VISIONS--BIBLE DREAMS--REVELATIONS.
These are the fireworks of the imagination.
Isaiah's vision, chapter vi, 1, 2:
"I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his
train filled the temple.
"Around it stood the seraphim; each one had six wings; with twain he
covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain
he did fly," etc.
Ezekiel, chapter iii: Son of man eats the roll.
Vision of chapter viii: "A fire below the loins, and the appearance
of brightness, as the color of amber upwards," etc.
Chapter ix: "Six men with slaughter weapons, clothed in white linen
with a writer's inkhorn by the side."
Chapter x: "Above the head of the cherubim there appeared over them
as it were a sapphire-stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a
throne." Verse 2: "Go in between the wheels even under the cherub, and
fill thine hands with coals of fire," etc. Verse 4: "And the house was
filled with a cloud," etc. Verse 8: "And there appeared in the cherubim
the form of a man's hand under their wings." Verse 9: "Four wheels,"
etc. Verse 12: "And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands,
and their wings, and their wheels were full of eyes round about, even
the wheels that they four had." Verse 14: And every one had four faces,
the first face was the face of a cherub, the second the face of a man,
the third that of a lion, the fourth the face of an eagle, etc.
Chapter xxii: Sin.
Chapter xxiii: Whoredoms.
Chapter xxxviii: Boneyard.
Chapter xlvii: Visions of holy waters.
Daniel's visions, dreams:
Verse 3: Four great beasts came up from the sea. The first was a lion
and had eagle's wings. The second was like a bear, it had three ribs
in the mouth between the teeth, etc. The third was like a leopard,
and had four wings of a fowl, and had four heads. The fourth a beast
dreadful and terrible, strong exceedingly--had great iron teeth--and
it had ten horns. A little horn came up; in this horn were eyes like
the eyes of a man, a mouth speaking great things. Throne whereon an
ancient sat, the hair of his head like pure wool, garments snow-white,
etc.; throne of fiery flame, wheels as burning fire.
Verse 19: "Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast," etc. His
teeth were iron, nails of brass, etc., etc.
Chapter viii: A ram had two horns; one was higher than the other. He
saw the ram pushing westward, northward, southward, etc.
Verse 5: A he-goat with a horn between the eyes; the goat smote the
ram, broke the two horns, etc.
Zechariah iv: A candlestick all of gold, a hood upon the top of
it. Seven lamps thereon, seven pipes to the seven lamps; two olive
trees.
Chapter v: Flying roll twenty cubits long, ten cubits broad.
Verse 9: Two women, and the wind was in their wings; they had wings
like a stork.
Chapter vi: Four chariots between two mountains of brass. The first
chariot had red horses, the second chariot had black horses, the
third chariot had white horses, the fourth chariot had grizzled bay
horses, etc.
The most prominent men in the Old Testament that were endowed with
high imaginative powers, were not many. The most noted among them
were Isaiah, 681 B.C.; Ezekiel, 591 B.C.; Daniel, 559 B.C.; Zechariah,
535 B.C. These four visionary gentlemen lived during a very exciting,
troublesome period. It was the ending of national life. There were
continuous wars, constant changes, invasions, robberies, plunder, and
all other barbaric crimes that ordinarily accompany these revolutionary
events. Israel was made captive 721 B.C.--the lost ten tribes, as they
are called. The conquest of Jerusalem was 606 B.C.; the captivity of
Judah and destruction of Jerusalem, 588 B.C.
