"_Or the Christian religion_."
Well, what is the Christian religion? "If you scoff at the Christian
religion--if you curse the Christian religion." Well what is it?
Gentlemen, you hear Presbyterians every day attack the Catholic
Church. Is that the Christian religion? The Catholic believes it is the
Christian religion, and you have to admit that it is the oldest one, and
then the Catholics turn round and scoff at the Protestants. Is that the
Christian religion? If so, every Christian religion has been cursed
by every other Christian religion. Is not that an absurd and foolish
statute?
I say that the Catholic has the right to attack the Presbyterian and
tell him, "Your doctrine is all wrong." I think he has the right to say
to him, "You are leading thousands to hell." If he believes it, he not
only has the right to say it, but it is his duty to say it; and if the
Presbyterian really believes the Catholics are all going to the devil,
it is his duty to say so. Why not? I will never have any religion that
I cannot defend--that is, that I do not believe I can defend. I may be
mistaken, because no man is absolutely certain that he knows. We all
understand that. Every one is liable to be mistaken. The horizon of each
individual is very narrow, and in his poor sky the stars are few and
very small.
"_Or the word of God,--_"
What is that?
"_The canonical Scriptures contained in the books of the Old and New
Testaments_."
Now what has a man the right to say about that? Has he the right to
show that the book of Revelation got into the canon by one vote, and one
only? Has he the right to show that they passed in convention upon what
books they would put in and what they would not? Has he the right
to show that there were twenty-eight books called "The Books of the
Hebrews?" Has he the right to show that? Has he the right to show that
Martin Luther said he did not believe there was one solitary word of
gospel in the Epistle to the Romans? Has he the right to show that
some of these books were not written till nearly two hundred years
afterwards? Has he the right to say it, if he believes it? I do not say
whether this is true or not, but has a man the right to say it if he
believes it?
Now suppose I should read the bible all through right here in
Morristown, and after I got through I should make up my mind that it is
not a true book--what ought I to say? Ought I to clap my hand over my
mouth and start for another State, and the minute I got over the line
say, "It is not true, It is not true?" Or, ought I to have the right
and privilege of saying right here in New Jersey, "My fellow citizens, I
have read the book--I do not believe that it is the word of God?"
Suppose I read it and think it is true, then I am bound to say so. If
I should go to Turkey and read the Koran and make up my mind that it is
false, you would all say that I was a miserable poltroon if I did not
say so.
By force you can make hypocrites--men who will agree with you from the
teeth out, and in their hearts hate you. We want no more hypocrites.
We have enough in every community. And how are you going to keep from
having more? By having the air free,--by wiping from your statute books
such miserable and infamous laws as this.
"_The Holy Scriptures_."
Are they holy? Must a man be honest? Has he the right to be sincere?
There are thousands of things in the Scriptures that everybody believes.
Everybody believes the Scriptures are right when they say, "Thou shalt
not steal"--everybody. And when they say "Give good measure, heaped up
and running over," everybody says, "Good!" So when they say "Love your
neighbor," everybody applauds that. Suppose a man believes that, and
practices it, does it make any difference whether he believes in the
flood or not? Is that of any importance? Whether a man built an ark or
not--does that make the slightest difference? A man might deny it and
yet be a very good man. Another might believe it and be a very mean
man. Could it now, by any possibility, make a man a good father, a good
husband, a good citizen? Does it make any difference whether you believe
it or not? Does it make any difference whether or not you believe that
a man was going through town and his hair was a little short, like mine,
and some little children laughed at him, and thereupon two bears from
the woods came down and tore to pieces about forty of these children? Is
it necessary to believe that? Suppose a man should say, "I guess that is
a mistake. They did not copy that right. I guess the man that reported
that was a little dull of hearing and did not get the story exactly
right." Any harm in saying that? Is a man to be sent to the penitentiary
for that? Can you imagine an infinitely good God sending a man to hell
because he did not believe the bear story?
So I say if you believe the bible, say so; if you do not believe it, say
so. And here is the vital mistake, I might almost say, in Protestantism
itself. The Protestants when they fought the Catholics said: "Read the
bible for yourselves--stop taking it from your priests--read the sacred
volume with your own eyes. It is a revelation from God to his children,
and you are the children." And then they said: "If after you read it you
do not believe it, and you say anything against it, we will put you in
jail, and God will put you in hell." That is a fine position to get a
man in. It is like a man who invited his neighbor to come and look at
his pictures, saying: "They are the finest in the place, and I want your
candid opinion. A man who looked at them the other day said they were
daubs, and I kicked him down stairs--now I want your candid judgment."
So the Protestant Church says to a man, "This bible is a message from
your Father,--your Father in heaven. Read it. Judge for yourself. But
if after you have read it you say it is not true, I will put you in the
penitentiary for one year." The Catholic Church has a little more sense
about that--at least more logic. It says: "This bible is not given
to everybody. It is given to the world, to be sure, but it must be
interpreted by the Church. God would not give a bible to the world
unless he also appointed some one, some organization, to tell the
world what it means." They said: "We do not want the world filled with
interpretations, and all the interpreters fighting each other." And
the Protestant has gone to the infinite absurdity of saying: "Judge for
yourself, but if you judge wrong you will go to the penitentiary here
and to hell hereafter."
Now let us see further:
"_Or by profane scoffing expose them to ridicule_." Think of such a law
as that, passed under a Constitution that says, "No law shall abridge
the liberty of speech." But you must not ridicule the Scriptures. Did
anybody ever dream of passing a law to protect Shakespeare from being
laughed at? Did anybody ever think of such a thing? Did anybody ever
want any legislative enactment to keep people from holding Robert Burns
in contempt? The songs of Burns will be sung as long as there is love
in the human heart Do we need to protect him from ridicule by a statute?
Does he need assistance from New Jersey? Is any statute needed to keep
Euclid from being laughed at in this neighborhood? And is it possible
that a work written by an infinite being has to be protected by a
legislature? Is it possible that a book cannot be written by a God so
that it will not excite the laughter of the human race?
Why gentlemen, humor is one of the most valuable things in the human
brain. It is the torch of the mind--it sheds light. Humor is the
readiest test of truth--of the natural, of the sensible--and when you
take from a man all sense of humor, there will only be enough left
to make a bigot. Teach this man who has no humor--no sense of
the absurd--the Presbyterian creed, fill his darkened brain with
superstition and his heart with hatred--then frighten him with the
threat of hell, and he will be ready to vote for that statute. Such men
made that law.