{
  "schema": "tga.work.v1",
  "identifier": "dresden:vol-4:superstition",
  "slug": "superstition",
  "title": "Superstition",
  "subtitle": "To believe in spite of evidence or without evidence.",
  "excerpt": "A systematic definition and dissection of superstition — what it is, where it comes from, and the permanent war between it and the patient, cumulative work of science.",
  "year": 1898,
  "volume": 4,
  "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/superstition/",
  "wordCount": 11236,
  "body": "To believe in spite of evidence or without evidence. To account for one\nmystery by another.\n\nTo believe that the world is governed by chance or caprice.\n\nTo disregard the true relation between cause and effect.\n\nTo put thought, intention and design back of nature.\n\nTo believe that mind created and controls matter. To believe in force\napart from substance, or in substance apart from force.\n\nTo believe in miracles, spells and charms, in dreams and prophecies.\n\nTo believe in the supernatural.\n\nThe foundation of superstition is ignorance, the superstructure is faith\nand the dome is a vain hope.\n\nSuperstition is the child of ignorance and the mother of misery.\n\nIn nearly every brain is found some cloud of superstition.\n\nA woman drops a cloth with which she is washing dishes, and she\nexclaims: \"That means company.\"\n\nMost people will admit that there is no possible connection between\ndropping the cloth and the coming of visitors. The falling cloth could\nnot have put the visit desire in the minds of people not present, and\nhow could the cloth produce the desire to visit the particular person\nwho dropped it? There is no possible connection between the dropping of\nthe cloth and the anticipated effects.\n\nA man catches a glimpse of the new moon over his left shoulder, and he\nsays: \"This is bad luck.\"\n\nTo see the moon over the right or left shoulder, or not to see it, could\nnot by any possibility affect the moon, neither could it change the\neffect or influence of the moon on any earthly thing. Certainly the\nleft-shoulder glance could in no way affect the nature of things. All\nthe facts in nature would remain the same as though the glance had been\nover the right shoulder. We see no connection between the left-shoulder\nglance and any possible evil effects upon the one who saw the moon in\nthis way.\n\nA girl counts the leaves of a flower, and she says: \"One, he comes; two,\nhe tarries; three, he courts; four, he marries; five, he goes away.\"\n\nOf course the flower did not grow, and the number of its leaves was not\ndetermined with reference to the courtship or marriage of this girl,\nneither could there have been any intelligence that guided her hand\nwhen she selected that particular flower. So, count' ing the seeds in an\napple cannot in any way determine whether the future of an individual is\nto be happy or miserable.\n\nThousands of persons believe in lucky and unlucky days, numbers, signs\nand jewels.\n\nMany people regard Friday as an unlucky day—as a bad day to commence a\njourney, to marry, to make any investment. The only reason given is that\nFriday is an unlucky day.\n\nStarting across the sea on Friday could have no possible effect upon the\nwinds, or waves, or tides, any more than starting on any other day, and\nthe only possible reason for thinking Friday unlucky is the assertion\nthat it is so.\n\nSo it is thought by many that it is dangerous for thirteen people to\ndine together. Now, if thirteen is a dangerous number, twenty-six ought\nto be twice as dangerous, and fifty-two four times as terrible.\n\nIt is said that one of the thirteen will die in a year. Now, there is no\npossible relation between the number and the digestion of each, between\nthe number and the individual diseases. If fourteen dine together there\nis greater probability, if we take into account only the number, of a\ndeath within the year, than there would be if only thirteen were at the\ntable.\n\nOverturning the salt is very unlucky, but spilling the vinegar makes no\ndifference.\n\nWhy salt should be revengeful and vinegar forgiving has never been told.\n\nIf the first person who enters a theatre is crosseyed, the audience will\nbe small and the \"run\" a failure.\n\nHow the peculiarity of the eyes of the first one who enters, changes the\nintention of a community, or how the intentions of a community cause\nthe cross-eyed man to go early, has never been satisfactorily explained.\nBetween this so-called cause and the so-called effect there is, so far\nas we can see, no possible relation.\n\nTo wear an opal is bad luck, but rubies bring health. How these stones\naffect the future, how they destroy causes and defeat effects, no one\npretends to know.\n\nSo, there are thousands of lucky and unlucky tilings, warnings, omens\nand prophecies, but all sensible, sane and reasoning human beings know\nthat every one is an absurd and idiotic superstition.\n\nLet us take another step:\n\nFor many centuries it was believed that eclipses of the sun and moon\nwere prophetic of pestilence or famine, and that comets foretold the\ndeath of kings, or the destruction of nations, the coming of war or\nplague. All strange appearances in the heavens—the Northern Lights,\ncircles about the moon, sun dogs, falling stars—filled our intelligent\nancestors with terror. They fell upon their knees—did their best with\nsacrifice and prayer to avoid the threatened disaster. Their faces were\nashen with fear as they closed their eyes and cried to the heavens for\nhelp. The clergy, who were as familiar with God then as the orthodox\npreachers are now, knew exactly the meaning of eclipses and sun dogs and\nNorthern Lights; knew that God's patience was nearly exhausted; that he\nwas then whetting the sword of his wrath, and that the people could\nsave themselves only by obeying the priests, by counting their beads and\ndoubling their subscriptions.\n\nEarthquakes and cyclones filled the coffers of the church. In the midst\nof disasters the miser, with trembling hands, opened his purse. In the\ngloom of eclipses thieves and robbers divided their booty with God, and\npoor, honest, ignorant girls, remembering that they had forgotten to say\na prayer, gave their little earnings to soften the heart of God.\n\nNow we know that all these signs and wonders in the heavens have nothing\nto do with the fate of kings, nations or individuals; that they had no\nmore reference to human beings than to colonies of ants, hives of bees\nor the eggs of insects. We now know that the signs and eclipses, the\ncomets, and the falling stars, would have been just the same if not a\nhuman being had been upon the earth. We know now that eclipses come at\ncertain times and that their coming can be exactly foretold.\n\nA little while ago the belief was general that there were certain\nhealing virtues in inanimate things, in the bones of holy men and women,\nin the rags that had been tom from the foul clothing of still fouler\nsaints, in hairs from martyrs, in bits of wood and rusty nails from\nthe true cross, in the teeth and finger nails of pious men, and in a\nthousand other sacred things.\n\nThe diseased were cured by kissing a box in which was kept some bone, or\nrag, or bit of wood, some holy hairs, provided the kiss was preceded or\nfollowed by a gift—a something for the church.\n\nIn some mysterious way the virtue in the bone, or rag, or piece of wood,\ncrept or flowed from the box, took possession of the sick who had the\nnecessary faith, and in the name of God drove out the devils who were\nthe real disease.\n\nThis belief in the efficacy of bones or rags and holy hair was born\nof another belief—the belief that all diseases were produced by evil\nspirits. The insane were supposed to be possessed by devils. Epilepsy\nand hysteria were produced by the imps of Satan. In short, every human\naffliction was the work of the malicious emissaries of the god of hell.\nThis belief was almost universal, and even in our time the sacred bones\nare believed in by millions of people.