{
  "schema": "tga.work.v1",
  "identifier": "dresden:vol-3:which-way",
  "slug": "which-way",
  "title": "Which Way?",
  "subtitle": "The natural and the supernatural.",
  "excerpt": "A stark choice between the two roads open to humanity: reason, investigation, and this life — or prayer, ceremony, and a world to come. Two ways; one leads forward, one back.",
  "year": 1884,
  "volume": 3,
  "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/which-way/",
  "wordCount": 9071,
  "body": "THERE are two ways,—the natural and the supernatural.\n\nOne way is to live for the world we are in, to develop the brain by\nstudy and investigation, to take, by invention, advantage of the forces\nof nature, to the end that we may have good houses, raiment and food, to\nthe end that the hunger of the mind may be fed through art and science.\n\nThe other way is to live for another world that we expect, to sacrifice\nthis life that we have for another that we know not of. The other way is\nby prayer and ceremony to obtain the assistance, the protection of some\nphantom above the clouds.\n\nOne way is to think—to investigate, to observe, and follow the light of\nreason. The other way is to believe, to accept, to follow, to deny the\nauthority of your own senses, your own reason, and bow down to those who\nare impudent enough to declare that they know.\n\nOne way is to live for the benefit of your fellow-men—for your wife\nand children—to make those you love happy and to shield them from the\nsorrows of life.\n\nThe other way is to live for ghosts, goblins, phantoms and gods with the\nhope that they will reward you in another world.\n\nOne way is to enthrone reason and rely on facts, the other to crown\ncredulity and live on faith.\n\nOne way is to walk by the light within—by the flame that illumines the\nbrain, verifying all by the senses—by touch and sight and sound.\n\nThe other way is to extinguish the sacred light and follow blindly the\nsteps of another.\n\nOne way is to be an honest man, giving to others your thought, standing\nerect, intrepid, careless of phantoms and hells.\n\nThe other way is to cringe and crawl, to betray your nobler self, and to\ndeprive others of the liberty that you have not the courage to enjoy.\n\nDo not imagine that I hate the ones who have taken the wrong side and\ntraveled the wrong road.\n\nOur fathers did the best they could. They believed in the Supernatural,\nand they thought that sacrifices and prayer, fasting and weeping, would\ninduce the Supernatural to give them sunshine, rain and harvest—long\nlife in this world and eternal joy in another. To them, God was an\nabsolute monarch, quick to take offence, sudden in anger, terrible in\npunishment, jealous, hateful to his enemies, generous to his favorites.\nThey believed also in the existence of an evil God, almost the equal\nof the other God in strength, and a little superior in cunning. Between\nthese two Gods was the soul of man like a mouse between two paws.\n\nBoth of these Gods inspired fear. Our fathers did not quite love God,\nnor quite hate the Devil, but they were afraid of both. They really\nwished to enjoy themselves with God in the next world and with the Devil\nin this. They believed that the course of Nature was affected by their\nconduct; that floods and storms, diseases, earthquakes and tempests were\nsent as punishments, and that all good phenomena were rewards.\n\nEverything was under the direction and control of supernatural powers.\nThe air, the darkness, were filled with angels and devils; witches\nand wizards planned and plotted against the pious—against the true\nbelievers. Eclipses were produced by the sins of the people, and\nthe unusual was regarded as the miraculous. In the good old times\nChristendom was an insane asylum, and insane priests and prelates were\nthe keepers. There was no science. The people did not investigate—did\nnot think. They trembled and believed. Ignorance and superstition ruled\nthe Christian world.\n\nAt last a few began to observe, to make records, and to think.\n\nIt was found that eclipses came at certain intervals, and that their\ncoming could be foretold. This demonstrated that the actions of men had\nnothing to do with eclipses. A few began to suspect that earthquakes and\nstorms had natural causes, and happened without the slightest reference\nto mankind.\n\nSome began to doubt the existence of evil spirits, or the interference\nof good ones in the affairs of the world. Finding out something about\nastronomy, the great number of the stars, the certain and continuous\nmotions of the planets, and the fact that many of them were vastly\nlarger than the earth; ascertaining something about the earth, the\nslow development of forms, the growth and distribution of plants, the\nformation of islands and continents, the parts played by fire, water\nand air through countless centuries; the kinship of all life; fixing\nthe earth's place in the constellation of the sun; by experiment and\nresearch discovering a few secrets of chemistry; by the invention of\nprinting, and the preservation and dissemination of facts, theories and\nthoughts, they were enabled to break a few chains of superstition, to\nfree themselves a little from the dominion of the supernatural, and to\nset their faces toward the light. Slowly the number of investigators and\nthinkers increased, slowly the real facts were gathered, the sciences\nbegan to appear, the old beliefs grew a little absurd, the supernatural\nretreated and ceased to interfere in the ordinary affairs of men.\n\nSchools were founded, children were taught, books were printed and the\nthinkers increased. Day by day confidence lessened in the supernatural,\nand day by day men were more and more impressed with the idea that\nman must be his own protector, his own providence. From the mists and\ndarkness of savagery and superstition emerged the dawn of the Natural.\nA sense of freedom took possession of the mind, and the soul began to\ndream of its power. On every side were invention and discovery, and\nbolder thought. The church began to regard the friends of science as\nits foes: Theologians resorted to chain and fagot—to mutilation and\ntorture.\n\nThe thinkers were denounced as heretics and Atheists—as the minions\nof Satan and the defamers of Christ. All the ignorance, prejudice and\nmalice of superstition were aroused and all united for the destruction\nof investigation and thought. For centuries this conflict was waged.