{
  "schema": "tga.work.v1",
  "identifier": "dresden:vol-4:a-thanksgiving-sermon",
  "slug": "a-thanksgiving-sermon",
  "title": "A Thanksgiving Sermon",
  "subtitle": "Many ages ago our fathers were living in dens and caves.",
  "excerpt": "A Thanksgiving meditation on how far the human race has actually climbed — from caves and terror to science, art, and liberty — and whom to thank for the ascent.",
  "year": 1897,
  "volume": 4,
  "category": "Address",
  "author": {
    "name": "Robert G. Ingersoll",
    "wikidata": "Q360326",
    "viaf": "44331023"
  },
  "isPartOf": {
    "title": "The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll",
    "edition": "Dresden Edition",
    "publisher": "C. P. Farrell",
    "year": 1900
  },
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/",
  "url": "https://thegreatagnostic.com/works/a-thanksgiving-sermon/",
  "wordCount": 9557,
  "body": "MANY ages ago our fathers were living in dens and caves. Their bodies,\ntheir low foreheads, were covered with hair. They were eating berries,\nroots, bark and vermin. They were fond of snakes and raw fish. They\ndiscovered fire and, probably by accident, learned how to cause it by\nfriction. They found how to warm themselves—to fight the frost and\nstorm. They fashioned clubs and rude weapons of stone with which they\nkilled the larger beasts and now and then each other. Slowly, painfully,\nalmost imperceptibly they advanced. They crawled and stumbled, staggered\nand struggled toward the light. To them the world was unknown. On every\nhand was the mysterious, the sinister, the hurtful. The forests were\nfilled with monsters, and the darkness was crowded with ghosts, devils,\nand fiendish gods.\n\nThese poor wretches were the slaves of fear, the sport of dreams.\n\nNow and then, one rose a little above his fellows—used his senses—the\nlittle reason that he had—found something new—some better way. Then\nthe people killed him and afterward knelt with reverence at his grave.\nThen another thinker gave his thought—was murdered—another tomb became\nsacred—another step was taken in advance. And so through countless\nyears of ignorance and cruelty—of thought and crime—of murder and\nworship, of heroism, suffering, and self-denial, the race has reached\nthe heights where now we stand.\n\nLooking back over the long and devious roads that lie between the\nbarbarism of the past and the civilization of to-day, thinking of the\ncenturies that rolled like waves between these distant shores, we\ncan form some idea of what our fathers suffered—of the mistakes they\nmade—some idea of their ignorance, their stupidity—and some idea of\ntheir sense, their goodness, their heroism.\n\nIt is a long road from the savage to the scientist—from a den to\na mansion—from leaves to clothes—from a flickering rush to the\narc-light—from a hammer of stone to the modern mill—a long distance\nfrom the pipe of Pan to the violin—to the orchestra—from a floating\nlog to the steamship—from a sickle to a reaper—from a flail to a\nthreshing machine—-from a crooked stick to a plow—from a spinning\nwheel to a spinning jenny—from a hand loom to a Jacquard—a Jacquard\nthat weaves fair forms and wondrous flowers beyond Arachne's utmost\ndream—from a few hieroglyphics on the skins of beasts—on bricks\nof clay—to a printing press, to a library—a long distance from the\nmessenger, traveling on foot, to the electric spark—from knives\nand tools of stone to those of steel—a long distance from sand to\ntelescopes—from echo to the phonograph, the phonograph that buries in\nindented lines and dots the sounds of living speech, and then gives\nback to life the very words and voices of the dead—a long way from the\ntrumpet to the telephone, the telephone that transports speech as swift\nas thought and drops the words, perfect as minted coins, in listening\nears—a long way from a fallen tree to the suspension bridge—from\nthe dried sinews of beasts to the cables of steel—from the oar to\nthe propeller—from the sling to the rifle—from the catapult to the\ncannon—a long distance from revenge to law—from the club to the\nLegislature—from slavery to freedom—from appearance to fact—from fear\nto reason.\n\nAnd yet the distance has been traveled by the human race. Countless\nobstructions have been overcome—numberless enemies have been\nconquered—thousands and thousands of victories have been won for the\nright, and millions have lived, labored and died for their fellow-men.\n\nFor the blessings we enjoy—for the happiness that is ours, we ought to\nbe grateful. Our hearts should blossom with thankfulness.\n\nWhom, what, should we thank?\n\nLet us be honest—generous.\n\nShould we thank the church?\n\nChristianity has controlled Christendom for at least fifteen hundred\nyears.\n\nDuring these centuries what have the orthodox churches accomplished, for\nthe good of man?\n\nIn this life man needs raiment and roof, food and fuel. He must be\nprotected from heat and cold, from snow and storm. He must take thought\nfor the morrow. In the summer of youth he must prepare for the winter of\nage. He must know something of the causes of disease—of the conditions\nof health. If possible he must conquer pain, increase happiness and\nlengthen life. He must supply the wants of the body—and feed the hunger\nof the mind.\n\nWhat good has the church done?\n\nHas it taught men to cultivate the earth? to build homes? to weave cloth\nto cure or prevent disease? to build ships, to navigate the seas? to\nconquer pain, or to lengthen life?\n\nDid Christ or any of his apostles add to the sum of useful knowledge?\nDid they say one word in favor of any science, of any art? Did they\nteach their fellow-men how to make a living, how to overcome the\nobstructions of nature, how to prevent sickness—how to protect\nthemselves from pain, from famine, from misery and rags?\n\nDid they explain any of the phenomena of nature? any of the facts\nthat affect the life of man? Did they say anything in favor of\ninvestigation—of study—of thought? Did they teach the gospel of\nself-reliance, of industry—of honest effort? Can any farmer, mechanic,\nor scientist find in the New Testament one useful fact? Is there\nanything in the sacred book that can help the geologist, the astronomer,\nthe biologist, the physician, the inventor—the manufacturer of any\nuseful thing?\n\nWhat has the church done?\n\nFrom the very first it taught the vanity—the worthlessness of all\nearthly things. It taught the wickedness of wealth, the blessedness of\npoverty. It taught that the business of this life was to prepare\nfor death. It insisted that a certain belief was necessary to insure\nsalvation, and that all who failed to believe, or doubted in the least\nwould suffer eternal pain. According to the church the natural desires,\nambitions and passions of man were all wicked and depraved.\n\nTo love God, to practice self-denial, to overcome desire, to despise\nwealth, to hate prosperity, to desert wife and children, to live on\nroots and berries, to repeat prayers, to wear rags, to live in filth,\nand drive love from the heart—these, for centuries, were the highest\nand most perfect virtues, and those who practiced them were saints.