_It is a contradiction in terms and ideas to call
anything a revelation that comes to us at second-
hand, either verbally or in writing. Revelation is
necessarily limited to the first communication--
after this, it is only an account of something
which that person says was a revelation made to
him; and though he may find himself obliged to
believe it, it cannot be incumbent on me to
believe it in the same manner; for it was not a
revelation made to me, and I have only his word
for it that it was made to him.--Thomas Paine._
_Question_. What do you think of the argu-
ments presented by Mr. Talmage in favor of
the inspiration of the Bible?
_Answer_. Mr. Talmage takes the ground that
there are more copies of the Bible than of any
other book, and that consequently it must be in-
spired.
It seems to me that this kind of reasoning proves
entirely too much. If the Bible is the inspired word
of God, it was certainly just as true when there was
only one copy, as it is to-day; and the facts con-
tained in it were just as true before they were
296
written, as afterwards. We all know that it is a fact
in human nature, that a man can tell a falsehood so
often that he finally believes it himself; but I never
suspected, until now, that a mistake could be printed
enough times to make it true.
There may have been a time, and probably there
was, when there were more copies of the Koran
than of the Bible. When most Christians were ut-
terly ignorant, thousands of Moors were educated;
and it is well known that the arts and sciences
flourished in Mohammedan countries in a far greater
degree than in Christian. Now, at that time, it may
be that there were more copies of the Koran than of
the Bible. If some enterprising Mohammedan had
only seen the force of such a fact, he might have
established the inspiration of the Koran beyond
a doubt; or, if it had been found by actual count that
the Koran was a little behind, a few years of in-
dustry spent in the multiplication of copies, might
have furnished the evidence of its inspiration.
Is it not simply amazing that a doctor of divinity,
a Presbyterian clergyman, in this day and age, should
seriously rely upon the number of copies of the Bible
to substantiate the inspiration of that book? Is it
possible to conceive of anything more fig-leaflessly
297
absurd? If there is anything at all in this argument,
it is, that all books are true in proportion to the
number of copies that exist. Of course, the same
rule will work with newspapers; so that the news-
paper having the largest circulation can consistently
claim infallibility. Suppose that an exceedingly absurd
statement should appear in _The New York Herald_,
and some one should denounce it as utterly without
any foundation in fact or probability; what would
Mr. Talmage think if the editor of the Herald, as an
evidence of the truth of the statement, should rely
on the fact that his paper had the largest circulation
of any in the city? One would think that the whole
church had acted upon the theory that a falsehood re-
peated often enough was as good as the truth.
Another evidence brought forward by the reverend
gentleman to prove the inspiration of the Scriptures,
is the assertion that if Congress should undertake to
pass a law to take the Bible from the people, thirty,
millions would rise in defence of that book.
This argument also seems to me to prove too much,
and as a consequence, to prove nothing. If Con-
gress should pass a law prohibiting the reading of
Shakespeare, every American would rise in defence
of his right to read the works of the greatest man
298
this world has known. Still, that would not even
tend to show that Shakespeare was inspired. The
fact is, the American people would not allow Con-
gress to pass a law preventing them from reading
any good book. Such action would not prove the
book to be inspired; it would prove that the American
people believe in liberty.
There are millions of people in Turkey who would
peril their lives in defence of the Koran. A fact like
this does not prove the truth of the Koran; it simply
proves what Mohammedans think of that book, and
what they are willing to do for its preservation.
It can not be too often repeated, that martyrdom
does not prove the truth of the thing for which the
martyr dies; it only proves the sincerity of the martyr
and the cruelty of his murderers. No matter how
many people regard the Bible as inspired,--that fact
furnishes no evidence that it is inspired. Just as many
people have regarded other books as inspired; just as
many millions have been deluded about the inspiration
of books ages and ages before Christianity was born.
The simple belief of one man, or of millions of men,
is no evidence to another. Evidence must be based,
not upon the belief of other people, but upon facts.
