Question. And what is your idea of the sacred Scriptures? Answer.
"Like other nations, the Hebrews had their patriotic, descriptive,
didactic and lyrical poems in the same varieties as other nations; but
with them, unlike other nations, whatever may be the form of their
poetry, it always possesses the characteristic of religion."
Q. I suppose you fully appreciate the religious characteristics of the
Song of Solomon? No answer.
Q. Does the Bible uphold polygamy? A. "The law of Moses did not
forbid it, but contained many provisions against its worst abuses, and
such as were intended to restrict it within narrow limits."
Q. So you think God corrected some of the worst abuses of polygamy,
but preserved the institution itself?
I might question many others, but have concluded not to consider those
as members of my Bible class who deal in calumnies and epithets. From
the so-called "replies" of such ministers it appears that, while
Christianity changes the heart, it does not improve the manners, and
one can get into Heaven in the next world without having been a
gentleman in this.
It is difficult for me to express the deep and thrilling satisfaction I
have experienced in reading the admissions of the clergy of Chicago.
Surely the battle of intellectual liberty is almost won when ministers
admit that the Bible is filled with ignorant and cruel mistakes; that
each man has the right to think for himself, and that it is not
necessary to believe the Scriptures in order to be saved.
From the bottom of my heart, I congratulate my pupils on the advance
they have made, and hope soon to meet them on the serene heights of
perfect freedom.
INGERSOLL'S NEW DEPARTURE--His Lecture Entitled "What Shall We do to be
Saved?"--Delivered in McVicker's Theatre, Chicago, Sept. 19, 1880 [From
the Chicago Times. Verbatim Report.]
Ladies and Gentlemen: Fear is the dungeon of the mind, and superstition
is a dagger with which hypocrisy assassinates the soul. Courage is
liberty. I am in favor of absolute freedom of thought. In the realm of
the mind every one is monarch. Every one is robed, sceptered, and
crowned, and every one wears the purple of authority. I belong to the
republic of intellectual liberty, and only those are good citizens of
that republic who depend upon reason and upon persuasion, and only
those are traitors who resort to brute force.
Now, I beg of you all to forget just for a few moments that you are
Methodists, or Baptists, or Catholics, or Presbyterians, and let us for
an hour or two remember only that we are men and women. And allow me
to say "man" and "woman" are the highest titles that can be bestowed
upon humanity. "Man" and "woman." And let us if possible banish all
fear from the mind. Do not imagine that there is some being in the
infinite expanse who is not willing that every man and woman should
think for himself and herself. Do not imagine that there is any being
who would give to his children the holy torch of reason and then damn
them for following where the holy light led. Let us have courage.
Priests have invented a crime called "blasphemy," and behind that
crime hypocrisy has crouched for thousands of years. There is but one
blasphemy, and that is injustice. There is but one worship, and that
is justice.
You need not fear the anger of a God whom you cannot injure. Rather
fear to injure your fellow-men. Do not be afraid of a crime you cannot
commit. Rather be afraid of the one that you may commit.
There was a Jewish gentleman went into a restaurant to get his dinner,
and the devil of temptation whispered in his ear: "Eat some bacon."
He knew if there was anything in the universe calculated to excite the
wrath of the Infinite Being, who made every shining star, it was to see
a gentleman eating bacon. He knew it, and He knew the Infinite Being
was looking, and that he was the Infinite Eaves-dropper of the
universe. But his appetite got the better of his conscience, as it
often has with us all, and he ate that bacon. He knew it was wrong.
When he went into that restaurant the weather was delightful, the sky
was as blue as June, and when he came out the sky was covered with
angry clouds, the lightning leaping from one to the other, and the
earth shaking beneath the voice of the thunder. He went back into that
restaurant with a face as white as milk, and he said to one of the
keepers:
"My God, did you ever hear such a fuss about a little piece of bacon?"
As long as we harbor such opinions of Infinity; as long as we imagine
the heavens to be filled with such tyranny, so long the sons of men
will be cringing, intellectual cowards. Let us think, and let us
honestly express our thought.
Do not imagine for a moment that I think people who disagree with me
are bad people. I admit, and I cheerfully admit, that a very large
proportion of mankind and a very large majority, a vast number, are
reasonably honest. I believe that most Christians believe what they
teach; that most ministers are endeavoring to make this world better. I
do not pretend to be better than they are. It is an intellectual
question. It is a question, first, of intellectual liberty, and after
that, a question to be settled at the bar of human reason. I do not
pretend to be better than the are. Probably I am a good deal worse
than many of them, but that is not the question. The question is "Bad
as I am, have I a right to think?" And I think I have, for two reasons.
First, I can't help it. And secondly, I like it. The whole question
is right at a point. If I have not a right to express my thoughts, who
has?
"Oh," they say, "we will allow you, we will not burn you."
"All right; why won't you burn me?"
"Because we think a decent man will allow others to think and express
his thought."
"Then the reason you do not persecute me for my thought is that you
believe it would be infamous in you!"
"Yes."
"And yet you worship a God who will, all you declare, punish me
forever."
The next question then is: Can I commit a sin against God by thinking?
If God did not intend I should think, why did He give me a "thinker."
Now, then, we have got what they call the Christian system of religion,
and thousands of people wonder how I can be wicked enough to attack
that system.
There are many good things about it, and I shall never attack anything
that I believe to be good! I shall never fear to attack anything I
honestly believe to be wrong. We have, I say, what they call the
Christian religion, and, I find, just in proportion that nations have
been religious, just in the proportion they have gone back to
barbarism. I find that Spain, Portugal, Italy are the three worst
nations in Europe; I find that the nation nearest infidel is the most
prosperous France. And so I say there can be no danger in the exercise
of absolute intellectual freedom. I find among ourselves the men who
think at least as good as those who do not. We have, I say, a Christian
system, and that is founded upon what they are pleased to call system
the "New Testament." Who wrote the New Testament? I don't know. Who
does know? Nobody!
We have found some fifty-two manuscripts containing portions of the New
Testament. Some of those manuscripts leave out five or six books--many
of them. Others more others less. No two of these manuscripts agree.
Nobody knows who wrote these manuscripts. They are all written in
Greek; the disciples of Christ knew only Hebrew. Nobody ever saw, so
far as we know, one of the original Hebrew manuscripts. Nobody ever saw
anybody who had seen anybody who had heard of anybody that had seen
anybody that had ever seen one of the original Hebrew manuscripts. No
doubt the clergy of your city have told you these facts thousands of
times, and they will be obliged to me for having repeated them once
more. These manuscripts are written in what are called capital Greek
letters. They are called Uncial characters; and the New Testament was
not divided into chapters and verses, even, until the year of grace
1551. Recollect it.
In the original the manuscripts and gospels are signed by nobody. The
epistles are addressed to nobody; and they are signed by the same
person. All the addresses, all the pretended earmarks showing to whom
they are written and by whom they are written are simply
interpolations, and everybody who has studied the subject knows it.