\n\nThe saints did not assist their fellow-men. Their fellow-men\nassisted them. They did not labor for others. They were\nbeggars—parasites—vermin. They were insane. They followed the\nteachings of Christ. They took no thought for the morrow. They mutilated\ntheir bodies—scarred their flesh and destroyed their minds for the\nsake of happiness in another world. During the journey of life they\nkept their eyes on the grave. They gathered no flowers by the way—they\nwalked in the dust of the road—avoided the green fields. Their moans\nmade all the music they wished to hear. The babble of brooks, the songs\nof birds, the laughter of children, were nothing to them. Pleasure was\nthe child of sin, and the happy needed a change of heart. They\nwere sinless and miserable—but they had faith—they were pious and\nwretched—but they were limping towards heaven.\n\nWhat has the church done?\n\nIt has denounced pride and luxury—all things that adorn and enrich\nlife—all the pleasures of sense—the ecstasies of love—the happiness\nof the hearth—the clasp and kiss of wife and child.\n\nAnd the church has done this because it regarded this life as a period\nof probation—a time to prepare—to become spiritual—to overcome\nthe natural—to fix the affections on the invisible—to become\npassionless—to subdue the flesh—to congeal the blood—to fold the\nwings of fancy—to become dead to the world—so that when you appeared\nbefore God you would be the exact opposite of what he made you.\n\nWhat has the church done?\n\nIt pretended to have a revelation from God. It knew the road to eternal\njoy, the way to death. It preached salvation by faith, and declared that\nonly orthodox believers could become angels, and all doubters would be\ndamned. It knew this, and so knowing it became the enemy of discussion,\nof investigation, of thought. Why investigate, why discuss, why think\nwhen you know? It sought to enslave the world. It appealed to force.\nIt unsheathed the sword, lighted the fagot, forged the chain, built\nthe dungeon, erected the scaffold, invented and used the instruments\nof torture. It branded, maimed and mutilated—it imprisoned and\ntortured—it blinded and burned, hanged and crucified, and utterly\ndestroyed millions and millions of human beings. It touched every nerve\nof the body—produced every pain that can be felt, every agony that can\nbe endured.\n\nAnd it did all this to preserve what it called the truth—to destroy\nheresy and doubt, and to save, if possible, the souls of a few. It was\nhonest. It was necessary to prevent the development of the brain—to\narrest all progress—and to do this the church used all its power. If\nmen were allowed to think and express their thoughts they would fill\ntheir minds and the minds of others with doubts. If they were allowed to\nthink they would investigate, and then they might contradict the creed,\ndispute the words of priests and defy the church. The priests cried to\nthe people: \"It is for us to talk. It is for you to hear. Our duty is to\npreach and yours is to believe.\"\n\nWhat has the church done?\n\nThere have been thousands of councils and synods—thousands and\nthousands of occasions when the clergy have met and discussed and\nquarreled—when pope and cardinals, bishops and priests have added to\nor explained their creeds—and denied the rights of others. What useful\ntruth did they discover? What fact did they find? Did they add to\nthe intellectual wealth of the world? Did they increase the sum of\nknowledge?\n\nI admit that they looked over a number of Jewish books and picked out\nthe ones that Jehovah wrote.\n\nDid they find the medicinal virtue that dwells in any weed or flower?\n\nI know that they decided that the Holy Ghost was not created—not\nbegotten—but that he proceeded.\n\nDid they teach us the mysteries of the metals and how to purify the ores\nin furnace flames?\n\nThey shouted: \"Great is the mystery of Godliness.\"\n\nDid they show us how to improve our condition in this world?\n\nThey informed us that Christ had two natures and two wills.\n\nDid they give us even a hint as to any useful thing?\n\nThey gave us predestination, foreordination and just enough \"free will\"\nto go to hell.\n\nDid they discover or show us how to produce anything for food?\n\nDid they produce anything to satisfy the hunger of man?\n\nInstead of this they discovered that a peasant girl who lived in\nPalestine, was the mother of God. This they proved by a book, and to\nmake the book evidence they called it inspired.\n\nDid they tell us anything about chemistry—how to combine and separate\nsubstances—how to subtract the hurtful—how to produce the useful?\n\nThey told us that bread, by making certain motions and mumbling certain\nprayers, could be changed into the flesh of God, and that in the same\nway wine could be changed to his blood. And this, notwithstanding the\nfact that God never had any flesh or blood, but has always been a spirit\nwithout body, parts or passions.\n\nWhat has the church done?\n\nIt gave us the history of the world—of the stars, and the beginning of\nall things. It taught the geology of Moses—the astronomy of Joshua\nand Elijah. It taught the fall of man and the atonement—proved that a\nJewish peasant was God—established the existence of hell, purgatory and\nheaven.\n\nIt pretended to have a revelation from God—the Scriptures, in which\ncould be found all knowledge—everything that man could need in the\njourney of life. Nothing outside of the inspired book—except legends\nand prayers—could be of any value. Books that contradicted the Bible\nwere hurtful, those that agreed with it—useless. Nothing was of\nimportance except faith, credulity—belief. The church said: \"Let\nphilosophy alone, count your beads. Ask no questions, fall upon your\nknees. Shut your eyes, and save your souls.\"\n\nWhat has the church done?\n\nFor centuries it kept the earth flat, for centuries it made all the\nhosts of heaven travel around this world—for centuries it clung to\n\"sacred\" knowledge, and fought facts with the ferocity of a fiend. For\ncenturies it hated the useful. It was the deadly enemy of medicine.\nDisease was produced by devils and could be cured only by priests,\ndecaying bones, and holy water. Doctors were the rivals of priests. They\ndiverted the revenues.\n\nThe church opposed the study of anatomy—was against the dissection of\nthe dead. Man had no right to cure disease—God would do that through\nhis priests.\n\nMan had no right to prevent disease—diseases were sent by God as\njudgments.\n\nThe church opposed inoculation—vaccination, and the use of chloroform\nand ether. It was declared to be a sin, a crime for a woman to lessen\nthe pangs of motherhood. The church declared that woman must bear the\ncurse of the merciful Jehovah.\n\nWhat has the church done?\n\nIt taught that the insane were inhabited by devils. Insanity was not a\ndisease. It was produced by demons. It could be cured by prayers—gifts,\namulets and charms. All these had to be paid for. This enriched the\nchurch. These ideas were honestly entertained by Protestants as well as\nCatholics—by Luther, Calvin, Knox and Wesley.\n\nWhat has the church done?