A believer may state the facts upon which his belief
299
is founded, and the person to whom he states them
gives them the weight that according to the con-
struction and constitution of his mind he must. But
simple, bare belief is not testimony. We should build
upon facts, not upon beliefs of others, nor upon the
shifting sands of public opinion. So much for this
argument.
The next point made by the reverend gentleman
is, that an infidel cannot be elected to any office in
the United States, in any county, precinct, or ward.
For the sake of the argument, let us admit that this
is true. What does it prove? There was a time
when no Protestant could have been elected to any
office. What did that prove? There was a time
when no Presbyterian could have been chosen to fill
any public station. What did that prove? The
same may be said of the members of each religious
denomination. What does that prove?
Mr. Talmage says that Christianity must be true,
because an infidel cannot be elected to office. Now,
suppose that enough infidels should happen to settle
in one precinct to elect one of their own number to
office; would that prove that Christianity was not
true in that precinct? There was a time when no
man could have been elected to any office, who in-
300
sisted on the rotundity of the earth; what did that
prove? There was a time when no man who denied
the existence of witches, wizards, spooks and devils,
could hold any position of honor; what did that
prove? There was a time when an abolitionist could
not be elected to office in any State in this Union;
what did that prove? There was a time when they
were not allowed to express their honest thoughts;
what does that prove? There was a time when a
Quaker could not have been elected to any office;
there was a time in the history of this country when
but few of them were allowed to live; what does
that prove? Is it necessary, in order to ascertain the
truth of Christianity, to look over the election re-
turns? Is "inspiration" a question to be settled by
the ballot? I admit that it was once, in the first
place, settled that way. I admit that books were
voted in and voted out, and that the Bible was finally
formed in accordance with a vote; but does Mr.
Talmage insist that the question is not still open?
Does he not know, that a fact cannot by any possi-
bility be affected by opinion? We make laws for
the whole people, by the whole people. We agree
that a majority shall rule, but nobody ever pretended
that a question of taste could be settled by an appeal
301
to majorities, or that a question of logic could be
affected by numbers. In the world of thought, each
man is an absolute monarch, each brain is a king-
dom, that cannot be invaded even by the tyranny of
majorities.
No man can avoid the intellectual responsibility of
deciding for himself.
Suppose that the Christian religion had been put
to vote in Jerusalem? Suppose that the doctrine of
the "fall" had been settled in Athens, by an appeal
to the people, would Mr. Talmage have been willing
to abide by their decision? If he settles the inspira-
tion of the Bible by a popular vote, he must settle the
meaning of the Bible by the same means. There are
more Methodists than Presbyterians--why does the
gentleman remain a Presbyterian? There are more
Buddhists than Christians--why does he vote against
majorities? He will remember that Christianity was
once settled by a popular vote--that the divinity of
Christ was submitted to the people, and the people
said: "Crucify him!"
The next, and about the strongest, argument Mr.
Talmage makes is, that I am an infidel because I was
defeated for Governor of Illinois.
When put in plain English, his statement is this:
302
that I was defeated because I was an infidel, and that
I am an infidel because I was defeated. This, I be-
lieve, is called reasoning in a circle. The truth is,
that a good many people did object to me because I
was an infidel, and the probability is, that if I had
denied being an infidel, I might have obtained an
office. The wonderful part is, that any Christian
should deride me because I preferred honor to po-
litical success. He who dishonors himself for the
sake of being honored by others, will find that two
mistakes have been made--one by himself, and the
other, by the people.
I presume that Mr.Talmage really thinks that I was
extremely foolish to avow my real opinions. After
all, men are apt to judge others somewhat by them-
selves. According to him, I made the mistake of
preserving my manhood and losing an office. Now,
if I had in fact been an infidel, and had denied it, for
the sake of position, then I admit that every Christian
might have pointed at me the finger of contempt.
But I was an infidel, and admitted it. Surely, I should
not be held in contempt by Christians for having
made the admission. I was not a believer in the
Bible, and I said so. I was not a Christian, and I said
so. I was not willing to receive the support of any
303
man under a false impression. I thought it better to
be honestly beaten, than to dishonestly succeed.