\nEvery outrage was perpetrated, every crime committed by the believers\nin the supernatural. But, in spite of all, the disciples of the Natural\nincreased, and the power of the church waned. Now the intelligence of\nthe world is on the side of the Natural. Still the conflict goes on—the\nsupernatural constantly losing, and the Natural constantly gaining. In a\nfew years the victory of science over superstition will be complete and\nuniversal.\n\nSo, there have been for many centuries two philosophies of life;\none in favor of the destruction of the passions—the lessening of\nwants,—and absolute reliance on some higher power; the other, in favor\nof the reasonable gratification of the passions, the increase of wants,\nand their supply by industry, ingenuity and invention, and the reliance\nof man on his own efforts. Diogenes, Epictetus, Socrates to some extent,\nBuddha and Christ, all taught the first philosophy. All despised riches\nand luxury, all were the enemies of art and music, the despisers of\ngood clothes and good food and good homes. They were the philosophers\nof poverty and rags, of huts and hovels, of ignorance and faith. They\npreached the glories of another world and the miseries of this. They\nderided the prosperous, the industrious, those who enjoyed life, and\nreserved heaven for beggars.\n\nThis philosophy is losing authority, and now most people are anxious\nto be happy here in this life. Most people want food and roof and\nraiment—books and pictures, luxury and leisure. They believe in\ndeveloping the brain—in making servants and slaves of the forces of\nNature.\n\nNow the intelligent men of the world have cast aside the teachings,\nthe philosophy of the ascetics. They no longer believe in the virtue of\nfasting and self-torture. They believe that happiness is the only good,\nand that the time to be happy is now—here, in this world. They no\nlonger believe in the rewards and punishments of the supernatural. They\nbelieve in consequences, and that the consequences of bad actions are\nevil, and the consequences of good actions are good.\n\nThey believe that man by investigation, by reason, should find out the\nconditions of happiness, and then live and act in accordance with\nsuch conditions. They do not believe that earthquakes, or tempests, or\nvolcanoes, or eclipses are caused by the conduct of men. They no longer\nbelieve in the supernatural. They do not regard themselves as the serfs,\nservants, or favorites of any celestial king. They feel that many evils\ncan be avoided by knowledge, and for that reason they believe in the\ndevelopment of the brain. The schoolhouse is their church and the\nuniversity their cathedral.\n\nSo, there have been for some centuries two theories of government,—one\ntheological, the other secular.\n\nThe king received his power directly from God. It was the business of\nthe people to obey. The priests received their creeds from God and it\nwas the duty of the people to believe.\n\nThe theological government is growing somewhat unpopular. In England,\nParliament has taken the place of God, and in the United States,\ngovernment derives its powers from the consent of the governed.\n\nProbably Emperor William is the only man in Germany who really believes\nthat God placed him on the throne and will keep him there whether the\nGerman people are satisfied or not. Italy has retired the Catholic God\nfrom politics, France belongs to and is governed by the French, and\neven in Russia there are millions who hold the Czar and all his divine\npretensions in contempt.\n\nThe theological governments are passing away and the secular are slowly\ntaking their places. Man is growing greater and the Gods are becoming\nvague and indistinct. These \"divine\" governments rest on the fear and\nignorance of the many, the cunning, the impudence and the mendacity of\nthe few. A secular government is born of the intelligence, the honesty\nand the courage, not only of the few, but of the many.\n\nWe have found that man can govern himself without the assistance of\npriest or pope, of ghost or God. We have found that religion is not\nself-evident, and that to believe without evidence is not a praiseworthy\naction. We know that the self-evident is the square and compass of the\nbrain, the polar star in the firmament of mind. And we know that no\none denies the self-evident. We also know that there is no particular\ngoodness in believing when the evidence is sufficient, and certainly\nthere is' none in saying; that you believe when the evidence is\ninsufficient.\n\nThe believers have not all been good. Some of the worst people in the\nwhole world have been believers. The gentlemen who made Socrates drink\nhemlock were believers. The Jews who crucified Christ were believers in\nand worshipers of God. The devil believes in the Trinity, the Father,\nSon and Holy Ghost, and yet it does not seem to have affected his moral\ncharacter. According to the Bible, he trembles, but he does not reform.\nAt last we have concluded that we have a right to examine the religion\nof our fathers.\n\nII.\n\nALL Christians know that all the gods, except Jehovah, were created by\nman; that they were, and are, false, foolish and monstrous; that all the\nheathen temples were built and all their altars erected in vain; that\nthe sacrifices were wasted, that the priests were hypocrites, that their\nprayers were unanswered and that the poor people were deceived, robbed\nand enslaved. But after all, is our God superior to the gods of the\nheathen?\n\nWe can ask this question now because we are prosperous, and prosperity\ngives courage. If we should have a few earthquakes or a pestilence we\nmight fall on our knees, shut our eyes and ask the forgiveness of God\nfor ever having had a thought. We know that famine is the friend of\nfaith and that calamity is the sunshine of superstition. But as we have\nno pestilence or famine, and as the crust of the earth is reasonably\nquiet, we can afford to examine into the real character of our God.\n\nIt must be admitted that the use of power is an excellent test of\ncharacter.\n\nWould a good God appeal to prejudice, the armor, fortress, sword and\nshield of ignorance? to credulity, the ring in the priest-led nose\nof stupidity? to fear, the capital stock of imposture, the lever of\nhypocrisy? Would a good God frighten or enlighten his children? Would\na good God appeal to reason or ignorance, to justice or selfishness, to\nliberty or the lash?\n\nTo our first parents in the Garden of Eden, our God said nothing about\nthe sacredness of love, nothing about children, nothing about education,\nabout justice or liberty.\n\nAfter they had violated his command he became ferocious as a wild beast.