\n\nIt taught the awful doctrine of witchcraft. It filled the darkness with\ndemons—the air with devils, and the world with grief and shame. It\ncharged men, women and children with being in league with Satan to\ninjure their fellows. Old women were convicted for causing storms at\nsea—for preventing rain and for bringing frost. Girls were convicted\nfor having changed themselves into wolves, snakes and toads. These\nwitches were burned for causing diseases—for selling their souls and\nfor souring beer. All these things were done with the aid of the Devil\nwho sought to persecute the faithful, the lambs of God. Satan sought in\nmany ways to scandalize the church. He sometimes assumed the appearance\nof a priest and committed crimes.\n\nOn one occasion he personated a bishop—a bishop renowned for his\nsanctity—allowed himself to be discovered and dragged from the room of\na beautiful widow. So perfectly did he counterfeit the features and form\nof the bishop, that many who were well acquainted with the prelate,\nwere actually deceived, and the widow herself thought her lover was the\nbishop. All this was done by the Devil to bring reproach upon holy men.\n\nHundreds of like instances could be given, as the war waged between\ndemons and priests was long and bitter.\n\nThese popes and priests—these clergymen, were not hypocrites. They\nbelieved in the New Testament—in the teachings of Christ, and they knew\nthat the principal business of the Savior was casting out devils.\n\nWhat has the church done?\n\nIt made the wife a slave—the property of the husband, and it placed\nthe husband as much above the wife as Christ was above the husband. It\ntaught that a nun is purer, nobler than a mother. It induced millions of\npure and conscientious girls to renounce the joys of life—to take the\nveil woven of night and death, to wear the habiliments of the dead—made\nthem believe that they were the brides of Christ.\n\nFor my part, I would as soon be a widow as the bride of a man who had\nbeen dead for eighteen hundred years.\n\nThe poor deluded girls imagined that they, in some mysterious way, were\nin spiritual wedlock united with God. All worldly desires were\ndriven from their hearts. They filled their lives with fastings—with\nprayers—with self-accusings. They forgot fathers and mothers and gave\ntheir love to the invisible. They were the victims, the convicts of\nsuperstition—prisoners in the penitentiaries of God. Conscientious,\ngood, sincere—insane.\n\nThese loving women gave their hearts to a phantom, their lives to a\ndream.\n\nA few years ago, at a revival, a fine buxom girl was \"converted,\" \"born\nagain.\" In her excitement she cried, \"I'm married to Christ—I'm married\nto Christ.\" In her delirium she threw her arms around the neck of an old\nman and again cried, \"I'm married to Christ.\" The old man, who happened\nto be a kind of skeptic, gently removed her hands, saying at the same\ntime: \"I don't know much about your husband, but I have great respect\nfor your father-in-law.\"\n\nPriests, theologians, have taken advantage of women—of their\ngentleness—their love of approbation. They have lived upon their hopes\nand fears. Like vampires, they have sucked their blood. They have made\nthem responsible for the sins of the world. They have taught them the\nslave virtues—meekness, humility—implicit obedience. They have\nfed their minds with mistakes, mysteries and absurdities. They have\nendeavored to weaken and shrivel their brains, until, to them, there\nwould be no possible connection between evidence and belief—between\nfact and faith.\n\nWhat has the church done?\n\nIt was the enemy of commerce—of business. It denounced the taking\nof interest for money. Without taking interest for money, progress is\nimpossible. The steamships, the great factories, the railroads have all\nbeen built with borrowed money, money on which interest was promised and\nfor the most part paid.\n\nThe church was opposed to fire insurance—to life insurance. It\ndenounced insurance in any form as gambling, as immoral. To insure your\nlife was to declare that you had no confidence in God—that you relied\non a corporation instead of divine providence. It was declared that God\nwould provide for your widow and your fatherless children.\n\nTo insure your life was to insult heaven.\n\nWhat has the church done?\n\nThe church regarded epidemics as the messengers of the good God. The\n\"Black Death\" was sent by the eternal Father, whose mercy spared some\nand whose justice murdered the rest. To stop the scourge, they tried to\nsoften the heart of God by kneelings and prostrations—by processions\nand prayers—by burning incense and by making vows. They did not try to\nremove the cause. The cause was God. They did not ask for pure water,\nbut for holy water. Faith and filth lived or rather died together.\nReligion and rags, piety and pollution kept company. Sanctity kept its\nodor.\n\nWhat has the church done?\n\nIt was the enemy of art and literature. It destroyed the marbles of\nGreece and Rome. Beauty was Pagan. It destroyed so far as it could the\nbest literature of the world. It feared thought—but it preserved the\nScriptures, the ravings of insane saints, the falsehoods of the Fathers,\nthe bulls of popes, the accounts of miracles performed by shrines, by\ndried blood and faded hair, by pieces of bones and wood, by rusty nails\nand thorns, by handkerchiefs and rags, by water and beads and by a\nfinger of the Holy Ghost.\n\nThis was the literature of the church.\n\nI admit that the priests were honest—as honest as ignorant. More could\nnot be said.\n\nWhat has the church done?\n\nChristianity claims, with great pride, that it established asylums for\nthe insane. Yes, it did. But the insane were treated as criminals. They\nwere regarded as the homes—as the tenement-houses of devils. They were\npersecuted and tormented. They were chained and flogged, starved and\nkilled. The asylums were prisons, dungeons, the insane were victims and\nthe keepers were ignorant, conscientious, pious fiends. They were not\ntrying to help men, they were fighting devils—destroying demons. They\nwere not actuated by love—but by hate and fear.\n\nWhat has the church done?\n\nIt founded schools where facts were denied, where science was denounced\nand philosophy despised. Schools, where priests were made—where they\nwere taught to hate reason and to look upon doubts as the suggestions of\nthe Devil. Schools where the heart was hardened and the brain shriveled.\nSchools in which lies were sacred and truths profane. Schools for the\nmore general diffusion of ignorance—schools to prevent thought—to\nsuppress knowledge. Schools for the purpose of enslaving the world.\nSchools in which teachers knew less than pupils.\n\nWhat has the church done?\n\nIt has used its influence with God to get rain and sunshine—to stop\nflood and storm—to kill insects, rats, snakes and wild beasts—to stay\npestilence and famine—to delay frost and snow—to lengthen the lives of\nkings and queens—to protect presidents—to give legislators wisdom—to\nincrease collections and subscriptions. In marriages it has made God the\nparty of the third part. It has sprinkled water on babes when they were\nnamed. It has put oil on the dying and repeated prayers for the dead.