According to the ethics of Mr. Talmage I made a
mistake, and this mistake is brought forward as
another evidence of the inspiration of the Scriptures.
If I had only been elected Governor of Illinois,--that
is to say, if I had been a successful hypocrite, I might
now be basking in the sunshine of this gentleman's
respect. I preferred to tell the truth--to be an
honest man,--and I have never regretted the course
I pursued.
There are many men now in office who, had they
pursued a nobler course, would be private citizens.
Nominally, they are Christians; actually, they are
nothing; and this is the combination that generally
insures political success.
Mr. Talmage is exceedingly proud of the fact that
Christians will not vote for infidels. In other words,
he does not believe that in our Government the
church has been absolutely divorced from the state.
He believes that it is still the Christian's duty to
make the religious test. Probably he wishes to get
his God into the Constitution. My position is this:
Religion is an individual matter--a something for
each individual to settle for himself, and with which
304
no other human being has any concern, provided the
religion of each human being allows liberty to every
other. When called upon to vote for men to fill the
offices of this country, I do not inquire as to the re-
ligion of the candidates. It is none of my business.
I ask the questions asked by Jefferson: "Is he
"honest; is he capable?" It makes no difference to
me, if he is willing that others should be free, what
creed he may profess. The moment I inquire into his
religious belief, I found a little inquisition of my own;
I repeat, in a small way, the errors of the past, and
reproduce, in so far as I am capable, the infamy of
the ignorant orthodox years.
Mr. Talmage will accept my thanks for his frankness.
I now know what controls a Presbyterian when he
casts his vote. He cares nothing for the capacity,
nothing for the fitness, of the candidate to discharge
the duties of the office to which he aspires; he
simply asks: Is he a Presbyterian, is he a Protestant,
does he believe our creed? and then, no matter how
ignorant he may be, how utterly unfit, he receives the
Presbyterian vote. According to Mr. Talmage, he
would vote for a Catholic who, if he had the power,
would destroy all liberty of conscience, rather than
vote for an infidel who, had he the power, would
305
destroy all the religious tyranny of the world, and
allow every human being to think for himself, and
to worship God, or not, as and how he pleased.
Mr. Talmage makes the serious mistake of placing
the Bible above the laws and Constitution of his
country. He places Jehovah above humanity. Such
men are not entirely safe citizens of any republic.
And yet, I am in favor of giving to such men all the
liberty I ask for myself, trusting to education and the
spirit of progress to overcome any injury they may
do, or seek to do.
When this country was founded, when the Con-
stitution was adopted, the churches agreed to let the
State alone. They agreed that all citizens should have
equal civil rights. Nothing could be more dangerous
to the existence of this Republic than to introduce
religion into politics. The American theory is, that
governments are founded, not by gods, but by men,
and that the right to govern does not come from
God, but "from the consent of the governed." Our
fathers concluded that the people were sufficiently
intelligent to take care of themselves--to make good
laws and to execute them. Prior to that time, all
authority was supposed to come from the clouds.
Kings were set upon thrones by God, and it was the
306
business of the people simply to submit. In all really
civilized countries, that doctrine has been abandoned.
The source of political power is here, not in heaven.
We are willing that those in heaven should control
affairs there; we are willing that the angels should
have a government to suit themselves; but while we
live here, and while our interests are upon this earth,
we propose to make and execute our own laws.
If the doctrine of Mr. Talmage is the true doctrine,
if no man should be voted for unless he is a Christian,
then no man should vote unless he is a Christian. It
will not do to say that sinners may vote, that an infidel
may be the repository of political power, but must not
be voted for. A decent Christian who is not willing
that an infidel should be elected to an office, would
not be willing to be elected to an office by infidel
votes. If infidels are too bad to be voted for, they
are certainly not good enough to vote, and no
Christian should be willing to represent such an
infamous constituency.
If the political theory of Mr. Talmage is carried
out, of course the question will arise in a little while,
What is a Christian? It will then be necessary to
write a creed to be subscribed by every person before
he is fit to vote or to be voted for. This of course
307
must be done by the State, and must be settled,
under our form of government, by a majority vote.
