-
https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/b23116cb40686200079550d4853ed952.pdf?Expires=1712793600&Signature=FsP4wrqEo0sNeoBLois76CSQ4hDkUdA%7EI-TbDwlTuM0n51PAwbgwVARMuz874vSIcmYfvc5CT0O49nUEhqRMtxaU88UDrrs%7EBZfGgqn5Xy27Pgy7Ist2jYvgQoFJZCL94WdB9ldtxq3LtGBhFuR-D0oMuHcKkn1NguHJn0-PxvxlgCwSynaYoODt61yqqKs7xKeavHNzrcOxGMcmtrywAsWYyZSnkyvmxpfdhB8b9XWyMCSevnJQurIYu-Q0MJHLFZAj1oTLv9ck33iQS3UG%7EtFedNcX7YQGOgFpogvQmkcbcmlq1vyTIkjNxMdVdD60IceBgwCaCtdDBBk-zeJ2OA__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
28d1ea01107831e79a5c87f92f3029d1
PDF Text
Text
NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY
ERNEST
RENAN
AND
JESUS CHRIST
BY
COLONEL R. G. INGERSOLL.
PRICE TWOPENCE.
LONDON :
R. FOEDER, 28 STONECUTTER STREET, E.O.
1892.
�LONDON
PRINTED BY G. W. FOOTE,
AT 14 CLERKENWELL GREEN, E.C.
�ERNEST RENAN.
“ Blessed are those
Whose blood and judgment are so well co-mingled
That they are not a pipe for fortune’s finger
To sound what stop she please.”
Ernest Kenan is dead. Another source of light ; another
force of civilisation ; another charming personality ; another
brave soul, graceful in thought, generous in deed ; a sculptor
in speech, a colorist in words—clothing all in the poetry born
of a delightful union of heart and brain—has passed to the
realm of rest.
Reared under the influences of Catholicism, educated for
the priesthood, yet, by reason of his natural genius, he began
to think. Forces that utterly subjugate and enslave the
mind of mediocrity sometimes rouse to thought and action
the superior soul.
Renan began to think—a dangerous thing for a Catholic
to do. Thought leads to doubt, doubt to investigation,
investigation to truth—the enemy of all superstition.
He lifted the Catholic extinguisher from the light and
flame of reason. He found that his mental vision was im
proved. He read the ¡Scriptures for himself, examined them
as he did other books not claiming to be inspired. He
found the same mistakes, the same prejudices, the same
miraculous impossibilités in the book attributed to God that
he found in those known to have been written by men.
Into the path of reason, or rather into the highway, Renan
was led by Henriette, his Bister, to whom he pays a tribute
that has the perfume of a perfect flower.
“ I was,” writes Renan, “ brought up by women and priests,
and therein lies the whole explanation of my good qualities
and of my defects.” In most that he wrote is the tenderness
of woman, only now and then a little touch of the priest
showing itself, mostly in a reluctance to spoil the ivy by
tearing down some prison built by superstition.
In spite of the heartless “ scheme ” of things he still found
it in his heart to say, “ When God shall be complete, He
will be just,” at the same time saying that “ nothing proves
to us that there exists in the world a central consciousness—
�(4)
a soul of the universe—and nothing proves the contrary.”
So, whatever was the verdict of his brain, his heart asked for
immortality. He wanted his dream, and he was willing that
others should have theirs. Such is the wish and will of all
great souls.
He knew the Church thoroughly and anticipated what
would finally be written about him by churchmen : “ Having
some experience of ecclesiastical writers I can sketch out
in advance the way my biography will be written in Spanish
in some Catholic review, of Santa Fe, in the year 2,000.
Heavens ! how black I shall be! I shall be so all the more,
because the Church when she feels that she is lost will end
with malice. She will bite like a mad dog.”
He anticipated such a biography because he had thought
for himself, and because he had expressed his thoughts—
because he had declared that “ our universe, within the reach
of our experiment is not governed by any intelligent reason.
God, as the common herd understand him, the living God,
the acting God—the God-Providence, does not show himself
in the universe ”—because he attacked the mythical and the
miraculous in the life of Christ and sought to rescue from the
calumnies of ignorance and faith a serene and lofty soul.
