SECTON I. MORALITY DERIVED FROM NATURAL FITNESS...
AND NOT FROM TRADITION.
Such parts or passages of the Scriptures as inculcate morality, have
a tendency to subserve mankind, the same as all other public
investigations or teachings of it, may be supposed to have; but are
neither better or worse for having a place in the volume of those
writings denominated canonical; for morality does not derive its nature
from books, but from the fitness of things; and though it may be more
or less, interspersed through the pages of the Alcoran, its purity and
rectitude would remain the same; for it is founded in eternal right; and
whatever writings, books or oral speculations, best illustrate or teach
this moral science, should have the preference. The knowledge of this as
well as all other sciences, is acquired from reason and experience,
and (as it is progressively obtained) may with propriety be called, the
revelation of God, which he has revealed to us in the constitution of
our rational natures; and as it is congenial with reason and truth,
cannot (like other revelations) partake of imposture. This is natural
religion, and could be derived from none other but God. I have
endeavored, in this treatise, to prune this religion from those
excrescences, with which craft on the one hand, and ignorance on
the other, have loaded it; and to hold it up to view in its native
simplicity, free from alloy; and have throughout the contents of
the volume, addressed the reason of mankind, and not their passions,
traditions or prejudices; for which cause, it is noways probable that it
will meet with any considerable approbation.
Most of the human race, by one means or other are prepossessed with
principles opposed to the religion of reason. In these parts of America,
they are most generally taught, that they are born into the world in
a state of enmity to God and moral good, and are under his wrath and
curse, that the way to heaven and future blessedness is out of their
power to pursue, and that it is incumbered with mysteries which none
but the priests can unfold, that we must "be born again," have a special
kind of faith, and be regenerated; or in fine, that human nature, which
they call "the old man," must be destroyed, perverted, or changed by
them, and by them new modelled, before it can be admitted into the
heavenly kingdom. Such a plan of superstition, as far as it obtains
credit in the world, subjects mankind to sacerdotal empire; which is
erected on the imbecility of human nature. Such of mankind, as break the
fetters of their education, remove such other obstacles as are in their
way, and have the confidence publicly to talk rational, exalt reason to
its just supremacy, and vindicate truth and the ways of God's providence
to men, are sure to be stamped with the epithet of irreligious, infidel,
profane, and the like. But it is often observed of such a man, that he
is morally honest, and as often replied, what of that? Morality will
carry no man to heaven. So that all the satisfaction the honest man
can have while the superstitious are squibbling hell fire at him, is to
retort back upon them that they are priest ridden.
The manner of the existence, and intercourse of human souls, after the
dissolution of their bodies by death, being inconceiveable to us in
this life, and fill manner of intelligence between us and departed souls
impracticable, the priests have it in their power to amuse us with a
great variety of visionary apprehensions of things in the world to come,
which, while in this life, we cannot contradict from experience, the
test of great part of our certainty (especially to those of ordinary
understandings) and having introduced mysteries into their religion,
make it as incomprehensible to us, (in this natural state) as the
manner of our future existence; and from Scripture authority, having
invalidated reason as being carnal and depraved, they proceed further
to teach us from the same authority, that, "the natural man knoweth not
the-things of the spirit, for they are foolishness unto him, neither
can he know them for they are spiritually discerned." A spiritualizing
teacher is nearly as well acquainted with the kingdom of heaven, as a
man can be with his home lot. He knows the road to heaven and eternal
blessedness, to which happy regions, with the greatest assurance, he
presumes to pilot his dear disciples and unfold to them the mysteries
of the canonical writings, and of the world to come; they catch the
enthusiasm and see with the same sort of spiritual eyes, with which they
can pierce religion through and through, and understand the spiritual
meaning of the Scriptures, which before had been "a dead letter" to
them, particularly the revelations of St. John the divine, and
the allusion of the horns therein mentioned. The most obscure and
unintelligible passages of the Bible, come within the compass of their
spiritual discerning as apparently as figures do to a mathmetician: then
they can sing songs out of the Canticles, saying, "I am my beloved's and
my beloved is mine;" and being at a loose from the government of reason,
please themselves with any fanaticisms they like best, as that of their
being "snatched as brands out of the burning, to enjoy the special and
eternal favor of God, not from any worthiness or merit in them, but
merely from the sovereign will and pleasure of God, while millions of
millions, as good by nature and practice as they, were left to
welter eternally, under the scalding drops of divine vengeance;" not
considering, that if it was consistent with the perfections of God to
save them, his salvation could not fail to have been uniformly extended
to all others, whose circumstances may be supposed to be similar to, or
more deserving than theirs, for equal justice cannot fail to apply in
all cases in which equal justice demands it. But these deluded people
resolve the divine government altogether into sovereignty: "even so
Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." And as they exclude reason
and justice from their imaginary notions of religion, they also exclude
it from the providence or moral government of God. Nothing is more
common, in the part of the country where I was educated, than to
hear those infatuated people, in their public and private addresses,
acknowledge to their creator, from the desk and elsewhere, "hadst thou,
O Lord, laid judgment to the line and righteousness to the plummet, we
had been in the grave with the dead and in hell with the damned, long
before this time." Such expressions from the creature to the creator
are profane, and utterly incompatible with the divine character.
Undoubtedly, (all things complexly considered) the providence of God to
man is just, inasmuch as it has the divine approbation.
