He will always give them cause to rejoice.
Proud tyrants and meek slaves are not Humanitarians, but miserable sinners, for
the God of Nature corrects with mental or physical pain those who establish or main
tain such pernicious institutions as priesthoods and hereditary aristocracies; hut
eternally blesses those courageous and liberty-loving Humanitarians, who enlighten
and regenerate human souls and establish the divine Republic upon earth.
happy are the converts that desire to live righteously, but happier are those
Humanitarians that actually lead a virtuous life.
The God of Nature is merciful even towards the greatest sinner, but blesses
especially those who exercise mercy towards their erring brothers and sisters, and do
not wilfully cause pain to animals.
�Eternally blessed are those human souls that have acquired good desires and great
talents, for the beings that possess such qualities will always have the truest and
most comprehensive knowledge of the God of Nature and be the greatest human
benefactors of mankind.
The credulous (especially those who worship a man as God) cannot but quarrel
among themselves and with those from whom they differ in opinion and language;
but Humanitarians will always live in peace with each other, and consider it as
their special duty to prevent war by exterminating sectarian and national prejudices
(which especially Christian priestcraft and statecraft have implanted in the human
mind) and by inspiring mankind with the eternal truths that the God of Nature is
our common father, that every human soul is His child, and that, therefore, all men
and women are our brothers and sisters. Ambition and credulity, however, will
always govern credulous slaves; but love and wisdom cannot but lead enlightened
Humanitarians. More blessed than the peace makers are therefore the peace preservers,
who consider mankind as their family and the whole earth as their residence; but
miserable are the war makers, who are either deluded by ambition or by superstition.
The greatest crimes any person can commit are preventing the credulous from
being converted into Humanitarians, by knowingly telling falsehoods, and by com
mitting other pious frauds in support of any priestcraft, or by wilfully misrepre
senting and perverting the Religion of God, or by slandering and persecuting Hu
manitarian teachers. Their own greatest enemies are also those talented persons, who
devote none of their time to the teaching of the people, and those wealthy persons
who do not assist in the promulgation of the Religion of God according to thenmeans. Those blessed men and women, however, who (from love towards the God
of Nature and man} set good examples and perseveringly make known the intel
lectual, moral,social, and political truths of the eternal and unerring Religion of God
(regardless of slanders and persecution of the very persons who will be most
benefited by the exertions of such true Humanitarians), develop their own heavens in
themselves, and cause the growth of their own paradise upon earth.
The Religion of God is the light of the world, which (more or less) has been shut
out from the people by the various walls of superstition, raised by deluded or ambi
tious priests in order to keep the multitude in darkness or twilight. The duty of
Humanitarians, however, is to pull down these pernicious walls, so that the light
emitted by God may illuminate all the atmosphere in which man moves. The love of
superstition and the aversion to knowledge, which many persons have contracted,
will, however, speedily pass away when man compares the beautiful realities and ten
dencies of the Religion of God with the revolting fictions and consequences of
priestcraft.
Humanitarian teachers will destroy the pernicious laws, invented by priests and
blasphemously ascribed to the God of Nature, but they will expound more clearly
the truths taught to their predecessors and contemporaries, and discover some of the
eternal commandments of the God of Nature as yet unknown to man. The vicious
teachers of erroneous doctrines (such as are contained in the Bible and sanctioned in
the sermon on the Mount—Matthew v. 17—19) enlarge the kingdom of hell within
themselves and others, as well as the vale of misery upon earth, until they are con
verted into Missionaries of the Religion of God, when they will change their own hell
and that of others into a heaven, and this earth from a vale of misery into a pro
gressive paradise.
,
Do not kill any man except in self-defence, nor any harmless animal except foi
food and other useful purposes ; do not torture even dangerous or obnoxious animals
but kill them quickly.
If your brothers and sisters speak the truth and act justly, feel grateful, and if they
slander and persecute you, be not vexed but pity them and defend yourselves.
Good desires, created by virtuous thoughts and acts, and great talents, created by
mental industry, are the only acceptable sacrifice man can offer to the God of Nature
but evil desires, created by vicious thoughts and acts, and stupidity, created by
mental idleness, profane His altar, which is every human soul. Do not, therefore
desecrate yourselves by causing unnecessary mental or physical pain to man or animals
but consecrate your souls by contributing to the happiness of sentient beings.
A man or a woman ought to marry only from rational love ; i.e., with the desire
and means to make the other party happy. A marriage without rational love is
worse than prostitution, for it leads to adultery, and a gradual suicide and murder
Divorce will never take place between husband and wife whose marriage is inspired
by rational love; but it is better that ill-assorted couples voluntarily agree to a
separation than that they should respectively commit adultery or mutually embittei
and shorten their lives. It is no sin for the divorced husband and wife to contract a
second alliance, but it is licentious for either man or woman to marry again aftet
�10
having been twice separated. The children of separated parents shall be supported
by both their father and mother, and will alternately reside with either parent but
during infancy exclusively with their mother.
r
’
Folly and dishonesty invented swearing, but wisdom and honesty will abolish it •
for lying is encouraged if statements which do not deserve credit without an oath aré
believed m, because the liar became a perjuror. Do not, therefore, swear at all but
always speak the truth; for those who swear, tacitly admit that their bare word is not
to be trusted.
Resist evil with all your might, but do not revenge yourself. If any man, there
fore, smites you on the right cheek do not turn to him the other also, but defend your
self, and pardon his assault, for stupidity, cowardice and vindictiveness make tyrants
and enemies, but intelligence, courage and forgiveness convert them into your equals
and friends. If thieves will sue you at law and take away your coat, let them not have
your cloak also, but take care of your property; for folly makes knaves, but wisdom
com erts them into honest people. Judiciously lend to them that want your assistance
without waiting till people ask you, and do every thing to oblige, but nothing from
compulsion.
Imitate the infinite wisdom and love of our ever living Father, who pervades all
human souls, but rewards with the knowledge of His presence only true Humani
tarians, or those who deserve it ; yet mercifully corrects the evil, and comforts His
repentant children. Love therefore your friends and deserve their friendship by
making them and yourself happy through mutual promotion of wisdom and good
ness, Love also your enemies by converting them into your friends throughbyour
courageous self-defence ; the consequent correction which this inflicts upon them, and
the kindness and regard for their welfare which you will afterwards display towards
these erring beings.
Persons, who give alms to gain the applause of the servants of ignorance and
mediocrity, will scarcely benefit others, but certainly injure themselves. Humani
tarians, however, when judiciously contributing towards any cause that promotes
human happiness, will not trumpet their names in pulpits and newspapers, or on
monuments and institutions (as especially ambitious Christians do) ; but their con
science will tell them that God approves of, and rewards the giving of alms only
when personally- given in secret or when anonymously sent.
Do not esteem and follow European and American hypocrites, who love to turn
up their eyes, and to pray aloud in churches, chapels, and in the corners of the
streets, that they may be seen and honoured by Christian dupes. Also do not par
ticipate in the prayer meetings of evangelical Heathens, who beg much of their
favourite idol, thinking that a man (who was wrongly (crucified by Bible Believers,
more than eighteen centuries ago, and may now be living and persecuted by Christian
Pharisees) is residing somewhere beyond the clouds, and will hear and reward
their blasphemous utterances. Irrational persons, or those who have no knowledge
of an infinitely wise Governor of the universe, can only believe, for instance, that the
immutable God of Nature sends rain because of the prayers uttered by Christians. Our
infallible Father certainly knows better what things we have need of, than His erring
children, the Roman Catholic, Protestant, and other Heathens. Do not therefore
resemble them—for the pernicious influence of begging prayers, seduces the suppli
cants with false hopes, encourages idleness, prevents self-reliance, and the full display
of those mental and physical exertions, which alone can elevate human beings or
ensure their own progressive bliss. The Prayer of Humanitarians, however, can
only reform the wicked and confirm or improve the good, as it cultivates gratitude ;
teaches self-examination, repentance and self-reliance ; inspires good resolves, and
exhorts Humanitarians to lead an exemplary life. Your brother recommends you
therefore to meditate every morning and evening on the following prayer, since there
cannot exist one single human soul that will not feel wiser, better, and happier
after the meditation.
THE PRAYER OF HUMANITARIANS.
“All-merciful God of Nature ! in Whom all beings are, accept my sincere thanks
for Thy goodness. Thou hast given all to all, and I acknowledge that but for the
ignorance, wickedness, and indifference of many erring brothers and sisters, all man
kind would live in a real paradise.
“Accept my vows to love my own soul by enlightening her, to love my own body
by living virtuously, so as to render my present life long and happy.
“I therefore vow to love each and all the members of the human family as myself, by
setting them a good example, by assisting them in their bodily sufferings, and by
enlightening their minds in order to render them, especially children, happier than
�11
myself, since this alone is the true preparation for my own progressive bliss after
death.
“ To fulfil my vows, I solemnly promise to the God of Nature and mankind to per
form the Twelve Principal Duties, and to keep the Constitution of Humanitarians,
and to try with all my might to promote the spread of the ‘Religion of God.’ ”
Fasting, vigils, celibacy, and other mortifications of the body are suicidal, and
consequently irreligious observances ; but the proper use of wholesome food and drink,
moderate sleep and work, marriage with one wife or husband, and living in society,
are religious observances, for they prolong human life. Do not therefore imitate the
pernicious example oi Christian ascetics, monks and nuns, but thankfully enjoy the
present, and the God of Nature will reward you with greater happiness in the future.
Employ your present life in creating and developing heavens in your eternal souls,
or in laying up treasures within yourselves of which all the monarchs and priests
cannot rob°you : for tyrants and knaves may confiscate your property, injure your
bodies, or even deprive you of life, but they cannot take away good desires and
great talents, as these remain inherent in the human soul after the separation from
the temporary body. Men, however, cannot acquire or possess a genius for wisdom
and goodness without improving external circumstances by assisting others to create
heavens within themselves, and by laying up material treasures for contemporaries
and posterity upon earth, which is the only and eternal abode of human souls.
You cannot serve the God of Nature except you love yourselves, by spiritually and
materially enriching the human race. Take care therefore to prolong the present life
of man by providing food, drink, clothes and shelter : for the God of Nature rewards the
human soul with intellect, and successively clothes her with a newly organized body, in
order that man may sow, reap, eat and store up food that nourishes the soul and body.
The thoughtlessness of the ignorant and credulous who erroneously believe that the
God of Nature is both the universal and the special providence of sentient beings, (Mat
thew vi. 25—31,) has diminished the stature of man, and shortened human life : the
thoughtfulness of Humanitarians, however, who know that the God of Nature is only
the universal providence, and that man must be his own special providence, will add to
the stature of man and lengthen human life. Take thought also for your innumerable
future lives by providing your children with better organized bodies and with a bettei
intellectual, moral, and physical education than you received from your parents, so that
the future generations may more easily earn for themselves the necessaries and luxuries
of life, and enjoy greater happiness than yourselves at present. Do not, however, ren
der yourselves miserable by anxieties, but live happily by being provident, by always
trying to improve your circumstances, and by having the implicit faith that the God
of Nature will reward your wise and persevering exertions with success in due time.
The good, think that everyone is animated by pure motives, until they have unde
niable proofs to the contrary ; the wicked, however, believe that everyone is bad, and
attribute impure motives to the most excellent actions ; for man cannot but judge ol
others from himself. The Humanitarian, for instance, thinks that his Christian
opponent, who receives honour and money for defending Christianity, is animated b}
pure motives, even after having convicted him of employing so impure a means a;
uttering falsehoods in the defence of Christianity, and in the attack on the Religion
of God. That very Christian, however, publicly accused his Humanitarian opponent,
who has to give his time and money in return for curses, slander, and persecution, o
teaching the Religion of God from the impure motives of honour and money, althougl
everything shews the contrary. Learn therefore to know and improve yourselves
and you will do justice to the good, exercise charity towards the evil, and point ou
mistakes, not for the purpose of reproaching and offending your erring brothers an
sisters, but of amending them.
As wise physicians visit first those who are dangerously ill, so Humanitarians wi
teach the Religion of God, especially to the ignorant, the deluded, and the viciou
They will perseveringly cast the pearls of knowledge and virtue before the dupes ar.
knaves until they pick them up ; for though these pearls may be trampled under foo
yet they cannot be injured ; and though the sower of them may prematurely lose h
or her life, yet not the consequent blessings, which consist in an eternally progress?
heaven, as well as in long and happy lives, by means of well organized bodies ar
favorable circumstances. Humanitarian teachers of both sexes will thereto
courageously visit the neglected, perverted and vicious : for those who are more ab
to appreciate the Religion of God, and are longing for it, will visit its teachers, ar
become themselves Humanitarian missionaries.
Wise parents encourage their children to grow wiser and to earn their own live I
hood, in order that they may become independent, but dissuade them from becomi.
�12
dependent through idleness and folly. If human parents have sufficient wisdom to
act thus beneficially to their children, how much more does our infinitely wise and
omnipresent Father encourage in His children mental and physical industry the
creators of self-reliance, but dissuade them from folly and idleness, the creators of
begging prayers ? Every one therefore that asketh, receiveth not ; and he that
seeketh in the wrong place, findeth not ; but those who judiciously sow, will reap •
and those who wisely look after realities, will find them.
From Love towards the God of Nature and mankind, perseveringly try to become
the best and wisest human being by desiring and actingfor yourself and others, even
the wisest and best would desire and act for themselves and others under similar
circumstances; but the foolish and evil things the unwise and wicked would that
men should do to them, do you neither to them nor to others.
Beware of the various priestcrafts which come to you in sheep’s clothing but
inwardly they are ravening wolves. You shall know them by their fruits. Do men
gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles ? Even so, every good tree bringeth forth
good fruits, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring
forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit ; hence all the
various priestcrafts, Christianity included, are corrupt trees, on which are grafted
more or less a few branches of the only good tree, the Religion of God. Every tree
that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wherefore
by the fruits ye shall know that the Religion of God is the only good tree, but that
all the various priestcrafts, called revealed religions, and derived from the Vedas,
Bible, Koran, etc., are corrupt trees, or wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Sinners can only save themselves by real repentance and a persevering trial o
making either a direct or indirect restitution and a return to the path of wisdom, love.f
and the viitues. Humanitarians know that the most ignorant and vicious human
selves, or souls, whether life-producing or not at present, must grow wiser and
better in one of their future lives than the wisest and best of their contemporaries.
The latter, however, will always transcend the former in wisdom and goodness, both
of which are the attributes of the God of Nature, and are therefore infinite. The
gradual conversion of every human self, by means of an infinitely wise, just, and mer
ciful correction in order to convert the sinner from folly and vice to wisdom and
goodness, and the progressive bliss or salvation of all human selves without one single
exception, is the true future that is in store for every man and woman, but it depends
upon the individuals themselves whether they will lay the foundation of their
i heaven in the present life or not.
The Humanitarian, J, KASPARY,
TO HIS BROTHER
The Christian, C. H. SPURGEON.
The so-called Religious Tract Society, 56, Paternoster Row, and 164, Piccadilly,
circulates an Illustrated Handbill entitled “ 7he Freethinker ” the contents of
which are extracted by your permission from your sermons, and printed for the Lon
don City Mission.
As this Tract may prevent credulous believers from becoming reasonable persons, I
feel it my duty to address you, although the most eloquent advocacy of Trinitarian
Paganism and Superstition will certainly not change one single real Freethinker into
a Christian Baptist.
About four years ago, when I listened for the first time to your oratory, I detected
doubt still lurking in your soul ; the vehemence with which you declare your belief
may mislead the credulous (of which your congregations are mostly composed), but
not God, or his real disciples—the true philosophers.