The time has arrived when Jesus must become a myth or a
man. The idea that he was the infinite God must be
abandoned by all who are not religiously insane. Those who
have given up the claim that he was God, insist that he was
divinely appointed and illuminated; that he was a perfect
man—the highest possible type of the human race, and,
consequently, a perfect example for all the world.
As time goes on, as men get wider or grander or more
complex ideas of life, as the intellectual horizon broadens,
the idea that Christ was perfect may be modified. _
The New Testament seems to describe several individuals
under the same name, or at least one individual who passed
through several stages or phases of religious development.
Christ is described as a devout Jew, as one who endeavored
to comply in all respects with the old law. Many sayings
are attributed to him consistent with this idea. He certainly
was a Hebrew in belief and feeling when he said “ Swear not
by heaven, because it is God’s throne, nor by earth, for it is
his footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is his holy city.”
These reasons were in exact accordance with the mythology
of the Jews. God was regarded simply as an enormous man,
as one who walked in the garden in the cool of the evening,
as one who had met man face to face, who had conversed
with Moses for forty days upon Mount Sinai, as a great king,
with a throne in the heavens, using the earth to rest his feet
upon, and regarding Jerusalem as his holy city.
�Then we find plenty of evidence that he wished to reform
the religion of the Jews; to fulfil the law, not to abrogate it.
Then there is still another change: he has ceased his efforts
to reform that religion and has become a destroyer. He
holds the Temple in contempt and repudiates the idea that
Jerusalem is the holy city. He concludes that it is unneces
sary to go to some mountain or some building to worship or
to find God, and insists that the heart is the true Temple,
that ceremonies are useless, that all pomp and pride and
Bhow are needless, and that it is enough to worship God
under heaven’s dome, in spirit and in truth.
It is impossible to harmonise these views unless we admit
that Christ was the subject of growth and change; that in
consequence of growth and change he modified his views ;
that, from wanting to preserve Judaism as it was, he became
convinced that it ought to be reformed. That he then aban
doned the idea of reformation, and made up his mind that
the only reformation of which the Jewish religion was
capable was destruction. If he was in fact a man, then the
course he pursued was natural; but if he was God, it is per
fectly absurd. If we give to him perfect knowledge, then it
is impossible to account for change or growth. If, on the
other hand, the ground is taken that he was a perfect man,
then, it might be asked, was he perfect when he wished to
preserve, or when he wished to reform, or when he resolved
to destroy, the religion of the Jews ? If he is to be regarded
as perfect, although not divine, when did he reach per
fection ?
It is perfectly evident that Christ, or the character that
bears that name, imagined that the world was about to be
destroyed, or at least purified by fire, and that, on account of
this curious belief, he became the enemy of marriage, of all
earthly ambition and of all enterprise. With that view in
his mind, he said to himself, “ Why should we waste our
energies in producing food for destruction ? Why should we
endeavor to beautify a world that is so soon to perish ?”
Filled with the thought of coming change, he insisted that
there was but one important thing, and that was for each man
to save his soul. He should care nothing for the ties of
kindred, nothing for wife or child or property, in the shadow
•of the coming disaster. He should take care of himself. He
endeavored, as it is said, to induce men to desert all they had,
to let the dead bury the dead, and follow him. He told his
disciples, or those he wished to make his disciples, according
to the Testament, that it was their duty to desert wife and
child and property, and if they would so desert kindred and
wealth, he would reward them here and hereafter.
We know now—if we know anything—that Jesus was mis-
�( B )
taken about the coming of the end, and we know now that he
was greatly controlled in his ideas of life, by that mistake.
Believing that the end was near, he said, “ Take no thought
for the morrow, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink or
wherewithal ye shall be clothed.” It was in view of the
destruction of the world that he called the attention of his
disciples to the lily that toiled not and yet excelled Solomon
in the glory of its raiment. Having made this mistake,
having acted upon it, certainly we cannot now say that he
was perfect in knowledge.
He is regarded by many millions as the impersonation of
patience, of forbearance, of meekness and mercy, and yet,
according to the account, he said many extremely bitter
words, and threatened eternal pain.