The superstitious thus set up a spiritual discerning, independent of,
and in opposition to reason, and their mere imaginations pass with each
other, and with themselves, for infallible truth. Hence it is, that they
despise the progressive and wearisome reasonings of philosophers (which
must be admitted to be a painful method of arriving at truth) but as
it is the only way in which we can acquire it, I have pursued the old
natural road of ratiocination, concluding, that as this spiritual
discerning is altogether inadequate to the management of any of the
concerns of life, or of contributing any assistance or knowledge towards
the perfecting of the arts and sciences, it is equally unintelligible
and insignificant in matters of religion: and therefore conclude, that
if the human race in general, could be prevailed upon to exercise common
sense in religious concerns, those spiritual fictions would cease, and
be succeeded by reason and truth.
SECTON II. OF THE IMPORTANCE OF THE EXERCISE OF REASON...
AND PRACTICE OF MORALITY, IN ORDER TO THE HAPPINESS OF MANKIND.
The period of life is very uncertain, and at the longest is but short; a
few years bring us from infancy to manhood, a few more to a dissolution;
pain, sickness and death are the necessary consequences of animal life.
Through life we struggle with physical evils, which eventually are
certain to destroy our earthly composition; and well would it be for
us did evils end here; but alas! moral evil has been more or less
predominant in our agency, and though natural evil is unavoidable,
yet moral evil may be prevented or remedied by the exercise of virtue.
Morality is therefore of more importance to us than any or all other
attainments; as it is a habit of mind, which, from a retrospective
consciousness of our agency in this life, we should carry with us into
our succeeding state of existence, as an acquired appendage of our
rational nature, and as the necessary means of our mental happiness.
Virtue and vice are the only things in this world, which, with our
souls, are capable of surviving death; the former is the rational and
only procuring cause of all intellectual happiness, and the latter of
conscious guilt and misery; and therefore, our indispensable duty and
ultimate interest is, to love, cultivate and improve the one, as the
means of our greatest good, and to hate and abstain from the other, as
productive of our greatest evil. And in order thereto, we should so far
divest ourselves of the incumbrances of this world, (which are too
apt to engross our attention) as to inquire a consistent system of the
knowledge of religious duty, and make it our constant endeavor in life
to act conformably to it. The knowledge of the being, perfections,
creation and providence of God, and of the immortality of our souls, is
the foundation of religion; which has been particularly illustrated in
the four first chapters of this discourse. And as the Pagan, Jewish,
Christian and Mahometan countries of the world have been overwhelmed
with a multiplicity of revelations diverse from each other, and which,
by their respective promulgators, are said to have been immediately
inspired into their souls by the spirit of God, or immediately
communicated to them by the intervening agency of angels (as in the
instance of the invisible Gabriel to Mahomet) and as those revelations
have been received and credited, by afar the greater part of the
inhabitants of the several countries of the world (on whom they have
been obtruded) as super-naturally revealed by God or angels, and which,
in doctrine and discipline, are in most respects repugnant to each
other, it fully evinces their imposture, and authorizes us, without a
lengthy course of arguing, to determine with certainty, that not one of
them had their original from God; as they clash with each other, which
is ground of high probability against the authenticity of each of them.
A revelation, that may be supposed to be really of the institution of
God, must also be supposed to be perfectly consistent or uniform, and
to be able to stand the test of truth; therefore such pretended
revelations, as are tendered to us as the contrivance of heaven, which
do not tear that test, we may be morally certain, was either originally
a deception, or has since, by adulteration become spurious.
Reason therefore must be the standard by which we determine the
respective claims of revelation; for otherwise we may as well subscribe
to the divinity of the one as of the other, or to the whole of them, or
to none at all. So likewise on this thesis, if reason rejects the whole
of those revelations, we ought to return to the religion of nature and
reason.
Undoubtedly it is our duty, and for our best good, that we occupy and
improve the faculties, with which our creator has endowed us, but so far
as prejudice, or prepossession of opinion prevails over our minds, in
the same proportion, reason is excluded from our theory or practice.
Therefore if we would acquire useful knowledge, we must first divest
ourselves of those impediments; and sincerely endeavor to search out
the truth: and draw our conclusions from reason and just argument, which
will never conform to our inclination, interest or fancy; but we must
conform to that if we would judge rightly. As certain as we determine
contrary to reason, we make a wrong conclusion; therefore, our wisdom
is, to conform to the nature and reason of things, as well in religious
matters, as in other sciences. Preposterously absurd would it be, to
negative the exercise of reason in religious concerns, and yet, be
actuated by it in all other and less occurrences of life. All our
knowledge of things is derived from God, in and by the order of nature,
out of which we cannot perceive, reflect or understand any thing
whatsoever; our external senses are natural; and those objects are also
natural; so that ourselves, and all things about us, and our knowledge
collected therefrom, is natural, and not supernatural; as argued in the
fifth chapter.
An unjust composition never fails to contain error and falsehood.
Therefore an unjust connection of ideas is not derived from nature, but
from the imperfect composition of man. Misconnection of ideas is the
same as misjudging, and has no positive existence, being merely a
creature of the imagination; but nature and truth are real and uniform;
and the rational mind by reasoning, discerns the uniformity, and is
thereby enabled to make a just composition of ideas, which will stand
the test of truth. But the fantastical illuminations of the credulous
and superstitious part of mankind, proceed from weakness, and as far as
they take place in the world subvert the religion of reason, nature and
truth.
Ethan Allen.
End of Project Gutenberg's Reason, The Only Oracle of Man, by Ethan Allen