Is Mr. Talmage willing that the question, What is
Christianity? should be so settled? Will he pledge
himself in advance to subscribe to such a creed? Of
course he will not. He will insist that he has the
right to read the Bible for himself, and that he must
be bound by his own conscience. In this he would
be right. If he has the right to read the Bible for
himself, so have I. If he is to be bound by his con-
science, so am I. If he honestly believes the Bible to
be true, he must say so, in order to preserve his man-
hood; and if I honestly believe it to be uninspired,--
filled with mistakes,--I must say so, or lose my man-
hood. How infamous I would be should I endeavor
to deprive him of his vote, or of his right to be voted
for, because he had been true to his conscience! And
how infamous he is to try to deprive me of the right
to vote, or to be voted for, because I am true to my
conscience!
When we were engaged in civil war, did Mr. Tal-
mage object to any man's enlisting in the ranks who
was not a Christian? Was he willing, at that time,
that sinners should vote to keep our flag in heaven?
Was he willing that the "unconverted" should cover
308
the fields of victory with their corpses, that this nation
might not die? At the same time, Mr. Talmage
knew that every "unconverted" soldier killed, went
down to eternal fire. Does Mr. Talmage believe that
it is the duty of a man to fight for a government in
which he has no rights? Is the man who shoulders
his musket in the defence of human freedom good
enough to cast a ballot? There is in the heart of this
priest the safne hatred of real liberty that drew the
sword of persecution, that built dungeons, that forged
chains and made instruments of torture.
Nobody, with the exception of priests, would be
willing to trust the liberties of this country in the
hands of any church. In order to show the political
estimation in which the clergy are held, in order to
show the confidence the people at large have in the
sincerity and wisdom of the clergy, it is sufficient to
state, that no priest, no bishop, could by any possi-
bility be elected President of the United States. No
party could carry that load. A fear would fall upon
the mind and heart of every honest man that this
country was about to drift back to the Middle Ages,
and that the old battles were to be refought. If the
bishop running for President was of the Methodist
Church, every other church would oppose him. If
309
he was a Catholic, the Protestants would as a body
combine against him. Why? The churches have
no confidence in each other. Why? Because they
are acquainted with each other.
As a matter of fact, the infidel has a thousand
times more reason to vote against the Christian,
than the Christian has to vote against the infidel.
The Christian believes in a book superior to the
Constitution--superior to all Constitutions and all
laws. The infidel believes that the Constitution and
laws are superior to any book. He is not controlled
by any power beyond the seas or above the clouds.
He does not receive his orders from Rome, or Sinai.
He receives them from his fellow-citizens, legally and
constitutionally expressed. The Christian believes in
a power greater than man, to which, upon the peril
of eternal pain, he must bow. His allegiance, to say
the best of it, is divided. The Christian puts the for-
tune of his own soul over and above the temporal
welfare of the entire world; the infidel puts the good
of mankind here and now, beyond and over all.
There was a time in New England when only
church members were allowed to vote, and it may be
instructive to state the fact that during that time
Quakers were hanged, women were stripped, tied to
310
carts, and whipped from town to town, and their
babes sold into slavery, or exchanged for rum. Now
in that same country, thousands and thousands of
infidels vote, and yet the laws are nearer just, women
are not whipped and children are not sold.
If all the convicts in all the penitentiaries of the
United States could be transported to some island in
the sea, and there allowed to make a government for
themselves, they would pass better laws than John
Calvin did in Geneva. They would have clearer and
better views of the rights of men, than unconvicted
Christians used to have. I do not say that these
convicts are better people, but I do say that, in my
judgment, they would make better laws. They cer-
tainly could not make worse.
If these convicts were taken from the prisons of
the United States, they would not dream of uniting
church and state. They would have no religious
test. They would allow every man to vote and to be
voted for, no matter what his religious views might
be. They would not dream of whipping Quakers, of
burning Unitarians, of imprisoning or burning Uni-
versalists or infidels. They would allow all the people
to guess for themselves. Some of these convicts, of
course, would believe in the old ideas, and would
insist upon the suppression of free thought. Those
coming from Delaware would probably repeat with
great gusto the opinions of Justice Comegys, and
insist that the whipping-post was the handmaid of
Christianity.
