{
  "schema": "tga.work.v1",
  "identifier": "dresden:vol-1:ghosts",
  "slug": "ghosts",
  "title": "The Ghosts",
  "subtitle": "Let them cover their eyeless sockets with their fleshless hands and fade forever from the imagination of men.",
  "excerpt": "An examination of how fear of the unseen built the world's religions — and how science, step by step, is banishing those ghosts from the human imagination.",
  "year": 1877,
  "volume": 1,
  "category": "Lecture",
  "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/ghosts/",
  "wordCount": 6894,
  "body": "<section class=\"work-preface\">\n\n<span class=\"work-preface-kicker\">Author's Front Matter</span>\n<h2 class=\"work-preface-heading\">Preface</h2>\n\nThese lectures have been so maimed and mutilated by orthodox malice;\nhave been made to appear so halt, crutched and decrepit by those who\nmistake the pleasures of calumny for the duties of religion, that in\nsimple justice to myself I concluded to publish them.\n\nMost of the clergy are, or seem to be, utterly incapable of discussing\nanything in a fair and catholic spirit. They appeal, not to reason,\nbut to prejudice; not to facts, but to passages of Scripture. They can\nconceive of no goodness, of no spiritual exaltation beyond the horizon\nof their creed. Whoever differs with them upon what they are pleased\nto call \"fundamental truths,\" is, in their opinion, a base and infamous\nman. To re-enact the tragedies of the sixteenth century, they lack only\nthe power. Bigotry in all ages has been the same. Christianity simply\ntransferred the brutality of the Colosseum to the Inquisition. For the\nmurderous combat of the gladiators, the saints substituted the _auto de\nfe_. What has been called religion is, after all, but the organization\nof the wild beast in man. The perfumed blossom of arrogance is heaven.\nHell is the consummation of revenge.\n\nThe chief business of the clergy has always been to destroy the joy of\nlife, and multiply and magnify the terrors and tortures of death and\nperdition. They have polluted the heart and paralyzed the brain; and\nupon the ignorant altars of the Past and the Dead, they have endeavored\nto sacrifice the Present and the Living.\n\nNothing can exceed the mendacity of the religious press. I have had some\nlittle experience with political editors, and am forced to say, that\nuntil I read the religious papers, I did not know what malicious and\nslimy falsehoods could be constructed from ordinary words. The ingenuity\nwith which the real and apparent meaning can be tortured out of\nlanguage, is simply amazing. The average religious editor is intolerant\nand insolent; he knows nothing of affairs; he has the envy of failure,\nthe malice of impotence, and always accounts for the brave and generous\nactions of unbelievers, by low, base and unworthy motives.\n\nBy this time, even the clergy should know that the intellect of the\nnineteenth century needs no guardian. They should cease to regard\nthemselves as shepherds defending flocks of weak, silly and fearful\nsheep from the claws and teeth of ravening wolves. By this time they\nshould know that the religion of the ignorant and brutal Past no\nlonger satisfies the heart and brain; that the miracles have become\ncontemptible; that the \"evidences\" have ceased to convince; that the\nspirit of investigation cannot be stopped nor stayed; that the church\nis losing her power; that the young are holding in a kind of tender\ncontempt the sacred follies of the old; that the pulpit and pews no\nlonger represent the culture and morality of the world, and that the\nbrand of intellectual inferiority is upon the orthodox brain.\n\nMen should be liberated from the aristocracy of the air. Every chain\nof superstition should be broken. The rights of men and women should\nbe equal and sacred—marriage should be a perfect partnership—children\nshould be governed by kindness,—every family should be a\nrepublic—every fireside a democracy.\n\nIt seems almost impossible for religious people to really grasp the idea\nof intellectual freedom. They seem to think that man is responsible for\nhis honest thoughts; that unbelief is a crime; that investigation is\nsinful; that credulity is a virtue, and that reason is a dangerous\nguide. They cannot divest themselves of the idea that in the realm of\nthought there must be government—authority and obedience—laws and\npenalties—rewards and punishments, and that somewhere in the universe\nthere is a penitentiary for the soul.\n\nIn the republic of mind, one is a majority. There, all are monarchs,\nand all are equals. The tyranny of a majority even is unknown. Each one\nis crowned, sceptered and throned. Upon every brow is the tiara, and\naround every form is the imperial purple. Only those are good citizens\nwho express their honest thoughts, and those who persecute for opinion's\nsake, are the only traitors. There, nothing is considered infamous\nexcept an appeal to brute force, and nothing sacred but love, liberty,\nand joy. The church contemplates this republic with a sneer. From the\nteeth of hatred she draws back the lips of scorn. She is filled with the\nspite and spleen born of intellectual weakness. Once she was egotistic;\nnow she is envious.