It is further admitted that even these manuscripts have not been
properly translated, and they have a syndicate now making a new
translation; and I suppose that I cannot tell whether I really believe
the Testament or not until I see that new translation.
You must remember, also, one other thing. Christ never wrote a
solitary word of the New Testament--not one word. There is an account
that He once stooped and wrote something in the sand, but that has not
been preserved. He never told anybody to write a word. He never said:
"Matthew, remember this. Mark, don't forget to put that down. Luke,
be sure that in your gospel you have this. John, don't forget it."
Not one word. And it has always seemed to me that a Being coming from
another world, with a message of infinite importance to mankind, should
at least have verified that message by his own signature.
Why was nothing written? I will tell you. In my judgment they
expected the end of the world in a very few days. That generation was
not to pass away until the heavens should be rolled up as a scroll, and
until the earth should melt with fervent heat. That was their belief.
They believed that the world was to be destroyed, and that there was to
be another coming, and that the saints were then to govern the world.
And they even went so far among the Apostles, as we frequently do now
before election, as to divide out the offices in advance. This
Testament was not written for hundreds of years after the Apostles were
dust. These facts lived in the open mouth of credulity. They were in
the wastebaskets of forgetfulness. They depended upon the inaccuracy of
legend, and for centuries these doctrines and stories were blown about
by the inconstant winds. And finally, when reduced to writing, some
gentleman would write by the side of the passage his idea of it, and
the next copyist would put that in as a part of the text. And,
finally, when it was made, and the Church got in trouble, and wanted a
passage to help it out, one was interpolated to order. So that now it
is among the easiest things in the world to pick out at least one
hundred interpolations in the Testament. And I will pick some of them
out before I get through.
And let me say here, once for all, that for the man Christ I have
infinite respect. Let me say, once for all, that the place where man
has died for man is holy ground; and let me say, once for all, to that
great and serene man I gladly pay the homage of my admiration and my
tears. He was a reformer in His day. He was an infidel in His time.
He was regarded as a blasphemer, and His life was destroyed by
hypocrites, who have, in all ages, done what they could to trample
freedom out of the human mind. Had I lived at that time I would have
been His friend, and should He come again He would not find a better
friend than I will be.
That is for the man. For the theological creation I have a different
feeling. If He was, in fact, God, He knew that there was no such thing
as death. He knew that what we call death was but the eternal opening
of the golden gates of everlasting joy; and it took no heroism to face
a death that was simply eternal life.
But when a man, when a poor boy sixteen years of age, goes upon the
field of battle to keep his flag in heaven, not knowing but that death
ends all--not knowing but that, when the shadows creep over him, the
darkness will be eternal--there is heroism.
And so for the man who, in the darkness, said: "My God, why hast Thou
forsaken Me?"--for that man I have nothing but respect, admiration, and
love.
A while ago I made up my mind to find out what was necessary for me to
do in order to be saved. If I have got a soul, I want it saved. I do
not wish to lose anything that is of value. For thousands of years the
world has been asking that question "What shall we do to be saved?"
Saved from poverty? No. Saved from crime? No. Tyranny? No. But
"What shall we do to be saved from the eternal wrath of the God who
made us all?"
If God made us, He will not destroy us. Infinite wisdom never made a
poor investment. And upon all the works of an infinite God, a dividend
must finally be declared. The pulpit has cast a shadow over even the
cradle. The doctrine of endless punishment has covered the cheeks of
this world with tears. I despise it, and I defy it.
I made up my mind, I say, to see what I had to do in order to save my
soul according to the Testament, and thereupon I read it. I read the
gospel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. But I found that the Church had
been deceiving me. I found that the clergy did not understand their
own book. I found that they had been building upon passages that had
been interpolated. I found that they had been building upon passages
that were entirely untrue. And I will tell you why I think so.
The first of these gospels was written by St. Matthew, according to the
claim. Of course he never wrote a word of it. Never saw it. Never
heard of it. But, for the purpose of this lecture, I will admit that
he wrote it. I will admit that he was with Christ for three years,
that he heard much of His conversation during that time and that he
became impregnated with the doctrines, or dogmas, and the ideas of
Jesus Christ.
Now let us see what Matthew says we must do in order to be saved. And I
take it that, if this be true, Matthew is as good an authority as any
minister in the world.
The first thing I find upon the subject of salvation is in the fifth
chapter of Matthew, and is embraced in what is commonly known as the
sermon on the Mount. It is as follows:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
Good!
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." Good! Whether
they belonged to any church or not; whether they believed the Bible or
not.
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." Good!
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are
the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed
are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake," (that's me,
little) "for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven."
In the same sermon he says: "Think not that I am come to destroy the
law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill." And
then he makes use of this remarkable language, almost as applicable
today as it was then: "For I say unto you that except your
righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and
Pharisees ye shall in no wise enter the kingdom of Heaven." Good!
In the sixth chapter I find the following, and it comes directly after
the prayer known as the Lord's prayer: "For if you forgive men their
trespasses your Heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if ye
forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your
trespasses." I accept the conditions. There is an offer; I accept it.
If you will forgive men that trespass against you, God will forgive
your trespasses against Him. I accept, and I never will ask any God to
treat me any better than I treat my fellowmen. There is a square
promise. There is a contract. If you will forgive others, God will
forgive you. And it does not say you must believe in the Old Testament,
nor be baptized, nor join the Church, nor keep Sunday. It simply says,
if you forgive others God will forgive you; and it must be true. No
God could afford to damn a forgiving man. (A voice: "Will He forgive
Democrats?") Oh, certainly. Let me say right here that I know lots of
Democrats, great, broad, whole-souled, clever men, and I love them.
And the only bad thing about them is that they vote the Democratic
ticket. And I know lots of Republicans so mean and narrow that the only
decent thing about them is that they vote the Republican ticket.
Now let me make myself plain upon that subject, perfectly plain. For
instance, I hate Presbyterianism, but I know hundreds of splendid
Presbyterians. Understand me. I hate Methodism, and yet I know
hundreds of splendid Methodists. I dislike a certain set of principles
called Democracy, and yet I know thousands of Democrats that I respect
and like. I like a certain set of principles--that is, most of
them,--called Republicanism, and yet I know lots of Republicans that
are a disgrace to those principles.
I do not war against men. I do not war against persons. I war against
certain doctrines that I believe to be wrong. And I give to every
other human being every right that I claim for myself. Of course I did
not intend today to tell what we must do in the election for the
purpose of being saved.
The next thing that I find is in the seventh chapter and the second
verse: "For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with
what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." Good! That
suits me!
