My Reviewers Reviewed
A reply to the clergymen of San Francisco.

by Robert G. Ingersoll
(1877)

From The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll (Dresden Edition, 1900–1902), Volume 7.
Source: https://thegreatagnostic.com/works/my-reviewers-reviewed/
Public domain. CC0 / Public Domain Mark 1.0.

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• This lecture was delivered by Col. Ingersoll in San
    Francisco Cal., June 27, 1877. It was a reply to various
    clergymen of that city, who had made violent attacks upon
    him after the delivery of his lectures, "The Liberty of Man,
    Woman and Child," and "The Ghosts."

I.

AGAINST the aspersions of the pulpit and the religious press, I offer
in evidence this magnificent audience. Although I represent but a small
part of the holy cause of intellectual liberty, even that part shall not
be defiled or smirched by a single personality. Whatever I say, I shall
say because I believe it will tend to make this world grander, man
nearer just, the father kinder, the mother more loving, the children
more affectionate, and because I believe it will make an additional
flower bloom in the pathway of every one who hears me.

In the first place, what have I said? What has been my offence? What
have I done? I am spoken of by the clergy as though I were a wolf that
in the absence of the good shepherd had fattened upon his innocent
flock. What have I said?

I delivered a lecture entitled, "The Liberty of Man, Woman and
Child." In that lecture I said that man was entitled to physical and
intellectual liberty. I defined physical liberty to be the right to do
right; the right to do anything that did not interfere with the real
happiness of others. I defined intellectual liberty to be the right to
think right, and the right to think wrong—provided you did your best to
think right.

This must be so, because thought is only an instrumentality by which we
seek to ascertain the truth. Every man has the right to think, whether
his thought is in reality right or wrong; and he cannot be accountable
to any being for thinking wrong. There is upon man, so far as thought
is concerned, the obligation to think the best he can, and to honestly
express his best thought. Whenever he finds what is right, or what he
honestly believes to be the right, he is less than a man if he fears to
express his conviction before an assembled world.

The right to do right is my definition of physical liberty. "The right
of one human being ceases where the right of another commences." My
definition of intellectual liberty is, the right to think, whether you
think right or wrong, provided you do your best to think right.

I believe in Liberty, Fraternity and Equality—the Blessed Trinity of
Humanity.

I believe in Observation, Reason and Experience—the Blessed Trinity of
Science.

I believe in Man, Woman and Child—the Blessed Trinity of Life and Joy.

I have said, and still say, that you have no right to endeavor by force
to compel another to think your way—that man has no right to compel his
fellow-man to adopt his creed, by torture or social ostracism. I have
said, and still say, that even an infinite God has and can have no right
to compel by force or threats even the meanest of mankind to accept
a dogma abhorrent to his mind. As a matter of fact such a power is
incapable of being exercised. You may compel a man to say that he has
changed his mind. You may force him to say that he agrees with you. In
this way, however, you make hypocrites, not converts. Is it possible
that a god wishes the worship of a slave? Does a god desire the homage
of a coward? Does he really long for the adoration of a hypocrite? Is
it possible that he requires the worship of one who dare not think? If I
were a god it seems to me that I had rather have the esteem and love of
one grand, brave man, with plenty of heart and plenty of brain, than
the blind worship, the ignorant adoration, the trembling homage of a
universe of men afraid to reason. And yet I am warned by the orthodox
guardians of this great city not to think. I am told that I am in danger
of hell; that for me to express my honest convictions is to excite the
wrath of God. They inform me that unless I believe in a certain way,
meaning their way, I am in danger of everlasting fire.

There was a time when these threats whitened the faces of men with fear.
That time has substantially passed away. For a hundred years hell has
been gradually growing cool, the flames have been slowly dying out, the
brimstone is nearly exhausted, the fires have been burning lower and
lower, and the climate gradually changing. To such an extent has the
change already been effected that if I were going there to-night I would
take an overcoat and a box of matches.

They say that the eternal future of man depends upon his belief. I deny
it. A conclusion honestly arrived at by the brain cannot possibly be
a crime; and the man who says it is, does not think so. The god who
punishes it as a crime is simply an infamous tyrant. As for me, I would
a thousand times rather go to perdition and suffer its torments with
the brave, grand thinkers of the world, than go to heaven and keep the
company of a god who would damn his children for an honest belief.

The next thing I have said is, that woman is the equal of man; that she
has every right that man has, and one more—the right to be protected,
because she is the weaker. I have said that marriage should be an
absolutely perfect partnership of body and soul; that a man should treat
his wife like a splendid flower, and that she should fill his life with
perfume and with joy. I have said that a husband had no right to be
morose; that he had no right to assassinate the sunshine and murder the
joy of life.

I have said that when he went home he should go like a ray of light, and
fill his house so full of joy that it would burst out of the doors and
windows and illumine even the darkness of night. I said that marriage
was the holiest, highest, the most sacred institution among men; that
it took millions of years for woman to advance from the condition of
absolute servitude, from the absolute slavery where the Bible found her
and left her, up to the position she occupies at present. I have pleaded
for the rights of woman, for the rights of wives, and what is more, for
the rights of little children. I have said that they could be governed
by affection, by love, and that my heart went out to all the children
of poverty and of crime; to the children that live in the narrow streets
and in the sub-cellars; to the children that run and hide when they hear
the footsteps of a brutal father, the children that grow pale when
they hear their names pronounced even by a mother; to all the little
children, the flotsam and jetsam upon the wide, rude sea of life. I have
said that my heart goes out to them one and all; I have asked fathers
and mothers to cease beating their own flesh and blood. I have said to
them, When your child does wrong, put your arms around him; let him feel
your heart beat against his. It is easier to control your child with a
kiss than with a club.

For expressing these sentiments, I have been denounced by the religious
press and by ministers in their pulpits as a demon, as an enemy of
order, as a fiend, as an infamous man. Of this, however, I make no
complaint. A few years ago they would have burned me at the stake and I
should have been compelled to look upon their hypocritical faces through
flame and smoke. They cannot do it now or they would. One hundred years
ago I would have been burned, simply for pleading for the rights of men.
Fifty years ago I would have been imprisoned. Fifty years ago my wife
and my children would have been torn from my arms in the name of the
most merciful God. Twenty-five years ago I could not have made a living
in the United States at the practice of law; but I can now. I would not
then have been allowed to express my thought; but I can now, and I will.
And when I think about the liberty I now enjoy, the whole horizon is
illuminated with glory and the air is filled with wings.

I then delivered another lecture entitled "Ghosts," in which I sought to
show that man had been controlled by phantoms of his own imagination;
in which I sought to show these imps of darkness, these devils, had all
been produced by superstition; in which I endeavored to prove that man
had groveled in the dust before monsters of his own creation; in which I
endeavored to demonstrate that the many had delved in the soil that the
few might live in idleness, that the many had lived in caves and dens
that the few might dwell in palaces of gold; in which I endeavored to
show that man had received nothing from these ghosts except hatred,
except ignorance, except unhappiness, and that in the name of phantoms
man had covered the face of the world with tears. And for this, I have
been assailed, in the name, I presume, of universal forgiveness. So far
as any argument I have produced is concerned, it cannot in any way make
the slightest difference whether I am a good or a bad man. It cannot in
any way make the slightest difference whether my personal character is
good or bad. That is not the question, though, so far as I am concerned,
I am willing to stake the whole question upon that issue. That is not,
however, the thing to be discussed, nor the thing to be decided. The
question is, whether what I said is true.

I did say that from ghosts we had obtained certain things—among other
things a book known as the Bible. From the ghosts we received that
book; and the believers in ghosts pretend that upon that book rests the
doctrine of the immortality of the human soul. This I deny.

Whether or not the soul is immortal is a fact in nature and cannot be
changed by any book whatever. If I am immortal, I am. If am not, no book
can render me so. It is no mure wonderful that I should live again than
that I do live.

The doctrine of immortality is not based upon any book. The foundation
of that idea is not a creed. The idea of immortality, which, like a
sea, has ebbed and flowed in the human heart, beating with its countless
waves of hope and fear against the shores and rocks of fate and time,
was not born of any book, was not born of a creed. It is not the child
of any religion. It was born of human affection; and it will continue to
ebb and flow beneath the mists and clouds of doubt and darkness as long
as love kisses the lips of death. It is the eternal bow—Hope shining
upon the tears of Grief.

I did say that these ghosts taught that human slavery was right. If
there is a crime beneath the shining stars it is the crime of enslaving
a human being. Slavery enslaves not only the slave, but the master as
well. When you put a chain upon the limbs of another, you put a fetter
also upon your own brain. I had rather be a slave than a slaveholder.
The slave can at least be just—the slaveholder cannot. I had rather be
robbed than be a robber. I had rather be stolen from than to be a
thief. I have said, and I do say, that the Bible upheld, sustained and
sanctioned the institution of human slavery; and before I get through I
will prove it.

I said that to the same book we are indebted, to a great degree, for the
doctrine of witchcraft. Relying upon its supposed sacred texts, people
were hanged and their bodies burned for getting up storms at sea with
the intent of drowning royal vermin. Every possible offence was punished
under the name of witchcraft, from souring beer to high treason.

I also said, and I still say, that the book we obtained from the ghosts,
for the guidance of man, upheld the infamy of infamies, called polygamy;
and I will also prove that. And the same book teaches, not political
liberty, but political tyranny.

I also said that the author of the book given us by the ghosts knew
nothing about astronomy, still less about geology, still less, if
possible, about medicine, and still less about legislation.