\nIt has tried to protect the people from the malice of the Devil—from\nghosts and spooks, from witches and wizards and all the leering fiends\nthat seek to poison the souls of men. It has endeavored to protect the\nsheep of God from the wolves of science—from the wild beasts of doubt\nand investigation. It has tried to wean the lambs of the Lord from the\ndelights, the pleasures, the joys, of life. According to the philosophy\nof the church, the virtuous weep and suffer, the vicious laugh and\nthrive, the good carry a cross, and the wicked fly. But in the next life\nthis will be reversed. Then the good will be happy, and the bad will be\ndamned.\n\nThe church filled the world with faith and crime.\n\nIt polluted the fountains of joy. It gave us an ignorant, jealous,\nrevengeful and cruel God—sometimes merciful—sometimes ferocious. Now\njust, now infamous—sometimes wise—generally foolish. It gave us\na Devil, cunning, malicious, almost the equal of God, not quite as\nstrong—but quicker—not as profound—but sharper.\n\nIt gave us angels with wings—cherubim and seraphim and a heaven with\nharps and hallelujahs—with streets of gold and gates of pearl.\n\nIt gave us fiends and imps with wings like bats. It gave us ghosts\nand goblins, spooks and sprites, and little devils that swarmed in the\nbodies of men, and it gave us hell where the souls of men will roast in\neternal flames. Shall we thank the church? Shall we thank the orthodox\nchurches?\n\nShall we thank them for the hell they made here? Shall we thank them for\nthe hell of the future?\n\nII.\n\nWE must remember that the church was founded and has been protected by\nGod, that all the popes, and cardinals, all the bishops, priests and\nmonks, all the ministers and exhorters were selected and set apart—all\nsanctified and enlightened by the infinite God—that the Holy Scriptures\nwere inspired by the same Being, and that all the orthodox creeds were\nreally made by him.\n\nWe know what these men—filled with the Holy Ghost—have done. We know\nthe part they have played. We know the souls they have saved and the\nbodies they have destroyed. We know the consolation they have given and\nthe pain they have inflicted—the lies they have defended—the truths\nthey have denied. We know that they convinced millions that celibacy is\nthe greatest of all virtues—that women are perpetual temptations,\nthe enemies of true holiness—that monks and priests are nobler than\nfathers, that nuns are purer than mothers. We know that they taught the\nblessed absurdity of the Trinity—that God once worked at the trade\nof a carpenter in Palestine. We know that they divided knowledge into\nsacred and profane—taught that Revelation was sacred—that Reason was\nblasphemous—that faith was holy and facts false. That the sin of Adam\nand Eve brought disease and pain, vice and death into the world. We know\nthat they have taught the dogma of special providence—that all\nevents are ordered and regulated by God—that he crowns and uncrowns\nkings—preserves and destroys—guards and kills—that it is the duty of\nman to submit to the divine will, and that no matter how much evil\nthere may be—no matter how much suffering—how much pain and death, man\nshould pour out-his heart in thankfulness that it is no worse.\n\nLet me be understood. I do not say and I do not think that the church\nwas dishonest, that the clergy were insincere. I admit that all\nreligions, all creeds, all priests, have been naturally produced. I\nadmit, and cheerfully admit, that the believers in the supernatural have\ndone some good—not because they believed in gods and devils—but in\nspite of it.\n\nI know that thousands and thousands of clergymen are honest,\nself-denying and humane—that they are doing what they believe to be\ntheir duty—doing what they can to induce men and women to live pure and\nnoble lives. This is not the result of their creeds—it is because they\nare human.\n\nWhat I say is that every honest teacher of the supernatural has been and\nis an unconscious enemy of the human race.\n\nWhat is the philosophy of the church—of those who believe in the\nsupernatural?\n\nBack of all that is—back of all events—Christians put an infinite\nJuggler who with a wish creates, preserves, destroys. The world is his\nstage and mankind his puppets. He fills them with wants and desires,\nwith appetites and ambitions—with hopes and fears—with love and hate.\nHe touches the springs. He pulls the strings—baits the hooks, sets the\ntraps and digs the pits.\n\nThe play is a continuous performance.\n\nHe watches these puppets as they struggle and fail. Sees them outwit\neach other and themselves—leads them to every crime, watches the\nbirths and deaths—hears lullabies at cradles and the fall of\nclods on coffins. He has no pity. He enjoys the tragedies—the\ndesperation—the despair—the suicides. He smiles at the murders, the\nassassinations,—the seductions, the desertions—the abandoned babes of\nshame. He sees the weak enslaved—mothers robbed of babes—the innocent\nin dungeons—on scaffolds. He sees crime crowned and hypocrisy robed.\n\nHe withholds the rain and his puppets starve. He opens the earth and\nthey are devoured. He sends the flood and they are drowned. He empties\nthe volcano and they perish in fire. He sends the cyclone and they are\ntorn and mangled. With quick lightnings they are dashed to death.\nHe fills the air and water with the invisible enemies of life—the\nmessengers of pain, and watches the puppets as they breathe and\ndrink. He creates cancers to feed upon their flesh—their quivering\nnerves—serpents, to fill their veins with venom,—beasts to crunch\ntheir bones—to lap their blood.\n\nSome of the poor puppets he makes insane—makes them struggle in the\ndarkness with imagined monsters with glaring eyes and dripping jaws, and\nsome are made without the flame of thought, to drool and drivel through\nthe darkened days. He sees all the agony, the injustice, the rags\nof poverty, the withered hands of want—the motherless babes—the\ndeformed—the maimed—the leprous, knows the tears that flow—hears\nthe sobs and moans—sees the gleam of swords, hears the roar of the\nguns—sees the fields reddened with blood—the white faces of the dead.\nBut he mocks when their fear cometh, and at their calamity he fills the\nheavens with laughter. And the poor puppets who are left alive, fall on\ntheir knees and thank the Juggler with all their hearts.\n\nBut after all, the gods have not supported the children of men, men have\nsupported the gods. They have built the temples. They have sacrificed\ntheir babes, their lambs, their cattle. They have drenched the altars\nwith blood. They have given their silver, their gold, their gems. They\nhave fed and clothed their priests—but the gods have given nothing in\nreturn. Hidden in the shadows they have answered no prayer—heard\nno cry—given no sign—extended no hand—uttered no word. Unseen and\nunheard they have sat on their thrones, deaf and dumb—paralyzed and\nblind. In vain the steeples rise—in vain the prayers ascend.\n\nAnd think what man has done to please the gods. He has renounced his\nreason—extinguished the torch of his brain, he has believed without\nevidence and against evidence. He has slandered and maligned himself.\nHe has fasted and starved. He has mutilated his body—scarred his\nflesh—given his blood to vermin. He has persecuted, imprisoned and\ndestroyed his fellows. He has deserted wife and child. He has lived\nalone in the desert. He has swung-censers and burned incense, counted\nbeads and sprinkled himself with holy water—shut his eyes, clasped his\nhands—fallen upon his knees and groveled in the dust—but the gods have\nbeen silent—silent as stones.