And in the twelfth chapter of Matthew: "For whosoever shall do the will
of my Father that is in Heaven, the same is my brother and sister and
mother. For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with
His angels, and then He shall reward every man according--" To the
church he belongs to? No. To the manner in which he was baptized?
No. According to his creed? No. "Then he shall reward every man
according to his works." Good! I subscribe to that doctrine.
And in the sixteenth chapter: "And Jesus called a little child to Him
and stood him in the midst, and said: 'Verily, I say unto you, except
ye become converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter
into the Kingdom of Heaven.'" I do not wonder that a reformer in His
day that met the Scribes and Pharisees and hypocrites, I do not wonder
that at last He turned to children and said: "Except ye become as
little children," I do not wonder. And yet, see what children the
children of God have been. What an interesting dimpled darling John
Calvin was. Think of that prattling babe known as Jonathan Edwards!
Think of the infants that founded the Inquisition, that invented
instruments of torture to tear human flesh. They were the ones who had
become as little children.
So I find in the nineteenth chapter: "And behold, one came and said
unto Him: 'Good master, what good thing shall I do in order to inherit
eternal life?' And He said unto him, 'why callest thou Me good? There
is none good but one, and that is God, but if thou will enter into
eternal life, keep the commandments,' and he said unto Him, 'Which?'"
Now, there is a pretty fair issue. Here is a child of God asking God
what is necessary for him to do in order to inherit eternal life. And
God says to him: Keep the commandments. And the child said to the
Almighty: "Which?" Now if there ever had been an opportunity given to
the Almighty to furnish a gentleman with an inquiring mind with the
necessary information upon that subject, here was the opportunity. He
said unto Him, 'which?' And Jesus said: "Thou shalt do no murder;
thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not
bear false witness; honor thy father and mother; and, thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself." He did not say to him: "You must believe in
Me--that I am the only begotten Son of the living God." He did not
say: "You must be born again." He did not say: "You must believe the
Bible." He did not say: "You must remember the Sabbath day, to keep it
holy." He simply said: "Thou shalt do no murder. Thou shalt not commit
adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness.
Honor thy father and thy mother; and, thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself." And thereupon the young man, who I think was a little
"fresh," and probably mistaken, said unto Him: "All these things have I
kept from my youth up." I don't believe that.
Now comes in an interpolation. In the old times when the Church got a
little scarce for money, they always put in a passage praising poverty.
So they had this young man ask: "What lack I yet?" And Jesus said unto
him: "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast and give it
to the poor, and thou shalt have treasures in heaven." The Church has
always been willing to swap off treasures in heaven for cash down.
And when the next verse was written the Church must have been nearly
dead-broke. "And again I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go
through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the
kingdom of God." Did you ever know a wealthy disciple to unload on
account of that verse?
And then comes another verse, which I believe is an interpolation: "And
every one that has forsaken houses, or brethren or sisters, or father
or mother, or wife or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall
receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life." Christ
never said it. Never. "Whosoever shall forsake father and mother."
Why He said to this man who asked him "What shall I do to inherit
eternal life?" among other things, He said "Honor thy father and thy
mother." And we turn over the page and He says: "If you will desert
your father and your mother you shall have everlasting life." It won't
do. If you desert your wife and your little children, or your
lands--the idea of putting a house and lot on equality with wife and
children. Think of that! I do not accept the terms. I will never
desert the one I love for the promise of any God.
It is far more important that we shall love our wives than that we
shall love God. And I will tell you why you cannot help Him. You can
help her. You can fill her life with the perfume of perpetual joy. It
is far more important that you love your children than that you love
Jesus Christ.--And why? If He is God you cannot help Him, but you can
plant a little flower of happiness in every footstep of the child, from
the cradle until you die in that child's arms. Let me tell you to-day,
it is far more important to build a home than to erect a church. The
holiest temple beneath the stars is a home that love has built. And
the holiest altar in all the wide world is the fireside around which
gather father and mother and children.
There was a time when people believed that infamy. There was a time
when they did desert fathers; and mothers, and wives and children. St.
Augustine says to the devotee: "Fly to the desert, and though your wife
put her arms around your neck, tear her hands away; she is a temptation
of the devil. Though your father and mother throw their bodies athwart
your threshold, step over them; and though your children pursue and
with weeping eyes beseech you to return, listen not. It is the
temptation of the evil one. Fly to the desert and save your soul."
Think of such a soul being worth saving. While I live I propose to
stand by the folks.
Here there is another condition of salvation. I find it in the 25th
chapter: "Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, 'Come,
ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world. For I was a hungered and ye gave Me meat; I
was thirsty and ye gave Me drink; I was a stranger and ye took Me in;
naked and ye clothed Me; and I was sick and ye visited Me; and I was in
prison, and ye came unto me." Good! And I tell you tonight that God
will not punish with eternal thirst the man who has put the cup of cold
water to the lips of his neighbor. God will not allow to live in
eternal nakedness of pain the man who has clothed others.
For instance, here is a shipwreck, and here is some brave sailor stands
aside and allows a woman whom he never saw before to take his place in
the boat, and he stands there, grand and serene as the wide sea, and he
goes down. Do you tell me there is any God who will push the life-boat
from the shore of eternal life, when that man wishes to step in? Do
you tell me that God can be unpitying to the pitiful, that He can be
unforgiving to the forgiving? I deny it; and from the aspersions of
the pulpit I seek to rescue the reputation of the Deity.
Now, I have read you everything in Matthew on the subject of salvation.
That is all there is. Not one word about believing anything. It is
the gospel of deed, the gospel of charity, the gospel of self-denial;
and if only that gospel had been preached, persecution never would have
shed one drop of blood. Not one. Now, according to the testimony,
Matthew was well acquainted with Christ. According to the testimony,
he had been with Him, and His companion for years, and if it was
necessary to believe anything in order to get to heaven, Matthew should
have told us. But he forgot it. Or he didn't believe it. Or he never
heard of it. You can take your choice.
The next is Mark. Now let us see what he says. And for the purpose of
this lecture it is sufficient for me to say that Mark agrees,
substantially, with Matthew, that God will be merciful to the merciful;
that He will be kind to the kind that He will pity the pitying. And it
is precisely, or substantially, the same as Matthew until I come to the
16th verse of the 16th chapter, and then I strike an interpolation, put
in by hypocrisy, put in by priests, who longed to grasp with bloody
hands the sceptre of universal authority.
Let me read it to you. And it is the most infamous passage in the
Bible. Christ never said it. No sensible man ever said it. "And He
said unto them"--that is, unto His disciples--"Go ye into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned."
Now, I propose to prove to you that that is an interpolation. Now how
will I do it? In the first place, not one word is said about belief in
Matthew. In the next place, not one word is said about belief in Mark,
until I come to that verse. And when is that said to have been spoken?