You may intoxicate others and yourself with the spirit of Christian delusion, and
temporarily stupify your reason and conscience ; but this will only increase your
misery Tour brother rejoices, however, in the certainty that you will not be
eternally damned, but that at some time you will save yourself by speaking against
starvation {Atheism) and gluttony (Christianity), and especially by advocating the
G^d)11^’ Ca^n^’ and digesting of wholesome and sufficient food (the Religion of
The love of ignorance, credulity, (both of which are the children of mental idleness)
money and honour, may temporarily detain people in its clutches; but it cannot pre
vent you from becoming a Humanitarian, even in this life, for when you deserve it,
God will certainly ordain you as an Apostle of His religion.
�13
Your brother feels only love and pity towards you, but he hates {not the truths')
the paganism and superstition you are teaching, since you have no right to recommend a wolf because of his sheep’s clothing.
You dare not deny that millions of men (Jesus included) have been murdered be
cause the Bible commanded it, and that millions of men are living now in ignorance,
credulity, slavery’, poverty, and vice, because the teachers and defenders of the Christ
ian Scriptures know that no wise and good person can believe in witchcraft, or in
capital punishment for blasphemy, adultery, disobedience to priests and parents, for
nication and sabbath-breaking (which latter you do yourself every Saturday, though
you teach the ten commandments on Sunday), all of which the Bible commands
and the New Testament sanctions.
When you slipped the anchor of your faith, you merely changed from a credulous
Christian into an unreasonable sceptic, and from the latter you changed into a
Bible idolater. You have, however, no need to retract the false statement that “ once
you were a man of reason,” and that “reason was your captain,” because you have
done so without knowing or intending it.
Every reader of this pamphlet will admit that only an unreasonable person, who
takesfolly for his captain, can say like brother C. H. Spurgeon :—
“ I gloried at the rapidity of my motion, but yet shuddered at the terrific rate with
which I passed the old land-marks of my faith. As I hurried forward, I began to
doubt my very existence ; I doubted if there were a world ; I doubted if there were
such a thing as myself; I went to the verge of the dreary realms of unbelief. I
doubted everything.”
Once you were in one extreme and doubted everything, now you are in the other
extreme, and believe that an ass has spoken, that a woman became pregnant without
having sexual intercourse with any man, that from Friday afternoon, the burial
of Jesus, till Sunday morning, the fabulous resurrection of Jesus are three days and
three nights, and that similar impossibilities invented by pious imposters have taken
place.
Once you were a mental Anarchist, now you are a mental Slave. When will you
deserve to enjoy mental Liberty ?
Do not blame Reason (the greatest gift of God, with which people are rewarded
in proportion to their merits), but blame the folly of man. Will you sneer at liberty
because slaves become anarchists, and vice versa ?
In future, confound neither Reason with credulity and scepticism, nor Liberty with
slavery and anarchy, because those who prejudice the people against reason and
liberty, blaspheme God, and injure themselves and others.
_ Your brother, like yourself, rejected his hereditary superstition ; but God being
his guiding star, Nature his ocean, and Reason his captain he is either sailing on a
calm sea (interspersed with beautiful islands, each transcending in beauty the pre
ceding ones), or anchoring in safe harbours during storms.
Parents and teachers had instructed you to remain in one of the narrow pools of
Christianity, but when you grew up, and your taste became developed, you found the
water putrid from the filth which priests had accumulated during many centuries.
You then left your native pool for the ocean, but instead of apprenticing yourself to
the greatest captain, commanding the best constructed ship (until you became
superior to your master, and could improve upon his vessel or invent a new and
better one), you plunged bodily into the breakers (like a reckless boy) and the waves
threw you bleeding upon the rocks. Howling, you left the ocean for that narrow
and putrid pool of Christianity, in which you are now living in the society of thcBaptists.
The arguments of hell moved you toplunge into the ocean and afterwards return tu
your present pool, but the arguments of heaven will move you to follow my example.
For at present you do not stand upon a rock of adamant, but you are gradually
sinking into the mire from which the Religion of God alone can extricate you.
Dr. Mosheim (the greatest Protestant authority in ecclesiastical history, who lived
and died as an orthodox Lutheran) states Book I, P. II, Ch. II, that,—
“ A variety of commentaries, filled with impositions and fables, on our Saviour’s
life and sentiments, were composed soon after his ascent into heaven, by men who.
without being bad, perhaps, were superstitious, simple, and piously deceitful. To
these were afterwards added other writings falsely ascribed to the most holy apostle?
by fraudulent individuals.”
This proves that the early Christians were as piously deceitful as the unknown
authors and interpolators of the accepted Gospels and the present Jesuits, who
knowingly tell falsehoods in order to promulgate or to maintain their paganism and
superstition.
1
�14
£
‘
{
I
s
Z
j
t
t
j
1
I
'
j
4
J
I
]
r
j
j
s
t
j
o
You say:—“Now, lashed to God’s (say priests’) gospel more firmly than ever,
standing as on a rock of adamant, etc.” Your supposed rock is rotten and crumbling.
After the revision of the gospel by the Houses of Convocation, you will find that
former Christian priests or monks have made the following remarkable interpolations
even after the year 350, viz :
Matthew v, 44 ; Mark xi, 26, and xvi, 9—20; Luke ix, 56, and xxiii, 34 ; John viii,
I—11; and 1 John v, 7.
My brother, C. H. Spurgeon, has based his faith on parchments, and upon the
honesty and infallibility of ancient miracle-workers and fortune tellers, but not upon
those of Spiritualists and Mormons. He swallows the camels of the Trinity, and of
the infallibility and honesty of the inhuman Moses and Samuel, as well as those of
Pope Peter and Jesuit Paul, but he strains at the gnat of the infallibility of the
Roman Catholic Pope.
I have not written a single word in this letter with the intention of offending any
person; but, nevertheless, I beg pardon for the necessary pain I must cause in order
to effect the cine of my mistaken brothers and sisters.
Do not prostitute your talents as an orator to render the people credulous, but
merit eternally progressive bliss by becoming a teacher of the Religion of God, and
assisting me to convert the English into a nation of Humanitarians.
I take the liberty of sending you my pamphlet, treating of the Religion of God,
which please to accept and to peruse. I shall also be most happy to correspond, converse, or debate with you (as two brothers who differ from each other ought to do)
whenever convenient for you and possible for me.
This letter will be published as an antidote against Christian tirades, designed to
bring reason and freethought in disrepute, but from personal regard towards you, I
shall not circulate this letter among your congregation.
There are not yet many persons fit to be Freethinkers, but there are many who are
able to promulgate the discoveries of worthy Freethinkers and all sane persons can
understand these real words of God. With or without your assistance you may rest
assured, however, that the whole human race will in time acknowledge the Religion
of God, so that every person will become a Humanitarian.
London, 13th July, 1870.
Pl
ci,
_
_______________________ _
■ “
’
f'Fifteen Doctrines of the Religion of God.
1. The God of Nature, beside whom there are no other gods, is
an eternal, omnipotent and indivisible Being of infinite wisdom,
justice and mercy, whose intellectual essence pervades the whole
universe, or all souls (undividable beings) and matter (dividable
substance). The God of Nature is therefore, to speak figuratively,
the soul of the whole universe and the latter is His body, or, to
cjj Quote the poetical language of Pope—
1 he;
wi
do
“ All are but parts of one stupendous Whole,
Whose Body Nature is, and God the Soul.”
fee' 2. The whole universe, or all undividable beings and dividable
Pa substance, is eternal. The God of Nature is therefore not the
a Creator of souls and matter but the eternal Organizer of the latter
d0>nd Rewarder and Corrector of sentient beings.
m; 3. The eternal earth, one of the innumerable stars, consists of
nia finite portion of matter, is the abode of a limited number of souls
1 ter0^ different species and has eternally all the requisites for the pro
mi: gressive happiness and misery of its human inhabitants.
sta
species of human souls is not only the highest species of
eai individuals on earth but in the whole universe. The wisest and best
Gc human soul is therefore the greatest being next to the Godof Nature.
o. The eternal human soul produces all the phenomena, called
vei
1 Go
�
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
The age of light
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Kaspary, Joachim
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 16 p. ; 21 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. P. 11 cropped so that characters missing at end of line. Contents: The God of nature -- The Lecture at Midland railway arch -- (delivered on the first two Sundays in September, 1871) -- The Lectures at Chelsea bridge (delivered on Sundays in June, 1872) -- The Lecture at Chelsea bridge (delivered Sunday, July 31st, 1870) -- The Prayer of humanitarians -- The Humanitarian J. Kaspary to this brother the Christian, C.H. Spurgeon -- Fifteen doctrines of the Religion of God.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
F. Farrah
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1872
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
G5328
Subject
The topic of the resource
Natural theology
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /><br /><span>This work (The age of light), 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>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Language
A language of the resource
English
Conway Tracts
Humanism
Natural Theology
-
https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/f4ea7d4a0230cc071a88958cecb30d5e.pdf?Expires=1712793600&Signature=onqt4CDEOsa9Q7KGaUemZQPq7mHYAEYKXQKvWYFfpsg8P8Xhv%7E5lUslErSh58oJlLPQdQd6%7ELipjuHcxP5K31ufHhCkU05MUTtg1ZnjbQDsRVnOMLPfVtKYMVGoSji-prLWEru%7EIrupPZjQi%7EFI4lMCXbbcBioHrRIFVIzs4uDr423guUyCblKlKSv%7EA5ygsMrrhJWEhYO4Jbp-jaz8d4II931w4uiEBgJFAtnnc9jtjjnNCpPb5ThEuvOrW3H5GV4bQ4cJYNQvISJT9rZuCiWQkHaHxFbMVsz3VIIDs9E49Y1ThwtbmaBU51xOsZLoimGcxz6SoGhiLNfTB1mmlFg__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
34c46eb8b613cfa6caf90fc3cc3ef96f
PDF Text
Text
DIALOGUES
CONCERNING NATURAL RELIGION.
No. II.
BY
DAVID HUME, Esq.
4 nezo Edition, with a Preface and Notes, which bring the Subject
do wn to the present time.
PUBLISHED BY THOMAS SCOTT,
NO. 11, THE TERRACE, FARQUHAR ROAD,
UPPER NORWOOD, LONDON, S.E,
Price One Shilling.
��DIALOGUES
CONCERNING NATURAL RELIGION.
PART VII.
DUT here, continued Philo, in examining the ancient
system of the soul of the world, there strikes me, all
on a sudden, a new idea, which, if just, must go near
to subvert all your reasoning, and destroy even your
first inferences, on which you repose such confidence.
If the universe bears a greater likeness to animal bodies
and to vegetables, than to the works of human art, it
is more probable, that its cause resembles the cause
of the former than that of the latter, and its origin
ought rather to be ascribed to generation or vegetation
than to reason or design. Your conclusion, even
according to your own principles, is therefore lame and
defective.
Pray open up this argument a little farther, said
Demea. For I do not rightly apprehend it, in that
concise manner in which you have expressed it.
Our friend Cleanthes, replied Philo, as you have
heard, asserts, that since no question of fact can be
proved otherwise than by experience, the existence of
a Deity admits not of proof from any other medium.
The world, says he, resembles the works of human
contrivance : Therefore its cause must also resemble
that of the other. Here I we may remark, that the
operation of one very small part of nature, to wit man,
upon another very small part, to wit that inanimate
E
�64 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
matter lying within his reach, is the rule hy which
Cleanthes judges of the origin of the whole, and he
measures objects, so widely disproportioned, by the
same individual standard. But to waive all objections
drawn from this topic; I affirm, that there are other
parts of the universe (besides the machines of human
invention) which bear still a greater resemblance to
the fabric of the world, and which therefore afford a
better conjecture concerning the universal origin of this
system. These parts are animals and vegetables. The
world plainly resembles more an animal or a vegetable,
than it does a watch or a knitting-loom. Its cause,
therefore, it is more probable, resembles the cause of the
former. The cause of the former is generation or vege
tation. The cause, therefore, of the world, we may
infer to be something similar or analogous to generation
or vegetation.
But how is it conceivable, said Demea, that the
world can arise from anything similar to vegetation or
generation ?
Very easily, replied Philo. In like manner as a tree
sheds its seed into the neighbouring fields, and produces
other trees ; so the great vegetable, the world, or this
planetary system, produces within itself certain seeds,
which, being scattered into the surrounding chaos,
vegetate into new worlds. A comet, for instance, is
the seed of a world ; and after it has been fully ripened,
by passing from sun to sun, and star to star, it is at last
tossed into the unformed elements which everywhere
surround this universe, and immediately sprouts up
into a new system.
Or if, for the sake of variety (for I see no other
advantage), we should suppose this world to be an
animal; a comet is the egg of this animal : and in
like manner as an ostrich lays its egg in the sand,
which, without any further care, hatches the egg, and
produces a new animal; so.................I understand
you, says Demea: But what wild, arbitrary suppositions
�Part VII.
65
are these ? What data have you for such extraordinary
conclusions ? And is the slight, imaginary resemblance
of the world to a vegetable or an animal sufficient to
establish the same inference with regard to both ?
Objects, which are in general so widely different;
ought they to be a standard for each other?
Right cries Philo : This is the topic on which I have
all along insisted. I have still asserted, that we have
no data to establish any system of cosmogony. Our
experience, so imperfect in itself, and so limited both
in extent and duration, can afford us no probable
conjecture concerning the whole of things. But if we
must needs fix on some hypothesis; by what rule,
pray, ought we to determine our choice ? Is there any
other rule than the greater similarity of the objects
compared ? And does not a plant or an animal, which
springs from vegetation or generation, bear a stronger
resemblance to the world, than does any artificial
machine, which arises from reason and design ?
But what is this vegetation and generation of which
you talk, said Demea ? Can you explain their opera
tions, and anatomize that fine internal structure on
which they depend 1
As much, at least, replied Philo, as Cleanthes can
explain the operations of reason, or anatomize that in
ternal structure on which it depends. But without
any such elaborate disquisitions, when I see an animal,
I infer that it sprang from generation ; and that with
as great certainty as you conclude a house to have been
reared by design. These words, generation, reason,
mark only certain powers and energies in nature,
whose effects are known, but whose essence is incom
prehensible ; and one of these principles, more than
the other, has no privilege for being made a standard
to the whole of nature.
In reality, Demea, it may reasonably be expected,
that the larger the views are which we take of things,
the better will they conduct us in our conclusions
�66 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
concerning such, extraordinary and such magnificent
subjects. In this little corner of the world alone, there
are four principles, Reason, Instinct, Generation,
Vegetation, which are similar to each other, and are
the causes of similar effects. What a number of other
principles may we naturally suppose in the immense
extent and variety of the universe, could we travel
from planet to planet and from system to system, in
order to examine each part of this mighty fabric ?
Any one of these four principles above mentioned (and
a hundred others, which lie open to our conjecture)
may afford us a theory, by which to judge of the
origin of the world ; and it is a palpable and egregious
partiality, to confine our view entirely to that principle
by which our own minds operate. Were this principle
more intelligible on that account, such a partiality
might be somewhat excusable: but reason, in its
internal fabric and structure, is really as little known
to us as instinct or vegetation ; and perhaps even that
vague, undeterminate word, Nature, to which the
vulgar refer everything, is not at the bottom more
inexplicable. The effects of these principles are
all known to us from experience: but the principles
themselves, and their manner of operation, are totally
unknown : nor is it less intelligible, or less conformable
to experience, to say, that the world arose by vegetation
from a seed shed by another world, than to say that it
arose from a divine reason or contrivance, according to
the sense in which Cleanthes understands it.
But methinks, said Demea, if the world had a
vegetative quality, and could sow the seeds of new
worlds into the infinite chaos, this power would be
still an additional argument for design in its author.
For whence could arise so wonderful a faculty but
from design ? Or how can order spring from any
thing which perceives not that order which it bestows ?
You need only look around you, replied Philo, to
satisfy yourself with regard to this question. A tree
�Part VII.
6y
bestows order and organization on that tree which
springs from it, without knowing the order : an animal,
in the same manner, on its offspring; a bird, on its
nest: and instances of this kind are even more
frequent in the world than those of order, which arise
from reason and contrivance. To say that all this
order in animals and vegetables proceeds ultimately
from design, is begging the question : nor can that
great point be ascertained otherwise than by proving,
a priori, both that order is, from its nature, inseparably
attached to thought; and that it can never, of itself,
or from original unknown principles, belong to matter.