\n\nBut to-day no intelligent man believes in the existence of devils—no\nintelligent man believes that evil spirits cause disease—consequently,\nno intelligent person believes that holy bones or rags, sacred hairs or\npieces of wood, can drive disease out, or in any way bring back to the\npallid cheek the rose of health.\n\nIntelligent people now know that the bone of a saint has in it no\ngreater virtue than the bone of any animal. That a rag from a wandering\nbeggar is just as good as one from a saint, and that the hair of a horse\nwill cure disease just as quickly and surely as the hair of a martyr.\nWe now know that all the sacred relics are religious rubbish; that those\nwho use them are for the most part dishonest, and that those who rely on\nthem are almost idiotic.\n\nThis belief in amulets and charms, in ghosts and devils, is\nsuperstition, pure and simple.\n\nOur ancestors did not regard these relics as medicine, having a curative\npower, but the idea was that evil spirits stood in dread of holy\nthings—that they fled from the bone of a saint, that they feared a\npiece of the true cross, and that when holy water was sprinkled on a man\nthey immediately left the premises. So, these devils hated and dreaded\nthe sound of holy bells, the light of sacred tapers, and, above all, the\never-blessed cross.\n\nIn those days the priests were fishers for money, and they used these\nrelics for bait.\n\nII.\n\nLet us take another step:\n\nThis belief in the Devil and evil spirits laid the foundation for\nanother belief: Witchcraft.\n\nIt was believed that the devil had certain things to give in exchange\nfor a soul. The old man, bowed and broken, could get back his youth—the\nrounded form, the brown hair, the leaping heart of life's morning—if he\nwould sign and seal away his soul. So, it was thought that the malicious\ncould by charm and spell obtain revenge, that the poor could be\nenriched, and that the ambitious could rise to place and power. All the\ngood things of this life were at the disposal of the Devil. For those\nwho resisted the temptations of the Evil One, rewards were waiting in\nanother world, but the Devil rewarded here in this life. No one has\nimagination enough to paint the agonies that were endured by reason\nof this belief in witchcraft. Think of the families destroyed, of\nthe fathers and mothers cast in prison, tortured and burned, of the\nfiresides darkened, of the children murdered, of the old, the poor and\nhelpless that were stretched on racks mangled and flayed!\n\nThink of the days when superstition and fear were in every house, in\nevery mind, when accusation was conviction, when assertion of innocence\nwas regarded as a confession of guilt, and when Christendom was insane!\n\nNow we know that all of these horrors were the result of superstition.\nNow we know that ignorance was the mother of all the agonies endured.\nNow we know that witches never lived, that human beings never bargained\nwith any devil, and that our pious savage ancestors were mistaken.\n\nLet us take another step:\n\nOur fathers believed in miracles, in signs and wonders, eclipses and\ncomets, in the virtues of bones, and in the powers attributed to evil\nspirits. All these belonged to the miraculous. The world was\nsupposed to be full of magic; the spirits were sleight-of-hand\nperformers—necromancers. There were no natural causes behind events. A\ndevil wished, and it happened. One who had sold his soul to Satan made\na few motions, uttered some strange words, and the event was present.\nNatural causes were not believed in. Delusion and illusion, the\nmonstrous and miraculous, ruled the world. The foundation was\ngone—reason had abdicated. Credulity gave tongues and wings to lies,\nwhile the dumb and limping facts were left behind—were disregarded and\nremained untold.\n\nWhat is a Miracle\n\nAn act performed by a master of nature without reference to the facts in\nnature. This is the only honest definition of a miracle.\n\nIf a man could make a perfect circle, the diameter of which was exactly\none-half the circumference, that would be a miracle in geometry. If a\nman could make twice four, nine, that would be a miracle in mathematics.\nIf a man could make a stone, falling in the air, pass through a space of\nten feet the first second, twenty-five feet the second second, and five\nfeet the third second, that would be a miracle in physics. If a man\ncould put together hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen and produce pure gold,\nthat would be a miracle in chemistry. If a minister were to prove his\ncreed, that would be a theological miracle. If Congress by law would\nmake fifty cents worth of silver worth a dollar, that would be a\nfinancial miracle. To make a square triangle would be a most wonderful\nmiracle. To cause a mirror to reflect the faces of persons who stand\nbehind it, instead of those who stand in front, would be a miracle. To\nmake echo answer a question would be a miracle. In other words, to do\nanything contrary to or without regard to the facts in nature is to\nperform a miracle.\n\nNow we are convinced of what is called the \"uniformity of nature.\" We\nbelieve that all things act and are acted upon in accordance with\ntheir nature; that under like conditions the results will always be\nsubstantially the same; that like ever has and ever will produce like.\nWe now believe that events have natural parents and that none die\nchildless.\n\nMiracles are not simply impossible, but they are unthinkable by any man\ncapable of thinking.\n\nNow an intelligent man cannot believe that a miracle ever was, or ever\nwill be, performed.\n\nIgnorance is the soil in which belief in miracles grows.\n\nIii\n\nLet us take another step:\n\nWhile our ancestors filled the darkness with evil spirits, enemies of\nmankind, they also believed in the existence of good spirits. These good\nspirits sustained the same relation to God that the evil ones did to the\nDevil. These good spirits protected the faithful from the temptations\nand snares of the Evil One. They took care of those who carried amulets\nand charms, of those who repeated prayers and counted beads, of those\nwho fasted and performed ceremonies. These good spirits would turn aside\nthe sword and arrow from the breast of the faithful. They made poison\nharmless, they protected the credulous, and in a thousand ways defended\nand rescued the true believer. They drove doubts from the minds of the\npious, sowed the seeds of credulity and faith, saved saints from the\nwiles of women, painted the glories of heaven for those who fasted\nand prayed, made it possible for the really good to dispense with the\npleasures of sense and to hate the Devil.\n\nThese angels watched over infants who had been baptized, over persons\nwho had made holy vows, over priests and nuns and wandering beggars who\nbelieved.\n\nThese spirits were of various kinds: Some had once been men or women,\nsome had never lived in this world, and some had been angels from\nthe commencement. Nobody pretended to know exactly what they were, or\nexactly how they looked, or in what way they went from place to place,\nor how they affected or controlled the minds of men.\n\nIt was believed that the king of all these evil spirits was the Devil,\nand that the king of all the good spirits was God. It was also believed\nthat God was in fact the king of all, and that the Devil himself was one\nof the children of this God. This God and this Devil were at war, each\ntrying to secure the souls of men. God offered the rewards of eternal\njoy and threatened eternal pain. The Devil baited his traps with present\npleasure, with the gratification of the senses, with the ecstasies of\nlove, and laughed at the joys of heaven and the pangs of hell. With\nmalicious hand he sowed the seeds of doubt—induced men to investigate,\nto reason, to call for evidence, to rely upon themselves; planted in\ntheir hearts the love of liberty, assisted them to break their chains,\nto escape from their prisons and besought them to think. In this way he\ncorrupted the children of men.