This is what I have said concerning the aristocracy of the air. I am
well aware that having said it I ought to be able to prove the truth
of my words. I have said these things. No one ever said them in better
nature than I have. I have not the slightest malice—a victor never
felt malice. As soon as I had said these things, various gentlemen felt
called upon to answer me. I want to say that if there is anything I like
in the world it is fairness. And one reason I like it so well is that
I have had so little of it. I can say, if I wish, extremely mean
and hateful things. I have read a great many religious papers and
discussions and think that I now know all the infamous words in our
language. I know how to account for every noble action by a mean and
wretched motive, and that, in my judgment, embraces nearly the entire
science of modern theology. The moment I delivered a lecture upon "The
Liberty of Man, Woman and Child," I was charged with having said that
there is nothing back of nature, and that nature with its infinite arms
embraces everything; and thereupon I was informed that I believed in
nothing but matter and force, that I believed only in earth, that I did
not believe in spirit. If by spirit you mean that which thinks, then I
am a believer in spirit. If you mean by spirit the something that says
"I," the something that reasons, hopes, loves and aspires, then I am a
believer in spirit. Whatever spirit there is in the universe must be a
natural thing, and not superimposed upon nature. All that I can say
is, that whatever is, is natural. And there is as much goodness, in my
judgment, as much spirit in this world as in any other; and you are just
as near the heart of the universe here as you can be anywhere. One of
your clergymen says in answer, as he supposes, to me, that there is
matter and force and spirit. Well, can matter exist without force? What
would keep it together? What would keep the finest possible conceivable
atom together unless there was force? Can you imagine such a thing as
matter without force? Can you conceive of force without matter? Can you
conceive of force floating about attached to nothing? Can you possibly
conceive of this? No human being can conceive of force without matter.
"You cannot conceive of force being harnessed or hitched to matter as
you would hitch horses to a carriage." You cannot. Now, what is spirit?
They say spirit is the first thing that was. It seems to me, however, as
though spirit was the blossom, the fruit of all, not the commencement.
They say it was first. Very well. Spirit without force, a spirit without
any matter—what would that spirit do? No force, no matter!—a spirit
living in an infinite vacuum. What would such a spirit turn its
particular attention to? This spirit, according to these theologians,
created the world, the universe; and if it did, there must have been a
time when it commenced to create; and back of that there must have
been an eternity spent in absolute idleness. Now, is it possible that
a spirit existed during an eternity without any force and without any
matter? Is it possible that force could exist without matter or spirit?
Is it possible that matter could exist alone, if by matter you mean
something without force? The only answer I can give to all these
questions is, I do not know. For my part, I do not know what spirit is,
if there is any. I do not know what matter is, neither am I acquainted
with the elements of force. If you mean by matter that which I can
touch, that which occupies space, then I believe in matter. If you mean
by force anything that can overcome weight, that can overcome what
we call gravity or inertia; if you mean by force that which moves the
molecules of matter, or the movement itself, then I believe in force.
If you mean by spirit that which thinks and loves, then I believe in
spirit. There is, however, no propriety in wasting any time about the
science of metaphysics. I will give you my definition of metaphysics:
Two fools get together; each admits what neither can prove, and
thereupon both of them say, "hence we infer." That is all there is of
metaphysics.

These gentlemen, however, say to me that all my doctrine about the
treatment of wives and children, all my ideas of the rights of man, all
these are wrong, because I am not exactly correct as to my notion 01
spirit. They say that spirit existed first, at least an eternity before
there was any force or any matter. Exactly how spirit could act without
force we do not understand. That we must take upon credit. How spirit
could create matter without force is a serious question, and we are
too reverent to press such an inquiry. We are bound to be satisfied,
however, that spirit is entirely independent of force and matter, and
any man who denies this must be "a malevolent and infamous wretch."

Another reverend gentleman proceeds to denounce all I have said as the
doctrine of negation. And we are informed by him—speaking I presume
from experience—that negation is a poor thing to die by. He tells us
that the last hours are the grand testing hours. They are the hours when
atheists disown their principles and infidels bewail their folly—"that
Voltaire and Thomas Paine wrote sharply against Christianity, but their
death-bed scenes are too harrowing for recital"—He also states that
"another French infidel philosopher tried in vain to fortify Voltaire,
but that a stronger man than Voltaire had taken possession of him,
and he cried 'Retire! it is you that have brought me to my present
state—Begone! what a rich glory you have brought me.'" This, my
friends, is the same old, old falsehood that has been repeated again and
again by the lips of hatred and hypocrisy. There is not in one of these
stories a solitary word of truth; and every intelligent man knows all
these death-bed accounts to be entirely and utterly false. They
are taken, however, by the mass of the church as evidence that all
opposition to Christianity, so-called, fills the bed of the dying
infidel and scoffer with serpents and scorpions. So far as my experience
goes, the bad die in many instances as placidly as the good. I have
sometimes thought that a hardened wretch, upon whose memory is engraved
the record of nearly every possible crime, dies without a shudder,
without a tremor, while some grand, good man, remembering during his
last moments an unkind word spoken to a stranger, it may be in the
heat of anger, dies with remorseful words upon his lips. Nearly every
murderer who is hanged, dies with an immensity of nerve, but I never
thought it proved that he had lived a good and useful life. Neither have
I imagined that it sanctified the crime for which he suffered death.
The fact is, that when man approaches natural death, his powers, his
intellectual faculties fail and grow dim. He becomes a child. He has
less and less sense. And just in proportion as he loses his reasoning
powers, he goes back to the superstitions of his childhood. The scenes
of youth cluster about him and he is again in the lap of his mother.
Of this very fact, there is not a more beautiful description than that
given by Shakespeare when he takes that old mass of wit and filth, Jack
Falstaff, in his arms, and Mrs Quickly says: "A' made a finer end, and
went away, an it had been my christom child; a' parted ev'n just between
twelve and one, ev'n at the turning o' the tide; for after I saw him
fumble with the sheets, and play with flowers, and smile upon his
fingers' end, I knew there was but one way; for his nose was as sharp
as a pen, and a' babbled of green fields." As the genius of Shakespeare
makes Falstaff a child again upon sunny slopes, decked with daisies, so
death takes the dying back to the scenes of their childhood, and they
are clasped once more to the breasts of mothers. They go back, for the
reason that nearly every superstition in the world has been sanctified
by some sweet and placid mother. Remember, the superstition has never
sanctified the mother, but the mother has sanctified the superstition.
The young Mohammedan, who now lies dying upon some field of battle,
thinks sweet and tender thoughts of home and mother, and will, as the
blood oozes from his veins, repeat some holy verse from the blessed
Koran. Every superstition in the world that is now held sacred has been
made so by mothers, by fathers, by the recollections of home. I know
what it has cost the noble, the brave, the tender, to throw away every
superstition, although sanctified by the memory of those they loved.
Whoever has thrown away these superstitions has been pursued by his
fellow-men, From the day of the death of Voltaire the church has pursued
him as though he had been the vilest criminal. A little over one hundred
years ago, Catholicism, the inventor of instruments of torture, red with
the innocent blood of millions, felt in its heartless breast the dagger
of Voltaire. From that blow the Catholic Church never can recover. Livid
with hatred she launched at her assassin the curse of Rome, and ignorant
Protestants have echoed that curse. For myself, I like Voltaire, and
whenever I think of that name, it is to me as a plume floating above
some grand knight—a knight who rides to a walled city and demands
an unconditional surrender. I like him. He was once imprisoned in the
Bastile, and while in that frightful fortress—and I like to tell it—he
changed his name. His name was Francois Marie Arouet. In his gloomy cell
he changed this name to Voltaire, and when some sixty years afterward
the Bastile was torn down to the very dust, "Voltaire" was the battle
cry of the destroyers who did it. I like him because he did more for
religious toleration than any other man who ever lived or died. I admire
him because he did more to do away with torture in civil proceedings
than any other man. I like him because he was always upon the side of
justice, upon the side of progress. I like him in spite of his faults,
because he had many and splendid virtues. I like him because his
doctrines have never brought unhappiness to any country. I like him
because he hated tyranny; and when he died he died as serenely as ever
mortal died; he spoke to his servant recognizing him as a man. He said
to him, calling him by name: "My friend, farewell." These were the last
words of Voltaire. And this was the only frightful scene enacted at his
bed of death. I like Voltaire, because for half a century he was the
intellectual emperor of Europe. I like him, because from his throne at
the foot of the Alps he pointed the finger of scorn at every hypocrite
in Christendom.

I will give to any clergyman in the city of San Francisco a thousand
dollars in gold to substantiate the story that the death of Voltaire was
not as peaceful as the coming of the dawn. The same absurd story is told
of Thomas Paine. Thomas Paine was a patriot—he was the first man in
the world to write these words: "The Free and Independent States of
America." He was the first man to convince the American people that they
ought to separate themselves from Great Britain. "His pen did as
much, to say the least, for the liberty of America, as the sword of
Washington." The men who have enjoyed the benefit of his heroic services
repay them with slander and calumny. If there is in this world a crime,
ingratitude is a crime. And as for myself, I am not willing to receive
anything from any man without making at least an acknowledgment of my
obligation. Y et these clergymen, whose very right to stand in their
pulpits and preach, was secured to them by such men as Thomas Paine,
delight in slandering the reputation of that great man. They tell their
hearers that he died in fear,—that he died in agony, hearing devils
rattle chains, and that the infinite God condescended to frighten a
dying man. I will give one thousand dollars in gold to any clergyman
in San Francisco who will substantiate the truth of the absurd stories
concerning the death of Thomas Paine. There is not one word of truth in
these accounts; not one word.

Let me ask one thing, and let me ask it, if you please, in what is
called a reverent spirit. Suppose that Voltaire and Thomas Paine, and
Volney and Hume and Hobbes had cried out when dying "My God, My God, why
hast thou forsaken me?" what would the clergymen of this city then have
said?

To resort to these foolish calumnies about the great men who have
opposed the superstitions of the world, is in my judgment, unbecoming
any intelligent man. The real question is not, who is afraid to die? The
question is, who is right? The great question is not, who died right,
but who lived right? There is infinitely more responsibility in living
than in dying. The moment of death is the most unimportant moment of
life. Nothing can be done then. You cannot even do a favor for a friend,
except to remember him in your will. It is a moment when life ceases to
be of value. While living, while you have health and strength, you
can augment the happiness of your fellow-men; and the man who has made
others happy need not be afraid to die. Yet these believers, as they
call themselves, these believers who hope for immortality—thousands
of them, will rob their neighbors, thousands of them will do numberless
acts of injustice, when, according to their belief, the witnesses of
their infamy will live forever; and the men whom they have injured and
outraged, will meet them in every glittering star through all the ages
yet to be.

As for me, I would rather do a generous action, and read the record in
the grateful faces of my fellow-men.

These gentlemen who attack me are orthodox now, but the men who started
their churches were heretics.

The first Presbyterian was a heretic. The first Baptist was a heretic.
The first Congregationalist was a heretic. The first Christian was
denounced as a blasphemer. And yet these heretics, the moment they get
numerous enough to be in the majority in some locality, begin to call
themselves orthodox. Can there be any impudence beyond this?

The first Baptist, as I said before, was a heretic; and he was the best
Baptist that I have ever heard anything about. I always liked him. He
was a good man—Roger Williams. He was the first man, so far as I know,
in this country, who publicly said that the soul of man should be free.
And it was a wonder to me that a man who had sense enough to say
that, could think that any particular form of baptism was necessary to
salvation. It does strike me that a man of great brain and thought could
not possibly think the eternal welfare of a human being, the question
whether he should dwell with angels, or be tossed upon eternal waves
of fire, should be settled by the manner in which he had been baptized.
That seems, to me so utterly destitute of thought and heart, that it is
a matter of amazement to me that any man ever looked upon the ordinance
of baptism as of any importance whatever. If we were at the judgment
seat to-night, and the Supreme Being, in our hearing, should ask a man:

"Have you been a good man?" and the man replied:

"Tolerably good."