We also know, if the account be true, that he claimed to
have supernatural power, to work miracles, to cure the blind
and to raise the dead, and we know that be did nothing of
the kind. So if the writers of the New Testament tell the
truth as to what Christ claimed, it is absurd to say that he
was a perfect man. If honest, he was deceived, and those
who are deceived are not perfect.
There is nothing in the New Testament, so far as we know,,
that touches on the duties of nation to nation, or of nation
to its citizens; nothing of human liberty; not one word
about education; not the faintest hint that there is such a
thing as science; nothing calculated to stimulate industry,
commerce, or invention; not one word in favor of art, of
music or anything calculated to feed or clothe the body,
nothing to develop the brain of man.
When it is assumed that the life of Christ, as described in
the New Testament, is perfect, we at least take upon our
selves the burden of deciding what perfection is. People who
asserted that Christ was divine, that he was actually God,
reached the conclusion, without any laborious course of
reasoning, that all he said and did was absolute perfection.
They said this because they had first been convinced that he
was divine. The moment his divinity is given up and the
assertion is made that he was perfect, we are not permitted
to reason in that way. They said he was God, therefore
perfect. Now, if it is admitted that he was human, the con
clusion that he was perfect does not follow. We then take
the burden upon ourselves of deciding what perfection is.. To
decide what is perfect is beyond the powers of the human mind.
Renan, in spite of his education, regarded Christ as a man,
and did the best he could to account for the miracles that had
been attributed to him, for the legends that had gathered
about his name, and tbe impossibilities connected with his
career, and also tried to account for the origin or birth o
�(1 )
these miracles, of these legends, of these myths, including
the resurrection and ascension. . I am not satisfied with all
the conclusions he reached or with all the paths he travelled.
The refraction of light caused by passing through a woman’s
tears is hardly a sufficient foundation for a belief in so mira
culous a miracle as the bodily ascension of Jesus Christ.
There is another thing attributed to Christ that seems to
me conclusive evidence against the claim of perfection. Christ
is reported to have said that all sins could be forgiven except
the sin against the Holy Ghost. This sin, however, is not
defined. Although Christ died for the whole world, that
through him all might be saved, there is this one terrible
exception: There is no salvation for those who have sinned,
or who may hereafter sin, against the Holy Ghost. Thou
sands of persons are now in asylums, having lost their reason
because of their fear that they had committed this unknowu,
this undefined, this unpardonable sin.
It is said that a Roman Emperor went through a form of
publishing his laws or proclamations, posting them so high
on pillars that they could not be read, and then took the lives
of those who ignorantly violated these unknown laws. He
was regarded as a tyrant, as a murderer. And yet, what
shall we say of one who declared that the sin against the
Holy Ghost was the only one that could not be forgiven, and
then left an ignorant world to guess what that sin is ? Un
doubtedly this horror is an interpolation.
There is something like it in the Old Testament. It is
asserted by Christians that the Ten Commandments are the
foundation of all law and of all civilisation, and you will find
lawyers insisting that the Mosaic Code was the first informa
tion that man received on the subject of law; that before
that time the world was without any knowledge of justice or
mercy. If this be true the Jews had no divine laws, no real
instruction on any legal subject until the Ten Command
ments were given. Consequently, before that time there had
been proclaimed or published no law against the worship of
other gods or of idols. Moses had been on Mount Sinai,
talking with J ehovah. At the end of the dialogue he received
the Tables of Stone and started down the mountain for the
Purpose of imparting this information to his followers.
When he reached the camp he heard music. He saw people
dancing, and he found that in his absence Aaron and the
rest of the people had cast a molten calf which they were
then worshipping. This so enraged Moses that he broke the
Table of Stone and made preparations for the punishment of
the Jews. Remember that they knew nothing about this law
and, according to. the modern Christian claims, could not
have known that it was wrong to melt gold and silver and
�mould it in the form of a calf. And yet Moses killed about
thirty thousand of these people for having violated a law of
which they had never heard; a law known only to one man
and one God. Nothing could be more unjust, more ferocious,
than this; and yet it can hardly be said to exceed in cruelty
the announcement that a certain sin was unpardonable and
then fail to define the sin. Possibly, to inquire what the sin
is, is the sin.