But further, Demea ; this objection, which you urge,
can never be made use of by Cleanthes, without
renouncing a defence which he has already made
against one of my objections. When I inquired con
cerning the cause of that supreme reason and
intelligence, into which he resolves everything; he
told me, that the impossibility of satisfying such
inquiries could never be admitted as an objection in
any species of philosophy. “ We must stop somewhere,”
says he; “ nor is it ever within the reach of human
capacity to explain ultimate causes, or show the last
connections of any objects. It is sufficient, if the steps,
so far as we go, are supported by experience and
observation.” Now, that vegetation and generation,
as well as reason, are experienced to be principles of
order in nature, is undeniable. If I rest my system of
cosmogony on the former, preferably to the latter, it is
at my choice. The matter seems entirely arbitrary.
And when Cleanthes asks me what is the cause of my
great vegetative or generative faculty, I am equally
entitled to ask him the cause of his great reasoning
principle. These questions we have agreed to forbear on
both sides; and it is chiefly his interest on the present
occasion to stick to this agreement. Judging by our
limited and imperfect experience, generation has some
privileges above reason : for we see every day the latter
arise from the former, never the former from the latter.
�68 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
Compare, I beseech you, the consequences on both
sides. The world, say I, resembles an animal; there
fore it is an animal, therefore it arose from generation.
The steps, I confess, are wide ; yet there is some small
appearance of analogy in each step. The world, says
Cleanthes, resembles a machine • therefore it is a
machine, therefore it arose from design. The steps
here are equally wide, and the analogy less striking.
And if he pretends to carry on my hypothesis a step
farther, and to infer design or reason from the great
principle of generation, on which I insist; I may, with
better authority, use the same freedom to push farther
lus hypothesis, and infer a divine generation or
theogony from his principle of reason. I have at least
some faint shadow of experience, which is the utmost
that can ever be attained in the present subject.
.Beason, in innumerable instances, is observed to arise
from the principle of generation, and never to arise
from any other principle.
Hesiod, and all the ancient Mythologists, were so
struck with this analogy, that they universally explained
the origin of nature from an animal birth, and copula
tion. Plato too, so far as he is intelligible, seems to
have adopted some such notion in his Timaeus.
The Bramins assert, that the world arose from an
infinite spider, who spun this whole complicated mass
from his bowels, and annihilates afterwards the whole or
any part of it, by absorbing it again, and resolving it into
his own essence. Here is a species of cosmogony,
which appears to us ridiculous; because a spider is a
little contemptible animal, whose operations we are
never likely to take for a model of the whole universe.
But still here is a new species of analogy, even in our
globe. And were there a planet wholly inhabited by
spiders, (which is very possible), this inference would
there appear as natural and irrefragable as that which
in our planet ascribes the origin of all things to design
and intelligence, as explained by Cleanthes. Why an
�Part VIII.
69
orderly system may not be spun from the belly as well
as from the brain, it will be difficult for him to give a
satisfactory reason.
I must confess, Philo, replied Cleanthes, that of all
men living, the task which you have undertaken, of
raising doubts and objections, suits you best, and
seems, in a manner, natural and unavoidable to you.
So great is your fertility of invention, that I am not
ashamed to acknowledge myself unable, on a sudden,
to solve regularly such out-of-the-way difficulties as you
incessantly start upon me : though I clearly see, in
general, their fallacy and error. And I question not,
but you are yourself, at present, in the same case, and
have not the solution so ready as the objection : while
you must be sensible, that common sense and reason
are entirely against you ; and that such whimsies as you
have delivered, may puzzle, but never can convince us.
PART VIII.
What you ascribe to the fertility of my invention
replied Philo, is entirely owing to the nature of the
subject. In subjects, adapted to the narrow compass
of human reason, there is commonly but one deter
mination, which carries probability or conviction with it;
■and to a man of sound judgment, all other suppositions,
but that one, appear entirely absurd and chimerical.
But in such questions as the present, a hundred
contradictory views may preserve a kind of imperfect
analogy ; and invention has here full scope to exert
itself. Without any great effort of thought, I believe
that I could, in an instant, propose other systems
of cosmogony, which would have some faint appearance
of truth; though it is a thousand, a million to one,
if either yours or any one of mine be the true system.
For instance; what if I should revive the old
Epicurean hypothesis ? This is commonly, and I believe
�7° Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
justly, esteemed the most absurd system that has yet
been proposed ; yet, I know not, whether, with a few
alterations, it might_ not be brought to bear a faint
appearance of probability. Instead of supposing matter
infinite, as Epicurus did ; let us suppose it finite. A
finite number of particles'is only susceptible of finite
transpositions j and it must happen, in an eternal
duration, that every possible order or position must be
tried an infinite number of times. This world, there
fore, with all its events, even the most minute, has
before been produced and destroyed, and will again be
produced and destroyed, without any bounds and
limitations. No one, who has a conception of the
powers of infinite, in comparison of finite, will ever
scruple this determination.
But this supposes, said Demea, that matter can
acquire motion, without any voluntary agent or first
mover.
And where is the difficulty, replied Philo, of that
supposition ? Every event, before experience, is equally
difficult and incomprehensible; and every event, after
experience, is equally easy and intelligible. Motion,
in many instances, from gravity, from elasticity, from
electricity, begins in matter, without any known
voluntary agent: and to suppose always, in these cases,
an unknown voluntary agent, is mere hypothesis ; and
hypothesis attended with no advantages. The beginning
of motion in matter itself is as conceivable a priori as
its communication from mind and intelligence.
Besides ; why may not motion have been propagated
by impulse through all eternity; and the same stock
of it, or nearly the same, be still upheld in the
universe ? As much as is lost by the composition of
motion, as much is gained by its resolution. And
whatever the causes are, the fact is certain, that matter
is, and always has been, in continual agitation, as far
as human experience or tradition reaches. There is not
probably, at present, in the whole universe, one particle
of matter at absolute rest.
�Part VIII.
71
And this very consideration too, continued Philo,
which we have stumbled on in the course of the argu
ment, suggests a new hypothesis of cosmogony, that is
not absolutely absurd and improbable. Is there a system,
an order, an economy of things, by which matter can
preserve that perpetual agitation which seems essential
to it, and yet maintain a constancy in the forms which
it produces ? There certainly is such an economy : for
this is actually the case with the present world. The
continual motion of matter, therefore, in less than in
finite transpositions, must produce this economy or
order; and by its very nature, that order, when once
established, supports itself for many ages, if not to
eternity. But wherever matter is so poised, arranged,
and adjusted, as to continue in perpetual motion, and
yet preserve a constancy in the forms, its situation must,
of necessity, have all the same appearance of art and
contrivance which we observe at present. All the
parts of each form must have a relation to each other,
and to the whole: and the whole itself must have a
relation to the other parts of the universe; to the
element, in which the form subsists ; to the materials,
with which it repairs its waste and decay; and to
every other form, which is hostile or friendly. A
defect in any of these particulars destroys the form;
and the matter, of which it is composed, is again let
loose, and is thrown into irregular motions and fermen
tations, till it unite itself to some other regular form.
If no such form be prepared to receive it, and if there
be a great quantity of this corrupted matter in the
universe, the universe itself is entirely disordered;
whether it be the feeble embryo of a world in its first
beginnings that is thus destroyed, or the rotten carcase
of one languishing in old age and infirmity. In
either case, a chaos ensues; till finite, though in
numerable revolutions produce at last some forms,
whose parts and organs are so adjusted as to support
the forms amidst a continued succession of matter.
�Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
Suppose, (for we shall endeavour to vary the ex
pression) that matter were thrown into any position,
by a blind, unguided force ; it is evident, that this
first position must in all probability be the most
confused and most disorderly imaginable, without any
resemblance to those works of human contrivance, which,
along with a symmetry of parts discover an adjustment
of means to ends, and a tendency to self-preservation.
If the actuating force cease after this operation, matter
must remain for ever in disorder, and continue an
immense chaos, without any proportion or activity.
But suppose, that the actuating force, whatever it be,
still continues in matter, this first position will
immediately give place to a second, which will likewise
in all probability be as disorderly as the first, and so on
through many successions of changes and revolutions.
No particular order or position ever continues a
moment unaltered.
The original force, still remain
ing in activity, gives a perpetual restlessness to matter.
Every possible situation is produced, and instantly
destroyed. If a glimpse or dawn of order appears for
a moment, it is instantly hurried away, and confounded
by that never-ceasing force which actuates every part of
matter.
Thus the universe goes on for many ages in a con
tinued succession of chaos and disorder. But is it not
possible that it may settle at last, so as not to lose its
motion and active force (for that we have supposed
inherent in it), yet so as to preserve a uniformity of
appearance, amidst the continual motion and fluctuation
of its parts ? This we find to be the case with the
universe at present. Every individual is perpetually
changing, and every part of every individual; and yet
the whole remains, in appearance, the same. May we
not hope for such a position, or rather be assured of it,
from the eternal revolutions of unguided matter; and
may not this account for all the appearing wisdom
and contrivance which is in the universe ? Let us
�Part VIII.
73
contemplate the subject a little, and we shall find that
this adjustment, if attained by matter, of a seeming
stability in the forms, with a real and perpetual
revolution or motion of parts, affords a plausible, if not
a true solution of the difficulty.
It is in vain, therefore, to insist upon the uses of the
parts in animals or vegetables, and their curious
adjustment to each other. I would fain know how an
animal could subsist, unless its parts were so adjusted ?
Do we not find, that it immediately perishes whenever
this adjustment ceases, and that its matter, corrupting,
tries some new form ? It happens, indeed, that the
parts of the world are so well adjusted, that some
regular form immediately lays claim to this corrupted
matter: and if it were not so, could the world subsist ?
Must it not dissolve as well as the animal, and pass
through new positions and situations; till in a great,
but finite succession, it fall at last into the present
or some such order.
. It is well, replied Cleanthes, you told us, that this
hypothesis was suggested on a sudden, in the course of
the argument. Had you had leisure to examine it, you
would soon have perceived the insuperable objections
to which it is exposed. No form, you say, can subsist
unless it possess those powers and organs requisite for
its subsistence : some new order or economy must be
tried, and so on, without intermission ; till at last some'
order, which can support and maintain itself, is fallen
upon. But according to this hypothesis, whence arise
the many conveniences and advantages which men and
all animals possess ? Two eyes, two ears, are not
absolutely necessary for the subsistence of the species.
Human race might have been propagated and preserved,
without horses, dogs, cows, sheep, and those innumer
able fruits and products which serve to our satisfaction
and enjoyment. If no camels had been created for the
use of man in the sandy deserts of Africa and Arabia
would the world have been dissolved ? If no loadstone
�74 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
had been framed to give that wonderful and useful
direction to the needle, would human society and the
human kind have been immediately extinguished ?
Though the maxims of Nature be in general very
frugal, yet instances of this kind are far from being
rare; and any one of them is a sufficient proof of
design, and of a benevolent design, which gave rise to
the order and arrangement of the universe.
At least, you may safely infer, said Philo, that the
foregoing hypothesis is so far incomplete and imperfect;
which I shall not scruple to allow. But can we ever
reasonably expect greater success in any attempts of
this nature 1 Or can we ever hope to erect a system of
cosmogony, that will be liable to no exceptions, and
will contain no circumstance repugnant to our limited
and imperfect experience of the analogy of Nature 1
Your theory itself cannot surely pretend to any such
advantage; even though you have run into Anthropo
morphism, the better to preserve a conformity to
common experience. Let us once more put it to trial.
In all instances which we have ever seen, ideas are
copied from real objects, and are ectypal, not
archetypal, to express myself in learned terms : You
reverse this order, and give thought the precedence.
In all instances which we have ever seen, thought has
no influence upon matter, except where that matter is
so conjoined with it as to have an equal reciprocal
influence upon it. No animal can move immediately
anything but the members of its own body ; and
indeed, the equality of action and reaction seem to be
a universal law of Nature. But your theory implies a
contradiction to this experience. These instances, with
many more, which it were easy to collect, (particularly
the supposition of a mind or system of thought that is
eternal, or, in other words, an animal ingenerable and
immortal); these instances, I say, may teach all of us
sobriety in condemning each other ; and let us see, that
as no system of this kind ought ever to be received
�Part IX.
75
from a slight analogy, so neither ought any to he
rejected on account of a small incongruity. For that
is an inconvenience from which we can justly pronounce
no one to he exempted.
All religious systems, it is confessed, are subject to
great and insuperable difficulties.
Each disputant
triumphs in histurn; while he carries on an offensive war,
and exposes the absurdities, barbarities, and pernicious
tenets of his antagonist. But all of them, on the whole,
prepare a complete triumph for the Sceptic ; who tells
them that no system ought ever to be embraced with
regard to such subjects : for this plain reason, that no
absurdity ought ever to be assented to with regard to
any subject. A total suspense of judgment is here
our only reasonable resource. And if every attack, as
is commonly observed, and no defence, among Theolo
gians, is successful; how complete must be his victory,
who remains always, with all mankind, on the
offensive, and has himself no fixed station or abiding
city,* which he is ever, on any occasion, obliged to
defend ?
PART IX.
But if so many difficulties attend the argument a pos
teriori, said Demea; had we not better adhere to that
simple and sublime argument a priori, which, by offer
ing to us infallible demonstration, cuts off at once all
doubt and difficulty ? By this argument, too, we may
prove the Infinity of the divine attributes ; which, I
am afraid, can never be ascertained with certainty from
any other topic. For how can an effect, which either
is finite, or, for aught we know, may be so; how can
such an effect, I say, prove an infinite cause ? The
unity too of the Divine Nature, it is very difficult, if
not absolutely impossible, to deduce merely from con
templating the works of nature; nor will the uni* Hebrews xiii. 14.
�7 6 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
formity alone of the plan, even were it allowed, give
us any assurance of that attribute. Whereas the argu
ment a priori ....
You seem to reason, Demea, interposed Cleanthes, as
if those advantages and conveniences in the abstract
argument were full proofs of its solidity. But it is
first proper, in my opinion, to determine what argument
of this nature you choose to insist on; and we shall
afterwards, from itself, better than from its useful con
sequences, endeavour to determine what value we ought
to put upon it.
The argument, replied Demea, which I would insist
on, is the common one. Whatever exists, must have
a cause or reason of its existence; it being absolutely
impossible for anything to produce itself, or be the
cause of its own existence. In mounting up, therefore,
from effects to causes, we must either go on in tracing
an infinite succession, without any ultimate cause at all;
or must at last have recourse to some ultimate cause,
that is necessarily existent: now that the first supposi
tion is absurd, may be thus proved. In the infinite
chain or succession of cause and effect, each single effect
is determined to exist by the power and efficacy of that
cause which immediately preceded; but the whole
eternal chain or succession, taken together, is not
determined or caused by anything; and yet it is
evident that it requires a cause or reason, as much
as any particular object which begins to exist in time.
The question is still reasonable, why this particular
succession of causes existed from eternity, and not
any other succession, or no succession at all. If
there be no necessarily-existent being, any supposi
tion which can be formed is equally possible; nor is
there any more absurdity in Nothing’s having existed
from eternity, than there is in that succession of causes
which constitutes the universe. What was it, then,
which determined Something to exist rather than
Nothing, and bestowed being on a particular possibility,
�Part IX.
77
exclusive of the rest ? External causes, there are
supposed to he none. Chance is a word without a
meaning. Was it Nothing ? But that can never pro
duce anything. We must, therefore, have recourse to
a necessarily-existent Being, who carries the Reason of
his existence in himself; and who cannot be supposed
not to exist, without an express contradiction. There
is consequently such a Being ; that is, there is a Deity.