"Did you love your wife and children?"

"Yes."

"Did you try and make them happy?"

"Yes."

"Did you try and make your neighbors happy?" "Yes, I paid my debts: I
gave heaping measure, and I never cared whether I was thanked for it or
not."

Suppose the Supreme Being then should say:

"Were you ever baptized?" and the man should reply:

"I am sorry to say I never was."

Could a solitary person of sense hear that question asked, by the
Supreme Being, without laughing, even if he knew that his own case was
to be called next?

I happened to be in the company of six or seven Baptist elders—how I
ever got into such bad company, I don't know,—and one of them asked
what I thought about baptism. Well, I never thought much about it; did
not know much about it; didn't want to say anything, but they insisted
upon it. I said, "Well, I'll give you my opinion—with soap, baptism is
a good thing."

The Reverend Mr. Guard has answered me, as I am informed, upon several
occasions. I have read the reports of his remarks, and have boiled them
down. He said some things about me not entirely pleasant, which I do not
wish to repeat. In his reply he takes the ground:

First. That the Bible is not an immoral book, because he swore upon it
or by it when he joined the Masons.

Second. He excuses Solomon for all his crimes upon the supposition
that he had softening of the brain, or a fatty degeneration of the
heart.

Third. That the Hebrews had the right to slay all the inhabitants of
Canaan, according to the doctrine of the "survival of the fittest." He
takes the ground that the destruction of these Canaanites, the ripping
open of women with child by the sword of war, was an act of sublime
mercy. He justifies a war of extermination; he applauds every act of
cruelty and murder. He says that the Canaanites ought to have been
turned from their homes; that men guilty of no crime except fighting for
their country, old men with gray hairs, old mothers and little, dimpled,
prattling children, ought to have been sacrificed upon the altar of war;
that it was an act of sublime mercy to plunge the sword of religious
persecution into the bodies of all, old and young. This is what the
reverend gentleman is pleased to call mercy. If this is mercy let us
have injustice. If there is in the heavens such a God I am sorry that
man exists. All this, however, is justified upon the ground that God
has the right to do as he pleases with the being he has created. This I
deny. Such a doctrine is infamously false. Suppose I could take a stone
and in one moment change it into a sentient, hoping, loving human being,
would I have the right to torture it? Would I have the right to give it
pain? No one but a fiend would either exercise or justify such a right.
Even if there is a God who created us all he has no such right. Above
any God that can exist, in the infinite serenity forever sits the figure
of justice; and this God, no matter how great and infinite he may be, is
bound to do justice.

Fourth. That God chose the Jews and governed them personally for
thousands of years, and drove out the Canaanites in order that his
peculiar people might not be corrupted by the example of idolaters; that
he wished to make of the Hebrews a great nation, and that, consequently,
he was justified in destroying the original inhabitants of that country.
It seems to me that the end hardly justified the means. According to the
account, God governed the Jews personally for many ages and succeeded
in civilizing them to that degree, that they crucified him the first
opportunity they had. Such an administration can hardly be called a
success.

Fifth. The reverend gentleman seems to think that the practice of
polygamy after all is not a bad thing when compared with the crime
of exhibiting a picture of Antony and Cleopatra. Upon the corrupting
influence of such pictures he descants at great length, and attacks with
all the bitterness of the narrow theologian the masterpieces of art.
Allow me to say one word about art. That is one of the most beautiful
words in our language—Art. And it never seemed to me necessary for
art to go in partnership with a rag. I like the paintings of Angelo, of
Raffaelle. I like the productions of those splendid souls that put their
ideas of beauty upon the canvas uncovered.
    "There are brave souls in every land
    Who worship nature, grand and nude,
    And who with swift indignant hand
    Tear off the fig leaves of the prude."

Sixth. That it may be true that the Bible sanctions slavery, but that
it is not an immoral book even if it does.

I can account for these statements, for these arguments, only as
the reverend gentleman has accounted for the sins of Solomon—"by a
softening of the brain, or a fatty degeneration of the heart."

It does seem to me that if I were a Christian, and really thought my
fellow-man was going down to the bottomless pit; that he was going to
misery and agony forever, it does seem to me that I would try and save
him. It does seem to me, that instead of having my mouth filled with
epithets and invectives; instead of drawing the lips of malice back from
the teeth of hatred, it seems to me that my eyes would be filled with
tears. It seems to me that I would do what little I could to reclaim
him. I would talk to him and of him, in kindness. I would put the arms
of affection about him. I would not speak of him as though he were a
wild beast. I would not speak to him as though he were a brute. I would
think of him as a man, as a man liable to eternal torture among the
damned, and my heart would be filled with sympathy, not hatred—my eyes
with tears, not scorn.

If there is anything pitiable, it is to see a man so narrowed and
withered by the blight and breath of superstition, as cheerfully to
defend the most frightful crimes of which we have a record—a man so
hardened and petrified by creed and dogma that he hesitates not to
defend even the institution of human slavery—so lost to all sense of
pity that he applauds murder and rapine as though they were acts of the
loftiest self-denial.

The next gentleman who has endeavored to answer what I have said, is the
Rev. Samuel Robinson. This he has done in his sermon entitled "Ghosts
against God or Ingersoll against Honesty." I presume he imagines himself
to be the defendant in both cases.

This gentleman apologized for attending an infidel lecture, upon the
ground that he had to contribute to the support of a "materialistic
demon." To say the least, this is not charitable. But I am satisfied.
I am willing to exchange facts for epithets. I fare so much better than
did the infidels in the olden time that I am more than satisfied. It is
a little thing that I bear.

The brave men of the past endured the instruments of torture. They were
stretched upon racks; their feet were crushed in iron boots; they stood
upon the shores of exile and gazed with tearful eyes toward home and
native land. They were taken from their firesides, from their wives,
from their children; they were taken to the public square; they were
chained to stakes, and their ashes were scattered by the countless hands
of hatred. I am satisfied. The disciples of fear cannot touch me.

This gentlemen hated to contribute a cent to the support of a
"materialistic demon." When I saw that statement I will tell you what I
did. I knew the man's conscience must be writhing in his bosom to think
that he had contributed a dollar toward my support, toward the support
of a "materialistic demon." I wrote him a letter and I said:

"My Dear Sir: In order to relieve your conscience of the crime of having
contributed to the support of an unbeliever in ghosts, I hereby enclose
the amount you paid to attend my lecture." I then gave him a little
good advice. I advised him to be charitable, to be kind, and regretted
exceedingly that any man could listen to one of my talks for an hour
and a half and not go away satisfied that all men had the same right to
think.

This man denied having received the money, but it was traced to him
through a blot on the envelope.

This gentleman avers that everything that I said about persecution
is applicable to the Catholic Church only. That is what he says. The
Catholics have probably persecuted more than any other church, simply
because that church has had more power, simply because it has been more
of a church. It has to-day a better organization, and as a rule, the
Catholics come nearer believing what they say about their church than
other Christians do. Was it a Catholic persecution that drove the
Puritan fathers from England? Was it not the storm of Episcopal
persecution that filled the sails of the Mayflower? Was it not a
Protestant persecution that drove the Ark and Dove to America? Let us be
honest. Who went to Scotland and persecuted the Presbyterians? Who was
it that chained to the stake that splendid girl by the sands of the
sea for not saying "God save the king"? She was worthy to have been the
mother of Caesar. She would not say "God save the king," but she would
say "God save the king, if it be God's will." Protestants ordered her to
say "God save the king," and no more. She said, "I will not," and they
chained her to a stake in the sand and allowed her to be drowned by
the rising of the inexorable tide. Who did this? Protestants. Who drove
Roger Williams from Massachusetts? Protestants. Who sold white Quaker
children into slavery? Protestants. Who cut out the tongues of Quakers?
Who burned and destroyed men and women and children charged with
impossible crimes? Protestants. The Protestants have persecuted exactly
to the extent of their power. The Catholics have done the same.

I want, however, to be just. The first people to pass an act of
religious toleration in the New World were the Catholics of Maryland.
The next were the Baptists of Rhode Island, led by Roger Williams.
The Catholics passed the act of religious toleration, and after the
Protestants got into power again in England, and also in the colony of
Maryland, they repealed the law of toleration and passed another law
declaring the Catholics from under the protection of all law.
Afterward, the Catholics again got into power and had the generosity and
magnanimity to re-enact the old law. And, so far as I know, it is the
only good record upon the subject of religious toleration the Catholics
have in this world, and I am always willing to give them credit for it.

This gentleman also says that infidelity has done nothing for the world
in the development of the arts and sciences. Does he not know that
nearly every man who took a forward step was denounced by the church as
a heretic and infidel? Does he not know that the church has in all ages
persecuted the astronomers, the geologists, the logicians? Does he not
know that even to-day the church slanders and maligns the foremost men?
Has he ever heard of Tyndall, of Huxley? Is he acquainted with John
W. Draper, one of the leading minds of the world? Did he ever hear of
Auguste Comte, the great Frenchman? Did he ever hear of Descartes, of
Laplace, of Spinoza? In short, has he ever heard of a man who took a
step in advance of his time?

Orthodoxy never advances. When it advances, it ceases to be orthodoxy
and becomes heresy. Orthodoxy is putrefaction. It is intellectual
cloaca; it cannot advance. What the church calls infidelity is simply
free thought. Every man who really owns his own brain is, in the
estimation of the church, an infidel.

There is a paper published in this city called The Occident. The
Editor has seen fit to speak of me, and of the people who have assembled
to hear me, in the lowest, vilest and most scurrilous terms possible.
I cannot afford to reply in the same spirit. He alleges that the people
who assemble to hear me are the low, the debauched and the infamous.
The man who reads that paper ought to read it with tongs. It is a
Presbyterian sheet; and would gladly treat me as John Calvin treated
Castalio. Castalio was the first minister in the history of Christendom
who acknowledged the innocence of honest error, and John Calvin followed
him like a sleuth-hound of perdition. He called him a "dog of Satan;"
said that he had crucified Christ afresh; and pursued him to the very
grave. The editor of this paper is still warming his hands at the fire
that burned Servetus. He has in his heart the same fierce hatred of
everything that is free. But what right have we to expect anything good
of a man who believes in the eternal damnation of infants?

There may have been sometime in the history of the world a worse
religion than Old School Presbyterianism, but if there ever was, from
cannibalism to civilization, I have never heard of it.