Renan regards Jesus as a man, and his work gets its value
from the fact that it is written from a human standpoint, At
the same time he, consciously or unconsciously, or may be
for the purpose of sprinking a little holy water on the heat of
religious indignation, now and then seems to speak of him as
more than human, or as having accomplished something that
man could not.
He asserts that “ the Gospels are in part legendary; that
they contain many things not true; that they are full of
miracles and of the supernatural.” At the same time he
insists that these legends, these miracles, these supernatural
things do not affect the truth of the probable things contained
in these writings. He sees, and sees clearly, that there is no
evidence that Matthew, or Mark, or Luke, or John wrote the
books attributed to them; that, as a matter of fact, the mere
title of “ according to Matthew,” “ according to Mark,” shows
that they were written by others who claimed them to be in
accordance with the stories that had been told by Matthew
or by Mark. So Renan takes the ground that the Gospel of
Luke is founded on anterior documents and “ is the work of
a man who selected, pruned and combined, and that the same
man wrote the Acts of the Apostles and in the same way.”
The Gospels were certainly written long after the events
described, and Renan finds the season foi' this in the fact that
the Christians believed that the world was about to end;
that, consequently, there was no need of composing books ;
it was only necessary for them to preserve in their hearts
during the little margin of time that remained a lively image
of him whom they soon expected to meet in the clouds. For
this reason the Gospels themselves had but little authority
for 150 years, the Christians relying on oral traditions.
Renan shows that there was not the slightest scruple about
inserting additions in the Gospels, variously combining them,
and in completing some by taking parts from others; that
the books passed from hand to hand, and that each one
transcribed in the margin of his copy the words and parables
he had found elsewhere which touched him; that it was not
until human tradition became weakened that the text bearing
the names of the ApoBtles became authoritative.
Renan has criticised the Gospels somewhat -in the same
�( 9 )
spirit that he would criticise a modern work. He saw clearly
that the metaphysics filling the discourses of John were
deformities and distortions, full of mysticism, hawing nothing
to do really with the character of J esus. He shows too
“ that the simple idea of the Kingdom of God, at the time the
•Gospel according to St. John was written, had faded away;
that the hope of the advent of Christ was growing dim, and
that from belief the disciples passed into discussion, from
•discussion to dogma, from dogma to ceremony,’ and, finding
that the new Heaven and the new Earth were not coming as
expected, they turned their attention to governing the old.
Heaven and the old Earth. The disciples were willing to. be
humble for a few days, with the expectation of wearing
crowns for ever. They were satisfied with poverty, believing
that the wealth of the world was to be theirs. The coming
of Christ, however, being for some unaccountable reason
delayed, poverty and humility grew irksome, and human
nature began to assert itself.
.
In the Gospel of John you will find the metaphysics of the
Church. There you find the Second Birth. There you find
the doctrine of the Atonement clearly set forth. There you
find that God died for the whole world, and that whosoever
believeth not in him is to be damned. There is nothing of
the kind in Matthew. Matthew makes Christ say that, if
you will forgive others, God will forgive you. The Gospel
“ according to Mark ” is the same. So is the Gospel “ accord
ing to Luke.” There is nothing about salvation through
belief, nothing about the Atonement. In Mark, in the last
chapter, the Apostles are told to go into all the world, and
preach the Gospel, with the statement that whoever believed
and was baptised should be saved, and whoever failed to
believe should be damned. But we now know that that is
an interpolation. Consequently, Matthew, Mark, and Luke
never had the faintest conception of the “ Christian religion.”
They knew nothing of the Atonement, nothing of salvation
by faith—nothing. So that, if a man had read only Matthew,
Mark, and Luke, and had strictly followed what .he found,
he would have found himself, after death, in perdition.