\n\nOnce she wore upon her hollow breast false gems, supposing them to be\nreal. They have been shown to be false, but she wears them still. She\nhas the malice of the caught, the hatred of the exposed.\n\nWe are told to investigate the Bible for ourselves, and at the same time\ninformed that if we come to the conclusion that it is not the inspired\nword of God, we will most assuredly be damned. Under such circumstances,\nif we believe this, investigation is impossible. Whoever is held\nresponsible for his conclusions cannot weigh the evidence with impartial\nscales. Fear stands at the balance, and gives to falsehood the weight of\nits trembling hand.\n\nI oppose the church because she is the enemy of liberty; because her\ndogmas are infamous and cruel; because she humiliates and degrades\nwoman; because she teaches the doctrines of eternal torment and the\nnatural depravity of man; because she insists upon the absurd, the\nimpossible, and the senseless; because she resorts to falsehood and\nslander; because she is arrogant and revengeful; because she allows men\nto sin on a credit; because she discourages self-reliance, and laughs\nat good works; because she believes in vicarious virtue and vicarious\nvice—vicarious punishment and vicarious reward; because she regards\nrepentance of more importance than restitution, and because she\nsacrifices the world we have to one we know not of.\n\nThe free and generous, the tender and affectionate, will understand me.\nThose who have escaped from the grated cells of a creed will appreciate\nmy motives. The sad and suffering wives, the trembling and loving\nchildren will thank me: This is enough.\n\n<p class=\"work-preface-sign\">Robert G. Ingersoll<small>Washington, D.C. · April 13, 1878</small></p>\n\n</section>\n\nThe Ghosts\n\nLET THEM COVER THEIR EYELESS SOCKETS WITH THEIR FLESHLESS HANDS AND FADE\nFOREVER FROM THE IMAGINATION OF MEN.\n\nTHERE are three theories by which men account for all phenomena,\nfor everything that happens: First, the Supernatural; Second, the\nSupernatural and Natural; Third, the Natural. Between these theories\nthere has been, from the dawn of civilization, a continual conflict. In\nthis great war, nearly all the soldiers have been in the ranks of the\nsupernatural. The believers in the supernatural insist that matter\nis controlled and directed entirely by powers from without; while\nnaturalists maintain that Nature acts from within; that Nature is not\nacted upon; that the universe is all there is; that Nature with infinite\narms embraces everything that exists, and that all supposed powers\nbeyond the limits of the material are simply ghosts. You say, \"Oh, this\nis materialism!\" What is matter? I take in my hand some earth:—in this\ndust put seeds. Let the arrows of light from the quiver of the sun smite\nupon it; let the rain fall upon it. The seeds will grow and a plant will\nbud and blossom. Do you understand this? Can you explain it better than\nyou can the production of thought? Have you the slightest conception of\nwhat it really is? And yet you speak of matter as though acquainted with\nits origin, as though you had torn from the clenched hands of the rocks\nthe secrets of material existence. Do you know what force is? Can you\naccount for molecular action? Are you really familiar with chemistry,\nand can you account for the loves and hatreds of the atoms? Is there not\nsomething in matter that forever eludes? After all, can you get beyond,\nabove or below appearances? Before you cry \"materialism!\" had you not\nbetter ascertain what matter really is? Can you think even of anything\nwithout a material basis? Is it possible to imagine the annihilation of\na single atom? Is it possible for you to conceive of the creation of an\natom? Can you have a thought that was not suggested to you by what you\ncall matter?\n\nOur fathers denounced materialism, and accounted for all phenomena by\nthe caprice of gods and devils.\n\nFor thousands of years it was believed that ghosts, good and bad,\nbenevolent and malignant, weak and powerful, in some mysterious way,\nproduced all phenomena; that disease and health, happiness and misery,\nfortune and misfortune, peace and war, life and death, success and\nfailure, were but arrows from the quivers of these ghosts; that shadowy\nphantoms rewarded and punished mankind; that they were pleased and\ndispleased by the actions of men; that they sent and withheld the snow,\nthe light, and the rain; that they blessed the earth with harvests or\ncursed it with famine; that they fed or starved the children of men;\nthat they crowned and uncrowned kings; that they took sides in war; that\nthey controlled the winds; that they gave prosperous voyages, allowing\nthe brave mariner to meet his wife and child inside the harbor bar, or\nsent the storms, strewing the sad shores with wrecks of ships and the\nbodies of men.\n\nFormerly, these ghosts were believed to be almost innumerable. Earth,\nair, and water were filled with these phantom hosts. In modern times\nthey have greatly decreased in number, because the second theory,—a\nmingling of the supernatural and natural,—has generally been adopted.