I make a distinction between the members and the creed of that church. I
know many who are a thousand times better than the creed—good, warm and
splendid friends of mine. I would do anything in the world for them. And
I have said to them a hundred times, "You are a thousand times better
than your creed." But when you come down to the doctrine of the
damnation of infants, it is the deformity of deformities. The editor
of this paper is engaged in giving the world the cheerful doctrines of
fore-ordination and damnation—those twin comforts of the Presbyterian
creed, and warning them against the frightful effects of reasoning in
any manner for themselves. He regards the intellectually free as the
lowest, the vilest and the meanest, as men who wish to sin, as men
who are longing to commit crime, men who are anxious to throw off all
restraint.

My friends, every chain thrown from the body puts an additional
obligation upon the soul. Every man who is free, puts a responsibility
upon his brain and upon his heart. You, who never want responsibility,
give your souls to some church. You, who never want the feeling that you
are under obligation to yourselves, give your souls away. But if you are
willing to feel and meet responsibility; if you feel that you must give
an account not only to yourselves but to every human being whom you
injure, then you must be free. Where there is no freedom, there can be
no responsibility.

It is a mystery to me why the editors of religious papers are so
malicious, why they endeavor to answer argument with calumny. Is it
because they feel the sceptre slowly slipping from their hands? Is it
the result of impotent rage? Is it because there is being written upon
every orthodox brain a certificate of intellectual inferiority?

This same editor assures his readers that what I say is not worth
answering, and yet he devotes column after column of his journal to that
very purpose. He states that I am no speaker, no orator; and upon the
same page admits that he did not hear me, giving as a reason that he
does not think it right to pay money for such a purpose. Recollect, that
in a religious paper, a man who professes honesty, criticises a statue
or a painting, condemns it, and at the end of the criticism says that he
never saw it. He criticises what he calls the oratory of a man, and at
the end says, "I never heard him, and I never saw him."

As a matter of fact, I have never heard of any of these gentlemen who
thought it necessary to hear what any man said in order to answer him.

The next gentleman who answered me is the Rev. Mr. Ijams. And I must
say, so far as I can see, in his argument, or in his mode of treatment,
he is a kind and considerate gentleman. He makes several mistakes as
to what I really said, but the fault I suppose must have been in the
report. I am made to say in the report of his sermon, "There is no
sacred place in all the universe." What I did say was, "There is no
sacred place in all the universe of thought. There is nothing too holy
to be investigated, nothing too divine to be understood. The fields of
thought are fenceless, and without a wall." I say this to-night.

Mr. Ijams also says that I had declared that man had not only the right
to do right, but also the right to do wrong. What I really said was, man
has the right to do right, and the right to think right, and the right
to think wrong. Thought is a means of ascertaining truth, a mode by
which we arrive at conclusions. And if no one has a right to think,
unless he thinks right, he would only have the right to think upon
self-evident propositions. In all respects, with the exception of these
misstatements to which I have called your attention, so far as I can
see, Mr. Ijams was perfectly fair, and treated me as though I had the
ordinary rights of a human being. I take this occasion to thank him.

A great many papers, a great many people, a good many ministers and a
multitude of men, have had their say, and have expressed themselves
with the utmost freedom. I cannot reply to them all. I can only reply to
those who have made a parade of answering me. Many have said it is not
worth answering, and then proceeded to answer. They have said, he has
produced no argument, and then have endeavored to refute it. They have
said it is simply the old straw that has been thrashed over and over
again for years and years. If all I have said is nothing, if it is
all idle and foolish, why do they take up the time of their fellow-men
replying to me? Why do they fill their religious papers with criticisms,
if all I have said and done reminds them, according to the Rev. Mr.
Guard, of "some little dog barking at a railway train"? Why stop the
train, why send for the directors, why hold a consultation and finally
say, we must settle with that dog or stop running these cars?

Probably the best way to answer them all, is to prove beyond cavil the
truth of what I have said.

Does the Bible Teach Man to Enslave His Brother

II.

IF this "sacred" book teaches man to enslave his brother, it is not
inspired. A god who would establish slavery is as cruel and heartless as
any devil could be.

"Moreover, of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you,
of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which
they begat in your land, and they shall be your possession.

"And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you,
to inherit them for a possession. They shall be your bondmen forever.

"Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be
of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen
and bondmaids."—Leviticus xxv.

This is white slavery. This allows one white man to buy another, to buy
a woman, to separate families and rob a mother of her child. This makes
the whip upon the naked backs of men and women a legal tender for labor
performed. This is the kind of slavery established by the most merciful
God. The reason given for all this, is, that the persons whom they
enslaved were heathen. You may enslave them because they are not
orthodox. If you can find anybody who does not believe in me, the God
of the Jews, you may steal his wife from his arms, and her babe from
the cradle. If you can find a woman that does not believe in the Hebrew
Jehovah, you may steal her prattling child from her breast. Can any one
conceive of anything more infamous? Can any one find in the literature
of this world more frightful words ascribed even to a demon? And all
this is found in that most beautiful and poetic chapter known as the
25th of Leviticus—from the Bible—from this sacred gift of God—this
"Magna Charta of human freedom."

2. "If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve; and in the
seventh he shall go out free for nothing.

3. "If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were
married, then his wife shall go out with him.

4. "If his master have given him a wife, and she hath borne him sons or
daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall
go out by himself.

5. "And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and
children; I w ill not go out free:

6. "Then his master shall bring him unto the judges: he shall also bring
him to the door, or unto the door-post; and his master shall bore his
ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him forever."—_Exodus,
xxi._

The slave is allowed to have his liberty if he will give up his wife and
children. He must remain in slavery for the sake of wife and child. This
is another of the laws of the most merciful God. This God changes even
love into a chain. Children are used by him as manacles and fetters,
and wives become the keepers of prisons. Any man who believes that such
hideous laws were made by an infinitely wise and benevolent God is, in
my judgment, insane or totally depraved.

These are the doctrines of the Old Testament. What is the doctrine
of the New? What message had he who came from heaven's throne for the
oppressed of earth? What words of sympathy, what words of cheer, for
those who labored and toiled without reward? Let us see:

"Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters, according to
the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto
Christ."—Ephesians, vi.

This is the salutation of the most merciful God to a slave, to a woman
who has been robbed of her child—to a man tracked by hounds through
lonely swamps—to a girl with flesh torn and bleeding—to a mother
weeping above an empty cradle.

"Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the
good and gentle, but also to the fro ward."—I Peter ii., 18.

"For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure
grief, suffering wrongfully."—I Peter ii., 19.

It certainly must be an immense pleasure to God to see a man work
patiently for nothing. It must please the Most High to see a slave with
his wife and child sold upon the auction block. If this slave escapes
from slavery and is pursued, how musical the baying of the bloodhound
must be to the ears of this most merciful God. All this is simply
infamous. On the throne of this universe there sits no such monster.

"Servants, obey in all things your masters, according to the flesh; not
with eye-service, as men pleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing
God."—Col. iii., 22.

The apostle here seems afraid that the slave would not work every moment
that his strength permitted. He really seems to have feared that
he might not at all times do the very best he could to promote the
interests of the thief who claimed to own him. And speaking to all
slaves, in the name of the Father of All, this apostle says: "Obey in
all things your masters, not with eye-service, but with singleness of
heart, fearing God." He says to them in substance, There is no way you
can so well please God as to work honestly for a thief.

1. "Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters
worthy of all honor, that the name of God and his doctrine be not
blasphemed."

Think of serving God by honoring a robber! Think of bringing the name
and doctrine of God into universal contempt by claiming to own yourself!

2. "And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them,
because they are brethren; but rather do them service, because they are
faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These things teach and
exhort."

That is to say, do not despise Christians who steal the labor of others.
Do not hold in contempt the "faithful and beloved, partakers of the
benefit," who turn the cross of Christ into a whipping post.

3. "If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words
even to words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is
according to godliness.

4. "He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes
of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,

5. "Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the
truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself."

This seems to be the opinion the apostles entertained of the early
abolitionists. Seeking to give human beings their rights, seeking to
give labor its just reward, seeking to clothe all men with that divine
garment of the soul, Liberty,—all this was denounced by the apostle as
a simple strife of words, whereof cometh envy, railings, evil surmisings
and perverse disputing, destitute of truth.

6. "But godliness with contentment is great gain.

7. "For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can
carry nothing out.

8. "And having food and raiment let us be therewith content."—_I Tim.,
vi._

This was intended to make a slave satisfied to hear the clanking of his
chains. This is the reason he should never try to better his condition.
He should be contented simply with the right to work for nothing. If
he only had food and raiment, and a thief to work for, he should be
contented. He should solace himself with the apostolic reflection, that
as he brought nothing into the world, he could carry nothing out, and
that when dead he would be as happily situated as his master.

In order to show you what the inspired writer meant by the word
servant, I will read from the 21st chapter of Exodus, verses 20 and
21:

"And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die
under his hand; he shall be surely punished.

"Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished:
for he is his money."

Yet, notwithstanding these passages the Christian Advocate says, "the
Bible is the Magna Charta of our liberty."

After reading that, I was not surprised by the following in the same
paper:

"We regret to record that Ingersoll is on a low plane of infidelity and
atheism, not less offensive to good morals than have been the teachings
of infidelity during the last century. France has been cursed with such
teachings for a hundred years, and because of it, to-day her citizens
are incapable of self-government."

What was the condition of France a century ago? Were they capable of
self-government then? For fourteen hundred years the common people of
France had suffered. For fourteen hundred years they had been robbed
by the altar and by the throne. They had been the prey of priests and
nobles. All were exempt from taxation, except the common people. The
cup of their suffering was full, and the French people arose in fury and
frenzy, and tore the drapery from the altars of God, and filled the air
with the dust of thrones.

Surely, the slavery of fourteen centuries had not been produced by the
teachings of Voltaire. I stood only a little while ago at the place
where once stood the Bastile. In my imagination I saw that prison
standing as it stood of yore. I could see it attacked by the populace.
I could see their stormy faces and hear their cries. And I saw that
ancient fortification of tyranny go down forever. And now where once
stood the Bastile stands the Column of July. Upon its summit is a
magnificent statue of Liberty, holding in one hand a banner, in the
other a broken chain, and upon its shining forehead is the star of
progress. There it stands where once stood the Bastile. And France is
as much superior to what it was when Voltaire was born, as that statue,
surmounting the Column of July, is more beautiful than the Bastile that
stood there once with its cells of darkness, and its dungeons of horror.

And yet we are now told that the French people have rendered themselves
incapable of government, simply because they have listened to the voice
of progress. There are magnificent men in France. From that country have
come to the human race some of the grandest and holiest messages the ear
of man has ever heard. The French people have given to history some
of the most touching acts of self-sacrifice ever performed beneath the
amazed stars.