It must be remembered that all the prophets, so termed, lived during
a time of approaching national dissolution, and date from the death
of Jonah, 761 B.C., to the death of Nehemiah, 430. These political
preachers, agitators, and fault-finders were altogether some twenty
in number. And when national life ceased, these prophets ceased. Men
of this particular type and character were no longer needed. They
had outlived their usefulness. Their national greatness was rapidly
disintegrating--short-lived it was. Luxury, licentiousness, and crime;
rapacity, internal disorder, factional strife, lack of order and
discipline, made them the prey of neighboring nations, that finally
proved their destruction. It was not a question of God or Jehovah or
idols; it was a question of organization, discipline, and a higher
civilization, that wiped the Jews out as a nation. They struggled as
long as they could maintain their existence as a nation. They were
overpowered and subdued. It is not, therefore, surprising that these
men appealed to their patriotism--their moral sense, of which they had
but little--and made every endeavor to reform them. The national pride,
love of country and patriotism, fired their imagination. They talked,
wrote, and scolded in the name of the visionary God in fashion among
them, employing the phraseology then in use, giving vent to their
feelings, their passions, their lamentations, their dreams, their
visions, the product of an over-excited nervous system, mixing poesy,
philosophy, and facts indiscriminately; producing a heterogeneous,
fantastic creation of the brain, part true, but false as a whole,
dovetailed together as the fancy of the moment suggested. These
rambling fireworks of the imagination have little meaning and
less sense, except that they portray their feelings, emotions, and
practical impressions for the time being. Eliminate the facts out of
their writings, and you obtain a residue of wild, incoherent ravings
of an over-excited, over-heated brain.
We hear nothing of any great mental disturbance or loss of equilibrium,
until we reach a new crisis. For nearly four hundred years not a
vision, not an angel, not a prophet, is heard of.
The religious disputes, the ecclesiastical quarrels, the heated
discussions, the hatred, hostility, and opposition that the differences
of opinion engendered, caused considerable nervous irritation, mental
excitement, and a display of the imagination. This new religion,
this reformation, this new organization, produced no small amount
of fermentation. It was all nervous, stimulated to a degree of
exaltation, rising in intensity to enthusiasm and religious ecstacy,
wherein many varieties of nervous phases were exhibited. St. John was
on the isle of Patmos when he wrote his Revelations. He could not have
chosen a more suitable spot for his visionary work. An isolated little
island situated in the Archipelago near Asia Minor, it is one of the
smallest islands in that region. It could certainly not contain many
inhabitants. It is surrounded by sea and exceedingly lonely. A man
with a highly nervous temperament could almost see anything in that
dreamland of melancholy and seclusion. John's visions resembled those
of his predecessors several hundred years previous. But John came four
hundred years later, and had the advantage of more culture. Ideas
had multiplied, experience had increased, the imagination was
amplified. Education had advanced, and the mental faculties were
better developed. He had therefore the brain, the opportunity, and
a very favorable locality, to dream, to have visions, and to imagine
to his heart's content. He had the material, the impressions, and the
state of mind to aid him. Of course we take it for granted that John
wrote these Revelations--or some one imagined these things for him.
John wrote to the seven churches, Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatera,
Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. None of these places was any
considerable distance from Patmos. What he sees:
Chapter i: Seven candlesticks. One was like (verse 13) the Son of Man,
clothed in garments down to the feet, girt about the paps with a golden
girdle. Verse 14: "His head and his hair were white like wool, as white
as snow." Verse 15: His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in
a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. Verse 16: He had
in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth a sharp two-edged
sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
The second and third chapters are advisory to the seven churches.
In the fourth his imagination takes a great flight.
A more romantic spot to have visions could not be found--about 38°
north of the equator, a beautiful sky, mild climate, calm waters,
and a solemnity of surroundings that would impress a less imaginative
mind. It would have a marvelous effect on an excitable fanatic zealot,
brimful with fantastic religious notions. No wonder he beheld the
doors of heaven open, and heard a sound of a trumpet--and he was
immediately in the spirit; that is, he was either dreaming or in an
ecstatic state, and could see all the things he did see with his eyes
either closed or open.
He saw a throne. One sat in it. It looked like jasper and sardonyx. And
he saw a rainbow like emerald. Round about there were twenty-four
seats, wherein twenty-four elders were sitting clad in white raiment,
with crowns of gold on their heads. Thunder and lightning came out
of the throne. There were seven lamps before the throne, and seven
spirits of God, and before the throne there was a sea of glass like
unto crystal; and in the midst of the throne and round about were
four beasts, full of eyes before and behind.