\nThe remaining ghosts, however, are supposed to perform the same offices\nas the hosts of yore.\n\nIt has always been believed that these ghosts could in some way be\nappeased; that they could be flattered by sacrifices, by prayer, by\nfasting, by the building of temples and cathedrals, by the blood of\nmen and beasts, by forms and ceremonies, by chants, by kneelings and\nprostrations, by flagellations and maimings, by renouncing the joys of\nhome, by living alone in the wide desert, by the practice of celibacy,\nby inventing instruments of torture, by destroying men, women and\nchildren, by covering the earth with dungeons, by burning unbelievers,\nby putting chains upon the thoughts and manacles upon the limbs of\nmen, by believing things without evidence and against evidence, by\ndisbelieving and denying demonstration, by despising facts, by hating\nreason, by denouncing liberty, by maligning heretics, by slandering\nthe dead, by subscribing to senseless and cruel creeds, by discouraging\ninvestigation, by worshiping a book, by the cultivation of credulity,\nby observing certain times and days, by counting beads, by gazing at\ncrosses, by hiring others to repeat verses and prayers, by burning\ncandles and ringing bells, by enslaving each other and putting out the\neyes of the soul. All this has been done to appease and flatter these\nmonsters of the air.\n\nIn the history of our poor world, no horror has been omitted, no infamy\nhas been left undone by the believers in ghosts,—by the worshipers of\nthese fleshless phantoms. And yet these shadows were born of cowardice\nand malignity. They were painted by the pencil of fear upon the canvas\nof ignorance by that artist called superstition.\n\nFrom these ghosts, our fathers received information. They were\nthe schoolmasters of our ancestors. They were the scientists and\nphilosophers, the geologists, legislators, astronomers, physicians,\nmetaphysicians and historians of the past. For ages these ghosts were\nsupposed to be the only source of real knowledge. They inspired men to\nwrite books, and the books were considered sacred. If facts were found\nto be inconsistent with these books, so much the worse for the facts,\nand especially for their discoverers. It was then, and still is,\nbelieved that these books are the basis of the idea of immortality; that\nto give up these volumes, or rather the idea that they are inspired, is\nto renounce the idea of immortality. This I deny.\n\nThe idea of immortality, that like a sea has ebbed and flowed in the\nhuman heart, with its countless waves of hope and fear, beating against\nthe shores and rocks of time and fate, was not born of any book, nor of\nany creed, nor of any religion. It was born of human affection, and it\nwill continue to ebb and flow beneath the mists and clouds of doubt\nand darkness as long as love kisses the lips of death. It is the\nrainbow—Hope shining upon the tears of grief.\n\nFrom the books written by the ghosts we have at last ascertained that\nthey knew nothing about the world in which we live. Did they know\nanything about the next? Upon every point where contradiction is\npossible, they have been contradicted.\n\nBy these ghosts, by these citizens of the air, the affairs of government\nwere administered; all authority to govern came from them. The emperors,\nkings and potentates all had commissions from these phantoms. Man was\nnot considered as the source of any power whatever. To rebel against the\nking was to rebel against the ghosts, and nothing less than the blood of\nthe offender could appease the invisible phantom or the visible tyrant.\nKneeling was the proper position to be assumed by the multitude.\nThe prostrate were the good. Those who stood erect were infidels and\ntraitors. In the name and by the authority of the ghosts, man was\nenslaved, crushed, and plundered. The many toiled wearily in the storm\nand sun that the few favorites of the ghosts might live in idleness.\nThe many lived in huts, and caves, and dens, that the few might dwell in\npalaces. The many covered themselves with rags, that the few might\nrobe themselves in purple and in gold. The many crept, and cringed, and\ncrawled, that the few might tread upon their flesh with iron feet.\n\nFrom the ghosts men received, not only authority, but information of\nevery kind. They told us the form of this earth. They informed us that\neclipses were caused by the sins of man; that the universe was made\nin six days; that astronomy, and geology were devices of wicked men,\ninstigated by wicked ghosts; that gazing at the sky with a telescope\nwas a dangerous thing; that digging into the earth was sinful curiosity;\nthat trying to be wise above what they had written was born of a\nrebellious and irreverent spirit.\n\nThey told us there was no virtue like belief, and no crime like doubt;\nthat investigation was pure impudence, and the punishment therefor,\neternal torment. They not only told us all about this world, but about\ntwo others; and if their statements about the other worlds are as true\nas about this, no one can estimate the value of their information.