For my part, I admire the French people. I cannot forget the Rue San
Antoine, nor the red cap of liberty. I can never cease to remember that
the tricolor was held aloft in Paris, while Europe was in chains, and
while liberty, with a bleeding breast, was in the Inquisition of Spain.
And yet we are now told by a religious paper, that France is not capable
of self-government. I suppose it was capable of self-government under
the old regime, at the time of the massacre of St. Bartholomew. I
suppose it was capable of self-government when women were seen yoked
with cattle pulling plows. I suppose it was capable of self-government
when all who labored were in a condition of slavery.

In the old times, even among the priests, there were some good, some
sincere and most excellent men. I have read somewhere of a sermon
preached by one of these in the Cathedral of Notre Dame. This old
priest, among other things, said that the soul of a beggar was as dear
to God as the soul of the richest of his people, and that Jesus Christ
died as much for a beggar as for a prince. One French peasant, rough
with labor, cried out: "I propose three cheers for Jesus Christ." I like
such things. I like to hear of them. I like to repeat them. Paris has
been a kind of volcano, and has made the heavens lurid with its lava
of hatred, but it has also contributed more than any other city to the
intellectual development of man. France has produced some infamous
men, among others John Calvin, but for one Calvin, she has produced a
thousand benefactors of the human race.

The moment the French people rise above the superstitions of the church,
they will be in the highest sense capable of self-government. The moment
France succeeds in releasing herself from the coils of Catholicism—from
the shadows of superstition—from the foolish forms and mummeries of the
church—from the intellectual tyranny of a thousand years—she will not
only be capable of self-government, but will govern herself. Let the
priests be usefully employed. We want no overseers of the mind; no
slave-drivers for the soul. We cannot afford to pay hypocrites for
depriving us of liberty. It is a waste of money to pay priests to
frighten our children, and paralyze the intellect of women.

Was the World Created in Six Days

III.

FOR hundreds of years it was contended by all Christians that the earth
was made in six days, literal days of twenty-four hours each, and that
on the seventh day the Lord rested from his labor. Geologists have
driven the church from this position, and it is now claimed that the
days mentioned in the Bible are periods of time. This is a simple
evasion, not in any way supported by the Scriptures. The Bible
distinctly and clearly says that the world was created in six days.
There is not within its lids a clearer statement. It does not say six
periods. It was made according to that book in six days:

31. "And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very
good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day."—Genesis i.

1. "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of
them.

2. "And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he
rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

3. "And God blessed the seventh day (not seventh period), and sanctified
it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created
and made."—Genesis ii.

From the following passages it seems clear what was meant by the word
days:

15. "Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the Sabbath of
rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he
shall surely be put to death."—Served him right!

16. "Wherefore, the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to
observe the Sabbath, throughout their generations, for a perpetual
covenant.

17. "It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever; for
in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he
rested and was refreshed.

18. "And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with
him upon Mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written
with the finger of God."—Exodus xxxi.

12. "Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up
the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of
Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou, Moon, in the valley
of Ajalon.

13. "And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had
avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book
of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven; and hasted not
to go down about a whole day.

14. "And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the
Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the Lord fought for
Israel."—Josh. x.

These passages must certainly convey the idea that this world was made
in six days, not six periods. And the reason why they were to keep the
Sabbath was because the Creator rested on the seventh day—not period.
If you say six periods, instead of six days, what becomes of your
Sabbath? The only reason given in the Bible for observing the Sabbath
is that God observed it—that he rested from his work that day and was
refreshed. Take this reason away and the sacredness of that day has no
foundation in the Scriptures.

What is the Astronomy of the Bible

IV.

WHEN people were ignorant of all the sciences the Bible was understood
by those who read it the same as by those who wrote it. From time to
time discoveries were made that seemed inconsistent with the
Scriptures. At first, theologians denounced the discoverers of all facts
inconsistent with the Bible, as atheists and scoffers.

The Bible teaches us that the earth is the centre of the universe; that
the sun and moon and stars revolve around this speck called the earth.
The men who discovered that all this was a mistake were denounced by
the ignorant clergy of that day, precisely as the ignorant clergy of our
time denounce the advocates of free thought. When the doctrine of the
earth's place in the solar system was demonstrated; when persecution
could no longer conceal the mighty truth, then it was that the church
made an effort to harmonize the Scriptures with the discoveries of
science. When the utter absurdity of the Mosaic account of creation
became apparent to all thoughtful men, the church changed the reading of
the Bible. Then it was pretended that the "days" of creation were vast
periods of time. When it was shown to be utterly impossible that the sun
revolved around the earth, then the account given by Joshua of the sun
standing still for the space of a whole day, was changed into a figure
of speech. It was said that Joshua merely conformed to the mode of
speech common in his day; and that when he said the sun stood still, he
merely intended to convey the idea that the earth ceased turning upon
its axis. They admitted that stopping the sun could not lengthen the
day, and for that reason it must have been the earth that stopped.
But you will remember that the moon stood still in the valley of
Ajalon—that the moon stayed until the people had avenged themselves
upon their enemies.

One would naturally suppose that the sun would have given sufficient
light to enable the Jews to avenge themselves upon their enemies without
any assistance from the moon. Of course, if the moon had not stopped,
the relations between the earth and moon would have been changed.

Is there a sensible man in the world who believes this wretched piece of
ignorance? Is it possible that the religion of this nineteenth century
has for its basis such childish absurdities? According to this account,
what was the sun, or rather the earth, stopped for? It was stopped in
order that the Hebrews might avenge themselves upon the Amorites. For
the accomplishment of such a purpose the earth was made to pause. Why
should an almost infinite force be expended simply for the purpose of
destroying a handful of men? Why this waste of force? Let me explain.
I strike my hands together. They feel a sudden Heat. Where did the heat
come from? Motion has been changed into heat. You will remember that
there can be no destruction of force. It disappears in one form only
to reappear in another. The earth, rotating at the rate of one thousand
miles an hour, was stopped. The motion of this vast globe would have
instantly been changed into heat. It has been calculated by one of the
greatest scientists of the present day that to stop the earth would
generate as much heat as could be produced by burning a world as large
as this of solid coal. And yet, all this force was expended for the
paltry purpose of defeating a few poor barbarians. The employment of so
much force for the accomplishment of so insignificant an object would
be as useless as bringing all the intellect of a great man to bear in
answering the arguments of the clergymen of San Francisco.

The waste of that immense force in stopping the planets in their grand
courses, for the purpose claimed, would be like using a Krupp gun to
destroy an insect to which a single drop of water is "an unbounded
world." How is it possible for men of ordinary intellect, not only to
endorse such ignorant falsehoods, but to malign those who do not? Can
anything be more debasing to the intellect of man than a belief in the
astronomy of the Bible? According to the Scriptures, the world was
made out of nothing, and the sun, moon, and stars, of the nothing that
happened to be left. To the writers of the Bible the firmament was
solid, and in it were grooves along which the stars were pushed by
angels. From the Bible Cosmas constructed his geography and astronomy.
His book was passed upon by the church, and was declared to be the truth
concerning the subjects upon which he treated.

This eminent geologist and astronomer, taking the Bible as his guide,
found and taught: First, that the earth was flat; second, that it was a
vast parallelogram; third, that in the middle there was a vast body
of land, then a strip of water all around it, then a strip of land.
He thought that on the outer strip of land people lived before the
flood—that at the time of the flood, Noah in his Ark crossed the strip
of water and landed on the shore of the country, in the middle of the
world, where we now are. This great biblical scholar informed the true
believers of his day that in the outer strip of land were mountains,
around which the sun and moon revolved; that when the sun was on the
side of the mountain next the land occupied by man, it was day, and when
on the other side, it was night.

Mr. Cosmas believed the Bible, and regarded Joshua as the most eminent
astronomer of his day. He also taught that the firmament was solid, and
that the angels pushed and drew the stars. He tells us that these angels
attended strictly to their business, that each one watched the motions
of all the others so that proper distances might always be maintained,
and all confusion avoided. All this was believed by the gentlemen who
made most of our religion. The great argument made by Cosmas to show
that the earth must be flat, was the fact that the Bible stated that
when Christ should come the second time, in glory, the whole world
should see him. "Now," said Cosmas, "if the world is round, how could
the people on the other side see the Lord when he comes?" This settled
the question.

These were the ideas of the fathers of the church. These men have been
for centuries regarded as almost divinely inspired. Long after they had
become dust they governed the world. The superstitions they planted,
their descendants watered with the best and bravest blood. To maintain
their ignorant theories, the brain of the world was dwarfed for a
thousand years, and the infamous work is still being prosecuted.

The Bible was regarded as not only true, but as the best of all truth.
Any new theory advanced, was immediately examined in the light, or
rather in the darkness, of revelation, and if according to that test it
was false, it was denounced, and the person bringing it forward forced
to recant. It would have been a far better course to have discovered
every theory found to be in harmony with the Scriptures.

And yet we are told by the clergy and religious press of this city, that
the Bible is the foundation of all science.

DOES THE BIBLE TEACH THE EXISTENCE OF THAT IMPOSSIBLE CRIME CALLED
WITCHCRAFT?

V.

IT was said by Sir Thomas More that to give up witchcraft was to give
up the Bible itself. This idea was entertained by nearly all the eminent
theologians of a hundred years ago. In my judgment, they were right.
To give up witchcraft is to give up, in a great degree at least, the
supernatural. To throw away the little ghosts simply prepares the mind
of man to give up the great ones. The founders of nearly all creeds, and
of all religions properly so called, have taught the existence of good
and evil spirits. They have peopled the dark with devils and the light
with angels. They have crowded hell with demons and heaven with seraphs.
The moment these good and evil spirits, these angels and fiends,
disappear from the imaginations of men, and phenomena are accounted
for by natural rather than by supernatural means, a great step has been
taken in the direction of what is now known as materialism. While the
church believes in witchcraft, it is in a greatly modified form. The
evil spirits are not as plenty as in former times, and more phenomena
are accounted for by natural means. Just to the extent that belief has
been lost in spirits, just to that extent the church has lost its power
and authority. When men ceased to account for the happening of any event
by ascribing it to the direct action of good or evil spirits, and began
to reason from known premises, the chains of superstition began to
grow weak. Into such disrepute has witchcraft at last fallen that many
Christians not only deny the existence of these evil spirits, but take
the ground that no such thing is taught in the Scriptures. Let us see:

"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live."—Exodus xxii., 18.

7. "Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a
familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and enquire of her. And his
servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a spirit at
Endor.

8. "And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he went,
and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night; and he said,
I pray thee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up,
whom I shall name unto thee.

9. "And the woman said unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath
done, how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the
wizards out of the land; wherefore, then, layest thou a snare for my
life, to cause me to die?

10. "And Saul sware to her by the Lord, saying, As the Lord liveth,
there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing.

