NOTHING can be more unreasonable than to admit, for a moment, that the
Almighty Power which governs the vast unbounded universe, should be the
author, either directly or indirectly, of a system which has produced so
much cruelty, carnage, and bloodshed, as the Christian Religion--a very
large portion of which has been brought about by the discordant
doctrines attributed to the preaching of Christ. If God is its author,
(which is more than doubtful,) if, in addition to the evils with which
human nature is afflicted, he had intended to make man's misery
complete, the Christian religion seems well adapted to secure that end,
for it is the key-stone of human wretchedness. A great amount of evil
has resulted from the different sects that have arisen from the New
Testament.
A few particulars will suffice to show that the various doctrines, all
gathered from and founded on the sayings of Christ, have created discord
and persecution among the followers of Jesus, the pretended pacificator
of the human race.
One of the most destructive sayings of Jesus--one which has entailed on
the human race a system of continual evil, and which bids fair to last
for ages to come, is the delegated power given to the Apostle Peter, and
which is, to the present day, claimed by his successors. Peter, being
asked by Christ as to what the Jews thought of him, answered that "some
thought that one of the old prophets had returned from the dead, while
others thought differently." But, says Jesus to Peter, "_Whom do you say
that I am?_" Give me your opinion. Peter replied, "_Thou art the Christ,
the Son of God._" This answer was responded to by Jesus, and to Peter he
said, "_Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not
revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven;" and Jesus added,
"Thou art Peter, and on this rock will I build my church, and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys
of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall
be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be
loosed in heaven._" (Matthew xvi., 19.)
After appearing to give Peter unlimited power, he tells him that "_the
chief priest and scribes will put him to death, and that he should be
raised the third day._" Peter, not understanding this sad reverse, and
out of regard for his master, rebuked him, but very mildly, by saying,
"_Be it far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee._" At this,
Jesus seemed to lose his temper, and said, "_Get thee behind me, Satan,
thou art an offence to me._" Jesus then tells Peter that "_The son of
man should come in the glory of his Father, with his angels, to reward
every man according to his works,_" Jesus then adds, "_Verily, I say
unto you, there be some standing here which shall not taste of death
till they see the son of man coming in his kingdom._"
Now it was not possible for Peter, or any one else, to understand
Christ's meaning. He tells them things concerning his second coming,
before they understood his object as it related to his Messiahship.
Besides, what he told them would surely come to pass in their time, is
not yet fulfilled. This obscure mode of teaching runs through all his
speeches; and he continually reproaches them for their want of faith in
his doctrines. A method so incoherent appears to approach to insanity.
But to return more immediately to the power given to Peter. A power so
undefined as was given to Peter, at a time when he did not even
comprehend the final destiny of Jesus, cannot be admitted to have been
given. But as this part of Christ's history was written long after his
leaving this earth, the writer, whoever he was, wrote from hearsay; and
there being no one to question its truth, it became, like many other
sayings, reputed as coming from Jesus. Inconsistent as it was, it became
one of the doctrines of the church; and the successors of Peter retain
it in the Catholic Church at the present day. This original power given
unto Peter is still invested in the person of the Pope of Rome, and
through him down to the rest of the clergy. This power, said to have
been given by Jesus to the church, has been productive of discord. The
Popes have held and acted upon it as a divine prerogative bequeathed by
Christ to his church, which has been denied by other sects, so that
quarrels have been the consequence. And hence both rich and poor,
learned and unlearned, have, and do still, confess to the priest their
sins, and receive pardon.
All the evils that have resulted from such foolery, sprang from the
authority said to have been by Jesus given to Peter. What a rich harvest
have the priests reaped from this delegated power! Can men, possessing
one grain of common sense, believe that such power was ever given to
mortal man? But the different sects will say, that Jesus never intended
that it should be thus understood. This does not mend the matter at all;
for God must have foreseen what use would be made of it. The
consequences, therefore, rest with Him. But are we prepared to admit
that Infinite Wisdom would have left unguarded, doctrines of such vast
importance to the peace and harmony of his church?
Again, the shocking consequences which have followed the institution of
the Sacrament, or Lord's Supper. Jesus, according as Christians believe,
instituted the breaking of bread and drinking of wine, as an emblem of
his body being broken, and his blood being poured out as a sacrifice for
sin. But this doctrine or ordinance, being undefined, the different
sects of Christians have practised it under the impression of its
sacredness, taking its literal meaning instead of regarding it as a
token of remembrance. The Catholic believes, or professes so to do, that
after the descendants of Peter have prayed over, and consecrated, the
bread and wine, its nature is changed into the real body and blood of
the Saviour. One horrible consequence which has resulted from such
tomfoolery, has been, the burning of hundreds of human beings at the
stake, for not admitting so important a truth. This evil, and many
others, has arisen from the obscure doctrines taught by Jesus, whom the
scriptures describe as being the light of the world. Jesus, before being
taken into heaven, told his disciples that it was for their good that he
should leave them; for, to make up for his absence, _he would send the
Holy Ghost, who would be a comforter, and would lead them into all
truth_. How far this promise has been fulfilled, we have the evidence of
eighteen hundred years; for, immediately after Jesus had left his
church, they became divided, and ever since they have butchered each
other without mercy. This is the comfort, then, that Christians have
received by the coming of the Holy Ghost.