\n\nOur fathers believed that they could by prayer, by sacrifice, by\nfasting, by performing certain ceremonies, gain the assistance of this\nGod and of these good spirits. They were not quite logical. They did\nnot believe that the Devil was the author of all evil. They thought that\nflood and famine, plague and cyclone, earthquake and war, were sometimes\nsent by God as punishment for unbelief. They fell upon their knees and\nwith white lips, prayed the good God to stay his hand. They humbled\nthemselves, confessed their sins, and filled the heavens with their vows\nand cries. With priests and prayers they tried to stay the plague. They\nkissed the relics, fell at shrines, besought the Virgin and the saints,\nbut the prayers all died in the heartless air, and the plague swept on\nto its natural end. Our poor fathers knew nothing of any science. Back\nof all events they put spirits, good or bad, angels or demons, gods or\ndevils. To them nothing had what we call a natural cause. Everything was\nthe work of spirits. All was done by the supernatural, and everything\nwas done by evil spirits that they could do to ruin, punish, mislead and\ndamn the children of men. This world was a field of battle, and here the\nhosts of heaven and hell waged war.\n\nIV.\n\nNow no man in whose brain the torch of reason bums, no man who\ninvestigates, who really thinks, who is capable of weighing evidence,\nbelieves in signs, in lucky or unlucky days, in lucky or unlucky\nnumbers. He knows that Fridays and Thursdays are alike; that thirteen\nis no more deadly than twelve. He knows that opals affect the wearer the\nsame as rubies, diamonds or common glass. He knows that the matrimonial\nchances of a maiden are not increased or decreased by the number of\nleaves of a flower or seeds in an apple. He knows that a glance at the\nmoon over the left shoulder is as healthful and lucky as one over\nthe right. He does not care whether the first comer to a theatre is\ncrosseyed or hump-backed, bow-legged, or as well-proportioned as Apollo.\nHe knows that a strange cat could be denied asylum without bringing any\nmisfortune to the family. He knows that an owl does not hoot in the full\nof the moon because a distinguished man is about to die. He knows that\ncomets and eclipses would come if all the folks were dead. He is not\nfrightened by sun dogs, or the Morning of the North when the glittering\nlances pierce the shield of night.\n\nHe knows that all these things occur without the slightest reference to\nthe human race. He feels certain that floods would destroy and cyclones\nrend and earthquakes devour; that the stars would shine; that day and\nnight would still pursue each other around the world; that flowers would\ngive their perfume to the air, and light would paint the seven-hued arch\nupon the dusky bosom of the cloud if every human being was unconscious\ndust.\n\nA man of thought and sense does not believe in the existence of the\nDevil. He feels certain that imps, goblins, demons and evil spirits\nexist only in the imagination of the ignorant and frightened. He knows\nhow these malevolent myths were made. He knows the part they have played\nin all religions. He knows that for many centuries a belief in these\ndevils, these evil spirits, was substantially universal. He knows that\nthe priest believed as firmly as the peasant. In those days the best\neducated and the most ignorant were equal dupes. Kings and courtiers,\nladies and clowns, soldiers and artists, slaves and convicts, believed\nas firmly in the Devil as they did in God.\n\nBack of this belief there is no evidence, and there never has been.\nThis belief did not rest on any fact. It was supported by mistakes,\nexaggerations and lies. The mistakes were natural, the exaggerations\nwere mostly unconscious and the lies were generally honest. Back of\nthese mistakes, these exaggerations, these lies, was the love of\nthe marvelous. Wonder listened with greedy ears, with wide eyes, and\nignorance with open mouth.\n\nThe man of sense knows the history of this belief, and he knows, also,\nthat for many centuries its truth was established by the Holy Bible. He\nknows that the Old Testament is filled with allusions to the Devil,\nto evil spirits, and that the New Testament is the same. He knows that\nChrist himself was a believer in the Devil, in evil spirits, and that\nhis principal business was casting out devils from the bodies of men and\nwomen. He knows that Christ himself, according to the New Testament, was\nnot only tempted by the Devil, but was carried by his Satanic Highness\nto the top of the temple. If the New Testament is the inspired word of\nGod, then I admit that these devils, these imps, do actually exist and\nthat they do take possession of human beings.\n\nTo deny the existence of these evil spirits, to deny the existence\nof the Devil, is to deny the truth of the New Testament. To deny the\nexistence of these imps of darkness is to contradict the words of Jesus\nChrist. If these devils do not exist, if they do not cause disease,\nif they do not tempt and mislead their victims, then Christ was an\nignorant, superstitious man, insane, an impostor, or the New Testament\nis not a true record of what he said and what he pretended to do. If we\ngive up the belief in devils, we must give up the inspiration of the Old\nand New Testament. We must give up the divinity of Christ. To deny\nthe existence of evil spirits is to utterly destroy the foundation of\nChristianity. There is no half-way ground. Compromise is impossible. If\nall the accounts in the New Testament of casting out devils are false,\nwhat part of the Blessed Book is true?\n\nAs a matter of fact, the success of the Devil in the Garden of Eden made\nthe coming of Christ a necessity, laid the foundation for the atonement,\ncrucified the Savior and gave us the Trinity.\n\nIf the Devil does not exist, the Christian creeds all crumble, and the\nsuperstructure known as \"Christianity,\" built by the fathers, by popes,\nby priests and theologians—built with mistakes and falsehoods, with\nmiracles and wonders, with blood and flame, with lies and legends\nborrowed from the savage world, becomes a shapeless ruin.\n\nIf we give up the belief in devils and evil spirits, we are compelled\nto say that a witch never lived. No sensible human being now believes in\nwitchcraft. We know that it was a delusion. We now know that thousands\nand thousands of innocent men, women and children were tortured and\nburned for having been found guilty of an impossible crime, and we also\nknow, if our minds have not been deformed by faith, that all the books\nin which the existence of witches is taught were written by ignorant\nand superstitious men. We also know that the Old Testament asserted\nthe existence of witches. According to that Holy Book, Jehovah was a\nbeliever in witchcraft, and said to his chosen people: \"Thou shalt not\nsuffer a witch to live.\"\n\nThis one commandment—this simple line—demonstrates that Jehovah\nwas not only not God, but that he was a poor, ignorant, superstitious\nsavage. This one line proves beyond all possible doubt that the Old\nTestament was written by men, by barbarians.\n\nJohn Wesley was right when he said that to give up a belief in\nwitchcraft was to give up the Bible.\n\nGive up the Devil, and what can you do with the Book of Job? How will\nyou account for the lying spirits that Jehovah sent to mislead Ahab?\n\nMinisters who admit that witchcraft is a superstition will read the\nstory of the Witch of Endor—will read it in a solemn, reverential\nvoice—with a theological voice—and will have the impudence to say that\nthey believe it.\n\nIt would be delightful to know that angels hover in the air; that they\nguard the innocent, protect the good; that they bend over the cradles\nand give health and happy dreams to pallid babes; that they fill\ndungeons with the light of their presence and give hope to the\nimprisoned; that they follow the fallen, the erring, the outcasts, the\nfriendless, and win them back to virtue, love and joy. But we have no\nmore evidence of the existence of good spirits than of bad. The angels\nthat visited Abraham and the mother of Samson are as unreal as the\nghosts and goblins of the Middle Ages. The angel that stopped the\ndonkey of Balaam, the one who walked in the furnace flames with Meshech,\nShadrack and Abed-nego, the one who slew the Assyrians and the one who\nin a dream removed the suspicions of Joseph, were all created by the\nimagination of the credulous, by the lovers of the marvelous, and\nthey have been handed down from dotage to infancy, from ignorance to\nignorance, through all the years. Except in Catholic countries, no\nwinged citizen of the celestial realm has visited the world for hundreds\nof years. Only those who are blind to facts can see these beautiful\ncreatures, and only those who reach conclusions without the assistance\nof evidence can believe in their existence. It is told that the great\nAngelo, in decorating a church, painted some angels wearing sandals. A\ncardinal looking at the picture said to the artist: \"Whoever saw angels\nwith sandals?