I shall not leave it to Philo, said Cleanthes, (though
I know that the starting objections is his chief delight)
to point out the weakness of this metaphysical reason
ing. It seems to me so obviously ill-grounded, and at
the same time of so little consequence to the cause of
true piety and religion, that I shall myself venture to
show the fallacy of it.
I shall begin with observing, that there is an evident
absurdity in pretending to demonstrate a matter of fact,
or to prove it by any arguments a priori. Nothing is
demonstrable, unless the contrary implies a contra
diction. Nothing, that is distinctly conceivable, im
plies a contradiction. Whatever we conceive as
existent, we can also conceive as non-existent. There
is no being, therefore, whose non-existence implies a
contradiction. Consequently there is no being, whose
existence is demonstrable. I propose this argument as
entirely decisive, and am willing to rest the whole
controversy upon it.
It is pretended that the Deity is a necessarilyexistent being; and this necessity of his existence is
attempted to be explained by asserting, that if we knew
his whole essence or nature, we should perceive it to
be as impossible for him not to exist as for twice two
not to be four. But it is evident, that this can never
happen, while our faculties remain the same as at
present. It will still be possible for us, at any time,
to conceive the non-existence of what we formerly con
ceived to exist; nor can the mind ever lie under a
necessity of supposing any object to remain always
�7 8 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
in. being j in the same manner as we lie under a
necessity of always conceiving twice two to be four.
The words, therefore, necessary existence, have no
meaning; or, which is the same thing, none that is
■consistent.
But farther : why may not the material universe be
the necessarily-existent Being, according to this pre
tended explication of necessity? We dare not affirm
that we know all the qualities of matterj and for aught
we can determine, it may contain some qualities, which,
were they known, would make its non-existence appear
as great a contradiction as that twice two is five. I
find only one argument employed to prove that the
material world is not the necessarily-existent Being;
.and this argument is derived from the contingency
both of the matter and the form of the world. “ Any
particle of matter,” it is said *, “ may be conceived to
be annihilated; and any form may be conceived to be
altered. Such an annihilation or alteration, therefore,
is not impossible.” But it seems a great partiality not
to perceive, that the same argument extends equally to
the Deity, so far as we have any conception of him;
and that the mind can at least imagine him to be non
existent, or his attributes to be altered. It must be
some unknown, inconceivable qualities, which can
make his non-existence appear impossible, or his attri
butes unalterable : and no reason can be assigned, why
these qualities may not belong to matter. As they are
altogether unknown and inconceivable, they can never
be proved incompatible with it.
Add to this, that in tracing an eternal succession of
objects, it seems absurd to inquire for a general cause
or first author. How can anything that exists from
eternity, have a cause; since that relation implies a
priority in time, and a beginning of existence ?
In such a chain, too, or succession of objects, each
part is caused by that which preceded it, and causes
* Dr Clarke.
�Part IX.
79
that which succeeds it. Where then is the difficulty ?
But the whole, you say, wants a cause. I answer, that
the uniting of these parts into a whole, like the
uniting of several distinct counties into one king
dom, or several distinct members into one body, is
performed merely by an arbitrary act of the mind, and
has no influence on the nature of things. Did I show
you the particular causes of each individual in a collec
tion of twenty particles of matter, I should think it
very unreasonable, should you afterwards ask me, what
was the cause of the whole twenty. That is suffi
ciently explained in explaining the cause of the parts.
Though the reasonings which you have urged,
Cleanthes, may well excuse me, said Philo, from start
ing any farther difficulties; yet I cannot forbear
insisting still upon another topic. It is observed by
arithmeticians, that the products of 9 compose always
either 9, or some lesser product of 9 ; if you add to
gether all the characters, of which any of the former
products is composed. Thus, of 18, 27, 36, which are
products of 9, you make 9 by adding 1 to 8, 2 to 7, 3
to 6. Thus, of 369 is a product also of 9 ; and if you
add 3, 6, and 9, you make 18, a lesser product of 9 *.
To a superficial observer, so wonderful a regularity may
be admired as the effect either of chance or design:
but a skilful algebraist immediately concludes it to be
the work of necessity; and demonstrates, that it must
for ever result from the nature of these numbers. Is it
not probable, I ask, that the whole economy of the
universe is conducted by a like necessity, though no
human algebra can furnish a key which solves the diffi
culty ? And instead of admiring the order of natural
beings, may it not happen, that, could we penetrate into
the intimate nature of bodies, we should clearly see
why it was absolutely impossible they could ever admit
of any other disposition ? So dangerous is it to intro
duce this idea of necessity into the present question 1
* Republique des Lettres, Aout, 1685.
F
�80
Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
and so naturally does it afford an inference directly
opposite to the religious hypothesis !
But dropping all these abstractions, continued Philo ;
and confining ourselves to more familiar topics ; I shall
venture to add an observation, that the argument a
priori has seldom been found very convincing, except
to people of a metaphysical head, who have accustomed
themselves to abstract reasoning, and who, finding from
mathematics, that the understanding frequently leads
to truth, through obscurity, and contrary to first appear
ances, have transferred the same habit of thinking to
subjects where it ought not to have place. Other
people, even of good sense and the best inclined to
religion, feel always some deficiency in such argu
ments, though they are not perhaps able to explain dis
tinctly where it lies. A certain proof, that men ever
did, and ever will, derive their religion from other
sources than from this species of reasoning.
P A R T X.
It is my opinion, I own, replied Demea, that each man
feels, in a manner, the truth of religion within his own
breast; and from a consciousness of his imbecility and
misery, rather than from any reasoning, is led to
seek protection from that being, on whom he and
all nature is dependent. So anxious or so tedious are
even the best scenes of life, that futurity is still the
object of all our hopes and fears. We incessantly look
forward, and endeavour, by prayers, adoration and
sacrifice, to appease those unknown powers, whom we
find, by experience, so able to afflict and oppress us.
Wretched creatures that we are ! what resource for us
amidst the innumerable ills of life, did not religion sug
gest some methods of atonement, and appease those
terrors with which we are incessantly agitated and
tormented ?
�Part X.
81
I am indeed persuaded, said Philo, that the best, and
indeed the only, method of bringing every one to a due
sense of religion, is by just representations of the
misery and wickedness of men. And for that purpose
a talent of eloquence and strong imagery is more
requisite than that of reasoning and argument. For is
it necessary to prove, what every one feels within bimself? It is only necessary to make us feel it, if
possible, more intimately and sensibly.
The people, indeed, replied Demea, are sufficiently
convinced of this great and melancholy truth. The
miseries of life; the unhappiness of man; the general
corruptions of our nature; the unsatisfactory enjoyment
of pleasures, riches, honours; these phrases have
become almost proverbial in all languages. And who
can doubt of what all men declare from their own
immediate feeling and experience ?
In this point, said Philo, the learned are perfectly
agreed with the vulgar; and in all letters, sacred and
profane, the topic of human misery has been insisted
on with the most pathetic eloquence that sorrow and
melancholy could inspire. The poets, who speak from
sentiment, without a system, and whose testimony has
therefore the more authority, abound in images of this
nature. From Homer down to Dr Young, the whole
inspired tribe have ever been sensible, that no other re
presentation of things would suit the feeling and
observation of each individual.
As to authorities, replied Demea, you need not seek
them. Look round this library of Cleanthes. I shall
venture to affirm, that, except authors of particular
sciences, such as chemistry or botany, who have no
occasion to treat of human life, there is scarce one of
those innumerable writers, from whom the sense of
human misery has not, in some passage or other, extorted
a complaint and confession of it. At least, the chance
is entirely on that side; and no one author has ever, so
far as I can recollect, been so extravagant as to deny it.
�82 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
There you must excuse me, said Philo : Leibnitz has
denied it; and is perhaps the first * who ventured upon
so bold and paradoxical an opinion; at least, the first
who made it essential to his philosophical system.
And by being the first, replied Demea, might he not
have been sensible of his error ? For is this a subject
in which philosophers can propose to make discoveries,
especially in so late an age ? And can any man hope
by a simple denial (for the subject scarcely admits of
reasoning) to bear down the united testimony of man
kind, founded on sense and consciousness 2
And why should man, added he, pretend to an
exemption from the lot of all other animals ? The whole
earth, believe me, Philo, is cursed and polluted. + A
perpetual war is kindled amongst all living creatures.
Necessity, hunger, want, stimulate the strong and
courageous: Fear, anxiety, terror, agitate the weak and
infirm. The first entrance into life gives anguish to the
new-born infant and to its wretched parent: weakness,
impotence, distress, attend each stage of that life: and
it is at last finished in agony and horror.
Observe too, says Philo, the curious artifices of Nature
in order to embitter the life of every living being. The
stronger prey upon the weaker, .and keep them in per
petual terror and anxiety. The weaker too, in their
turn, often prey upon the stronger, and vex and molest
them without relaxation. Consider that innumerable
race of insects, which either are bred on the body of
each animal, or flying about infix their stings in him,
These insects have others still less than themselves,
which torment them. And thus on each hand, before
and behind, above and below, every animal is surround
ed with enemies, which incessantly seek his misery and
destruction.
Man alone, said Demea, seems to be, in part, an
That sentiment had been maintained by Dr King*, and some few
others, before Leibnitz; though by none of so great fame as that
German philosopher.
t Romans viii. 22.
�Part X.
exception to this rule. For by combination in society,
he can easily master lions, tigers, and bears, whose
greater strength and agility naturally enable them to
prey upon him.
On the contrary, it is here chiefly, cried Philo, that
the uniform and equal maxims of Nature are most ap
parent. Man, it is true, can, by combination, surmount
all his real enemies, and become master of the whole
animal creation : but does he not immediately raise up
to himself imaginary enemies, the daemons of his fancy,
who haunt him with superstitious terrors, and blast
every enjoyment of life ? His pleasure, as he imagines,
becomes, in their eyes, a crime: his food and repose give
them umbrage and offence : his very sleep and dreams
furnish new materials to anxious fear: and even death,
his refuge from every other ill, presents only the dread
of endless and innumerable woes. Nor does the wolf
molest more the timid flock, than superstition does the
anxious breast of wretched mortals.
Besides, consider, Demea: This very society, by which
we surmount those wild beasts, our natural enemies;
what new enemies does it not raise to us ? What woe and
misery does it not occasion 1 Man is the greatest enemy
of man. Oppression, injustice, contempt, contumely,
violence, sedition, war, calumny, treachery, fraud; by
these they mutually torment each other: and they would
soon dissolve that society which they had formed, were
it not for the dread of still greater ills, which must
attend their separation.
But though these external insults, said Demea, from
animals, from men, from all the elements, which assault
us, form a frightful catalogue of woes, they are nothing
in comparison of those which arise within ourselves,
from the distempered condition of our mind and body.
How many lie under the lingering torment of diseases ?
Hear the pathetic enumeration of the great poet—
Intestine stone and ulcer, colic-pangs,
Daemoniac frenzy, moping melancholy,
�84 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
And moon-struck madness, pining atrophy,
Marasmus, and wide-wasting pestilence.
Dire was the tossing, deep the groans : Despair
Tended the sick, busiest from couch to couch.
And over them triumphant Death his dart
Shook ; but delay’d to strike, tho’ oft invok’d
With vows, as their chief good and final hope.*
The disorders of the mind, continued Demea, though
more secret, are not perhaps less dismal and vexatious.
Remorse, shame, anguish, rage, disappointment, anxiety,
fear, dejection, despair; who has ever passed through
life without cruel inroads from these tormentors ?
How many have scarcely ever felt any better sensa
tions ? Labour and poverty, so abhorred by every one,
are the certain lot of the far greater number : and
those few privileged persons, who enjoy ease and
opulence, never reach contentment or true felicity.
All the goods of life united would not make a very
happy man : but all the ills united would make a
wretch indeed ; and any one of them almost (and who
can be free from every one ?) nay often the absence of
one good (and who can possess all ?) is sufficient to
render life ineligible.
Were a stranger to drop, on a sudden, into this world,
I would show him, as a specimen of its ills, an hospital
full of diseases, a prison crowded with malefactors
and debtors, a field of battle strewed with carcases, a
fleet foundering in the ocean, a nation languishing under
tyranny, famine, or pestilence. To turn the gay side
of life to him and give him a notion of its pleasures ;
whither should I conduct him ? to a ball, to an opera,
to court 1 He might justly think, that I was only
showing him a diversity of distress and sorrow.
There is no evading such striking instances, said
Philo, but by apologies, which still farther aggravate
the charge. Why have all men, I ask, in all ages,
complained incessantly of the miseries of life ? . . .
They have no just reason, says one : these complaints
* Paradise Lost, xi. 484— 493.
�Part X.
85
proceed only from their discontented, repining, anxious
disposition. . . . And can there possibly, I reply, be a
more certain foundation of misery, than such a
wretched temper ?
But if they were really as unhappy as they pretend,
•says my antagonist, why do they remain in life 1 . . .
Not satisfied with life, afraid of death.
This is the secret chain, say I, that holds us. We are
terrified, not bribed to the continuance of our ex
istence.
It is only a false delicacy, he may insist, which a
few refined spirits indulge, and which has spread these
■complaints among the whole race ? of mankind. . . .
And what is this delicacy, I ask, which you blame ?
Is it anything but a greater sensibility to all the
pleasures and pains of life ? and if the man of a
delicate, refined temper, by being so much more alive
than the rest of the world, is only so much more
unhappy; what judgment must we form in general of
human life ?
Let men remain at rest, says our adversary; and
they will be easy. They are willing artificers of their
own misery. . . . No ! reply I: an anxious languor
follows their repose; disappointment, vexation, trouble
their activity and ambition.
I can observe something like what you mention in
some others, replied Cleanthes : but I confess, I feel
little or nothing of it in myself; and hope that it is
not so common as you represent it.
If you feel not human misery yourself, cried Demea,
I congratulate you on so happy a singularity. Others,
seemingly the most prosperous, have not been ashamed
to vent their complaints in the most melancholy
strains. Let us attend to the great, the fortunate
-emperor, Charles V. when, tired with human grandeur,
he resigned all his extensive dominions into the hands
of his son. In the last harangue, which he made on
�86 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
that memorable occasion, he publicly avowed, “ that
the greatest prosperities which he had ever enjoyed, had
been mixed with so many adversities, that he might
truly say he had never enjoyed any satisfaction or
contentmentBut did the retired life, in which he
sought for shelter, afford him any greater happiness 1
If we may credit his son’s account, his repentance
commenced the very day of his resignation.
Cicero’s fortune, from small beginnings, rose to the
greatest lustre and renown; yet what pathetic com
plaints of the ills of life do his familiar letters, as well
as philosophical discourses, contain ? And suitably to
his own experience, he introduces Cato, the great, the
fortunate Cato, protesting in his old age, that had he
a new life in his offer, he would reject the present.
Ask yourself, ask any of your acquaintance, whether
they would live over again the last ten or twenty years
of their life. No ! but the next twenty, they say, will
be better :
And from the dregs of life, think to receive
What the first sprightly running could not give. *
Thus at last they find (such is the greatness of human
misery; it reconciles even contradictions) that they
complain, at once of the shortness of life, and of its
vanity and sorrow.
And is it possible, Cleanthes, said Philo, that after
all these reflections, and infinitely more, which might
be suggested, you can still persevere in your Anthro
pomorphism, and assert the moral attributes of the
Deity, his justice, benevolence, mercy, and rectitude,
to be of the same nature with these virtues in human
creatures ? His power we allow infinite : whatever
he wills is executed: but neither man nor any other
animal is happy: therefore he does not will their
happiness. His wisdom is infinite: he is never
mistaken in choosing the means to any end : but the
course of Nature tends not to human or animal felicity :
* From Dryden’s “ Aurengzebe. ”
�Part X.
87
therefore it is not established for that purpose.
Through the whole compass of human knowledge,
there are no inferences more certain and infallible than
these. In what respect, then, do his benevolence and
mercy resemble the benevolence and mercy of men ?
Epicurus’ old questions are yet unanswered.