Renan finds that certain portions of the Gospel “ according
to John ” were added later; that the entire twenty-first
chapter is an interpolation; also that many places bear the
traces of erasures and corrections. So he says that it would
be “ impossible for anyone to compose a life of Jesus, with
any moaning in it, from the discourses which John attributes
to him, and he holds that this Gospel of John is full of
preaching, Christ demonstrating himself; full of argumenta
tion, full of stage effect, devoid of simplicity, with long argu
ments after each miracle, stiff and awkward discourses, the
�( 10 )
thaM°heT^Vev°dSl^ieJ?/-7e<i,1ta-1-” Ho aIs° insiste
1 • evidently “artificial portions, variations like
authors were, generally speaking, those to wS’thev are
d ¡verse ’ ihls ls, a back-handed stroke. Admitting fW
f S
that they are authentic; second, that they were written’about
the end of the first century; third, that they arZnot of eoual
inspiration?868’ S°
™ h6 18 coucerned> of the dogma of
One is at a loss to understand why four o-ognelg should
have been written. As a matter of fact, there cmbe on v
one true account of any occurrence, or of any number of
occurrences. Now, it must be taken for granted that an
nXelaZZs?8 I?6’
sbould there be
+i acc°?nts/ Tt may be answered that all were not to
to cover subsialtUlly the m grojn^ “ “““ atteml?ted
Gospeh fitted th 6™ Th™ fT cardinal directions and the
+,Osp dfcted tbe north, south, east, and west. Others said
that there were four principal winds-a gospel for each
legs '
migbt bave added that some animals have four
autho“ itS^“ th«?1**the farrative Portions have not the same
tho^nn 4 ^th^t many legends proceeded from the zeal of
the second Christian generation; that the narrative of Luke
; that sentences attributed to Jesus have
^ distorted and exaggerated; that the book was written
outside of Palestine and after the siege of Jerusalem £
Luke endeavors to make the different narrativesaXee
whTh 1hgd hhm f°r that. PUrpOse ; that he softens the paBsmes
mmvelK beco^%embarrassing; that he exaggerated the
marvellous, omitted errors in chronology; that he was a
and* whJ’l? ?aU. Who had not been an eye-witness himself,
and ZZes^+V^ 86611 ^e'witnes8es’ but who labors at texts
?s vaZZ f *
eir.sen8e t(? make them agree.” This certainly
Sent7£
\nsP5at1011- So “ Luke interprets the docu£sed fn dmg T° hlS
ldea; being a kind of anarchist,
®d to Property, and persuaded that the triumph of the
Lncri +8 aPPro.aching; that he was especially fond of the
Zf thl ?6S i0W1I1§ tbe conversion of sinners, the exaltation
them
anOient
to give
�(11)
Renan reached the conclusion that the Gospels are neither
biographies after the manner of Suetonius nor fictitious
legends in the style of Philostratus, but that they are
legendary biographies like the legen^ of the saints, the lives
of Plotinus and Isodore, m which historical, truth and. the
desire to present models of virtue are combined in various
degrees; that they are “ inexact ”; that they contain
numerous errors and discordances?’ So he takes the ground
that twenty or thirty years after Christ his reputation had
greatly increased, that “ legends had begun to gather about
him like clouds,” that “ death added to his perfection, freeing
him from all defects in the eyes of those who had loved him,
that his followers wrested the prophecies so that they might
fit him. They said, ‘ He is the Messiah. The Messiah, was
to do certain things; therefore Jesus did certain things.
Then an account would be given of the doing. All of which
of course shows that there can be maintained no theory ot
mit1isaadmitted that where individuals are witnesses of.the
same transaction, and where they agree upon the vital points
and disagree upon detail, the disagreement may be consistent
with their honesty, as tending to show that, they nave not
agreed upon a story; but if the witnesses are inspired of God
then there is no reason for their disagreeing on anything,
and if they do disagree it is a demonstration that they were
not inspired, but it is not a demonstration that they are not
honest. While perfect agreement may be evidence, ot
rehearsal, a failure to perfectly agree is not a demonstration
of the truth or falsity of the story; but if the witnesses claim
to be inspired, the slightest disagreement is a demonstration
that they were not inspired.
.
