Suppose a man had been convicted of murder, and was about to be
hanged--the governor acting as the executioner; and suppose that just as
the doomed man was about to suffer death some one in the crowd should
step forward and say, "I am willing to die in the place of that
murderer. He has a family, and I have none." And suppose further, that
the governor should reply, "Come forward, young man, your offer is
accepted. A murder has been committed and somebody must be hung, and
your death will satisfy the law just as well as the death of the
murderer." What would you then think of the doctrine of "vicarious
sacrifice?"
This doctrine is the consummation of two outrages--forgiving one crime
and committing another.
Fifth, With having inculcated a phase of the doctrine commonly known as
"evolution," or "development".
The Church believes and teaches the exact opposite of this doctrine.
According to the philosophy of theology, man has continued to degenerate
for six thousand years. To teach that there is that in nature which
impels to higher forms and grander ends, is heresy, of course. The
Deity will damn Spencer and his "Evolution," Darwin and his "Origin
of Species," Bastian and his "Spontaneous Generation," Huxley and his
"Protoplasm" Tyndall and his "Prayer Gauge" and will save those, and
those only, who declare that the universe has been cursed, from the
smallest atom to the grandest star; that everything tends to evil and to
that only, and that the only perfect thing in nature is the Presbyterian
Confession of Faith.
Sixth, With having intimated that the reception of Socrates and Penelope
at heaven's gate was, to say the least, a trifle more cordial than that
of Catharine II.
Penelope, waiting patiently and trustfully for her lord's return,
delaying her suitors, while sadly weaving and unweaving the shroud of
Laertes, is the most perfect type of wife and woman produced by the
civilization of Greece.
Socrates, whose life was above reproach and whose death was beyond all
praise, stands to-day, in the estimation of every thoughtful man, at
least the peer of Christ.
Catharine II assassinated her husband. Stepping upon his corpse, she
mounted the throne. She was the murderess of Prince Iwan, grand nephew
of Peter the Great, who was imprisoned for eighteen years, and who
during all that time saw the sky but once. Taken all in all, Catharine
was probably one of the most intellectual beasts that ever wore a crown.
Catharine, however, was the head of the Greek Church, Socrates was
a heretic and Penelope lived and died without having once heard of
"particular redemption" or of "irresistible grace."
Seventh, With repudiating the idea of a "call" to the ministry, and
pretending that men were "called" to preach as they were to the other
avocations of life.
If this doctrine is true, God, to say the least of it, is an exceedingly
poor judge of human nature. It is more than a century since a man of
true genius has been found in an orthodox pulpit Every minister is
heretical just to the extent that his intellect is above, the average.
The Lord seems to be satisfied with mediocrity; but the people are not.
An old deacon, wishing to get rid of an unpopular preacher, advised him
to give up the ministry and turn his attention to something else. The
preacher replied that he could not conscientiously desert the pulpit, as
he had had a "call" to the ministry. To which the deacon replied, "That
may be so, but it's very unfortunate for you, that when God called you
to preach, he forgot to call anybody to hear you."
There is nothing more stupidly egotistic than the claim of the clergy
that they are, in some divine sense, set apart to the service of the
Lord; that they have been chosen, and sanctified; that there is an
infinite difference between them and persons employed in secular
affairs. They teach us that all other professions must take care of
themselves; that God allows anybody to be a doctor, a lawyer, statesman,
soldier, or artist; that the Motts and Coopers--the Mansfields and
Marshalls--the Wilberforces and Sumners--the Angelos and Raphaels,
were never honored by a "call." They chose their professions and won
their laurels without the assistance of the Lord. All these men were
left free to follow their own inclinations, while God was busily
engaged selecting and "calling" priests, rectors, elders, ministers and
exhorters.
Eighth. With having doubted that God was the author of the 109th Psalm.
The portion of that psalm which carries with it the clearest and most
satisfactory evidences of inspiration, and which has afforded almost
unspeakable consolation to the Presbyterian church, is as follows:
Set thou a wicked man over him; and let Satan stand at his right hand.
When he shall be judged, let him be condemned; and let his prayer become
sin.
Let his days be few; and let another take his office.
Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg; let them seek their
bread also out of their desolate places.
Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil
his labor.
Let there be none to extend mercy unto him; neither let there be any to
favor his fatherless children.
Let his posterity be cut off: and in the generation following let their
name be blotted out.
*****
But do thou for me, O God the Lord, for Thy name's sake; because Thy
mercy is good, deliver Thou me. * * I will greatly praise the Lord with
my _mouth_.
Think of a God wicked and malicious enough to inspire this prayer. Think
of one infamous enough to answer it.
Had this inspired psalm been found in some temple erected for the
worship of snakes, or in the possession of some cannibal king, written
with blood upon the dried skins of babes, there would have been a
perfect harmony between its surroundings and its sentiments.
No wonder that the author of this inspired psalm coldly received
Socrates and Penelope, and reserved his sweetest smiles for Catharine
the Second.
Ninth. With having said that the battles in which the Israelites
engaged, with the approval and command of Jehovah, surpassed in cruelty
those of Julius Cæsar.
Was it Julius Cæsar who said, "And the Lord our God delivered him before
us; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people. And we took all
his cities, and utterly destroyed the men, and the women, and the little
ones, of every city, we left none to remain"?
Did Julius Caesar send the following report to the Roman senate? "And we
took all his cities at that time, there was not a city which we took not
from them, three-score cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of
Og in Bashan. All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and
bars; beside unwalled towns a great many. And we utterly destroyed them,
as we did unto. Sihon, king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men,
women, and children of every city."
Did Caesar take the city of Jericho "and utterly destroy all that was
in the city, both men and women, young and old"? Did he smite "all the
country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of the
springs, and all their kings, and leave none remaining that breathed, as
the Lord God had commanded"?
Search the records of the whole world, find out the history of every
barbarous tribe, and you cart find no crime that touched a lower depth
of infamy than those the bible's God commanded and approved. For such
a God I have no words to express my loathing and contempt, and all the
words in all the languages of man would scarcely be sufficient. Away
with such a God! Give me Jupiter rather, with Io and Europa, or even
Siva with his skulls and snakes.