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NATIONAL SECuLAR^^^lETY
r .
J &
A
WOODEN GOD
BY
COLONEL R. G. INGERSOLL
ONE
PENNY
London:
THE FREETHOUGHT PUBLISHING COMPANY, Ltd.
2 Newcastle Street, Farringdon Street, E.C.
1903.
�PRINTED BY
THE FREETHOUGHT PUBLISHING COMPANY, LTD.,
2 NEWCASTLE-STREET, FARRINGDON-STREET, LONDON, E.C.
�6 257^2.
N4
INTRODUCTION.
---- 4—- The contents of this pamphlet are reprinted from the complete
• ‘ Dresden Edition ’ ’ of the works of the late Colonel Ingersoll;
and the title there attached has been retained on the present
title-page. “A Wooden God” was written by Colonel Ingersoll
on March 27, 1880, in the form of a letter to the Chicago Times.
It is now published in England for the first time—with just the
omission of the opening words “To the Editor.” The lapse of
t .verity-three years has not impaired its pertinence or its value.
It is still a very useful criticism on the dealings of the Christian
nations with China.
�A WOODEN GOD
—•—♦——-
To-day Messrs. Wright, Dickey, O’Connor, and Murch,
of the select committee on the causes of the present
depression of labor, presented the majority special report
upon Chinese immigration.
These gentlemen are in great fear for the future of
our most holy and perfectly authenticated religion, and
have, like faithful watchmen, from the walls and towers
of Zion, hastened to give the alarm. They have in
formed Congress that “Joss has his temple of worship
in the Chinese quarters, in San Francisco. Within the
walls of a dilapidated structure is exposed to the view
of the faithful the god of the Chinaman, and here are
his altars of worship. Here he tears up his pieces of
paper; here he offers up his prayers; here he receives
his religious consolations, and here is his road to the
celestial land
that “ Joss is located in a long, narrow
room in a building in a back alley, upon a kind of
altar;” that “ he is a wooden image, looking as much
like an alligator as a human being; ” that the Chinese
“think there is such a place as heaven;” that “all
classes of Chinamen worship idols;” that “the temple
is open every day at all hours;” that “the Chinese
�5
have no Sunday;” and this heathen god has “huge
jaws, a big red tongue, large white teeth, a half-dozen
arms, and big, fiery eyeballs. About him are placed
offerings of meat and other eatables —a sacrificial
offering.”
No wonder that these members of the committee were
shocked at such an image of God, knowing as they did
that the only true God was correctly described by the
inspired lunatic of Patmos in the following words “ And there sat in the midst of the seven golden
candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with
a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with
a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like
wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of
fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned
in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of
his mouth went a sharp, two-edged sword: and his
countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.”
Certainly a large mouth filled with white teeth is pre
ferable to one used as the scabbard of a sharp, twoedged sword. Why should these gentlemen object to a
god with big, fiery eyeballs, when their own Deity has
eyes like a flame of fire ?
Is it not a little late in the day to object to peopie
because they sacrifice meat and other eatables to their
•god ? We all know that for thousands of years the
“ real ” God was exceedingly fond of roasted meat; that
he loved the savor of burning flesh, and delighted in the
perfume of fresh, warm blood.
The following account of the manner in which the
living God ” desired that his chosen people should
�6
sacrifice, tends to show the degradation and religious
blindness of the Chinese;—
“ Aaron therefore went unto the altar, and slew the
calf of the sin offering, which was for himself. And the
sons of Aaron brought the blood unto him: and he
dipped his finger in the blood, and put it upon the
horns of the altar, and poured out the blood at the
bottom of the altar: But the fat, and the kidneys, and
the caul above the liver of the sin-offering, he burnt
upon the altar ; as the Lord commanded Moses. And
the flesh and the hide he burnt with fire without the
camp. And he slew the burnt offering; and Aaron’s
sons presented unto him the blood, which he sprinkled
round about upon the altar.......And he brought the
meat offering, and took a handful thereof, and burnt it
upon the altar.......He slew also the bullock and the ram
for a sacrifice of peace offering., which was for the
people: and Aaron’s sons presented unto him the blood,,
which he sprinkled upon the altar round about, and the
fat of the bullock and of the ram, the rump, and that
which covereth the inwards and the kidneys, and the
caul above the liver, and they put the fat upon the
breasts, and he burnt the fat upon the altar. And the
breast and the right shoulder Aaron waved for a wave
offering before the Lord, as Moses commanded.”