\" Angelo answered with another question: \"Whoever saw an\nangel barefooted?\"\n\nThe existence of angels has never been established. Of course, we know\nthat millions and millions have believed in seraphim and cherubim; have\nbelieved that the angel Gabriel contended with the Devil for the body\nof Moses; that angels shut the mouths of the lions for the protection\nof Daniel; that angels ministered unto Christ, and that countless angels\nwill accompany the Savior when he comes to take possession of the world.\nAnd we know that all these millions believe through blind, unreasoning\nfaith, holding all evidence and all facts in theological contempt.\n\nBut the angels come no more. They bring no balm to any wounded heart.\nLong ago they folded their pinions and faded from the earth and air.\nThese winged guardians no longer protect the innocent; no longer cheer\nthe suffering; no longer whisper words of comfort to the helpless. They\nhave become dreams—vanished visions.\n\nV.\n\nIn the dear old religious days the earth was flat—a little dishing, if\nanything—and just above it was Jehovah's house, and just below it was\nwhere the Devil lived. God and his angels inhabited the third story, the\nDevil and his imps the basement, and the human race the second floor.\n\nThen they knew where heaven was. They could almost hear the harps and\nhallelujahs. They knew where hell was, and they could almost hear the\ngroans and smell the sulphurous fumes. They regarded the volcanoes\nas chimneys. They were perfectly acquainted with the celestial, the\nterrestrial and the infernal. They were quite familiar with the\nNew Jerusalem, with its golden streets and gates of pearl. Then the\ntranslation of Enoch seemed reasonable enough, and no one doubted\nthat before the flood the sons of God came down and made love to the\ndaughters of men. The theologians thought that the builders of Babel\nwould have succeeded if God had not come down and caused them to forget\nthe meaning of words.\n\nIn those blessed days the priests knew all about heaven and hell.\nThey knew that God governed the world by hope and fear, by promise and\nthreat, by reward and punishment. The reward was to be eternal and so\nwas the punishment. It was not God's plan to develop the human brain, so\nthat man would perceive and comprehend the right and avoid the wrong.\nHe taught ignorance nothing but obedience, and for obedience he offered\neternal joy. He loved the submissive—the kneelers and crawlers. He\nhated the doubters, the investigators, the thinkers, the philosophers.\nFor them he created the eternal prison where he could feed forever the\nhunger of his hate. He loved the credulous—those who believed without\nevidence—and for them he prepared a home in the realm of fadeless\nlight. He delighted in the company of the questionless.\n\nBut where is this heaven, and where is this hell? We now know that\nheaven is not just above the clouds and that hell is not just below\nthe earth. The telescope has done away with the ancient heaven, and\nthe revolving world has quenched the flames of the ancient hell. These\ntheological countries, these imagined worlds, have disappeared. No one\nknows, and no one pretends to know, where heaven is; and no one knows,\nand no one pretends to know, the locality of hell. Now the theologians\nsay that hell and heaven are not places, but states of mind—conditions.\n\nThe belief in gods and devils has been substantially universal. Back of\nthe good, man placed a god; back of the evil, a devil; back of health,\nsunshine and harvest was a good deity; back of disease, misfortune and\ndeath he placed a malicious fiend.\n\nIs there any evidence that gods and devils exist? The evidence of the\nexistence of a god and of a devil is substantially the same. Both of\nthese deities are inferences; each one is a perhaps. They have not been\nseen—they are invisible—and they have not ventured within the horizon\nof the senses. The old lady who said there must be a devil, else how\ncould they make pictures that looked exactly like him, reasoned like a\ntrained theologian—like a doctor of divinity.\n\nNow no intelligent man believes in the existence of a devil—no longer\nfears the leering fiend. Most people who think have given up a personal\nGod, a creative deity. They now talk about the \"Unknown,\" the \"Infinite\nEnergy,\" but they put Jehovah with Jupiter. They regard them both as\nbroken dolls from the nursery of the past.\n\nThe men or women who ask for evidence—who desire to know the\ntruth—care nothing for signs; nothing for what are called wonders;\nnothing for lucky or unlucky jewels, days or numbers; nothing for charms\nor amulets; nothing for comets or eclipses, and have no belief in good\nor evil spirits, in gods or devils. They place no reliance on general\nor special providence—on any power that rescues, protects and saves the\ngood or punishes the vile and vicious. They do not believe that in the\nwhole history of mankind a prayer has been answered. They think that all\nthe sacrifices have been wasted, and that all the incense has ascended\nin vain. They do not believe that the world was created and prepared\nfor man any more than it was created and prepared for insects. They do\nnot think it probable that whales were invented to supply the Eskimo\nwith blubber, or that flames were created to attract and destroy moths.\nOn every hand there seems to be evidence of design—design for the\naccomplishment of good, design for the accomplishment of evil. On every\nside are the benevolent and malicious—something toiling to preserve,\nsomething laboring to destroy. Everything surrounded by friends and\nenemies—by the love that protects, by the hate that kills. Design is as\napparent in decay, as in growth; in failure, as in success; in grief, as\nin joy. Nature with one hand building, with one hand tearing down, armed\nwith sword and shield—slaying and protecting, and protecting but to\nslay. All life journeying toward death, and all death hastening back to\nlife. Everywhere waste and economy, care and negligence.\n\nWe watch the flow and ebb of life and death—the great drama that\nforever holds the stage, where players act their parts and disappear;\nthe great drama in which all must act—ignorant and learned, idiotic and\ninsane—without rehearsal and without the slightest knowledge of a part,\nor of any plot or purpose in the play. The scene shifts; some actors\ndisappear and others come, and again the scene shifts; mystery\neverywhere. We try to explain, and the explanation of one fact\ncontradicts another. Behind each veil removed, another. All things equal\nin wonder. One drop of water as wonderful as all the seas; one grain\nof sand as all the world; one moth with painted wings as all the things\nthat live; one egg from which warmth, in darkness, woos to life an\norganized and breathing form—a form with sinews, bones and nerves, with\nblood and brain, with instincts, passions, thoughts and wants—as all\nthe stars that wheel in space.\n\nThe smallest seed that, wrapped in soil, has dreams of April rains and\ndays of June, withholds its secret from the wisest men. The wisdom of\nthe world cannot explain one blade of grass, the faintest motion of\nthe smallest leaf. And yet theologians, popes, priests, parsons, who\nspeechless stand before the wonder of the smallest thing that is, know\nall about the origin of worlds, know when the beginning was, when the\nend will be, know all about the God who with a wish created all, know\nwhat his plan and purpose was, the means he uses and the end he seeks.