,,flowers ,,of ,,freethought 7,,second ,,series7 ,by ,g4 ,w4 ,foote ,london3 ,b4 ,forder1 #bh ,stonecutter ,street1 ,b4,o4 #ahhd ,,contents3 ,,preface4 ,,luscious ,,piety4 ,,the ,,jewish ,,sabbath4 ,,professor ,,stokes ,,on ,,immortality4 ,,paul ,,bert 99 ,,bradlaugh',s ,,ghost4 ,,christ ,,and ,,brotherhood4 ,,the ,,sons ,,of ,,god4 ,,melchizedek4 ,s',w',,elp ,,me ,,god4 ,,infidel ,,homes4 99 ,,are ,,atheists ,,cruel8 99 ,,are ,,atheists ,,wicked8 ,,rain ,,doctors4 ,,pious ,,puerilities4 ,,thus ,,saith ,,the ,,lord4 ,,believe ,,or ,,be ,,damned4 ,,christian ,,charity4 ,,religion ,,and ,,money4 ,,clotted ,,bosh4 ,,lord ,,bacon ,,on ,,atheism4 ,,christianity ,,and ,,slavery4 99 ,,christ ,,up ,,to ,,date4 ,,secularism ,,and ,,christianity4 ,,altar ,,and ,,throne4 99 ,,martin ,,luther4 ,,the ,,praise ,,of ,,folly4 ,,happy ,,in ,,hell4 ,,the ,,act ,,of ,,god4 ,,keir ,,hardie ,,on ,,christ4 ,,blessed ,,be ,,ye ,,poor4 ,,converted ,,infidels4 ,,mrs4 ,,booth',s ,,ghost4 ,,talmage ,,on ,,the ,,bible4 ,,mrs4 ,,besant ,,on ,,death ,,and ,,after4 ,,the ,,poets ,,and ,,liberal ,,theology4 99 ,,christianity ,,and ,,labor4 99 ,,an ,,easter ,,egg ,,for ,,christians4 99 ,,duelling4 99 ,,down ,,among ,,the ,,dead ,,men4 99 ,,smirching ,a ,,hero4 ,,kit ,,marlowe ,,and ,,jesus ,,christ4 99 ,,jehovah ,,the ,,ripper4 99 ,,the ,,parsons' ,,living ,,wage4 99 ,,did ,,bradlaugh ,,backslide8 99 ,,frederic ,,harrison ,,on ,,atheism4 99 ,,save ,,the ,,bible6 99 ,,forgive ,,and ,,forget4 99 ,,the ,,star ,,of ,,bethlehem4 ,,the ,,great ,,ghosts 99 ,,atheism ,,and ,,the ,,french ,,revolution4 99 ,,pigottism4 99 ,,jesus ,,at ,,the ,,derby4 99 ,,atheist ,,murderers4 99 ,a ,,religion ,,for ,,eunuchs4 99 ,,rose-,,water ,,religion4 99 ,,preface4 ,a little more than a year ago ,i put forth a collection of articles under the title of ,flowers of ,freethought4 ,the little volume met with a favorable reception1 and ,i now issue a ,second ,series4 ,by a favorable reception ,i only mean that the volume found purchasers1 and1 it is to be presumed1 readers2 which is1 after all1 the one thing a writer needs to regard as of any real importance4 ,certainly the volume was not praised1 nor recommended1 nor even noticed1 in the public journals4 ,the time is not yet ripe for the ordinary reviewers to so much as mention a book of that character4 ,not that ,i charge the said reviewers with being concerned in a deliberate conspiracy of silence against such productions4 ,they have to earn their livings1 and often very humbly1 despite the autocratic airs they give themselves2 they serve under editors1 who serve under proprietors1 who in turn consult the tastes1 the intelligence1 and the prejudices of their respective customers4 ,and thus it is1 ,i conceive1 that thorough-going ,freethought--at least if written in a popular style and published at a popular price--is generally treated with a silence1 which1 in some cases1 is far from a symptom of contempt4 ,i am aware that my writing is sometimes objected to on grounds of taste4 ,but it is a curious thing that this objection has invariably been raised by one of two classes of persons3--either those who are hostile to my opinions1 and therefore unlikely to be impartial judges in this respect2 or those who1 while sharing my opinions1 are fond of temporising1 and rather anxious to obtain the smiles---not to say the rewards--of ,orthodoxy4 ,the advice of the one class is suspicious2 that of the other is contemptible4 ,as ,i said in the former ,preface1 ,i refrain from personalities1 which is all that can be demanded of a fair controversialist4 ,there are sentences1 and perhaps passages1 in this volume1 that some people will not like2 but they are about things that ,i do not like4 ,a propagandist should use his pen as a weapon rather than a fencing foil4 ,at any rate1 my style is my own2 it is copied from no model1 or set of models2 although ,i confess to a predilection for the old forthright literature of ,england1 before fine writing was invented1 or parliamentary eloquence came into vogue1 or writers were anxious to propitiate an imaginary critic at their elbows--the composite ghost1 as it were1 of all the ignoramuses1 prigs1 bigots1 fools1 and cowards on this planet4 ,it only remains to say that the articles in this volume are of the same general character as those in its predecessor4 ,they were written at different intervals during the past ten or twelve years4 ,i have not attempted to classify them4 ,in several instances ,i have appended the date of first publication1 as it seemed necessary1 or at least convenient4 ,g4 ,w4 ,,foote ,june1 #ahid4 ,,luscious ,,piety4 ,lord ,tennyson's poem1 ,locksley ,hall3 ,sixty ,years ,after1 is severe on what he evidently regards as the pornographic tendency of our age4 ,feed the budding rose of boyhood with the drainage of your sewer2 ,send the drain into the fountain1 lest the stream should issue pure4 ,set the maiden fancies wallowing in the troughs of ,zolaism1-- ,forward1 forward1 ay and backward1 downward too into the abysm4 ,there is some truth in this1 but far more exaggeration4 ,english novels1 however they may trifle and sentimentalise with the passion of love1 are as a rule exceedingly proper4 ,for the most part1 in fact1 they deliberately ignore all the unconventional aspects of that passion1 and you might read a thousand of their productions without suspecting1 if you did not already know the fact1 that it had any connexion with our physical nature4 ,the men and women1 youths and maidens1 of ,thackeray1 ,dickens1 and ,george ,eliot1 to say nothing of minor writers1 are true enough to nature in other respects1 but in all sexual relations they are mere simulacri4 ,george ,meredith is our only novelist who triumphs in this region4 ,as ,mr4 ,lowell has noticed1 there is a fine natural atmosphere of sex in his books4 ,without the obtrusion of physiology1 which is out of place in art1 his human beings are clearly divided into males and females1 thinking1 feeling and acting according to their sexual characteristics4 ,other novelists simply shirk the whole problem of sex1 and are satisfied with calling their personages ,john or ,mary as the one safe method of indicating to what gender they belong4 ,this is how the ,english public is pleased to have it2 in this manner it feeds the gross hypocrisy which is its constant bane4 ,hence the shock of surprise1 and even of disgust1 felt by the ordinary ,englishman when he takes up a novel by a great ,french master of fiction1 who thinks that ,art1 as well as ,science1 should deal frankly and courageously with every great problem of life4 ,shocking6 cry the ,english when the veil of mystery is lifted4 ,yet the purism is only on the lips4 ,we are not a whit more virtuous than those plain-spoken foreigners2 for1 after all1 facts exist1 however we blink them1 and ignorance and innocence are entirely different things4 ,the great ,french masters of fiction do not write merely for boys and girls4 ,they believe that other literature is required besides that which is fit for bread-and-butter misses4 ,yet they are not therefore vicious4 ,they paint nature as it is1 idealising without distorting1 leaving the moral to convey itself1 as it inevitably will4 ,as ,james ,thomson said1 ,do you dread that the ,satyr will be preferred to ,hyperion1 when both stand imaged in clear light before us8 ,zolaism1 or rather what ,lord ,tennyson means by the word--for ,nana is a great and terrible book with all its vice--is not the chief danger to the morals of ,english youth4 ,long before the majority of them learn to read ,french with ease1 there is a book put into the hands of all for indiscriminate reading4 ,it is the ,bible4 ,in the pages of that book they find the lowest animal functions called by their vulgar names2 frequent references1 and sometimes very brutal ones1 to the generative organs2 and stories of lust1 adultery1 sodomy and incest1 that might raise blushes in a brothel2 while in the ,song of ,solomon they will find the most passionate eroticism1 decked out with the most voluptuous imagery4 ,the ,zolaism of the ,bible is far more pernicious than the ,zolaism of ,french fiction4 ,the one comes seductively1 with an air of piety1 and authoritatively1 with an air of divinity2 while the other shows that selfishness and excess lead to demoralisation and death4 ,there is in fact1 and all history attests it1 a close connexion between religion and sensuality4 ,no student of human nature need be surprised at ,louis ,,xv4 falling on his knees in prayer after debauching a young virgin in the ,parc aux ,cerfs4 ,nor is there anything abnormal in ,count ,cenci1 in ,shelley's play1 soliciting ,god's aid in the pollution of his own daughter4 ,it is said that ,american camp-meetings often wound up in a saturnalia4 ,the ,hallelujah lasses sing with especial fervor ,safe in the arms of ,jesus4 ,how many ,christian maidens are moved by the promptings of their sexual nature when they adore the figure of their nearly naked ,savior on a cross6 ,the very nuns1 who take vows of perpetual chastity1 become spouses of ,christ2 and the hysterical fervor with which they frequently worship their divine bridegroom1 shows that when ,nature is thrust out of the door she comes in at the window4 ,catholic books of devotion for the use of women and young people are also full of thinly-veiled sensuality1 and there are indications that this abomination is spreading in the higher religious circles in ,protestant ,england1 where the loathsome confessional is being introduced in other than ,catholic churches4 ,paul ,bert1 in his ,morale des ,jesuites1 gave a choice specimen of this class of literature1 or rather such extracts as he dared publish in a volume bearing his honored name4 ,it is a prayer in rhyme extending to eleven pages1 and occurs in a book by ,father ,huguet1 designed for the dear daughters of ,holy ,mary4 ,as ,paul ,bert says1 every mother would fling it away with horror if ,arthur were substituted for ,jesus4 ,vive ,jesus is the constant refrain of this pious song4 ,we give a sample or two in ,french with a literal ,english translation4 ,vive ,jesus1 de qui l'amour ,me va consumant unit et jour4 ,vive ,jesus1 vive sa force1 ,vive son agreable amore4 ,vive ,jesus1 quand il m'enivre ,d'un douceur qui me fait vivre4 ,vive ,jesus1 lorsque sa bouche ,d'un baiser amoureux me touche4 ,vive ,jesus1 grand il m'appelle ,ma soeur1 ma colombe1 ma belle4 ,vive ,jesus1 quand sa bonte1 ,me reduit dans la nudite2 ,vive ,jesns1 quand ses blandices ,me comblent de chastes delices4 ,live ,jesus1 whose love consumes me night and night4--,live ,jesus1 live his force1 live his agreeable attraction4--,live ,jesus1 when he intoxicates me with a sweetness that gives me life4--,live ,jesus1 when his mouth touches me with an amorous kiss4--,live ,jesus1 when he calls me1 my sister1 my dove1 my lovely one4--,live ,jesus1 when his good pleasure reduces me to nudity2 live ,jesus1 when his blandishments fill me with chaste delight4--,and this erotic stuff is for the use of girls66 ,,the ,,jewish ,,sabbath4 ,dr4 ,edersheim's ,life of ,jesus contains some interesting appendices on ,jewish beliefs and ceremonies4 ,one of these deals with the ,sabbath laws of the chosen people1 and we propose to cull from it a few curious illustrations of ,jewish superstitions4 ,the ,mishnic tractate ,sabbath stands at the head of twelve tractates on festivals4 ,another tractate treats of commixtures1 which are intended to make the ,sabbath laws more bearable4 ,the ,jerusalem ,talmud devotes #fd folio columns1 and the ,babylon ,talmud #aef double folio pages1 to the serious discussion of the most minute and senseless regulations4 ,it would be difficult to understand how any persons but maniacs or idiots could have concocted such elaborate imbecilities1 if we did not remember that the priests of every religion have always bestowed their ability and leisure on matters of no earthly interest to anyone but themselves4 ,travelling on the ,sabbath was strictly forbidden1 except for a distance of two thousand cubits 7#a1jjj yards7 from one's residence4 ,yet if a man deposited food for two meals on the ,friday at the boundary of that journey1 the spot became his dwelling-place1 and he might do another two thousand cubits1 without incurring ',god's wrath4 ,if a ,jewish traveller arrived at a place just as the ,sabbath commenced1 he could only remove from his beasts of burden such objects as it was lawful to handle on the ,lord's ,day4 ,he might also loosen their gear and let them tumble down of themselves1 but stabling them was out of all question4 ,the ,rabbis exercised their ingenuity on what was the smallest weight that constituted a burden4 ,this was fixed at a dried fig1 but it was a moot point whether the law was violated if half a fig were carried at two different times on the same ,sabbath4 ,the standard measure for forbidden food was the size of an olive4 ,if a man swallowed forbidden food of the size of half an olive1 and vomited it1 and then ate another piece of the same size1 he would be guilty because his palate had tasted food to the prohibited degree4 ,throwing up an object1 and catching it with the same hand was an undoubted sin2 but it was a nice question whether he was guilty if he caught it with1 the other hand4 ,rain water might be caught and carried away1 but if the rain had run down from a wall the act was sinful4 ,overtaken by the ,sabbath with fruit in his hand1 stretched out from one place to another1 the orthodox ,jew would have to drop it1 since shifting his full hand from one locality to another was carrying a burden4 ,nothing could be killed on the ,sabbath1 not even insects4 ,speaking of the ,christian monks1 ,jortin says that ,some of them1 out of mortification1 would not catch or kill the vermin which devoured them2 in which they far surpassed the ,jews1 who only spared them upon the ,sabbath day4 ,this interesting fact is supported by the authority of a ,kabbi1 who is quoted in ,latin to the effect that cracking a flea and killing a camel are equally guilty4 ,dr4 ,edersheim evidently refers to the same authority in a footnote4 ,on the whole this regulation against the killing of vermin must have been very irksome1 and if the fleas were aware of it1 they and the ,jews must have had a lively time on the ,sabbath4 ,we cannot ascertain whether the prohibition extended to scratching4 ,if it did1 curses not loud but deep must have ascended to the throne of the ,eternal2 and if1 as ,jesus says1 every idle word is written down in the great book of heaven1 the recording angel must have had anything but a holiday on the day of rest4 ,no work was allowed on the ,sabbath4 ,even roasting and baking had to be stopped directly the holy period began1 unless a crust was already formed1 in which case the cooking might be finished4 ,nothing was to be sent1 even by a heathen1 unless it would reach its destination before the ,sabbath4 ,kabbi ,gamaliel was careful to send his linen to the wash three days before the ,sabbath1 so as to avoid anything that might lead to ,sabbath labor4 ,the ,sabbath lamp was supposed to have been ordained on ,mount ,sinai4 ,to extinguish it was a breach of the ,sabbath law1 but it might be put out from fear of ,gentiles1 robbers1 or evil spirits1 or in order that a person dangerously ill might go to sleep4 ,such concessions were obviously made by the ,rabbis1 as a means of accommodating their religious laws to the absolute necessities of secular life4 ,they compensated themselves1 however1 by hinting that twofold guilt was incurred if1 in blowing out one candle1 its flame lit another4 ,according to the ,mosaic law1 there was to be no fire on the ,sabbath4 ,food might be kept warm1 however1 said the ,rabbis1 by wrapping it in non-conductors4 ,the sin to be avoided was increasing the heat4 ,eggs might not be cooked1 even in sand heated by the sun1 nor might hot water be poured on cold4 ,it was unlawful to put a vessel to catch the drops of oil that might fall from the lamp1 but one might be put there to catch the sparks4 ,another concession to secular necessity6 ,a father might also take his child in his arms1 even if the child held a stone1 although it was carrying things on the ,sabbath2 but this privilege was not yielded without a great deal of discussion4 ,care should be taken that no article of apparel was taken off and carried4 ,fortunately ,palestine is not a land of showers and sudden changes of temperature1 or the ,rabbis would have had to discuss the umbrella and overcoat question4 ,women were forbidden to wear necklaces1 rings1 or pins1 on the ,sabbath4 ,nose-rings are mentioned in the regulations1 and the fact throws light on the social condition of the times4 ,women were also forbidden to look in the glass on the ,sabbath1 lest they should spy a white hair1 and perform the sinful labor of pulling it out4 ,shoes might not be scraped with a knife1 except perhaps with the back1 but they might be touched up with oil or water4 ,if a sandal tie broke on the ,sabbath1 the question of what should be done was so serious and profound that the ,rabbis were never able to settle it4 ,a plaster might be worn to keep a wound from getting worse1 but not to make it better4 ,false teeth were absolutely prohibited1 for they might fall out1 and replacing them involved labor4 ,elderly persons with a full artificial set must have cut a sorry figure on the ,sabbath1 plump-faced ,mrs4 ,isaacs resolving herself periodically into a toothless hag4 ,plucking a blade of grass was sinful4 ,spitting in a handkerchief was allowed by one ,rabbi1 but the whole tribe were at loggerheads about spitting on the ground4 ,cutting one's hair or nails was a mortal sin4 ,in case of fire on the ,sabbath1 the utensils needed on that day might be saved1 and as much clothes as was absolutely necessary4 ,this severe regulation was modified by a fiction4 ,a man might put on a dress1 save it1 go back and put on another1 and so on ad infinitum4 ,watering the cattle might be done by the ,gentile1 like lighting a lamp1 the fiction being that he did it for himself and not for the ,jew4 ,assistance might be given to an animal about to have young1 or to a woman in childbirth--which are further concessions to property and humanity4 ,all might be done on the ,sabbath1 too1 needful for circumcision4 ,on the other hand1 bones might not be set1 nor emetics given1 nor any medical or surgical operation performed4 ,wine1 oil1 and bread might be borrowed1 however1 and one's upper garment left in pledge for it4 ,no doubt it was found impossible to keep the ,jews absolutely from pawnbroking even on the ,sabbath1 ,another concession was made for the dead4 ,their bodies might be laid out1 washed1 and anointed4 ,priests of every creed are obliged to give way on such points1 or life would become intolerable1 and their victims would revolt in sheer despair4 ,nature knew nothing of the ,jewish laws1 and hens had the perversity to lay eggs on the ,sabbath4 ,such eggs were unlawful eating2 yet if the hen had been kept1 not for laying but for fattening1 the egg might be eaten as a part of her economy that had accidentally fallen off6 ,such were the puerilities of the ,sabbath ,law among the ,jews4 ,the ,old ,testament is directly responsible for all of them4 ,it laid down the basic principle1 and the ,rabbis simply developed it1 with as much natural logic as a tree grows up from its roots4 ,our ,sabbatarians of to-day are slaves to the ignorance and follies of the semi-barbarous inhabitants of ancient ,palestine2 men who believed that ,god had posteriors1 and exhibited them2 men who kept slaves and harems2 men who were notorious for their superstition1 their bigotry1 and their fanaticism2 men who believed that the infinite ,god rested after six days' work1 and ordered all his creatures to regard the day on which he recruited his strength as holy4 ,surely it is time to fling aside their antiquated rubbish1 and arrange our periods of rest and recreation according to the dictates of science and common sense4 ,the origin of a periodical day of rest from labor is simple and natural4 ,it has everywhere been placed under the sanction of religion1 but it arose from secular necessity4 ,in the nomadic state1 when men had little to do at ordinary times except watching their flocks and herds1 the days passed in monotonous succession4 ,life was never laborious1 and as human energies were not taxed there was no need for a period of recuperation1 ,we may therefore rest assured that no ,sabbatarian law was ever given by ,moses to the ,jews in the wilderness4 ,such a law first appears in a higher stage of civilisation4 ,when nomadic tribes settle down to agriculture and are welded into nations1 chiefly by defensive war against predatory barbarians2 above all1 when slavery is introduced and masses of men are compelled to build and manufacture2 the ruling and propertied classes soon perceive that a day of rest is absolutely requisite4 ,without it the laborer wears out too rapidly--like the horse1 the ox1 or any other beast of burden4 ,the day is therefore decreed for economic reasons4 ,it is only placed under the sanction of religion because1 in a certain stage of human development1 there is no other sanction available4 ,every change in social organisation has then to be enforced as an edict of the gods4 ,this is carried out by the priests1 who have unquestioned authority over the multitude1 and who1 so long as their own privileges and emoluments are secured1 are always ready to guard the interest of the temporal powers4 ,such was the origin of the day of rest in ,egypt1 ,assyria1 and elsewhere4 ,but it was lost sight of in the course of time1 even by the ruling classes themselves2 and the theological fiction of a divine ordinance became the universally accepted explanation4 ,this fiction is still current in ,christendom4 ,we are gravely asked to believe that men would work themselves to death1 and civilised nations commit economical suicide1 if they were not taught that a day of rest was commanded by ,jehovah amidst the lightnings and thunders of ,sinai4 ,in the same way1 we are asked to believe that theft and murder would be popular pastimes without the restraints of the supernatural decalogue fabled to have been received by ,moses4 ,as a matter of fact1 the law against theft arose because men object to be robbed1 and the law against murder because they object to be assassinated4 ,superstition does not invent social laws2 it merely throws around them the glamor of a supernatural authority4 ,priests have a manifest interest in maintaining this glamor4 ,accordingly we find that ,nonconformists as well as ,churchmen claim the day of rest as the ,lord's ,day--although its very name of ,sunday betrays its ,pagan origin4 ,it is not merely a day of rest1 they tell us2 it is also a day of devotion4 ,labor is to be laid aside in order that the people may worship ,god4 ,the physical benefit of the institution is not denied2 on the contrary1 now that ,democracy is decisively triumphing1 the people are assured that ,sunday can only be maintained under a religious sanction4 ,in other words1 religion and priests are as indispensable as ever to the welfare of mankind4 ,this theological fiction should be peremptorily dismissed4 ,whatever service it once rendered has been counterbalanced by its mischiefs4 ,the rude laborer of former times--the slave or the serf--only wanted rest from toil4 ,he had no conception of anything higher4 ,but circumstances have changed4 ,the laborer of to-day aspires to share in the highest blessings of civilisation4 ,his hours of daily work are shortened4 ,the rest he requires he can obtain in bed4 ,what he needs on ,sunday is not rest1 but change2 true re-creation of his nature2 and this is denied him by the laws that are based upon the very theological fiction which is pretended to be his most faithful friend4 ,the working classes at present are simply humbugged by the ,churches4 ,the day of rest is secure enough without lies or fictions4 ,what the masses want is an opportunity to make use of it4 ,now this cannot be done if all rest on the same day4 ,a minority must work on ,sunday1 and take their rest on some other day of the week4 ,and really1 when the nonsensical solemnity of ,sunday is gone1 any other day would be equally eligible4 ,parsons work on ,sunday2 so do their servants1 and all who are engaged about their gospel-shops4 ,why should it be so hard then for a railway servant1 a museum attendant1 an art-gallery curator1 or a librarian to work on ,sunday8 ,let them rest some other day of the week as the parson does4 ,they would be happy if they could have his off days even at the price of ,sunday labor4 ,churches and chapels do not attract so many people as they did4 ,there is every reason why priestly ,protective laws should be broken down4 ,it is a poor alternative to offer a working man--the church or the public-house2 and they are now trying to shut the public-house and make it church or nothing4 ,other people should be consulted as well as mystery-men and their followers4 ,let us have freedom4 ,let the dwellers in crowded city streets1 who work all day in close factories1 be taken at cheap rates to the country or the seaside4 ,let them see the grand sweep of the sky4 ,let them feel the spring of the turf under their feet4 ,let them look out over the sea--the highway between continents---and take something of its power and poetry into their blood and brain4 ,during the winter1 or in summer if they feel inclined1 let them visit the institutions of culture1 behold the beautiful works of dead artists1 study the relics of dead generations1 feel the links that bind the past to the present1 and imagine the links that will bind the present to the future4 ,let their pulses be stirred with noble music4 ,let the ,sunday be their great day of freedom1 culture1 and humanity4 ,as ,god's ,day it is wasted4 ,we must rescue it from the priests and make it ,man's ,day4 ,,professor ,,stokes ,,on ,,immortality4 ,the orthodox world makes much of ,sir ,g4 ,g4 ,stokes1 baronet1 ,m4,p41 and ,president of the ,royal ,society4 ,it is so grateful to find a scientific man who is naively a ,christian4 ,many of the species are avowed1 or1 at any rate1 strongly suspected unbelievers2 while others1 who make a profession of ,christianity1 are careful to explain that they hold it with certain reservations1 being ,christians in general1 but not ,christians in particular4 ,sir ,g4 ,g4 ,stokes1 however1 is as orthodox as any conventicle could desire4 ,perhaps it was for this reason that he was selected to deliver one of the courses of ,gilford ,lectures4 ,he would be a sort of set-off against the rationalism of ,max ,muller and the scepticism of ,tylor4 ,what other reason1 indeed1 could have inspired his selection8 ,he has not the slightest reputation as a theologian or philosopher1 and one of the leading reviews1 in noticing his ,clifford ,lectures1 expresses a mild but decided wonder at his appearing in such a character4 ,let the ,gifford ,lectures1 however1 pass--for the present4 ,we propose to deal with an earlier effort of ,sir ,g4 ,g4 ,stokes4 ,nearly two years ago he delivered a lecture at the ,finsbury ,polytechnic on the ,immortality of the ,soul4 ,it was reported in the ,family ,churchman1 and reprinted after revision as a twopenny pamphlet1 with the first title of ,i4 ,this is the only pointed thing about it4 ,the lecture is about ,i1 or1 as ,sir ,g4 ,g4 ,stokes1 might say1 ,all my ,i4 ,sir ,g4 ,g4 ,stokes begins by promising to confine himself to the question1 ,what is it that personal identity depends upon and consists in8 ,but he does not fulfil the promise4 ,after some jejune remarks upon this question he drops into theology and winds up with a little sermon4 ,i cannot pretend that ,i am able to answer that question myself1 says ,sir ,g4 ,g4 ,stokes4 ,why1 then1 did he not leave it alone8 ,but ,i will endeavor1 he says1 to place before you some thoughts bearing in that direction which ,i have found helpful to myself1 and which possibly may be of some help to some of you4 ,sir ,g4 ,g4 ,stokes does not mention ,david ,hume1 but that great thinker pointed out1 with his habitual force and clearness1 that personal identity depends upon memory4 ,our scientific lecturer1 with the theological twist1 says it involves memory1 which implies a certain reservation4 ,yet he abstains from elucidating the point2 and as it is the most important one in the discussion1 he must be held guilty of short-sightedness or timidity4 ,memory involves thought1 says ,sir ,g4 ,g4 ,stokes4 ,this is true2 in fact1 it is a truism4 ,and what1 he asks1 does thought depend on8 ,to a certain extent he allows that it depends upon the condition of the brain4 ,but during the present life1 at any rate1 it depends absolutely on the condition of the brain ,look at the head of an idiot1 and then at the head of ,shakespeare2 is not the brain difference the obvious cause of the mental difference8 ,are there not diseases of the brain that affect thought in a definite manner8 ,is not thought excited by stimulants1 and deadened or even annihilated by narcotics8 ,is it not entirely suspended in healthy sleep8 ,will not a man of genius become an imbecile if his brain softens8 ,will not a philosopher rave like a drunken fishfag if he suffers from brain inflammation8 ,is not thought most vigorous when the brain is mature8 ,and is it not weakest in the first and second childishness of youth and old age8 ,the dependence of thought on the brain is so obvious1 it is so demonstrable by the logical methods of difference and concomitant variations1 that whoever disputes it1 or only allows it to a certain extent1 is bound to assign another definite cause4 ,a definite cause1 we say2 not a fanciful or speculative one1 which is perfectly hypothetical4 ,sir ,g4 ,g4 ,stokes does not do this4 ,he tries to make good his reservation by a negative criticism of the materialistic hypothesis4 ,he takes the case of a man who1 while going up a ladder and speaking1 was knocked on the head by a falling brickbat4 ,for two days he was unconscious1 and when he came to1 he completed the sentence that he had been speaking when he was struck4 ,now1 at first sight1 this seems a strong confirmation of the materialistic hypothesis4 ,a shock to the brain stopped its action and suspended consciousness4 ,automatic animal functions went on1 but there was no perception1 thought1 or feeling4 ,when the effects of the shock wore off the brain resumed its action1 and began at the very point where it left off4 ,but this last circumstance is seized by ,sir ,g4 ,g4 ,stokes as a difficulty4 ,some change must have gone on1 he says1 during the two days the man lay unconscious2 there must have been some waste of tissues1 some change in the brain2 yet there is no trace of this change in the joining together of the thought after the interval of unconsciousness with the thought before4 ,our reply is a simple one4 ,in the first place1 ,sir ,g4 ,g4 ,stokes is making much of a single fact1 which he has not weighed1 in despite of a host of other facts1 not in the least questionable1 and all pointing in one direction4 ,in the second place1 he does not tell us what change went on in the man's brain4 ,may it not have been1 at least with respect to the cerebrum1 quite infinitesimal8 ,in the third place1 ,sir ,g4 ,g4 ,stokes should be aware that all brain changes do not affect consciousness1 even in the normal state4 ,lastly1 consciousness depends upon perception2 and if all the avenues of sensation were closed1 and the alteration of brain tissues were exceedingly slight 7as it would be if the brain were not working71 it is nothing very extraordinary that the man should resume thought and volition at the point where they ceased4 ,the second difficulty raised1 rather than discovered1 by ,sir ,g4 ,g4 ,stokes is this4 ,i am conscious of a power which ,i call will1 he says1 and when ,i hold up my hand ,i can choose whether ,i shall move it to the right or to the left4 ,now1 according to the materialistic hypothesis1 everything about me is determined simply by the ponderable molecules which constitute my body acting simply and solely according to the very same laws according to which matter destitute of life might act4 ,well then1 if we follow up this supposition to its full extent1 we are obliged to suppose that1 whether ,i move at this particular moment of time--#d4be1 on the #cjth of ,march--my hand to the right or to the left1 was determined by something inevitable1 something which could not have been otherwise1 and must have come down1 in fact1 from my ancestors4 ,now ,sir ,g4 ,g4 ,stokes confesses that this seems to him to fly completely in the face of common sense4 ,and so it does1 if by determined he means that somebody settled the whole business1 down to the minutest details1 a thousand1 a million1 or a thousand million years ago4 ,but if determined simply means that every phenomenon is caused1 in the philosophical--not the theological or metaphysical--meaning of the word1 it does not fly in the face of common sense at all4 ,little as ,sir ,g4 ,g4 ,stokes may like it1 he does--body and brain1 thought and feeling1 volition and taste--come down from his ancestors4 ,that is the reason why he is an ,englishman1 a ,whig1 a bit of a ,philistine1 an orthodox ,christian1 and a very indifferent reasoner4 ,after all1 does not this objection come with an ill grace from a ,christian ,theist8 ,has ,sir ,g4 ,g4 ,stokes never read ,st4 ,paul8 ,has he never heard of ,john ,calvin and ,martin ,luther8 ,has he never read the ,thirty-nine ,articles of his own ,church8 ,all those authorities teach predestination2 which1 indeed1 logically follows the doctrine of an all-wise and all-powerful ,god4 ,yet here is ,sir ,g4 ,g4 ,stokes1 a ,church of ,england man1 objecting to the materialistic hypothesis on the ground that it makes things determined4 ,professor ,stokes next refers to something about us which we call will4 ,this he proceeds to treat as an independent force like magnetism or electricity4 ,what he says about it shows him to be a perfect tyro in psychology4 ,at the end of the section he exclaims1 ,so much for that theory--the materialistic hypothesis2 and we are tempted to exclaim1 ,so much for ,sir ,g4 ,g4 ,stokes4 ,next comes the psychic theory1 according to which man consists of body and soul4 ,here the ,professor shows a lucid interval4 ,he points out that if the soul is really hampered by the body1 it is strange that a blow on a man's head should retard the action of his thoughts4 ,he also remarks that1 according to this theory1 the blow has only got to be somewhat harder till the head is smashed altogether1 and the man is killed1 and then the thoughts are rendered more active than ever4 ,which1 as our old friend ,euclid observes1 is absurd4 ,professor ,stokes dismisses the body and soul theory as open to very grave objections4 ,he admits that it is held by many persons belonging to the religious world1 nevertheless he does not think it can be deduced from ,scripture1 to which he goes on to appeal4 ,now we beg our ,christian friends to notice this4 ,here is the great ,sir ,g4 ,gr4 ,stokes they make so much of actually throwing up the sponge4 ,instead of showing scientifically that man has a soul1 and thus cheering their drooping spirits1 he leaves the platform1 mounts the pulpit1 and plays the part of a theologian4 ,in fact he can tell them no more than the ordinary parson who sticks his nose between the pages of his ,bible4 ,with regard to the ,scripture1 it will afford very little comfort to the ,christians to know that ,professor ,stokes does not believe that it teaches the immortality of the soul4 ,he supports this view by citing the authority of the present ,bishop of ,durham and another bishop1 who regard the doctrine of an immortal soul as no part of a ,christian faith4 ,had ,sir ,g4 ,g4 ,stokes been better read in the literature of his own ,church1 he might have adduced a number of other divines1 including ,bishop ,courtenay and ,archbishop ,whately1 who took the same position4 ,well1 what do we learn from ,scripture8 inquires ,professor ,stokes4 ,and this is his answer4 ,in scripture1 he says1 man is spoken of as consisting of body1 soul1 and spirit4 ,and in ,sir ,g4 ,g4 ,stokes's opinion it is the third article which lies at the very basis of life4 ,it is spirit1 the interaction of which with the material organism produced a living being in the ,garden of ,eden4 ,here we pause to interject a reflection4 ,ordinary ,christians believe in body and soul2 ,professor ,stokes believes in body1 soul1 and spirit4 ,that is1 he says man is made up of three instead of two4 ,but in step our ,theosophic friends1 who pile on four more1 and tell us that man is sevenfold4 ,now who is right6 ,according to their own account they are all right4 ,but this is impossible4 ,in our opinion they are all wrong4 ,their theories are imaginary4 ,all they know anything of is the human body4 ,but to return to ,professor ,stokes's excursion in the region of ,biblical exegesis4 ,never have we met with anything more puerile and absurd4 ,he finds soul and spirit in the ,english ,bible1 and he supposes them to be different things4 ,he even builds up a fanciful theory on the fact that the expression living soul occurs in the ,new ,testament1 but he does not remember the expression living spirit4 ,hence he concludes that spirit is not living but life-making4 ,surely a little knowledge is a dangerous thing1 and ,professor ,stokes is a capital illustration of this truth4 ,we get soul and spirit in the ,new ,testament1 as well as in the ,old1 simply because both words are used indifferently by the ,english translators4 ,this is owing to the composite character of the ,english language4 ,one word comes from the ,greek1 the other from the ,latin1 and both mean exactly the same thing4 ,the ,hebrew ruach1 the 7,greek pneuma71 and the ,latin spiritus1 all originally meant the breath2 and as breathing was the most obvious function of life1 persisting even in the deepest sleep1 it came to signify life1 when that general conception was reached2 and when the idea of soul or spirit was reached1 the same word was used to denote it4 ,all this is shown clearly enough by ,tylor1 and is corroborated by the more orthodox ,max ,muller2 so that ,professor ,stokes has fallen into a quagmire1 made of the dirt of ignorance and a little water of knowledge1 and has made himself a laughing-stock to everyone who possesses a decent acquaintance with the subject4 ,whatever it is that ,professor ,stokes thinks a man has apart from his body1 he does not believe it to be immortal4 ,the immortality of the soul and a future life1 he says1 are two totally different things4 ,the one he thinks incorrect1 the other he regards as guaranteed by ,scripture2 in other words1 by ,paul1 who begins his exposition by exclaiming ,thou fool6 and ends it by showing his own folly4 ,the apostle's nonsense about the seed that cannot quicken unless it die1 was laughed at by the ,african chief in ,sir ,samuel ,baker's narrative4 ,the unsophisticated negro said that if the seed did die it would never come to anything4 ,and he was right1 and ,paul was wrong4 ,there is a resurrection1 however1 for ,paul says so1 and his teaching is inspired1 though his logic is faulty4 ,men will rise from the dead somehow1 and with a body of some kind4 ,not the body we have now4 ,oh dear no6 ,great men have thought so1 but it is an incredible supposition4 ,being a chemist1 ,sir ,g4 ,g4 ,stokes sees the ineffable absurdity1 the physical and logical impossibility1 of this orthodox conception1 which was taught by ,mr4 ,spurgeon without the slightest misgiving1 and upheld by the teaching of the ,church of ,england4 ,but what is it that will rise from the dead1 and get joined with some sort of inconceivable body8 ,we have shown that ,professor ,stokes's distinction between soul and spirit is fanciful4 ,it will not do for him1 then1 to say it is the spirit that will rise1 for he denies1 or does not believe1 the renewed life of the soul4 ,here he leaves us totally in the dark4 ,perhaps what will rise is a sort of a something that will get joined to a sort of a body and live in a sort of a somewhere4 ,what1 asks ,professor ,stokes1 is man's condition between death and the resurrection8 ,he admits that the teaching of ,scripture on this point is exceedingly meagre4 ,he inclines to think that the intermediate state is one of unconsciousness1 something like when we faint1 and thus1 as there will be no perceptions in the interval1 though it be millions of years1 we shall1 when we breathe our last1 be brought immediately face to face with our final account to receive our final destiny4 ,and if our final destiny depends in any way on how we have used our reasoning powers1 ,professor ,stokes will be consigned to a warm corner in an excessively high-temperatured establishment4 ,after all1 ,professor ,stokes admits that all he has said1 or can say1 gives no evidence of a future life4 ,what is the evidence then8 ,well1 he says1 the great evidence which we as ,christians accept is1 that there is ,one ,who has passed already before us from the one state of being to the other4 ,the resurrection of ,jesus ,christ1 he tells us1 is an historical event1 and is supported by an enormous amount of most weighty evidence4 ,but he does not give us a single ounce of it4 ,the only argument he has for a future state is advanced on the last page1 and he retires at the moment he has an opportunity of proving his case4 ,professor ,stokes says3 ,i fear ,i have occupied your time too long4 ,we fear so too4 ,these are dark subjects1 he adds4 ,true1 and he has not illuminated them4 ,there is positively no evidence of a future life4 ,the belief is a conjecture1 and we must die to prove or disprove it4 ,,paul ,,bert 99 ,victor ,hugo and ,gambetta have their places in the ,pantheon of history1 and ,death is beginning his harvest among the second rank of the founders of the present ,french ,republic1 ,every one of these men was an earnest ,freethinker as well as a staunch ,republican4 ,paul ,bert1 who has just died at ,tonquin at the post of duty1 was one of the band of patriots who gathered round ,gambetta in his ,titanic organisation of the ,national ,defence2 a band from which has come most of those who have since been distinguished in the public life of ,france4 ,after the close of the war1 ,paul ,bert became a member of the ,national ,assembly1 in which he has held his seat through all political changes4 ,as a man of science he was eminent and far-shining1 being not a mere doctrinaire but a practical experimentalist whose researches were of the highest interest and importance4 ,his ,manual of ,elementary ,science1 which has been recently translated into ,english1 is in use in nearly every ,french school1 and there is no other volume of the kind that can be compared with it for a moment4 ,as a friend and promoter of general education1 ,paul ,bert was without a rival4 ,he strove in season and out of season to raise the standard of instruction1 to elevate the status of teachers1 and to free them from the galling tyranny of priests4 ,it is not too much to say that ,paul ,bert was the idol of nine-tenths of the schoolmasters and schoolmistresses in the ,french rural districts1 where the evils he helped to remove had been most rampant4 99 ,november #ba1 #ahhf4 ,this distinguished ,frenchman is now dead at the comparatively early age of fifty-three4 ,although his illness was so serious1 the ,french premier telegraphed that it would be impolitic for the ,resident ,general to leave ,tonquin suddenly4 ,thereupon ,paul ,bert replied1 ,you are right2 it is better to die at my post than for me to quit ,tonquin at the present moment4 ,that dispatch was the last he was able to send himself4 ,subsequent dispatches came1 from other hands1 and at last the news arrived that ,paul ,bert was dead4 ,the ,french premier announced the fact from the ,tribune in a broken voice and amid profound silence4 ,the ,chamber loses in him1 said ,m4 de ,freycinet1 one of its eminent members1 science an illustrious representative1 ,france one of her most devoted children4 ,the next day the ,chamber1 by an overwhelming majority1 voted a ,state funeral and a pension of #djj a year to ,mdme4 ,bert1 with reversion to her children4 ,the first vote was strenuously opposed by ,monseigneur ,freppel1 ,bishop of ,angers1 on the ground that the deceased was an inveterate enemy of religion1 but the bishop was ignominiously defeated by #cgi votes against #de4 ,that is probably a fair test of the relative strength of ,freethought and ,christianity among educated men in ,france4 ,monseigneur ,freppel was right ,paul ,bert was an inveterate enemy of religion4 ,he was a militant ,atheist1 who believed that the highest service you can render to mankind is to free them from superstition4 ,no wonder the ,church hated him4 ,at a famous banquet he proposed the toast1 ,the eradication of the two phylloxeras--the phylloxera of the vine and the phylloxera of the ,church4 ,his handbook on the ,morality of the ,jesuits was a frightful exposure of the duplicity and rascality of priestcraft4 ,about twelve months before ,grambetta's death1 that great statesman took the chair at one of ,paul ,bert's atheistical lectures4 ,it was a bold thing to do1 but ,gambetta was a bold man4 ,the great statesman did a bolder thing still when he took office4 ,he scandalised the ,christian world by appointing his atheistic friend ,paul ,bert as ,minister of ,public ,instruction and ,public ,worship4 ,surely this was a piece of irony worthy the assiduous student of ,rabelais and ,voltaire4 ,clericalism is the enemy1 said ,gambetta4 ,paul ,bert accepted the battle-cry1 but he did not content himself with shouting4 ,he labored to place education on a basis which would make it a citadel of ,freethought4 ,the ,tory ,standard allows that he laid the bases of military education in the schools and lycees that he first dispensed the pupils in ,state educational establishments from the obligation of attending any religious service1 or belonging to any class in which religious instruction was given1 and that he first organised the higher education of girls4 ,paul ,bert was a typical ,frenchman and an illustrious ,atheist4 ,what do the clergy make of this phenomenon8 ,here is a man1 trained by his father to hate priests1 brought up from his cradle in an atmosphere of ,freethought1 and owing nothing to the ,church2 yet he becomes an eminent scientist1 a fervid patriot1 an educational reformer1 a leading statesman1 a tender husband and father1 and a warm friend of the best men1 of his time2 and on his decease the ,state gives him a public funeral and provides for his widow and children4 ,the man1 we repeat1 was an open1 nay a militant ,atheist2 and again we ask1 ,what do the clergy make of this phenomenon8 ,during his lifetime ,darwin was the bete noir of the clergy4 ,they hated him with a perfect and very natural hatred1 for his scientific doctrines were revolutionary1 and if he was right they and their ,bible were certainly wrong4 ,the ,black ,army denounced his impious teachings from thousands of pulpits4 ,with some of them he was the ,great ,beast1 with others ,antichrist himself4 ,and they were all the madder because he never took the slightest notice of them1 but treated them with the silent contempt which a master of the hounds bestows on the village curs who bark at his horse's heels4 ,yet1 strange to say1 when ,darwin died1 instead of being buried in some quiet ,kentish cemetery or churchyard1 he was actually sepulchred in ,westminster ,abbey4 ,having fought the living ,darwin tooth and nail1 the clergy quietly appropriated the dead ,darwin4 ,the living1 thinking and working man was a damnable heretic1 hated of ,god and his priests1 but his corpse was a very good ,christian1 and it was buried in a temple of the very faith he had undermined4 ,darwin1 with all his gravity1 is said to have loved a joke1 and really this was so good a joke that he might almost have grinned at it in his coffin4 ,by and bye1 the great naturalist may figure as an ardent devotee of the creed he rejected4 ,the clergy are hypocritical and base enough--as a body we mean--to claim ,darwin himself now they have secured his corpse4 ,who knows that1 in another twenty years1 the verger or even the ,dean of ,westminster ,abbey1 in showing visitors through the place1 may not say before a certain tomb1 ,here is the last resting-place of that eminent ,christian1 ,charles ,darwin4 ,there was a little misunderstanding between him and the clergy while he lived1 but it has all passed away like a mist1 and he is now accounted one of the chief pillars of the ,church8 ,what the clergy have done in the concrete with ,darwin they have done in the abstract with his predecessors in the great struggle between light and darkness4 ,what are all the lying stories about ,infidel ,death-,beds but conversions of corpses8 ,great heretics1 whose scepticism was unshaken in their lifetime by all the parson-power of the age1 were easily converted in their tombs4 ,what the clergy said about them was true1 or why didn't they get up and contradict8 ,all the world over silence gives consent1 and if the dead man did not enter a caveat1 who could complain if the men of ,god declared that he finished up in their faith8 ,recently the clergy have been converting another corpse1 but this time it has been able to protest by proxy1 and the swindle has been exposed all along the line4 ,paul ,bert1 the great ,french ,freethinker1 died at ,tonquin4 ,the nation voted him a state funeral1 and his body was shipped to ,france4 ,the voyage was a long one1 and it gave the pious an opportunity of leisurely converting the corpse1 especially as ,paul ,bert's family were all on board the steamer4 ,accordingly a report1 which we printed and commented on at the time1 appeared in all the papers that the atheistic ,resident ,general had sent for a ,catholic bishop on his death-bed and taken the sacrament4 ,thousands of ,christians believed the story at once1 the wish being father to the thought4 ,they never stopped to inquire whether the report was true4 ,why indeed should they8 ,they took the whole of their religion on trust1 and of course they could easily dispense with proof in so small a matter as an infidel's conversion4 ,some of them were quite hilarious4 ,ha1 they exclaimed1 what do you ,freethinkers say now8 ,and with the childish simplicity of their kind1 when they were told that the story was in all probability false1 they replied1 ,why1 isn't it in print8 ,now that the fraud is exposed very few of the journals that printed it will publish the contradiction4 ,we may be sure that the story of ,paul ,bert's conversion will be devoutly believed by thousands of ,christians1 and will probably be worked up in pious tracts for the spiritual edification of superstitious sheep4 ,give a lie a day's start1 said ,cobbett1 and it is half round the world before you can overtake it4 ,give it a week's start1 and if it happens to be a lie that suits the popular taste1 you may give up all hope of overtaking it at all4 ,first in the way of exposure was a telegram from the ,papal ,nuncio at ,lisbon on ,december #bi1 saying that his name had been improperly used4 ,he was not the author of the telegram that had been fathered on him1 and he knew nothing of ,paul ,bert's conversion4 ,a day or two later the ship conveying the heretic's corpse arrived at the ,suez ,canal4 ,madame ,bert heard of the preposterous story of her husband's conversion1 and she immediately telegraphed that it was absolutely and entirely false4 ,madame ,bert1 who is a highly accomplished woman1 is a ,freethinker herself1 and she is too proud of her husband's reputation to lose a moment in contradicting a miserable libel on his courage and sincerity4 ,before dropping the pen1 we take the opportunity of saying a few words on ,madame ,adam's article on ,paul ,bert in the ,contemporary ,review4 ,she is an able woman1 but not a philosopher1 and she labors under the craze of thinking that she is a great force in ,european politics4 ,she confesses that she hated ,paul ,bert1 and she betrays that her aversion originated in pique and jealousy4 ,we do not wish to be ungallant1 but ,gambetta had good reasons for preferring ,paul ,bert to ,juliette ,lambert1 although the lady is ludicrously wrong in saying that it was to ,paul ,bert that ,gambetta owed all the formulae of his scientific politics4 ,she forgets that ,gambetta's speeches before ,paul ,bert became his friend are in print4 ,she also ignores the fact that ,gambetta was a stedfast ,freethinker from his college days1 and was never infected with that sentimental religiosity from which she assumes that ,paul ,bert perverted him4 ,certainly he was incapable of being moved by the hackneyed platitudes about science and religion that form the prelude of ,madame ,adam's article1 and seem borrowed from one of ,m4 ,oaro's lectures4 ,nor did he need ,paul ,bert to tell him1 after the terrible struggle of #ahgg1 that ,clericalism was the enemy4 ,still less1 if that were possible1 did he require ,paul ,bert or any other man to tell him that ,france imperatively needed education free from priestcraft4 ,madame ,adam is so anxious to deal ,paul ,bert a stab in the dark that she confuses the most obvious facts4 ,gambetta and he fought against clericalism1 and labored for secular education1 because they were both ,freethinkers as well as ,republicans4 ,in venting her spite1 and reciting her own witticisms1 she fails to see the force of her own admissions4 ,this is what she writes of a very momentous occasion3 ,i saw ,gambetta at ,saint ,cloud the ,sunday after the mishap at ,obaronne4 ,he had just been taking the chair at the ,chateau d',eau1 at an anti-clerical meeting of ,paul ,bert's4 ,he came in a little late to dinner4 ,some dozen of us were already assembled on a flight of steps at the bottom of the garden when he appeared4 ,he spied me at once a woman speaks6 across the green lawn and a vase of tall fuchsias1 and called out in his sonorous voice3 ',admirable6 superb6 extraordinary6 ,never since ,voltaire has such an irrefutable indictment been brought against the clergy6 ,and what a style6 ,what consummate art6' ',and what bad policy6' said a great banker who was with us1 in a low voice1 to me note the me4 ,gambetta went on as he approached us3 ',and such an immense success--beyond anything that could be imagined6 ,ten thousand enthusiastic cheers6' ',the ten thousand and first would not have come from me1' ,i said said ,i1 as we greeted one another4 ',you yourself1' cried ,gambetta1 'you yourself1 ,i tell you1 would have been carried away2 if not by the ideas1 by the genius lavished in propounding them4' ,yes1 and notwithstanding ,madame ,adam's religion and the great banker's policy1 ,gambetta and ,paul ,bert were in the right1 and miles above their heads4 ,following ,madame ,adam's lively nonsense1 the ,echo says that ,paul ,bert tried to set up another ,inquisition4 ,in ,france1 says this organ of ,christian ,radicalism1 they strive to prevent a parent from giving his child a religious education4 ,they do nothing of the kind4 ,they simply insist that the religious education shall not be given in the national school4 ,every ,french parent is free to give religious instruction to his children at home1 and there are still thousands of ,state priests who can supply his deficiencies in that respect4 ,meanwhile national education progresses in good earnest4 ,the ,empire left nearly half the population unable to write their names4 ,now the ,republic educates every boy and girl1 and ,mr4 ,matthew ,arnold assures us that the ,french schools are among the best in ,europe1 while the sale of good books is prodigious4 ,gambetta and ,paul ,bert worked1 fought1 and sacrificed for this1 and they cannot be robbed of the glory4 ,,bradlaugh',s ,,ghost4 ,directly after ,charles ,bradlaugh's death we expressed a belief that the ,christians would concoct stories about him as soon as it was safe to do so4 ,it took some time to concoct and circulate the pious narratives of the deathbeds of ,voltaire and ,thomas ,paine1 and a proper interval is necessary in the case of the great ,iconoclast4 ,already1 however1 the more superstitious and fanatical ,christians are shaking their heads and muttering that ,bradlaugh must have said something when he was dying1 only they wouldn't allow believers in his sick room to hear it4 ,by and bye the more cunning and unscrupulous will come to the aid of their weaker brethren1 and a circumstantial story will be circulated in ,sunday-schools and ,christian meetings4 ,we are well aware that his daughter took every precaution4 ,she has the signed testimony of the nurses1 that her father never spoke on the subject of religion during his last illness4 ,but this may not avail1 for similar precautions are admitted to have been taken in the cases of ,voltaire and ,paine1 and1 in despite of this1 the ,christian traducers have forged the testimony of imaginary interlopers1 whose word cannot be disproved1 as they never existed outside the creative fancy of these liars for the glory of ,god4 ,it is quite a superstition that truth is always a match for falsehood4 ,george ,eliot remarked that the human mind takes absurdity as asses chew thistles4 ,we add that it swallows falsehood as a cat laps milk4 ,it was humorously said the other day by ,colonel ,ingersoll that ,the truth is the weakest thing in the world4 ,it always comes into the arena naked1 and there it meets a healthy young lie in complete armor1 and the result is that the truth gets licked4 ,one good1 solid lie will knock out a hundred truths4 ,it has done so with respect to the death of ,voltaire and ,paine1 and it will do so with respect to the death of ,charles ,bradlaugh4 ,meanwhile the ,spiritualists are having an innings4 ,charles ,bradlaugh was buried by his friends at ,woking1 but his ghost is said to have turned up at ,birmingham4 ,it appears from a report in the ,medium and ,daybreak that ,mr4 ,charles ,gray1 of #aci ,pershore-road1 being sadly sorrow-stricken by the passing away of a son1 was constrained to remain at home on the evening of ,may #ca4 ,a seance was arranged with a few friends1 and of course a message was received from the dear departed boy4 ,this was conveyed through ,mr4 ,russell1 junior1 whose age is not stated4 ,then ,mr4 ,reedman was controlled to write by ,c4 ,bradlaugh4 ,mr4 ,reedman wrote in a perfectly unconscious state1 and on the departure of the influence was much surprised on being told of the nature of the communication4 ,mr4 ,reedman's surprise may have been great1 but it scarcely equals our own4 ,one would imagine that if ,charles ,bradlaugh still lived1 and were able to communicate with people in this world1 he would speak to his beloved daughter1 and to the friends who loved him with a deathless affection4 ,why should he go all the way to ,birmingham instead of doing his first business in ,london8 ,why should he turn up at the house of ,mr4 ,gray8 ,why should he control the obscure ,mr4 ,reedman8 ,this behavior is absolutely foreign to the character of ,charles ,bradlaugh4 ,it was not one of his weaknesses to beat about the bush4 ,he went straight to his mark1 and found a way or made one1 ,death seems to change a man1 if we may believe the ,spiritualists2 but if it has altered ,charles ,bradlaugh's character1 it has effected a still more startling change in his intellect and expression4 ,here is a correct copy of ,charles ,bradlaugh's message to mankind1 and most of our readers will regard it as a very ,brummagen communication3-- ,as ,i am not to speak 7so says the ',warrior ,chief'71 ,i am to say in writing1 ,i have found a life beyond the grave that ,i did not wish for nor believe in2 but it is even so4 ,my voice shall yet declare it4 ,i have to undo all1 or nearly all1 ,i have done1 but ,i will not complain4 ,my mind is subdued1 but ,i will be a man4 ,it is a most glorious truth that has now more clearly dawned upon my mind1 that there is a grand and noble purpose before all men1 worth living for6 ,may this be the dawn of a new and glorious era of the spiritual life of your humble friend ,charles ,bradlaugh6 ,there is a ,god6 ,there is a ,divine principle4 ,there is more in life than we wot of1 but vastly more in death6 ,oh6 for a thousand tongues to declare the truths which are now fast dawning upon my bewildered mind6 ,death1 the great leveller1 need have no more terrors for us1 for it has been conquered by the ,great ,spirit1 in giving us a never-ending life in the glorious spheres of immortal bliss4 ,o my friends6 may ,i be permitted to declare1 more fully and fervently1 the joys which fill my mind4 ,language fails1 no tongue can describe4 ,our own impression is that ,professor ,huxley was justified in saying that ,spiritualism adds a new terror to death4 ,fancy the awful depth of flaccid imbecility into which ,charles ,bradlaugh must have fallen1 to indulge in ohs1 and gasp out glorious1 glorious1 and talk of his subdued and bewildered mind1 and bid himself be a man4 ,it was not thus that he spoke in the flesh4 ,his language was manly1 firm1 and restrained2 his attitude was bold and self-reliant4 ,after four months in the spirit world he is positively trembling and drivelling6 ,it is enough to make the rugged ,iconoclast turn in his grave4 ,messrs4 ,gray and ,reedman may rely upon it that ,charles ,bradlaugh is not able to enter ,no4 #aci ,pershore-road1 ,birmingham2 if he were1 he would descend in swift wrath upon his silly traducers1 who have put their own inanity into his mouth1 making the great1 virile ,atheist talk like a little1 flabby ,spiritualist after an orgie of ginger-beer4 ,anyone may see at a glance that the style of this message1 from beginning to end1 is not ,charles ,brad-laugh's4 ,whose style it is we cannot say4 ,we do not pretend to fathom the arcana of ,spiritualism4 ,it may be ,mr4 ,reedmam's1 it may be another's4 ,if it be ,mr4 ,reedman's1 he must have been guilty of fraud or the victim of deception4 ,three distinct hypotheses are possible4 ,either someone else produced or concocted the message while he was in a foolish trance1 or he wrote it himself consciously1 or he had been thinking of ,charles ,bradlaugh before falling into the foolish trance and the message was due to unconscious cerebration4 ,we forbear to analyse this wretched stuff1 though we might show its intrinsic absurdity and self-contradiction4 ,one monstrous piece of folly bestrides the rest like a colossus--,your humble friend ,charles ,bradlaugh4 ,shade of ,uriah ,heep6 ,charles ,bradlaugh the humble friend of the illustrious ,gray and ,reedman6 ,think of it1 ,lord ,halsbury2 think of it1 ,lord ,randolph ,churchill4 ,the giant who fought you1 and beat you1 in the law courts and in ,parliament2 the man whose face was a challenge2 the man who had the pride1 without the malignity1 of ,lucifer2 this very man crawls into a ,birmingham house1 uninvited and unexpected1 and announces himself as the humble friend of some pudding-headed people1 engaged in a fatuous occupation that makes one blush for one's species4 ,surely if ,charles ,bradlaugh's ghost is knocking about this planet1 having a mission to undo the work of his lifetime in the flesh1 it should begin the task in ,london4 ,it was at the ,hall of ,science that ,charles ,bradlaugh achieved his greatest triumphs as a public teacher1 and it is there that he should first attempt to undo his work1 to unteach his teaching1 to disabuse the minds of his dupes4 ,of course we shall be told that he must communicate through mediums1 and that the medium must be controlled by ,charles ,bradlaugh's spirit2 but to this we reply that ,charles ,bradlaugh controlled men easily while he was in the flesh1 and it is inconceivable that he has lost that old power if he still survives4 ,on the whole1 we think the ,spiritist trick is worse than the malignity of orthodox ,christians4 ,a lie about a man's death-bed ends there1 and consigning him to hell for his infidelity is only a pious wish that cannot affect his fate4 ,but getting hold of a man's ghost 7spirit they call it7 after his death2 making it turn up at public and private sittings of obscure fools2 setting it jabbering all the flatulent nonsense of its manipulators2 and using it in this manner until it has to be dismissed for a newer1 more fashionable1 and more profitable shadow2 all this is so hideous and revolting that the ordinary ,christian lies about infidels seem almost a compliment in comparison4 ,this ,gray-,reedman story is probably the beginning of a long and wretched business4 ,the ,philistines are upon thee1 ,charles ,bradlaugh6 ,they will harness thee in their mill1 and make thee grind their grist2 and fools that were not worth a moment of thy time while thou livedst will command thee by the hour2 and ,sludge the ,medium will use thy great name to puff his obscene vanity and swell his obscener gains4 ,this is the worst of all thy trials1 for thou canst not defend thyself2 and1 in thy helplessness1 fools and pigmies cut capers over thy grave4 ,,christ ,,and ,,brotherhood4 ,clergymen are supposed to be educated2 that is1 they go to college before taking holy orders1 and study what are called the classics--the masterpieces of ,greek and ,roman literature4 ,theology is not enough to fit them for the pulpit4 ,they must also be steeped in the humanities1 ,it is felt that they would never find all they require in the ,bible4 ,they find a great deal of it in ,pagan writings1 and as these are unknown to the people1 it is safe for the clergy to work the best heathen ideas into their interpretation of the ,christian ,scriptures4 ,there was a time1 indeed1 when ,christian preachers were fond of references to ,pagan poets and philosophers4 ,the people were so ignorant1 and such implicit believers1 that it could be done with security4 ,but now the case is altered4 ,the people are beginning to smell a rat4 ,it dawns upon them that if so many fine things were said by those old ,pagans--not to mention the still more ancient teaching of ,india and ,egypt--,christianity can hardly merit such epithets as unique and wonderful4 ,accordingly it is becoming the fashion in clerical circles to avoid those old ,pagans1 or else to damn them all in a sweeping condemnation4 ,some indeed go to the length of declaring--or at least of insinuating--that all the real truth and goodness there is in the world began with the ,christian era4 ,this extreme is affected by the ,evangelical school1 and is carried to its highest pitch of exaggeration by such shallow and reckless preachers as the ,rev4 ,hugh ,price ,hughes4 ,soon after the ,daily ,chronicle correspondence on ,is ,christianity ,played ,out8 this reverend gentleman1 and most accomplished perverter of the truth1 screamed from the platform of ,st4 ,james's ,hall that women and children were regarded as slaves and nuisances before the time of ,christ2 which is either a deliberate falsehood1 or a gross misreading both of history and of human nature4 ,mr4 ,hughes has since been gathering his energies for a bolder effort in the same direction4 ,he now publishes in the ,methodist ,times his latest piece of recklessness or fatuity4 ,it is a sermon on ,the ,solidarity of ,mankind1 and is really an exhibition of the solidity of ,mr4 ,hughes's impudence4 ,it required nothing but face1 as ,corbett used to call it1 to utter such monstrous nonsense in a sermon2 it would need a great deal more courage than ,mr4 ,hughes possesses to utter it on any platform where he could be answered and exposed4 ,mr4 ,hughes believes in our common humanity1 and he traces it from the grand old gardener 7,tennyson74 ,we are all descended from ,adam1 he says1 and related to one another4 ,now this is not true1 even according to the ,bible2 for when ,cain fled into the land of ,nod he took a wife there1 which clearly implies the existence of other people than the descendants of ,adam4 ,but this is not the worst4 ,fancy a man at this time of day--a burnin' an' a shinin' light to a' this place--gravely standing up and solemnly telling three thousand people1 most of whom we suppose have been to school1 that the legendary ,adam of the book of ,genesis was really the father of the whole human race6 ,this common humanity is claimed by ,mr4 ,hughes as a purely ,christian conception4 ,yet he foolishly admits that the ,positivists in our own day have strongly insisted on this great crowning truth which we ,christians have neglected4 ,nay1 he states that when ,kossuth appealed in ,england on behalf of ,hungary1 he spoke in the name of the solidarity of the human race4 ,and why solidarity8 ,because the word had to be taken from the ,french4 ,and why from the ,french8 ,because the ,french1 ,mr4 ,hughes says1 have risen to a loftier level of human brotherhood than we4 ,indeed6 ,then what becomes of your purely ,christian conception1 when infidel ,france outshines ,christian ,england8 ,how is it1 too1 you have to make the shameful confession that we--that is1 the ,christians--took nineteen centuries to find out the negro was a man and therefore a brother8 ,you did not find it out1 in fact1 until the eighteenth century--the century of ,voltaire and ,thomas ,paine--the century in which ,freethought had spread so much1 even in ,england1 that ,bishop ,butler in the ,advertisement to his ,analogy1 dated ,may1 #agcf1 could say that many persons regarded ,christianity as proved to be fictitious to all people of discernment1 and thought that nothing remained but to set it up as a principal subject of mirth and ridicule4 ,how is it your ,christian conceptions took such a surprising time to be understood8 ,how is it they had to wait for realisation until the advent of an age permeated with the spirit of scepticism and secular humanity8 ,mr4 ,hughes is brave enough--in the absence of a critic--to start with ,jesus ,christ as the first cosmopolitan4 ,he came of the ,jewish stock1 we are told1 and yet he had no trace of the ,jew in him4 ,of course not--in ,christian sermons and ,christian pictures1 preached and painted for non-,jewish1 and indeed ,jew-hating nations4 ,but there is a very decided trace of the ,jew in him in the ,new ,testament4 ,to the ,canaanite woman he said1 ,i am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of ,israel4 ,to the twelve he said1 ,go not into the way of the ,gentiles1 and into any city of the ,samaritans enter ye not3 ,but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of ,israel4 ,it was ,paul who1 finding he could not make headway against the apostles who had known ,jesus personally1 exclaimed1 ,lo1 we turn to the ,gentiles4 ,that exclamation was a turning point4 ,it was the first real step to such universalism as ,christianity has attained4 ,no wonder1 therefore1 that ,comte puts ,paul instead of ,jesus into the ,positivist calendar1 as the real founder of ,christianity4 ,even in the case of ,st4 ,paul1 it is perfectly idle to suppose that his cosmopolitanism extended beyond the ,roman empire4 ,a little study and reflection would show ,mr4 ,hughes that the very fact of the ,roman empire was the secret of the cosmopolitanism4 ,moral conceptions follow in the wake of political expansion4 ,the morality of a tribe is tribal2 that of a nation is national2 and national morality only developes into international morality with the growth of international interests and international communication4 ,now the ,roman empire had broken up the old nationalities1 and with them their local religions4 ,the human mind broadened with its political and social horizon4 ,and the result was that a cosmopolitan sentiment in morals1 and a universal conception in religion1 naturally spread throughout the territory which was dominated by the ,roman eagles4 ,christianity itself was at first a ,jewish sect1 which developed into a cosmopolitan system precisely because the national independence of the ,jews had been broken up1 and all the roads of a great empire were open to the missionaries of a new faith4 ,but let us return to ,mr4 ,hughes's statements4 ,he tells us that the solidarity of mankind was revealed to the human race through ,st4 ,paul--which is a great slur upon ,jesus ,christ1 and quite inconsistent with what ,mr4 ,hughes affirms of