3. Since self-existent and eternal, it must have been infinite,
and hence was everything existing everywhere.
4. Therefore, all that is, has always been; that is, everything has
eternally existed everywhere.
But will you say that this something, this self-existent, eternal
everything, is God? Very well. Then nothing but God could be. Then
he must be the all of everything existing everywhere. Then where
is your universe? You see you cannot have a universe if you have
a God. We have the universe; hence you cannot have a God. "But he
created the universe," you say. Very well; from what did he create
it? Nothing? Omnipresent God alone extending on, and on, and forever
on through all the everywheres, cramming all the immensities full of
his essential self. He could not have created the universe beyond
himself, since there was no beyond. There could have been no place
in which to put it outside of himself when created, since there was
no outside. If created, it must have been from his own essence; and
then it would not have been a creation of anything, but a changing of
himself into something different; and that was not possible, since
he was self-existent, and must necessarily exist the same forever,
since he was eternal, and must exist unchangeable. So the universe
could not have been made from nothing, since all the spaces everywhere
were crammed completely full of everything, and hence there was no
unoccupied premises where the raw material could have been stored
away. It could not have been created from God-substance, since that
already was; it could not have been formed from God's pre-existing
self, since that would have been to change the eternally unchangeable
into something else--to annihilate himself as God by working himself
over into the universe. You see that there can be but one Eternal
All. You cannot have both--a God and the universe. And since we have
the universe, that is, everything eternally existing everywhere,
we need no God, there is no room for a God, and there has never been
anything for a God to do. Therefore, there is no God.
As an infinite God must necessarily fill the entirety of space,
there could be no room for aught else. God and man could not live
together in the same universe. God would necessarily be everything;
then the universe must be nothing. But we have the universe, and that
is everything; therefore God is nothing--existing nowhere. A mote that
is, is better than a God that is not. If we part with God and obtain
a universe, we make a magnificent exchange. The issue has always
been God versus matter. When people come to understand that matter
has always been, that it eternally had the start of everything else,
and hence needed no creation, it will be seen that there never has
been any necessity for a God, and as the universe is ever governed by
law, there is nothing for a God to do. Men must believe in matter,
because it is everything, and does everything. Something is always
better than nothing. If God is not matter he is not anything; and the
idea of God is destined to become obsolete, and gradually pass into
utter forgetfulness. The God-idea has been the center and foundation of
all the superstitions of the world. When men have learned to dispense
with it, their emancipation will be great indeed.--Sam Preston.
Jehovah a Failure.
1. He was unsuccessful in creation. He made Adam and Eve and the
serpent; but all his plans were frustrated in a short time; and
"it repented the Lord that he had made man."
2. In repeopling the world from Noah's family he decidedly failed
again. How easy it would have been after drowning the whole world,
to create a new man and woman of perfect character, and omit the
Devil business.
3. In attempting to save the world through Jesus Christ he made
another failure. It is not in the nature of things for this world to be
saved. "To be saved" means too much, and it means too little. Man can
not be saved entirely from his weakness, ignorance, and selfishness;
and hence can never be perfect. Man can be made morally better,
intellectually wiser, physically healthier, individually and socially
happier; but his betterment cannot be achieved through preaching,
Bible-reading, praying and other religious exercises. It must come
through liberty. He must have equal rights with his fellow men. He must
have justice established between man and man. The toiler must get the
fruits of his toil. A good home has a more sacred influence over the
hearts of men to make them kind and good, than all the preaching in
the world. With a home of his own man has a little heaven of his own,
and a truer and better love of his neighbor.
"The character of a god is the character of the people who have made
him. When therefore I expose the crimes of Jehovah, I expose the
defective morality of Israel; and when I criticise the God of modern
Europe, I criticise the defective intellects of Europeans. The reader
must endeavor to bear this in mind; for though he may think that his
idea of the Creator is actually the Creator, that belief is not shared
by me." (Winwood Reade, "Martyrdom of Man.")