Another fruitful field of slaughter and blood has been thrown open in
consequence of Jesus withholding from the Christian church the real
nature of his being. So confused was he on this subject, that, even now,
Christians do not agree. Some contend for his manhood alone, and that,
like all other men, he had an earthly father,--the Unitarians, for
instance, and other sects. But the real Orthodox contend that Jesus was
born of a pure virgin, who, though a mother was yet a virgin. These
contradictory views are supported by the life and history of Jesus. Does
it require any thing more than common sense to repudiate the divinity of
a Book containing such opposite statements of the same accounts, or
facts? It is the uncertainty of what Christianity really is, which has
caused so much evil in the world; and this has arisen from the dark and
obscure mode of teaching attributed to the Son of God. Those Christians
who have embraced views so opposite to each other, but who have taken
them from the same Word of God, have, in every age, been the most
implacable enemies, and have seldom failed, when power has been in their
hands, to inflict the most cruel torments on those who differed from
them. Indeed, the history of the Christian Church is one continued
record of persecution and cruelty.
I was, for some few months, called on by an Orthodox deacon, who
earnestly requested me to reflect on the dangerous situation I was in as
an unbeliever, being totally unprepared for a future state. I asked, if
I were in a worse state than an Unitarian? You admit, said I, that they,
many of them, are good men, and will not be excluded from heaven. He
replied, that, morally speaking, they might be good; but, he added, that
my claim to heaven stood on equal, if not superior ground to theirs, as
they did not believe in the vicarious sacrifice of Jesus for sin;
consequently, they had neither part nor lot in the matter.
All the intolerance and persecution which have deluged the earth with
blood, have arisen from Christianity not having ever been defined.
Hundreds of different creeds have been founded on the sayings and doings
of Jesus and his apostles, as found in the New Testament; and there are
yet materials for many more. Each sect regards all other sects as being
wickedly obstinate, and resisting the truth. All this misery and
destruction, arising from the different construction of the doctrines
said to have been delivered by Jesus, would never have taken place, if
the all-wise Ruler of the Universe had dictated them; but the evils they
have brought on the world can never be reconciled as coming from a Being
of infinite wisdom, power, and goodness. If such a Being had ever given
a revelation to the human race, there is no doubt but that it would have
been adapted to man's reasoning powers; that mistakes would not have
opposed its progress; thousands of books would not have been required to
explain what Infinite Wisdom had proclaimed; no fires of martyrdom would
have been lighted, to compel men to believe what none could understand.
If God had been the author of the Christian religion, it would, like all
his works, have been so arranged, and the means so wisely adapted, that
the intention or end would be fully answered. But the religion of the
Bible, both the Old and New Testament, is a continual trial of
experiments on man. And what has religion made of him? Is he generally
fit to be trusted, in word or action? Is he generally humane and
tender-hearted? No! very far from it. Society is, in its best state,
very defective in humanity. The accumulation of riches is the
Christian's object. Gold is the god he adores.
It is impossible for Christians to deny that the persecutions and
burnings, the cruel torture, and every infliction of cruelty practised
by one sect towards others, who honestly differed from the most
powerful, were all in consequence of the different sects embracing and
maintaining opposite doctrines; all of which were founded on the
teaching of Jesus. Can we, then, believe that the Almighty Ruler of all
worlds would have sent his Son to teach mankind something that should
involve the human race in a never-ending quarrel, by teaching so
obscurely that two persons, equally honest and intelligent, should form
opposite opinions; knowing, as the Almighty must, that such teaching
would engender hatred and malice, and be the cause of producing unheard
of cruelty and torture?
How dreadful it is to reflect on the mad fury of religious zeal, when
the persecutor and the persecuted are equally sincere! The first,
believing he ought to put to death those who differ from him, for the
glory of God; and the latter, considering that his crown of glory can be
obtained only by sufferings death the most horrid to bear! Poor,
unfortunate creatures! Both parties are objects of pity. The evils
resulting from the different doctrines collected from the teaching of
Jesus, have, for eighteen hundred years, converted the otherwise happy
world into a pious mad-house. The doctrine of human depravity, although
it may not have been so productive of evil as some others, is a libel on
human nature. It is taught by Jesus; the preachers repeat it weekly from
the pulpit; and the necessity of a new birth results from it. A thousand
pulpits thunder forth vengeance against man because of the hardness of
his heart. We are told that he has rebelled against his God; that he is
at enmity with him, and that he has turned his back to his Maker.