\nTo them all mysteries have been revealed, except the mystery of things\nthat touch the senses of a living man.\n\nBut honest men do not pretend to know; they are candid and sincere; they\nlove the truth; they admit their ignorance, and they say, \"We do not\nknow.\"\n\nAfter all, why should we worship our ignorance, why should we kneel to\nthe Unknown, why should we prostrate ourselves before a guess?\n\nIf God exists, how do we know that he is good, that he cares for us? The\nChristians say that their God has existed from eternity; that he forever\nhas been, and forever will be, infinite, wise and good. Could this God\nhave avoided being God? Could he have avoided being good? Was he wise\nand good without his wish or will?\n\nBeing from eternity, he was not produced. He was back of all cause. What\nhe is, he was, and will be, unchanged, unchangeable. He had nothing to\ndo with the making or developing of his character.\n\nNothing to do with the development of his mind. What he was, he is. He\nhas made no progress. What he is, he will be, there can be no change.\nWhy then, I ask, should we praise him? He could not have been different\nfrom what he was and is. Why should we pray to him? He cannot change.\n\nAnd yet Christians implore their God not to do wrong.\n\nThe meanest thing charged against the Devil is that he leads the\nchildren of men into temptation, and yet, in the Lord's Prayer, God is\ninsultingly asked not to imitate the king of fiends.\n    \"Lead us not into temptation.\"\n\nWhy should God demand praise? He is as lie was. He has never learned\nanything; has never practiced any self-denial; was never tempted, never\ntouched by fear or hope, and never had a want. Why should he demand our\npraise?\n\nDoes anyone know that this God exists; that he ever heard or answered\nany prayer? Is it known that he governs the world; that he interferes\nin the affairs of men; that he protects the good or punishes the wicked?\nCan evidence of this be found in the history of mankind? If God governs\nthe world, why should we credit him for the good and not charge him with\nthe evil? To justify this God we must say that good is good and\nthat evil is also good. If all is done by this God we should make no\ndistinction between his actions—between the actions of the infinitely\nwise, powerful and good. If we thank him for sunshine and harvest\nwe should also thank him for plague and famine. If we thank him for\nliberty, the slave should raise his chained hands in worship and thank\nGod that he toils unpaid with the lash upon his naked back. If we thank\nhim for victory we should thank him for defeat.\n\nOnly a few days ago our President, by proclamation, thanked God for\ngiving us the victory at Santiago. He did not thank him for sending the\nyellow fever. To be consistent the President should have thanked him\nequally for both.\n\nThe truth is that good and evil spirits—gods and devils—are beyond the\nrealm of experience; beyond the horizon of our senses; beyond the limits\nof our thoughts; beyond imagination's utmost flight.\n\nMan should think; he should use all his senses; he should examine; he\nshould reason. The man who cannot think is less than man; the man who\nwill not think is traitor to himself; the man who fears to think is\nsuperstition's slave.\n\nVI.\n\nWhat harm does superstition do? What harm in believing in fables, in\nlegends?\n\nTo believe in signs and wonders, in amulets, charms and miracles, in\ngods and devils, in heavens and hells, makes the brain an insane\nward, the world a madhouse, takes all certainty from the mind, makes\nexperience a snare, destroys the kinship of effect and cause—the unity\nof nature—and makes man a trembling serf and slave. With this belief a\nknowledge of nature sheds no light upon the path to be pursued.\nNature becomes a puppet of the unseen powers. The fairy, called the\nsupernatural, touches with her wand a fact, it disappears. Causes are\nbarren of effects, and effects are independent of all natural causes.\nCaprice is king. The foundation is gone. The great dome rests on\nair. There is no constancy in qualities, relations or results. Reason\nabdicates and superstition wears her crown.\n\nThe heart hardens and the brain softens.\n\nThe energies of man are wasted in a vain effort to secure the protection\nof the supernatural. Credulity, ceremony, worship, sacrifice and prayer\ntake the place of honest work, of investigation, of intellectual effort,\nof observation, of experience. Progress becomes impossible.\n\nSuperstition is, always lias been, and forever will be, the enemy of\nliberty.\n\nSuperstition created all the gods and angels, all the devils and ghosts,\nall the witches, demons and goblins, gave us all the augurs, soothsayers\nand prophets, filled the heavens with signs and wonders, broke the chain\nof cause and effect, and wrote the history of man in miracles and lies.\nSuperstition made all the popes, cardinals, bishops and priests, all\nthe monks and nuns, the begging friars and the filthy saints, all the\npreachers and exhorters, all the \"called\" and \"set apart.\" Superstition\nmade men fall upon their knees before beasts and stones, caused them to\nworship snakes and trees and insane phantoms of the air, beguiled them\nof their gold and toil, and made them shed their children's blood\nand give their babes to flames. Superstition built the cathedrals and\ntemples, all the altars, mosques and churches, filled the world with\namulets and charms, with images and idols, with sacred bones and holy\nhairs, with martyrs' blood and rags, with bits, of wood that frighten\ndevils from the breasts of men. Superstition invented and used the\ninstruments of torture, flayed men and women alive, loaded millions,\nwith chains and destroyed hundreds of thousands with fire. Superstition\nmistook insanity for inspiration and the ravings of maniacs for\nprophesy, for the wisdom of God. Superstition imprisoned the virtuous,\ntortured the thoughtful, killed the heroic, put chains on the body,\nmanacles on the brain, and utterly destroyed the liberty of speech.\nSuperstition gave us all the prayers and ceremonies; taught all\nthe kneelings, genuflections and prostrations; taught men to hate\nthemselves, to despise pleasure, to scar their flesh, to grovel in the\ndust, to desert their wives and children, to shun their fellow-men, and\nto spend their lives in useless pain and prayer. Superstition taught\nthat human love is degrading, low and vile; taught that monks are purer\nthan fathers, that nuns are holier than mothers, that faith is superior\nto fact, that credulity leads to heaven, that doubt is the road to hell,\nthat belief is better than knowledge, and that to ask for evidence is to\ninsult God. Superstition is, always has been, and forever will be, the\nfoe of progress, the enemy of education and the assassin of freedom.\nIt sacrifices the known to the unknown, the present to the future, this\nactual world to the shadowy next. It has given us a selfish heaven, and\na hell of infinite revenge; it has filled the world with hatred, war\nand crime, with the malice of meekness and the arrogance of humility.\nSuperstition is the only enemy of science in all the world.\n\nNations, races, have been destroyed by this monster. For nearly two\nthousand years the infallible agent of God has lived in Italy. That\ncountry has been covered with nunneries, monasteries, cathedrals\nand temples—filled with all varieties of priests and holy men. For\ncenturies Italy was enriched with the gold of the faithful. All roads\nled to Rome, and these roads were filled with pilgrims bearing gifts,\nand yet Italy, in spite of all the prayers, steadily pursued the\ndownward path, died and was buried, and would at this moment be in\nher grave had it not been for Cavour, Mazzini and Garibaldi. For her\npoverty, her misery, she is indebted to the holy Catholic Church, to the\ninfallible agents of God. For the life she has she is indebted to the\nenemies of superstition. A few years ago Italy was great enough to\nbuild a monument to Giordano Bruno—Bruno, the victim of the \"Triumphant\nBeast;\"—Bruno, the sublimest of her sons.