Is he willing to prevent evil, but not able 1 then ishe impotent. Is he able, but not willing ? then is he
malevolent. Is he both able and willing 1 whence
then is evil 1
You ascribe, Cleanthes, (and I believe justly) a
purpose and intention to Nature. But what, I beseech
you, is the object of that curious artifice and machinery,
which she has displayed in all animals ? The preserva
tion alone of individuals, and propagation of the species.
It seems enough for her purpose, if such a rank be
barely upheld in the universe, without any care or con
cern for the happiness of the members that compose it.
No resource for this purpose : no machinery, in order
merely to give pleasure or ease : no fund of pure joy
and contentment: no indulgence, without some want
or necessity accompanying it.
At least, the few .
phenomena of this nature are overbalanced by opposite
phenomena of still greater importance.
Our sense of music, harmony, and indeed beauty of
all kinds, gives satisfaction, without being absolutely
necessary to the preservation and propagation of the
species. But what racking pains, on the other hand,
arise from gouts, gravels, megrims, toothaches, rheu
matisms ; where the injury to the animal-machinery
is either small or incurable ? Mirth, laughter, play,
frolic, seem gratuitous satisfactions, which have no
farther tendency : spleen, melancholy, discontent,
superstition, are pains of the same nature. How then
does the divine benevolence display itself, in the sense
of you Anthropomorphites ? None but we Mystics, asyou were pleased to call us, can account for this strange
mixture of phenomena, by deriving it from attributes,
infinitely perfect, but incomprehensible.
�88 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
And have you at last, said Cleanthes smiling,
betrayed your intentions, Philo ? Your long agreement
with Demea did indeed a little surprise me; but I find
you were all the while erecting a concealed battery
against me. And I must confess, that you have now fallen
upon a subject worthy of your noble spirit of opposition
and controversy. If you can make out the present
point, and prove mankind to be unhappy or corrupted,
there is an end at once of all religion. Por to what
purpose establish the natural attributes of the Deity,
while the moral are still doubtful and uncertain ?
You take umbrage very easily, replied Demea, at
opinions the most innocent, and the most generally re
ceived even amongst the religious and devout themselves:
and nothing can be more surprising than to find a topic
like this, concerning the wickedness and misery of
man, charged with no less than Atheism and profane
ness. Have not all pious divines and preachers, who
have indulged their rhetoric on so fertile a subject;
have they not easily, I say, given a solution of any
difficulties which may attend it! This world is but a
. point in comparison of the universe; this life but a
moment in comparison of eternity. The present evil
phenomena, therefore, are rectified in other regions,
and in some future period of existence. And the eyes
of men, being then opened to larger views of things,
see the whole connection of general laws; and trace,
with adoration, the benevolence and rectitude of the
Deity, through all the maze and intricacies of his
providence.
No 1 replied Cleanthes, No ! These arbitrary sup
positions can never be admitted, contrary to matter of
fact, visible and uncontroverted. Whence can any
cause be known but from its known effects ? Whence
can any hypothesis be proved but from the apparent
phenomena ? To establish one hypothesis upon
another, is building entirely in the air ; and the utmost
we ever attain, by these conjectures and fictions, is to
�Part X.
89
ascertain the bare possibility of our opinion; but never
can we, upon such terms, establish its reality.
The only method of supporting divine benevolence
(and it is what I willingly embrace) is to deny ab
solutely the misery and wickedness of man. Your
representations are exaggerated; your melancholy views
mostly fictitious ; your inferences contrary to fact and
experience. Health is more common than sickness;
pleasure than pain ; happiness than misery. And for
one vexation which we meet with, we attain, upon
computation, a hundred enjoyments.
Admitting your position, replied Philo, which yet is
extremely doubtful; you must, at the same time, allow,
that, if pain be less frequent than pleasure, it is in
finitely more violent and durable. One hour of it is
often able to outweigh a day, a week, a month of our
common insipid enjoyments. And how many days,
weeks, and months, are passed by several in the most
acute torments ? Pleasure, scarcely in one instance, is
ever able to reach ecstasy and rapture : and in no one in
stance can it continue for any time at its highest pitch
and altitude. The spirits evaporate ; the nerves relax;
the fabric is disordered • and the enjoyment quickly de
generates into fatigue and uneasiness. But pain often,
how often ! rises to torture and agony ? and the longer
it continues, it becomes still more genuine agony and
torture. Patience is exhausted; courage languishes ;
melancholy seizes us ; and nothing terminates our
misery but the removal of its cause, or another event,
which is the sole cure of all evil, but which, from our
natural folly, we regard with still greater horror and
consternation.
But not to insist upon these topics, continued Philo,
though most obvious, certain, and important; I must
use the freedom to admonish you, Cleanthes, that you
have put the controversy upon a most dangerous issue,
and are unawares introducing a total Scepticism into the
most essential articles of natural and revealed theology.
�90 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
What! no method of fixing a just foundation for
religion, unless we allow the happiness of human life,
and maintain a continued existence even in this world,
with all our present pains, infirmities, vexations, and
follies, to he eligible and desirable! But this is con
trary to every one’s feeling and experience : It is con
trary to an authority so established as nothing can
subvert. No decisive proofs can ever be produced
against this authority; nor is it possible for you to
compute, estimate, and compare, all the pains and all
the pleasures in the lives of all men and of all animals
and thus by your resting the whole system of religion
on a point, which, from its very nature, must for ever
be uncertain, you tacitly confess, that that system is
equally uncertain.
But allowing you, what never will be believed; at
least, what you never possibly can prove; that animal,
or at least human happiness, in this life, exceeds its
misery; you have yet done nothing : For this is not,
by any means, what we expect from infinite power,
infinite wisdom, and infinite goodness. Why is there
any misery at all in the world 1 Not by chance surely.
From some cause then. Is it from the intention
of the Deity ? But he is perfectly benevolent. Is it
contrary to his intention? But he is almighty.
Nothing can shake the solidity of this reasoning, so
short, so clear, so decisive : except we assert, that these
subjects exceed all human capacity, and that our
common measures of truth and falsehood are not
applicable to them; a topic, which I have all along
insisted on, but which you have from the beginning
rejected with scorn and indignation.
But I will be contented to retire still from this
intrenchment, for I deny that you can ever force me in
it: I will allow, that pain or misery in man is com
patible with infinite power and goodness in the Deity,
even in your sense of these attributes : What are you
advanced by all these concessions? A mere possible
�Part XI.
91
■compatibility is not sufficient. You must prove these
pure, unmixed, and uncontrollable attributes from the
present mixed and confused phenomena and from these
alone. A hopeful undertaking ! Were the phenomena
ever so pure and unmixed, yet being finite, they would
be insufficient for that purpose. How much more,
where they are also so jarring and discordant?
Here, Cleanthes, I find myself at ease in my argu
ment. Here I triumph. Formerly, when we argued
concerning the natural attributes of intelligence and
design, I needed all my sceptical and metaphysical
subtlety to elude your grasp. In many views of the
universe, and of its parts, particularly the latter, the
beauty and fitness of final causes strike us with such
irresistible force, that all objections appear (what I
believe they really are) mere cavils and sophisms; nor
can we then imagine how it was ever possible for us to
repose any weight on them. But there is no view of
human life, or of the condition of mankind, from which,
without the greatest violence, we can infer the moral
attributes, or learn that infinite benevolence, conjoined
with infinite power and infinite wisdom, which we must
discover by the eyes of faith alone. It is your turn
now to tug the labouring oar, and to support your
philosophical subtleties against the dictates of plain
reason and experience.
PAET XI.
I
scruple not to allow, said Cleanthes, that I have
been apt to suspect the frequent repetition of the word
infinite, which we meet with in all theological writers,
to savour more of panegyric than of philosophy; and
that any purposes of reasoning, and even of religion,
would be better served, were we to rest contented with
more accurate and more moderate expressions. The
�92 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
terms admirable, excellent, superlatively great, wise,
and holy; these sufficiently fill the imaginations of
men; and anything beyond, besides that it leads into
absurdities, has no influence on the affections or senti
ments. Thus, in the present subject, if we abandon all
human analogy, as seems your intention, Demea, I am
afraid we abandon all religion, and retain no conception
of the great object of our adoration. If we preserve
human analogy, we must for ever find it impossible to
reconcile any mixture of evil in the universe with
infinite attributes ; much less can we ever prove the
latter from the former. But supposing the Author of
Nature to be finitely perfect, though far exceeding
mankind ; a satisfactory account may then be given of
natural and moral evil, and every untoward phenome
non be explained and adjusted. A less evil may then
be chosen, in order to avoid a greater: Inconveniencies be submitted to, in order to reach a desirable
end. And, in a word, benevolence, regulated by
wisdom, and limited by necessity, may produce just
such a world as the present. You, Philo, who are so
prompt at starting views, and reflections, and analogies;
I would gladly hear, at length, without interruption,
your opinion of this new theory • and if it deserve our
attention, we may afterwards, at more leisure, reduce it
into form.
My sentiments, replied Philo, are not worth being
made a mystery of; and therefore, without any cere
mony, I shall deliver what occurs to me with regard to
the present subject. It must, I think, be allowed,
that if a very limited intelligence, whom we shall suppose
utterly unacquainted with the universe, were assured,
that it were the production of a very good, wise, and
powerful Being, however finite, he would, from .his
conjectures, form beforehand a different notion of it
from what we find it to be by experience; nor would
he ever imagine, merely from these attributes of the
cause, of which he is informed, that the effect could be
�Part XI.
93
so full of vice, and misery, and disorder, as it appears
in this life. Supposing now, that this person were
brought into the world, still assured that it was the
workmanship of such a sublime and benevolent Being ;
he might, perhaps, be surprised at the disappointment;
But would never retract his former belief, if founded on
any very solid argument; since such a limited intelli
gence must be sensible of his own blindness and
ignorance, and must allow, that there may be many
solutions of those phenomena, which will for ever
escape his comprehension. But supposing, which is
the real case with regard to man, that' 'this creature is
not antecedently convinced of a supreme intelligence,
benevolent and powerful, but is left to gather such a
belief from the appearances of things; this entirely
alters the case, nor will he ever find any reason for such a
conclusion. He may be fully convinced of the narrow
limits of his understanding ■ but this will not help him
in forming an inference concerning the goodness of
superior powers, since he must form that inference
from what he knows, not from what he is ignorant of.
The more you exaggerate his weakness and ignorance,
the more diffident you render him, and give him the
greater suspicion that such subjects are beyond the reach
of his faculties. You are obliged, therefore, to reason
with him merely from the known phenomena, and to
drop every arbitrary supposition or conjecture.
Bid I show you a house or palace, where there was
not one apartment convenient or agreeable ; where the
windows, doors, fires, passages, stairs, and the whole
economy of the building, were the source of noise, con
fusion, fatigue, darkness, and the extremes of heat and
cold; you would certainly blame the contrivance, with
out any farther examination. The architect would in
vain display his subtlety, and prove to you, that if this
door or that window were altered, greater ills would
ensue. What he says may be strictly true: The
alteration of one particular, while the other parts of the
�94 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
building remain, may only augment the inconveniences.
But still you would assert in general, that, if the archi
tect had had skill and good intentions, he might have
formed such a plan of the whole, and might have
adjusted the parts in such a manner, as would have
remedied all or most of these inconveniences. His
ignorance, or even your own ignorance, of such a plan,
will never convince you of the impossibility of it.
If you find many inconveniencies and deformities in
the building, you will always, without entering into
any detail, condemn the architect.
In short, I repeat the question. Is the world, con
sidered in general, and as it appears to us in this life,
different from what a man, or such a limited being,
would, beforehand, expect from a very powerful, wise,
and benevolent Deity ? It must be strange prejudice to
assert the contrary. And from thence I conclude, that,
however consistent the world may be, allowing certain
suppositions and conjectures, with the idea of such a
Deity, it can never afford us an inference concerning his
existence. The consistence is not absolutely denied,
only the inference.
Conjectures, especially where
infinity is excluded from the divine attributes, may
perhaps, be sufficient to prove a consistence; but can
never be foundations for any inference.
There seem to be four circumstances, on which
depend all, or the greatest part of the ills, that molest
sensible creatures j and it is not impossible but all these
circumstances may be necessary and unavoidable. We
know so little beyond common life, or even of common
life, that, with regard to the economy of a universe,
there is no conjecture, however wild, which may not be
just; nor any one, however plausible, which may not be
erroneous. All that belongs to human understanding,
in this deep ignorance and obscurity, is to be sceptical,
or at least cautious; and not to admit of any hypothesis
whatever; much less, of any which is supported by no
appearance of probability. Now, this I assert to be the
�Part XI.
95
case with regard, to all the causes of evil, and the cir
cumstances on which it depends.
None of them
appear to human reason, in the least degree, necessary
or unavoidable; nor can we suppose them such, without
the utmost license of imagination.
The first circumstance which introduces evil, is that
contrivance or economy of the animal creation, by
which pains, as well as pleasures, are employed to
excite all creatures to action, and make them vigilant
in the great work of self-preservation. Now pleasure
alone, in its various degrees, seems to human understanding sufficient for this purpose. All animals might
be constantly in a state of enjoyment; but when urged
by any of the necessities of nature, such as thirst,
hunger, weariness; instead of pain, they might feel
a diminution of pleasure, by which they might be
prompted to seek that object which is necessary to
their subsistence. Men who pursue pleasure as
eagerly as they avoid pain ; at least, might have been
so constituted. It seems, therefore, plainly possible
to carry on the business of life without any pain.
Why then is any animal ever rendered susceptible of
such a sensation 1 If animals can be free from it an
hour, they might enjoy a perpetual exemption from
it • and it required as particular a contrivance of their
organs to produce that feeling, as to endow them with
sight, hearing, or any of the senses. Shall we con
jecture that such a contrivance was necessary, without
any appearance of reason ? and shall we build on that
conjecture, as on the most certain truth ?
But a capacity of pain would not alone produce,
pain, were it not for the second circumstance, viz., the
conducting of the world by general laws; and this
seems nowise necessary to a very perfect Being. It is
true ; if everything were conducted by particular voli
tions, the course of nature would be perpetually
broken, and no man could employ his reason in the
conduct of life. But might not other particular voliG
�g6 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
tions remedy this inconvenience ? In short, might
not the Deity exterminate all ill, wherever it were to
be found ; and produce all good, without any prepara
tion or long progress of causes and effects ?
Besides, we must consider, that, according to the
present economy of the world, the course of nature,
though supposed exactly regular, yet to us appears
not so, and many events are uncertain, and many dis
appoint our expectations. Health and sickness, calm
and tempest, with an infinite number of other accidents,
whose causes are unknown and variable, have a great
influence both on the fortunes of particular persons,
and on the prosperity of public societies ; and indeed
all human life, in a manner, depends on such accidents.
A being, therefore, who knows the secret springs of
the universe, might easily, by particular volitions,
turn all these accidents to the good of mankind, and
render the whole world happy, without discovering
himself in any operation. A fleet, whose purposes
were salutary to society, might always meet with a
fair wind; good princes enjoy sound health and long
life; persons born to power and authority, be framed
with good tempers and virtuous dispositions. A few
such events as these, regularly and wisely conducted,
would change the face of the world, and yet would no
more seem to disturb the course of nature, or confound
human conduct, than the present economy of things,
where the causes are secret, and variable, and com
pounded. Some small touches given to Caligula’s
brain in his infancy, might Lave converted him into
a Trajan; one wave, a little higher than the rest, by
burying Caesar and his fortune in the bottom of the
ocean, might have restored liberty to a considerable
part of mankind. There may, for aught we know, be
good reasons, why Providence interposes not in this
manner; but they are unknown to us; and though
the mere supposition, that such reasons exist, may be
sufficient to save the conclusion concerning the divine
�Part XI.
97
attributes, yet surely it can never be sufficient to
establish that conclusion.