It would be hard to conceive of a much worse
government than that founded by the Puritans.
They took the Bible for the foundation of their
political structure. They copied the laws given to
Moses from Sinai, and the result was one of the
worst governments that ever disgraced this world.
They believed the Old Testament to be inspired.
They believed that Jehovah made laws for all people
and for all time. They had not learned the hypoc-
risy that believes and avoids. They did not say:
This law was once just, but is now unjust; it was
once good, but now it is infamous; it was given by
God once, but now it can only be obeyed by the
devil. They had not reached the height of biblical
exegesis on which we find the modern theologian
perched, and who tells us that Jehovah has reformed.
The Puritans were consistent. They did what people
must do who honestly believe in the inspiration of
the Old Testament. If God gave laws from Sinai
what right have we to repeal them?
312
As people have gained confidence in each other,
they have lost confidence in the sacred Scriptures.
We know now that the Bible can not be used as the
foundation of government. It is capable of too many
meanings. Nobody can find out exactly what it
upholds, what it permits, what it denounces, what it
denies. These things depend upon what part you
read. If it is all true, it upholds everything bad and
denounces everything good, and it also denounces
the bad and upholds the good. Then there are
passages where the good is denounced and the bad
commanded; so that any one can go to the Bible
and find some text, some passage, to uphold anything
he may desire. If he wishes to enslave his fellow-
men, he will find hundreds of passages in his favor.
If he wishes to be a polygamist, he can find his
authority there. If he wishes to make war, to exter-
minate his neighbors, there his warrant can be found.
If, on the other hand, he is oppressed himself, and
wishes to make war upon his king, he can find a
battle-cry. And if the king wishes to put him down,
he can find text for text on the other side. So, too,
upon all questions of reform. The teetotaler goes
there to get his verse, and the moderate drinker
finds within the sacred lids his best excuse.
313
Most intelligent people are now convinced that the
bible is not a guide; that in reading it you must
exercise your reason; that you can neither safely
reject nor accept all; that he who takes one passage
for a staff, trips upon another; that while one text is
a light, another blows it out; that it is such a ming-
ling of rocks and quicksands, such a labyrinth of
clews and snares--so few flowers among so many
nettles and thorns, that it misleads rather than di-
rects, and taken altogether, is a hindrance and not
a help.
Another important point made by Mr. Talmage is,
that if the Bible is thrown away, we will have nothing
left to swear witnesses on, and that consequently the
administration of justice will become impossible.
There was a time when the Bible did not exist, and
if Mr. Talmage is correct, of course justice was im-
possible then, and truth must have been a stranger
to human lips. How can we depend upon the testi-
mony of those who wrote the Bible, as there was no
Bible in existence while they were writing, and con-
sequently there was no way to take their testimony,
and we have no account of their having been sworn
on the Bible after they got it finished. It is extremely
sad to think that all the nations of antiquity were left
314
entirely without the means of eliciting truth. No
wonder that Justice was painted blindfolded.
What perfect fetichism it is, to imagine that a man
will tell the truth simply because he has kissed an
old piece of sheepskin stained with the saliva of all
classes. A farce of this kind adds nothing to the
testimony of an honest man; it simply allows a rogue
to give weight to his false testimony. This is really
the only result that can be accomplished by kissing
the Bible. A desperate villain, for the purpose of
getting revenge, or making money, will gladly go
through the ceremony, and ignorant juries and su-
perstitious judges will be imposed upon. The whole
system of oaths is false, and does harm instead of
good. Let every man walk into court and tell his
story, and let the truth of the story be judged by its
reasonableness, taking into consideration the charac-
ter of the witness, the interest he has, and the posi-
tion he occupies in the controversy, and then let it
be the business of the jury to ascertain the real truth
--to throw away the unreasonable and the impossi-
ble, and make up their verdict only upon what they
believe to be reasonable and true. An honest man
does not need the oath, and a rascal uses it simply
to accomplish his purpose. If the history of courts
315
proved that every man, after kissing the Bible, told
the truth, and that those who failed to kiss it some-
times lied, I should be in favor of swearing all people
on the Bible; but the experience of every lawyer is,
that kissing the Bible is not always the preface of a
true story. It is often the ceremonial embroidery
of a falsehood.
