,,god ,,and ,,my ,,neighbour ,by ,robert ,blatchford 7,nunquam7 ,to ,my ,son ,,robert ,,corri ,,blatchford ,this book is dedicated ,,preface ,,infidel6 ,i put the word in capitals1 because it is my new name1 and ,i want to get used to it4 ,,infidel6 ,the name has been bestowed on me by several ,christian gentlemen as a reproach1 but to my ears it has a quaint and not unpleasing sound4 ,infidel6 ,the notorious infidel editor of the ,clarion is the form used by one ,true ,believer4 ,the words recurred to my mind suddenly1 while ,i was taking my favourite black pipe for a walk along the pleasant ,strand1 and ,i felt a smile glimmer within as ,i repeated them4 ,which is worse1 to be a ,demagogue or an ,infidel8 ,i am both4 ,for while many professed ,christians contrive to serve both ,god and ,mammon1 the depravity of my nature seems to forbid my serving either4 ,it was a mild day in mid-,august1 not cold for the time of year4 ,i had been laid up for a few days1 and my back was unpropitious1 and ,i was tired4 ,but ,i felt very happy1 for so bad a man1 since the sunshine was clear and genial1 and my pipe went as easily as a dream4 ,besides1 one's fellow-creatures are so amusing3 especially in the ,strand4 ,i had seen a proud and gorgeously upholstered lady lolling languidly in a motor car1 and looking extremely pleased with herself--not without reason2 and ,i had met two successful men of great presence1 who reminded me somehow of ,porkin and ,snob2 and ,i had noticed a droll little bundle of a baby1 in a fawn-coloured woollen suit1 with a belt slipped almost to her knees1 and sweet round eyes as purple as pansies1 who was hunting a rolling apple amongst the wild mob's million feet2 and ,i had seen a worried-looking matron1 frantically waving her umbrella to the driver of an omnibus1 endanger the silk hat of ,porkin and disturb the complacency of ,snob2 and ,i felt glad4 ,it was at that moment that there popped into my head the full style and title ,i had earned4 ,notorious ,infidel ,editor of the ,clarion6 ,these be brave words1 indeed4 ,for a moment they almost flattered me into the belief that ,i had become a member of the higher criminal classes3 a bold bad man1 like ,guy ,fawkes1 or ,kruger1 or ,r4 ,b4 ,cuninghame ,graham4 ,you ought1 ,i said to myself1 to dress the part4 ,you ought to have an ,s4,d4,p4 sombrero1 a slow wise ,fabian smile1 and the mysterious trousers of a ,soho conspirator4 ,but at the instant ,i caught a sight of my counterfeit presentment in a shop window1 and veiled my haughty crest4 ,that a notorious ,infidel6 ,behold a dumpy1 comfortable ,british paterfamilias in a light flannel suit and a faded sun hat4 ,no2 it will not do4 ,not a bit like ,mephisto3 much more like the ,miller of the ,dee4 ,indeed1 ,i am not an irreligious man1 really2 ,i am rather a religious man2 and this is not an irreligious1 but rather a religious1 book4 ,such thoughts should make men humble4 ,after all1 may not even ,john ,burns be human2 may not ,mr4 ,chamberlain himself have a heart that can feel for another8 ,gentle reader1 that was a wise as well as a charitable man who taught us there is honour among thieves2 although1 having never been a member of ,parliament himself1 he must have spoken from hearsay4 ,for all that1 ,robert1 you're a notorious ,infidel4 ,i paused--just opposite the ,tivoli--and gazed moodily up and down the ,strand4 ,as ,i have remarked elsewhere1 ,i like the ,strand4 ,it is a very human place4 ,but ,i own that the ,strand lacks dignity and beauty1 and that amongst its varied odours the odour of sanctity is scarce perceptible4 ,there are no trees in the ,strand4 ,the thoroughfare should be wider4 ,the architecture is1 for the most part1 banal4 ,for a chief street in a ,christian capital1 the ,strand is not eloquent of high national ideals4 ,there are derelict churches in the ,strand1 and dingy blatant taverns1 and strident signs and hoardings2 and there are slums hard by4 ,there are thieves in the ,strand1 and prowling vagrants1 and gaunt hawkers1 and touts1 and gamblers1 and loitering failures1 with tragic eyes and wilted garments2 and prostitutes plying for hire4 ,and east and west1 and north and south of the ,strand1 there is ,london4 ,is there a man amongst all ,london's millions brave enough to tell the naked truth about the vice and crime1 the misery and meanness1 the hypocrisies and shames of the great1 rich1 heathen city8 ,were such a man to arise amongst us and voice the awful truth1 what would his reception be8 ,how would he fare at the hands of the ,press1 and the ,public--and the ,church8 ,as ,london is1 so is ,england4 ,this is a ,christian country4 ,what would ,christ think of ,park ,lane1 and the slums1 and the hooligans8 ,what would ,he think of the ,stock ,exchange1 and the music hall1 and the racecourse8 ,what would he think of our national ideals8 ,what would ,he think of the ,house of ,peers1 and the ,bench of ,bishops1 and the ,yellow ,press8 ,pausing again1 over against ,exeter ,hall1 ,i mentally apostrophise the ,christian ,british people4 ,ladies and ,gentlemen1 ,i say1 you are ,christian in name1 but ,i discern little of ,christ in your ideals1 your institutions1 or your daily lives4 ,you are a mercenary1 self-indulgent1 frivolous1 boastful1 blood-guilty mob of heathen4 ,i like you very much1 but that is what you are4 ,and it is you--you who call men ',infidels4' ,you ridiculous creatures1 what do you mean by it8 ,if to praise ,christ in words1 and deny ,him in deeds1 be ,christianity1 then ,london is a ,christian city1 and ,england is a ,christian nation4 ,for it is very evident that our common ,english ideals are anti-,christian1 and that our commercial1 foreign and social affairs are run on anti-,christian lines4 ,renan says1 in his ,life of ,jesus1 that were ,jesus to return amongst us ,he would recognise as ,his disciples1 not those who imagine they can compress ,him into a few catechismal phrases1 but those who labour to carry on ,his work4 ,my ,christian friends1 ,i am a ,socialist1 and as such believe in1 and work for1 universal freedom1 and universal brotherhood1 and universal peace4 ,and you are ,christians1 and ,i am an ,infidel4 ,well1 be it even so4 ,i am an ,infidel1 and ,i now ask leave to tell you why4 ,,forewords ,it is impossible for me to present the whole of my case in the space at my command2 ,i can only give an outline4 ,neither can ,i do it as well as it ought to be done1 but only as well as ,i am able4 ,to make up for my shortcomings1 and to fortify my case with fuller evidence1 ,i must refer the reader to books written by men better equipped for the work than ,i4 ,to do justice to so vast a theme would need a large book where ,i can only spare a short chapter1 and each large book should be written by a specialist4 ,for the reader's own satisfaction1 then1 and for the sake of justice to my cause1 ,i shall venture to suggest a list of books whose contents will atone for all my failures and omissions4 ,and ,i am justified1 ,i think1 in saying that no reader who has not read the books ,i recommend1 or others of like scope and value1 can fairly claim to sit on the jury to try this case4 ,and of these books ,i shall1 first of all1 heartily recommend the series of cheap sixpenny reprints now published by the ,rationalist ,press ,association1 ,johnson's ,court1 ,london1 ,e4,c4 ,r4,p4,a4 ,,reprints ,huxley's ,lectures and ,essays4 ,tyndall's ,lectures and ,essays4 ,laing's ,human ,origins4 ,laing's ,modern ,science and ,modern ,thought4 ,clodd's ,pioneers of ,evolution4 ,matthew ,arnold's ,literature and ,dogma4 ,haeckel's ,riddle of the ,universe4 ,grant ,allen's ,evolution of the ,idea of ,god4 ,cotter ,morrison's ,service of ,man4 ,herbert ,spencer's ,education4 ,some ,apologists have1 ,i am sorry to say1 attempted to disparage those excellent books by alluding to them as ,sixpenny ,science and ,cheap ,science4 ,the same method of attack will not be available against most of the books in my next list3 ,the ,golden ,bough1 ,frazer4 ,macmillan1 #cfs4 ,the ,legend of ,perseus1 ,hartland4 ,d4 ,nutt1 #bes4 ,christianity and ,mythology1 ,robertson4 ,watts1 #hs4 ,pagan ,christs1 ,robertson4 ,watts1 #hs4 ,supernatural ,religion1 ,cassels4 ,watts1 #fs4 ,the ,martyrdom of ,man1 ,winwood ,reade4 ,kegan ,paul1 #fs4 ,mutual ,aid1 ,kropotkin4 ,heinemann1 #gs4 #f;d4 ,the ,story of ,creation1 ,clodd4 ,longmans1 #cs4 #f;d4 ,buddha and ,buddhism1 ,lillie4 ,clark1 #cs4 #f;d4 ,shall ,we ,understand the ,bible8 ,williams4 ,black1 #as4 ,what is ,religion8 ,tolstoy4 ,free ,age ,press1 #f;d4 ,what ,i ,believe1 ,tolstoy4 ,free ,age ,press1 #f;d4 ,the ,life of ,christ1 ,renan4 ,scott1 #as4 #f;d4 ,i also recommend ,herbert ,spencer's ,principles of ,sociology and ,lecky's ,history of ,european ,morals4 ,of pamphlets there are hundreds4 ,readers will get full information from ,watts ,co41 #ag ,johnson's ,court1 ,london1 ,e4,c4 ,i can warmly recommend ,the ,miracles of ,christian ,belief and ,the ,claims of ,christianity1 by ,charles ,watts1 and ,christianity and ,progress1 a penny pamphlet1 by ,g4 ,w4 ,foote 7,the ,freethought ,publishing ,company74 ,i should also like to mention ,an ,easy ,outline of ,evolution1 by ,dennis ,hird 7,watts ,co41 #bs4 #f;d474 ,this book will be of great help to those who want to scrape acquaintance with the theory of evolution4 ,finally1 let me ask the general reader to put aside all prejudice1 and give both sides a fair hearing4 ,most of the books ,i have mentioned above are of more actual value to the public of to-day than many standard works which hold world-wide reputations4 ,no man should regard the subject of religion as decided for him until he has read ,the ,golden ,bough4 ,the ,golden ,bough is one of those books that unmake history4 ,,contents ,,preface ,,forewords ,,the ,,sin ,,of ,,unbelief ,,one ,,reason ,,what ,i ,,can ,,and ,,cannot ,,believe ,,the ,,old ,,testament-- ,is the ,bible the ,word of ,god8 ,the ,evolution of the ,bible ,the ,universe ,jehovah ,bible ,heroes ,the ,book of ,books ,our ,heavenly ,father ,prayer and ,praise ,,the ,,new ,,testament-- ,the ,resurrection ,gospel ,witnesses ,the ,time ,spirit ,have the ,documents been ,tampered with8 ,christianity ,before ,christ ,other ,evidences ,,the ,,christian ,,religion-- ,what is ,christianity8 ,,determinism-- ,can ,man ,sin against ,god8 ,,christian ,,apologies-- ,christian ,apologies ,christianity and ,civilisation ,christianity and ,ethics ,the ,success of ,christianity ,the ,prophecies ,the ,universality of ,religious ,belief ,is ,christianity the ,only ,hope8 ,spiritual ,discernment ,some ,other ,apologies ,counsels of ,despair ,,conclusion-- ,the ,parting of the ,ways ,,god ,,and ,,my ,,neighbour ,,the ,,sin ,,of ,,unbelief ,huxley quotes with satirical gusto ,dr4 ,wace's declaration as to the word ,infidel4 ,said ,dr4 ,wace3 ,the word infidel1 perhaps1 carries an unpleasant significance4 ,perhaps it is right that it should4 ,it is1 and it ought to be1 an unpleasant thing for a man to have to say plainly that he does not believe in ,jesus ,christ4 ,be it pleasant or unpleasant to be an unbeliever1 one thing is quite clear3 religious people intend the word ,infidel to carry an unpleasant significance when they apply to it one4 ,it is in their minds a term of reproach4 ,because they think it is wicked to deny what they believe4 ,to call a man an ,infidel1 then1 is tacitly to accuse him of a kind of moral turpitude4 ,but a little while ago1 to be an ,infidel was to be socially taboo4 ,but a little while earlier1 to be an ,infidel was to be persecuted4 ,but a little earlier still1 to be an ,infidel was to be an outlaw1 subject to the penalty of death4 ,now1 it is evident that to visit the penalty of social ostracism or public contumely upon all who reject the popular religion is to erect an arbitrary barrier against intellectual and spiritual advance1 and to put a protective tariff upon orthodoxy to the disadvantage of science and free thought4 ,the root of the idea that it is wicked to reject the popular religion--a wickedness of which ,christ and ,socrates and ,buddha are all represented to have been guilty--thrives in the belief that the ,scriptures are the actual words of ,god1 and that to deny the truth of the ,scriptures is to deny and to affront ,god4 ,but the difficulty of the unbeliever lies in the fact that he cannot believe the ,scriptures to be the actual words of ,god4 ,the ,infidel1 therefore1 is not denying ,god's words1 nor disobeying ,god's commands3 he is denying the words and disobeying the commands of men4 ,no man who knew that there was a good and wise ,god would be so foolish as to deny that ,god4 ,no man would reject the words of ,god if he knew that ,god spoke those words4 ,but the doctrine of the divine origin of the ,scriptures rests upon the authority of the ,church2 and the difference between the ,infidel and the ,christian is that the ,infidel rejects and the ,christian accepts the authority of the ,church4 ,belief and unbelief are not matters of moral excellence or depravity3 they are questions of evidence4 ,the ,christian believes the ,scriptures because they are the words of ,god4 ,but he believes they are the words of ,god because some other man has told him so4 ,let him probe the matter to the bottom1 and he will inevitably find that his authority is human1 and not1 as he supposes1 divine4 ,for you1 my ,christian friend1 have never seen ,god4 ,you have never heard ,god's voice4 ,you have received from ,god no message in spoken or written words4 ,you have no direct divine warrant for the divine authorship of the ,scriptures4 ,the authority on which your belief in the divine revelation rests consists entirely of the ,scriptures themselves and the statements of the ,church4 ,but the ,church is composed solely of human beings1 and the ,scriptures were written and translated and printed solely by human beings4 ,you believe that the ,ten ,commandments were dictated to ,moses by ,god4 ,but ,god has not told you so4 ,you only believe the statement of the unknown author of the ,pentateuch that ,god told him so4 ,you do not know who ,moses was4 ,you do not know who wrote the ,pentateuch4 ,you do not know who edited and translated the ,scriptures4 ,clearly1 then1 you accept the ,scriptures upon the authority of unknown men1 and upon no other demonstrable authority whatever4 ,clearly1 then1 to doubt the doctrine of the divine revelation of the ,scriptures is not to doubt the word of ,god1 but to doubt the words of men4 ,but the ,christian seems to suspect the ,infidel of rejecting the ,christian religion out of sheer wantonness1 or from some base or sinister motive4 ,the fact being that the ,infidel can only believe those things which his own reason tells him are true4 ,he opposes the popular religion because his reason tells him it is not true1 and because his reason tells him insistently that a religion that is not true is not good1 but bad4 ,in thus obeying the dictates of his own reason1 and in thus advocating what to him seems good and true1 the ,infidel is acting honourably1 and is as well within his right as any ,pope or ,prelate4 ,that base or mercenary motives should be laid to the charge of the ,infidel seems to me as absurd as that base or mercenary motives should be laid to the charge of the ,socialist4 ,the answer to such libels stares us in the face4 ,socialism and ,infidelity are not popular1 nor profitable1 nor respectable4 ,if you wish to lose caste1 to miss preferment1 to endanger your chances of gaining money and repute1 turn ,infidel and turn ,socialist4 ,briefly1 ,infidelity does not pay4 ,it is not a pleasant thing to be an ,infidel4 ,the ,christian thinks it his duty to make it an unpleasant thing to deny the true faith4 ,he thinks it his duty to protect ,god1 and to revenge ,his outraged name upon the ,infidel and the ,heretic4 ,the ,jews thought the same4 ,the ,mohammedan thinks the same4 ,how many cruel and sanguinary wars has that presumptuous belief inspired8 ,how many persecutions1 outrages1 martyrdoms1 and massacres have been perpetrated by fanatics who have been jealous for the ,lord8 ,as ,i write these lines ,christians are murdering ,jews in ,russia1 and ,mohammedans are murdering ,christians in ,macedonia to the glory of ,god4 ,is ,god so weak that ,he needs foolish men's defence8 ,is ,he so feeble that ,he cannot judge nor avenge8 ,my ,christian friend1 so jealous for the ,lord1 did you ever regard your hatred of ,heretics and ,infidels in the light of history8 ,the history of civilisation is the history of successions of brave ,heretics and ,infidels1 who have denied false dogmas or brought new truths to light4 ,the righteous men1 the ,true ,believers of the day1 have cursed these heroes and reviled them1 have tortured1 scourged1 or murdered them4 ,and the children of the ,true ,believers have adopted the heresies as true1 and have glorified the dead ,heretics1 and then turned round to curse or murder the new ,heretic who fain would lead them a little further toward the light4 ,copernicus1 who first solved the mystery of the ,solar ,system1 was excommunicated for heresy4 ,but ,christians acknowledge now that the earth goes round the sun1 and the name of ,copernicus is honoured4 ,bruno1 who first declared the stars to be suns1 and led forth ,arcturus and his host1 was burnt at the stake for heresy4 ,galileo1 the father of telescopic astronomy1 was threatened with death for denying the errors of the ,church1 was put in prison and tortured as a heretic4 ,christians acknowledge now that ,galileo spoke the truth1 and his name is honoured4 ,as it has been demonstrated in those cases1 it has been demonstrated in thousands of other cases1 that the ,heretics have been right1 and the ,true ,believers have been wrong4 ,step by step the ,church has retreated4 ,time after time the ,church has come to accept the truths1 for telling which she persecuted1 or murdered1 her teachers4 ,but still the ,true ,believers hate the ,heretic and regard it as a righteous act to make it unpleasant to be an ,infidel4 ,after taking a hundred steps away from old dogmas and towards the truth1 the ,true ,believer shudders at the request to take one more4 ,after two thousand years of foolish and wicked persecution of good men1 the ,true ,believer remains faithful to the tradition that it ought to be an unpleasant thing to expose the errors of the ,church4 ,the ,christians used to declare that all the millions of men and women outside the ,christian ,church would burn for ever in burning ,hell4 ,they do not like to be reminded of that folly now4 ,they used to declare that every unbaptised baby would go to ,hell and burn for ever in fire and brimstone4 ,they do not like to be reminded of that folly now4 ,they used to believe in witchcraft1 and they burned millions--yes1 millions--of innocent women as witches4 ,they do not like to hear about witchcraft now4 ,they used to believe the legends of ,adam and ,eve1 and the ,flood4 ,they call them allegories now4 ,they used to believe that the world was made in six days4 ,now they talk mildly about geological periods4 ,they used to denounce ,darwinism as impious and absurd4 ,they have since cheerfully accepted the theory of evolution4 ,they used to believe that the sun revolved round the earth1 and that he who thought otherwise was an ,infidel1 and would be damned in the bottomless pit4 ,but now--6 ,now they declare that ,christ was ,god1 and ,his mother a virgin2 that three persons are one person2 that those who trust in ,jesus shall go to ,heaven1 and those who do not trust in ,jesus will be lost4 ,and if anyone denies these statements1 they call him ,infidel4 ,are you not aware1 friend ,christian1 that what was ,infidelity is now orthodoxy8 ,it is even so4 ,heresies for which men used to be burned alive are now openly accepted by the ,church4 ,there is not a divine living who would not have been burned at the stake three centuries ago for expressing the beliefs he now holds4 ,yet you call a man ,infidel for being a century in advance of you4 ,history has taught you nothing4 ,it has not occurred to you that as the infidelity of yesterday has become the enlightened religion of to-day1 it is possible that the infidelity of to-day may become the enlightened religion of to-morrow4 ,civilisation is built up of the heresies of men who thought freely and spoke bravely4 ,those men were called ,infidels when they were alive4 ,but now they are called the benefactors of the world4 ,infidel6 ,the name has been borne1 good ,christian1 by some of the noblest of our race4 ,i take it from you with a smile4 ,i am an easiful old pagan1 and ,i am not angry with you at all--you funny1 little champion of the ,most ,high4 ,,one ,,reason ,i have been asked why ,i have opposed ,christianity4 ,i have several reasons1 which shall appear in due course4 ,at present ,i offer one4 ,i oppose ,christianity because it is not true4 ,no honest man will ask for any other reason4 ,but it may be asked why ,i say that ,christianity is not true2 and that is a very proper question1 which ,i shall do my best to answer4 ,,what ,i ,,can ,,and ,,cannot ,,believe ,i hope it will not be supposed that ,i have any personal animus against ,christians or ,christian ministers1 although ,i am hostile to the ,church4 ,many ministers and many ,christian laymen ,i have known are admirable men4 ,some ,i know personally are as able and as good as any men ,i have met2 but ,i speak of the ,churches1 not of individuals4 ,i have known ,catholic priests and sisters who were worthy and charming1 and there are many such2 but ,i do not like the ,catholic ,church4 ,i have known ,tories and ,liberals who were real good fellows1 and clever fellows1 and there are many such2 but ,i do not like the ,liberal and ,tory parties4 ,i have known clergymen of the ,church of ,england who were real live men1 and real ,english gentlemen1 and there are many such2 but ,i do not like the ,church4 ,i was not always an ,agnostic1 or a ,rationalist1 or an ,infidel1 or whatever ,christians may choose to call me4 ,i was not perverted by an ,infidel book4 ,i had not read one when ,i wavered first in my allegiance to the orthodoxies4 ,i was set doubting by a religious book written to prove the ,verity of ,christ's ,resurrection from the ,dead4 ,but as a child ,i was thoughtful1 and asked myself questions1 as many children do1 which the ,churches would find it hard to answer to-day4 ,i have not ceased to believe what ,i was taught as a child because ,i have grown wicked4 ,i have ceased to believe it because1 after twenty years' hard thinking1 ,i cannot believe it4 ,i cannot believe1 then1 that the ,christian religion is true4 ,i cannot believe that the ,bible is the word of ,god4 ,for the word of ,god would be above criticism and beyond disproof1 and the ,bible is not above criticism nor beyond disproof4 ,i cannot believe that any religion has been revealed to ,man by ,god4 ,because a revealed religion would be perfect1 but no known religion is perfect2 and because history and science show us that the known religions have not been revealed1 but have been evolved from other religions4 ,there is no important feature of the ,christian religion which can be called original4 ,all the rites1 mysteries1 and doctrines of ,christianity have been borrowed from older faiths4 ,i cannot believe that ,jehovah1 the ,god of the ,bible1 is the ,creator of the known universe4 ,the ,bible ,god1 ,jehovah1 is a man-made ,god1 evolved from the idol of an obscure and savage tribe4 ,the ,bible shows us this quite plainly4 ,i cannot believe that the ,bible and the ,testament are historically true4 ,i regard most of the events they record as fables1 and most of their characters as myths4 ,i cannot believe in the existence of ,jesus ,christ1 nor ,buddha1 nor ,moses4 ,i believe that these are ideal characters constructed from still more ancient legends and traditions4 ,i cannot believe that the ,bible version of the relations of man and ,god is correct4 ,for that version1 and all other religious versions known to me1 represents man as sinning against or forsaking ,god1 and ,god as punishing or pardoning man4 ,but if ,god made man1 then ,god is responsible for all man's acts and thoughts1 and therefore man cannot sin against ,god4 ,and if man could not sin against ,god1 but could only act as ,god ordained that he should act1 then it is against reason to suppose that ,god could be angry with man1 or could punish man1 or see any offence for which to pardon man4 ,i cannot believe that man has ever forsaken ,god4 ,because history shows that man has from the earliest times been eagerly and pitifully seeking ,god1 and has served and raised and sacrificed to ,god with a zeal akin to madness4 ,but ,god has made no sign4 ,i cannot believe that man was at the first created perfect1 and that he fell4 7,how could the perfect fall87 ,i believe the theory of evolution1 which shows not a fall but a gradual rise4 ,i cannot believe that ,god is a loving ,heavenly ,father1 taking a tender interest in mankind4 ,because ,he has never interfered to prevent the horrible cruelties and injustices of man to man1 and because ,he has permitted evil to rule the world4 ,i cannot reconcile the idea of a tender ,heavenly ,father with the known horrors of war1 slavery1 pestilence1 and insanity4 ,i cannot discern the hand of a loving ,father in the slums1 in the earthquake1 in the cyclone4 ,i cannot understand the indifference of a loving ,father to the law of prey1 nor to the terrors and tortures of leprosy1 cancer1 cholera1 and consumption4 ,i cannot believe that ,god is a personal ,god1 who intervenes in human affairs4 ,i cannot see in science1 nor in experience1 nor in history any signs of such a ,god1 nor of such intervention4 ,i cannot believe that ,god hears and answers prayer1 because the universe is governed by laws1 and there is no reason to suppose that those laws are ever interfered with4 ,besides1 an all-wise ,god knows what to do better than man can tell ,him1 and a just ,god would act justly without requiring to be reminded of ,his duty by one of ,his creatures4 ,i cannot believe that miracles ever could or ever did happen4 ,because the universe is governed by laws1 and there is no credible instance on record of those laws being suspended4 ,i cannot believe that ,god created man1 as man now is1 by word of mouth and in a moment4 ,i accept the theory of evolution1 which teaches that man was slowly evolved by natural process from lower forms of life1 and that this evolution took millions of years4 ,i cannot believe that ,jesus ,christ was ,god1 nor that ,he was the ,son of ,god4 ,there is no solid evidence for the miracle of the ,incarnation1 and ,i see no reason for the ,incarnation4 ,i cannot believe that ,christ died to save man from ,hell1 nor that ,he died to save man from sin4 ,because ,i do not believe ,god would condemn the human race to eternal torment for being no better than ,he had made them1 and because ,i do not see that the death of ,christ has saved man from sin4 ,i cannot believe that ,god would think it necessary to come on earth as a man1 and die on the ,cross4 ,because if that was to atone for man's sin1 it was needless1 as ,god could have forgiven man without ,himself suffering4 ,i cannot believe that ,god would send ,his son to die on the ,cross4 ,because ,he could have forgiven man without subjecting ,his son to pain4 ,i cannot accept any doctrine of atonement4 ,because to forgive the guilty because the innocent had suffered would be unjust and unreasonable1 and to forgive the guilty because a third person begged for his pardon would be unjust4 ,i cannot believe that a good ,god would allow sin to enter the world4 ,because ,he would hate sin and would have power to destroy or to forbid it4 ,i cannot believe that a good ,god would create or tolerate a ,devil1 nor that he would allow the ,devil to tempt man4 ,i cannot believe the story of the virgin birth of ,christ4 ,because for a man to be born of a virgin would be a miracle1 and ,i cannot believe in miracles4 ,i cannot believe the story of ,christ's resurrection from the dead4 ,because that would be a miracle1 and because there is no solid evidence that it occurred4 ,i cannot believe that faith in the ,godhood of ,christ is necessary to virtue or to happiness4 ,because ,i know that some holding such faith are neither happy nor virtuous1 and that some are happy and virtuous who do not hold that faith4 ,the differences between the religious and the scientific theories1 or1 as ,i should put it1 between superstition and rationalism1 are clearly marked and irreconcilable4 ,the supernaturalist stands by creation2 the rationalist stands by evolution4 ,it is impossible to reduce these opposite ideas to a common denominator4 ,the creation theory alleges that the earth1 and the sun1 and the moon1 and man1 and the animals were created by ,god1 instantaneously1 by word of mouth1 out of nothing4 ,the evolution theory alleges that they were evolved1 slowly1 by natural processes out of previously existing matter4 ,the supernaturalist alleges that religion was revealed to man by ,god1 and that the form of this revelation is a sacred book4 ,the rationalist alleges that religion was evolved by slow degrees and by human minds1 and that all existing forms of religion and all existing sacred books1 instead of being revelations1 are evolutions from religious ideas and forms and legends of prehistoric times4 ,it is impossible to reduce these opposite theories to a common denominator4 ,the ,christians1 the ,hindoos1 the ,parsees1 the ,buddhists1 and the ,mohammedans have each their ,holy ,bible or sacred book4 ,each religion claims that its own ,bible is the direct revelation of ,god1 and is the only true ,bible teaching the only true faith4 ,each religion regards all the other religions as spurious4 ,the supernaturalists believe in miracles1 and each sect claims that the miracles related in its own inspired sacred book prove the truth of that book and of the faith taught therein4 ,no religion accepts the truth of any other religion's miracles4 ,the ,hindoo1 the ,buddhist1 the ,mohammedan1 the ,parsee1 the ,christian each believes that his miracles are the only real miracles4 ,the ,protestant denies the miracles of the ,roman ,catholic4 ,the rationalist denies all miracles alike4 ,miracles never happen4 ,the ,christian ,bible is full of miracles4 ,the ,christian ,religion is founded on miracles4 ,no rationalist believes in miracles4 ,therefore no rationalist can accept the ,christian ,religion4 ,if you discard ,creation and accept evolution2 if you discard revelation and accept evolution2 if you discard miracles and accept natural law1 there is nothing left of the ,christian ,religion but the life and teachings of ,jesus ,christ4 ,and when one sees that all religions and all ethics1 even the oldest known1 have1 like all language and all science and all philosophy and all existing species of animals and plants1 been slowly evolved from lower and ruder forms2 and when one learns that there have been many ,christs1 and that the evidence of the life of ,jesus is very slight1 and that all the acts and words of ,jesus had been anticipated by other teachers long before the ,christian era1 then it is borne in upon one's mind that the historic basis of ,christianity is very frail4 ,and when one realises that the ,christian theology1 besides being borrowed from older religions1 is manifestly opposed to reason and to facts1 then one reaches a state of mind which entitles the orthodox ,christian to call one an ,infidel1 and to make it unpleasant for one to the glory of ,god4 ,that is the position in which ,i stand at present1 and it is partly to vindicate that position1 and to protest against those who feel as ,i feel being subjected to various kinds of unpleasantness1 that ,i undertake this ,apology4 ,,the ,,old ,,testament ,,is ,,the ,,bible ,,the ,,word ,,of ,,god8 ,the question of the divine inspiration of the ,scriptures is one of great importance4 ,if the ,bible is a divine revelation1 if it contains the actual word of ,god1 and nothing but the word of ,god1 then it is folly to doubt any statement it contains4 ,if the ,bible is merely the work of men1 if it contains only the words of men1 then1 like all other human work1 the ,bible is fallible1 and must submit to criticism and examination1 as all fallible human work must4 ,the ,christian ,religion stands or falls by the truth of the ,bible4 ,if the ,bible is the word of ,god the ,bible must be true1 and the ,christian ,religion must be true4 ,but1 as ,i said before1 the claim for the divine origin of the ,bible has not been made by ,god1 but by men4 ,we have therefore no means of testing the ,bible's title to divine revelation other than by criticism and examination of the ,bible itself4 ,if the ,bible is the word of ,god--the all-wise and perfect ,god--the ,bible will be perfect4 ,if the ,bible is not perfect it cannot be the word of a ,god who is perfect4 ,the ,bible is not perfect4 ,historically1 scientifically1 and ethically the ,bible is imperfect4 ,if the ,bible is the word of ,god it will present to us the perfect ,god as ,he is1 and every act of ,his it records will be perfection4 ,but the ,bible does not show us a perfect ,god1 but a very imperfect ,god1 and such of ,his acts as the ,bible records are imperfect4 ,i say1 then1 with strong conviction1 that ,i do not believe the ,bible to be the word of ,god2 that ,i do not believe it to be inspired of ,god2 that ,i do not believe it to contain any divine revelation of ,god to man4 ,why8 ,let us consider the claim that the ,bible is the word of ,god4 ,let us1 first of all1 consider it from the common-sense point of view1 as ordinary men of the world1 trying to get at the truth and the reason of a thing4 ,what would one naturally expect in a revelation by ,god to man8 #a4 ,we should expect ,god to reveal truths of which mankind were ignorant4 #b4 ,we should expect ,god to make no errors of fact in ,his revelation4 #c4 ,we should expect ,god to make ,his revelation so clear and so definite that it could be neither misunderstood nor misrepresented4 #d4 ,we should expect ,god to ensure that ,his revelation should reach all men2 and should reach all men directly and quickly4 #e4 ,we should expect ,god's revelation of the relations existing between ,himself and man to be true4 #f4 ,we should expect the ethical code in ,god's revelation to be complete1 and final1 and perfect4 ,the divine ethics should at least be above human criticism and beyond human amendment4 ,to what extent does the ,bible revelation fulfil the above natural expectations8 #a4 ,does the ,bible reveal any new moral truths8 ,i cannot speak very positively1 but ,i think there is very little moral truth in the ,bible which has not been1 or will not be traced back to more ancient times and religions4 #b4 ,does the ,bible revelation contain no errors of fact8 ,i claim that it contains many errors of fact1 and the ,higher ,criticism supports the claim2 as we shall see4 #c4 ,is the ,bible revelation so clear and explicit that no difference of opinion as to its meaning is possible8 ,no4 ,it is not4 ,no one living can claim anything of the kind4 #d4 ,has ,god's revelation1 as given in the ,bible1 reached all men8 ,no4 ,after thousands of years it is not yet known to one-half the human race4 #e4 ,is ,god's revelation of the relations between man and ,god true8 ,i claim that it is not true4 ,for the word of ,god makes it appear that man was created by ,god in ,his own image1 and that man sinned against ,god4 ,whereas man1 being only what ,god made him1 and having only the powers ,god gave him1 could not sin against ,god any more than a steam-engine can sin against the engineer who designed and built it4 #f4 ,is the ethical code of the ,bible complete1 and final1 and perfect8 ,no4 ,the ethical code of the ,bible gradually develops and improves4 ,had it been divine it would have been perfect from the first4 ,it is because it is human that it develops4 ,as the prophets and the poets of the ,jews grew wiser1 and gentler1 and more enlightened1 so the revelation of ,god grew wiser and gentler with them4 ,now1 ,god would know from the beginning2 but men would have to learn4 ,therefore the ,bible writings would appear to be human1 and not divine4 ,let us look over these points again1 and make the matter still clearer and more simple4 ,if the children of an earthly father had wandered away and forgotten him1 and were1 for lack of guidance1 living evil lives2 and if the earthly father wished his children to know that they were his children1 wished them to know what he had done for them1 what they owed to him1 what penalty they might fear1 or reward they might ask from him2 if he wished them to live cleanly and justly1 and to love him1 and at last come home to him--what would that earthly father do8 ,he would send his message to all his children1 instead of sending it to one1 and trusting him to repeat it correctly to the others4 ,he would try to so word his message as that all his children might understand it4 ,he would send his children the very best rules of life he knew4 ,he would take great pains to avoid error in matters of fact4 ,if1 after the message was sent1 his children quarrelled and fought about its meaning1 their earthly father would not sit silent and allow them to hate and slay each other because of a misconception1 but would send at once and make his meaning plain to all4 ,and if an earthly father would act thus wisely and thus kindly1 how much more your ,father which is in ,heaven8 ,but the ,bible revelation was not given to all the people of the earth4 ,it was given to a handful of ,jews4 ,it was not so explicit as to make disagreement impossible4 ,it is thousands of years since the revelation of ,god began1 and yet to-day it is not known to hundreds of millions of human beings1 and amongst those whom it has reached there is endless bitter disagreement as to its meaning4 ,now1 what is the use of a revelation which does not reveal more than is known1 which does not reveal truth only1 which does not reach half those who need it1 which cannot be understood by those it does reach8 ,but you will regard me as a prejudiced witness4 ,i shall therefore1 in my effort to prove the ,bible fallible1 quote almost wholly from ,christian critics4 ,and ,i take the opportunity to here recommend very strongly ,shall ,we ,understand the ,bible8 by the ,rev4 ,t4 ,rhondda ,williams4 ,adam and ,charles ,black2 #as net4 ,there are two chief theories as to the inspiration of the ,bible4 ,one is the old theory that the ,bible is the actual word of ,god1 and nothing but the word of ,god1 directly revealed by ,god to ,moses and the prophets4 ,the other is the new theory3 that the ,bible is the work of many men whom ,god had inspired to speak or write the truth4 ,the old theory is well described by ,dr4 ,washington ,gladden in the following passage3 ,they imagine that the ,bible must have originated in a manner purely miraculous2 and1 though they know very little about its origin1 they conceive of it as a book that was written in heaven in the ,english tongue1 divided there into chapters and verses1 with headlines and reference marks1 printed in small pica1 bound in calf1 and sent down by angels in its present form4 ,the newer idea of the inspiration of the ,bible is also well expressed by ,dr4 ,gladden2 thus3 ,revelation1 we shall be able to understand1 is not the dictation by ,god of words to men that they may be written down in books3 it is rather the disclosure of the truth and love of ,god to men in the processes of history1 in the development of the moral order of the world4 ,it is the light that lighteth every man1 shining in the paths that lead to righteousness and life4 ,there is a moral leadership of ,god in history2 revelation is the record of that leadership4 ,it is by no means confined to words2 its most impressive disclosures are in the field of action4 ,thus did the ,lord1 as ,dr4 ,bruce has said1 is a more perfect formula of revelation than ,thus saith the ,lord4 ,it is in that great historical movement of which the ,bible is the record that we find the revelation of ,god to men4 ,the old theory of ,bible inspiration was1 as ,i have said1 the theory that the ,bible was the actual and pure word of ,god1 and was true in every circumstance and detail4 ,now1 if an almighty and all-wise ,god had spoken or written every word of the ,bible1 then that book would1 of course1 be wholly and unshakably true in its every statement4 ,but if the ,bible was written by men1 some of them more or less inspired1 then it would not1 in all probability be wholly perfect4 ,the more inspiration its writers had from ,god1 the more perfect it would be4 ,the less inspiration its writers had from ,god1 the less perfect it would be4 ,wholly perfect1 it might be attributed to a perfect being4 ,partly perfect1 it might be the work of less perfect beings4 ,less perfect1 it would have to be put down to less perfect beings4 ,containing any fault or error1 it could not be the actual word of ,god1 and the more errors and faults it contained1 the less inspiration of ,god would be granted to its authors4 ,i will quote again from ,dr4 ,gladden3 ,what ,i desire to show is1 that the work of putting the ,bible into its present form was not done in heaven1 but on earth2 that it was not done by angels1 but by men2 that it was not done all at once1 but a little at a time1 the work of preparing and perfecting it extending over several centuries1 and employing the labours of many men in different lands and long-divided generations4 ,i now turn to ,dr4 ,aked4 ,on page #be of his book1 ,changing ,creeds1 he says3 ,ignorance has claimed the ,bible for its own4 ,bigotry has made the ,bible its battleground4 ,its phrases have become the shibboleth of pietistic sectarians4 ,its authority has been evoked in support of the foulest crimes committed by the vilest men2 and its very existence has been made a pretext for theories which shut out ,god from ,his own world4 ,in our day ,bible worship has become1 with many very good but very unthoughtful people1 a disease4 ,so much for the attitude of the various schools of religious thought towards the ,bible4 ,now1 in the opinion of these ,christian teachers1 is the ,bible perfect or imperfect8 ,dr4 ,aked gives his opinion with characteristic candour and energy3 ,for observe the position3 men are told that the ,bible is the infallible revelation of ,god to man1 and that its statements concerning ,god and man are to be unhesitatingly accepted as statements made upon the authority of ,god4 ,they turn to its pages1 and they find historical errors1 arithmetical mistakes1 scientific blunders 7or1 rather1 blunders most unscientific71 inconsistencies1 and manifold contradictions2 and1 what is far worse1 they find that the most horrible crimes are committed by men who calmly plead in justification of their terrible misdeeds the imperturbable ,god said4 ,the heart and conscience of man indignantly rebel against the representations of the ,most ,high given in some parts of the ,bible4 ,what happens8 ,why1 such men declare--are now declaring1 and will in constantly increasing numbers1 and with constantly increasing force and boldness declare--that they can have nothing to do with a book whose errors a child can discover1 and whose revelation of ,god partakes at times of blasphemy against man4 ,i need hardly say that ,i agree with every word of the above4 ,if anyone asked me what evidence exists in support of the claims that the ,bible is the word of ,god1 or that it was in any real sense of the words divinely inspired1 ,i should answer1 without the least hesitation1 that there does not exist a scrap of evidence of any kind in support of such a claim4 ,let us give a little consideration to the origin of the ,bible4 ,the first five books of the ,bible1 called the ,pentateuch1 were said to be written by ,moses4 ,moses was not1 and could not have been1 the author of those books4 ,there is1 indeed1 no reliable evidence to prove that ,moses ever existed4 ,whether he was a fictitious hero1 or a solar myth1 or what he was1 no man knows4 ,neither does there appear to be any certainty that the biblical books attributed to ,david1 to ,solomon1 to ,isaiah1 ,jeremiah1 and the rest were really written by those kings or prophets1 or even in their age4 ,and after these books1 or many of them1 had been written1 they were entirely lost1 and are said to have been reproduced by ,ezra4 ,add to these facts that the original ,hebrew had no vowels1 that many of the sacred books were written without vowels1 and that the vowels were added long after2 and remember that1 as ,dr4 ,aked says1 the oldest ,hebrew ,bible in existence belongs to the tenth century after ,christ1 and it will begin to appear that the claim for biblical infallibility is utterly absurd4 ,but ,i must not offer these statements on my own authority4 ,let us return to ,dr4 ,gladden4 ,on page #aa of ,who ,wrote the ,bible8 ,i find the following3 ,the first of these holy books of the ,jews was1 then1 ,the ,law1 contained in the first five books of our ,bible1 known among us as the ,pentateuch1 and called by the ,jews sometimes simply ,the ,law1 and sometimes ,the ,law of ,moses4 ,this was supposed to be the oldest portion of their ,scriptures1 and was by them regarded as much more sacred and authoritative than any other portion4 ,to ,moses1 they said1 ,god spake face to face2 to the other holy men much less distinctly4 ,consequently1 their appeal is most often to the ,law of ,moses4 ,the sacredness of the five books of ,the ,law1 then1 rests upon the belief that they were written by ,moses1 who had spoken face to face with ,god4 ,so that if ,moses did not write those books1 their sacredness is a myth4 ,now1 on page #db1 ,dr4 ,gladden says3 #a4 ,the ,pentateuch could never have been written by any one man1 inspired or otherwise4 #b4 ,it is a composite work1 in which many hands have been engaged4 ,the production of it extends over many centuries4 #c4 ,it contains writings which are as old as the time of ,moses1 and some that are much older4 ,it is impossible to tell how much of it came from the hand of ,moses2 but there are considerable portions of it which1 although they may have been somewhat modified by later editors1 are substantially as he left them4 ,on page #de ,dr4 ,gladden1 again speaking of the ,pentateuch1 says3 ,but the story of ,genesis goes back to a remote antiquity4 ,the last event related in that book occurred four hundred years before ,moses was born2 it was as distant from him as the discovery of ,america by ,columbus is from us2 and other portions of the narrative1 such as the stories of the ,flood and the ,creation1 stretch back into the shadows of the age which precedes history4 ,neither ,moses nor any one living in his day could have given us these reports from his own knowledge4 ,whoever wrote this must have obtained his materials in one of three ways3 #a4 ,they might have been given to him by divine revelation from ,god4 #b4 ,he might have gathered them up from oral tradition1 from stories1 folklore1 transmitted from mouth to mouth1 and so preserved from generation to generation4 #c4 ,he might have found them in written documents existing at the time of his writing4 ,as many of the laws and incidents in the books of ,moses were known to the ,chaldeans1 the direct revelation of ,god theory is not plausible4 ,on this point ,dr4 ,gladden's opinion supports mine4 ,he says1 on page #fa3 ,that such is the fact with respect to the structure of these ancient writings is now beyond question4 ,and our theory of inspiration must be adjusted to this fact4 ,evidently neither the theory of verbal inspiration1 nor the theory of plenary inspiration1 can be made to fit the facts1 which a careful study of the writings themselves brings before us4 ,these writings are not inspired in the sense which we have commonly given that word4 ,the verbal theory of inspiration was only tenable while they were supposed to be the work of a single author4 ,to such a composite literature no such theory will apply4 ,to make this claim1 says ,professor ,ladd1 and yet accept the best ascertained results of criticism1 would compel us to take such positions as the following3 the original authors of each one of the writings which enter into the composite structure were infallibly inspired2 every one who made any changes in any one of these fundamental writings was infallibly inspired2 every compiler who put together two or more of these writings was infallibly inspired1 both as to his selections and omissions1 and as to any connecting or explanatory words which he might himself write2 every redactor was infallibly inspired to correct and supplement1 and omit that which was the product of previous infallible inspirations4 ,or1 perhaps1 it might seem more convenient to attach the claim of a plenary inspiration to the last redactor of all2 but then we should probably have selected of all others the one least able to bear the weight of such a claim4 ,think of making the claim for a plenary inspiration of the ,pentateuch in its present form on the ground of the infallibility of that one of the scribes who gave it its last touches some time subsequent to the death of ,ezra4 ,remember that ,dr4 ,gladden declares1 on page #e1 that he shall state no conclusions as to the history of the sacred writings which will not be accepted by conservative critics4 ,on page #ed ,dr4 ,gladden quotes the following from ,dr4 ,perowne3 ,the first composition of the ,pentateuch as a whole could not have taken place till after the ,israelites entered ,canaan4 ,the whole work did not finally assume its present shape till its revision was undertaken by ,ezra after the return from the ,babylonish captivity4 ,on page #be ,dr4 ,gladden himself speaks as follows3 ,the common argument by which ,christ is made a witness to the authenticity and infallible authority of the ,old ,testament runs as follows3 ,christ quotes ,moses as the author of this legislation2 therefore ,moses must have written the whole ,pentateuch4 ,moses was an inspired prophet2 therefore all the teaching of the ,pentateuch must be infallible4 ,the facts are that ,jesus nowhere testifies that ,moses wrote the whole of the ,pentateuch2 and that he nowhere guarantees the infallibility either of ,moses or of the book4 ,on the contrary1 he set aside as inadequate or morally defective1 certain laws which in this book are ascribed to ,moses4 ,so much for the authorship and the inspiration of the first five books of the ,bible4 ,as to the authorship of other books of the ,bible1 ,dr4 ,gladden says of ,judges and ,samuel that we do not know the authors nor the dates4 ,of ,kings he says3 ,the name of the author is concealed from us4 ,the origin and correctness of the ,prophecies and ,psalms1 he tells us1 are problematical4 ,of the ,books of ,esther and ,daniel1 ,dr4 ,gladden says3 ,that they are founded on fact ,i do not doubt2 but it is1 perhaps1 safer to regard them both rather as historical fictions than as veritable histories4 ,of ,daniel1 ,dean ,farrar wrote3 ,the immense majority of scholars of name and acknowledged competence in ,england and ,europe have now been led to form an irresistible conclusion that the ,book of ,daniel was not written1 and could not have been written1 in its present form1 by the prophet ,daniel1 ,b4,c4 #ecd1 but that it can only have been written1 as we now have it1 in the days of ,antiochus ,epiphanes1 about ,b4,c4 #afd1 and that the object of the pious and patriotic author as to inspirit his desponding countrymen by splendid specimens of that lofty moral fiction which was always common amongst the ,jews after the ,exile1 and was known as ,the ,haggadah4 ,so clearly is this proven to most critics1 that they willingly suffer the attempted refutations of their views to sink to the ground under the weight of their own inadequacy4 7,the ,bible and the ,child47 ,i return now to ,dr4 ,aked1 from whose book ,i quote the following3 ,dr4 ,clifford has declared that there is not a man who has given a day's attention to the question who holds the complete freedom of the ,bible from inaccuracy4 ,he has added that it is become more and more impossible to affirm the inerrancy of the ,bible4 ,dr4 ,lyman ,abbott says that an infallible book is an impossible conception1 and to-day no one really believes that our present ,bible is such a book4 ,compare those opinions with the following extract from the first article in ,the ,bible and the ,child3 ,the change of view respecting the ,bible1 which has marked the advancing knowledge and more earnest studies of this generation is only the culmination of the discovery that there were different documents in the ,book of ,genesis--a discovery first published by the physician1 ,jean ,astruc1 in #agec4 ,there are three widely divergent ways of dealing with these results of profound study1 each of which is almost equally dangerous to the faith of the rising generation4 #a4 ,parents and teachers may go on inculcating dogmas about the ,bible and methods of dealing with it which have long become impossible to those who have really tried to follow the manifold discoveries of modern inquiry with perfectly open and unbiased minds4 ,there are a certain number of persons who1 when their minds have become stereotyped in foregone conclusions1 are simply incapable of grasping new truths4 ,they become obstructives1 and not infrequently bigoted obstructives4 ,as convinced as the ,pope of their own personal infallibility1 their attitude towards those who see that the old views are no longer tenable is an attitude of anger and alarm4 ,this is the usual temper of the odium theologicum4 ,it would1 if it could1 grasp the thumbscrew and the rack of mediaeval ,inquisitors1 and would1 in the last resource1 hand over all opponents to the scaffold or the stake4 ,those whose intellects have thus been petrified by custom and advancing years are1 of all others1 the most hopeless to deal with4 ,they have made themselves incapable of fair and rational examination of the truths which they impugn4 ,they think that they can1 by mere assertion1 overthrow results arrived at by the lifelong inquiries of the ablest students1 while they have not given a day's serious or impartial study to them4 ,they fancy that even the ignorant1 if only they be what is called orthodox1 are justified in strong denunciation of men quite as truthful1 and often incomparably more able1 than themselves4 ,off-hand dogmatists of this stamp1 who usually abound among professional religionists1 think that they can refute any number of scholars1 however profound and however pious1 if only they shout ,infidel with sufficient loudness4 ,those are not the words of an ,infidel4 ,they are the words of the late ,dean ,farrar4 ,to quote again from ,dr4 ,gladden3 ,evidently neither the theory of verbal inspiration1 nor the theory of plenary inspiration1 can be made to fit the facts which a careful study of the writings themselves brings before us4 ,these writings are not inspired in the sense which we have commonly given to that word4 ,the verbal theory of inspiration was only tenable while they were supposed to be the work of a single author4 ,to such a composite literature no such theory will apply4 ,the ,bible is not inspired4 ,the fact is that no sacred book is inspired4 ,all sacred books are the work of human minds4 ,all ideas of ,god are human ideas4 ,all religions are made by man4 ,when the old-fashioned ,christian said the ,bible was an inspired book1 he meant that ,god put the words and the facts directly into the mind of the prophet4 ,that meant that ,god told ,moses about the creation1 ,adam and ,eve1 ,cain and ,abel1 ,noah and the ,ark1 and the ,ten ,commandments4 ,many modern ,christians1 amongst whom ,i place the ,rev4 ,ambrose ,pope1 of ,bakewell1 believe that ,god gave ,moses 7and all the other prophets7 a special genius and a special desire to convey religious information to other men4 ,and ,mr4 ,pope suggests that man was so ignorant1 so childlike1 or so weak in those days that it was necessary to disguise plain facts in misleading symbols4 ,but the man1 ,moses or another1 who wrote the ,book of ,genesis was a man of literary genius4 ,he was no child1 no weakling4 ,if ,god had said to him3 ,i made the world out of the fiery nebula1 and ,i made the sea to bring forth the staple of life1 and ,i caused all living things to develop from that seed or staple of life1 and ,i drew man out from the brutes2 and the time was six hundred millions of years--if ,god had said that to ,moses1 do you think ,moses would not have understood8 ,now1 let me show you what the ,christian asks us to believe4 ,he asks us to believe that the ,god who was the first cause of creation1 and knew everything1 inspired man1 in the childhood of the world1 with a fabulous and inaccurate theory of the origin of man and the earth1 and that since that day the same ,god has gradually changed or added to the inspiration1 until ,he inspired ,laplace1 and ,galileo1 and ,copernicus1 and ,darwin to contradict the teachings of the previous fifty thousand years4 ,he asks us to believe that ,god muddled men's minds with a mysterious series of revelations cloaked in fable and allegory2 that ,he allowed them to stumble and to blunder1 and to quarrel over these revelations2 that ,he allowed them to persecute1 and slay1 and torture each other on account of divergent readings of his revelations for ages and ages2 and that ,he is still looking on while a number of bewildered and antagonistic religions fight each other to achieve the survival of the fittest4 ,is that a reasonable theory8 ,is it the kind of theory a reasonable man can accept8 ,is it consonant with common sense8 ,contrast that with our theory4 ,we say that early man1 having no knowledge of science1 and more imagination than reason1 would be alarmed and puzzled by the phenomena of ,nature4 ,he would be afraid of the dark1 he would be afraid of the thunder1 he would wonder at the moon1 at the stars1 at fire1 at the ocean4 ,he would fear what he did not understand1 and he would bow down and pay homage to what he feared4 ,then1 by degrees1 he would personify the stars1 and the sun1 and the thunder1 and the fire4 ,he would make gods of these things4 ,he would make gods of the dead4 ,he would make gods of heroes4 ,he would do what all savage races do1 what all children do3 he would make legends1 or fables1 or fairy tales out of his hopes1 his fears1 and his guesses4 ,does not that sound reasonable8 ,does not history teach us that it is true8 ,do we not know that religion was so born and nursed8 ,there is no such thing known to men as an original religion4 ,all religions are made up of the fables and the imaginations of tribes long since extinct4 ,religion is an evolution1 not a revelation4 ,it has been invented1 altered1 and built up1 and pulled down1 and reconstructed time after time4 ,it is a conglomeration and an adaptation1 as language is4 ,and the ,christian religion is no more an original religion than ,english is an original tongue4 ,we have ,sanscrit1 ,latin1 ,greek1 ,french1 ,saxon1 ,norman words in our language2 and we have ,aryan1 ,semitic1 ,egyptian1 ,roman1 ,greek1 and all manner of ancient foreign fables1 myths1 and rites in our ,christian religion4 ,we say that ,genesis was a poetic presentation of a fabulous story pieced together from many traditions of many tribes1 and recording with great literary power the ideas of a people whose scientific knowledge was very incomplete4 ,now1 ,i ask you which of these theories is the most reasonable2 which is the most scientific2 which agrees most closely with the facts of philology and history of which we are in possession8 ,why twist the self-evident fact that the ,bible story of creation was the work of unscientific men of strong imagination into a far-fetched and unsatisfactory puzzle of symbol and allegory8 ,it would be just as easy and just as reasonable to take the ,morte d',arthur and try to prove that it contained a veiled revelation of ,god's relations to man4 ,and let me ask one or two questions as to this matter of the revelation of the ,holy ,bible4 ,is ,god all-powerful or is he not8 ,if he is all-powerful1 why did ,he make man so imperfect8 ,could ,he not have created him at once a wise and good creature8 ,even when man was ignorant and savage1 could not an all-powerful ,god have devised some means of revealing ,himself so as to be understood8 ,if ,god really wished to reveal ,himself to man1 why did ,he reveal ,himself only to one or two obscure tribes1 and leave the rest of mankind in darkness8 ,those poor savages were full of credulity1 full of terror1 full of wonder1 full of the desire to worship4 ,they worshipped the sun and the moon2 they worshipped ghosts and demons2 they worshipped tyrants1 and pretenders1 and heroes1 dead and alive4 ,do you believe that if ,god had come down on earth1 with a cohort of shining angels1 and had said1 ,behold1 ,i am the only ,god1 these savages would not have left all baser gods and worshipped ,him8 ,why1 these men1 and all the thousands of generations of their children1 have been looking for ,god since first they learned to look at sea and sky4 ,they are looking for ,him now4 ,they have fought countless bloody wars and have committed countless horrible atrocities in their zeal for ,him4 ,and you ask us to believe that ,his grand revelation of ,himself is bound up in a volume of fables and errors collected thousands of years ago by superstitious priests and prophets of ,palestine1 and ,egypt1 and ,assyria4 ,we cannot believe such a statement4 ,no man can believe it who tests it by his reason in the same way in which he would test any modern problem4 ,if the leaders of religion brought the same vigour and subtlety of mind to bear upon religion which they bring to bear upon any criticism of religion1 if they weighed the ,bible as they have weighed astronomy and evolution1 the ,christian religion would not last a year4 ,if my reader has not studied this matter1 let him read the books ,i have recommended1 and then sit down and consider the ,bible revelation and story with the same fearless honesty and clear common sense with which he would consider the ,bibles of the ,mohammedan1 or ,buddhist1 or ,hindoo1 and then ask himself the question3 ,is the ,bible a holy and inspired book1 and the word of ,god to man1 or is it an incongruous and contradictory collection of tribal traditions and ancient fables1 written by men of genius and imagination8 ,,the ,,evolution ,,of ,,the ,,bible ,we now reach the second stage in our examination1 which is the claim that no religion known to man can be truly said to be original4 ,all religions1 the ,christian religion included1 are adaptations or variants of older religions4 ,religions are not revealed3 they are evolved4 ,if a religion were revealed by ,god1 that religion would be perfect in whole and in part1 and would be as perfect at the first moment of its revelation as after ten thousand years of practice4 ,there has never been a religion which fulfils those conditions4 ,according to ,bible chronology1 ,adam was created some six thousand years ago4 ,science teaches that man existed during the glacial epoch1 which was at least fifty thousand years before the ,christian era4 ,here ,i recommend the study of ,laing's ,human ,origins1 ,parson's ,our ,sun ,god1 ,sayce's ,ancient ,empires of the ,east1 and ,frazer's ,golden ,bough4 ,in his visitation charge at ,blackburn1 in ,july1 #ahhi1 the ,bishop of ,manchester spoke as follows3 ,now1 if these dates are accepted1 to what age of the world shall we assign that ,accadian civilisation and literature which so long preceded ,sargo ,i4 and the statutes of ,sirgullah8 ,i can best answer you in the words of the great ,assyriologist1 ,f4 ,hommel3 ,if1 he says1 the ,semites were already settled in ,northern ,babylonia 7,accad7 in the beginning of the fourth thousand ,b4,c4 in possession of the fully developed ,shumiro-,accadian culture adopted by them--a culture1 moreover1 which appears to have sprouted like a cutting from ,shumir1 then the latter must be far1 far older still1 and have existed in its completed form in the fifth thousand ,b4,c41 an age to which ,i unhesitatingly ascribe the ,south ,babylonian incantations4444 ,who does not see that such facts as these compel us to remodel our whole idea of the past8 ,a culture which was complete one thousand years before ,adam must have needed many thousands of years to develop4 ,it would be a modest guess that ,accadian culture implied a growth of at least ten thousand years4 ,of course1 it may be said that the above biblical error is only an error of time1 and has no bearing on the alleged evolution of the ,bible4 ,well1 an error of a million1 or of ten thousand1 years is a serious thing in a divine revelation2 but1 as we shall see1 it has a bearing on evolution4 ,because it appears that in that ancient ,accadian civilisation lie the seeds of many ,bible laws and legends4 ,here ,i quote from ,our ,sun ,god1 by ,mr4 ,j4 ,d4 ,parsons3 ,to commence with1 it is well known to those acquainted with the remains of the ,assyrian and ,babylonian civilisations that the stories of the creation1 the temptation1 the fall1 the deluge1 and the confusion of tongues were the common property of the ,babylonians centuries before the date of the alleged ,exodus under ,moses444 ,even the word ,sabbath is ,babylonian4 ,and the observance of the seventh day as a ,sabbath1 or day of rest1 by the ,accadians thousands of years before ,moses1 or ,israel1 or even ,abraham1 or ,adam himself could have been born or created1 is admitted by1 among others1 the ,bishop of ,manchester4 ,for in an address to his clergy1 already mentioned1 he let fall these pregnant words3 ,who does not see that such facts as these compel us to remodel our whole idea of the past1 and that in particular to affirm that the ,sabbatical institution originated in the time of ,moses1 three thousand five hundred years after it is probable that it existed in ,chaldea1 is an impossibility1 no matter how many ,fathers of the ,church have asserted it4 ,facts cannot be dismissed like theories4 ,the ,sabbath1 then1 is one link in the evolution of the ,bible4 ,like the legends of the ,creation1 the ,fall1 and the ,flood1 it was adopted by the ,jews from the ,babylonians during or after the ,captivity4 ,of the ,flood1 ,professor ,sayce1 in his ,ancient ,empires of the ,east1 speaks as follows3 ,with the ,deluge the mythical history of ,babylonia takes a new departure4 ,from this event to the ,persian conquest was a period of #cf1jjj years1 or an astronomical cycle called saros4 ,xisuthros1 with his family and friends1 alone survived the waters which drowned the rest of mankind on account of their sins4 ,he had been ordered by the gods to build a ship1 to pitch it within and without1 and to stock it with animals of every species4 ,xisuthros sent out first a dove1 then a swallow1 and lastly a raven1 to discover whether the earth was dry2 the dove and the swallow returned to the ship1 and it was only when the raven flew away that the rescued hero ventured to leave his ark4 ,he found that he had been stranded on the peak of the mountain of ,nizir1 the mountain of the world1 whereon the ,accadians believed the heavens to rest--where1 too1 they placed the habitations of their gods1 and the cradle of their own race4 ,since ,nizir lay amongst the mountains of ,pir ,mam1 a little south of ,rowandiz1 its mountain must be identified with ,rowandiz itself4 ,on its peak ,xisuthros offered sacrifices1 piling up cups of wine by sevens2 and the rainbow1 the glory of ,anu1 appeared in the heaven1 in covenant that the world should never again be destroyed by flood4 ,immediately afterwards ,xisuthros and his wife1 like the ,biblical ,enoch1 were translated to the regions of the blest beyond ,datilla1 the river of ,death1 and his people made their way westward to ,sippara4 ,here they disinterred the books buried by their late ruler before the ,deluge took place1 and re-established themselves in their old country under the government first of ,erekhoos1 and then of his son ,khoniasbolos4 ,meanwhile1 other colonists had arrived in the plain of ,sumer1 and here1 under the leadership of the giant ,etana1 called ,titan by the ,greek writers1 they built a city of brick1 and essayed to erect a tower by means of which they might scale the sky1 and so win for themselves the immortality granted to ,xisuthros444 ,but the tower was overthrown in the night by the winds1 and ,bel frustrated their purpose by confounding their language and scattering them on the mound4 ,these legends of the ,flood and the ,tower of ,babel were obviously borrowed by the ,jews during their ,babylonian captivity4 ,professor ,sayce1 in his ,ancient ,empires of the ,east1 speaking of the ,accadian king1 ,sargon ,i41 says3 ,legends naturally gathered round the name of the ,babylonian ,solomon4 ,not only was he entitled the deviser of law1 the deviser of prosperity1 but it was told of him how his father had died while he was still unborn1 how his mother had fled to the mountains1 and there left him1 like a second ,moses1 to the care of the river in an ark of reeds and bitumen2 and how he was saved by ,accir1 the water-drawer1 who brought him up as his own son1 until the time came when1 under the protection of ,istar1 his rank was discovered1 and he took his seat on the throne of his forefathers4 ,from ,babylon the ,jews borrowed the legends of ,eden1 of the ,fall1 the ,flood1 the ,tower of ,babel2 from ,babylon they borrowed the ,sabbath1 and very likely the ,commandments2 and is it not possible that the legendary ,moses and the legendary ,sargon may be variants of a still more ancient mythical figure8 ,compare ,sayce with the following ,notes on the ,moses ,myth1 from ,christianity and ,mythology1 by ,j4 ,m4 ,robertson3 ,,notes ,,on ,,the ,,moses ,,myth4 ,i have been challenged for saying that the story of ,moses and the floating basket is a variant of the myth of ,horos and the floating island 7,herod ii4 #aef74 ,but this seems sufficiently proved by the fact that in the reign of ,rameses ,,ii41 according to the monuments1 there was a place in ,middle ,egypt which bore the name ,i-en-,moshe1 the island of ,moses4 ,that is the primary meaning4 ,brugsch1 who proclaims the fact 7,egypt ,under the ,pharaohs1 ii4 #aag71 suggests that it can also mean the river bank of ,moses4 ,it is very obvious1 however1 that the ,egyptians would not have named a place by a real incident in the life of a successful enemy1 as ,moses is represented in ,exodus4 ,name and story are alike mythological and pre-,hebraic1 though possibly ,semitic4 ,the ,assyrian myth of ,sargon1 which is1 indeed1 very close to the ,hebrew1 may be the oldest form of all2 but the very fact that the ,hebrews located their story in ,egypt shows that they knew it to have a home there in some fashion4 ,the name ,moses1 whether it mean the water-child 7so ,deutsch7 or the hero 7,sayce1 ,hib4 ,lect4 p4 #df71 was in all likelihood an epithet of ,horos4 ,the basket1 in the latter form1 was doubtless an adaptation from the ritual of the basket-born ,god-,child1 as was the birth story of ,jesus4 ,in ,diodorus ,siculus 7i4 #be7 the myth runs that ,isis found ,horos dead on the water1 and brought him to life again2 but even in that form the clue to the ,moses birth-myth is obvious4 ,and there are yet other ,egyptian connections for the ,moses saga1 since the ,egyptians had a myth of ,thoth 7their ,logos7 having slain ,argus 7as did ,hermes71 and having had to fly for it to ,egypt1 where he gave laws and learning to the ,egyptians4 ,yet1 curiously enough1 this myth probably means that the ,sun ,god1 who has in the other story escaped the massacre of the innocents 7the morning stars71 now plays the slayer on his own account1 since the slaying of many-eyed ,argus probably means the extinction of the stars by the morning sun 7cp4 ,emeric-,david1 ,introduction1 end74 ,another ,hermes was the son of ,nilus1 and his name was sacred 7,cicero1 ,de ,nat4 ,deor4 iii4 #bb1 ,cp4 #af74 ,the story of the floating child1 finally1 becomes part of the lore of ,greece4 ,in the myth of ,apollo1 the ,babe-,god and his sister ,artemis are secured in float-islands4 ,it is impossible to form a just estimate of the ,bible without some knowledge of ancient history and comparative mythology4 ,it would be impossible for me to go deeply into these matters in this small book1 but ,i will quote a few significant passages just to show the value of such historical evidence4 ,here to begin with1 are some passages from ,mr4 ,grant ,allen's ,evolution of the ,idea of ,god4 ,,the ,,origin ,,of ,,gods4 ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer has traced so admirably1 in his ,principles of ,sociology1 the progress of development from the ,ghost to the ,god that ,i do not propose in this chapter to attempt much more than a brief recapitulation of his main propositions1 which1 however1 ,i shall supplement with fresh examples1 and adapt at the same time to the conception of three successive stages in human ideas about the ,life of the ,dead1 as set forth in the preceding argument4 ,in the earlier stage of all--the stage where the actual bodies of the dead are preserved--gods1 as such1 are for the most part unknown3 it is the corpses of friends and ancestors that are worshipped and reverenced4 ,for example1 ,ellis says of the corpse of a ,tahitian chief1 that it was placed in a sitting posture under a protecting shed2 a small altar was erected before it1 and offerings of fruit1 food1 and flowers were