After all we know but little. In the darkness of life there are a few
gleams of light. Possibly the dropping of a dishcloth prophesies the
coming of company, but we have no evidence. Possibly it is dangerous for
thirteen to dine together, but we have no evidence. Possibly a maiden's
matrimonial chances are determined by the number of seeds in an apple,
or by the number of leaves on a flower, but we have no evidence.
Possibly certain stones give good luck to the wearer, while the wearing
of others brings loss and death. Possibly a glimpse of the new moon over
the left shoulder brings misfortune. Possibly there are curative virtues
in old bones, in sacred rags and holy hairs, in images and bits of wood,
in rusty nails and dried blood, but the trouble is we have no evidence.
Possibly comets, eclipses and shooting stars foretell the death of
kings, the destruction of nations or the coming of plague. Possibly
devils take possession of the bodies and minds of men. Possibly witches,
with the Devil's help, control the winds, breed storms on sea and land,
fill summer's lap with frosts and snow, and work with charm and spell
against the public weal, but of this we have no evidence. It may be that
all the miracles described in the Old and New Testament were performed;
that the pallid flesh of the dead felt once more the thrill of life;
that the corpse arose and felt upon his smiling lips the kiss of wife
and child. Possibly water was turned into wine, loaves and fishes
increased, and possibly devils were expelled from men and women;
possibly fishes were found with money in their mouths; possibly clay
and spittle brought back the light to sightless eyes, and possibly words
cured disease and made the leper clean, but of this we have no evidence.
Possibly iron floated, rivers divided, waters burst from dry bones,
birds carried food to prophets and angels flourished drawn swords, but
of this we have no evidence.
Possibly Jehovah employed lying spirits to deceive a king, and all the
wonders of the savage world may have happened, but the trouble is there
is no proof.
So there may be a Devil, almost infinite in cunning and power, and he
may have a countless number of imps whose only business is to sow the
seeds of evil and to vex, mislead, capture and imprison in eternal
flames the souls of men. All this, so far as we know, is possible. All
we know is that we have no evidence except the assertions of ignorant
priests.
Possibly there is a place called "hell," where all the devils live--a
hell whose flames are waiting for, all the men who think and have the
courage to express their thoughts, for all who fail to credit priests
and sacred books, for all who walk the path that reason lights, for all
the good and brave who lack credulity and faith--but of this, I am happy
to say, there is no proof.
And so there may be a place called "heaven," the home of God, where
angels float and fly and play on harps and hear with joy the groans and
shrieks of the lost in hell, but of this there is no evidence.
It all rests on dreams and visions of the insane.
There may be a power superior to nature, a power that governs and
directs all things, but the existence of this power has not been
established.
In the presence of the mysteries of life and thought, of force and
substance, of growth and decay, of birth and death, of joy and pain,
of the sufferings of the good, the triumphs of wrong, the intelligent
honest man is compelled to say: "I do not know."
But we do know how gods and devils, heavens and hells, have been made.
We know the history of inspired books--the origin of religions. We know
how the seeds of superstition were planted and what made them grow. We
know that all superstitions, all creeds, all follies and mistakes,
all crimes and cruelties, all virtues, vices, hopes and fears, all
discoveries and inventions, have been naturally produced. By the light
of reason we divide the useful from the hurtful, the false from the
true.
We know the past--the paths that man has traveled--his mistakes, his
triumphs. We know a few facts, a few fragments, and the imagination,
the artist of the mind, with these facts, these fragments, rebuilds the
past, and on the canvas of the future deftly paints the things to be.
We believe in the natural, in the unbroken and unbreakable succession of
causes and effects. We deny the existence of the supernatural. We do not
believe in any God who can be pleased with incense, with kneeling, with
bell-ringing, psalm-singing, bead-counting, fasting or prayer--in any
God who can be flattered by words of faith or fear.
We believe in the natural. We have no fear of devils, ghosts or hells.
We believe that Mahatmas, astral bodies, materializations of spirits,
crystal gazing, seeing the future, telepathy, mind reading and Christian
Science are only cunning frauds, the genuineness of which is established
by the testimony of incompetent, honest witnesses. We believe that
Cunning plates fraud with the gold of honesty, and veneers vice with
virtue.
We know that millions are seeking the impossible--trying to secure
the aid of the supernatural--to solve the problem of life--to guess the
riddle of destiny, and to pluck from the future its secret. We know that
all their efforts are in vain.
We believe in the natural. We believe in home and fireside--in wife
and child and friend--in the realities of this world. We have faith
in facts--in knowledge--in the development of the brain. We throw away
superstition and welcome science. We banish the phantoms, the mistakes
and lies and cling to the truth. We do not enthrone the unknown and
crown our ignorance. We do not stand with our backs to the sun and
mistake our shadow for God.
We do not create a master and thankfully wear his chains. We do not
enslave ourselves. We want no leaders--no followers. Our desire is that
every human being shall be true to himself, to his ideal, unbribed by
promises, careless of threats. We want no tyrant on the earth or in the
air.
We know that superstition has given us delusions and illusions, dreams
and visions, ceremonies and cruelties, faith and fanaticism, beggars
and bigots, persecutions and prayers, theology and torture, piety and
poverty, saints and slaves, miracles and mummeries, disease and death.
We know that science has given us all we have of value. Science is
the only civilizer. It has freed the slave, clothed the naked, fed the
hungry, lengthened life, given us homes and hearths, pictures and books,
ships and railways, telegraphs and cables, engines that tirelessly turn
the countless wheels, and it has destroyed the monsters, the phantoms,
the winged horrors that filled the savage brain.
Science is the real redeemer. It will put honesty above hypocrisy;
mental veracity above all belief. It will teach the religion of
usefulness. It will destroy bigotry in all its forms. It will put
thoughtful doubt above thoughtless faith. It will give us philosophers,
thinkers and savants, instead of priests, theologians and saints. It
will abolish poverty and crime, and greater, grander, nobler than all
else, it will make the whole world free.