\n\nHave these cringings and crawlings—these cruelties and\nabsurdities—this faith and foolishness pleased the gods?\n\nWe do not know.\n\nHas any disaster been averted—any blessing obtained? We do not know.\n\nShall we thank these gods?\n\nShall we thank the church's God?\n\nWho and what is he?\n\nThey say that he is the creator and preserver of all that has been—of\nall that is—of all that will be—that he is the father of angels and\ndevils, the architect of heaven and hell—that he made the earth—a\nman and woman—that he made the serpent who tempted them, made his\nown rival—gave victory to his enemy—that he repented of what he had\ndone—that he sent a flood and destroyed all of the children of men with\nthe exception of eight persons—that he tried to civilize the survivors\nand their children—tried to do this with earthquakes and fiery serpents\n—with pestilence and famine. But he failed. He intended to fail. Then\nhe was born into the world, preached for three years, and allowed some\nsavages to kill him. Then he rose from the dead and went back to heaven.\n\nHe knew that he would fail, knew that he would be killed. In fact he\narranged everything himself and brought everything to pass just as he\nhad predestined it an eternity before the world was. All who believe\nthese things will be saved and they who doubt or deny will be lost.\n\nHas this God good sense?\n\nNot always. He creates his own enemies and plots against himself.\nNothing lives, except in accordance with his will, and yet the devils do\nnot die.\n\nWhat is the matter with this God? Well, sometimes he is\nfoolish—sometimes he is cruel and sometimes he is insane.\n\nDoes this God exist? Is there any intelligence back of Nature? Is there\nany being anywhere among the stars who pities the suffering children of\nmen?\n\nWe do not know.\n\nShall we thank Nature?\n\nDoes Nature care for us more than for leaves, or grass, or flies?\n\nDoes Nature know that we exist? We do not know.\n\nBut we do know that Nature is going to murder us all.\n\nWhy should we thank Nature? If we thank God or Nature for the sunshine\nand rain, for health and happiness, whom shall we curse for famine and\npestilence, for earthquake and cyclone—for disease and death?\n\nIii\n\nIF we cannot thank the orthodox churches—if we cannot thank the\nunknown, the incomprehensible, the supernatural—if we cannot thank\nNature—if we can not kneel to a Guess, or prostrate ourselves before a\nPerhaps—whom shall we thank?\n\nLet us see what the worldly have done—what has been accomplished by\nthose not \"called,\" not \"set apart,\" not \"inspired,\" not filled with the\nHoly Ghost—by those who were neglected by all the Gods.\n\nPassing over the Hindus, the Egyptians, the Greeks and Romans, their\npoets, philosophers and metaphysicians—we will come to modern times.\n\nIn the 10th century after Christ the Saracens—governors of a vast\nempire—\"established colleges in Mongolia, Tartary, Persia, Mesopotamia,\nSyria, Egypt, North Africa, Morocco, Fez and in Spain.\" The region owned\nby the Saracens was greater than the Roman Empire. They had not only\ncolleges—but observatories. The sciences were taught. They introduced\nthe ten numerals—taught algebra and trigonometry—understood cubic\nequations—knew the art of surveying—they made catalogues and maps\nof the stars—gave the great stars the names they still bear—they\nascertained the size of the earth—determined the obliquity of the\necliptic and fixed the length of the year. They calculated eclipses,\nequinoxes, solstices, conjunctions of planets and occultations of stars.\nThey constructed astronomical instruments. They made clocks of\nvarious kinds and were the inventors of the pendulum. They originated\nchemistry—discovered sulphuric and nitric acid and alcohol.\n\n\"They were the first to publish pharmacopoeias and dispensatories.\n\n\"In mechanics they determined the laws of falling bodies. They\nunderstood the mechanical powers, and the attraction of gravitation.\n\n\"They taught hydrostatics and determined the specific gravities of\nbodies.\n\n\"In optics they discovered that a ray of light did not proceed from the\neye to an object—but from the object to the eye.\"\n\n\"They were manufacturers of cotton, leather, paper and steel.\n\n\"They gave us the game of chess.\n\n\"They produced romances and novels and essays on many subjects.\n\n\"In their schools they taught the modern doctrines of evolution and\ndevelopment.\" They anticipated Darwin and Spencer.\n\nThese people were not Christians. They were the followers, for the most\npart, of an impostor—of a pretended prophet of a false God. And yet\nwhile the true Christians, the men selected by the true God and filled\nwith the Holy Ghost were tearing out the tongues of heretics, these\nwretches were irreverently tracing the orbits of the stars. While the\ntrue believers were flaying philosophers and extinguishing the eyes of\nthinkers, these godless followers of Mohammed were founding colleges,\ncollecting manuscripts, investigating the facts of nature and giving\ntheir attention to science. Afterward the followers of Mohammed became\nthe enemies of science and hated facts as intensely and honestly as\nChristians. Whoever has a revelation from God will defend it with all\nhis strength—will abhor reason and deny facts.\n\nBut it is well to know that we are indebted to the Moors—to the\nfollowers of Mohammed—for having laid the foundations of modern\nscience. It is well to know that we are not indebted to the church, to\nChristianity, for any useful fact.\n\nIt is well to know that the seeds of thought were sown in our minds by\nthe Greeks and Romans, and that our literature came from those seeds.\nThe great literature of our language is Pagan in its thought—Pagan\nin its beauty—Pagan in its perfection. It is well to know that when\nMohammedans were the friends of science, Christians were its enemies.\nHow consoling it is to think that the friends of science—the men who\neducated their fellows—are now in hell, and that the men who persecuted\nand killed philosophers are now in heaven! Such is the justice of God.\n\nThe Christians of the Middle Ages, the men who were filled with the Holy\nGhost, knew all about the worlds beyond the grave, but nothing about\nthe world in which they lived. They thought the earth was flat—a little\ndishing if anything—that it was about five thousand years old, and that\nthe stars were little sparkles made to beautify the night.\n\nThe fact is that Christianity was in existence for fifteen hundred years\nbefore there was an astronomer in Christendom. No follower of Christ\nknew the shape of the earth.\n\nThe earth was demonstrated to be a globe, not by a pope or cardinal—not\nby a collection of clergymen—not by the \"called\" or the \"set apart,\"\nbut by a sailor. Magellan left Seville, Spain, August 10th, 1519, sailed\nwest and kept sailing west, and the ship reached Seville, the port it\nleft, on Sept. 7th, 1522.\n\nThe world had been circumnavigated. The earth was known to be round.\nThere had been a dispute between the Scriptures and a sailor. The fact\ntook the sailor's side.