the ,nazarene4 ,it is also inconsistent with the very language of ,st4 ,paul in that sermon of his to the ,athenians2 for the great apostle1 in enforcing his argument that all men are ,god's children1 actually reminds the ,athenians that certain also of your own poets have said1 ,for we are also his offspring4 ,mr4 ,hughes goes on to say that our common humanity is a perfectly new idea4 ,max ,muller1 he tells us1 says that there was no trace of it until ,christ came4 ,it is a purely ,christian conception4 ,professor ,max ,muller1 however1 is not infallible4 ,he sometimes panders to ,christian prejudices1 and this is a case in point4 ,what he says about humanity is an etymological quibble4 ,certainly the ,greeks knew nothing about it1 simply because they did not speak ,latin4 ,but they had an equivalent word in philanthropia1 which was in use in the time of ,plato1 four hundred years before the birth of ,christ499 99 ,mr4 ,hughes talks so much that he must have little time for reading4 ,every educated man1 however1 is supposed to be acquainted with ,bacon's ,essays1 the thirteenth of which opens as follows3--,i take goodness in this sense1 the affecting of the weal of men1 which is that the ,grecians called ,philanthropia2 and the word humanity 7as it is used7 is a little too light to express it4 ,bacon not only knew the antiquity of ,philanthropia1 but preferred it to the later and less weighty term so ignorantly celebrated by ,mr4 ,hughes4 ,max ,muller or no ,max ,muller1 we tell ,mr4 ,hughes that he is either reckless or ignorant in declaring that the idea of human brotherhood owes its origin to ,christ1 ,paul1 or ,christianity4 ,to say nothing of ,buddha1 whose ethics are wider than the ethics of ,christ1 and confining ourselves to ,greece and ,rome1 with the teaching of whose thinkers ,christianity comes into more direct comparison--it is easy enough to prove that ,mr4 ,hughes is in error1 or worse4 ,four centuries before ,christ1 when ,socrates was asked on one occasion as to his country1 he replied1 ,i am a citizen of the world4 ,cicero1 the great ,roman writer1 in the century before ,christ1 uses the very word caritas1 which ,st4 ,paul borrowed in his fine and famous chapter in the first of ,corinthians4 ,cicero1 and not ,st4 ,paul1 was the first to pronounce charity as the tie which unites the human race4 ,and after picturing a soul full of virtue1 living in charity with its friends1 and taking as such all who are allied by nature1 ,cicero rose to a still loftier level4 ,moreover1 he said1 let it not consider itself hedged in by the walls of a single town1 but acknowledge itself a citizen of the whole world1 as though one city4 ,in another treatise he speaks of fellowship with the human race1 charity1 friendship1 justice4 ,we defy ,mr4 ,hughes to indicate a single cosmopolitan text in the ,new ,testament as strong1 clear1 and pointed as these sayings of ,socrates and ,cicero--the one ,greek1 the other ,roman1 and both before ,christ4 ,let him ransack gospels1 epistles1 acts1 and revelations1 and produce the text we call for4 ,from the time of ,cicero--that is1 from the time of ,julius ,caesar1 and the establishment of the ,empire--the sentiment of brotherhood1 the idea of a common humanity1 spread with certainty and rapidity1 and is reflected in the writings of the philosophers4 ,the exclamation of the ,roman poet1 ,as a man1 ,i regard nothing human as alien to me1 which was so heartily applauded by the auditory in the theatre1 expressed a growing and almost popular sentiment4 ,the works of ,seneca abound in fine humanitarian passages1 and it must be remembered that if the ,christians were tortured by ,nero at ,rome1 it was by the same hand that ,seneca's life was cut short4 ,wherever there is a man1 said this thinker1 there is an opportunity for a deed of kindness4 ,he believed in the natural equality of all men4 ,slaves were such through political and social causes1 and their masters were bidden to refrain from ill-using them1 not only because of the cruelty of such conduct1 but because of the natural law common to all men1 and because he is of the same nature as thyself4 ,seneca denounced the gladiatorial shows as human butcheries4 ,so mild1 tolerant1 humane1 and equitable was his teaching that the ,christians of a later age were anxious to appropriate him4 ,tertullian calls him ,our ,seneca1 and the facile scribes of the new faith forged a correspondence between him and their own ,st4 ,paul4 ,one of ,seneca's passages is a clear and beautiful statement of rational altruism4 ,nor can anyone live happily1 he says1 who has regard to himself alone1 and uses everything for his own interests2 thou must live for thy neighbor1 if thou wouldest live for thyself4 ,eighteen hundred years afterwards ,auguste ,comte sublimated this principle into a motto of his ,religion of ,humanity--,vivre pour ,autrui1 ,live for ,others4 ,it is also expressed more didactically by ,ingersoll--,the way to be happy is to make others so--making duty and enjoyment go hand in hand4 ,pliny1 who corresponded with the emperor ,trajan1 and whose name is familiar to the student of ,christian ,evidences1 exhorted parents to take a deep interest in the education of their children4 ,he largely endowed an institution in his native town of ,como1 for the assistance of the children of the poor4 ,his humanity was extended to slaves4 ,he treated his own with great kindness1 allowing them to dispose of their own earnings1 and even to make wills4 ,of masters who had no regard for their slaves1 he said1 ,i do not know if they are great and wise2 but one thing ,i do know1 they are not men4 ,dion ,chrysostom1 another ,stoic1 plainly declared that slavery was an infringement of the natural rights of men1 who were all born for liberty2 a dictum which cannot be paralleled in any part of the ,new ,testament4 ,it must be admitted1 indeed1 that ,paul1 in sending the slave ,onesimus back to his master ,philemon1 did bespeak humane and even brotherly treatment for the runaway2 but he bespoke it for him as a ,christian1 not simply as a man1 and uttered no single word in rebuke of the institution of slavery4 ,plutarch's humanity was noble and tender4 ,the proper end of man1 he said1 is to love and to be loved4 ,he regarded his slaves as inferior members of his own family4 ,how strong1 yet how dignified1 is his condemnation of masters who sold their slaves when disabled by old age4 ,he protests that the fountain of goodness and humanity should never dry up in a man4 ,for myself1 he said1 ,i should never have the heart to sell the ox which had long labored on my ground1 and could no longer work on account of old age1 still less could ,i chase a slave from his country1 from the place where he has been nourished for so long1 and from the way of life to which he has been so long accustomed4 ,sentiments like these were the natural precursors of the abolition of slavery1 as far as it could be abolished by moral considerations4 ,epictetus1 the great ,stoic philosopher1 who had himself been a slave1 taught the loftiest morality4 ,pascal admits that he was one of the philosophers of the world who have best understood the duty of man4 ,he disdained slavery from the point of view of the masters1 as he abhorred it from the point of view of the slaves4 ,as a healthy man1 he said1 does not wish to be waited upon by the infirm1 or desire that those who live with him should be invalids1 the freeman should not allow himself to be waited upon by slaves1 or leave those who live with him in servitude4 ,it is idle to pretend1 as ,professor ,schmidt of ,strasburg does1 that the ideas of ,epictetus are colored with a reflection of ,christianity4 ,the philosopher's one reference to the ,galileans1 by whom he is thought to have meant the ,christians1 is somewhat contemptuous4 ,professor ,schmidt says he misunderstood the ,galileans2 but ,george ,long1 the translator of ,epictetus1 is probably truer in saying that he knew little about the ,christians1 and only knew some examples of their obstinate adherence to the new faith and the fanatical behavior of some of the converts4 ,it should be remembered that ,epictetus was almost a contemporary of ,st4 ,paul1 and the accurate students of early ,christianity will be able to estimate how far it was likely1 at that time1 to have influenced the philosophers of ,rome4 ,marcus ,aurelius was one of the wisest and best of men4 ,emperor of the civilised world1 he lived a life of great simplicity1 bearing all the burdens of his high office1 and drawing philosophy from the depths of his own contemplation4 ,his ,meditations were only written for his own eyes2 they were a kind of philosophical diary2 and they have the charm of perfect sincerity4 ,he was born a4d4 #aba1 he became ,emperor a4d4 #afa1 and died a4d4 #ahj1 after nineteen years of a government which illustrated ,plato's words about the good that would ensue when kings were philosophers and philosophers were kings4 ,cardinal ,barberini1 who translated the ,emperor's ,meditations into ,italian1 in #afge1 dedicated the translation to his own soul1 to make it redder than his purple at the sight of the virtues of this ,gentile4 ,marcus ,aurelius combines reason with beautiful sentiment4 ,his emotion is always accompanied by thought4 ,here1 for instance1 is a noble passage on the social commonwealth--,for we are made for co-operation1 like feet1 like hands1 like eyelids1 like the rows of the upper and lower teeth4 ,to act against one another then is contrary to nature2 and it is acting against one another to be vexed and to turn away4 ,in a still loftier passage he says--and let us remember he says it to himself1 not to an applauding audience1 but quietly1 and with absolute truth1 and no taint of theatricality--,my nature is rational and social2 and my city and country1 so far as ,i am ,antoninus1 is ,rome2 but so far as ,i am a man1 it is the world4 ,in his brief1 pregnant way1 he states the law of human solidarity--,that which is not good for the swarm1 neither is it good for the bee4 ,and who could fail to appreciate this sentiment1 coming as it did from the ruler of a great empire8--,one thing here is worth a great deal1 to pass thy life in truth and justice1 with a benevolent disposition even to liars and unjust men4 ,here again1 it is the fashion in some circles1 to pretend that ,marcus ,aurelius was influenced by the spread of ,christian ideas4 ,george ,long1 however1 speaks the language of truth and sobriety in saying1 ,it is quite certain that ,antoninus did not derive any of his ,ethical principles from a religion of which he knew nothing4 ,to say as ,dr4 ,schmidt does that ,christian ideas filled the air is easy enough1 but where is the proof8 ,no doubt the ,christian writers made great pretensions as to the spread of their religion1 but they were notoriously sanguine and inaccurate1 and we know what value to attach to such pretensions in the second century when we reflect that even in the fourth century1 up to the point of ,constantine's conversion1 ,christianity had only succeeded in drawing into its fold about a twentieth of the inhabitants of the empire4 ,enough has been said in this article to show that the idea of our common humanity is not a purely ,christian conception1 that it arose in the natural course of human development1 and that in this1 as in other cases1 the apologists of ,christianity have simply appropriated to their own creed the fruits of the political1 social1 and moral growth of ,western civilisation4 ,,the ,,sons ,,of ,,god4 ,the sons of ,god saw the daughters of men that they were fair4 --,genesis vi4 #h4 ,according to the first book of the ,bible1 the earth fell into a very wicked condition in the days of the patriarchs4 ,god made everything good1 but the ,devil turned everything bad2 and in the end the ,lord put the whole concern into liquidation4 ,it was a case of universal bankruptcy4 ,all that was saved out of the catastrophe was a consignment of eight human beings and an unknown number of elephants1 crocodiles1 horses1 pigs1 dogs1 cats1 and fleas4 ,among other enormities of the antediluvian world was the fondness shown by the sons of ,god for the daughters of men4 ,that fondness has continued ever since4 ,the deluge itself could not wash out the amatory feelings with which the pious males regard those fair creatures who were once supposed to be the ,devil's chief agents on earth4 ,even to this day it is a fact that courtship goes on with remarkable briskness in religious circles4 ,churches and chapels are places of harmless assignation1 and how many matches are made in ,sunday-schools1 where ,alfred and ,angelina meet to teach the scripture and flirt4 ,as for the clergy1 who are peculiarly the sons of ,god1 they are notorious for their partiality to the sex4 ,they purr about the ladies like black tom-cats4 ,some of them are adepts in the art of rolling one eye heavenwards and letting the other languish on the fair faces of the daughters of men4 ,it is also noticeable that the ,protestant clericals marry early and often1 and generally beget a numerous progeny2 while the ,catholic priest who1 being strictly celibate1 never adds to the population1 mashes the ladies through the confessional1 worming out all their secrets1 and making them as pliable as wax in his holy hands4 ,too often the professional son of ,god is a chartered libertine1 whose amors are carried on under a veil of sanctity4 ,what else1 indeed1 could be expected when a lot of lusty young fellows1 in the prime of life1 foreswear marriage1 take vows of chastity1 and undertake to stem the current of their natures by such feeble dams as prayers and hymns8 ,who the original sons of ,god were is a moot point4 ,god only knows1 and he has not told us4 ,but ,jewish and ,christian divines have advanced many theories4 ,according to some the sons of ,gods were the offspring of ,seth1 who was born holy in succession to righteous ,abel1 while the daughters of men were the offspring of wicked ,cain4 ,among the oriental ,christians it is said that the children of ,seth tried to regain ,paradise by living in great austerity on ,mount ,hermon1 but they soon tired of their laborious days and cheerless nights1 and cast sheep's-eyes on the daughters of ,cain1 who beauty was equal to their father's wickedness4 ,marriages followed1 and the ,devil triumphed again4 ,according to the ,cabbalists1 two angels1 ,aza and ,azael1 complained to ,god at the creation of man4 ,god answered1 ,you1 ,o angels1 if you were in the lower world1 you too would sin4 ,they descended on earth1 and directly they saw the ladies they forgot heaven4 ,they married and exchanged the hallelujahs of the celestial chorus for the tender tones of loving women and the sweet prattle of little children4 ,having sinned1 or1 to use the vile language of religion1 polluted themselves with women1 they became clothed with flesh4 ,on trying to regain ,paradise they failed1 and were cast back on the mountains1 where they continued to beget giants and devils4 ,there were giants in the earth in those days says ,scripture4 ,of course there were4 ,every barbarous people has similar legends of primitive ages4 ,the translators of our ,revised ,version are ashamed of these mythical personages as being too suggestive of ,jack and the ,beanstalk1 so they have substituted ,anakim for giants4 ,in other words1 they have shirked the duty of translators1 and left the nonsense veiled under the original word4 ,the ,mohammedans say that not only giants1 but also ,jins1 were born of the sons of ,god1 who married the daughters of men4 ,the ,jins soon had the world in their power4 ,they ruled everywhere1 and built colossal works1 including the pyramids4 ,of the giants1 the most remarkable was ,og4 ,he was taller than the last ,yankee story1 for at the ,deluge he stopped the windows of heaven with his hands1 or the water would have risen over his head4 ,the ,talmud says that he saved himself by swimming close to the ark in company with the rhinoceros4 ,the water there happened to be cold1 while all the rest was boiling hot2 and thus ,og was saved while all the other giants perished4 ,according to another story1 ,og climbed on the roof of the ark1 and when ,noah tried to dislodge him1 he swore that he would become the patriarch's slave4 ,noah at once clinched the bargain1 and food was passed through a hole for the giant every day4 ,when we look into them we find the myths of the ,bible wonderfully like the myths of other systems4 ,the ,giants are similar to the ,titans1 and the union of divine males with human females is similar to the amors of ,jupiter1 ,apollo1 ,neptune1 and ,mars with the women of old4 ,in this matter there is nothing new under the sun4 ,every fresh myth is only the recasting of an ancient fable1 born of ignorance and imagination4 ,let it finally be noted that this old ,genesaic story of the angelic husbands of earthly women gives us a poor idea of the felicity of heaven4 ,in that unknown region1 as ,jesus ,christ informed his disciples1 there is neither marrying nor giving in marriage2 that is1 no males1 no females1 no courting1 no loving1 no children1 and no homes4 ,men cease to be men and women cease to be women4 ,everybody is of the neuter gender4 ,or else all the angels are gentlemen1 without a lady amongst them4 ,perhaps the latter view is preferable1 as it harmonises with the ,bible1 in which the angels are always he's4 ,in that case heaven would be1 to say the least1 rather a dull place4 ,no whispering in the moonlight1 no clasped hands under the throbbing stars4 ,not even a kiss under the misletoe4 ,oh1 what must it be to be there6 ,no wonder the sons of ,god wandered from their cheerless ,paradise1 visited this lower world1 and saw the daughters of men that they were fair4 ,,melchizedek4 ,melchizedek is the most extraordinary person of whom we have any record4 ,christ was born and ,adam was made1 but ,melchizedek never began to be and will never cease to exist4 ,if the ,bible were not such an intensely serious book without a gleam of humor1 except of the unconscious ,hibernian kind1 we might conclude that ,melchizedek was nobody1 for the description admirably suits that character4 ,but the ,bible does not play and must not be played with4 ,all its personages are bona fide realities1 from the ,ancient of ,days with white woolly hair on the throne of heaven to the prophet ,jonah who took three days' lodging in the belly of a whale4 ,the name ,melchizedek means king of justice1 being derived from melec1 a king1 and tzedec1 justice4 ,when the gentleman bearing this name is introduced to us in the fourteenth of ,genesis1 he is king of ,salem1 which means peace4 ,salem was a city on the site of ,zion4 ,originally it was called ,jebus1 then ,zadek1 then ,salem1 and finally ,jerusalem4 ,so says ,rabbi ,joseph ,ben-,gorion4 ,but other writers1 no doubt just as well informed1 differ from him2 and while the doctors disagree1 simple laymen may well hold their judgment in suspense2 or1 better still1 dismiss ,jebus1 ,zadek1 ,salem1 and ,jerusalem1 to the limbo of learned trivialities4 ,counting the spots on a leopard1 the quills on a porcupine1 or the hairs in a cat's whiskers1 is just as amusing and quite as edifying as most of the problems of divines and commentators4 ,when ,abraham returned from a successful campaign1 in which he defeated five kings and their armies with three hundred and eighteen raw recruits1 ,melchizedek came out to meet him with victuals and drink4 ,these two friends joined in the friendly office of scratching each other4 ,they were1 in fact1 a small mutual admiration society4 ,abraham1 although at other times a rank coward1 was on this occasion a bold warrior laden with spoil2 and ,melchizedek besides being ,king of ,salem1 was the priest of the most high ,god4 ,bully for you1 ,abraham1 said ,melchizedek4 ,bully for you1 ,melchizedek1 said ,abraham4 ,as usual1 however1 the priest got the best of it1 for the patriarch paid him tithes1 which were a capital return for his compliments4 ,genesis is a little confused1 indeed2 and what scripture is not8 ,and he gave him tithes of all is not very clear4 ,it reminds one of the ,west of ,england yokel1 who gave his evidence on a case of homicide in this way3 ,he had a stick1 and he had a stick2 and he hit he1 and he hit he4 ,and if he'd only hit he as hard as he hit he1 he'd a' killed he1 and not he he4 ,but we must not be too hard on ,bibles and yokels4 ,so long as we can get a scintillation of their meaning we must be satisfied4 ,scripture1 we may take it1 means that the he who paid tithes was ,abraham1 and the him who received them was ,melchizedek4 ,now the book of ,genesis is not an early1 but a very late portion of the ,jewish scriptures1 dating only a few centuries before ,christ4 ,and we may depend on it that this little sentence about tithes1 and perhaps the whole story that leads up to it1 was got up by the priests1 to give the authority of ,abraham's name and the sanction of antiquity to an institution which kept them in luxury at the expense of their neighbors4 ,our view of the case is supported by the fact that ,melchizedek's name does not appear again in the whole of the ,old ,testament1 except in the hundred and tenth ,psalm1 where somebody or other 7the parsons of course say ,christ7 is called a priest for ever after the order of ,melchizedek4 ,paul1 or whoever wrote the ,epistle to the ,hebrews1 works up this hint in fine style4 ,it would puzzle a lunatic1 or a fortune-teller1 or the ,archbishop of ,canterbury1 or ,god ,almighty himself1 to say what the ,seventh of ,hebrews means4 ,we give it up as an insoluble conundrum1 and we observe that every commentator with a grain of sense and honesty does the same4 ,but there is one luminous flash in the jumble of metaphysical darkness4 ,melchizedek is described as without father1 without mother1 without descent1 having neither beginning of days nor end of life4 ,it will be easy to recognise a gentleman of that description when you meet him4 ,when we do meet him we shall readily acknowledge him as our king and priest1 and pay him an income tax of two shillings in the pound2 but until then we warn all kings and priests off our doorsteps4 ,jewish traditions say that ,melchizedek was the son of ,shem1 and set apart for the purpose of watching and burying ,adam's carcase when it was unshipped from the ,ark4 ,some1 however1 maintain that he was of a celestial race2 while other 7,christian7 speculators have held that he was no less than ,jesus ,christ himself1 who put in an early appearance in ,abraham's days to keep the ,jewish pot boiling4 ,st4 ,athanasius tells a long-winded story of ,melchizedek and ,abraham1 which shows what stuff the early ,christians believed4 ,according to the ,talmud1 ,melchizedek composed the hundred and tenth ,psalm himself2 and although he is without end of days1 his tomb was shown at ,jerusalem in the time of ,gemelli ,oarrere the traveller4 ,there was an heretical sect called the ,melchizedekiana in the third century4 ,they held that ,jesus ,christ was1 according to ,hebrews1 only of the order of ,melchizedek1 and therefore that ,melchizedek himself was the more venerable4 ,this heresy revived in ,egypt after its suppression elsewhere1 and its adherents claimed that ,melchizedek was the ,holy ,ghost4 ,the last time ,melchizedek was heard of he was a ,london coster-monger's donkey1 but whether this was a real incarnation of the original ,melchizedek no one is able to decide1 unless the ,lord should again1 as in the case of ,balaam's companion1 open the mouth of the ass and inform the world of the things that belong unto its peace4 ,s',w',,elp ,,me ,,god4 ,whoever has seen a ,hebrew money-lender in a ,county ,court take up a copy of the ,old ,testament1 present the greasy cover to his greasy lips1 and1 like honest ,moses in the ,school for ,scandal1 take his oath on that1 must have had a lively impression as to the value of swearing as a religious ceremony4 ,and this impression must have been heightened when he has seen an ingenuous ,christian1 on the other side of the suit1 present a copy of the ,new ,testament to his pious lips1 and quietly swear to the very opposite of all that the ,god-fearing ,jew had solemnly declared to be the truth1 the whole truth1 and nothing but the truth4 ,one's appreciation of the oath is still further increased by watching the various litigants and witnesses as they caress the sacred volume3 ,here a gentleman wears an expression of countenance which seems to imply ,i guess they'll get a good deal of truth out of me2 and there anothers face seems to promise as great a regard for truth as is consistent with his understanding with the solicitor who subpoenaed him as an independent witness in the interest of justice and a sound client4 ,hard swearing is the order of the day4 ,so conflicting is the evidence on simple matters of fact that it is perfectly obvious that the very atmosphere is charged with duplicity4 ,the thing is taken as a matter of course4 ,judges are used to it1 and act accordingly1 deciding in most cases by a keen observation of the witnesses and an extensive knowlege of the seamy side of nature4 ,but sometimes the very judges are nonplussed1 so brazen are the faces of the gentlemen who have kissed the book ,very often1 no doubt1 their honors feel inclined to say1 like the ,american judge in directing his jury1 ,well1 gentlemen1 if you believe what these witnesses swear1 you will give a verdict for the plaintiff2 and if you believe what the other witnesses swear1 you will give a verdict for the defendant2 but if1 like me1 you don't believe what either side swears1 ,i'm hanged if ,i know what you will do4 ,the fact is1 the oath is absolutely useless if its object is to prevent false witness4 ,should there be any likelihood of a persecution for perjury1 a two-faced ,testament-kisser will be on his guard1 and be very careful to tell only such lies as cannot be clearly proved against him4 ,he dreads the prospect of daily exercise on the treadmill1 he loathes the idea of picking oakum1 and his gorge rises at the thought of brown bread and skilly4 ,but so long as that danger is avoided1 there are hosts of witnesses1 most of them very good ,christians1 who have been suckled on the ,gospel in ,sunday ,schools1 and fed afterwards on the strong meat of the ,word in churches and chapels1 who will swear fast and loose after calling ,god to witness to their veracity4 ,they ask the ,almighty to deal with them according as they tell the truth1 yet for all that they proceed to tell the most unblushing lies4 ,what is the reason of this strange inconsistency8 ,simply this4 ,hell is a long way off1 and many things may happen before the ,day of ,judgment4 ,besides1 ,god is merciful2 he is always ready to forgive sins2 a man has only to repent in time1 that is a few minutes before death1 and all his sins will be washed out in the cleansing blood of ,christ4 ,notwithstanding all his lies in earthly courts1 the repentant sinner will not lose his right of walking about for ever and ever in the court of heaven1 although some poor devil whose liberty or property he swore away may be frizzling for ever and ever in hell4 ,we are strongly of opinion that if the oath were abolished altogether there would be fewer falsehoods told in our public courts4 ,no doubt the law of perjury has some effect1 but it is less than is generally imagined1 partly because the law is difficult to apply1 and partly because there is a wide disinclination to apply it1 owing to a sort of freemasonry in false witness1 which is apt to be regarded as an essential part of the game of litigation4 ,here and there1 too1 there may be a person of sincere piety1 who fears to tell a lie in what he considers the direct presence of ,god4 ,but for the most part the fear of punishment1 in this world or in the next1 will not make men veracious4 ,the fact is proved by universal experience2 nay1 there are judges1 as well as philosophers1 who openly declare that the oath has a direct tendency to create perjury4 ,anyone1 with a true sense of morality will understand the reason of this4 ,fear is not a moral motive2 and when the threatened punishment is very remote or very uncertain1 it has next to no deterrent effect4 ,cupidity is matched against fear1 and the odds of the game being in its favor1 it wins4 ,but if a moral motive is appealed to1 the case is different4 ,many a man will tell a lie in the witness-box who would scruple to do so on his honor2 many a man will lie before ,god who would scruple to deceive a friend4 ,let a man feel that he is trusted1 let his self-respect be appealed to1 and he is more likely to be veracious than he would be if he were threatened with imprisonment in this life and hell-fire in the next4 ,why ,christians should cling to this relic of barbarity it is difficult to conceive4 ,their ,savior plainly commanded them to ,swear not at all1 and the early ,church obeyed this injunction until it rose to power under ,constantine4 ,it is also a striking fact that the apostle ,peter1 when he disobeyed his ,master1 and took an oath1 used it to confirm a palpable lie4 ,when the damsel charged him in court with having been a follower of ,jesus1 he ,denied it with an oath4 ,you were one of them1 said the damsel4 ,i wasn't1 said ,peter4 ,you were with him1 she rejoined4 ,whereupon ,peter exclaimed ,s'w'elp me ,god1 ,i never knew him4 ,surely if self-interest made ,peter commit flat perjury in the bodily presence of his ,savior1 it is idle to assert that the oath in any way promotes veracity4 ,,infidel ,,homes4 99 99 ,the ,influence of ,scepticism on ,character4 ,being the sixteenth ,fernley ,lecture4 ,by the ,rev4 ,william ,l4 ,watkinson4 ,london3 ,t4 ,woolmer4 ,john ,wesley was a man of considerable force of mind and singular strength of character4 ,but he was very unfortunate1 to say the least of it1 in his relations with women4 ,his marriage was a deplorable misunion1 and his latest biographer1 who aims at presenting a faithful picture of the founder of ,wesleyanism1 has to dwell very largely on his domestic miseries4 ,wesley held patriarchal views on household matters1 the proper subordination of the wife being a prime article of his faith4 ,mrs4 ,wesley1 however1 entertained different views4 ,she is therefore described as a frightful shrew1 and rated for her inordinate jealousy1 although her husband's attentions to other ladies certainly gave her many provocations4 ,in face of these facts1 it might naturally be thought that ,wesleyans would say as little as possible about the domestic infelicities of ,freethinkers4 ,but ,mr4 ,watkinson is not to be restrained by any such consideration4 ,although a ,wesleyan 7as we understand7 he challenges comparisons on this point4 ,he has read the biographies and autobiographies of several leading ,freethinkers1 and he invites the world to witness how selfish and sensual they were in their domestic relations4 ,he is a pulpit rhetorician1 so he goes boldly and recklessly to work4 ,subtlety and discrimination he abhors as pedantic vices1 savoring too much of culture4 ,his judgments are of the robustious order4 ,like ,jesus ,christ1 he fancies that all men can be divided into sheep and goats4 ,the good are good1 and the bad are bad4 ,and naturally the good are ,christians and bad are ,freethinkers4 ,the first half of ,mr4 ,watkinson's book of #afb pages 7it must have been a pretty long lecture67 is a preface to the second half1 which contains his fling at ,goethe1 ,mill1 ,george ,eliot1 ,harriet ,martineau1 ,carlyle1 and other offenders against the ,watkinsonian code4 ,we think it advisable1 therefore1 to follow him through his preface first1 and through his charges afterwards4 ,embedded in a lot of obscure or questionable matter in ,mr4 ,watkinson's exordium is this sentence--,what we believe with our whole heart is of the highest consequence to us4 ,true1 but whether it is of the highest consequence to other people depends on what it is4 ,conviction is a good thing1 but it cannot dispense with the criterion of truth4 ,on the other hand1 what passes for conviction may often be mere acquiescence4 ,that term1 we believe1 would accurately describe the creed of ninety-nine out of every hundred1 in every part of the world1 whose particular faith is merely the result of the geographical accident of their birth4 ,assuredly we do not agree with ,mr4 ,watkinson that all reasonable people will acknowledge that the faith of ,christian believers is to a considerable extent most real2 nay1 in tens of thousand of cases it is the most real thing in their life4 ,mr4 ,cotter ,morison laboriously refutes this position in his fine volume on ,the ,service of ,man4 ,mill denied and derided it in a famous passage of his great essay ,on ,liberty4 ,mr4 ,justice ,stephen denies it in the ,nineteenth ,century4 ,carlyle also1 according to ,mr4 ,fronde1 said that religion as it existed in ,england had ceased to operate all over the conduct of men in their ordinary business1 it was a hollow appearance1 a word without force in it4 ,these men may not be reasonable in ,mr4 ,watkinson's judgment1 but with most people their word carries a greater weight than his4 ,mr4 ,watkinson contends--and what will not a preacher contend8--that the denial of the great truths of the ,evangelical faith can exert only a baneful influence on character4 ,we quite agree with him4 ,but evangelicalism1 and the great truths of evangelicalism1 are very different things4 ,it is dangerous to deny any great truth1 but how many does evangelicalism possess8 ,mr4 ,watkinson would say many4 ,we should say none4 ,still less1 if that were possible1 should we assent to his statement that morals in all spheres and manifestations must suffer deeply by the prevalence of scepticism4 ,mr4 ,morison1 asserts and proves that this sceptical age is the most moral the world has seen1 and that as we go back into the ,ages of ,faith1 vice and crime grow denser and darker4 ,if the appeal is to history1 of which ,mr4 ,watkinson's references do not betray a profound knowledge1 the verdict will be dead against him4 ,mr4 ,justice ,stephen thinks morality can look after itself1 but he doubts whether ,christian charity will survive ,christian theology4 ,this furnishes ,mr4 ,watkinson with a sufficient theme for an impressive sermon4 ,but his notion of ,christian charity and ,mr4 ,justice ,stephen's are very different4 ,the hard-headed judge means the sentimentalism and pathetic exaggerations of the ,sermon on the ,mount1 which he has since distinctly said would destroy society if they were fully practised4 ,morality1 says ,mr4 ,watkinson1 would suffer on the mystical side4 ,perhaps so4 ,it might be no longer possible for a ,louis the ,fifteenth to ask ,god's blessing when he went to debauch a young girl in the ,parc aux ,cerfs1 or for a grave philosopher like ,mr4 ,tylor to write in his ,anthropology that in ,europe brigands are notoriously church-goers4 ,yet morality might gain as much on the practical side as it lost on the mystical1 and we fancy mankind would profit by the change4 ,now for ,mr4 ,watkinson's history1 which he prints in small capitals1 probably to show it is the real1 unadulterated article4 ,he tell us that the experiment of a nation living practically a purely secular life has been tried more than once with disastrous results4 ,he is1 however1 very careful not to mention these nations1 and we defy him to do so4 ,what he does is this4 ,he rushes off to ,pompeii1 whose inhabitants he thinks were ,secularists6 ,he also reminds us in a casual way that they had crucified ,christ a few years before1 which again is news4 ,equally accurate is the statement that ,pompeii was an infamous city1 full of drunkenness1 cruelty1 etc4 ,probably ,mr4 ,watkinson1 like most good ,christians who go to ,pompeii1 visited an establishment1 such as we have thousands of in ,christendom1 devoted to the practical worship of ,venus without neglecting ,priapus4 ,he has forgotten the immortal letter of ,pliny1 and the dead ,roman sentinel at the post of duty4 ,he acts like a foreigner who should describe ,london from his experience at a brothel4 ,philosophy comes next4 ,mr4 ,watkinson puts in a superior way the clap-trap of ,christian ,evidence lecturers4 ,if man is purely material1 and the law of causation is universal1 where1 he asks1 is the place for virtue1 for praise1 for blame8 ,has ,mr4 ,watkinson never read the answer to these questions8 ,if he has not1 he has much to learn2 if he has1 he should refute them4 ,merely positing and repositing an old question is a very stale trick in religious controversy4 ,it imposes on some people1 but they belong to the mostly fools4 ,morality is in as much peril as faith1 cries ,mr4 ,watkinson4 ,well1 the clergy have been crying that for two centuries1 yet our criminal statistics lessen1 society improves1 and literature grows cleaner4 ,as for the nasty nude figures that offend ,mr4 ,watkinson's eyes in the ,french ,salon1 we would remind him that ,god ,almighty makes everybody naked1 clothes being a human invention4 ,with respect to the ,shelley ,society representing the ,cenci and other monstrous themes1 we conclude that ,mr4 ,watkinson does not know what he is talking about4 ,there is incest in the ,cenci1 but it is treated in a high dramatic spirit as a frightful crime1 ending in bloodshed and desolation4 ,there is also incest in the ,bible1 commonplace1 vulgar1 bestial incest1 recorded without a word of disapprobation4 ,surely when a ,christian minister1 who says the ,bible is ,god's ,word1 knowing it contains the beastly story of ,lot and his daughters1 cries out against ,shelley's ,cenci as monstrous1 he invites inextinguishable ,rabelaisian laughter4 ,no other reply is fitting for such a monstrous absurdity1 and we leave our readers to shake their sides at ,mr4 ,watkinson's expense4 ,mr4 ,watkinson asks whether infidelity has produced new and higher types of character4 ,naturally he answers the question in the negative4 ,the lives of infidel teachers1 he exclaims1 are in saddest contrast to their pretentious philosophies and bland assumptions4 ,he then passes in review a picked number of these upstarts1 dealing with each of them in a ,watkinsonian manner4 ,his rough-and-ready method is this4 ,carefully leaving out of sight all the good they did1 and the high example of honest thought they set to the world1 he dilates upon their failings without the least regard to the general moral atmosphere of their age1 or the proportion of their defects to the entirety of their natures4 ,mr4 ,smith1 the greengrocer1 whose horizon is limited to his shop and his chapel1 may lead a very exemplary life1 according to orthodox standards2 but his virtues1 as well as his vices1 are rather of a negative character1 and the world at large is not much the better for his having lived in it4 ,on the other hand a man like ,mirabeau may be shockingly incontinent1 but if in the crisis of a nation's history he places his genius1 his eloquence1 and his heroic courage at the service of liberty1 and helps to mark a new epoch of progress1 humanity can afford to pardon his sexual looseness in consideration of his splendid service to the race4 ,judgment1 in short1 must be pronounced on the sum-total of a man's life1 and not on a selected aspect4 ,further1 the faults that might be overwhelming in the character of ,mr4 ,smith1 the ,methodist greengrocer1 may sink into comparative insignificance in the character of a great man1 whose intellect and emotions are on a mightier scale4 ,this truth is admirably expressed in ,carlyle's ,essay on ,burns4 ,not the few inches of deflection from the mathematical orbit1 which are so easily measured1 but the ratio of these to the whole diameter1 constitutes the real aberration4 ,this orbit may be a planet's1 its diameter the breadth of the solar system2 or it may be a city hippodrome2 nay the circle of a ginhorse1 its diameter a score of feet or paces4 ,but the inches of deflection only are measured3 and it is assumed that the diameter of the ginhorse1 and that of the planet1 will yield the same ratio when compared with them6 ,here lies the root of many a blind1 cruel condemnation of ,burnses1 ,swifts1 ,rousseaus1 which one never listens to with approval4 ,granted1 the ship comes into harbor with shrouds and tackle damaged2 the pilot is blameworthy2 he has not been all-wise and all-powerful3 but to know how blameworthy1 tell us first whether his voyage has been round the ,globe1 or only to ,ramsgate and the ,isle of ,dogs4 ,we commend this fine passage to ,mr4 ,watkinson's attention4 ,it may make him a little more modest when he next applies his orthodox tape and callipers to the character of his betters4 ,goethe is ,mr4 ,watkinson's first infidel hero1 and we are glad to see that he makes this great poet a present to ,freethought4 ,some ,christians claim ,goethe as really one of themselves1 but ,mr4 ,watkinson will have none of him4 ,the actual life of ,goethe1 he tells us1 was seriously defective4 ,perhaps so1 and the same might have been said of hundreds of ,christian teachers who lived when he did1 had they been big enough to have their lives written for posterity4 ,goethe's fault was a too inflammable heart1 and with the license of his age1 which was on the whole remarkably pious1 he courted more than one pretty woman2 or1 if the truth must be told1 he did not repel the pretty women who threw themselves at him4 ,but there were thousands of orthodox men who acted in the same way4 ,the distinctive fact about ,goethe is that he kept a high artistic ideal always before him1 and cultivated his poetic gifts with tireless assiduity4 ,his sensual indulgences were never allowed to interfere with his great aim in life1 and surely that is something4 ,the result is that the whole world is the richer for his labors1 and only the ,watkinsons can find any delight in dwelling on the failings he possessed in common with meaner mortals4 ,to say that ,goethe should be an object of horror to the whole self-respecting world is simply to indulge in the twang of the tabernacle4 ,carlyle is the next sinner2 but1 curiously1 the ,rock1 while praising ,mr4 ,watkinson's lecture1 says that ,carlyle ought not to be classed with the sceptics4 ,we dissent from the ,rock however2 and we venture to think that ,carlyle's greatest fault was a paltering with himself on religious subjects4 ,his intellect rejected more than his tongue disowned4 ,mr4 ,watkinson passes a very different criticism4 ,taking ,carlyle as a complete sceptic1 he proceeds to libel him by a process which always commends itself to the preachers of the gospel of charity4 ,he picks from ,mr4 ,froude's four volumes a number of tid-bits1 setting forth ,carlyle's querulousness1 arrogance1 and domestic storms with ,mrs4 ,carlyle4 ,behold the man6 exclaims ,mr4 ,watkinson4 ,begging his pardon1 it is not the man at all4 ,carlyle was morbidly sensitive by nature1 he suffered horribly from dyspepsia1 and intense literary labor1 still further deranging his nerves1 made him terribly irritable4 ,but he had a fine side to his nature1 and even a sunny side4 ,friends like ,professor ,tyndall1 ,professor ,norton1 ,sir ,james ,stephen1 and ,mrs4 ,gilchrist1 saw ,carlyle in a very different light from ,mr4 ,froude's4 ,besides1 ,mrs4 ,carlyle made her own choice4 ,she deliberately married a man of genius1 whom she recognised as destined to make a heavy mark on his age4 ,she had her man of genius1 and he put his life into his books4 ,and what a life6 ,and what books6 ,the sufficient answer to all the ,watkinson tribe is to point to ,carlyle's thirty volumes4 ,this is the man4 ,such work implies a certain martyrdom1 and those who stood beside him should not have complained so lustily that they were scorched by the fire4 ,carlyle did a giant's work1 and he had a right to some failings4 ,freethinkers see them as well as ,mr4 ,watkinson1 but they are aware that no man is perfect1 and they do not hold up ,carlyle1 or any other sceptic1 as a model for universal imitation4 ,mr4 ,watkinson's remarks on ,george ,eliot are simply brutal4 ,she was a wanton4 ,she lived in free-love with ,george ,henry ,lewes4 ,she had no excuse for her license4 ,she was full of insincerity1 cant1 and hypocrisy4 ,and so on ad nauseam4 ,to call ,mr4 ,watkinson a liar would be to descend to his level4 ,let us simply look at the facts4 ,george ,eliot lived with ,george ,henry ,lewes as his wife4 ,she had no vagrant attachments4 ,her connection with ,lewes only terminated with his death4 ,why then did they not marry8 ,because ,lewes's wife was still living1 and the pious ,english law would not allow a divorce unless all the household secrets were dragged before a gaping public4 ,george ,eliot consulted her own heart instead of social conventions4 ,she became a mother to ,lewes's children1 and a true wife to him1 though neither a priest nor a registrar blessed their union4 ,she chose between the law of custom and the higher law1 facing the world's frown1 and relying on her own strength to bear the consequences of her act4 ,to call such a woman a wanton and a kept mistress is to confess one's self devoid of sense and sensibility4 ,nor does it show much insight to assert that infidelity betrayed and wrecked her life1 and to speculate how glorious it might have been if she had found ,jesus4 ,it will be time enough to listen to this strain when ,mr4 ,watkinson can show us a more glorious female writer in the ,christian camp4 ,william ,godwin is the next ,freethinker whom ,mr4 ,watkinson calls up for judgment4 ,all the brave efforts of the author of ,political ,justice in behalf of freedom and progress are quietly ignored4 ,mr4 ,watkinson comments1 in a true vein of ,christian charity1 on the failings of his old age1 censures his theoretical disrespect for the marriage laws1 and inconsistently blames him for his inconsistency in marrying ,mary ,woolstonecraft4 ,of that remarkable woman he observes that scepticism destroyed in her all that fine1 pure feeling which is the glory of the sex4 ,but the only proof he vouchsafes of this startling statement is a single sentence from one of her letters1 which ,mr4 ,watkinson misunderstands1 as he misunderstands so many passages in ,carlyle's letters1 through sheer inability to comprehend the existence of such a thing as humor4 ,he takes every jocular expression as perfectly serious1 being one of those uncomfortable persons in whose society1 as ,charles ,lamb said1 you must always speak on oath4 ,mr4 ,watkinson's readers might almost exclaim with ,hamlet1 ,how absolute the knave is6 ,we must speak by the card1 or equivocation will undo us4 ,the next culprit is ,shelley1 who1 we are told1 deserted his young wife and children in the most shameful and heartless fashion4 ,it does not matter to ,mr4 ,watkinson that ,shelley's relations with ,harriet are still a perplexing problem1 or that when they parted she and the children were well provided for1 ,nor does he condescend to notice the universal consensus of opinion among those who were in a position to be informed on the subject1 that ,harriet's suicide1 more than two years afterwards1 had nothing to do with ,shelley's desertion4 ,instead of referring to proper authorities1 ,mr4 ,watkinson advises his readers to consult ,mr4 ,jeafferson's painstaking volumes on the ,real ,shelley4 ,mr4 ,jeafferson's work is truly painstaking1 but it is the work of an advocate who plays the part of counsel for the prosecution4 ,hunt1 ,peacock1 ,hogg1 ,medwin1 ,lady ,shelley1 ,rossetti1 and ,professor ,dowden--these are the writers who should be consulted4 ,shelley was but a boy when ,harriet ,westbrook proposed to run away with him4 ,had he acted like the golden youth of his age1 and kept her for a while as his mistress1 there would have been no scandal4 ,his father1 in fact1 declared that he would hear nothing of marriage1 but he would keep as many illegitimate children as ,shelley chose to get4 ,it was the intense chivalry of ,shelley's nature that turned a very simple affair into a pathetic tragedy4 ,mr4 ,watkinson's brutal methods of criticism are out of place in such a problem4 ,he lacks insight1 subtlety1 delicacy of feeling1 discrimination1 charity1 and even an ordinary sense of justice4 ,james ,mill is another flagrant sinner4 ,mr4 ,watkinson goes to the length of blaming him because his temper was constitutionally irritable1 as though he constructed himself4 ,here1 again1 ,mr4 ,watkinson's is a purely debit account4 ,he ignores ,james ,mill's early sacrifices for principle1 his strenuous labor for what he considered the truth1 and his intense devotion to the education of his children4 ,his temper was undoubtedly austere1 but it is more than possible that this characteristic was derived from his forefathers1 who had been steeped in the hardest ,calvinism4 ,john ,stuart ,mill was infatuated with ,mrs4 ,taylor1 whom he married when she became a widow4 ,but ,mr4 ,watkinson conceals an important fact4 ,he talks of selfish pleasure and indulgence1 but he forgets to tell his readers that ,mrs4 ,taylor was a confirmed invalid4 ,it is perfectly obvious1 therefore1 that ,mill was attracted by her mental qualities2 and it is easy to believe ,mill when he disclaims any other relation than that of affectionate friendship4 ,no one but a ,watkinson could be so foolish as to imagine that men seek sensual gratification in the society of invalid ladies4 ,harriet ,martineau is one of the unloveliest female portraits ever traced4 ,mr4 ,watkinson is the opposite of a ladies' man4 ,gallantry was never his foible4 ,he hates female ,freethinkers with a perfect hatred4 ,he pours out on ,harriet ,martineau his whole vocabulary of abuse4 ,but it is1 after all1 difficult to see what he is in such a passion about4 ,harriet ,martineau had no sexual sins1 no dubious relations1 no skeleton in the domestic cupboard4 ,but1 says ,mr4 ,watkinson1 she was arrogant and censorious4 ,oh1 ,watkinson1 ,watkinson6 have you not one man's share of those qualities yourself8 ,is there not a sort of a smack1 a smell to of them in your godly constitution8 ,we need not follow ,mr4 ,watkinson's nonsense about the domestic shrine of ,schopenhauer1 who was a gay and festive bachelor to the day of his death4 ,as for ,mr4 ,watkinson's treatment of ,comte1 it is pure ,christian2 in other words1 it contains the quintessence of uncharitableness4 ,comte had a taint of insanity1 which at one time necessitated his confinement4 ,that he was troublesome to wife and friends is not surprising1 but surely a man grievously afflicted with a cerebral malady is not to be judged by ordinary standards4 ,comte's genius has left its mark on the nineteenth century2 he was true to that in adversity and poverty4 ,this is the fact posterity will care to remember when the troubles of his life are buried in oblivion4 ,mr4 ,watkinson turns his attention next to the ,french ,revolution1 which he considers as much a revolt against morals as it was against despotism4 ,if that is his honest opinion1 he must be singularly ignorant4 ,the moral tone of the ,revolutionists was purity itself compared with the flagrant profligacy of the court1 the aristocracy1 and the clergy1 while ,freethinkers were imprisoned1 and heretics were broken on the wheel4 ,we have really no time to give ,mr4 ,watkinson lessons in ,french history1 so we leave him to study it at his leisure4 ,it was natural that ,voltaire should come in for his share of slander4 ,all ,mr4 ,watkinson can see in him is that he wrote an unseemly poem1 by which we presume he means ,la ,pucelle4 ,but he ought to know that the grosser parts of that poem were added by later hands1 as may be seen at a glance in any variorum edition4 ,in any case1 to estimate ,voltaire's ,pucelle by the moral standard of a century later is to show an absolute want of judgment4 ,let it be compared with similar works of his age1 and it will not appear very heinous4 ,but ,voltaire did a great deal besides the composition of that poem4 ,he fought despotism like a hero1 he stabbed superstition to the heart1 he protected the victims of ecclesiastical and political tyranny at the risk of his own life1 he sheltered with exquisite generosity a multitude of orphans and widows1 he assisted every genius who was trodden down by the age4 ,these things1 and the great mass of his brilliant writings1 will live in the memory of mankind4 ,voltaire was not perfect2 he shared some of the failings of his generation4 ,but he fought the battle of freedom and justice for sixty years4 ,other men indulged in gallantry1 other men wrote free verses4 ,but when ,calas was murdered by the priests1 and his family desolated1 it was ,voltaire1 and ,voltaire alone1 who faced the tyrants and denounced them in the name of humanity4 ,his superb attitude on that critical occasion inspired the splendid eulogium of ,carlyle1 who was no friendly witness3 ,the whole man kindled into one divine blaze of righteous indignation1 and resolution to bring help against the world4 ,,are ,,atheists ,,cruel8 99 99 ,april #bf1ahia4 ,there seems to be an ineradicable malignancy in the heart of professional ,christianity4 ,st4 ,paul1 indeed in a fine passage of his first epistle to the ,corinthians1 speaks with glowing eloquence of the charity which thinketh no evil4 ,but the hireling advocates and champions of ,christianity have ever treated the apostle's counsel with contempt in their dealings with sceptics and heretics4 ,public discussion is avoided by these professors of the gospel of love and practisers of the gospel of hatred4 ,they find it unprofitable4 ,consequently they neglect argument and resort to personalities4 ,they frequently insinuate1 and when it is safe they openly allege1 that all who do not share their opinions are bad husbands1 bad fathers1 bad citizens1 and bad men4 ,thus they cast libellous dust in the eyes of their dupes1 and incapacitate them from seeing the real facts of the case for themselves4 ,a notable illustration of this evil principle may be found in a recent speech by the ,bishop of ,chester4 ,dr4 ,jayne presided at a ,town ,hall meeting of the local branch of the ,national ,society for the ,prevention of ,cruelty to ,children1 and took advantage of the occasion to slander a considerable section of his fellow citizens4 ,with a pious arrogance which is peculiar to his boastful faith1 he turned what should have been a humanitarian assembly into a receptacle for his discharge of insolent fanaticism4 ,parentage is a natural fact1 and the love of offspring is a well-nigh universal law of animal life4 ,it would seem1 therefore1 that a ,society for preventing cruelty to children by parents of perverted instincts1 might live aloof from sectarian squabbles4 ,but the ,bishop of ,chester is of a different opinion4 ,he is a professional advocate of one form of faith1 and his eye is strictly bent on business4 ,he appears to be unable to talk anything but shop4 ,even while pressing the claims of poor1 neglected1 ill-used children on the sympathy and assistance of a generous public1 he could not refrain from insulting all those who have no love for his special line of business4 ,and the insult was not only gratuitous2 it was groundless1 brutal1 and malignant2 so much so1 indeed1 that we cherish a hope that the ,bishop has overreached himself1 and that his repulsive slander will excite a re-action in favor of the objects of his malice4 ,dr4 ,jayne told the meeting that the persons who were most liable to be guilty of cruelty to their children were those artisans who had taken up ,secularist opinions1 and who looked upon their children as a nuisance1 and were glad to get them out of the way4 ,now1 on the face of it1 the statement is positively grotesque in its absurdity4 ,if ,secular principles tend to make parents hate their own children1 why should their evil influence be confined to artisans8 ,and if ,secular principles do not produce parental hatred in the wealthier classes1 why does ,dr4 ,jayne hurl this disgraceful accusation at the poorer class of unbelievers8 ,it cannot be simply because they are poorer1 for he was delighted to know that poverty by no means necessarily meant cruelty4 ,what1 then1 is the explanation8 ,it seems to us very obvious4 ,dr4 ,jayne was bent on libelling sceptics1 and1 deeming it safer to libel the poorer ones1 he tempered his valor with a convenient amount of discretion4 ,he is not even a brave fanatic4 ,his bigotry is crawling1 cowardly1 abject1 and contemptible4 ,dr4 ,jayne relied upon the authority of ,mr4 ,waugh1 who happened to be present at the meeting4 ,this gentleman jumped up in the middle of the ,bishop's speech1 and said it was the case1 that the class most guilty of cruelty to children were those who took materialistic1 atheistic1 selfish and wicked views of their own existence4 ,surely this is a fine derangement of epitaphs4 ,it suggests that ,mr4 ,waugh is less malignant than foolish4 ,what connection does he discover between ,secularism and selfishness8 ,is it in our principles1 in our objects1 or in our policy8 ,does he really imagine that the true character of any body of men and women is likely to be written out by a hostile partisan8 ,such a person might be a judge of our public actions1 and we are far from denying his right to criticise them2 but when he speaks of our private lives1 before men of his own faith1 and without being under the necessity of adducing a single scrap of evidence1 it is plain to the most obtuse intelligence that his utterances are perfectly worthless4 ,we have as much right as ,mr4 ,waugh to ask the world to accept our view of the private life of ,secularists4 ,that is1 we have no right at all4 ,nevertheless we have a right to state our experience and leave the reader to form his own opinion4 ,having entered the homes of many ,secularists1 we have been struck with their fondness for children ,the danger lies1 if it lies anywhere1 in their tendency to spoil them4 ,it is a curious fact--and we commend it to the attention of ,dr4 ,jayne and ,mr4 ,waugh--that the most sceptical country in ,europe is the one where children are the best treated1 and where there is no need for a ,society to save them from the clutches of cruelty4 ,there is positively a child-cultus in the great ,french cities1 and especially in ,freethinking ,paris4 ,in this ,bible-and-beer-loving land the workman1 like his social superior1 stands or sits drinking in a public-house with male cronies2 but the ,french workman usually sits at the cafe table with his wife1 and on ,sundays with his children1 and takes his drink1 whatever it may be1 under the restraining eyes of those before whom a man is least ready to debase himself4 ,one ,secular home1 at least1 is known to us intimately4 ,it is the home of the present writer1 who for the moment drops the editorial we and speaks in the first person ,my children are the children of an ,atheist1 yet if they do not love me as heartily as ,dr4 ,jayne's or ,mr4 ,waugh's children love their father1 there's witchcraft in it4 ,there is no rod1 and no punishment in my home4 ,we work with the law of love4 ,striking a child is to me a loathsome idea4 ,i shrink from it as ,i would from a physical pollution4 ,strike a child once1 be brutal to it once1 and there is gone forever that look of perfect trust in the child's eyes1 which is a parent's dearest possession1 and which ,i would not forfeit for all the prizes in the world4 ,i know ,christians who are less kind to their children than ,i am to mine4 ,they are not my natural inferiors4 ,humanity forbid that ,i should play the ,pharisee6 ,but they are degraded below their natural level by the ghastly notion of parental authority ,i do not say there are no rights in a family4 ,there are2 and there are also duties4 ,but all the rights belong to the children1 and all the duties belong to the parents4 ,personally ,i am not fond of talking about myself4 ,still less am ,i anxious to make a public exhibition of my home4 ,but if the ,dr4 ,jaynes and the ,mr4 ,waughs of the ,christian world provoke comparisons1 ,i have no fear of standing with my little ones opposite them with theirs1 and letting the world judge between us4 ,dropping again into the editorial style1 we have a question to ask of the ,bishop of ,chester1 or rather of ,mr4 ,waugh4 ,it is this4 ,where are the statistics to justify your assertion8 ,men who are sent to gaol1 for whatever reason1 have their religions registered4 ,give us1 then1 the total number of convictions your ,society has obtained1 and the precise proportion of ,secularists among the offenders4 ,and be careful to give us their names and the date and place of their conviction4 ,we have a further word to all sorts and conditions of libellous ,christians4 ,where are the evidences of ,atheistic cruelty8 ,the humanest of the ,roman emperors were those who were least under the sway of religion4 ,julius ,caesar himself1 the foremost man of all this world1 who was a professed ,atheist1 was also the most magnanimous victor that ever wore the purple4 ,akbar1 the ,freethinker1 was the noblest ruler of ,india4 ,frederick the ,great was kind and just to his subjects4 ,but1 on the other hand1 who invented and who applied such instruments of cruelty as racks1 wheels1 and thumbscrews8 ,who invented separate tortures for every part of the sensitive frame of man8 ,who burnt heretics8 ,who roasted or drowned millions of witches8 ,who built dungeons and filled them8 ,who brought forth cries of agony from honest men and women that rang to the tingling stars8 ,who burnt ,bruno8 ,who spat filth over the graves of ,paine and ,voltaire8 ,the answer is one word--,christians4 ,yet with all this blood on their hands1 and all this crime on their consciences1 they turn round and fling the epithet of cruel at the perennial victims of their malice4 ,,are ,,atheists ,,wicked8 ,one of the most effective arts of priestcraft has been the misrepresentation and slander of heretics4 ,to give the unbeliever a bad name is to prejudice believers against all communication with him4 ,by this means a twofold object is achieved2 first1 the faithful are protected from the contagion of scepticism2 secondly1 the notion is propagated that there is something essentially immoral involved in1 or attendant upon1 unorthodox opinions2 and thus the prevalent religious ideas of the age become associated with the very preservation and stability of the moral order of human society4 ,this piece of trickery cannot1 of course1 be played upon the students of civilisation1 who1 as ,mill remarked1 are aware that many of the most valuable contributions to human improvement have been the work of men who knew1 and rejected1 the ,christian faith4 ,but it easily imposes on the multitude1 and it will never be abandoned until it ceases to be profitable4 ,sometimes it takes the form of idle stories about the death-beds of ,freethinkers1 who are represented as deploring their ill-spent life1 and bewailing the impossibility of recalling the wicked opinions they have put into circulation4 ,at other times it takes the form of exhibiting their failings1 without the slightest reference to their virtues1 as the sum and substance of their character4 ,when these methods are not sufficient1 recourse is had to insinuation4 ,particular sceptics are spared perhaps1 but ,freethinkers are depicted--like the poor in ,tennyson's ,northern ,farmer--as bad in the lump4 ,it is broadly hinted that it is a moral defect which prevents them from embracing the popular creed2 that they reject what they do not wish to believe2 that they hate the restraints of religion1 and therefore reject its principles2 that their unbelief1 in short1 is only a cloak for sensual indulgence or an excuse for evading irksome obligations4 ,we are so accustomed to this monstrous theory of scepticism in religious circles1 that it did not astonish us1 or give us the least surprise1 to read the following paragraph in the ,christian ,commonwealth-- ,free ,life1 and ,no ,compulsory ,virtue1 was the title of a placard borne by a pamphlet seller of the public highway a few days ago4 ,what the contents of the pamphlets were we do not know1 but the title is a suggestive sign of the times1 and a rather more than usually plain statement of what a good deal of modern doubt amounts to4 ,lord ,tennyson was severely taken to task a few years ago for making the ,atheist a villain in his ',promise of ,may1' but he was about right4 ,much of the doubt of the day is only an outcome of the desire to discredit and throw off the restraints of religion and moral law in the name of freedom1 wrongly used4 ,free love1 free life1 free divorce1 free ,sundays1 in the majority of cases1 are but synonyms for license4 ,those who hold the ,darwinian doctrine of descent from a kind of ape may yet see it proved by a reversion to the beast1 if men succeed in getting all the false and pernicious freedom they want4 ,now1 in reply to this paragraph1 we have first to observe that our contemporary takes ,lord ,tennyson's name in vain4 ,the villain of the ,promise of ,may is certainly an ,agnostic1 but are not the villains of many other plays ,christians8 ,lord ,tennyson does not make the rascal's wickedness the logical result of his principles2 indeed1 although our contemporary seems ignorant of the fact1 he disclaimed any such intention1 ,a press announcement was circulated by his eldest son1 on his behalf1 that the rascal was meant to be a sentimentalist and ne'er-do-well1 who1 whatever his opinions1 would have come to a bad end4 ,when the ,commonwealth1 therefore1 talks of ,lord ,tennyson as about right1 it shows1 in a rather vulgar way1 the danger of incomplete information4 ,were we to copy its manners we might use a swifter phrase4 ,that ,atheists1 in the name of freedom1 throw off the restraints of moral law1 is a statement which we defy the ,commonwealth to prove1 or in the slightest degree to support1 and we will even go to the length of suggesting how it might undertake the task4 ,turpitude of character must betray itself4 ,moral corruption can no more be hidden than physical corruption4 ,wickedness will out1 like murder or smallpox4 ,a man's wife discovers it2 his children shun him instead of clinging about his knees2 his neighbors and acquaintances eye him with suspicion or dislike2 his evil nature pulsates through an ever-widening circle of detection1 and in time nis bad passions are written upon his features in the infallible lines of mouth and eyes and face4 ,how easy1 then1 it should be to pick out these ,atheists4 ,the most evil-looking men should belong to that persuasion4 ,but do they8 ,we invite our contemporary to a trial4 ,let it inquire the religious opinions of a dozen or two1 and see if there is an ,atheist among them4 ,again1 a certain amount of evil disposition must produce a certain percentage of criminal conduct4 ,accordingly the gaols should contain a large proportion of ,atheists4 ,but do they8 ,statistics prove they do not4 ,when the present writer was imprisoned for blasphemy1 and was asked his religion1 he answered ,none1 to the wide-eyed astonishment of the official who put the question4 ,atheists were scarce in the establishment4 ,catholics were there1 and red tickets were on their cell-doors2 ,protestants were there1 and white tickets marked their apartments2 ,jews were there1 and provision was made for their special observances2 but the ,atheist was the rara avis1 the very phoenix of ,holloway ,gaol4 ,let us turn to another method of investigation4 ,during the last ten years four members have been expelled from the ,house of ,commons4 ,one of them was not expelled in the full sense of the word2 he was1 however1 thrust by brute force from the precincts of the ,house4 ,his name was ,charles ,bradlaugh1 and he was an ,atheist4 ,but what was his crime8 ,simply this3 he differed from his fellow members as to his competence to take the parliamentary oath1 and the ultimate event proved that he was right and they were wrong4 ,now what were the crimes of the three other members1 who were completely and absolutely expelled8 ,captain ,verney was found guilty of procuration for seduction1 ,mr4 ,hastings was found guilty of embezzlement1 and ,mr4 ,de ,cobain was pronounced guilty of evading justice1 while charged with unnatural offences4 ,mr4 ,jabez ,spencer ,balfour might also have been expelled1 if he had not accepted the ,chiltern ,hundreds4 ,now all these real delinquents were ,christians1 and even ostentatious ,christians4 ,compare them with ,charles ,bradlaugh1 the ,atheist1 and say which side has the greatest cause for shame and humiliation4 ,are ,atheists conspicuous in the ,divorce ,court8 ,is it not ,christian reputations that are smirched in that ,inquisition8 ,do ,atheists1 or any species of unbelievers1 appear frequently before the public as promoters of bubble companies1 and systematic robbers of orphans and widows8 ,is it not generally found1 in the case of great business collapses1 that the responsible persons are ,christians8 ,is it not a fact that their profession of ,christianity is usually in proportion to the depth of their rascality8 ,not long since the ,bishop of ,chester1 backed up by ,mr4 ,waugh1 of the ,society for the ,prevention of ,cruelty to ,children1 publicly declared that the worst ill-users of little ones were artisan ,secularists4 ,he was challenged to give evidence of the assertion1 but he preferred to maintain what is called a dignified silence4 ,mr4 ,waugh was challenged to produce proofs from the ,society's archives1 and he also declined4 ,it is enough to affirm infamy against ,freethinkers2 proof is unnecessary2 or1 rather1 it is unobtainable4 ,singularly1 there have been several striking cases of brutal treatment of children since ,mr4 ,waugh and ,bishop ,jayne committed themselves to this indefensible assertion1 and in no instance was the culprit a ,secularist1 though some of them1 including ,mrs4 ,montagu1 were devout ,christians4 ,there are other methods of inquiry into the wickedness of ,atheists1 but we have indicated enough to set the ,commonwealth at work1 and we invite it to begin forthwith4 ,and while it is getting ready we beg to observe that theologians have always described free-dem as license1 whereas it is nothing of the kind4 ,freedom is the golden mean between license and slavery4 ,the breaking of arbitrary fetters1 forged by ignorance and intolerance1 does not mean a fall into loose living4 ,the heretic in religion1 while resenting outside control1 by his very perception of the vast and far-reaching consequences of human action1 is often chained to the most timid sanctities of life4 ,with respect to the ,darwinian theory of descent from a kind of ape1 we have a word for our contemporary4 ,the annual meeting of the ,british ,association was held at ,oxford in #ahfj4 ,darwin's ,descent of ,man had recently been published1 and the air was full of controversy4 ,bishop ,wilberforce1 in the course of a derisive speech1 turned to ,professor ,huxley and asked whether it was on the mother's or father's side that his grandfather had been an ape4 ,huxley replied that man had no reason to be ashamed of having an ape for a grandfather4 ,if there is an ancestor1 he continued1 whom ,i should feel shame in recalling it would be a man--one who meddled with scientific questions he did not understand1 only to obscure them by aimless rhetoric1 and indulgence in eloquent digressions and appeals to religious prejudice4 ,this rebuke was administered thirty-three years ago1 but it is still worth remembering1 and perhaps the ,commonwealth may find in it something applicable to itself4 ,,rain ,,doctors4 ,the prolonged drought has already inflicted serious injury on the farmers4 ,they are1 as a rule1 a loyal class of men1 but their loyalty will probably be shaken when they realise that the ,lord has spoiled their crops to provide ,queen's weather for the ,jubilee4 ,an occasional shower might wet the ,queen's parasol or ruffle the plumage of the princes and princelings in her train4 ,occasional showers1 however1 are just what the farmers want4 ,the ,lord was therefore in a fix4 ,though the ,bible says that with him nothing is impossible1 he was unable to please both sides2 so he favored the one he loved best1 gave royalty unlimited sunshine1 and played the deuce with the agricultural interest4 ,possibly the ,lord knows better than we do1 but we venture to