The first beast was like a lion, the second beast was like a calf,
the third beast had the face of a man, the fourth beast was a flying
eagle. And the four beasts had each six wings about him, and they
were full of eyes within.
Chapter v, 6: There stood a lamb with seven horns, seven eyes, seven
spirits, etc.
Chapter vi: He saw a white horse, a red horse, a black horse, and a
pale horse. The first had a crown, the second a sword, the third a
pair of balances, on the fourth sat Death and Hell. There were seals
opened, etc., etc. The fifth seal was the souls slain by the sword of
God. The sixth seal, earthquake, the sun became black and the moon red,
and the heavens departed as a scroll, etc.
Chapter vii: He sees four angels standing on the four corners of
the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should
not blow, etc. He saw another angel with a seal--for various tribes,
etc.--very fanciful, very fantastic, very imaginative.
Chapter viii: The seventh seal opened. Seven angels with seven trumpets
standing before God. One angel stood with a golden censer. Five
filled the censer with fire. Voices. Thunderings, lightnings, and
an earthquake.
Verse 7: The first angel sounded. There followed hail and fire,
mingled with blood; trees and green grass were burnt up.
Verse 8: The second angel sounded. A mountain of burning fire was
cast into the sea, and the third part of the sea became blood.
Verse 9: A third part of the creatures and a third part of the ships
were destroyed.
Verse 10: The third angel sounded. A great star fell from heaven,
burning.
Verse 11: The fourth angel sounded. A third part of the sun and moon
were smitten, a third part of the stars, etc.
Chapter ix: The fifth angel sounded. A star falls into the bottomless
pit. He mixes smoke, locusts, scorpions, torments, horns, battles,
crowns of gold.
Verse 7: Faces of men with hair of women and teeth of lions. He
sees breastplates of iron. There is sound in the wings, sound in the
chariots running to battle, etc., etc.
Verse 17: He sees the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them
having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth and brimstone; and the
heads of the horses were the heads of lions; and out of their mouths
issued fire, and smoke, and brimstone.
Verse 19: For their power is in their mouths and their tails; and
their tails were like unto serpents, etc.
Chapter x, 4: Seven thunders utter voices. John takes the little book
out of the angel's hands, eats it up, and it is as sweet as honey
but bitter in his belly.
We pass on through the extravagances of the succeeding chapter to
xvi. Seven angels and seven plagues and seven vials of wrath. The
first vial of wrath was poured upon earth; the second vial of wrath
was poured upon the sea; the third vial of wrath was poured upon
rivers and fountains of water; the fourth angel poured his vial upon
the sun; the fifth angel poured his vial upon the seat of heat;
the sixth angel poured his vial into the river Euphrates, and the
waters were dried up, unclean spirits like frogs came out of the
mouth of the dragon, etc. The seventh angel poured his vial into
air--voices--thunder--lightning.
A more jumbled mass of hysterical nonsense was never concocted by
the brain of man.
With this silly twaddle of an over-excited nervous system, he
continues to give vent to absurd impulses and perverted impressions
of a theoleptic nature.
In chapter xx he sees an angel from heaven having the keys of the
bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the
dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound
him a thousand years. Verse 3: "And cast him into the bottomless pit,
and shut him up," etc., etc. Verse 9: "And they went up on the breadth
of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the
beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured
them." Verse 10: "And the devil that deceived them was cast into the
lake of fire and brimstone, where the beasts and the false prophets
are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever," etc.
That this so-called revelation is not the product of a healthy brain
is self-evident. That John was reveling in the realms of fantasie,
while he was laboring under a theological nightmare, is so palpable,
that he might almost be accused of being a monomaniac. And that this
abominable concoction of absurdities should form the basis of a system
of moral education, and be tolerated as a supernatural production,
is an outrage on common sense. The whole construction is the fabric
of a man bordering on a state of hallucination, where fancy, fact,
and fiction are indiscriminately mixed and compounded with the
theoleptical effervescence of an almost demented enthusiast.