\n\nFor countless ages, the world was governed by ghosts, and they spared no\npains to change the eagle of the human intellect into a bat of darkness.\nTo accomplish this infamous purpose; to drive the love of truth from the\nhuman heart; to prevent the advancement of mankind; to shut out from\nthe world every ray of intellectual light; to pollute every mind with\nsuperstition, the power of kings, the cunning and cruelty of priests,\nand the wealth of nations were exhausted.\n\nDuring these years of persecution, ignorance, superstition and slavery,\nnearly all the people, the kings, lawyers, doctors, the learned and the\nunlearned, believed in that frightful production of ignorance, fear, and\nfaith, called witchcraft. They believed that man was the sport and prey\nof devils. They really thought that the very air was thick with these\nenemies of man. With few exceptions, this hideous and infamous belief\nwas universal. Under these conditions, progress was almost impossible.\n\nFear paralyzes the brain. Progress is born of courage. Fear\nbelieves—courage doubts. Fear falls upon the earth and prays—courage\nstands erect and thinks. Fear retreats—courage advances. Fear is\nbarbarism—courage is civilization. Fear believes in witchcraft, in\ndevils and in ghosts. Fear is religion—courage is science.\n\nThe facts, upon which this terrible belief rested, were proved over\nand over again in every court of Europe. Thousands confessed themselves\nguilty—admitted that they had sold themselves to the devil. They gave\nthe particulars of the sale; told what they said and what the devil\nreplied. They confessed this, when they knew that confession was death;\nknew that their property would be confiscated, and their children left\nto beg their bread. This is one of the miracles of history—one of the\nstrangest contradictions of the human mind. Without doubt, they really\nbelieved themselves guilty. In the first place, they believed in\nwitchcraft as a fact, and when charged with it, they probably became\ninsane. In their insanity they confessed their guilt. They found\nthemselves abhorred and deserted—charged with a crime that they could\nnot disprove. Like a man in quicksand, every effort only sunk them\ndeeper. Caught in this frightful web, at the mercy of the spiders\nof superstition, hope fled, and nothing remained but the insanity of\nconfession. The whole world appeared to be insane.\n\nIn the time of James the First, a man was executed for causing a storm\nat sea with the intention of drowning one of the royal family. How could\nhe disprove it? How could he show that he did not cause the storm?\nAll storms were at that time generally supposed to be caused by\nthe devil—the prince of the power of the air—and by those whom he\nassisted.\n\nI implore you to remember that the believers in such impossible things\nwere the authors of our creeds and confessions of faith.\n\nA woman was tried and convicted before Sir Matthew Hale, one of the\ngreat judges and lawyers of England, for having caused children to\nvomit crooked pins. She was also charged with having nursed devils. The\nlearned judge charged the intelligent jury that there was no doubt as\nto the existence of witches; that it was established by all history, and\nexpressly taught by the Bible.\n\nThe woman was hanged and her body burned.\n\nSir Thomas More declared that to give up witchcraft was to throw away\nthe sacred Scriptures. In my judgment, he was right.\n\nJohn Wesley was a firm believer in ghosts and witches, and insisted upon\nit, years after all laws upon the subject had been repealed in England.\nI beg of you to remember that John Wesley was the founder of the\nMethodist Church.\n\nIn New England, a woman was charged with being a witch, and with having\nchanged herself into a fox. While in that condition she was attacked and\nbitten by some dogs. A committee of three men, by order of the court,\nexamined this woman. They removed her clothing and searched for \"witch\nspots.\" That is to say, spots into which needles could be thrust without\ngiving her pain. They reported to the court that such spots were found.\nShe denied, however, that she ever had changed herself into a fox. Upon\nthe report of the committee she was found guilty and actually executed.\nThis was done by our Puritan fathers, by the gentlemen who braved the\ndangers of the deep for the sake of worshiping God and persecuting their\nfellow-men.\n\nIn those days people believed in what was known as lycanthropy—that is,\nthat persons, with the assistance of the devil, could assume the form\nof wolves. An instance is given where a man was attacked by a wolf. He\ndefended himself, and succeeded in cutting off one of the animal's paws.\nThe wolf ran away. The man picked up the paw, put it in his pocket and\ncarried it home. There he found his wife with one of her hands gone. He\ntook the paw from his pocket. It had changed to a human hand. He charged\nhis wife with being a witch. She was tried. She confessed her guilt, and\nwas burned.