Now no man in whose brain the torch of reason bums, no man who
investigates, who really thinks, who is capable of weighing evidence,
believes in signs, in lucky or unlucky days, in lucky or unlucky
numbers. He knows that Fridays and Thursdays are alike; that thirteen
is no more deadly than twelve. He knows that opals affect the wearer the
same as rubies, diamonds or common glass. He knows that the matrimonial
chances of a maiden are not increased or decreased by the number of
leaves of a flower or seeds in an apple. He knows that a glance at the
moon over the left shoulder is as healthful and lucky as one over
the right. He does not care whether the first comer to a theatre is
crosseyed or hump-backed, bow-legged, or as well-proportioned as Apollo.
He knows that a strange cat could be denied asylum without bringing any
misfortune to the family. He knows that an owl does not hoot in the full
of the moon because a distinguished man is about to die. He knows that
comets and eclipses would come if all the folks were dead. He is not
frightened by sun dogs, or the Morning of the North when the glittering
lances pierce the shield of night.
He knows that all these things occur without the slightest reference to
the human race. He feels certain that floods would destroy and cyclones
rend and earthquakes devour; that the stars would shine; that day and
night would still pursue each other around the world; that flowers would
give their perfume to the air, and light would paint the seven-hued arch
upon the dusky bosom of the cloud if every human being was unconscious
dust.
A man of thought and sense does not believe in the existence of the
Devil. He feels certain that imps, goblins, demons and evil spirits
exist only in the imagination of the ignorant and frightened. He knows
how these malevolent myths were made. He knows the part they have played
in all religions. He knows that for many centuries a belief in these
devils, these evil spirits, was substantially universal. He knows that
the priest believed as firmly as the peasant. In those days the best
educated and the most ignorant were equal dupes. Kings and courtiers,
ladies and clowns, soldiers and artists, slaves and convicts, believed
as firmly in the Devil as they did in God.
Back of this belief there is no evidence, and there never has been.
This belief did not rest on any fact. It was supported by mistakes,
exaggerations and lies. The mistakes were natural, the exaggerations
were mostly unconscious and the lies were generally honest. Back of
these mistakes, these exaggerations, these lies, was the love of
the marvelous. Wonder listened with greedy ears, with wide eyes, and
ignorance with open mouth.
The man of sense knows the history of this belief, and he knows, also,
that for many centuries its truth was established by the Holy Bible. He
knows that the Old Testament is filled with allusions to the Devil,
to evil spirits, and that the New Testament is the same. He knows that
Christ himself was a believer in the Devil, in evil spirits, and that
his principal business was casting out devils from the bodies of men and
women. He knows that Christ himself, according to the New Testament, was
not only tempted by the Devil, but was carried by his Satanic Highness
to the top of the temple. If the New Testament is the inspired word of
God, then I admit that these devils, these imps, do actually exist and
that they do take possession of human beings.
To deny the existence of these evil spirits, to deny the existence
of the Devil, is to deny the truth of the New Testament. To deny the
existence of these imps of darkness is to contradict the words of Jesus
Christ. If these devils do not exist, if they do not cause disease,
if they do not tempt and mislead their victims, then Christ was an
ignorant, superstitious man, insane, an impostor, or the New Testament
is not a true record of what he said and what he pretended to do. If we
give up the belief in devils, we must give up the inspiration of the Old
and New Testament. We must give up the divinity of Christ. To deny
the existence of evil spirits is to utterly destroy the foundation of
Christianity. There is no half-way ground. Compromise is impossible. If
all the accounts in the New Testament of casting out devils are false,
what part of the Blessed Book is true?
As a matter of fact, the success of the Devil in the Garden of Eden made
the coming of Christ a necessity, laid the foundation for the atonement,
crucified the Savior and gave us the Trinity.
If the Devil does not exist, the Christian creeds all crumble, and the
superstructure known as "Christianity," built by the fathers, by popes,
by priests and theologians--built with mistakes and falsehoods, with
miracles and wonders, with blood and flame, with lies and legends
borrowed from the savage world, becomes a shapeless ruin.
If we give up the belief in devils and evil spirits, we are compelled
to say that a witch never lived. No sensible human being now believes in
witchcraft. We know that it was a delusion. We now know that thousands
and thousands of innocent men, women and children were tortured and
burned for having been found guilty of an impossible crime, and we also
know, if our minds have not been deformed by faith, that all the books
in which the existence of witches is taught were written by ignorant
and superstitious men. We also know that the Old Testament asserted
the existence of witches. According to that Holy Book, Jehovah was a
believer in witchcraft, and said to his chosen people: "Thou shalt not
suffer a witch to live."
This one commandment--this simple line--demonstrates that Jehovah
was not only not God, but that he was a poor, ignorant, superstitious
savage. This one line proves beyond all possible doubt that the Old
Testament was written by men, by barbarians.
John Wesley was right when he said that to give up a belief in
witchcraft was to give up the Bible.
Give up the Devil, and what can you do with the Book of Job? How will
you account for the lying spirits that Jehovah sent to mislead Ahab?
Ministers who admit that witchcraft is a superstition will read the
story of the Witch of Endor--will read it in a solemn, reverential
voice--with a theological voice--and will have the impudence to say that
they believe it.
It would be delightful to know that angels hover in the air; that they
guard the innocent, protect the good; that they bend over the cradles
and give health and happy dreams to pallid babes; that they fill
dungeons with the light of their presence and give hope to the
imprisoned; that they follow the fallen, the erring, the outcasts, the
friendless, and win them back to virtue, love and joy. But we have no
more evidence of the existence of good spirits than of bad. The angels
that visited Abraham and the mother of Samson are as unreal as the
ghosts and goblins of the Middle Ages. The angel that stopped the
donkey of Balaam, the one who walked in the furnace flames with Meshech,
Shadrack and Abed-nego, the one who slew the Assyrians and the one who
in a dream removed the suspicions of Joseph, were all created by the
imagination of the credulous, by the lovers of the marvelous, and
they have been handed down from dotage to infancy, from ignorance to
ignorance, through all the years. Except in Catholic countries, no
winged citizen of the celestial realm has visited the world for hundreds
of years. Only those who are blind to facts can see these beautiful
creatures, and only those who reach conclusions without the assistance
of evidence can believe in their existence. It is told that the great
Angelo, in decorating a church, painted some angels wearing sandals. A
cardinal looking at the picture said to the artist: "Whoever saw angels
with sandals?" Angelo answered with another question: "Whoever saw an
angel barefooted?"
The existence of angels has never been established. Of course, we know
that millions and millions have believed in seraphim and cherubim; have
believed that the angel Gabriel contended with the Devil for the body
of Moses; that angels shut the mouths of the lions for the protection
of Daniel; that angels ministered unto Christ, and that countless angels
will accompany the Savior when he comes to take possession of the world.
And we know that all these millions believe through blind, unreasoning
faith, holding all evidence and all facts in theological contempt.
But the angels come no more. They bring no balm to any wounded heart.
Long ago they folded their pinions and faded from the earth and air.
These winged guardians no longer protect the innocent; no longer cheer
the suffering; no longer whisper words of comfort to the helpless. They
have become dreams--vanished visions.