True religion does not regard God as a personal monarch, governing the
universe by the caprices of an angry and fickle mind, but as the living,
moving, all-pervading, self-sustaining, energizing, vivifying power
which moves and sustains the machinery of the whole universe, and
controls, by a concatenation of laws, the myriads of worlds which move
in majestic grandeur through infinite space, and causes them to act
in concert and harmony without a discordant jar. It does not write its
inspiration and revelation in a dead language or unintelligible Hebrew,
but in living characters, which all can read and understand. It indulges
in no spirit of bigotry, consigns no man or woman to endless torment,
never talks of total depravity or original sin. It is a natural and
godlike religion, calculated to satisfy the deep, unutterable longings
of the soul, and bring blessings and happiness to all who live up to its
requirements. It is a tree bearing the fruit of practical righteousness.
It does not teach that all of God's truth is shut up in a printed book.
It knows no sects, no creeds, and no thirty-nine articles. It does
not pilot the pilgrim through life with a dark lantern, nor search for
living truths among the religious mummies of the dark ages, but regales
itself upon the living truths of the age. Its devotees do not require
temples made with hands in which to worship the Father. It does not
require holy houses, holy days, or holy sacraments. It recommends all
to search for truth as a pearl of great price. It teaches all to worship
God by a life of practical goodness, and by cherishing kindly feelings
toward every human being. This is a religion that will impart true
pleasure in life, and afford sure comfort in a dying hour.
THE RELIGION FOR THIS AGE
Is a religion founded upon truth and goodness;--a religion freed from
the old, worn-out superstitious, Oriental myths. The people are becoming
too Enlightened to tolerate them much longer; they are becoming tired of
being fed on the stale food of past ages; they have been kept in a state
of spiritual stagnation long enough. They are becoming too intelligent
to wish to listen to old mythological doctrines which have been preached
by Christians for centuries. We want a religion better adapted to
the wants of the age. We want a religion that will furnish better
nourishment for man's moral and spiritual nature,--a religion calculated
to develop true manhood, instead of repressing it; a religion whose
doctrines do not conflict with established principles of science; a
religion which our moral sense does not condemn, and against which our
reason will not rebel. We want a religion that builds no walls between
reason and revelation, and forms no creeds and no barriers to the
spontaneous outgrowth of every faculty of the soul. We want a religion
that does not require men and women to be born several times before
they can be honest, truthful, and reliable, or "good enough to enter
the kingdom of heaven." We want a religion which acknowledges no law but
truth and justice,--a religion that will tolerate no wrong, and forgive
no sin. We want a religion whose bond is love, whose temple is truth,
and whose altar is a guiltless conscience, and whose creed is a life
of practical righteousness. We want a religion which will teach us to
cherish kindly feelings toward all mankind, and which will prompt us to
labor to spread flowers instead of thorns in the pathway of every one
with whom we come in contact, and thus make them better and happier
beings; for this is the true end of all true religion and all true
preaching.
"For modes of faith let zealous bigots fight:
He can't be wrong whose life is in the right."
We want a religion which will estimate men and women for what they are,
and not for what they believe,--a religion that does not measure their
moral worth by their creeds, but by their practical lives. We want a
religion that will banish all creeds and mind-enslaving dogmas from the
earth, and substitute in their place brotherly love and goodness. We
want a religion that will do away with ignorance and poverty, that will
labor to prevent any one from suffering for the needful things of life,
and that will bind all together in the ties of universal brotherhood.
In fine, we want a religion which will make truth and love and true
practical righteousness the pole-star of every man and woman who embrace
it. This is the religion we need; this is the religion for the age; this
is the religion that would and will banish all unrighteousness from the
earth, and elevate the race to a higher plane than they ever have or
ever can attain under their soul-cramping, creed-bound religions; this
is the religion the author is laboring for, and has earnestly desired
for twenty-three years to see established among "all nations, tongues,
kindred, and people." This religion is not derived from any Bible,
but is an outgrowth of man's moral and religious nature, as all true
religions in all countries have been. A religion derived from this
source would prompt us to labor daily to promote the happiness of our
neighbors and fellow-beings generally, instead of studying every hour
of our lives to practically rob them, as do most men in civilized
countries, including nearly all Christian professors, who are
_positively for bidden_ by their Bible and lawgiver (Christ) to _lay up
any treasure_ on earth; yet it is their constant study how to draw
all the money possible out of the pockets of their neighbors, with but
little regard to their wants, necessities, or even sufferings, that they
may die in the midst of wealth. It is a strange, yet almost universal,
infatuation, that the inauguration of the true religion will banish from
the earth.