\n\nPeople were burned for causing frosts in summer—for destroying crops\nwith hail—for causing storms—for making cows go dry, and even for\nsouring beer. There was no impossibility for which some one was not\ntried and convicted. The life of no one was secure. To be charged,\nwas to be convicted. Every man was at the mercy of every other. This\ninfamous belief was so firmly seated in the minds of the people, that to\nexpress a doubt as to its truth was to be suspected. Whoever denied the\nexistence of witches and devils was denounced as an infidel.\n\nThey believed that animals were often taken possession of by devils, and\nthat the killing of the animal would destroy the devil. They absolutely\ntried, convicted, and executed dumb beasts.\n\nAt Basle, in 1470, a rooster was tried upon the charge of having laid\nan egg. Rooster eggs were used only in making witch ointment,—this\neverybody knew. The rooster was convicted and with all due solemnity was\nburned in the public square. So a hog and six pigs were tried for having\nkilled and partially eaten a child. The hog was convicted,—but the\npigs, on account probably of their extreme youth, were acquitted. As\nlate as 1740, a cow was tried and convicted of being possessed by a\ndevil.\n\nThey used to exorcise rats, locusts, snakes and vermin. They used to go\nthrough the alleys, streets, and fields, and warn them to leave within\na certain number of days. In case they disobeyed, they were threatened\nwith pains and penalties.\n\nBut let us be careful how we laugh at these things. Let us not pride\nourselves too much on the progress of our age. We must not forget that\nsome of our people are yet in the same intelligent business. Only a\nlittle while ago, the governor of Minnesota appointed a day of fasting\nand prayer, to see if some power could not be induced to kill the\ngrasshoppers, or send them into some other state.\n\nAbout the close of the fifteenth century, so great was the excitement\nwith regard to the existence of witchcraft that Pope Innocent VIII.\nissued a bull directing the inquisitors to be vigilant in searching\nout and punishing all guilty of this crime. Forms for the trial\nwere regularly laid down in a book or a pamphlet called the \"Malleus\nMaleficorum\" (Hammer of Witches), which was issued by the Roman See.\nPopes Alexander, Leo, and Adrian, issued like bulls. For two hundred\nand fifty years the church was busy in punishing the impossible crime of\nwitchcraft; in burning, hanging and torturing men, women, and children.\nProtestants were as active as Catholics, and in Geneva five hundred\nwitches were burned at the stake in a period of three months. About one\nthousand were executed in one year in the diocese of Como. At least one\nhundred thousand victims suffered in Germany alone: the last execution\n(in Wurtzburg) taking place as late as 1749. Witches were burned in\nSwitzerland as late as 1780.\n\nIn England the same frightful scenes were enacted. Statutes were passed\nfrom Henry VI. to James I., defining the crime and its punishment. The\nlast act passed by the British parliament was when Lord Bacon was a\nmember of the House of Commons; and this act was not repealed until\n1736.\n\nSir William Blackstone, in his Commentaries on the Laws of England,\nsays: \"To deny the possibility, nay, actual existence of witchcraft\nand sorcery, is at once flatly to contradict the word of God in various\npassages both of the Old and New Testament; and the thing itself is\na truth to which every nation in the world hath in its turn borne\ntestimony, either by examples seemingly well attested, or by prohibitory\nlaws, which at least suppose the possibility of a commerce with evil\nspirits.\"\n\nIn Brown's Dictionary of the Bible, published at Edinburg, Scotland, in\n1807, it is said that: \"A witch is a woman that has dealings with Satan.\nThat such persons are among men is abundantly plain from Scripture, and\nthat they ought to be put to death.\"\n\nThis work was re-published in Albany, New York, in 1816. No wonder the\nclergy of that city are ignorant and bigoted even unto this day.\n\nIn 1716, Mrs. Hicks and her daughter, nine years of age, were hanged\nfor selling their souls to the devil, and raising a storm by pulling off\ntheir stockings and making a lather of soap.\n\nIn England it has been estimated that at least thirty thousand were\nhanged and burned. The last victim executed in Scotland, perished in\n1722. \"She was an innocent old woman, who had so little idea of her\nsituation as to rejoice at the sight of the fire which was destined\nto consume her. She had a daughter, lame both of hands and of feet—a\ncircumstance attributed to the witch having been used to transform her\ndaughter into a pony and getting her shod by the devil.\"\n\nIn 1692, nineteen persons were executed and one pressed to death in\nSalem, Massachusetts, for the crime of witchcraft.