If everything in the universe be conducted by
general laws, and if animals be rendered susceptible of
pain, it scarcely seems possible but some ill must arise
in the various shocks of matter, and the various con
currence and opposition of general laws. But this ill
would be very rare, were it not for the third circum
stance, which I proposed to mention, viz., the great
frugality with which all powers and faculties are dis
tributed to every particular being. So well adjusted
are the organs and capacities of all animals, and so
well fitted to their preservation, that, as far as history
or tradition reaches, there appears not to be any single
species which has yet been extinguished in the
universe.* Every animal has the requisite endow
ments ; but these endowments are bestowed with so
scrupulous an economy, that any considerable diminu
tion must entirely destroy the creature. Wherever
one power is increased, there is a proportional abate
ment in the others, Animals, which excel in swift* Here Hume was quite in error, and consequently made an
admission against himself by thinking that no race of animals has
ever become extinct. The truth is that the very reverse is the.
case. A whole animal and vegetable creation have become
extinct, as the fossil remains of gigantic animals and gigantic
trees abundantly testify. Even tropical climates in parts of the
earth have been, as it were, extinguished, and their places
occupied in some cases by arctic, and in others by temperate
climates. It was probably a change of climate which came on
in places whence the now extinct animals could not get away,
that caused their destruction. At Maidstone, in England, there
have been found the fossil remains of a ’ saurian reptile, called
iguanodon. From these remains naturalists have calculated that
the animal was seventy feet (or more) in length. Therefore these
facts strengthen Hume’s position. They shew at least that this
part of creation is imperfect. They shew that the present order
of things on earth may be as mortal and perishable as that which
preceded it. The fossil remains of the human race may prove a
puzzle to a superior order of animals four hundred thousand years
hence.
But in the days of Hume, geology was not among the sciences
then known. Fossils were an insoluble riddle. It was not until
a long time after Hume’s death, and after the pioneers of
�98 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
ness, are commonly defective in force. Those which
possess both, are either imperfect in some of their
senses, or are oppressed with the most craving wants.
The human species, whose chief excellency is reason
and sagacity, is of all others the most necessitous, and
the most deficient in bodily advantages; without
clothes, without arms, without food, without lodging,
without any convenience of life, except what they owe
to their own skill and industry. In short, nature
seems to have formed an exact calculation of the
necessities of her creatures; and, like a rigid master,
has afforded them little more powers or endowments
than what are strictly sufficient to supply those
necessities. An indulgent parent would have bestowed
a large stock, in order to guard against accidents, and
secure the happiness and welfare of the creature in the
most unfortunate concurrence of circumstances. Every
course of life would not have been so surrounded with
precipices, that the least departure from the true path,
by mistake or necessity, must involve us in misery and
ruin. Some reserve, some fund, would have been
provided to ensure happiness; nor would the powers
and the necessities have been adjusted with so rigid
an economy. The author of nature is inconceivably
• powerful; his force is supposed great, if not altogether
inexhaustible: nor is there any reason, as far as we
can judge, to make him observe this strict frugality in
Geology had groped and lost their way through numbers of
Noachian, and other equally absurd theories by which they tried
to account for the origin and existence of fossil organisms, that
the true theories of geological science were discovered.
There is scarcely any thing in the history of human enlighten
ment, that is more strange and interesting than the steady advance
and triumph of scientific geology over the fables of the Hebrew
and other nonsensical cosmogonies. Only at rare intervals, and
in remote corners of civilization, can there be found even a
Christian priest who has the stupidity, ignorance, and audacity
to question the completeness of this triumph. Religion has fre
quently led men astray, when seeking moral and scientific Truth ;
but religion has never taught men anything worth knowing,
except the knowledge of its own immorality and worthlessness.
�Part XI.
99
his dealings with his creatures. It would have been
better, were his power extremely limited, to have
created fewer animals, and to have endowed these with
more faculties for their happiness and preservation.
A builder is never esteemed prudent, who undertakes
a plan beyond what his stock will enable him to
finish.
In order to cure most of the ills of human life, I
require not that man should have the wings of the
eagle, the swiftness of the stag, the force of the ox,
the arms of the lion, the scales of the crocodile or
rhinoceros ; much less do I demand the sagacity of an
angel or cherubim. I am contented to take an increase
in one single power or faculty of his soul. Let him be
endowed with a greater propensity to industry and
labour ; a more vigorous spring and activity of mind;
a more constant bent to business and application.
Let the whole species possess naturally an equal
diligence with that which many individuals are able
to attain by habit and reflection; and the most bene
ficial consequences, without any alloy of ill, is the
immediate and necessary result of this endowment.
Almost all the moral, as well as natural evils of human
life arise from idleness ; and were our species, by the
original constitution of their frame, exempt from this
vice or infirmity, the perfect cultivation of land, the
improvement of arts and manufactures, the exact
execution of every office and duty, immediately follow ;
and men at once may fully reach that state of society,
which is so imperfectly attained by the best regulated
government. But as industry is a power, and the
most valuable of any, nature seems determined, suitably
to her usual maxims, to bestow it on men with a very
sparing hand; and rather to punish him severely for
his deficiency in it, than to reward him for his attain
ments. She has so contrived his frame, that nothing
but the most violent necessity can oblige him to
labour; and she employs all his other wants to over-
�ioo Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
come, at least in part, the want of diligence, and to
endow him with some share of a faculty of which she
has thought fit naturally to bereave him. Here our
demands may be allowed very humble, and therefore
the more reasonable. If we required the endowments
of superior penetration and judgment, of a more
delicate taste of beauty, of a nicer sensibility to bene
volence and friendship; we might be told, that we
impiously pretend to break the order of nature; that
we want to exalt ourselves into a higher rank of
being; that the presents which we require, not being
suitable to our state and condition, would only be
pernicious to us. But it is hard ; I dare to repeat it,
it is hard, that being placed in a world so full of wants
and necessities, where almost every being and element
is either our foe, or refuses its assistance . . . we
should also have our own temper to struggle with, and
should be deprived of that faculty which can alone
fence against these multiplied evils.
The fourth circumstance, whence arises the misery
and ill of the universe, is the inaccurate workmanship
of all the springs and principles of the great machine of
nature. It must be acknowledged, that there are few
parts of the universe, which seem not to serve some
purpose, and whose removal would not produce a visible
defect and disorder in the whole. The parts hang all
together ; nor can one be touched without affecting the
rest, in a greater or less degree. But at the same time,
it must be observed, that none of these parts or prin
ciples, however useful, are so accurately adjusted, as to
keep precisely within those bounds in which their
utility consists ; but they are, all of them, apt, on every
occasion, to run into the one extreme or the other.
One would imagine, that this grand production had not
received the last hand of the maker; so little finished is
every part, and so coarse are the strokes with which it is
executed. Thus, the winds are requisite to convey the
vapours along the surface of the globe, and to assist
�Part XI.
IOI
Bien in navigation : bnt how oft, rising up to tempests
and hurricanes, do they become pernicious ? Rains are
necessary to nourish all the plants and animals of the
earth: but how often are they defective, how often ex
cessive ? Heat is requisite to all life and vegetation; but
is not always found in the due proportion. On the mix
ture and secretion of the humours and juices of the body
depend the health and prosperity of the animal: but the
parts perform not regularly their proper function. What
more useful than all the passions of the mind, ambition,
vanity, love, anger ? But how oft do they break their
bounds, and cause the greatest convulsions in society 1
There is nothing so advantageous in the universe, but
what frequently becomes pernicious, by its excess or
defect; nor has Nature guarded, with the requisite
accuracy, against all disorder or confusion. The irregu
larity is never, perhaps, so great as to destroy any
species; * but is often sufficient to involve the in
dividuals in ruin and misery.
On the concurrence, then, of these four circumstances,
does all or the greatest part of natural evil depend.
Were all living creatures incapable of pain, or were the
world administered by particular volitions, evil never
could have found access into the universe : and were ani
mals endowed with a large stock of powers and faculties,
beyond what strict necessity requires; or were the
several springs and principles of the universe so accur
ately framed as to preserve always the just temperament
and medium; there must have been very little ill in
comparison of what we feel at present. What then
shall we pronounce on this occasion ? Shall we say,
that these circumstances are not necessary, and that
they might easily have been altered in the contrivance
of the universe ? This decision seems too presump
tuous for creatures so blind and ignorant. Let us be
more modest in our conclusions. Let us allow, that if
the goodness of the deity (I mean a goodness like the
* See the Note at page 97.
�102 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
human) could be established on any tolerable reasons a
priori, these phenomena, however untoward, would not
be sufficient to subvert that principle; but might easily,
in some unknown manner, be reconcilable to it. But
let us still assert, that as this goodness is not antece
dently established, but must be inferred from the phe
nomena, there can be no grounds for such an inference,
while there are so many ills in the universe, and while
these ills might so easily have been remedied, as far as
human understanding can be allowed to judge on such
a subject. I am sceptic enough to allow, that the bad
appearances, notwithstanding all my reasonings, may
be compatible with such attributes as you suppose :
But surely they can never prove these attributes. Such
a conclusion cannot result from scepticism; but must
arise from the phenomena, and from our confidence in
the reasonings which we deduce from these phenomena.
Look round this universe. What an immense pro
fusion of beings, animated and organized, sensible and
active 1 You admire this prodigious variety and
fecundity. But inspect a little more narrowly these
living existences, the only beings worth regarding.
How hostile and destructive to each other! How
insufficient all of them for their own happiness I How
contemptible or odious to the spectator 1 The whole
presents nothing but the idea of a blind Nature,
impregnated by a great vivifying principle, and pouring
forth from her lap, without discernment or parental
care, her maimed and abortive children.*
Here the Manichaean system occurs as a proper
hypothesis to solve the difficulty : and no doubt, in
some respects, it is very specious, and has more probabil
ity than the common hypothesis, by giving a plausible
account of the strange mixture of good and ill which
* “As is the race of leaves, even such is the race of men.
Leaves, some indeed the wind sheds on the ground, but the bud
ding wood produces others when the season of spring comes on ;
thus does the race of men, one produce, another cease [produc
ing].”—Iliad vi. 146-9.
�Part XL
Io3
appears in life. But if we consider, on the other hand,
the perfect uniformity and agreement of the parts of
the universe, we shall not discover in it any marks of
the combat of a malevolent with a benevolent being.
There is indeed an opposition of pains and pleasures
in the feelings of sensible creatures : but are not all
the operations of Nature carried on by an opposition of
principles, of hot and cold, moist and dry, light and
heavy? The true conclusion is, that the original
Source of all things is entirely indifferent to all these
principles ; and has no more regard to good above ill,
than to heat above cold, or to drought above moisture,
or to light above heavy*
There may four hypotheses be framed concerning the
first causes of the universe : that they are endowed
with perfect goodness ; that they have perfect malice ;
that they are opposite, and have both goodness and
malice; that they have neither goodness nor malice.
Mixed phenomena can never prove the two former un
mixed principles. And the uniformity and steadiness of
general laws seem to oppose the third. The fourth,
therefore, seems by far the most probable.
What I have said concerning natural evil will apply
to moral, with little or no variation; and we have no
more reason to infer, that the rectitude of the Supreme
Being resembles human rectitude, than that his
benevolence resembles the human. Nay, it will be
thought, that we have still greater cause to exclude
from him moral sentiments, such as we feel them;
since moral evil, in the opinion of many, is much more
predominant above moral good than natural evil
above natural good.
* A remarkable passage in Tacitus (Annals xvi. 33,) contains a
similar idea. He says, “ The same day furnished a bright ex
ample of virtue in the person of Cassus Asclepiodotus, a man con
spicuous among the Bithynians for the extent of his wealth, who
continued to treat Soranus in his decline with the same respect he
had constantly shewn him in the meridian of his fortune. The
consequence was, that he was stripped of all his property and
driven into exile: thus exemplifying the indifference of the Gods
towards patterns of virtue and of vice ! ”
�104 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
But even though, this should not he allowed; and
though the virtue, which is in mankind, should be
acknowledged much superior to the vice; yet so long
as there is any vice at all in the universe, it will very
much puzzle you Anthropomorphites, how to account for
it. You must assign a cause for it, without having
recourse to the first cause. But as every effect must have
a cause, and that cause another; you must either carry
on the progression in infinitum, or rest on that
original principle, who is the ultimate cause of all
things.............
Hold ! Hold! cried Demea: Whither does your
imagination hurry you ? I joined in alliance with you,
in order to prove the incomprehensible nature of the
Divine Being, and refute the principles of Cleanthes,
who would measure everything by a human rule and
standard. But I now find you running into all the
topics of the greatest libertines and infidels; and
betraying that holy cause, which you seemingly
espoused. Are you secretly, then, a more dangerous
enemy than Cleanthes himself ?
And are you so late in perceiving it 1 replied
Cleanthes. Believe me, Demea; your friend Philo,
from the beginning, has been amusing himself at both
our expense; and it must be confessed, that the
injudicious reasoning of our vulgar theology has
given him but too just a handle of ridicule. The
total infirmity of human reason, the absolute incom
prehensibility of the Divine Nature, the great and
universal misery and still greater wickedness of
men; these are strange topics, surely, to be so
fondly cherished by orthodox divines and doctors. In
ages of stupidity and ignorance, indeed, these
principles may safely be espoused; and, perhaps, no
views of things are more proper to promote
superstition, than such as encourage the blind amaze
ment, the diffidence, and melancholy of mankind.
But at present ....
�Part Xll.
105
Blame not so much, interposed Philo, the ignorance
of these reverend gentlemen. They know how to
change their style with the times. Formerly it was a
most popular theological topic to maintain, that human
life was vanity and misery, and to exaggerate all the
ills and pains which are incident to men. But of late
years, divines, we find, begin to retract this position ;
and maintain, though still with some hesitation, that
there are more goods than evils, more pleasures than,
pains, even in this life. When religion stood entirely
upon temper and education, it was thought proper to
encourage melancholy; as indeed, mankind never have
recourse to superior powers so readily as in that dis
position. But as men have now learned to form
principles, and to draw consequences, it is necessary to
change the batteries, and to make use of such argu
ments as will endure at least some scrutiny and
examination. This variation is the same (and from the
same causes) with that which 1 formerly remarked
with regard to Scepticism.
Thus Philo continued to the last his spirit of
opposition, and his censure of established opinions.
But I could observe, that Demea did not at all relish
the latter part of the discourse; and he took occasion
soon after, on some pretence or other, to leave the
company.
PART XII.
After Demea’s departure, Cleanthes and Philo con
tinued the conversation in the following manner. Our
friend, I am afraid, said Cleanthes, will have little
inclination to revive this topic of discourse, while you
are in company; and to tell truth, Philo, I should rather
wish to reason with either of you apart on a subject so
sublime and interesting. Your spirit of controversy,
�io6 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
joined to your abhorrence of vulgar superstition, carries
you strange lengths, when engaged in an argument;
and there is nothing so sacred and venerable, even in
your own eyes, which you spare on that occasion.
I must confess, replied Philo, that I am less cautious
on the subject of Natural Religion than on any other;
both because I know that I can never, on that head,
corrupt the principles of any man of common sense;
and because no one, I am confident, in whose eyes I
appear a man of common sense, will ever mistake my
intentions. You in particular, Cleanthes, with whom
I live in unreserved intimacy; you are sensible, that not
withstanding the freedom of my conversation, and my
love of singular arguments, no one has a deeper sense
of religion impressed on his mind, or pays more profound
adoration to the Divine Being, as he discovers himself
to reason, in the inexplicable contrivance and artifice
of Nature. A purpose, an intention, a design, strikes
everywhere the most careless, the most stupid thinker;
and no man can be so hardened in absurd systems, as
at all times to reject it. That Nature does nothing in
vain, is a maxim established in all the schools, merely
from the contemplation of the works of Nature, without
any religious purpose; and, from a firm conviction of
its truth, an anatomist, who had observed a new organ
or canal, would never be satisfied till he had also dis
covered its use and intention. One great foundation of
the Copernican system is the maxim, That Nature acts
by the simplest methods, and chooses the most proper
means to any end; and astronomers often, without
thinking of it, lay this strong foundation of piety and
religion. The same thing is observable in other parts
of philosophy; And thus all the sciences almost lead
us insensibly to acknowledge a first intelligent Author;
and their authority is often so much the greater, as they
do not directly profess that intention.