If there is an infinite God who attends to the
affairs of men, it seems to me almost a sacrilege to
publicly appeal to him in every petty trial. If one
will go into any court, and notice the manner in
which oaths are administered,--the utter lack of
solemnity--the matter-of-course air with which the
whole thing is done, he will be convinced that it is a
form of no importance. Mr. Talmage would probably
agree with the judge of whom the following story is
told:
A witness was being sworn. The judge noticed
that he was not holding up his hand. He said to the
clerk: "Let the witness hold up his right hand."
"His right arm was shot off," replied the clerk. "Let
"him hold up his left, then." "That was shot off, too,
"your honor." "Well, then, let him raise one foot;
"no man can be sworn in this court without holding
"something up."
My own opinion is, that if every copy of the Bible
in the world were destroyed, there would be some
way to ascertain the truth in judicial proceedings;
and any other book would do just as well to swear
witnesses upon, or a block in the shape of a book
covered with some kind of calfskin could do equally
well, or just the calfskin would do. Nothing is more
laughable than the performance of this ceremony,
and I have never seen in court one calf kissing the
skin of another, that I did not feel humiliated that
such things were done in the name of Justice.
Mr. Talmage has still another argument in favor
of the preservation of the Bible. He wants to
know what book could take its place on the centre-
table.
I admit that there is much force in this. Suppose
we all admitted the Bible to be an uninspired book,
it could still be kept on the centre-table. It would
be just as true then as it is now. Inspiration can not
add anything to a fact; neither can inspiration make
the immoral moral, the unjust just, or the cruel merci-
ful. If it is a fact that God established human slavery,
that does not prove slavery to be right; it simply
shows that God was wrong. If I have the right to
use my reason in determining whether the Bible is
317
inspired or not, and if in accordance with my reason
I conclude that it is inspired, I have still the right to
use my reason in determining whether the command-
ments of God are good or bad. Now, suppose we
take from the Bible every word upholding slavery,
every passage in favor of polygamy, every verse
commanding soldiers to kill women and children, it
would be just as fit for the centre-table as now. Sup-
pose every impure word was taken from it; suppose
that the history of Tamar was left out, the biography
of Lot, and all other barbarous accounts of a barbarous
people, it would look just as well upon the centre-
table as now.
Suppose that we should become convinced that
the writers of the New Testament were mistaken as
to the eternity of punishment, or that all the passages
now relied upon to prove the existence of perdition
were shown to be interpolations, and were thereupon
expunged, would not the book be dearer still to
every human being with a heart? I would like to
see every good passage in the Bible preserved. I
would like to see, with all these passages from the
Bible, the loftiest sentiments from all other books
that have ever been uttered by men in all ages and
of all races, bound in one volume, and to see that
318
volume, filled with the greatest, the purest and the
best, become the household book.
The average Bible, on the average centre-table, is
about as much used as though it were a solid block.
It is scarcely ever opened, and people who see its
covers every day are unfamiliar with its every page.
I admit that some things have happened some-
what hard to explain, and tending to show that the
Bible is no ordinary book. I heard a story, not long
ago, bearing upon this very subject.
A man was a member of the church, but after a
time, having had bad luck in business affairs, became
somewhat discouraged. Not feeling able to con-
tribute his share to the support of the church, he
ceased going to meeting, and finally became an
average sinner. His bad luck pursued him until he
found himself and his family without even a crust to
eat. At this point, his wife told him that she be-
lieved they were suffering from a visitation of God,
and begged him to restore family worship, and see if
God would not do something for them. Feeling that
he could not possibly make matters worse, he took
the Bible from its resting place on a shelf where
it had quietly slumbered and collected the dust of
many months, and gathered his family about him.