daily presented by the relatives or the priest appointed to attend the body4 7,this point about the priest is of essential importance47 ,the ,central ,americans1 again1 as ,mr4 ,spencer notes1 performed similar rites before bodies dried by artificial heat4 ,the ,new ,guinea people1 as ,d',albertis found1 worship the dried mummies of their fathers and husbands4 ,a little higher in the scale we get the developed mummy-worship of ,egypt and ,peru1 which survives even after the evolution of greater gods1 from powerful kings or chieftains4 ,wherever the actual bodies of the dead are preserved1 there also worship and offerings are paid to them4 ,often1 however1 as already noted1 it is not the whole body1 but the head alone1 that is specially kept and worshipped4 ,thus ,mr4 ,h4 ,o4 ,forbes says of the people of ,buru3 ,the dead are buried in the forest on some secluded spot1 marked by a merang1 or grave pole1 over which at certain intervals the relatives place tobacco1 cigarettes1 and various offerings4 ,when the body is decomposed the son or nearest relative disinters the head1 wraps a new cloth about it1 and places it in the ,matakau at the back of his house1 or in a little hut erected for it near the grave4 ,it is the representative of his forefathers1 whose behests he holds in the greatest respect4 ,two points are worthy of notice in this interesting account1 as giving us an anticipatory hint of two further accessories whose evolution we must trace hereafter3 first1 the grave-stake1 which is probably the origin of the wooden idol2 and second1 the little hut erected over the head by the side of the grave1 which is undoubtedly one of the origins of the temple1 or praying-house4 ,observe1 also1 the ceremonial wrapping of the skull in cloth and its oracular functions4 ,throughout the earlier and ruder phases of human evolution this primitive conception of ancestors or dead relatives as the chief known object of worship survives undiluted2 and ancestor- worship remains to this day the principal religion of the ,chinese and of several other peoples4 ,gods1 as such1 are practically unknown in ,china4 ,ancestor-worship1 also1 survives in many other races as one of the main cults1 even after other elements of later religion have been superimposed upon it4 ,in ,greece and ,rome it remained to the last an important part of domestic ritual4 ,but in most cases a gradual differentiation is set up in time between various classes of ghosts or dead persons1 some ghosts being considered of more importance and power than others2 and out of these last it is that gods as a rule are finally developed4 ,a god1 in fact1 is in the beginning1 at least1 an exceptionally powerful and friendly ghost--a ghost able to help1 and from whose help great things may reasonably be expected4 ,again1 the rise of chieftainship and kingship has much to do with the growth of a higher conception of godhead2 a dead king of any great power or authority is sure to be thought of in time as a god of considerable importance4 ,we shall trace out this idea more fully hereafter in the religion of ,egypt2 for the present it must suffice to say that the supposed power of the gods in each pantheon has regularly increased in proportion to the increased power of kings or emperors4 ,when we pass from the first plane of corpse preservation and mummification to the second plane1 where burial is habitual1 it might seem1 at a hasty glance1 as though continued worship of the dead1 and their elevation into gods1 would no longer be possible4 ,for we saw that burial is prompted by a deadly fear lest the corpse or ghost should return to plague the living4 ,nevertheless1 natural affection for parents or friends1 and the desire to insure their goodwill and aid1 make these seemingly contrary ideas reconcilable4 ,as a matter of fact1 we find that even when men bury or burn their dead1 they continue to worship them2 while1 as we shall show in the sequel1 even the great stones which they roll on top of the grave to prevent the dead from rising again become1 in time1 altars on which sacrifices are offered to the spirit4 ,much of the ,bible is evidently legendary4 ,here we have a jumble of ancient myths1 allegories1 and mysteries drawn from many sources and remote ages1 and adapted1 altered1 and edited so many times that in many instances their original or inner meaning has become obscure4 ,and it is folly to accept the tangled legends and blurred or distorted symbols as the literal history of a literal tribe1 and the literal account of the origin of man1 and the genesis of religion4 ,the real roots of religion lie far deeper3 deeper1 perhaps1 than sun-worship1 ghost-worship1 and fear of demons4 ,in ,the ,real ,origin of ,religion occurs the following3 ,quite recently theories have been advocated attempting to prove that the minds of early men were chiefly concerned with the increase of vegetation1 and that their fancy played so much round the mysteries of plant growth that they made them their holiest arcana4 ,hence it appears that the savages were far more modest and refined than our civilised contemporaries1 for almost all our works of imagination1 both in literature and art1 make human love their theme in all its aspects1 whether healthy or pathological2 whereas the savage1 it seems1 thought only of his crops4 ,nothing can be more astonishing than this discovery1 if it be true1 but there are many facts which might lead us to believe that the romance of love inspired early art and religion as well as modern thought4 ,and again3 ,religion is a gorgeous efflorescence of human love4 ,the tender passion has left its footsteps on the sands of time in magnificent monuments and libraries of theology4 ,this may seem startling to many orthodox readers1 but it is no new theory1 and is doubtless quite true1 for all gods have been made by man1 and all theologies have been evolved by man1 and the odour and the colour of his human passions cling to them always1 even after they are discarded4 ,under all man's dreams of eternal gods and eternal heavens lies man's passion for the eternal feminine4 ,but on these subjects ,moses spoke in parables1 and ,i shall not speak at all4 ,mr4 ,robertson1 in ,christianity and ,mythology1 says of the ,bible3 ,it is a medley of early metaphysics and early fable--early1 that is1 relatively to known ,hebrew history4 ,it ties together two creation stories and two flood stories2 it duplicates several sets of mythic personages--as ,cain and ,abel1 ,tubal-,cain and ,jabal2 it grafts the curse of ,cham on the curse of ,cain1 making that finally the curse of ,canaan2 it tells the same offensive story twice of one patriarch and again of another2 it gives an early metaphysical theory of the origin of death1 life1 and evil2 it adapts the ,egyptian story of the ,two ,brothers1 or the myth of ,adonis1 as the history of ,joseph2 it makes use of various ,god-names1 pretending that they always stood for the same deity2 it repeats traditions concerning mythic founders of races--if all this be not a medley of early fable1 what is it8 ,i quote next from ,the ,bible and the ,child1 in which ,dean ,farrar says3 ,some of the books of ,scripture are separated from others by the interspace of a thousand years4 ,they represent the fragmentary survival of ,hebrew literature4 ,they stand on very different levels of value1 and even of morality4 ,read for centuries in an otiose1 perfunctory1 slavish1 and superstitious manner1 they have often been so egregiously misunderstood that many entire systems of interpretation--which were believed in for generations1 and which fill many folios1 now consigned to a happy oblivion-- are clearly proved to have been utterly baseless4 ,colossal usurpations of deadly import to the human race have been built1 like inverted pyramids1 on the narrow apex of a single misinterpreted text4 ,compare those utterances of the freethinker and the divine1 and then read the following words of ,dean ,farrar3 ,the manner in which the ,higher ,criticism has slowly and surely made its victorious progress1 in spite of the most determined and exacerbated opposition1 is a strong argument in its favour4 ,it is exactly analogous to the way in which the truths of astronomy and of geology have triumphed over universal opposition4 ,they were once anathematised as infidel2 they are now accepted as axiomatic4 ,i cannot name a single student or professor of any eminence in ,great ,britain who does not accept1 with more or less modification1 the main conclusions of the ,german school of critics4 ,this being the case1 ,i ask1 as a mere layman1 what right has the ,bible to usurp the title of the word of ,god8 ,what evidence can be sharked up to show that it is any more a holy or an inspired book than any book of ,thomas ,carlyle's1 or ,john ,ruskin's1 or ,william ,morris'8 ,what evidence is forthcoming that the ,bible is true8 ,,the ,,universe ,,according ,,to ,,ancient ,,religion ,,and ,,modern ,,science ,the theory of the early ,christian ,church was that the ,earth was flat1 like a plate1 and the sky was a solid dome above it1 like an inverted blue basin4 ,the ,sun revolved round the ,earth to give light by day1 the ,moon revolved round the ,earth to give light by night4 ,the stars were auxiliary lights1 and had all been specially1 and at the same time1 created for the good of man4 ,god created the ,sun1 ,moon1 ,stars1 and ,earth in six days4 ,he created them by word1 and ,he created them out of nothing4 ,the centre of the ,universe was the ,earth4 ,the ,sun was made to give light to the ,earth by day1 and the ,moon to give light to ,earth by night4 ,any man who denied that theory in those days was in danger of being murdered as an ,infidel4 ,to-day our ideas are very different4 ,hardly any educated man or woman in the world believes that the world is flat1 or that the ,sun revolves round the ,earth1 or that what we call the sky is a solid substance1 like a domed ceiling4 ,advanced thinkers1 even amongst the ,christians1 believe that the world is round1 that it is one of a series of planets revolving round the ,sun1 that the ,sun is only one of many millions of other suns1 that these suns were not created simultaneously1 but at different periods1 probably separated by millions or billions of years4 ,we have all1 ,christians and ,infidels alike1 been obliged to acknowledge that the ,earth is not the centre of the whole ,universe1 but only a minor planet revolving around1 and dependent upon1 one of myriads of suns4 ,god1 called by ,christians ,our ,heavenly ,father1 created all things4 ,he created not only the world1 but the whole universe4 ,he is all-wise1 ,he is all-powerful1 ,he is all-loving1 and ,he is revealed to us in the ,scriptures4 ,let us see4 ,let us try to imagine what kind of a ,god the creator of this ,universe would be1 and let us compare him with the ,god1 or ,gods1 revealed to us in the ,bible1 and in the teachings of the ,church4 ,we have seen the account of the ,universe and its creation1 as given in the revealed ,scriptures4 ,let us now take a hasty view of the ,universe and its creation as revealed to us by science4 ,what is the ,universe like1 as far as our limited knowledge goes8 ,our ,sun is only one sun amongst many millions4 ,our planet is only one of eight which revolve around him4 ,our ,sun1 with his planets and comets1 comprises what is known as the solar system4 ,there is no reason to suppose that his is the only ,solar ,system3 there may be many millions of solar systems4 ,for aught we know1 there may be millions of systems1 each containing millions of solar systems4 ,let us deal first with the solar system of which we are a part4 ,the ,sun is a globe of #hff1bjj miles diameter4 ,his diameter is more than #ajh times that of the ,earth4 ,his volume is #a1cje1jjj times the volume of the ,earth4 ,all the eight planets added together only make one-seven-hundredth part of his weight4 ,his circumference is more than two and a-half millions of miles4 ,he revolves upon his axis in #be #a_/d days1 or at a speed of nearly #d1jjj miles an hour4 ,this immense and magnificent globe diffuses heat and light to all the other planets4 ,without the light and heat of the ,sun no life would now be1 or in the past have been1 possible on this ,earth1 or any other planet of the solar system4 ,the eight planets of the solar system are divided into four inferior and four superior4 ,the inferior planets are ,mercury1 ,venus1 the ,earth1 and ,mars4 ,the superior are ,jupiter1 ,saturn1 ,uranus1 and ,neptune4 ,the diameters of the smaller planets are as follow3 ,mercury1 #c1jjh miles2 ,mars1 #e1jjj miles2 ,venus1 #g1dhj miles2 the ,earth1 #g1ibf miles4 ,the diameters of the large planets are3 ,jupiter1 #hh1dci miles2 ,saturn1 #ge1jcf miles2 ,neptune1 #cg1bje miles2 ,uranus1 #cj1hge miles4 ,the volume of ,jupiter is #a1chi times1 of ,saturn #hdh times1 of ,neptune #ajc times1 and of ,uranus #ei times the volume of the ,earth4 ,the mean distances from the ,sun are3 ,mercury1 #cf million miles2 ,venus1 #fg million miles2 the ,earth1 #ic million miles2 ,mars1 #ada million miles2 ,jupiter1 #dhc million miles2 ,saturn1 #hhf million miles2 ,uranus1 #a1ghb million miles2 ,neptune1 #b1gib million miles4 ,to give an idea of the meaning of these distances1 ,i may say that a train travelling night and day at #fj miles an hour would take quite #agf years to come from the ,sun to the ,earth4 ,the same train1 at the same speed1 would be #e1bhj years in travelling from the ,sun to ,neptune4 ,reckoning that ,neptune is the outermost planet of the solar system1 that system would have a diameter of #e1ehd millions of miles4 ,if we made a chart of the solar system on a scale of #a inch to a million miles1 we should need a sheet of paper #dfe feet #d inches wide4 ,on this sheet the ,sun would have a diameter of less than #a inch1 and the ,earth would be about the size of a pin-prick4 ,if an express train1 going at #fj miles an hour1 had to travel round the ,earth's orbit1 it would be more than #a1jjj years on the journey4 ,if the ,earth moved no faster1 our winter would last more than #bej years4 ,but in the solar system the speeds are as wonderful as the sizes4 ,the ,earth turns upon its axis at the rate of #a1jjj miles an hour1 and travels in its orbit round the ,sun at the rate of more than #a1jjj miles a minute1 or #ff1jjj miles an hour4 ,so much for the size of the solar system4 ,it consists of a ,sun and eight planets1 and the outer planet's orbit is one of #e1ehd millions of miles in diameter1 which it would take an express train1 at #fj miles an hour1 #aj1efj years to cross4 ,but this distance is as nothing when we come to deal with the distances of the other stars from our ,sun4 ,the distance from our ,sun to the nearest fixed 787 star is more than #bj millions of millions of miles4 ,our express train1 which crosses the diameter of the solar system in #aj1efj years1 would take1 if it went #fj miles an hour day and night1 about #dj million years to reach the nearest fixed star from the ,sun4 ,and if we had to mark the nearest fixed star on our chart made on a scale of #a inch to the million miles1 we should find that whereas a sheet of #dfe feet would take in the outermost planet of the solar system1 a sheet to take in the nearest fixed star would have to be about #fbj miles wide4 ,on this sheet1 as wide as from ,london to ,inverness1 the ,sun would be represented by a dot three-quarters of an inch in diameter1 and the ,earth by a pin-prick4 ,but these immense distances only relate to the nearest stars4 ,now1 the nearest stars are about four light years distant from us4 ,that is to say1 that light1 travelling at a rate of about #ahb1jjj miles in one second1 takes four years to come from the nearest fixed star to the ,earth4 ,but ,i have seen the distance from the ,earth to the ,great ,nebula in ,orion given as a thousand light years1 or #bej times the distance of the fixed star above alluded to4 ,to reach that nebula at #fj miles an hour1 an express train would have to travel for #ce millions of years multiplied by #bej--that is to say1 for #h1gej million years4 ,and yet there are millions of stars whose distances are even greater than the distance of the ,great ,nebula in ,orion4 ,how many stars are there8 ,no one can even guess4 ,but ,l4 ,struve estimates the number of those visible to the great telescopes at #bj millions4 ,twenty millions of suns4 ,and as for the size of these suns1 ,sir ,robert ,ball says ,sirius is ten times as large as our ,sun2 and a well-known astronomer1 writing in the ,english ,mechanic about a week ago1 remarks that ,alpha ,orionis 7,betelgeuze7 has probably #gjj times the light of our ,sun4 ,looking through my telescope1 which is only #c-;inch aperture1 ,i have seen star clusters of wonderful beauty in the ,pleiades and in ,cancer4 ,there is1 in the latter constellation1 a dim star which1 when viewed through my glass1 becomes a constellation larger1 more brilliant1 and more beautiful than ,orion or the ,great ,bear4 ,i have looked at these jewelled sun-clusters many a time1 and wondered over them4 ,but ,i have never once thought of believing that they were specially created to be lesser lights to the ,earth4 ,and now let me quote from that grand book of ,richard ,a4 ,proctor's1 ,the ,expanse of ,heaven1 a fine passage descriptive of some of the wonders of the ,milky ,way3 ,there are stars in all orders of brightness1 from those which 7seen with the telescope7 resemble in lustre the leading glories of the firmament1 down to tiny points of light only caught by momentary twinklings4 ,every variety of arrangement is seen4 ,here the stars are scattered as over the skies at night2 there they cluster in groups1 as though drawn together by some irresistible power2 in one region they seem to form sprays of stars like diamonds sprinkled over fern leaves2 elsewhere they lie in streams and rows1 in coronets and loops and festoons1 resembling the star festoon which1 in the constellation ,perseus1 garlands the black robe of night4 ,nor are varieties of colour wanting to render the display more wonderful and more beautiful4 ,many of the stars which crowd upon the view are red1 orange1 and yellow ,among them are groups of two and three and four 7multiple stars as they are called71 amongst which blue and green and lilac and purple stars appear1 forming the most charming contrast to the ruddy and yellow orbs near which they are commonly seen4 ,millions and millions--countless millions of suns4 ,innumerable galaxies and systems of suns1 separated by black gulfs of space so wide that no man can realise the meaning of the figures which denote their stretch4 ,suns of fire and light1 whirling through vast oceans of space like swarms of golden bees4 ,and round them planets whirling at thousands of miles a minute4 ,and on ,earth there are forms of life so minute that millions of them exist in a drop of water4 ,there are microscopic creatures more beautiful and more highly finished than any gem1 and more complex and effective than the costliest machine of human contrivance4 ,in ,the ,story of ,creation ,mr4 ,ed4 ,clodd tells us that one cubic inch of rotten stone contains #da thousand million vegetable skeletons of diatoms4 ,i cut the following from a ,london morning paper3 ,it was discovered some few years ago that a peculiar bacillus was present in all persons suffering from typhoid1 and in all foods and drinks which spread the disease4 ,experiments were carried out1 and it was assumed1 not without good reason1 that the bacillus was the primary cause of the malady1 and it was accordingly labelled the typhoid bacillus4 ,but the bacteriologists further discovered that the typhoid bacillus was present in water which was not infectious1 and in persons who were not ill1 or had never been ill1 with typhoid4 ,so now a theory is propounded that a healthy typhoid bacillus does not cause typhoid1 but that it is only when the bacillus is itself sick of a fever1 or1 in other words1 is itself the prey of some infinitely minuter organisms1 which feed on it alone1 that it works harm to mortal men4 ,the bacillus is so small that one requires a powerful microscope to see him1 and his blood may be infested with bacilli as small to him as he is to us4 ,and there are millions1 and more likely billions1 of suns6 ,talk about ,aladdin's palace1 ,sinbad's valley of diamonds1 ,macbeth's witches1 or the ,irish fairies6 ,how petty are their exploits1 how tawdry are their splendours1 how paltry are their riches1 when we compare them to the romance of science4 ,when did a poet conceive an idea so vast and so astounding as the theory of evolution8 ,what are a few paltry1 lumps of crystallised carbon compared to a galaxy of a million million suns8 ,did any ,eastern inventor of marvels ever suggest such a human feat as that accomplished by the men who have1 during the last handful of centuries1 spelt out the mystery of the universe8 ,these scientists have worked miracles before which those of the ancient priests and magicians are mere tricks of hanky-panky4 ,look at the romance of geology2 at the romance of astronomy2 at the romance of chemistry2 at the romance of the telescope1 and the microscope1 and the prism4 ,more wonderful than all1 consider the story of how flying atoms in space became suns1 how suns made planets1 how planets changed from spheres of flame and raging fiery storm to worlds of land and water4 ,how in the water specks of jelly became fishes1 fishes reptiles1 reptiles mammals1 mammals monkeys2 monkeys men2 until1 from the fanged and taloned cannibal1 roosting in a forest1 have developed art and music1 religion and science2 and the children of the jellyfish can weigh the suns1 measure the stellar spaces1 ride on the ocean or in the air1 and speak to each other from continent to continent4 ,talk about fairy tales6 what is this8 ,you may look through a telescope1 and see the nebula that is to make a sun floating1 like a luminous mist1 three hundred million miles away4 ,you may look again1 and see another sun in process of formation4 ,you may look again1 and see others almost completed4 ,you may look again and again1 and see millions of suns and systems spread out across the heavens like rivers of living gems4 ,you will say that all this speaks of a ,creator4 ,i shall not contradict you4 ,but what kind of ,creator must ,he be who has created such a universe as this8 ,do you think ,he is the kind of ,creator to make blunders and commit crimes8 ,can you1 after once thinking of the ,milky ,way1 with its rivers of suns1 and the drop of water teeming with spangled dragons1 and the awful abysses of dark space1 through which comets shoot at a speed a thousand times as fast as an express train--can you1 after seeing ,saturn's rings1 and ,jupiter's moons1 and the clustered gems of ,hercules1 consent for a moment to the allegation that the creator of all this power and glory got angry with men1 and threatened them with scabs and sores1 and plagues of lice and frogs8 ,can you suppose that such a creator would1 after thousands of years of effort1 have failed even now to make ,his repeated revelations comprehensible8 ,do you believe that ,he would be driven across the unimaginable gulfs of space1 but of the transcendent glory of ,his myriad resplendent suns1 to die on a cross1 in order to win back to ,him the love of the puny creatures on one puny planet in the marvellous universe ,his power had made8 ,do you believe that the ,god who imagined and created such a universe could be petty1 base1 cruel1 revengeful1 and capable of error8 ,i do not believe it4 ,and now let us examine the character and conduct of this ,god as depicted for us in the ,bible--the book which is alleged to have been directly revealed by ,god ,himself4 ,,jehovah ,,the ,,adopted ,,heavenly ,,father ,,of ,,christianity ,in giving the above brief sketch of the known universe my object was to suggest that the ,creator of a universe of such scope and grandeur must be a ,being of vast power and the loftiest dignity4 ,now1 the ,christians claim that their ,god created this universe--not the universe ,he is described1 in ,his own inspired word1 as creating1 but the universe revealed by science2 the universe of twenty millions of suns4 ,and the ,christians claim that this ,god is a ,god of love1 a ,god omnipotent1 omnipresent1 and eternal4 ,and the ,christians claim that this great ,god1 the ,creator of our wonderful universe1 is the ,god revealed to us in the ,bible4 ,let us1 then1 go to the ,bible1 and find out for ourselves whether the ,god therein revealed is any more like the ideal ,christian ,god than the universe therein revealed is like the universe since discovered by man without the aid of divine inspiration4 ,as for the biblical ,god1 ,jahweh1 or ,jehovah1 ,i shall try to show from the ,bible itself that ,he was not all-wise1 nor all-powerful1 nor omnipresent2 that ,he was not merciful nor just2 but that1 on the contrary1 ,he was fickle1 jealous1 dishonourable1 immoral1 vindictive1 barbarous1 and cruel4 ,neither was ,he1 in any sense of the words1 great nor good4 ,but1 in fact1 ,he was a tribal god1 an idol1 made by man2 and1 as the idol of a savage and ignorant tribe1 was ,himself a savage and ignorant monster4 ,first then1 as to my claim that ,jahweh1 or ,jehovah1 was a tribal god4 ,i shall begin by quoting from ,shall ,we ,understand the ,bible8 by the ,rev4 ,t4 ,rhondda ,williams3 ,the theology of the ,jahwist is very childish and elementary1 though it is not all on the same level4 ,he thinks of ,god very much as in human form1 holding intercourse with men almost as one of themselves4 ,his document begins with ,genesis ii4 #d1 and its first portion continues1 without break1 to the end of chapter iv4 ,this portion contains the story of ,eden4 ,here ,jahweh moulds dust into human form1 and breathes into it2 plants a garden1 and puts the man in it4 ,jahweh comes to the man in his sleep1 and takes part of his body to make a woman1 and so skilfully1 apparently1 that the man never wakes under the operation4 ,jahweh walks in the garden like a man in the cool of the day4 ,he even makes coats for ,adam and ,eve4 ,further on the ,jahwist has a flood story1 in which ,jahweh repents that he had made man1 and decides to drown him1 saving only one family4 ,when all is over1 and ,noah sacrifices on his new altar1 ,jahweh smells a sweet savour1 just as a hungry man smells welcome food4 ,when men build the ,tower of ,babel1 ,jahweh comes down to see it--he cannot see it from where he is4 ,in ,genesis xviii4 the ,jahwist tells a story of three men coming to ,abraham's tent4 ,abraham gives them water to wash their feet1 and bread to eat1 and ,sarah makes cakes for them1 and they did eat2 altogether1 they seemed to have had a nice time4 ,as the story goes on1 he leaves you to infer that one of these was ,jahweh himself4 ,it is ,j4 who describes the story of ,jacob wrestling with some mysterious person1 who1 by inference1 is ,jahweh4 ,he tells a very strange story in ,exodus iv4 #bd1 that when ,moses was returning into ,egypt1 at ,jahweh's own request1 ,jahweh met him at a lodging-place1 and sought to kill him4 ,in ,exodus xiv4 #ae it is said ,jahweh took the wheels off the chariots of the ,egyptians4 ,if we wanted to believe that such statements were true at all1 we should resort to the device of saying they were figurative4 ,but ,j4 meant them literally4 ,the ,jahwist would have no difficulty in thinking of ,god in this way4 ,the story of the destruction of ,sodom and ,gomorrah belongs to this same document1 in which1 you remember1 ,jahweh says3 ,i will go down now1 and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it which is come unto me2 and if not1 ,i will know 7,gen4 xviii4 #ba74 ,that ,god was omniscient and omnipresent had never occurred to the ,jahwist4 ,jahweh1 like a man1 had to go and see if he wanted to know4 ,there is1 however1 some compensation in the fact that he can move about without difficulty--he can come down and go up4 ,one might say1 perhaps1 that in ,j41 though ,jahweh cannot be everywhere1 he can go to almost any place4 ,all this is just like a child's thought4 ,the child1 at ,christmas1 can believe that1 though ,santa ,claus cannot be everywhere1 he can move about with wonderful facility1 and1 though he is a man1 he is rather mysterious4 ,the ,jahwist's thought of ,god represents the childhood stage of the national life4 ,later1 ,mr4 ,williams writes3 ,all this shows that at one time ,jahweh was one of many gods2 other gods were real gods4 ,the ,israelites themselves believed1 for example1 that ,chemosh was as truly the god of the ,moabites as ,jahweh was theirs1 and they speak of ,chemosh giving territory to his people to inherit1 just as ,jahweh had given them territory 7,judges xi4 #bd74 ,just as a ,king of ,israel would speak of ,jahweh1 the ,king of ,moab speaks of ,chemosh4 ,his god sends him to battle4 ,if he is defeated1 the god is angry2 if he succeeds1 the god is favourable4 ,and we have seen that there was a time when the ,israelite believed ,chemosh to be as real for ,moab as ,jahweh for himself4 ,you find the same thing everywhere4 ,the old ,assyrian kings said exactly the same thing of the god ,assur4 ,assur sent them to battle1 gave defeat or victory1 as he thought fit4 ,the history1 however1 is very obscure up to the time of ,samuel1 and uncertain for some time after4 ,samuel organised a ,jahweh party4 ,david worshipped ,jahweh only1 though he regards it as possible to be driven out of ,jahweh's inheritance into that of other gods 7#a ,sam4 xxvi4 #ai74 ,solomon was not exclusively devoted to ,jahweh1 for he built places of worship for other deities as well4 ,in the chapter on ,different ,conceptions of ,providence in the ,bible1 ,mr4 ,williams says3 ,i have asked you to read ,judges iii4 #ae-cj1 iv4 #ag-bd1 v4 #bd-ca4 ,the first is the story of ,ehud getting at ,eglon1 ,israel's enemy1 by deceit1 and killing him--an act followed by a great slaughter of ,moabites4 ,the second is the story of ,jael pretending to play the friend to ,sisera1 and then murdering him4 ,the third is the eulogy of ,jael for doing so1 as blessed above women1 in the so-called ,song of ,deborah4 ,here1 you see1 ,providence is only concerned with the fortunes of ,israel2 any deceit and any cruelty is right which brings success to this people4 ,providence is not concerned with morality2 nor is it concerned with individuals1 except as the individual serves or opposes ,israel4 ,in these two chapters ,mr4 ,williams shows that the early conception of ,god was a very low one1 and that it underwent considerable change4 ,in fact1 he says1 with great candour and courage1 that the early ,bible conception of ,god is one which we cannot now accept4 ,with this ,i entirely agree4 ,we cannot accept as the ,god of ,creation this savage idol of an obscure tribe1 and we have renounced ,him1 and are ashamed of ,him1 not because of any later divine revelation1 but because mankind have become too enlightened1 too humane1 and too honourable to tolerate ,jehovah4 ,and yet the ,christian religion adopted ,jehovah1 and called upon its followers to worship and believe ,him1 on pain of torture1 or death1 or excommunication in this world1 and of hell-fire in the world to come4 ,it is astounding4 ,but lest the evidence offered by ,mr4 ,williams should not be considered sufficient1 ,i shall quote from another very useful book1 ,the ,evolution of the ,idea of ,god1 by the late ,grant ,allen4 ,in this book ,mr4 ,allen clearly traces the origins of the various ideas of ,god1 and we hear of ,jehovah again1 as a kind of tribal stone idol1 carried about in a box or ark4 ,i will quote as fully as space permits3 ,but ,jahweh was an object of portable size1 for1 omitting for the present the descriptions in the ,pentateuch--which seem likely to be of later date1 and not too trustworthy1 through their strenuous ,jehovistic editing--he was carried from ,shiloh in his ark to the front during the great battle with the ,philistines at ,ebenezer2 and the ,philistines were afraid1 for they said1 ,a god is come into the camp4 ,but when the ,philistines captured the ark1 the rival god1 ,dagon1 fell down and broke in pieces--so ,hebrew legend declared--before the face of ,jahweh4 ,after the ,philistines restored the sacred object1 it rested for a time at ,kirjath-jearim till ,david1 on the capture of ,jerusalem from the ,jebusites1 went down to that place to bring up from thence the ark of the god2 and as it went1 on a new cart1 they played before ,jahweh on all manner of instruments1 and ,david himself danced before ,jahweh4444 ,the children of ,israel in early times carried about with them a tribal god1 ,jahweh1 whose presence in their midst was intimately connected with a certain ark or chest containing a stone object or objects4 ,this chest was readily portable1 and could be carried to the front in case of warfare4 ,they did not know the origin of the object in the ark with certainty2 but they regarded it emphatically as ,jahweh their god1 which led them out of the land of ,egypt4444 ,i do not see1 therefore1 how we can easily avoid the obvious inference that ,jahweh the god of the ,hebrews1 who later became sublimated and etherealised into the ,god of ,christianity1 was1 in his origin1 nothing more nor less than the ancestral sacred stone of the people of ,israel1 however sculptured1 and1 perhaps1 in the very last resort of all1 the unhewn monumental pillar of some early ,semitic sheikh or chieftain4 ,it was1 indeed1 as the ,rev4 ,c4 ,e4 ,beeby says1 in his book ,creed and ,life1 a sad mistake of ,st4 ,augustine to tack this tribal fetish in his box on to the ,christian religion as the ,all-,father1 and ,creator of the ,universe4 ,for ,jehovah was a savage war-god1 and1 as such1 was impotent to save the tribe who worshipped him4 ,but let us look further into the accounts of this original ,god of the ,christians1 and see how he comported himself1 and let us put our examples under separate heads2 thus3 ,jehovah's ,anger ,jahweh's bad temper is constantly displayed in the ,bible4 ,jahweh made a man1 whom he supposed to be perfect4 ,when the man turned bad on his hands1 ,jahweh was angry1 and cursed him and his seed for thousands of years4 ,this vindictive act is accepted by the ,apostle ,paul as a natural thing for a ,god of ,love to do4 ,jahweh who had already cursed all the seed of ,adam1 was so angry about man's sin1 in the time of ,noah1 that he decided to drown all the people on the earth except ,noah's family1 and not only that1 but to drown nearly all the innocent animals as well4 ,when the children of ,israel1 who had eaten nothing but manna for forty years1 asked ,jahweh for a change of diet1 ,jahweh lost his temper again1 and sent amongst them fiery serpents1 so that much people of ,israel died4 ,but still the desire for other food remained1 and the ,jews wept for meat4 ,then the ,lord ordered ,moses to speak to the people as follows3 444 ,the ,lord will give you flesh1 and ye shall eat4 ,ye shall not eat one day1 nor two days1 nor five days1 neither ten days nor twenty days3 but even a whole month1 until it come out of your nostrils1 and it be loathsome unto you2 because that ye have despised the ,lord1 which is among you1 and have wept before ,him1 saying1 ,why came we forth out of ,egypt8 ,then ,jahweh sent immense numbers of quails1 and the people ate them1 and the anger of their angry god came upon them in the act1 and smote them with a very great plague4 ,one more instance out of many4 ,in the ,first ,book of ,samuel we are told that on the return of ,jahweh in his ark from the custody of the ,philistines some men of ,bethshemesh looked into the ark4 ,this made ,jahweh so angry that he smote the people1 and slew more than fifty thousand of them4 ,the ,injustice of ,jehovah ,i have already instanced ,jahweh's injustice in cursing the seed of ,adam for ,adam's sin1 and in destroying the whole animal creation1 except a selected few1 because he was angry with mankind4 ,in the ,book of ,samuel we are told that ,jahweh sent three years' famine upon the whole nation because of the sins of ,saul1 and that his wrath was only appeased by the hanging in cold blood of seven of ,saul's sons for the evil committed by their father4 ,in the ,book of ,joshua is the story of how ,achan1 having stolen some gold1 was ordered to be burnt2 and how ,joshua and the ,israelites took ,achan1 and his sons1 and his daughters1 and his oxen1 and his asses1 and his sheep1 and his tent1 and all that he had1 and stoned them to death1 and burnt them with fire4 ,in the ,first ,book of ,chronicles the devil persuades ,david to take a census of ,israel4 ,and again ,jahweh acted in blind wrath and injustice1 for he sent a pestilence1 which slew seventy thousand of the people for ,david's fault4 ,but ,david he allowed to live4 ,in ,samuel we learn how ,jahweh1 because