According to Mark, it is a part of the last conversation of Jesus
Christ--just before, according to the account, He ascended bodily
before their eyes. If there ever was any important thing happened in
this world, that is one of them. If there was any conversation that
people would be apt to recollect, it would be the last conversation
with God before He rose through the air and seated Himself upon the
throne of the Infinite. We have in this Testament five accounts of the
last conversation happening between Jesus Christ and His apostles.
Matthew gives it. And yet Matthew does not state that in that
conversation He said: "Whoso believeth and is baptized shall be saved,
and whoso believeth not shall be damned." And if He did say those
words, they were the most important that ever fell from His lips.
Matthew did not hear it, or did not believe it, or forgot it.
Then I turn to Luke, and he gives an account of this same last
conversation, and not one word does he say upon that subject. Now it
is the most important thing, if Christ said it, that He ever said.
Then I turn to John, and he gives an account of the last conversation,
but not one solitary word on the subject of belief or unbelief. Not
one solitary word on the subject of damnation. Not one.
Then I turn to the first chapter of the Acts, and there I find an
account of the last conversation; and in that conversation there is not
one word upon this subject. Now, I say, that demonstrates that the
passage in Mark is an interpolation.
What other reason have I got? That there is not one particle of sense
in it. Why? No man can control his belief. You hear evidence for and
against, and the integrity of the soul stands at the scales and tells
which side rises and which side falls. You cannot believe as you wish.
You must believe as you must. And He might as well have said: "Go into
all the world and preach the gospel, and whosoever has red hair shall
be saved, and whosoever hath not shall be damned."
I have another reason. I am much obliged to the gentleman who
interpolated these passages. I am much obliged to him that he put in
some more--two, more. Now hear:
"And these signs shall follow them that believe." Good.
"In My name shall they cast out devils. They shall speak with new
tongues, and they shall take up serpents and if they drink any deadly
thing it shall not hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick, and
they shall recover."
Bring on your believer! Let him cast out a devil. I do not claim a
large one, "just a little one for a cent." Let him take up serpents.
"And if he drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt him." Let me mix
up a dose for the theological believer, and if it does not hurt him
I'll join a church. O, but, "they say those things only lasted through
that apostolic age." Let us see. "Go ye into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall
be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs
shall follow them that believe."
How long? I think at least until they had gone into all the world.
Certainly these signs should follow until all the world had been
visited. And yet if that declaration was in the mouth of Christ, he
then knew that one-half of the world was unknown and that he would be
dead 1,492 years before his disciples would know that there was another
world. And yet he said, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel,"
and he knew then that it would be 1,492 years before anybody went.
Well, if it was worth while to have signs follow believers in the old
world, surely it was worth while to have signs follow believers in the
new world. And the very reason that signs should follow would be to
convince the unbeliever, and there are as many unbelievers now as ever,
and the signs are as necessary today as they ever were. I would like a
few myself.
This frightful declaration, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be
saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned," has filled the world
with agony and crime.
Every letter of this passage has been sword and fagot; every word has
been dungeon and chain.
That passage made the sword of persecution drip with innocent blood for
ten centuries. That passage made the horizon of a thousand years lurid
with the flames of fagots. That passage contradicts the sermon on the
mount. That passage travesties the Lord's prayer. That passage turns
the splendid religion of deed and duty into the superstition of creed
and cruelty. I deny it. It is infamous. Christ never said it! Now I
come to Luke, and it is sufficient to say that Luke substantially
agrees with Matthew and with Mark. Substantially agrees, as the
evidence is read. I like it.
"Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful." Good!
"Judge not, and ye shall not be judged. Condemn not, and ye shall not
be condemned; forgive and ye shall be forgiven." Good!
"Give, and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, and
shaken together, and running over." Good! I like it.
"For with the same measure that ye mete withal, it shall be measured to
you again."
He agrees substantially with Mark; he agrees substantially with
Matthew; and I come at last to the nineteenth chapter.
"And Zaccheus stood and said unto the Lord, 'Behold, Lord, the half of
my goods I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything from any man
by false accusation, I restore him four-fold.' And Jesus said unto
him, 'This day is salvation come to this house.'"
That is good doctrine. He didn't ask Zaccheus what he believed. He
didn't ask him, Do you believe in the Bible? Do you believe in the
five points? Have you ever been baptized-sprinkled? Oh! immersed.
"Half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything from
any man by false accusation, I restore him four-fold." "And Christ
said, 'This day is salvation come to this house.'" Good!
I read also in Luke that Christ when upon the cross forgave His
murderers, and that is considered the shining gem in the crown of His
mercy--that He forgave His murderers. That He forgave the men who
drove the nails in His hands, in His feet, that plunged a spear in His
side; the soldier that in the hour of death offered Him in mockery the
bitterness to drink; that He forgave them all freely, and that yet,
although He would forgive them, He will in the nineteenth century damn
to eternal fire an honest man for the expression of his honest
thoughts. That won't do. I find too, in Luke, an account of two
thieves that were crucified at the same time. The other gospels speak
of them. One says they both railed upon Him. Another says nothing
about it. In Luke we are told that one did, but one of the thieves
looked and pitied Christ, and Christ said to that thief:
"This day shalt thou meet me in Paradise."
Why did He say that? Because the thief pitied Him. And God cannot
afford to trample beneath the feet of His infinite wrath the smallest
blossom of pity that ever shed its perfume in the human heart!
Who was this thief? To what church did he belong? I don't know. The
fact that he was a thief throws no light on that question. Who was he?
What did he believe? I don't know. Did he believe in the Old
Testament? In the miracles? I don't know. Did he believe that Christ
was God? I don't know. Why, then, was the promise made to him that he
should meet Christ in Paradise. Simply because he pitied innocence
suffering on the cross.
God cannot afford to damn any man that is capable of pitying anybody.
And now we come to John, and that is where the trouble commences. The
other gospels teach that God will be merciful to the merciful,
forgiving to the forgiving, kind to the kind, loving to the loving,
just to the just, merciful to the good.
Now we come to John, and here is another doctrine. And allow me to say
that John was not written until centuries after the others. This, the
Church got up:
"And Jesus answered and said unto him: 'Furthermore I say unto thee
that except a man be born again he cannot see the "Kingdom of God."'"
Why didn't He tell Matthew that? Why didn't He tell Luke that? Why
didn't He tell Mark that? They never heard of it, or forgot it, or
they didn't believe it.
"Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into
the Kingdom of God." Why?
"That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of
the spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, 'ye must be
born again.' That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which
is born of the spirit is spirit,"--and He might have added that which
is born of water is water.