If the Chinese only did something like this, we would
know that they worshipped the “ living ” God. The
idea that the supreme head of the “ American system
cf religion” can be placated with a little meat and
“ ordinary eatables ’* is simply preposterous. He has
always asked for blood, and has always asserted that
without the shedding of blood there is no remission of
sin.
The world is also informed by these gentlemen that
“ the idolatry of the Chinese produces a demoralising;
�effect upon our American youth by bringing sacred
things into disrespect, and making religion a theme of
disgust and contempt.”
In San Francisco there are some three hundred thou
sand people. Is it possible that a few Chinese can
bring our “ holy religion ” into disgust and contempt ?
I n that city there are fifty times as many churches as
joss-houses. Scores of sermons are uttered every week;
religious books and papers are plentiful as leaves in
autumn, and somewhat dryer; thousands of Bibles are
within the reach of all. And there, too, is the example
of a Christian City.
Why should we send missionaries to China if we can
not convert the heathen when they come here ? When
missionaries go to a foreign land, the poor, benighted
people have to take their word for the blessings
showered upon a Christian people ; but when the
heathen come here they can see for themselves. What
was simply a story becomes a demonstrated fact. They
come in contact with people who love their enemies.
They see that in a Christian land men tell the truth ;
that they will not take advantage of strangers; that
they are just and patient, kind and tender ; that they
never resort to force; that they have no prejudice on
account of color, race or religion; that they look upon
mankind as brethren; that they speak of God as a
universal Father, and are willing to work, and even to
suffer, for the good not only of their own countrymen,
but of the heathen as well. All this the Chinese see
and know, and why they still cling to the religion of
their country is to me a matter ot amazement.
We all know that the disciples of Jesus do unto
.others as they would that others should do unto them,
�8
and that those of Confucius do not unto others anything
that they would not that others should do unto them.
Surely, such peoples ought to live together in perfect
peace.
Rising with the subject, growing heated with a kind
of holy indignation, these Christian representatives of a
Christian people most solemnly declare that:—
“ Anyone who is really endowed with a correct know
ledge of our religious system, which acknowledges the
existence of a living God and an accountability to him,
and a future state of reward and punishment, who feels
that he has an apology for this abominable pagan
worship is not a fit person to be ranked as a good
citizen of the American Union. It is absurd to make
any apology for its toleration. It must be abolished
and the sooner the decree goes forth by the power of
this Government the better it will be for the interests of
this land.”
I take this, the earliest opportunity, to inform these
gentlemen composing a majority of the committee that
we have in the United States no “religious system;”
that this is a secular Government; that it has no
religious creed; that it does not believe or disbelieve in
a future state of reward and punishment; that it neither
affirms nor denies the existence of a “ living Godand
that the only god, so far as this Government is con
cerned, is the legally expressed will of a majority of the
people. Under our flag the Chinese have the same
right to worship a wooden God that you have to worship
any other.
The Constitution protects equally the
church of Jehovah and the house of Joss. Whatever
their relative positions may be in heaven, they stand
upon a perfect equality in the United States.
This Government is an Infidel Government. We
�9
have a Constitution with man put in and God left out ;
and it is the glory of this country that we have such a
Constitution.
It may be surprising to you that I have an apology
for pagan worship, yet I have. And it is the same one
that I have for the writers of this report. I account for
both by the word superstition. Why should we object
to their worshipping God as they please ? If the
worship is improper, the protestation should come not
from a committee of Congress, but from God himself.
If he is satisfied that is sufficient.
Our religion can only be brought into contempt by
the actions of those who profess to be governed by its
teachings. This report will do more in that direction
than millions of Chinese could do by burning pieces of
paper before a wooden image. If you wish to impress
the Chinese with the value of your religion, of what you
are pleased to call “the American system,” show them
that Christians are better than heathens. Prove to
them that what you are pleased to call the “living God”
teaches higher and holier things, a grander and purer
code of morals than can be found upon pagan pages.
Excel these wretches in industry, in honesty, in rever
ence for parents, in cleanliness, in frugality; and above
all by advocating the absolute liberty of humah thought.
Do not trample upon these people because they have a
different conception of things about which even this
committee knows nothing.
Give them the sariae privilege you enjoy of making a
God after their own fashion. And let them describe
him as they will. Would you be willing to have them
remain, if One of their race, thousands of years ago, had
pretended to have seen God, and had written of him as
follows
�IO
“There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire
out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it,
....... and he rode upon a cherub and did fly.”
