There are two things in the world that can never get on
together--religion and common sense. Religion deals with the next life,
common sense with this; religion points to the sky, common sense to the
earth; religion is all imagination, common sense all reason; religion
deals with what nobody can understand, common sense with what everybody
can understand; religion gives us no return for our investments but
flash notes on the bank of expectation, common sense gives us good
interest and full security for our capital. They are as opposite as
two things can possibly be, and they are always at strife. Religion
is always trying to fill the world with delusions, and common sense is
always trying to drive them away. Religion says Live for the next world,
and common sense says Live for this.
It is in the very nature of things that religion and common sense
should hate and oppose each other. They are rivals for the same
prize--aspirants to the same throne. In every age a conflict has been
going on between them; and although common sense is fast getting the
upper hand to-day, the war is far from ended, and we may see some fierce
struggles before the combat closes. There can, however, be no doubt as
to the issue; for science has appeared on the scene with the most deadly
weapons of destruction, and science is the sworn ally of common sense.
Nay, is not Science the mighty child of common sense--the fruit of
Reason from the lusty embrace of Nature?
Common sense is primitive logic. It does not depend on books, and it is
superior to culture. It is the perception of analogy--the instinct
of causation. It guides the savage through trackless forests, and the
astronomer through infinite space. It makes the burnt child dread the
fire, and a Darwin see in a few obvious facts the solution of a mystery.
It built the first hut and the last palace; the first canoe and the last
ocean steamer. It constructed docks, and laid down railways, applied
steam to machinery and locomotion, prompted every mechanical discovery,
instigated all material progress, and transformed an ape-like beast into
a civilised man.
Even the highest art is full of common sense. Sanity and simplicity are
the distinguishing marks of the loftiest genius, which may be described
as inspired common sense. The great artist never loses touch of fact; he
may let his imagination soar as high as the stars, but he keeps his feet
firm-planted on the ground. All the world recognises the sublimity of
Greek sculpture and Shakespeare's plays, because they are both true to
nature and fact and coincident with everlasting laws. The true sublime
is not fantastic; it is solid and satisfying, like a mighty Alp,
deep-rooted first of all in the steadfast earth, and then towering up
with its vineyards, its pastures, its pine-forests, its glaciers, its
precipices, and last of all the silence of infinitude brooding over its
eternal snows.
Common sense, the civiliser, has had an especially hard fight with that
particular form of religion known as Christianity. When Tertullian said
that Christianity was to be believed because it was incredible, he spoke
in the true spirit of faith; just as old Sir Thomas Browne did when he
found the marvels of religion too weak for his credulity, David Hume
expressed the same truth ironically at the conclusion of his _Essay
on Miracles_, when he said that it was not reason that persuaded any
Christian of the truth of his creed, which was established on the higher
ground of faith, and could not be accepted without a miracle.
Common sense is blasphemy. It is the thing which religion dreads most,
and which the priests most mortally hate. Common sense dispenses with
learned disquisitions, and tries everything with simple mother wit. If,
for instance, it hears that a whale swallowed a man, and vomited him
up safe and sound three days after, it does not want to know all the
physiology of men and whales before deciding if the story is true;
it just indulges in a hearty laugh and blows the story to Hades.
Miracle-mongers are quite helpless when a man turns round and says, "My
dear sir, that story's just a trifle too thin." They see his case is a
hopeless one, and leave him to the tender mercies of the Lord of Hosts.
Learning is all very well in its way, but common sense is a great deal
better. It is infinitely the best weapon to use against Christianity.
Without a knowledge of history, without being acquainted with any
science but that of daily life, without a command of Hebrew, Latin and
Greek, or any other language than his own, a plain man can take the
Bible in his hand and easily satisfy himself it is not the word of
God. Common sense tells him not to believe in contradictory statements;
common sense tells him that a man could not have found a wife in a land
where there were no women; common sense tells him that three millions of
people never marched out of any country in one night; common sense tells
him that Jesus Christ could not have "gone up" from two places at once;
common sense tells him that turning devils out of men into pigs is a
fable not half as good as the poorest of Æsop's; common sense tells him
that nobody but a skunk would consent to be saved from the penalty of
his own misdeeds by the sufferings of an innocent man; common sense
tells him that while men object to having their pockets picked and
their throats cut, they want no divine command against theft and murder;
common sense tells him that God never ordered the committal of such
atrocities as those ascribed to him in the Bible; and common sense tells
him that a God of mercy never made a hell.
Yes, all this is perfectly clear, and the priests know it. That is
why they cry out Blasphemy! every time they meet it. But that is also
precisely the reason why we should employ it against them. The best
antidote to superstition, the worst enemy of priestcraft, and the best
friend of man, is (to parody Danton's famous formula) Common Sense, and
again Common Sense, and for ever Common Sense.