1. The most important lesson deducible from all the religious systems,
commemorated in history, and noticed in this work, is, that all
religious conceptions, whether in the shape of doctrine, precept,
prophecy, prayer, religious devotion, or a belief in miracles, are a
spontaneous outgrowth of the moral and religious elements of the human
mind. And to assign them a higher origin is to ignore the developments
of modern science, and insult the highest intelligence of the age.
2. From the elevated scientific plane occupied by the most enlightened
portion of the present age, there is no difficulty in finding a
satisfactory solution for every event, every occurrence, and every
performance recorded in any of the numerous bibles which have long been
afloat in the world, and which have always constituted the sole basis
for the claim to a divine origin of all the religious systems of the
past; so that such a claim can be no longer vindicated by historically
intelligent people.
3. We have shown in this work that all the miraculous incidents related
in the history of Jesus Christ as a proof of his divinity can find a
more rational explanation than that which assigns them to divine agency.
Some of them are now known to lie within the natural capacity of the
human mind to achieve, others are explained by recently discovered
natural laws. Another class are now well understood mental or nervous
phenomena. Other stories, now regarded by the Christian world as
referring to miraculous achievements, were probably designed by the
writer as mere fable or metaphor. All the events in Christ's history, we
have shown, are susceptible of a hundred fold more rational explanation
than that which regards them as the feats of a God in violation of his
own laws.
4. We have also shown that the same marvelous incidents now found
incorporated in the Gospel history of Jesus Christ were related long
previously as a part of the sacred history of other Gods; such as
being miraculously conceived and born of a virgin; born on the 25th of
December; visited in infancy by angels and shepherds;' threatened by the
ruler of the country; being of royal lineage; receiving the same divine
titles; performing the same miracles, &c.
In a word, we have shown that various heathen Gods and Demigods had,
long before Christ's advent, filled the same chapter in history now
reported of him in the Christian New Testament. All these stories of
the heathen Gods prove as conclusively as any scientific problem can be
demonstrated by figures, that the same stories related of Jesus Christ
have no other foundation than that of heathen tradition. And will the
Christian world, then, hereafter stultify their common sense by ignoring
these facts of history so fatal to their claims? Past history points to
an affirmative answer to this question, as we will illustrate.
In the early history of this country, several reports were published
of showers of blood being seen to fall in some of the sea-coast states,
which were regarded as a divine judgment. But the use of the telescope
revealed the fact that it was the ordure of butterflies, as those
insects were seen at the time in vast swarms. But the devout Christian,
whose faith in his religion has always been proof against the
demonstrations of science, would give it up. He would not accept the
butterfly explanation, but continued to teach his children that it came
from God out of heaven as a manifestation of displeasure toward the
sins of the people. And it now remains to be seen whether Christian
professors at the present day will manifest a similar folly by standing
out against the demonstrated truths and facts of this work.
5. We here cite it as the last and most sorrowful lesson of history,
that no facts, no proofs, no demonstrations of science can eradicate
religious errors from the human mind, if instilled in early life, and
never disturbed till the possessor arrives at mature age or middle life.