"Marvel not that I say unto thee, 'ye must be born again.'" And then
the reason is given, and I admit I did not understand it myself until I
read the reason, and will understand it as well as I do; and here it
is: "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound
thereof, and canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth." So
I find in the book of John the idea of the real presence.
So I find in the book of John, that in order to be saved we must eat of
the flesh and we must drink of the blood of Jesus Christ, and if that
gospel is true, the Catholic Church is right. But it is not true. I
cannot believe it, and yet for all that it may be true. But I don't
believe it. Neither do I believe there is any God in the universe who
will damn a man simply for expressing his belief.
"Why," they say to me, "suppose all this should turn out to be true,
and you should come to the day of judgment and find all these things to
be true. What would you do then?" I would walk up like a man, and
say, "I was mistaken."
"And suppose God was about to pass judgment on you, what would you
say?" I would say to Him, "Do unto others as you would that others
should do unto you." Why not?
I am told that I must render good for evil. I am told that if smitten
on one cheek I must turn the other. I am told that I must overcome
evil with good. I am told that I must love my enemies; and will it do
for this God who tells me, "Love my enemies," to say, "I will damn
mine." No, it will not do; it will not do.
In the book of John all this doctrine of regeneration; all this
doctrine that it is necessary to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ; all
the doctrine that salvation depends upon belief--in this book of John
all these doctrines find their warrant; nowhere else.
Read these three gospels and then read John, and you will agree with me
that the gospels that teach "We must be kind, we must be merciful, we
must be forgiving, and thereupon that God will forgive us," is true,
and then say whether or no that doctrine is not better than the
doctrine that somebody else can be good for you, that somebody else can
be bad for you, and that the only way to get to heaven is to believe
something that you do not understand.
Now upon these gospels that I have read the churches rest; and out of
those things that I have read they have made their creeds. And the
first Church to make a creed, so far as I know, was the Catholic. I
take it that is the first Church that had any power. That is the
Church that has preserved all these miracles for us. That is the
Church that preserved the manuscripts for us. That is the Church whose
word we have to take. That Church is the first witness that
Protestantism brought to the bar of history to prove miracles that took
place eighteen hundred years ago; and while the witness is there
Protestantism takes pains to say: "You can't believe one word that
witness says, now."
That Church is the only one that keeps up a constant communication with
heaven through the instrumentality of a large number of decayed saints.
That Church is an agent of God on earth. That Church has a person who
stands in the place of Deity; and that Church, according to their
doctrine, is infallible. That Church has persecuted to the exact
extent of her power--and always will. In Spain that Church stands
erect, and that Church is arrogant. In the United States that Church
crawls. But the object in both countries is the same, and that is the
destruction of intellectual liberty. That Church teaches us that we
can make God happy by being miserable ourselves. That Church teaches
you that a nun is holier in the sight of God than a loving mother with
a child in her thrilled and thrilling arms. That Church teaches you
that a priest is better than a father. That Church teaches you that
celibacy is better than that passion of love that has made everything
of beauty in this world. That Church tells the girl of 16 or 18 years
of age, with eyes like dew and light--that girl with the red of health
in the white of her beautiful checks--tells that girl, "Put on the veil
woven of death and night, kneel upon stones, and you will please God."
I tell you that, by law, no girl should be allowed to take the veil,
and renounce the beauties of the world, until she was at least 25 years
of age. Wait until she knows what she wants.
I am opposed to allowing these spider-like priests weaving webs to
catch the flies of youth; and there ought to be a law appointing
commissioners to visit such places twice a year, and release every
person who expresses a desire to be released. I don't believe in
keeping penitentiaries for God. No doubt they are honest about it.
That is not the question.
Now this Church, after a few centuries of thought, made a creed, and
that creed is the foundation of orthodox religion. Let me read it to
you:
"Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he
hold the Catholic faith; which faith, except every one do keep entire
and inviolate, without doubt, he shall everlastingly perish." Now the
faith is this: "That we worship one God in trinity, and trinity in
unity."
Of course you understand how that's done, and there's no need of my
explaining it. Neither confounding the persons nor dividing the
substance. You see what a predicament that would leave the Deity in if
you divided, the substance.
"For one is the person of the Father, another of the Son, and another
of the Holy Ghost; but the Godhead of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Ghost is all one "--you know what I mean by Godhead. In
glory equal, and in majesty co-eternal. Such as the Father is, such is
the Son, such is the Holy Ghost. The Father is uncreated, the Son
uncreated, the Holy Ghost uncreated. The Father incomprehensible, the
Son incomprehensible, the Holy Ghost incomprehensible.
And that is the reason we know so much about the thing. "The Father is
eternal, the Son eternal, the Holy Ghost eternal," and yet there are
not three eternals, only one eternal, as also there are not three
uncreated, nor three incomprehensibles, only one uncreated, one
incomprehensible.
"In like manner, the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, the Holy
Ghost almighty." Yet there are not three almighties, only one
Almighty. So the Father is God, the Son God, the Holy Ghost God, and
yet not three Gods; and so likewise, the Father is Lord, the Son is
Lord, the Holy Ghost is Lord, yet there are not three Lords, for as we
are compelled by the Christian truth to acknowledge every person by
himself to be God and Lord, so we are all forbidden by the Catholic
religion to say there are three Gods, or three Lords. "The Father is
made of no one, not created or begotten. The Son is from the Father
alone, not made, nor created, or begotten. The Holy Ghost is from the
Father and the Son, not made nor begotten, but proceeded--" You know
what proceeding is.
"So there is one Father, not three Fathers." Why should there be three
Fathers, and only one Son?
"One Son, and not three Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts;
and in this Trinity there is nothing before or afterward, nothing
greater or less, but the whole three persons are coeternal with one
another, and coequal, so that in all things the unity is to be
worshiped in Trinity, and the Trinity is to be worshiped in unity, and
therefore we will believe." Those who will be saved must thus think of
the Trinity. Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation
that he also believe rightly the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now the right of this thing is this: That we believe and confess that
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is both God and man. He is God
of the substance of His Father begotten before the world was. That was
a good while before His mother lived.
"And He is man of the substance of His mother, born in this world,
perfect God and perfect man, and the rational soul in human flesh
subsisting equal to the Father according to His Godhead, but less than
the Father, according to His manhood, who being both God and man is not
two but one--one not by conversion of God into flesh but by the taking
of the manhood into God."
You see that it is a great deal easier than the other. "One
altogether, not by a confusion of substance, but by unity of person,
for as the rational soul and flesh is one man, so God the man, is one
Christ, who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again
the third day from the dead, ascended into heaven, and He sitteth at
the right hand of God, the Father Almighty, and He shall come to judge
the living and the dead."