"Why should you object to these people on account of
their religion? Your objection has in it the spirit of
hate and intolerance. Of that spirit the Inquisition was
born. That spirit lighted the fagot, made the thumb
screw, put chains upon the limbs, and lashes upon the
backs of men. The same spirit bought and sold,
captured and kidnapped human beings; sold babes, and
justified all the horrors of slavery.
Congress has nothing to do with the religion of the
people. Its members are not responsible to God for the
opinions of their constituents, and it may tend to the
happiness of the constituents for me to state that they
are in no way responsible for the religion of the mem
bers. Religion is an individual, not a national matter.
And where the nation interferes with the right of con
science, the liberties of the people are devoured by the
monster superstition.
If you wish to drive out the Chinese, do not make a
pretext of religion. Do not pretend that you are trying
to do God a favor. Injustice in his name is doubly
detestable. The assassin cannot sanctify his dagger by
falling on his knees, and it does not help a falsehood if
it be uttered as a prayer. Religion, used to intensify
the hatred of men towards men under the pretence of
pleasing God, has cursed this world.
A portion of this most remarkable report is intensely
religious. There is in it almost the odor of sanctity;
and when reading it, one is impressed with the living
piety of its authors. But on the twenty-fifth page there
are a few passages that must pain the hearts of true
�11
Believers. Leaving their religious views, the members
immediately betake themselves to philosophy and pre
diction. Listen:—
“ The Chinese race and the American citizen,
■whether native-born or one who is eligible to our
naturalisation laws and becomes a citizen, are in a state
of antagonism. They cannot, or will not, ever meet
upon common ground, and occupy together the same
social level. This is impossible. The pagan and the
Christian travel different paths. This one believes in a
living God ; and that one in a type of monsters and the
worship of wood and stone. Thus in the religion of the
two races of men they are as wide apart as the poles of
the two hemispheres. They cannot now and never will
approach the same religious altar. The Christian will
not recede to barbarism, nor will the Chinese advance
to the enlightened belt (whatever it is) of civilisation......
He cannot be converted to those modern ideas of
religious worship which have been accepted by Europe
and which crown the American system.”
Christians used to believe that through their religion
all the nations of the earth were finally to be blest. In
accordance with that belief missionaries have been sent
to every land, and untold wealth has been expended for
what has been called the spread of the gospel.
I am almost sure that I have read somewhere that
“ Christ died for all men,” and that “God is no respecter
of persons.” It was once taught that it was the duty
of Christians to tell all people the “ tidings of great
joy.” I have never believed these things myself, but
have always contended that an honest merchant was
the best missionary. Commerce makes friends, religion
makes enemies; the one enriches, and the other im
poverishes ; the one thrives best where the truth is told,
�12
the other where falsehoods are believed. For myself, I
have but little confidence in any business, or enterprise,
or investment that promises dividends only after the
death of the stockholders.
But I am astonished that four Christian statesmen,
four members of Congress, in the last quarter of the
nineteenth century, who seriously object to people on
account of their religious convictions, should still assert
that the very religion in which they believe—and the
only religion established by the “ living God,” head of
the American system—is not adapted to the spiritual
needs of one-third of the human race. It is amazing that
these four gentlemen have, in the defence of the Christian
religion, announced the discovery that it is wholly in
adequate for the civilisation of mankind; that the light of
the cross can never penetrate the darkness of China;
“ that all the labors of the missionary, the example of the
good, the exalted character of our civilisation, make no
impression upon the pagan life of the Chinese; ” and
that even the report of this committee will not tend to
elevate, refine, and Christianise the yellow heathen of
the Pacific coast. In the name of religion these gentle
men have denied its power, and mocked at the enthu
siasm of its founder.
Worse than this, they have
predicted for the Chinese a future of ignorance and
idolatry in this world, and, if the “ American system ”
of religion is true, hell-fire in the next.
For the benefit of these four philosophers and prophets
I will give a few extracts from the writings of Con
fucius, that will, in my judgment, compare favorably
with the best passages of their report:—
“ My doctrine is that man must be true to the
�i3
principles of his nature, and the benevolent exercise of
them toward others.
“.With coarse rice to eat, with water to drink, and
with my bended arm for a pillow, I still have joy.
“ .Riches and honor acquired by injustice are to me
but floating clouds.