11. "Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said,
Bring me up Samuel.

12. "And when the woman saw Samuel she cried with a loud voice: and the
woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art
Saul.

13. "And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou?
And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth.

14. "And he said unto her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man
cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that
it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed
himself.

15. "And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me to bring me
up?"—2 Samuels xxviii.

This reads very much like an account of a modern spiritual seance. Is
it not one of the wonderful things of the world that men and women who
believe this account of the witch of Endor, who believe all the miracles
and all the ghost stories of the Bible, deny with all their force the
truth of modern Spiritualism. So far as I am concerned, I would rather
believe some one who has heard what he relates, who has seen what he
tells, or at least thinks he has seen what he tells. I would rather
believe somebody I know, whose reputation for truth is good among those
who know him. I would rather believe these people than to take the words
of those who have been in their graves for four thousand years, and
about whom I know nothing.

31 "Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after
wizards, to be defiled by them; I am the Lord, your God."—_Leviticus
xix_.

6 "And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and
after wizards, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut
him off from among his people."—Leviticus xx.

10. "There shall not be found among you any one that useth divination,
or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,

11. "Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or
a necromancer.

12. "For all that do these things are an abomination unto the
Lord."—Deut. xviii.

I have given you a few of the passages found in the Old Testament upon
this subject, showing conclusively that the Bible teaches the existence
of witches, wizards and those who have familiar spirits. In the New
Testament there are passages equally strong, showing that the Savior
himself was a believer in the existence of evil spirits, and in the
existence of a personal devil. Nothing can be plainer than the teaching
of the following:

1. "Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be
tempted of the devil.

2. "And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward
an hungered.

3. "And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of
God, command that these stones be made bread.

4. "But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

5. "Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on
a pinnacle of the temple.

6. "And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down:
for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and
in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy
foot against a stone.

7. "Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the
Lord, thy God.

8. "Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and
sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them.

9. "And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt
fall down and worship me.

10. "Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is
written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou
serve.

11. "Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered
unto him."—Matt. iv.

If this does not teach the existence of a personal devil, there is
nothing within the lids of the Scriptures teaching the existence of
a personal God. If this does not teach the existence of evil spirits,
there is nothing in the Bible going to show that good spirits exist
either in this world or the next.

16. "When the even was come they brought unto him many that were
possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and
healed all that were sick."—Matt. vii.

1. "And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country
of the Gadarenes.

2. "And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out
of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,

3. "Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no,
not with chains:

4. "Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and
the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in
pieces: neither could any man tame him.

5. "And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the
tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones.

6. "But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him,

7. "And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee,
Jesus, thou son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou
torment me not.

8. "For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.

9. "And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name
is Legion, for we are many.

11. "Now, there was nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine
feeding.

12. "And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine,
that we may enter into them.

13. "And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went
out, and entered into the swine; and the herd ran violently down a steep
place into the sea, and they were about two thousand; and were choked in
the sea."—Mark v.

The doctrine of witchcraft does not stop here. The power of casting out
devils was bequeathed by the Savior to his apostles and followers, and
to all who might believe in him throughout all the coming time:

17. "And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall
they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues.

18. "And they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly
thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they
shall recover."—Mark xvi.

I would like to see the clergy who have been answering me, tested in
this way: Let them drink poison, let them take up serpents, let them
cure the sick by the laying on of hands, and I will then believe that
they believe.

I deny the witchcraft stories of the world. Witches are born in the
ignorant, frightened minds of men. Reason will exorcise them. "They are
tales told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
These devils have covered the world with blood and tears. They have
filled the earth with fear. They have filled the lives of children with
darkness and horror. They have peopled the sweet world of imagination
with monsters. They have made religion a strange mingling of fear and
ferocity. I am doing what I can to reave the heavens of these monsters.
For my part, I laugh at them all. I hold them all in contempt, ancient
and modern, great and small.

The Bible Idea of the Rights of Children

VI.

ALL religion has for its basis the tyranny of God and the slavery of
man.

18. "If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey
the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they
have chastened him, will not hearken unto them.

19. "Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him
out unto the elders of his city, and unto, the gate of his place.

20. "And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is
stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice, he is a glutton and
a drunkard.

21. "And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he
die; so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall
hear, and fear."—Deut. xxi.

Abraham was commanded to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice. He
proceeded to obey. And the boy, being then about thirty years of age,
was not consulted. At the command of a phantom of the air, a man was
willing to offer upon the altar his only son. And such was the slavery
of children, that the only son had not the spirit to resist.

Have you ever read the story of Jephthah?

30 "And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou shalt
without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands,

31. "Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my
house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon,
shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.

32. "So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against
them; and the Lord delivered them into his hands.

33. "And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith, even
twenty cities, and unto the plain of the vineyards, with a very great
slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children
of Israel.

34."And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and behold, his daughter
came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances; and she was his only
child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter.

35. "And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and
said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one
of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I
cannot go back....

39. "And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned
unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had
vowed."—Judges xi.

Is there in the history of the world a sadder thing than this? What can
we think of a father who would sacrifice his daughter to a demon God?
And what can we think of a God who would accept such a sacrifice? Can
such a God be worthy of the worship of man? I plead for the rights of
children. I plead for the government of kindness and love. I plead
for the republic of home, the democracy of the fireside. I plead for
affection. And for this I am pursued by invective. For this I am called
a fiend, a devil, a monster, by Christian editors and clergymen,
by those who pretend to love their enemies and pray for those that
despitefully use them.

Allow me to give you another instance of affection related in the
Scriptures. There was, it seems, a most excellent man by the name of
Job. The Lord was walking up and down, and happening to meet Satan, said
to him: "Are you acquainted with my servant Job? Have you noticed what
an excellent man he is?" And Satan replied to him and said: "Why should
he not be an excellent man—you have given him everything he wants? Take
from him what he has and he will curse you." And thereupon the Lord gave
Satan the power to destroy the property and children of Job. In a little
while these high contracting parties met again; and the Lord seemed
somewhat elated with his success, and called again the attention of
Satan to the sinlessness of Job. Satan then told him to touch his body
and he would curse him. And thereupon power was given to Satan over the
body of Job, and he covered his body with boils. Yet in all this, Job
did not sin with his lips.

This book seems to have been written to show the excellence of patience,
and to prove that at last God will reward all who will bear the
afflictions of heaven with fortitude and without complaint. The sons and
daughters of Job had been slain, and then the Lord, in order to reward
Job, gave him other children, other sons and other daughters—not the
same ones he had lost; but others. And this, according to the writer,
made ample amends. Is that the idea we now have of love? If I have a
child, no matter how deformed that child may be, and if it dies, nobody
can make the loss to me good by bringing a more beautiful child. I want
the one I loved and the one I lost.

The Gallantry of God

VII.

I HAVE said that the Bible is a barbarous book; that it has no respect
for the rights of woman. Now I propose to prove it. It takes something
besides epithets and invectives to prove or disprove anything. Let us
see what the sacred volume says concerning the mothers and daughters of
the human race.

A man who does not in his heart of hearts respect woman, who has not
there an altar at which he worships the memory of mother, is less than a
man.

11. "Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.

12. "But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the
man, but to be in silence."

The reason given for this, and the only reason that occurred to the
sacred writer, was:

13. "For Adam was first formed, then Eve.

14. "And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the
transgression.

15. "Notwithstanding, she shall be saved in child-bearing, if they
continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety."—1 Tim. ii.

3. "But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and
the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God."

That is to say, the woman sustains the same relation to the man that man
does to Christ, and man sustains the same relation to Christ that Christ
does to God.

This places the woman infinitely below the man. And yet this barbarous
idiocy is regarded as divinely inspired. How can any woman look other
than with contempt upon such passages? How can any woman believe that
this is the will of a most merciful God?

7. "For a man, indeed, ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is
the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man."

And this is justified from the remarkable fact set forth in the next
verse:

8. "For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man."

This same chivalric gentleman also says:

9. "Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the
man."—1 Cor. xi.

22. "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the
Lord."

Is it possible for abject obedience to go beyond this?

23. "For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head
of the Church, and he is the saviour of the body.

24. "Therefore, as the Church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives
be to their own husbands in everything."—Eph. v.

Even the Savior did not put man and woman upon an equality. A man could
divorce his wife, but the wife could not divorce her husband.

Every noble woman should hold such apostles and such ideas in contempt.
According to the Old Testament, woman had to ask pardon and had to be
purified from the crime of having born sons and daughters. To make love
and maternity crimes is infamous.

10. "When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the Lord
thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them
captive,

11. "And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire
unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife,

12. "Then thou shalt bring her home to thy house; and she shall shave
her head, and pare her nails."—Deut. xxi.

This is barbarism, no matter whether it came from heaven or from hell,
from a God or from a devil, from the golden streets of the New Jerusalem
or from the very Sodom of perdition. It is barbarism complete and utter.

Does the Bible Sanction Polygamy and Concubinage

VIII.

READ the infamous order of Moses in the 31st chapter of Numbers—an
order unfit to be reproduced in print—an order which I am unwilling
to repeat. Read the 31 st chapter of Exodus. Read the 21 st chapter of
Deuteronomy. Read the-life of Abraham, of David, of Solomon, of
Jacob, and then tell me the sacred Bible does not teach polygamy and
concubinage. All the languages of the world are insufficient to express
the filth of polygamy. It makes man a beast—woman a slave. It destroys
the fireside. It makes virtue an outcast. It makes home a lair of wild
beasts. It is the infamy of infamies. Yet this is the doctrine of the
Bible—a doctrine defended even by Luther and Melancthon. It is by the
Bible that Brigham Young justifies the practice of this beastly horror.
It takes from language those sweetest words, husband, wife, father
mother, child and lover. It takes us back to the barbarism of animals,
and leaves the heart a den in which crawl and hiss the slimy serpents
of loathsome lust. Yet the book justifying this infamy is the book upon
which rests the civilization of the nineteenth century. And because I
denounce this frightful thing, the clergy denounce me as a demon, and
the infamous Christian Advocate says that the moral sentiment of
this State ought to denounce this Illinois Catiline for his blasphemous
utterances and for his base and debasing scurrility.

Does the Bible Uphold and Justify Political Tyranny

IX.

FOR my part, I insist that man has not only the capacity, but the right
to govern himself. All political authority is vested in the people
themselves, They have the right to select their officers and agents,
and these officers and agents are responsible to the people. Political
authority does not come from the clouds. Man should not be governed by
the aristocracy of the air. The Bible is not a Republican or Democratic
book. Exactly the opposite doctrine is taught. From that volume we learn
that the people have no power whatever; that all power and political
authority comes from on high, and that all the kings, all the potentates
and powers, have been ordained of God; that all the ignorant and cruel
kings have been placed upon the world's thrones by the direct act of
Deity. The Scriptures teach us that the common people have but one
duty—the duty of obedience. Let me read to you some of the political
ideas in the great "Magna Charta" of human liberty.