\nHe cursed the earth and to Eve he said:—\"I will greatly multiply thy\nsorrow. In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children. Thy husband shall\nrule over thee.\"\n\nOur God made love the slave of pain, made wives serfs, and brutalized\nthe firesides of the world.\n\nOur God drowned the whole world, with the exception of eight people;\nmade the earth one vast and shoreless sea covered with corpses.\n\nWhy did he cover the world with men, women and children knowing that he\nwould destroy them?\n\nWhy did he not try to reform them? Why would he create people, knowing\nthat they could not be reformed?\n\nIs it possible that our God was intelligent and good?\n\nAfter the flood our God selected the Jews and abandoned the rest of his\nchildren. He paid no attention to the Hindoos, neglected the Egyptians,\nignored the Persians, forgot the Assyrians and failed to remember the\nGreeks. And yet he was the father of them all. For many centuries he was\nonly a tribal God, protecting the few and despising the many. Our God\nwas ignorant, knew nothing of astronomy or geology. He did not even know\nthe shape of the earth, and thought the stars were only specks.\n\nHe knew nothing of disease. He thought that the blood of a bird that had\nbeen killed over running water was good medicine. He was revengeful and\ncruel, and assisted some of his children to butcher and destroy others.\nHe commanded them to murder men, wives and children, and to keep alive\nthe maidens and distribute them among his soldiers.\n\nOur God established slavery—commanded men to buy their fellow-men, to\nmake merchandise of wives and babes. Our God sanctioned polygamy and\nmade wives the property of their husbands. Our God murdered the people\nfor the crimes of kings.\n\nNo man of intelligence, no one whose brain has not been poisoned by\nsuperstition, paralyzed by fear, can read the Old Testament without\nbeing forced to the conclusion that our God was, a wild beast.\n\nIf we must have a god, let him be merciful. Let us remember that \"the\nquality of mercy is not strained.\" Let us remember that when the sword\nof Justice becomes a staff to support the weak, it bursts into blossom,\nand that the perfume of that flower is the only incense, the only\noffering, the only sacrifice that mercy will accept.\n\nIii\n\nSO, there have been two theories about the cause and cure of disease.\nOne is the theological, the other the scientific.\n\nAccording to the theological idea, diseases were produced by evil\nspirits, by devils who entered into the bodies of people.\n\nThese devils could be cast out by prophets, inspired men and priests.\n\nWhile Christ was upon earth his principal business was to cast out evil\nspirits.\n\nFor many centuries the priests followed his example, and during the\nMiddle Ages millions of devils were driven from the bodies of men.\nDiseases were cured with little images of consecrated pewter, with\npieces of paper, with crosses worn about the neck—by having plaster of\nParis Virgins and clay Christs at the head of the bed, by touching the\nbones of dead saints, or pieces of the true cross, or one of the nails\nthat was driven through the flesh of Christ, or a garment that had been\nworn by the Virgin Mary, or by sprinkling the breast with holy water, or\nsaying prayers, or counting beads, or making the stations of the cross,\nor by going without meat, or wearing haircloth, or in some way torturing\nthe body. All diseases were supposed to be of supernatural origin\nand all cures were of the same nature. Pestilences were stopped by\nprocessions, led by priests carrying the Host.\n\nNothing was known of natural causes and effects. Everything was\nmiraculous and mysterious. The priests were cunning and the people\ncredulous.\n\nSlowly another theory as to the cause and cure of disease took\npossession of the mind. A few discarded the idea of devils, and took\nthe ground that diseases were naturally produced, and that many of them\ncould be cured by natural means.\n\nAt first the physician was exceedingly ignorant, but he knew more than\nthe priest. Slowly but surely he pushed the priest from the bedside.\nSome people finally became intelligent enough to trust their bodies to\nthe doctors, and remained ignorant enough to leave the care of their\nsouls with the priests. Among civilized people the theological theory\nhas been cast aside, and the miraculous, the supernatural, no longer has\na place in medicine. In Catholic countries the peasants are still cured\nby images, prayers, holy water and the bones of saints, but when the\npriests are sick they send for a physician, and now even the Pope, God's\nagent, gives his sacred body to the care of a doctor.\n\nThe scientific has triumphed to a great extent over the theological.\n\nNo intelligent person now believes that devils inhabit the bodies\nof men. No intelligent person now believes that devils are trying to\ncontrol the actions of men. No intelligent person now believes that\ndevils exist.\n\nAnd yet, at the present time, in the city of New York, Catholic priests\nare exhibiting a piece of one of the bones of Saint Anne, the supposed\nmother of the Virgin Mary. Some of these priests may be credulous\nimbeciles and some may be pious rogues. If they have any real\nintelligence they must know that there is no possible way of proving\nthat the piece of bone ever belonged to Saint Anne. And if they have any\nreal intelligence they must know that even the bones of Saint Anne were\nsubstantially like the bones of other people, made of substantially\nthe same material, and that the medical and miraculous qualities of all\nhuman bones must be substantially the same. And yet these priests are\nobtaining from their credulous dupes thousands and thousands of dollars\nfor the privilege of seeing this bone and kissing the box that contains\nthe \"sacred relic.\"\n\nArchbishop Corrigan knows that no one knows who the mother of the Virgin\nMary was, that no one knows about any of the bones of this unknown\nmother, knows that the whole thing is a theological fraud, knows that\nhis priests, or priests under his jurisdiction, are obtaining money\nunder false pretences. Cardinal Gibbons knows the same, but neither of\nthese pious gentlemen has one word to say against this shameless crime.\nThey are willing that priests for the benefit of the church should make\nmerchandise of the hopes and fears of ignorant believers; willing that\nfraud that produces revenue should live and thrive.\n\nThis is the honesty of the theologian. If these gentlemen should\nbe taken sick they would not touch the relic. They would send for a\nphysician.