of an attack upon the ,israelites four hundred years before the time of speaking1 ordered ,saul to destroy the ,amalekites1 man and woman1 infant and suckling1 ox and sheep1 camel and ass4 ,and ,saul did as he was directed2 but because he spared ,king ,agag1 the ,lord deprived him of the crown and made ,david king in his stead4 ,the ,immorality ,of ,jehovah ,in the ,second ,book of ,chronicles ,jehovah gets ,ahab1 ,king of ,israel1 killed by putting lies into the mouths of the prophets3 ,and the ,lord said1 ,who shall entice ,ahab1 king of ,israel1 that he may go up and fall at ,ramoth-gilead8 ,and one spake1 saying after this manner1 and another saying after that manner4 ,then there came out a spirit1 and stood before the ,lord1 and said1 ,i will entice him4 ,and the ,lord said unto him1 ,wherewith8 ,and he said1 ,i will go out1 and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets4 ,and the ,lord said1 ,thou shalt entice him1 and thou shalt also prevail3 go out1 and do even so4 ,in ,deuteronomy are the following orders as to conduct in war3 ,when thou goest forth to war against thine enemies1 and the ,lord thy ,god hath delivered them into thine hands1 and thou hast taken them captive4 ,and seest among the captives a beautiful woman1 and hast a desire unto her1 that thou wouldest have her to thy wife2 ,then thou shalt bring her home to thine house2 and she shall shave her head1 and pare her nails2 ,and she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her1 and shall remain in thine house1 and bewail her father and her mother a full month3 and after that thou shalt go in unto her1 and be her husband1 and she shall be thy wife4 ,and it shall be1 if thou have no delight in her1 then thou shall let her go whither she will2 but thou shalt not sell her at all for money1 thou shalt not make merchandise of her1 because thou hast humbled her4 ,the children of ,israel1 having been sent out by ,jahweh to punish the ,midianites1 slew all the males4 ,but ,moses was wrath1 because they had spared the women1 and he ordered them to kill all the married women1 and to take the single women for themselves4 ,the ,lord allowed this brutal act--which included the murder of all the male children--to be consummated4 ,there were sixteen thousand females spared1 of which we are told that the ,lord's tribute was thirty and two4 ,the ,cruelty ,of ,jehovah ,i could find in the ,bible more instances of ,jahweh's cruelty and barbarity and lack of mercy than ,i can find room for4 ,in ,deuteronomy1 the ,lord hardens the heart of ,sihon1 ,king of ,hesbon1 to resist the ,jews1 and then utterly destroyed the men1 women1 and little ones of every city4 ,in ,leviticus1 ,jahweh threatens that if the ,israelites will not reform he will walk contrary to them in fury1 and they shall eat the flesh of their own sons and daughters4 ,in ,deuteronomy is an account of how ,bashan was utterly destroyed1 men1 women1 and children being slain4 ,in the same book occur the following passages3 ,when the ,lord thy ,god shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it1 and hath cast out many nations before thee1 the ,hittites1 and the ,girgashites1 and the ,amorites1 and the ,canaanites1 and the ,perizzites1 and the ,hivites1 and the ,jebusites1 seven nations greater and mightier than thou2 ,and when the ,lord thy ,god shall deliver them before thee2 thou shalt smite them1 and utterly destroy them2 thou shalt make no covenant with them1 or show mercy unto them4 ,that is from chapter vii4 ,in chapter xx4 there are further instructions of a like horrible kind3 ,thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee1 which are not of the cities of these nations4 ,but of the cities of these people1 which the ,lord thy ,god doth give thee for an inheritance1 thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth3 ,but thou shalt utterly destroy them2 namely1 the ,hittites1 and the ,amorites1 the ,canaanites1 and the ,perizzites1 the ,hivites1 and the ,jebusites1 as the ,lord thy ,god hath commanded thee4 ,and here1 in a long quotation1 is an example of the mercy of ,jahweh1 and his faculty for cursing3 ,the ,lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee1 until he have consumed thee from off the land1 whither thou goest to possess it4 ,the ,lord shall smite thee with a consumption1 and with a fever1 and with an inflammation1 and with an extreme burning1 and with the sword1 and with blasting1 and with mildew2 and they shall pursue thee until thou perish4 ,and thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass1 and the earth that is under thee shall be iron4 ,the ,lord shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust3 from heaven shall it come down upon thee1 until thou be destroyed4 ,the ,lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies3 thou shalt go out one way against them1 and flee seven ways before them3 and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth4 ,and thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air1 and unto the beasts of the earth1 and no man shall fray them away4 ,the ,lord will smite thee with the botch of ,egypt1 and with the emerods1 and with the scab1 and with the itch1 whereof thou canst not be healed4 ,the ,lord shall smite thee with madness1 and blindness1 and astonishment of heart3444 ,and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates1 until thy high and fenced walls come down1 wherein thou trustedst1 throughout all thy land3 and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land1 which the ,lord thy ,god hath given thee4 ,and thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body1 the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters1 which the ,lord thy ,god hath given thee1 in the siege1 and in the straightness wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee3 ,so that the man that is tender among you1 and very delicate1 his eyes shall be evil toward his brother1 and toward the wife of his bosom1 and toward the remnant of his children which he shall leave4444 ,for a fire is kindled in mine anger1 and shall burn into the lowest hell1 and shall consume the earth with her increase1 and set on fire the foundations of the mountains4 ,i will heap mischiefs upon them2 ,i will spend mine arrows upon them4 ,they shall be burnt with hunger1 and devoured with burning heat1 and with bitter destruction3 ,i will also send the teeth of beasts upon them1 with the poison of serpents of the dust4 ,the sword without1 and terror within1 shall destroy both the young man and the virgin1 the suckling also with the man of grey hairs4 ,i think ,i have quoted enough to show that what ,i say of the ,jewish ,god ,jehovah is based on fact4 ,but ,i could1 if needful1 heap proof on proof1 for the books of the ,old ,testament reek with blood1 and are horrible with atrocities4 ,now1 consider1 is the ,god of whom we have been reading a ,god of love8 ,is ,he the ,father of ,christ8 ,is ,he not rather the savage idol of a savage tribe8 ,man and his gods3 what a tragi-comedy it is4 ,man has never seen one of his gods1 never heard the voice of one of his gods1 does not know the shape1 expression1 or bearing of one of his gods4 ,yet man has cursed man1 hated man1 hunted man1 tortured man1 and murdered man1 for the sake of shadows and fantasies of his own terror1 or vanity1 or desire4 ,we tiny1 vain feeblenesses1 we fussy ephemera2 we sting each other1 hate each other1 hiss at each other1 for the sake of the monster gods of our own delirium4 ,as we are whirled upon our spinning1 glowing planet through the unfathomable spaces1 where myriads of suns1 like golden bees1 gleam through the awful mystery of the vast void night1 what are the phantom gods to us8 ,they are no more than the waterspouts on the ocean1 or the fleeting shadows on the hills4 ,but the man1 and the woman1 and the child1 and the dog with its wistful eyes2 these know us1 touch us1 appeal to us1 love us1 serve us1 grieve us4 ,shall we kill these1 or revile them1 or desert them1 for the sake of the lurid ghost in the cloud1 or the fetish in his box8 ,do you think the bloodthirsty vindictive ,jahweh1 who prized nothing but his own aggrandisement1 and slew or cursed all who offended him1 is the ,creator1 the same who made the jewels of the ,pleiades1 and the resplendent mystery of the ,milky ,way8 ,is this unspeakable monster1 ,jahweh1 the ,father of ,christ8 ,is he the ,god who inspired ,buddha1 and ,shakespeare1 and ,herschel1 and ,beethoven1 and ,darwin1 and ,plato1 and ,bach8 ,no2 not he4 ,but in warfare and massacre1 in rapine and in rape1 in black revenge and deadly malice1 in slavery1 and polygamy1 and the debasement of women2 and in the pomps1 vanities1 and greeds of royalty1 of clericalism1 and of usury and barter--we may easily discern the influence of his ferocious and abominable personality4 ,it is time to have done with this nightmare fetish of a murderous tribe of savages4 ,we have no use for him4 ,we have no criminal so ruthless nor so blood-guilty as he4 ,he is not fit to touch our cities1 imperfect as we are4 ,the thought of him defiles and nauseates4 ,we should think him too horrible and pitiless for a devil1 this red-handed1 black-hearted ,jehovah of the ,jews4 ,and yet3 in the inspired ,book1 in the ,holy ,bible1 this awful creature is still enshrined as ,god the ,father ,almighty4 ,it is marvellous4 ,it is beyond the comprehension of any man not blinded by superstition1 not warped by prejudice and old-time convention4 ,this the ,god of ,heaven8 ,this the ,father of ,christ8 ,this the ,creator of the ,milky ,way8 ,no4 ,he will not do4 ,he is not big enough4 ,he is not good enough4 ,he is not clean enough4 ,he is a spiritual nightmare3 a bad dream born in savage minds of terror and ignorance and a tigerish lust for blood4 ,but if ,he is not the ,most ,high1 if ,he is not the ,heavenly ,father1 if ,he is not the ,king of kings1 the ,bible is not an inspired book1 and its claims to divine revelation will not stand4 ,,the ,,heroes ,,of ,,the ,,bible ,carlyle said we might judge a people by their heroes4 ,the heroes of the ,bible1 like the ,god of the ,bible1 are immoral savages4 ,that is because the ,bible is a compilation from the literature of savage and immoral tribes4 ,had the ,bible been the word of ,god we should have found in it a lofty and a pure ideal of ,god4 ,we should not have found in it open approval--divine approval--of such unspeakable savages as ,moses1 ,david1 ,solomon1 ,jacob1 and ,lot4 ,let us consider the lives of a few of the ,bible heroes4 ,we will begin with ,moses4 ,we used to be taught in school that ,moses was the meekest man the world has known3 and we used to marvel4 ,it is written in the second chapter of ,exodus thus3 ,and it came to pass in those days1 when ,moses was grown1 that he went out unto his brethren1 and looked on their burdens3 and he spied an ,egyptian smiting an ,hebrew1 one of his brethren4 ,and he looked this way and that way1 and when he saw that there was no man1 he slew the ,egyptian1 and hid him in the sand4 ,and when he went out the second day1 behold two men of the ,hebrews strove together3 and he said to him that did the wrong1 ,wherefore smitest thou thy fellow8 ,and he said1 ,who made thee a prince and a judge over us8 intendest thou to kill me as thou killedst the ,egyptian8 ,and ,moses feared1 and said1 ,surely this thing is known4 ,the meekest of men slays an ,egyptian deliberately and in cold blood4 ,it may be pleaded that the ,egyptian was doing wrong2 but the remarks of the ,hebrew suggest that even the countrymen of ,moses looked upon his act of violence with disfavour4 ,but the meekness of ,moses is further illustrated in the laws attributed to him1 in which the death penalty is almost as common as it was in ,england in the ,middle ,ages4 ,also1 in the thirty-first chapter of ,numbers we have the following story4 ,the ,lord commands ,moses to avenge the children of ,israel of the ,midianites1 after which ,moses is to die4 ,moses sends out an army3 ,and they warred against the ,midianites1 as the ,lord commanded ,moses2 and they slew all the males4 ,and they slew the kings of ,midian1 besides the rest of them that were slain2 namely ,evi1 and ,rekem1 and ,zur1 and ,hur1 and ,reba1 five kings of ,midian3 ,balaam also the son of ,beor they slew with the sword4 ,and the children of ,israel took all the women of ,midian captives1 and their little ones1 and took the spoil of all their cattle1 and all their flocks1 and all their goods4 ,and they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt1 and all their goodly castles1 with fire4 ,and they took all the spoil1 and all the prey1 both of men and of beasts4444 ,and ,moses was wroth with the officers of the host1 with the captains over thousands1 and captains over hundreds1 which came from the battle4 ,and ,moses said unto them1 ,have ye saved all the women alive8 ,behold1 these called the children of ,israel1 through the counsel of ,balaam1 to commit trespass against the ,lord in the matter of ,peor1 and there was a plague among the congregation of the ,lord4 ,now therefore kill every male among the little ones1 and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him4 ,but all the women children that have not known a man by lying with him1 keep alive for yourselves4 ,moses is a patriarch of the ,jews1 and the meekest man4 ,but suppose any pagan or ,mohammedan general were to behave to a ,christian city as ,moses behaved to the people of ,midian1 what should we say of him8 ,but ,god was pleased with him4 ,further1 in the sixteenth chapter of ,numbers you will find how ,moses the ,meek treated ,korah1 ,dathan1 and ,abiram for rebelling against himself and ,aaron2 how the earth opened and swallowed these men and their families and friends1 at a hint from ,moses2 and how the ,lord slew with fire from heaven two hundred and fifty men who were offering incense1 and how afterwards there came a pestilence by which some fourteen thousand persons died4 ,moses was a politician2 his brother was a priest4 ,i shall express no opinion of the pair2 but ,i quote from the ,book of ,exodus1 as follows3 ,and when the people saw that ,moses delayed to come down out of the mount1 the people gathered themselves together unto ,aaron1 and said unto him1 ,up1 make us gods1 which shall go before us2 for as for this ,moses1 the man that brought us up out of the land of ,egypt1 we wot not what is become of him4 ,and ,aaron said unto them1 ,break off the golden earrings1 which are in the ears of your wives1 of your sons1 and of your daughters1 and bring them unto me4 ,and all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears1 and brought them unto ,aaron4 ,and he received them at their hand1 and fashioned it with a graving tool after he had made it a molten calf3 and they said1 ,these be thy gods1 ,o ,israel1 which brought thee up out of the land of ,egypt4 ,and when ,aaron saw it1 he built an altar before it2 and ,aaron made proclamation1 and said1 ,to-morrow is a feast to the ,lord4 ,and they rose up early on the morrow1 and offered burnt offerings1 and brought peace offerings2 and the people sat down to eat and to drink1 and rose up to play4 ,and the ,lord said unto ,moses1 ,go1 get thee down2 for thy people which thou broughtest out of the land of ,egypt1 have corrupted themselves4 ,aaron1 when asked by ,moses why he has done this thing1 tells a lie3 ,and ,moses said unto ,aaron1 ,what did this people unto thee1 that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them8 ,and ,aaron said1 ,let not the anger of my lord wax hot2 thou knowest the people1 that they are set on mischief4 ,for they said unto me1 ,make us gods1 which shall go before us3 for as for this ,moses1 the man that brought us up out of the land of ,egypt1 we wot not what is become of him4 ,and ,i said unto them1 ,whosoever hath any gold1 let them break it off4 ,so they gave it to me3 then ,i cast it into the fire1 and there came out this calf4 ,and when ,moses saw that the people were naked2 7for ,aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies37 ,then ,moses stood in the gate of the camp1 and said1 ,who is on the ,lord's side8 let him come unto me4 ,and all the sons of ,levi gathered themselves together unto him4 ,and he said unto them1 ,thus saith the ,lord ,god of ,israel1 ,put every man his sword by his side1 and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp1 and slay every man his brother1 and every man his companion1 and every man his neighbour4 ,and the children of ,levi did according to the word of ,moses2 and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men4 ,so much for this meek father of the ,jews4 ,and now let us consider ,david and his son ,solomon1 the greatest of the ,bible kings1 and the ancestors of ,jesus ,christ4 ,judging ,king ,david by the ,bible record1 ,i should conclude that he was a cruel1 treacherous1 and licentious savage4 ,he lived for some time as a bandit1 robbing the subjects of the ,king of ,gath1 who had given him shelter4 ,when asked about this by the king1 ,david lied4 ,as to the nature of his conduct at this time1 no room is left for doubt by the story of ,nabal4 ,david demanded blackmail of ,nabal1 and1 on its being refused1 set out with four hundred armed men to rob ,nabal1 and kill every male on his estate4 ,this he was prevented from doing by ,nabal's wife1 who came out to meet ,david with fine presents and fine words4 ,ten days later ,nabal died1 and ,david married his widow4 ,see twenty-fifth chapter ,first ,book of ,samuel4 ,david had seven wives1 and many children4 ,one of his favourite wives was ,bathsheba1 the widow of ,uriah4 ,while ,uriah was at the front1 fighting for ,david1 that king seduced his wife1 ,bathsheba4 ,to avoid discovery1 ,david recalled ,uriah from the war1 and bade him go home to his wife4 ,uriah said it would dishonour him to seek ease and pleasure at home while other soldiers were enduring hardship at the front4 ,the king then made the soldier drunk1 but even so could not prevail4 ,therefore ,david sent word to the general to place ,uriah in the front of the battle1 where the fight was hardest4 ,and ,uriah was killed1 and ,david married ,bathsheba1 who became the mother of ,solomon4 ,so much for ,david's honour4 ,now for a sample of his humanity4 ,i quote from the twelfth chapter of the ,second ,book of ,samuel3 ,and ,joab sent messengers to ,david1 and said1 ,i have fought against ,rabbah1 and have taken the city of waters4 ,now therefore gather the rest of the people together1 and encamp against the city1 and take it3 lest ,i take the city1 and it be called after my name4 ,and ,david gathered all the people together1 and went to ,rabbah1 and fought against it1 and took it4 ,and he took their king's crown from off his head1 the weight whereof was a talent of gold with the precious stones3 and it was set on ,david's head4 ,and he brought forth the spoil of the city in great abundance4 ,and he brought forth the people that were therein1 and put them under saws1 and under harrows of iron1 and under axes of iron1 and made them pass through the brick kiln3 and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of ,ammon4 ,so ,david and all the people returned unto ,jerusalem4 ,but nothing in ,david's life became him so little as his leaving of it4 ,i quote from the second chapter of the ,first ,book of ,kings4 ,david1 on his deathbed1 is speaking to ,solomon1 his son3 ,moreover thou knowest also what ,joab the son of ,zeruiah did to me1 and what he did to the two captains of the host of ,israel1 unto ,abner the son of ,ner1 and unto ,amasa the son of ,jether1 whom he slew1 and shed the blood of war in peace1 and put the blood of war upon his girdle that was about his loins1 and in his shoes that were on his feet4 ,do therefore according to thy wisdom1 and let not his hoar head go down to the grave in peace4 ,but show kindness unto the sons of ,barzillai1 the ,gileadite1 and let them be of those that eat at thy table2 for so they came to me when ,i fled because of ,absalom thy brother4 ,and1 behold1 thou hast with thee ,shimei the son of ,gera1 a ,benjamite of ,bahurim1 which cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when ,i went to ,mahanaim3 but he came down to meet me at ,jordan1 and ,i sware to him by the ,lord1 saying1 ,i will not put thee to death with the sword4 ,now therefore hold him not guiltless3 for thou art a wise man1 and knowest what thou oughtest to do unto him2 but his hoar head bring thou down to the grave with blood4 ,these seem to have been the last words spoken by ,king ,david4 ,joab was his best general1 and had many times saved ,david's throne4 ,solomon began by stealing the throne from his brother1 the true heir4 ,then he murders the brother he has robbed1 and disgraces and exiles a priest1 who had been long a faithful friend to ,david1 his father4 ,later he murders ,joab at the altar1 and brings down the hoar head of ,shimei to the grave with blood4 ,after which he gets him much wisdom1 builds a temple1 and marries many wives4 ,much glamour has been cast upon the names of ,solomon and ,david by their alleged writings4 ,but it is now acknowledged that ,david wrote few1 if any1 of the ,psalms1 and that ,solomon wrote neither ,ecclesiastes nor the ,song of ,songs1 though some of the ,proverbs may be his4 ,it seems strange to me that such men as ,moses1 ,david1 and ,solomon should be glorified by ,christian men and women who execrate ,henry ,,viii4 and ,richard ,,iii4 as monsters4 ,my pet aversion amongst the ,bible heroes is ,jacob2 but ,abraham and ,lot were pitiful creatures4 ,jacob cheated his brother out of the parental blessing1 and lied about ,god1 and lied to his father to accomplish his end4 ,he robbed his brother of his birthright by trading on his necessity4 ,he fled from his brother's wrath1 and went to his uncle ,laban4 ,here he cheated his uncle out of his cattle and his wealth1 and at last came away with his two cousins as his wives1 one of whom had stolen her own father's gods4 ,abraham was the father of ,ishmael by the servant-maid ,hagar4 ,at his wife's demand he allowed ,hagar and ,ishmael to be driven into the desert to die4 ,and here is another pretty story of ,abraham4 ,he and his family are driven forth by a famine3 ,and it came to pass1 when he was come near to enter into ,egypt1 that he said unto ,sarai1 his wife1 ,behold now1 ,i know that thou art a fair woman to look upon3 ,therefore it shall come to pass1 when the ,egyptians shall see thee1 that they shall say1 ,this is his wife3 and they will kill me1 but they will save thee alive4 ,say1 ,i pray thee1 thou are my sister2 that it may be well with me for thy sake2 and my soul shall live because of thee4 ,and it came to pass1 that1 when ,abram was come into ,egypt the ,egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair4 ,the princes also of ,pharaoh saw her1 and commended her before ,pharaoh3 and the woman was taken into ,pharaoh's house4 ,and he entreated ,abram well for her sake3 and he had sheep1 and oxen1 and he-asses1 and menservants1 and maidservants1 and she-asses1 and camels4 ,and the ,lord plagued ,pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of ,sarai1 ,abram's wife4 ,and ,pharaoh called ,abram1 and said1 ,what is this that thou hast done unto me8 why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife8 ,why saidst thou1 ,she is my sister8 so ,i might have taken her to me to wife3 now therefore behold thy wife1 take her1 and go thy way4 ,and ,pharaoh commanded his men concerning him3 and they sent him away1 and his wife1 and all that he had4 ,but ,abraham was so little ashamed of himself that he did the same thing again1 many years afterwards1 and ,abimelech ,king of ,gerar1 behaved to him as nobly as did ,king ,pharaoh on the former occasion4 ,the story of ,lot is too disgusting to repeat4 ,but what are we to think of his offering his daughters to the mob1 and of his subsequent conduct8 ,and what of ,noah1 who got drunk1 and then cursed the whole of his sons' descendants for ever1 because ,ham had seen him in his shame8 ,joseph seems to me to have been anything but an admirable character1 and ,i do not see how his baseness in depriving the ,egyptians of their liberties and their land by a corner in wheat can be condoned4 ,jacob robbed his brother of his birthright by trading on his hunger2 ,joseph robbed a whole people in the same way4 ,samson was a dissolute ruffian and murderer1 who in these days would be hanged as a brigand4 ,reuben committed incest4 ,simeon and ,levi were guilty of treachery and massacre4 ,judah was guilty of immorality and hypocrisy4 ,joshua was a ,jewish general of the usual type4 ,when he captured a city he murdered every man1 woman1 and child within its walls4 ,here is one example from the tenth chapter of the ,book of ,joshua3 ,and ,joshua returned1 and all ,israel with him1 to ,debir2 and fought against it3 ,and he took it1 and the king thereof2 and all the cities thereof2 and they smote them with the edge of the sword1 and utterly destroyed all the souls that were therein2 he left none remaining3 as he had done to ,hebron1 so he did to ,debir1 and to the king thereof2 as he had done also to ,libnah1 and to her king4 ,so ,joshua smote all the country of the hills1 and of the south1 and of the vale1 and of the springs1 and all their kings3 he left none remaining1 but utterly destroyed all that breathed1 as the ,lord ,god of ,israel commanded4 ,and ,joshua smote them from ,kadesh-barnea even unto ,gaza1 and all the country of ,goshen1 even unto ,gibeon4 ,elijah the prophet was of the same uncompromising kind4 ,after he had mocked the god ,baal1 and had triumphed over him by miracle1 he said to the ,israelites3 ,take the prophets of ,baal4 ,let not one of them escape4 ,and they took them1 and ,elijah brought them down to the brook ,kishon1 and slew them there4 ,now1 there were #dej of the priests of ,baal1 all of whom ,elijah the prophet had killed in cold blood4 ,and here is a story about ,elisha1 another great prophet of the ,jews4 ,i quote from the second chapter of the ,second ,book of ,kings4 ,and he went up from thence unto ,bethel3 and as he was going up by the way1 there came forth little children out of the city1 and mocked him1 and said unto him1 ,go up1 thou bald head2 go up1 thou bald head4 ,and he turned back1 and looked on them1 and cursed them in the name of the ,lord4 ,and there came forth two she bears out of the wood1 and tare forty and two children of them4 ,after this1 ,elisha assists ,king ,jehoram and two other kings to waste and slaughter the ,moabites1 who had refused to pay tribute4 ,you may read the horrible story for yourselves in the third chapter of the ,second ,book of ,kings4 ,there was the usual massacre1 but this time the trees were cut down and the wells choked up4 ,later1 ,elisha cures a man of leprosy1 and refuses a reward4 ,but his servant runs after the man1 and gets two talents of silver and some garments under false pretences4 ,when ,elisha hears of this crime1 he strikes the servant with leprosy1 and all his seed for ever4 ,now1 it is not necessary for me to harp upon the conduct of these men of ,god3 what ,i want to point out is that these cruel and ignorant savages have been saddled upon the ,christian religion as heroes and as models4 ,even to-day the man who called ,david1 or ,moses1 or ,elisha by his proper name in an average ,christian household would be regarded as a wicked blasphemer4 ,and yet1 what would a ,christian congregation say of an ,infidel who committed half the crimes and outrages of any one of those ,bible heroes8 ,do you know what the ,christians call ,tom ,paine8 ,to this day the respectable ,christian ,church or chapel goer shudders at the name of the infidel1 ,tom ,paine4 ,but in point of honour1 of virtue1 of humanity1 and general good character1 not one of the ,bible heroes ,i have mentioned was worthy to clean ,tom ,paine's shoes4 ,now1 it states in the ,bible that ,god loved ,jacob1 and hated ,esau4 ,esau was a man1 and against him the ,bible does not chronicle one bad act4 ,but ,god hated ,esau4 ,and it states in the ,bible that ,elijah went up in a chariot of fire to heaven4 ,and in the ,new ,testament ,christ or ,his apostles speak of ,abraham1 ,isaac1 and ,jacob as being in heaven4 ,paul speaks of ,david as a man after ,god's own heart2 ,elijah and ,moses come down from heaven1 and appear talking with ,christ2 and1 in ,hebrews1 ,paul praises ,samuel1 ,jephtha1 ,samson1 and ,david4 ,my point is not that these heroes were bad men1 but that1 in a book alleged to be the word of ,god1 they are treated as heroes4 ,i have been accused of showing irreverence towards these barbarous kings and priests4 ,irreverence6 ,it is like charging a historian with disrespect to the memory of ,nero4 ,i have been accused of having an animus against ,moses1 and ,david1 and all the rest4 ,i have no animus against any man1 nor do ,i presume to censure my fellow creatures4 ,i only wish to show that these favourites of ,god were not admirable characters1 and that therefore the ,bible cannot be a divine revelation4 ,as for animus3 ,i do not believe any of these men ever existed4 ,i regard them as myths4 ,should one be angry with a myth8 ,i should as soon think of being angry with ,bluebeard1 or the ,giant that ,jack slew4 ,but ,i should be astonished to hear that ,bluebeard had been promoted to the position of a holy patriarch1 and a model of all the virtues for the emulation of innocent children in a modern ,sunday school4 ,and ,i think it is time the ,church considered itself1 and told the truth about ,jehovah1 and ,moses1 and ,joshua1 and ,samson4 ,if you fail to agree with me ,i can only accept your decision with respectful astonishment4 ,,the ,,book ,,of ,,books ,floods of sincere1 but unmerited1 adulation have been lavished on the ,hebrew ,bible4 ,the world has many books of higher moral and literary value4 ,it would be easy to compile1 from the words of ,heretics and ,infidels1 a purer and more elevated moral guide than this ,book of ,books4 ,the ethical code of the ,old ,testament is no longer suitable as the rule of life4 ,the moral and intellectual advance of the human race has left it behind4 ,the historical books of the ,old ,testament are largely pernicious1 and often obscene4 ,these books describe1 without disapproval1 polygamy1 slavery1 concubinage1 lying and deceit1 treachery1 incest1 murder1 wars of plunder1 wars of conquest1 massacre of prisoners of war1 massacre of women and of children1 cruelty to animals2 and such immoral1 dishonest1 shameful1 or dastardly deeds as those of ,solomon1 ,david1 ,abraham1 ,jacob1 and ,lot4 ,the ethical code of the ,old ,testament does not teach the sacredness of truth1 does not teach religious tolerance1 nor humanity1 nor human brotherhood1 nor peace4 ,its morality is crude4 ,much that is noblest in modern thought has no place in the ,book of ,books4 ,for example1 take these words of ,herbert ,spencer's3 ,absolute morality is the regulation of conduct in such way that pain shall not be inflicted4 ,there is nothing so comprehensive1 nothing so deep as that in the ,bible4 ,that covers all the moralities of the ,ten ,commandments1 and all the ,ethics of the ,law and the ,prophets1 in one short sentence1 and leaves a handsome surplus over4 ,note next this1 from ,kant3 ,what are the aims which are at the same time duties8 ,they are the perfecting of ourselves1 and the happiness of others4 ,i do not know a ,bible sentence so purely moral as that4 ,and in what part of the ,bible shall we find a parallel to the following sentence1 from an ,agnostic newspaper3 ,freedom of thought1 freedom of speech1 freedom of action are helps to the children of men in their search for wisdom4 ,tom ,paine left ,moses and ,isaiah centuries behind when he wrote3 ,the world is my country3 to do good my religion4 ,robert ,ingersoll1 another ,infidel1 surpassed ,solomon when he said3 ,the object of life is to be happy1 the place to be happy is here1 the time to be happy is now1 the way to be happy is by making others happy4 ,which simple sentence contains more wisdom than all the pessimism of the ,king of kings4 ,and again1 ,ingersoll went beyond the sociological conception of the ,prophets when he wrote3 ,and let us do away for ever with the idea that the care of the sick1 of the helpless1 is a charity4 ,it is not a charity3 it is a duty4 ,it is something to be done for our own sakes4 ,it is no more a charity than it is to pave or light the streets1 no more a charity than it is to have a system of sewers4 ,it is all for the purpose of protecting society1 and civilising ourselves4 ,i will now put together a few sayings of ,pagans and ,unbelievers as an example of non-biblical morality3 ,truth is the pole-star of morality1 by it alone can we steer4 ,can there be a more horrible object in existence than an eloquent man not speaking the truth8 ,abhor dissimulation4 ,to know the truth and fear to speak it3 that is cowardice4 ,one thing here is worth a good deal1 to pass thy life in truth and justice1 with a benevolent disposition1 even to liars and unjust men4 ,he who acts unjustly acts unjustly to himself1 for he makes himself bad4 ,the practice of religion involves as a first principle a loving compassionate heart for all creatures4 ,religion means self-sacrifice4 ,a loving heart is the great requirement3 not to oppress1 not to destroy1 not to exalt oneself by treading down others2 but to comfort and befriend those in suffering4 ,like as a mother at the risk of her life watches over her only child1 so also let every one cultivate towards all beings a bounteous friendly mind4 ,man's great business is to improve his mind4 ,what is it to you whether another is guilty or guiltless8 ,come1 friend1 atone for your own guilt4 ,virtue consists in contempt for death4 ,why should we cling to this perishable body8 ,in the eye of the wise the only thing it is good for is to benefit one's fellow creatures4 ,treat others as you wish them to treat you4 ,do not return evil for evil4 ,our deeds1 whether good or evil1 follow us like shadows4 ,never will man attain full moral stature until woman is free4 ,cherish and reverence little children4 ,let the slave cease1 and the master of slaves cease4 ,to conquer your enemy by force increases his resentment4 ,conquer him by love and you will have no after-grief4 ,victory breeds hatred4 ,i look for no recompense--not even to be born in heaven-- but seek the benefit of men1 to bring back those who have gone astray1 to enlighten those living in dismal error1 to put away all sources of sorrow and pain in the world4 ,i cannot have pleasure while another grieves and ,i have power to help him4 ,those who regard the ,bible as the ,book of ,books1 and believe it to be invaluable and indispensable to the world1 must have allowed their early associations or religious sentiment to mislead them4 ,carlyle is more moral than ,jeremiah1 ,ruskin is superior to ,isaiah2 ,ingersoll1 the ,atheist1 is a nobler moralist and a better man than ,moses2 ,plato and ,marcus ,aurelius are wiser than ,solomon2 ,sir ,thomas ,more1 ,herbert ,spencer1 ,thoreau1 ,matthew ,arnold1 and ,emerson are worth more to us than all the ,prophets4 ,i hold a high opinion of the literary quality of some parts of the ,old ,testament2 but ,i seriously think that the loss of the first fourteen books would be a distinct gain to the world4 ,for the rest1 there is considerable literary and some ethical value in ,job 7which is not ,jewish71 in ,ecclesiastes 7which is ,pagan71 in the ,song of ,solomon 7which is an erotic love song71 and in parts of ,isaiah1 ,proverbs1 ,jeremiah1 ,ezekiel1 and ,amos4 ,but ,i don't think any of these books equal to ,henry ,george's ,progress and ,poverty1 or ,william ,morris' ,news from ,nowhere4 ,of course1 ,i am not blaming ,moses and the ,prophets3 they could only tell us what they knew4 ,the ,ten ,commandments have been effusively praised4 ,there is nothing in those ,commandments to restrain the sweater1 the rack-renter1 the jerry-builder1 the slum landlord1 the usurer1 the liar1 the libertine1 the gambler1 the drunkard1 the wife-beater1 the slave-owner1 the religious persecutor1 the maker of wheat and cotton rings1 the fox-hunter1 the bird-slayer1 the ill-user of horses and dogs and cattle4 ,there is nothing about cultivating towards all beings a bounteous friendly mind1 nothing about liberty of speech and conscience1 nothing about the wrong of causing pain1 nor the virtue of causing happiness2 nothing against anger or revenge1 nor in favour of mercy and forgiveness4 ,of the ,ten ,commandments1 seven are designed as defences of the possessions and prerogatives of ,god and the property-owner4 ,as a moral code the ,commandments amount to very little4 ,moreover1 the ,bible teaches erroneous theories of history1 theology1 and science4 ,it relates childish