1. "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no
power but of God; the powers that be are ordained of God.

2. "Whosoever, therefore, resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance
of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation."

According to this, George III. was ordained of God. He was King of Great
Britian by divine right, and by divine right was the lawful King of the
American Colonies. The leaders in the Revolutionary struggle resisted
the power, and according to these passages, resisted the ordinances of
God; and for that resistance they are promised the eternal recompense of
damnation.

3. "For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt
thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou
shalt have praise of the same....

5. "Wherefore, ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also
for conscience sake.

6. "For, for this cause pay ye tribute also; for they are God's
ministers, attending continually upon this very thing."—Romans, xiii.

13. "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake;
whether it be to the king as supreme.

14. "Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the
punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well.

15. "For so is the will of God."—1 Pet. ii.

Had these ideas been carried out, political progress in the world would
have been impossible. Upon the necks of the people still would have been
the feet of kings. I deny this wretched, this infamous doctrine.
Whether higher powers are ordained of God or not, if those higher powers
endeavor to destroy the rights of man, I for one shall resist. Whenever
and wherever the sword of rebellion is drawn in support of a human
right, I am a rebel. The despicable doctrine of submission to titled
wrong and robed injustice finds no lodgment in the brain of a man.
The real rulers are the people, and the rulers so-called are but the
servants of the people. They are not ordained of any God. All political
power comes from and belongs to man. Upon these texts of Scripture rest
the thrones of Europe. For fifteen hundred years these verses have been
repeated by brainless kings and heardess priests. For fifteen hundred
years each one of these texts has been a bastile in which has been
imprisoned the pioneers of progress. Each one of these texts has been
an obstruction on the highway of humanity. Each one has been a
fortification behind which have crouched the sainted hypocrites and the
titled robbers. According to these texts, a robber gets his right to rob
from God. And it is the duty of the robbed to submit. The thief gets his
right to steal from God. The king gets his right to trample upon human
liberty from God. I say, fight the king—fight the priest.

The Religious Liberty of God

X.

THE Bible denounces religious liberty. After covering the world with
blood, after having made it almost hollow with graves, Christians
are beginning to say that men have a right to differ upon religious
questions provided the questions about which they differ are not
considered of great importance. The motto of the Evangelical Alliance
is: "In non-essentials, Liberty; in essentials, Unity."

The Christian world have condescended to say that upon all non-essential
points we shall have the right to think for ourselves; but upon matters
of the least importance, they will think and speak for us. In this they
are consistent. They but follow the teachings of the God they worship.
They but adhere to the precepts and commands of the sacred Scriptures.
Within that volume there is no such thing as religious toleration.
Within that volume there is not one particle of mercy for an
unbeliever. For all who think for themselves, for all who are the owners
of their own souls, there are threatenings, curses and anathemas. Any
Christian who to-day exercises the least toleration is to that extent
false to his religion. Let us see what the "Magna Charta" of liberty
says upon this subject:

6. "If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter,
or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul,
entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou
hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers.

7. "Namely of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh
unto thee, or afar off from thee, from the one end of the earth even
unto the other end of the earth.

8. "Thou shalt not consent unto him; nor hearken unto him; neither shall
thine eye pity him; neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal
him.

9. "But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him
to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.

10. "And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath
sought to thrust thee away from the Lord thy God, which brought thee out
of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage."—Deut. xiii.

That is the religious liberty of the Bible. If the wife of your bosom
had said, "I like the religion of India better than the religion of
Palestine," it was then your duty to kill her, and the merciful Most
High—understand me, I do not believe in any merciful Most High—said:

"Thou shalt not pity her but thou shalt surely kill; thy hand shall be
the first upon her to put her to death."

This I denounce as infamously infamous. If it is necessary to believe
in such a God, if it is necessary to adore such a Deity in order to be
saved, I will take my part joyfully in perdition. Let me read you a few
more extracts from the "Magna Charta" of human liberty.

2. "If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the Lord
thy God giveth thee, man or woman that hath wrought wickedness in the
sight of the Lord thy God, in transgressing his covenant,

3. "And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the
sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded.

4. "And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired
diligently, and behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such
abomination is wrought in Israel.

5. "Then shalt thou bring forth that man, or that woman, which have
committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that
woman, and shalt stone them with stones till they die."

Under this law if the woman you loved had said: "Let us worship the sun;
I am tired of this jealous and bloodthirsty Jehovah; let us worship the
sun; let us kneel to it as it rises over the hills, filling the world
with light and love, when the dawn stands jocund on the mountain's misty
top; it is the sun whose beams illumine and cover the earth with verdure
and with beauty; it is the sun that covers the trees with leaves, that
carpets the earth with grass and adorns the world with flowers; I adore
the sun because in its light I have seen your eyes; it has given to
me the face of my babe; it has clothed my life with joy; let us in
gratitude fall down and worship the glorious beams of the sun."

For this offence she deserved not only death, but death at your hands:

"Thine eye shall not pity her; neither shalt thou spare; neither shalt
thou conceal her.

"But thou shalt surely kill her: thy hand shall be the first upon her to
put her to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.

"And thou shalt stone her with stones that she die."

For my part I had a thousand times rather worship the sun than a God who
would make such a law or give such a command. This you may say is the
doctrine of the Old Testament—what is the doctrine of the New?

"He that believes and is baptized shall be saved; and he that believeth
not shall be damned."

That is the religious liberty of the New Testament. That is the "tidings
of great joy."

Every one of these words has been a chain upon the limbs, a whip upon
the backs of men. Every one has been a fagot. Every one has been a
sword. Every one has been a dungeon, a scaffold, a rack. Every one has
been a fountain of tears. These words have filled the hearts of men with
hatred. These words invented all the instruments of torture. These words
covered the earth with blood.

For the sake of argument, suppose that the Bible is an inspired book.
If then, as is contended, God gave these frightful laws commanding
religious intolerance to his chosen people, and afterward this same God
took upon himself flesh, and came among the Jews and taught a different
religion, and they crucified him, did he not reap what he had sown?

Does the Bible Describe a God of Mercy

XI.

IS it possible to conceive of a more jealous, revengeful, changeable,
unjust, unreasonable, cruel being than the Jehovah of the Hebrews? Is
it possible to read the words said to have been spoken by this Deity,
without a shudder? Is it possible to contemplate his character without
hatred?

"I will make mine arrows drunk with blood and my sword shall devour
flesh."—Deut. xxxii.

Is this the language of an infinitely kind and tender parent to his
weak, his wandering and suffering children?

"Thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of
thy dogs in the same." Psalms, lxviii.

Is it possible that a God takes delight in seeing dogs lap the blood of
his children?

22. "And the Lord thy God will put out those nations before thee by
little and little; thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts
of the field increase upon thee.

23. "But the Lord thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall
destroy them with a mighty destruction, until they be destroyed.

24. "And he shall deliver their kings into thine hand, and thou shalt
destroy their name from under heaven; there shall no man be able to
stand before thee, until thou have destroyed them."—Deut. vii.

If these words had proceeded from the mouth of a demon, if they had been
spoken by some enraged and infinitely malicious fiend, I should not have
been surprised. But these things are attributed to a God of infinite
mercy.

40. "So Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the south,
and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their kings; he left none
remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord God of
Israel commanded."—Josh, x.

14. "And all the spoil of these cities, and the cattle, the children of
Israel took for a prey unto themselves; but every man they smote with
the edge of the sword until they had destroyed them, neither left they
any to breathe."—Josh. xi.

19. "There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel,
save the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon; all other they took in
battle.

20. "For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts that they should come
against Israel in battle, that he might destroy them utterly, and that
they might have no favor, but that he might destroy them, as the Lord
commanded Moses."—Josh. xi.

There are no words in our language with which to express the indignation
I feel when reading these cruel and heartless words.

"When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim
peace unto it. And it shall be if it make thee answer of peace, and
open unto thee, then it shall be that all the people therein shall be
tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee. And if it will make no
peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege
it. And when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thy hands, thou
shalt smite every male thereof with the sword. But the women, _and the
little ones_, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even the
spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself, and thou shalt eat the
spoil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath given thee.

"Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from
thee, which are not of the cities of these nations. But of the cities of
these people which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance,
thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth."

These terrible instructions were given to an army of invasion. The men
who were thus ruthlessly murdered were fighting for their homes, their
firesides, for their wives and for their little children. Yet these
things, by the clergy of San Francisco, are called acts of sublime
mercy.

All this is justified by the doctrine of the survival of the fittest.
The Old Testament is filled with anathemas, with curses, with words of
vengeance, of revenge, of jealousy, of hatred and of almost infinite
brutality. Do not, I pray you, pluck from the heart the sweet flower
of pity and trample it in the bloody dust of superstition. Do not, I
beseech you, justify the murder of women, the assassination of dimpled
babes. Do not let the gaze of the gorgon of superstition turn your
hearts to stone.

Is there an intelligent Christian in the world who would not with joy
and gladness receive conclusive testimony to the effect that all the
passages in the Bible upholding and sustaining polygamy and concubinage,
political tyranny, the subjection of woman, the enslavement of children,
establishing domestic and political tyranny, and that all the commands
to destroy men, women and children, are but interpolations of kings
and priests, made for the purpose of subjugating mankind through the
instrumentality of fear? Is there a Christian in the world who would
not think vastly more of the Bible if all these infamous things were
eliminated from it?

Surely the good things in that book are not rendered more sacred from
the fact that in the same volume are found the frightful passages I have
quoted. In my judgment the Bible should be read and studied precisely as
we read and study any book whatever. The good in it should be preserved
and cherished, and that which shocks the human heart should be cast
aside forever.

While the Old Testament threatens men, women and children with disease,
famine, war, pestilence and death, there are no threatenings of
punishment beyond this life. The doctrine of eternal punishment is a
dogma of the New Testament. This doctrine, the most cruel, the most
infamous of which the human mind can conceive, is taught, if taught at
all, in the Bible—in the New Testament. One cannot imagine what the
human heart has suffered by reason of the frightful doctrine of eternal
damnation. It is a doctrine so abhorrent to every drop of my blood, so
infinitely cruel, that it is impossible for me to respect either the
head or heart of any human being who teaches or fears it. This
doctrine necessarily subverts all ideas of justice. To inflict infinite
punishment for finite crimes, or rather for crimes committed by finite
beings, is a proposition so monstrous that I am astonished it ever
found lodgment in the brain of man. Whoever says that we can be happy in
heaven while those we loved on earth are suffering infinite torments in
eternal fire, defames and calumniates the human heart.