There is not a particle of sense in the entire twenty-two chapters,
except such as refer to earthly particulars. The combination is
false in conception, and pernicious in its tendencies. He sees and
hears things so glaringly ridiculous that it is really surprising
that any sensible preacher can regard the writings in the light
of seriousness. It is perhaps as unique an erratic compilation
of material substances as was ever produced, based on ignorance,
superstition, and a diseased mind. That man, St. John the Divine,
had no more conception of the size of this earth or its configuration
than he had of electricity, or a steam-engine. Of course I understand
that theologians do not--or pretend not to--look upon the statements
literally. They may interpret the contents of Revelation from a
spiritual point of view, nothing will or can relieve it of its
defects. Whatever he meant by his ravings, in those days, they do
not contain a particle of practical sense. When he beheld the doors
of heaven open and heard a sound of a trumpet, he was immediately
in the spirit. Then his mind spliced together thrones of jasper,
emerald, seats, elders, white raiment, crowns of gold, seven lamps,
seven spirits, a sea of glass, and four beasts full of eyes, a lion,
calf, man, eagle, six wings, four horses, death and hell, seven angels,
seven vials of wrath, hail, fire, blood, thunder, lightning, brimstone,
a bottomless pit, etc., etc. Thoughts were flying through his brain
that embraced pretty much all he knew, that he had either heard, read
about, or had had some personal experience of, bringing all the things,
objects, substances, and phenomena to bear upon his imagination,
forming ideas to illustrate his heaven or hell, his saints and sinners,
his salvation and his perdition. The mind was in a state of delirious
confusion. John's mind had had a larger experience, his imagination
was more amplified and expanded, than the mind and imagination of his
predecessors Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zechariah. The time and
locality were not the same. The burden of John's thoughts was of a
quite different nature. The nervous phenomena of theological excitement
and irritation was purely visionary, while those of the Old Testament
were largely tainted with the politics of their time. The former
writers were loaded down with the expected ruin of their nationality;
were filled with patriotism; were hoping and wishing for some one
to come and help them out of their dire distress. Their ideas and
thoughts led them to flights of imagination within the limits of their
knowledge. John was fully charged with the philosophy and teachings of
his times, and he mustered all his knowledge to open the gulf between
the two extremes of bliss and punishment, the saved and lost. Thus he
invented the appearance of heaven, with all the material substances,
to exhibit its fearful glory, and showed the interior of his bottomless
pit with its darkness, fire and brimstone. All these things might
have appeared very terrible to the ignorant fishermen he had to deal
with. It may still leave a strongly unpleasant impression on a great
many of our ignorant population. Very few sensible people take any
stock in John's incoherent, erratic flight of imagination. It may
be regarded as a very curious composition of antiquity--senseless,
useless, meaningless; admirable in its way, but nothing more than
a production of an overwrought, unbalanced, over-stimulated, and
over-exalted imagination.
We may distinctly perceive the progress that had been made in the
evolution of the imagination, in the multiplication of ideas, in the
amplification of thought, from Abraham to Moses, from Moses to David,
from David to Isaiah, from Isaiah to John.
The nervous system, the brain, had undergone some modifications among
these people, but not of a nature that was likely to be a lasting
benefit to humanity. On the contrary, these speculative ideas caused
a great deal of friction of thought, bitter quarrels, hatred, crime,
and bloodshed.
Neighboring nations, who had neither Jehova nor Christ, revealed
to us the light of science that never produced a friction nor a
quarrel--being based on eternal truth. From the very beginning of
their conception to the present day this remains unchanged, unaltered
and untouched, a monument of Truths, an inheritance for all future
generations.
The God-Christ-Holy-Ghost idea has ever been a source of greed,
selfishness, intolerance, bigotry, quarrel, hatred, licentiousness,
cruelty, and crime. Bickering and quarreling are still going on. And
the grasping hand of greed holds the ignorant bigot by the throat
to squeeze the last cent out of him, to enrich and aggrandize the
most pernicious organization humanity was ever plagued with. Heresy,
blasphemy, is as fashionable to-day as it was in the rankest days
of popery. Fortunately the civil law reigns supreme, otherwise these
ecclesiastical monomaniacs would be at each other's throats. At this
stage of scientific civilization, we can afford to look on at the
theological quarrels and antics as a result of a nervous craze that
is perfectly harmless.