\n\nIt was thought in those days that men and women made compacts with the\ndevil, orally and in writing. That they abjured God and Jesus Christ,\nand dedicated themselves wholly to the devil. The contracts were\nconfirmed at a general meeting of witches and ghosts, over which the\ndevil himself presided; and the persons generally signed the articles of\nagreement with their own blood. These contracts were, in some instances,\nfor a few years; in others, for life. General assemblies of the witches\nwere held at least once a year, at which they appeared entirely naked,\nbesmeared with an ointment made from the bodies of unbaptized infants.\n\"To these meetings they rode from great distances on broomsticks,\npokers, goats, hogs, and dogs. Here they did homage to the prince of\nhell, and offered him sacrifices of young children, and practiced all\nsorts of license until the break of day.\"\n\n\"As late as 1815, Belgium was disgraced by a witch trial; and guilt was\nestablished by the water ordeal.\" \"In 1836, the populace of Hela, near\nDantzic, twice plunged into the sea a woman reputed to be a sorceress;\nand as the miserable creature persisted in rising to the surface, she\nwas pronounced guilty, and beaten to death.\"\n\n\"It was believed that the bodies of devils are not like those of men and\nanimals, cast in an unchangeable mould. It was thought they were like\nclouds, refined and subtle matter, capable of assuming any form and\npenetrating into any orifice. The horrible tortures they endured\nin their place of punishment rendered them extremely sensitive to\nsuffering, and they continually sought a temperate and somewhat moist\nwarmth in order to allay their pangs. It was for this reason they so\nfrequently entered into men and women.\"\n\nThe devil could transport men, at his will, through the air. He could\nbeget children; and Martin Luther himself had come in contact with one\nof these children. He recommended the mother to throw the child into the\nriver, in order to free their house from the presence of a devil.\n\nIt was believed that the devil could transform people into any shape he\npleased.\n\nWhoever denied these things was denounced as an infidel. All the\nbelievers in witchcraft confidently appealed to the Bible. Their mouths\nwere filled with passages demonstrating the existence of witches and\ntheir power Over human beings. By the Bible they proved that innumerable\nevil spirits were ranging over the world endeavoring to ruin mankind;\nthat these spirits possessed a power and wisdom far transcending the\nlimits of human faculties; that they delighted in every misfortune that\ncould befall the world; that their malice was superhuman. That they\ncaused tempests was proved by the action of the devil toward Job; by the\npassage in the book of Revelation describing the four angels who held\nthe four winds, and to whom it was given to afflict the earth. They\nbelieved the devil could carry persons hundreds of miles, in a few\nseconds, through the air. They believed this, because they knew that\nChrist had been carried by the devil in the same manner and placed on a\npinnacle of the temple. \"The prophet Habakkuk had been transported by a\nspirit from Judea to Babylon; and Philip, the evangelist, had been the\nobject of a similar miracle; and in the same way Saint Paul had been\ncarried in the body into the third heaven.\"\n\n\"In those pious days, they believed that Incubi and Succubi were\nforever wandering among mankind, alluring, by more than human charms,\nthe unwary to their destruction, and laying plots, which were too often\nsuccessful, against the virtue of the saints. Sometimes the witches\nkindled in the monastic priest a more terrestrial fire. People told,\nwith bated breath, how, under the spell of a vindictive woman, four\nsuccessive abbots in a German monastery had been wasted away by an\nunholy flame.\"\n\nAn instance is given in which the devil not only assumed the appearance\nof a holy man, in order to pay his addresses to a lady, but when\ndiscovered, crept under the bed, suffered himself to be dragged out,\nand was impudent enough to declare that he was the veritable bishop. So\nperfectly had he assumed the form and features of the prelate that those\nwho knew the bishop best were deceived.\n\nOne can hardly imagine the frightful state of the human mind during\nthese long centuries of darkness and superstition. To them, these things\nwere awful and frightful realities. Hovering above them in the air, in\ntheir houses, in the bosoms of friends, in their very bodies, in all the\ndarkness of night, everywhere, around, above and below, were innumerable\nhosts of unclean and malignant devils.\n\nFrom the malice of those leering and vindictive vampires of the air,\nthe church pretended to defend mankind. Pursued by these phantoms, the\nfrightened multitudes fell upon their faces and implored the aid of\nrobed hypocrisy and sceptered theft.\n\nTake from the orthodox church of to-day the threat and fear of hell, and\nit becomes an extinct volcano.\n\nTake from the church the miraculous, the supernatural, the\nincomprehensible, the unreasonable, the impossible, the unknowable, and\nthe absurd, and nothing but a vacuum remains.\n\nNotwithstanding all the infamous things justly laid to the charge of the\nchurch, we are told that the civilization of to-day is the child of what\nwe are pleased to call the superstition of the past.