The Plan of Salvation

XII.

WE are told, however, that a way has been provided for the salvation
of all men, and that in this plan the infinite mercy of God is made
manifest to the children of men. According to the great scheme of the
atonement, the innocent suffers for the guilty in order to satisfy a
law. What kind of law must it be that is satisfied with the agony of
innocence? Who made this law? If God made it he must have known that the
innocent would have to suffer as a consequence. The whole scheme is
to me a medley of contradictions, impossibilities and theological
conclusions. We are told that if Adam and Eve had not sinned in the
Garden of Eden death never would have entered the world. We are further
informed that had it not been for the devil, Adam and Eve would not
have been led astray; and if they had not, as I said before, death
never would have touched with its icy hand the human heart. If our first
parents had never sinned, and death never had entered the world, you and
I never would have existed. The earth would have been filled thousands
of generations before you and I were born. At the feast of life, death
made seats vacant for us. According to this doctrine, we are indebted
to the devil for our existence. Had he not tempted Eve—no sin. If there
had been no sin—no death. If there had been no death the world would
have been filled ages before you and I were born. Therefore, we owe our
existence to the devil. We are further informed that as a consequence of
original sin the scheme called the atonement became necessary; and that
if the Savior had not taken upon himself flesh and come to this atom
called the earth, and if he had not been crucified for us, we should all
have been cast forever into hell. Had it not been for the bigotry of
the Jews and the treachery of Judas Iscariot, Christ would not have been
crucified; and if he had not been crucified, all of us would have had
our portion in the lake that burneth with eternal fire.

According to this great doctrine, according to this vast and most
wonderful scheme, we owe, as I said before, our existence to the devil,
our salvation to Judas Iscariot and the bigotry of the Jews.

So far as I am concerned, I fail to see any mercy in the plan of
salvation. Is it mercy to reward a man forever in consideration of
believing a certain thing, of the truth of which there is, to his mind,
ample testimony? Is it mercy to punish a man with eternal fire simply
because there is not testimony enough to satisfy his mind? Can there be
such a thing as mercy in eternal punishment?

And yet this same Deity says to me, "resist not evil; pray for those
that despitefully use you; love your enemies, but I will eternally damn
mine." It seems to me that even gods should practice what they preach.

All atonement, after all, is a kind of moral bankruptcy. Under its
provisions, man is allowed the luxury of sinning upon a credit. Whenever
he is guilty of a wicked action he says, "charge it." This kind of
bookkeeping, in my judgment, tends to breed extravagance in sin.

The truth is, most Christians are better than their creeds; most creeds
are better than the Bible, and most men are better than their God.

Other Religions

XIII.

WE must remember that ours is not the only religion. Man has in all ages
endeavored to answer the great questions Whence? and Whither? He has
endeavored to read his destiny in the stars, to pluck the secret of
his existence from the night. He has questioned the spectres of his own
imagination. He has explored the mysterious avenues of dreams. He
has peopled the heavens with spirits. He has mistaken his visions for
realities. In the twilight of ignorance he has mistaken shadows
for gods. In all ages he has been the slave of misery, the dupe of
superstition and the fool of hope. He has suffered and aspired.

Religion is a thing of growth, of development. As we advance we throw
aside the grosser and absurder forms of faith—practically at first by
ceasing to observe them, and lastly, by denying them altogether. Every
church necessarily by its constitution endeavors to prevent this natural
growth or development. What has happened to other religions must happen
to ours. Ours is not superior to many that have passed, or are passing
away. Other religions have been lived for and died for by men as noble
as ours can boast. Their dogmas and doctrines have, to say the least,
been as reasonable, as full of spiritual grandeur, as ours.

Man has had beautiful thoughts. Man has tried to solve these questions
in all the countries of the world, and I respect all such men and women;
but let me tell you one little thing. I want to show you that in other
countries there is something.

The Parsee sect of Persia say: A Persian saint ascended the three stairs
that lead to heaven's gate, and knocked; a voice said: "Who is there?"
"Thy servant, O God!" But the gates would not open. For seven years he
did every act of kindness; again he came, and the voice said: "Who is
there?" And he replied: "Thy slave, O God!" Yet the gates were shut. Yet
seven other years of kindness, and the man again knocked; and the voice
cried and said: "Who is there?" "Thyself, O God!" And the gates wide
open flew.

I say there is no more beautiful Christian poem than this.

A Persian after having read our religion, with its frightful
descriptions of perdition, wrote these words: "Two angels flying out
from the blissful city of God—the angel of love and the angel of
pity—hovered over the eternal pit where suffered the captives of
hell. One smile of love illumined the darkness and one tear of pity
extinguished all the fires." Has orthodoxy produced anything as
generously beautiful as this? Let me read you this: Sectarians, hear
this: Believers in eternal damnation, hear this: Clergy of America who
expect to have your happiness in heaven increased by seeing me burning
in hell, hear this:

This is the prayer of the Brahmins—a prayer that has trembled from
human lips toward heaven for more than four thousand years:

"Never will I seek or receive private individual salvation. Never will
I enter into final bliss alone. But forever and everywhere will I labor
and strive for the final redemption of every creature throughout all
worlds, and until all are redeemed. Never will I wrongly leave this
world to sin, sorrow and struggle, but will remain and work and suffer
where I am."

Has the orthodox religion produced a prayer like this? See the infinite
charity, not only for every soul in this world, but of all the shining
worlds of the universe. Think of that, ye parsons who imagine that a
large majority are going to eternal ruin.

Compare it with the sermons of Jonathan Edwards, and compare it with the
imprecation of Christ: "Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared
for the devil and his angels;" with the ideas of Jeremy Taylor, with the
creeds of Christendom, with all the prayers of all the saints, and in no
church except the Universalist will you hear a prayer like this.

"When thou art in doubt as to whether an action is good or bad, abstain
from it."

Since the days of Zoroaster has there been any rule for human conduct
given superior to this?

Are the principles taught by us superior to those of Confucius? He was
asked if there was any single word comprising the duties of man. He
replied: "Reciprocity." Upon being asked what he thought of the
doctrine of returning benefits for injuries, he replied: "That is not
my doctrine. If you return benefits for injuries what do you propose
for benefits? My doctrine is; For benefits return benefits; for injuries
return justice without any admixture of revenge."

To return good for evil is to pay a premium upon wickedness. I cannot
put a man under obligation to do me a favor by doing him an injury.

Now, to-day, right now, what is the church doing? What is it doing, I
ask you honestly? Does it satisfy the craving hearts of the nineteenth
century? Are we satisfied? I am not saying this except from the honesty
of my heart. Are we satisfied? Is it a consolation to us now? Is it
even a consolation when those we love die? The dead are so near and the
promises are so far away. It is covered with the rubbish of the past.
I ask you, is it all that is demanded by the brain and heart of the
nineteenth century?

We want something better; we want something grander; we want
something that has more brain in it, and more heart in it. We want to
advance—that is what we want; and you cannot advance without being a
heretic—you cannot do it.

Nearly all these religions have been upheld by persecution and
bloodshed. They have been rendered stable by putting fetters upon the
human brain. They have all, however, been perfectly natural productions,
and under similar circumstances would all be reproduced. Only by
intellectual development are the old superstitions outgrown. As only
the few intellectually advance, the majority is left on the side of
superstition, and remains there until the advanced ideas of the few
thinkers become general; and by that time there are other thinkers still
in advance.

And so the work of development and growth slowly and painfully proceeds
from age to age. The pioneers are denounced as heretics, and the
heretics denounce their denouncers as the disciples of superstition
and ignorance. Christ was a heretic. Herod was orthodox. Socrates was a
blasphemer. Anytus worshiped all the gods. Luther was a skeptic, while
the sellers of indulgences were the best of Catholics. Roger Williams
was a heretic, while the Puritans who drove him from Massachusetts were
all orthodox. Every step in advance in the religious history of the
world has been taken by heretics. No superstition has been destroyed
except by a heretic. No creed has been bettered except by a heretic.
Heretic is the name that the orthodox laggard hurls at the disappearing
pioneer. It is shouted by the dwellers in swamps to the people upon the
hills. It is the opinion that midnight entertains of the dawn. It is
what the rotting says of the growing. Heretic is the name that a stench
gives to a perfume.

With this word the coffin salutes the cradle. It is taken from the lips
of the dead. Orthodoxy is a shroud—heresy is a banner. Orthodoxy is
an epitaph—heresy is a prophecy. Orthodoxy is a cloud, a fog, a
mist—heresy the star shining forever above the child of truth.

I am a believer in the eternity of progress. I do not believe that Want
will forever extend its withered hand, its wan and shriveled palms, for
charity. I do not believe that the children will forever be governed by
cruelty and brute force. I do not believe that poverty will dwell with
man forever. I do not believe that prisons will forever cover the earth,
or that the shadow of the gallows will forever fall upon the ground. I
do not believe that injustice will sit forever upon the bench, or that
malice and superstition will forever stand in the pulpit.

I believe the time will come when there will be charity in every heart,
when there will be love in every family, and when law and liberty and
justice, like the atmosphere, will surround this world.

We have worshiped the ghosts long enough. We have prostrated ourselves
before the ignorance of the past.

Let us stand erect and look with hopeful eyes toward the brightening
future. Let us stand by our convictions. Let us not throw away our idea
of justice for the sake of any book or of any religion whatever. Let us
live according to our highest and noblest and purest ideal.

By this time we should know that the real Bible has not been written.

The real Bible is not the work of inspired men, or prophets, or
apostles, or evangelists, or of Christs.

Every man who finds a fact, adds, as it were, a word to this great
book. It is not attested by prophecy, by miracles, or signs. It makes
no appeal to faith, to ignorance, to credulity or fear. It has no
punishment for unbelief, and no reward for hypocrisy. It appeals to man
in the name of demonstration. It has nothing to conceal. It has no
fear of being read, of being contradicted, of being investigated and
understood. It does not pretend to be holy, or sacred; it simply claims
to be true. It challenges the scrutiny of all, and implores every reader
to verify every line for himself. It is incapable of being blasphemed.
This book appeals to all the surroundings of man. Each thing that exists
testifies to its perfection. The earth, with its heart of fire and
crowns of snow; with its forests and plains, its rocks and seas; with
its every wave and cloud; with its every leaf and bud and flower,
confirms its every word, and the solemn stars, shining in the infinite
abysses, are the eternal witnesses of its truth.

Ladies and gentlemen you cannot tell how I thank you this evening; you
cannot tell how I feel toward the intellectual hospitality of this great
city by the Pacific sea. Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you—I thank you
again and again, a thousand times.