stories of impossible miracles as facts4 ,it presents a low idea of ,god4 ,it gives an erroneous account of the relations between ,god and man4 ,it fosters international hatred4 ,it fosters religious pride and fanaticism4 ,its penal code is horrible4 ,its texts have been used for nearly two thousand years in defence of war1 slavery1 religious persecution1 and the slaughter of witches and of sorcerers4 ,in a hundred wars the ,christian soldiery have perpetrated massacre and outrage with the blood-bolstered phrases of the ,bible on their lips4 ,in a thousand trials the cruel witness of ,moses has sent innocent women to a painful death4 ,and always when an apology or a defence of the barbarities of human slavery was needed it was sought for and found in the ,holy ,bible4 ,renan says3 ,in all ancient ,christian literature there is not one word that tells the slave to revolt1 or that tells the master to liberate the slave1 or even that touches the problem of public right which arises out of slavery4 ,mr4 ,remsburg1 in his book1 ,the ,bible1 shows that in ,america slavery was defended by the churches on the authority of the sacred ,scriptures4 ,he says3 ,the ,fugitive ,slave law1 which made us a nation of kidnappers1 derived its authority from the ,new ,testament4 ,paul had established a precedent by returning a fugitive slave to his master4 ,mr4 ,remsburg quotes freely from the sermons and speeches of ,christian ministers to show the influence of the ,bible in upholding slavery4 ,here are some of his many examples3 ,the ,rev4 ,alexander ,campbell wrote3 ,there is not one verse in the ,bible inhibiting slavery1 but many regulating it4 ,it is not1 then1 we conclude1 immoral4 ,said the ,rev4 ,mr4 ,crawder1 ,methodist1 of ,virginia3 ,slavery is not only countenanced1 permitted1 and regulated by the ,bible1 but it was positively instituted by ,god ,himself4 ,i shall quote no more on the subject of slavery4 ,that inhuman institution was defended by the churches1 and the appeal of the churches was to the ,bible4 ,as to witchcraft1 the ,rev4 ,t4 ,rhondda ,williams says that in one century a hundred thousand women were killed for witchcraft in ,germany4 ,mr4 ,remsburg offers still more terrible evidence4 ,he says3 ,one thousand were burned at ,como in one year2 eight hundred were burned at ,wurzburg in one year2 five hundred perished at ,geneva in three months2 eighty were burned in a single village of ,savoy2 nine women were burned in a single fire at ,leith2 sixty were hanged in ,suffolk2 three thousand were legally executed during one session of ,parliament1 while thousands more were put to death by mobs2 ,remy1 a ,christian judge1 executed eight hundred2 six hundred were burned by one bishop at ,bamburg2 ,bogult burned six hundred at ,st4 ,cloud2 thousands were put to death by the ,lutherans of ,norway and ,sweden2 ,catholic ,spain butchered thousands2 ,presbyterians were responsible for the death of four thousand in ,scotland2 fifty thousand were sentenced to death during the reign of ,francis ,i42 seven thousand died at ,treves2 the number killed in ,paris in a few months is declared to have been almost infinite4 ,dr4 ,sprenger places the total number of executions for witchcraft in ,europe at nine millions4 ,for centuries witch fires burned in nearly every town of ,europe1 and this ,bible text1 ,thou shalt not suffer a witch to live1 was the torch that kindled them4 ,count up the terrible losses in the many religious wars of the world1 add in the massacres1 the martyrdoms1 the tortures for religion's sake2 put to the sum the long tale of witchcraft murders2 remember what slavery has been2 and then ask yourselves whether the ,book of ,books deserves all the eulogy that has been laid upon it4 ,i believe that to-day all manner of evil passions are fostered1 and all the finer motions of the human spirit are retarded1 by the habit of reading those savage old books of the ,jews as the word of ,god4 ,i do not think the ,bible1 in its present form1 is a fit book to place in the hands of children1 and it certainly is not a fit book to send out for the salvation of savage and ignorant people4 ,,our ,,heavenly ,,father ,the ,rev4 ,t4 ,rhondda ,williams1 in ,shall ,we ,understand the ,bible8 shows very clearly the gradual evolution of the idea of ,god amongst the ,jews from a lower to a higher conception4 ,having dealt with the lower conception1 let us now consider the higher4 ,the highest conception of ,god is supposed to be the ,christian conception of ,god as a ,heavenly ,father4 ,this conception credits the ,supreme ,being with supernal tenderness and mercy--,god is ,love4 ,that is a very lofty1 poetical1 and gratifying conception1 but it is open to one fatal objection--it is not true4 ,for this ,heavenly ,father1 whose nature is ,love1 is also the ,all-knowing and ,all-powerful ,creator of the world4 ,being ,all-powerful and ,all-knowing1 ,he has power1 and had always power1 to create any kind of world ,he chose4 ,being a ,god of ,love1 ,he would not choose to create a world in which hate and pain should have a place4 ,but there is evil in the world4 ,there has been always evil in the world4 ,why did a good and loving ,god allow evil to enter the world8 ,being ,all-,powerful and ,all-knowing1 ,he could have excluded evil4 ,being good1 ,he would hate evil4 ,being a ,god of ,love ,he would wish to exclude evil4 ,why1 then1 did ,he permit evil to enter8 ,the world is full of sorrow1 of pain1 of hatred and crime1 and strife and war4 ,all life is a perpetual deadly struggle for existence4 ,the law of nature is the law of prey4 ,if ,god is a tender1 loving1 ,all-knowing1 and ,all-powerful ,heavenly ,father1 why did ,he build a world on cruel lines8 ,why does ,he permit evil and pain to continue8 ,why does ,he not give the world peace1 and health1 and happiness1 and virtue8 ,in the ,new ,testament ,christ compares ,god1 as ,heavenly ,father to ,man1 to an earthly father1 representing ,god as more benevolent and tender3 ,how much more your ,father which is in heaven8 ,we may1 then1 on the authority of the ,founder of ,christianity1 compare the ,christian ,heavenly ,father with the human father4 ,and in doing so we shall find that ,christ was not justified in claiming that ,god is a better father to ,man than ,man is to his own children4 ,we shall find that the poetical and pleasing theory of a ,heavenly ,father1 and ,god of ,love is a delusion4 ,who among you1 if his child asks bread1 will give him a stone8 ,none amongst us4 ,but in the great famines1 as in ,india and ,russia1 ,god allows millions to die of starvation4 ,these ,his children pray to ,him for bread4 ,he leaves them to die4 ,is it not so8 ,god made the sunshine1 sweet children1 gracious women2 green hills1 blue seas2 music1 laughter1 love1 humour2 the palm tree1 the hawthorn buds1 the sweet-briar wind2 the nightingale and the rose4 ,but ,god made the earthquake1 the volcano1 the cyclone2 the shark1 the viper1 the tiger1 the octopus1 the poison berry2 and the deadly loathsome germs of cholera1 consumption1 typhoid1 smallpox1 and the black death4 ,god has permitted famine1 pestilence1 and war4 ,he has permitted martyrdom1 witch-burning1 slavery1 massacre1 torture1 and human sacrifice4 ,he has for millions of years looked down upon the ignorance1 the misery1 the crimes of men4 ,he has been at once the author and the audience of the pitiful1 unspeakable1 long-drawn and far-stretched tragedy of earthly life4 ,is it not so8 ,for thousands of years--perhaps for millions of years--the generations of men prayed to ,god for help1 for comfort1 for guidance4 ,god was deaf1 and dumb1 and blind4 ,men of science strove to read the riddle of life2 to guide and to succour their fellow creatures4 ,the priests and followers of ,god persecuted and slew these men of science4 ,god made no sign4 ,is it not so8 ,to-day men of science are trying to conquer the horrors of cancer and smallpox1 and rabies and consumption4 ,but not from ,burning ,bush nor ,holy ,hill1 nor by the mouth of priest or prophet does our ,heavenly ,father utter a word of counsel or encouragement4 ,millions of innocent dumb animals have been subjected to the horrible tortures of vivisection in the frantic endeavours of men to find a way of escape from the fell destroyers of the human race2 and ,god has allowed the piteous brutes to suffer anguish1 when ,he could have saved them by revealing to ,man the secret for which he so cruelly sought4 ,is it not so8 ,nature is red in beak and claw4 ,on land and in sea the animal creation chase and maim1 and slay and devour each other4 ,the beautiful swallow on the wing devours the equally beautiful gnat4 ,the graceful flying-fish1 like a fair white bird1 goes glancing above the blue magnificence of the tropical seas4 ,his flight is one of terror2 he is pursued by the ravenous dolphin4 ,the ichneumon-fly lays its eggs under the skin of the caterpillar4 ,the eggs are hatched by the warmth of the caterpillar's blood4 ,they produce a brood of larvae which devour the caterpillar alive4 ,a pretty child dances on the village green4 ,her feet crush creeping things3 there is a busy ant or blazoned beetle1 with its back broken1 writhing in the dust1 unseen4 ,a germ flies from a stagnant pool1 and the laughing child1 its mother's darling1 dies dreadfully of diphtheria4 ,a tidal wave rolls landward1 and twenty thousand human beings are drowned1 or crushed to death4 ,a volcano bursts suddenly into eruption1 and a beautiful city is a heap of ruins1 and its inhabitants are charred or mangled corpses4 ,and the ,heavenly ,father1 who is ,love1 has power to save1 and makes no sign4 ,is it not so8 ,blindness1 epilepsy1 leprosy1 madness1 fall like a dreadful blight upon a myriad of ,god's children1 and the ,heavenly ,father gives neither guidance nor consolation4 ,only man helps man4 ,only man pities2 only man tries to save4 ,millions of harmless women have been burned as witches4 ,god1 our ,heavenly ,father1 has power to save them4 ,he allows them to suffer and die4 ,god knew that those women were being tortured and burnt on a false charge4 ,he knew that the infamous murders were in ,his name4 ,he knew that the whole fabric of crime was due to the human reading of ,his revelation to man4 ,he could have saved the women2 ,he could have enlightened their persecutors2 ,he could have blown away the terror1 the cruelty1 and the ignorance of ,his priests and worshippers with a breath4 ,and ,he was silent4 ,he allowed the armies of poor women to be tortured and murdered in ,his name4 ,is it not so8 ,will you1 then1 compare the ,heavenly ,father with a father among men8 ,is there any earthly father who would allow his children to suffer as ,god allows ,man to suffer8 ,if a man had knowledge and power to prevent or to abolish war and ignorance and hunger and disease2 if a man had the knowledge and the power to abolish human error and human suffering and human wrong and did not do it1 we should call him an inhuman monster1 a cruel fiend4 ,is it not so8 ,but ,god has knowledge and power1 and we are asked to regard ,him as a ,heavenly ,father1 and a ,god of infinite wisdom1 and infinite mercy1 and infinite love4 ,the ,christians used to tell us1 and some still tell us1 that this ,heavenly ,father of infinite love and mercy would doom the creatures ,he had made to ,hell--for their sins4 ,that1 having created us imperfect1 ,he would punish our imperfections with everlasting torture in a lake of everlasting fire4 ,they used to tell us that this good ,god allowed a ,devil to come on earth and tempt man to his ruin4 ,they used to say this ,devil would win more souls than ,christ could win3 that there should be more goats than sheep4 ,to escape from these horrible theories1 the ,christians 7some of them7 have thrown over the doctrines of ,hell and the ,devil4 ,but without a ,devil how can we maintain a belief in a ,god of love and kindness8 ,with a good ,god1 and a bad ,god 7or ,devil71 one might get along2 for then the good might be ascribed to ,god1 and the evil to the ,devil4 ,and that is what the old ,persians did in their doctrine of ,ormuzd and ,ahrimann4 ,but with no ,devil the belief in a merciful and loving ,heavenly ,father becomes impossible4 ,if ,god blesses1 who curses8 ,if ,god saves1 who damns8 ,if ,god helps1 who harms8 ,this belief in a ,heavenly ,father1 like the belief in the perfection of the ,bible1 drives its votaries into weird and wonderful positions4 ,for example1 a ,christian wrote to me about an animal called the aye-aye4 ,he said3 ,there is a little animal called an aye-aye4 ,this animal has two hands4 ,each hand has five fingers4 ,the peculiar thing about these hands is that the middle finger is elongated a great deal--it is about twice as long as the others4 ,this is to enable it to scoop a special sort of insect out of special cracks in the special trees it frequents4 ,now1 how did the finger begin to elongate8 ,a little lengthening would be absolutely no good1 as the cracks in the trees are #b inches or #c inches deep4 ,it must have varied from the ordinary length to one twice as long at once4 ,there is no other way4 ,where does natural selection come in8 ,in this1 as in scores of other instances1 it shows the infinite goodness of ,god4 ,now1 how does the creation of this long finger show the infinite goodness of ,god8 ,the infinite goodness of ,god to whom8 ,to the animal whose special finger enables him to catch the insect8 ,then what about the insect8 ,where does he come in8 ,does not the long finger of the animal show the infinite badness of ,god to the insect8 ,what of the infinite goodness of ,god in teaching the cholera microbe to feed on man8 ,what of the infinite goodness of ,god in teaching the grub of the ichneumon-fly to eat up the cabbage caterpillar alive8 ,i see no infinite goodness here1 but only the infinite foolishness of sentimental superstition4 ,if a man fell into the sea1 and saw a shark coming1 ,i cannot fancy him praising the infinite goodness of ,god in giving the shark so large a mouth4 ,the greyhound's speed is a great boon to the greyhound2 but it is no boon to the hare4 ,but this theory of a merciful1 and loving ,heavenly ,father is vital to the ,christian religion4 ,destroy the idea of the ,heavenly ,father1 who is ,love1 and ,christianity is a heap of ruins4 ,for there is no longer a benevolent ,god to build our hopes upon2 and ,jesus ,christ1 whose glory is a newer revelation of ,god1 has not revealed ,him truly1 as ,he is1 but only as ,man fain would believe ,him to be4 ,and ,i claim that this ,heavenly ,father is a myth3 that in face of a knowledge of life and the world we cannot reasonably believe in ,him4 ,there is no ,heavenly ,father watching tenderly over us1 ,his children4 ,he is the baseless shadow of a wistful human dream4 ,,prayer ,,and ,,praise ,as to prayer and praise4 ,christians believe that ,god is just1 that ,he is all-wise and all-knowing4 ,if ,god is just1 will ,he not do justice without being entreated of men8 ,if ,god is all wise1 and knows all that happens1 will ,he not know what is for man's good better than man can tell ,him8 ,if ,he knows better than ,man knows what is best for man1 and if ,he is a just ,god and a loving ,father1 will ,he not do right without any advice or reminder from ,man8 ,if ,he is a just ,god1 will ,he give us less than justice unless we pray to ,him2 or will ,he give us more than justice because we importune ,him8 ,to ask ,god for ,his love1 or for ,his grace1 or for any worldly benefit seems to me unreasonable4 ,if ,god knows we need ,his grace1 or if ,he knows we need some help or benefit1 ,he will give it to us if we deserve it4 ,if we do not deserve it1 or do not need what we ask for1 it would not be just nor wise of ,him to grant our prayer4 ,to pray to ,god is to insult ,him4 ,what would a man think if his children knelt and begged for his love or for their daily bread8 ,he would think his children showed a very low conception of their father's sense of duty and affection4 ,then ,christians think ,god answers prayer4 ,how can they think that8 ,in the many massacres1 and famines1 and pestilences has ,god answered prayer8 ,as we learn more and more of the laws of ,nature we put less and less reliance on the effect of prayer4 ,when fever broke out1 men used to run to the priest3 now they run to the doctor4 ,in old times when plague struck a city1 the priests marched through the streets bearing the ,host1 and the people knelt to pray2 now the authorities serve out soap and medicine and look sharply to the drains4 ,and yet there still remains a superstitious belief in prayer1 and most surprising are some of its manifestations4 ,for instance1 ,i went recently to see ,wilson ,barrett in ,the ,silver ,king4 ,wilfred ,denver1 a drunken gambler1 follows a rival to kill him4 ,he does not kill him1 but he thinks he has killed him4 ,he flies from justice4 ,now this man ,denver leaves ,london by a fast train for ,liverpool4 ,between ,london and ,rugby he jumps out of the train1 and1 after limping many miles1 goes to an inn1 orders dinner and a private room1 and asks for the evening paper4 ,while he waits for the paper he kneels down and prays to ,god1 for the sake of wife and children1 to allow him to escape4 ,and1 directly after1 in comes a girl with a paper1 and ,denver reads how the train he rode in caught fire1 and how all the passengers in the first three coaches were burnt to cinders4 ,down goes ,denver on his knees1 and thanks ,god for listening to his prayer4 ,and not a soul in the audience laughed4 ,god1 to allow a murderer to escape from the law1 has burnt to death a lot of innocent passengers1 and ,wilfred ,denver is piously grateful4 ,and nobody laughed6 ,but ,christians tell us they know that prayer is efficacious4 ,and to them it may be so in some measure4 ,perhaps1 if a man pray for strength to resist temptation1 or for guidance in time of perplexity1 and if he have faith1 his prayer shall avail him something4 ,why8 ,not because ,god will hear1 or answer1 but for two natural reasons4 ,first1 the act of prayer is emotional1 and so calms the man who prays1 for much of his excitement is worked off4 ,it is so when a sick man groans3 it eases his pain4 ,it is so when a woman weeps3 it relieves her overcharged heart4 ,secondly1 the act of prayer gives courage or confidence1 in proportion to the faith of him that prays4 ,if a man has to cross a deep ravine by a narrow plank1 and if his heart fail him1 and he prays for ,god's help1 believing that he will get it1 he will walk his plank with more confidence4 ,if he prays for help against a temptation1 he is really appealing to his own better nature2 he is rousing up his dormant faculty of resistance and desire for righteousness1 and so rises from his knees in a sweeter and calmer frame of mind4 ,for myself1 ,i never pray1 and never feel the need of prayer4 ,and though ,i admit1 as above1 that it may have some present advantage1 yet ,i am inclined to think that it is bought too dearly at the price of a decrease in our self-reliance4 ,i do not think it is good for a man to be always asking for help1 for benefits1 or for pardon4 ,it seems to me that such a habit must tend to weaken character4 ,he prayeth best who loveth best all things both great and small4 ,it is better to work for the general good1 to help our weak or friendless fellow-creatures1 than to pray for our own grace1 or benefit1 or pardon4 ,work is nobler than prayer1 and far more dignified4 ,and as to praise1 ,i cannot imagine the ,creator of the ,universe wanting men's praise4 ,does a wise man prize the praise of fools8 ,does a strong man value the praise of the weak8 ,does any man of wisdom and power care for the applause of his inferiors8 ,we make ,god into a puny man1 a man full of vanity and love of approbation1 when we confer on ,him the impertinence of our prayers and our adoration4 ,while there is so much grief and misery and unmerited and avoidable suffering in the world1 it is pitiful to see the ,christian millions squander such a wealth of time and energy and money on praise and prayer4 ,if you were a human father1 would you rather your children praised you and neglected each other1 or that brother should stand by brother and sister cherish sister8 ,then how much more your ,father which is in ,heaven8 ,twelve millions of our ,british people on the brink of starvation6 ,in ,christian ,england hundreds of thousands of thieves1 knaves1 idlers1 drunkards1 cowards1 and harlots2 and fortunes spent on churches and the praise of ,god4 ,if the ,bible had not habituated us to the idea of a barbarous ,god who was always ravenous for praise and sacrifice1 we could not tolerate the mockery of ,divine ,service by well-fed and respectable ,christians in the midst of untaught ignorance1 unchecked roguery1 unbridled vice1 and the degradation and defilement and ruin of weak women and little children4 ,seven thousand pounds to repair a chapel to the praise and glory of ,god1 and under its very walls you may buy a woman's soul for a few pieces of silver4 ,i cannot imagine a ,god who would countenance such a religion4 ,i cannot understand why ,christians are not ashamed of it4 ,to me the national affectation of piety and holiness resembles a white shirt put on over a dirty skin4 ,,the ,,new ,,testament ,,the ,,resurrection ,,value ,,of ,,the ,,evidence ,,in ,,law ,christianity as a religion must1 ,i am told1 stand or fall with the claims that ,christ was divine1 and that ,he rose from the dead and ascended into ,heaven4 ,archdeacon ,wilson1 in a sermon at ,rochdale1 described the divinity and ,resurrection of ,christ as the central doctrines of ,christianity4 ,the question we have to consider here is the question of whether these central doctrines are true4 ,christians are fond of saying that the ,resurrection is one of the best attested facts in history4 ,i hold that the evidence for the ,resurrection would not be listened to in a court of law1 and is quite inadmissible in a court of cool and impartial reason4 ,first of all1 then1 what is the fact which this evidence is supposed to prove8 ,the fact alleged is a most marvellous miracle1 and one upon which a religion professed by some hundreds of millions of human beings is founded4 ,the fact alleged is that nearly two thousand years ago ,god came into the world as a man1 that ,he was known as ,jesus of ,nazareth1 that ,he was crucified1 died upon the cross1 was laid in a tomb1 and on the third day came to life again1 left ,his tomb1 and subsequently ascended into ,heaven4 ,the fact alleged1 then1 is miraculous and important1 and the evidence in proof of such a fact should be overwhelmingly strong4 ,we should demand stronger evidence in support of a thing alleged to have happened a thousand years ago than we should demand in support of a fact alleged to have happened yesterday4 ,the ,resurrection is alleged to have happened eighteen centuries ago4 ,we should demand stronger evidence in support of an alleged fact which was outside human experience than we should demand in support of a fact common to human experience4 ,the incarnation of a ,god in human form1 the resurrection of a man or a ,god from the dead1 are facts outside human experience4 ,we should demand stronger evidence in support of an alleged fact when the establishment of that fact was of great importance to millions of men and women1 than we should demand when the truth or falsity of the alleged fact mattered very little to anybody4 ,the alleged fact of the ,resurrection is of immense importance to hundreds of millions of people4 ,we should demand stronger evidence in support of an alleged fact when many persons were known to have strong political1 sentimental1 or mercenary motives for proving the fact alleged1 than we should demand when no serious interest would be affected by a decision for or against the fact alleged4 ,there are millions of men and women known to have strong motives--sentimental1 political1 or mercenary--for proving the verity of the ,resurrection4 ,on all these counts we are justified in demanding the strongest of evidence for the alleged fact of ,christ's resurrection from the dead4 ,the more abnormal or unusual the occurrence1 the weightier should be the evidence of its truth4 ,if a man told a mixed company that ,captain ,webb swam the ,english ,channel1 he would have a good chance of belief4 ,the incident happened but a few years ago2 it was reported in all the newspapers of the day4 ,it is not in itself an impossible thing for a man to do4 ,but if the same man told the same audience that five hundred years ago an ,irish sailor had swum from ,holyhead to ,new ,york1 his statement would be received with less confidence4 ,because five centuries is a long time1 there is no credible record of the feat1 and we cannot believe any man capable of swimming about four thousand miles4 ,let us look once more at the statement made by the believers in the ,resurrection4 ,we are asked to believe that the all-powerful eternal ,god1 the ,god who created twenty millions of suns1 came down to earth1 was born of a woman1 was crucified1 was dead1 was laid in a tomb for three days1 and then came to life again1 and ascended into ,heaven4 ,what is the nature of the evidence produced in support of this tremendous miracle8 ,is there any man or woman alive who has seen ,god8 ,no4 ,is there any man or woman alive who has seen ,christ8 ,no4 ,there is no human being alive who can say that ,god exists or that ,christ exists4 ,the most they can say is that they believe that ,god and ,christ exist4 ,no historian claims that any ,god has been seen on earth for nearly nineteen centuries4 ,the ,christians deny the assertions of all other religions as to divine visits2 and all the other religions deny their assertions about ,god and ,christ4 ,there is no reason why ,god should have come down to earth1 to be born of a woman1 and die on the cross4 ,he could have convinced and won over mankind without any such act4 ,he has not convinced or won over mankind by that act4 ,not one-third of mankind are professing ,christians to-day1 and of those not one in ten is a true ,christian and a true believer4 ,the ,resurrection1 therefore1 seems to have been unreasonable1 unnecessary1 and futile4 ,it is also contrary to science and to human experience4 ,what is the nature of the evidence8 ,the common idea of the man in the street is the idea that the ,gospels were written by ,matthew1 ,mark1 ,luke1 and ,john2 that ,matthew1 ,mark1 ,luke1 and ,john were contemporaries of ,christ2 and that the ,gospels were written and circulated during the lives of the authors4 ,there is no evidence to support these beliefs4 ,there is no evidence1 outside the ,new ,testament1 that any of the ,apostles ever existed4 ,we know nothing about ,paul1 ,peter1 ,john1 ,mark1 ,luke1 or ,matthew1 except what is told in the ,new ,testament4 ,outside the ,testament there is not a word of historical evidence of the divinity of ,christ1 of the ,virgin ,birth1 of the ,resurrection or ,ascension4 ,therefore it is obvious that1 before we can be expected to believe the tremendous story of the ,resurrection1 we must be shown overwhelming evidence of the authenticity of the ,scriptures4 ,before you can prove your miracle you have to prove your book4 ,suppose the case to come before a judge4 ,let us try to imagine what would happen3 ,,counsel3 ,m'lud1 may it please your ludship4 ,it is stated by ,paul of ,tarsus that he and others worked miracles-- ,,the ,,judge3 ,do you intend to call ,paul of ,tarsus8 ,,counsel3 ,no1 m'lud4 ,he is dead4 ,,judge3 ,did he make a proper sworn deposition8 ,,counsel3 ,no1 m'lud4 ,but some of his letters are extant1 and ,i propose to put them in4 ,,judge3 ,are these letters affidavits8 ,are they witnessed and attested8 ,,counsel3 ,no1 m'lud4 ,,judge3 ,are they signed8 ,,counsel3 ,no1 m'lud4 ,,judge3 ,are they in the handwriting of this ,paul of ,tarsus8 ,,counsel3 ,no1 m'lud4 ,they are copies2 the originals are lost4 ,,judge3 ,who was ,paul of ,tarsus8 ,,counsel3 ,m'lud1 he was the apostle to the ,gentiles4 ,,judge3 ,you intend to call some of these ,gentiles8 ,,counsel3 ,no1 m'lud4 ,there are none living4 ,,judge3 ,but you don't mean to1 say--how long has this shadowy witness1 ,paul of ,tarsus1 been dead8 ,,counsel3 ,not two thousand years1 m'lud4 ,,judge3 ,thousand years dead8 ,can you bring evidence to prove that he was ever alive8 ,,counsel3 ,circumstantial1 m'lud4 ,,judge3 ,i cannot allow you to read the alleged statements of a hypothetical witness who is acknowledged to have been dead for nearly two thousand years4 ,i cannot admit the alleged letters of ,paul as evidence4 ,,counsel3 ,i shall show that the act of resurrection was witnessed by one ,mary ,magdalene1 by a ,roman soldier-- ,,judge3 ,what is the soldier's name8 ,,counsel3 ,i don't know1 m'lud4 ,,judge3 ,call him4 ,,counsel3 ,he is dead1 m'lud4 ,,judge3 ,deposition8 ,,counsel3 ,no1 m'lud4 ,,judge3 ,strike out his evidence4 ,call ,mary ,magdalene4 ,,counsel3 ,she is dead1 m'lud4 ,but ,i shall show that she told the disciples-- ,,judge3 ,what she told the disciples is not evidence4 ,,counsel3 ,well1 m'lud1 ,i shall give the statements of ,matthew1 ,mark1 ,luke1 and ,john4 ,matthew states very plainly that-- ,,judge3 ,of course1 you intend to call ,matthew8 ,,counsel3 ,no1 m'lud4 ,he is--he is dead4 ,,judge3 ,it seems to me1 that to prove this resurrection you will have to perform a great many more4 ,are ,mark and ,john dead1 also8 ,,counsel3 ,yes1 m'lud4 ,,judge3 ,who were they8 ,,counsel3 ,i--,i don't know1 m'lud4 ,,judge3 ,these statements of theirs1 to which you allude3 are they in their own handwriting8 ,,counsel3 ,may it please your ludship1 they did not write them4 ,the statements are not given as their own statements1 but only as statements according to them4 ,the statements are really copies of translations of copies of translations of statements supposed to be based upon what someone told ,matthew1 and-- ,,judge3 ,who copied and translated1 and re-copied and re-translated1 this hearsay evidence8 ,,counsel3 ,i do not know1 m'lud4 ,,judge3 ,were the copies seen and revised by the authors8 ,did they correct the proofs8 ,,counsel3 ,i don't know1 m'lud4 ,,judge3 ,don't know8 ,why8 ,,counsel3 ,there is no evidence that the documents had ever been heard of until long after the authors were dead4 ,,judge3 ,i never heard of such a case4 ,i cannot allow you to quote these papers4 ,they are not evidence4 ,have you any witnesses8 ,,counsel3 ,no1 m'lud4 ,that fancy dialogue about expresses the legal value of the evidence for this important miracle4 ,but1 legal value not being the only value1 let us now consider the evidence as mere laymen4 ,,the ,,gospel ,,witnesses ,as men of the world1 with some experience in sifting and weighing evidence1 what can we say about the evidence for the ,resurrection8 ,in the first place1 there is no acceptable evidence outside the ,new ,testament1 and the ,new ,testament is the authority of the ,christian ,church4 ,in the second place1 there is nothing to show that the ,gospels were written by eye-witnesses of the alleged fact4 ,in the third place1 the ,apostle ,paul was not an eye-witness of the alleged fact4 ,in the fourth place1 although there is some evidence that some ,gospels were known in the first century1 there is no evidence that the ,gospels as we know them were then in existence4 ,in the fifth place1 even supposing that the existing ,gospels and the ,epistles of ,paul were originally composed by men who knew ,christ1 and that these men were entirely honest and capable witnesses1 there is no certainty that what they wrote has come down to us unaltered4 ,the only serious evidence of the ,resurrection being in the books of the ,new ,testament1 we are bound to scrutinise those books closely1 as on their testimony the case for ,christianity entirely depends4 ,who1 then1 are the witnesses8 ,they are the authors of the ,gospels1 the ,acts1 and the ,epistles of ,peter and of ,paul4 ,who were these authors8 ,matthew and ,john are supposed to have been disciples of ,christ2 but were they8 ,i should say ,matthew certainly was not contemporary with ,jesus1 for in the last chapter of the ,gospel according to ,matthew we read as follows3 ,now while they were going behold some of the guard came into the city1 and told unto the chief priests all the things that were come to pass4 ,and when they were assembled with the elders1 and had taken counsel1 they gave large money unto the soldiers1 saying1 ,say yet his disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept4 ,and if this come to the governor's ears1 we will persuade him1 and rid you of care4 ,so they took the money1 and did as they were taught3 and this saying was spread abroad among the ,jews1 and continueth until this day4 ,matthew tells us that the saying continueth until this day4 ,which day8 ,the day on which ,matthew is writing or speaking4 ,now1 a man does not say of a report or belief that it continueth until this day unless that report or belief originated a long time ago1 and the use of such a phrase suggests that ,matthew told or repeated the story after a lapse of many years4 ,that apart1 there is no genuine historical evidence1 outside the ,new ,testament1 that such men as ,paul1 ,peter1 ,matthew1 ,mark1 ,luke1 and ,john ever existed4 ,neither can it be claimed that ,matthew1 ,mark1 ,luke and ,john actually wrote the ,gospels which bear their names4 ,these ,gospels are called the ,gospel according to ,matthew1 the ,gospel according to ,mark1 the ,gospel according to ,luke1 and the ,gospel according to ,john4 ,they were1 then1 ,gospels condensed1 paraphrased1 or copied from some older ,gospels1 or they were ,gospels taken down from dictation1 or composed from the verbal statements of the men to whom they were attributed4 ,thus it appears that the ,gospels are merely reports or copies of some verbal or written statements made by four men of whom there is no historic record whatever4 ,how are we to know that these men ever lived8 ,how are we to know that they were correctly reported1 if they ever spoke or wrote8 ,how can we rely upon such evidence after nineteen hundred years1 and upon a statement of facts so important and so marvellous8 ,the same objection applies to the evidence of ,peter and of ,paul4 ,many critics and scholars deny the existence of ,peter and ,paul4 ,there is no trustworthy evidence to oppose to that conclusion4 ,that by the way4 ,let us now examine the evidence given in these men's names4 ,the earliest witness is ,paul4 ,paul does not corroborate the ,gospel writers' statements as to the life or the teachings of ,christ2 but he does vehemently assert that ,christ rose from the dead4 ,what is ,paul's evidence worth8 ,he did not see ,christ crucified4 ,he did not see ,his dead body4 ,he did not see ,him quit the tomb4 ,he did not see ,him in the flesh after ,he had quitted the tomb4 ,he was not present when ,he ascended into ,heaven4 ,therefore ,paul is not an eye-witness of the acts of ,christ1 nor of the death of ,christ1 nor of the ,resurrection of ,christ1 nor of the ,ascension of ,christ4 ,if ,paul ever lived1 which none can prove and many deny1 his evidence for the ,resurrection was only hearsay evidence4 ,paul1 in the ,epistle to the ,corinthians1 says that after ,his ,resurrection ,christ was seen of about five hundred persons2 of whom the great part remain unto this present1 but some are fallen asleep4 ,but none of the ,gospels mentions this five hundred1 nor does ,paul give the name of any one of them1 nor is the testimony of any one of them preserved1 in the ,testament or elsewhere4 ,now1 let us remember how difficult it was to disprove the statements of the claimant in the ,tichborne ,case1 although the trial took place in the lifetime of the claimant1 and although most of the witnesses knew the real ,roger ,tichborne well2 and let us also bear in mind that many critics and scholars dispute the authorship of ,shakespeare's plays1 as to which strong contemporary evidence is forthcoming1 and then let us ask ourselves whether we shall be justified in believing such a marvellous story as this of the ,resurrection upon the evidence of men whose existence cannot be proved1 and in support of whose statements there is not a scrap of historical evidence of any kind4 ,nor is this all4 ,the stories of the ,resurrection as told in the ,gospels are full of discrepancies1 and are rendered incredible by the interpolation of miraculous incidents4 ,let us begin with ,matthew4 ,did ,matthew see ,christ crucified8 ,did ,matthew see ,christ's dead body8 ,did ,matthew see ,christ quit the tomb8 ,did ,matthew see ,christ in the flesh and alive after ,his ,resurrection8 ,did ,matthew see ,christ ascend into ,heaven8 ,matthew nowhere says so4 ,nor is it stated by any other writer in the ,testament that ,matthew saw