suggest that a slight exercise of intelligence1 though we admit it may have been a strain upon his slumbrous brain1 would have surmounted the difficulty4 ,the windows of heaven might have been opened from two till four in the morning4 ,that would have been sufficient for a proper supply of rain1 and the whole of the day could have been devoted to blazing without injuring anyone4 ,or1 if the early morning rain would have damaged the decorations1 the celestial turnkey might have kept us a week without water giving us an extra supply beforehand4 ,on the whole1 if we may hazard so profane an observation1 the powers above are singularly behind the age4 ,their affairs are frightfully mixed1 and the result is that capital and labor are both in a state of uncertainty4 ,the celestial dynasty will have to improve1 or its imperial power will be questioned1 and there will be a demand for ,home ,rule with regard to the weather4 ,it is a perfect nuisance1 with respect to a matter which vitally affects us1 not to be able to know what a day will bring forth4 ,meanwhile we turn to the clergy1 and inquire why they do not perform their professional duties in this emergency4 ,there is a form of prayer for such cases in the ,prayer-book4 ,why has it not been used8 ,do the clergy think the ,lord is growing deaf with old age8 ,have they a secret suspicion that praying for a change of weather is as useful as whistling for the wind8 ,or has the spirit of this sceptical age invaded the clerical ranks so thoroughly as to make them ashamed of their printed doctrines8 ,when a parish clerk was told by the parson one morning that the prayer for rain would be read1 he replied1 ,why1 sir1 what's the use of praying for rain with the wind in that quarter8 ,we fancy that parish clerk must have a good many sympathisers in the pulpit4 ,still the clergy should do what they are paid for1 or resign the business4 ,they are our rain doctors1 and they should procure us the precious fluid4 ,if they cannot1 why should we pay them a heavenly water-rate8 ,the rain doctors of savages are kept to their contract4 ,they are expected to bring rain when it is required1 and if they do not1 the consequences are unpleasant4 ,they are sometimes disgraced1 and occasionally killed4 ,but the rain doctors in civilised countries retain all the advantages of their savage prototypes without any of their risks and dangers4 ,modern ,christians allow the clergy to play on the principle of heads ,i win1 tails you lose4 ,if the black regiments pray and there is no answer1 ,christians resign themselves to the will of ,god4 ,if there is an answer1 they put it to the credit of the priests1 or the priests put it to their own credit1 which is much the same thing4 ,we should be sorry to charge such a holy body of men with duplicity1 but is there not a sort of a smack1 a smell to8 ,they are reluctant to pray for rain1 on the alleged ground that ,omnipotence should not be interfered with rashly4 ,but the sincerity of this plea is questionable when we reflect that it obviously favors the clergy4 ,our climate is variable1 long spells of particular weather are infrequent1 and if when one occurs the clergy hold back till the very last1 their supplication for a change cannot long remain unanswered4 ,but perhaps this is only an illustration of the wisdom of the serpent which ,jesus recommended to his apostles4 ,if the clergy are anxious to exhibit their powers they should pray for rain in the desert of ,sahara4 ,missionaries might be sent out to establish praying stations1 and in the course of time the desert might bloom as a garden1 and the wilderness as a rose4 ,we make the suggestion in all sincerity4 ,we are anxious to be convinced1 if conviction is possible4 ,praying for rain in a watery climate is one thing1 praying for rain where none ever falls is another4 ,if the clergy can bring down a fruitful shower on the ,african sands1 we shall cry1 ,a miracle1 and send them a quarter's pew-rent4 ,seriously--for we can be serious--we ask the clergy to do their level best4 ,the farmers are swearing wholesale1 and by taking the name of the ,lord their ,god in vain they incur the peril of eternal damnation4 ,the fruit crop is injured1 and children suffer unusually from the stomach-ache4 ,worst of all1 infidel ,france is flooding our markets with cherries and other fruits1 and we are supporting the accursed sceptical brood because the ,lord has not nourished our own growths4 ,surely then it is time to act4 ,if the parsons lose this fine opportunity they may rely on it that the anti-tithe agitation will develop into alarming proportions4 ,their livings are at stake1 and we ask them to consider the interests of their wives and families4 ,if our generous warning is unheeded the clergy may find the nation carrying out the principle of free trade in religion1 and importing some rain doctors from ,africa4 ,many of these magical blackmen would be glad to exchange their present pickings for a vicarage and five hundred a year4 ,if they thought there was a chance of obtaining a bishopric1 with a palace and six or ten thousand a year1 they would start for ,england at once4 ,many of them are of excellent reputation1 and would come to us with the best of testimonials4 ,would it not be well to give them a trial8 ,we should find out who was best at the business4 ,he might be constituted our national rain doctor at a liberal salary1 and the rest discharged2 for surely the ,lord does not require thirty thousand praying to him at once1 unless on the principle that he must be surrounded to prevent the prayer from going into one ear and out at the other4 ,,pious ,,puerilities4 ,faith and credulity are the same thing with different names4 ,when a man has plenty of faith he is ready to believe anything4 ,however fantastic it may be1 however childish1 however infantile1 he accepts it with gaping wonder4 ,his imagination is not necessarily strong1 but it is easily excited4 ,macaulay held that savages have stronger imaginations than civilised men1 and that as the reason developes the imagination decays4 ,but1 in our opinion1 he was mistaken4 ,the imagination does not wither under the growth of reason2 on the contrary1 it flourishes more strongly4 ,it is1 however1 disciplined by reason1 and guided by knowledge2 and it only appears to be weaker because the relation between it and other faculties has changed4 ,the imagination of the savage seems powerful because his other faculties are weak4 ,in the absence of knowledge it cuts the most astonishing capers1 just as a bird would if it were suddenly deprived of sight4 ,now the savage is a mental child1 and the ignorant and thoughtless are mental savages4 ,they credit the absurdest stories1 and indulge in the most ridiculous speculations4 ,when religion ministers to their weakness1 as it always does1 they gravely discuss the most astonishing puerilities4 ,indeed1 the history of religious thought--that is1 of the infantile vagaries of the human mind--is full of puerilites4 ,there is hardly an absurdity which learned divines have not debated as seriously as scientists discuss the nebular hypothesis or the evolution theory4 ,they have argued how many angels could dance on the point of a needle2 whether ,adam had a navel2 whether ghosts and demons could cohabit with women2 whether animals could sin2 and what was to be done with a rat that devoured a holy wafer4 ,we believe the decision of the last weighty problem1 after long debate1 was that the rat1 having the body of ,christ in its body1 was sanctified1 and that it had to be eaten by the priest1 by which means the second person of the ,trinity was saved from desecration4 ,but of all the pious puerilities on record1 probably the worst are ascribed to the rabbis4 ,the faith of those gentlemen was unbounded1 and they were so fond of trivialities1 that where they found none they manufactured them4 ,the rabbis belonged to the most credulous race of antiquity4 ,tell that to the ,jews1 as we see from ,juvenal1 was as common as our saying1 ,tell that to the marines4 ,the chosen people were infinitely superstitious4 ,they had no head for science1 nor have they to this day2 but they were past-masters in every magical art1 and connoisseurs in amulets and charms4 ,their rabbis were the hierophants of their fanatical folly4 ,they devoted amazing industry1 and sometimes remarkable ingenuity1 to its development2 frequently glossing the very scriptures of their religion with dexterious imbecilities that raise a sinister admiration in the midst of our laughter4 ,this propensity is most noticeable in connection with ,bible stories4 ,when the chroniclers and prophets record a good solemn wonder1 which reads as though it ought to be true if it is not1 they allege or suggest little additions that give it an air of ostentatious silliness4 ,hundreds of such instances have come under my eyes in foraging for extra-,biblical matter for my ,bible ,heroes1 but ,i have only room for one or two specimens4 ,king ,nimrod was jealous of young ,abraham1 as ,herod was jealous of young ,jesus4 ,he tried various methods to get rid of the boy1 but all in vain4 ,at last he resolved to burn ,abraham alive4 ,this would have made a striking scene1 but the pious puerility of the sequel spoils it all4 ,the king issued a decree1 ordering every man in his kingdom to bring wood to heat the kiln4 ,what a laughable picture6 ,behold every adult subject wending his way to the crematorium with a bundle of sticks on his back--,for ,abraham4 ,the ,the ,mussulman tradition 7,mohammedans and ,jews are much alike1 and both their religions are ,semitic7 informs us that ,nimrod himself died in the most extraordinary manner4 ,a paltry little gnat1 with a game leg and one eye1 flew up his nostril1 and lodged in his brain1 where it tormented him for five hundred years4 ,during the whole of that period1 in which the gnat displayed a longevity that casts ,methuselah's into the shade1 the agonising king could only obtain repose by being struck on the head2 and relays of men were kept at the palace to pound his royal skull with a blacksmith's hammer4 ,the absurdity of the story is transcendent4 ,one is charitably tempted to believe1 for the credit of human nature1 that it was the work of a subtle1 solemn wag1 who thought it a safe way of satirising the proverbial thick-headedness of kings4 ,what reader of the ,bible does not remember the pathetic picture of ,esau falling on ,jacob's neck and weeping1 in a paroxysm of brotherly love and forgiveness8 ,but the rabbis daub it over with their pious puerilities4 ,they solemnly inform us that ,esau was a trickster1 as though ,jacob's qualities were catching8 and that he tried to bite his brother's neck1 but ,god turned it into marble1 and he only broke his teeth4 ,esau wept for the pain in his grinders4 ,but why did ,jacob weep8 ,this looks like a poser1 yet later rabbis surmounted the difficulty4 ,jacob's neck was not turned into marble1 but toughened4 ,it was hard enough to-hurt ,esau's teeth1 and still tender enough to make ,jacob suffer1 so they cried in concert1 though for different reasons4 ,satyrs are mentioned in the ,bible1 although they never existed outside the superstitious imagination4 ,the rabbis undertook to explain the peculiar structure of these fabulous creatures1 as well as of fauns1 who somewhat resemble them4 ,the theory was started1 therefore1 that ,god was overtaken by the ,sabbath1 while he was creating them1 and was obliged to postpone finishing them till the next day4 ,hence they are misshapen6 ,the rabbis also say that ,god cut off ,adam's tail to make ,eve of4 ,the ,bible origin of woman is low1 but this is lower still4 ,however1 if ,adam exchanged his tail for a wife he made a very good bargain1 despite the apple and the ,devil4 ,captain ,noah1 says the ,talmud1 could not take the rhinoceros into the ark because it was too big4 ,rabbi ,jannai solemnly asserts that he saw a young rhinoceros1 only a day old1 as big as ,mount ,tabor4 ,its neck was three miles long1 its head half a mile1 and the river ,jordan was choked by its excrement4 ,let us pause at this stretcher1 which stands well for high4 ,perhaps the ,christian will join us in laughing at such pious puerilities4 ,but he should remember that the ,bible is loaded with absurdities that are little inferior4 ,ravens bring a prophet sandwiches1 another prophet besieges a tile1 an axe swims on the water1 a man slays a thousand men in battle with the jawbone of a donkey1 an ass speaks1 and a whale swallows and vomits a man4 ,had these pious puerilities occurred in any other book1 they would have been laughed to scorn2 but being in the ,bible1 they must be credited on pain of eternal damnation4 ,,thus ,,saith ,,the ,,lord4 ,dogmatism1 said ,douglas ,jerrold1 is only puppyism grown to maturity4 ,this sarcastic wit never said a truer thing4 ,we call a young fellow a puppy when he is conceited and impudent1 and we call a man dogmatic when he betrays the same qualities in controversy4 ,yet every ,church prides itself on being dogmatic4 ,rome is dogmatic and ,canterbury is dogmatic4 ,without dogma there is no theology4 ,and what is dogma8 ,an opinion1 or a set of opinions1 promulgated by somebody for the blind acceptance of somebody else4 ,arrogance1 therefore1 is of its very essence4 ,what right has one man to say to another1 ,this is the truth2 ,i have taken the trouble to decide that point1 and all you have to do is to accept what ,i present you 8 ,and if one man has no such right to impose his belief on another1 how can twenty thousand men have such a right to impose their belief on twenty millions8 ,this1 however1 is precisely what they do without the least shame or compunction4 ,before we are able to judge for ourselves1 the priests thrust certain dogmas upon us1 and compel us to embrace them4 ,authority takes the place of judgment1 dogmatism supplants thought4 ,the young mind is rendered slavish1 and as it grows up it goes through life cringeing to the instruments of its own abasement4 ,when a superior mind rises from this subjection and demands reasons for believing1 he is knocked down with the ,bible4 ,a text is quoted to silence him4 ,but who wrote the text8 ,moses1 ,isaiah1 ,ezekiel1 ,matthew1 ,john1 ,peter1 or ,paul4 ,well1 and who made them lords over us8 ,have we not as much right to our own thoughts as they had to theirs8 ,when they state an opinion in the pompous language of revelation1 are they less fallible than the rest of us8 ,obviously not4 ,yet prophets and evangelists have a trick of writing1 which still clings to their modern representatives1 as though they could not be mistaken4 ,i am ,sir ,oracle1 they seem to say1 and when ,i ope my lips let no dog bark4 ,no doubt this self-conceit is very natural1 but self-conceited people are not usually taken at their own estimate4 ,nowadays we laugh at them and try to take the conceit out of them4 ,but what is absurd to-day is treated as venerable because it happened thousands of years ago1 and prophets are regarded as inspired who1 if they existed now1 would be treated with ridicule and contempt4 ,the style of downright ,god-,almighty-men is very simple4 ,they need not argue1 they have only to assert1 and they preface every statement with ,thus saith the ,lord4 ,now suppose such a declaration were made today4 ,a man with no greater reputation for sense than his neighbors stands up and shouts ,thus saith the ,lord4 ,should we not look at him with curiosity and amusement8 ,would he not strike us as a silly fanatic8 ,might we not even reflect that he was graduating for a strait-waistcoat8 ,the fellow is simply an ignorant dogmatist4 ,what he believes you must believe4 ,reasons for his belief he has none1 and he cannot conceive that you want any either4 ,yet it would never do to exclaim1 ,i am your lord and master1 so the grown-up puppy shouts ,thus saith the ,lord1 in order to assure you that in rejecting him you reject ,god4 ,suppose we heckle this loud-mouthed preacher for a minute4 ,you tell us1 ,thus saith the ,lord4 ,did he say so to you1 and where and when8 ,and are you quite sure you did not dream the whole business8 ,probably he answers1 ,no1 the ,lord did not say it to me1 but he said it to the blessed prophets and apostles1 and ,i am only repeating their words4 ,very well then1 a sensible man would reply1 you are in the second-hand business1 and ,i want new goods4 ,you had better send on the original traders--,moses1 ,isaiah1 ,paul and ,co4--and ,i'll see what ,i can do with them4 ,if1 however1 the preacher says1 ,yes1 the ,lord did say it to me1 a sensible man replies1 ,well1 now1 ,i should have thought the ,lord would have told somebody with more reputation and influence4 ,still1 what you assert may be true4 ,i don't deny it1 but at the same time your word is no proof4 ,on the whole1 ,i think ,i'll go my way and let you go yours4 ,the ,lord has told you something1 and you believe it2 when he tells me1 ,i'll believe it too4 ,i suppose the ,lord told you because he wanted you to know1 and when he wants me to know ,i suppose he'll give me a call4 ,what you got from him is first-hand1 what ,i get from you is second-hand2 and1 with all due respect1 ,i fancy your authority is hardly equal to the ,almighty's4 ,thus saith the ,lord is no argument4 ,it is simply ,the dark lanthorn of the spirit ,which none can see by but those who bear it4 ,nay more1 it dispenses with reason1 and makes every man's faith depend on somebody else's authority4 ,discussion becomes impertinence1 criticism is high treason4 ,hence it is but a step from ,thus saith the ,lord4 ,very impolite language1 truly1 yet it is the logical sequence of dogmatism1 ,fortunately the time is nearly past for such impudent nonsense4 ,this is an age of debate4 ,and although there are many windy platitudes abroad1 and much indulgence in empty mouthing1 the very fact of debate being considered necessary to the settlement of all questions makes the public mind less hasty and more cautious4 ,thus saith the ,lord men can only succeed at present among the intellectual riff-raff of the populace4 ,looking over the past1 we see what an immense part dogmatism has played in history4 ,thus saith the ,lord cried the ,jewish prophets1 and they not only terrified their contemporaries1 but overawed a hundred generations4 ,thus saith the ,lord cried the ,christian apostles1 and they converted thousands of open-mouthed slaves to a maleficent superstition4 ,thus saith the ,lord cried ,mohammed1 and the scimitars of ,islam flashed from ,india to ,spain4 ,thus saith the ,lord cried ,joe ,smith1 and ,mormonism springs up in the practical ,west1 with its buried gold tablets of revelation and its retrogressive polygamy4 ,thus saith ,reason has been a still small voice1 sometimes nearly inaudible1 though never quite drowned2 but now it is swelling into a mighty volume of sound1 overwhelming the din of sects and the anathemas of priests4 ,,believe ,,or ,,be ,,damned4 ,christian ministers are showing a disposition to fight shy of the second half of the last chapter of ,mark1 where ,jesus is represented as saying to his apostles1 ,go ye into all the world1 and preach the gospel to every creature4 ,he that believeth and is baptised shall be saved2 but he that believeth not shall be damned4 ,some of them tell us to look at the ,revised ,version1 where we shall see in the margin that this portion of the chapter does not exist in the earliest manuscripts2 and they innocently expect that ,freethinkers will therefore quietly drop the offensive passage4 ,oh dear no6 ,before they have any right to claim such indulgence they must put forth a new edition of the whole ,bible1 showing us what they desire excised1 and what they wish to retain and are ready to defend as the infallible word of ,god4 ,we should then discuss whether their selection is justifiable1 and after that we should discuss whether the amended ,bible is any diviner than the original one4 ,but we cannot allow them to keep the ,bible as it is1 to call it ,god's ,word1 to revile people who doubt it1 and to persecute people who oppose it2 and yet1 at the same time1 to evade responsibility for every awkward text4 ,this will never do4 ,the clergy cannot have the authority of inspiration in their pulpits and the ease of eclecticism on the platform and in the press4 ,besides1 although the text in ,mark is the most striking piece of impudent bigotry1 there are many passages of ,holy ,writ that display the same spirit4 ,the ,jews were expressly ordered to kill heretics in this world1 and the victims only escaped eternal damnation because the chosen people knew nothing at that time of future rewards and punishments4 ,a glance at the first few pages of ,crimes of ,christianity will also show that the earliest apostles of ,christianity were thoroughly imbued with the spirit of persecution4 ,paul smote ,elymas with blindness for opposing him1 and even the beloved disciple said ,if there come any unto you1 and bring not this doctrine1 receive him not into your house1 neither bid him ,god speed4 ,paul tells the ,galatians1 ,if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received1 let him be accursed4 ,these passages plainly imply that the unbeliever is to be shunned like poison1 and that the teacher of unbelief is a devil4 ,what difference is there between this and the passage in ,mark8 ,as a matter of fact1 all the ,christian ,churches1 from the beginning till now1 have taught that faith is necessary to salvation2 and this historic consensus of opinion justifies the ,freethinker in regarding bigotry as of the essence of the ,bible4 ,now what is belief8 ,it is an automatic act of the mind1 over which the will has absolutely no power4 ,the will might1 indeed1 turn the eyes from regarding evidence in a particular direction1 or the entire mind from attending to the subject at all4 ,but given the evidence before you1 and your own powers of thought1 and your judgment is a logical necessity4 ,you cannot help believing what your intellect certifies as true2 you cannot help disbelieving what your intellect certifies as false4 ,if you were threatened with everlasting torment for believing that twice two are four1 you could not1 by the most tremendous effort of volition1 alter your conviction in the slightest degree4 ,you might be induced to assert that twice two are five1 but whatever your tongue might utter1 your belief would remain unchanged4 ,the effect of threats1 therefore1 is not to change belief1 but to produce hypocrisy4 ,yet this much must be allowed4 ,the threats may succeed if they are carried out4 ,fear will make multitudes profess without investigating1 and as liars often come to believe their own lies1 habitual profession produces a state of mind that has a superficial resemblance to real belief2 and1 on the other hand1 if the threats of future punishment are supplemented by penal laws against heresy1 there is a process of artificial selection by which independent minds are eliminated1 while the slavish survive4 ,even when penal laws are relaxed1 social ostracism will have a similar1 though perhaps a weaker effect4 ,prizes offered to one form of opinion1 and losses inflicted on others1 will necessarily make a difference in their relative success4 ,how slowly ,christianity advanced during the first three centuries1 when it was under a cloud6 ,how swiftly it progressed when ,constantine gave it wealth and privileges1 and used the temporal sword to repress or extinguish its enemies6 ,nothing is truer than that the religious belief of more than ninety-nine hundredths of mankind is determined by the geographical accident of birth4 ,born in ,spain they are ,catholics2 born in ,england they are ,protestants2 born in ,turkey they are ,mohammedans2 born in ,india they are ,brahmanists2 born in ,ceylon they are ,buddhists2 born in the shadow of a synagogue they are ,jews4 ,their own minds have not the smallest share in deciding their faith4 ,they take it at secondhand1 as they do their language and their fashion of dressing4 ,to call their faith belief is absurd4 ,it is simply a prejudice4 ,belief1 in the proper sense of the word1 follows evidence and reflection4 ,what evidence has the ordinary ,christian1 and has he ever reflected on his creed for five minutes in the whole course of his life8 ,philosophically speaking1 men think as they can1 and believe as they must2 and as belief is independent of the will1 and cannot be affected by motives1 it is not a subject for praise or blame1 reward or punishment4 ,religions1 therefore1 which promise heaven for belief and hell for unbelief1 are utterly unphilosophical4 ,they are self-condemned4 ,truth invites free study4 ,falsehood shuns investigation1 and denounces that liberty of thought which is fatal to its pretensions4 ,there is a not too refined1 but a very true piece of verse1 which was first published more than a generation ago in a pungent ,freethought journal1 and we venture to quote its conclusion4 ,after relating the chief flams of the ,bible1 it says3 ,and when with this nonsense you're crammed1 ,to make you believe it all true1 ,they say if you don't you'll be damned2 ,but you ought to be damned if you do4 ,,christian ,,charity4 ,jesus ,christ told his disciples that1 in bestowing alms1 they were not even to let their left hand know what their right hand did4 ,but this self-sacrificing method has not been generally approved1 and comparatively few ,christians do good by stealth and blush to find it fame4 ,they more often do good for fame and publish it by stealth4 ,nay more1 their charity is actually their boast in their controversies with infidels4 ,look at our hospitals1 they say2 look at our orphanages1 look at our almshouses1 look at our soup-kitchens4 ,it is a wonder they do not boast of their asylums1 but perhaps they think it would invite the retort that they not only build them but fill them4 ,such boasting1 however1 is utterly absurd from every point of view4 ,since the world was in any degree civilised it has never lacked some kind of benevolent institutions4 ,it is absolutely certain that hospitals are not of ,christian origin2 and there is hardly a country in the world1 with any pretension to rank above barbarians1 in which some species of provision is not made by the rich for the necessities of the poor4 ,every ,mohammedan1 for instance1 is required by his religion to devote a tenth of his income to charity2 whereas the ,christian system of tithes is entirely for the profit and aggrandisement of the clergy4 ,still more ridiculous1 if possible1 is the ,christian cry1 ,where are your ,freethought hospitals1 almshouses1 and orphanages8 ,freethought is a poor1 struggling cause2 its adherents are comparatively few and scattered2 it has no endowments to lessen the current cost of its propaganda2 and it is unable to exact subscriptions by the orthodox method of boycotting1 or to acquire them in return for a good advertisement4 ,still1 the ,freethought party does manage to relieve its necessitous members2 and the ,freethinkers' ,benevolent ,fund is not only well supported1 in excess of all demands1 but is probably the only ,fund which is administered without a single farthing of expense4 ,besides this1 ,freethinkers support ordinary local charities1 when deserving1 just like other people2 although frequently1 as in the case of almost every hospital1 religion is forced on the recipients of such charity1 whether they wish it or not1 and religious tests are maintained in the administration4 ,as a rule1 however1 ,freethinkers are not inclined to attach so much importance as ,christians to organised almsgiving4 ,at the best it is but a clumsy way of alleviating the worst effects of social disease4 ,the ,freethinker attaches more importance to the study of causes4 ,he is like the true health reformer who believes a great deal more in exercise1 fresh air1 and wholesome diet1 than in physic4 ,for this reason ,freethinkers are generally students of social and political questions4 ,they are ,radicals in the philosophical sense of the word2 that is1 they recognise that real1 lasting improvement can only be achieved by dealing with the causes of poverty and degradation4 ,many ,christians1 on the other hand1 thoroughly believe that the poor will never cease out of the land2 and they seem to regard these unfortunates as whetstones1 provided by a beneficent providence1 on which the wealthy may sharpen their benevolence4 ,christian charity1 even in its highest form1 is infinitely less merciful than science2 a truth which ,mr4 ,cotter ,morison enforces in the seventh chapter of his ,service of ,man4 ,sanitation1 medical science1 free trade1 popular education1 co-operation1 and such agencies1 have done tremendously more than religion to diminish evil and mitigate suffering4 ,on the other hand1 it is indisputable that much of our boasted charity is worse than wasted1 as it tends to produce the very helplessness and pauperism that furnish it with objects of compassion4 ,charity is very good in its way1 but what we really want is justice4 ,let us go in for justice first1 and when we have got that we shall see what remains for charity to do4 ,probably it will be found that unjust laws inflict a hundred times more misery than charity could ever alleviate4 ,if that be the case1 the most charitable man1 after all1 is he who devotes some of his time1 thought1 and energy to political and social reform4 ,good health for the next generation is more valuable than medicine for the diseases of the present generation4 ,charity1 also1 in its largest sense1 is far wider than almsgiving4 ,it is a questionable charity which gives you a shilling if you are hard-up1 and persecutes you if you think for yourself4 ,most of us do not require soup-tickets1 but we do require civil treatment1 respect for our independence1 and smiling rather than frowning faces4 ,the man who lifts me up from the road when ,i stumble1 deserves my thanks2 but ,i doubt the sincerity of his kindness if1 when he learns that ,i honestly differ from him on the ,atonement1 he knocks me down again4 ,assisting people who agree with you1 and wilfully injuring those who differ1 savors less of charity than of zeal4 ,you may be a very good ,christian1 but ,i venture to say you are a very bad man4 ,when ,saladin died he ordered charities to be distributed to the poor1 without distinction of ,jew1 ,christian1 or ,mohammedan4 ,yet this brilliant ruler had to repel ,christian attacks on his dominions1 and to witness the most abominable cruelty wrought by the soldiers of the ,cross4 ,where1 in the annals of ,christendom1 shall we find such a noble example of true charity2 of charity which overflows the petty barriers of creeds1 and loses itself in the great ocean of humanity8 ,,religion ,,and ,,money4 ,every religion is a getting religion2 for though ,i myself get nothing1 ,i am subordinate to those that do4 ,so you may find a lawyer in the ,temple that gets little for the present2 but he is fitting himself to be in time one of those great ones that do get4--,selden's ,table ,talk4 ,the ,divine stands wrapt up in his cloud of mysteries1 and the amused ,laity must pay ,tithes and ,veneration to be kept in obscurity1 grounding their hope of future knowledge on a competent stock of present ignorance4--,george ,farquhar4 ,religion and priestcraft may not be the same thing in essence4 ,that is a point on which we do not intend to dogmatise1 and this is not the opportunity to argue it4 ,but practically religion and priestcraft are the same thing4 ,they are inextricably bound up together14 and they will suffer a common fate4 ,in saying this1 however1 we must be understood to use the word religion in its ordinary sense1 as synonymous with theology4 ,religion as non-supernatural1 as the idealism of morality1 the sovereign bond of collective society1 is a matter with which we are not at present concerned4 ,priestcraft did not invent religion4 ,to believe that it did is the error of an impulsive and uninformed scepticism4 ,but priestcraft developed it1 systematised it1 enforced it1 and perpetuated it4 ,this could not be effected1 however1 except in alliance with the temporal power2 and accordingly1 in every country--savage1 barbaric1 or civilised--the priests and the privileged classes are found in harmony4 ,they have occasional differences1 but these are ultimately adjusted4 ,sometimes the priesthood overrules the temporal power1 but more frequently the former gives way to the latter2 indeed1 it is instructive to watch how the course of religion has been so largely determined by political influences4 ,the development of ,judaism was almost entirely controlled by the political vicissitudes of the ,hebrews4 ,the political power really decided the great controversy between ,arianism and ,athanasianism4 ,politics again1 twelve hundred years later1 settled the bounds of the ,reformation1 not only for the moment1 but for subsequent centuries4 ,where the prince's sword was thrown into the scale1 it determined the balance4 ,england1 for instance1 was non-papal ,catholic under ,henry ,,viii41 ,protestant under ,edward ,,vi41 papal-,catholic under ,mary1 and ,protestant again under ,elizabeth2 although every one of these changes1 according to the clergy1 was dictated by the ,holy ,ghost4 ,priests and the privileged classes must settle their differences in some way1 otherwise the people would become too knowing1 and too independent4 ,the co-operation of impostor and robber is necessary to the bamboozlement and exploitation of the masses4 ,this co-operation1 indeed1 is the great secret of the permanence of religion2 and its policy is twofold--education and the power of money4 ,the value of education may be inferred from the frantic efforts of the clergy to build and maintain schools of their own1 and to force their doctrines into the schools built and maintained by the ,state4 ,in this respect there is nothing to choose between ,church and ,dissent4 ,the reading of the ,bible in ,board schools is a compromise between themselves1 lest a worse thing should befall them both4 ,if one section were strong enough to upset the compromise it would do so2 in fact1 the ,church party is now attempting this stroke of policy on the ,london ,school ,board1 with the avowed object of giving a ,church color to-the religious teaching of the children4 ,the very same principle was at work in former days1 when none but ,churchmen were admitted to the universities or public positions4 ,it was a splendid means of maintaining the form of religion which was bound up with the monarchy and the aristocracy4 ,learning and influence were1 as far as possible1 kept on the side of the established faith1 which thus became the master of the masters of the people4 ,this is perfectly obvious to the student of history1 and ,freethinkers should lay its lesson to heart4 ,it is only by driving religion entirely out of education1 from the humblest school to the proudest college1 that we shall ever succeed in breaking the power of priestcraft and freeing the people from the bondage of superstition4 ,we could write a volume on this theme--the power of education in maintaining religion2 but we must be satisfied with the foregoing at present1 and turn our attention to the power of money4 ,it is a wise adage that money is the sinews of war4 ,fighting is very largely1 often wholly1 a question of resources4 ,troops may be ever so brave1 generals ever so skilful1 but they will be beaten unless they have good rifles and artillery1 plenty of ammunition1 and an ample commissariat4 ,now the same thing obtains in all warfare4 ,it would be foolish1 no less than base1 to deny the inspiring efficacy of ideas1 the electric force of enthusiasm2 but1 however highly men may be energised1 they cannot act without instruments2 and money buys them1 whether the instruments be rifles and artillery1 or schools1 or churches1 or any kind of organisation4 ,given churches with great wealth1 as well as control over public education1 and it is easy to see that they will be able to perpetuate themselves4 ,endowments are specially valuable4 ,they are rooted1 so to speak1 in the past1 and hold firm4 ,they bear golden fruit to be plucked by the skilful and adventurous4 ,besides1 the very age of an endowed institution gives it a venerable ora2 and its freedom from the full necessity of cadging lends it a certain respectability--like that of a man who lives on his means1 instead of earning his living4 ,it is not an extravagant calculation that1 in ,england alone1 twenty millions a year are spent on religion4 ,the figures fall glibly from the tongue1 but just try to realise them6 ,think first of a thousand1 then of a thousand thousand1 then of twenty times that4 ,take a single million1 and think what its expenditure might do in the shaping of public opinion4 ,a practical friend of ours1 a good ,radical and ,freethinker1 said that he would undertake to create a majority for ,home ,rule in ,england with a million of money2 and if he spent it judiciously1 we think he might succeed4 ,well then1 just imagine1 not one million1 but twenty millions1 spent every year in maintaining and propagating a certain religion4 ,is it not enough1 and more than enough1 to perpetuate a system which is firmly founded1 to begin with1 on the education of little children8 ,here lies the strength of ,christianity4 ,it is not true1 it is not useful4 ,its teachings and pretensions are both seen through by tens of thousands1 but the wealth supports it4 ,without money and without price1 is the fraudulent language of the pious prospectus4 ,it would never last on those terms4 ,the money keeps it up4 ,withdraw the money1 and the ,black ,army would disband1 leaving the people free to work out their secular salvation1 without the fear and trembling of a foolish faith4 ,,clotted ,,bosh4 ,a heterogeneous mass of clotted bosh4 --,thomas ,carlyle4 ,the death of ,tennyson has called forth a vast deal of nonsense4 ,much of it is even insincere4 ,the pulpits have spouted cataracts of sentimentality4 ,some of them have emitted quantities of sheer drivel4 ,a stranger would think we had lost our only poet1 and well-nigh our only teacher2 whereas1 if the truth must be told1 we have lost one who was occasionally a great poet1 but for the most part a miraculous artist in words4 ,no man in his senses--certainly no man with a spark of judgment--could call ,tennyson a profound thinker4 ,mainly he gave exquisite expression to ideas that floated around him4 ,nor did he possess a high degree of the creative faculty1 such as ,shakespeare possessed in inexhaustible abundance4 ,surely it is possible to admire our dead poet's genius without telling lies over his grave4 ,among the pulpit utterances on ,tennyson we note the ,rev4 ,hugh ,price ,hughes's as perhaps the very perfection of slobbery incapacity4 ,he appears to be delivering a course of addresses on the poet4 ,the first of these escaped our attention2 the second is before us in the supplement to last week's ,methodist ,times4 ,we have read it with great attention and without the slightest profit4 ,not a sentence or a phrase in it rises above commonplace4 ,that a crowd of people should listen to such stuff on a ,sunday afternoon1 when they might be taking a walk or enjoying a snooze1 is a striking evidence of the degeneration of the human mind1 at least in the circles of ,methodism4 ,mr4 ,hughes praises ,tennyson for conscientiousness in the use and choice of words4 ,he should have said the choice and use of words1 for choice must precede use to be of any service4 ,mr4 ,hughes says it is of great importance that we should all be as conscientious as ,tennyson4 ,he might as well say it is of great importance that we should all be as strong as ,sandow4 ,let us take a few examples of ,mr4 ,hughes's conscientiousness4 ,he talks of shining features which lie upon the very surface of ,tennyson's poems4 ,now features seldom shine1 they do not lie1 and they must be 7not upon1 but7 at the surface4 ,six lines further the shining features change into shining qualities1 as though features and qualities were synonyms4 ,mr4 ,hughes speaks1 in the style of a penny-a-liner1 of ,tennyson's amazing and unparalleled popular influence4 ,will he tell us if anything could amaze us without being unparalleled8 ,he remarks that ,tennyson was not merely and mainly a poet of the educated classes4 ,he should have said merely or mainly4 ,he enjoins upon us to define our terms and know the exact meanings of the terms we use--which is absolute tautology4 ,he says of flirtation--on which he seems an authority--that ,i greatly fear1 and am morally certain it is as much perpetrated by men as by women4 ,but if he fears he cannot be certain1 and if he is certain he cannot fear4 ,he calls duelling a form of insanity and barbarism4 ,but while it may be one or the other1 it cannot be both at once4 ,the disjunctive1 therefore1 not the copulative1 is the proper conjunction4 ,mr4 ,hughes misspells the name of ,spenser1 translates mariage de convenance as a marriage of convenience1 and inserts one of his own inventions in a line of ,locksley ,hall1 which runs thus in the ,hughes edition of ,tennyson-- ,puppet to a father's threat and servile to a mother's shrewish tongue4 ,mother's spoils the line4 ,it is not ,tennyson's4 ,mr4 ,hughes may claim it--an ill-favored thing1 sir1 but mine own4 ,it does equal credit to his conscientiousness and his ears4 ,mr4 ,hughes's style as a critic does not rise to the level of an active contempt4 ,let us look at his matter and see if it shows any superiority4 ,yet although1 ,mr4 ,hughes says1 with characteristic elegance--yet although he wrote so much1 ,tennyson never wrote a single line that would bring a painful or anxious blush to the cheek of the most innocent or sensitive maiden4 ,what a curious antithesis6 ,why should a man write impurely for writing much8 ,and is this the supreme virtue of a great poet8 ,it might be predicated of ,martin ,tupper4 ,milton1 on the other hand1 must have made many a maiden rosy by his description of ,eve's naked loveliness--to say nothing of the scene after the ,fall2 while ,shakespeare must have turned many a maiden cheek scarlet1 though we do not believe he ever did the maiden any harm4 ,tennyson was not as free-spoken as some poets--greater poets than himself4 ,but what does ,mr4 ,hughes mean by his ,christ-like purity8 ,is there a reference here to the twelfth verse of the nineteenth chapter of ,matthew8 ,purity1 if properly understood1 is undoubtedly a virtue4 ,mr4 ,hughes forgets1 however1 that his eulogy on ,tennyson in this respect is a slur upon the ,bible4 ,there are things in the ,old ,testament--not to mention the ,new ,testament--calculated to make the most innocent or sensitive maiden vomit2 things that might abash a prostitute and make a satyr squeamish4 ,we suggest1 therefore1 that ,mr4 ,hughes should cease canting about purity while he helps to thrust the ,bible into the hands of little children4 ,the reward of ,tennyson's purity1 according to ,mr4 ,hughes1 was that he was able to understand women4 ,the ,english race1 exclaims the eulogist1 has never contemplated a nobler or more inspiring womanhood than that which glows on every page of ,tennyson4 ,this is the hectic exaggeration in which ,mr4 ,hughes habitually indulges4 ,tennyson never drew a live woman4 ,maud is a lay figure1 and the heroine of ,the ,princess is purely fantastic4 ,george ,meredith beats the late ,laureate hollow in this respect4 ,he is second only to ,shakespeare1 who here1 as elsewhere1 maintains his supremacy4 ,mr4 ,hughes's remarks on ,locksley ,hall are1 to use his own expression1 amazing4 ,how terribly1 he says1 does he ,tennyson paint the swift degeneration of the faithless ,amy4 ,mr4 ,hughes forgets--or does he forget8--that in the sequel to this poem1 entitled ,sixty ,years ,after1 ,tennyson unsays all the high-pitched dispraise of ,amy and her squire4 ,locksley ,hall is a piece of splendid versification1 but the hero is a prig1 which is a shade worse than a ,philistine4 ,young fellows mouth the poem rapturously2 their elders smile at the disguises of egotism4 ,loveless marriage was reprobated by ,tennyson1 and ,mr4 ,hughes goes into ecstacies over the tremendous fact4 ,like the ,psalmist1 he is in haste2 he cannot point to a poet who ever hinted the dethronement of love4 ,a choice ,hughesean sentence occurs in this connexion4 ,i very much regret1 the preacher says1 that ,maud's lover was such a conventional idiot that he should have been guilty of the supreme folly of challenging her brother to a duel4 ,shade of ,lindley ,murrey1 what a sentence6 ,a boy who wrote thus would deserve whipping4 ,and what right1 we ask1 has a ,christian minister to rail at duelling8 ,it was unknown to ,greek or ,roman society4 ,indeed1 it is merely a form of the ,ordeal1 which was upheld by ,christianity4 ,the duel was originally a direct and solemn appeal to ,providence4 ,only a sceptic has the right to call it a folly4 ,enough of ,mr4 ,hughes as a stylist1 a critic1 and teacher4 ,what he really shines in is invention4 ,his story of the converted ,atheist shoemaker displays a faculty which has no scope in a sermon on ,tennyson4 ,,lord ,,bacon ,,on ,,atheism4 ,the pedants will be down upon us for speaking of ,lord ,bacon4 ,it is true there never was such a personage4 ,francis ,bacon was ,baron of ,verulam1 ,viscount ,st4 ,alban1 and ,lord ,high ,chancellor of ,england4 ,but this is a case in which it is impossible to resist the popular usage4 ,after all1 we write to be understood4 ,the pedants1 the heralds1 and all the rest of the tribe of technical fanatics1 rejoice to mouth ,lord ,verulam4 ,but the ordinary man of letters1 like the common run of readers1 will continue to speak of ,lord ,bacon2 for ,bacon was his name1 and the ,lord was but a pretty feather in his hat4 ,and when his lordship took that splendid pen of his1 to jot down some of his profoundest thoughts for posterity1 did he not say in his grand style1 ,i1 ,francis ,bacon1 thought on this wise8 ,you cannot get the ,bacon out of it1 and as the ,lord will slip in1 we must let it stand as ,lord ,bacon4 ,lord ,bacon was was a very great man4 ,who does not remember ,pope's lines8-- ,if parts allure thee1 think how ,bacon shined1 ,the wisest1 brightest1 meanest of mankind4 ,but his hardship was fond of wielding the satiric lash1 and that spirit leads to exaggeration4 ,bacon was not the meanest of mankind1 ,pope himself did things that ,bacon would never have stooped to4 ,nor was ,bacon the wisest and brightest of mankind4 ,a wiser and brighter spirit was contemporary with him in the person of a poor player4 ,the dullards who fancy that ,lord ,bacon wrote the plays of ,shakespeare have no discrimination4 ,his lordship's mind might have been cut out of the poet's without leaving an incurable wound4 ,some will dissent from this1 but be it as it may1 the styles of the two men are vastly different1 like their ways of thinking4 ,bacon's essay on ,love is cynical4 ,the man of the world1 the well-bred statesman1 looked on ,love as the child of folly1 a necessary nuisance1 a tragi-comical perturbation4 ,shakespeare saw in ,love the mainspring of life4 ,love speaks in a perpetual hyperbole1 said ,bacon4 ,shakespeare also said that the lover sees ,helen's beauty in a brow of ,egypt1 ,the poet knew all the philosopher knew1 and more4 ,what ,bacon laughed or sneered at1 ,shakespeare recognised as the magic of the great enchanter1 who touches our imaginations and kindles in us the power of the ideal4 ,exaggeration there must be in passion and imagination2 it is the defect of their quality2 but what are we without them8 ,dead driftwood on the tide2 dismantled hulls rotting in harbor2 anything that awaits destruction1 to give its imprisoned forces a chance of asserting themselves in new forms of being4 ,bacon was not a ,shakespeare2 still1 he was a very great man4 ,his writings are a text-book of worldly wisdom4 ,his philosophical force is almost proverbial4 ,nor was he wanting in a certain dry poetry4 ,no philosophical writer1 not even ,plato1 equals him in the command of illuminative metaphors2 and the fine dignity of his style is beyond all praise4 ,the words drop from his pen with exquisite ease and felicity4 ,he is never in a hurry1 never ruffled4 ,he writes like a ,lord ,chancellor1 though with something in him above the office2 and if he is now and then familiar1 it is only a slight condescension1 like the joke of a judge1 which does not bring him down to the level of the litigants4 ,the opinions of such a man are worth studying2 and as ,lord ,bacon is often quoted in condemnation of ,atheism1 we propose to see what he actually says about it1 what his judgment on this particular theme is really worth1 and what allowance1 if any1 should be made for the conditions in which he expressed himself4 ,this last point1 indeed1 is one of considerable importance4 ,lord ,bacon lived at a time when downright heresy1 such as ,raleigh and other great men of that age were accused of1 could only be ventilated in private conversation4 ,in writing it could only be hinted or suggested2 and1 in this respect1 a writer's silence is to be taken into account2 that is1 we must judge by what he does not say1 as well as by what he does say4 ,some writers1 like ,letourneau1 the ,french ethnologist1 have gone to the length of arguing that ,lord ,bacon was a ,materialist1 and that his ,theistic utterances were all perfunctory3 as it were1 the pinch of incense which the philosopher was obliged to burn on the altars of the gods4 ,this much at least is certain--,lord ,bacon rarely speaks of religion except as a philosopher or a statesman4 ,he is apt to sneer at the high speculations of theologues4 ,there is no piety1 no unction1 in his allusions to theology4 ,he looks upon religion as a social bond1 an agency of good government4 ,it is impossible to say that he took a ,christian view of things when he wrote1 ,i have often thought upon ,death1 and ,i find it the least of all evils2 or when he wrote1 ,men fear death as children fear to go into the dark2 and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales1 so is the other4 ,lord ,bacon has an essay on ,atheism1 which is significantly followed by another on ,superstition4 ,the latter is seldom referred to by religious apologists1 but we shall deal with it first4 ,in all superstition1 he says1 wise men follow fools4 ,this is a bold1 significant utterance4 ,fools are always in the majority1 wise men are few1 and they are obliged to bow to the power of the multitude4 ,kings respect1 and priests organise1 the popular folly2 and the wise men have to sit aloft and nod to each other across the centuries4 ,there is a freemasonry amongst them1 and they have their shibboleths and dark sayings1 to protect them against priests and mobs4 ,perhaps the story of ,balaam is a subtle anticipation of ,lord ,bacon's dictum4 ,it was the ass that first saw the angel4 ,baalam only saw it afterwards1 when his wits were disordered by the wonder of a talking donkey4 ,thus the prophet followed the ass1 as wise men follow fools4 ,superstition is worse than ,atheism1 in ,lord ,bacon's judgment2 the one is unbelief1 he says1 but the other is contumely2 and it were better to have no opinion of ,god at all1 than such an opinion as is unworthy of him4 ,he approves the saying of ,plutarch1 that he had rather a great deal men should say there was no such man as ,plutarch1 than that they should say there was one ,plutarch that would eat his children as soon as they were born--which1 on the part of ,lord ,bacon1 looks like a thrust at the doctrine of original sin and infant damnation4 ,with his keen eye for the good of man's estate1 ,lord ,bacon remarks of superstition1 that as the contumely is greater towards ,god1 so the danger is greater towards men4 ,atheism leaves a man to sense1 to philosophy1 to natural piety1 to laws1 to reputation2 all which may be guides to an outward moral virtue1 though religion were not2 but superstition dismounts all these1 and erecteth an absolute monarchy in the minds of men2 therefore ,atheism did never perturb states2 for it makes men wary of themselves1 as looking no farther1 and we see the times inclined to ,atheism 7as the time of ,augustus ,caesar7 were civil times2 but superstition hath been the confusion of many states1 and bringeth in a new primum mobile that ravisheth all the spheres of government4 ,by civil times ,lord ,bacon means settled1 quiet1 orderly1 progressive times--times of civilisation4 ,and it is rather singular that he should pick out the age immediately preceding the advent of ,christianity4 ,whatever fault is in ,atheism1 it is no danger to human society4 ,this is ,lord ,bacon's judgment1 and we commend it to the attention of the fanatics of faith1 who point to ,atheism as a horrid monster1 fraught with cruelty1 bloodshed1 and social disruption4 ,coming now to ,lord ,bacon's essay on ,atheism itself1 we find him opening it with a very pointed utterance of ,theism4 ,i had rather1 he says1 believe all the fables in the legend1 and the ,talmud1 and the ,alcoran1 than that this universal frame is without a mind4 ,the expression is admirable1 but the philosophy is doubtful4 ,when a man says he would rather believe one thing than another1 he is merely exhibiting a personal preference4 ,real belief is not a matter of taste2 it is determined by evidence--if not absolutely1 at least as far as our power of judgment carries us4 ,a little philosophy1 his lordship says1 inclineth man's mind to ,atheism1 but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion4 ,the reason he assigns is1 that when we no longer rest in second causes1 but behold the chain of them confederate1 and linked together1 we must needs fly to providence and ,deity4 ,the necessity1 however1 is far from obvious4 ,all the laws1 as we call them1 of all the sciences together1 do not contain any new principle in their addition4 ,universal order is as consistent with ,materialism as with ,theism4 ,it is easy to say that ,god never wrought miracles to convince ,atheism1 because his ordinary works convince it2 but1 as a matter of fact1 it is the ,god of ,miracles in whom the multitude have always believed4 ,a special providence1 rather than a study of the universe1 has been the secret of their devotion to the unseen4 ,lord ,bacon drops below the proper level of his genius in affirming that none deny there is a ,god1 but those for whom it maketh that there were no ,god4 ,this is but a milder expression of the incivility of the ,psalmist4 ,it is finely rebuked by the atheist ,monk in the play of ,sir ,william ,crichton1 the work of a man of great though little recognised genius--,william ,smith4 ,for ye who deem that one who lacks of faith ,is therefore conscience-free1 ye little know ,how doubt and sad denial may enthral him ,to the most timid sanctity of life4 ,lord ,bacon1 indeed1 rather doubts the existence of the positive ,atheist4 ,it appeareth in nothing more1 that ,atheism is rather in the lip than in the heart of man1 than by this1 that ,atheists will ever be talking of that their opinion1 as if they fainted in it within themselves1 and would be glad to be strengthened by the opinion of others3 nay more1 you shall have ,atheists strive to get disciples1 as it fareth with other sects2 and1 which is most of all1 you shall have of them that will suffer for ,atheism1 and not recant2 whereas1 if they truly think that there is no such thing as ,god1 ,why should they trouble themselves8 ,although ,lord ,bacon was not the meanest of mankind1 there was certainly a lack of the heroic in his disposition2 and this passage emanated from the most prosaic part of his mind and character4 ,great thoughts1 said ,vauvenargues1 spring from the heart4 ,now the heart of ,lord ,bacon was not as high as his intellect2 no one could for a moment imagine his facing martyrdom4 ,he had none of the splendid audacity1 the undaunted courage1 the unshakable fortitude1 of his loftier contemporary1 ,giordano ,bruno4 ,so much truth is there in ,pope's epigram1 that his lordship was capable at times of grovelling2 witness his fulsome1 though magnificent1 dedication of the ,advancement of ,learning to ,king ,james--the ,british ,solomon1 as his flatterers called him1 to the amusement of the great ,henry of ,france1 who sneered1 ,yes1 ,solomon the son of ,david1 in allusion to his mother's familiarity with ,david ,rizzio4 ,and in this very passage of the essay on ,atheism we also see the grovelling side of ,lord ,bacon1 with a corresponding perversion of intelligence4 ,being incapable of understanding martyrdom1 except under the expectation of a reward in heaven1 his lordship cannot appreciate the act of an ,atheist in suffering for his convictions4 ,his concluding words are positively mean4 ,surely the ,atheist might trouble himself about truth1 justice1 and dignity2 all of which are involved in the maintenance and propagation of his principles4 ,but1 if the closing observation is mean1 the opening observation is fatuous4 ,this is a strong word to use of any sentence of ,lord ,bacon's1 but in this instance it is justifiable4 ,if an ,atheist mistrusts his own opinion1 because he talks about it1 what is to be said of the ,christians1 who pay thousands of ministers to talk about their opinions1 and even subscribe for ,missionary ,societies to talk about them to the heathen8 ,are we to conclude that an ,atheist's talking shows mistrust1 and a ,christian's talking shows confidence8 ,what real weakness is there in the ,atheist's seeking for sympathy and concurrence8 ,it is hard for any man to stand alone2 certainly it was not in ,lord ,bacon's line to do so2 and why should not the ,atheist be glad to be strengthened by the opinion of others6 ,novalis said that his opinion gained infinitely when it was shared by another4 ,the participation does not prove the truth of the opinion1 but redeems it from the suspicion of being a mere maggot of an individual brain4 ,lord ,bacon then turns to the barbaric races1 who worship particular gods1 though they have not the general name2 a fact which he did not understand4 ,more than two hundred years later it was explained by ,david ,hume4 ,it is simply a proof that monotheism grows out of polytheism2 or1 if you like1 that ,theism is a development of ,idolatry4 ,this is a truth that takes all the sting out of ,lord ,bacon's observation that against ,atheists the very savages take part with the very subtilest philosophers4 ,we may just remark that the philosophers must be very hard pressed when they call up their savage allies4 ,contemplative ,atheists are rare1 says ,lord ,bacon--a ,diagoras1 a ,bion1 a ,lucian perhaps1 and some others4 ,they seem more than they are1 for all sorts of heretics are branded as ,atheists2 which leads his lordship to the declaration that the great ,atheists indeed are hypocrites1 which are ever handling holy things1 but without feeling2 so as they must needs be cauterised in the end4 ,this is a pungent observation1 and it springs from the better side of his lordship's nature4 ,we also have no respect for hypocrites1 and for that very reason we object to them as a present to ,atheism4 ,religion must consume in its own smoke1 and dispose of its own refuse4 ,the causes of ,atheism next occupy ,lord ,bacon's attention4 ,he finds they are four2 divisions in religion1 the scandal of priests1 profane scoffing in holy matters1 and learned times1 especially with peace and prosperity4 ,troubles and adversities1 his lordship says1 do more bow men's minds to religion4 ,which is true enough1 though it only illustrates the line of the ,roman poet that religion always has its root in fear4 ,it will be observed that1 up to the present1 ,lord ,bacon has not considered one of the reasons for ,atheism4 ,what he calls causes are only occasions4 ,he does not discuss1 or even refer to1 the objections to ,theism that are derived from the tentative operations of nature1 so different from what might be expected from a settled plan2 from ugly1 venomous and monstrous things2 from the great imperfection of nature's very highest productions2 from the ignorance1 misery1 and degradation of such a vast part of mankind2 from the utter absence of anything like a moral government of the universe4 ,only towards the end of his essay does ,lord ,bacon begin business with the ,atheists4 ,they that deny a ,god1 he says1 destroy a man's nobility2 for certainly man is of kin to the beasts by his body2 and1 if he be not of kin to ,god by his spirit1 he is a base and ignoble creature4 ,this is pointed and vigorous1 but after all it is a matter of sentiment4 ,some prefer the fallen angel1 others the risen ape4 ,lord ,bacon1 like ,earl ,beaconsfield1 is on the side of the angels4 ,we are on the other side4 ,a being who has done something1 and will do more1 however humble his origin1 is preferable to one who can only boast of his fine descent4 ,finally1 his lordship takes the illustration of the dog1 to whom man is instead of a ,god4 ,what generosity and courage he will put on1 in the confidence of a better nature than his own4 ,so man gathereth force and faith from divine protection and favor4 ,atheism therefore depriveth human nature of the means to exalt itself above human frailty4 ,but this is to forget that there may be more than one means to the same end4 ,human nature may be exalted above its frailty without becoming the dog of a superior intelligence4 ,science1 self-examination1 culture1 public opinion1 and the growth of humanity1 are more than substitutes for devotion to a deity4 ,they are capable of exalting man continuously and indefinitely4 ,they do not appeal to the spaniel element in his nature2 they make him free1 erect1 noble1 and self-dependent4 ,on the whole we are bound to say that ,lord ,bacon's essay on ,atheism is unworthy of his genius4 ,if it were the only piece of his writing extant1 we should say it was the work of one who had great powers of expression but no remarkable powers of thought4 ,he writes very finely as a strong advocate1 putting a case in a way that commands attention1 and perhaps admiration for its force and skill4 ,but something more than this is to be expected when a really great man addresses himself to a question of such depth and importance4 ,what then are we to conclude8 ,why this1 that ,lord ,bacon dared not give the rein to his mind in an essay on ,atheism4 ,he was bound to be circumspect in a composition level to the intelligence of every educated reader4 ,we prefer to take him where he enjoys greater freedom4 ,under the veil of a story1 for instance1 he aims a dart at the superstition of a special providence1 which is an ineradicable part of the ,christian faith4 ,bion1 the ,atheist1 being shown the votive tablets in the temple of ,neptune1 presented by those who prayed to the god in a storm and were saved1 asked where were the tablets of those who were drowned4 ,bacon tells the story with evident gusto1 and it is in such things that we seem to get at his real thoughts4 ,in a set essay on ,atheism1 a man of his worldly wisdom1 and un-heroic temper1 was sure to kneel at the regular altars4 ,the single query ,why should they trouble themselves8 explains it all4 ,,christianity ,,and ,,slavery4 99 99 ,christianity and ,slavery4 ,no4 #ah of ,oxford ,house ,papers4 ,by ,h4 ,henley ,henson1 ,b4,a41 ,head of the ,oxford ,house in ,bethnal ,green4 ,london3 ,rivingtons4 ,some time ago ,i delivered a lecture in the ,london ,hall of ,science on ,christianity and ,slavery4 ,among my critics there was one gentleman1 and the circumstance was so noteworthy that my friend the chairman expressed a wish1 which ,i cordially echoed1 that we might have the pleasure of hearing him again4 ,a few days ago a pamphlet reached me on the subject of that lecture1 written by my friendly opponent1 who turns out to be the head of the ,oxford ,house in ,bethnal ,green4 ,mr4 ,henson sends me the pamphlet himself with his compliments1 and ,i have read it carefully4 ,indeed1 ,i have marked it in dozens of places where his statements strike me as inaccurate and his arguments as fallacious2 and1 on the whole1 ,i think it best to give him a set answer in this journal4 ,mr4 ,henson's paper is not1 in my opinion1 a very forcible one on the intellectual side4 ,but perhaps that is1 in a certain sense1 one of its merits2 for the ,christian case in this dispute is so bad that sentiment does it more service than logic4 ,i must1 however1 allow that ,mr4 ,henson is a courteous disputant1 and ,i hope ,i shall reciprocate his good feeling4 ,when he opposed me at the ,hall of ,science1 he admits that ,i treated him with a courtesy which relieves controversy of its worst aspects4 ,i trust he will be equally satisfied with my rejoinder4 ,whenever ,i may have occasion to express myself strongly1 ,i shall simply be in earnest about the theme1 without the least intention of being discourteous4 ,i mean no offence1 and ,i hope ,i shall give none4 ,mr4 ,henson says he is dealing in a brief compass with a big subject1 but the outlines are clear1 and may be perceived very readily by any honest man of moderate intelligence4 ,well1 whether it is that ,i am not an honest man1 or that ,i possess immoderate intelligence1 ,i certainly do not see the outlines of the subject as ,mr4 ,henson sees them4 ,the relation of ,christianity to slavery is an historical question1 and ,mr4 ,henson treats it as though it were one of dialectics4 ,however1 ,i suppose ,i had better follow him1 and show that he is wrong even on his own ground4 ,mr4 ,henson undertakes to prove three things4 7#a7 ,that slavery is flatly opposed to the teaching of the ,new ,testament4 7#b7 ,that the abolition of slavery in ,europe was mainly owing to ,christianity4 7#c7 ,that at this present time ,christianity is steadily working against slavery all over the world4 ,before ,i discuss the first proposition ,i must ask why the ,old ,testament is left out of account4 ,mr4 ,henson relegates it to a footnote1 and there he declares once for all1 that the ,mosaic ,law has nothing to do with the question4 ,but ,mr4 ,henson's once for all has not the force of a ,papal decree4 ,it is simply a bit of rhetorical emphasis1 like a flourish to a signature4 ,does he mean to say that the author of the ,mosaic ,law was not the same ,god who speaks to us in the ,new ,testament8 ,if it was the same ,god1 the same1 yesterday1 to-day1 and for ever1 the ,mosaic ,law has very much to do with the question2 unless--and this is a vital point--,jesus distinctly abrogates it in any respect4 ,he did distinctly abrogate the lex talionis1 an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth2 but he left the laws of slavery exactly as he found them1 and in this he was followed by ,peter and ,paul1 and by all the ,fathers of the ,church4 ,mr4 ,henson tells us that the ,jews were a barbarous race1 and slavery was necessary to that stage of development1 and that the ,law of ,moses moderated the worst features of slavery4 ,the second statement cannot be discussed1 for we do not know what was the condition of slavery among the ,jews before the so-called ,mosaic ,law 7centuries after ,moses7 came into vogue4 ,the first statement1 however1 is perfectly true2 the ,jews were barbarous1 and slavery among them was inevitable4 ,but that is speaking humanly4 ,what is the use of ,god's interference if he does not make people wiser and better8 ,why did he lay down slavery laws without hinting that they were provisional8 ,why did he so express himself as to enable ,christian divines and whole ,churches to justify slavery from the ,bible long after it had died out of the internal polity of civilised states8 ,surely ,god might have given less time to ,aaron's vestments and the paraphernalia of his own ,tabernacle1 and devoted some of his infinite leisure to teaching the ,jews that property in human flesh and blood is immoral4 ,instead of that he actually told them1 not only how to buy foreigners 7,leviticus xxv4 #de1 #df71 but how to enslave their own brethren 7,exodus xxi4 #b-aa74 ,when ,jesus ,christ came from heaven to give mankind a new revelation he had a fine opportunity to correct the brutalities of the ,mosaic ,law4 ,yet ,mr4 ,henson allows that he did not actually forbid ,slavery in express terms1 and that he never said in so many words1 ,slavery is wrong4 ,but why not8 ,it will not do to say the time was not ripe1 for ,mr4 ,henson admits that in ,rome the fashionable philosophies1 especially that of the ,stoics1 branded ,slavery as an outrage against the natural ,equality of ,men4 ,surely ,jesus ,christ might have kept abreast of the ,stoics4 ,surely1 too1 as he did not mean to say anything more for at least two thousand years1 he might have gone in advance of the best teaching of the age1 so as to provide for the progress of future generations4 ,but1 says ,mr4 ,henson1 ,jesus ,christ laid down broad principles which took from ,slavery its bad features1 and tended1 by an unerring law to its abolition4 ,well1 the tendency was a remarkably slow one4 ,men still living can remember when ,slavery was abolished in the ,british dominions4 ,i can remember when it was abolished in the ,united ,states4 ,eighteen centuries of ,christian tendency were necessary to kill ,slavery6 ,surely the natural growth of civilisation might have done as much in that time1 though ,jesus ,christ had never lived and taught4 ,how civilisation did mitigate the horrors of ,slavery1 and was gradually but surely working towards its abolition1 may be seen in ,gibbon's second chapter4 ,this was under the great ,pagan emperors1 some of whom knew ,christianity and despised it4 ,slavery is cruel1 says ,mr4 ,henson1 while ,christianity teaches men to be kind and to love one another4 ,but teaching men to love one another1 even if ,christianity taught nothing else--which is far from the truth--is a very questionable expenditure of time and energy2 for how is love to be taught8 ,besides1 a master and a slave might be attached to each other--as was often the case--without either seeing that ,slavery was a violation of the law of love4 ,what was needed was the sentiment of ,justice4 ,that has broken the chains of the slave4 ,the ,stoics were on the right track after all1 while ,christianity lost itself in idle sentimentalism4 ,slavery denies the ,equality of ,men1 says ,mr4 ,henson1 while ,christianity asserts it strongly4 ,i regret ,i cannot agree with him4 ,certain amiable texts which he cites might easily be confronted with others of a very different character4 ,what did ,christ mean by promising that when he came into his kingdom his disciples should sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of ,israel8 ,how is this consistent with his saying1 call no man master8 ,what did ,paul mean by ordering unlimited obedience to the powers that be8 ,what did he and ,peter mean by telling slaves to obey their owners8 ,is all this consistent with the doctrine of human equality8 ,mr4 ,henson simply reads into certain ,new ,testament utterances what was never in the speakers' minds4 ,his abstract argument is indeed perilous in regard to such composite writings as the ,gospels and the ,epistles4 ,let it be assumed1 for argument's sake1 that ,christianity does somewhere assert the ,equality of ,men4 ,then it condemns ,royalty as well as ,slavery2 yet ,peter says1 ,fear ,god and honor the ,king4 ,i leave ,mr4 ,henson to extricate himself from this dilemma4 ,i repeat that all this dialectic is a kind of subterfuge2 at least it is an evasion4 ,the great fact remains that ,jesus ,christ never breathed a whisper against slavery when he had the opportunity4 ,yet he could denounce what he disapproved in the most vigorous fashion4 ,his objurgation of the ,scribes and ,pharisees is almost without a parallel4 ,surely he might have reserved a little of his boisterous abuse for an institution which was infinitely more harmful than the whole crowd of his rivals4 ,those who opposed him were overwhelmed with vituperation1 but not once did he censure those who held millions in cruel bondage1 turning men into mere beasts of burden1 and women1 if they happened to be beautiful1 into the most wretched victims of lust4 ,let us now turn to ,paul1 the great apostle whose teaching has had more influence on the faith and practice of ,christendom than that of ,jesus himself4 ,mr4 ,henson says that the ,apostle does