THERE are two ways. One is to live for God. That has been tried, and the
result has always been the same. It was tried in Palestine many years
ago and the people who tried it were not protected by their God. They
were conquered, overwhelmed and exiled. They lost their country and were
scattered over the earth. For many centuries they expected assistance
from their God. They believed that they would be gathered together
again, that their cities and temples and altars would be rebuilt, that
they would again be the favorites of Jehovah, that with his help they
would overcome their enemies and rule the world. Century by century
the hope has grown weaker and weaker, until now it is regarded by the
intelligent as a foolish dream.
Living for God was tried in Switzerland and it ended in slavery and
torture. Every avenue that led to improvement, to progress, was closed.
Only those in authority were allowed to express their thoughts. No
one tried to increase the happiness of people in this world. Innocent
pleasure was regarded as sin, laughter was suppressed, all natural joy
despised, and love itself denounced as sin.
They amused themselves with fasting and prayer, hearing sermons, talking
about endless pain, committing to memory the genealogies in the Old
Testament, and now and then burning one of their fellow-men.
Living for God was tried in Scotland. The people became the serfs and
slaves of the blessed Kirk. The ministers became petty tyrants. They
poisoned the very springs of life. They interfered with every family,
invaded the privacy of every home, sowed the seeds of superstition and
fear, and filled the darkness with devils. They claimed to be divinely
inspired, that they delivered the messages of God, that to deny their
authority was blasphemy, and that all who refused to do their bidding
would suffer eternal pain. Under their government Scotland was a land of
sighing and sorrow, of grief and pain. The people were slaves.
Living for God was tried in New England. A government was formed in
accordance with the Old Testament. The laws, for the most part, were
petty and absurd, the penalties cruel and bloody to the last degree.
Religious liberty was regarded as a crime, as an insult to God. Persons
differing in belief from those in power, were persecuted, whipped,
maimed and exiled. People supposed to be in league with the devil
were imprisoned or killed. A theological government was established,
ministers were the agents of God, they dictated the laws and fixed the
penalties. Everything was under the supervision of the clergy. They had
no pity, no mercy. With all their hearts they hated the natural. They
promised happiness in another world, and did all they could to destroy
the pleasures of this.
Their greatest consolation, their purest joy was found in their belief
that all who failed to obey their words, to wear their yoke, would
suffer infinite torture in the eternal dungeons of hell.
Living for God was tried in the Dark Ages. Thousands of scaffolds were
wet with blood, countless swords were thrust through human hearts. The
flames of fagots consumed the flesh of men, dungeons became the homes of
those who thought. In the name of God every cruelty was practiced, every
crime committed, and liberty perished from the earth. Everywhere the
result has been the same. Living for God has filled the world with blood
and flame.
There is another way. Let us live for man, for this world. Let
us develop the brain and civilize the heart. Let us ascertain the
conditions of happiness and live in accordance with them. Let us do what
we can for the destruction of ignorance, poverty and crime. Let us do
our best to supply the wants of the body, to satisfy the hunger of the
mind, to ascertain the secrets of nature, to the end that we may make
the invisible forces the tireless servants of the human race, and fill
the world with happy homes.
Let the gods take care of themselves. Let us live for man. Let us
remember that those who have sought for the truths of nature have never
persecuted their fellow-men. The astronomers and chemists have forged no
chains, built no dungeons. The geologists have invented no instrument
of torture. The philosophers have not demonstrated the truth of their
theories by burning their neighbors. The great infidels, the thinkers,
have lived for the good of man.
It is noble to seek for truth, to be intellectually honest, to give to
others a true transcript of your mind, a photograph of your thoughts in
honest words.