Renan reaches the conclusion, proving every step that he
takes, that the four principal documents—that is to say,
the four Gospels—are in “ flagrant contradiction one with
another.” He attacks, and with perfect success, the miracles
of the Scriptures, and upon this subject says : “ Observation,
which has never once been falsified, teaches us that mu acles
never happen, but in times and countries in. which they are
believed and before persons disposed to believe them. JNo
miracle ever occurred in the presence of men capable ot
testing its miraculous character.” He further takes the
ground that no contemporary miracle will bear inquiry, and
that consequently it is probable that the miracles of antiquity
which have been performed in popular gatherings would be
shown to be simple illusion, were it possible to criticise them
in detail. In the name of universal experience.he banishes
Tnira.nl AS from history. These were brave things to do,
things that will bear good fruit. As long as men believe in
�( 12 )
Piracies, past or present, they remain the prey of supersti101!’ , 6 Catholic is taught that miracles were performed
anciently not only, but that they are still being performed.
Ihis is consistent inconsistency. Protestants teach a double
doctrine: That miracles used to be performed, that the laws
of nature used to be violated, but that no miracle is per01 med now. No Protestant will admit that any miracle was
performed by the Catholic Church. Otherwise, Protestants
could not be justified in leaving a Church with whom the
y°d of miracles dwelt. So every Protestant has to adopt
two kinds of reasoning : that the laws of Nature used to be
violated and that miracles used to be performed, but that
since the apostolic age Nature has had her way and the Lord
has allowed facts to exist and to hold the field. A super
natural account, according to Renan, “always implies
credulity or imposture ’’—probably both.
It does not seem possible to me that Christ claimed for
himself what the Testament claims for him. These claims
were made by admirers, by followers, by missionaries.
When the early Christians went to Rome they found plenty
demigods. It was hard to set aside the religion of a demi
god by telling the story of a man from Nazareth. These
missionaries, not to be outdone in ancestry, insisted—and
this was after the Gospel “ according to St. John ” had been
written that Christ was the Son of God. Matthew believed
that he was the son of David, and the Messiah, and gave the
genealogy of Joseph, his father, to support that claim.
In the time of Christ no one imagined that he was of divine
oiigm, This was an after-growth. In order to place them
eelves on an equality with Pagans they started the claim of
divinity, and also took the second step requisite in that
country: First, a god for his father, and second, a virgin for
his mother. This was the Pagan combination of greatness,
and the Christians added to this that Christ was God.
It was hard to agree with the conclusion reached by Renan,
that Christ formed and intended to form a church. Such
evidence, it seems to me, is hard to find in the Testament.
Christ seemed to satisfy himself, according to the Testament,
with a few statements, some of them exceedingly wise and
tender, some utterly impracticable and some intolerant.
If we accept the conclusions reached by Renan we will
throw away the legends without foundation ; the miraculous
legends; and everything inconsistent with what we know of
Nature. Very little will be left—a few sayings to be found
-among those attributed to Confucius, to Buddha, to Krishna,
to Epictetus, to Zeno, and to many others. Some of these
sayings are full of wisdom, full of kindness, and others rush
to such extremes that they touch the borders of insanity.
�( 13 )
When struck on one cheek to turn the other, is really joining
a conspiracy to secure the triumph of brutality. To. agree
not to resist evil is to become an accomplice of all injustice.
We must not take from industry, from patriotism, from virtue
the right of self-defence.
Undoubtedly Renan gave an honest transcript of his mind,
the road his thought had followed., the reasons in their order
that had occurred to him, the criticisms born of thought, and
the qualifications, softening phrases, children of old senti
ments and of emotions that had not entirely passed away.
He started, one might say, from the altar and, during a con
siderable part of the journey, carried the incense with him.
The farther he got away, the greater was his clearness of
vision and the more thoroughly he was convinced that Christ
was merely a man, an idealist. But remembering the altar,,
he excused exaggeration in the “ inspired ” books, not because
it was from heaven, not because it was in harmony with our
ideas of veracity, but because the writers of the Gospel were
imbued with the Oriental spirit of exaggeration, a spirit per
fectly understood by the people who first read the Gospels,
because the readers knew the habits of the writers.