not say one word for or against slavery as such4 ,again ,i regret to differ4 ,paul never said a word against slavery1 but he said many words that sanctioned it by implication4 ,he tells slaves 7servants in the ,authorised ,version7 to count their owners worthy of all honor 7#a ,tim4 vi4 #a72 to be obedient unto them1 with fear and trembling1 as unto ,christ 7,ephesians vi4 #e72 and to please them in all things 7,titus ii4 #i74 ,i need not discuss whether servants means slaves and masters owners1 for ,mr4 ,henson admits that such is their meaning4 ,here then ,paul is1 if ,jesus was not1 brought face to face with slavery1 and he does not even suggest that the institution is wrong4 ,he tells slaves to obey their owners as they obey ,christ2 and1 on the other hand1 he bids owners to forbear threatening their slaves4 ,but so much might have been said by ,cicero and ,pliny2 the former of whom1 as ,lecky says1 wrote many letters to his slave ,tiro in terms of sincere and delicate friendship2 while the latter poured out his deep sorrow for the death of some of his slaves1 and endeavored to console himself with the thought that as he had emancipated them before their death1 they had at least died free men4 ,paul does indeed say that both bond and free are all one in ,christ4 ,but ,louis the ,fourteenth would have admitted that kinship between himself and the meanest serf in ,france1 ,one in ,christ is a spiritual idea1 and has relation to a future life1 in which earthly distinctions would naturally cease4 ,mr4 ,henson is obliged to face the story of ,onesimus1 the runaway slave1 whom ,paul deliberately sent back to his master1 ,philemon4 ,the ,apostle's position1 he says1 is practically this2 whereupon he puts into ,paul's mouth words of his own invention4 ,i do not deny his right to use this literary artifice1 but ,i decline to let it impose on my own understanding4 ,there is a certain pathetic tenderness in ,paul's letter to ,philemon if we suppose that he took the institution of ,slavery for granted1 but it vanishes if we suppose that he felt the institution to be wrong4 ,professor ,newman justly remarks that ,onesimus1 in the very act of taking to flight1 showed that he had been submitting to servitude against his will1 and that the house of his owner had previously been a prison to him4 ,nor do ,i see any escape from the same writer's conclusion that1 although ,paul besought ,philemon to treat ,onesimus as a brother1 this very recommendation1 full of affection as it is1 virtually recognises the moral rights of ,philemon to the services of his slave4 ,mr4 ,benson apparently feels this himself4 ,christian tradition1 he says1 declares that ,philemon at once set ,onesimus free4 ,but tradition can hardly be cited as a fact4 ,mr4 ,henson says it is more than probable1 or1 in other words1 certain2 yet he cannot expect me to follow him in his illogical leap4 ,nor1 indeed1 is the traditional liberation of ,onesimus of much importance to the argument4 ,not ,philemon's but ,paul's views are in dispute2 and if ,philemon did liberate ,onesimus--which is a pure assumption--,paul certainly did not advise him to do anything of the kind4 ,paul's epistle to ,philemon does not1 from its very-nature1 seem intended for publication4 ,why then1 in the ease of private correspondence1 did he not hint that ,slavery was only tolerated for the time and would eventually cease8 ,instead of that he sent back ,onesimus to a servitude from which he had fled4 ,how unlike ,theodore ,parker writing his discourse1 with a runaway slave in the back room1 and a revolver on his desk6 ,how unlike ,walt ,whitman watching the slumber of another fugitive1 with one hand on his trusty rifle6 ,mr4 ,henson lives after the abolition of ,slavery1 and as he clings to his ,bible as ,god's ,word he reads into it the morality of a later age4 ,let him consult the writings of ,christian divines on the subject1 and he will see that they have almost invariably justified ,slavery from scripture4 ,ignatius 7who is said to have seen ,jesus71 ,st4 ,cyprian1 ,pope ,gregory the ,great1 ,st4 ,basil1 ,tertullian1 ,st4 ,isidore1 ,st4 ,augustine1 ,st4 ,bernard1 ,st4 ,thomas ,aquinas1 and ,bossuet1 all taught that ,slavery is a divine institution4 ,during all the centuries from ,ignatius to ,bossuet1 what eminent ,christian ever denounced ,slavery as wicked8 ,even the ,christian jurisprudists of the eighteenth century defended negro slavery1 which it was reserved for the sceptical ,montesquieu and the arch-heretic ,voltaire to condemn4 ,montesquieu's ironical chapter on the subject is worthy of ,molliere1 and ,voltaire's is an honor to humanity4 ,he called ,slavery the degrada of the species2 and1 in answer to ,puffendorff1 who claimed that slavery had been established by the free consent of the opposing parties1 he exclaimed1 ,i will believe ,puffendorff1 when he shows me the original contract4 ,negro slavery was defended in ,america by direct appeal to the ,bible4 ,mr4 ,henson seeks to lessen the force of this damning fact by referring to these defenders of slavery as certain clergymen and other ,christians1 and as ignorant and unworthy members of the ,church4 ,certain clergymen6 ,why1 the clergy defended slavery almost to a man1 and in the ,northern ,states they were even more bigoted than in the ,south4 ,mrs4 ,beecher ,stowe said that the ,church was so familiarly quoted as being on the side of ,slavery1 that ,statesmen on both sides of the question have laid that down as a settled fact4 ,theodore ,parker said that if the whole ,american ,church had dropped through the continent and disappeared altogether1 the anti-,slavery cause would have been further on4 ,he pointed out that no ,church ever issued a single tract1 among all its thousands1 against property in human flesh and blood2 and that #hj1jjj slaves were owned by ,presbyterians1 #bbe1jjj by ,baptists1 and #bej1jjj by ,methodists4 ,wilberforce himself declared that the ,american ,episcopal ,church raises no voice against the predominant evil2 she palliates it in theory1 and in practice she shares in it4 ,the mildest and most conscientious of the bishops of the ,south are slaveholders themselves4 ,the ,harmony ,presbytery of ,south ,carolina deliberately resolved that ,slavery was justified by ,holy ,writ4 ,the ,methodist ,episcopal ,church decided in #ahdj against allowing any colored persons to give testimony against white persons4 ,the ,college ,church of the ,union ,theological ,seminary1 ,prince ,edward ,county1 was endowed with slaves1 who were hired out to the highest bidder for the pastor's salary4 ,lastly1 ,professor ,moses ,stuart1 of ,andover1 who is accounted the greatest ,american theologian since ,jonathan ,edwards1 declared that ,the precepts of the ,new ,testament respecting the demeanor of slaves and their masters beyond all question recognise the existence of ,slavery4 ,so much for ,mr4 ,henson's certain clergymen4 ,mr4 ,henson also argues that the ,northern ,states were the most distinctly ,christian1 and that they were opposed to ,slavery4 ,history belies this statement ,harriet ,martineau1 when she visited ,america and stood on the anti-slavery platform1 says she was in danger of her life in the ,north while scarcely molested in the ,south4 ,when ,william ,lloyd ,garrison delivered his first anti-slavery lecture in ,boston1 the classic home of ,american orthodoxy1 every ,catholic and ,protestant church was closed against him1 and he was obliged to accept the use of ,julian ,hall from ,abner ,kneeland1 an infidel who had been prosecuted for blasphemy4 ,it was not the true spirit of ,christianity which abolished ,slavery in the ,united ,states1 but the true spirit of ,humanity1 which inspired some ,christians and more ,freethinkers to vindicate the natural rights of men of all colors4 ,even in the end1 ,slavery was not terminated by the vote of the ,churches2 it was abolished by ,lincoln as a strategic act in the midst of a civil war1 precisely as was predicted by ,thomas ,paine1 who not only hated ,slavery while his ,christian defamers lived by it1 but was more sagacious in his political forecast than all the orthodox statesmen of his age4 ,a movement headed by ,clarkson and ,wilberforce1 says ,mr4 ,henson1 could be no other than ,christian1 ,but why8 ,were not the slave-owners also ,christians8 ,was not the strength of ,freethinkers1 from ,jeremy ,bentham downwards1 given to the abolition movement8 ,were not the ,freethinkers all on one side1 while the ,christians were divided8 ,and why did the abolition movement in ,england wait until new ideas had leavened the public mind8 ,had it been purely ,christian1 would it not have triumphed long before8 ,the fact is there was plenty of ,christianity during the preceding thousand years1 but the sceptical and humanitarian work of the eighteenth century was necessary before there could be any general revolt against injustice and oppression4 ,no perversion of history can alter the fact that1 in the words of ,professor ,newman1 the first public act against ,slavery came from republican ,france1 in the madness of atheistic enthusiasm4 ,mr4 ,henson sees this clearly himself1 and therefore he pretends that all the best ideas of the ,french ,revolution were borrowed from ,christianity4 ,shades of ,voltaire and ,diderot1 of ,mirabeau and ,danton1 listen to this apologist of the faith you despised6 ,voltaire's face is wreathed with ineffable irony1 ,diderot contemplates the speaker as a new species for a psychological monograph1 ,mirabeau flings back his leonine head with a swirl of the black mane and a glare of the great eyes1 and ,danton roars a titanic laugh that shakes the very roof of ,hades4 ,now let us turn to the old indigenous ,slavery of ,europe4 ,mr4 ,henson appeals to the witness of history1 and he shall have it4 ,he undertakes to prove ,that among the various causes which tended to assuage the hardship and threaten the permanence of ,slavery1 the most powerful1 the most active1 and most successful was ,christianity2 also ,that when the barbarian conquests re-established slavery in a new form1 the ,church exerted all her energies on the side of freedom4 ,that ,christianity threatened the permanence of ,slavery is1 of course1 purely a matter of opinion4 ,mr4 ,henson takes one view1 ,i have given reasons for another1 and the reader must judge between us4 ,that it softened the rigors of ,slavery is a very questionable statement4 ,when ,mr4 ,henson says that ,roman ,slavery was1 perhaps1 the most cruel and revolting kind of ,slavery1 he is guilty of historical confusion4 ,roman ,slavery lasted for very many centuries4 ,in the early ages it was brutal enough1 but under the great emperors1 and especially the ,antonines1 it was far more merciful than negro ,slavery was in ,christian ,america4 ,slaves were protected by law2 the power of putting them to death was taken from the masters and entrusted to the magistrates2 and1 as ,gibbon says1 ,upon a just complaint of intolerable treatment1 the injured slave either obtained his deliverance or a less cruel master4 ,compare this with the condition of serfs under the ,christian feudal system1 when1 in ,mr4 ,henson's own language1 the serf was tied to the soil1 bought and sold with it1 the chattel of his master1 who could overwork1 beat1 and even kill him at will4 ,the phrase re-established ,slavery in a new form1 seems to imply that ,christianity had abolished ,slavery before the barbaric conquests4 ,but it had done nothing of the kind4 ,nay1 as a matter of fact1 ,constantine and his successors drew a sharper line than ever between slaves and freemen4 ,constantine 7the first ,christian emperor7 actually decreed death against any freewoman who should marry a slave1 while the slave himself was to be burnt alive6 ,much of what ,mr4 ,henson says about the manumission of slaves by some of the mediaeval clergy is unquestionably true4 ,but who doubts that1 during a thousand years1 a humane and even a noble heart often beat under a priest's cassock8 ,these manumissions1 however1 were of ,christian slaves4 ,the ,pagan slaves--such as the ,sclavonians1 from whom the word slave is derived--were considered to have no claims at all4 ,surely the liberation of fellow ,christians might spring from proselyte zeal4 ,mohammedans also1 as ,professor ,newman says1 have a conscience against enslaving ,mohammedans1 and generally bestow freedom on a slave as soon as he adopts their religion4 ,manumission of slaves was common among humane owners under the ,roman ,empire2 indeed ,gibbon observes that the law had to guard against the swamping of free citizens by the sudden inrush of a mean and promiscuous multitude4 ,clerical manumission of slaves in mediaeval times was therefore no novelty4 ,on the other hand1 bishops held slaves like kings and nobles4 ,the ,abbey of ,st4 ,germain de ,pres1 for instance1 owned #hj1jjj slaves1 and the ,abbey of ,st4 ,martin de ,tours #bj1jjj4 ,the monks1 who according to ,mr4 ,henson1 did so much to extinguish slavery1 owned multitudes of these servile creatures4 ,the acts of a few humane and noble spirits are no test of the effects of a system4 ,the decisions of ,church ,councils are a much better criterion4 ,they show the influence of principles1 when personal equation is eliminated4 ,turning to these ,councils1 then1 what do we find8 ,why that from the ,council of ,laodicea to the ,lateran ,council 7#abae7--that is1 for eight hundred years--the ,church sanctioned ,slavery again and again4 ,slaves and their owners might be one in ,christ1 but the ,church taught them to keep their distance on earth4 ,civilisation1 not ,christianity1 gradually extinguished ,slavery in ,europe4 ,foreign slavery1 such as that in our ,west ,indian possessions1 is an artificial thing1 and may be abolished by the stroke of a pen4 ,but domestic slavery has to die a natural death4 ,the progress of education and refinement1 and the growth of the sentiment of justice1 help to extinguish it2 but behind these there is an economical law which is no less potent4 ,slave labor is only consistent with a low industrial life2 and thus1 as civilisation expands1 slavery fades into serfdom1 and serfdom into wage-service1 as naturally as the darkness of night melts into the morning twilight1 and the twilight into day4 ,mr4 ,henson throws in some not ineloquent remarks about the abolition by ,christianity of the gladiatorial shows at ,rome4 ,he himself has stood within the ruined ,colosseum and re-echoed ,byron's heroics4 ,mr4 ,henson even outdid ,byron1 for he looked up to the dome of ,st4 ,peter's1 where gleamed the ,cross of ,christ1 and rejoiced that ,he had triumphed at last4 ,if only ,mr4 ,foote had been there6 ,mr4 ,henson exclaims4 ,well1 ,gibbon was there before ,mr4 ,henson and before ,byron4 ,what he thought in the ,colosseum ,i know not1 but ,i know that the great project of ,the ,decline and ,fall of the ,roman ,empire took shape in his mind one eventful evening as he sat musing amidst the ruins of the ,capitol1 while the barefooted friars were singing vespers in the temple of ,jupiter4 ,yet ,i suppose ,gibbon's fifteenth chapter is scarcely to ,mr4 ,henson's taste4 ,had ,i been there with ,mr4 ,henson1 ,i too might have had my reflections1 and ,i might have thrown this ,freethought douche on his ,christian ardor4 ,yes1 the ,cross has triumphed4 ,there it gleams over the dome of ,st4 ,peter's1 the mightiest church in the world4 ,below it1 until the recent subversion of the ,pope's temporal power1 walked the most ignorant1 beggarly and criminal population in ,europe4 ,what are these to the men who built up the glory of ancient ,rome8 ,what is their city to the magnificent city of old1 among whose ruins they walk like pigmies amid the relics of giants8 ,this time-eaten1 weather-beaten ,colosseum saw many a gladiator 'butchered to make a ,roman holiday4' ,but has not ,christian ,rome witnessed many a viler spectacle8 ,has it not seen hundreds of noble men burnt alive in the name of ,christ8 ,when ,rome was ,pagan1 thought was free4 ,gladiatorial shows satisfied the bestial craving in vulgar breasts1 but the philosophers and poets were unfettered1 and the intellect of the few was gradually achieving the redemption of the many4 ,when ,rome was ,christian1 she introduced a new slavery4 ,thought was scourged and chained1 while the cruel instincts of the multitude were gratified with exhibitions of suffering1 compared with which the bloodiest arena was tame and insipid4 ,your ,christian ,rome1 in the superb metaphor of ,hobbes1 was but the ghost of ,pagan ,rome1 sitting throned and crowned on the grave thereof2 nay1 a ghoul1 feeding not on the dead limbs of men1 but on their living hearts and brains4 ,look at your ,cross6 ,before ,christ appeared it was the symbol of life2 since it has been the symbol of misery and humiliation2 and in the name of your ,crucified ,one the people have been crucified between the spiritual and temporal thieves4 ,but happily your ,cross has had its day4 ,st4 ,peter's may yet crumble before the ,colosseum1 and the statue of a ,bruno may outlast the walls of the ,vatican4 ,,christ ,,up ,,to ,,date4 ,this is an age of weak conviction and strong pretence4 ,christianity is perishing of intellectual atrophy4 ,its scriptures and its dogmas are falling into more and more discredit4 ,mr4 ,gladstone may defend the ,bible with passionate devotion and lofty ignorance1 but better informed ,christians see that the ,old ,testament is doomed4 ,they say it must be read in a new light4 ,its science and history must be regarded as merely human2 nay1 its very morality savors of the barbarism of the ,jews4 ,only its best ethical teaching1 and its upward aspirations1 are to be regarded as the workings or ,god in the ,jewish mind4 ,nor is this all4 ,there is a revolt against the supernaturalism of the ,new ,testament4 ,christians like ,dr4 ,abbott explain away the ,resurrection as no physical fact1 but a spiritual conception4 ,the creed of ,christendom is gradually melting away like a northern iceberg floating into southern seas4 ,pinnacle after pinnacle of glittering dogma1 loosens1 falls1 and sinks for ever4 ,only the central block remains intact1 and we are assured it will never change4 ,the storms of controversy will never rend it2 the rays of the sun of science will never make an impression on its marble firmness4 ,but ,freethinkers smile at this cheap boast4 ,they know the thaw will continue until the last fragment has melted into the infinite ocean4 ,the central1 indissoluble part of ,christianity is ,jesus ,christ4 ,he will never fade1 we are told4 ,he is not for an age1 but for all time4 ,when all the dogmas of the ,churches have perished1 the divine figure of ,christ will survive1 and flourish in immortal beauty4 ,all the world will yet worship him4 ,christ will be the universal passport in the depths of ,china1 in the wilds of ,africa1 on the ,tartar steppes1 and among the haunted ruins of old ,asia1 as well as in the present ,christendom of ,europe and ,america4 ,this prophecy is very pretty1 but it lacks precision4 ,the prophets forget to tell us whether the divine figure of ,christ is to be human or supernatural2 the grandest of men or the smallest of gods4 ,if he be indeed a god1 they are playing strange tricks with his works and sayings2 while1 if he be indeed a mere man1 they forget to explain how it is likely that the human race will ever look back to a single dead ,jew as the moral microcosm1 the consummate spiritual flower of humanity1 the beacon of ideal life to every generation of voyagers on the sea of time4 ,logic1 however1 must not be expected of ,christians1 at least in an age of dissolving views like the present4 ,they will go on quoting ,kenan's prize-essay panegyric on ,christ1 without any reference to the rest of his ,vie de ,jesus4 ,they will persist in quoting ,mill's farfetched eulogy1 without referring to other passages in the essay ,on ,liberty4 ,but this is not all1 nor even the worst4 ,the sentimentalism of popular and advanced ,christianity is turning ,jesus ,christ into a hero of romance4 ,he is taking the place of ,king ,arthur1 of blameless memory2 and we shall soon see the ,apostles take the place of the ,knights of the ,round ,table4 ,rancid orators and flatulent poets are gathering to the festival ,jesus ,christ will make a fine speech for the one set1 and fine copy for the other4 ,the professional biographers will cut in for a share in the spoil1 and the brains of impudence will be ransacked to eke out the stories of ,matthew1 ,mark1 ,luke1 and ,john4 ,lives of ,christ are becoming quite fashionable4 ,fleetwood's honest but prosaic book had fallen into-neglect4 ,the very maulers of old bookstalls thrust out their tongues at at4 ,the still older book of ,jeremy ,taylor--a work of real genius and golden eloquence--was too stiff reading for an idle generation4 ,just in the nick of time the ,english translation of ,kenan appeared4 ,the first edition was less scientific than the thirteenth4 ,kenan had only just broken away from the ,catholic ,church2 he was also under the influence of his visit to ,palestine2 his ,vie de ,jesus was therefore a sentimental ,parisian romance2 the smell of patchouli was on every page4 ,yet here and there the quick reader caught the laugh of ,voltaire4 ,kenan's book set a new vogue4 ,the severe1 critical ,strauss was laid aside in ,england1 and the ,savior's life was cultivated on new principles4 ,by and bye the writers and publishers found there was money in it4 ,jesus ,christ could be made to pay4 ,dr4 ,farrar made thousands out of his trashy volumes1 and his publishers netted a fortune4 ,mr4 ,haweis has done the same trick with four volumes4 ,ward ,beecher spent his last days on a ,life of ,christ4 ,talmage is occupied on the same labor of love--and profit4 ,even the ,catholic ,church is not behindhand4 ,pere ,didon has put forth his ,life of ,christ in two fat volumes as an antidote to the poison of ,kenan4 ,and the end is not yet4 ,nevertheless we see the beginning of the end4 ,it was bound to come4 ,after the prose writers prance the versifiers1 and ,sir ,edward ,arnold is first in the motley procession4 ,sir ,edward ,arnold's ,light of ,asia was a fairly good piece of work4 ,he had caught the trick of ,tennysonian blank-verse1 and he put some of the best features of ,buddhism before the ,english public in a manner that commanded attention4 ,standing aloof from ,buddhism himself1 though sympathising with it1 he was able to keep an impartial attitude4 ,further1 he stuck to the ,buddhist stories as he found them4 ,all the license he took was that of selection and versification4 ,but his recent ,light of the ,world is another matter4 ,he dishes up ,jesus ,christ in it1 and ,pontius ,pilate and ,mary ,magdalene and the ,wise ,men of the ,east1 as freely as ,tennyson dishes up ,arthur and ,launcelot and ,guinevere and the rest of that famous company4 ,his style1 too1 is ,tennysonian1 to a certain degree4 ,it is something like the ,master's on its general level1 but we miss the flashing felicities1 the exquisite sentence or image that makes us breathless with sudden pleasure4 ,sir ,edward's style has always a smack of the ,daily ,telegraph4 ,he is high-flown in expressing even small ideas1 or in describing trivialities4 ,like a true ,christian and courtier1 ,sir ,edwin ,arnold dedicates his book to the ,queen's ,most ,excellent ,majesty4 ,those who fear ,god must also honor the king2 and did not ,jesus himself tell us to render unto ,caesar the things that be ,caesar's1 as well as unto ,god the things that be ,god's8 ,we presume ,sir ,edwin's dedication is with permission4 ,we also presume it will help the sale and promote his chance of the poet-laureateship4 ,after the dedication comes the ,proeme of eight couplets1 occupying a separate page1 faced and backed with virgin paper4 ,the sovereign voice spake1 once more1 in mine ear3 ,write1 now1 a song unstained by any tear6 ,what shall ,i write8 ,i said3 the voice replied3 ,write what we tell thee of the crucified6 ,how shall ,i write1 ,i said1 who am not meet ,one word of that sweet speaking to repeat8 ,it shall be given unto thee6 ,do this thing6 ,answered the voice3 ,wash thy lips clean1 and sing6 ,this proeme is1 to say the least of it1 peculiar4 ,the sovereign voice can hardly be the ,queen's4 ,it must be ,god ,almighty's4 ,sir ,edwin ,arnold is therefore inspired4 ,he writes as it is given unto him4 ,and before he begins1 by divine direction1 he washes his lips clean2 though he omits to tell us how he did it1 whether with a flannel or a pocket-handkerchief4 ,it is well to know that ,sir ,edwin is inspired4 ,carnal criticism is thus disarmed and questions become blasphemous4 ,but if ,sir ,edwin had not been inspired we should have offered certain remarks and put certain queries4 ,for instance1 how does he know that the star of the ,nativity was a strange white star8 ,may it not have been red1 yellow1 blue1 or green--especially green8 ,how did he discover that the ,magi1 or priests of the ,zoroastrian religion1 were really ,buddhists and came from ,india8 ,had ,sir ,edwin less communication with the sovereign voice1 we should have imagined that the ,magi were transformed into ,buddhists for the sake of convenience2 ,sir ,edwin knowing comparatively little of the ,persic faith1 but a good deal of the ,indian1 and possessing a natural itch to display his own learning4 ,further we should have asked him how he discovered that by three years after the ,crucifixion the ,christian faith had spread to ,athens and ,rome4 ,according to all previous records the statement is simply preposterous4 ,but the sovereign voice has spoken through ,sir ,edwin ,arnold1 and thrown quite a fresh light on the earliest history of ,christianity4 ,then1 again1 we should have been curious to know why ,sir ,edwin accepted the legend of ,mary ,magdalene being the tenant of ,magdal ,tower1 a place that never existed 7as we thought7 but in the geography of faith4 ,humanly speaking1 it seemed probable that the lady's name had relation to head-dressing4 ,but we live and learn1 and in the course of time the sovereign voice settles all these things4 ,there is no clear record in the gospels of ,jesus ,christ's visit to ,tyre1 but ,sir ,edwin assures us he spent a few hours there--perhaps on an excursion--and we bow to the sovereign voice4 ,nor is there a scholar in ,christendom who regards the pretended letter from ,publius ,lentulus to the ,roman ,senate as anything but a puerile forgery4 ,yet ,sir ,edwin mentions it in a footnote1 apparently with respect2 indeed1 he founds upon it his personal description of ,jesus4 ,once again1 scholarship must bow to the sovereign voice4 ,by the way1 however1 the ,lentulus epistle describes the hair of ,jesus as wine-color4 ,this is adopted by ,sir ,edwin1 who construes is as hazel1 though--barring inspiration and the sovereign voice--it might have meant the color which is sometimes politely1 if not accurately1 called auburn4 ,anyhow1 the ancients were acquainted with various colored wines1 and it is satisfactory to know the precise hue intended by the gentleman who wrote the epistle of ,lentulus4 ,sir ,edwin represents ,jesus as a ,nazarite4 ,now1 the ,nazarites eschewed scissors and razors1 but ,sir ,edwin says they parted their hair in the middle1 which is another tip from the sovereign voice4 ,sir ,edwin flashes his inspiration on another point4 ,critics are satisfied that the ,emperor ,julian1 the last of the ,pagans1 did not cry1 ,vicisti ,galilae6 ,mr4 ,swinburne1 however1 as a merely carnal poet1 employed the legend in his splendid ,proserpina1 using it with superb effect in the young ,pagan's retort1 ,thou hast conquered1 ,o pale ,galilean6--thy dead shall go down to thee dead4 ,but now the sovereign voice speaks through ,sir ,edwin ,arnold1 and the legend must stand as history4 ,under the guidance of the sovereign voice ,sir ,edwin is able to enlighten us on the physiology of angels4 ,these creatures are usually painted with wings4 ,but this is a mistake4 ,they are wingless2 for where these live there blows no wind1 ,nor aught spreads1 gross as air1 nor any kind ,of substance1 whereby spirits' march is stopped4 ,sir ,edwin knows all about them4 ,angels do not need wings1 and have none1 moving apparently in vacuo4 ,but what havoc this truth would make in the picture galleries of ,europe4 ,raphael himself was mistaken4 ,he took angels to be a species of fowl1 whereas they are--well1 ,sir ,edwin does not tell us4 ,he tells us what they are not4 ,what they are is1 as usual1 left to the fancy of the reader1 who pays his money and takes his choice4 ,only he must beware of wings4 ,positively the most gratifying thing in ,sir ,edwin's book is this4 ,under the influence of the sovereign voice he is able to tell us how ,god ,almighty likes to be designated4 ,perhaps it is better not to name him at all1 but if we must name him--and it seems hard to refrain from some term or other--we should call him ,eloi4 ,that is what ,jesus called him1 and we see no reason why it should not become fashionable4 ,sir ,edwin ,arnold's method of dishing up ,jesus ,christ is certainly artful4 ,it does credit to his ,daily ,telegraph training4 ,everybody knows that one of the chief difficulties of novelists is to make their wonderful heroes act and talk4 ,sir ,edwin does not jump this difficulty4 ,he shirks it4 ,he takes up the story of ,jesus after his death1 resurrection1 and ascension4 ,three years are allowed to elapse1 to give the risen ,nazarene time to get clean away1 and then ,sir ,edwin begins business4 ,after a preliminary section1 in1 which the three ,magi are brought upon the scene1 the body of the poem opens with ,mary ,magdalene1 who does nearly all the talking to the very end4 ,indeed the poem should have been called after her1 for it is really ,mary ,magdalene on ,jesus ,christ4 ,the lady gives her reminiscences--that is1 ,sir ,edwin gives them for her4 ,by this method he is able to omit all mention of the cruder features of the ,gospel story4 ,when ,jesus played the devil with the pigs1 for instance1 ,mary ,magdalene was absent1 and the incident forms no part of her narrative4 ,apparently1 too1 she was absent1 or deaf1 or thinking of something else1 when he preached hell-fire and believe or be damned4 ,and as this pretty method of ,mary-,arnold selection is pursued throughout1 it will easily be seen that the poem is an arbitrary piece of highly-colored fiction1 in which ,jesus ,christ is made to serve the author's purposes4 ,in short it is ,christ ,up to ,date4 ,sir ,edwin's second piece of strategy is still more transparent4 ,mary ,magdalene is represented as several ladies rolled into one1 and her house is a perfect museum of relics4 ,she is ,mary ,magdalene1 ,mary of ,bethany1 the woman who anointed ,christ's feet1 and the ,mary who helped to embalm him4 ,she keeps the famous alabaster box in her cabinet2 she boards and lodges the young woman that ,jesus raised from the dead2 and her brother ,lazarus is also on show when required4 ,lazarus1 too1 is many single gentlemen rolled into one4 ,he is the resurrected man1 the young man who was told to sell his property and give the proceeds to the poor1 and the young man who fled stark naked at the arrest of ,jesus1 leaving his clothes in the hands of his pursuers4 ,this is a very convenient plan4 ,it is history made easy1 or the art of poetical bam-boozling4 ,mary ,magdalene has a long talk with ,pontius ,pilate1 who is haunted by the memory of the pale ,galilean4 ,afterwards she has several days' talk with an old ,indian1 who turns out to be the sole survivor of those three wise men from the ,east1 come to find out all about the ,king of the ,jews4 ,his two colleagues had died without satisfying their curiosity4 ,he himself did without news for thirty-six years1 and only went back to ,palestine after the ,king of the ,jews had ended his career2 the visit1 of course1 being timed to suit ,sir ,edwin ,arnold's convenience4 ,throughout the poem ,mary ,magdalene talks4 ,arnoldese4 ,here is a typical passage4 ,it may be there shall come in after days--,when this ,good ,spell is spread--some later scribes1 ,some far-off ,pharisees1 will take ,his law1--,written with ,love's light fingers on the heart1 ,not stamped on stone 'mid glare of lightning-fork--,will take1 and make its code incorporate2 ,and from its grace write grim phylacteries ,to deck the head of dressed ,authority2 ,and from its golden mysteries forge keys ,to jingle in the belt of pious pride4 ,can anyone imagine the seven-devilled ,mary ,magdalene conversing in this way8 ,considered in the light of its title this poem is a mistake and a monstrous failure4 ,it is also labored and full of fine writing4 ,not only are the ,gospel story and the teachings of ,jesus played fast and loose with1 but the simplest things are narrated in grandiose language1 with a perfect glut of fanciful imagery1 fetched in not to illustrate but to adorn4 ,here and there1 however1 the language of ,jesus is paraphrased and damnably spoiled4 ,what reader of the ,gospes does not remember the exquisite ,english in which our translators have rendered the lament over ,jerusalem8 ,sir ,edwin parodies it as follows3-- ,how oft ,i would have gathered all thy children in ,as a hen clucks her chickens to her wings4 ,surely this is perfectly ridiculous4 ,the collecting and sheltering are put into the background by that dreadful cluck1 and the reader is forced to imagine ,jesus as a clucking hen4 ,on the whole1 the ,gospel writers were better artists than ,sir ,edwin ,arnold4 ,to conclude4 ,the poem contains plenty of fine writing and some good lines4 ,but as a whole it is neither fish1 flesh1 fowl1 nor good red herring4 ,as a picture of ,jesus ,christ it is a laborious absurdity2 as a marketable volume it may be successful2 and as a sample of ,sir ,edwin ,arnold's powers and accomplishments it will perhaps impose on half-educated sentimentalists4 ,,secularism ,,and ,,christianity4 ,a ,letter to the ,suffolk ,chronicle1 ,january #h1 #ahic4 ,sir1--,a friend has favored me with a copy of your last issue1 containing a long report of the ,rev4 ,w4 ,e4 ,blomfield's sermon at ,turret ,green ,chapel1 apparently in reply to my lecture on ,secularism superior to ,christianity4 ,mr4 ,blomfield declines to meet me in set debate1 on the ground that ,i am not a reverent ,freethinker1 which is indeed true2 but ,i observe that he does not really mind arguing with me1 only he prefers to do it where ,i cannot answer him4 ,mr4 ,blomfield finds the pulpit a safe place for what can hardly be called the courtesies of discussion4 ,he refers to certain remarks of mine 7,i presume7 as petty jokes and witticisms fit only for the tap-room of a fourth-rate tavern4 ,i will not dispute the description4 ,i defer to ,mr4 ,blomfield's superior knowledge of taverns and tap-rooms4 ,i notice ,mr4 ,blomfield's great parade of reverence4 ,i notice also that he speaks of ,freethought arguments or objections as short-sighted folly and sheer nonsense4 ,i judge1 therefore1 that reverence is not intended by ,mr4 ,blomfield to be reciprocal4 ,he claims a monopoly of it for his own opinions4 ,if he would only take the trouble to think about the matter1 it might occur to him that reverence is not1 properly speaking1 a preliminary but a result4 ,let us have inquiry and discussion first and reverence afterwards4 ,if ,i find anything to revere ,i shall not need ,mr4 ,blomfield's admonitions4 ,i revere truth1 goodness1 and heroism1 though ,i cannot revere what ,i regard as false or absurd4 ,reverence is often the demand that imposture makes on honesty and superstition on intelligence4 ,long faces are highly valued by the professors of mystery4 ,mr4 ,blomfield did not hear my lecture4 ,had he done so he would have found an answer to many of his questions4 ,it is all very well to bid the ,ipswich people to ,beware of false prophets1 but it is better to hear before condemning4 ,how much attention1 ,mr4 ,blomfield asks1 am ,i to give to this world and how much to another8 ,just as much as they deserve4 ,we know a great deal about this world1 and may learn more4 ,there are plenty of guesses about another world1 but no knowledge4 ,it is easy to ask ,is there a future life8 but we must die to find out4 ,meanwhile this life confronts us1 with its hard duties and legitimate pleasures4 ,it is our wisdom to make the best of it1 on the rational belief that1 if there should be a future life--which no one is in a position to affirm or deny--this must be the best preparation for it1 whether our future be decided by evolution or divine justice4 ,mr4 ,blomfield's arguments against ,utility as the test of conduct were answered in my lecture4 ,he says the principle is of difficult application4 ,so are all principles in intricate cases2 why else have ,christian divines written so many tons of casuistry8 ,in any case the ,utilitarian principle is the only one which is honored in practice4 ,other principles do very well on ,sunday1 but they are cast aside on ,monday4 ,the only question asked by statesmen1 county councillors1 ,school ,board members1 or other public representatives1 is ,will the proposal tend to benefit the people8 ,this can be debated and settled4 ,is it according to the will of ,god8 is a question to set people by the ears and raise an endless quarrel4 ,mr4 ,blomfield says the fear of ,god saved poor ,joseph1 yet ,i dare say ,potiphar's wife was a religious woman4 ,the will of ,god sanctions many crimes4 ,it tells the ,thug to kill travellers2 it told the ,inquisition to torture and burn heretics2 it told the ,catholics and ,protestants to rack and slaughter witches2 it told ,christians and ,mohammedans to fight each other on hundreds of bloody battle-fields2 it tells ,christians now to keep up laws against liberty of thought4 ,there never was a time when these things would not have been denounced by ,secularism as crimes against humanity4 ,motives to morality do not come from religion4 ,they come from our social sympathies4 ,preach to a tiger and he will eat you4 ,differ from a ,torquemada and he will burn you4 ,when one man wants another to help him1 he does not judge by the name of his sect1 but by the glance of his eye and the lines of his mouth4 ,some men are born philanthropists1 others are born criminals2 between these are multitudes in whom good and bad tendencies are variously mixed1 and who may be made better or worse by education and environment4 ,the late ,professor ,clifford was an ,atheist1 and one of the gentlest1 kindest1 and tenderest men that ever lived4 ,jay ,gould was a member of a ,christian church and sometimes went round with the plate4 ,he left twenty millions of money1 and not a penny to any charity or good cause4 ,lick1 the ,freethinker1 built and endowed the great observatory which is one of the glories of ,america4 ,i do not propose to follow ,mr4 ,blomfield in his excursion into ancient history4 ,i will only remark that if he thinks there was any lack of religion in the worst days of the ,pagan world he is very much mistaken4 ,coming to more modern times1 ,i decline to accept his present of priests and popes who were atheistic4 ,whatever they were is a domestic question for the ,christian ,church4 ,nor need ,i discuss ,luther's fresh vision of ,god4 ,he was a great man1 but a savage controversialist1 who called his opponents asses1 swine1 foxes1 geese1 and fools2 which1 ,i suppose1 is worthy of the tap-room of a first-rate tavern4 ,as to the awful collapse of unbelieving ,france ,i do not know when it occurred4 ,it was certainly not ,france that collapsed in the ,revolution4 ,the monarchy1 the aristocracy1 and the ,church collapsed2 but ,france inaugurated a new epoch of modern history4 ,with respect to prayer1 on which ,mr4 ,blomfield is very hazy1 ,i would like to discriminate between its objective value and its subjective benefits4 ,prayer as a means of inducing patience when you do not get what you ask for1 is outside my province4 ,i leave it to the clergy4 ,prayer as a means of obtaining what you require is my concern1 and ,i defy ,mr4 ,blomfield to prove a single case4 ,yet if prayer is not answered objectively1 the ,secular principle holds the field that science is man's only providence4 ,i am aware that ,christians employ doctors1 insure their houses1 and put lightning-conductors over their church steeples4 ,they leave as little to ,god as possible4 ,mr4 ,blomfield says this is quite right1 and ,i agree with him2 but ,i will give him1 if he cannot find them1 twenty texts in support of the honest old doctrine of prayer from the ,new ,testament4 ,mr4 ,blomfield tells me ,i do not understand the ,bible4 ,well1 as ,i am not exactly a fool1 the fault may be in the book4 ,why was it not made plainer8 ,why did ,god write it so that thousands of gentlemen get a fine living by explaining it--in all sorts of different ways8 ,i am reminded that the ,bible is not a handbook of physical science4 ,but did the ,church think so when it imprisoned ,galileo and made him swear that the earth did not go round the sun8 ,mr4 ,blomfield says that ,genesis gives an account of the origin of matter1 and of life1 and1 finally1 of man1 which science has not disproved1 on the admission of her most eminent sons4 ,the ,bible is a handbook of science after all then6 ,but what has science to do with the origin of matter8 ,the origin of life is still an open question4 ,the origin of man is not an open question4 ,genesis gives us a piece of mythology2 ,darwin gave us the truth4 ,among the eminent sons of science who is greater than he8 ,yet he has utterly exploded the ,adam and ,eve story4 ,darwin has left it on record that he rejected all revelation1 and that for nearly forty years of his life he was a disbeliever in ,christianity4 ,he did subscribe to a ,missionary ,society that was attempting to reform ,south ,american savages1 but he never subscribed a penny for the propagation of ,christianity in ,england4 ,i myself might think ,christianity good for savages4 ,if ,i understand ,mr4 ,blomfield rightly1 ,god was unable to teach the ,jews any faster than he did1 although he is both omnipotent and omniscient4 ,were ,i to imitate ,mr4 ,blomfield ,i should call this sheer nonsense4 ,in my lecture ,i stated that the ,old ,testament sanctioned slavery1 and that there was not a word against it in the ,new ,testament4 ,mr4 ,blomfield replies that the principles of the ,new ,testament sapped the foundations of that system4 ,but let us deal with one question at a time4 ,let the reverend gentleman indicate the text which ,i say does not exist4 ,as for the generous spirit of the ,old ,testament laws about slavery1 am ,i to find it in the texts allowing the ,jews to buy and sell the heathen1 to enslave their own countrymen1 to appropriate their children born in slavery1 and to beat them to death providing they did not expire within forty-eight hours8 ,my point is not that the ,jews held slaves4 ,that was common in ancient times4 ,i merely take objection to the doctrine that ,god laid down the slavery laws of the ,old ,testament4 ,with regard to ,jesus ,christ1 ,i am not aware that ,i have spoken of him as a trickster4 ,kenan1 however1 whom ,mr4 ,blomfield appears to admire1 suggests that the raising of ,lazarus was a performance arranged between him and ,jesus4 ,this is a line of criticism ,i have never attempted4 ,i do not regard the ,new ,testament miracles as actual occurrences1 but as the products of ,christian imagination4 ,mr4 ,blomfield is angry with me for saying that the books of the ,bible are mostly anonymous1 yet he declares that their anonymity is little against them4 ,i leave ,mr4 ,blomfield to settle the point of fact with ,christian writers like ,canon ,driver and ,professor ,bruce4 ,with respect to the ,new ,testament1 ,i am told that my statement is palpably incorrect4 ,but what are the facts8 ,with the exception of four of ,paul's epistles1 and perhaps the first of ,peter1 the whole of the ,new ,testament books are anonymous1 in the sense that they were not written--as we have them--by the men whose names they bear1 and that no one knows who did write them4 ,this is practically admitted by ,christian scholars1 and ,i am ready to maintain it in discussion with ,mr4 ,blomfield4 ,mr4 ,blomfield talks very freely1 in conclusion1 about the fruits of ,christianity and ,secularism4 ,he even condescends to personal comparisons1 which ,i warn him are dangerous4 ,he compares ,spurgeon with ,bradlaugh4 ,well1 the one swam with the stream1 and the other against it2 the one lived in the world's smile1 the other in the world's frown2 the one enjoyed every comfort and many luxuries1 the other was poor1 worried1 and harassed into his grave4 ,spurgeon was no doubt a good man1 but ,bradlaugh was the more heroic figure4 ,jesus ,christ said some good things4 ,among them was the injunction not to let one hand know the other's charity4 ,mr4 ,blomfield disregards this4 ,he challenges ,secularists to a comparison4 ,he asks where are our ,secularist hospitals4 ,we do not believe in such things4 ,sectarianism in charity is a ,christian vice4 ,on the other hand1 our party is comparatively small and poor1 and ,christian laws prevent our holding any trusts for ,secularism4 ,still1 we do attend to our own poor as well as we can4 ,our ,benevolent ,fund is sufficient for the relief of those who apply in distress4 ,we cannot build almshouses1 but ,atheist widows are not neglected4 ,on the whole1 however1 we are not so loud as the ,christians in praise of charity1 ,much of it is very degrading4 ,if we had justice in society there would be less for charity to do4 ,it is obvious that ,mr4 ,blomfield picks his fruits of ,christianity with great discrimination4 ,is it logical to select all you admire in ,christian countries and attribute it to ,christianity8 ,the same process would prove the excellence of ,buddhism1 ,brahminism1 and ,mohammedanism4 ,there are almshouses and hospitals in ,chrisendom1 but there are also workhouses1 gin-palaces1 brothels1 and prisons4 ,drunkenness1 prostitution1 and gambling1 are the special vices of ,christian nations4 ,it is ,christian countries that build ironclads and make cannon1 gatling guns1 deadly rifles1 and terrible explosives4 ,it is ,christians who do most of the fighting on this planet4 ,mr4 ,blomfield may or may not consider these things4 ,i scarcely expect him to reply4 ,he prefers the humble1 obedient heart to the curious intellect4 ,at any rate he preaches the preference to the young men of ,ipswich4 ,for my part1 ,i hope they will reject the counsel4 ,i trust they will read1 inquire1 and think for themselves4 ,their intellect should have enough curiosity to be satisfied as to the truth of what they are asked to believe4 ,,altar ,,and ,,throne4 99 99 ,june #aa1 #ahic4 ,myriads of honest1 industrious women in ,england are laboring excessively for a bare pittance2 day after day they go through the same monotonous and exhausting round of toil2 and the end of it all is a bit of bread for some who are dear to them1 and a squalid1 cheerless existence for themselves4 ,sometimes1 when work is scarce1 and sheer starvation confronts them1 they are driven to the last resource of selling their bodies1 and enter the unspeakable inferno of prostitution4 ,england has thousands of other women who are lapped in an enervating and degrading luxury--without occupation1 with none but frivolous cares--who fancy themselves infinitely superior to their poor1 slaving1 ill-dressed1 and toilworn sisters4 ,these disparities are as great as any that existed in the infamous days of pagan ,rome4 ,the world has had eighteen hundred years of ,christianity1 and its salvation is still in the dim and distant future4 ,while the clergy have preached a hell after death1 the people have been left simmering in a real hell in this life--the hell of ignorance1 poverty1 oppression1 and misery4 ,christianity is now boasting of what it is going to do4 ,it says it begins to understand ,jesus ,christ2 it means to follows in its ,master's footsteps2 it will strain every nerve to raise the downtrodden1 to better the condition of the poor1 and to give true comfort to the afflicted4 ,there are some individual ,christians who mean this and try to practise it4 ,but for the most part these fine new promises of ,christianity are nothing but sermon decorations1 words for deeds1 sawdust for bread1 flash notes for good coin of the realm4 ,we have but to look around us at this moment to see the true fruits of ,christianity4 ,it is the same fruit that all religion bears4 ,under the pretence of being the best friend of the people1 ,christianity 7like other religions7 has been the real friend of the privileged classes4 ,it has also fostered a public sentiment in this direction4 ,to prove this let us take a case in point4 ,some time ago an ,english princess lost her lover by death4 ,she was said to be inconsolable4 ,but before long it was whispered that she was to marry her lover's brother4 ,at length it was announced in the papers1 only to be contradicted as a false rumor which very much hurt the feelings of all the parties it concerned4 ,those who understood the nature of such contradictions smiled4 ,by and bye the contradicted rumor was announced authoritatively4 ,princess ,may was to marry the gentleman in question4 ,now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this sun of ,york4 ,all ,england was soon astir with loyal enthusiasm1 and people were everywhere set subscribing for presents to the dear ,princess4 ,soldiers and sailors are sweated4 ,pressure is put upon theatrical people4 ,you must give something1 is the cry4 ,the ,city of ,london is to spend #b1ejj on a necklace4 ,one lady gives the royal couple a splendid country house with magnificent grounds4 ,committees are formed right and left1 and tens of thousands of pounds will be raised1 on the ground that unto him that hath shall be given--in some cases1 also1 without neglecting the rest of the text1 that from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath4 ,who is the ,princess ,may8 ,very likely a pleasant young lady4 ,happily there are myriads of them in ,england4 ,what has she ever done8 ,she took the trouble to be born4 ,her husband that is to be has an income from the service4 ,his father has #cf1jjj a year1 voted by ,parliament1 for the express purpose of providing for his children--in addition to his big income from other sources4 ,all things considered1 it does not seem that ,princess ,may and the ,duke of ,york are in want of anything4 ,but how many other women--to say nothing of men--are in want6 ,is not this lavish generosity to a pair of royal and well-provided lovers an insult to the working people of ,england8 ,is it not a special insult to the multitude of poor1 struggling women1 whose earnings are taxed to support the classes who lord it over them8 ,it may1 of course1 be replied that poor women like the idea of all these presents to the ,princess4 ,perhaps they do4 ,but that only makes it worse4 ,it shows their training has corrupted them4 ,the last vice of a slave is to admire his oppressor4 ,christianity is satisfied with this state of things4 ,christian ministers will wink at it1 when they do not bless it and approve it with a text4 ,the ,archbishop of ,canterbury will officiate at the royal wedding1 and deliver one of those courtier-like homilies which may be expected from one who takes #ae1jjj a year to preach the blessings of poverty and the damnable nature of wealth4 ,this is what comes of eighteen hundred years of the poor ,carpenter's religion4 ,his texts of renunciation are idle verbiage4 ,his name is used to bamboozle the people1 to despoil them1 and to make them patient asses under their burdens4 ,religion and privilege go together4 ,what does the ,new ,testament say8 ,fear ,god and honor the king4 ,fearing ,god means supporting the clergy4 ,honoring the king means keeping one family in foolish luxury1 as a symbol of the whole system of privilege which is maintained by the systematic exploitation of the people4 ,we are crucified between two thieves who mock us1 but do not share our cross2 the spiritual thief1 who robs us of our birthright of mental freedom1 and the temporal thief1 who robs us of the fruit of our labor4 ,arcades ambo4 ,some people will think we have written too plainly4 ,we beg to tell them that we have had to practise self-restraint4 ,the fat would be in the fire with a vengeance if we gave free expression to our disgust4 ,the only hope for the future of society lies in the absolute extermination of ,christianity4 ,that is the superstition which fools and degrades ,europe1 and we must fight it to the death4 ,,martin ,,luther4 ,reformation ,day1 as it is called1 was celebrated on ,october #ca throughout the ,protestant part of ,germany4 ,three hundred and seventy-five years have rolled by since ,martin ,luther broke from the ,roman ,catholic ,church4 ,emperor ,william went to ,wittenberg1 with a great array of ,evangelical personages2 and1 as usual1 the ,emperor made a speech1 which for him was excellent4 ,there is no coercion1 he said1 in matters of religion4 ,here only free conviction of the heart is decisive1 and the perception of this fact is the blissful fruit of the ,reformation4 ,this is a fine-sounding declaration1 but it has the misfortune to be untrue4 ,liberty of conscience is not the fruit of the ,reformation1 but an indirect and unintended result4 ,nor is liberty of conscience a reality in any part of the ,german empire4 ,christians are allowed to differ among themselves1 but ,freethinkers are prosecuted for dissenting alike from ,catholic and ,protestant4 ,since the present ,emperor's accession there have been many blasphemy prosecutions1 sometimes for what would be regarded in other countries as very mild expressions of disbelief4 ,several men and women have been sentenced to severe penalties for exercising the right of free speech1 which1 in the land of ,goethe1 ,heine1 ,strauss1 and ,schopenhauer1 is still confined to professed ,christians4 ,the ,reformation1 in fact1 was a superficial movement4 ,except for its moral revolt against the sale of indulgences1 it touched no deep and durable principle4 ,it merely substituted an infallible ,bible for an infallible ,church4 ,differences of opinion crept into the ,protestant fold1 but that was an accident1 arising from the varied and discordant nature of the ,bible itself4 ,every new ,protestant sect had to fight as strenuously for its right to exist as ever ,martin ,luther fought against the ,catholic ,church4 ,protestantism1 in short1 was one priesthood saying to another priesthood ,we are right and you are wrong4 ,the ,catholic ,church had an immense advantage in its central organisation2 the ,protestant ,church could only operate from different points2 hence it was unable to bring about the same uniformity4 ,the movement that was not superficial was the scientific and humanist movement1 of which the ,reformation was in a certain sense an episode4 ,italy and ,france did more for the world than ,germany4 ,martin ,luther was a great fighter1 but not a more heroic one than ,giordano ,bruno4 ,melancthon was not so important a man as ,galileo4 ,rabelais even1 with all his dirt and jesting1 was more in the stream of progress than ,luther1 and far more than ,calvin4 ,in the long run1 it is knowledge and idea8 that rule the world4 ,luther was not great in knowledge1 and certainly not great in ideas4 ,he was a born fighter and a strong character4 ,his proper place is among the heroic figures of history4 ,he was a man of leading1 but scarcely a man of light4 ,luther was violently opposed to the scientific movement4 ,he called ,copernicus an old fool4 ,he would hear nothing against the accepted ,biblical theory of the universe4 ,genesis was to him1 as well as to the ,pope1 the beginning and the end of sound science4 ,nor was he more friendly to philosophy4 ,draper truly asserts that the leaders of the ,reformation were determined to banish philosophy from the ,church4 ,aristotle was villified by ,luther as truly a devil1 a horrid calumniator1 a wicked sycophant1 a prince of darkness1 a real ,apollyon1 a beast1 a most horrid impostor on mankind1 a public and professed liar1 a goat1 a complete epicure1 this twice execrable ,aristotle4 ,such was ,luther's style in controversy4 ,we commend it to the attention of ,protestants who rail at the ,freethinker4 ,liberty of conscience is a principle of which ,luther had no conception4 ,he claimed the right to think against the ,pope2 he denied the right of others to think against himself4 ,his attitude towards the ,anabaptists was fiendish4 ,during the ,peasants ,war he urged the authorities to exterminate the rebels1 to stab1 kill1 and strangle them without mercy4 ,melancthon taught that heretics ought to be restrained by the sword4 ,luther likewise declared that whoever denied even one article of the ,protestant faith should be punished severely4 ,referring to a false teacher1 he exclaimed1 ,drive him away as an apostle of hell2 and if he does not flee1 deliver him up as a seditious man to the executioner4 ,hallam1 ,buckle1 ,lecky1 and all reputable historians1 agree that the ,protestant party held the same principle of persecution as the ,catholics4 ,it was not disputed that death was the proper punishment of obstinate heresy4 ,the only dispute was--which were the heretics1 and who should die8 ,luther's influence was very great in ,england1 as ,calvin's was in ,scotland1 and the leaders of the ,reformation in our own country had no doubt as to the justice of killing men for a difference of opinion4 ,cranmer taught that heretics were first to be excommunicated2 if that made no impression on them they were to suffer death4 ,it satisfies one sense of the fitness of things that ,cranmer himself perished at the stake4 ,becon taught that the duty of magistrates with regard to heretics was to punish them--yea1 and also to take them out of this life4 ,this same ,becon called upon the temporal rulers to be no longer the pope's hangmen4 ,he preferred their being the hangmen of ,protestantism4 ,latimer himself said of the ,anabaptists who were executed1 ,well1 let them go6 ,bishop ,jewel1 the great apologist of the ,protestant ,church of ,england1 in answering ,harding the ,jesuit1 replies in this way to the charge of being of the brotherhood of ,servetus1 ,david ,george1 and ,joan of ,kent3 ,we detected their heresies1 and not you4 ,we arraigned them2 we condemned them4 ,we put them to the execution of the laws4 ,it seemeth very much to call them our brothers1 because we burnt them4 ,calvin held the same persecuting doctrine4 ,all who opposed him were dealt with ruthlessly4 ,he was a veritable ,pope of ,geneva4 ,his treatment of ,servetus was infamous4 ,but so universal was the principle on which ,calvin acted1 that even the mild ,melancthon called the cruel roasting of ,servetus at a slow fire a pious and memorable example for all posterity4 ,protestantism boasts of having asserted the right of private judgment4 ,it never did anything of the kind4 ,not a single leader of the ,reformation ever asserted such a principle4 ,erasmus did1 though not in decisive language2 but ,erasmus never belonged to the ,protestant ,church1 and his humanity1 no less than his philosophy1 brought upon him the vituperation of ,luther4 ,the hero of ,protestantism did not intend the consequences of his revolt against ,rome4 ,he would have been appalled at the thought of them4 ,he made a breach1 for his own purposes1 in the great wall of faith4 ,he did not anticipate that others would widen it1 or that the forces of reason would march through and occupy post after post4 ,he simply did his own stroke of work1 and we do not judge him by later standards4 ,we only object to the extravagance of ,protestant laudation4 ,,the ,,praise ,,of ,,folly4 ,what is the greatest novel in the ,english language8 ,this is a hard question1 which we shall not attempt to answer4 ,we leave every one of our readers to enjoy his own selection4 ,but the question has been answered1 in his own way1 by a living novelist4 ,mr4 ,walter ,besant declares that the greatest novel in the ,english language is ,charles ,reade's ,the ,cloister and the ,hearth4 ,that it is a great book no one fit to judge will deny1 or hesitate to affirm4 ,it is full of adventure and hairbreadth escapes2 it exhibits a large variety of life and character2 its wit1 insight1 and pathos show the mind and hand of a master2 and a certain vivid actuality is derived from the fact that its pictures and portraits are to a large extent historical4 ,gerard and ,margaret1 the hero and heroine of the story1 are the father and mother of the great ,erasmus2 respecting whom ,charles ,reade closes his book with a noble and pregnant piece of writing4 ,first scholar and divine of his epoch1 he was also the heaven-born dramatist of his century4 ,some of the best scenes in this new book are from his mediaeval pen1 and illumine the pages whence they come2 for the words of a genius1 so high as his1 are not born to die2 their immediate work upon mankind fulfilled1 they may seem to lie torpid2 but1 at each fresh shower of intelligence ,time pours upon their students1 they prove their immortal race2 they revive1 they spring from the dust of great libraries2 they bud1 they flower1 they fruit1 they seed1 from generation to generation1 and from age to age4 ,erasmus was born at ,rotterdam1 probably on ,october #bh1 #adfg4 ,he was a love child4 ,his father1 ,gerard of ,tergou1 being engaged to ,margaret1 daughter of a physician of ,sevenbergen1 anticipated the nuptial rites4 ,gerard's relations drove him from his country by ill usage2 when he went to ,rome1 to earn a living by copying ancient authors1 they falsely sent him word that his ,margaret had died2 upon which he took holy orders1 and became a sworn son of the ,church4 ,finding his ,margaret alive on his return1 he of course lived apart from her1 and she did not marry another4 ,they had a common interest in their boy1 whose education they superintended4 ,margaret died of the plague1 when ,erasmus was thirteen2 and ,gerard1 inconsolable for her loss1 soon followed her to the grave4 ,their boy was left to the guardianship of relatives1 who cheated him of his little patrimony1 and compelled him to adopt a religious life4 ,erasmus was thus a priest1 though a very uncommon one4 ,how curious that so many great wits and humorists should have worn the clerical garb6 ,to mention only four1 there were ,rabelais1 ,erasmus1 ,swift and ,sterne2 each of whom has added to the world's gaiety1 and also helped to free it from superstition4 ,christians who prate about the ridicule of holy things in which ,freethinkers indulge1 should be reminded that these four priests of the ,christian religion could easily1 between them1 carry off the palm for profanity2 while for downright plain speech1 not always avoiding the nastiest of subjects1 there is hardly a professed sceptic who could hold a candle to them4 ,erasmus divorced himself from religious duties as early as possible4 ,he detested the monks1 regarding them for the most part as illiterate1 bigoted1 persecuting1 and parasitical vermin4 ,his life was devoted to literature1 and in the course of his travels he contracted a friendship with the most eminent and able men of the age1 including our own ,sir ,thomas ,more1 the author of the famous ,utopia4 ,erasmus died on ,july #ab1aecf4 ,the money he had accumulated by the exercise of his pen1 after deducting some handsome legacies to personal friends1 he left to relieve the sick and poor1 to marry young women1 and to assist young men of good character4 ,this was in keeping with his professed principles4 ,he always regarded charity as the chief part of useful religion1 and thought that men should help each other like brothers1 instead of fighting like wild beasts over theology4 ,erasmus was a contemporary of ,luther1 and there is an excellent ,essay by ,mr4 ,froude on both these great men4 ,he gives the palm to ,luther on account of his courage1 and thinks that ,erasmus should have joined the ,reformation party4 ,but the truth is that ,erasmus had far more intellect than ,luther2 he knew too much to be a fanatic2 and while he lashed the vices and follies of the ,catholic ,church1 he never left her fold1 partly because he perceived that ,luther and the ,reformers were as much the slaves of exclusive dogmas as the very ,schoolmen themselves4 ,erasmus believed in freedom of thought1 but ,luther never did4 ,to sum up the difference between them in a sentence3 ,luther was a ,theologian1 and ,erasmus a ,humanist4 ,he was brilliantly gifted1 says ,mr4 ,froude1 his industry never tired1 his intellect was true to itself1 and no worldly motives ever tempted him into insincerity4 ,the great mass of the writings of ,erasmus are only of interest to scholars4 ,his two popular books are the ,colloquies and the ,praise of ,folly1 both written in ,latin1 but translated into most of the ,european tongues4 ,the ,colloquies were rendered into fine1 nervous ,english by ,n4 ,bailey1 the old lexicographer4 ,the ,praise of ,folly1 illustrated with ,holbein's drawings1 is also to be read in ,english1 in the translation of ,sir ,roger ,l',estrange2 a writer who1 if he was sometimes coarse and slangy1 had a first-rate command of our language1 and was never lacking in racy vigor4 ,erasmus wrote the ,praise of ,folly in the house of ,sir ,thomas ,more1 with whom he lodged on his arrival in ,england in #aeaj4 ,it was completed in a week1 and written to divert himself and his friend4 ,a copy being sent to ,france1 it was printed there1 and in a few months it went through seven editions4 ,its contents were such1 that it is no wonder1 in the words of ,jortin1 that he was never after this looked upon as a true son of the ,church4 ,in the orthodox sense of the term1 it would be difficult to look upon the writer of this book as a true ,christian4 ,folly is made to speak throughout4 ,she pronounces her own panegyric ,she represents herself as the mainspring of all the business and pleasure of this world1 yes1 and also of its worship and devotion4 ,mixed up with capital fooling1 there is an abundance of wisdom1 and shrewd thrusts are delivered at every species of imposture2 nay1 religion itself is treated with derision1 under the pretence of buffoonery4 ,long before ,luther began his campaign against the sale of ,pardons and ,indulgences1 they were satirically denounced by ,erasmus4 ,he calls them cheats1 for the advantage of the clergy1 who promise their dupes in return for their cash a lot of happiness in the next life2 though1 as to their own share of this happiness1 the clergy care not how long it be deferred4 ,erasmus anticipated ,luther in another point4 ,speaking of the subtle interpreters of the ,bible in his day1 who proved from it anything and everything1 he says that1 ,they can deal with any text of scripture as with a nose of wax1 and knead it into what shape best suits their interest4 ,quite as decisively as ,luther1 though with less passion and scurrility1 he condemns the adoration of saints1 which he calls a downright folly4 ,amidst a comical account of the prayers offered up to their saintships1 he mentions the tokens of gratitude to them hung upon the walls and ceilings of churches2 and adds1 very shrewdly1 that he could find no relics presented as a memorandum of any that were ever cured of ,folly1 or had been made one dram the wiser4 ,even the worship of the ,virgin ,mary is glanced at--her blind devotees being said to think it manners now to place the mother before the ,son4 ,erasmus calls the monks a sort of brainsick fools1 who seem confident of becoming greater proficients in divine mysteries the less they are poisoned with any human learning4 ,monks1 as the name denotes1 should live solitary2 but they swarm in streets and alleys1 and make a profitable trade of beggary1 to the detriment of the roadside mendicants4 ,they are full of vice and religious punctilios4 ,some of them will not touch a piece of money1 but they make no scruple of the sin of drunkenness and the lust of the flesh4 ,preachers are satirised likewise4 ,they are little else than stage-players4 ,good ,lord6 how mimical are their gestures6 ,what heights and falls in their voice6 ,what teeming1 what bawling1 what singing1 what squeaking1 what grimaces1 making of mouths1 apes' faces1 and distorting of their countenance2 and this art of oratory1 as a choice mystery1 they convey down by tradition to one another4 ,yes1 and the trick of it still lives in our ,christian pulpits4 ,good old tun-bellied divines1 and others of the species1 come in for their share of raillery4 ,they know that ignorance is the mother of devotion4 ,they are great disputants1 and all the logic in the world will never drive them into a corner from which they cannot escape by some easy distinction4 ,they discuss the absurdest and most far-fetched questions1 have cats' eyes that see best in the dark1 and possess such a piercing faculty as to see through an inch-board1 and spy out what really never had any being4 ,the apostles would not be able to understand their disputes without a special illumination4 ,in a happy phrase1 they are said to spend their time in striking the fire of subtlety out of the flint of obscurity4 ,but woe to the man who meddles with them2 for they are generally very hot and passionate4 ,if you differ from them ever so little1 they call upon you to recant2 it you refuse to do so1 they will brand you as a heretic and thunder out an excommunication4 ,popes fare as badly as preachers1 monks1 and divines4 ,they pretend themselves vicars of ,christ4 ,reference is made to their grooms1 ostlers1 serving men1 pimps1 and somewhat else which for modesty's sake ,i shall not mention4 ,they fight with a holy zeal to defend their possessions1 and issue their bulls and excommunications most frequently against those who1 at the instigation of the ,devil1 and not having the fear of ,god before their eyes1 do feloniously and maliciously attempt to lessen and impair ,st4 ,peter's patrimony4 ,speaking through the mouth of ,folly1 the biting wit of ,erasmus does not spare ,christianity itself4 ,fools1 he says1 for their plainness and sincerity of heart1 have always been most acceptable to ,god ,almighty4 ,princes have ever been jealous of subjects who were too observant and thoughtful2 and ,jesus ,christ1 in like manner1 condemns the wise and crafty4 ,he solemnly thanks his ,father for hiding the mysteries of salvation from the wise1 and revealing them to babes2 that is1 says ,erasmus1 to fools4 ,woe unto you scribes and pharisees means ,woe unto you wise men4 ,jesus seemed chiefly delighted with women1 children1 and illiterate fishermen4 ,the blessed souls that in the day of judgment are to be placed on the ,savior's right hand are called sheep1 which are the most senseless and stupid of all cattle4 ,nor would he heal those breaches our sins had made by any other method than by the 'foolishness of the cross1' published by the ignorant and unlearned apostles1 to whom he frequently recommends the excellence of ,folly1 cautioning them against the infectiousness of wisdom1 by the several examples he proposes them to imitate1 such as children1 lilies1 sparrows1 mustard1 and such like beings1 which are either wholly inanimate1 or at least devoid of reason and ingenuity1 guided by no other conduct than that of instinct1 without care1 trouble1 or contrivance4 ,the ,christian religion1 ,erasmus says1 seems to have some relations to ,folly1 and no alliance at all to wisdom4 ,in proof of which we are to observe2 first1 that children1 women1 old men1 and fools1 led as it were by a secret impulse of nature1 are always most constant in repairing to church1 and most zealous1 devout and attentive in the performance of the several parts of divine service 2 secondly1 that true ,christians invite affronts by an easy forgiveness of injuries1 suffer themselves like doves to be easily cheated and imposed upon1 love their enemies as much as their friends1 banish pleasure and court sorrow1 and wish themselves out of this world altogether4 ,nay1 the very happiness they look forward to hereafter is no better than a sort of madness or folly4 ,for those who macerate the body1 and long to put on immortality1 are only in a kind of dream4 ,they speak