\n\nLet me tell you a Japanese story that is exactly in point:\n\nAn old monk was in charge of a monastery that had been built above the\nbones of a saint. These bones had the power to cure diseases and they\nwere so placed that by thrusting the arm through an orifice they could\nbe touched by the hand of the pilgrim. Many people, afflicted in many\nways, came and touched these bones. Many thought they had been benefited\nor cured, and many in gratitude left large sums of money with the monk.\nOne day the old monk addressed his assistant as follows: \"My dear son,\nbusiness has fallen off, and I can easily attend to all who come. You\nwill have to find another place. I will give you the white donkey, a\nlittle money, and my blessing.\"\n\nSo the young man mounted upon the beast and went his way. In a few days\nhis money was gone and the white donkey died. An idea took possession of\nthe young man's mind. By the side of the road he buried the donkey, and\nthen to every passer-by held out his hands and said in solemn tones: \"I\npray thee give me a little money to build a temple above the bones of\nthe sinless one.\"\n\nSuch was his success that he built the temple, and then thousands came\nto touch the bones of the sinless one. The young man became rich, gave\nemployment to many assistants and lived in the greatest luxury.\n\nOne day he made up his mind to visit his old master. Taking with him a\nlarge retinue of servants he started for the old home. When he\nreached the place the old monk was seated by the doorway. With great\nastonishment he looked at the young man and his retinue. The young man\ndismounted and made himself known, and the old monk cried: \"Where hast\nthou been? Tell me, I pray thee, the story of thy success.\"\n\n\"Ah,\" the young man replied, \"old age is stupid, but youth has thoughts.\nWait until we are alone and I will tell you all.\"\n\nSo that night the young man told his story, told about the death and\nburial of the donkey, the begging of money to build a temple over the\nbones of the sinless one, and of the sums of money he had received for\nthe cures the bones had wrought.\n\nWhen he finished a satisfied smile crept over his pious face as he\nadded: \"Old age is stupid, but youth has thoughts.\"\n\n\"Be not so fast,\" said the old monk, as he placed his trembling hand on\nthe head of his visitor, \"Young man, this monastery in which your youth\nwas passed, in which you have seen so many miracles performed, so many\ndiseases cured, was built above the sacred bones of the mother of your\nlittle jackass.\"\n\nIV.\n\nTHERE are two ways of accounting for the sacred books and religions of\nthe world.\n\nOne is to say that the sacred books were written by inspired men, and\nthat our religion was revealed to us by God.\n\nThe other is to say that all books have been written by men, without any\naid from supernatural powers, and that all religions have been naturally\nproduced.\n\nWe find that other races and peoples have sacred books and prophets,\npriests and Christs; we find too that their sacred books were written by\nmen who had the prejudices and peculiarities of the race to which they\nbelonged, and that they contain the mistakes and absurdities peculiar to\nthe people who produced them.\n\nChristians are perfectly satisfied that all the so-called sacred books,\nwith the exception of the Old and New Testaments, were written by men,\nand that the claim of inspiration is perfectly absurd. So they believe\nthat all religions, except Judaism and Christianity, were invented\nby men. The believers in other religions take the ground that their\nreligion was revealed by God, and that all others, including Judaism and\nChristianity, were made by men. All are right and all are wrong. When\nthey say that \"other\" religions were produced by men, they are right;\nwhen they say that their religion was revealed by God, they are wrong.\n\nNow we know that all tribes and nations have had some kind of religion;\nthat they have believed in the existence of good and evil beings,\nspirits or powers, that could be softened by gifts or prayer. Now we\nknow that at the foundation of every religion, of all worship, is the\npale and bloodless face of fear. Now we know that all religions and all\nsacred books have been naturally produced—all born of ignorance, fear\nand cunning.\n\nNow we know that the gifts, sacrifices and prayers were all in vain;\nthat no god received and that no god heard or answered.\n\nA few years ago prayers decided the issue of battle, and priests,\nthrough their influence with God, could give the victory. Now no\nintelligent man expects any answer to prayer. He knows that nature\npursues her course without reference to the wishes of men, that the\nclouds float, the winds blow, the rain falls and the sun shines without\nregard to the human race. Yet millions are still praying, still hoping\nthat they can gain the protection of some god, that some being will\nguard them from accident and disease. Year after year the ministers make\nthe same petitions, pray for the same things, and keep on in spite of\nthe fact that nothing is accomplished.\n\nWhenever good men do some noble thing the clergy give their God the\ncredit, and when evil things are done they hold the men who did the evil\nresponsible, and forget to blame their God.\n\nPraying has become a business, a profession, a trade, A minister is\nnever happier than when praying in public. Most of them are exceedingly\nfamiliar with their God. Knowing that he knows everything, they tell him\nthe needs of the nation and the desires of the people, they advise him\nwhat to do and when to do it. They appeal to his pride, asking him to do\ncertain things for his own glory. They often pray for the impossible. In\nthe House of Representatives in Washington I once heard a chaplain\npray for what he must have known was impossible. Without a change of\ncountenance, without a smile, with a face solemn as a sepulchre, he\nsaid: \"I pray thee, O God, to give Congress wisdom.\" It may be that\nministers really think that their prayers do good and it may be that\nfrogs imagine that their croaking brings spring.\n\nThe men of thought now know that all religions and all sacred books have\nbeen made by men; that no revelation has come from any being superior\nto nature; that all the prophecies were either false or made after the\nevent; that no miracle ever was or ever will be performed; that no God\nwants the worship or the assistance of man; that no-prayer has ever\ncoaxed one drop of rain from the sky, one ray of light from the sun;\nthat no prayer has stayed the flood, or the tides of the sea, or folded\nthe wings of the storm; that no prayer has given water to the cracked\nand bleeding lips of thirst, or food to the famishing; that no prayer\nhas stopped the pestilence, stilled the earthquake or quieted the\nvolcano; that no prayer has shielded the innocent, succored the\noppressed, unlocked the dungeon's door, broke the chains of slaves,\nrescued the good and noble from the scaffold, or extinguished the\nfagot's flame.