\n\nIn 1543 Copernicus published his book, \"On the Revolutions of the\nHeavenly Bodies.\"\n\nHe had some idea of the vastness of the stars—of the astronomical\nspaces—of the insignificance of this world.\n\nToward the close of the sixteenth century, Bruno, one of the greatest\nmen this world has produced, gave his thoughts to his fellow-men. He\ntaught the plurality of worlds. He was a Pantheist, an Atheist, an\nhonest man. He called the Catholic Church the \"Triumphant Beast.\" He\nwas imprisoned for many years, tried, convicted, and on the 16th day of\nFebruary, 1600, burned in Rome by men filled with the Holy Ghost,\nburned on the spot where now his monument rises. Bruno, the noblest, the\ngreatest of all the martyrs. The only one who suffered death for what he\nbelieved to be the truth. The only martyr who had no heaven to gain, no\nhell to shun, no God to please. He was nobler than inspired men,\ngrander than prophets, greater and purer than apostles. Above all the\ntheologians of the world, above the makers of creeds, above the founders\nof religions rose this serene, unselfish and intrepid man.\n\nYet Christians, followers of Christ, murdered this incomparable man.\nThese Christians were true to their creed. They believed that faith\nwould be rewarded with eternal joy, and doubt punished with eternal\npain. They were logical. They were pious and pitiless—devout and\ndevilish—meek and malicious—religious and revengeful—Christ-like and\ncruel—loving with their mouths and hating with their hearts. And yet,\nhonest victims of ignorance and fear.\n\nWhat have the wordly done?\n\nIn 1608, Lippersheim, a Hollander, so arranged lenses that objects were\nexaggerated.\n\nHe invented the telescope.\n\nHe gave countless worlds to our eyes, and made us citizens of the\nUniverse.\n\nIn 1610, on the night of January 7th, Galileo demonstrated the truth of\nthe Copernican system, and in 1632, published his work on \"The System of\nthe World.\"\n\nWhat did the church do?\n\nGalileo was arrested, imprisoned, forced to fall upon his knees, put his\nhand on the Bible, and recant. For ten years he was kept in prison—for\nten years until released by the pity of death. Then the church—men\nfilled with the Holy Ghost—denied his body burial in consecrated\nground. It was feared that his dust might corrupt the bodies of those\nwho had persecuted him.\n\nIn 1609, Kepler published his book \"Motions of the Planet Mars.\"\nHe, too, knew of the attraction of gravitation and that it acted in\nproportion to mass and distance. Kepler announced his Three Laws. He\nfound and mathematically expressed the relation of distance, mass, and\nmotion. Nothing greater has been accomplished by the human mind.\n\nAstronomy became a science and Christianity a superstition.\n\nThen came Newton, Herscheland Laplace. The astronomy of Joshua and\nElijah faded from the minds of intelligent men, and Jehovah became an\nignorant tribal god.\n\nMen began to see that the operations of Nature were not subject to\ninterference. That eclipses were not caused by the wrath of God—that\ncomets had nothing to do with the destruction of empires or the death\nof kings, that the stars wheeled in their orbits without regard to the\nactions of men. In the sacred East the dawn appeared.\n\nWhat have the wordly done?\n\nA few years ago a few men became wicked enough to use their senses. They\nbegan to look and listen. They began to really see and then they began\nto reason. They forgot heaven and hell long enough to take some interest\nin this world. They began to examine soils and rocks. They noticed what\nhad been done by rivers and seas. They found out something about the\ncrust of the earth. They found that most of the rocks had been deposited\nand stratified in the water—rocks 70,000 feet in thickness. They found\nthat the coal was once vegetable matter. They made the best calculations\nthey could of the time required to make the coal, and concluded that it\nmust have taken at least six or seven millions of years. They examined\nthe chalk cliffs, found that they were composed of the microscopic\nshells of minute organisms, that is to say, the dust of these shells.\nThis dust settled over areas as large as Europe and in some places the\nchalk is a mile in depth. This must have required many millions of\nyears.\n\nLyell, the highest authority on the subject, says that it must have\nrequired, to cause the changes that we know, at least two hundred\nmillion years. Think of these vast deposits caused by the slow falling\nof infinitesimal atoms of impalpable dust through the silent depths of\nancient seas! Think of the microscopical forms of life, constructing\ntheir minute houses of lime, giving life to others, leaving their\nmansions beneath the waves, and so through countless generations\nbuilding the foundations of continents and islands.\n\nGo back of all life that we now know—back of all the flying lizards,\nthe armored monsters, the hissing serpents, the winged and fanged\nhorrors—back to the Laurentian rocks—to the eozoon, the first of\nliving things that we have found—back of all mountains, seas and\nrivers—back to the first incrustation of the molten world—back of wave\nof fire and robe of flame—back to the time when all the substance of\nthe earth blazed in the glowing sun with all the stars that wheel about\nthe central fire.\n\nThink of the days and nights that lie between!—think of the centuries,\nthe withered leaves of time, that strew the desert of the past!\n\nNature does not hurry. Time cannot be wasted—cannot be lost. The\nfuture remains eternal and all the past is as though it had not been—as\nthough it were to be. The infinite knows neither loss nor gain.\n\nWe know something of the history of the world—something of the human\nrace; and we know that man has lived and struggled through want and war,\nthrough pestilence and famine, through ignorance and crime, through fear\nand hope, on the old earth for millions and millions of years.\n\nAt last we know that infallible popes, and countless priests and\nclergymen, who had been \"called,\" filled with the Holy Ghost, and\npresidents of colleges, kings, emperors and executives of nations had\nmistaken the blundering guesses of ignorant savages for the wisdom of an\ninfinite God.\n\nAt last we know that the story of creation, of the beginning of things,\nas told in the \"sacred book,\" is not only untrue, but utterly absurd and\nidiotic. Now we know that the inspired writers did not know and that the\nGod who inspired them did not know.\n\nWe are no longer misled by myths and legends. We rely upon facts. The\nworld is our witness and the stars testify for us.\n\nWhat have the worldly done?\n\nThey have investigated the religions of the world—have read the sacred\nbooks, the prophecies, the commandments, the rules of conduct. They have\nstudied the symbols, the ceremonies, the prayers and sacrifices. And\nthey have shown that all religions are substantially the same—produced\nby the same causes—that all rest on a misconception of the facts in\nnature—that all are founded on ignorance and fear, on mistake and\nmystery.