many things at an abrupt and incoherent rate1 as if they were actuated by some possessing demon2 they make an inarticulate noise1 without any distinguishable sense or meaning4 ,they sometimes screw and distort their faces to uncouth and antic looks2 at one time beyond measure cheerful1 then as immoderately sullen2 now sobbing1 then laughing1 and soon after sighing1 as if they were perfectly distracted1 and out of their senses4 ,but perhaps the worst stroke of all against ,christianity is the following sly one4 ,folly is said to be acceptable1 or at least excusable1 to the gods1 who easily pass by the heedless failures of fools1 while the miscarriages of such as are known to have more wit shall very hardly obtain a pardon4 ,did space permit we might give several extracts from the ,praise of ,folly1 showing that ,erasmus could speed the shafts of his satire at the very essentials of religion1 such as prayer and providence4 ,were he living now1 we may be sure that he would be in the van of the ,army of ,liberation4 ,living when he did1 he performed a high and useful task4 ,his keen1 bright sword played havoc with much superstition and imposture4 ,he made it more difficult for the pious wranglers over what ,carlyle would call inconceivable incredibilities to practise their holy profession4 ,certainly he earned1 and more than earned1 the praise of ,pope4 ,at length ,erasmus1 that great injur'd name 7,the glory of the priesthood and the shame67 ,stemm'd the wild torrent of a barbarous age1 ,and drove those holy ,vandals off the stage4 ,erasmus was1 in fact1 the precursor of ,voltaire4 ,physically1 as well as intellectually1 these two great men bore a certain resemblance4 ,a glance at the strong1 shrewd face of ,erasmus is enough to show that he was not a man to be easily imposed upon2 and the square chin1 and firm mouth1 bespeak a determination1 which1 if it did not run to martyrdom1 was sufficient to carry its possessor through hardship and difficulty in the advocacy of his ideals4 ,rome1 says1 the proverb1 was not built in a day2 and ,christianity was not built in a century4 ,it took hundreds of years to complete1 as it is taking hundreds of years to dissolve4 ,for this reason it is a very complicated structure4 ,there is something in it for all sorts of taste4 ,those who like metaphysics will find it in ,paul's epistles1 and in such dogmas as that of the ,trinity4 ,those who like a stern creed will find it in the texts that formed the basis of ,calvinism4 ,and those who like something milder will find it in such texts as ,love one another and ,father forgive them1 they know not what they do4 ,it must be confessed1 however1 that the terrible aspects of ,christianity have been most in evidence4 ,religion had its first roots in ignorance and terror1 and it must continue to derive sustenance from them or perish4 ,people were never allured by the simple prospect of heaven2 they were frightened by the awful prospect of hell4 ,of course the two things were always more or less mixed4 ,the recipe was brimstone and treacle1 but the brimstone predominated1 and was the more operative ingredient4 ,present-day sermons tell us chiefly of ,god's goodness2 older sermons tell us chiefly of what is called his justice4 ,puritan discourses1 of the seventeenth century1 were largely occupied in telling people that most of them would be damned1 and explaining to them how just and logical it was that they should be damned4 ,it was a sort of treatment they should really be thankful for2 and1 instead of protesting against it1 they should take it with folded hands and grateful submission4 ,how many preachers have depicted the torments of the damned6 ,how many have described the fate of lost souls6 ,they positively delighted in the task1 as corrupted organs of smell will sometimes delight in abominable stenches4 ,even the average ,christian has regarded damnation--especially the damnation of other people--with remarkable complacency1 as a part of the established economy of the universe4 ,but now and then a superior spirit revolted against it instinctively4 ,thus we hear of ,gregory the ,great1 in an age when it was devoutly believed that the noblest ,pagans were all in hell1 being deeply impressed with the splendid virtues of the emperor ,trajan1 and begging for his release2 a prayer which 7the legend says7 was granted1 with a caveat that it should never be repeated4 ,thus1 also1 we hear of the great ,aquinas kneeling all night on the stone floor of his cell1 passionately beseeching ,god to save the ,devil4 ,this revolt against eternal damnation has mightily increased4 ,civilised men and women will not--positively will not--be damned at the old rate4 ,the clergy are obliged to accommodate their preaching to the altered circumstances2 hence we hear of ,eternal ,hope1 and ,ultimate ,salvation1 and similar brands on the new bottles in which they seek to pour the diluted old wine of theology4 ,archdeacon ,farrar is the type of this new school--at least in the ,church of ,england4 ,he is a wealthy pluralist2 in addition to which he earns a large income as a writer of sentimental books1 that immensely tickle the flabby souls of respectable ,christians4 ,not quite illiterate1 yet nowise thoughtful1 these people are semi-orthodox and temporising4 ,they take the old creed with a faint dash of heresy4 ,hell1 at any rate1 they like to see cooled a bit1 or at least shortened2 and ,archdeacon ,farrar satisfies them with a ,hell which is not everlasting1 but only eternal4 ,we believe that ,dr4 ,farrar expressed a faint hope that ,charles ,bradlaugh had not gone to hell4 ,it was just possible that he might get a gallery seat in the place where the ,archdeacon is booked for a stall4 ,dr4 ,farrar is not sure that all the people who were thought to go to hell really go there4 ,he entertains a mild doubt upon the subject4 ,nor does he believe that hell is simply punitive4 ,he thinks it is purgative4 ,after a billion years or so the ladies and gentlemen in the pit may hope to be promoted to the upper circles4 ,some of them1 however1 who are desperate and impenitent1 and perfectly impervious to the sulphur treatment1 will have to remain in hell forever4 ,the door will be closed upon them as incorrigible and irredeemable2 and the saints in heaven will go on singing1 and harping1 and jigging1 regardlesss of these obstinate wretches1 these ultimate failures1 these lost souls1 these everlasting inheritors of perdition4 ,humanity is growing day by day4 ,so is common sense4 ,every decently educated person will soon insist on the abolition of hell4 ,the idea of a lost soul will not be tolerated4 ,a theologian of painful genius 7in its way7 imagined a lost soul in hell4 ,he had been agonising for ages4 ,at last he asked a gaoler ,what hour is it8 and the answer came ,eternity6 ,thoughtful1 sensitive men and women1 in ever increasing number1 loathe such teaching1 and turn with disgust from those who offer it to their fellows4 ,we are not aware that men have souls1 but if they have1 why should any soul be lost8 ,we are not aware that there is a ,god1 but if there is1 why should he let any soul be lost8 ,sending souls to hell at all is only punishing his own failures4 ,if he is omnipotent he could have made them as he pleased1 and if they do not please him it is not their fault1 but his own4 ,let it be distinctly understood that a creator has no right over his creatures2 it is the creatures who have a right to the best assistance of their creator4 ,the contrary doctrine comes down to us from the good old times when children had no rights1 and parents had absolute power of life and death over them4 ,in the same way1 ,god had absolute power over his creatures2 he was the potter and they were the clay2 one vessel was made for honor1 and one for dishonor2 one for heaven1 and one for hell4 ,but civilisation has changed our conceptions4 ,we regard the parent as responsible for the child1 and ,god is responsible for the welfare of his creatures4 ,a single lost soul would prove the malignity or imbecility of our father which art in heaven4 ,,happy ,,in ,,hell4 ,professor ,st4 ,george ,mivart is a very useful man to the ,jesuits4 ,he plays the jackal to their lion2 or1 it might be said1 the cat to their monkey4 ,some time ago he argued that ,catholicism and ,darwinism were in the happiest agreement2 that the ,catholic ,church was not committed1 like the ,protestant ,church1 to a cast-iron theory of ,inspiration2 and that he was quite prepared to find that all the real ,word of ,god in the ,bible might be printed in a very small book and easily carried in a waistcoat pocket4 ,that article appeared in the ,nineteenth ,century4 ,in the current number of the same review ,mr4 ,mivart has another theological article on ,happiness in ,hell4 ,he says he took advice before writing it1 so he speaks with permission1 if not with authority4 ,such an article1 being a kind of feeler1 was better as the work of a layman4 ,if it did not answer1 the ,church was not committed2 if it did answer1 the ,church's professional penmen could follow it up with something more decisive4 ,professor ,mivart perceives1 like the ,bishop of ,chester1 that ,christianity must alter its teaching with respect to ,hell1 or lose its hold on the educated1 the thoughtful1 and the humane4 ,not a few persons1 he says1 have abandoned ,christianity on account of this dogma4 ,the more highly evolved moral perceptions of to-day are shocked beyond expression at the doctrine that countless multitudes of mankind will burn for ever in hell fire1 out of which there is no possible redemption4 ,father ,pinamonti's ,hell ,open to ,christians is stigmatised as repulsive1 and its pictures as revolting4 ,yet it is issued with authority1 and ,mr4 ,mivart falls short of the truth in admitting it has never incurred any condemnation4 ,this little fact seems a barrier to his attempt at proving that the ,catholic ,church is not committed to the doctrine of a hell of real fire and everlasting agony4 ,abandon all hope1 ye who enter here wrote ,dante over his ,inferno1 and ,mr4 ,mivart allows that the words truly express what was the almost universal belief of ,christians for many centuries4 ,that belief flourished under the wing of an infallible ,church2 and now ,mr4 ,mivart1 a member of this same infallible ,church1 comes forward to declare that the belief was a mistake4 ,nevertheless1 he argues1 the clergy of former times did right to preach hell hot and strong1 stuff it with fire1 and keep it burning for ever4 ,they had coarse and ignorant people to deal with1 and were obliged to use realistic language4 ,besides1 it was necessary to exaggerate1 in order to bring out the infinite contrast between heaven and hell1 the elect and the reprobates1 the saved and the damned4 ,mr4 ,mivart maintains1 therefore1 that the old representation of hell has not caused the least practical error or misled anyone by one jot or tittle--which is as bold1 or1 as some would say1 as impudent a statement as could be well conceived4 ,briefly stated1 ,mr4 ,mivart's contention is that the fire of hell is figurative4 ,the pains of damnation1 even in the case of the worst of sinners1 have not been liberally described by ,popes and ,councils4 ,what is meant by the expression 'hell fire' has never been defined1 says ,mr4 ,mivart4 ,perhaps not4 ,there are some things which1 for practical purposes1 do not need definition1 and fire is one of them4 ,nor is it greatly to the purpose to say that ,saint ,augustine distinctly declares our ignorance about it4 ,saint ,augustine was not ,god ,almighty4 ,ample set-offs to this ,father may be found in the pages of ,dr4 ,pusey's ,what is of ,faith as to ,everlasting ,punishment8 ,besides1 if fire does not mean fire1 if torment does not mean torment1 and everlasting does not mean everlasting1 perhaps hell does not mean hell2 in which case1 it is a waste of time to argue about details1 when the whole establishment1 to use a ,shakespearian epithet1 is simply tropical4 ,some positive suffering1 thinks ,mr4 ,mivart1 will never cease for those who have voluntarily and deliberately cast away from them their supreme beatitude4 ,do you want to know what this positive suffering is8 ,well1 wait till you get there4 ,all in good time4 ,whatever it is1 the unbelievers will get their share of it4 ,the editor of the ,freethinker may look out for a double dose4 ,professor ,huxley will not escape4 ,he is an aggressive ,agnostic2 one of those persons who1 in the graceful language of ,mivartian civility1 do not possess even a rudiment of humility or aspiration after goodness4 ,surely1 exclaims our new ,guide to ,hell1 surely if there is a sin which1 on merely ,theistic principles1 merits the severest pains of hell1 it is the authorship of an irreligious book4 ,which leads us in turn to exclaim1 ,surely1 yea thrice surely1 will hell never be wholly abolished or deprived of its last torture-chamber1 while ,christians require a painful place for those who boldly differ from them4 ,mr4 ,mivart1 it is true1 confesses that those who are disturbed and distressed by difficulties about hell include many among the best of mankind4 ,but they must not write irreligious books on the subject4 ,they must wait1 in patience and meekness1 until ,mr4 ,mivart gives them satisfaction4 ,let us now summarise ,mr4 ,mivart's position4 ,uni-versalism1 or the final restitution of all men1 he rejects as utterly irreconcilable with ,catholic doctrine4 ,those who are saved go to heaven--after various delays in purgatory--and enjoy the ,beatific ,vision for ever4 ,those who are lost go to hell and remain there for all eternity4 ,they lose the ,beatific ,vision1 and that is their chief punishment4 ,but hell is not a really dreadful place--except1 of course1 for the writers of irreligious books4 ,it may have its equator1 and perhaps its poles2 but between them are vast regions of temperate clime and grateful soil4 ,the inhabitants are in a kind of harmony with their environment4 ,they are even under a law of evolution1 and the existence of the damned is one of progress and gradual amelioration4 ,we suppose it may be said1 in the words of ,napoleon1 that the road is open to talent2 and enterprising damned ones may cry with truth--,better to reign in hell than serve in heaven4 ,hell must be regarded as a most desirable place4 ,mr4 ,mivart knows all about it1 and we have his authority for saying it is an abode of happiness transcending all our most vivid anticipations1 so that man's natural capacity for happiness is there gratified to the very utmost4 ,and this is hell6 ,well1 as the old lady said1 who would have thought it8 ,verily the brimstone has all turned to treacle4 ,curious6 is it not8 ,while the ,protestants are discussing whether hell-fire is actual fire1 and whether sinners are roasted for everlasting1 or only for eternity1 in steps a ,catholic and declares that hell is a first-class sanitarium1 far superior to the east-end of ,london1 better than ,bournemouth1 and ahead of ,naples and ,mentone4 ,be happy in heaven1 he cries1 and if you won't1 why1 damn you1 be happy in hell4 ,but before we leave ,mr4 ,mivart we have a parting word to say4 ,he admits the comparative novelty of his view of hell4 ,our age1 he says1 has developed not only a great regard for human life1 but also for the sufferings of the brute creation4 ,this has led to a moral revolt against the old doctrine of eternal torment1 and the ,church is under the necessity of presenting the idea of hell in a fresh and less revolting fashion4 ,precisely so4 ,it is not theology which purifies humanity1 but humanity which purifies theology4 ,man civilises himself first1 and his gods afterwards1 and the priest walks at the tail of the procession499 99 ,professor ,mivart is a man to be pitied4 ,first of all1 his views on ,hell were opposed by ,father ,clarke1 against whom the hell-reformer defended himself4 ,last of all1 however1 ,professor ,mivart's articles on this subject were placed upon the ,index of ,prohibited ,books1 which no good ,catholic is allowed to read1 except by special permission4 ,rome had spoken1 and the ,professor submitted himself to ,holy ,mother ,church4 ,in doing so1 he destroyed the value of his judgment on any question whatever1 since he submits not to argument1 but to authority4 ,,the ,,act ,,of ,,god4 ,a ,,curious litigation has just been decided at the ,spalding ,county ,court4 ,the ,great ,northern ,railway was sued for damages by a farmer1 who had sent a quantity of potatoes to ,london shortly before ,christmas1 which were not delivered for nearly ten days1 and were then found to be spoiled by the frost4 ,the ,company's defence was that a dense fog prevailed during the ,christmas week1 and disorganised the traffic2 that everything was done to facilitate the transit of goods2 and that1 as the fog was the act of ,god1 there was no liability for damage by delay4 ,after an hour's deliberation1 the jury returned a verdict for the defendants1 and judgment was given them with costs4 ,we sincerely pity that ,lincolnshire farmer4 ,it is very hard lines to receive only thirteen and fourpence for four tons of potatoes2 and harder still to pay the whole of that sum1 and a good deal more1 for attempting to obtain compensation4 ,the poor man is absolutely without a remedy4 ,the person who delayed and rotted his potatoes is called ,god1 but no one knows where he resides1 and it is impossible to serve a summons upon him1 even if a court of justice would grant one4 ,god appears to be the chartered libertine of this planet4 ,he destroys what he pleases1 and no one is able to make him pay damages4 ,christians may call this blasphemous4 ,but calling names is no argument4 ,certainly it will not pay for that farmer's potatoes4 ,we fail to see where the blasphemy comes in4 ,an ,english judge and jury have accepted the ,great ,northern ,railway ,company's plea that the fog was the act of ,god4 ,we simply take our stand upon their verdict and judgment4 ,and we tell the ,christians that if ,god sent the fog--as the judge and jury allow--he has a great deal more to answer for than four tons of rotted potatoes4 ,that terrible fog cost ,london a gas bill amounting to twenty or thirty thousand pounds4 ,it is impossible to estimate the cost to the community of delayed traffic and suspended business4 ,hundreds of people were suffocated or otherwise slaughtered4 ,millions of people were made peevish or brutally ill-tempered1 and there was a frightful increase of reckless profanity4 ,many persons1 doubtless1 will say that ,god did not send the fog4 ,they will assert that it came in the ordinary course of nature4 ,but does nature act independently of ,god8 ,is he only responsible for some of the things that happen8 ,and who is responsible for the rest8 ,those who still believe in the ,devil may conveniently introduce him1 it is curious1 however1 that they never do1 except in cases of moral evil4 ,criminal indictments charge prisoners with acting wickedly under the instigation of the ,devil4 ,but physical evil is ascribed to ,jehovah4 ,bills of lading exonerate shipowners from liability if anything happens to the cargo through the act of ,god or the ,queen's enemies4 ,old ,nick does not raise storms1 stir up volcanoes1 stimulate earthquakes1 blight crops1 or spread pestilence4 ,all those destructive pastimes are affected by his rival4 ,even cases of sudden death1 or death from lightning are brought in by jurors as died by the visitation of ,god4 ,which seems to show that a visit from ,god is a certain calamity4 ,the time will come1 of course1 when all this nonsense about the act of ,god will disappear4 ,but it will only dissappear because real belief in ,god is dying4 ,while men are sincere ,theists they cannot help seeing ,god in the unexpected and the calamitous4 ,that is how theology began1 and that is how it must continue while it has a spark of vitality4 ,but theology declines as knowledge increases4 ,our dread of the unknown diminishes as we gain command over the forces of nature2 that is1 our dread of the unknown diminishes as we turn it into the known4 ,the act of ,god is to be frustrated by ,science4 ,we cannot prevent storms1 but we are growing more able to foresee them4 ,we cannot prevent the angry waves from rising1 but we can build ships to defy their fiercest wrath4 ,we cannot prevent mist from ascending in certain conditions of sky and soil1 but we can drain low-lying ground1 and prevent the mist from being fatally charged with smoke4 ,we cannot abolish the microbes with which our planet swarms1 and if we could we should be surrounded with intolerable putrifaction2 but we can observe the laws of public and private sanitation1 maintain a high state of vitality1 and make ourselves practically invulnerable4 ,science is the instrument for achieving the triumph of man4 ,ultimately it will subdue the planet for us1 and we shall be able to exclaim with ,mr4 ,swinburne1 ,glory to man in the highest1 for man is the master of things4 ,the paradise the theologians dream of will be realised on earth4 ,we shall not abolish death1 but we shall make life strong1 rich1 and glorious1 and when death comes it will bring no terror1 but rest and peace in the shadow of its wings4 ,meanwhile the act of ,god will to some extent survive in the mental life of the multitude4 ,all prayer is based upon this superstition4 ,those who pray for relief or exemption from storm1 famine1 or disease2 those who pray to be preserved from battle1 murder1 and sudden death2 those who pray to be saved from any evil1 are1 all praying against the act of ,god4 ,it is ,god who is sending the mischief1 and therefore he is begged to take it away or pass it on to other persons4 ,hamburg would be grateful to ,god even if he transferred the cholera to ,berlin4 ,thus do ignorance and selfishness go hand in hand2 thus does superstition cloud the intellect and degrade the character4 ,,keir ,,hardie ,,on ,,christ4 ,for some time the ,labor leaders have been assiduously courted by the ,churches4 ,it is reckoned good business to have one on exhibition at ,congresses and ,conferences4 ,ben ,tillett is in frequent request as a preacher4 ,tom ,mann1 who was once heterodox1 is now declared by the ,christian ,commonwealth to be a member of a ,christian ,church4 ,we are not aware1 our contemporary says1 that ,john ,burns is opposed to the religion of ,jesus ,christ4 ,this appropriation of the ,labor leaders is an excellent piece of strategy4 ,churches have seldom had the harmlessness of doves1 but they have generally had the cunning of serpents4 ,they often stoop1 but always to conquer4 ,and this is precisely what they are doing in the present case4 ,a year or two ago a leading ,socialist1 who is also an ,atheist1 remarked to us how the clericals were creeping into the ,socialist movement4 ,yes1 we observed1 and they will appropriate and stifle it4 ,they will talk about the ,socialism of ,jesus ,christ1 bamboozle your followers1 and get them out of your control4 ,then the ,socialism will gradually disappear1 and ,jesus ,christ will be left in sole possession of the field4 ,the clericals1 in fact1 will trump your best cards1 if you let them take part in the game4 ,we warn the ,labor leaders1 whether they listen to us or not1 that they are coquetting with the historic enemy of the people4 ,all religion is a consecration of the past1 and every minister is at heart a priest4 ,the social and political object of ,churches is to keep things as they are2 or1 if they must be altered1 to control the alteration in the interest of wealth and privilege4 ,fine words may be uttered and popular sentiments may be echoed2 but history teaches us that when the leaders of religion talk in this way1 they are serving their one great purpose as surely as when they curse and damn the rebellious multitude4 ,the course of events will show whether we are right or wrong4 ,meanwhile let us return to our sheep4 ,not that ,mr4 ,keir ,hardie is a sheep4 ,we don't mean that1 though he is certainly being attended to by the wolves4 ,mr4 ,keir ,hardie has been interviewed by the ,christian ,commonwealth4 ,his father1 we are informed1 is a very vigorous and militant ,atheist1 so that the son was brought up without any religious belief4 ,to some extent we believe this is true4 ,mr4 ,hardie's brother1 and another member of the family1 attended our last lectures at ,glasgow4 ,but we do not understand that ,mr4 ,keir ,hardie was ever a professed ,atheist1 or a member of any ,freethought society4 ,the scepticism he was weaned from by the ,evangelical ,union ,church could hardly have been of a very robust order4 ,he seems to have imbibed a sentimental form of ,christianity as easily and comfortably as a cat laps milk4 ,during his last election contest the statement was circulated that ,mr4 ,keir ,hardie was an ,atheist4 ,whereupon1 we are told1 ,dr4 ,james ,morison1 the venerable founder of the ,evangelical ,union1 and ,dr4 ,fergus ,ferguson1 of ,glasgow1 both wrote in the most eulogistic terms to a local clergyman as to ,mr4 ,hardie's moral character and religious work in ,scotland4 ,this is extremely affecting4 ,it is good to see parliamentary candidates walking about with certificates of moral character--written out by a local minister4 ,it is also reassuring to find that such a certificate is an absolute answer to the charge of ,atheism1 ,no doubt ,mr4 ,keir ,hardie will print the testimonial as a postscript to his next election address at ,west ,ham4 ,mr4 ,keir ,hardie calls himself a ,christian4 ,he does not say1 however1 if he believes in the supernatural part of the ,gospels4 ,does he accept the ,new ,testament miracles8 ,does he embrace the ,incarnation and ,resurrection8 ,if he does1 he is a ,christian4 ,if he does not1 he has no more right to call himself a ,christian than we have to be designated a ,buddhist or a ,mohammedan4 ,the ,christianity of the schools1 ,mr4 ,keir ,hardie says1 is dead or dying4 ,by this he means the old theological sects4 ,but here we should like him to be more explicit4 ,does he think there can be a ,christianity without theology8 ,or does he mean that the sects comprise all persons who have more theology than himself8 ,but if the ,christianity of the schools is dead or dying1 the humanitarian ,christianity of ,christ is again coming to the front4 ,now what is this humanitarian ,christianity of ,christ8 ,upon this point ,mr4 ,keir ,hardie throws but a single ray of light4 ,the whole of ,christ's teachings and conduct1 he says1 proves that he was intensely interested in the bodily welfare of those with whom he came in contact as a preparative to their spiritual well-being4 ,this is a clear statement2 all we now want is the clear proof4 ,mr4 ,keir ,hardie should give it4 ,we believe he cannot2 nay1 we defy him to do so4 ,it is idle to cite the so-called miracles of healing4 ,they were occasional and special2 they had as much effect on the bodily welfare of the ,jewish people as tickling has on the gait of an elephant2 and as for their being a preparative to spiritual well-being1 we may ask the humanitarian ,christians of ,christ to tell us1 if they can1 how much of this quality was afterwards displayed by the ladies and gentlemen who were the lucky subjects 7or objects7 of ,christ's miracles4 ,mr4 ,keir ,hardie might also recollect that the said miracles1 if they ever happened1 are of no bodily importance to the present generation4 ,humanitarians of to-day are unable to work miracles2 they have to sow the seed of progress1 and await its natural harvest4 ,mr4 ,keir ,hardie is undoubtedly an earnest social reformer4 ,we wish him all success in his efforts to raise the workers and procure for them a just share of the produce of their industry4 ,some of his methods may be questionable without affecting his sincerity4 ,if we all saw eye to eye there would be no problems to settle4 ,what we object to is the fond imagination that any light upon the labor question1 or any actual social problem1 can be found in the teachings of ,christ4 ,jesus of ,nazareth never taught industry1 or forethought1 or any of the robuster virtues of civilisation4 ,on one occasion he said that his kingdom was not of this world4 ,he might certainly have said so of his teaching4 ,it is all very well for ,mr4 ,keir ,hardie to assert that our industrial system is foreign to the spirit of ,christianity4 ,what is the spirit of ,christianity8 ,twenty different things in as many different minds4 ,some industrial system is a necessity1 and whatever it is you will never find its real principles in the ,gospels4 ,christ's one social panacea was giving to the poor1 and this is the worst of all reformations4 ,it only disguises social evils4 ,the world could do very well without charity if it only had justice and common sense4 ,charles ,bradlaugh1 the ,atheist1 was laughed at for advocating the compulsory cultivation of waste lands4 ,he wanted to see labor and capital employed upon them1 even if they yielded no rent to landlords4 ,mr4 ,keir ,hardie1 the ,christian1 also desires to bring the people into contact with nature and mother earth1 though his recipe1 of open spaces laid down in grass seems ludicrously inadequate4 ,the loss of this contact1 he told his interviewer1 is accountable for much of the ,atheism which is a natural product of city life4 ,this tender thought was spoken in a voice which sank almost to a whisper4 ,very naturally it struck the interviewer as the finest and most beautiful of ,mr4 ,hardie's utterances4 ,both the interviewer and ,mr4 ,keir ,hardie forgot a fact of ,christian history4 ,christianity spread in the towns of the ,roman ,empire4 ,the pagans were the villagers--paganus meaning a countryman or rustic4 ,possibly some of the pagans said to themselves1 ,ah1 this ,christianity is a natural product of the towns4 ,the diagnosis is in both cases empirical4 ,in a certain sense1 however1 ,mr4 ,keir ,hardie has touched a truth4 ,progressive ideas must always originate in the keen life of cities4 ,but in another sense ,mr4 ,keir ,hardie is mistaken4 ,he seems to regard ,atheism as a city malady1 like rickets and anemia4 ,now this is untrue4 ,it is also absurd4 ,mr4 ,keir ,hardie would find a good many of these afflicted ,atheists able to make mincemeat of his humanitarian ,christianity of ,christ4 ,he would also find1 if he cared to look1 a great many of them in the ,socialist camp4 ,it would be rare sport to see ,mr4 ,keir ,hardie defending his new school ,christianity against the young bloods of the ,fabian ,society1 though it might necessitate the interference of the ,society for the ,prevention of ,cruelty4 ,but we do not wish to part from ,mr4 ,keir ,hardie in a spirit of sarcasm4 ,if he is a hopeless sentimentalist there is no more to be said2 but1 if he is capable of reason in matters of religion1 we appeal to him1 in all sincerity1 not to press the new wine of ,humanitarianism into the old bottles of ,christianity4 ,he will only break the bottles and lose the wine4 ,we also implore him to cease talking nonsense about ,christianity being a life1 and not a doctrine4 ,it never can be the one without the other4 ,finally1 we beg him to consider what is the real value of ,christianity if1 after all these centuries1 it is necessary to put humanitarian in front of it1 in order to give it a chance in decent society4 ,,blessed ,,be ,,ye ,,poor4 ,a leading ,london newspaper1 the ,daily ,chronicle1 has recently opened it columns to a discussion of the question1 ,is ,christianity ,played ,out8 ,mr4 ,robert ,buchanan thinks that it is1 and we are of the same opinion4 ,but in a certain sense ,christianity is not played out4 ,to use a common expression1 there's money in it4 ,that is incontestable4 ,despite the poverty of the lower clergy1 for whom so many appeals are made1 the clerical business beats all others1 if we compare the amount of investment with the size of the dividend4 ,relatively speaking1 the profits are magnificent4 ,there are curates with only a workman's wages1 and of course they merit our deepest sympathy4 ,it is quite shocking to think that a disciple of the poor ,carpenter of ,nazareth has to subsist1 and support his ten children1 on such a miserable pittance4 ,it is a calamity which calls for tears of blood4 ,but1 on the other hand1 there are ,archbishops with princely incomes1 ,bishops with lordly revenues1 ,deans and ,canons with fine salaries and snug quarters2 and between the two extremes of the fat bishop and the lean curate is a long line of gradations1 in which1 if we strike an average1 the result is very far from despicable4 ,it may be added that while the leading ,nonconformist ministers1 at least in ,england1 do not rival the great ,church dignitaries in the matter of income1 they often run up to a thousand a year and sometimes over it4 ,taking the average of their incomes1 we have no hesitation in saying it is beyond what they would earn in the ordinary labor market4 ,still1 so far as they are not paid by the ,state1 as the ,church clergy are1 we have no personal reason for complaint4 ,this is a free country--especially for ,christians2 and if the lay disciples of the poor ,carpenter like to pay his professional apostles a fancy price for their work1 it is no concern of ours from a business point of view4 ,nevertheless1 as the said apostles are public men1 who set up as other people's teachers1 we have a right to express an opinion as to the consistency between their preaching and their practice4 ,our gallant colleague1 ,joseph ,symes1 who is nobly upholding the ,freethought banner in ,australia1 once asked1 ,who's to be ,damned if ,christianity is ,true8 ,certainly1 he said1 the clergy stand a fine chance4 ,they are more likely to go to ,hades than the congregations they preach to4 ,on on average they are better off4 ,they preach1 or should preach1 the blessings of poverty1 and the curse1 nay1 the damnableness1 of wealth4 ,according to the teaching of ,jesus1 as we read it in the ,sermon on the ,mount1 and as we find it illustrated in the parable of ,dives and ,lazarus1 every pauper is pretty sure of a front seat in heaven2 and every man of property or good income is equally sure of warm quarters in hell4 ,but you do not meet parsons in workhouses1 though some of them get a good deal of outdoor relief4 ,go into a country parish and look for the clergyman's house2 you will not find it difficult to discover4 ,the best residence is the squire's1 the next best is the parson's4 ,everywhere the clericals appropriate as much as they can of the good things of this world4 ,they find it quite easy to worship ,god and ,mammon together4 ,the curate has his eye on a vicarage2 the vicar has his on a deanery2 the dean has his on a bishopric4 ,the ,dissenting minister is open to improve his position4 ,sometimes he is invited to another church4 ,he wrestles with the ,lord1 and makes inquiries4 ,if they prove satisfactory1 he recognises a call4 ,other people1 in ordinary business1 would honestly say they were accepting a better situation2 but the man of ,god is above all that1 so he obeys the ,lord's voice and goes to a position of greater service1 though it would puzzle him to show an extra soul saved by the exchange4 ,yes1 the poor ,carpenter's apostles strive to make the best of this world1 and take their chance of the next4 ,they are wise in their generation2 they resemble the serpent in the text1 however they neglect the dove4 ,and for all these things ,god shall bring them into account--that is1 if the gospel be true2 for nothing is more certain1 according to the gospel1 than that the poor will be saved1 and those who are not poor will be damned4 ,benjamin ,disraeli called the ,conservative government of ,sir ,robert ,peel an organised hypocrisy4 ,modern ,christianity appears to us to merit the same description4 ,the note of modern apologetics is the phrase of ,christ-like4 ,in one respect the gentlemen who strike this note are ,christ-like4 ,they live on the gifts of the faithful1 including those of rich women4 ,but the likeness ends there4 ,in other respects they are dissimilar to their ,master4 ,he died upon the cross1 and they live upon the cross4 ,yes1 and many of them get far more on the cross than they would ever get on the square4 ,doubtless we shall be censured in vigorous biblical language for speaking so plainly4 ,but we mean every word we say1 and are prepared to make it good in discussion4 ,men should practise what they preach4 ,those who teach that poverty is a blessing should themselves be poor4 ,those who teach that ,god ,almighty cried ,woe unto you rich6 should avoid the curse of wealth4 ,if they do not1 they are hypocrites4 ,it is no use mincing the matter4 ,plain speech is best on such occasions4 ,when the great ,dr4 ,abernethy told a gouty1 dyspeptic1 rich patient to live on sixpence a day and earn it1 his advice was more wholesome than the most dexterous rigmarole4 ,nothing could better show than the conduct of the clergy that ,christianity is played out1 if it means the teaching of the ,sermon on the ,mount4 ,those who preach it cannot practise it2 what is more1 they do not mean to4 ,the late ,archbishop of ,york1 while ,bishop of ,peterborough1 wrote a magazine article on this ,sermon on the ,mount1 in which he urged that any ,society that was based upon it would go to ruin in a week4 ,he was paid at that time #d1ejj a year to-preach this ,sermon on the ,mount1 and he did so--in the pulpit2 then he mounted another rostrum1 and cried1 ,for ,god's sake don't practise it4 ,blessed be ye poor and ,woe unto you rich are texts with which the ,church has bamboozled the multitude in the interest of the privileged classes4 ,the disinherited sons of earth were promised all sorts of fine compensations in ,kingdom-,come2 meanwhile kings1 aristocrats1 priests1 and all the rest of the juggling and appropriating tribe1 battened on the fruits of other men's labor4 ,the poor were like the dog crossing the stream1 and seeing the big shadow of his piece of meat in the water4 ,seize the shadow6 the priests cried4 ,the poor did so4 ,but the substance-was not lost4 ,it was snapped up and shared by priestcraft and privilege4 ,the people have been told that the gospel is a cheap thing--without money and without price4 ,that is the prospectus4 ,but the gospel is frightfully dear in reality4 ,religion costs more than education4 ,england spends more in preparing her sons and daughters for the next world than in training them for this world4 ,yet the next world may be nothing but a dream1 and certainly we know nothing about it2 while this world is a solid and often a solemn fact1 with its business as well as its pleasures1 its work as well as its enjoyments1 its duties as well as its privileges4 ,to keep people out of hell1 and guide them to heaven 7places that only exist in the map of faith71 we spend over twenty millions a year4 ,this is a sum which1 if wisely devoted1 would remedy the worst evils of human society in a single generation4 ,it would found countless institutions of culture and innocent recreation2 and1 by means of experiments1 it would solve a host of social problems4 ,instead of doing this1 we keep up a huge army of black-coats to fight an imaginary ,devil2 yet we call ourselves a practical people4 ,christianity has it roots-deep down in the wealth of ,england1 and this is the secret of its power1 allied of course with its usurped authority over the minds of little children4 ,the-churches and chapels are mostly social institutions1 ,sunday resorts of the respectable classes4 ,for any purpose connected with the real welfare of the people ,christianity might just as well be dead and buried--as it will be when the people see the truth4 ,,converted ,,infidels4 ,christian logic is a curious thing4 ,there is nothing like it1 we should imagine1 in the heavens above or the waters under the earth4 ,certainly there is nothing like it on the earth itself1 unless we make an exception in the case of ,christian veracity1 which is as much like ,christian logic as one cherry is like another4 ,it is a long time since ,christians began arguing--it would be an outrage on the dictionary to call it reasoning4 ,they have been at it for nearly two thousand years4 ,their founder1 ,jesus ,christ1 seldom argued4 ,he uttered himself dogmatically at most times2 occasionally he spoke in parables2 and whenever he was cornered he escaped on a palpable evasion4 ,his great disciple1 ,paul1 however1 was particularly fond of arguing4 ,his writings abound in for and whereas4 ,the argument he most affected was the circular one4 ,he could run round a horseshoe1 skip over from point to point1 and run round again as nimbly as any man on record4 ,in a famous chapter in ,corinthians1 for instance1 he first proves the resurrection of the dead by the resurrection of ,jesus ,christ1 and then proves the resurrection of ,jesus ,christ by the resurrection of the dead4 ,it is in the same chapter that he enunciates the botanical truth 7a truth of ,bible botany1 observe7 that a seed does not bear anything unless it dies4 ,altogether the great ,apostle is a first-rate type of the ,christian logician1 and there are some who declare him to be a first-rate type of the ,christian truth-teller4 ,speeding down the stream of time to the present age1 we see that ,christian logic 7yes1 and ,christian veracity7 has undergone little if any alteration4 ,it is as infantile and as impudent as ever4 ,arguments that would look fallacious in the nursery are used in the pulpit1 generation after generation1 with an air of solemn profundity1 as though they were as wise as the oracles of omniscience4 ,to select from such a plethora is almost impossible2 the difficulty is where to begin4 ,but happily we are under no necessity of selection4 ,a case is before us1 and we take it as it comes4 ,it is a converted infidel case1 in the report of a recent sermon--the last of a series on ,is ,christianity ,played ,out8--by the ,rev4 ,dr4 ,hiles ,hitchens2 the gentleman referred to in one of our last week's paragraphs as wishing for an old three-legged stool or something made by ,jesus ,christ4 ,dr4 ,hitchens1 alas6 cannot find the stool1 and has to put up with the creed instead2 though1 perhaps1 he gets as much out of the creed as he would make by selling the stool to the ,british ,museum4 ,dr4 ,hitchens preached from the text1 ,the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the ,lord--a statement which1 after the lapse of so many centuries1 has still to be couched in the future tense4 ,the delay has been excessive1 but ,dr4 ,hitchens is hopeful4 ,he believes in the ultimate and speedy fulfilment of the prophecy4 ,one of his grounds for so believing is this 7we quote from the ,christian ,commonwealth71 that ,out of #bj leading lecturers1 authors1 editors1 and debaters on the side of ,infidelity #ag have been brought to ,christ within the last #cj years1 have left their infidel associations1 openly professed the religion of ,jesus1 and engaged in ,christian work4 ,the last he named1 we are told1 was the case of a ,national ,secular lecturer1 of whom the sceptics were greatly proud1 who has recently been received by1 and now lectures for1 the ,christian ,evidence ,society4 ,we leave the consideration of these facts for a moment1 and deal in the first place with ,dr4 ,hitchens's peculiar logic4 ,it is truly ,christian4 ,the species is unmistakable4 ,seventeen ,freethinkers have been converted to ,christianity6 ,wonderful6 ,but how many ,christians have been converted to ,freethought8 ,ay1 there's the rub4 ,for every specimen ,dr4 ,hitchens produces we will produce a thousand4 ,not only were the rank and file of the ,freethought party very largely brought up as ,christians1 but its leaders are of the same category4 ,charles ,bradlaugh was brought up as a ,christian1 so was ,colonel ,ingersoll4 ,can ,dr4 ,hitchens produce two names among his converts of the same weight1 or a half1 a quarter1 or a tithe of it8 ,every leader of ,freethought in ,england1 we believe1 is a convert from ,christianity4 ,as to the leading men ,dr4 ,hitchens refers to1 we presume they are the persons initialed in the late ,mr4 ,whitmore's tract1 and those among them who were leaders were not converted1 and those who were converted were not leaders4 ,the real leaders of the ,freethought party1 those who were long in its service1 and were entrusted with power and responsibility1 were never converted4 ,and the cases on ,mr4 ,whitmore's list are old4 ,they have an ancient and fish-like smell4 ,dr4 ,hitchens will perhaps be good enough to tell us the name of any man of real distinction in the ,freethought party who has been converted during the last twenty years4 ,we defy him to do so4 ,if he goes back far enough he will find a few men who were not trusted in our party1 and a few weaklings who could not fight an uphill battle1 who went over to the enemy4 ,real leaders of our party fought1 suffered1 and starved1 but they never deserted the flag4 ,christianity could not convert a ,bradlaugh or a ,holyoake2 it could only bribe or allure a ,sexton or a ,gordon1 or others of the illustrious obscure in ,mr4 ,whitmore's fraudulent catalogue4 ,in short1 the conversions to ,christianity so trumpeted are mostly dubious1 generally insignificant1 and all ancient4 ,if the prophecy which ,dr4 ,hitchens preached from is to be accomplished1 it will have to quicken its rate of fulfilment during the past twenty years4 ,we convert tremendously more ,christians than you do ,freethinkers2 the balance is terribly to your disadvantage2 you can only make out a promising account by setting down your infinitesimal gains and making no entry of your tremendous losses4 ,the only recent case that ,dr4 ,hitchens refers to is that of a ,national ,secular lecturer1 of whom the sceptics were greatly proud4 ,dr4 ,hitchens evidently takes this gentleman at his own estimate4 ,that he thinks the sceptics were greatly proud of him is intelligible2 it is quite in keeping with his shallow1 vulgar1 ,and egotistical nature4 ,but the truth is the sceptics1 in any general sense1 were not proud of him4 ,he was a very young man1 with a great deal to learn1 who had a very brief career as a ,secularist in ,east ,london4 ,in a thoughtless moment a local ,secular ,society gave him office1 and that fact is his entire stock-in-trade as a converted ,freethinker4 ,he was never one of the ,national ,secular ,society's appointed lecturers2 he was neither author1 editor1 or debater2 and he was utterly unknown to the party in general4 ,dr4 ,hitchens has1 in fact1 discovered a mare's nest4 ,we are in a position to speak with some authority1 and we defy him to name any ,freethinker of whom the sceptics were greatly proud who has of late years been converted to ,christianity4 ,it is easy enough to impose on an ignorant congregation1 and ,dr4 ,hitchens is probably aware of the lengths to which a reckless pulpiteer may carry his mendacity4 ,but candid investigators will conclude that converted infidels cannot be very plentiful1 when the majority of them are so ancient2 nor very important1 when an obscure youth has to be advertised as a leader of whom the sceptics 7nine out of ten of them never having heard of him7 were greatly proud4 ,we should imagine that ,dr4 ,hitchens is rather new to this line of advocacy4 ,in the course of time he will learn--if indeed he has not already learnt1 and is concealing the fact--that the converted infidels will not stand a minute's scrutiny4 ,the only safe method is to drop questionable cases and resort to sheer invention4 ,even that method1 however1 is not devoid of peril1 as one of its practitioners has recently discovered4 ,the ,rev4 ,hugh ,price ,hughes must by this time be extremely sorry he circulated that false and foolish story of the converted ,atheist shoemaker4 ,the exposure of it follows him wherever he goes1 and illustrates the truth of at least one ,bible text--,be sure your sin will find you out4 ,,mrs4 ,,booth',s ,,ghost4 ,the ,booth family have all keen eyes for business4 ,if they shut their eyes you can see it by their noses4 ,it is not surprising1 therefore1 to find ,mrs4 ,booth-,tucker capping ,mr4 ,stead's ghost stories with a fine romance about her dead mother4 ,while the ,mother of the ,salvation ,army was dying1 the ,booth family made all the capital they could out of her sufferings2 and when she expired1 her corpse was shunted about in the financial interest of their show4 ,perhaps they would be exhibiting her still if there were no law as to the disposition of corpses4 ,but as that avenue to profit is closed1 the only alternative is to make use of ,mrs4 ,booth's ghost1 and this has just been done by one of her daughters4 ,mrs4 ,booth-,tucker contributes her ghost story to the ,easter number of ,all the ,world4 ,no doubt ,easter was thought a seasonable time for its publication4 ,christians are just then dreaming about the great ,jerusalem ghost1 and another creeper comes in appropriately4 ,mr4 ,stead catches up ,mrs4 ,booth-,tucker's ghost story and prints it in the ,review of ,reviews4 ,he admits the want of evidence as to its objectivity1 which is a euphemism for no evidence at all1 and then observes most sapiently that if it was only a dream1 the coincidence of its occurrence at the crisis in her illness is remarkable--which is precisely what it is not4 ,mrs4 ,booth-,tucker was very ill on board a steamer when she saw her mother1 fresh from the beautiful land above4 ,those with me1 she says1 thought ,i was dying1 and ,i thought so too4 ,when a person is in that state1 after a wasting illness1 the brain is necessarily weak4 ,but this was not all4 ,i had not slept1 the lady says1 for some days1 at any rate not for many minutes together4 ,her brain1 therefore1 was not only weak1 but overwrought2 and in ingenuously stating this at the outset the lady gives herself away4 ,given a wasted body1 weakness unto death1 a brain ill supplied with blood and ravaged with sleeplessness2 does it1 we ask1 require a rank materialist to explain the presence of visions without the aid of supernaturalism8 ,suddenly1 ,mrs4 ,booth-,tucker says1 ,i saw her coming to me4 ,but how coming8 ,the lady tells us she was lying in a small sea cabin4 ,this does not leave much room for the coming of the ghost4 ,we should also like to know why a lady thought to be dying was left alone4 ,it is certainly a very unusual circumstance4 ,mrs4 ,booth's ghost1 after as much coming as could be accomplished in a small cabin1 at last sat beside her sick daughter on the narrow bunk4 ,no doubt the seat was rather incommodious1 but why should a ghost sit at all8 ,it really seems to have been a mixed sort of ghost4 ,apparently it came through the ship's side1 or the deck1 or the cabin-door1 or the key-hole2 yet it was solid enough to touch ,mrs4 ,booth-,tucker's hand and kiss her8 ,nay1 it was solid enough to carry on a long conversation1 which does not seem possible without lungs and larynx4 ,mrs4 ,booth's ghost said a great deal4 ,wonderful words they were1 says ,mrs4 ,booth-,tucker4 ,this whets our curiosity4 ,we are always listening for wonderful words4 ,but1 alas1 we are doomed to disappointment4 ,the lady knows her mother's words were wonderful1 but she cannot reproduce them4 ,here memory is defective4 ,i can remember so few of the actual words1 she says4 ,nevertheless1 she gives us a few samples1 and they do not seem very wonderful4 ,here are two of the said samples3 ,live1 live1 live1 remembering that night comes always quickly1 and all is nothingness that dies with death6 ,fight the fight1 darling2 the sympathy of ,christ is always with you1 and every effort you make is heaping up treasure for you in ,heaven4 ,we fancy we have heard those wonderful words before4 ,for all their wonderfulness1 ghosts are seldom original4 ,mrs4 ,booth-,tucker reminds us of the gushing lady novelist1 who describes her hero as divinely handsome and miraculously clever1 but when she opens his mouth1 makes him talk like a jackass4 ,general ,booth's daughter does not see that she found words for her mother's ghost4 ,she is not so sharp as ,dr4 ,johnson1 who carried on a discussion with an adversary in a dream1 and got the worst of it4 ,for a time he felt humiliated1 but he recovered his pride on reflecting that he had provided the other fellow with arguments4 ,when ,mrs4 ,booth-,tucker tells that the radiance of her face spoke to me1 we can easily understand the subjective nature of her vision1 and as readily dispense with a budget of those wonderful words4 ,nor are we singular in incredulity4 ,mr4 ,stead cannot put his tongue in his cheek at a member of the ,booth family1 but the ,christian ,commonwealth says the story is both improbable and absurd1 and adds1 it is just such fanaticism as this that brings religion into contempt with many educated people4 ,our pious contemporary1 like any wretched materialist1 declares that many persons have seen ghosts when under the influence of fever or in a low state of health4 ,all this is sensible enough1 and in a ,christian journal very edifying4 ,but if our pious contemporary only applied this criticism backwards1 what havoc it would make with the records of early ,christianity6 ,mrs4 ,booth-,tucker is not in all points like ,mary ,magdalene1 but she resembles her in fervor of disposition4 ,out of ,mary ,magdalene we are told that ,jesus cast seven devils1 which implies1 rationalistically1 that she was strongly hysterical4 ,she was more likely to be a victim of fanaticism than ,mrs4 ,booth-,tucker4 ,yet the ghost story of ,mrs4 ,booth's daughter is discredited1 and even stigmatised as discreditable1 while the brain-sick fancies of ,mary ,magdalene are treated as accurate history4 ,she was at the bottom of the ,jerusalem ghost story1 and her evidence is regarded as unimpeachable4 ,so much do circumstances alter cases6 ,our pious contemporary regards all modern ghosts as fever dreams4 ,so do we1 and we regard all ancient ghosts in the same light ,the difference between ancient and modern superstition is only a question of environment4 ,superstition itself is always the same2 it no more changes than the leopard's spots or the ,ethiopian's skin4 ,but the environment changes4 ,from the days when there was no scientific knowledge or rigorous criticism we have advanced to an age when the electric search-light of science sweeps every corner and criticism is remorseless4 ,hence the modern ghosts are served up in ,christmas shockers1 while the ancient ghosts are worshipped as gods4 ,but this will not last for ever4 ,the rule of what is1 has been1 will eventually be applied to the whole of human history1 and the greatest ghost of the creeds will melt into the infinite azure of the past4 ,,talmage ,,on ,,the ,,bible4 ,talmage is the ,spurgeon of ,america4 ,he has all the ,english preacher's vogue as well as his orthodoxy4 ,but he resembles ,spurgeon with a difference4 ,he is distinctly ,american4 ,no one equals the ,yankee at tall talk1 and what ,yankee equals ,talmage in this species of composition8 ,the oracle of the ,brooklyn ,tabernacle licks creation in that line4 ,here is a specimen of his spread-eagle eloquence1 taken from the sermon we are about to criticise3--,the black and deep-toned bell of doom hangs over their heads1 and ,i take the hammer of that bell1 and ,i strike it three times with all my might1 and it sounds ,woe6 ,woe6 ,woe6 ,perhaps it does1 but ,talmage is wrong in his spelling4 ,what the bell of doom1 so impudently struck by this mannikin1 really sounds is doubtless ,woh6 ,woh6 ,woh6 ,it wants the presumptuous spouter to leave off playing the part of ,god ,almighty4 ,over in ,america1 as well as here in ,england1 the ,bible is meeting with misfortune4 ,christian ministers are showing up its blunders and inconsistencies4 ,its foes are now of its own household4 ,talmage is not frightened1 however2 he keeps a stiff upper-lip2 and it must be admitted1 he has a good deal of upper-lip to keep stiff4 ,since he visited the ,holy ,land his faith is strong enough to swallow whales4 ,now he knows that what the ,bible says is true44 ,he has seen the place where it happened4 ,but faith is a tender plant4 ,talmage says it is easily destroyed4 ,i can give you a recipe for its obliteration1 he cries2 and it is this--,read infidel books2 have long and frequent conversations with sceptics2 attend the lectures of those antagonistic to religion4 ,yes1 faith is a tender plant4 ,the believer is a hot-house production4 ,he dies in the open-air4 ,the ,bible can be read by ,freethinkers1 and it confirms them in their scepticism2 but if a ,christian reads infidel books he is lost4 ,hearing the other side is fatal to his faith4 ,it is ,talmage who states so1 and1 as old ,omar ,khayyam says1 he knows1 he knows4 ,somewhat paradoxically--but who expects logic from the pulpit8--the great ,talmage declares1 ,i do not believe there is an infidel now alive who has read the ,bible through4 ,he offers a hundred dollars reward to any infidel who has read the ,bible through twice--which discounts his certainty that no infidel had read it through once4 ,a good many infidels might apply for that hundred dollars1 but ,talmage will never hand it over4 ,an infidel's word is not good enough--not for ,talmage4 ,i must have the testimony1 he exclaims1 of someone who has seen him read it all through twice4 ,a very safe condition6 for who has ever seen any man read the ,bible through8 ,and if the witness happened to be an infidel--as is likely--,talmage would want the testimony of someone else who had seen him see the other man reading it2 ,talmage is not very wise1 but he is not exactly a fool1 and he and his money are not soon parted4 ,there is an infidel in ,america who has read the ,bible through4 ,his name is ,robert ,g4 ,ingersoll4 ,talmage should discuss the ,bible with him4 ,but he won't4 ,he knows what his fate would be in such an encounter4 ,and they gathered up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full4 ,there is also an infidel in ,england who has read the ,bible through4 ,more than one1 of course1 but we know this one so intimately4 ,he was shut up in ,holloway ,gaol for knowing too much about the ,bible4 ,during the first eight weeks of his sojourn there the blessed book was his only companion4 ,it was the ,bible1 the whole ,bible1 and nothing but the ,bible4 ,that prisoner read it through from the first mistake in ,genesis to the last curse in ,revelation2 read it through as ,talmage never did1 for there were no distractions1 no letters to answer1 no morning and evening newspapers1 no visitors dropping in4 ,it was a continuous1 undisturbed reading1 and the man who did it would be happy to let the public decide whether he does not know the ,bible as well as ,talmage4 ,talmage has a very poor opinion of infidels4 ,he thinks that bad habits have much to do with scepticism4 ,his narrow little mind cannot understand how anyone can differ from him without being wicked4 ,still1 for decency sake1 he makes exceptions4 ,mind you1 he cries1 ,i do not say that all infidels are immoral4 ,how kind6 ,how generous6 ,no doubt the infidels will shed tears of gratitude4 ,they are not all immoral4 ,some of them may be nearly as good as ,talmage4 ,certainly some of them are not so avaricious4 ,infidels speakers don't insist on having fifty pounds paid in the ante-room before they mount the platform to deliver a lecture4 ,it appears that ,talmage once knew a pronounced infidel4 ,he was the father of one of the ,presidents of the ,united ,states4 ,talmage accepted an invitation to spend a night in his house4 ,just before retiring at night1 he said1 in a jocose way3 ',i suppose you are accustomed to read the ,bible before going to bed1 and here is my ,bible from which to read4 ,he then told me what portions he would like to have me read1 and he only asked for those portions on which he could easily be facetious4 ,talmage gives himself away in this observation4 ,he contends that ,god wrote the ,bible4 ,why1 then1 did ,god write it so that you could easily be facetious about it8 ,it is not so easy to be facetious about ,homer1 or ,plato1 or ,aristotle1 or ,dante1 or ,spinoza1 or ,shakespeare1 or ,bacon4 ,there is no humor in the ,bible1 no wit1 and only a little sarcasm4 ,we do not laugh with it1 but at it1 which is the most fatal form of laughter4 ,it is awfully solemn1 but dreadfully absurd4 ,there are things in it to tickle an elephant4 ,surely it is strange that ,god should write a book that lends itself so easily to ridicule4 ,the ,spurgeon of ,yankeeland goes on to speak about the internal evidence of the ,bible4 ,this he says is paramount1 though he takes care to skip off as quickly as possible to outside testimony4 ,he cites a number of persons trained up as ,christians in favor of the supernatural character of the ,bible4 ,the first is ,chief ,justice ,chase1 of the ,supreme ,court of the ,united ,states--against whom we put a great jurisprudist like ,bentham1 and a great judge like ,sir ,james ,stephen4 ,the second is ,president ,adams--against whom we put ,president ,lincoln4 ,the third is ,sir ,isaac ,newton--against whom we put ,charles ,darwin4 ,the fourth is ,sir ,walter ,scott--against whom we put ,byron and ,shelley4 ,the fifth is ,hugh ,miller--against whom we put ,sir ,charles ,lyell4 ,the sixth is ,edmund ,burke--against whom we put ,thomas ,paine1 or1 if that will not do1 ,lord ,bolingbroke4 ,the seventh is ,mr4 ,gladstone--against whom we put ,john ,morley4 ,enough6 ,enough6 says ,talmage4 ,we say so too4 ,our names quite balance his names collectively4 ,the game of authorities can be played on both sides4 ,but is it worth playing at all8 ,is a great name a substitute for argument8 ,is authority as good as evidence8 ,should the jury decide according to the eminence of the pleader's friends1 or according to his facts and the force of his reasoning8 ,taking advantage of his congregation's ignorance1 or exposing his own1 ,talmage declares that ,the discovered monuments of ,egypt have chiselled on them the story of the sufferings of the ,israelites in ,egyptian bondage1 as we find it in the ,bible4 ,now1 to put it mildly1 this is not true4 ,we are also told that the sulphurous graves of ,sodom and ,gomorrah have been identified4 ,to put it mildly again1 this is not true4 ,we are told next that the remains of the ,tower of ,babel have been found4 ,this is not true4 ,assyrian documents are also said to echo and re-echo the truth of ,bible history1 ,this is not true1 according to ,professor ,sayce1 who knows more about ,assyrian history than ,talmage knows about all things whatsoever4 ,the witness of ,assyria repeatedly contradicts the ,bible story1 not merely in small matters1 but in important features4 ,the fact is1 ,talmage does not know what he is talking about2 or1 he does know what he is talking about1 in which case he is playing a very dirty trick on his hearers' credulity4 ,with respect to the ,pentateuch1 it does not trouble ,talmage whether it was written by ,moses or ,hilkiah or ,ezra or ,samuel or ,jeremiah1 or another group of ancients4 ,he declares that none of them wrote it1 for ,god wrote the ,pentateuch--that is to say1 they put down only what ,god dictated2 he signed it afterward4 ,but where is the signature8 ,and what a paltry way is this of evading the question at issue6 ,it is all very well to say that the writers of the ,pentateuch were ,jehovah's stenographers or typewriters4 ,what we want to know first of all is1 who they were1 and when they lived4 ,it is useless to follow ,talmage any farther4 ,suffice it to say that he winds up by warning young ,christians against a ,voltaire cyclone on the one side1 and a ,tom ,paine cyclone on the other side4 ,there is something worse than either--a ,talmage puddle4 ,the young man who sports in that is only fit for--well1 ,exeter ,hall1 or ,colney ,hatch4 ,,mrs4 ,,besant ,,on ,,death ,,and ,,after4 ,when we first criticised ,mrs4 ,besant's newly-found ,theosophy1 and thereby incurred her severe displeasure1 we predicted that her enthusiastic nature would carry her far on the road1 which she thought of true philosophy1 but which we thought of gross superstition4 ,our prediction has been realised2 and1 unless for some accident1 or some sudden turn in ,mrs4 ,besant's mind or life1 it will be realised still further4 ,in this1 as in other matters 7as the ,french say7 it is the first step which costs1 because it involves all the following steps4 ,mrs4 ,besant placed her feet upon the high road of credulity when she succumbed to the ,theosophical high priestess1 whose life is a highly interesting and instructive chapter in the history of imposture4 ,madame ,blavatsky had seen much of the world1 and was up to most things4 ,she had a surprising power of bamboozling people of some intelligence and culture4 ,the broad-set eyes1 and the great tiger-bar between and over them1 indicated the species to which she belonged4 ,mrs4 ,besant1 with her innocences and enthusiasms1 was a baby in the hands of this female ,cagliostro4 ,she actually gave the ,blavatsky credit for what she obviously did not possess4 ,her manners1 for instance1 were not such as might be expected from one who had tasted of spiritual wisdom at its secret sources2 while her pretentious ignorance was enough to alarm any student not under the glamor of her audacity4 ,she made the most grotesque mistakes in science1 while pompously setting right in their own province such colossal authorities as ,darwin and ,haeckel4 ,she had certainly read very widely 7or got others to read very widely for her7 in occult literature2 but wherever one's own knowledge enabled one to test1 she was a poor smatterer2 and the same judgment is delivered upon her by specialists in most of the fields she invaded4 ,it was not her learning or her intellectual power that captivated ,mrs4 ,besant2 it was her strong personality1 her masculine dominance1 her crafty self-possession4 ,from the first minute of her enchantment1 ,mrs4 ,besant lost all sense of logic in relation to ,theosophy4 ,for instance1 it was asserted1 and the assertion was supported by positive1 detailed-evidence1 that the ,blavatsky had practised the grossest imposture in ,india4 ,and how did ,mrs4 ,besant dispose of these charges8 ,she says she read them1 and immediately joined the ,theosophical ,society--as though that were any answer4 ,it is like saying1 ,i don't rebut the evidence against the prisoner in the dock1 but ,i shall shake hands with him4 ,what possible effect could that have on the sensible part of the jury8 ,but this sort of logic has been displayed by ,mrs4 ,besant ever since2 indeed1 she seems to have a dim perception of her weakness1 for she dares not discuss ,theosophy1 or any part of it1 with an out-and-out ,freethinker--one who would subject it to the critical tests with which she herself was familiar when she stood upon the ,secular platform4 ,there is one aspect of ,mrs4 ,besant's advocacy of ,theosophy which we censured at first1 and which we now think is something short of honest4 ,mrs4 ,besant used to present ,secularism in its naked truth1 to be embraced or rejected2 but she follows a different course in regard to ,theosophy2 she puts its plausible features forward and conceals the rest1 so that people who have heard her are positively astonished when they are told of some of her printed teachings4 ,this seems especially the case when she addresses meetings1 somewhat too chivalrously organised by ,freethinkers4 ,now this is not fair1 it is not really honest2 though it may be in accord with the ethics of those who divide truth into exoteric and esoteric4 ,to our mind1 it is rather suggestive of the spider and the fly4 ,will you walk into my parlor8 ,oh yes1 says the giddy fly1 it looks so nice1 positively inviting8 ,but what of the other rooms in your house2 your garret near the sky1 where you do star-gazing1 and your basement1 where crawl the foul things of savage superstition8 ,many of our readers have heard ,mrs4 ,besant in the sweet persuasive vein1 and felt pleased if rather muddled4 ,for their sakes1 and not for our own satisfaction1 we shall criticise her little volume on ,death--and ,after8 just issued as ,no4 ,,iii4 of a series of ,theosophical ,manuals4 ,when we have done they will know more about ,theosophy than if they had listened to ,mrs4 ,besant 7especially from ,freethought platforms7 for ten thousand years4 ,first1 let us notice ,mrs4 ,besant's attitude4 ,her devotion to the ,blavatsky is complete2 she mentions the great woman with profound veneration1 swears to all she taught1 and1 in fact1 just stews down the ,blavatsky's voluminous nonsense4 ,mrs4 ,besant is also a patient disciple of the ,masters--to wit1 the ,mahatmas4 ,these ,masters of ,wisdom never appear for inspection4 ,they lurk in the secret fastnesses of ,tibet1 which is a very unexplored part of the world1 large enough to hide a good many things1 even things that do not exist4 ,they know a lot1 but what dribbles out of them is very commonplace when it is not pompously silly4 ,they inhabit higher planes of life than our greatest saints and sages1 but somehow they have done nothing for ,tibet1 which is one of the poorest1 dirtiest1 and most degraded countries on earth4 ,still1 they are going to give a tremendous lift to the civilisation of ,europe2 and if we live long enough we shall see what we do see4 ,mahatmas are really the distinctive feature of ,theosophy2 it is absolutely nothing without them2 and1 in our opinion1 they are a most farcical swindle ,madame ,blavatsky created these out of her own fertile imagination1 she put them where they could not be found1 and she said1 ,if you want to know anything about them come to me2 ,i am the chosen vehicle of their sublime revelations4 ,and if you laughed at her ,mahatmas1 she was capable of indulging in expletives that would strike envy into the soul of a trooper4 ,how curious it is1 if these ,mahatmas are real personages1 that they do not communicate with our ,masters of ,wisdom4 ,why do they neglect our ,spencers and ,huxleys8 ,why do they choose to speak through a woman like ,madame ,blavatsky1 or a popular lecturess like ,mrs4 ,besant8 ,why are they so fond of the ladies8 ,cannot they have some dealings with a man1 a man of great eminence as a philosopher1 of high and undisputed character1 and of vast influence with the educated and thoughtful classes8 ,why1 in short1 do the ,mahatmas confine their attention to smaller persons with fish to fry8 ,relying upon these ,mahatmas1 and upon ,madame ,blavatsky1 her great guide1 philosopher1 and friend1 ,mrs4 ,besant has an extremely easy task4 ,she makes no attempt to prove1 she simply asserts1 and it seems to be a kind of blasphemy to ask for evidence4 ,she dishes everything up in ,hindu terminology1 on the ground that the ,english language has as yet no equivalents4 ,but will it ever have them8 ,never1 we suspect1 by the assistance of ,theosophists4 ,the oriental lingo is part of the fascination to those who like to look profound on a small stock of learning4 ,besides1 it imposes on the open-mouthed2 and1 if the ,hindu terminology were translated into vernacular ,english1 they would probably exclaim1 ,good ,god6 there's nothing in it4 ,it is all very well for ,mrs4 ,besant to pour out second-hand praise of technical terms4 ,we all know their value4 ,but how is it we have not got them already8 ,because--and this is the only answer--because we are ignorant of the things4 ,western experience does not coincide with oriental dreams4 ,mrs4 ,besant opens her little volume with the famous story of the conversion to ,christianity of ,edwin1 but she tells it very loosely1 and in fact wrongly2 which is a proof that the infallibility of the ,mahatmas has not fallen upon their disciple4 ,she states that while ,paulinus1 the ,christian missionary1 was speaking to-,edwin of life1 death1 and immortality1 a bird flew in through a window1 circled the hall1 and flew out again into the darkness2 whereupon the ,christian priest bade the king see in the flight of the bird within the-hall the transitory life of man1 and claimed for his faith that it showed the soul1 in passing from the' hall of life1 winging its way1 not in the darkness of night1 but in the sunlit radiance of a more glorious world4 ,now the bird did not fly into the hall as ,paulinus was speaking1 nor did he preach this sermon upon its movements4 ,it was one of ,edwin's suite who introduced the bird's flight as a metaphor1 reminding the king that sometimes at supper1 in the winter1 a sparrow would fly in out of the storm1 entering at one door and passing out at another1 staying but a minute1 and after that minute returning to winter as from winter it came4 ,such is the life of man1 said the ,saxon speaker1 and of what follows it1 or what has preceded it1 we are altogether ignorant2 wherefore1 if this new doctrine should bring anything more certain1 it well deserves to be followed4 ,this is how the incident is related by ,bede1 though it is probably apocryphal2 nevertheless it ought not to be hashed up by fresh cooks2 and if the matter is in itself of trifling importance1 it is as well to be accurate1 especially when you pretend a close acquaintance with the ,masters of ,wisdom4 ,many hundred years have elapsed since ,paulinus talked with ,edwin1 and to-day1 says ,mrs4 ,besant1 there are more people in ,christendom who question whether a man has a spirit to come anywhence or to go any-whither1 than1 perhaps1 in the world's history could ever before have been found at one time4 ,we are also reminded that man has always been asking whence the soul comes1 and whither it goes1 and the answers have varied with the faiths4 ,this is true1 at any rate2 but it does not suggest to ,mrs4 ,besant any lesson of modesty or hesitation4 ,despite the discord of so many ages1 she is most coolly dogmatic4 ,it does not1 apparently1 occur to her to ask why the discord has perpetually prevailed4 ,in matters of science1 after investigation and discussion1 the world comes to an agreement2 in matters of theology 7or1 if you like1 ,theosophy7 the world grows more and more at variance4 ,why is this8 ,there must be an explanation4 ,and to our mind the explanation is very simple4 ,in matters of science men deal with facts1 while in those other matters they deal with fancies1 and the more freedom you give them the greater will be the variety of their preferences4 ,mrs4 ,besant's new superstition of ,theosophy is1 in our judgment1 more foolish and less dignified than ,christianity4 ,we are therefore moved to say that she does injustice to ,christianity in representing it as responsible for all the black paraphernalia and lugubrious ceremonies of death4 ,there was1 indeed1 nothing of all this among the primitive ,christians4 ,such things belong to the world's common customs and superstitions4 ,black was not merely a sign of sorrow1 or at least of depression2 it was also thought to be protective against ghosts2 so that these trappings and suits of woe belong to the very spookology which is an integral part of ,theosophy4 ,of course ,i freely admit that the ordinary gloom of death has been deepened by the ,christian doctrine of hell1 though ,mrs4 ,besant seems to think otherwise4 ,she inclines to the belief that the ,western fear of death is ethnological1 being the antithesis of its vigorous life4 ,but it may be objected that the old ,romans were comparatively free from this terror4 ,on the other hand1 it must be allowed that ,mrs4 ,besant is right in her observation that the more mystical dreamy ,east has little dread of the shadow cloaked from head to foot1 since it is ever ever seeking to escape from from the thraldom of the senses1 and is apt to look upon the disembodied state as eminently desirable and as most conducive to unfettered thought4 ,in other words1 that when the brains are out1 as ,macbeth says1 man's intellect undergoes a wonderful improvement2 an opinion1 by the way1 which is quite in harmony with ,theosophical teaching4 ,after giving the ,theosophical view of the body1 ,mrs4 ,besant says that when once we thus come to regard it1 death loses all its terrors4 ,but this is not the sole achievement of ,theosophy4 ,what terror had death to ,charles ,bradlaugh8 ,what terror had death to ,mrs4 ,besant while she was an ,atheist8 ,there are thousands of sceptics who do not want ,theosophy to redeem them from a terror which they have long cast behind them1 with the superstition by which it was bred and cherished4 ,let us pause to remark that ,mrs4 ,besant quotes from ,paradise ,lost its magnificent description of ,death4 ,she appreciates at least the splendor of the diction1 but she does not notice how poor in comparison are the words she quotes from her ,masters4 ,how is it that ,milton beats the ,mahatmas8 ,what objects they look when the great ,english poet rises with his singing robes about him6 ,how thin their music when he strikes upon his thrilling lyre1 or blows his rousing trumpet1 or rolls from his mighty organ the floods of entrancing harmony6 ,but to return to the main subject4 ,it is absurd1 as ,mrs4 ,besant points out1 to claim for ,christianity that it brought life and immortality to light4 ,the belief in a future life was an intense conviction--or1 perhaps we should say1 a perfect truism--among the people of ancient ,india and ,egypt4 ,yet here again1 with her taste for dogmatic rhetoric1 ,mrs4 ,besant gratuitously exaggerates4 ,the whole ancient world1 she says1 basked in the full sunshine of belief in the immortality of man1 lived in it daily1 voiced it in their literature1 and went with it in calm serenity through the gate of ,death4 ,now calm serenity is bad tautology1 and the general assertion of this passage is equally open to censure4 ,the whole ancient world1 as the ,americans would say1 is a large order4 ,greece and ,rome 7to say nothing of the pre-,maccabean ,jews7 were very important parts of the whole ancient world1 and whoever asserts that their citizens basked in the sunshine of belief in immortality is simply making a confession of ignorance4 ,greek and ,roman poets and philosophers in many cases doubted1 or even denied1 a life beyond the grave4 ,even when the doctrine was entertained it does not appear to have been productive of much sunshine4 ,does not the poet make the shade of the great ,achilles say that he would rather be the veriest day-drudge on earth than command all the armies of the ghosts in the cold pale realm of the dead8 ,we do not ignore1 on the other hand1 the ,islands of the ,blest2 we are only objecting to ,mrs4 ,besant's loose and sweeping assertions1 which prove very clearly that her new faith is not remarkable in the cultivation of accuracy4 ,with regard to man--the entire human being1 mortal and immortal--,mrs4 ,besant remarks that un-instructed ,christians chop him into two1 the body-that perishes at death1 and the something that survives death4 ,she omits to notice that a good many ,christians chop him into three1 to say nothing of others1 like the ,christadelphians1 who leave him one and indivisible4 ,mrs4 ,besant1 for her part1 as a true ,theo-sophist1 goes farther than the sharpest ,christian dissectors4 ,she chops man into seven4 ,when she was a ,materialist she never suspected that her nature was so composite1 and we are still in the same benighted condition4 ,one begins to feel that the injunction1 ,man1 know thyself1 is a terrible burden4 ,it is hard enough to get a fair knowledge of our organism1 its physical constitution1 its intellectual faculties1 and its moral tendencies2 but the task is absolutely appalling when1 we have to get a satisfactory knowledge of our ,atma1 our ,buddhi1 our ,manas1 our ,kama1 our ,prana1 our ,linga ,sharira1 and our ,sthula ,sharira4 ,anyone who can master all that may as well go on unto seventy times seven4 ,the immortal soul consists of the upper three1 which are a trinity in everlasting unity4 ,the heavens may wax old as a garment1 but they go on for ever1 and flourish in immortal youth4 ,death is the first step in the process of their separation from the lower and perishable four4 ,one after another of these is shed1 as the serpent sloughs its skin1 or the butterfly its chrysalis2 or1 to use a more familiar and pungent illustration1 which we make a present of to ,mrs4 ,besant1 as you peel an onion1 fold after fold1 until you get to the tender core4 ,sthula ,sharira goes first1 and the organism becomes a corpse1 which is buried1 or cremated1 or eaten by cannibals4 ,linga ,sharira1 the ,astral ,double1 had been attached to it by a delicate cord1 which is our old friend the thread of life--a convenient metaphor turned into a positive proposition4 ,this delicate cord is snapped1 not immediately1 but some hours 7as many as thirty-six occasionally7 after apparent death4 ,it is necessary1 therefore1 to be very quiet in the death-chamber1 while the ,linga ,sharira is eloping4 ,one shudders to think of what might happen1 of the indecent haste to which ,number ,six might be compelled1 if a corpse were cremated a few hours after death2 the corpse1 for instance1 of a man who died from cholera or the plague4 ,this delicate cord which attaches ,number ,seven to ,number ,six is perceptible if your eyes are constructed that way2 that is1 if you are a clairvoyant1 one who is able to see beyond the real4 ,mrs4 ,besant does not say she has seen it herself2 indeed1 she is always relying on someone else4 ,she refers us to ,andrew ,jackson ,davis1 the ,poughkeepsie ,seer 7and a ,spiritist1 though she does not say so71 who watched this escape of the ethereal body and states that the magnetic cord did not break for some thirty-six hours4 ,others1 says ,mrs4 ,besant1 have described1 in similar terms1 how they saw a faint violet mist rise from the dying body1 gradually condensing into a figure which was the counterpart of the expiring person1 and attached to that person by a glittering thread4 ,thus the attachment is delicate1 magnetic1 and glittering4 ,in the course of time1 we dare say1 it will be decorated with a much larger variety of adjectives4 ,meanwhile we may observe that if ,mrs4 ,besant were to preach this sort of higher wisdom to savages she would find an attentive and sympathetic audience4 ,the violet mist1 the ,astral ,double1 and the delicate1 magnetic1 glittering cord1 are things that they are to some extent already familiar with2 and if she could only get them to accept her terminology1 and talk of ,sthula ,sharira and ,linga ,sharira1 they would be extremely promising candidates for the ,theosophical kingdom of heaven4 ,mrs4 ,besant tells us that the ,linga ,sharira1 or ,astral ,double1 rots away 7disintegrates7 in time4 ,it is the ethereal counterpart of the gross body of man1 and takes a longer time in dropping into nothingness4 ,sometimes this ,double is seen by persons in the house1 or in the neighborhood444 the ,double may be seen or heard2 when seen it shows the dreamy hazy consciousness alluded to1 is silent1 vague in its aspect1 and unresponsive4444 ,this astral corpse remains near the physical one1 and they disintegrate together2 clairvoyants see these astral wraiths in churchyards1 sometimes showing likeness of the dead body1 sometimes as violet mists or lights4 ,such an astral corpse has been seen by a friend of my own4 ,at this point we think it well to part company with ,mrs4 ,besant4 ,who would have imagined1 ten years ago1 that the colleague of ,charles ,bradlaugh would ever descend so far into superstition as to write and talk seriously about churchyard spooks8 ,what she may have to say about ,theosophy after this can hardly be of interest to any thoroughly sane person4 ,we therefore close with an expression of profound regret that an earnest1 eloquent lady who once did such service in the cause of progress1 should thus fall a victim to some of the most childish superstitions of the human race4 ,,the ,,poets ,,and ,,liberal ,,theology4 99 99 ,the ,development of ,theology as ,illustrated in ,english ,poetry from #aghj to #ahcj4 ,by ,stopf ord ,a4 ,brooke4 ,london3 ,green1 ,essex-street4 ,unitarianism has had wealth and learning on its side for several generations1 it has also enjoyed the services of some men of singular ability1 yet it has signally failed to make an impression upon the general public4 ,in all probability it ever will fail4 ,those who like theology at all1 for the most part like it hot and strong4 ,to purge it of its grosser features is to rob it of its chief attraction4 ,the ignorant and thoughtless multitude want plenty of supernaturalism4 ,those who think for themselves1 on the other hand1 are apt to grow dissatisfied with theology altogether1 and to advance beyond the somewhat arbitrary and fantastic limits of the ,unitarian faith4 ,for this reason ,unitarianism was called by ,erasmus ,darwin1 the grandfather of the great ,charles ,darwin1 a feather bed to catch a falling ,christian4 ,others regard it as a halfway house between ,christianity and ,atheism1 or even as a bathing machine for those who would wade1 and fear to plunge1 in the waters of ,freethought4 ,let us not1 however1 deny the distinction of such advocates of the ,unitarian faith as ,dr4 ,martineau and ,dr4 ,stopf ord ,brooke4 ,the latter was once a clergyman of the ,church of ,england1 which he left because he no longer held her tenets1 and in this he was more honest and courageous than some others who eat the ,church's bread and undermine her faith4 ,mr4 ,brooke regards himself as a teacher of positive religion1 but in our judgment his service to liberalism is really negative4 ,his writings and sermons are a protest1 however decorous1 against the orthodox theology2 and the protest may be all the more effective1 with a certain order of minds1 because it does not show them the ultimate consequences of freethinking4 ,when they see the preacher aglow with the ardor of his purified faith in ,god and ,immortality1 they are encouraged to advance as far as he has gone1 and thus to leave behind them the worst portions of the creed of their childhood4 ,mr4 ,brooke is well known in the field of literature1 and is held to shine as a critic of poetry4 ,hence it was that the ,british and ,foreign ,unitarian ,association appointed him to deliver the first lecture of a course dealing with some aspect of the history and development of ,christianity as viewed from a liberal and progressive standpoint4 ,the special subject selected was the development of theology as illustrated in ,english poetry1 and the lecture is now published in a neat little volume for the general reader4 ,we notice the frequent recurrence of the phrase liberal theology4 ,naturally we like everybody to be liberal1 but we cannot see the appropriateness of the epithet in this instance4 ,it would sound strange to talk of liberal geology or liberal chemistry4 ,why then should we talk of liberal theology8 ,if theology is anything but an effort of imagination--as we conceive it--it must be a system of ascertained truth4 ,its propositions are therefore true or false1 but they cannot be good or bad1 liberal or illiberal4 ,introduce these epithets1 and you make it a matter of taste and preference1 or of conformity or non-conformity to the spirit of advancing civilisation4 ,this is indeed what ,mr4 ,brooke appears to mean4 ,he seems to regard theology as liberal or otherwise as it adapts itself to the growth of knowledge and morality4 ,he goes to the length of admitting that secular progress precedes religious progress4 ,the ,church1 he says1 has always followed society4 ,the change in theology1 which has made it liberal1 or produced that variety of it1 could not have appeared in early ,christian times1 nor in the middle ages2 not as long1 that is1 as the imperialistic or feudal theory of humanity and its rulers existed4 ,still more decisively1 if possible1 he repeats this statement3--,there was no chance then of theology changing until the existing views of human society changed4 ,if theology was to be enlarged1 they must first be enlarged4 ,now this is a truth which we have always insisted on1 and the reason of it is destructive to liberal and all other kinds of theology4 ,we are told that ,god made man1 but the fact is that man made ,god1 and what he made he is able to keep in repair4 ,the growing idea of ,god's love is not forced upon theologians by a study of nature1 nor by a study of scripture4 ,it is forced upon them by the advancing spirit of humanity4 ,god was once a being who loved and hated1 and all the liberal theologians have done is to minimise his hatred and maximise his love4 ,god has not made any fresh disclosures of himself1 as ,mr4 ,brooke teaches2 the theologians have simply brought him up to date1 and they have done so under the compulsion of secular progress4 ,mr4 ,brooke's conception of the ,fatherhood of ,god is creditable to his feelings4 ,the deity he worships is one who will effectually call to himself and effectually keep1 at last1 all his children to whose free-will only one thing is impossible--final division from the sovereignty of his love4 ,but how far is this creditable to ,mr4 ,brooke's intelligence8 ,it is certainly inconsistent with the teaching of ,christ1 and ,mr4 ,brooke calls himself a ,christian4 ,it is no less inconsistent with all we know of ,nature1 who is supremely indifferent to the fate of individuals4 ,to talk so consumedly of ,god's love in this age of ,darwinism1 with its law of natural selection based on a universal struggle for existence1 is to fly in the face of common sense4 ,but here1 alas1 as in so many other cases1 the voice of reason is drowned in the chorus of sentimentalism4 ,with respect to democracy1 which is a kind of ,john the ,baptist to ,mr4 ,brooke's form of ,christianity1 there can be little doubt1 we think1 that it has been chiefly indebted to science1 which has in three centuries1 since the days of ,copernicus and ,galileo1 done more to advance the brotherhood of man than has been done by religion from the first syllable of recorded time4 ,mr4 ,brooke does not concern himself with science1 however2 but he nearly agrees with us in the matter of chronology4 ,a vast alteration in thought1 due to whatever causes1 had been going on for centuries4 ,it was a change from exclusiveness to universality1 and it took a literary and philosophical form in the eighteenth century writers in ,france1 and finally emerged a giant in the ,french ,revolution4 ,in that mighty upheaval the whole of the ideas of the old society perished for ever and ever1 and what seems to be left of them is but their ghosts1 a host of pale-eyed1 weary phantoms4 ,this is true and well expressed1 but it should be added that most of the eighteenth century writers in ,france1 particularly those who may be called philosophical1 were vehemently opposed to ,christianity1 as were most of the eminent actors in the ,revolution4 ,several of them were downright ,atheists1 who would have regarded the liberal theology of ,mr4 ,brooke as a sign of mental feebleness4 ,out of the ,revolution sprang the vivid conception of the ,brotherhood of ,man1 and it was this1 ,mr4 ,brooke says1 that made possible the conception of ,god's universal ,fatherhood4 ,in other words1 a change in human ideas rendered necessary a change in theology4 ,still1 we have ,mr4 ,brooke's word for it1 the ,churches and sects were the last to move4 ,in ,england1 he declares1 the resistance offered to these ideas by the religious bodies has been always steady and often rancorous4 ,it was another class of men who seized upon them4 ,these were the ,poets1 the most emotional1 the most imaginative1 the most prophetic1 and the most clear-sighted of men4 ,sometimes they kept the name of ,christians1 but more often they were called heretics or infidels1 blasphemers or atheists4 ,occasionally they were ,atheists1 as in the case of ,shelley1 though it could hardly be expected that ,mr4 ,brooke would emphasise the fact4 ,after some pithy criticism on ,william ,blake1 who was a forceful protestor against the old theology1 ,mr4 ,brooke passes on to ,burns and ,cowper4 ,of the exquisite satire of ,holy ,willie's ,prayer1 despite its irreverence and immorality1 which are after all but matters of opinion1 ,mr4 ,brooke says that it weakened the worst doctrines of ,calvinism far more than ten thousand liberal sermons have done4 ,cowper weakened ,calvinism too1 though he did so unintentionally4 ,the pathos and horror of some of his poems1 written under the heavy shadow of this awful creed1 did a great deal to discredit it amongst thoughtful and sensitive readers4 ,the poet was asked how he felt when dying4 ,his answer was1 ,i feel unutterable despair4 ,these terrible words prompt ,mr4 ,brooke to write as follows3-- ,they are words which all the good deeds of the professors of ,calvinism will never get over4 ',he was mad1' they say2 but what drove him mad8 ,did ,jesus teach in order that men might become insane8 for ,cowper is one among millions whom this doctrine of ,god has ruined morally1 intellectually1 or physically4 ,but they have perished1 unknown1 unheard4 ,this man was a poet1 and his words have told4 ,his personal acceptance of the horror revealed1 as the mockery of ,burns did not1 the idolatrous foulness of this doctrine concerning ,god4 ,coleridge's one specific contribution as a poet to a wider theology1 in the opinion of ,mr4 ,brooke1 was the closing verse of the ,ancient ,mariner--which1 by the way1 is not the closing verse1 but the antepenultimate4 ,he prayeth best who loveth best ,all things both great and small2 ,for the dear ,god who loveth us ,he made and loveth all4 ,mr4 ,brooke holds that ,wordsworth did a far ampler work by his doctrine of immanence1 which is perilously near ,pantheism4 ,understood1 however1 in the spirit of liberal theology1 it will not only finally govern1 but also bring about at last the complete reconcilement of science and religion4 ,but we must remind ,mr4 ,brooke that this is sheer prophecy4 ,it is simple enough to utter the counter prophecy that ,wordsworth's doctrine will do nothing of the kind4 ,it is in relation to ,byron and ,shelley that ,mr4 ,brooke really comes to the point of his essay4 ,wordsworth and ,coleridge turned their backs upon the ,revolution4 ,they were disenchanted4 ,they failed to see that the throes of birth were not the end of the progressive process4 ,one sought refuge in ,toryism1 modified by benevolence2 the other in metaphysical moonshine and esoteric theology4 ,byron1 on the other hand1 while not in the least constructive1 or enamored of the more advanced ideas in religion1 politics1 and sociology1 was filled with a bitter hatred and satiric contempt for the old order of things1 with its lies1 hypocrisies1 and oppressions4 ,he embodied what ,mr4 ,brooke calls the destroying element of the ,revolution1 which in him was directed by great mental force and a reckless daring4 ,among other things1 he struck at the ancient1 accredited doctrines of theology1 and he struck savagely4 ,mr4 ,brooke is of opinion that the poet brought free inquiry on theology to the surface of society4 ,but we think the critic is mistaken4 ,free inquiry on theology had been going on in ,england for more than a century1 and it culminated1 on the popular side1 in ,paine's ,age of ,reason4 ,how far ,byron aided the movement is easy of estimation4 ,to tell the truth1 he hinted disbelief1 and scattered doubt over his pages2 but he did no more1 he never faced any question manfully2 on the problems of religion his mind was chaotic to the very end4 ,it is this phenomena which leads ,mr4 ,brooke to infer that ,byron believed in the arbitrary1 vengeful ,god whom he depicted in ,cain4 ,he believes1 ,mr4 ,brooke says1 hates what he believes1 stamps with fury on his belief1 and yet clings to it4 ,such a conclusion1 however1 is one we cannot accept4 ,byron did not believe2 his prose1 and his letters1 prove that conclusively4 ,but he had not the courage to disbelieve and to proclaim his disbelief boldly like ,shelley1 who had a hundred times more real courage than his attitudinising friend1 ,manfred is terrible posing2 ,mr4 ,meredith calls it an after dinner's indigest2 and ,cain is rather skimble-skamble stuff1 though ,mr4 ,brooke calls it the most powerful1 the most human1 the most serious thing he ever wrote1 and the most effective--which is surely a most inept criticism4 ,byron rarely succeeded as a serious poet2 when he did so it was only in short flights4 ,he found the proper field for his genius in ,don ,juan4 ,his province was satire1 and the ,vision of ,judgment is at the top of ,english achievement in this direction1 ,a creative imagination he did not possess1 any more than a profound intellect2 and it was the perception of this fact which prompted his impertinent sneers at ,shakespeare4 ,but he had imagination enough to give wings to his satire1 and an inexhaustible wit which played like lightning around the objects of his indignation or contempt4 ,never did he reason like ,shelley1 and it is clear that he was afraid to2 he attacked in his own way what he felt to be false and despicable1 and the sword he wielded was ravishingly 7or terribly7 brilliant1 though it never cut deep enough4 ,one loves to think of him at last1 however1 laying down his life1 as he gave his substance1 for the freedom of ,greece4 ,with all his faults1 no pious or cowardly fear of death ever haunted his mighty spirit4 ,how gloriously he would have died on the battle-field1 fighting desperately for the cause of the people6 ,the last verses he ever wrote showed the troubled stream of his life running pure at its close4 ,noble and sincere in its language1 it was a fitting farewell to the world2 and although the poet did not find his soldier's grave1 he died none the less for the cause to which he had pledged his fortune and the remnant of his strength4 ,shelley did also a work of destruction1 says ,mr4 ,brooke1 though in a very different way from ,byron4 ,we should think so indeed6 ,the also is singularly weak in this instance1 for ,shelley attacked the ,christian superstition directly1 and ,queen ,mab had far more readers than ,cain1 the cheap1 pirated editions being circulated extensively among the working classes4 ,he began1 says ,mr4 ,brooke1 by being an ,atheist1 he ended by being what we call an ,agnostic4 ,but is this any more than a verbal distinction8 ,it appears to us that ,shelley's principles are the same in ,prometheus ,unbound as in ,queen ,mab4 ,the change is in their presentation2 the passionate vehemence of youth is succeeded by the restrained power of manhood4 ,it is true that ,shelley sang the praises of ,love--immortal ,love if you choose to call it so2 but ,mr4 ,brooke has to admit that he did not give it a personal life4 ,shelley also thinks ,immortality improbable1 yet1 ,mr4 ,brooke says1 he glides into words in his poems which continually imply it4 ,but this we deny4 ,allowing for personification and emphasis1 without which there can be no poetry1 we venture to affirm that there is not a single passage1 line1 or phrase in ,shelley's later poems which is not in essential harmony with his belief in the mortality of man and the practical immortality of the race4 ,it is one of the offences of theologians 7liberal or otherwise7 in relation to ,shelley1 that they try to turn metaphors into logical propositions1 in order to make the poet give evidence against himself4 ,in one respect1 however1 we quite agree with ,mr4 ,brooke4 ,liberal theology has not yet reached the level of ,shelley's thought1 nor can it ever do so until it ceases to be ,theology and becomes simple ,humanity4 ,mr4 ,brooke may flatter himself that he has a higher faith than ,shelley had1 but we think he is mistaken4 ,substitute blinder for higher and the expression would be more accurate4 ,shelley did believe that ,love--not alone1 but co-operating with ,knowledge--would achieve the salvation of mankind2 but he resolutely refused to talk about man's destiny in ,god the ,father1 which seems to afford such comfort to the devotees of liberal theology4 ,for this he deserves the gratitude of all scientific ,humanitarians1 who should protest with all their might against the attempt to emasculate him into a prophet1 or even an advance agent1 of some new form of ,godism4 ,liberal theology should beget its own poet1 if it can2 it should not try to steal the poet of ,humanity4 ,,christianity ,,and ,,labor4 99 99 ,sept4 #bd1ahic4 ,whatever else may be thought about the present coal-strike1 or lock-out1 as it might be more accurately described1 it will be admitted by many persons who do not rail at ,political ,economy that the miners are following a sound instinct in demanding that a decent wage shall be a fixed element in price4 ,to dig coal out of the earth is worth a minimum of 7say7 thirty shillings a week1 and if it will not yield that modest remuneration to the worker let it stay where it is1 and let the community do without coal altogether4 ,morally speaking1 society has no right to demand that an important industry shall be carried on under conditions involving the misery1 and still less the degradation1 of those employed in it4 ,nor is this a wild1 revolutionary doctrine2 it is eminently conservative1 in the best sense of the word2 and it will have to be admitted1 and acted upon1 in the interest of social order4 ,of course it means an inroad on rent and speculative profit1 but that is not an immeasurable calamity4 ,so much1 by way of introduction1 on the moral and economic aspects of the matter4 ,our special object is rather theological4 ,we desire to notice the part which religion plays in the struggle between capital and labor2 or1 more properly perhaps1 between the haves and the have-nots4 ,everyone with an elementary knowledge of the social and political history of the last hundred years must be aware that the working classes1 as such1 have had no help whatever from ,christian ,churches4 ,here and there an individual clergyman has spoken a word on their behalf1 but the great mass of the men of ,god have been on the side of the powers that be1 and have insulted and derided the advocates and leaders of ,trade ,unionism1 whom they are still fond of calling pestilent agitators4 ,yet the ,gospel1 and especially the ,sermon on the ,mount1 is stuffed with platitudes about the blessings and virtues of poverty1 and the curse and wickedness of wealth4 ,logically1 therefore1 judging by the letter of scripture1 the clergy should have been on the side of the poor1 the wretched1 and the oppressed4 ,but this is a case in which the letter killeth1 and with an eye to their own interests and privileges1 to say nothing of their ease and comfort1 the clergy found that the spirit of the ,gospel meant the preservation of the existing conditions of society4 ,it would be bad for the rich1 and well for the poor1 in the next life2 but1 in this life1 they were to keep their relative places1 and remain content in the positions which ,providence had assigned them4 ,it is not surprising1 then1 that the ,christian ,churches--with all their wealth1 power1 and at least pretended influence--should be idle or unctuously hypocritical spectators of the struggles of labor to obtain a fair share of the blessings of civilisation4 ,they extend just sufficient verbal patronage to labor to save themselves from being howled at1 and throw all their real weight in the scale against it4 ,and it is folly to expect any better of them4 ,the religion and the training of the clergy make them what they are1 and they can no more alter than the ,ethiopian can change his skin or the leopard his spots4 ,religion is always the consecration of the past2 never the spirit of the future working in the present2 and the clergy1 who1 as ,sidney ,smith said1 are a third sex--neither male nor female1 but effeminate--are instinctively conservative1 thoroughly enamored of what is1 and obstinately averse to all radical changes4 ,their timidity would be quite phenomenal1 if they were not the third sex2 and1 like all timid people1 they can shriek and yell and curse and foam at the mouth when they are well frightened4 ,were it otherwise1 were ,christianity a real agency for social improvement1 and the clergy the moral leaders of the people1 we should have seen by this time a tremendous alteration in the condition1 and the relations1 of all classes of society4 ,there might still be differences1 but they would be on a higher plane1 and less grievous and exasperating4 ,as the case stands1 all the best of the clergy can do is to preach harmless platitudes once a week4 ,one ,bishop has been actually harangueing the miners1 and only provoking contemptuous remarks about his salary4 ,the truth is1 that ,christian ministers are1 in the main1 only fit to preach kingdom-come4 ,that is their proper work1 ana they are exactly cut out for it4 ,we are not in love with all the details of the elaborate ecclesiasticism of ,comte's ,religion of ,humanity1 but we are bound to say that a philosophical priesthood1 such as he planned1 would be better fitted than a ,christian priesthood for the work of moral control and social diplomacy4 ,there is an ethical as well as an economical element in most of these disputes between labor and capital2 and a philosophical priesthood1 vowed to study and simplicity of life1 would be able to intervene with some effect4 ,it would be something1 indeed1 to have the deliberate judgment of a dispassionate though sympathetic tribunal1 even though it had--and could and should have--no authority to enforce its decisions4 ,at present1 however1 all this is ,utopian1 and perhaps it always will be so4 ,we will return1 therefore1 to our immediate object1 which is to point out the utter uselessness of ,christianity in the midst of class antagonisms4 ,it cannot control the rich1 it cannot assist the poor4 ,its chief idea is to stand between the two1 not as an ambassador of justice1 but as a dispenser of charity4 ,and this charity1 instead of really helping the people1 only serves to obscure the problems to be solved1 and to perpetuate the evils it affects to relieve4 ,,an ,,easter ,,egg ,,for ,,christians4 99 99 ,april1 #ahic4 ,christian ,fellow ,citizens1-- ,we are living together in this world1 but ,i do not know whether we shall live together in the next world4 ,you probably consider yourself as booked for heaven1 and me as booked for the other establishment4 ,but that is a question ,i will not discuss at present4 ,i will only remark that you may be mistaken4 ,existence1 you know1 is full of surprises2 and1 as the ,french say1 it is always the unexpected that happens4 ,well1 my fellow citizens of this world1 it is now the time when you celebrate the death and resurrection of your ,savior4 ,not being of your faith1 ,i cannot join in the commemoration4 ,i shall1 however1 regard the season after a more primitive fashion4 ,your ,church adopted an old ,pagan festival1 the rejoicing at the renewal of the earth in the genial springtide4 ,at the vernal equinox the sun is increasing in power1 the world is astir with new life1 and begins to reassume its mantle of green4 ,such a time inspired jollity in the human breast4 ,it was commemorated with feast and dance and song4 ,perhaps it will be so again1 even in sombre ,england1 when the gloom of your ascetic creed has lifted and disappeared4 ,meanwhile ,i1 as a heathen man and a sinner1 will imitate as far as ,i may the example of the ,pagans of old4 ,i will not sing1 for ,i am no adept in that line2 and my joints are getting too stiff for dancing4 ,but ,i will feast1 within the bounds of reason2 ,i will leave this million-peopled ,babylon and put myself in touch with ,mother ,nature2 ,i will feel1 if only for a brief while1 the spring of the turf under my feet2 ,i will breathe air purified by the moving waters at their priest-like task ,of pure ablution round earth's human shores2 ,i will watch the seahorses1 with their white crests1 in endless rank1 charging the shore2 ,i will listen to the sound which ,homer heard so long before your ,christ was born--the sound so monotonous1 so melancholy1 yet so soothing and sustaining1 which stirs a pulse of poetry in the very dullest and most prosaic brain4 ,but before ,i go ,i send you this ,easter egg1 to show that ,i do not forget you4 ,keep it1 ,i pray you2 study well its inscriptions2 and perhaps1 after all1 you will not pelt me with it at the finish4 ,i have said1 my ,christian fellow citizens1 that your ,church appropriated an ancient ,pagan festival--the festival of spring4 ,i may be told by scholars amongst you that the time of ,christ's crucifixion and resurrection was fixed by the ,jewish ,passover4 ,i reply that the ,passover was itself a spring festival1 whose original and natural meaning was obscured by priestly arts and legendary stories4 ,that it happened at this time of the year1 that it depended on astronomical signs1 that its commemoration included the sacrifice of the firstlings of the flock--shows clearly enough that it was a ,jewish counterpart of the common ,gentile celebration4 ,has it ever occurred to you that if ,christ died1 he died on a particular day2 and that if he rose from the dead1 he rose on a particular morning8 ,that day1 that morning1 should have been observed in the proper fashion of anniversaries4 ,but it never was1 and it is not now4 ,good ,friday--as you curiously1 and almost facetiously call the day on which the founder of your faith suffered a painful and ignominious death--and ,easter ,sunday1 when he left his sepulchre1 never fall on the same date in successive years4 ,they are determined by calculations of the position of the sun and the phases of the moon--a planet sacred to lovers and lunatics1 and naturally dear therefore to devotion and superstition4 ,you decorate your churches with evergreens and flowers as the ,pagans decorated their temples and altars4 ,you use ,easter eggs like the pre-,christian religionists4 ,you show1 and your creed shows1 in everything that ,easter is really a spring festival4 ,the year springs from the tomb of winter1 and ,christ springs at the same time from the tomb of death4 ,i am disposed to regard your ,savior as a purely mythical personage1 like all other ,saviors and sun-gods of antiquity1 who were generally1 if not always1 born miraculously of virgin mothers1 mysteriously impregnated by celestial visitors2 and whose careers1 like that of your ,christ1 were marked by portents and prodigies1 ending in tribulation and defeat1 which were followed by vindication and triumph4 ,whether there was a man called ,jesus1 or ,joshua 7the ,jewish form of the name71 who lived and taught in ,galilee and died at ,jerusalem1 is more than ,i will undertake to determine1 and it seems to me a question of microscopic importance4 ,but ,i am convinced that the ,christ of the ,gospels is the product of religious imagination2 an ideal figure1 constructed out of materials that were common in the ,east for hundreds and perhaps for thousands of years4 ,to confine ourselves1 however1 to the ,easter aspect of the matter1 ,i think you will find--if you read the ,gospel story with unprejudiced eyes--that the closing scenes of ,christ's career are quite imaginary4 ,the story of his ,trial and ,crucifixion is utterly at variance with ,roman law and ,jewish custom4 ,it also includes astonishing incidents--such as the earthquake which rent the veil of the temple1 the three hours' eclipse of the sun1 and the wholesale resurrection of dead saints--of which the ,romans and the ,jews were in a still more astonishing ignorance4 ,what must have startled the whole or the then known world1 if it happened1 made absolutely no impression on the ,hebrew and ,gentile nations1 and not a trace of it remains in the pages of their historians4 ,can you believe that the most remarkable occurrences on record escaped the attention of all who were living at the time1 with the exception of a handful of men and women1 who never took the trouble to write an account of their experiences1 but left them to be chronicled by unknown writers long after they themselves were dead8 ,all the documentary evidence we possess is ,christian4 ,it is the witness of an interested party1 uncorroborated by a particle of testimony from independent sources4 ,i do not forget that the literature of your early ,church includes a letter from ,pontius ,pilate to the emperor ,tiberius1 giving a detailed account of the trial1 sentence1 crucifixion1 and resurrection of ,christ2 but this is one of the many forgeries of your early ,church1 and is now universally rejected as such alike by ,protestant and by ,catholic scholars4 ,to my mind1 indeed1 this forgery itself proves the falsehood of the ,gospel narrative2 it shows that the early ,christians felt the necessity of some corroborative evidence1 and they manufactured it to give their own statements an air of greater plausibility4 ,taking the ,gospels as they stand1 ,i will ask you to read the story in ,matthew 7not that ,i believe he wrote it7 of the watch at ,christ's sepulchre4 ,the ,jewish priests come to ,pilate1 and ask him to let the sepulchre be sealed and guarded2 for the dead impostor had declared he would rise again on the third day1 and his disciples might steal his body and say he had risen4 ,the guard is set1 but an angel descends from heaven1 terrifies the soldiers1 rolls away the stone1 and allows ,jesus to escape4 ,whereupon the ,jewish priests give the soldiers money to tell ,pilate that they slept at their posts4 ,how1 ,i ask1 did those ,jewish priests know that ,jesus had said ,after three days ,i will rise again8 ,according to ,john 7xx4 #i71 his very disciples were ignorant of this fact--,for as yet they knew not the scripture1 that he must rise again from the dead4 ,could it be unknown to his intimates1 who had been with him day and night for three years1 in all parts of ,palestine2 yet well known to the priests1 who had only seen him occasionally during a few days at ,jerusalem8 ,there was an earthquake before the angels descended4 ,would not this have attracted general attention8 ,and is it conceivable that the soldiers would take money to say they had slept at their posts8 ,the punishment for that offence was death4 ,of what use then was the bribe8 ,do men sell their honor for what they can never enjoy1 and count their lives as a mere trifle in the bargain8 ,is it conceivable that the priests were so foolish as the story depicts them8 ,would bribing the soldiers protect them against ,christ8 ,if he had risen he was lord of life and death4 ,would they not have abandoned their projects against him1 and sought his forgiveness8 ,he who had the power to revive himself had the power to destroy them4 ,the appearances of ,jesus1 after his resurrection1 are grotesque in their self-contradiction4 ,now he is a pure ghost1 suddenly appearing and suddenly vanishing1 and entering a room with shut doors4 ,then he appears as solid flesh and blood1 to be felt and handled4 ,he even eats broiled fish and honeycomb4 ,such conditions are quite irreconcilable4 ,we may imagine a ghost going through a keyhole1 but is it possible to imagine broiled fish and honeycomb going through the same aperture8 ,or is the stomach of a ghost capable of digesting such victuals8 ,has it never struck you as strange1 also1 that the risen ,christ never appeared to anyone but his disciples8 ,no outsider1 no independent witness1 ever caught a glimpse of him4 ,the story is a party report to prove a party position and maintain a party's interests4 ,surely1 if ,christ died for all men1 if his resurrection is the pledge of ours1 and if our inability to believe it involves our perdition1 the fact should have been established beyond all cavil4 ,christ should have stood before ,pilate who sentenced him to be crucified2 he should have confronted the ,sanhedrim who compassed his death2 he might even have walked about freely amongst the ,jews during the forty days 7more or less7 during which1 as the ,new ,testament narrates1 he flitted about like a hedge-row ghost4 ,he should have made his resurrection as clear as daylight1 and he left it as dark as night4 ,to ask what became of the body of ,jesus if he did not rise1 is an idle question4 ,there is not the slightest contemporary evidence that his body was an object of concern4 ,on the other hand1 however1 the story of the ,ascension looks like a convenient refuge4 ,to talk of a risen ,christ was to invite the question ,where is he8 ,the story of the ,ascension enabled the talkers to answer ,he is gone up4 ,it relieved them from the awkward necessity of producing him4 ,space does not allow of my discussing this subject more extensively4 ,i could swell this ,easter egg into gigantic proportions1 but ,i must leave it as it is ,it goes to you with my compliments1 and a hope that it will do you good4 ,if it leads any of you to take a thought and mend1 if it induces one of you to review the faith of his childhood1 if it stirs a rational impulse in a single ,christian mind1 ,i shall be amply rewarded for my trouble4--,christian fellow citizens1 ,adieu6--,i remain1 ,yours for ,reason and ,humanity4 ,,duelling4 99 99 ,july #bb1 #ahhh4 ,one result of the recent duel between ,m4 ,floquet and the melodramatic ,general ,boulanger is that ,bishop ,freppel has moved in the ,chamber of ,deputies for the legal abolition of private combats4 ,that a bishop should do this is remarkable4 ,if ,bishop ,freppel possessed any sense of humor1 he would leave the task to laymen4 ,his ,church did not establish duelling2 on the contrary1 she censured it2 but it was countenanced by her principles1 and her protest was unavailing4 ,the judicial combat was an appeal to ,god1 like the ordeal by fire or water1 or the purgation by oath4 ,the ,church patronised those forms of superstition which brought men to her altars1 and ministered to her profit and power1 and she opposed those superstitions which were inimical to her interest4 ,when legal proofs failed and suits were undecided2 when persons were accused of crimes1 of which they could neither be proved guilty nor held guiltless2 or when they lay under gross suspicion of wrong1 the ,church proffered the ordeal4 ,she invited the litigants1 or the suspected parties1 to handle hot iron1 plunge their arms into boiling liquid1 or be thrown into water deep enough to drown them2 and if they underwent such treatment without injury1 she held them innocent4 ,another device was the oath4 ,the parties went to the ,church altar and swore their innocence or the justice of their cause4 ,but all these methods gave room for chicane4 ,kings and knights protested that the oath led to indiscriminate perjury1 that if the priests' hands were tickled with money the hot iron was only painted1 and that a suitable fee could render the boiling liquid innocuous to the skin of a baby4 ,they therefore drew their swords1 exclaiming1 ,away with this priestly jugglery6 ,these weapons are better than fire or water or oil1 and ,god can decide the right in single combat as in the ,churchman's ordeal4 ,is it not true1 asked ,king ,gundobald of ,bishop ,avitus1 that the event of national wars and private combats is directed by the judgment of ,god2 and that his providence awards the victory to the juster cause8 ,the ,bishop could not answer ,no1 for if he did he would have demolished the whole ,church system of ordeals1 so he yielded to the arguments of his sovereign4 ,single combats1 under the ,gothic code1 were fought according to judicial forms4 ,they were held1 ,robertson says1 as solemn appeals to the omniscience and justice of the ,supreme ,being4 ,shakespeare is careful to to notice this feature4 ,when ,bolingbroke and ,norfolk1 in ,richard ,,ii41 challenge each other as traitors1 the king consents to their duel in the following terms3 ,at ,coventry1 upon ,saint ,lambert's day3 ,there shall your swords and lances arbitrate ,the swelling difference of your settled hate4 ,since we cannot atone you1 we shall see ,justice design the victor's chivalry4 ,modern duelling is thus a survival of the old judicial combat4 ,the point of honor is the excuse for a practice which has lost its original sanction4 ,the appeal to ,god is forgotten1 and the duellists talk of satisfaction4 ,illogical no doubt1 but this is only one of many customs that survive their original meaning4 ,now the ,church cannot hold itself guiltless in regard to this folly4 ,she cherished the superstition on which it rested4 ,she taught the policy of appealing to ,god1 and only frowned on the particular method which brought no grist to her mill4 ,her own methods were still more senseless4 ,unless the laws of nature were constantly subverted1 her ordeals must have operated at random when they were not regulated by fraud4 ,the hand of guilt might be harder than that of innocence1 and more likely to bear a moment's contact with hot iron or boiling oil4 ,besides1 as ,montesquieu observes1 the poltroon stood the poorest chance in the judicial combat1 and the poltroon was more likely to be guilty than the man of courage4 ,the weak1 of course1 were at the mercy of the strong2 but in one point1 at least1 the combat had an obvious advantage over the other ordeals4 ,how amusing it must have been to a sceptic1 if such then existed1 to see the opposition between the nobles and the clergy4 ,the nobles said ,fight6 and the clergy cried ,that is impious4 ,the clergy said ,swear6 and the nobles cried ,that is sacrilege and leads to perjury4 ,no less amusing was the turn which combat took in ,spain in the eleventh century4 ,there was a struggle between the ,latin and the ,gothic liturgy4 ,aragon yielded to the papal pressure1 but ,castile thought the contest should be decided by the sword4 ,accordingly1 ,mosheim tells us1 two champions were chosen2 they fought1 and the ,latin liturgy was defeated4 ,but the ,romish party was not satisfied4 ,the two liturgies were thrown into a fire1 and the result of the ordeal was another triumph for the ,goths4 ,still the divine decisions are frail when opposed to the interests of the ,church4 ,queen ,constantia1 who controlled ,king ,alphonso1 sided with the pontiff of ,rome1 and the priest and the lady carried the day4 ,though incorporated in the judicial system of ,christendom1 the duel is scorned by the ,turks1 and was unknown to the ,greeks and ,romans4 ,lord ,bacon remarks this in one of his admirable law tracts3 ,all memory doth consent that ,greece and ,rome were the most valiant and generous nations of the world2 and1 that which is more to be noted1 they were free estates1 and not under a monarchy2 whereby a man would think it a great deal the more reason that particular persons should have righted themselves2 and yet they had not this practice of duels1 nor anything that bare show thereof4 7,charge against ,duels47 ,bacon observes that the most valorous and generous nations scorn this practice4 ,why then did it obtain so long in ,christendom8 ,was it because the ,northern and ,western nations were cowardly and selfish8 ,nothing of the kind2 it was because they were superstitious1 and their superstition was cherished by the ,church4 ,even at the present day the ,church calls international combat an appeal to ,god2 regimental banners are consecrated by priests1 and laid up in temples when dilapidated2 and ,catholic and ,protestant priests alike implore victory for their respective sides in time of war4 ,and why not8 ,is not the ,bible ,god the ,lord of ,hosts and a man of war8 ,did he not teach ,david's fingers to fight8 ,were not ,joshua and ,jehu1 the two greatest tigers in history1 his chosen generals8 ,why then should he be averse to international butchery in ,europe8 ,should he not rejoice in the next bloody cockpit of featherless bipeds8 ,and is it not hard to see his infinite appetite for blood reduced to content itself with an occasional duel1 in which not enough of the sanguine fluid is shed to make a small black-pudding8 ,bishop ,freppel is ill-advised4 ,he should not rob his ,deity of his last consolation4 ,,down ,,among ,,the ,,dead ,,men4 99 99 ,july #b1 #ahic4 ,the ramming and sinking of the ,victoria is the great event of the day4 ,it is said to show the uselessness of big ironclads in naval warfare4 ,but as the ,camperdown1 which sent the ,victoria to the bottom in a few minutes1 has herself sustained very little damage1 it looks as though rams were anything but inefficient4 ,there has never yet been an engagement between two fleets of ironclads1 and no one knows how they would behave in an actual battle4 ,our own impression is that both fleets would go to the bottom1 and this opinion is shared by a good many practical persons at ,portsmouth and ,devonport4 ,however that may be1 it is a great pity that civilised nations are still so uncivilised as to spend their time and money on these costly engines of destruction4 ,we are well aware that the newspapers go into hysterics over our soldiers and sailors1 and no doubt many of them are very gallant fellows4 ,but in this1 we venture to think1 they do not represent the masses of the people4 ,never have we witnessed such deep and sincere enthusiasm as was displayed by the crowd of spectators at the ,agricultural ,hall1 while the ,american1 ,portuguese1 and ,english firemen were going through their evolutions4 ,the business of these fine fellows was to save life4 ,they incurred the deadliest danger for human preservation1 and not for human destruction4 ,and how the people cheered them as they rode upon their engines1 drawn by galloping horses6 ,with what breathless interest they watched them climbing up ladders1 sliding down ropes1 and bearing men on their backs out of third-floor windows6 ,it did one good to watch the proceedings1 which showed that a new spirit was taking possession of the people1 that they were beginning to be more interested in the savers than in the slayers of men4 ,but all this is a digression4 ,let us return to the ,victoria4 ,she is now in eighty fathoms of water with her hundreds of dead4 ,poor fellows6 theirs was a sad fate2 though not more so than the fate of miners blasted or suffocated in explosive pits4 ,we pity their dear ones--mothers1 sisters1 wives1 and children4 ,hundreds1 perhaps thousands1 of hearts are aching on their account2 mourning for the dead who will never be buried under the sweet churchyard grass1 though they have the whole ocean for their tomb and the stars for its nightlamps4 ,on ,sunday1 of course1 the sky-pilots1 all over ,england1 were busy at improving the occasion4 ,they always make profit out of death and disaster4 ,prepare to meet thy ,god6 was the lesson which most of them derived from this catastrophe4 ,of course the preachers are ready themselves4 ,who can doubt it8 ,but they are in no hurry to have it tested4 ,they do not want to meet their ,god until they are obliged to4 ,it is so much better to be a commercial traveller in ,god's service than to take a situation in the house4 ,some of the preachers dared to talk about ,providence--the sweet little cherub that sits up aloft1 to keep watch o'er the life of poor ,jack1 and lets him go to the bottom or furnish a dinner for sharks4 ,surely that ,providence is a rare old fraud4 ,a cripple1 a paralytic1 a sleeper1 a dead man1 could have done as much for the ,victoria as ,providence managed to do4 ,oh6 it is said1 but the drowned sailors are gone to ,heaven2 ,providence looked after them in that way4 ,indeed6 ,then why do you lament over them8 ,still more1 why do you congratulate the survivors8 ,according to your theory1 they have missed a slice of good luck4 ,we have frequently remarked1 and we now repeat1 that religion is based upon the bed-rock of selfishness2 and nothing proves the truth of this so clearly1 and so convincingly1 as the talk that people indulge in about ,providence4 ,for instance1 take this telegram1 which is printed in the newspapers as having been sent home to a gentleman in ,england3--,jack saved4 ,awful affair4 ,thank ,god6 ,this telegram was written hastily1 but it was sincere2 the writer had no time to drop into hypocrisy4 ,jack saved was his first thought2 that is1 ,jack is still on earth and out of heaven4 ,awful affair was his second thought2 that is1 a lot of other poor devils are gone to heaven--anyhow1 they are no longer on earth4 ,thank ,god was his third thought2 that is1 ,jack's all right4 ,thus it was two for our ,jack1 and one for all the hundreds who perished6 ,it may be pointed out1 too1 that ,thank ,god6 comes in the wrong place2 where it stands it seems to thank ,god for the calamity4 ,yes1 so it does1 if we look at the mere composition2 but the order of the ejaculations is all right1 if we look at the sentiment1 the pious sentiment1 of the person who wrote the telegram4 ,he followed the logic of his personal feelings1 like everyone else who thanks ,god and talks of ,providence4 ,season and personal feeling often do not coincide4 ,in this case1 for instance1 it requires a very slight exercise of the intellect to see that1 if ,providence saved ,jack1 ,providence drowned the rest4 ,no1 some will reply1 ,providence did not drown them1 but only let them drown4 ,well1 that is exactly the same thing4 ,superficially1 it is the same thing2 for ,providence1 like men1 is responsible for omissions as well as commissions4 ,if you let a blind man walk over a precipice without warning him1 you are his murderer1 you are guilty of his blood4 ,resolving not to do a thing is as much an act of will as resolving to do it4 ,thou shalt is a law as imperative as ,thou shalt not1 though it does not figure in the decalogue4 ,profoundly also1 as well as superficially1 ,providence1 if it saved ,jack1 killed those who perished2 for1 as ,jack was not visibly fished out of the water by ,providence1 it can only be held that ,providence saved him on the ground that ,providence does everything1 which covers the whole of our contention4 ,i the ,lord do all these things4 ,so says the ,bible1 and so you must believe1 if you have a ,god at all4 ,,smirching ,a ,,hero4 ,he who fights with priests may make up his mind to have his poor good name torn and befouled by the most infamous lies and the most cutting slanders4--,heine4 ,the great poet and wit1 ,heinrich ,heine1 from whom we select a motto for this article1 was not very partial to ,englishmen1 and still less partial to ,scotchmen4 ,he had no objection to their human nature1 but a strong objection to their religion1 which so resembles that of the chosen people--being1 indeed1 chiefly modelled on the ,old ,testament pattern--that he was led to describe them as modern ,jews1 who only differed from the ancient ones in eating pork4 ,doubtless a great improvement has taken place since ,heine penned that pungent description1 but ,scotland is still the home of orthodoxy1 and most inaccessible to ,liberal ideas1 unless they wear a political garb4 ,it need not astonish us1 therefore1 that a bitter attack on a ,freethought martyr like ,giordano ,bruno should emanate from the land of ,john ,knox2 or that it should appear in the distinctly national magazine which is called the ,scottish ,review4 ,the writer does not disclose his name1 and this is a characteristic circumstance4 ,he indulges his malevolence1 and airs his ignorance1 under a veil of anonymity4 ,his stabs are delivered like those of a bravo1 who hides his face as he deals his treacherous blow4 ,many books and articles have been written on ,giordano ,bruno1 but this writer seems ignorant of them all1 except a recent volume by a ,romish priest of the ,society of ,jesus1 which he places at the top of his article1 and relies upon throughout as an infallible authority4 ,it does not occur to him that an account of ,bruno by a ,jesuit member of the ,church which murdered him1 is hardly likely to be impartial2 nor does he scent anything suspicious in the fact that the documents reporting ,bruno's trial were all written by the ,inquisition4 ,he would probably sniff at a report of the trial of ,jesus ,christ by the ,scribes and ,pharisees1 yet that is precisely the kind of document on which he relies to blast the memory of ,bruno4 ,some of those ,inquisition records he translates1 apparently fancying he is making a revelation1 though8 they have long been before the scholarly public1 and were extensively cited in the ,english ,life of ,bruno1 by ,i4 ,frith1 which saw the light more than twelve months ago4 ,berti reprinted the documents of ,bruno's trial in ,venice in #ahhj1 so that the startling revelations of ,father ,previti are at least seven years behind the fair4 ,before dealing1 however1 with the use he would make of those documents1 we think it best to track this ,scotch slanderer throughout his slimy course1 and expose his astounding mixture of ignorance1 impudence and meanness4 ,let us take two instances of the last virtue first4 ,he actually condescends to attempt a feeble point in regard to ,bruno's name4 ,bruno1 he sagely observes--with an air of originality only intelligible on the ground that he is conscious of writing for the veriest ignoramuses--is the same as ,brown2 and hence1 if we take the baptismal name of ,filippo ,bruno1 it simply means ,philip ,brown4 ,well1 what of that8 ,what's in a name8 ,one great ,english poet rejoiced in the vulgar name of ,jonson2 two other ,english poets bore the no less vulgar name of ,thomson2 while at least two have descended so low as ,smith4 ,we might even remind the orthodox libeller that ,joshua1 the ,jewish formi of ,jesus1 was as common as ,jack is among ourselves4 ,perhaps the reminder will sound blasphemous in his delicate ears1 but fact is fact1 and if reputations are to depend on names1 we may as well be impartial4 ,now1 for our second instance4 ,bruno was betrayed to the ,venetian ,inquisition by ,count ,mocenigo while he was that nobleman's guest4 ,mocenigo had invited him to ,venice in order that he might learn what this writer calls his peculiar system for developing and strengthening the memory1 although this peculiar system was simply the ,lullian method4 ,what the nobleman really wanted to learn seems to have been the ,black ,art4 ,he complained1 and ,bruno resolved to leave him2 whereupon the nobleman1 who had harbored ,bruno for months1 forcibly detained him1 and denounced him to the ,inquisition as a heretic and a blasphemer4 ,a more dastardly action is difficult to conceive1 but our ,scotch libeller is ready to defend it1 or at least to give it a coat of whitewash4 ,he allows that ,mocenigo does not appear to have been animated with the motive of religious zeal1 and that his conscience never troubled him before the personal difference4 ,but he discovers a plea for this ,judas in his sworn statement to the ,inquisition that he did not suspect ,bruno of being a monk until the very day of their quarrel4 ,what miserable sophistry6 ,would not a man who violated the most sacred laws of friendship and hospitality be quite capable of telling a lie8 ,still more miserable is the remark that ,bruno was not ultimately tried on ,mocenigo's denunciations1 but on his own published writings4 ,jesus ,christ was not tried on the denunciations of ,judas ,iscariot1 but on his own public utterances1 yet whoever pleaded that this gave a sweeter savor to the traitor's kiss8 ,so much--though more might be said--for the writer's meanness4 ,now for his other virtues1 and especially his ignorance4 ,after dwelling on the battle at ,rome over the proposal to erect a public monument to ,bruno1 this writer tells us that a small literature is arising on the subject1 and that the name of ,bruno is suddenly invested with an importance which it never formerly possessed4 ,apparently he is unaware that1 so far from a small literature arising1 a large ,bruno literature has long existed4 ,he has only to turn to the end of ,frith's book1 and he will find an alphabetical list of books1 articles1 and criticisms on ,bruno1 filling no less than ten pages of small type4 ,he might also enlighten his ridiculous darkness by reading the fine chapter in ,lewes's ,history of ,philosophy1 ,mr4 ,swinburne's two noble sonnets1 and ,professor ,tyndall's glowing eulogy of ,bruno's scientific prescience in the famous ,belfast address4 ,perhaps ,hallam1 ,schwegler1 ,hegel1 ,bunsen and ,cousin are too recondite for the ,scotch libeller's perusal2 but he might1 at any rate1 look up ,lewes1 ,swinburne and ,tyndall1 who are probably accessible in his local ,free ,library4 ,what on earth1 too1 does he mean by ,bruno's great obscurity when he returned to ,italy and fell into the jaws of the ,inquisition8 ,every scholar in that age was more or less obscure1 for the multitude was illiterate1 and sovereigns and soldiers monopolised the public attention4 ,but as notoriety then went1 ,bruno was a famous figure4 ,proof of this will be given presently4 ,meanwhile we may notice the cheap sneer at ,bruno as a social and literary failure4 ,shelley was a literary failure in his lifetime1 but he is hardly so now2 and if ,bruno was poor and unappreciated1 ,time has adjusted the balance1 for after the lapse of three centuries he is loved and hated by the rival parties of progress and reaction4 ,now let us disprove the ,scotch libeller's statements as to the extreme obscurity in which ,giordano ,bruno lived and died4 ,bruno was so obscure that he fled from ,naples1 and doffed his priest's raiment1 at the age of twenty-eight or twenty-nine1 because his superiors were proceeding against him for heresy1 through an act of accusation which comprised no less than one hundred and thirty counts4 ,he was so obscure that the rest of his life was a prolonged flight from persecution4 ,he was so obscure that the ,calvinists hunted him out of ,geneva1 whence he narrowly escaped with his life2 the documents relating to the proceedings against him being still preserved in the ,genevan archives4 ,he was so obscure that he took a professorship at ,toulouse1 and publicly lectured there to large audiences for more than a year4 ,he was so obscure that ,king ,henry ,,iii4 made him professor extraordinary at ,paris1 and excused him from attending ,mass4 ,he was so obscure that the learned doctors of the ,sorbonne waxed wroth with him1 and made it obvious that his continued stay in ,paris would be dangerous to his health4 ,he was so obscure that he lived for nearly three years as the guest of the ,french ambassador in ,london4 ,he was so obscure that he was known at the court of ,elizabeth4 ,he was so obscure that he was a friend of ,sir ,philip ,sidney1 and an intimate associate of ,dyer1 ,fulk ,greville1 and the chief wits of his age4 ,he was so obscure that he was allowed1 as a distinguished foreigner1 to lecture at ,oxford1 and to hold a public disputation on the ,aristotelian philosophy before the ,chancellor and the university4 ,he was so obscure that on his return to ,paris he held another public disputation under the auspices of the ,king4 ,he was so obscure that his orations were listened to by the senate of the university of ,wittenberg4 ,he was so obscure that he was publicly excommunicated by the zealot ,boethius4 ,he was so obscure that the ,venetian ,inquisition broke through its stern rule1 and handed him over as a special favor to the ,inquisition of ,rome4 ,he was so obscure that he was at last butchered to make a ,roman holiday1 the cardinals having presided at his trial1 and his sentence being several pages at length4 ,such was the obscurity in which ,giordano ,bruno lived and died4 ,the ,scotch libeller hints that ,bruno was not burnt after all4 ,he forgets1 or he is ignorant of the fact1 that all doubt on that point is removed by the three papers discovered in the ,vatican ,library4 ,he merely repeats the insinuation of ,m4 ,desduits1 which has lost its extremely small measure of plausibility since the discovery of those documents4 ,the martyrdom of ,bruno is much better attested than the ,crucifixion4 ,there always was contemporary evidence as well as unbroken tradition1 and now we have proofs as complete as can be adduced for any event in history4 ,from the documentary evidence it is clear that ,bruno fought hard for his life1 and he would have been a fool or a suicide to have acted otherwise4 ,he bent all his dialectical skill1 and all his subtle intellect1 to the task of proving that religion and philosophy were distinct1 and that so long as a scholar conformed in practice he should be allowed the fullest liberty of speculation4 ,the ,inquisition1 however1 pretends that he abjured all his errors1 and the ,scotch libeller is pleased to say he recanted4 ,but1 in that case1 why was ,bruno burnt alive at the stake8 ,according to the laws of the ,inquisition1 all who reconciled themselves to the ,church after sentence were strangled before they were burnt4 ,and why was ,bruno allowed a week's grace before his execution1 except to give him the opportunity of recanting8 ,despite all this ,jesuitical special pleading1 the fact remains that ,bruno was sentenced and burnt as an incorrigible heretic2 and the fact also remains that when the crucifix was held up for him to kiss as he stood amidst the flames1 he rejected it1 as ,scioppus wrote1 with a terrible menacing countenance4 ,not only did he hurl scorn at his judges1 telling them that they passed his sentence with more fear than he heard it2 but his last words were that he died a martyr and willingly--diceva che moriva martire et volontieri4 ,bruno is further charged by the ,scotch libeller with servility1 an accusation about as plausible as that ,jesus ,christ was a highwayman4 ,a passage is cited from ,bruno's high-flown panegyric on ,henry ,,iii4 as a specimen of the language he was prepared to employ towards the great when there was anything to be got from them4 ,either this writer is ineffably ignorant1 or his impudence is astounding4 ,in the first place1 that was an age of high-flown dedications4 ,look at ,bacon's fulsome dedication of his ,advancement of ,learning to ,james ,i4 ,nay1 look at the dedication of our ,english ,bible to the same monarch1 who is put very little below ,god ,almighty1 and compared to the sun for strength and glory4 ,in the next place1 ,bruno's praise of ,henry ,,iii4 was far from mercenary4 ,he never at any time had more than bread to eat4 ,he was grateful to the ,king for protection1 and his gratitude never abated4 ,when ,henry was in ill repute1 ,bruno still praised him1 and these panegyrics were put into one of the counts against the heretic when he was arraigned at ,venice4 ,the last libel is extorted from ,bruno's comedy1 ,il ,candelajo4 ,the ,scotch puritan actually scents something obscene in the very title2 to which we can only reply by parodying ,carlyle--,the nose smells what it brings4 ,as for the comedy itself1 it must be judged by the standard of its age4 ,books were then all written for men1 and reticence was unknown4 ,yet1 free as ,il ,candelajo is sometimes in its portrayal of contemporary manners1 it does not approach scores of works which are found in every gentleman's library4 ,it certainly is not freer than ,shakespeare2 it is less free than the ,song of ,solomon2 it is infinitely less free than ,ezekiel4 ,nor was the comedy the work of ,bruno's maturity2 it was written in his youth1 while he was a priest1 before he fell under grave suspicion of heresy1 and we may be sure it was relished by his brother priests in the ,dominican monastery4 ,to draw from this youthful jeu d'e'sprit1 a theory of ,bruno's attitude towards women is a grotesque absurdity4 ,we have his fine sonnets written in ,england1 especially the one ,inscribed to the most ,virtuous and ,delightful ,ladies1 in which he celebrates the beauty1 sweetness1 and chastity of our ,english spouses and daughters of angelic birth4 ,still more striking is the eulogy in his ,canticle of the ,shining ,ones4 ,bruno1 like every poet1 was susceptible to love2 but he was doomed to wander1 and the affection of wife and babes was not for him4 ,so he made ,philosophy his mistress1 and his devotion led him to the stake4 ,surely there was a prescience of his fate in the fine apostrophe of his ,heroic ,rapture--,o worthy love of the beautiful6 ,o desire for the divine6 lend me thy wings2 bring me to the dayspring1 to the clearness of the young morning2 and the outrage of the rabble1 the storms of ,time1 the slings and arrows of ,fortune1 shall fall upon this tender body and shall weld it to steel4 ,,kit ,,marlowe ,,and ,,jesus ,,christ4 99 99 ,december1 #ahhh4 ,christopher ,marlowe1 whose mighty line was celebrated by ,ben ,jonson1 is one of the glories of ,english literature4 ,he was the morning star of our drama1 which gives us the highest place in modern poetry4 ,he definitively made our blank verse1 which it only remained for ,shakespeare to improve with his infinite variety2 and although his daring1 passionate genius was extinguished at the early age of twenty-nine1 it has