\n\nThe intelligent man now knows that we live in a natural world, that gods\nand devils and the sons of God are all phantoms, that our religion and\nour Deity are much like the religion and deities of other nations,\nand that the stone god of a savage answers prayer and protects his\nworshipers precisely the same, and to just the same extent, as the\nFather, Son and Holy Ghost.\n\nV.\n\nTHERE are two theories about morals. One theory is that the moral man\nobeys the commands of a supposed God, without stopping to think whether\nthe commands are right or wrong. He believes that the will of the God is\nthe source and fountain of right. He thinks a thing is wrong because\nthe God prohibits it, not that the God prohibits it because it is wrong.\nThis theory calls not for thought, but for obedience. It does not appeal\nto reason, but to the fear of punishment, the hope of reward. God is a\nking whose will is law, and men are serfs and slaves.\n\nMany contend that without a belief in the existence of God morality is\nimpossible and that virtue would perish from the earth.\n\nThis absurd theory, with its \"Thus saith the Lord\" has been claimed to\nbe independent of and superior to reason.\n\nThe other theory is that right and wrong exist in the nature of things;\nthat certain actions preserve or increase the happiness of man, and that\nother actions cause sorrow and misery; that all those actions that cause\nhappiness are moral, and that all others are evil, or indifferent. Right\nand wrong are not revelations from some supposed god, but have been\ndiscovered through the experience and intelligence of man. There is\nnothing miraculous or supernatural about morality. Neither has morality\nanything to do with another world, or with an infinite being. It applies\nto conduct here, and the effect of that conduct on ourselves and others\ndetermines its nature.\n\nIn this world people are obliged to supply their wants by labor.\nIndustry is a necessity, and those who work are the natural enemies of\nthose who steal.\n\nIt required no revelation from God to make larceny unpopular. Human\nbeings naturally object to being injured, maimed, or killed, and so\neverywhere, and at all times, they have tried to protect themselves.\n\nMen did not require a revelation from God to put in their minds the\nthought of self-preservation. To defend yourself when attacked is as\nnatural as to eat when you are hungry.\n\nTo determine the quality of an action by showing that it is in\naccordance with, or contrary to the command of some supposed God, is\nsuperstition pure and simple. To test all actions by their consequences\nis scientific and in accord with reason.\n\nAccording to the supernatural theory, natural consequences are not taken\ninto consideration. Actions are wrong because they have been prohibited\nand right because they have been commanded. According to the Catholic\nChurch, eating meat on Friday is a sin that deserves eternal punishment.\nAnd yet, in the nature of things, the consequences of eating meat on\nthat day must be exactly the same as eating meat on any other. So,\nall the churches teach that unbelief is a crime, not in the nature of\nthings, but by reason of the will of God.\n\nOf course this is absurd and idiotic. If there be an infinite God he\ncannot make that wrong which in the nature of things is right. Neither\ncan he make an action good the natural consequences of which are evil.\nEven an infinite God cannot change a fact. In spite of him the relation\nbetween the diameter and circumference of a circle would remain the\nsame.\n\nAll the relations of things to things, of forces to forces, of acts to\nacts, of causes to effects in the domain of what is called matter,\nand in the realm of what is called mind, are just as certain, just as\nunchangeable as the relation between the diameter and circumference of a\ncircle.\n\nAn infinite God could not make ingratitude a virtue any easier than he\ncould make a square triangle.\n\nSo, the foundations of the moral and the immoral are in the nature of\nthings—in the necessary relation between conduct and well-being, and\nan infinite God cannot change these foundations, and cannot increase or\ndiminish the natural consequences of actions.\n\nIn this world there is neither chance nor caprice, neither magic nor\nmiracle. Behind every event, every thought and dream, is the efficient,\nthe natural and necessary cause.\n\nThe effort to make the will of a supposed God the foundation of\nmorality, has filled the world with misery and crime, extinguished in\nmillions of minds the light of reason, and in countless ways hindered\nand delayed the progress of our race.\n\nIntelligent men now know, that if there be an infinite God, man cannot\nin any way increase or decrease the happiness of such a being. They know\nthat man can only commit crimes against sentient beings who, to some\nextent at least, are within his power, and that a crime by a finite\nbeing against an infinite being is an infinite impossibility.\n\nVI.\n\nFOR many thousands of years man has believed in and sought for the\nimpossible. In chemistry he has searched for a universal solvent, for\nsome way in which to change the baser metals into gold. Even Lord\nBacon was a believer in this absurdity. Thousands of men, during many\ncenturies, in thousands of ways, sought to change the nature of lead and\niron so that they might be transformed to gold. They had no conception\nof the real nature of things. They supposed that they had originally\nbeen created by a kind of magic, and could by the same kind of magic\nbe changed into something else. They were all believers in the\nsupernatural. So, in mechanics, men sought for the impossible. They were\nbelievers in perpetual motion and they tried to make machines that would\nthrough a combination of levers furnish the force that propelled them.