“ The man who, in view of gain, thinks of righteous
ness; who, in view of danger, forgets life, and who
remembers an old agreement, however far back it
extends, such a man may be reckoned a complete man.
“ Recompense injury with justice, and kindness with
kindness.
“ There is one word which may serve as a rule of
practice for all one’s life ; Reciprocity is that word.”
When the ancestors of the four Christian Congress
men were barbarians, when they lived in caves, gnawed
bones, and worshipped dried snakes, the infamous
Chinese were reading these sublime sentences of Con
fucius.
When the forefathers of these Christian
statesmen were hunting toads to get the jewels out of
their heads, to be used as charms, the wretched Chinese
were calculating eclipses, and measuring the circum
ference of the earth. When the progenitors of these
representatives of the “ American system of religion ”
were burning women charged with nursing devils, the
people “ incapable of being influenced by the exalted
character of our civilisation ” were building asylums for
the insane.
Neither should it be forgotten that, for thousands of
years the Chinese have honestly practised the great
principle known as Civil Service Reform—a something
that even the administration of Mr. Hayes has reached
only through the proxy of promise.
If we wish to prevent the immigration of the Chinese,
�J4
iet us reform our treaties with the vast empire from
whence they came. For thousands of years the Chinese
secluded themselves from the rest of the world. They
did not deem the Christian nations fit to associate with.
We forced ourselves upon them. We called, not with
cards, but with cannon. The English battered down
the door in the names of opium and Christ. This
infamy was regarded as another triumph for the gospel.
At last, in self-defence, the Chinese allowed Christians to
touch their shores. Their wise men, their philosophers
protested, and prophesied that time would show that
Christians could not be trusted. This report proves
that the wise men were not only philosophers but
prophets.
Treat China as you would England. Keep a treaty
while it is in force. Change it if you will, according to
the laws of nations, but on no account excuse a breach
of national faith by pretending that we are dishonest for
God’s sake.
�WORKS BY THE LATE R. G. INGERSOLL
The House of Death.
Funeral Orations and
Addresses, is.
Mistakes of Moses, is.
Cloth, 2s. 6d.
The Devil. 6d.
Superstition. 6d.
Shakespeare. 6d. •
The Gods. 6d.
The Holy Bible. 6d.
Reply to
Gladstone.
With an Introduction by
G. W. Foote. 4d.
Rome or Reason ? A
Reply to Cardinal Man
ning. 4d.
Crimes against Criminals
3dOration on Walt Whit
man.
3d.
Oration on Voltaire. 3d.
Oration on Lincoln. 3dPaine the Pioneer. 2d.
Humanity’s
Debt
to
Thomas Paine. 2d.
Ernest Renan and Jesus
Christ. 2d.
Three Philanthropists.
2d.
Love the Redeemer. 2d.
The Ghosts. 3d.
What Must We do to be
Saved ? 2d.
Take a Road of Your
Own. id.
What is Religion ? 2d.
Defence of
Freethought. 4d.
Is Suicide a Sin ? 2d.
Last Words on Suicide.
2d.
God and the State. 2d.
Faith and Fact.
Reply
to Dr. Field. 2d.
God and Man.
Second
reply to Dr. Field. 2d.
The Dying Creed. 2d.
The Limits of Tolera
tion.
A Discussion
with the Hon. F. D.
Coudert and Gov. S. L.
Woodford. 2d.
Household of Faith. 2d.
Art and Morality. 2d.
Do I Blaspheme ? 2d.
Social Salvation. 2d.
Marriage & Divorce. 2d.
Skulls. 2d.
Live Topics, id.
Myth and Miracle, id.
Real Blasphemy, id.
Why am I an Agnostic? 2d.
Christ and Miracles, id.
I Creeds&Spirituality, id.
i The Christian Religion.
I
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Victorian Blogging
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Title
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A wooden god
Creator
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Ingersoll, Robert Green [1833-1899]
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 14 p. ; 18 cm.
Notes: First published 1880 as a letter to the Chicago Times (27 March) and reprinted from the Dresden edition of Ingersoll's works. No. 96b in Stein checklist.||(WIT) Publisher's advertisements ("Works by the late R.G. Ingersoll") inside back cover. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
Please note that this pamphlet contains language and ideas that may be upsetting to readers. These reflect the time in which the pamphlet was written and the ideologies of the author.
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1903
Identifier
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N414
Subject
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Missionaries
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (A wooden god), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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Text
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English
China
Missionaries-China
NSS