reverent admirers among the best and greatest critics of ,english literature4 ,many meaner luminaries have had their monuments while ,marlowe's claims have been neglected2 but there is now a project on foot to erect something in honor of his memory1 and the committee includes the names of ,robert ,browning and ,algernon ,swinburne4 ,this project evokes a howl from an anonymous ,christian in the columns of the ,pall ,mall ,gazette4 ,he protests against the grotesque indecency of such a scheme1 and stigmatises ,marlowe as a disreputable scamp1 who lived a scandalous life and died a disgraceful death4 ,that ,marlowe was a scamp we have on the authority of those who denounced his scepticism and held him up as a frightful warning4 ,his fellow poets1 like ,chapman and ,drayton1 spoke of him with esteem4 ,an anonymous eulogist called him kynde ,kit ,marlowe2 and ,edward ,blunt1 his friend and publisher1 said the impression of the man hath been dear unto us1 living an after-life in our memory4 ,assuredly ,shakespeare's dead shepherd was no scamp4 ,he apparently sowed his wild oats1 like hundreds of other young men who were afterwards lauded by the orthodox4 ,he was fond of a glass of wine in an age when tea and coffee were unknown1 and ,english ladies drank beer for breakfast4 ,and if he perished in a sudden brawl1 it was at a time when everyone wore arms1 and swords and daggers were readily drawn in the commonest quarrels4 ,nor should it be forgotten that he belonged to a vagabond class1 half-outlawed and denounced by the clergy2 that the drama was only then in its infancy2 that it was difficult to earn bread by writing even immortal plays2 and that irregularity of life was natural in a career whose penury was only diversified by haphazard successes4 ,after all is said1 ,marlowe was no man's enemy but his own2 and it is simply preposterous to judge him by the social customs of a more fastidious and1 let us add1 a more hypocritical age4 ,our ,christian protestor is shocked at the suggestion that the ,marlowe memorial should be placed in ,westminster ,abbey1 an edifice which ,i believe was originally built to the honor of ,jesus ,christ4 ,the blasphemies of ,voltaire1 he says1 pale into insignificance when compared with those of ,marlowe2 he deliberately accused ,jesus ,christ and his personal followers of crimes which are justly considered unmentionable in any civilised community1 and any monument which may be erected in honor of ,christopher ,marlowe will be a deliberate insult to ,christ4 ,now those blasphemies are set forth in the accusation of an informer1 one ,richard ,bame1 who was hanged at ,tyburn the next year for some mortal offence4 ,marlowe's death prevented his arrest1 and it is somewhat extravagant--not to give it a harsher epithet--to write as though the accusation had been substantiated in a legal court4 ,one of ,bame's statements about ,marlowe's itch for coining is1 upon the face of it1 absurd1 and the whole document is open to the gravest suspicion4 ,it is highly probable however1 that ,marlowe1 who was a notorious ,freethinker1 was not very guarded in his private conversation2 and we have no doubt that in familiar intercourse1 which a mercenary or malicious eavesdropper might overhear1 he indulged in what ,christians regard as blasphemy4 ,like nine out of ten unbelievers1 he very likely gave vent to pleasantries on the subject of ,christian dogmas4 ,there is nothing incredible in his having said that ,moses was but a juggler1 that the ,new ,testament is filthily written 7,mr4 ,swinburne calls it canine ,greek71 or that all ,protestants are hypocritical asses4 ,but whether he really did say that the women of ,samaria were no better than they should be1 that ,jesus's leaning on ,john's bosom at the last supper was a questionable action1 that ,mary's honor was doubtful and ,jesus an illegitimate child--cannot be decided before the ,day of ,judgment2 though1 in any case1 we fail to see that such things make the blasphemies of ,voltaire pale into insignificance4 ,we candidly admit1 however1 that a memorial to ,marlowe would be incongruous in ,westminster ,abbey if ,darwin were not buried there2 but after admitting the high-priest of ,evolution it seems paltry to shriek at the admission of other unbelievers4 ,it will not do to blink the fact of ,marlowe's ,atheism1 as is done by the two gentlemen who took up the cudgels on his behalf in the ,pall ,mall ,gazette4 ,setting aside the accusation of that precious informer1 there is other evidence of ,marlowe's heresy4 ,greene reproached him for his scepticism1 and every editor has remarked that his plays are heathenish in spirit4 ,lamb not only calls attention to the fact that ,marlowe is said to have been tainted with ,atheistical positions1 but remarks that ,barabas the ,jew1 and ,faustus the ,conjurer1 are offsprings of a mind which at least delighted to dally with interdicted subjects4 ,they both talk a language which a believer would have been tender of putting into the mouth of a character though but in fiction4 ,dyce could not resist the conviction that ,marlowe's impiety was confirmed and daring4 ,his extreme ,freethought is also noticed by ,mr4 ,bullen and ,mr4 ,havelock ,ellis4 ,there is1 indeed1 no room for a rational doubt on this point4 ,marlowe was an ,atheist4 ,but a sincere ,christian1 like ,robert ,browning1 is nevertheless ready to honor ,marlowe's genius2 quite as ready1 in fact1 as ,algernon ,swinburne1 whose impiety is no less confirmed and daring than ,marlowe's own4 ,there is freemasonry among poets2 their opinions may differ1 but they are all sealed of the tribe4 ,and surely we may all admire genius as a natural and priceless distinction1 apart from all considerations of system and creed4 ,what ,atheist fails to reverence the greatness of ,milton8 ,and why should not a ,christian reverence the greatness of ,marlowe8 ,if creed stands in the way1 the ,christian may keep his ,dante and his ,milton1 his ,cowper and his ,wordsworth2 but he loses ,shakespeare1 ,byron1 and ,shelley2 he loses ,goethe and ,victor ,hugo2 nay1 he loses ,homer1 ,a,eschylus1 ,sophocles1 ,pindar1 ,lucretius1 ,virgil1 ,horace1 and all the splendid poets of ,persia whose lyres have sounded under the ,mohammedan ,crescent4 ,the distinctively ,christian poets1 as the world goes1 are in a very decided minority2 and it is a piece of grotesque impudence to ban ,christopher ,marlowe because he declined to echo the conventional praises of ,jesus ,christ4 ,,jehovah ,,the ,,ripper4 99 99 ,november1 #ahhh4 ,the ,whitechapel monster has once more startled and horrified ,london1 and again he has left absolutely no clue to his identity4 ,he is the mystery of mysteries4 ,he comes and goes like a ghost4 ,murder marks his appearance1 but that is all we know of him4 ,the rest is silence4 ,the police1 the vigilance societies1 and the private detectives are all baffled4 ,they can only stare at each other in blind dismay1 as helpless as the poor victims of the fiend's performances4 ,all sorts of theories are started1 but they are all in the air--the wild conjectures of irresponsible imaginations4 ,all sorts of stories are afloat1 but they contradict each other4 ,as for descriptions of the monster1 it is easy enough to say that the police have advertised for nine or ten wanted gentlemen1 of various heights1 dimensions1 colors1 and costumes1 who are all the very same person4 ,we have no desire to dabble in murder1 nor do we aspire to turn an honest penny by the minute description of bodily mutilations4 ,but while the ,whitechapel atrocities are engaging the public attention1 we are tempted to contribute our quota of speculation as to the monster's identity4 ,we thought of doing so before1 but we reflected that it was perfectly useless while such a pig-headed person as ,sir ,charles ,warren was at the head of the police4 ,now1 however1 that he is gone1 and there is a chance of common-sense suggestions being fairly considered1 we venture to propound our theory1 in the hope that it will at least be treated on its merits4 ,well now1 to the point4 ,our theory is that the ,whitechapel murderer is------ ,whom8 the reader cries4 ,wait awhile4 ,brace up your nerves for the dread intelligence4 ,the ,east-end fiend1 the ,whitechapel devil1 the slaughterer and mutilator of women1 is--,jehovah6 ,blasphemous6 is shouted from a million throats4 ,but science is used to such shriekings4 ,we pause till the noise subsides1 and then proceed to point out that our theory fulfils the grand condition of fitting in with all the facts4 ,the ,whitechapel murderer is shrouded in mystery4 ,so is ,jehovah4 ,the ,whitechapel murderer comes no one knows whence and goes no one knows whither4 ,so does ,jehovah4 ,the ,whitechapel murderer appears in different disguises4 ,so does ,jehovah4 ,the ,whitechapel murderer's movements baffle all vigilance4 ,so do ,jehovah's4 ,the ,whitechapel murderer comes and goes1 appears and disappears1 with the celerity and noiselessness of a ghost4 ,so does ,jehovah1 who is a ghost4 ,thus far1 then1 the similarity is marvellously close1 and a prima facie case of identity is established4 ,it will very likely be objected that ,jehovah is incapable of such atrocities4 ,but this is the misconception of ignorance or the politeness of hypocrisy4 ,jehovah has written his autobiography1 and on his own confession his murderous exploits were very similar to those of the ,whitechapel terror4 ,appealing to that incontrovertible authority1 we propose to show that he has every disposition to commit these enormities4 ,according to his own history of himself1 ,jehovah is passionately fond of bloodshed4 ,the sanguine fluid which courses in our veins is the only thing that appeases him4 ,without shedding of blood1 he tells us through the pen of ,st4 ,paul1 there is no remission of any debts owing to him4 ,he called on ,abraham1 his friend1 to stick a knife into his own son4 ,he slew the first-born of every family in ,egypt in a single night4 ,he accepted the blood of a young virgin offered him by ,jephthah4 ,he slew #ej1jgj men at ,beth-,shemesh for looking into his private trunk4 ,he ordered his chosen friends1 a famous set of banditti1 to exterminate1 men1 women1 children1 and even animals1 and to leave alive nothing that breatheth4 ,he massacred #gj1jjj citizens of ,palestine because their king took a census1 a social experiment to which he has a rooted antipathy4 ,he had a house especially built for him1 and gave orders that it should daily be drenched with blood4 ,according to one of his candid friends1 ,archdeacon ,farrar1 the floor must literally have swum with blood1 and under the blaze of ,eastern sunlight1 the burning of fat and flesh on the large blazing altar must have been carried on amid heaps of sacrificial foulness--offal and skins and thick smoke and steaming putrescence4 ,on one occasion1 when in a state of murderous frenzy1 he cried out1 ,i will make mine arrows drunk with blood1 and my sword shall devour flesh4 ,jehovah's passion for bloodshed is proved out of his own mouth4 ,let us now see his love of mutilation4 ,he generally did this by proxy1 and enjoyed the spectacle without undergoing the trouble4 ,some of his friends took a gentleman named ,adoni-bezek1 and cut off his thumbs and his great toes4 ,wishing to kill a certain ,eglon1 the king of ,moab1 he sent an adventurer called ,ehud with a present from ,jehovah4 ,the present turned out to be an eighteen-inch knife1 which ,ehud thrust into ,eglon's belly2 a part of the body on which the ,whitechapel murderer is fond of experimenting4 ,jehovah's friend ,david1 a man after his own heart1 mutilated no less than four hundred men1 and gave their foreskins to his wife as a dowry4 ,incurring ,jehovah's displeasure and wishing to conciliate him1 he attacked certain cities1 captured their inhabitants1 and cut them in pieces with saws1 axes1 and harrows4 ,jehovah is particularly savage towards females4 ,he cursed a woman for eating an apple1 and instead of killing her on the spot1 he determined to torture her every time she became a mother4 ,a friend of his--and we judge people by their friends--cut a woman up into twelve pieces1 and sent them to various addresses by parcels' delivery4 ,another of his friends1 called ,menahem1 made a raid on a certain territory1 and all the women therein that were with child he ripped up4 ,jehovah himself1 being angry with the people of ,samaria1 promised to slay them with the sword1 dash their infants to pieces1 and rip up their pregnant women4 ,no doubt he fulfilled his promise1 and he would scarcely have made it if he had not been accustomed to such atrocities4 ,it appears to us1 therefore1 that he is fully entitled to the name of ,jehovah the ,ripper4 ,we have not exhausted our evidence4 ,far more could be adduced1 but we hope this will suffice4 ,it may1 of course1 be objected that ,jehovah has reformed1 that he is too old for midnight adventures1 that he has lost his savage cunning1 and that his son keeps a sharp eye on the aged assassin4 ,but the ruling passion is never really conquered2 it is even1 as the proverb says1 strong in death4 ,we venture1 therefore1 to suggest that the ,whitechapel murderer is ,jehovah2 and although keen eyes may detect a few superficial flaws in our theory--for what theory is perfect till it is demonstrated8--we protest that it marvellously covers the facts of the case1 and is infinitely superior to any other theory that has hitherto been broached4 ,,the ,,parsons' ,,living ,,wage4 99 99 ,december1 #ahic4 ,in our last week's article we criticised the attitude of the ,churches towards the working classes1 with especial reference to the late ,conference of representatives of ,christian ,churches in the ,jerusalem ,chamber4 ,it will be remembered that the ,conference was a ridiculous fiasco4 ,the upshot of it was simply and absolutely nothing4 ,the ,christian gentlemen there assembled could not bring themselves to pass a resolution in favor of a living wage for the workers4 ,mr4 ,hugh ,price ,hughes1 in particular1 asserted that no one could define it1 and the discussion was therefore a waste of time4 ,but suppose the question had been one of a living wage for the sky-pilots2 would not a minimum figure have been speedily decided8 ,thirty shillings a week would have been laughed at4 ,two pounds would have been treated as an absurdity4 ,men of ,god1 who have to live while they cultivate the ,lord's vineyard1 want a more substantial share of the good things of this world4 ,nothing satisfies them but the certainty of something very valuable in this life1 as well as the promise of the life that is to come4 ,no doubt is entertained in the clerical mind as to the laborer being worthy of his hire4 ,but they give their first attention to the clerical laborer2 partly because they know him most intimately1 and have a deep concern for his secular welfare2 and partly because charity begins at home and looking after one's self is the primary law of ,christian prudence4 ,a burning and a shining light among the ,nonconformists of the last generation was the famous ,mr4 ,binney1 a shrewd preacher who published a book on ,how to ,make the ,best of ,both ,worlds4 ,we believe he combined precept and practice4 ,at any rate1 he expounded a principle which has always had the devotion of the great bulk of ,christian ministers4 ,these gentry have made the best of both worlds4 ,most of them have been comfortably assured of good positions in ,kingdom-,come1 and most of them have been comfortably provided for in this land of pilgrimage1 this scene of tribulation1 this miserable vale of tears4 ,come rain or shine1 they have had little cause for complaint4 ,hard work has rarely brought them to a premature old age4 ,famine has never driven them into untimely graves4 ,even the worst paid has had a hope of better thing-4 ,there were fine plums in the profession1 which might drop into watering mouths4 ,what if the curate had little pocket money and a small account at the tailor's1 with a large account at the shoemaker's through excessive peregrinations on shanks's mare8 ,there was a vicarage1 a deanery1 a bishopric in perspective4 ,a fat purse might be dandled some day1 and the well-exercised limbs repose gracefully in a carriage and pair4 ,if the worst came to the worst1 one might marry a patron's daughter1 and get the reversion of the living2 or even snap up the ninth daughter of a bishop1 and make sure of some preferment4 ,yes1 the clericals1 taking them altogether1 have had a very good living wage4 ,after all these centuries1 it is high time they began to think about the comfort of other classes of the community4 ,and yet1 after all1 is there not something indecent in their talking about a living wage for the workers8 ,are they not parasites upon the said workers8 ,have they not1 also1 had ever so many centuries of dominance8 ,is it not disgraceful that1 at this time of day1 there should be any need to discuss a living wage for the workers in a ,christian civilisation8 ,really1 the clericals should not1 in this reckless way1 invite attention to their past sins and present shortcomings4 ,if they stand up for the workers now1 it shows that they have not stood up for the workers before4 ,they have been so many hundreds of years thinking about it--or rather not thinking about it4 ,it is interest--nothing but interest--which informs their new policy4 ,they always find out what pays4 ,never did they fight a forlorn hope or die for a lost cause4 ,as the shadow follows the sun1 so priests follow the sun of prosperity4 ,they are the friends of power1 whoever wields it3 of wealth1 whoever owns it4 ,when they talk about the rights of the people1 it means that they feel the king-times are ending4 ,byron said they would end1 nearly a hundred years ago4 ,blood would flow like water1 he said1 and tears would fall like rain1 but the people would triumph in the end4 ,yes1 and the end is near2 the people are triumphing2 and the fact is visible to the very owls and bats of theology4 ,but let us return to the living wage business4 ,there were several ,bishops at the ,jerusalem ,chamber meeting1 and in view of their incomes their patronage of the working man is simply disgusting4 ,pah6 ,an ounce of civet1 good apothecary6 ,the bishops smell to heaven4 ,whatever they say is an insult to the miners--because they say it4 ,the living wage of the poorest bishop would keep fifty miners' families2 that of the richest would keep two hundred4 ,nay1 the bishops say1 we are poorer than you think4 ,only the other day1 the ,archbishop of ,canterbury stated that most of the bishops spent more than they received4 ,indeed6 ,then the age of miracles is not past4 ,by what superhuman power do they make up the deficiency8 ,we tell the ,archbishop that he lies4 ,it is not a polite answer1 we admit1 but it is a true one2 and this is a case where good plain ,saxon is most appropriate4 ,edward ,white ,benson forgets that bishops die4 ,their wills are proved like the wills of other mortals1 and the ,probate ,office keeps the record4 ,of course it is barely possible--that is1 it is conceivable--that bishops' executors make false returns1 and pay probate duty on fanciful estates2 but the probability is that they do nothing of the kind4 ,now some years ago 7in #ahhf7 the ,rev4 ,mercer ,davies1 formerly chaplain of ,westminster ,hospital1 issued a pamphlet entitled ,the ,bishops and their ,wealth1 in which he gave a table of the ,english and ,welsh prelates deceased from #ahef to #ahhe1 with the amount of personalty proved at their death4 ,of one bishop he could find no particulars4 ,it was ,samuel ,hinds1 of ,norwich1 who resigned as a disbeliever1 and died poor4 ,the thirty-nine others left behind them collectively the sum of #b1aje1jjj2 this being exclusive of any real estate they may have possessed1 and exclusive also of any sums invested in policies of ,life ,assurance1 or otherwise settled for the benefit of their families4 ,divide the amount of their mere personalty by thirty-nine1 and you have #ed1jjj apiece4 ,this is how the ,bishops spend more than they receive6 ,one of these days we will go to the trouble and expense of bringing the list up to date4 ,meanwhile it may be noted that there is no falling off in the figures towards #ahhe4 ,no less than five bishops died in that year1 and they left the following personalities3 --#gb1jjj--he1jjj--bi1jjj--he1jjj--ai1jj j2 which more than maintain the average4 ,so much for the poor bishops4 ,as for the rest of the clergy1 it is enough to say that the ,church they belong to has a total revenue of about #aj1jjj1jjj a year4 ,probably twice that sum is spent on the sky-pilots of all denominations1 which is more than is received in wages by all the miners in ,great ,britain4 ,it is a fair calculation that the average sky-pilot is six times better paid than the average miner4 ,yet the latter works hard in the bowels of the earth to provide real coals for real consumers1 while the former is occupied in open air and daylight in damping down the imaginary fires of an imaginary hell4 ,it is easy to see which is the more useful functionary1 just as it is easy to see which is the better paid4 ,let us hope that the miners1 and all other workers1 will lay these facts to heart1 and act accordingly4 ,there are too many drones in ,england1 living on the common produce of labor4 ,the number of them should be diminished1 and a beginning should be made with the mystery men4 ,were the great ,black ,army disbanded1 and turned into the ranks of productive industry1 the evils of society would begin to disappear2 for those evils are chiefly the result of too much energy and attention being devoted to the problematical next life1 and too little to the real interests of our earthly existence4 ,we should also be spared the wretched spectacle of the well-paid drones of theology maundering over the question of a living wage for the honest men who do the laborious work of the world4 ,,did ,,bradlaugh ,,backslide8 99 99 ,november #ai1 #ahic4 ,the ,freethinker for ,october #bb contained a bright article by ,mr4 ,george ,standring1 giving an account of a ,sunday service which he attended at the famous ,wesley ,chapel in the ,city-road4 ,the preacher on that occasion was the ,rev4 ,allen ,rees1 and the theme of his discourse was ,the ,death of the ,national ,reformer ,amongst other more or less questionable remarks1 there was one made by the reverend gentleman1 which the reporter very justly criticised4 ,what was said by ,mr4 ,rees was recorded as follows by ,mr4 ,standring3-- ,indeed1 there was reason to believe that ,charles ,bradlaugh had himself materially modified his views before his death1 that his ,atheism became weaker as he grew older4 ,sir ,isaac ,holden had told him 7,mr4 ,bees7 that ,mr4 ,bradlaugh had often spoken to him privately in the ,house of ,commons upon religious matters1 and had admitted that the conversion of his brother had profoundly impressed him4 ,mr4 ,bradlaugh had often said to ,sir ,isaac ,holden that he often wished he were half as good a man as his brother4 ,to anyone at all acquainted with the relations that existed between ,mr4 ,bradlaugh and his brother1 the last clause of ,mr4 ,rees's statement is sufficient to stamp the whole of it as false and absurd4 ,without going into details1 it is enough to say that ,mr4 ,bradlaugh simply could not speak of his brother in this manner2 it is absolutely beyond the bounds of possibility2 and1 as ,sir ,isaac ,holden is the authority throughout1 the entire passage about ,mr4 ,bradlaugh would have to be dismissed with contempt4 ,mr4 ,standring sent ,mr4 ,rees a marked copy of the ,freethinker1 and intimated that space would probably be afforded him for a correction or an explanation4 ,mrs4 ,bradlaugh ,bonner was also communicated with1 and she immediately wrote to ,mr4 ,rees on the subject4 ,the reverend gentleman replied that he had made no positive statements as to any change of view on the part of ,mr4 ,bradlaugh4 ,he had nothing to add and nothing to retract4 ,but to prevent a misunderstanding he enclosed a verbatim copy of the passage in his sermon to which she referred4 ,it ran as follows3-- ,as a rule1 men who profess ,atheism do not become stronger in their belief as time goes on4 ,i think ,i may almost say that this was true of ,mr4 ,bradlaugh4 ,sir ,isaac ,holden has told me that he frequently conversed with ,mr4 ,bradlaugh on religious subjects4 ,the conversion of his brother deeply affected him1 and on one occasion he said to him3 ',i wish ,i were half as good as my brother4' ,it was the unreality of much of the ,christianity with which in early life ,mr4 ,bradlaugh was associated and the worldliness and uncharitableness of religious professors1 which made an ,atheist of ,mr4 ,bradlaugh1 as it has done of many others4 ,this is a precious sample of clerical logic1 composition1 and veracity4 ,mr4 ,rees must have been very ignorant of ,mr ,bradlaugh's writings and intellectual character1 or else he was deliberately inventing or trusting to mere hearsay1 when he stated that ,mr4 ,bradlaugh was made an ,atheist by the bigotry or selfishness of certain ,christians4 ,i think ,i may almost say is a strange expression4 ,what is it to almost say a thing8 ,is it almost said when you have said it8 ,and what a jumble of hims in the fourth sentence6 ,it would really disgrace a schoolboy4 ,mrs4 ,bradlaugh ,bonner replied to ,mr4 ,rees1 hoping that his sense of honor would impel him to acknowledge his mistake4 ,she told him that her father's convictions never wavered on his death-bed2 that ,mr4 ,w4 ,r4 ,bradlaugh was never converted1 because he was always a professed ,christian2 that ,sir ,isaac ,holden must be laboring under a misapprehension2 and that if ,mr4 ,rees would call upon her she would tell him the facts which made it utterly impossible that her father could have spoken of his brother in the way alleged4 ,mrs4 ,bonner also wrote to ,sir ,isaac ,holden1 asking him whether he really did tell this to the ,rev4 ,allen ,rees4 ,sir ,isaac ,holden did not reply4 ,he is a very old man1 years older than ,mr4 ,gladstone4 ,this may be an excuse for his manners as well as the infirmity of his memory4 ,mr4 ,rees did reply4 ,he said that of course he could not tell an untruth1 that he had made no absolute statement1 that he knew he had no positive evidence1 and that his remark was a bare suggestion4 ,having crawled away from his clear responsibility1 ,mr4 ,rees gratuitously committed another offence4 ,there was1 he wrote1 another remark which your father uttered at the ,hall of ,science4 ,now this is a positive statement4 ,and where is the evidence8 ,i can give you1 ,mr4 ,rees added1 the name of the person who heard him say it4 ,according to ,mr4 ,rees1 therefore1 it is only a bare suggestion when he gives the authority of ,sir ,isaac ,holden1 but an anonymous authority is a good basis for a direct1 unqualified assertion4 ,and what is the remark which ,mr4 ,bradlaugh uttered 7what etymology678 ,it is this--,a man twenty-five years old may be an iconoclast1 but ,i cannot understand a man being one who has passed middle age4 ,mrs4 ,bonner took leave to disbelieve 7as she well might7 that her father had uttered such nonsense4 ,she told ,mr4 ,rees that her father had lectured and written as ,iconoclast till he was thirty-five1 and only dropped the fighting name then because his own name was so well known4 ,she repeated her assurance that he had never wavered in his ,atheism1 and begged ,mr4 ,rees to take her father's own written words in preference to other people's versions of his conversation4 ,his ,doubts in ,dialogue1 the final paper of which left his hands only three or four days before his last illness1 would show what his last views were1 and she ventured to send ,mr4 ,rees a copy for perusal4 ,mr4 ,rees read the volume1 and1 instead of admitting that he had been mistaken1 he had the impertinence to tell ,mrs4 ,bonner that her father's book was full of sophism and the merest puerilities1 and ended by expressing his simple contempt4 ,it was impertinence on ,mr4 ,rees's part1 in both senses of the word1 for the merit of ,mr4 ,bradlaugh's writing was not the point in consideration4 ,the point was this1 ,did the writing--the last writing--of ,mr4 ,bradlaugh show the slightest change in his ,atheism8 ,mr4 ,rees could not see this point1 or he would not see it2 and either alternative is discreditable to a man who sets himself up as a public teacher4 ,mr4 ,rees did one right thing1 however2 he sent ,mrs4 ,bonner a letter he had received from ,sir ,isaac ,holden1 containing the following passage3-- ,your rendering of the story is a little different to what ,i spoke--',mr4 ,bradlaugh was affected to tears when ,i told him that his brother ,james said to the ,rev4 ,richard ,allen that his brother ,charles was too good a man to die an ,infidel1 and he believed that before his death he would become a ,christian4' ,tears started in his 7,charles's7 eyes1 and he simply replied3 ',my brother ,james is a good fellow1' not ',i wish ,i were half as good as my brother4' ,there was evidently a very kind feeling in each of the brothers towards each other4 ,what is clear is this--there is a very bad difference between ,sir ,isaac ,holden and the ,rev4 ,allen ,rees4 ,i wish ,i were half as good as my brother is a very definite expression1 and not a bit like ,my brother ,james is a good fellow4 ,now if ,sir ,isaac ,holden did convey this expression to the ,rev4 ,allen ,rees1 the old gentleman has a treacherous memory2 if he did not1 the expression must be ascribed to the reverend gentleman's invention4 ,mrs4 ,bonner replied sharply with mixed feelings of surprise and indignation4 ,her father had no brother named ,james4 ,the only brother he had was most distinctly not a good fellow1 which there was documentary evidence to prove4 ,there was also documentary evidence to show that the feelings of the brothers towards each other was the reverse of kindly4 ,mr4 ,rees had chosen to ignore all this1 and1 in consequence of his attitude1 ,mrs4 ,bonner intended to give this matter publicity--which she has done by printing the whole correspondence and sending copies to the press4 ,mr4 ,rees wrote surprised--poor man6 ,he thought it was a private correspondence4 ,he could not understand why he was personally abused--in fact1 it was vulgar personal abuse4 ,i entirely decline1 he ended majestically1 to have any further correspondence with you4 ,what a sorry display of clerical temper6 ,but it is the way of the profession when tackled4 ,they are so used to speaking from the coward's castle1 not under correction1 that they lose their heads when taken to task4 ,mrs4 ,bonner appends a note to the correspondence1 remarking on the obviously loose reminiscences of ,sir ,isaac ,holden1 which ,mr4 ,rees had materially altered1 and denying the possibility of any such conversation between ,sir ,isaac ,holden and her father4 ,as to the private correspondence1 surely the conversation 7if it occurred7 was of a private nature1 yet ,mr4 ,rees had no scruple in retailing it from the pulpit4 ,mrs4 ,bonner adds that her demerits are beside the point1 which is1 ,did ,mr4 ,bradlaugh weaken in his ,atheism8 to which she answers emphatically ,no4 ,she nursed him in his last illness1 and her testimony is authoritative4 ,respect for her father's memory justifies her in printing this correspondence1 and we are glad that she has done so1 for it nails down another wretched fiction to the counter of truth4 ,,frederic ,,harrison ,,on ,,atheism4 99 99 ,january #ac1ahhi4 ,mr4 ,frank ,harris1 the editor of the ,fortnightly ,review1 must be a sly humorist4 ,in the current number of his magazine he has published two articles as opposite to each other as ,balaam's blessing on ,israel was opposite to the curse besought by the ,king of ,moab4 ,mr4 ,frederic ,harrison pitches into ,agnosticism with his usual vigor1 and holds out ,positivism as the only system which can satisfy the sceptic and the religionist4 ,mr4 ,w4 ,h4 ,mallock1 on the other hand1 makes a trenchant attack on ,positivism2 and the readers of both articles will learn how much may be said against anything1 or at least anything in the shape of a system4 ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer1 in the name of the ,unknowable1 proffers his ,agnosticism1 and ,mr4 ,harrison says ,bosh4 ,mr4 ,harrison1 in the name of ,positivism1 proffers his ,religion of ,humanity1 and ,mr4 ,mallock says ,moonshine4 ,mr4 ,spencer is a man of genius1 and ,mr4 ,harrison and ,mr4 ,mallock are men of remarkable talent4 ,yet1 shuffle them how you will1 any two of them are ready to damn what the third blesses4 ,what does this show8 ,why1 that systems are all arbitrary1 and suited to a certain order of minds in a certain stage of development2 and that system-mongers are like spiders1 who spin their webs out of their own bowels4 ,mr4 ,harrison's definition of ,agnosticism shows it to be merely ,atheism in disguise4 ,milton said that new presbyter was but old priest writ large1 and we may say that the new ,agnosticism is but old ,atheism written larger--and more respectably4 ,agnosticism is the cuckoo of philosophy4 ,it appropriates the nest of another bird1 turns it out in the cold1 and even adopts its progeny4 ,all the time-honored positions of ,atheism--man's finity and nature's infinity1 the relativity of human knowledge1 the reign of law1 and so forth--are quietly monopolised by this intruder1 who looks upon the object he has despoiled as the ,christian looked upon the ,jew after borrowing his ,god4 ,yet in ,england1 the classic land of mental timidity and compromise1 ,agnosticism is almost fashionable1 while poor ,atheism is treated with persecution or obloquy4 ,elsewhere1 especially in ,france1 we find a different condition of things4 ,a ,french sceptic no more hesitates to call himself an ,atheist than to call himself a ,republican4 ,may it not be1 therefore1 that the difference between ,agnosticism and ,atheism is one of temperament8 ,we might illustrate this theory by appealing to examples4 ,darwin was an ,agnostic1 ,professor ,clifford an ,atheist4 ,or1 if we turn to pure literature1 we may instance ,matthew ,arnold and ,algernon ,swinburne4 ,arnold1 the ,agnostic1 says that most of what now passes with us for religion and philosophy will be replaced by poetry4 ,swinburne1 the ,atheist1 exclaims ,thou art smitten1 thou ,god1 thou art smitten1 thy death is upon thee ,o ,lord4 ,this brings out the cardinal--we might say the only distinction between ,atheism and ,agnosticism4 ,the ,agnostic is a timid ,atheist1 and the ,atheist a courageous ,agnostic4 ,john ,bull is infuriated by the red cloak of ,atheism1 so the ,agnostic dons a brown cloak with a red lining4 ,now and then a sudden breeze exposes a bit of the fatal red1 but the garment is promptly adjusted1 and ,bull forgets the irritating phenomenon4 ,mr4 ,harrison says the ,agnostic is one who protests against any dogma respecting ,creation at all1 and who deliberately takes his stand on ignorance4 ,we cannot help saying that this differences him from the ,atheist4 ,seeing that we cannot solve infinite problems1 that we know nothing1 and apparently can know nothing1 of ,god or the supernatural1 the ,atheist has always regarded religious dogmas as blind guesses1 which1 according to the laws of chance1 are in all probability wrong2 and as these blind guesses have almost invariably been associated with mental tyranny and moral perversion1 he has regarded theology as the foe of liberty and humanity4 ,the ,agnostic1 however1 usually adopts a more pleasant attitude4 ,he does not believe in attacking theology2 and after all1 you know1 he sometimes says1 we can't tell what there may be behind the veil4 ,with his master1 ,comte1 ,mr4 ,harrison entirely accepts the ,agnostic position as a matter of logic1 but it is only a stepping-stone1 and he objects to sitting down upon it4 ,every religion the world has ever seen has been false1 but religion itself is imperishable1 and ,positivism has found the true solution of the eternal problem4 ,parsons and ,agnostics will eventually kiss each other1 like righteousness and peace in the text1 and the then existing ,high ,priest of ,positivism will say1 ,humanity bless you1 my children4 ,but all this is for the sweet by-and-bye4 ,meanwhile the ,churches thrust out their tongues at ,positivism1 the great ,agnostic philosopher calls it the ,ghost of ,religion1 ,sir ,james ,stephen declares that nobody can worship ,comte's made-up ,deity1 and ,mr4 ,mallock says that the love of ,humanity1 taking it in the concrete1 is as foolish as ,titania's affection for ,bottom the ,weaver4 ,professed ,atheists may watch this hubbub with serenity1 if not with enjoyment4 ,when all is said and done1 ,atheism remains in possession of the sceptical field4 ,mr4 ,harrison's flouts1 at any rate1 will do it no damage4 ,his hatred of ,atheism is born of jealousy1 and like all jealous people he is somewhat inconsistent4 ,here he defines ,atheism as a protest against the theological doctrine of a ,creator and a moral providence1 there he defines it as based on the denial of ,god1 and again he defines it as a belief that the universe is self-existent and purely material4 ,even these do not suffice1 for he also adopts ,comte's profound aphorism that ,atheism is the most irrational form of metaphysics1 and proves this by a fresh definition involved in the charge that it propounds as the solution of an insoluble enigma the hypothesis which of all others is the least capable of proof1 the least simple1 the least plausible1 and the least useful4 ,of all others is what ,cobbett would have called a beastly phrase4 ,it shows ,mr4 ,harrison was in a hurry or a fog4 ,he does not specify this unprovable1 complex1 unplausible1 and useless hypothesis4 ,we forbear to guess his meaning1 but we remind him that ,atheism propounds no solution of an insoluble enigma4 ,the ,atheist does not say there is no ,god2 he simply says1 ,i know not1 and ventures to think others are equally ignorant4 ,now1 this was ,comte's own position4 ,he wished to reorganise ,society1 without ,god or ,king1 by the systematic cultus of ,humanity1 and if warning ,god off from human affairs is not ,atheism1 we should like to know what is4 ,mr4 ,harrison lustily sings the praises of religion1 but he is remarkably silent about ,comte's opposition to ,theism1 and in this he is throwing dust in the eyes of ,english readers4 ,in militant ,atheism ,mr4 ,harrison says that all who have substantive beliefs of their own find nothing but mischief4 ,but this is only ,mr4 ,harrison's sweeping style of writing4 ,he is always vivid1 and nearly always superlative4 ,we venture to think that his all merely includes his own circle4 ,at the same time1 however1 we admit that militant ,atheism is still1 as of old1 an offence to the superfine sceptics who desire to stand well with the great firm of ,bumble and ,grundy1 as well as to the vast army of priests and preachers who have a professional interest in keeping heresy dark1 and to the ruling and privileged classes1 who feel that militant ,atheism is a great disturber of the peace which is founded on popular superstition and injustice4 ,mr4 ,harrison seems to imagine that ,atheists have no ideal beyond that of attacking theology1 but a moment's calm reflection would show him the absurdity of this fancy4 ,he might as well suppose that the pioneers of civilisation who hew down virgin forests have no conception of the happy homesteads they are making room for4 ,we go farther and assert that all this talk about negative and positive work is cant4 ,to call the destroyer of superstition a negationist is as senseless as to call a doctor a negationist4 ,both strive to expel disease1 the one bodily and the other mental4 ,both1 therefore1 are working for health1 and no more positive work is conceivable4 ,,save ,,the ,,bible6 99 99 ,march #bf1ahic4 ,thirty-eight clergymen1 a year or two ago1 gave the ,bible a fresh certificate of inspiration and infallibility4 ,they signed a round robin1 if we may apply such a vulgar description to their holy document4 ,but somehow the ,bible is in as bad a position as ever4 ,it seems1 indeed1 in deadly peril2 and if something strong and decisive be not done for its protection1 it will soon be doomed4 ,such1 at any rate1 seems the view of a large number of clergymen1 who have signed a ,petition1 prepared by the ,rev4 ,e4 ,s4 ,ffoulkes1 of ,st4 ,mary's1 ,oxford1 and addressed to the ,most ,reverend the ,archbishop1 and the ,right ,reverend the ,bishops1 of the ,church of ,england1 in the ,house of the ,convocation of ,canterbury assembled4 ,the petitioners call upon the ,archbishops and ,bishops to use their sacred office and authority1 and either to purge the ,church of heresy or to authoritatively and publicly recommend certain orthodox and admirable works1 which are calculated to arrest the spread of disastrous errors in the midst of ,our ,beloved ,church4 ,in order to show the precise nature of these disastrous errors1 we print the following paragraphs from the petition3 ,whereas it is generally known that certain clergymen of the ,church of ,england1 in positions of influence and authority1 are deliberately and altogether undermining1 by their teachings and public writings1 the faith of this ,church and country in the trustworthiness of the ,holy ,scriptures1 and are altogether repudiating the common faith of ,christendom1 that the said ,holy ,scriptures1 as received by this ,church of ,england1 are the infallible and inspired ,word of ,god4 ,also1 that by what is known as the ',new ,criticism1' these clergymen do attempt entirely to rob the people of ,god of the ,holy ,scriptures and altogether falsify the teachings respecting them of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ and of his ,holy ,apostles-declaring some parts to be 'myths1' some 'fables1' some 'the work of dramatists1' etc4 ,ah then1 the enemy is within the camp6 ,it is no-longer a question of infidel publications4 ,church professors1 and doctors of divinity1 are sapping the very foundations of the faith4 ,orthodox clergymen cry out--in the language of this petition--for salvation from the dangers of ,rationalism and unbelief within the ,church4 ,what does all this mean8 ,it means that ,free-thought is triumphing by the permeation of the ,churches2 that advanced ministers are now doing1 in a sober1 steady1 scholarly way1 the very work so brilliantly inaugurated by ,voltaire and ,thomas ,paine2 that the ,bible is being subjected to rigorous criticism1 in ,england as well as in ,france1 ,holland1 and ,germany2 that its documents are being shifted like the pieces in a kaleidoscope1 and every turn of the instrument makes them differ more and more from the orthodox pattern4 ,at present1 it is true1 the process is almost confined to the ,old ,testament4 ,there1 however1 it is nearly completed4 ,presently it will extend in earnest to the ,new ,testament2 and when it is completed there1 the ,bible will be something worse than ,luther's wax nose1 it will be a thing of shreds and patches4 ,old ,testament criticism by men like ,driver1 ,cheyne1 ,ryle1 and ,gore1 is indeed--as the petitioners assert--destroying faith in the ,holy ,scriptures as the infallible and inspired ,word oc ,god4 ,they still pretend it is inspired1 but not infallible4 ,infallible1 at this time of day1 is a very large order4 ,professor ,bruce1 himself a ,christian minister1 is obliged to tell his orthodox brethren that the errorless autograph for which some so zealously contend is a theological figment4 ,the ,bible1 he reminds them1 was produced piecemeal1 and by the time the later portions were produced the earlier had lost their supposed immaculate-ness4 ,and he warns the infallible gentlemen that their position is really perilous when it is considered in what state we possess the ,scriptures now4 ,yes1 it is only country curates who can stand up now for an infallible ,word of ,god2 even ,mr4 ,gladstone is obliged to admit errors--that is1 errors in general1 for he will not confess any in particular4 ,the reference in the petition to myths1 fables1 and the work of dramatists1 seem to be specially aimed at the ,rev4 ,charles ,gore1 the ,principal of ,pusey ,house1 ,oxford1 and editor of ,lux ,mundi4 ,his essay in that volume on ,the ,holy ,spirit and ,inspiration is horribly distasteful to orthodox parsons4 ,they cannot refute him1 but they say he ought to know better1 or he shouldn't write such things--in other words1 he is guilty of the shocking crime of letting the cat out of the bag4 ,he discards the ,creation ,story1 just like ,professor ,bruce1 who calls the fall of ,adam a quaint embodiment of the theological conception of sin4 ,he dismisses all the patriarchs before ,abraham as mythical4 ,he admits the late origin of the ,pentateuch1 and only claims for ,moses the probable authorship of the ,decalogue4 ,he says the ,song of ,solomon is of the nature of a drama4 ,the ,book of ,job is mainly dramatic4 ,deuteronomy is the publication of the law put dramatically into the mouth of ,moses4 ,jonah and ,daniel are dramatic compositions4 ,jesus ,christ1 it is true1 cited both as historical2 but he only accommodated himself to the prevalent belief4 ,he knew better1 but he did not choose to say so2 or1 rather1 the moment was inopportune2 so he left us to find out the truth in this matter1 as he left us to find it out in everything else4 ,canon ,driver is perhaps glanced at in fables1 and perhaps also ,canon ,cheyne4 ,the former has publicly argued against the reconciliations of ,genesis and ,science4 ,he has likewise written very strongly against the historical character of ,jonah1 which he treats as a story with a moral4 ,canon ,cheyne regards it as an allegory4 ,jonah is ,israel1 swallowed up by ,babylon2 but1 seeking the ,lord in exile1 the captive is at last disgorged uninjured4 ,these clerical apostles of the ,new ,criticism are accused of attempting entirely to rob the people of ,god of the ,holy ,scriptures4 ,poor people of ,god6 ,how anxious the petitioners are for their welfare6 ,some persons1 however1 will be apt to regard the solicitude of these gentlemen as professional4 ,robbing the people of the ,holy ,scriptures1 in their mouths1 may simply mean rendering the clergyman's trade more difficult1 or perhaps altogether impossible2 and therefore the bitter cry of these grievously beset parsons 7to use their own words7 may be only a parallel to the famous old shout of ,great is ,diana of the ,ephesians4 ,why indeed do not the petitioners refute the apostles of the ,new ,criticism1 instead of appealing to the authority of ,convocation8 ,they plainly declare that the ,new ,criticis rests on utterly baseless foundations--which is a curious pleonasm or tautology for a body of educated gentlemen4 ,but if the substance of the declaration be true1 apart from its logic or grammar1 the orthodox parsons may scatter the heretical parsons like chaff before the wind4 ,principles which are utterly baseless may surely be refuted4 ,to quote from ,hamlet1 it is as easy as lying4 ,now that is a practice in which the clergy of all ages have shown great dexterity4 ,we therefore hope the orthodox parsons will refute the ,new ,criticism4 ,let them try to save the ,bible by argument4 ,if they cannot it is lost1 and lost for ever4 ,,forgive ,,and ,,forget4 99 99 ,march #ai1 #ahic4 ,written after a debate at the ,hall of ,science1 ,london1 between the writer and the ,rev4 ,c4 ,fleming ,williams1 on ,christian ,ideas of ,man and ,methods of ,progress4 ,mr4 ,branch1 of the ,london ,county ,council1 presided1 and there was a very large attendance4 ,my recent friendly discussion with the ,rev4 ,c4 ,fleming ,williams was most enjoyable4 ,it is so-pleasant to debate points of difference with an opponent whom you fully respect1 towards whom you have not an atom of ill feeling1 and to whom you disclose your own views in exchange for the confidence of his4 ,the chairman said that he had visited the ,hall of ,science many years ago1 and frequently heard discussions1 but they were generally acrimonious1 and seldom profitable4 ,no doubt he spoke what he felt to be the truth2 at the same time1 however1 he probably left out of sight a very important factor1 namely1 the tone and temper which ,christian critics are apt to display on a ,secular platform2 the assumed superiority1 which is not justified by any apparent gifts of intelligence2 the implication in most of their remarks that the ,freethinker is on a lower moral level than they are1 though it would never be suspected by an indifferent observer2 the arrogance which is often the undercurrent of their speech1 and sometimes bursts forth into sheer1 undisguised insolence4 ,christian critics of this species have1 perhaps1 stung ,freethought lecturers into hot resentment1 when it would have been far preferable to keep cool1 and continue using the rapier instead of seizing the bludgeon4 ,it is always a mistake to lose one's temper1 but it becomes excusable 7although not justifiable7 under intense provocation4 ,on the whole1 it is safe to say that ,christians have received more courtesy than they have shown in their controversies with ,freethinkers4 ,so much for the debate itself4 ,what ,i want to deal with in this article is the plea of the chairman1 and also of ,mr4 ,williams1 for a more charitable understanding4 ,christians have abused1 ill-treated1 and even butchered ,freethinkers in the past1 but the best ,christians are ashamed of it now4 ,let us then1 it is urged1 bury the past2 let us forgive and forget4 ,so far as it concerns men only ,i am not insensible to the appeal4 ,far be it from me to blame ,mr4 ,williams for the follies and malignancies of his ,christian predecessors4 ,on a question of character1 of merit or demerit1 every man stands or falls alone4 ,imputed wickedness is just as irrational as imputed righteousness4 ,i no more wish to make ,mr4 ,williams responsible for the butcheries of a ,torquemada or an ,alva than ,i wish to be saved by the sufferings of ,jesus ,christ4 ,so far as ,mr4 ,williams is concerned1 ,i have no past to bury4 ,i am not aware that he has ever desired anything but absolute justice for all forms of opinion2 and ,i know that he denounced my imprisonment for the artificial crime of blasphemy4 ,evidently1 then1 ,mr4 ,williams' plea is more than personal4 ,it is really a request that ,i should judge ,christianity1 as a great1 ancient1 historic system1 not by what it has in the main taught and done1 but by what a select body of its professors say and do in the present generation4 ,now this is a plea which ,i must reject4 ,in the first place1 while ,i admit it is unfair to judge ,christianity by its worst specimens1 ,i regard it as no less unfair to judge it by its best4 ,this is not justice and impartiality4 ,the ,chief ,constable of ,hull99 is probably as sincere a ,christian as ,mr4 ,williams4 ,i have to meet them both1 and ,i must take them as ,i find them4 ,the one pays me a compliment1 and the other threatens me with a prosecution2 one shakes me cordially by the hand1 the other tries to prevent me from lecturing4 ,the difference between them is flagrant4 ,but how am ,i to put ,mr4 ,williams to the credit of ,christianity1 and ,captain ,gurney to the credit of something else8 ,what is the something else8 ,they both speak to me as ,christians2 is it for me to say that the one is a ,christian and the other is not8 ,is not that a domestic question for the ,christians to settle among themselves8 ,and am ,i not just and reasonable in declining to take the decision out of their hands8 99 ,this gentleman was trying to prevent me from delivering ,sunday lectures at ,hull under the usual condition of a charge for admission4 ,in the next place1 since ,christianity is1 as ,i have said1 not only a great1 but an ancient and historic system1 its past cannot be buried1 and should not be if it could4 ,history is philosophy teaching us by example4 ,without it the present is meaningless1 and the future an obscurity4 ,now history shows us that ,christianity has been steady and relentless in the persecution of heresy4 ,we have therefore to inquire the reason4 ,it will not do to say that persecution is natural to human pride in face of opposition2 for ,buddhism1 which is older than ,christianity1 has not been guilty of a single act of persecution in the course of twenty-four centuries4 ,another explanation is necessary4 ,and what is it8 ,when we look into the matter we find that persecution has always been justified1 nay inculcated1 by appealing to ,christian doctrines and the very language of ,scripture4 ,unbelief was treason against ,god1 and the rejection of ,christ was rebellion4 ,they were more than operations of the intellect2 they were movements of the will--not mistaken1 but satanic4 ,and as faith was essential to salvation1 and heresy led straight to hell1 the elimination of the heretic was in the interest of the people he might divert from the road to paradise4 ,it was simply an act of social sanitation4 ,i am aware that this conception is not paraded by advanced ,christians1 though they seldom renounce it in decisive language4 ,but these advanced ,christians are the children of a later age1 full of intellectual and moral influences which are foreign to1 or at least independent of1 ,christianity4 ,their attitude is the resultant of several forces4 ,but suppose a time of reaction came1 and the influences ,i have referred to should diminish for a season2 is it not probable1 nay certain1 that the old forces of ,christian exclusiveness and infallibility1 based upon a divine revelation1 would once more produce the effects-which cursed and degraded ,europe for over a thousand years8 ,such1 at any rate1 is my belief2 it is also1 ,i think1 the belief of most ,freethinkers2 and this is the reason why we cannot forgive and forget4 ,the serpent is scotched1 not slain2 and we must beware of its fangs4 ,,the ,,star ,,of ,,bethlehem4 ,matthew1 or whoever was the author of the first ,gospel1 had a rare eye 7or nose7 for portents and prodigies4 ,he seems also to have had exclusive sources of information4 ,several of the wonderful things he relates were quite unknown to the other evangelists4 ,they were ignorant of the wholesale resurrection of saints at the crucifixion1 and also of the watch at the sepulchre1 with all the pretty circumstantial story depending upon it4 ,at the other end of ,christ's career they never heard of the visit of the wise men of the east to his cradle1 or of ,herod's massacre of the innocents1 or of the star which guided those wise men to the birthplace of the little king of the ,jews4 ,that star is the sole property of ,matthew1 and the other evangelists took care not to infringe his copyright4 ,indeed1 it is surprising how well they did with the remnants he left them4 ,matthew was not a ,jules ,verne4 ,he had no knowledge of astronomy4 ,consequently he did not make the most of that travelling star4 ,it was seen by wise men in the east4 ,this is not very exact1 but it is precise enough for a fairy tale4 ,those wise men happened to be in the east at the same time4 ,they were really ,magi--as may be seen in the ,revised ,version2 that is1 priests of the religion of ,persia2 and it requires a lot of faith to see what concern they could possibly have with the bantling of ,bethlehem4 ,however1 they saw his star1 and they appear to have followed it4 ,they must have slept by day and journeyed by night1 when the star was visible4 ,at the end of their expedition this star stood over the house where little ,jesus was lying4 ,truly1 it was a very accommodating star4 ,of course it was specially provided for the occasion4 ,real stars1 rolling afar in the infinite ether1 are too distant to stand over a particular spot on this planet ,this was an ideal star4 ,it travelled through the earth's atmosphere1 and moved according to the requirements of the gospel ,munchausen4 ,what became of it afterwards we are not informed4 ,probably it was born and died in ,matthew's imagination4 ,he blew it out when he had done with it1 and thus it has escaped the attention of ,sir ,robert ,ball4 ,those star-gazing magi went into the house1 which1 according to ,luke1 was an inn2 ,jesus ,christ having been born in the stable1 because the pub was full1 and no gentleman would go outside to oblige a lady3 ,they opened their ,gladstone bags1 and displayed the presents they had brought for the little king of the ,jews4 ,these were gold1 frankincense1 and myrrh4 ,no doubt the perfumes were very welcome--in a stable2 and very likely ,joseph took care of the gold till ,jesus was old enough to spend it on his own account1 by which time it appears to have vanished1 perhaps owing to the expenses of bringing up the numerous progeny of the ,virgin ,mother4 ,then the ,mahatmas--we beg pardon1 the ,magi--went home4 ,perhaps they are there still4 ,but no matter4 ,we leave that to the ,christian ,evidence ,society1 or the ,theosophists4 ,candid students will see at a glance that the whole of this story is mythological4 ,like other distinguished persons1 the ,prophet of ,nazareth had to make a fuss1 not only in the world1 but in the universe2 and his biographers 7especially ,matthew7 duly provided him with extraordinary incidents4 ,not only was he born1 like so many other saviors1 without the assistance of a human father1 but his birth was heralded by a celestial marvel4 ,there was a star of his nativity4 ,the wise men from the east called it his star4 ,this puts him in the category of heroes1 and bars the idea of his being a god4 ,it also shows that the ,christians1 amongst whom this story originated1 were devotees of astrology4 ,fortune-tellers still decide your nativity before they cast your horoscope4 ,we are aware that many commentators have discussed the star of ,christ's birth from various points of view4 ,some have thought it a real star2 others have had enough astronomy to see that this was impossible1 and have argued that it was a big will-o'-the-wisp1 created and directed by supernatural power1 like the pillar of day-cloud and night-fire that led the ,jews in the wilderness2 while still others have favored the idea of a supernatural illusion1 which was confined to the wise men--and thus it was that the star was not seen or mentioned by any of their contemporaries4 ,but all this is the usual mixture of ,bible commentators4 ,there is really no need to waste time in that fashion4 ,the ,star of ,bethlehem belongs to the realm of poetry1 as much as the ,star of ,caesar1 to which the mighty ,julius ascended in his apotheosis4 ,thousands of sermons have been preached on that ,star of ,bethlehem1 and these also have been works of imagination4 ,we have been told1 for instance1 that it was the morning star of a new day for humanity4 ,but this is a falsehood1 which the clergy palmed off on ignorant congregations4 ,the world was happier under the government of the great ,pagan emperors than it has ever been under the dominion of ,christianity4 ,for a thousand years the triumph of the ,cross was the annihilation of everything that makes life pleasant and dignified4 ,the ,star of ,bethlehem shone in a sky of utter blackness4 ,all the constellations of science1 art1 philosophy1 and literature were in disastrous eclipse4 ,cruelty and hypocrisy abounded on earth1 toil and misery were the lot of the people1 and bloodshed was as common as rain4 ,religions1 said ,schopenhauer1 are like glow-worms2 they require darkness to shine in4 ,this was quite true of ,christianity4 ,it was splendid when it had no competitor4 ,to be visible--above all1 to be worshipped--it needed the sky to itself4 ,one by one1 during the past three hundred years1 the stars of civilisation have emerged from their long eclipse1 and now the sky of humanity is full of countless hosts of throbbing glories4 ,the ,star of ,bethlehem is no longer even a star of the first magnitude4 ,it pales and dwindles every year4 ,in another century it will be a very minor light4 ,meanwhile it is drawn big on the maps of faith4 ,but that little trick is being seen through4 ,once it was the ,star of ,bethlehem first1 and the rest nowhere2 now it takes millions of money1 and endless special pleading1 to keep its name on the list4 ,christ himself is coming more and more to be regarded as a fanciful figure2 not ,god1 not even a man1 but a construction of early ,christian imagination4 ,why1 asked a ,unitarian of a ,positivist1 why is not ,christ in your ,positivist calendar8 ,because1 was the reply1 the calendar is for men1 not for gods4 ,,the ,,great ,,ghosts 99 99 ,march1 #ahhi4 ,long before there were any kings there were chiefs1 ,even in the early ,feudal days the king was only the chief of the barons1 and many centuries elapsed before the supremacy of the monarch was unquestioned and he became really the sovereign4 ,it was a process of natural selection4 ,a mob of chiefs could not rule a mob of people4 ,there was a fierce struggle1 with plenty of fighting and intrigue1 and the fittest survived4 ,gradually1 as the nation became unified1 the government was centralised1 and out of the chaos of competing nobles emerged the relatively cosmic authority of the ,crown4 ,similarly in the world of religion4 ,all gods were originally ghosts4 ,but as polytheism declined a supreme god emerged from the crowd of deities1 as the king emerged from the crowd of nobles1 and ruled from a definite centre4 ,it was ,zeus in ,greece1 ,jupiter in ,rome1 ,brahma in ,india1 ,thor in ,scandinavia1 and ,yahveh in ,israel4 ,i1 the ,lord thy ,god1 am a jealous ,god1 was an exclamation that sprang from ,yahveh's lips 7through his priests7 when his godship was still in the thick of the competitive struggle4 ,the ghosts become gods1 and the gods become supreme deities1 looked after the interests of their worshippers2 gave them long life1 good harvests1 and prosperity in warfare1 if they were true to them1 and plagued them like the very devil if they slighted them or nodded to their rivals4 ,according to the ,old ,testament1 when everything went well with the ,jews their ,god was pleased1 and when things went wrong with them he was angry4 ,this state of mind survives into our advanced civilisation1 where people still talk of judgments1 still pray for good things1 and still implore their ,god for victory when they have a scrimmage with their neighbors4 ,but this infantile conception is dying out of educated minds4 ,prayer is seen to be futile4 ,the laws of nature do not vary4 ,providence is on the side of the big battalions4 ,god helps those who help themselves--and no one else4 ,long ago1 in ancient ,greece and ,rome1 the acutest thinkers had come to the same conclusion4 ,lucretius1 for instance1 did not deny the existence of the gods2 he merely asserted that they no longer concerned themselves with human affairs1 which he was heartily glad of1 as they were mostly bad characters4 ,he observed the reign of law as clearly as our modern scientists1 and relegated the deities to their ,olympian repose1 so beautifully versed by ,tennyson4 ,the ,gods1 who haunt ,the lucid interspace of world and world1 ,where never creeps a cloud1 or moves a wind1 ,nor ever falls the least white star of snow1 ,nor ever lowest roll of thunder moans1 ,nor sound of human sorrow mounts to mar ,their savored everlasting calm4 ,even the savage1 in times of prolonged peace and prosperity1 begins to speculate on the possibility of his god's having retired from business2 for religion is born of fear1 not of love1 and the savage is reminded of his god by calamity rather than good fortune4 ,this idea has been caught by ,robert ,browning in his marvellous ,caliban upon ,setebos1 a poem developed out of a casual germ in ,shakespeare's ,tempest4 ,hoping the while1 since evils sometimes mend1 ,warts rub away and sores are cured with slime1 ,that some strange day1 will either the ,quiet catch ,and conquer ,setebos1 or likelier ,he ,decrepit may doze1 doze1 as good as die4 ,but presently poor ,caliban is frightened out of his speculation by a thunderstorm1 which makes him lie low and slaver his god1 offering any mortification as the price of his escape4 ,there is a good deal of ,caliban in our modern multitudes1 but the educated are working free from his theology4 ,science and miracle cannot live together1 and miracle and providence are the same thing4 ,how far from us is the good old ,god of the best parts of the ,bible1 who held out one ear for the prayers of his good children1 and one hand1 well rodded1 for the backs of the naughty ones4 ,the seed of the righteous never begged for bread1 and the villain always came to a bad end4 ,it was the childish philosophy of the gods in a modern theatre4 ,the more critical want something truer and more natural1 something more accordant with the stern realities of life4 ,renan has some excellent remarks on this in the ,preface to his second volume of the ,histoire du ,peuple d' ,israel4 ,the work of the genius of ,israel was not really affected until the eighteenth century after ,jesus ,christ1 when it became very doubtful to spirits a little cultivated that the affairs of this world are regulated by a ,god of justice4 ,the exaggerated idea of a special ,providence1 the basis of ,judaism and ,islam1 and which ,christianity has only corrected through the fund of liberalism inherent in our races1 has been definitively vanquished by modern philosophy1 the fruit not of abstract speculation1 but of constant experience4 ,it has never been observed1 in effect1 that a superior being occupies himself1 for a moral or an immoral purpose1 with the affairs of nature or the affairs of humanity4 ,kenan has elsewhere said that the negation of the supernatural is a dogma with every cultivated intelligence4 ,god1 in short1 has faded into a metaphysical abstraction4 ,the little ghosts vanished long ago1 and now the ,great ,ghost is melting into thin air4 ,thousands of people have lost all belief in his existence4 ,they use his name1 and take it in vain2 for when questioned1 they merely stand up for a sort of a something4 ,the fear of ,god1 so to speak1 has survived his personality2 just as ,madame de ,stael said she did not believe in ghosts1 but she was afraid of them4 ,mrs4 ,browning gives voice to this sentiment in one of her poems3 ,and hearts say1 ,god be pitiful1 ,that ne'er said1 ,god be blest4 ,the fear of the ,lord is1 indeed1 the beginning and the end of theology4 ,when the ,great ,ghost was a reality--we mean to his worshippers--he was constantly spoken of4 ,his name was invoked in the courts of law1 it figured in nearly every oath outside them1 and it was to be seen on nearly every page of every book that was published4 ,but all that is changed4 ,to speak or print the name of ,god is reckoned bad form4 ,the word is almost tabooed in decent society4 ,you hear it in the streets1 however1 when the irascible carman calls on ,god to damn your eyes for getting in his way4 ,there is such a conspiracy of silence about the ,great ,ghost1 except in churches and chapels1 that the mention of his name in polite circles sounds like swearing4 ,eyebrows are lifted1 and the speaker is looked upon as vulgar1 and perhaps dangerous4 ,thus theology gives way to the pressure of science1 and religion to the pressure of civilisation4 ,the more use we make of this life the less we look for another2 the loftier man grows the less he bows to ghosts and gods4 ,heaven and hell both disappear1 and things are neither so bad nor good as was expected4 ,man finds himself in a universe of necessity4 ,he hears no response to his prayers but the echo of his own voice4 ,he therefore bids the gods adieu1 and sets himself to the task of making the best of life for himself and his fellows4 ,without false hopes1 or bare fears1 he steers his course over the ocean of life1 and says with the poet1 ,i am the captain of my soul4 ,,atheism ,,and ,,the ,,french ,,revolution4 99 99 ,july1 #ahhi4 ,sunday1 ,july #ad1 is the hundredth anniversary of the fall of the ,bastille1 and the occasion will be splendidly celebrated at ,paris4 ,in itself the capture of this prison-fortress by the people was not a wonderful achievement2 it was ill-defended1 and its governor might1 had he chosen1 have exploded the powder magazine and blown it sky-high4 ,but the event was the parting of the ways4 ,it showed that the multitude had got the bit between its teeth1 and needed a more potent master than the poor king at ,versailles4 ,and the event itself was a striking one4 ,men are led by imagination1 and the ,bastille was the symbol of centuries of oppression4 ,within its gloomy dungeons hundreds of innocent men had perished in solitary misery1 without indictment or trial1 consigned to death-in-life by the arbitrary order of irresponsible power4 ,men of the most eminent intellect and character had suffered within its precincts for the crime of teaching new truth or exposing old superstitions4 ,voltaire himself had twice tasted imprisonment there4 ,what wonder1 then1 that the people fixed their gaze upon it on that ominous fourteenth of ,july1 and attacked it as the very citadel of tyranny8 ,the ,bastille fell1 and the sound re-echoed through ,europe4 ,it was the signal of a new era and a new hope4 ,the ,revolution had begun--that mighty movement which1 in its meaning and consequences1 dwarfs every other cataclysm in history4 ,but revolutions do not happen miraculously4 ,their advent is prepared4 ,they are as much caused as the fall of a ripe apple from the tree1 or the regular bursting of the buds in spring4 ,the authors of the ,revolution were in their graves4 ,its leaders1 or its instruments1 appeared upon the scene in '#hi4 ,after life's fitful fever ,voltaire was sleeping well4 ,rousseau's tortured heart was at rest4 ,diderot's colossal labors were ended2 his epitaph was written1 and the great ,encyclopaedia remained as his living monument4 ,d',holbach had just joined his friends in their eternal repose4 ,a host of smaller men1 also1 but admirable soldiers of progress in their degree1 had passed away4 ,the gallant host had done its work4 ,the ground was ploughed1 the seed was sown1 and the harvest was sure4 ,famished as they were1 and well-nigh desperate at times1 the men of the ,revolution nursed the crop as a sacred legacy1 shedding their blood like water to fructify the soil in which it grew4 ,superficial readers are ignorant of the mental ferment which went on in ,france before the ,revolution4 ,voltaire's policy of sapping the dogmas by which all tyranny was supported had been carried out unflinchingly4 ,not only had ,christianity been attacked in every conceivable way1 with science1 scholarship1 argument1 and wit2 but the very foundations of all religion--the belief in soul and ,god--had not been spared4 ,the ,heresiarch of ,ferney lived to see the war with superstition carried farther than he contemplated or desired2 but it was impossible for him to say to the tide of ,freethought1 ,thus far shalt thou go and no farther1 and here shall thy proud waves be stayed4 ,the tide poured on over everything sacred4 ,altars1 thrones1 and coronets met with a common fate4 ,true1 they were afterwards fished out of the deluge2 but their glory was for ever quenched1 their power for ever gone4 ,among the great ,atheists who prepared the ,revolution we single out two--,diderot and ,d',holbach4 ,the sagacious mind of ,comte perceived that ,diderot was the greatest thinker of the band4 ,the fecundity of his mind was extraordinary1 and even more so his scientific prescience4 ,anyone who looks through the twenty volumes of his collected works will be astonished at the way in which1 by intuitive insight1 he anticipated so many of the best ideas of ,evolution4 ,his labors on the ,encyclopaedia would have tired out the energies of twenty smaller men1 but he persevered to the end1 despite printers1 priests1 and governments1 and a countless host of other obstructions4 ,out of date as the work is now1 it was the artillery of the movement of progress then4 ,as ,mr4 ,morley says1 it rallied all that was best in ,france round the standard of light and social hope4 ,less original1 but nearly as bold and industrious1 ,d',holbach placed his fortune and abilities at the service of ,freethought4 ,mr4 ,morley calls the ,system of ,nature a thunderous engine of revolt4 ,it was ,atheistic in