\n\nThousands of ingenious men wasted their lives in the vain effort to\nproduce machines that would in some wonderful way create a force. They\ndid not know that force is eternal, that it can neither be created nor\ndestroyed. They did not know that a machine having perpetual motion\nwould necessarily be a universe within itself, or independent of this,\nand in which the force called friction would be necessarily changed,\nwithout loss, into the force that propelled,—the machine itself causing\nor creating the original force that put it in motion. And yet in spite\nof all the absurdities involved, for many centuries men, regarded by\ntheir fellows as intelligent and learned, tried to discover the great\nprinciple of \"perpetual motion.\"\n\nOur ancestors studied the stars because in them they thought it possible\nto learn the fate of nations, the life and destiny of the individual.\nEclipses, wandering comets, the relations of certain stars were the\nforerunners or causes of prosperity or disaster, of the downfall or\nupbuilding of kingdoms. Astrology was believed to be a science, and\nthose who studied the stars were consulted by warriors, statesmen and\nkings. The account of the star that led the wise men of the East to the\ninfant Christ was written by a believer in astrology. It would be hard\nto overstate the time and talent wasted in the study of this so-called\nscience. The men who believed in astrology thought that they lived in a\nsupernatural world—a world in which causes and effects had no necessary\nconnection with each other—in which all events were the result of magic\nand necromancy.\n\nEven now, at the close of the nineteenth century, there are hundreds\nand hundreds of men who make their living by casting the horoscopes of\nidiots and imbeciles.\n\nThe \"perpetual motion\" of the mechanic, the universal solvent of the\nchemist, the changing of lead into gold, the foretelling events by the\nrelations of stars were all born of the same ignorance of nature that\ncaused the theologian to imagine an uncaused cause as the cause of all\ncauses and effects.\n\nThe theologian insisted that there was something superior to nature, and\nthat that something was the creator and preserver of nature.\n\nOf course there is no more evidence of the existence of that \"something\"\nthan there is of the philosopher's stone.\n\nThe mechanics who now believe in perpetual motion are insane, so are the\nchemists who seek to change one metal into another, so are the honest\nastrologers, and in a few more years the same can truthfully be said of\nthe honest theologians.\n\nMany of our ancestors believed in the existence of and sought for the\nFountain of Perpetual Youth. They believed that an old man could stoop\nand drink from this fountain and that while he drank his gray hairs\nwould slowly change, that the wrinkles would disappear, that his dim\neyes would brighten and grow clear, his heart throb with manhood's force\nand rhythm, while in his pallid cheeks would burst into blossom the\nroses of health.\n\nThey were believers in the supernatural, the miraculous, and nothing\nseemed more probable than the impossible.\n\nVii\n\nMOST people use names in place of arguments. They are satisfied to be\ndisciples, followers of the illustrious dead. Each church, each party\nhas a list of \"great men,\" and they throw the names of these men at each\nother when discussing their dogmas and creeds.\n\nMen prove the inspiration of the Bible, the divinity of Christ by the\nadmissions of soldiers, statesmen and kings. And in the same way they\nestablish the existence of heaven and hell. Dispute one of their dogmas\nand you will instantly be told that Isaac Newton or Matthew Hale was on\nthe other side, and you will be asked whether you claim to be superior\nto Newton or Hale. In our own country the ministers, to establish their\nabsurdities, quote the opinions of Webster and of other successful\npoliticians as though such opinions were demonstrations.\n\nMost Protestants will cheerfully admit that they are inferior in brain\nand genius to some men who have lived and died in the Catholic faith;\nthat in the matter of preaching funeral sermons they are not equal to\nBossuet; that their letters are not as interesting and polished as\nthose written by Pascal; that Torquemada excelled them in the genius\nof organization, and that for planning a massacre they would not for\na moment claim the palm from Catherine de Medici, and yet after these\nadmissions, these same Protestants would insist that the Pope is an\nunblushing impostor, and the Catholic Church a vampire.\n\nThe so-called \"great men\" of the world have been mistaken in many\nthings. Lord Bacon denied the Copernican system of astronomy and\nbelieved to the day of his death that the sun and stars journeyed about\nthis little earth. Matthew Hale was a firm believer in the existence of\nwitches and wizards. John Wesley believed that earthquakes were caused\nby sin and that they could be prevented by believing in the Lord Jesus\nChrist. John Calvin regarded murder as one of the means to preserve the\npurity of the gospel. Martin Luther denounced Galileo as a fool because\nhe was opposed to the astronomy of Moses. Webster was in favor of the\nFugitive Slave Law and held the book of Job in high esteem. He wanted\nvotes and he knelt to the South. He wanted votes and he flattered the\nchurch.\n\nViii\n\nVOLUMES might be written on the follies and imbecilities of \"great\" men.\n\nOnly a few years ago the really great men were persecuted, imprisoned\nor burned. In this way the church was enabled to keep the \"great\" men on\nher side.\n\nAs a matter of fact it is impossible to tell what the \"great\" men really\nthought. We only know what they said. These \"great\" men had families\nto support, they had a prejudice against prisons and objected to being\nburned, and it may be that they thought one way and talked another.\n\nThe priests said to these men: \"Agree with the creed, talk on our side,\nor you will be persecuted to the death.\" Then the priests turned to the\npeople and cried: \"Hear what the great men say.\"\n\nFor a few years we have had something like liberty of speech and many\nmen have told their thoughts. Now the theologians are not quite so apt\nto appeal to names as formerly. The really great are not on their side.\nThe leaders of modern thought are not Christians. Now the unbelievers\ncan repeat names—names that stand for intellectual triumphs. Humboldt,\nHelmholtz, Haeckel and Huxley, Darwin, Spencer and Tyndall and many\nothers, stand for investigation, discovery, for vast achievements in the\nworld of thought. These men were and are thinkers and they had and have\nthe courage to express their thoughts. They were not and are not puppets\nof priests, or the trembling worshipers of ghosts.\n\nFor many years, most of the presidents of American colleges have\nbeen engaged in the pious work of trying to prevent the intellectual\nadvancement of the race. To such an extent have they succeeded that none\nof their students have been or are great scientists.