\n\nThey have found that Christianity is like the rest—that it was not a\nrevelation, but a natural growth—that its gods and devils, its heavens\nand hells, were borrowed—that its ceremonies and sacraments were\nsouvenirs of other religions—that no part of it came from heaven, but\nthat it was all made by savage man. They found that Jehovah was a tribal\ngod and that his ancestors had lived on the banks of the Euphrates, the\nTigris, the Ganges and the Nile, and these ancestors were traced back to\nstill more savage forms.\n\nThey found that all the sacred books were filled with inspired mistake\nand sacred absurdity.\n\nBut, say the Christians, we have the only inspired book. We have the\nOld Testament and the New. Where did you get the Old Testament? From the\nJews?—Yes.\n\nLet me tell you about it.\n\nAfter the Jews returned from Babylon, about 400 years before Christ,\nEzra commenced making the Bible. You will find an account of this in the\nBible.\n\nWe know that Genesis was written after the Captivity—because it was\nfrom the Babylonians that the Jews got the story of the creation—of\nAdam and Eve, of the Garden—of the serpent, and the tree of life—of\nthe flood—and from them they learned about the Sabbath.\n\nYou find nothing about that holy day in Judges, Joshua, Samuel, Kings\nor Chronicles—nothing in Job, the Psalms, in Esther, Solomon's Song\nor Ecclesiastes. Only in books written by Ezra after the return from\nBabylon.\n\nWhen Ezra finished the inspired book, he placed it in the temple. It was\nwritten on the skins of beasts, and, so far as we know, there was but\none.\n\nWhat became of this Bible?\n\nJerusalem was taken by Titus about 70 years after Christ. The temple was\ndestroyed and, at the request of Josephus, the Holy Bible was sent to\nVespasian the Emperor, at Rome.\n\nAnd this Holy Bible has never been seen or heard of since. So much for\nthat.\n\nThen there was a copy, or rather a translation, called the Septuagint.\n\nHow was that made?\n\nIt is said that Ptolemy Soter and his son Ptolemy Philadelphus obtained\na translation of the Jewish Bible. This translation was made by seventy\npersons.\n\nAt that time the Jewish Bible did not contain Daniel, Ecclesiastes, but\nfew of the Psalms and only a part of Isaiah.\n\nWhat became of this translation known as the Septuagint?\n\nIt was burned in the Bruchium Library forty-seven years before Christ.\n\nThen there was another so-called copy of part of the Bible, known as the\nSamaritan Roll of the Pentateuch.\n\nBut this is not considered of any value.\n\nHave we a true copy of the Bible that was in the temple at\nJerusalem—the one sent to Vespasian?\n\nNobody knows.\n\nHave we a true copy of the Septuagint?\n\nNobody knows.\n\nWhat is the oldest manuscript of the Bible we have in Hebrew?\n\nThe oldest manuscript we have in Hebrew was written in the 10th century\nafter Christ. The oldest pretended copy we have of the Septuagint\nwritten in Greek was made in the 5th century after Christ.\n\nIf the Bible was divinely inspired, if it was the actual word of God, we\nhave no authenticated copy. The original has been lost and we are left\nin the darkness of Nature.\n\nIt is impossible for us to show that our Bible is correct. We have no\nstandard. Many of the books in our Bible contradict each other. Many\nchapters appear to be incomplete and parts of different books are\nwritten in the same words, showing that both could not have been\noriginal. The 19th and 20th chapters of 2nd Kings and the 37th and\n38th chapters of Isaiah are exactly the same. So is the 36th chapter of\nIsaiah from the 2nd verse the same as the 18th chapter of 2nd Kings from\nthe 2nd verse.\n\nSo, it is perfectly apparent that there could have been no possible\npropriety in inspiring the writers of Kings and the writers of\nChronicles. The books are substantially the same, differing in a\nfew mistakes—in a few falsehoods. The same is true of Leviticus and\nNumbers. The books do not agree either in facts or philosophy. They\ndiffer as the men differed who wrote them.\n\nWhat have the worldly done?\n\nThey have investigated the phenomena of nature. They have invented ways\nto use the forces of the world, the weight of falling water—of moving\nair. They have changed water to steam, invented engines—the tireless\ngiants that work for man. They have made lightning a messenger and\nslave. They invented movable type, taught us the art of printing and\nmade it possible to save and transmit the intellectual wealth of the\nworld. They connected continents with cables, cities and towns with\nthe telegraph—brought the world into one family—made intelligence\nindependent of distance. They taught us how to build homes, to obtain\nfood, to weave cloth. They covered the seas with iron ships and the\nland with roads and steeds of steel. They gave us the tools of all the\ntrades—the implements of labor. They chiseled statues, painted pictures\nand \"witched the world\" with form and color. They have found the cause\nof and the cure for many maladies that afflict the flesh and minds of\nmen. They have given us the instruments of music and the great composers\nand performers have changed the common air to tones and harmonies that\nintoxicate, exalt and purify the soul.\n\nThey have rescued us from the prisons of fear, and snatched our souls\nfrom the fangs and claws of superstition's loathsome, crawling, flying\nbeasts. They have given us the liberty to think and the courage to\nexpress our thoughts. They have changed the frightened, the enslaved,\nthe kneeling, the prostrate into men and women—clothed them in their\nright minds and made them truly free. They have uncrowned the phantoms,\nwrested the scepters from the ghosts and given this world to the\nchildren of men. They have driven from the heart the fiends of fear and\nextinguished the flames of hell.\n\nThey have read a few leaves of the great volume—deciphered some of the\nrecords written on stone by the tireless hands of time in the dim past.\nThey have told us something of what has been done by wind and wave, by\nfire and frost, by life and death, the ceaseless workers, the pauseless\nforces of the world.\n\nThey have enlarged the horizon of the known, changed the glittering\nspecks that shine above us to wheeling worlds, and filled all space with\ncountless suns.\n\nThey have found the qualities of substances, the nature of things—how\nto analyze, separate and combine, and have enabled us to use the good\nand avoid the hurtful.\n\nThey have given us mathematics in the higher forms, by means of which we\nmeasure the astronomical spaces, the distances to stars, the velocity at\nwhich the heavenly bodies move, their density and weight, and by which\nthe mariner navigates the waste and trackless seas. They have given us\nall we have of knowledge, of literature and art. They have made life\nworth living. They have filled the world with conveniences, comforts and\nluxuries.\n\nAll this has been done by the worldly—by those, who were not \"called\"\nor \"set apart\" or filled with the Holy Ghost or had the slightest claim\nto \"apostolic succession.\" The men who accomplished these things were\nnot \"inspired.\" They had no revelation—no supernatural aid. They were\nnot clad in sacred vestments, and tiaras were not upon their brows. They\nwere not even ordained. They used their senses, observed and recorded\nfacts. They had confidence in reason. They were patient searchers for\nthe truth. They turned their attention to the affairs of this\nworld. They were not saints. They were sensible men. They worked for\nthemselves, for wife and child and for the benefit of all.