religion1 and revolutionary in politics4 ,it challenged every enemy of freedom in the name of reason and humanity4 ,here and there its somewhat diffuse rhetoric was lit up with the splendidly concise eloquence of ,diderot1 who touched the work with a master-hand4 ,nor did this powerful book represent a tithe of ,d',holbach's labors for the good old cause4 ,his active pen produced a score of other works1 under various names and disguises1 all addressed to the same object--the destruction of superstition and the emancipation of the human mind4 ,they were extensively circulated1 and must have created a powerful impression on the reading public4 ,leaving its authors and precursors1 and coming to the ,revolution itself1 we find that its most distinguished figures were ,atheists4 ,mirabeau1 the first ,titan of the struggle1 was a godless statesman4 ,in him the multitude found a master1 who ruled it by his genius and eloquence1 and his embodiment of its aspirations4 ,the crowned king of ,france was pottering in his palace1 but the real king reigned in the ,national ,assembly4 ,the ,girondists were nearly all ,atheists1 from ,condorcet and ,madame ,roland down to the obscurest victims of the ,terror who went gaily to their doom with the hymn of freedom upon their proud lips4 ,danton also1 the second ,titan of the ,revolution1 was an ,atheist4 ,he fell in trying to stop the bloodshed1 which ,robespierre1 the ,deist1 continued until it drowned him4 ,with ,danton there went to the guillotine another ,atheist1 bright1 witty ,camille ,desmoulins1 whose exquisite pen had served the cause well1 and whose warm poet's blood was destined to gush out under the fatal knife4 ,other names crowd upon us1 too numerous to recite4 ,to give them all would be to write a catalogue of the revolutionary leaders4 ,atheism was the very spirit of the ,revolution4 ,this has been admitted by ,christian writers1 who have sought revenge by libelling the movement4 ,their slanders are manifold1 but we select two which are found most impressive at orthodox meetings4 ,it is stated that the ,revolutionists organised a worship of the ,goddess of ,reason1 that they went in procession to ,notre ,dame1 where a naked woman acted the part of the goddess1 while ,chenier's ,ode was chanted by the ,convention4 ,now there is a good deal of smoke in this story and very little flame4 ,the naked female is a pious invention1 and that being gone1 the calumny is robbed of its sting4 ,demoiselle ,candeille1 an actress1 was selected for her beauty2 but she was not a harlot1 and she was not undressed4 ,whoever turns to such an accessible account as ,carlyle's will see that the apologists of ,christianity have utterly misrepresented the scene4 ,secondly1 it is asserted that the ,revolution was a tornado of murder2 cruelty was let loose1 and the ,atheists waded in blood4 ,never was greater nonsense paraded with a serious face4 ,during the ,terror itself the total number of victims1 as proved by the official records1 was less than three thousand2 not a tenth part of the number who fell in the single massacre of ,st4 ,bartholomew6 ,but who caused the ,terror8 ,the ,christian monarchies that declared war on ,freethinkers and regicides4 ,theirs was the guilt1 and they are responsible for the bloodshed4 ,france trembled for a moment4 ,she aimed at the traitors within her borders1 and struck down many a gallant friend in error4 ,but she recovered from the panic4 ,then her sons1 half-starved1 ragged1 shoeless1 ill-armed1 marched to the frontier1 hurled back her enemies1 and swept the trained armies of ,europe into flight4 ,they would be free1 and who should say them nay8 ,they were not to be terrified or deluded by the blood on the hands of the king or the lie at the lips of the priest4 ,and if the struggle developed until the ,french armies1 exchanging defence for conquest1 thundered over ,europe1 from the ,baltic to the ,mediterranean1 from the orange-groves of ,spain to the frozen snows of ,russia--the whole blame rests with the pious scoundrels who would not let ,france establish a ,republic in peace4 ,,pigottism4 99 99 ,march1 #ahhi4 ,is there any thing whereof it may be said1 ,see1 this is new8 it hath been already of old times1 which was before us4--,ecclesiastes i4 #aj4 ,everybody is talking about the flight of ,pigott4 ,the flight into ,egypt never caused half such a sensation4 ,pigott has gone off into the infinite4 ,he was shadowed1 but he has performed the feat of running away from his own shadow4 ,where he will turn up next1 or if he will turn up anywhere1 ,god only knows4 ,but wherever he re-appears--in the ,south ,pacific as a missionary1 in ,america as a revivalist1 or in ,india as an avatar--it will be the same old ,pigott1 lying1 shuffling1 forging and blackmailing1 with an air of virtue and benevolence4 ,the edifice of calumny on ,mr4 ,parnell and his closest colleagues rested on the foundation of ,pigott1 and ,pigott is exploded4 ,he has entirely vanished4 ,not a hair of him is visible4 ,he is gone like last winter's snow or last summer's roses4 ,he is in the big list of things ,wanted4 ,but advertisements will not bring him back1 and considering who is in power1 it is very problematical if the officers of justice will be any more successful4 ,we have no wish to be disrespectful to the ,commission1 and it is far from our intention to pronounce judgment on a case which is sub judice1 though who can help sundry exclamations when the chief witness on one side bolts1 leaving no trace but a few more lies and counter lies8 ,our object1 indeed1 is not political but religious4 ,we desire to make the noble ,pigott point a moral and adorn a tale4 ,he and his achievements in connection with the ,times splendidly illustrate the process by which ,christianity was built up4 ,pigottism was at work for centuries1 forging documents1 manufacturing evidence1 and telling the grossest lies with an air of truth4 ,what is still worse1 ,pigottism was so lucky as to get into the seat of despotic power1 and to crush out all criticism of its frauds2 so that1 at length1 everyone believed what no one heard questioned4 ,it was ,pigottism in excelsis4 ,the liar gave evidence in the witness box1 stifled or murdered the counsel for the opposite side1 then mounted the bench to give judgment in his own favor1 and finally pronounced a decree of death against all who refused to own him the pink of veracity4 ,just look for a moment at these ,parnell letters4 ,they were printed in facsimile in the ,times1 published in ,parnellism and ,crime1 circulated among millions of people1 and accepted as genuine by half the population of ,england4 ,and on what ground8 ,solely on the ground that ,parnellism was heterodox and the ,times was a respectable journal4 ,that was enough4 ,the laws of evidence were treated with contempt4 ,investigation was thought unnecessary4 ,thousands of people fatuously said1 ,oh1 the letters are in print4 ,and all this in an age of ,board schools1 printing presses1 daily papers1 and unlimited discussion2 nay1 in despite of the solemn declaration of ,mr4 ,parnell and his colleagues1 backed up by a demand for investigation1 that the letters were absolute concoctions4 ,now if such things can happen in an age like this1 how easily could they happen in ages like those in which ,christianity produced its scriptures4 ,credulity was boundless1 fraud was audacious1 and lying for the profit of the ,church was regarded as a virtue4 ,there was no printing press1 no free inquiry1 no keen investigation1 no vivid conception of the laws of evidence2 and the few brilliant critics1 like ,celsus and ,porphyry1 who kept alive in their breasts the nobler spirit of ,grecian scepticism1 were answered by the destruction of their writings1 a process which was carried out with the cunning scent of a sleuth-hound and the remorseless cruelty of a tiger4 ,the ,church produced1 quite as mysteriously as the ,times1 certain documents which it said were written by ,matthew1 ,mark1 ,luke1 ,john1 ,peter1 ,paul1 and ,james4 ,others were written by ,pagans like ,pilate1 and one at least by ,jesus ,christ himself4 ,no commission sat to examine and investigate1 no ,sir ,charles ,russell cross-examined the witnesses4 ,the ,pigotts1 the ,houstons1 and the ,macdonalds kept quietly in the background1 and were never dragged forth into the light of day4 ,the ,mr4 ,walters took the full responsibility1 which was very trifling2 and as ,englishmen relied on the respectability of the ,times1 so the illiterate and fanatical ,christians relied on the respectability of the ,mother ,church4 ,some of those documents1 so mysteriously produced1 were as mysteriously dropped when they had served their turn4 ,hence the so-called ,apocryphal ,new ,testament1 a collection of writings as ancient1 and once as accepted1 as those found in the ,canon4 ,hence also the relics1 either in name or in fragments1 of a host of gospels1 epistles1 and revelations1 which primitive ,pigottism manufactured for the behoof of ,christianity1 ,every single scrap no doubt subserved a useful end4 ,but whatever was no longer required was discarded like the scaffolding of a house4 ,the real1 permanent work1 all the while1 was going on inside2 and when the ,church faced the world with its completed edifice1 it thought itself provided with something that would stand all winds and weathers4 ,it was found1 however1 in the course of time1 that ,pigottism was still necessary4 ,hence the ,apostolic ,constitutions1 the ,decretals1 the ,apostles' and the ,athanasian ,creeds1 and all the profitable relics of saints and martyrs4 ,about two hundred years ago an informal ,commission began to sit on these ,christian documents4 ,the precious letter of ,jesus ,christ to ,abgarus soon flew off with the ,veronica handkerchief1 and many other products of ,christian ,pigottism shared the same fate4 ,the witnesses were examined and cross-examined1 and the longer the process lasted the sorrier was the spectacle they presented4 ,paul's epistles have been shockingly handled4 ,the ,commission has positively declared that all but four of them are forgeries1 and is still investigating the claim of the remnant under reprieve4 ,nor is the judgment on the gospels less decisive4 ,the ,court has decided that they were not written by ,matthew1 ,mark1 ,luke1 and ,john4 ,who wrote them1 when they were written1 or where1 is left to the ,day of ,judgment4 ,unfortunately the press has given little attention to the proceedings in this ,court of ,commission4 ,its reports are published in expensive volumes for scholars and gentlemen of means and leisure4 ,some of the results1 indeed1 are given in a few journals written for the people2 but these journals are boycotted as vulgar1 unless they go too far1 when they are prosecuted for blasphemy4 ,yet the truth is gradually leaking out4 ,people shake their heads ominously1 especially when there is anything in them2 and parsons are looked upon with a growing suspicion4 ,they look bland1 they assume the most virtuous airs1 and sometimes they affect a preternatural goodness4 ,but in all this they are excelled by the noble ,pigott1 whose bald head1 venerable beard1 and benevolent appearance1 qualified him to sit for a portrait of ,god the ,father4 ,gentlemen1 it won't do4 ,you will have to bolt or confess4 ,the documents you have palmed off on the world are the products of unadulterated ,pigottism4 ,you know it1 we know it1 and by and bye everyone will know it4 ,,jesus ,,at ,,the ,,derby4 99 99 ,june1 #ahij4 ,this is the age of advertisement4 ,look at the street-hoardings1 look at the newspapers1 look at our actor-managers1 look at ,barnum4 ,scream from the housetops or you stand no chance4 ,if you cannot attract attention in any other way1 stand on your head4 ,get talked about somehow4 ,the only hell is obscurity1 and notoriety is the seventh heaven4 ,if you cannot make a fortune1 spend one4 ,run through a quarter of a million in three years1 be the fool of every knave1 and though you are as commonplace as a wet day in ,london1 you shall find a host of envious admirers4 ,should the worst come to the worst1 you can defy obscurity by committing a judiciously villainous murder4 ,perhaps ,jack the ,ripper had a passion for publicity1 and liked to see his name in the papers2 until he grew blase and retired upon his laurels4 ,yes1 it is an advertising age1 and an advertising age is a sensational age4 ,religion itself--the staid1 the demure--shares in the general tendency4 ,she preaches in the style of the auction room1 she beats drums and shakes tambourines in the streets1 she affects criminals and dotes on vice1 she bustles about the reformation of confirmed topers4 ,by-and-bye she will get up a mission to lunatics and idiots4 ,she is now a very forward person4 ,forward movements are the rage in all the churches4 ,but ,methodism bears the palm1 though ,presbyterianism threatens to run it hard in the person of ,john ,mc,neill4 ,hugh ,price ,hughes is a very smart showman4 ,when truth is stale he is ready with a bouncing lie1 and has face enough to keep it up in five chapters4 ,but the ,west-,end ,mission is getting rather tame4 ,the dukes and duchesses are not yet converted4 ,money is spent like water and the aristocracy still go to ,hades4 ,a new move is tried4 ,the forward ,methodists organise a ,mission to ,epsom1 ,jesus ,christ goes to the ,derby2 that is1 he goes by proxy1 in the person of ,mr4 ,nix4 ,a van1 a tent1 and a big stock of pious literature1 with mackintoshes and umbrellas1 form his equipment4 ,he is accompanied by a band of workers4 ,their rules are to be up for prayer-meeting at seven in the morning1 and never to look at any race1 or jockey1 or horse4 ,this is a precaution against the ,old ,adam4 ,it saves the ,mission from going over to the enemy on the field of battle4 ,mr4 ,nix gives an account of his performance in the ,methodist ,times4 ,he converted a lot of people4 ,so has ,hugh ,price ,hughes4 ,at one time1 he says1 there were three ,church of ,england clergymen and their wives and some distinguished members of the aristocracy in the tent--probably out of the wet4 ,of course they were not converted4 ,but what a pity6 ,a converted clergyman would have been a glorious catch1 worth five thousand pounds at ,st4 ,james's ,hall4 ,and fancy bagging a duke6 ,it was enough to make ,mr4 ,nix's mouth water4 ,he must have felt some of the agony of ,tantalus4 ,he was up to the neck1 so to speak1 in lords and parsons1 and could not grasp one4 ,dissenting ministers and their wives did not show up4 ,naturally4 ,they would not go to such a naughty place--except in a mission van4 ,mr4 ,nix has a keen eye for the ,methodist business4 ,he has open and sly digs at the ,church clergy4 ,one of the tipsters said his father was a clergyman1 but his religion was no good to him4 ,he would give anything for the religion of the little chap that stood on the stool4 ,that was ,mr4 ,nix4 ,we suspect the ,epsom races will outlast ,mr4 ,nix4 ,there is more boast than performance about ,missions4 ,christianity is always converting drunkards1 profligates1 prostitutes1 and thieves2 but somehow our social evils do not disappear4 ,even the drink bill runs up1 despite all the ,gospel pledges4 ,nix is the practical result of the efforts of gentlemen like ,mr4 ,nix4 ,they are on the wrong tack4 ,they are sweeping back the tide with mops4 ,the real reformatory agency is the spread of education and refinement4 ,yet the mission will go on4 ,it is a good advertisement4 ,mr4 ,hughes gives it a special leading article4 ,he cries up the ,epsom mob as the most representative gathering of ,englishmen1 and therefore a fair specimen of the mental and moral condition of the ,english people4 ,this is stuff and nonsense1 but it serves its purpose4 ,mr4 ,hughes wants to show that ,missions are needed4 ,he finds that the great majority of the people are outside the ,christian ,church1 that this is still a heathen country4 ,perhaps so4 ,but what a confession after all these centuries of gospel-grinding and ,church predominance6 ,there are fifty or sixty thousand churches and chapels1 and as many sky-pilots4 ,six million children go to ,sunday-school4 ,the ,bible is forced into the public day-schools4 ,copies are circulated by the million4 ,twenty millions a year1 at the least1 is spent in inculcating ,christianity4 ,yet ,england is still a heathen country4 ,well1 if this be the case1 what is the use of ,mr4 ,nix8 ,what is the use of ,mr4 ,hughes8 ,greater preachers have gone before them and have failed4 ,is it not high time for ,jesus to run the job himself8 ,come1 ,lord ,jesus1 as ,john says4 ,let him descend from the ,father's right hand and take ,mr4 ,nix's place at the next ,derby4 ,he might even convert the clergymen and their wives and the distinguished members of the aristocracy4 ,anyhow he should try4 ,he will not be crucified again4 ,the worst that could happen is a charge of obstruction1 and perhaps a fine of forty shillings4 ,but surely he will not lay himself open to such indignities4 ,he should triumphantly assert his deity4 ,a few big miracles would strike ,englishmen more than the ,jews1 who were sated with the supernatural4 ,he might stop the horses in mid career1 fix the jockeys in their saddles1 root the ,epsom mob where they stood1 and address them from the top of the grand stand4 ,that would settle them4 ,they would all go to church next ,sunday4 ,yes1 ,jesus must come himself1 or the case is hopeless4 ,missions to the people of this heathen country are like fleas on an elephant4 ,what the ministers should pray for is the second coming of ,christ4 ,but we guess it will be a long time before they sing ,lo1 he comes1 in clouds descending4 ,besides1 it would be a bad job for them4 ,their occupation would be gone4 ,a wholesale conversion would cut up the retail traders4 ,on the whole1 we have no doubt the men of ,god prefer the good old plan4 ,if ,jesus came he would take the bread out of their mouths4 ,that would be shabby-after they had devoted themselves to the business4 ,the very publicans demand compensation1 and could the sky-pilots do less8 ,but perhaps ,jesus would send them all home4 ,we should like to see them go4 ,it would give the world a chance4 ,,atheist ,,murderers4 99 99 ,january1 #ahid4 ,an ,open ,letter to the ,bishop of ,winchester4 ,bishop1--,you are a high and well-paid dignitary of the ,church of ,england4 ,you are therefore a ,state official1 as much as a soldier or a policeman2 and1 as such1 you are amenable to public criticism4 ,it is possible that you never heard of me before1 but ,i am a member of the ,english public1 and as a citizen ,i help 7very unwillingly7 to support the ,church1 and therefore to support you4 ,my right to address you is thus indisputable4 ,i make no apology or excuse for doing so2 and1 as for my reason1 it will appear in the course of this letter4 ,i notice in the daily and weekly newspapers a paragraph which concerns you--and me4 ,the paragraph is exactly the same in all the papers ,i have seen2 it must therefore have emanated from1 and been circulated by1 one hand2 and that hand ,i suspect is yours1 particularly as it insinuates the necessity of supporting ,christian ,missions in ,england--that is1 of subscribing to ,church agencies over and above the nine or ten millions a year which your ,establishment spends 7or devours7 in ministering to what you call the spiritual needs of the ,english people4 ,the paragraph ,i refer to states that you have converted and confirmed an ,atheist1 and that this ,atheist has been hung for the crime of murder2 and it plainly hints that his crime was the natural result of his irreligious opinions4 ,as you make so much of this case1 ,i presume that this murderer--who was not good enough to live on earth1 and whom you have sent to live for ever in heaven--is the only ,atheist you have ever converted2 so that in every way the case is one of exceptional interest4 ,and now1 before ,i go any farther1 let me tell you why the case concerns me as well as you4 ,i am an ,atheist1 and a teacher of ,atheism4 ,i am the ,president of the ,national ,secular ,society1 which is the only open organisation of ,freethinkers in ,england4 ,my immediate predecessor in this office was ,charles ,bradlaugh1 of whom you must have heard4 ,not to know him would argue yourself unknown4 ,my personality is not so famous as his1 but my office is the same1 and you will now understand why ,i address you on the subject of your converted murderer4 ,the newspaper paragraph to which ,i have referred is brief and inadequate1 but fuller particulars are given in your ,diocesan ,chronicle1 for a copy of which ,i am indebted to the kindness of a gentleman who is technically a member of your flock4 ,he is a ,freethinker1 but ,i do not believe you will convert him1 and still less that you will ever assist at his execution4 ,the murderer for whom you made the gallows the gateway to heaven was called ,george ,mason4 ,he was nineteen years of age4 ,serving in the militia1 he was liable to severe discipline4 ,his sergeant had him imprisoned for three days1 and in revenge he shot the officer dead while at rifle practice4 ,it is an obvious moral1 which ,i wonder your lordship does not perceive1 that it is dangerous to put deadly weapons in the hands of passionate boys4 ,your lordship's interest in the case seems to be entirely professional4 ,while this lad was simply a militiaman your lordship would not have regarded him as an object of solicitude4 ,as a convicted murderer1 he became profoundly interesting4 ,no less than three clergymen took him in hand3 the ,rev4 ,j4 ,l4 ,ladbrooke1 the ,rev4 ,james ,baker1 and yourself4 ,three to one are long odds1 and it is no marvel that you conquered the boy4 ,still1 it is unfortunate that we have only your account of the conflict1 for your profession is not famous for what ,i will politely call accuracy4 ,herder remarked that ,christian veracity deserved to rank with ,punic faith4 ,how many falsehoods has your ,church circulated about great ,freethinkers6 ,why should it hesitate1 then1 to tell untruths about little ones8 ,a ,wesleyan minister1 the ,rev4 ,hugh ,price ,hughes1 has published a long circumstantial story of a converted ,atheist shoemaker1 which is proved to be false in all its main features4 ,it is far from certain1 therefore1 that your lordship's account of the conversion of ,george ,mason is true4 ,you and your two clerical colleagues can say what you please2 your evidence cannot be tested2 and such evidence1 especially when given by persons who are confederates in a common cause1 is always open to suspicion4 ,nevertheless ,i need not doubt that ,george ,mason made an edifying end4 ,it is the way of murderers4 ,what ,i venture to doubt is your statement as to his life4 ,you write as follows3-- ,his early life was lived in the east of ,london1 his trade being that of a costermonger1 and he was brought up by his father1 a professed atheist1 who was in the habit of reading the ,bible with this boy and a company of other freethinkers1 verse by verse1 and deliberately turning it into ridicule1 by way of commentary4 ,it is hard to imagine a more deliberate training for the gallows than what his father gave him4 ,later on1 you say the boy was insignificant1 almost stunted to look at1 and you add that his only opportunity was to learn how to be a child of the ,devil4 ,now ,i wish to observe1 in the first place1 that you have not said enough4 ,you do not say whether ,george ,mason's father is still living4 ,i have not been able to hear of him myself4 ,if he be still living1 have you taken the trouble to obtain his version of the matter8 ,and if not1 do you think it kind or just to speak of him in this manner8 ,nor do you say what religion ,george ,mason professed in the ,militia1 whether he attended divine service1 and what was its influence upon him4 ,you were in too great a hurry to capture your ,atheist1 and insult all who do not believe the dogmas of your ,church4 ,you regard it as deliberate training for the gallows to let a boy laugh at the ,bible4 ,has it ever occurred to you to inquire how it is that the ,bible is so easy to ridicule8 ,have you ever reflected that what is laughed at is generally ridiculous8 ,are you not aware that the most risible imp could hardly laugh at all the contents of the ,bible8 ,who laughs at the saying1 ,blessed are the peacemakers8 ,who laughs at the horrid massacres of the ,old ,testament8 ,but who does not laugh at cock-and-bull stories like that of ,jonah and the whale8 ,your lordship does not discriminate4 ,very little thought would show you that some parts of the ,bible cannot be laughed at1 that where it can be laughed at it is probably absurd1 and that to laugh at an absurdity is certainly no training for the gallows4 ,your lordship evidently wishes to convey the idea that ,atheists are very likely to become murderers1 or more likely than their ,christian fellow citizens4 ,this ,i deny1 and ,i ask for your evidence4 ,all you adduce is the case of this insignificant and stunted boy4 ,let us suppose for a moment that your statement about him is entirely accurate4 ,what does it prove8 ,simply this1 that it is not impossible for an ,atheist to commit a murder4 ,but who ever said it was8 ,who asserts that ,atheists are absolutely free from the passions and frailties of human nature8 ,has your lordship never heard of a ,christian murderer8 ,is it not a fact that ,jesus ,christ himself could not select his apostles without including a villain8 ,twelve of you have ,i chosen1 he said1 and one of you is a murderer4 ,is not one in twelve a large percentage8 ,why1 then1 is the world to be alarmed1 and invited to subscribe to ,christian ,missions1 because one ,atheist out of all the thousands in ,england commits a murder --and that one an insignificant and stunted boy1 apparently bred in poverty and hardship8 ,mind you1 ,i am not admitting that ,george ,mason was an ,atheist1 or the son of an ,atheist4 ,i say that has to be proved4 ,i am taking your lordship's account of the matter as true merely for the sake of argument4 ,let me draw your attention to some facts4 ,so many of the clergy in your own ,church went wrong that you were compelled to obtain a special ,act of ,parliament to enable you to get rid of them4 ,is it not true1 also1 that the greatest swindlers of this age have been extremely pious8 ,what do you make of ,messrs ,hobbs and ,wright8 ,what do you think of ,jabez ,balfour8 ,are not such scoundrels a thousand times worse than a passionate boy like ,george ,mason8 ,were not the ,liberator victims fleeced and ruined by professed ,christians8 ,what have you to say about ,mr4 ,hastings1 ,captain ,verney1 and ,mr4 ,de ,cobain1 who were all convicted of bad crimes and expelled from ,parliament8 ,have you ever heard of the text1 ,physician heal thyself8 ,here is another fact4 ,a few months ago an ,irish clergyman1 the ,rev4 ,george ,griffiths1 deliberately shot his own mother for the sake of what cash he could find in her desk4 ,he was tried1 found guilty1 and sentenced to be hung4 ,would you think me justified in saying that the ,rev4 ,george ,griffiths committed a murder because he was a ,christian8 ,why1 then1 do you pretend that ,george ,mason committed a murder because he or his father was an ,atheist8 ,lay your hand upon your heart1 and answer this question honestly4 ,do you really believe that an ,atheist has a special proclivity to murder8 ,what is there in ,atheism to make men hate each other8 ,when a man holds the hand of the woman he loves1 or feels about his neck the little arms of his child1 do you suppose he is likely to injure either of them because he is unable to accept your dogma about the mystery of this illimitable universe8 ,shall ,i hate my own boy because ,i disbelieve that ,jesus ,christ was born without a father8 ,shall ,i keep him without food and clothes because ,i see no proof of a special providence8 ,will ,shakespeare's ,hamlet poison my mind because ,i think it finer than the gospels8 ,if ,i treat the ,creation ,story and the ,deluge as legend and mythology1 and smile at the feats of ,samson1 shall ,i therefore commit a burglary8 ,if ,i think that my neighbor's life in this world is his all1 that death ends his possibilities1 do you really think ,i shall be the more likely to rob him of what ,i can never restore8 ,i am at a loss to understand your lordship1 and ,i invite you to explain yourself4 ,at present ,i can only see in your account of ,george ,mason1 a very common exhibition of ,christian logic1 and ,christian temper4 ,your lordship's is not the charity that thinketh no evil4 ,you ascribe wickedness to those who differ from you in opinion4 ,i conceive it possible for men to differ from you in religion1 and yet to equal you in morality4 ,i conceive it even possible that some of them might surpass you without a miracle4 ,a ,,religion ,,for ,,eunuchs4 99 99 ,june1 #ahij4 ,this is a strong title1 and it requires a justification4 ,we have to plead that nothing else would serve our purpose4 ,but is our purpose a sound one8 ,that will appear in the course of this article4 ,let the reader finish what we have to say before he forms a judgment4 ,we purpose to criticise the view of ,christianity recently put forth by the greatest writer in ,russia4 ,count ,leo ,tolstoi enjoys an ,european fame4 ,he is one of the classics of modern fiction4 ,his work in imaginative literature1 as well as his work in religion1 said the late ,matthew ,arnold1 is more than sufficient to signalise him as one of the most marking1 interesting1 and sympathy-inspiring men of our time4 ,whatever such a man writes deserves the closest attention4 ,not1 indeed1 that this needs to be bespoken for him4 ,he has the qualities that compel it4 ,there is the stamp of power on all his productions4 ,we pause at them involuntarily1 as we turn to look at a physical king of men who passes us in the street4 ,for some years ,count ,tolstoi discontinued his work as a novelist4 ,his mind became occupied with social and religious problems4 ,he ceased to be a man of the world and became a ,christian2 and his being a most sincere nature1 endowed with a certain large simplicity which is characteristic of the ,russian mind1 he did not rest in ecclesiastical ,christianity4 ,he embraced the religion of ,christ1 and began working it out to legitimate issues4 ,to him the ,sermon on the ,mount is divine teaching1 not in a metaphorical sense1 but in its literal significance4 ,accordingly he tells the ,christian world1 in such volumes as ,my ,religion and ,my ,confession1 that it is all astray from the religion of ,christ4 ,he points to what its ,savior said1 takes his words in their honest meaning1 and brands as un-,christian the whole framework of ,christian society1 with its armies1 its police1 its law courts1 its wealth1 and its institution of property4 ,the ,bishop of ,peterborough and ,count ,tolstoi are at one in believing that if the ,sermon on the ,mount were carried out the ,state would go to ruin2 only the ,bishop of ,peterborough shrinks from this1 and jesuitically narrows the scope of ,christ's teaching1 while ,count ,tolstoi accepts it loyally and calls on ,christians to square their practice with their profession4 ,mirabeau said of ,robespierre1 ,he is in earnest1 he will go far4 ,this is what we felt with respect to ,count ,tolstoi4 ,sooner or later he was certain to follow ,jesus to the bitter end4 ,after property comes the institution of marriage1 upon which the teaching of ,jesus may be found in the gospels4 ,count ,tolstoi now insists on this teaching being practised4 ,he has written a novel1 ,the ,kreutzer ,sonata1 to show the evils1 not only of marriage1 but of all sexual relations4 ,since then he has written a sober article to justify the sentiments of the hero1 or the protagonist1 of that terrible story4 ,it is no longer possible to say that ,pozdnischeff's ideas are those of a person in a drama4 ,count ,tolstoi accepts the full responsibility of them1 and presses them still further4 ,he is now the un-blenching apostle of real ,christianity--not the ,christianity of the ,churches1 but the ,christianity of ,christ2 and his new evangel will alarm the growing army of advanced ,christians1 who are always canting1 in their sentimental way1 the very phrase which he develops in all its terrific meaning4 ,to be a ,christian1 he tells them1 is to crucify the body1 to kill the animal passions1 to live the pure life of the spirit1 and1 in short1 to practise every austerity of asceticism4 ,tolstoi did not jump to this conclusion4 ,writing on his novels1 ,mr4 ,w4 ,e4 ,henley called him the great optimist4 ,the ,kreutzer ,sonata is the work of a profound pessimist4 ,concluding ,what ,to ,do1 ,tolstoi wrote a noble passage on the sacredness of motherhood4 ,now all that is changed4 ,motherhood must go too4 ,it will take time1 for the old ,adam is strong in us4 ,but go it must1 and when we have all brought our bodies under1 no more children will be born4 ,the race will expire1 having perfected its imitation of ,christ1 and the animals that remain will hold the world in undisputed possession2 unless1 indeed1 they catch the contagion1 and wind up the whole terrestrial business4 ,before we treat ,tolstoi's evangel in detail we must remark that he does not explain the primeval command of ,jehovah to ,adam and ,eve--,be ye fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth4 ,this is very inconsistent with the gospel of absolute chastity4 ,jehovah says1 ,get as many children as you can4 ,christ says1 ,get none at all4 ,if it was the same ,god who gave both orders he changed his mind completely1 and having changed it once he may change it again4 ,in that case the ,koran will succeed the ,new ,testament1 and the ,imitation of ,christ give place to the ,arabian ,nights4 ,revenons a nos moutons4 ,the ,kreutzer ,sonata is a terrible story1 but like all novels with a purpose1 it is inartistic4 ,othello kills ,desdemona without moralising on the sinfulness of marriage1 and ,pozdnischeff stabs his wife from sheer jealousy4 ,all the preaching is by the way4 ,it might be cut out without affecting the work1 and that is its condemnation4 ,when the preacher steps forward the artist retires4 ,and as we are dealing with ,tolstoi the preacher we shall go straight to his article in the ,universal ,review4 ,tolstoi admits that what he now teaches is incompatible with what he taught before4 ,when writing the ,kreutzer ,sonata1 he says3 ,i had not the faintest presentiment that the train of thought ,i had started would lead me whither it did4 ,i was terrified by my own conclusion1 and was at first disposed to reject it2 but it was impossible not to hearken to the voice of my reason and my conscience4 ,this is the language of earnest sincerity4 ,the conclusion is this--,even to contract marriage is1 from a ,christian point of view1 not a progress but a fall4 ,love and all the states that accompany and follow it1 however we may try in prose and verse to prove the contrary1 never do and never can facilitate the attainment of an aim worthy of men1 but always make it more difficult4 ,this is sufficiently dogmatic4 ,chapman thought otherwise4 ,without love ,all beauties bred in women are in vain1 ,all virtues born in men lie buried2 ,for love informs them as the sun doth colors3 ,and as the sun1 reflecting his warm beams ,against the earth1 begets all fruits and flowers1 ,so love1 fair shining in the inward man1 ,brings forth in him the honorable fruits ,of valor1 wit1 virtue1 and haughty thoughts1 ,brave resolution and divine discourse4 ,thus the great ,elizabethan4 ,now for the laureate of the ,victorian age4 ,for indeed ,i knew ,of no more subtle master under heaven ,than is the maiden passion for a maid1 ,not only to keep down the base in man1 ,but teach high thought1 and amiable words ,and courtliness1 and the desire of fame1 ,and love of truth1 and all that makes a man4 ,chapman's strain is higher than ,tennyson's1 but they harmonise4 ,tolstoi's is a harsher note4 ,he vilifies the flesh to exalt the spirit1 as though the two never mingled4 ,he would abolish the springs of life to purify its stream6 ,he bids us see in our passions foes to be conquered rather than friends to be encouraged4 ,why not try to establish a just harmony between them8 ,is there no medium8 ,must the passions be kings or slaves1 in prison or on the throne8 ,it is thought an injury to reason1 wrote ,diderot1 to say a word in favor of her rivals2 yet it is only the passions1 and strong passions1 that can lift the soul to great things2 without them there is nothing sublime1 whether in conduct or in productions--art becomes childish and virtue trivial4 ,but let us hear ,tolstoi simply as a follower of ,christ4 ,we cannot do better than reproduce some of his sentences in extenso4 ,christ not only never instituted marriage1 but1 if we search for formal precept on the subject1 we find that he rather disapproved it than otherwise4 7',and every one that hath forsaken houses1 or brethren1 or sisters1 or father1 or mother1 or wife1 or children1 or lands for my name's sake1 shall receive an hundredfold1 and shall inherit everlasting life4' ,matthew xix4 #bi1 ,mark z4 #bi1 #cj1 ,luke xviii4 #bi1cj74 ,he only impressed upon married and unmarried alike the necessity of striving after perfection1 which includes chastity in marriage and out of it4 ,there is not and cannot be such an institution as ,christian marriage4444 ,this is what was always taught and believed by true ,christians of the first and following centuries4444 ,in the eyes of a ,christian1 sexual relations in marriage not only do not constitute a lawful1 right1 and happy state1 as our society and our churches maintain1 but1 on the contrary1 are always a fall1 a weakness1 a sin4 ,such a thing as ,christian marriage never was and never could be4 ,christ did not marry1 nor did he establish marriage2 neither did his disciples marry4 ,a ,christian1 ,i say1 cannot view sexual intercourse otherwise than as a deviation from the doctrine of ,christ--as a sin4 ,this is clearly laid down in ,matt4 v4 #bh1 and the ceremony called ,christian marriage does not alter its character one jot4 ,a ,christian will never1 therefore1 desire marriage1 but will always avoid it4 ,in the ,gospel it is laid down so clearly as to make it impossible to explain it away1 that he who is already married when he discovers and accepts the truth1 must abide with her with whom he has been living1 i4e41 must not change his wife1 and must live more chastely than before 7,matt4 v4 #cb1 xix4 #h-ab71 that he who is single should remain unmarried and continue to live chastely 7,matt4 xix4 #aj1 #ab71 and that both the one and the other1 in their yearning and striving after perfect chastity1 are guilty of sin if they look on a woman as an object of pleasure 7,matt4 v4 #bh1 #bi74 ,pozdnischeff1 at the close of the ,kreutzer ,sonata1 clinches all this by saying--,people should understand the true significance of the words of ,st4 ,matthew as to looking upon a woman with the eye of desire2 for the words apply to woman in her sisterly character--not only to another man's wife1 but also1 and above all1 to one's own4 ,if this view of marriage prevailed1 and perfect chastity obtained1 the human race would come to an end4 ,tolstoi says he cannot help that4 ,carnal love perpetuates the race1 and spiritual love will extinguish it4 ,but what if it does8 ,it is a familiar religious dogma that the world will have an end1 and science tells us that the sun is losing its heat1 the result of which must in time be the extinction of the human race4 ,the great ,russian does not shrink from the logic of ,christ's teaching4 ,he follows ,christ as ,st ,paul did2 as ,st4 ,peter did1 who forsook his wife2 as the ,fathers did in crying up virginity and running down marriage2 as the monks and nuns did who severed themselves from the world and the flesh1 though they often fell into the hands of the ,devil4 ,still there is another step for ,count ,tolstoi to take4 ,he has not pressed one important saying of ,christ1 and it is this-- ,for there are some eunuchs1 which were born so from their mother's womb3 and there are some eunuchs1 which were made eunuchs of men3 and there be eunuchs1 which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake4 ,he that is able to receive it1 let him receive it 7,matt4 xix4 #ab74 ,the great ,origen followed this advice and emasculated himself4 ,nor was he alone in the practice4 ,all the disciples of his contemporary1 ,valens of ,barathis1 made themselves eunuchs4 ,mantegazza considers them the spiritual fathers of the ,skopskis1 a ,russian sect dating from the eleventh century4 ,they have been persecuted1 but they number nearly six thousand1 and regard themselves as the real ,christians1 the only true followers of ,christ4 ,they castrate themselves1 and sometimes amputate the genitals entirely2 the women even mutilate their breasts as a mark of their sex4 ,will ,count ,tolstoi take the final step8 ,it seems logically necessary even without the text on eunuchs1 for the only certain way to avoid sexual intercourse is to make it impossible4 ,in any case we are very much obliged to him for holding up the real ,christianity1 as far as he sees it1 to the purblind and hypocritical mob of professed ,christians4 ,it will fortify ,freethinkers in their scepticism1 and warn the healthy manhood and womanhood of ,europe against this oriental asceticism which pretends to be a divine message to the robust ,occident4 ,when ,tolstoi goes the one step farther1 and embraces the teaching of ,jesus in its entirety1 he will be the most powerful enemy of ,christianity in the world4 ,by demonstrating it to be a religion for eunuchs he will array against it the deepest instincts of mankind4 ,,rose-,,water ,,religion4 99 99 ,april1 #ahid4 ,most of our readers will recollect the controversy that was carried on1 more than twelve months ago1 in the columns of the ,daily ,chronicle4 ,mr4 ,robert ,buchanan had published his new poem1 ,the ,wandering ,jew1 in which ,jesus ,christ was depicted as a forlorn vagrant1 sick of the evil and infamy wrought in his name1 and for which he was historically though not intentionally responsible4 ,this poem was reviewed by ,mr4 ,richard ,le ,gallienne1 a younger poet1 who is also a professional critic in the ,star1 where his weekly causerie on books and their writers is printed over the signature of ,logroller4 ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne took ,mr4 ,buchanan to task for his hostility to the ,christianity of ,christ1 the nature of which was not defined nor even made intelligible4 ,mr4 ,buchanan replied with his usual impetuosity1 declining to have anything to do with ,christianity except in the way of opposition1 and laughing at the sentimental dilution which his young friend was attempting to pass off as the original1 unadulterated article4 ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne retorted with youthful self-confidence that ,mr4 ,buchanan did not understand ,christianity4 ,other writers then joined in the fray1 and the result was the famous ,is ,christianity ,played ,out8 discussion in the ,chronicle4 ,it was kept going for a week or two1 until parliament met and ,jesus ,christ had to make way for ,william ,ewart ,gladstone4 ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne hinted that he was preparing a kind of manifesto on the subject of ,christianity4 ,the world was to be informed at length as to the essential nature of that religion4 ,divines and ,freethinkers had alike misunderstood and misrepresented it4 ,after a lapse of nearly two thousand years the straight tip1 if we may so express it1 was to come from ,logroller4 ,he would soon speak and set the weary world at rest with the triumphant proclamation of the real1 imperishable religion of ,jesus ,christ4 ,presently it was announced1 in judicious puffs1 that the manifesto was growing under ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne's hands4 ,it would take the form of a book1 to be entitled ,the ,religion of a ,literary ,man4 ,the title had little relation to the ,galilean carpenter or his fishing disciples4 ,nor was it in any sense happy4 ,it smacked too much of the shop4 ,sir ,thomas ,browne1 it is true1 wrote a ,religio ,medici1 and gave a physician's view of religion2 but he was a man of rare genius as well as quaintness1 and allowance was to be made for his idiosyncrasy4 ,besides1 there is a certain speciality in a doctor's way of looking at religion1 if he compares his knowledge with his faith4 ,but what is the speciality of a literary man on this particular subject8 ,other trades and professions might as well follow suit1 and give us ,the ,religion of a ,porkbutcher1 or ,the ,faith of a ,farmer1 or ,the ,creed of a ,constable4 ,even the ,belief of a ,barman is not beyond the scope of a rational probability4 ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne's long-promised evangel burst upon the town a month ago4 ,the ,religio ,scriptoris--which a puzzler at ,latin might render as ,the ,religion of a ,scribbler--made a dainty appearance4 ,the title-page was in two colors1 with a pretty arabesque border4 ,the type throughout was neatly leaded1 with a column for summaries in the old fashion1 and a wide margin of imitation hand-made paper4 ,the book was pretty1 like the writing1 and opposite the title-page was a pretty verse3-- ',the old gods pass'--the cry goes round1 ',lo6 how their temples strew the ground'2 ,nor mark we where1 on new-fledged wings1 ,faith1 like the phoenix1 soars and sings4 ,yes1 it is all pretty4 ,there is an air of dilettanteism about the whole production4 ,it will probably be grateful to the sentimentalists who1 despite their scepticism1 still cling to the name of ,christian2 but we imagine it will rather irritate than satisfy other readers of more strenuous and scrupulous intelligence4 ,the book is dedicated to ,a4 ,e4 ,fletcher1 ,esq41 editor of the ,daily ,chronicle1 who may well be proud 7not of this dedication1 but7 of the high position to which he has raised that organ of ,radical principles4 ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne refers to the old controversy in the ,chronicle as raising an important question--to me the most important of questions--as to whether ,christianity was really so obsolete to-day as its opponents glibly assume4 ,i could not stand by1 he continues1 and see the sublime figure of ,christ vulgarised to make an ,adelphi holiday4 ,for this reason1 he modestly says1 he ventured to play ,david to ,mr4 ,buchanan's ,philistine4 ,mr4 ,fletcher allowed him a battlefield and thence sprung he means sprang the following pages4 ,thus much for the origin of the work1 and now for its character4 ,i have condensed in its pages1 the writer says1 much religious experience1 and long and ardent thought on spiritual matters4 ,no doubt he believes this statement1 but is it true8 ,is not the writer too young to have had much experience8 and where are the traces of the long and ardent thought8 ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne might reply that his thought has been long and ardent1 whatever the value of the result2 but1 in that case1 he is not cut out for a thinker2 and1 indeed1 he seems aware of the fact1 for he often prints thinker in inverted commas to show his disdain of the article4 ,his one cure for modern doubt is to think less and feel more1 and some may be tempted to remark that he has certainly followed the first part of the prescription4 ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne is a long time in coming to the sublime figure of ,christ4 ,he has a considerable ground to cover before he undertakes the cleaning and painting of the old idol4 ,first of all1 he has to establish his native superiority over the common herd4 ,he divides the world into natural spiritualists and materialists4 ,the first have a ,spiritual ,sense 7capitals1 please71 while the second have not2 and it is obvious that the large majority of mankind belong to the latter class4 ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne1 of course1 belongs to the former4 ,he is a member of ,nature's 7or ,god's7 aristocracy4 ,it is for them that he writes1 although on his own supposition the task is superfluous4 ,the common herd of materialists are warned against wasting their time in reading him--which also is somewhat superfluous4 ,the fault of materialists--or rather their misfortune1 for they are born that way--is that they are such sticklers for facts1 and have no conception of aught they cannot touch and handle1 eat1 or see through a microscope4 ,not1 indeed1 that ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne objects to eating1 for instance2 he speaks of it with wet lips1 and looks down upon the ,vegetarian as a person whose spiritual insight is not mercifully intermittent1 especially at meal times4 ,but barring meal times1 and other fleshly occasions when the spiritualists join the materialists1 the former habitually see facts as transitory symbols of transfiguring mysteries1 so that the whole world 7and perhaps the moon7 is palpitating with occult significance4 ,for instance4 ,a materialist eats rook-pie1 and cares for nothing else but a sound digestion4 ,the spiritualist also eats rook-pie1 but after the repast he will sentimentalise over dead rooks1 without losing his belief in an all-merciful ,providence4 ,he will assure you1 indeed1 and try to convince you1 that the shooting of rooks and the pulling off their heads to prevent the rook-pie from tasting bitter1 is simply one of the terrible and beautiful mysteries which make the world so interesting--especially to gentlemen of comprehensive natures1 who combine a taste for rook-pie with a taste for optimistic theology4 ,when we come to test ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne's conception of mystery1 we find it to be nothing but muddle4 ,the whole mystery of life1 he says1 may be found in a curve3 as thus1 ,why isn't it straight8 ,color in itself is a mystery1 and are there not trance-like moments when suddenly we ask ourselves1 why a colored world1 why a blue sky1 and green grass1 why not vice versa1 or why any color at all8 ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne is evidently prepared to stand aghast at the fact that twice two make four4 ,why always four8 ,why not three to-day and seven to-morrow8 ,yea1 and echo answers1 ,why8 ,here is another illustration of mystery-- ,science can tell us that oxygen and hydrogen will unite under certain conditions to produce water1 but it cannot tell us why they do so2 the mystery of their affinity is as dark as ever4 ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne has a whole chapter on the ,relative ,spirit1 yet his long and ardent thought does not enable him to see that he is himself a slave of metaphysics4 ,all this mystery is nothing but the meat-roasting power of the meat-jack4 ,he question of why oxygen and hydrogen form water is a prompting of anthropomorphism4 ,intellectually1 it is simply childish4 ,it could only be put by one who has not grasped the great doctrine of the ,relativity of ,knowledge4 ,man can no more get beyond his own knowledge--which is and ever must be finite--than he can get outside himself1 or run away from his own shadow4 ,the sacred mystery of motherhood1 of which ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne speaks1 is a pretty expression4 ,it may pass in the realm of poetry1 with the everlasting hills and the eternal sea1 which are but transient phenomena in the infinite existence of the universe4 ,the mystery of human motherhood is no greater than the mystery of any other form of reproduction1 while its sacredness depends on circumstances2 the term1 in short1 being a compendium of a great variety of personal and social feelings1 which may or may not be present in any particular case4 ,what becomes of the sacred mystery of motherhood when a poor servant girl brings her child into the world unaided1 and casts it into the ,thames8 ,what becomes of it when violation takes the place of seduction1 and a woman bears a child to a man she loathes and hates8 ,mystery1 like other words we inherit from the theological and metaphysical stages1 is only fit for use in poetry2 it is out of place in science or philosophy2 and we advise ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne to get a comprehension of this truth before he takes fresh excursions in the realm of long and ardent thought4 ,the subjective ideas of poetry cease to be admirable and stimulating when they are projected into the external world1 and become our masters instead of our servants4 ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne follows the beaten track of theology in talking about mysteries1 which are only subterfuges to cover the retreat of a nonplussed debater1 or a warren for the fugitive game of the hounds of reason4 ,he also follows the beaten track in arguing--or rather assuming--that the elect spiritualists have a sense which is lacking in the reprobate materialists4 ,there is nothing like a good lumping assumption for begging the question at issue4 ,it settles the discussion before it opens1 and saves a world of trouble4 ,but even an assumption may be looked in the face2 nay1 it is best looked in the face when you suspect it of being an imposture4 ,according to ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne1 the religious sense--or1 as he also writes it1 the ,,spiritual ,,sense1 with capital letters--is not after all a special faculty1 but a special compound1 or interaction1 of common faculties4 ,he does1 indeed1 treat these common faculties as tribautaries of the ,spiritual ,sense2 but it is very evident that the tributaries make the stream1 which is merely a name without them4 ,first1 there is the ,sense of ,wonder1 which is nothing but the positive side of ignorance2 second1 the ,sense of ,beauty1 which is not necessarily a religious sense1 but may be pressed into its service2 third1 the ,sense of ,pity1 which really originates1 as we conceive1 in parental affection1 and has even been noticed in rats as well as in religionists2 fourth1 the ,sense of ,humor1 which is a peculiarly candid friend of religion1 so that ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne is obliged to give its devotees an impressive warning against running into ,ill-nature and ,sacrilege2 fifth1 the ,sense of ,gratitude1 which in religion1 so far as we can see1 appears to consist in a lively sense of favors to come1 through the medium of prayer1 to which thanksgiving is only a judicious preliminary1 like the compliments and flatteries that are addressed to an oriental despot by his humble but calculating petitioners4 ,now all these senses are perfectly natural4 ,every one of them is found in the lower animals as well as in man4 ,how then can there be anything supernatural1 supersensible1 or spiritual11 in their combination8 ,is it not evident that ,religion works1 like everything else1 upon common materials8 ,chiefly1 indeed1 upon the unchastened imagination of credulous ignorance4 ,we may prove this from ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne's own testimony4 ,are there not impressions borne in upon the soul of man as he stands a spectator of the universe which religion alone attempts to formulate8 ,certain impressions are expressed by the sciences and the arts4 ',how wonderful6'--exclaims man1 and that is the dawn of science2 ',how beautiful6'--and that is the dawn of art4 ,but there is a still higher1 a more solemn1 impression borne in upon him1 and1 falling upon his knees1 he cries1 ',how holy6' ,that is the dawn of religion4 ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne does not see that this is all imagination4 ,the heavens declare the glory of ,god1 exclaims the ,psalmist4 ,on the other hand1 a great ,french ,atheist exclaimed1 ,the heavens declare the glory of ,copernicus1 ,kepler1 and ,newton4 ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne does not see1 either1 that man did not exclaim1 ,how holy6 when he first fell upon his knees4 ,his feeling was rather1 ,how terrible6 ,the sense of holiness is a social product--a high sublimation of morality4 ,man had to possess it himself1 and see it highly exemplified in picked specimens of his kind1 before he bestowed it upon his gods4 ,deities do not anticipate1 they follow1 the course of human evolution4 ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne is an ,optimist4 ,he is young and prosperous1 and1 judging from his poetry1 happily married4 ,he is therefore satisfied that all is for the best--if properly understood2 just as when an alderman has dined1 all the world is happy4 ,there are such people1 however1 as ,pessimists1 and ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne hates them4 ,schopenhauer1 for instance1 he rails at as a small philosopher4 whose ideas were only the formulation of his own special disease1 the expression of his own ineffably petty and uncomfortable disposition4 ,at which one can only stare1 as at a mannikin attacking a colossus4 ,spinoza too can be treated jauntily if he does not fall into line with ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne4 ,george ,meredith is treated with abundant respect1 but he is wronged by being enrolled as a facile optimist1 and the strongest of the apostles of faith4 ,he is certainly nothing of the kind1 in ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne's sense of the words4 ,he has faith in reason and humanity1 but this is a very different thing from faith in the idols--even the greatest idol--of the ,pantheon4 ,there is too much pain in the world1 said ,charles ,darwin1 who knew what he was talking about1 and always expressed himself with moderation4 ,in the moral world1 pain becomes evil2 and the problem of evil has ever been the crux of ,theism4 ,it cannot be solved on ,theistic grounds1 and accordingly it has to be explained away4 ,pain1 we are told1 is the great agent in our development2 in the ethical sphere1 it is the purifying fire1 which purges the gold in us from its dross4 ,all of which sounds very pretty in a lecture1 and looks very pretty in a book2 but is apt to excite disgust when a man is suffering from incurable cancer1 or utter destitution in the midst of plenty2 or when a mother stands over the corpse of her child1 mangled in some terrible accident1 or burnt to a cinder in a fatal fire4 ,certainly1 pain subserves a partial purpose4 ,it is sometimes a warning1 though the warning is often too late4 ,but its function is immensely overrated by ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne and other religionists4 ,it is all very well to talk about the crucible1 but half the people who go into it are reduced to ashes4 ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne will not accept ,spinoza's view that pain is an unmistakable evil2 joy the vitalising1 fructifying power4 ,but the great mystic1 ,william ,blake1 said the same thing in1 ,joys impregnate1 sorrows bring forth4 ,george ,meredith has expressed the same view in saying that ,adversity tests1 it does not nourish us4 ,even the struggle for existence does not add any strength to the survivors4 ,it sometimes cripples them4 ,by eliminating the unfit--that is1 the weak--it raises the average capacity4 ,but what a method for ,infinite ,wisdom and ,infinite ,goodness6 ,there was more sense1 and less cruelty1 in the ancient method of infanticide4 ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne seems to feel that his theory of pain is too fantastic1 so he falls back on mystery4 ,we can form no possible conception1 he says1 of the processes of ,god4 ,why then does he talk about them so consumedly8 ,ignorance is a good reason for silence1 but none for garrulity4 ,we must be humble1 says ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne1 and recognise that we only exist to the praise and glory of ,god4 ,we are his servants and soldiers1 and the pay is life6--,had he willed it1 this glorious gift had never been ours4 ,we might have still slept on unsentient1 unorganised1 in the trodden dust4 ,very likely2 but who could lose what he never possessed8 ,it is a small misfortune that can never be realised4 ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne leaps the final difficulty by exclaiming that ,man has no rights in regard to ,god4 ,he shakes hands with ,st4 ,paul1 who asserts the potter's power over the clay4 ,yes1 but man is not clay4 ,he lives and feels4 ,he has rights1 even against ,god4 ,the parent is responsible for his child1 the creator for his creature4 ,the opposite doctrine is fit for cowards and slaves4 ,it comes down to us from the old days1 when fathers had the power of life and death over their children2 it dies out as we learn that the first claim is the child's1 and the first duty the parent's4 ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne's god is the old celestial despot of theology in a new costume4 ,on the question of a future life1 however1 we are pleased to find a vein of heterodoxy and common sense4 ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne asks1 with respect to the hereafter1 whether we really care about it so much as we imagine4 ,we talk about meeting our old friends in heaven1 for instance1 but do we not meet them again already on earth--in the new ones6 ,it is said that if fine1 cultivated personalities do not survive death1 they are wasted1 and have existed in vain4 ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne's reply to this objection is clear1 sufficient1 and well expressed3-- ,but how so8 ,have they not been in full operation for a lifetime8 ',tis a pity truly that the old fiddle should be broken at last2 but then for how many years has it not been discoursing most excellent music8 ,we naturally lament when an old piece of china is some sure day dashed to pieces2 but then for how long a time has it been delighting and refining those1 maybe long dead1 who have looked upon it4--,if there were no possibility of more such fiddles1 more such china1 their loss would be an infinitely more serious matter2 but on this the sad-glad old ,persian admonishes us3-- 4444 fear not lest ,existence1 closing your ,account and mine1 should know the like no more2 ,the ,eternal ,saki from the bowl has pour'd ,millions of ,bubbles like us1 and shall pour4 ,nature ruthlessly tears up her replicas age after age1 but she is slow to destroy the plates4 ,her lovely forms are all safely housed in her memory1 and beauty and goodness sleep secure in her heart1 in spite of all the arrows of death4 ,without saving what they are1 or which of them he considers at all convincing1 ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne observes that the arguments as to a future life are probably stronger on the side of belief--which is rather a curious expression4 ,but1 whichever theory be true1 it does not really much matter4 ,very likely4 ,but how does this fit in with the teaching of ,christ8 ,if he and his apostles did not believe in the hereafter1 what did they believe in8 ,great is your reward in heaven1 and similar sentences1 lose all meaning without the doctrine of a future life1 about which the early ,christians were intensely enthusiastic4 ,it was not in this world1 as ,gibbon remarks1 that they wished to be happy or useful4 ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne argues that ,christ taught in parables4 ,he promised heaven1 and threatened hell1 but he spoke in a ,pickwickian sense4 ,however he used such phrases1 it is certain that the evangelists have distorted their importance out of all proportion to the rest of his teaching4 ,by certain we are not to assume that ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne has access to occult sources of information4 ,we are only to infer that he deals with the gospels arbitrarily2 accepting them1 or rejecting them1 as they accord or disagree with his preconceptions4 ,indeed1 this is what essential ,christianity must always be4 ,what each picker and chooser likes is essential4 ,what he does not like is unessential1 if not a positive misrepresentation4 ,short and easy is ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne's criterion for deciding when ,christ is literal and when parabolical4 ,it is only ,christ's moral precepts that are to be taken literally--all the rest is parable4 ,what a pity it is that the ,prophet of ,nazareth did not give us a clear hint to this effect6 ,the theory is one of admirable simplicity4 ,yet1 for all that demure look of his1 ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne is not so admirably simple as to work it out in practice4 ,accepting the moral precepts of ,christ literally1 a ,christian should hate his father and mother1 take no thought tor the morrow1 live in poverty to obtain the kingdom of heaven1 and turn his left cheek to everyone who takes the liberty of striking him on the right4 ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne does not ask us to do these things2 he does not say he performs them himself1 ,he would probably say1 if pressed1 that allowance should be made for oriental ways of speaking4 ,but1 in that case1 what becomes of the literal method of reading the moral precepts of ,christ8 ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne1 who despises thinkers1 is all at sea in his chapter on ,essential ,christianity4 ,he does not know his own mind4 ,he declares that ,christ combined in his own person and teaching the intense spirituality of the ,hebrew1 the impassioned self-annihilation of the ,hindoo1 the joyous naturalism of the ,greek4 ,yet he also remarks that there is something beautiful in such presences as ,pan1 ,aphrodite1 and ,apollo1 which we do not find in ,christianity2 though he is careful to add that there is not actually any strife between them and the sadder figure of the ,galilean4 ,all the gods of all the creeds1 he says1 supplement or corroborate each other4 ,perhaps so2 but what becomes of that masterful synthesis1 in which ,christ gathered up the joyous naturalism of the ,greek1 no less than other ancient characteristics8 ,it is well to have a good memory 7at least7 when you are setting the world to rights4 ,christianity has been historically a failure4 ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne more than admits the fact2 he emphasises it1 and tries to explain it4 ,in the first place1 he says the priests have been too many for ,christ2 they got hold of ,christianity1 and turned it into the channel of their interests4 ,in the next place1 the world was not ready for essential ,christianity2 an argument in flat contradiction to the doctrine of preparation1 which has placed so important a part in ,christian apologetics ever since the time of ,eusebius4 ,in the third place1 essential ,christianity is an idealism1 and a throng of idealists is an impossibility4 ,the horde of earthly-minded people have simply trodden upon the precious pearls of ,christ's teaching4 ,it is not true that the world has tried the ,gospel of ,christ and found it wanting2 the world has never tried it at all1 and in this nineteenth century of the so-called ,christian era1 it has yet to begin4 ,supposing all this to be true1 what does it prove8 ,on the theory that ,christ was ,god1 or sent by ,god1 it proves either that ,providence interfered too soon1 or that it is incapable of making any real impression upon the stubborn inhabitants of this planet2 either alternative being a reflection on the wisdom or the power of the deity4 ,on the theory that ,christ was only a man1 it proves that he taught an impossible gospel4 ,after all these centuries it is still contested and still to be explained4 ,would it not1 after all1 be better to put aside this source of confusion and quarreling1 and to rely upon reason and the common sentiments of humanity8 ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne admits that in some respects such a book as ,whitman's ,leaves of ,grass is more helpful than ,the ,new ,testament--for it includes more4 ,why then all this chatter about ,christ8 ,can we ever be united on a question of personality8 ,is it not absurd1 and worse than absurd1 to thrust this object of contention into the arena where the forces of light should be fighting1 like one man1 the strong and disciplined forces of darkness8 ,all this talk about the sublime figure of ,christ is a reminiscence of his faded deity4 ,we do not indulge in heated discussions as to the personality of any other man4 ,we speak of other sublime figures1 but the expression is one of individual reverence4 ,we do not say that those who do not share our opinion of ,buddha1 ,socrates1 ,mohammed1 ,bruno1 ,cromwell1 ,danton1 or even ,plato or ,shakespeare1 are grovelling materialists and candidates for perdition4 ,no1 the chatter about ,christ is only explicable on the ground that he was1 and still is by millions1 worshipped as a god4 ,the glamor of the deity lingers round the form of the man4 ,it is impossible for persons of any logical trenchancy to remain in this stage4 ,francis ,newman gave up orthodox ,christianity1 and also the equivocations of ,unitarianism1 but he clung to the moral perfection of ,christ4 ,in the course of time1 however1 the scales fell from his eyes4 ,he had been blinded by a false sentiment4 ,letting his mind play freely upon the sublime figure of the ,prophet of ,nazareth1 he at length perceived that it had its defects4 ,no mortal is endowed with perfection4 ,such monsters do not exist4 ,indeed1 the teaching of ,christ is as defective as his personality1 ,its perfection and sufficiency can only be maintained by those who never mean to incur the perils of reducing it to practice4 ,who really tries to carry out the ,christianity of ,christ8 ,only one man in ,europe that we know of1 and his name is ,count ,tolstoi2 but he is saved from the worst consequences of his idealism by the more practical wisdom of his wife1 who will not see him1 any more than herself and her children1 reduced to godly beggary4 ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne seems to us to belong to the sentimentalists1 though we hope he will grow out of their category4 ,he appears to dread accurate thinking1 and to imagine that knowledge destroys the charm of nature4 ,which1 he asks1 comes nearest to the truth about love--poor ,lombroso's talk about pistil and stamen1 or one of ,shakespeare's sonnets8 ,the root1 he says1 is no explanation of the flower4 ,this may be fine1 but it is fine nonsense4 ,lombroso and ,shakespeare are both right4 ,the physician does not contradict the poet4 ,and if the root is no explanation of the flower1 what will happen if you are careless about the root and the soil in which it is planted8 ,does a gardener act in that way8 ,is it not the horticulture of ,fleet-street sentimentalists8 ,mr4 ,le ,gallienne is great on what he calls the root fallacy4 ,wishing to keep the irreligious instinct in mystery1 or at least obscurity1 he objects to anthropological explanations4 ,he cannot tolerate talk about ancestor-worship1 and other such rude beginnings of religion1 although it comes from the lips of his intellectual superiors1 such as ,tylor1 ,lubbock1 and ,spencer4 ,even if they are right1 he falls back upon his old exclamation1 ,what does it matter8 ,if the flower began as a root1 he says1 that is no argument against the reality of the flower4 ,but this is a shifting of ground4 ,the reality of the flower1 the reality of the religious instinct1 is not in dispute4 ,the question is1 ,what is its explanation8 ,no one denies that man idealises and reveres4 ,the question is1 ,how did he come to let these faculties play upon ghosts and gods8 ,and the explanation is to be found in his past4 ,it cannot possibly be found in his present1 unless we take him as a savage1 in which case he is an embodiment of the past of our own ancestors1 from whom we derive every vestige of what we call our religion4 ,man's nature1 like his destiny1 is involved in his origin4 ,however he may be developed1 he will never be more than the paragon of animals4 ,and it is the recognition of this unchangeable truth which makes all the difference between the evolutionist1 who labors for rational progress1 and the sentimentalist1 who fritters away his energies in cherishing the delusions of faith4