\n\nFor the purpose of bolstering their creed the orthodox do not now repeat\nthe names of the living, their witnesses are in the cemetery. All the\n\"great\" Christians are dead.\n\nTo-day we want arguments, not names, reasons, not opinions. It is\ndegrading to blindly follow a man, or a church. Nothing is nobler than\nto be governed by reason. To be vanquished by the truth is to be a\nvictor. The man who follows is a slave. The man who thinks is free.\n\nWe must remember that most men have been controlled by their\nsurroundings. Most of the intelligent men in Turkey are followers of\nMahomet. They were rocked in the cradle of the Koran, they received\ntheir religious opinions as they did their features—from their parents.\nTheir opinion on the subject of religion is of no possible value. The\nsame may be said of the Christians of our country. Their belief is the\nresult, not of thought, of investigation, but of surroundings.\n\nAll religions have been the result of ignorance, and the seeds were sown\nand planted in the long night of savagery.\n\nIn the decline of the Roman power, in the times when prosperity died,\nwhen commerce almost ceased, when the sceptre of authority fell from\nweak and nerveless hands, when arts were lost and the achievements of\nthe past forgotten or unknown, then Christians came, and holding in\ncontempt all earthly things, told their fellows of another world—of joy\neternal beyond the clouds.\n\nIf learning had not been lost, if the people had been educated, if they\nhad known the literature of Greece and Rome, if they had been familiar\nwith the tragedies of Æschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, with the\nphilosophy of Zeno and Epicurus, with the orations of Demosthenes; if\nthey had known the works of art, the miracles of genius, the passions in\nmarble, the dreams in stone; if they had known the history of Rome; if\nthey had understood Lucretius, Cicero and Cæsar; if they had studied the\nlaws, the decisions of the Prætors; if they had known the thoughts of\nall the mighty dead, there would have been no soil on which the seeds of\nChristian superstition could have taken root and grown.\n\nBut the early Christians hated art, and song, and joy. They slandered\nand maligned the human race, insisted that the world had been blighted\nby the curse of God, that this life should be used only in making\npreparation for the next, that education filled the mind with doubt, and\nscience led the soul from God.\n\nIX.\n\nTHERE are two ways. One is to live for God. That has been tried, and the\nresult has always been the same. It was tried in Palestine many years\nago and the people who tried it were not protected by their God. They\nwere conquered, overwhelmed and exiled. They lost their country and were\nscattered over the earth. For many centuries they expected assistance\nfrom their God. They believed that they would be gathered together\nagain, that their cities and temples and altars would be rebuilt, that\nthey would again be the favorites of Jehovah, that with his help they\nwould overcome their enemies and rule the world. Century by century\nthe hope has grown weaker and weaker, until now it is regarded by the\nintelligent as a foolish dream.\n\nLiving for God was tried in Switzerland and it ended in slavery and\ntorture. Every avenue that led to improvement, to progress, was closed.\nOnly those in authority were allowed to express their thoughts. No\none tried to increase the happiness of people in this world. Innocent\npleasure was regarded as sin, laughter was suppressed, all natural joy\ndespised, and love itself denounced as sin.\n\nThey amused themselves with fasting and prayer, hearing sermons, talking\nabout endless pain, committing to memory the genealogies in the Old\nTestament, and now and then burning one of their fellow-men.\n\nLiving for God was tried in Scotland. The people became the serfs and\nslaves of the blessed Kirk. The ministers became petty tyrants. They\npoisoned the very springs of life. They interfered with every family,\ninvaded the privacy of every home, sowed the seeds of superstition and\nfear, and filled the darkness with devils. They claimed to be divinely\ninspired, that they delivered the messages of God, that to deny their\nauthority was blasphemy, and that all who refused to do their bidding\nwould suffer eternal pain. Under their government Scotland was a land of\nsighing and sorrow, of grief and pain. The people were slaves.\n\nLiving for God was tried in New England. A government was formed in\naccordance with the Old Testament. The laws, for the most part, were\npetty and absurd, the penalties cruel and bloody to the last degree.\nReligious liberty was regarded as a crime, as an insult to God. Persons\ndiffering in belief from those in power, were persecuted, whipped,\nmaimed and exiled. People supposed to be in league with the devil\nwere imprisoned or killed. A theological government was established,\nministers were the agents of God, they dictated the laws and fixed the\npenalties. Everything was under the supervision of the clergy. They had\nno pity, no mercy. With all their hearts they hated the natural. They\npromised happiness in another world, and did all they could to destroy\nthe pleasures of this.\n\nTheir greatest consolation, their purest joy was found in their belief\nthat all who failed to obey their words, to wear their yoke, would\nsuffer infinite torture in the eternal dungeons of hell.\n\nLiving for God was tried in the Dark Ages. Thousands of scaffolds were\nwet with blood, countless swords were thrust through human hearts. The\nflames of fagots consumed the flesh of men, dungeons became the homes of\nthose who thought. In the name of God every cruelty was practiced, every\ncrime committed, and liberty perished from the earth. Everywhere the\nresult has been the same. Living for God has filled the world with blood\nand flame.\n\nThere is another way. Let us live for man, for this world. Let\nus develop the brain and civilize the heart. Let us ascertain the\nconditions of happiness and live in accordance with them. Let us do what\nwe can for the destruction of ignorance, poverty and crime. Let us do\nour best to supply the wants of the body, to satisfy the hunger of the\nmind, to ascertain the secrets of nature, to the end that we may make\nthe invisible forces the tireless servants of the human race, and fill\nthe world with happy homes.