any of these things4 ,no3 ,matthew nowhere gives evidence in his own name4 ,only1 in the ,gospel according to ,matthew it is stated that such things did happen4 ,matthew's account of the ,resurrection and the incidents connected therewith differs from the accounts in the other ,gospels4 ,the story quoted above from ,matthew as to the bribing of ,roman soldiers by the priests to circulate the falsehood about the stealing of ,christ's body by ,his disciples is not alluded to by ,mark1 ,luke1 or ,john4 ,matthew1 in his account of the fact of the ,resurrection1 says that there was an earthquake when the angel rolled away the stone4 ,in the other ,gospels there is no word of this earthquake4 ,but not in any of the ,gospels is it asserted that any man or woman saw ,jesus leave the tomb4 ,the story of ,his actual rising from the dead was first told by some woman1 or women1 who said they had seen an angel1 or angels1 who had declared that ,jesus was risen4 ,there is not an atom of evidence that these young men who told the story were angels4 ,there is not an atom of evidence that they were not men1 nor that they had not helped to revive or to remove the swooned or dead ,jesus4 ,stress has been laid upon the presence of the ,roman guard4 ,the presence of such a guard is improbable4 ,but if the guard was really there1 it might have been as easily bribed to allow the body to be removed1 as ,matthew suggests that it was easily bribed to say that the body had been stolen4 ,matthew says that after the ,resurrection the disciples were ordered to go to ,galilee4 ,mark says the same4 ,luke says they were commanded not to leave ,jerusalem4 ,john says they did go to ,galilee4 ,so1 again1 with regard to the ,ascension4 ,luke and ,mark say that ,christ went up to ,heaven4 ,matthew and ,john do not so much as mention the ,ascension4 ,and it is curious1 as ,mr4 ,foote points out1 that the two apostles who were supposed to have been disciples of ,christ and might be supposed to have seen the ,ascension1 if it took place1 do not mention it4 ,the story of the ,ascension comes to us from ,luke and ,mark1 who were not present4 ,jesus rose from the dead on the third day4 ,yet ,luke makes ,him say to the thief on the cross3 ,verily ,i say unto thee1 to-day shalt thou be with me in ,paradise4 ,matthew1 ,mark1 and ,john do not repeat this blunder4 ,there are many other differences and contradictions in the ,gospel versions of the ,resurrection and ,ascension2 but as ,i do not regard those differences as important1 ,i shall pass them by4 ,whether or not the evidence of these witnesses be contradictory1 the facts remain that no one of them states that he knows anything about the matter of his own knowledge2 that no one of them claims to have himself heard the story of the woman1 or the women1 or the angels2 that no one of them states that the women saw1 or said they saw1 ,christ leave the tomb4 ,as for the alleged appearances of ,christ to the disciples1 those appearances may be explained in several ways4 ,we may say that ,christ really had risen from the dead1 and was miraculously present2 we may say that the accounts of ,his miraculous appearance are legends2 or we may say that ,his reappearance was not miraculous at all1 for ,he had never died1 but only swooned4 ,as ,huxley remarked1 when we are asked to consider an alleged case of resurrection1 the first essential fact to make sure of is the fact of death4 ,before we argue as to whether a dead man came to life1 let us have evidence that he was dead4 ,considering the story of the crucifixion as historical1 it cannot be said that the evidence of ,christ's death is conclusive4 ,death by crucifixion was generally a slow death4 ,men often lingered on the cross for days before they died4 ,now1 ,christ was only on the cross for a few hours2 and ,pilate is reported as expressing surprise when told that he was dead4 ,to make sure that the other prisoners were dead1 the soldiers broke their legs4 ,but they did not break ,christ's legs4 ,to be sure1 the ,apostle ,john reports that a soldier pierced ,christ's side with a spear4 ,but the authors of the three synoptic ,gospels do not mention this wounding with the spear4 ,neither do they allude to the other story told by ,john1 as to the scepticism of ,thomas1 and his putting his hand into the wound made by the spear4 ,it is curious that ,john is the only one to tell both stories3 so curious that both stories look like interpellations4 ,but even if we accept the story of the spear thrust1 it affords no proof of death1 for ,john adds that there issued from the wound blood and water3 and blood does not flow from wounds inflicted after death4 ,then1 when the body of ,christ was taken down from the cross1 it was not examined by any doctor1 but was taken away by friends1 and laid in a cool sepulchre4 ,what evidence is forthcoming that ,christ did not recover from a swoon1 and that ,his friends did not take ,him away in the night8 ,remember1 we are dealing with probabilities in the absence of any exact knowledge of the facts1 and consider which is more probable--that a man had swooned and recovered2 or that a man1 after lying for three days dead1 should come to life again1 and walk away8 ,apologists will say that the probabilities in the case of a man do not hold in the case of a ,god4 ,but there is no evidence at all that ,christ was ,god4 ,prove that ,christ was ,god1 and therefore that ,he was omnipotent1 and there is nothing impossible in the ,resurrection1 however improbable ,his death may seem4 ,even assuming that the ,gospels are historical documents1 the evidence for ,christ's death is unsatisfactory1 and that for ,his ,resurrection quite inadequate4 ,but is there any reason to regard the ,gospel stories of the death1 ,resurrection1 and ,ascension on of ,christ as historical8 ,i say that we have no surety that these stories have come down to us as they were originally compiled1 and we have strong reasons for concluding that these stories are mythical4 ,some two or three years ago the ,rev4 ,r4 ,horton said3 ,either ,christ was the ,son of ,god1 and one with ,god1 or ,he was a bad man1 or a madman4 ,there is no fourth alternative possible4 ,that is a strange statement to make1 but it is an example of the shifts to which apologists are frequently reduced4 ,no fourth alternative possible6 ,indeed there is2 and a fifth6 ,if a man came forward to-day1 and said he was the ,son of ,god1 and one with ,god1 we should conclude that he was an impostor or a lunatic4 ,but if a man told us that another man had said he was a god1 we should have what ,mr4 ,horton calls a fourth alternative open to us4 ,for we might say that the person who reported his speech to us had misunderstood him1 which would be a fourth alternative2 or that the person had wilfully misrepresented him1 which would be a fifth alternative4 ,so in the ,gospels4 ,nowhere have we a single word of ,christ's own writing4 ,his sayings come to us through several hands1 and through more than one translation4 ,it is folly1 then1 to assert that ,christ was ,god1 or that ,he was mad1 or an impostor4 ,so in the case of the ,gospel stories of the ,crucifixion1 the ,resurrection1 and ,ascension of ,christ4 ,many worthy people may suppose that in denying the facts stated in the ,gospels we are accusing ,st4 ,matthew and ,st4 ,john of falsehood4 ,but there is no certainty who ,st4 ,matthew and the others were4 ,there is no certainty that they wrote these stories4 ,even if they did write them1 they probably accepted them at second or third hand4 ,with the best faith in the world1 they may not have been competent judges of evidence4 ,and after they had done their best their testimony may have been added to or perverted by editors and translators4 ,looking at the ,gospels1 then1 as we should look at any other ancient documents1 what internal evidence do they afford in support of the suspicion that they are mythical8 ,in the first place1 the whole ,gospel story teems with miracles4 ,now1 as ,matthew ,arnold said1 miracles never happen4 ,science has made the belief in miracles impossible4 ,when we speak of the antagonism between religion and science1 it is this fact which we have in our mind3 that science has killed the belief in miracles1 and1 as all religions are built up upon the miraculous1 science and religion cannot be made to harmonise4 ,as ,huxley said3 ,the magistrate who listens with devout attention to the precept1 ,thou shalt not suffer a witch to live1 on ,sunday1 on ,monday dismisses1 as intrinsically absurd1 a charge of bewitching a cow brought against some old woman2 the superintendent of a lunatic asylum who substituted exorcism for rational modes of treatment1 would have but a short tenure of office2 even parish clerks doubt the utility of prayers for rain1 so long as the wind is in the east2 and an outbreak of pestilence sends men1 not to the churches1 but to the drains4 ,in spite of prayers for the success of our arms1 and ,te ,deums for victory1 our real faith is in big battalions and keeping our powder dry2 in knowledge of the science of warfare2 in energy1 courage1 and discipline4 ,in these1 as in all other practical affairs1 we act on the aphorism1 ,laborare est orare2 we admit that intelligent work is the only acceptable worship1 and that1 whether there be a ,supernature or not1 our business is with ,nature4 ,we have ceased to believe in miracles4 ,when we come upon a miracle in any historical document we feel not only that the miracle is untrue1 but also that its presence reduces the value of the document in which it is contained4 ,thus ,matthew ,arnold1 in ,literature and ,dogma1 after saying that we shall find ourselves inevitably led1 sooner or later1 to extend one rule to all miraculous stories1 and that the considerations which apply in other cases apply1 we shall most surely discover1 with even greater force in the case of ,bible miracles1 goes on to declare that this being so1 there is nothing one would more desire for a person or document one greatly values than to make them independent of miracles4 ,very well4 ,the ,gospels teem with miracles4 ,if we make the accounts of the death1 ,resurrection1 and ,ascension of ,christ independent of miracles1 we destroy those accounts completely4 ,to make the ,resurrection independent of miracles is to disprove the ,resurrection1 which is a miracle or nothing4 ,we must believe in miracles1 or disbelieve in the ,resurrection2 and miracles never happen4 ,we must believe miracles1 or disbelieve them4 ,if we disbelieve them1 we shall lose confidence in the verity of any document in proportion to the element of the miraculous which that document contains4 ,the fact that the ,gospels teem with miracles destroys the claim of the ,gospels to serious consideration as historic evidence4 ,take1 for example1 the account of the ,crucifixion in the ,gospel according to ,matthew4 ,while ,christ is on the cross from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour1 and when ,he dies1 behold1 the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom2 and the earth did quake2 and the rocks were rent2 and the tombs were opened2 and many bodies of the saints that had fallen asleep were raised2 and coming forth out of the tombs after ,his ,resurrection1 they entered into the holy city1 and appeared unto many4 ,mark mentions the rending of the veil of the temple1 but omits the darkness1 the earthquake1 and the rising of the dead saints from the tombs4 ,luke tells of the same phenomena as ,mark2 ,john says nothing about any of these things4 ,what conclusion can we come to1 then1 as to the story in the first ,gospel8 ,here is an earthquake and the rising of dead saints1 who quit their graves and enter the city1 and three out of the four ,gospel writers do not mention it4 ,neither do we hear another word from ,matthew on the subject4 ,the dead get up and walk into the city1 and are seen of many1 and we are left to wonder what happened to the risen saints1 and what effect their astounding apparition had upon the citizens who saw them4 ,did these dead saints go back to their tombs8 ,did the citizens receive them into their midst without fear1 or horror1 or doubt8 ,had this stupendous miracle no effect upon the ,jewish priests who had crucified ,christ as an impostor8 ,the ,gospels are silent4 ,history is as silent as the ,gospels4 ,from the fifteenth chapter of the first volume of ,gibbon's ,decline and ,fall of the ,roman ,empire ,i take the following passage3 ,but how shall we excuse the supine inattention of the ,pagan and philosophic world to those evidences which were presented by the hand of ,omnipotence1 not to their reason1 but to their senses8 ,during the age of ,christ1 of ,his ,apostles1 and of their first disciples1 the doctrine which they preached was confirmed by innumerable prodigies4 ,the lame walked1 the blind saw1 the sick were healed1 the dead were raised1 demons were expelled1 and the laws of ,nature were frequently suspended for the benefit of the ,church4 ,but the sages of ,greece and ,rome turned aside from the awful spectacle1 and pursuing the ordinary occupations of life and study1 appeared unconscious of any alterations in the moral or physical government of the world4 ,under the reign of ,tiberius the whole earth1 or at least a celebrated province of the ,roman ,empire1 was involved in a preternatural darkness of three hours4 ,even this miraculous event1 which ought to have excited the wonder1 the curiosity1 and the devotion of all mankind1 passed without notice in an age of science and history4 ,it happened during the lifetime of ,seneca and the elder ,pliny1 who must have experienced the immediate effects1 or received the earliest intelligence of the prodigy4 ,each of these philosophers1 in a laborious work1 has recorded all the great phenomena of ,nature1 earthquakes1 meteors1 comets1 and eclipses1 which his indefatigable curiosity could collect4 ,but the one and the other have omitted to mention the greatest phenomenon to which mortal eye has been witness since the creation of the globe4 ,a distinct chapter of ,pliny is designed for eclipses of an extraordinary nature and unusual duration2 but he contents himself with describing the singular defect of light which followed the murder of ,caesar1 when1 during the greatest part of the year1 the orb of the sun appeared pale and without splendour4 ,this season of obscurity1 which surely cannot be compared with the preternatural darkness of the ,passion1 had been already celebrated by most of the poets and historians of that memorable age4 ,no ,greek nor ,roman historian nor scientist mentioned that strange eclipse4 ,no ,jewish historian nor scientist mentioned the rending of the veil of the temple1 nor the rising of the saints from the dead4 ,nor do the ,jewish priests appear to have been alarmed or converted by these marvels4 ,confronted by this silence of all contemporary historians1 and by the silence of ,mark1 ,luke1 and ,john1 what are we to think of the testimony of ,matthew on these points8 ,surely we can only endorse the opinion of ,matthew ,arnold3 ,and the more the miraculousness of the story deepens1 as after the death of ,jesus1 the more does the texture of the incidents become loose and floating1 the more does the very air and aspect of things seem to tell us we are in wonderland4 ,jesus after his resurrection not known by ,mary ,magdalene1 taken by her for the gardener2 appearing in another form1 and not known by the two disciples going with him to ,emmaus and at supper with him there2 not known by ,his most intimate apostles on the borders of the ,sea of ,galilee2 and presently1 out of these vague beginnings1 the recognitions getting asserted1 then the ocular demonstrations1 the final commissions1 the ascension2 one hardly knows which of the two to call the most evident here1 the perfect simplicity and good faith of the narrators1 or the plainness with which they themselves really say to us ,behold a legend growing under your eyes6 ,behold a legend growing under your eyes6 ,now1 when we have to consider a miracle-story or a legend1 it behoves us to look1 if that be possible1 into the times in which that legend is placed4 ,what was the time spirit in the day when this legend arose8 ,what was the attitude of the general mind towards the miraculous8 ,to what stage of knowledge and science had those who created or accepted the myth attained8 ,these are points that will help us signally in any attempt to understand such a story as the ,gospel story of the ,resurrection4 ,,the ,,time ,,spirit ,,in ,,the ,,first ,,century ,a story emanating from a superstitious and unscientific people would be received with more doubt than a story emanating from people possessing a knowledge of science1 and not prone to accept stories of the marvellous without strict and full investigation4 ,a miracle story from an ,arab of the ,soudan would be received with a smile2 a statement of some occult mystery made by a ,huxley or a ,darwin would be accorded a respectful hearing and a serious criticism4 ,now1 the accounts of the ,resurrection in the ,gospels belong to the less credible form of statement4 ,they emanated from a credulous and superstitious people in an unscientific age and country4 ,the ,jews in the days of which the ,gospels are supposed to tell1 and the ,jews of ,old ,testament times1 were unscientific and superstitious people1 who believed in sorcery1 in witches1 in demons and angels1 and in all manner of miracles and supernatural agents4 ,we have only to read the ,scriptures to see that it was so4 ,but ,i shall quote here1 in support of my assertion1 the opinions taken by the author of ,supernatural ,religion from the works of ,dean ,milman and ,dr4 ,lightfoot4 ,in his ,history of ,christianity ,dean ,milman speaks of the ,jews as follows3 ,the ,jews of that period not only believed that the ,supreme ,being had the power of controlling the course of ,nature1 but that the same influence was possessed by multitudes of subordinate spirits1 both good and evil4 ,where the pious ,christian of the present day would behold the direct ,agency of the ,almighty1 the ,jews would invariably have interposed an angel as the author or ministerial agent in the wonderful transaction4 ,where the ,christian moralist would condemn the fierce passion1 the ungovernable lust1 or the inhuman temper1 the ,jew discerned the workings of diabolical possession4 ,scarcely a malady was endured1 or crime committed1 which was not traced to the operation of one of these myriad demons1 who watched every opportunity of exercising their malice in the sufferings and the sins of men4 ,read next the opinion of ,john ,lightfoot1 ,d4,d41 ,master of ,catherine ,hall1 ,cambridge3 444 ,let two things only be observed3 7#a7 ,that the nation under the ,second ,temple was given to magical arts beyond measure2 and 7#b7 that it was given to an easiness of believing all manner of delusions beyond measure444 ,it is a disputable case whether the ,jewish nation were more mad with superstition in matters of religion1 or with superstition in curious arts3 7#a7 ,there was not a people upon earth that studied or attributed more to dreams than they2 7#b7 there was hardly any people in the whole world that more used1 or were more fond of amulets1 charms1 mutterings1 exorcisms1 and all kinds of enchantments4 ,it is from this people1 mad with superstition in religion and in sorcery1 the most credulous people in the whole world1 a people destitute of the very rudiments of science1 as science is understood to-day--it is from this people that the unreasonable and impossible stories of the ,resurrection1 coloured and distorted on every page with miracles1 come down to us4 ,we do not believe that miracles happen now4 ,are we1 on the evidence of such a people1 to believe that miracles happened two thousand years ago8 ,we in ,england to-day do not believe that miracles happen now4 ,some of us believe1 or persuade ourselves that we believe1 that miracles did happen a few thousand years ago4 ,but amongst some peoples the belief in miracles still persists1 and wherever the belief in miracles is strongest we shall find that the people who believe are ignorant of physical science1 are steeped in superstition1 or are abjectly subservient to the authority of priests or fakirs4 ,scientific knowledge and freedom of thought and speech are fatal to superstition4 ,it is only in those times1 or amongst those people1 where ignorance is rampant1 or the priest is dominant1 or both1 that miracles are believed4 ,it will be urged that many educated ,englishmen still believe the ,gospel miracles4 ,that is true2 but it will be found in nearly all such cases that the believers have been mentally marred by the baneful authority of the ,church4 ,let a person once admit into his system the poisonous principle of faith1 and his judgment in religious matters will be injured for years1 and probably for life4 ,but let me here make clear what ,i mean by the poisonous principle of faith4 ,i mean1 then1 the deadly principle that we are to believe any statement1 historical or doctrinal1 without evidence4 ,thus we are to believe that ,christ rose from the dead because the ,gospels say so4 ,when we ask why we are to accept the ,gospels as true1 we are told because they are inspired by ,god4 ,when we ask who says that the ,gospels are inspired by ,god1 we are told that the ,church says so4 ,when we ask how the ,church knows1 we are told that we must have faith4 ,that is what ,i call a poisonous principle4 ,that is the poison which saps the judgment and perverts the human kindness of men4 ,the late ,dr4 ,carpenter wrote as follows3 ,it has been my business lately to inquire into the mental condition of some of the individuals who have reported the most remarkable occurrences4 ,i cannot--it would not be fair-- say all ,i could with regard to that mental condition2 but ,i can only say this1 that it all fits in perfectly well with the result of my previous studies upon the subject1 namely1 that there is nothing too strange to be believed by those who have once surrendered their judgment to the extent of accepting as credible things which common sense tells us are entirely incredible4 ,it is unwise and immoral to accept any important statement without proof4 ,,have ,,the ,,documents ,,been ,,tampered ,,with8 ,i come now to a phase of this question which ,i touch with regret4 ,it always pains me to acknowledge that any man1 even an adversary1 has acted dishonourably4 ,in this discussion ,i would1 if ,i could1 avoid the imputation of dishonesty to any person concerned in the foundation or adaptation of the ,christian religion4 ,but ,i am bound to point out the probability that the ,gospels have been tampered with by unscrupulous or over-zealous men4 ,that probability is very strong1 and very important4 ,in the first place1 it is too well known to make denial possible that many ,gospels have been rejected by the ,church as doubtful or as spurious4 ,in the second place1 some of the books in the accepted canon are regarded as of doubtful origin4 ,in the third place1 certain passages of the ,gospels have been relegated to the margin by the translators of the ,revised ,version of the ,new ,testament4 ,in the fourth place1 certain historic ,christian evidence--as the famous interpolation in ,josephus1 for instance--has been branded as forgeries by eminent ,christian scholars4 ,many of the ,christian fathers were holy men2 many priests have been1 and are1 honourable and sincere2 but it is notorious that in every ,church the world has ever known there has been a great deal of fraud and forgery and deceit4 ,i do not say this with any bitterness1 ,i do not wish to emphasise it2 but ,i must go so far as to show that the conduct of some of the early ,christians was of a character to justify us in believing that the ,scriptures have been seriously tampered with4 ,mosheim1 writing on this subject1 says3 ,a pernicious maxim which was current in the schools1 not only of the ,egyptians1 the ,platonists1 and the ,pythagoreans1 but also of the ,jews1 was very early recognised by the ,christians1 and soon found among them numerous patrons--namely1 that those who made it their business to deceive1 with a view of promoting the cause of truth1 were deserving rather of commendation than of censure4 ,and if we seek internal evidence in support of this charge we need go no further than ,st4 ,paul1 who is reported 7,rom4 iii4 #g7 as saying3 ,for if the truth of ,god hath more abounded through my lie unto ,his ,glory1 why yet am ,i also judged as a sinner8 ,i do not for a moment suppose that ,paul ever wrote those words4 ,but they are given as his in the ,epistle bearing his name4 ,i daresay they may be interpreted in more than one way3 my point is that they were interpreted in an evil way by many primitive ,christians1 who took them as a warranty that it was right to lie for the glory of ,god4 ,mosheim1 writing of the ,church of the fifth century1 alludes to the ,base audacity of those who did not blush to palm their own spurious productions on the great men of former times1 and1 even on ,christ ,himself and ,his ,apostles1 so that they might be able1 in the councils and in their books1 to oppose names against names and authorities against authorities4 ,the whole ,christian ,church was1 in this century1 overwhelmed with these disgraceful fictions4 ,dr4 ,giles speaks still more strongly4 ,he says3 ,but a graver accusation than that of inaccuracy or deficient authority lies against the writings which have come down to us from the second century4 ,there can be no doubt that great numbers of books were then written with no other view than to deceive the simple-minded multitude who at that time formed the great bulk of the ,christian community4 ,dean ,milman says3 ,it was admitted and avowed that to deceive into ,christianity was so valuable a service as to hallow deceit itself4 ,bishop ,fell says3 ,in the first ages of the ,church1 so extensive was the licence of forging1 so credulous were the people in believing1 that the evidence of transactions was grievously obscured4 ,john ,e4 ,remsburg1 author of the newly-published ,american book1 ,the ,bible1 says3 ,that these admissions are true1 that primitive ,christianity was propagated chiefly by falsehood1 is tacitly admitted by all ,christians4 ,they characterise as forgeries1 or unworthy of credit1 three-fourths of the early ,christian writings4 ,mr4 ,lecky1 the historian1 in his ,european ,morals1 writes in the following uncompromising style3 ,the very large part that must be assigned to deliberate forgeries in the early apologetic literature of the ,church we have already seen2 and no impartial reader can1 ,i think1 investigate the innumerable grotesque and lying legends that1 during the whole course of the ,middle ,ages1 were deliberately palmed upon mankind as undoubted facts1 can follow the history of the false decretals1 and the discussions that were connected with them1 or can observe the complete and absolute incapacity most ,catholic historians have displayed of conceiving any good thing in the ranks of their opponents1 or of stating with common fairness any consideration that can tell against their cause1 without acknowledging how serious and how inveterate has been the evil4 ,it is this which makes it so unspeakably repulsive to all independent and impartial thinkers1 and has led a great ,german historian 7,herder7 to declare1 with much bitterness1 that the phrase ,christian veracity deserves to rank with the phrase ,punic faith4 ,i could go on quoting such passages4 ,i could give specific instances of forgery by the dozen1 but ,i do not think it necessary4 ,it is sufficient to show that forgery was common1 and has been always common1 amongst all kinds of priests1 and that therefore we cannot accept the ,gospels as genuine and unaltered documents4 ,yet upon these documents rests the whole fabric of ,christianity4 ,professor ,huxley says3 ,there is no proof1 nothing more than a fair presumption1 that any one of the ,gospels existed1 in the state in which we find it in the authorised version of the ,bible1 before the second century1 or1 in other words1 sixty or seventy years after the events recorded4 ,and between that time and the date of the oldest extant manuscripts of the ,gospel there is no telling what additions and alterations and interpolations may have been made4 ,it may be said that this is all mere speculation1 but it is a good deal more4 ,as competent scholars and honest men1 our revisers have felt compelled to point out that such things have happened even since the date of the oldest known manuscripts4 ,the oldest two copies of the second ,gospel end with the eighth verse of the sixteenth chapter2 the remaining twelve verses are spurious1 and it is noteworthy that the maker of the addition has not hesitated to introduce a speech in which ,jesus promises ,his disciples that in ,my name shall they cast out devils4 ,the other passage rejected to the margin is still more instructive4 ,it is that touching apologue1 with its profound ethical sense1 of the woman taken in adultery--which1 if internal evidence were an infallible guide1 might well be affirmed to be a typical example of the teaching of ,jesus4 ,yet1 say the revisers1 pitilessly1 ,most of the ancient authorities omit ,john vii4 #ec--viii4 #aa4 ,now1 let any reasonable man ask himself this question3 if after an approximate settlement of the canon of the ,new ,testament1 and even later than the fourth or fifth centuries1 literary fabricators had the skill and the audacity to make such additions and interpolations as these1 what may they have done when no one had thought of a canon2 when oral tradition still unfixed1 was regarded as more valuable than such written records as may have existed in the latter portion of the first century8 ,or1 to take the other alternative1 if those who gradually settled the canon did not know of the oldest codices which have come down to us2 or1 if knowing them1 they rejected their authority1 what is to be thought of their competency as critics of the text8 ,since alterations have been made in the text of ,scripture we can never be certain that any particular text is genuine1 and this circumstance militates seriously against the value of the evidence for the ,resurrection4 ,,christianity ,,before ,,christ ,if the story of ,christ's life were true1 we should not expect to find that nearly all the principal events of that life had previously happened in the lives of some earlier god or gods1 long since acknowledged to be mythical4 ,if the ,gospel record were the only record of a god coming upon earth1 of a god born of a virgin1 of a god slain by men1 that record would seem to us more plausible than it will seem if we discover proof that other and earlier gods have been fabled to have come on earth1 to have been born of virgins1 to have lived and taught on earth1 and to have been slain by men4 ,because1 if the events related in the life of ,christ have been previously related as parts of the lives of earlier mythical gods1 we find ourselves confronted by the possibilities that what is mythical in one narrative may be mythical in another2 that if one god is a myth another god may be a myth2 that if #djj1jjj1jjj of ,buddhists have been deluded1 #bjj1jjj1jjj of ,christians may be deluded2 that if the events of ,christ's life were alleged to have happened before to another person1 they may have been adopted from the older story1 and made features of the new4 ,if ,christ was ,god--the omnipotent1 eternal1 and only ,god--come on earth1 ,he would not be likely to repeat acts1 to re-act the adventures of earlier and spurious gods2 nor would ,his divine teachings be mere shreds and patches made up of quotations1 paraphrases1 and repetitions of earlier teachings1 uttered by mere mortals1 or mere myths4 ,what are we to think1 then when we find that there are hardly any events in the life of ,christ which were not1 before ,his birth1 attributed to mythical gods2 that there are hardly any acts of ,christ's which may not be paralleled by acts attributed to mythical gods before ,his advent2 that there are hardly any important thoughts attributed to ,christ which had not been uttered by other men1 or by mythical gods1 in earlier times8 ,what are we to think if the facts be thus8 ,mr4 ,parsons1 in ,our ,sun ,god1 quotes the following passage from a ,latin work by ,st4 ,augustine3 ,again1 in that ,i said1 ,this is in our time the ,christian religion1 which to know and also follow is most sure and certain salvation1 it is affirmed in regard to this name1 not in regard to the sacred thing itself to which the name belongs4 ,for the sacred thing which is now called the ,christian religion existed in ancient times1 nor1 indeed1 was it absent from the beginning of the human race until the ,christ ,himself came in the flesh1 whence the true religion which already existed came to be called the ,christian4 ,so when1 after ,his resurrection and ascension to heaven1 the ,apostles began to preach and many believed1 it is thus written1 ,the followers were first called ,christians at ,antioch4 ,therefore ,i said1 ,this is in our time the ,christian religion1 not because it did not exist in earlier times1 but as having in later times received this particular name4 ,from ,eusebius1 the great ,christian historian1 ,mr4 ,parsons1 quotes as follows3 ,what is called the ,christian religion is neither new nor strange1 but--if it be lawful to testify as to the truth-- was known to the ancients4 ,mr4 ,arthur ,lillie1 in ,buddha and ,buddhism1 quotes ,m4 ,burnouf as saying3 ,history and comparative mythology are teaching every day more plainly that creeds grow slowly up4 ,none came into the world ready-made1 and as if by magic4 ,the origin of events is lost in the infinite4 ,a great ,indian poet has said3 ,the beginning of things evades us2 their end evades us also2 we see only the middle4 ,before ,darwin's day it was considered absurd and impious to talk of pre-,adamite man1 and it will still1 by many1 be held absurd and impious to talk of ,christianity before ,christ4 ,and yet the incidents of the life and death of ,christ1 the teachings of ,christ and ,his ,apostles1 and the rites and mysteries of the ,christian ,church can all be paralleled by similar incidents1 ethics1 and ceremonies embodied in religions long anterior to the birth of ,jesus4 ,christ is said to have been ,god come down upon the earth4 ,the idea of a god coming down upon the earth was quite an old and popular idea at the time when the ,gospels were written4 ,in the ,old ,testament ,god makes many visits to the earth2 and the instances in the ,greek1 ,roman1 and ,egyptian mythologies of gods coming amongst men and taking part in human affairs are well known4 ,christ is said to have been the ,son of ,god4 ,but the idea of a son-god is very much older than the ,christian religion4 ,christ is said to have been a redeemer1 and to have descended from a line of kings4 ,but the idea of a king's son as a redeemer is very much older than the ,christian religion4 ,christ is said to have been born of a virgin4 ,but many heroes before ,him were declared to have been born of virgins4 ,christ is said to have been born in a cave or stable while ,his parents were on a journey4 ,but this also was an old legend long before the ,christian religion4 ,christ is said to have been crucified4 ,but very many kings1 kings' sons1 son-gods1 and heroes had been crucified ages before ,him4 ,christ is said to have been a sacrifice offered up for the salvation of man4 ,but thousands and thousands of men before ,him had been slain as sacrifices for the general good1 or as atonements for general or particular sins4 ,christ is said to have risen from the dead4 ,but that had been said of other gods before ,him4 ,christ is said to have ascended into ,heaven4 ,but this also was a very old idea4 ,christ is said to have worked miracles4 ,but all the gods and saints of all the older religions were said to have worked miracles4 ,christ is said to have brought to men1 direct from ,heaven1 a new message of salvation4 ,but the message ,he brought was in nowise new4 ,christ is said to have preached a new ethic of mercy and peace and good-will to all men4 ,but this ethic had been preached centuries before ,his supposed advent4 ,the ,christians changed the ,sabbath from ,saturday to ,sunday4 ,sun-day is the day of the ,sun ,god4 ,christ's birthday was fixed on the #beth of ,december4 ,but the #beth of ,december is the day of the ,winter solstice--the birthday1 of ,apollo1 the ,sun ,god--and had been from time immemorial the birthday of the sun gods in all religions4 ,the ,egyptians1 ,persians1 ,greeks1 ,phoenicians1 and ,teutonic races all kept the #beth of ,december as the birthday of the ,sun ,god4 ,the ,christians departed from the monotheism