\n\nSpain was at one time owner of half the earth, and held within her\ngreedy hands the gold and silver of the world. At that time all nations\nwere in the darkness of superstition. At that time the world was\ngoverned by priests. Spain clung to her creed. Some nations began to\nthink, but Spain continued to believe. In some countries, priests lost\npower, but not in Spain. The power behind her throne was the cowled\nmonk. In some countries men began to interest themselves in science, but\nnot in Spain. Spain told her beads and continued to pray to the Virgin.\nSpain was busy-saving her soul. In her zeal she destroyed herself. She\nrelied on the supernatural; not on knowledge, but superstition. Her\nprayers were never answered. The saints were dead. They could not help,\nand the Blessed Virgin did not hear. Some countries were in the dawn of\na new day, but Spain gladly remained in the night. With fire and sword\nshe exterminated the men who thought. Her greatest festival was the\nAuto da Fe. Other nations grew great while Spain grew small. Day by\nday her power waned, but her faith increased. One by one her colonies\nwere lost, but she kept her creed. She gave her gold to superstition,\nher brain to priests, but she faithfully counted her beads. Only a few\ndays ago, relying on her God and his priests, on charms and amulets, on\nholy water and pieces of the true cross, she waged war against the great\nRepublic. Bishops blessed her armies and sprinkled holy water on\nher ships, and yet her armies were defeated and captured, lier ships\nbattered, beached and burned, and in her helplessness she sued for\npeace. But she has her creed; her superstition is not lost. Poor Spain,\nwrecked by faith, the victim of religion!\n\nPortugal, slowly dying, growing poorer every day, still clings to the\nfaith. Her prayers are never answered, but she makes them still. Austria\nis nearly gone, a victim of superstition. Germany is traveling toward\nthe night. God placed her Kaiser on the throne. The people must obey.\nPhilosophers and scientists fall upon, their knees and become the\npuppets of the divinely crowned.\n\nVii\n\nThe believers in the supernatural, in a power superior to nature, in\nGod, have what they call \"inspired books.\" These books contain the\nabsolute truth. They must be believed. He who denies them will be\npunished with eternal pain. These books are not addressed to human\nreason. They are above reason. They care nothing for what a man calls\n\"facts.\" Facts that do not agree with these books are mistakes. These\nbooks are independent of human experience, of human reason.\n\nOur inspired books constitute what we call the \"Bible.\" The man who\nreads this inspired book, looking for contradictions, mistakes and\ninterpolations, imperils the salvation of his soul. While he reads he\nhas no right to think, no right to reason. To believe is his only duty.\n\nMillions of men have wasted their lives in the study of this book—in\ntrying to harmonize contradictions and to explain the obscure and\nseemingly absurd. In doing this they have justified nearly every crime\nand every cruelty. In its follies they have found the profoundest\nwisdom. Hundreds of creeds have been constructed from its inspired\npassages.\n\nProbably no two of its readers have agreed as to its meaning. Thousands\nhave studied Hebrew and Greek that they might read the Old and New\nTestament in the languages in which they were written. The more they\nstudied, the more they differed. By the same book they proved that\nnearly everybody is to be lost, and that all are to be saved; that\nslavery is a divine institution, and that all men should be free; that\npolygamy is right, and that no man should have more than one wife; that\nthe powers that be are ordained of God, and that the people have a right\nto overturn and destroy the powers that be; that all the actions of men\nwere predestined—preordained from eternity, and yet that man is free;\nthat all the heathen will be lost; that all the heathen will be saved;\nthat all men who live according to the light of nature will be damned\nfor their pains; that you must be baptized by sprinkling; that you must\nbe baptized by immersion; that there is no salvation without baptism;\nthat baptism is useless; that you must believe in the Trinity; that it\nis sufficient to believe in God; that you must believe that a Hebrew\npeasant was God; that at the same time he was half man, that he was of\nthe blood of David through his supposed father Joseph, who was not his\nfather, and that it is not necessary to believe that Christ was God;\nthat you must believe that the Holy Ghost proceeded; that it makes no\ndifference whether you do or not; that you must keep the Sabbath holy;\nthat Christ taught nothing of the kind; that Christ established a\nchurch; that he established no church; that the dead are to be raised;\nthat there is to be no resurrection; that Christ is coming again; that\nhe has made his last visit; that Christ went to hell and preached to the\nspirits in prison; that he did nothing of the kind; that all the Jews\nare going to perdition; that they are all going to heaven; that all the\nmiracles described in the Bible were performed; that some of them were\nnot, because they are foolish, childish and idiotic; that all the Bible\nis inspired; that some of the books are not inspired; that there is to\nbe a general judgment, when the sheep and goats are to be divided; that\nthere never will be any general judgment; that the sacramental bread and\nwine are changed into the flesh and blood of God and the Trinity; that\nthey are not changed; that God has no flesh or blood; that there is a\nplace called \"purgatory;\" that there is no such place; that unbaptized\ninfants will be lost; that they will be saved; that we must believe the\nApostles' Creed; that the apostles made no creed; that the Holy Ghost\nwas the father of Christ; that Joseph was his father; that the Holy\nGhost had the form of a dove; that there is no Holy Ghost; that heretics\nshould be killed; that you must not resist evil; that you should murder\nunbelievers; that you must love your enemies; that you should take no\nthought for the morrow, but should be diligent in business; that you\nshould lend to all who ask, and that One who does not provide for his\nown household is worse than an infidel.\n\nIn defence of all these creeds, all these contradictions, thousands\nof volumes have been written, millions of sermons have been preached,\ncountless swords reddened with blood, and thousands and thousands of\nnights made lurid with the faggot's flames.\n\nHundreds and hundreds of commentators have obscured and darkened the\nmeaning of the plainest texts, spiritualized dates, names, numbers and\neven genealogies. They have degraded the poetic, changed parables to\nhistory, and imagery to stupid and impossible facts. They have wrestled\nwith rhapsody and prophecy, with visions and dreams, with illusions and\ndelusions, with myths and miracles, with the blunders of ignorance, the\nravings of insanity and the ecstasy of hysterics. Millions of priests\nand preachers have added to the mysteries of the inspired book by\nexplanation, by showing the wisdom of foolishness, the foolishness of\nwisdom, the mercy of cruelty and the probability of the impossible.\n\nThe theologians made the Bible a master and the people its slaves. With\nthis book they destroyed intellectual veracity, the natural manliness\nof man. With this book they banished pity from the heart, subverted all\nideas of justice and fairness, imprisoned the soul in the dungeon of\nfear and made honest doubt a crime.\n\nThink of what the world has suffered from fear. Think of the millions\nwho were driven to insanity. Think of the fearful nights—nights filled\nwith phantoms, with flying, crawling monsters, with hissing serpents\nthat slowly uncoiled, with vague and formless horrors, with burning and\nmalicious eyes.\n\nThink of the fear of death, of infinite wrath, of everlasting revenge\nin the prisons of fire, of an eternity, of thirst, of endless regret, of\nthe sobs and sighs, the shrieks and groans of eternal pain!\n\nThink of the hearts hardened, of the hearts broken, of the cruelties\ninflicted, of the agonies endured, of the lives darkened.