\n\nLet the gods take care of themselves. Let us live for man. Let us\nremember that those who have sought for the truths of nature have never\npersecuted their fellow-men. The astronomers and chemists have forged no\nchains, built no dungeons. The geologists have invented no instrument\nof torture. The philosophers have not demonstrated the truth of their\ntheories by burning their neighbors. The great infidels, the thinkers,\nhave lived for the good of man.\n\nIt is noble to seek for truth, to be intellectually honest, to give to\nothers a true transcript of your mind, a photograph of your thoughts in\nhonest words.\n\nX.\n\nHERE are two ways: The narrow way along which the selfish go in single\nfile, not wide enough for husband and wife to walk side by side\nwhile children clasp their hands. The narrow road over the desert of\nsuperstition \"with here and there a traveler.\" The narrow grass-grown\npath, filled with flints and broken glass, bordered by thistles and\nthorns, where the twice-born limping walk with bleeding feet. If by this\npath you see a flower, do not pick it. It is a temptation. Beneath its\nleaves a serpent lies. Keep your eyes on the New Jerusalem. Do not look\nback for wife or child or friend. Think only of saving your own soul.\nYou will be just as happy in heaven with all you love in hell. Believe,\nhave faith, and you will be rewarded for the goodness of another. Look\nneither to the right nor left. Keep on, straight on, and you will save\nyour worthless, withered, selfish soul.\n\nThis is the narrow road that leads from earth to the Christian's\nheartless heaven.\n\nThere is another way—the broad road.\n\nGive me the wide and ample way, the way broad enough for us all to go\ntogether. The broad way where the birds sing, where the sun shines and\nthe streams murmur. The broad way, through the fields where the flowers\ngrow, over the daisied slopes where sunlight, lingering, seems to sleep\nand dream.\n\nLet us go the broad way with the great world, with science and art, with\nmusic and the drama, with all that gladdens, thrills, refines and calms.\n\nLet us go the wide road with husband and wife, with children and friends\nand with all there is of joy and love between the dawn and dusk of\nlife's strange day.\n\nThis world is a great orange tree filled with blossoms, with ripening\nand ripened fruit, while, underneath the bending boughs, the fallen\nslowly turn to dust.\n\nEach orange is a life. Let us squeeze it dry, get all the juice there\nis, so that when death comes we can say; \"There is nothing left but\nwithered peel.\"\n\nLet us travel the broad and natural way. Let us live for man.\n\nTo think of what the world has suffered from superstition, from\nreligion, from the worship of beast and stone and god, is almost enough\nto make one insane. Think of the long, long night of ignorance and fear!\nThink of the agony, the sufferings of the past, of the days that are\ndead!\n\nI look. In gloomy caves I see the sacred serpents coiled, waiting for\ntheir sacrificial prey. I see their open jaws, their restless tongues,\ntheir glittering eyes, their cruel fangs. I see them seize and crush in\nmany horrid folds the helpless children given by fathers and mothers to\nappease the Serpent-God. I look again. I see temples wrought of stone\nand gilded with barbaric gold. I see altars red with human blood. I see\nthe solemn priests thrust knives in the white breasts of girls. I look\nagain. I see other temples and other altars, where greedy flames devour\nthe flesh and blood of babes. I see other temples and other priests and\nother altars dripping with the blood of oxen, lambs and doves.\n\nI look again. I see other temples and other priests and other altars on\nwhich are sacrificed the liberties of man. I look. I see the cathedrals\nof God, the huts of peasants, the robes of priests and kings, the rags\nof honest men. I look again. The lovers of God are the murderers of\nmen. I see dungeons filled with the noblest and the best. I see exiles,\nwanderers, outcasts, millions of martyrs, widows and orphans. I see the\ncunning instruments of torture and hear the shrieks and sobs and moans\nof millions dead.\n\nI see the dungeon's gloom, I hear the clank of chains. I see the fagot's\nflames, the scorched and blackened face, the writhing limbs. I hear the\njeers and scoffs of pious fiends. I see the victim on the rack, I hear\nthe tendons as they break. I see a world beneath the feet of priests,\nliberty in chains, every virtue a crime, every crime a virtue,\nintelligence despised, stupidity sainted, hypocrisy crowned and the\nwhite forehead of honor wearing the brand of shame. This was.\n\nI look again, and in the East of hope's fair sky the first pale light\nshed by the herald star gives promise of another dawn. I look, and\nfrom the ashes, blood and tears the heroes leap to bless the future and\navenge the past. I see a world at war, and in the storm and chaos of the\ndeadly strife thrones crumble, altars fall, chains break, creeds change.\n\nThe highest peaks are touched with holy light. The dawn has blossomed.\nI look again. I see discoverers sailing across mysterious seas. I see\ninventors cunningly enslave the forces of the world. I see the houses\nbeing built for schools. Teachers, interpreters of nature, slowly take\nthe place of priests. Philosophers arise, thinkers give the world their\nwealth of brain, and lips grow rich with words of truth. This is.\n\nI look again, but toward the future now. The popes and priests and kings\nare gone,—the altars and the thrones have mingled with the dust,—the\naristocracy of land and cloud have perished from the earth and-air, and\nall the gods are dead. A new religion sheds its glory on mankind. It\nis the gospel of this world, the religion of the body, of the heart\nand brain, the evangel of health and joy. I see a world at peace,\nwhere labor reaps its true reward, a world without prisons, without\nworkhouses, without asylums for the insane, a world on which the gibbets\nshadow does not fall, a world where the poor girl, trying to win bread\nwith the needle, the needle that has been called \"the asp for the breast\nof the poor,\" is not driven to the desperate choice of crime or death,\nof suicide or shame. I see a world without the beggar's outstretched\npalm, the miser's heartless, stony stare, the piteous wail of want, the\npallid face of crime, the livid lips of lies, the cruel eyes of scorn.\nI see a race without disease of flesh or brain, shapely and fair, the\nmarried harmony of form and use, and as I look life lengthens, fear\ndies, joy deepens, love intensifies. The world is free. This shall be.\n"
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