It had been contended for many years that no one could
pass judgment on the veracity of the Scriptures who did not
understand Hebrew. This position was perfectly absurd. Ho
man needs to be a student of Hebrew to know that the shadow
on the dial did not go back several degrees to convince a petty
king that a boil was not to be fatal. Renan, however, filled-,
the requirement. He was an excellent Hebrew scholar. This
was a fortunate circumstance, because it answered a very old
objection.
The founder of Christianity was, for his own sake, taken
from the divine pedestal and allowed to stand like other men
on the earth, to be judged by what he. said and did, by his
theories, by his philosophy, by his spirit.
No matter whether Renan came to a correct conclusion or
not, his work did a vast deal of good. He convinced many
that implicit reliance could not be placed upon the Gospels,,
that the Gospels themselves are of unequal worth; that they
were deformed by ignorance and falsehood, or, at least, by
mistake; that if they wished to save the reputation of Christ
they must not rely wholly on the Gospels, or on what is found
in the New Testament, but they must go farther and examine
all legends touching him. Not only so, but they must throw
away the miraculous, the impossible and the absurd.
He also has shown that the early followers of Christ en
deavored to add to the reputation of their Master by attri
buting to him the miraculous and the foolish; that while these
stories added to his reputation at that time, since the world.
�( 14 )
has advanced they must be cast aside or the reputation of
the Master must suffer.
It will not do now to say that Christ himself pretended to
do miracles. This would establish the fact at least that he
was mistaken. But we are compelled to say that his disciples
insisted that he was a worker of miracles. This shows, either
that they were mistaken or untruthful.
We all know that a sleight-of-hand performer could gain a
greater reputation among savages than Darwin or Humboldt;
and we know that the world in the time of Christ was filled
with barbarians, with people who demanded the miraculous,
who expected it; with people, in fact, who had a stronger
belief in the supernatural than in the natural; people who
never thought it worth while to record facts. The hero of
such people, the Christ of such people, with his miracles,
cannot be the Christ of the thoughtful and scientific.
Renan was a man of most excellent temper; candid; not
■striving for victory, but for truth; conquering, as far as he
could, the old superstitions; not entirely free, it may be, but
believing himself to be so. He did great good. He has
helped to destroy the fictions of faith. He has helped to
rescue man from the prison of superstition, and this is the
greatest benefit that man can bestow on man.
He did another great service, not only to Jews, but to
“Christendom, by writing the history of The People of Israel.
Christians for many centuries have persecuted the Jews.
They have charged them with the greatest conceivable crime
—with having crucified an infinite God. This absurdity has
hardened the hearts of men and poisoned the minds of
children. The persecution of the Jews is the meanest, the
most senseless and cruel page in history. Every civilised
Christian should feel on his cheeks the red spots of shame as
he reads the wretched and infamous story. The flame of this
prejudice is fanned and fed in the Sunday-schools of our day,
and the orthodox minister points proudly to the atrocities
perpetrated against the Jews by the barbarians of Russia as
■evidences of the truth of the inspired Scriptures. In every
wound God puts a tongue to proclaim the truth of his book.
If the charge that the Jews killed God were true, it is
hardly reasonable to hold those who are now living respon
sible for what their ancestors did nearly nineteen cen
turies ago.
But there is another point in connection with this matter.
If Christ was God, then the Jews could not have killed him
without his consent; and, according to the orthodox creed,
if he had not been sacrificed, the whole world would have
suffered eternal pain. Nothing can exceed the meanness of
the prejudice of Christians against the Jewish people. They
�( 15 )
should not be held responsible for their savage ancestors, or
for their belief that Jehovah was an intelligent and merciful
God, superior to all other gods. Even Christians do not
wish to be held responsible for the Inquisition, for the
Torquemadas and the John Calvins, for the witch-burners
and the Quaker-whippers, for the slave-traders and child
stealers, the most of whom were believers in our “ glorious
gospel,” and many of whom had been born the second time.
Renan did much to civilise the Christians by telling the
truth in a charming and convincing way about the “ People
of Israel.” Both sides are greatly indebted to him : one he
has ably defended, and the other greatly enlightened.