of the ,jews1 and made their ,god a ,trinity4 ,the ,buddhists and the ,egyptians had ,holy ,trinities long before4 ,but whereas the ,christian ,trinity is unreasonable1 the older idea of the ,trinity was based upon a perfectly lucid and natural conception4 ,christ is supposed by many to have first laid down the ,golden ,rule1 ,do unto others as you would that they should do unto you4 ,but the ,golden ,rule was laid down centuries before the ,christian era4 ,two of the most important of the utterances attributed to ,christ are the ,lord's ,prayer and the ,sermon on the ,mount4 ,but there is very strong evidence that the ,lord's ,prayer was used before ,christ's time1 and still stronger evidence that the ,sermon on the ,mount was a compilation1 and was never uttered by ,christ or any other preacher in the form in which it is given by ,st4 ,matthew4 ,christ is said to have been tempted of the ,devil4 ,but apart from the utter absurdity of the ,devil's tempting ,god by offering ,him the sovereignty of the earth--when ,god had already the sovereignty of twenty millions of suns--it is related of ,buddha that he also was tempted of the ,devil centuries before ,christ was born4 ,the idea that one man should die as a sacrifice to the gods on behalf of many1 the idea that the god should be slain for the good of men1 the idea that the blood of the human or animal scapegoat had power to purify or to save1 the idea that a king or a king's son should expiate the sins of a tribe by his death1 and the idea that a god should offer himself as a sacrifice to himself in atonement for the sins of his people--all these were old ideas1 and ideas well known to the founders of ,christianity4 ,the resemblances of the legendary lives of ,christ and ,buddha are surprising3 so also are the resemblances of forms and ethics of the ancient ,buddhists and the early ,christians4 ,mr4 ,arthur ,lillie1 in ,buddha and ,buddhism1 makes the following quotation from ,m4 ,leon de ,rosny3 ,the astonishing points of contact between the popular legend of ,buddha and that of ,christ1 the almost absolute similarity of the moral lessons given to the world between these two peerless teachers of the human race1 the striking affinities between the customs of the ,buddhists and the ,essenes1 of whom ,christ must have been a disciple1 suggest at once an ,indian origin to ,primitive ,christianity4 ,mr4 ,lillie goes on to say that there was a sect of ,essenes in ,palestine fifty years ,b4,c41 and that fifty years after the death of ,christ there existed in ,palestine a similar sect1 from whom ,christianity was derived4 ,mr4 ,lillie says of these sects3 ,each had two prominent rites3 baptism1 and what ,tertullian calls the oblation of bread4 ,each had for officers1 deacons1 presbyters1 ephemerents4 ,each sect had monks1 nuns1 celibacy1 community of goods4 ,each interpreted the ,old ,testament in a mystical way--so mystical1 in fact1 that it enabled each to discover that the bloody sacrifice of ,mosaism was forbidden1 not enjoined4 ,the most minute likenesses have been pointed out between these two sects by all ,catholic writers from ,eusebius to the poet ,racine444 ,was there any connection between these two sects8 ,it is difficult to conceive that there can be two answers to such a question4 ,the resemblances between ,buddhism and ,christianity were accounted for by the ,christian ,fathers very simply4 ,the ,buddhists had been instructed by the ,devil1 and there was no more to be said4 ,later ,christian scholars face the difficulty by declaring that the ,buddhists copied from the ,christians4 ,reminded that ,buddha lived five hundred years before ,christ1 and that the ,buddhist religion was in its prime two hundred years before ,christ1 the ,christian apologist replies that1 for all that1 the ,buddhist ,scriptures are of comparatively late date4 ,let us see how the matter stands4 ,the resemblances of the two religions are of two kinds4 ,there is1 first1 the resemblance between the ,christian life of ,christ and the ,indian life of ,buddha2 and there is1 secondly1 the resemblance between the moral teachings of ,christ and ,buddha4 ,now1 if the ,indian ,scriptures are of later date than the ,gospels1 it is just possible that the ,buddhists may have copied incidents from the life of ,christ4 ,but it is perfectly certain that the change of borrowing cannot be brought against ,augustus ,caesar1 ,plato1 and the compilers of the mythologies of ,egypt and ,greece and ,rome4 ,and it is as certain that the ,christians did borrow from the ,jews as that the ,jews borrowed from ,babylon4 ,but a little while ago all ,christendom would have denied the indebtedness of ,moses to ,king ,sargon4 ,now1 since the ,christian ideas were anticipated by the ,babylonians1 the ,egyptians1 the ,romans1 and the ,greeks1 why should we suppose that they were copied by the ,buddhists1 whose religion was triumphant some centuries before ,christ8 ,and1 again1 while there is no reason to suppose that ,christian missionaries in the early centuries of the era made any appreciable impression on ,india or ,china1 there is good reason to suppose that the ,buddhists1 who were the first and most successful of all missionaries1 reached ,egypt and ,persia and ,palestine1 and made their influence felt4 ,i now turn to the statement of ,m4 ,burnouf1 quoted by ,mr4 ,lillie4 ,m4 ,burnouf asserts that the ,indian origin of ,christianity is no longer contested3 ,it has been placed in full light by the researches of scholars1 and notably ,english scholars1 and by the publication of the original texts444 ,in point of fact1 for a long time folks had been struck with the resemblances--or1 rather1 the identical elements--contained in ,christianity and ,buddhism4 ,writers of the firmest faith and most sincere piety have admitted them4 ,in the last century these analogies were set down to the ,nestorians2 but since then the science of ,oriental chronology has come into being1 and proved that ,buddha is many years anterior to ,nestorius and ,jesus4 ,thus the ,nestorian theory had to be given up4 ,but a thing may be posterior to another without proving derivation4 ,so the problem remained unsolved until recently1 when the pathway that ,buddhism followed was traced step by step from ,india to ,jerusalem4 ,there was baptism before ,christ1 and before ,john the ,baptist4 ,there were gods1 man-gods1 son-gods1 and saviours before ,christ4 ,there were ,bibles1 hymns1 temples1 monasteries1 priests1 monks1 missionaries1 crosses1 sacraments1 and mysteries before ,christ4 ,perhaps the most important sacrament of the ,christian religion to-day is the ,eucharist1 or ,lord's ,supper4 ,but this idea of the ,eucharist1 or the ceremonial eating of the god1 has its roots far back in the prehistoric days of religious cannibalism4 ,prehistoric man believed that if he ate anything its virtue passed into his physical system4 ,therefore he began by devouring his gods1 body and bones4 ,later1 man mended his manners so far as to substitute animal for human sacrifice2 still later he employed bread and wine as symbolical substitutes for flesh and blood4 ,this is the origin and evolution of the strange and1 to many of us1 repulsive idea of eating the body and drinking the blood of ,christ4 ,now1 supposing these facts to be as ,i have stated them above1 to what conclusion do they point8 ,bear in mind the statement of ,m4 ,burnouf1 that religions are built up slowly by a process of adaptation2 add that to the statements of ,eusebius1 the great ,christian historian1 and of ,st4 ,augustine1 the great ,christian ,father1 that the ,christian religion is no new thing1 but was known to the ancients1 and does it not seem most reasonable to suppose that ,christianity is a religion founded on ancient myths and legends1 on ancient ethics1 and on ancient allegorical mysteries and metaphysical errors8 ,to support those statements with adequate evidence ,i should have to compile a book four times as large as the present volume4 ,as ,i have not room to state the case properly1 ,i shall content myself with the recommendation of some books in which the reader may study the subject for himself4 ,a list of these books ,i now subjoin3 ,the ,golden ,bough4 ,frazer4 ,macmillan ,co4 ,a ,short ,history of ,christianity4 ,robertson4 ,watts ,co4 ,the ,evolution of the ,idea of ,god4 ,grant ,allen4 ,rationalist ,press ,association4 ,buddha and ,buddhism4 ,lillie4 ,clark4 ,our ,sun ,god4 ,parsons4 ,parsons4 ,christianity and ,mythology4 ,robertson4 ,watts ,co4 ,pagan ,christs4 ,robertson4 ,watts ,co4 ,the ,legend of ,perseus4 ,hartland4 ,nutt4 ,the ,birth of ,jesus4 ,soltau4 ,black4 ,the above are all scholarly and important books1 and should be generally known4 ,for reasons given above ,i claim1 with regard to the divinity and ,resurrection of ,jesus ,christ3 ,that outside the ,new ,testament there is no evidence of any value to show that ,christ ever lived1 that ,he ever taught1 that ,he ever rose from the dead4 ,that the evidence of the ,new ,testament is anonymous1 is contradictory1 is loaded with myths and miracles4 ,that the ,gospels do not contain a word of proof by any eye-witness as to the fact that ,christ was really dead2 nor the statement of any eye-witness that ,he was seen to return to life and quit ,his tomb4 ,that ,paul1 who preached the ,resurrection of ,christ1 did not see ,christ dead1 did not see ,him arise from the dead1 did not see ,him ascend into ,heaven4 ,that ,paul nowhere supports the ,gospel accounts of ,christ's life and teaching4 ,that the ,gospels are of mixed and doubtful origin1 that they show signs of interpolation and tampering1 and that they have been selected from a number of other ,gospels1 all of which were once accepted as genuine4 ,and that1 while there is no real evidence of the life or the teachings1 or the ,resurrection of ,christ1 there is a great deal of evidence to show that the ,gospels were founded upon anterior legends and older ethics4 ,but ,christian apologists offer other reasons why we should accept the stories of the miraculous birth and ,resurrection of ,christ as true4 ,let us examine these reasons1 and see what they amount to4 ,,other ,,evidences ,,of ,,christ',s ,,divinity ,archdeacon ,wilson gives two reasons for accepting the doctrines of ,christ's divinity and ,resurrection as true4 ,the first of these reasons is1 the success of the ,christian religion2 the second is1 the evolution of the ,christlike type of character4 ,if the success of the ,christian religion proves that ,christ was ,god1 what does the success of the ,buddhist religion prove8 ,what does the success of the ,mohammedan religion prove8 ,was ,buddha ,god8 ,was ,mahomet ,god8 ,the archdeacon does not believe in any miracles but those of his own religion4 ,but if the spread of a faith proves its miracles to be true1 what can be said about the spread of the ,buddhist and ,mohammedan religions8 ,islam spread faster and farther than ,christianity4 ,so did ,buddhism4 ,to-day the numbers of these religions are somewhat as follows3 ,buddhist3 #dej millions4 ,christians3 #cge millions1 of which only #ahj millions are ,protestants4 ,hindus3 #bjj millions4 ,mohammedans3 #afj millions4 ,it will be seen that the ,buddhist religion is older than ,christianity1 and has more followers4 ,what does that prove8 ,but as to the reasons for the great growth of these two religions ,i will say more by and by4 ,at present ,i merely repeat that the ,buddhist faith owed a great deal to the fact that ,king ,asoka made it the ,state religion of a great kingdom1 and that ,christianity owes a great deal to the fact that ,constantine adopted it as the ,state religion of the ,roman ,empire4 ,we come now to the archdeacon's second argument3 that the divinity of ,christ is proved by the evolution of the ,christlike type of character4 ,and here the archdeacon makes a most surprising statement1 for he says that type of character was unknown on this globe until ,christ came4 ,then how are we to account for ,king ,asoka8 ,the ,king ,asoka of the ,rock ,edicts was as spiritual1 as gentle1 as pure1 and as loving as the ,christ of the ,gospels4 ,the ,king ,asoka of the ,rock ,edicts was wiser1 more tolerant1 more humane than the ,christ of the ,gospels4 ,nowhere did ,christ or the ,fathers of ,his ,church forbid slavery2 nowhere did they forbid religious intolerance2 nowhere did they forbid cruelty to animals4 ,the type of character displayed by the rock inscriptions of ,king ,asoka was a higher and sweeter type than the type of character displayed by the ,jesus of the ,gospels4 ,does this prove that ,king ,asoka or his teacher1 ,buddha1 was divine8 ,does it prove that the ,buddhist faith is the only true faith8 ,i shall treat this question more fully in another chapter4 ,another ,christian argument is the claim that the faithfulness of the ,christian martyrs proves ,christianity to be true4 ,a most amazing argument4 ,the fact that a man dies for a faith does not prove the faith to be true2 it proves that he believes it to be true--a very different thing4 ,the ,jews denied the ,christian faith1 and died for their own4 ,does that prove that ,christianity was not true8 ,did the ,protestant martyrs prove ,protestantism true8 ,then the ,catholic martyrs proved the reverse4 ,the ,christians martyred or murdered millions1 many millions1 of innocent men and women4 ,does that prove that ,christ was divine8 ,no3 it only proves that ,christians could be fanatical1 intolerant1 bloody1 and cruel4 ,and now1 will you ponder these words of ,arthur ,lillie1 ,m4,a41 the author of ,buddha and ,buddhism8 ,speaking of the astonishing success of the ,buddhist missionaries1 ,mr4 ,lillie says3 ,this success was effected by moral means alone1 for ,buddhism is the one religion guiltless of coercion4 ,christians are always boasting of the wonderful good works wrought by their religion4 ,they are silent about the horrors1 infamies1 and shames of which it has been guilty4 ,buddhism is the only religion with no blood upon its hands4 ,i submit another very significant quotation from ,mr4 ,lillie3 ,i will write down a few of the achievements of this inactive ,buddha and the army of ,bhikshus that he directed3 #a4 ,the most formidable priestly tyranny that the world had ever seen crumbled away before his attack1 and the followers of ,buddha were paramount in ,india for a thousand years4 #b4 ,the institution of caste was assailed and overthrown4 #c4 ,polygamy was for the first time assailed and overturned4 #d4 ,woman1 from being considered a chattel and a beast of burden1 was for the first time considered man's equal1 and allowed to develop her spiritual life4 #e4 ,all bloodshed1 whether with the knife of the priest or the sword of the conqueror1 was rigidly forbidden4 #f4 ,also1 for the first time in the religious history of mankind1 the awakening of the spiritual life of the individual was substituted for religion by body corporate4 #g4 ,the principle of religious propagandism was for the first time introduced with its two great instruments1 the missionary and the preacher4 ,to that list we may add that ,buddhism abolished slavery and religious persecution2 taught temperance1 chastity1 and humanity2 and invented the higher morality and the idea of the brotherhood of the entire human race4 ,what does that prove8 ,it seems to me to prove that ,archdeacon ,wilson is mistaken4 ,,the ,,christian ,,religion ,,what ,,is ,,christianity8 ,what is ,christianity8 ,when ,i began to discuss religion in the ,clarion ,i thought ,i knew what ,christianity was4 ,i thought it was the religion ,i had been taught as a boy in ,church of ,england and ,congregationalist ,sunday schools4 ,but since then ,i have read many books1 and pamphlets1 and sermons1 and articles intended to explain what ,christianity is1 and ,i begin to think there are as many kinds of ,christianity as there are ,christians4 ,the differences are numerous and profound3 they are astonishing4 ,that must be a strange revelation of ,god which can be so differently interpreted4 ,well1 ,i cannot describe all these variants1 nor can ,i reduce them to a common denominator4 ,the most ,i can pretend to offer is a selection of some few doctrines to which all or many ,christians would subscribe4 #a4 ,all ,christians believe in a ,supreme ,being1 called ,god1 who created all beings4 ,they all believe that ,he is a good and loving ,god1 and our ,heavenly ,father4 #b4 ,most ,christians believe in ,free ,will4 #c4 ,all ,christians believe that ,man has sinned and does sin against ,god4 #d4 ,all ,christians believe that ,jesus ,christ is in some way necessary to ,man's salvation1 and that without ,christ ,man will be lost4 ,but when we ask for the meaning of the terms salvation and lost the ,christians give conflicting or divergent answers4 #e4 ,all ,christians believe in the immortality of the soul4 ,and ,i think they all1 or nearly all1 believe in some kind of future punishment or reward4 #f4 ,most ,christians believe that ,christ was ,god4 #g4 ,most ,christians believe that after crucifixion ,christ rose from the dead and ascended into ,heaven4 #h4 ,most ,christians believe1 or think they believe1 in the efficacy of prayer4 #i4 ,most ,christians believe in a ,devil2 but he is a great many different kinds of a ,devil4 ,of these beliefs ,i should say3 #a4 ,as to ,god4 ,if there is no ,god1 or if ,god is not a loving ,heavenly ,father1 who answers prayer1 ,christianity as a religion cannot stand4 ,i do not pretend to say whether there is or is not a ,god1 but ,i deny that there is a loving ,heavenly ,father who answers prayer4 #b and #c4 ,if there is no such thing as ,free ,will ,man could not sin against ,god1 and ,christianity as a religion will not stand4 ,i deny the existence of ,free ,will1 and possibility of ,man's sinning against ,god4 #d4 ,if ,jesus ,christ is not necessary to ,man's salvation1 ,christianity as a religion will not stand4 ,i deny that ,christ is necessary to ,man's salvation from ,hell or from ,sin4 #e4 ,i do not assert or deny the immortality of the soul4 ,i know nothing about the soul1 and no man is or ever was able to tell me more than ,i know4 ,of the remaining four doctrines ,i will speak in due course4 ,i spoke just now of the religion ,i was taught in my boyhood1 some forty years ago4 ,as that religion seems to be still very popular ,i will try to express it as briefly as ,i can4 ,adam was the first man1 and the father of the human race4 ,he was created by ,god1 in the likeness of ,god3 that is to say1 he was made perfect4 ,but1 being tempted of the ,devil1 ,adam sinned3 he fell4 ,god was so angry with ,adam for his sin that ,he condemned him and all his descendants for five thousand years to a ,hell of everlasting fire4 ,after consigning all the generations of men for five thousand years to horrible torment in ,hell1 ,god sent ,his ,son1 ,jesus ,christ1 down on earth to die1 and to go ,hell for three days1 as an atonement for the sin of ,adam4 ,after ,christ rose from the dead all who believed on ,him and were baptised would go to ,heaven4 ,all who did not believe on ,him1 or were not baptised1 would go to ,hell1 and burn for ever in a lake of fire4 ,that is what we were taught in our youth2 and that is what millions of ,christians believe to-day4 ,that is the old religion of the ,fall1 of ,inherited ,sin1 of ,universal ,damnation1 and of atonement by the blood of ,christ4 ,there is a new religion now1 which shuts out ,adam and ,eve1 and the serpent1 and the hell of fire1 but retains the ,fall1 the ,sin against ,god1 and the ,atonement by ,christ4 ,but in the new ,atonement1 as ,i understand1 or try to understand it1 ,christ is said to be ,god ,himself1 come down to win back to ,himself ,man1 who had estranged himself from ,god1 or else ,god 7as ,christ7 died to save ,man1 not from ,hell1 but from ,sin4 ,all these theories1 old and new1 seem to me impossible4 ,i will deal first1 in a short way1 with the new theories of the ,atonement4 ,if ,christ died to save ,man from sin1 how is it that nineteen centuries after ,his death the world is full of sin8 ,if ,god 7the ,all-powerful ,god1 who loves us better than an earthly father loves his children7 wished to forgive us the sin ,adam committed ages before we were born1 why did ,he not forgive us without dying1 or causing ,his ,son to die1 on a cross8 ,if ,christ is essential to a good life on earth1 how is it that many who believe in ,him lead bad lives1 while many of the best men and women of this and former ages either never heard of ,christ or did not follow ,him8 ,as to the theory that ,christ 7or ,god7 died to win back ,man to ,himself1 it does not harmonise with the facts4 ,man never did estrange himself from ,god4 ,all history shows that ,man has persistently and anxiously sought for ,god1 and has served ,him1 according to his light1 with a blind devotion even to death and crime4 ,finally1 ,man never did1 and never could1 sin against ,god4 ,for ,man is what ,god made him2 could only act as ,god enabled him1 or constructed him to act1 and therefore was not responsible for his act1 and could not sin against ,god4 ,if ,god is responsible for ,man's existence1 ,god is responsible for ,man's act4 ,therefore ,man cannot sin against ,god4 ,but ,i shall deal more fully with the subject of ,free ,will1 and of the need for ,christ as our ,saviour1 in another part of this book4 ,let us now turn to the old idea of the ,fall and the ,atonement4 ,first1 as to ,adam and the ,fall and inherited sin4 ,evolution1 historical research1 and scientific criticism have disposed of ,adam4 ,adam was a myth4 ,hardly any educated ,christians now regard him as an historic person4 ,but--no ,adam1 no ,fall2 no ,fall1 no ,atonement2 no ,atonement1 no ,saviour4 ,accepting ,evolution1 how can we believe in a ,fall8 ,when did ,man fall8 ,was it before he ceased to be a monkey1 or after8 ,was it when he was a tree man1 or later8 ,was it in the ,stone ,age1 or the ,bronze ,age1 or in the ,age of ,iron8 ,there never was any ,fall4 ,evolution proves a long slow rise4 ,and if there never was a ,fall1 why should there be any ,atonement8 ,christians accepting the theory of evolution have to believe that ,god allowed the sun to form out of the nebula1 and the earth to form from the sun1 that ,he allowed ,man to develop slowly from the speck of protoplasm in the sea4 ,that at some period of ,man's gradual evolution from the brute1 ,god found ,man guilty of some sin1 and cursed him4 ,that some thousands of years later ,god sent ,his only ,son down upon the earth to save ,man from ,hell4 ,but evolution shows ,man to be1 even now1 an imperfect creature1 an unfinished work1 a building still undergoing alterations1 an animal still evolving4 ,whereas the doctrines of the ,fall and the ,atonement assume that he was from the first a finished creature1 and responsible to ,god for his actions4 ,this old doctrine of the ,fall1 and the ,curse1 and the ,atonement is against reason as well as against science4 ,the universe is boundless4 ,we know it to contain millions of suns1 and suppose it to contain millions of millions of suns4 ,our sun is but a speck in the universe4 ,our earth is but a speck in the solar system4 ,are we to believe that the ,god who created all this boundless universe got so angry with the children of the apes that ,he condemned them all to ,hell for two score centuries1 and then could only appease ,his rage by sending ,his own ,son to be nailed upon a cross8 ,do you believe that8 ,can you believe it8 ,no4 ,as ,i said before1 if the theory of evolution be true1 there was nothing to atone for1 and nobody to atone4 ,man has never sinned against ,god4 ,in fact1 the whole of this old ,christian doctrine is a mass of error4 ,there was no creation4 ,there was no ,fall4 ,there was no ,atonement4 ,there was no ,adam1 and no ,eve1 and no ,eden1 and no ,devil1 and no ,hell4 ,if ,god is all-powerful1 ,he had power to make ,man by nature incapable of sin4 ,but if1 having the power to make ,man incapable of sin1 ,god made ,man so weak as to fall1 then it was ,god who sinned against ,man1 and not ,man against ,god4 ,for if ,i had power to train a son of mine to righteousness1 and ,i trained him to wickedness1 should ,i not sin against my son8 ,or if a man had power to create a child of virtue and intellect1 but chose rather to create a child who was by nature a criminal or an idiot1 would not that man sin against his child8 ,and do you believe that our ,father in ,heaven1 our ,all-powerful ,god1 who is ,love1 would first create man fallible1 and then punish him for falling8 ,and if ,he did so create and so punish man1 could you call that just or merciful8 ,and if ,god is our maker1 who but ,he is responsible for our make-up8 ,and if ,he alone is responsible1 how can ,man have sinned against ,god8 ,i maintain that besides being unhistorical and unreasonable1 the old doctrine of the ,atonement is unjust and immoral4 ,the doctrine of the ,atonement is not just nor moral1 because it implies that man should not be punished or rewarded according to his own merit or demerit1 but according to the merit of another4 ,is it just1 or is it moral1 to make the good suffer for the bad8 ,is it just or moral to forgive one man his sin because another is sinless8 ,such a doctrine--the doctrine of ,salvation for ,christ's sake1 and after a life of crime--holds out inducements to sin4 ,repentance is only good because it is the precursor of reform4 ,but no repentance can merit pardon1 nor atone for wrong4 ,if1 having done wrong1 ,i repent1 and afterwards do right1 that is good4 ,but to be sorry and not to reform is not good4 ,if ,i do wrong1 my repentance will not cancel that wrong4 ,an act performed is performed for ever4 ,if ,i cut a man's hand off1 ,i may repent1 and he may pardon me4 ,but neither my remorse nor his forgiveness will make the hand grow again4 ,and if the hand could grow again1 the wrong ,i did would still have been done4 ,that is a stern morality1 but it is moral4 ,your doctrine of pardon for ,christ's sake is not moral4 ,god acts unjustly when ,he pardons for ,christ's sake4 ,christ acts unjustly when ,he asks that pardon be granted for his sake4 ,if one man injures another1 the prerogative of pardon should belong to the injured man4 ,it is for him who suffers to forgive4 ,if your son injure your daughter1 the pardon must come from her4 ,it would not be just for you to say3 ,he has wronged you1 and has made no atonement1 but ,i forgive him4 ,nor would it be just for you to forgive him because another son of yours was willing to be punished in his stead4 ,nor would it be just for that other son to come forward1 and say to you1 and not to his injured sister1 ,father1 forgive him for my sake4 ,he who wrongs a fellow-creature wrongs himself as well1 and wrongs both for all eternity4 ,let this awful thought keep us just4 ,it is more moral and more corrective than any trust in the vicarious atonement of a ,saviour4 ,christ's ,atonement1 or any other person's atonement1 cannot justly be accepted4 ,for the fact that ,christ is willing to suffer for another man's sin only counts to the merit of ,christ1 and does not in any way diminish the offence of the sinner4 ,if ,i am bad1 does it make my offence the less that another man is so much better8 ,if a just man had two servants1 and one of them did wrong1 and if the other offered to endure a flogging in expiation of his fault1 what would the just man do8 ,to flog ,john for the fault of ,james would be to punish ,john for being better than ,james4 ,to forgive ,james because ,john had been unjustly flogged would be to assert that because ,john was good1 and because the master had acted unjustly1 ,james the guilty deserved to be forgiven4 ,this is not only contrary to reason and to justice3 it is also a very false sentiment4 ,,determinism ,,can ,,man ,,sin ,,against ,,god8 ,i have said several times that ,man could not and cannot sin against ,god4 ,this is the theory of ,determinism1 and ,i will now explain it4 ,if ,god is responsible for ,man's existence1 ,god is responsible for ,man's acts4 ,the ,christian says ,god is our ,maker4 ,god made ,man4 ,who is responsible for the quality or powers of a thing that is made8 ,the thing that is made cannot be responsible1 for it did not make itself4 ,but the maker is responsible1 for he made it4 ,as ,man did not make himself1 and had neither act1 nor voice1 nor suggestion1 nor choice in the creation of his own nature1 ,man cannot be held answerable for the qualities or powers of his nature1 and therefore cannot be held responsible for his acts4 ,if ,god made ,man1 ,god is responsible for the qualities and powers of ,man's nature1 and therefore ,god is responsible for ,man's acts4 ,christian theology is built upon the sandy foundation of the doctrine of ,free ,will4 ,the ,christian theory may be thus expressed3 ,god gave ,man a will to choose4 ,man chose evil1 therefore ,man is wicked1 and deserves punishment4 ,the ,christian says ,god gave ,man a will4 ,the will1 then1 came from ,god1 and was not made nor selected by ,man4 ,and this ,will1 the ,christian says1 is the power to choose4 ,then1 this power to choose is of ,god's making and of ,god's gift4 ,man has only one will1 therefore he has only one power of choice4 ,therefore he has no power of choice but the power ,god gave him4 ,then1 ,man can only choose by means of that power which ,god gave him1 and he cannot choose by any other means4 ,then1 if ,man chooses evil1 he chooses evil by means of the power of choice ,god gave him4 ,then1 if that power of choice given to him by ,god makes for evil1 it follows that ,man must choose evil1 since he has no other power of choice4 ,then1 the only power of choice ,god gave ,man is a power that will choose evil4 ,then1 ,man is unable to choose good because his only power of choice will choose evil4 ,then1 as ,man did not make nor select his power of choice1 ,man cannot be blamed if that power chooses evil4 ,then1 the blame must be ,god's1 who gave ,man a power of choice that would choose evil4 ,then1 ,man cannot sin against ,god1 for ,man can only use the power ,god gave him1 and can only use that power in the way in which that power will work4 ,the word will is a misleading word4 ,what is will8 ,will is not a faculty1 like the faculty of speech or touch4 ,the word will is a symbol1 and means the balance between two motives or desires4 ,will is like the action of balance in a pair of scales4 ,it is the weights in the scales that decide the balance4 ,so it is the motives in the mind that decide the will4 ,when a man chooses between two acts we say that he exercises his will2 but the fact is1 that one motive weighs down the other1 and causes the balance of the mind to lean to the weightier reason4 ,there is no such thing as an exterior will outside the man's brain1 to push one scale down with a finger4 ,will is abstract1 not concrete4 ,a man always wills in favour of the weightier motive4 ,if he loves the sense of intoxication more than he loves his self-respect1 he will drink4 ,if the reasons in favour of sobriety seem to him to outweigh the reasons in favour of drink1 he will keep sober4 ,will1 then1 is a symbol for the balance of motives4 ,motives are born of the brain4 ,therefore will depends upon the action of the brain4 ,god made the brain2 therefore ,god is responsible for the action of the brain2 therefore ,god is responsible for the action of the will4 ,therefore ,man is not responsible for the action of the will4 ,therefore ,man cannot sin against ,god4 ,christians speak of the will as if it were a kind of separate soul1 a little cherub who sits up aloft and gives the man his course4 ,let us accept this idea of the will4 ,let us suppose that a separate soul or faculty called the will governs the mind4 ,that means that the little cherub governs the man4 ,can the man be justly blamed for the acts of the cherub8 ,no4 ,man did not make the cherub1 did not select the cherub1 and is obliged to obey the cherub4 ,god made the cherub1 and gave him command of the man4 ,therefore ,god alone is responsible for the acts the man performs in obedience to the cherub's orders4 ,if ,god put a beggar on horseback1 would the horse be blamable for galloping to ,monte ,carlo8 ,the horse must obey the rider4 ,the rider was made by ,god4 ,how1 then1 can ,god blame the horse8 ,if ,god put a will on ,adam's back1 and the will followed the beckoning finger of ,eve1 whose fault was that8 ,the old ,christian doctrine was that ,adam was made perfect1 and that he fell4 7,how could the perfect fall87 ,why did ,adam fall8 ,he fell because the woman tempted him4 ,then ,adam was not strong enough to resist the woman4 ,then1 the woman had power to overcome ,adam's will4 ,as the ,christian would express it1 ,eve had the stronger will4 ,who made ,adam8 ,god made him4 ,who made ,eve8 ,god made her4 ,who made the ,serpent8 ,god made the ,serpent4 ,then1 if ,god made ,adam weak1 and ,eve seductive1 and the ,serpent subtle1 was that ,adam's fault or ,god's8 ,did ,adam choose that ,eve should have a stronger will than he1 or that the ,serpent should have a stronger will than ,eve8 ,no4 ,god fixed all those things4 ,god is all-powerful4 ,he could have made ,adam strong enough to resist ,eve4 ,he could have made ,eve strong enough to resist the ,serpent4 ,he need not have made the ,serpent at all4 ,god is all-knowing4 ,therefore1 when ,he made ,adam and ,eve and the ,serpent ,he knew that ,adam and ,eve must fall4 ,and if ,god knew they must fall1 how could ,adam help falling1 and how could he justly be blamed for doing what he must do8 ,god made a bridge--built it ,himself1 of ,his own materials1 to ,his own design1 and knew what the bearing strain of the bridge was4 ,if1 then1 ,god put upon the bridge a weight equal to double the bearing strain1 how could ,god justly blame the bridge for falling8 ,the doctrine of ,free ,will implies that ,god knowingly made the ,serpent subtle1 ,eve seductive1 and ,adam weak1 and then damned the whole human race because a bridge ,he had built to fall did not succeed in standing4 ,such a theory is ridiculous2 but upon it depends the entire fabric of ,christian theology4 ,for if ,man is not responsible for his acts1 and therefore cannot sin against ,god1 there is no foundation for the doctrines of the ,fall1 the ,sin1 the ,curse1 or the ,atonement4 ,if ,man cannot sin against ,god1 and if ,god is responsible for all ,man's acts1 the ,old ,testament is not true1 the ,new ,testament is not true1 the ,christian religion is not true4 ,and if you consider the numerous crimes and blunders of the ,christian ,church1 you will always find that they grew out of the theory of ,free ,will1 and the doctrines of ,man's sin against ,god1 and ,man's responsibility and wickedness4 ,st4 ,paul said1 ,as in ,adam all men fell1 so in ,christ are all made whole4 ,if ,adam did not fall ,st4 ,paul was mistaken4 ,christ is reported to have prayed on the cross1 ,father1 forgive them1 for they know not what they do4 ,that looks as if ,jesus knew that the men were not responsible for their acts1 and did not know any better4 ,but if they knew not what they did1 why should ,god be asked to forgive them8 ,but let us go over the ,determinist theory again1 for it is most important4 ,if ,god is responsible for ,man's existence1 ,god is responsible for ,man's acts4 ,the ,christians say ,man sinned1 and they talk about his freedom of choice4 ,but they say ,god made ,man1 as ,he made all things4 ,now1 if ,god is all-knowing1 ,he knew before ,he made ,man what ,man would do4 ,he knew that ,man could do nothing but what ,god had enabled him to do4 ,that he could do nothing but what he was foreordained by ,god to do4 ,if ,god is all-powerful1 ,he need not have made ,man at all4 ,or ,he could have made a man who would be strong enough to resist temptation4 ,or ,he could have made a man who was incapable of evil4 ,if the ,all-powerful ,god made a man1 knowing that man would succumb to the test to which ,god meant to subject him1 surely ,god could not justly blame the man for being no better than ,god had made him4 ,if ,god had never made ,man1 then ,man never could have succumbed to temptation4 ,god made ,man of ,his own divine choice1 and made him to ,his own divine desire4 ,how1 then1 could ,god blame ,man for anything ,man did8 ,god was responsible for ,man's existence1 for ,god made him4 ,if ,god had not made him1 ,man could never have been1 and could never have acted4 ,therefore all that ,man did was the result of ,god's creation of ,man4 ,all man's acts were the effects of which his creation was the cause3 and ,god was responsible for the cause1 and therefore ,god was responsible for the effects4 ,man did not make himself4 ,man could not1 before he existed1 have asked ,god to make him4 ,man could not advise nor control ,god so as to influence his own nature4 ,man could