\n\nReligion has not civilized man—man has civilized religion. God improves\nas man advances.\n\nLet me call your attention to what we have received from the followers\nof the ghosts. Let me give you an outline of the sciences as taught by\nthese philosophers of the clouds.\n\nAll diseases were produced, either as a punishment by the good ghosts,\nor out of pure malignity by the bad ones. There were, properly speaking,\nno diseases. The sick were possessed by ghosts. The science of medicine\nconsisted in knowing how to persuade these ghosts to vacate the\npremises. For thousands of years the diseased were treated with\nincantations, with hideous noises, with drums and gongs. Everything was\ndone to make the visit of the ghost as unpleasant as possible, and they\ngenerally succeeded in making things so disagreeable that if the ghost\ndid not leave, the patient did. These ghosts were supposed to be of\ndifferent rank, power and dignity. Now and then a man pretended to have\nwon the favor of some powerful ghost, and that gave him power over the\nlittle ones. Such a man became an eminent physician.\n\nIt was found that certain kinds of smoke, such as that produced by\nburning the liver of a fish, the dried skin of a serpent, the eyes of\na toad, or the tongue of an adder, were exceedingly offensive to the\nnostrils of an ordinary ghost. With this smoke, the sick room would be\nfilled until the ghost vanished or the patient died.\n\nIt was also believed that certain words,—the names of the most powerful\nghosts,—when properly pronounced, were very effective weapons. It was\nfor a long time thought that Latin words were the best,—Latin being a\ndead language, and known by the clergy. Others thought that two sticks\nlaid across each other and held before the wicked ghost would cause it\ninstantly to flee in dread away.\n\nFor thousands of years, the practice of medicine consisted in driving\nthese evil spirits out of the bodies of men.\n\nIn some instances, bargains and compromises were made with the ghosts.\nOne case is given where a multitude of devils traded a man for a herd\nof swine. In this transaction the devils were the losers, as the swine\nimmediately drowned themselves in the sea.\n\nThe contortions of the epileptic, the strange twitchings of those\nafflicted with chorea, the shakings of palsy, dreams, trances, and the\nnumberless frightful phenomena produced by diseases of the nerves, were\nall seized upon as so many proofs that the bodies of men were filled\nwith unclean and malignant ghosts.\n\nWhoever endeavored to account for these things by natural causes,\nwhoever attempted to cure diseases by natural means, was denounced by\nthe church as an infidel. To explain anything was a crime. It was to the\ninterest of the priest that all phenomena should be accounted for by the\nwill and power of gods and devils. The moment it is admitted that all\nphenomena are within the domain of the natural, the necessity for a\npriest has disappeared. Religion breathes the air of the supernatural.\nTake from the mind of man the idea of the supernatural, and religion\nceases to exist. For this, reason, the church has always despised the\nman who explained the wonderful. Upon this principle, nothing was\nleft undone to stay the science of medicine. As long as plagues and\npestilences could be stopped by prayer, the priest was useful. The\nmoment the physician found a cure, the priest became an extravagance.\nThe moment it began to be apparent that prayer could do nothing for the\nbody, the priest shifted his ground and began praying for the soul.\n\nLong after the devil idea was substantially abandoned in the practice\nof medicine, and when it was admitted that God had nothing to do with\nordinary coughs and colds, it was still believed that all the frightful\ndiseases were sent by him as punishments for the wickedness of the\npeople. It was thought to be a kind of blasphemy to even try, by any\nnatural means, to stay the ravages of pestilence. Formerly, during the\nprevalence of plague and epidemics, the arrogance of the priest was\nboundless. He told the people that they had slighted the clergy, that\nthey had refused to pay tithes, that they had doubted some of the\ndoctrines of the church, and that God was now taking his revenge. The\npeople for the most part, believed this infamous tissue of priestcraft.\nThey hastened to fall upon their knees; they poured out their wealth\nupon the altars of hypocrisy; they abased and debased themselves; from\ntheir minds they banished all doubts, and made haste to crawl in the\nvery dust of humility.\n\nThe church never wanted disease to be under the control of man.