All this is done to humble man, and to bring about his conversion. The
Scriptures also represent the Almighty as angry with poor, feeble man,
and that he will eventually pour out his wrath in never-ending torments!
These doctrines, so earnestly taught, and so fully credited, constitute
a principal part of what comes from ten thousand preachers; and if we
examine the truth of them, none can we find. As it respects man's
rebelling, and turning his back on his Creator, man's error and
misfortune has ever been in trying to find out something about his
Maker.
This curiosity, no doubt, originated in a state of ignorance. And even
in the present day, man has yet to learn the inutility of every attempt
to discover any thing as to the being and nature of a Supreme Power that
is supposed to govern the universe. We are lost in wonder and admiration
when we contemplate the mighty universe! but of the Grand Regulator of
all, we are, and no doubt shall ever remain, in total ignorance. It is a
libel on man, then, to teach that human beings are at enmity against
God. I ask my readers, both male and female, whether they ever had those
feelings of hatred against the unknown Governor of the grand and sublime
universe? But Christian priests proclaim it; and to those who believe
it, it is a source of lamentation; and being under the belief that man
is the natural enemy of God, the minds of such persons become
prostrated, and then this otherwise happy world is despised and
neglected for a future state of supposed bliss.
Let any one attend a Protracted Meeting, where there may be some
hundreds of persons, and among the number, many youths of both sexes;
both young and old are appealed to by the speakers, who describe them as
enemies of God, and as having turned their backs on the God of goodness.
They become alarmed, not having before conceived that they could have
been so wicked. I have seen upwards of fifty, at one time, sobbing and
crying and imploring mercy, who, poor, weak mortals, until this
foolishness of being at enmity with God was preached to them, had no
conception of their dreadful enormities and danger. By exciting the
feelings with falsehood, this process is called conversion and the work
of the Holy Ghost. At the same time that the most virtuous females are
denounced as deserving damnation for their wickedness, and told that,
without repentance, their future state will be wretched to all eternity,
should one word derogatory to the character of these females, thus
represented by the priests, be spoken by any body else, an action for
slander would be instituted.
But as long as people will give up their reason, and be hoodwinked with
the nonsense that God is angry, and that they are every moment in danger
of falling into hell, so long will the Christian priesthood riot in
profusion and plenty, by dealing out damnation to those whose only crime
is enmity against God. So completely hoodwinked is man, that he attends
weekly, and pays well into the bargain, to hear the priest deal out
endless damnation to nine-tenths of the human race; and it is ten
chances to one that he also is included among the subjects of the Devil!
Should an Orthodox preacher, for a few Sundays, preach on moral
subjects, and consider that morality was the one thing needful in the
Christian Church, the congregation would complain that their souls
required more substantial nourishment. The preacher must return to the
old mode of teaching, and again shake them over the lake of fire! And
hence it follows, that, as the people, are not satisfied without having
the wrath of God the constant theme, the preacher gives it as they wish
to have it. An angry God; a cunning, crafty and tempting Devil; and the
enmity of man's wicked heart: this is the set of tools by which the
Christian teacher carries on his theological trade. The discordancy of
religious opinions, and all of them taken from the doctrines as taught
by Jesus and the apostles, each preacher referring to the favorite
passages which support his views, is and will be, a never-ending theme
of disputation; and at some future period, may renew the practice of
burning each other alive for God's glory.
Nothing but the spread of Infidelity can completely stop this dreadful
evil. We have only to suppose, that, at some future time, the savages
who have been what is called converted by preachers of opposite sects,
such as the Calvinist and the Universalist, or the Trinitarians and
Unitarians, should, by some cause not now foreseen, be left by the
missionaries to support the Christian church; then the savage converts
of different sects would be very likely to fall on each other, and the
fires of Smithfield, which Infidelity, the companion of humanity, has
extinguished, may again blaze on the Islands of the Pacific Ocean. This
is a very probable case; for, in the present day, the same Bible is the
text book of all denominations, and all of them would persecute if they
had but the power. Christianity is now what it ever has been, and what
it ever will be, a persecuting religion; and, although the fires of
martyrdom cease to torment the human race, the embers are still emitting
smoke, and may again be rekindled. Nothing short of _unbelief in all
divine revelation_, openly and fearlessly avowed, can guarantee the
human family against a renewal of the religious butchery of past ages.