After all it is but the physiological effect of an educational
training, the development of the faculties and the evolution of the
imagination; the brain functions in proportion to the progress made
in the culture in general, harmonizing with the times, circumstances,
and conditions of the period in which we live.
Every age has its turn in the evolution of the mental faculties,
and it must go through its stage. The visionary period, the result
of a theological hallucination of an over-exalted imagination, can
occur only under certain favorable conditions, viz., on the one
hand a highly susceptible nervous temperament, a strongly biased
educational training, and an enthusiastic excitability, and on the
other, an ignorant, bigoted, poor, and helpless population.
SHADES OF INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT.
FROM BARBARISM TO CIVILIZATION, MULTIPLICITY OF GODS TO NATURE,
DARKNESS TO LIGHT.
Barbarism, savagery, ignorance, Chaldaism. Women Barbarians. 200 B.C.
idolatry. Astronomy. degraded A.D. 1893.
MANY GODS. (Paganism 766,312,000 slaves.
PHYSICAL GOD. remaining). 1921-450 B.C.
Very little light. Hebrewism, 6,000,000.
Physiology, science, mathematics, mythology, women honored science breaking. 1921-500-0 B.C.
Greece a nation.
Ignorance, superstition. Buddhism, 320,000,000. 1100 B.C.
Uncivilization (to our notion). Confucianism.
Caste rule. Brahmanism, 120,000,000.
Philosophy, 320,000,000 gods.
ONE GOD. Mohammedanism, 166,000,000. Tyrants. A.D. 600.
Polygamy.
FIVE GODS. Roman Catholic Still A.D. 325.
Father, Son, and Ghost, Virgin, Christianity, 200,000,000. degraded. A.D. 800.
saints, relics, etc. Idolatry, Greek Christianity,
figure-painting, ignorance, 80,000,000.
intolerance, non-progression,
superstition, bigotry.
Dark Ages. A.D. 325 to 1517.
THREE GODS. Protestantism--Luther, Women 200 to A.D. 1517.
Class Rule. Calvin--100,000,000. sub- 300 A.D. 1693.
Progression, toleration, Episcopalianism. ordinate. sects. A.D. 1572.
superstition, bigotry, Presbyterianism. A.D. 1730.
civilization, selfishness, Baptists.
greed. Methodism. Wesley.
ONE GOD. Universalism. A.D. 1691.
Enlightened, advancing. Unitarianism.
Ethical Culture.
DOUBTFUL GOD. A.D. 1550.
Latest theological A.D. 1870.
metamorphosis.
NO GOD. Science, nature, fact,
truth. Manhood, womanhood.
Intellectual development.
In modern times, if a man should attempt to rave after the style of
John, he would certainly be declared a fit candidate for an insane
asylum.
What was possible on the Isle of Patmos by John would be an utter
impossibility to-day. It is not because we have not religious fanatics
enough, but education, reason, and science have advanced, so that such
extravagant fire-works of the imagination would be declared evidence
of an insane condition of the mind.
On the following page a diagram of various shading shows the growth of
intelligence and enlightenment of the various religious denominations,
indicating the beginning of actual progress with the Reformation,
and how little there is left of the entire religious fabric that has
been handed down these many centuries.
The darkness of ignorance is still hiding the truth. The church is
doing its utmost to train the young in the pernicious doctrine of
superstition and falsehood of antiquity. The clergy would stop our
public school system, if they could drag humanity back into the mire
of brutality.
The sooner the Bible, with its God, Jehova, Jesus Christ, the Holy
Ghost, the prophets and the apostles, with all the angels, heaven,
and hell, are placed under a glass case to be viewed and admired as
a matter of antique curiosity the better.