\n\nThe inspired Bible has been and is the greatest curse of Christendom,\nand will so remain as long as it is held to be inspired.\n\nViii\n\nOur God was made by men, sculptured by savages who did the best they\ncould. They made our God somewhat like themselves, and gave to him their\npassions, their ideas of right and wrong.\n\nAs man advanced he slowly changed his God—took a little ferocity from\nhis heart, and put the light of kindness in his eyes. As man progressed\nhe obtained a wider view, extended the intellectual horizon, and again\nhe changed his God, making him as nearly perfect as he could, and\nyet this God was patterned after those who made him. As man became\ncivilized, as he became merciful, he began to love justice, and as his\nmind expanded his ideal became purer, nobler, and so his God became more\nmerciful, more loving.\n\nIn our day Jehovah has been outgrown. He is no longer the perfect. Now\ntheologians talk, not about Jehovah, but about a God of love, call him\nthe Eternal Father and the perpetual friend and providence of man. But,\nwhile they talk about this God of love, cyclones wreck and rend, the\nearthquake devours, the flood destroys, the red bolt leaping from the\ncloud still crashes the life out of men, and plague and fever still are\ntireless reapers in the harvest fields of death.\n\nThey tell us now that all is good; that evil is but blessing\nin disguise, that pain makes strong and virtuous men—makes\ncharacter—while pleasure enfeebles and degrades. If this be so, the\nsouls in hell should grow to greatness, while those in heaven should\nshrink and shrivel.\n\nBut we know that good is good. We know that good is not evil, and that\nevil is not good. We know that light is not darkness, and that darkness\nis not light. But we do not feel that good and evil were planned and\ncaused by a supernatural God. We regard them both as necessities. We\nneither thank nor curse. We know that some evil can be avoided and that\nthe good can be increased. We know that this can be done by increasing\nknowledge, by developing the brain.\n\nAs Christians have changed their God, so they have accordingly changed\ntheir Bible. The impossible and absurd, the cruel and the infamous, have\nbeen mostly thrown aside, and thousands are now engaged in trying to\nsave the inspired word. Of course, the orthodox still cling to every\nword, and still insist that every line is true. They are literalists.\n\nTo them the Bible means exactly what it says.\n\nThey want no explanation. They care nothing for commentators.\nContradictions cannot disturb their faith. They deny that any\ncontradictions exist. They loyally stand by the sacred text, and they\ngive it the narrowest possible interpretation. They are like the janitor\nof an apartment house who refused to rent a flat to a gentleman because\nhe said he had children. \"But,\" said the gentleman, \"my children are\nboth married and live in Iowa.\" \"That makes no difference,\" said the\njanitor, \"I am not allowed to rent a flat to any man who has children.\"\n\nAll the orthodox churches are obstructions on the highway of progress.\nEvery orthodox creed is a chain, a dungeon. Every believer in the\n\"inspired book\" is a slave who drives reason from her throne, and in her\nstead crowns fear.\n\nReason is the light, the sun, of the brain. It is the compass of the\nmind, the ever-constant Northern Star, the mountain peak that lifts\nitself above all clouds.\n\nIX.\n\nThere were centuries of darkness when religion had control of\nChristendom. Superstition was almost universal. Not one in twenty\nthousand could read or write. During these centuries the people lived\nwith their back to the sunrise, and pursued their way toward the dens of\nignorance and faith. There was no progress, no invention, no discovery.\nOn every hand cruelty and worship, persecution and prayer. The priests\nwere the enemies of thought, of investigation. They were the shepherds,\nand the people were their sheep and it was their business to guard\nthe flock from the wolves of thought and doubt. This world was of\nno importance compared with the next. This life was to be spent in\npreparing for the life to come. The gold and labor of men were wasted in\nbuilding cathedrals and in supporting the pious and the useless. During\nthese Dark Ages of Christianity, as I said before, nothing was invented,\nnothing was discovered, calculated to increase the well-being of men.\nThe energies of Christendom were wasted in the vain effort to obtain\nassistance from the supernatural.\n\nFor centuries the business of Christians was to wrest from the followers\nof Mohammed the empty sepulcher of Christ. Upon the altar of this folly\nmillions of lives were sacrificed, and yet the soldiers of the impostor\nwere victorious, and the wretches who carried the banner of Christ were\nscattered like leaves before the storm.\n\nThere was, I believe, one invention during these ages. It is said that,\nin the thirteenth century, Roger Bacon, a Franciscan monk, invented\ngunpowder, but this invention was without a fellow. Yet we cannot give\nChristianity the credit, because Bacon was an infidel, and was great\nenough to say that in all things reason must be the standard. He was\npersecuted and imprisoned, as most sensible men were in those blessed\ndays. The church was triumphant. The sceptre and mitre were in her\nhands, and yet her success was the result of force and fraud, and it\ncarried within itself the seeds of its defeat. The church attempted the\nimpossible. It endeavored to make the world of one belief; to force all\nminds to a common form, and utterly destroy the individuality of man.\nTo accomplish this it employed every art and artifice that cunning could\nsuggest It inflicted every cruelty by every means that malice could\ninvent.\n\nBut, in spite of all, a few men began to think.\n\nThey became interested in the affairs of this world—in the great\npanorama of nature. They began to seek for causes, for the explanations\nof phenomena. They were not satisfied with the assertions of the church.\nThese thinkers withdrew their gaze from the skies and looked at their\nown surroundings. They were unspiritual enough to desire comfort here.\nThey became sensible and secular, worldly and wise.\n\nWhat was the result? They began to invent, to discover, to find the\nrelation between facts, the conditions of happiness and the means that\nwould increase the well-being of their fellow-men.\n\nMovable types were invented, paper was borrowed from the Moors, books\nappeared, and it became possible to save the intellectual wealth so that\neach generation could hand it to the next. History began to take the\nplace of legend and rumor. The telescope was invented. The orbits of the\nstars were traced, and men became citizens of the universe. The steam\nengine was constructed, and now steam, the great slave, does the work\nof hundreds of millions of men. The Black Art, the impossible, was\nabandoned, and chemistry, the useful, took its place. Astrology became\nastronomy. Kepler discovered the three great laws, one of the greatest\ntriumphs of human genius, and our constellation became a poem, a\nsymphony. Newton gave us the mathematical expression of the attraction\nof gravitation. Harvey discovered the circulation of the blood. He gave\nus the fact, and Draper gave us the reason. Steamships conquered the\nseas and railways covered the land. Houses and streets were lighted with\ngas. Through the invention of matches fire became the companion of\nman. The art of photography became known; the sun became an artist.\nTelegraphs and cables were invented. The lightning became a carrier of\nthought, and the nations became neighbors. Anaesthetics were discovered\nand pain was lost in sleep. Surgery became a science. The telephone was\ninvented—the telephone that carries and deposits in listening ears the\nwaves of words. The phonograph, that catches and retains in marks and\ndots and gives again the echoes of our speech.\n\nThen came electric light that fills the night with day, and all the\nwonderful machines that use the subtle force—the same force that leaps\nfrom the summer cloud to ravage and destroy.