It is with pleasure I hear Galen reason concerning
the structure of the human body. The anatomy of a
�Part XII.
1O7
man, says he, * discovers above 600 different muscles ;
and whoever duly considers these, will find, that in
each of them Nature must have adjusted at least ten
different circumstances, in order to attain the end which
she proposed; proper figure, j ust magnitude, right
disposition of the several ends, upper and lower position
of the whole, the due insertion of the several nerves,
veins, and arteries: So that, in the muscles alone, above
6000 several views and intentions must have been
formed and executed. The bones he calculates to be
284 : The distinct purposes, aimed at in the structure
of each, above forty. What a prodigious display of
artifice, even in these simple and homogeneous parts ?
But if we consider the skin, ligaments, vessels, glandules,
humours, the several limbs and members of the body;
how must our astonishment rise upon us, in proportion
to the number and intricacy of the parts so artificially
adjusted 1 The farther we advance in these researches,
we discover new scenes of art and wisdom: But descry
still, at a distance, farther scenes beyond our reach ; in
the fine internal structure of the parts, in the economy
of the brain, in the fabric of the seminal vessels. All
these artifices are repeated in every different species of
animal, with wonderful variety, and with exact propriety
suited to the different intentions of Nature in fra,mi ng
each species. And if the infidelity of Galen, even when
these natural sciences were still imperfect, could not
withstand such striking appearances • to what pitch of
pertinacious obstinacy must a philosopher in this age
have attained, who can now doubt of a Supreme
Intelligence ? f
* De formations foetus.
t Without denying the truth of what Hume says here, to the effect,
that the human frame shews clear and unmistakable proofs of
design ; yet it is doubtful whether his eminently philosophical mind
would have allowed him to state the fact in such very decided
terms as these, if he had been acquainted with even a glimpse of
the evolution theory. But Oken was not born until three years
after Hume’s death. And Darwin’s “Descent of Man” was not
published until more than a century after Hume had ceased to
�io8 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
Could I meet with one of this species, I would ask
him: Supposing there were a God, who did not dis
cover himself immediately to our senses; were it
possible for him to give stronger proofs of his exist
ence, than what appear on the whole face of nature ?
What indeed could such a divine being do but copy
the present economy of things ; render many of his
artifices so plain, that no stupidity could mistake
them; afford glimpses of still greater artifices, which
demonstrate his prodigious superiority above our
narrow apprehensions; and conceal altogether a great
many from such imperfect creatures? Now, according
to all rules of just reasoning, every fact must pass for
undisputed, when it is supported by all the arguments
write. Oken and his followers discovered that the skull and limbs
of vertebrate animals are merely modified forms. And Darwin
discovered that the human animal is merely a development from an
inferior one. Oken has left on record how the light first dawned
on his mind ; and a knowledge of the circumstance is of importance
to the thinker.
In August 1806, while Oken was among the Hartz mountains, he
unexpectedly saw the well-preserved skull of a hind. From the
appearance which the skull accidentally presented to him, he
exclaimed “ a vertebral column ! ” This was a piece of reasoning
a priori. Nevertheless, by thinking over this suggestion he
ultimately discovered that, in all vertebrate animals, the bones of the
skull are only modified vertebrae.
Perhaps he who thinks on Probability will perceive that although
arguments grounded on a priori reasoning are utterly barren of
proof and consequently of result, yet, so far as we know, all the
important discoveries, hitherto made, have been generated from
suggestions arising from a priori considerations. “ Nature does
nothing in vain.” As yet, it is on such suggestions that the
evolution theory is grounded. From considerations such as this
the true thinker will be on his guard, and will not give way to that
prevalent weakness of the human mind, when, upon a comparison
of two important things relating to the same subject, one is found
to be of less importance than the other,To consider the less important
as_ of scarcely any value whatever. “ The Cyclic Poems ” are a
fair sample of an important matter which was despised unphilosophically. During twenty-one centuries they were regarded as
nearly beneath contempt. Yet from Mr F. A. Paley’s “ Introduction ”
to his first volume of the Iliad, we know, in his skilful hands,
how almost invaluable the remains of the “ Cyclic Poems ” proved
towards ascertaining the correct date of our “ Homer.”
�Part XII.
109
which, its nature admits of; even though these
arguments be not, in themselves, very numerous or
forcible. How much more, in the present case, where
no human imagination can compute their number,
and no understanding estimate their cogency ?
I shall farther add, said Cleanthes, to what you
have so well urged, that one great advantage of the
principle of theism, is, that it is the only system of
cosmogony which can be rendered intelligible and
complete, and yet can throughout preserve a strong
analogy to what we every day see and experience in
the world. The comparison of the universe to a
machine of human contrivance, is so obvious and
natural, and is justified by so many instances of order
and design in nature, that it must immediately strike
all unprejudiced apprehensions, and procure universal
approbation. Whoever attempts to weaken this theory,
cannot pretend to succeed by establishing in its place
any other that is precise and determinate. It is
sufficient for him, if he start doubts and difficulties,
and by remote and abstract views of things, reach
that suspense of judgment, which is here the utmost
boundary of his wishes. But besides that this state
of mind is in itself unsatisfactory, it can never be
steadily maintained against such striking appearances
as continually engage us into the religious hypothesis.
From the force of prejudice, human nature is capable
of adhering, with obstinacy and perseverance, to a false
absurd system. But I think it absolutely impossible,
by valid argument, to maintain or defend any system
at all, inculcated by natural propensity and by early
education, in opposition to a theory supported by
strong and obvious reason.
So little, replied Philo, do I esteem this suspense
of judgment in the present case to be possible, that
I am apt to suspect there enters somewhat of a dispute
of words into this controversy, more than is usually
imagined. That the works of nature bear a great
analogy to the productions of art, is evident; and
�11 o Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
according to all the rules of good reasoning, we ought
to infer, if we argue at all concerning them, that their
causes have a proportional analogy. But as there are
also considerable differences, we have reason to suppose
a proportional difference in the causes, and in par
ticular ought to attribute a much higher degree of
power and energy to the supreme cause, than any we
have ever observed in mankind. Here then the
existence of a Deity is plainly ascertained by reason;
and if we make it a question, whether on account of
these analogies, we can properly call him a mind or
intelligence, notwithstanding the vast difference which
may reasonably be supposed between him and human
minds ; what is this but a mere verbal controversy ?
No man can deny the analogies between the effects.
To restrain ourselves from inquiring concerning the
causes, is scarcely possible. From this inquiry, the
legitimate conclusion is, that the causes have also an
analogy, and if we are not contented with calling the
first and supreme cause a God or Deity, but desire to
vary the expression ; what can we call him but Mind
or Thought, to which he is justly supposed to bear a
considerable resemblance ?
All men of sound reason are disgusted with verbal
disputes, which abound so much in philosophical and
theological inquiries ; and it is found, that the only
remedy for this abuse must arise from clear definitions,
from the precision of those ideas which enter into any
argument, and from the strict and uniform use of
those terms which are employed. But there is a
species of controversy, which, from the very nature
of language and of human ideas, is involved in
perpetual ambiguity, and can never, by any precaution
or any definitions, be able to reach a reasonable
certainty or precision. These are the controversies
concerning the degrees of any quality or circumstance.
Men may argue to all eternity, whether Hannibal be
a great, or a very great, or a superlatively great man;
�Part XII.
111
what degree of beauty Cleopatra possessed; what
epithet of praise Livy or Thucidydes is entitled to,
without bringing the controversy to any determination.
The disputants may here agree in their sense, and
differ in the terms, or vice versa ; yet never be able
to define their terms, so as to enter into each other’s
meaning: Because the degrees of these qualities are
not, like quantity or number, susceptible of any exact
mensuration, which may be the standard in the con
troversy. That the dispute concerning theism is of
this nature, and consequently is merely verbal, or
perhaps, if possible, still more incurably ambiguous,
will appear upon the slightest inquiry. I ask the
theist if he does not allow, that there is a great
and immeasurable, because incomprehensible, difference
between the human and the divine mind. The more
pious he is, the more readily will he assent to the
affirmative, and the more will he be disposed to
magnify the difference. He will even assert that the
difference is of a nature which cannot be too much
magnified. I next turn to the atheist, who, I assert,
is only nominally so, and can never possibly be in
earnest; and I ask him, whether, from the coherence
and apparent sympathy in all the parts of this world,
there be not a certain degree of analogy among all the
operations of nature, in every situation and in every
age, whether the rotting of a turnip, the generation of
an animal, and the structure of human thought, be
not energies that probably bear some remote analogy
to each other. It is impossible he can deny it. He
will readily acknowledge it. Having obtained this
concession, I push him still farther in his retreat; and
I ask him, if it be not probable, that the principle
which first arranged, and still maintains, order in this
universe, bears not also some remote inconceivable
analogy to the other operations of nature, and among
the rest to the economy of human mind and thought.
However reluctant, he must give his assent. Where
H
�112 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
then, cry I to both these antagonists, is the subject
of your dispute ? The Theist allows that the original
intelligence is very different from human reason. The
atheist allows, that the original principle of order bears
some remote analogy to it. Will you quarrel, gentle
men, about the degrees ; and enter into a controversy
which admits not of any precise meaning, nor conse
quently of any determination ? If you should be so
obstinate, I should not be surprised to find you
insensibly change sides; while the theist, on the one
hand exaggerates the dissimilarity between the supreme
Being, and frail, imperfect, variable, fleeting, and
mortal creatures; and the atheist, on the other, magni
fies the analogy among all the operations of nature,
in every period, every situation, and every position.
Consider then, where the real point of controversy lies,
and if you cannot lay aside your disputes, endeavour,
at least, to cure yourselves of your animosity.
And here I must also acknowledge, Cleanthes, that,
as the works of Nature have a much greater analogy to
the effects of our art and contrivance, than to those of
our benevolence and j ustice ; we have reason to infer,
that the natural attributes of the Deity have a greater
resemblance to’those of men, than his moral have to
human virtues. But what is the consequence ?
Nothing but this, that the moral qualities of man are
more defective in their kind than his natural abilities.
For as the Supreme Being is allowed to be absolutely
and entirely perfect; whatever differs most from him,
departs the farthest from the supreme standard of recti
tude and perfection.*
* It seems evident, that the dispute between the Sceptics and
Dogmatists is entirely verbal; or at least regards only the degrees
of doubt and assurance, which we ought to indulge with regard to all
reasoning : and such disputes are commonly, at the bottom, verbal,
and admit not of any precise determination. No philosophical
Dogmatist denies, that there are difficulties both with regard to
the senses and to all science ; and that these difficulties are in a
regular, logical method, absolutely insolvable. No Sceptic denies
�Part XII.
1T3
These, Cleanthes, are my unfeigned sentiments on
this subject; and these sentiments, you know, I have
ever cherished and maintained. But in proportion to
my veneration for true religion, is my abhorrence of
vulgar superstitions ; and I indulge a peculiar pleasure,
I confess, in pushing such principles, sometimes into
absurdity, sometimes into impiety.
And you are
sensible, that all bigots, notwithstanding their great
aversion to the latter above the former, are commonly
equally guilty of both.
My inclination, replied Cleanthes, lies, I own, a con
trary way. Religion, however corrupted, is still better
than no religion at all. The doctrine of a future state
is so strong and necessary a security to morals, that we
never ought to abandon or neglect it. For if finite and
temporary rewards and punishments have so great an
effect, as we daily find: how much greater must be
expected from such as are infinite and eternal ?
How happens it then, said Philo, if vulgar super
stition be so salutary to society, that all history
abounds so much with accounts of its pernicious
consequences on public affairs ? Factions, civil wars, •
persecutions, subversions of government, oppression,
slavery ; these are the dismal consequences which always
attend its prevalency over the minds of men. If the
religious spirit be ever mentioned in any historical
narration, we are sure to meet afterwards with a detail
of the miseries which attend it. And no period of time
can be happier or more prosperous, than those in which
it is never regarded or heard of.
The reason of this observation, replied Cleanthes, is
obvious. The proper office of religion is to regulate
that we lie under an absolute necessity, notwithstanding these
difficulties, of thinking, and believing, and reasoning, with regard
to all kinds of subjects, and even of frequently assenting with
confidence and security. The only difference, then, between these
facts, if they merit that name, is, that the Sceptic, from habit,
caprice, or inclination, insists most on the difficulties; the Dog
matist, for like reasons, on the necessity.
�114 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
*
the heart of men, humanize their conduct, infuse the
spirit of temperance, order, and obedience : and as its
operation is silent, and only enforces the motives of
morality and justice, it is in danger of being overlooked,
and confounded with these other motives. When it
distinguishes itself, and acts as a separate principle
oyer men, it has departed from its proper sphere, and
has become only a cover to faction and ambition.
And so will all religion, said Philo, except the
philosophical and rational kind. Your reasonings are
more easily eluded than my facts. The inference is
not just, because finite and temporary rewards and
punishments have so great influence, that therefore
such as are infinite and eternal must have so much
greater.
Consider, I beseech you, the attachment
which we have to present things, and the little concern
which we discover for objects so remote and uncertain.
When divines are declaiming against the common be
haviour and conduct of the world, they always represent
this principle as the strongest imaginable, (which
indeed it is); and {describe almost all human kind as
lying under the influence of it, and sunk into the deepest
lethargy and unconcern about their religious interests.
Yet these same divines, when they refute their specu
lative antagonists, suppose the motives of religion to
be so powerful, that, without them, it were impossible
for civil society to subsist; nor are they ashamed of so
palpable a contradiction. It is certain, from experience,
that the smallest grain of natural honesty and benevo
lence has more effect on men’s conduct, than the most
pompous views suggested by theological theories and
systems. A man’s natural inclination works incessantly
upon him ; it is for ever present to the mind; and
■ mingles itself with every view and consideration :
whereas religious motives, where they act at all, operate
only by starts and bounds ; and it is scarcely possible
4'or them to become altogether habitual to the mind.
The force of the greatest gravity, say the philosophers,
�Part XII.
JI5
is infinitely small, in comparison of that of the least
impulse : yet it is certain, that the smallest gravity will,
in the end, prevail above a great impulse ; because no
strokes or blows can be repeated with such constancy
as attraction and gravitation.
Another advantage of inclination : it engages on its
side all the wit and ingenuity of the mind : and when
get in opposition to religious principles, seeks every
method and art of eluding them : in which it is almost
always successful. Who can explain the heart of man,
or account for those strange salvos and excuses, with
which people satisfy themselves, when they follow their
inclinations in opposition to their religious duty ? This
is well understood in the world; and none but fools
ever repose less trust in a man, because they hear, that,
from study and philosophy, he has entertained some
speculative doubts with regard to theological subjects.
And when we have to do with a man, who makes a
great profession of religion and devotion ; has this any
other effect upon several, who pass for prudent, than
to put them on their guard, lest they be cheated and
deceived by him ?
We must farther consider, that philosophers, who-.
♦
cultivate reason and reflection, stand less in need of
such motives to keep them under the restraint of
morals : and that the vulgar, who alone may need
them, are utterly incapable of so pure a religion as
- *
represents the Deity to be pleased with nothing but
virtue in human behaviour. The recommendations to
the Divinity are generally supposed to be either
frivolous observances, or rapturous ecstasies, or a
bigoted credulity.
We need not run back into
antiquity, or wander into remote regions, to find
instances of this degeneracy. Amongst ourselves, soniehave been guilty of that atrociousness, unknown to the '*
Egyptian and Grecian superstitions, of declaiming, in
express terms, against morality ; and representing it as,
a sure forfeiture of the divine favour, if the least trust
•or reliance be laid upon it.