In order to be saved it is necessary to believe this. What a blessing,
that we do not have to understand it. And in order to compel the human
intellect to get upon its knees, before that infinite absurdity,
thousands and millions have suffered agonies; thousands and millions
have perished in dungeons and in fire; and if all the bones of all the
victims of the Catholic Church could be gathered together, a monument
higher than all the pyramids would rise in our presence, and the eyes
even of priests would be suffused with tears.
That Church covered Europe with cathedrals and dungeons. That Church
robbed men of the jewel of the soul. That Church had ignorance upon
its knees. That Church went into partnership with the tyrants of the
throne, and between these two vultures, the altar and the throne, the
heart of man was devoured. Of course I have met, and cheerfully admit
that there is thousands of good Catholics; but Catholicism is contrary
to human liberty. Catholicism bases salvation upon belief. Catholicism
teaches man to trample his reason under foot. And for that reason, it
is wrong.
Now, the next Church that comes along in the way that I wish to speak
of is the Episcopalian. That was founded by Henry VIII., now in
heaven. He cast off Queen Catherine and Catholicism together. And he
accepted Episcopalianism and Annie Boleyn at the same time. That
Church, if it had a few more ceremonies, would be Catholic. If it had
a few less, nothing. We have an Episcopalian Church in this country,
and it has all the imperfection of a poor relation. It is always
boasting of a rich relative. In England the creed is made by law, the
same as we pass statutes here. And when a gentleman dies in England,
in order to determine whether he shall be saved or not, it is necessary
for the power of heaven to read the acts of Parliament. It becomes a
question of law, and sometimes a man is damned on a very nice point.
Lost on demurrer.
A few years ago, a gentleman by the name of Seabury, Samuel Seabury,
was sent over to England to get some apostolic succession. We hadn't a
drop in the house. It was necessary for the bishops of the English
church to put their hands upon his head. They refused; there was no
act of Parliament justifying--it. He had then to go to the Scotch
Bishops; and, had the Scotch Bishops refused, we never would have had
any apostolic succession in the new world. And God would have been
driven out of half the world; and the true church never could have been
founded. But the Scotch Bishops put their hands on his head, and now
we have an unbroken succession of heads and hands from St. Paul to the
last bishop.
In this country the Episcopal Church has done some good, and I want to
thank that Church. Having, on an average, less religion than the
others, on an average you have done more good to mankind. You
preserved some of the humanities. You did not hate music, you did not
absolutely despise painting, and you did not altogether abhor
architecture, and you finally admitted that it was no worse to keep
time with your feet than with your hands. And some went so far as to
say that people could play cards, and God would overlook it, or would
look the other way. For all these things accept my thanks.
When I was a boy, the other Churches looked upon dancing as probably
the mysterious sin against the Holy Ghost; and they used to teach that
when four boys got in a hay-mow, playing seven-up, that the Eternal God
stood whetting the sword of His eternal wrath waiting to strike them
down to the lowest hell. And so that Church has done some good.
After a while, in England, a couple of gentlemen, or a couple of men by
the name of Wesley and Whitfield, said: "If everybody is going to hell,
nearly, somebody ought to mention it." The Episcopal clergy said:
"Keep still; don't tear your gown." Wesley and Whitfield said: "This
frightful truth ought to be proclaimed from the housetops at every
opportunity, from the highway of every occasion." They were good,
honest men. They believed their doctrine. And they said: "If there is
a hell, and a Niagara of souls pouring over an eternal precipice of
ignorance, somebody ought to say something." They were right; somebody
ought, if such thing was true. Wesley was a believer in the Bible. He
believed in the actual presence of the Almighty. God used to do
miracles for him; used to put off a rain several days to give his
meeting a chance; used to cure his horse of lameness; used to cure Mr.
Wesley's headaches.
And Mr. Wesley also believed in the actual existence of the devil. He
believed that devils had possession of people. He talked to the devil
when he was in folks, and the devil told him that he was going to
leave; and that he was going into another person; that he would be
there at a certain time; and Wesley went to that other person, and
there the devil was, prompt to the minute. He regarded every
conversion as an absolute warfare between God and this devil for the
possession of that human soul. Honest, no doubt. Mr. Wesley did not
believe in human liberty. Honest, no doubt. Was opposed to the liberty
of the colonies. Honestly so. Mr. Wesley preached a sermon entitled,
"The Cause and Cure of Earthquakes," in which he took the ground that
earthquakes were caused by sin and the only way to stop them was to
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. No doubt an honest man.
Wesley and Whitfield fell out on the question of predestination. Wesley
insisted that God invited everybody to the feast. Whitfield said He
did not invite those He knew would not come. Wesley said He did.
Whitfield said: "Well, He didn't put plates for them, anyway." Wesley
said He did. So that, when they were in hell, he could show them that
there was a seat left for them. And that Church that they founded is
still active. And probably no Church in the world has done so much
preaching for as little money as the Methodists. Whitfield believed in
slavery and advocated the slave trade. And it was of Whitfield that
Whittier made the two lines:
He bade the slave ships speed from coast to coast, Fanned by the wings
of the Holy Ghost.
We have lately had a meeting of the Methodists, and I find, by their
statistics, that they believe they have converted 130,000 folks in a
year. That in order to do this, they have 26,000 preachers, 226,000
Sunday-school scholars, and about $1,000,000,000 invested in church
property. I find, in looking over the history of the world, that there
are 40,000,000 or 50,000,000,000 of people born a year, and if they are
saved at the rate of 30,000 a year, about how long will it take that
doctrine to save this world? Good, honest people; they are mistaken.
In old times they were very simple. Churches used to be like barns.
They used to have them divided--men on that side, and women on this. A
little barbarous. We have advanced since then, and we now find as a
fact, demonstrated by experience, that a man sitting by the woman he
loves can thank God as heartily as though sitting between two men that
he has never been introduced to.
There is another thing these Methodists should remember, and that is,
that the Episcopalians were the greatest enemies they ever had. And
they should remember that the Free-Thinkers have always treated them
kindly and well.
There is one thing about the Methodist Church in the North that I like.
But I find that it is not Methodism that does that. I find that the
Methodist Church in the South is as much opposed to liberty as the
Methodist Church North is in favor of liberty. So it is not Methodism
that is in favor of liberty or slavery. They differ a little in their
creed from the rest. They do not believe that God does everything.
They believe that He does His part, and that you must do the rest, and
that getting to heaven is a partnership business.
The next church is the Presbyterians--in my judgment the worst of all,
as far as creed is concerned. This Church was founded by John Calvin,
a murderer! John Calvin, having power in Geneva, inaugurated human
torture. Voltaire abolished torture in France. The man who abolished
torture, if the Christian religion be true, God is now torturing in
hell; and the man who inaugurated torture, is now a glorified angel in
heaven. It won't do.