\n\nThe Spectrum Analysis that tells us of the substance of the sun; the\nRoentgen rays that change the opaque to the transparent. The\ngreat thinkers demonstrated the indestructibility of force and\nmatter—demonstrated that the indestructible could not have been\ncreated. The geologist, in rocks and deposits and mountains and\ncontinents, read a little of the story of the world—of its changes, of\nthe glacial epoch—the story of vegetable and animal life.\n\nThe biologists, through the fossil forms of life, established the\nantiquity of man and demonstrated the worthlessness of Holy Writ. Then\ncame evolution, the survival of the fittest and natural selection.\nThousands of mysteries were explained and science wrested the sceptre\nfrom superstition. The cell theory was advanced, and embryology was\nstudied; the microscope discovered germs of disease and taught us how\nto stay the plague. These great theories and discoveries, together with\ncountless inventions, are the children of intellectual liberty.\n\nX.\n\nAfter all we know but little. In the darkness of life there are a few\ngleams of light. Possibly the dropping of a dishcloth prophesies the\ncoming of company, but we have no evidence. Possibly it is dangerous for\nthirteen to dine together, but we have no evidence. Possibly a maiden's\nmatrimonial chances are determined by the number of seeds in an apple,\nor by the number of leaves on a flower, but we have no evidence.\nPossibly certain stones give good luck to the wearer, while the wearing\nof others brings loss and death. Possibly a glimpse of the new moon over\nthe left shoulder brings misfortune. Possibly there are curative virtues\nin old bones, in sacred rags and holy hairs, in images and bits of wood,\nin rusty nails and dried blood, but the trouble is we have no evidence.\nPossibly comets, eclipses and shooting stars foretell the death of\nkings, the destruction of nations or the coming of plague. Possibly\ndevils take possession of the bodies and minds of men. Possibly witches,\nwith the Devil's help, control the winds, breed storms on sea and land,\nfill summer's lap with frosts and snow, and work with charm and spell\nagainst the public weal, but of this we have no evidence. It may be that\nall the miracles described in the Old and New Testament were performed;\nthat the pallid flesh of the dead felt once more the thrill of life;\nthat the corpse arose and felt upon his smiling lips the kiss of wife\nand child. Possibly water was turned into wine, loaves and fishes\nincreased, and possibly devils were expelled from men and women;\npossibly fishes were found with money in their mouths; possibly clay\nand spittle brought back the light to sightless eyes, and possibly words\ncured disease and made the leper clean, but of this we have no evidence.\n\nPossibly iron floated, rivers divided, waters burst from dry bones,\nbirds carried food to prophets and angels flourished drawn swords, but\nof this we have no evidence.\n\nPossibly Jehovah employed lying spirits to deceive a king, and all the\nwonders of the savage world may have happened, but the trouble is there\nis no proof.\n\nSo there may be a Devil, almost infinite in cunning and power, and he\nmay have a countless number of imps whose only business is to sow the\nseeds of evil and to vex, mislead, capture and imprison in eternal\nflames the souls of men. All this, so far as we know, is possible. All\nwe know is that we have no evidence except the assertions of ignorant\npriests.\n\nPossibly there is a place called \"hell,\" where all the devils live—a\nhell whose flames are waiting for, all the men who think and have the\ncourage to express their thoughts, for all who fail to credit priests\nand sacred books, for all who walk the path that reason lights, for all\nthe good and brave who lack credulity and faith—but of this, I am happy\nto say, there is no proof.\n\nAnd so there may be a place called \"heaven,\" the home of God, where\nangels float and fly and play on harps and hear with joy the groans and\nshrieks of the lost in hell, but of this there is no evidence.\n\nIt all rests on dreams and visions of the insane.\n\nThere may be a power superior to nature, a power that governs and\ndirects all things, but the existence of this power has not been\nestablished.\n\nIn the presence of the mysteries of life and thought, of force and\nsubstance, of growth and decay, of birth and death, of joy and pain,\nof the sufferings of the good, the triumphs of wrong, the intelligent\nhonest man is compelled to say: \"I do not know.\"\n\nBut we do know how gods and devils, heavens and hells, have been made.\nWe know the history of inspired books—the origin of religions. We know\nhow the seeds of superstition were planted and what made them grow. We\nknow that all superstitions, all creeds, all follies and mistakes,\nall crimes and cruelties, all virtues, vices, hopes and fears, all\ndiscoveries and inventions, have been naturally produced. By the light\nof reason we divide the useful from the hurtful, the false from the\ntrue.\n\nWe know the past—the paths that man has traveled—his mistakes, his\ntriumphs. We know a few facts, a few fragments, and the imagination,\nthe artist of the mind, with these facts, these fragments, rebuilds the\npast, and on the canvas of the future deftly paints the things to be.\n\nWe believe in the natural, in the unbroken and unbreakable succession of\ncauses and effects. We deny the existence of the supernatural. We do not\nbelieve in any God who can be pleased with incense, with kneeling, with\nbell-ringing, psalm-singing, bead-counting, fasting or prayer—in any\nGod who can be flattered by words of faith or fear.\n\nWe believe in the natural. We have no fear of devils, ghosts or hells.\nWe believe that Mahatmas, astral bodies, materializations of spirits,\ncrystal gazing, seeing the future, telepathy, mind reading and Christian\nScience are only cunning frauds, the genuineness of which is established\nby the testimony of incompetent, honest witnesses. We believe that\nCunning plates fraud with the gold of honesty, and veneers vice with\nvirtue.\n\nWe know that millions are seeking the impossible—trying to secure\nthe aid of the supernatural—to solve the problem of life—to guess the\nriddle of destiny, and to pluck from the future its secret. We know that\nall their efforts are in vain.\n\nWe believe in the natural. We believe in home and fireside—in wife\nand child and friend—in the realities of this world. We have faith\nin facts—in knowledge—in the development of the brain. We throw away\nsuperstition and welcome science. We banish the phantoms, the mistakes\nand lies and cling to the truth. We do not enthrone the unknown and\ncrown our ignorance. We do not stand with our backs to the sun and\nmistake our shadow for God.\n\nWe do not create a master and thankfully wear his chains. We do not\nenslave ourselves. We want no leaders—no followers. Our desire is that\nevery human being shall be true to himself, to his ideal, unbribed by\npromises, careless of threats. We want no tyrant on the earth or in the\nair.\n\nWe know that superstition has given us delusions and illusions, dreams\nand visions, ceremonies and cruelties, faith and fanaticism, beggars\nand bigots, persecutions and prayers, theology and torture, piety and\npoverty, saints and slaves, miracles and mummeries, disease and death.\n\nWe know that science has given us all we have of value. Science is\nthe only civilizer. It has freed the slave, clothed the naked, fed the\nhungry, lengthened life, given us homes and hearths, pictures and books,\nships and railways, telegraphs and cables, engines that tirelessly turn\nthe countless wheels, and it has destroyed the monsters, the phantoms,\nthe winged horrors that filled the savage brain.\n\nScience is the real redeemer. It will put honesty above hypocrisy;\nmental veracity above all belief. It will teach the religion of\nusefulness. It will destroy bigotry in all its forms. It will put\nthoughtful doubt above thoughtless faith. It will give us philosophers,\nthinkers and savants, instead of priests, theologians and saints. It\nwill abolish poverty and crime, and greater, grander, nobler than all\nelse, it will make the whole world free.\n"
}