�116 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
But even though superstition or enthusiasm should
not put itself in direct opposition to morality; the
very diverting of the attention, the raising up a new
and frivolous species of merit, the preposterous distri
bution which it makes of praise and blame, must have
the most pernicious consequences, and weaken ex
tremely men’s attachment to the natural motives of
justice and humanity.
Such a principle of action likewise, not being any of
the familiar motives of human conduct, acts only by
intervals on the temper; and must be roused by
continual efforts, in order to render the pious zealot
satisfied with his own conduct, and make him fulfil
his devotional task. Many religious exercises are entered
into with seeming fervour, where the heart, at the time,
feels cold and languid. A habit of dissimulation is by
degrees contracted: and fraud and falsehood become
the predominant principle. Hence the reason of that
vulgar observation, that the highest zeal in religion
and the deepest hypocrisy, so far from being incon
sistent, are often or commonly united in the same
individual character.
The bad effects of such habits, even in common life, '
are easily imagined : but where the interests of religion
are concerned, no morality can be forcible enough to
bind the enthusiastic zealot. The sacredness of the
cause sanctifies every measure which can be made use
of to promote it.
The steady attention alone to so important an
interest as that of eternal salvation, is apt to extinguish
the benevolent affections, and beget a narrow, con
tracted selfishness. And when such a temper is
encouraged, it easily eludes all the general precepts of
charity and benevolence.
Thus the motives of vulgar superstition have no
great influence on general conduct; nor is their opera
tion very favourable to morality, in the instances where
they predominate.
�Part Xll.
117
Is there any maxim in politics more certain and
infallible, than that both the number and authority of
priests should be confined within very narrow limits;
and that the civil magistrate ought, for ever, to keep
his fasces and axes from such dangerous hands ? But
if the spirit of popular religion were so salutary to
society, a contrary maxim ought to prevail. The
greater number of priests, and their greater authority
and riches, will always augment the religious spirit.
And though the priests have the guidance of this spirit,
why may we not expect a superior sanctity of life, and
greater benevolence and moderation, from persons who
are set apart for religion, who are continually inculcat
ing it upon others, and who must themselves imbibe a
greater share of it ? Whence comes it then, that, in
fact, the utmost a wise magistrate can propose with
regard to popular religions, is, as far as possible, to
make a saving game of it, and to prevent their
pernicious consequences with regard to society ? Every
expedient which he tries for so humble a purpose is
surrounded with inconveniences. If he admits only
one religion among his subjects, he must sacrifice, to
an uncertain prospect of tranquillity, every considera
tion of public liberty, science, reason, industry, and
even his own independency. If he gives indulgence to
several sects, which is the wiser maxim, he must pre
serve a very philosophical indifference to all of them,
and carefully restrain the pretensions of the prevailing
sect; otherwise he can expect nothing but endless
disputes, quarrels, factions, persecutions, and civil
commotions.
True religion, I allow, has no such pernicious con
sequences : but we must treat of religion, as it has
commonly been found in the world ; nor -have I any
thing to do with that speculative tenet of Theism,
which, as it is a species of philosophy, must partake of
the beneficial influence of that principle, and at the
same time must lie under a like inconvenience, of being
always confined to a very few persons.
�118 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
Oaths are requisite in all courts of judicature ; but
it is a question whether their authority arises from any
popular religion. It is the solemnity and importance
of the occasion, the regard to reputation, and the
reflecting on the general interest of society, which are
the chief restraints upon mankind. Custom-house
oaths and political oaths are but little regarded even by
some who pretend to principles of honesty and
religion ; and a Quaker’s asseveration is with us justly
put upon the same footing with the oath of any other
person. I know, that Polybius * ascribes the infamy
of Greek faith to the prevalency of the Epicurean
philosophy : but I know also, that Punic faith had as
bad a reputation in ancient times, as Irish evidence has
in modern ; though we cannot account for these vulgar
observations by the same reason. Not to mention,
that Greek faith was infamous before the rise of the
Epicurean philosophy; and Euripides f, in a passage
which I shall point out to you, has glanced a remark
able stroke of satire against his nation, with regard to
this circumstance.
Take care, Philo, replied Cleanthes, take care : push
not matters too far : allow not your zeal against false
religion to undermine your veneration for the true.
Forfeit not this principle, the chief, the only great
comfort in life; and our principal support amidst all
the attacks of adverse fortune. The most agreeable
reflection, which it is possible for human imagination
to suggest, is that of genuine Theism, which represents
us as the workmanship of a Being perfectly good, wise,
and powerful; who created us for happiness ; and who,
having implanted in us immeasurable desires of good,
will prolong our existence to all eternity, and will trans
fer us into an infinite variety of scenes, in order to satisfy
those desires, and render our felicity complete and
* Lib. vi. cap. 54.
+ Iphigenia in Tauride, 1206.
Triarov 'EXXas ol8ei> ovSev.
“ The Greeks are ignorant of good faith. ”
�Part XII.
119
durable. Next to such a Being himself (if the
comparison be allowed), the happiest lot which we can
imagine, is that of being under his guardianship and
protection.
These appearances, said Philo, are most engaging
and alluring; and with regard to the true philosopher,
they are more than appearances. But it happens here,
as in the former case, that, with regard to the greater
part of mankind, the appearances are deceitful, and that
the terrors of religion commonly prevail above its
comforts.
It is allowed, that men never have recourse to de
votion so readily as when dejected with grief or
depressed with sickness. Is not [this a proof, that the
religious spirit is not so nearly allied to joy as to
sorrow 1
But men, when afflicted, find consolation in religion,
replied Cleanthes. Sometimes, said Philo : but it is
natural to imagine, that they will form a notion of
those unknown beings, suitably to the present gloom
and melancholy of their temper, when they betake
themselves to the contemplation of them. Accordingly,
we find the tremendous images to predominate in all
religions ; and we ourselves, after having employed the
most exalted expression in our descriptions of the Deity,
fall into the flattest contradiction, in affirming, that the
damned are infinitely superior in number to the elect.
I shall venture to affirm, that there never was a
popular religion, which represented the state of
departed souls in such a light, as would render it
eligible for human kind, that there should be such a
state. These fine models of religion are the mere
product of philosophy. Eor as death lies between the
eye and the prospect of futurity, that event is so shock
ing to Nature, that it must throw a gloom on all the
regions which lie beyond it; and suggest to the
generality of mankind the idea of Cerberus and Furies ;
devils, and torrents of fire and brimstone.
�120 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
It is true, both, fear and hope enter into religion ;
because both these passions, at different times, agitate
the human mind, and each of them forms a species of
divinity suitable to itself. But when a man is in a
cheerful disposition, he is fit for business, or company,
or entertainment of any kind; and he naturally
applies himself to these, and thinks not of religion.
When melancholy and dejected, he has nothing to do
but brood upon the terrors of the invisible world, and
to plunge himself still deeper in affliction. It may,
indeed, happen, that after he has, in this manner,
engraved the religious opinions deep into his thought
and imagination, there may arrive a change of health
or circumstances, which may restore his good-humour,
and raising cheerful prospects of futurity, make him
run into the other extreme of joy and triumph. But
still it must be acknowledged, that, as terror is the
primary principle of religion, it is the passion which
always predominates in it, and admits but of short
intervals of pleasure.
Not to mention, that these fits of excessive, enthusi
astic joy, by exhausting the spirits, always prepare the
way for equal fits of superstitious terror and dejection ;
nor is there any state of mind so happy as the calm
and equable. But this state it is impossible to support,
where a man thinks, that he lies, in such profound
darkness and uncertainty, between an eternity of
happiness and an eternity of misery. No wonder, that
such an opinion disjoints the ordinary frame of the
mind, and throws it into the utmost confusion. Ard
though that opinion is seldom so steady in its operation
as to influence all the actions; yet is it apt to make a
considerable breach in the temper, and to produce that
gloom and melancholy so remarkable in all devout people.
It is contrary to common sense to entertain appre
hensions or terrors upon account of any opinion what
soever, or to imagine that we run any risk hereafter, by
the freest use of our reason. Such a sentiment implies
�Part XII.
I2I
both, an absurdity and an inconsistency. It is an
absurdity to believe that the Deity has human passions,
and one of the lowest of human passions, a restless
appetite for applause. It is an inconsistency to believe,
that, since the Deity has this human passion, he has
not others also • and in particular, a disregard to the
opinions of creatures so much inferior.
“ To know God,” says Seneca, “ is to worship him.”
All other worship is indeed absurd, superstitious, and
even impious. It degrades him to the low condition of
mankind, who are delighted with intreaty, solicitation,
presents, and flattery. Yet is this impiety the smallest
of which superstition is guilty. Commonly, it de
presses the Deity far below the condition of mankind;
and represents him as a capricious demon, who exercises
his power without reason and without humanity!
And were that Divine Being disposed to be offended
at the vices and follies of silly mortals, who are his own
workmanship ; ill would it surely fare with the votaries
of most popular superstitions. Nor would any of
human race merit his favour, but a very few, the
philosophical Theists, who entertain, or rather indeed
endeavour to entertain, suitable notions of his divine
perfections : as the only persons, entitled to his com
passion and indulgence, would be the philosophical
Sceptics, a set almost equally rare, who, from a
natural diffidence of their own capacity, suspend, or
endeavour to suspend, all judgment with regard to
such sublime and such extraordinary subjects.
If the whole of Natural Theology, as some' people
seem to maintain, resolves itself into one simple,
though somewhat ambiguous, at least undefined pro
position, That the cause or causes of order in the
universe probably bears some remote analogy to human
intelligence : if this proposition be not capable of ex
tension, variation, or more particular explication : if it
affords no inference that affects human life, or can be
the source of any action or forbearance: and if the
analogy, imperfect as it is, can be carried no farther
�122 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion,,
than to the human intelligence; and cannot be trans
ferred, with any appearance of probability, to the other
qualities of the mind: if this really be the case, what
can the most inquisitive, contemplative, and religious
man do more than give a plain, philosophical assent to
the proposition, as often as it occurs ; and believe that
the arguments on which it is established, exceed the
objections which lie against it ? Some astonishment
indeed will naturally arise from the greatness of the
object; some melancholy from its obscurity; some
contempt of human reason, that it cannot give any
solution more satisfactory with regard to so extraordin
ary and magnificent a question. But, believe me,
Cleanthes, the most natural sentiment, which a welldisposed mind will feel on this occasion, is a longing
desire and expectation that heaven would be pleased to
dissipate, or at least alleviate this profound ignorance
by affording some more particular revelation to man
kind, and making discoveries of the nature, attributes,
and operations of the divine Object of our faith. A
person seized with a just sense of the imperfections of
natural reason, will fly to revealed truth with the
greatest avidity: while the haughty dogmatist, per
suaded that he can erect a complete system of theology
by the mere light of philosophy, disdains any further
aid, and rejects this adventitious instructor. To be a
philosophical sceptic, in a man of letters, is the first and
most essential step towards being a sound, believing
Christian ; a proposition which I will willingly re
commend to the attention of Pamphilus; and I hope
Cleanthes will forgive me for interposing so far in the
education and instruction’of his pupil.
Cleanthes and Philo pursued not this conversation
much further; and as nothing ever made greater
impression on me than all the reasonings of that day;
so, I confess, that upon a serious review of the whole I
cannot but think that Philo’s principles are more
probable than Demea’s ; but that those of Cleanthes
approach still nearer to the truth.
�POSTSCRIPT.
A short account of the “ Dialogues ” will probably be
acceptable to the reader.
It has been stated, in the Preface to this edition of
them, that they were laid in manuscript before Sir
Gilbert Elliott in the year 1751. Hume was most
anxious to publish them, but his friends always dis
suaded him from doing so, knowing how dangerous to
his personal and social peace the experiment might
prove. So, by his will, he appointed his friend Dr.
« -Adam Smith his literary executor, with full power
over all his papers except the “ Dialogues,” which,
however, Dr. Smith was directed to publish. As an
inducement to Dr. Smith to comply with this direction,
Hume added the following clause :—“ Though I can
trust to that intimate and sincere friendship which has
ever subsisted between us for his faithful execution
of this part of my will, yet as a small recompense of
his pains in correcting and publishing this work, I
leave him £200 to be paid immediately after the
publication of it.”
Although there is not the least reason to call in
question the sincerity of the friendship above referred
to, yet Hume foresaw that Dr. Smith would not com
ply with the direction, couched in such affectionate
language, and followed by a substantial legacy; for
by a codicil bearing date the 7 th’ August 1776, only
a few days before Hume’s death, he made the following
provision :—“ I do ordain that if my Dialogues, from
whatever cause, be not published within two years
and a half after my death, as also an account of my
�124 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
life, the property shall return to my nephew, David,
whose duty in publishing them, as the last request of
his uncle, must be approved of by all the world/’
Almost immediately after Hume’s death, his friend,
Dr. Smith, edited the autobiography, “ My own Life,”
alluded to in the codicil; and in a letter addressed to
William Strahan, Esq., dated 9 Nov. 1776, Dr. Smith
gave an account “ of the behaviour of our late excellent
friend, Mr Hume, during his last illness.” That
letter concludes thus :—“ Upon the whole, I have
always considered him, (Hume) both in his lifetime,
and since his death, as approaching as nearly to the
idea of a perfectly wise and virtuous man, as perhaps
the nature of human frailty will permit.” But Dr.
Smith was afraid to publish the “ Dialogues,” and,
although both they and the legacy of <£200 were
offered to him independently of any condition that
might be implied in the terms of the bequest, he
refused both. So it was left to be seen what “ my
nephew, David,” would do.
This David Hume was an advocate at the Scotch
bar, and subsequently a baron in the Court of
Exchequer. He was a true Christian, a very bad
writer, a staunch supporter of terrorism, and a bigoted
upholder of all the arbitrary oppressions exercised by
the English government during the period from 1793
to 1830. He was very unwilling to publish the
“ Dialogues.” However, in the year 1779, he printed
them, but without the name of any publisher, printer,
or even place of printing attached to the volume. The
editor has in his possession a copy of this first and
merely printed edition of the “ Dialogues.” Its title
page stands thus:—“Dialogues concerning Natural Reli
gion, by David Hume, Esq.; Printed in 1779.”—On
the fly leaf there is written, “From the Author’s
Nephew,” indicating that the merely printed copies
were not exposed -for sale, and were circulated only
privately. But as delivery of any written or printed
�Postscript.
125
matter to only one person is “publication ” in the eye
of the law, perhaps the baron persuaded himself that
he had complied with “ the last request of his uncle ”—
in the eye of the law.
So intense was Baron Hume’s dread of the social
persecution which hitherto has always been suffered
by those persons who have sided with the plaintiff in
the good old cause of “ Truth v. Christianity. ” A
cause not yet decided against the plaintiff, notwith
standing the atrocities which the defendant inflicts,
almost every year on those who side with the plaintiff.
The late Dr. John P. Nichol of Glasgow University,
says, “It is at once unjust and unwise to consider
errors and crimes of this sort (persecutions) as ex
clusive attributes of the Romish Church; on the
contrary, their root lies deep in the heart of man.
The domain of physical inquiry is now wholly safe
from the disorders of intolerance; but there are large
departments of knowledge within which Reason is
not yet free; where authority abides on its throne,
and popular prejudice stores its thunderbolts’’
TURNBULL AND SPEAKS, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.
�
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
Dialogues concerning natural religion No. II
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 64-125 p. ; 18 cm.
Notes: New edition. Includes bibliographical references. From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. "A new edition, with a Preface and Notes..."[Title page]. Printed by Turnbull and Spears, Edinburgh.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Hume, David [1711-1776]
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Thomas Scott
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
[n.d.]
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
CT105
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<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 (Dialogues concerning natural religion No. II), 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>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Language
A language of the resource
English
Subject
The topic of the resource
Natural Theology
Religion
Philosophy
Conway Tracts
Natural Theology
Religion
Religion-Philosophy