John Knox started this doctrine in Scotland, and there is this
peculiarity about Presbyterianism, it grows best where the soil is
poorest. I read the other day an account of a meeting between John
Knox and John Calvin. Imagine a dialogue between a pestilence and a
famine! Imagine a conversation between a block and an ax! As I read
their conversation it seemed to me as though John Knox and John Calvin
were made for each other; that they fitted each other like the upper
and lower jaws of a wild beast. They believed happiness was a crime;
they looked upon laughter as blasphemy, and they did all they could to
destroy every human feeling, and to fill the mind with the infinite
gloom of predestination and eternal damnation. They taught the doctrine
that God had a right to damn us because He made us. That is just the
reason that He has not a right to damn us. There is some dust.
Unconscious dust! What right has God to change that unconscious dust
into a human being, when He knows that human being will sin; and He
knows that human being will suffer eternal agony? Why not leave him in
the unconscious dust? What right has an infinite God to add to the sum
of human agony? Suppose I knew that I could change that piece of
furniture into a living, sentient human being, and I knew that that
being would suffer untold agony forever. If I did it, I would be a
fiend. I would leave that being in the unconscious dust. And yet we
are told that we must believe such a doctrine, or we are to be
eternally damned! It won't do.
In 1839 there was a division in this Church, and they had a lawsuit to
see which was the Church of God. And they tried it by a judge and
jury, and the jury decided that the new school was the Church of God,
and then they got a new trial, and the next jury decided that the old
school was the Church of God, and that settled it. That Church teaches
that infinite innocence was sacrificed for me! I don't want it! I
don't wish to go to heaven unless I can settle by the books, and go
there because I ought to go there. I have said, and I say again, I
don't want to be a charity angel. I have no ambition to become a
winged pauper of the skies.
The other day a young gentleman, a Presbyterian, who had just been
converted, came to me and gave me a tract and he told me he was
perfectly happy. Ugh! Says I: "Do you think a great many people are
going to hell?" "Oh, yes." "And you are perfectly happy?" "Well, he
didn't know as he was quite." "Wouldn't you be happier if they were all
going to heaven?" "O, yes." "Well, then you are not perfectly
happy?" "No, he didn't think he was." Says I: "When you get to heaven,
then you would be perfectly happy?" "Oh, yes." "Now, when we are only
going to hell, you are not quite happy; but when we are in hell, and
you in heaven, then you will be perfectly happy?" You won't be as
decent when you get to be an angel as you are now, will you? "Well,"
he said, "that was not exactly it." Said I: "Suppose your mother were
in hell, would you be happy in heaven then?" "Well," he says, "I
suppose God would know the best place for mother." And I thought to
myself, then, if I was a woman, I would like to have five or six boys
like that.
It will not do. Heaven is where are those we love, and those who love
us. And I wish to go to no world unless I can be accompanied by those
who love me here. Talk about the consolations of this infamous
doctrine. The consolations of a doctrine that makes a father say, "I
can be happy with my daughter in hell"; that makes a mother say, "I can
be happy with my generous, brave boy in hell"; that makes a boy say, "I
can enjoy the glory of heaven with the woman who bore me, the woman who
would have died for me, in eternal agony." And they call that tidings
of great joy.
I have not time to speak of the Baptists,--that Jeremy Taylor said were
as much to be rooted out as anything that is the greatest pest and
nuisance on the earth. Nor of the Quakers, the best of all, and abused
by all. I can not forget that George Fox, in the year of grace 1640,
was put in the pillory and whipped from town to town, scarred, put in a
dungeon, beaten, trampled upon, and what for? Simply because he
preached the doctrine: "Thou shalt not resist evil with evil. Thou
shalt love thy enemies." Think what the Church must have been that day
to scar the flesh of that loving man! Just think of it! I say I have
not time to speak of all these sects. And of the varieties of
Presbyterians and Campbellites. The people who think they must dive in
order to go up. There are hundreds and hundreds of these sects, all
founded upon this creed that I read, differing simply in degree. Ah
but they say to me: "You are fighting something that is dead. Nobody
believes this, now." The preachers do not believe what they preach in
the pulpit. The people in the pews do not believe what they hear
preached. And they say to me: "You are fighting something that is
dead. This is all a form, we do not believe a solitary creed in it.
We sign it and swear that we believe it, but we don't. And none of us
do. And all the ministers they say in private, admit that they do not
believe it, not quite." I don't know whether this is so or not. I take
it that they believe what they preach. I take it that when they meet
and solemnly agree to a creed, I take it they are honest and solemnly
believe in that creed.
The Evangelical Alliance, made up of all orthodox denominations of the
world, met only a few years ago, and here is their creed: They believe
in the divine inspiration, authority, and sufficiency of the Holy
Scriptures; the right and duty of private judgment in the
interpretation of Holy Scriptures, but if you interpret wrong you are
damned. They believe in the unity of the Godhead and the trinity of
the persons therein. They believe in the utter depravity of human
nature. There can be no more infamous doctrine than that. They look
upon a little child as a lump of depravity. I look upon it as a bud of
humanity, that will, under proper circumstances, blossom into rich and
glorious life.
Total depravity of human nature! Here is a woman whose husband has
been lost at sea; the news comes that he has been drowned by the
ever-hungry waves, and she waits. There is something in her heart that
tells her he is alive. And she waits. And years afterwards as she
looks down toward the little gate, she sees him; he has been given back
by the sea, and she rushes to his arms and covers his face with kisses,
and with tears. And if that infamous doctrine is true, every tear is a
crime, and every kiss a blasphemy. It won't do. According to that
doctrine, if a man steals and repents, and takes back the property, the
repentance and the taking back of the property are two other crimes if
he is totally depraved: It is an infamy. What else do they believe?
"The justification of a sinner by faith alone," without works, just
faith. Believing something that you don't understand. Of course God
cannot afford to reward a man for believing anything that is
reasonable. God rewards only for believing something that is
unreasonable, if you believe something that you know is not so. What
else? They believe in the eternal blessedness of the righteous, and in
the eternal punishment of the wicked. Tidings of great joy! They are
so good that they will not associate with Universalists. They will not
associate with Unitarians. They will not associate with scientists.
They will only associate with those who believed that God so loved the
world that He made up his mind to damn the most of us. Then they say
to me: "What do you propose? You have torn this down; what do you
propose to give in the place of it?" I have not torn the good down. I
have only endeavored to trample out the ignorant, cruel fires of hell.
I do not tear away the passage, "God will be merciful to the merciful."
I do not destroy the promise, "If you will forgive others, God will
forgive you." I would not for anything blot out the faintest stars
that shine in the horizon of human despair, nor in the horizon of human
hope; but I will do what I can to get that infinite shadow out of the
heart of man.
"What do you propose to put in place of this?"