\n\nTo these men we are indebted for all we are, for all we know, for all\nwe have. They were the creators of civilization—the founders of free\nstates—the saviors of liberty—the destroyers of superstition and the\ngreat captains in the army of progress.\n\nIV.\n\nWHOM shall we thank? Standing here at the close of the 19th\ncentury—amid the trophies of thought—the triumphs of genius—here\nunder the flag of the Great Republic—knowing something of the history\nof man—here on this day that has been set apart for thanksgiving, I\nmost reverently thank the good men, the good women of the past, I thank\nthe kind fathers, the loving mothers of the savage days. I thank the\nfather who spoke the first gentle word, the mother who first smiled upon\nher babe. I thank the first true friend. I thank the savages who hunted\nand fished that they and their babes might live. I thank those who\ncultivated the ground and changed the forests into farms—those who\nbuilt rude homes and watched the faces of their happy children in the\nglow of fireside flames—those who domesticated horses, cattle and\nsheep—those who invented wheels and looms and taught us to spin and\nweave—those who by cultivation changed wild grasses into wheat and\ncorn, changed bitter things to fruit, and worthless weeds to flowers,\nthat sowed within our souls the seeds of art. I thank the poets of the\ndawn—the tellers of legends—the makers of myths—the singers of joy\nand grief, of hope and love. I thank the artists who chiseled forms\nin stone and wrought with light and shade the face of man. I thank the\nphilosophers, the thinkers, who taught us how to use our minds in\nthe great search for truth. I thank the astronomers who explored\nthe heavens, told us the secrets of the stars, the glories of the\nconstellations—the geologists who found the story of the world in\nfossil forms, in memoranda kept in ancient rocks, in lines written by\nwaves, by frost and fire—the anatomists who sought in muscle, nerve and\nbone for all the mysteries of life—the chemists who unraveled Nature's\nwork that they might learn her art—the physicians who have laid\nthe hand of science on the brow of pain, the hand whose magic touch\nrestores—the surgeons who have defeated Nature's self and forced her to\npreserve the lives of those she labored to destroy.\n\nI thank the discoverers of chloroform and ether, the two angels who give\nto their beloved sleep, and wrap the throbbing brain in the soft robes\nof dreams. I thank the great inventors—those who gave us movable type\nand the press, by means of which great thoughts and all discovered facts\nare made immortal—the inventors of engines, of the great ships, of the\nrailways, the cables and telegraphs. I thank the great mechanics, the\nworkers in iron and steel, in wood and stone. I thank the inventors and\nmakers of the numberless things of use and luxury.\n\nI thank the industrious men, the loving mothers, the useful women. They\nare the benefactors of our race.\n\nThe inventor of pins did a thousand times more good than all the popes\nand cardinals, the bishops and priests—than all the clergymen and\nparsons, exhorters and theologians that ever lived.\n\nThe inventor of matches did more for the comfort and convenience\nof mankind than all the founders of religions and the makers of all\ncreeds—than all malicious monks and selfish saints.\n\nI thank the honest men and women who have expressed their sincere\nthoughts, who have been true to themselves and have preserved the\nveracity of their souls.\n\nI thank the thinkers of Greece and Rome, Zeno and Epicurus, Cicero and\nLucretius. I thank Bruno, the bravest, and Spinoza, the subtlest of men.\n\nI thank Voltaire, whose thought lighted a flame in the brain of man,\nunlocked the doors of superstition's cells and gave liberty to\nmany millions of his fellow-men. Voltaire—a name that sheds light.\nVoltaire—a star that superstition's darkness cannot quench.\n\nI thank the great poets—the dramatists. I thank Homer and Aeschylus,\nand I thank Shakespeare above them all. I thank Burns for the\nheart-throbs he changed into songs, for his lyrics of flame. I thank\nShelley for his Skylark, Keats for his Grecian Urn and Byron for his\nPrisoner of Chillon. I thank the great novelists. I thank the great\nsculptors. I thank the unknown man who moulded and chiseled the Venus de\nMilo. I thank the great painters. I thank Rembrandt and Corot. I thank\nall who have adorned, enriched and ennobled life—all who have created\nthe great, the noble, the heroic and artistic ideals.\n\nI thank the statesmen who have preserved the rights of man. I thank\nPaine whose genius sowed the seeds of independence in the hearts of '76.\nI thank Jefferson whose mighty words for liberty have made the circuit\nof the globe. I thank the founders, the defenders, the saviors of the\nRepublic. I thank Ericsson, the greatest mechanic of his century, for\nthe monitor. I thank Lincoln for the Proclamation. I thank Grant for his\nvictories and the vast host that fought for the right,—for the freedom\nof man. I thank them all—the living and the dead.\n\nI thank the great scientists—those who have reached the foundation,\nthe bed-rock—who have built upon facts—the great scientists, in whose\npresence theologians look silly and feel malicious.\n\nThe scientists never persecuted, never imprisoned their fellow-men. They\nforged no chains, built no dungeons, erected no scaffolds—tore no flesh\nwith red hot pincers—dislocated no joints on racks—crushed no bones\nin iron boots—extinguished no eyes—tore out no tongues and lighted\nno fagots. They did not pretend to be inspired—did not claim to\nbe prophets or saints or to have been born again. They were only\nintelligent and honest men. They did not appeal to force or fear. They\ndid not regard men as slaves to be ruled by torture, by lash and chain,\nnor as children to be cheated with illusions, rocked in the cradle of an\nidiot creed and soothed by a lullaby of lies.\n\nThey did not wound—they healed. They did not kill—they lengthened\nlife. They did not enslave—they broke the chains and made men free.\nThey sowed the seeds of knowledge, and many millions have reaped, are\nreaping, and will reap the harvest of joy.\n\nI thank Humboldt and Helmholtz and Haeckel and Buechner. I thank Lamarck\nand Darwin—Darwin who revolutionized the thought of the intellectual\nworld. I thank Huxley and Spencer. I thank the scientists one and all.\n\nI thank the heroes, the destroyers of prejudice and fear—the dethroners\nof savage gods—the extinguishers of hate's eternal fire—the heroes,\nthe breakers of chains—the founders of free states—the makers of just\nlaws—the heroes who fought and fell on countless fields—the heroes\nwhose dungeons became shrines—the heroes whose blood made scaffolds\nsacred—the heroes, the apostles of reason, the disciples of truth, the\nsoldiers of freedom—the heroes who held high the holy torch and filled\nthe world with light.\n\nWith all my heart I thank them all.\n"
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