\nTimothy Dwight, president of Yale College, preached a sermon against\nvaccination. His idea was, that if God had decreed from all eternity\nthat a certain man should die with the small-pox, it was a frightful sin\nto avoid and annul that decree by the trick of vaccination. Small-pox\nbeing regarded as one of the heaviest guns in the arsenal of heaven,\nto spike it was the height of presumption. Plagues and pestilences were\ninstrumentalities in the hands of God with which to gain the love and\nworship of mankind. To find a cure for disease was to take a weapon from\nthe church. No one tries to cure the ague with prayer. Quinine has been\nfound altogether more reliable. Just as soon as a specific is found\nfor a disease, that disease will be left out of the list of prayer. The\nnumber of diseases with which God from time to time afflicts mankind,\nis continually decreasing. In a few years all of them will be under the\ncontrol of man, the gods will be left unarmed, and the threats of their\npriests will excite only a smile.\n\nThe science of medicine has had but one enemy—religion. Man was afraid\nto save his body for fear he might lose his soul.\n\nIs it any wonder that the people in those days believed in and taught\nthe infamous doctrine of eternal punishment—a doctrine that makes God a\nheartless monster and man a slimy hypocrite and slave?\n\nThe ghosts were historians, and their histories were the grossest\nabsurdities. \"Tales told by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying\nnothing.\" In those days the histories were written by the monks, who, as\na rule, were almost as superstitious as they were dishonest. They wrote\nas though they had been witnesses of every occurrence they related. They\nwrote the history of every country of importance. They told all the\npast and predicted all the future with an impudence that amounted to\nsublimity.\n\nThe ghosts were the authors of all law. They also enforced it, and\nthey presided over courts of justice. Our fathers were their slaves and\nmessengers. The ghosts set over themselves kings and princes and popes,\nand there was but one idea, and that was obedience, tame and slavish\nobedience to the ghosts and their agents.\n\nI have given you these things simply to show you what has been done to\nman by the ghosts of the air. They have filled the world with terror and\nweakness; they have made man a slave; they have taught him to spend his\nlife in fear; they have filled his heart with superstition; they have\nchained his hands and manacled his feet; they have taught him to kneel\nbefore imaginary powers; they have taught him that to use his reason is\nthe greatest of all sins; they have made hypocrisy respectable; they\nhave put a premium upon ignorance; they have rewarded mental slavery and\nhave punished mental independence. They have sought in every way to\nhumiliate and degrade the human mind and to destroy the conscience and\ncandor of our race.\n\nHappily, the ghosts are now dying. The hand of Science has at last torn\nthe veil of superstition. Science has made man free. Science has taught\nhim to depend upon himself; to trust the light of his own reason; to\nuse his own brain; to be governed by the facts by which he is surrounded;\nto believe only that for which there is evidence; to respect only that\nwhich can substantiate itself. Science has taught him to love truth, to\nlove liberty, to love his fellow-men, to make this world better and\nhappier, to see that right and wrong exist in the nature of things, and\nthat reward and punishment are but the natural consequences of the acts\nwe do.\n\nLet the ghosts go. Let them go with the theologies of the past. Let\nthem go with the devils and the inquisitions, the fagots and flames.\nLet them go with the infinite cruelties of the Old Testament and with\nthe dogmas of the New. Let them go and let us be forever free from the\ndegrading influence of superstition. Let us now rely upon ourselves. Let\nus find out the laws of nature and then conform our lives to those laws.\nLet us be just to each other. Let us rely upon reason as the only guide.\nLet us build homes of love and kindness where pity and charity shall\ndwell; where man shall treat his wife as the sovereign of his heart, and\nnot as his slave; where the children shall be governed by love, and\nwhere labor shall be an honor and idleness a disgrace.\n\nLet us see that the world shall grow better and that men shall love one\nanother. Let us be the friends of progress, of liberty, of justice, of\ntruth. Let us be friends of man. Let us cease to quarrel about unknown\nworlds, about impossible gods, and let us join hands for the\nimprovement of this. Let us cease to dispute about the nature of\nangels, and about the meaning of ancient texts, and let us endeavor\nto make our fellow-men happy here and now. Let us drive out the\nghosts of all the ages. Let us have the living and not the dead for our\ncompanions. Let us drive out the ghosts from every home, from every\nheart, from every brain, and let the light of liberty, of reason, and of\nscience shine upon every hearth, and over all the world.\n\nHumanity, I believe, is greater than all the ghosts that ever were.\nThe rights of man are more sacred than the dictates of any creed. The\naffections of the human heart are worth more than all the myths of\nall the religions. Let us trust in the future, and let us build it upon\nthe sacred foundations of truth, of liberty, and of love.\n\nLet the ghosts go. Let them cover their eyeless sockets with their\nfleshless hands and fade forever from the imaginations of men.\n"
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