Having done what good he could in giving what he believed
was light to his fellow men, he had no fear of becoming a
victim of God’s wrath, and so he laughingly said : “ For my
part I imagine if the Eternal in his severity were to send me
to hell I should succeed in escaping from it. I would send
up to my Creator a supplication that would make him smile.
The course of reasoning by which I would prove to him that
it was through his fault that I was damned would be so
subtle that he would find some difficulty in replying. The
fate which would suit me best is Purgatory—a charming
place, where many delightful romances begun on earth must
be continued.”
Such cheerfulness, such good philosophy, with cap and
bells, such banter and blasphemy, such sound and solid sense
drive to madness the priest who thinks the curse of Rome
can fright the world. How the snake of superstition writhes
when he finds that his fangs have lost their poison.
He was one of the gentlest of men—one of the fairest in
discussion, dissenting from the views of others with modesty
presenting his own wiuh clearness and candor. His mental
manners were excellent. He was not positive as to the
“ unknowable.” He said “ Perhaps.” He knew that know
ledge is good if it increases the happiness of man; and he
felt that superstition is the assassin of liberty and civilisation.
He lived a life of cheerfulness, of industry, devoted to the
welfare of mankind. He was a seeker of happiness by the
highway of the natural, a destroyer of the dogmas of mental
deformity, a worshipper of Liberty and the Ideal. As he
lived, he died—hopeful and serene—and now, standing in
imagination by his grave, we ask: Will the night be eternal?
The brain says, PerhapB; while the heart; hopes for the
Dawn.
�WORKS BY COL. R. G. INGERSOLL.
MISTAKES OF MOSES
...
...
...
Superior edition, in cloth. ...
...
...
DEFENCE OF FREETIIOUGHT
...
...
Five Hours’ Speech at theTrial of C. B.
Reynolds for Blasphemy.
REPLY TO GLADSTONE. With a Biography by
J. M. Wheeler ...
..!
' ...
...
ROME OR REASON ? Reply to Cardinal Manning
CRIMES AGAINST CRIMINALS
...
...
AN ORATION ON WALT WHITMAN...
...
ORATION ON VOLTAIRE ...
...
...
THE THREE PHILANTHROPISTS
...
...
TRUE RELIGION ...
...
...
...
FAITH AND FACT. Reply to Rev. Dr. Field
...
GOD AND MAN. Second Reply to Dr. Field
...
THE HOUSEHOLD OF FAITH
...
...
LOVE THE REDEEMER. Reply to Count Tolstoi
THE LIMITS OF TOLERATION
...
...
A Discussion with Hon.* F. D. Coudert and
Gov. S. L. Woodford
THE DYING CREED
...
• ...
...
DO I BLASPHEME ?
...
...
...
THE CLERGY AND COMMON SENSE
...
SOCIAL SALVATION
...
...
...
MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE ...
...
...
GOD AND THE STATE
...
...
...
WHY AM I AN AGNOSTIC ?
...
...
WHY AM I AN AGNOSTIC ? Part II.
...
ART AND MORALITY
...................
...
CREEDS AND SPIRITUALITY
...
....
CHRIST AND MIRACLES
...
...
...
THE GREAT MISTAKE
...
...
...
LIVE TOPICS
...
...
...
...
MYTH AND MIRACLE
...
...
...
REAL BLASPHEMY
...
...
...
REPAIRING THE IDOLS
...
...
...
s. d.
1 0
1 6
0 6
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
4
4
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
2’
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
Read THE FREETHINKER, edited by G.W. Foote.
Sixteen Pages.
Price One Penny.
Published every Thursday.
R. Forder, 28 Stonecutter-street, London, E.C.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Victorian Blogging
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
Creator
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
Ernest Renan and Jesus Christ
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Ingersoll, Robert Green [1833-1899]
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 15 p. ; 19 cm.
Notes: "Works by Col. R.G. Ingersoll" listed on back cover. No. 19a in Stein checklist. Printed by G.W. Foote. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
R. Forder
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1892
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
N343
Subject
The topic of the resource
Jesus Christ
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 (Ernest Renan and Jesus Christ), 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
Ernest Renan
Jesus Christ
NSS