319
He opened the sacred volume, and to his utter as-
tonishment, there, between the divine leaves, was a
ten-dollar bill. He immediately dropped on his
knees. His wife dropped on hers, and the children on
theirs, and with streaming eyes they returned thanks
to God. He rushed to the butcher's and bought
some steak, to the baker's and bought some bread,
to the grocer's and got some eggs and butter and tea,
and joyfully hastened home. The supper was cooked,
it was on the table, grace was said, and every face
was radiant with joy. Just at that happy moment a
knock was heard, the door was opened, and a police-
man entered and arrested the father for passing
counterfeit money.
Mr. Talmage is also convinced that the Bible is
inspired and should be preserved because there is no
other book that a mother could give her son as he
leaves the old home to make his way in the world.
Thousands and thousands of mothers have pre-
sented their sons with Bibles without knowing really
what the book contains. They simply followed the
custom, and the sons as a rule honored the Bible, not
because they knew anything of it, but because it was
a gift from mother. But surely, if all the passages
upholding polygamy were out, the mother would give
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the book to her son just as readily, and he would re-
ceive it just as joyfully. If there were not one word
in it tending to degrade the mother, the gift would cer-
tainly be as appropriate. The fact that mothers have
presented Bibles to their sons does not prove that the
book is inspired. The most that can be proved by
this fact is that the mothers believed it to be inspired.
It does not even tend to show what the book is,
neither does it tend to establish the truth of one
miracle recorded upon its pages. We cannot believe
that fire refused to burn, simply because the state-
ment happens to be in a book presented to a son by
his mother, and if all the mothers of the entire world
should give Bibles to all their children, this would not
prove that it was once right to murder mothers, or to
enslave mothers, or to sell their babes.
The inspiration of the Bible is not a question of
natural affection. It can not be decided by the love
a mother bears her son. It is a question of fact, to
be substantiated like other facts. If the Turkish
mother should give a copy of the Koran to her
son, I would still have my doubts about the in-
spiration of that book; and if some Turkish soldier
saved his life by having in his pocket a copy of
the Koran that accidentally stopped a bullet just
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opposite his heart, I should still deny that Mohammed
was a prophet of God.
Nothing can be more childish than to ascribe
mysterious powers to inanimate objects. To imagine
that old rags made into pulp, manufactured into
paper, covered with words, and bound with the skin
of a calf or a sheep, can have any virtues when thus
put together that did not belong to the articles out
of which the book was constructed, is of course
infinitely absurd.
In the days of slavery, negroes used to buy dried
roots of other negroes, and put these roots in their
pockets, so that a whipping would not give them
pain. Kings have bought diamonds to give them
luck. Crosses and scapularies are still worn for the
purpose of affecting the inevitable march of events.
People still imagine that a verse in the Bible can step
in between a cause and its effect; really believe that
an amulet, a charm, the bone of some saint, a piece
of a cross, a little image of the Virgin, a picture of a
priest, will affect the weather, will delay frost, will
prevent disease, will insure safety at sea, and in some
cases prevent hanging. The banditti of Italy have
great confidence in these things, and whenever they
start upon an expedition of theft and plunder, they
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take images and pictures of saints with them, such
as have been blest by a priest or pope. They pray
sincerely to the Virgin, to give them luck, and see not
the slightest inconsistency in appealing to all the
saints in the calendar to assist them in robbing honest
people.
Edmund About tells a story that illustrates the belief
of the modern Italian. A young man was gambling.
Fortune was against him. In the room was a little
picture representing the Virgin and her child. Before
this picture he crossed himself, and asked the assist-
ance of the child. Again he put down his money
and again lost. Returning to the picture, he told the
child that he had lost all but one piece, that he was
about to hazard that, and made a very urgent request
that he would favor him with divine assistance. He
put down the last piece. He lost. Going to the
picture and shaking his fist at the child, he cried out:
"Miserable bambino, I am glad they crucified you!"
The confidence that one has in an image, in a relic,
in a book, comes from the same source,--fetichism.
To ascribe supernatural virtues to the skin of a snake,
to a picture, or to a bound volume, is intellectually
the same.