Well, in the first place, I propose good fellowship--good friends all
around. No matter what we believe, shake hands and let it go. That is
your opinion. This is mine: "Let us be friends." Science makes
friends, religion--superstition--makes enemies. They say, "Belief is
important." I say no, good actions are important. Judge by deed, not
by creed, good fellowship. We have had too many of these solemn
people. Whenever I see an exceedingly solemn man, I know he is an
exceedingly stupid man. No man of any humor ever founded any
religion--never. Humor sees both sides, while reason is the holy light;
humor carries the lantern and the man with a keen sense of humor is
preserved from the solemn stupidities of superstition. I like a man
who has got good feeling for everybody--good fellowship. One man said
to another:
"Will you take a glass of wine?"
"I don't drink."
"Will you smoke a cigar?"
"I don't smoke."
"Maybe you will chew something?"
"I don't chew."
"Let us eat some hay."
"I tell you I don't eat hay."
"Well, then, good-bye; for you are no company for man or beast."
I believe in the gospel of cheerfulness, the gospel of good nature, the
gospel of good health. Let us pray to our bodies. Take care of our
bodies, and our souls will take care of themselves. Good health! And I
believe that the time will come when the public thought will be so
great and grand that it will be looked upon as infamous to perpetuate
disease. I believe the time will come when man will not fill the future
with consumption and insanity. I believe the time will come when we
study ourselves, and understand the laws of health, that we will say,
"We are under obligation to put the flags of health in the cheeks of
our children." Even if I got to heaven, and had a harp, I would hate
to look back upon my children and grandchildren, and see them diseased,
deformed, crazed, all suffering the penalties of crimes I had committed.
I, then, believe in the gospel of good health, and I believe in a
gospel of good living. You can not make any God happy by fasting. Let
us have good food, and let us have it well cooked--and it is a thousand
times better to know how to cook it than it is to understand any
theology in the world. I believe in the gospel of good clothes. I
believe in the gospel of good houses, in the gospel of water and soap.
I believe in the gospel of intelligence, in the gospel of education.
The school-house is my cathedral. The universe is my Bible. I believe
in that gospel of justice that we must reap what we sow.
I do not believe in forgiveness. If I rob Mr. Smith and God forgives
me, how does that help Smith? If I, by slander, cover some poor girl
with the leprosy of some imputed crime, and she withers away like a
blighted flower, and afterward I get forgiveness, how does that help
her? If there is another world we have got to settle. No bankrupt
court there. Pay down. The Christians say, that among the ancient
Jews, if you committed a crime you had to kill a sheep, now they
say,--"Charge it." "Put it upon the slate." It won't do, for every
crime you commit you must answer to yourself and to the one you injure.
And if you have ever clothed another with unhappiness, as with a
garment of pain, you will never be quite as happy as though you hadn't
done that thing. No forgiveness. Eternal, inexorable, everlasting
justice. That is what I believe in. And if it goes hard with me, I
will stand it, and I will stick to in logic and I will bear it like a
man.
And I believe, too, in the gospel of liberty, in giving to others what
we claim for ourselves. I believe there is room everywhere for
thought, and the more liberty you give away the more you will have. In
liberty, extravagance is economy. Let us be just. Let us be generous
to each other.
I believe in the gospel of intelligence. That is the only lever
capable of raising mankind. Intelligence must be the savior of this
world. Humanity is the grand religion, and no God can put another in
hell in another world who has made a little heaven in this. God cannot
make a man miserable if that man has made somebody else happy. God
cannot hate anybody who is capable of loving anybody.
So I believe in this great gospel of generosity.
"Ah! but," they say, "it won't do. You must believe. I say no. My
gospel of health will bring life. My gospel of intelligence, my gospel
of good living, my gospel of good-fellowship will cover the world with
happy homes. My doctrine will put carpets upon your floors, pictures
upon your walls. My doctrine will put books upon your shelves, ideas
in your minds. My doctrine will rid the world of the abnormal monsters
born of the ignorance of superstition. My doctrine will give us
health, wealth, and happiness. That is what I want. That is what I
believe in. Give us intelligence. In a little while a man may find
that he cannot steal without robbing himself. He will find that he
cannot murder without assassinating his own joy. He will find that
every crime is a mistake. He will find that only that man carries the
cross who does wrong, and that the man who does right the cross turns
to wings upon his shoulders that will bear him upwards forever. He
will find that intelligent self-love embraces within its mighty arms
all the human race.
"Oh," but they say to me, "you take away immortality." I do not. If we
are immortal it is a fact in nature, and we are not indebted to priests
for it, nor to Bibles for it, and it cannot be destroyed by unbelief.
As long as we love we will hope to live, and when the one dies that we
love, we will say: "Oh, that we could meet again!" And whether we do
or not, it will not be the work of theology. It will be a fact in
nature. I would not for my life destroy one star of human hope; but I
want it so that when a poor woman rocks the cradle, and sings a lullaby
to the dimpled darling, that she will not be compelled to believe that,
ninety-nine chances in a hundred, she is raising kindling-wood for
hell. One world at a time--that is my doctrine.
It is said in the Testament, "Sufficient unto the day is the evil
thereof" and I say, sufficient unto each world is the evil thereof. And
suppose, after all, that death does end all, next to eternal joy, next
to being forever with those we love and those who have loved us, next
to that is to be wrapt in the dreamless drapery of eternal peace.
Next to external life is eternal death. Upon the shadowy shore of
death the sea of trouble casts no wave. Eyes that have been curtained
by the everlasting dark will never know again the touch of tears. Lips
that have been touched by eternal silence will never utter another word
of grief. Hearts of dust do not break; the dead do not weep. And I had
rather think of those I have loved, and those I have lost, as having
returned, as having become a part of the elemental wealth of the
world--I would rather think of them as unconscious dust--I would rather
think of them as gurgling in the stream, floating in the clouds,
bursting in the foam of light upon the shores of worlds--I would rather
think of them as the inanimate and eternally unconscious, that to have
even a suspicion that their naked souls had been clutched by an
orthodox God.
But for me, I will leave the dead where nature leaves them. And
whatever flower of hope springs up in my heart I will cherish; but I
can not believe that there is any being in this universe who has
created a human soul for eternal pain. And I would rather that every
God would destroy himself; I would rather that we all should go to
eternal chaos, to black and starless night, that that just one soul
should suffer eternal agony. I have made up my mind that if there is a
God, he will be merciful to the merciful. Upon that rock I stand. That
he will forgive the forgiving. Upon that rock I stand. That every man
should be true to himself, and that there is no world, no star, in
which honesty is a crime. And upon that rock I stand. The honest man,
the good, kind, sweet woman, the happy child, has nothing to fear,
neither in this world, nor the world to come. And upon that rock I
stand.