only be what ,god caused him to be1 and do what ,god enabled or compelled him to do4 ,man might justly say to ,god3 ,i did not ask to be created4 ,i did not ask to be sent into this world4 ,i had no power to select or mould my nature4 ,i am what ,you made me4 ,i am where ,you put me4 ,you knew when ,you made me how ,i should act4 ,if ,you wished me to act otherwise1 why did ,you not make me differently8 ,if ,i have displeased ,you1 ,i was fore-ordained to displease ,you4 ,i was fore-ordained by ,you to be and to do what ,i am and have done4 ,is it my fault that ,you fore-ordained me to be and to do thus8 ,christians say a man has a will to choose4 ,so he has4 ,but that is only saying that one human thought will outweigh another4 ,a man thinks with his brain3 his brain was made by ,god4 ,a tall man can reach higher than a short man4 ,it is not the fault of the short man that he is outreached3 he did not fix his own height4 ,it is the same with the will4 ,a man has a will to jump4 ,he can jump over a five-barred gate2 but he cannot jump over a cathedral4 ,so with his will in moral matters4 ,he has a will to resist temptation1 but though he may clear a small temptation1 he may fall at a large one4 ,the actions of a man's will are as mathematically fixed at his birth as are the motions of a planet in its orbit4 ,god1 who made the man and the planet1 is responsible for the actions of both4 ,as the natural forces created by ,god regulate the influences of ,venus and ,mars upon the ,earth1 so must the natural forces created by ,god have regulated the influences of ,eve and the ,serpent on ,adam4 ,adam was no more blameworthy for failing to resist the influence of ,eve than the ,earth is blameworthy for deviating in its course around the ,sun1 in obedience to the influences of ,venus and ,mars4 ,without the act of ,god there could have been no ,adam1 and therefore no ,fall4 ,god1 whose act is responsible for ,adam's existence1 is responsible for the ,fall4 ,if ,god is responsible for man's existence1 ,god is responsible for all ,man's acts4 ,if a boy brought a dog into the house and teased it until it bit him1 would not his parents ask the boy1 ,why did you bring the dog in at all8 ,but if the boy had trained the dog to bite1 and knew that it would bite if it were teased1 and if the boy brought the dog in and teased it until it bit him1 would the parents blame the dog8 ,and if a magician1 like one of those at the court of ,pharaoh1 deliberately made an adder out of the dust1 knowing the adder would bite1 and then played with the adder until it bit some spectator1 would the injured man blame the magician or the adder8 ,how1 then1 could ,god blame ,man for the ,fall8 ,but you may ask me1 with surprise1 as so many have asked me with surprise1 ,do you really mean that no man is1 under any circumstances1 to be blamed for anything he may say or do8 ,and ,i shall answer you that ,i do seriously mean that no man can1 under any circumstances1 be justly blamed for anything he may say or do4 ,that is one of my deepest convictions1 and ,i shall try very hard to prove that it is just4 ,but you may say1 as many have said3 ,if no man can be justly blamed for anything he says or does1 there is an end of all law and order1 and society is impossible4 ,and ,i shall answer you3 ,no1 on the contrary1 there is a beginning of law and order1 and a chance that society may become civilised4 ,for it does not follow that because we may not blame a man we may not condemn his acts4 ,nor that because we do not blame him we are bound to allow him to do all manner of mischief4 ,several critics have indignantly exclaimed that ,i make no difference between good men and bad1 that ,i lump ,torquemada1 ,lucrezia ,borgia1 ,fenelon1 and ,marcus ,aurelius together1 and condone the most awful crimes4 ,that is a mistake4 ,i regard ,lucrezia ,borgia as a homicidal maniac1 and ,torquemada as a religious maniac4 ,i do not blame such men and women4 ,but ,i should not allow them to do harm4 ,i believe that nearly all crimes1 vices1 cruelties1 and other evil acts are due to ignorance or to mental disease4 ,i do not hate the man who calls me an infidel1 a liar1 a blasphemer1 or a quack4 ,i know that he is ignorant1 or foolish1 or ill-bred1 or vicious1 and ,i am sorry for him4 ,socrates1 as reported by ,xenophon1 put my case in a nutshell4 ,when a friend complained to ,socrates that a man whom he had saluted had not saluted him in return1 the father of philosophy replied3 ,it is an odd thing that if you had met a man ill-conditioned in body you would not have been angry2 but to have met a man rudely disposed in mind provokes you4 ,this is sound philosophy1 ,i think4 ,if we pity a man with a twist in his spine1 why should we not pity the man with a twist in his brain8 ,if we pity a man with a stiff wrist1 why not the man with a stiff pride8 ,if we pity a man with a weak heart1 why not the man with the weak will8 ,if we do not blame a man for one kind of defect1 why blame him for another8 ,but it does not follow that because we neither hate nor blame a criminal we should allow him to commit crime4 ,we do not blame a rattlesnake1 nor a shark4 ,these creatures only fulfil their natures4 ,the shark who devours a baby is no more sinful than the lady who eats a shrimp4 ,we do not blame the maniac who burns a house down and brains a policeman1 nor the mad dog who bites a minor poet4 ,but1 none the less1 we take steps to defend ourselves against snakes1 sharks1 lunatics1 and mad dogs4 ,the ,clarion does not hate a cruel sweater1 nor a tyrannous landlord1 nor a shuffling ,minister of ,state1 nor a hypocritical politician3 it pities such poor creatures4 ,yet the ,clarion opposes sweating and tyranny and hypocrisy1 and does its best to defeat and to destroy them4 ,if a tiger be hungry he naturally seeks food4 ,i do not blame the tiger2 but if he endeavoured to make his dinner off our business manager1 and if ,i had a gun1 ,i should shoot the tiger4 ,we do not hate nor blame the blight that destroys our roses and our vines4 ,the blight is doing what we do3 he is trying to live4 ,but we destroy the blight to preserve our roses and our grapes4 ,so we do not blame an incendiary4 ,but we are quite justified in protecting life and property4 ,dangerous men must be restrained4 ,in cases where they attempt to kill and maim innocent and useful citizens1 as1 for instance1 by dynamite outrages1 they must1 in the last resort1 be killed4 ,but1 you may say1 the dynamiter knows it is wrong to wreck a street and murder inoffensive strangers1 and yet he does it4 ,is not that free will8 ,is he not blameworthy8 ,and ,i answer that when a man does wrong he does it because he knows no better1 or because he is naturally vicious4 ,and ,i hold that in neither case is he to blame3 for he did not make his nature1 nor did he make the influences which have operated on that nature4 ,man is a creature of ,heredity and ,environment4 ,he is by ,heredity what his ancestors have made him 7or what ,god has made him74 ,up to the moment of his birth he has had nothing to do with the formation of his character4 ,as ,professor ,tyndall says1 that was done for him1 and not by him4 ,from the moment of his birth he is what his inherited nature1 and the influences into which he has been sent without his consent1 have made him4 ,an omniscient being--like ,god--who knew exactly what a man's nature would be at birth1 and exactly the nature of the influences to which he would be exposed after his birth1 could predict every act and word of that man's life4 ,given a particular nature2 given particular influences1 the result will be as mathematically inevitable as the speed and orbit of a planet4 ,man is what heredity 7or ,god7 and environment make him4 ,heredity gives him his nature4 ,that comes from his ancestors4 ,environment modifies his nature3 environment consists of the operation of forces external to his nature4 ,no man can select his ancestors2 no man can select his environment4 ,his ancestors make his nature2 other men1 and circumstances1 modify his nature4 ,ask any horse-breeder why he breeds from the best horses1 and not from the worst4 ,he will tell you1 because good horses are not bred from bad ones4 ,ask any father why he would prefer that his son should mix with good companions rather than with bad companions4 ,he will tell you that evil communications corrupt good manners1 and pitch defiles4 ,heredity decides how a man shall be bred2 environment regulates what he shall learn4 ,one man is a critic1 another is a poet4 ,each is what heredity and environment have made him4 ,neither is responsible for his heredity nor for his environment4 ,if the critic repents his evil deeds1 it is because something has happened to awake his remorse4 ,someone has told him of the error of his ways4 ,that adviser is part of his environment4 ,if the poet takes to writing musical comedies1 it is because some evil influence has corrupted him4 ,that evil influence is part of his environment4 ,neither of these men is culpable for what he has done4 ,with nobler heredity1 or happier environment1 both might have been journalists2 with baser heredity1 or more vicious environment1 either might have been a millionaire1 a ,socialist1 or even a ,member of ,parliament4 ,we are all creatures of heredity and environment4 ,it is ,fate1 and not his own merit1 that has kept ,george ,bernard ,shaw out of a shovel hat and gaiters1 and condemned some ,right ,honourable ,gentlemen to manage ,state ,departments instead of planting cabbages4 ,the child born of healthy1 moral1 and intellectual parents has a better start in life than the child born of unhealthy1 immoral1 and unintellectual parents4 ,the child who has the misfortune to be born in the vitiated atmosphere of a ducal palace is at a great disadvantage in comparison with the child happily born amid the innocent and respectable surroundings of a semi-detached villa in ,brixton4 ,what chance1 then1 has a drunkard's baby1 born in a thieves' den1 and dragged up amid the ignorant squalor of the slums8 ,environment is very powerful for good or evil4 ,had ,shakespeare been born in the ,cannibal ,islands he would never have written ,as ,you ,like ,it2 had ,torquemada been born a ,buddhist he never would have taken to roasting heretics4 ,but this1 you may say1 is sheer ,fatalism4 ,well6 ,it seems to me to be truth1 and philosophy1 and sweet charity4 ,and now ,i will try to show the difference between this ,determinism1 which some think must prove so maleficent1 and the ,christian doctrine of ,free ,will1 which many consider so beneficent4 ,let us take a flagrant instance of wrong-doing4 ,suppose some person to persist in playing ,dolly ,grey on the euphonium1 or to contract a baneful habit of reciting ,curfew shall not ,ring at evening parties1 the ,christian believer in ,free ,will would call him a bad man1 and would say he ought to be punished4 ,the philosophic ,determinist would denounce the offender's conduct1 but would not denounce the offender4 ,we ,determinists do not denounce men2 we denounce acts4 ,we do not blame men2 we try to teach them4 ,if they are not teachable we restrain them4 ,you will admit that our method is different from the accepted method4 ,i shall try to convince you that it is also materially better than the accepted1 or ,christian1 method4 ,let us suppose two concrete cases3 7#a7 ,bill ,sikes beats his wife2 7#b7 ,lord ,rackrent evicts his tenants4 ,let us first think what would be the orthodox method of dealing with these two cases8 ,what would be the orthodox method8 ,the parson and the man in the street would say ,bill ,sikes was a bad man1 and that he ought to be punished4 ,the ,determinist would say that ,bill ,sikes had committed a crime1 and that he ought to be restrained1 and taught better4 ,you may tell me there seems to be very little difference in the practical results of the two methods4 ,but that is because we have not followed the two methods far enough4 ,if you will allow me to follow the two methods further you will1 ,i hope1 agree with me that their results will not be identical1 but that our results will be immeasurably better4 ,for the orthodox method is based upon the erroneous dogma that ,bill ,sikes had a free will to choose between right and wrong1 and1 having chosen to do wrong1 he is a bad man1 and ought to be punished4 ,but the ,determinist bases his method upon the philosophical theory that ,bill ,sikes is what heredity and environment have made him2 and that he is not responsible for his heredity1 which he did not choose1 nor for his environment1 which he did not make4 ,still1 you may think the difference is not effectively great4 ,but it is4 ,for the ,christian would blame ,bill ,sikes1 and no one but ,bill ,sikes4 ,but the ,determinist would not blame ,sikes at all3 he would blame his environment4 ,is not that a material difference8 ,but follow it out to its logical results4 ,the ,christian1 blaming only ,bill ,sikes1 because he had a free will1 would punish ,sikes1 and perhaps try to convert ,sikes2 and there his effort would logically end4 ,the ,determinist would say3 ,if this man ,sikes has been reared in a slum1 has not been educated1 nor morally trained1 has been exposed to all kinds of temptation1 the fault is that of the social system which has made such ignorance1 and vice1 and degradation possible4 ,that is one considerable difference between the results of a good religion and a bad one4 ,the ,christian condemns the man--who is a victim of evil social conditions4 ,the ,determinist condemns the evil conditions4 ,it is the difference between the methods of sending individual sufferers from diphtheria to the hospital and the method of condemning the drains4 ,but you may cynically remind me that nothing will come of the ,determinists' protest against the evil social conditions4 ,perhaps not4 ,let us waive that question for a moment1 and consider our second case4 ,lord ,rackrent evicts his tenants4 ,the orthodox method is well known4 ,it goes no further than the denunciation of the peer1 and the raising of a subscription 7generally inadequate7 for the sufferers4 ,the ,determinist method is different4 ,the ,determinist would say3 ,this peer is what heredity and environment have made him4 ,we cannot blame him for being what he is4 ,we can only blame his environment4 ,there must be something wrong with a social system which permits one idle peer to ruin hundreds of industrious producers4 ,this evil social system should be amended1 or evictions will continue4 ,that ,determinist conclusion would be followed by the usual inadequate subscription4 ,and now we will go back to the point we passed4 ,you may say1 in the case of ,sikes and the peer1 that the logic of the ,determinist is sound1 but ineffective3 nothing comes of it4 ,i admit that nothing comes of it1 and ,i am now going to tell you why nothing comes of it4 ,the ,determinist cannot put his wisdom into action1 because he is in a minority4 ,so long as ,christians have an overwhelming majority who will not touch the drains1 diphtheria must continue4 ,so long as the universal verdict condemns the victim of a bad system1 and helps to keep the bad system in full working order1 so long will evil flourish and victims suffer4 ,if you wish to realise the immense superiority of the ,determinist principles over the ,christian religion1 you have only to imagine what would happen if the ,determinists had a majority as overwhelming as the majority the ,christians now hold4 ,for whereas the ,christian theory of free will and personal responsibility results in established ignorance and injustice1 with no visible remedies beyond personal denunciation1 the prison1 and a few coals and blankets1 the ,determinist method would result in the abolition of lords and burglars1 of slums and palaces1 of caste and snobbery4 ,there would be no ignorance and no poverty left in the world4 ,that is because the ,determinist understands human nature1 and the ,christian does not4 ,it is because the ,determinist understands morality1 and the ,christian does not4 ,for the ,determinist looks for the cause of wrong-doing in the environment of the wrong-doer4 ,while the ,christian puts all the wrongs which society perpetrates against the individual1 and all the wrongs which the individual perpetrates against his fellows down to an imaginary free will4 ,some ,free-,willers are fond of crying out3 ,once admit that men are not to be blamed for their actions1 and all morality and all improvement will cease4 ,but that is a mistake4 ,as ,i have indicated above1 a good many evils now rife would cease1 because then we should attack the evils1 and not the victims of the evils4 ,but it is absurd to suppose that we do not detest cholera because we do not detest cholera patients1 or that we should cease to hate wrong because we ceased to blame wrong-doers4 ,admit the ,determinist theory1 and all would be taught to do well1 and most would take kindly to the lesson4 ,because the fact that environment is so powerful for evil suggests that it is powerful for good4 ,if man is what he is made1 it behoves a nation which desires and prizes good men to be very earnest and careful in its methods of making them4 ,i believe that ,i am what heredity and environment made me4 ,but ,i know that ,i can make myself better or worse if ,i try4 ,i know that because ,i have learnt it1 and the learning has been part of my environment4 ,my claim1 as a ,determinist1 is that it is not so good to punish an offender as to improve his environment4 ,it is good of the ,christians to open schools and to found charities4 ,but as a ,determinist ,i am bound to say that there ought to be no such things in the world as poverty and ignorance1 and one of the contributory causes to ignorance and poverty is the ,christian doctrine of free will4 ,take away from a man all that ,god gave him1 and there will be nothing of him left4 ,take away from a man all that heredity and environment have given him1 and there will be nothing left4 ,man is what he is by the act of ,god1 or the results of heredity and environment4 ,in either case he is not to blame4 ,in one case the result is due to the action of his ancestors and society1 in the other to the act of ,god4 ,therefore a man is not responsible for his actions1 and cannot sin against ,god4 ,if ,god is responsible for ,man's existence1 ,god is responsible for ,man's acts4 ,a religion built upon the doctrine of ,free ,will and human responsibility to ,god is built upon a misconception and must fall4 ,christianity is a fabric of impossibilities erected upon a foundation of error4 ,perhaps1 since ,i find many get confused on the subject of ,free ,will from their consciousness of continually exercising the power of choice1 ,i had better say a few words here on that subject4 ,you say you have power to choose between two courses4 ,so you have1 but that power is limited and controlled by heredity and environment4 ,if you have to choose between a showy costume and a plain one you will choose the one you like best1 and you will like best the one which your nature 7heredity7 and your training 7environment7 will lead you to like best4 ,you think your will is free4 ,but it is not4 ,you may think you have power to drown yourself2 but you have not4 ,your love of life and your sense of duty are too strong for you4 ,you might think ,i have power to leave the ,clarion and start an anti-,socialist paper4 ,but ,i know ,i have not that power4 ,my nature 7heredity7 and my training and habit 7environment7 are too strong for me4 ,if you knew a lady was going to choose between a red dress and a grey one1 and if you knew the lady very well1 you could guess her choice before she made it4 ,if you knew an honourable man was to be offered a bribe to do a dishonourable act1 you would feel sure he would refuse it4 ,if you knew a toper was to be offered as much free whisky as he could drink1 you would be sure he would not come home sober4 ,if you knew the nature and the environment of a man thoroughly well1 and the circumstances 7all the circumstances7 surrounding a choice of action to be presented to him1 and if you were clever enough to work such a difficult problem1 you could forecast his choice before he made it1 as surely as in the case of the lady1 the toper1 and the honourable man above mentioned4 ,you have power to choose1 then1 but you can only choose as your heredity and environment compel you to choose4 ,and you do not select your own heredity nor your own environment4 ,,christian ,,apologies ,,christian ,,apologies ,christian apologists make some daring claims on behalf of their religion4 ,the truth of ,christianity is proved1 they say1 by its endurance and by its power2 the beneficence of its results testifies to the divinity of its origin4 ,these claims command wide acceptance1 for the simple reason that those who deny them cannot get a hearing4 ,the ,christians have virtual command of all the churches1 universities1 and schools4 ,they have the countenance and support of the ,thrones1 ,parliaments1 ,cabinets1 and aristocracies of the world1 and they have the nominal support of the ,world's ,newspaper ,press4 ,they have behind them the traditions of eighteen centuries4 ,they have formidable allies in the shape of whole schools of philosophy and whole libraries of eloquence and learning4 ,they have the zealous service and unswerving credence of millions of honest and worthy citizens3 and they are defended by solid ramparts of prejudice1 and sentiment1 and obstinate old custom4 ,the odds against the ,rationalists are tremendous4 ,to challenge the claims of ,christianity is easy3 to get the challenge accepted is very hard4 ,rationalists' books and papers are boycotted4 ,the ,christians will not listen1 will not reason1 will not1 if they can prevent it1 allow a hostile voice to be heard4 ,thus1 from sheer lack of knowledge1 the public accept the ,christian apologist's assertions as demonstrated truth4 ,and the ,christians claim this immunity from attack as a triumph of their arms1 and a further proof of the truth of their religion4 ,religion has been attacked before1 they cry1 and where now are its assailants8 ,and the answer must be1 that many of its assailants are in their graves1 but that some of them are yet alive1 and there are more to follow4 ,but the combat is very unequal4 ,if the ,rationalists could for only a few years have the support of the ,crowns1 ,parliaments1 ,aristocracies1 ,universities1 ,schools1 and ,newspapers of the world2 if they could preach ,science and ,reason twice every ,sunday from a hundred thousand pulpits1 perhaps the ,christians would have less cause for boasting4 ,but as things are1 we ,infidels must cease to sigh for whirlwinds1 and do the best we can with the bellows4 ,so3 the ,christians claim that their religion has done wonders for the world2 a claim disputed by the ,rationalists4 ,now1 when we consider what ,christianity has done1 we should take account of the evil as well as the good4 ,but this the ,christians are unwilling to allow4 ,christians declare that the divine origin and truth of their religion are proved by its beneficent results4 ,but ,christianity has done evil as well as good4 ,mr4 ,g4 ,k4 ,chesterton1 while defending ,christianity in the ,daily ,news1 said3 ,christianity has committed crimes so monstrous that the sun might sicken at them in heaven4 ,and no one can refute that statement4 ,but ,christians evade the dilemma4 ,when the evil works of their religion are cited1 they reply that those evils were wrought by false ,christianity1 that they were contrary to the teachings of ,christ1 and so were not the deeds of ,christians at all4 ,the ,christian ,commonwealth1 in advancing the above plea as to real and false ,christianity1 instances the difference between ,astrology and ,astronomy1 and said3 ,we fear ,mr4 ,blatchford1 if he has any sense of consistency1 must1 when he has finished his tirade against ,christianity1 turn his artillery on ,greenwich ,observatory1 and proclaim the ,astronomer ,royal a scientific quack1 on account of the follies of star-gazers in the past4 ,but that parallel is not a true one4 ,let us suppose that the follies of astrology and the discoveries of astronomy were bound up in one book1 and called the ,word of ,god4 ,let us suppose we were told that the whole book--facts1 reason1 folly1 and falsehoods--was divinely inspired and literally true4 ,let us suppose that any one who denied the old crude errors of astrology was persecuted as a heretic4 ,let us suppose that any one denying the theory of ,laplace or the theory of ,copernicus would be reviled as an ,infidel4 ,let us suppose that the ,astronomer ,royal claimed infallibility1 not only in matters astronomical1 but also in politics and morals4 ,let us suppose that for a thousand years the astrological-astronomical holy government had whipped1 imprisoned1 tortured1 burnt1 hanged1 and damned for everlasting every man1 woman1 or child who dared to tell it any new truth1 and that some of the noblest men of genius of all ages had been roasted or impaled alive for being rude to the equator4 ,let us suppose that millions of pounds were still annually spent on casting nativities1 and that thousands of expensive observatories were still maintained at the public cost for astrological rites4 ,let us suppose all this1 and then ,i should say it would be quite consistent and quite logical for me to turn my verbal artillery on ,greenwich ,observatory4 ,would the ,christians listen to such a plea in any other case8 ,had ,socialists been guilty of tyranny1 or war1 of massacre1 or torture1 of blind opposition to the truth of science1 of cruel persecution of the finest human spirits for fifteen centuries1 can anyone believe for a moment that ,christians would heed the excuse that the founders of ,socialism had not preached the atrocious policy which the established ,socialist bodies and the recognised ,socialist leaders had put in force persistently during all those hundreds of cruel years8 ,would the ,christian hearken to such a defence from a ,socialist1 or from a ,mohammedan8 ,would a ,liberal accept it from a ,tory8 ,would a ,roman ,catholic admit it from a ,jew8 ,neither is it right to claim credit for the good deeds1 and to avoid responsibility for the evil deeds of the divine religion4 ,and the fact must be insisted upon1 that all religion1 in its very nature1 makes for persecution and oppression4 ,it is the assumption that it is wicked to doubt the accepted faith and the presumption that one religion ought to revenge or justify its ,god upon another religion1 that leads to all the pious crimes the world groans and bleeds for4 ,this is seen in the ,russian outrages on the ,jews1 and in the ,moslem outrages upon the ,macedonians to-day4 ,it is religious fanaticism that lights and fans and feeds the fire4 ,were all the people in the world of one1 or of no1 religion to-day1 there would be no ,jews murdered by ,christians and no ,christians murdered by ,moslems in the ,east4 ,the cause of the atrocities would be gone4 ,the cause is religion4 ,why is religious intolerance so much more fierce and bitter than political intolerance8 ,just because it is religious4 ,it is the supernatural element that breeds the fury4 ,it is the feeling that their religion is divine and all other religions wicked3 it is the belief that it is a holy thing to be jealous for the ,lord1 that drives men into blind rage and ruthless savagery4 ,we have to regard two things at once1 then3 the good influences of ,christ's ethics1 and the evil deeds of those who profess to be ,his followers4 ,as to what some ,christians call the ,christianity of ,christ1 ,i suggest that the teachings of ,christ were imperfect and inadequate4 ,that they contain some moral lessons ,i admit4 ,but some of the finest and most generally admired of those lessons do not appear to have been spoken by ,christ1 and for the rest there is nothing in ,his ethics that had not been taught by men before1 and little that has not been extended or improved by men since ,his era4 ,the ,new ,testament1 considered as a moral and spiritual guide for mankind1 is unsatisfactory4 ,for it is based upon an erroneous estimate of human nature and of ,god4 ,i am sure that it would be easy to compile a book more suitable to the needs of ,man4 ,i think it is a gross blunder to assume that all the genius1 all the experience1 all the discovery and research2 all the poetry1 morality1 and science of the entire human race during the past eighteen hundred years have failed to add to or improve the knowledge and morality of the first century4 ,mixed with much that is questionable or erroneous1 the ,new ,testament contains some truth and beauty4 ,amid the perpetration of much bloodshed and tyranny1 ,christianity has certainly achieved some good4 ,i should not like to say of any religion that all its works were evil4 ,but ,christ's message1 as we have it in the ,gospels1 is neither clear nor sufficing1 and has been obscured1 and1 at times almost obliterated1 by the pomps and casuistries of the schools and churches4 ,and just as it is difficult to discover the actual ,jesus among the conflicting ,gospel stories of ,his works and words1 so it is almost impossible to discover the genuine authentic ,christian religion amid the swarm of more or less antagonistic sects who confound the general ear with their discordant testimonies4 ,,christianity ,,and ,,civilisation ,it is a common mistake of apologists to set down all general improvements and signs of improvements to the credit of the particular religion or political theory they defend4 ,every good ,liberal knows that bad harvests are due to ,tory government4 ,every good ,tory knows that his ,party alone is to thank for the glorious certainties that ,britannia rules the waves1 that an ,englishman's house is his castle1 and that journeymen tailors earn fourpence an hour more than they were paid in the thirteenth century4 ,cobdenites ascribe every known or imagined improvement in commerce1 and the condition of the masses1 to ,free ,trade4 ,things are better than they were fifty years ago3 ,free ,trade was adopted fifty years ago4 ,ergo--there you are4 ,there is not a word about the development of railways and steamships1 about improved machinery1 about telegraphs1 the cheap post and telephones2 about education and better facilities of travel2 about the ,factory ,acts and ,truck ,acts2 about cheap books and newspapers2 and who so base to whisper of ,trade ,unions1 and ,agitators1 and ,county ,councils8 ,so it is with the ,christian religion4 ,we are more moral1 more civilised1 more humane1 the ,christians tell us1 than any human beings ever were before us4 ,and we owe this to the ,christian religion1 and to no other thing under ,heaven4 ,but for ,christianity we never should have had the ,house of ,peers1 the ,times newspaper1 the ,underground ,railway1 the ,adventures of ,captain ,kettle1 the ,fabian ,society1 or ,sir ,thomas ,lipton4 ,the ancient ,greek ,philosophers1 the ,buddhist missionaries1 the ,northern invaders1 the ,roman laws and ,roman roads1 the inventions of printing1 of steam1 and of railways1 the learning of the ,arabs1 the discoveries of ,copernicus1 ,galileo1 ,newton1 ,herschel1 ,hunter1 ,laplace1 ,bacon1 ,descartes1 ,spencer1 ,columbus1 ,karl ,marx1 ,adam ,smith2 the reforms and heroisms and artistic genius of ,wilberforce1 ,howard1 ,king ,asoka1 ,washington1 ,stephen ,langton1 ,oliver ,cromwell1 ,sir ,thomas ,more1 ,rabelais1 and ,shakespeare2 the wars and travels and commerce of eighteen hundred years1 the ,dutch ,republic1 the ,french ,revolution1 and the ,jameson ,raid have had nothing to do with the growth of civilisation in ,europe and ,america4 ,and so to-day3 science1 invention1 education1 politics1 economic conditions1 literature and art1 the ancient ,greeks and ,oriental ,wisdom1 and the world's ,press count for nothing in the moulding of the nations4 ,everything worth having comes from the pulpit1 the ,british and ,foreign ,bible ,society1 and the ,war ,cry4 ,it is not to our scientists1 our statesmen1 our economists1 our authors1 inventors1 and scholars that we must look for counsel and reform3 such secular aid is useless1 and we shall be wise to rely entirely upon ,his ,holiness the ,pope and ,his ,grace the ,archbishop of ,canterbury4 ,in the ,england of the ,middle ,ages1 when ,christianity was paramount1 there was a cruel penal code1 there was slavery1 there were barbarous forest laws1 there were ruthless oppression and insolent robbery of the poor1 there were black ignorance and a terror of superstition1 there were murderous laws against witchcraft1 there was savage persecution of the ,jews1 there were trial by wager of battle1 and question of prisoners by torture4 ,many of these horrors endured until quite recent times4 ,why did ,christianity with its spiritual and temporal power1 permit such things to be8 ,did ,christianity abolish them8 ,no4 ,christianity nearly always opposed reform4 ,the ,church was the enemy of popular freedom1 the enemy of popular education2 the friend of superstition and tyranny1 and the robber baron4 ,those horrors are no more4 ,but ,christianity did not abolish them4 ,they were abolished by the gradual spread of humane feelings and the light of knowledge2 just as similar iniquities were abolished by the spread of humane doctrines in ,india1 centuries before the birth of ,christ4 ,organised and authoritative religion the world over makes for ignorance1 for poverty and superstition4 ,in ,russia1 in ,italy1 in ,spain1 in ,turkey1 where the ,churches are powerful and the authority is tense1 the condition of the people is lamentable4 ,in ,america1 ,england1 and ,germany1 where the authority of the ,church is less rigid and the religion is nearer ,rationalism1 the people are more prosperous1 more intelligent1 and less superstitious4 ,so1 again1 the rule of the ,english ,church seems less beneficial than that of the more rational and free ,nonconformist4 ,the worst found and worst taught class in ,england is that of the agricultural labourers1 who have been for centuries left entirely in the hands of the ,established ,church4 ,it may be urged that the ,french1 although ,catholics1 are as intelligent and as prosperous as any nation in the world4 ,but the ,french are a clever people1 and since their ,revolution have not taken their religion so seriously4 ,probably there are more ,sceptics and ,rationalists in ,france than in any other country4 ,my point is that the prosperity and happiness of a nation do not depend upon the form of religion they profess1 but upon their native energy and intelligence and the level of freedom and knowledge to which they have attained4 ,it is because organised and authoritative religion opposes education and liberty that we find the most religious peoples the most backward4 ,and this is a strange commentary upon the claim of the ,christians1 that their religion is the root from which the civilisation and the refinement of the world have sprung4 ,,christianity ,,and ,,ethics ,christianity1 we are told1 inaugurated the religion of humanity and human brotherhood4 ,but the ,buddhists taught a religion of humanity and universal brotherhood before the ,christian era2 and not only taught the religion1 but put it into practice1 which the ,christians never succeeded in doing1 and cannot do to-day4 ,and1 moreover1 the ,buddhists did not spread their religion of humanity and brotherhood by means of the sword1 and the rack1 and the thumb-screw1 and the faggot2 and the ,buddhists liberated the slave1 and extended their loving-kindness to the brute creation4 ,the ,buddhists do not depend for the records of their morality on books4 ,their testimony is written upon the rocks4 ,no argument can explain away the rock edicts of ,king ,asoka4 ,king ,asoka was one of the greatest ,oriental kings4 ,he ruled over a vast and wealthy nation4 ,he was converted to ,buddhism1 and made it the ,state religion1 as ,constantine made ,christianity the ,state religion of ,rome4 ,in the year #bea ,b4,c41 ,king ,asoka inscribed his earliest rock edict4 ,the other edicts from which ,i shall quote were all cut more than two centuries before our era4 ,the inscription of the ,rupuath ,rock has the words3 ,two hundred and fifty years have elapsed since the departure of the teacher4 ,now1 ,buddha died in the fifth century before ,christ4 ,the ,dhauli ,edict of ,king ,asoka contains the following3 ,much longing after the things of this life is a disobedience1 ,i again declare2 not less so is the laborious ambition of dominion by a prince who would be a propitiator of ,heaven4 ,confess and believe in ,god1 who is the worthy object of obedience4 ,from the ,tenth ,rock ,edict3 ,earthly glory brings little profit1 but1 on the contrary1 produces a loss of virtue4 ,to toil for heaven is difficult to peasant and to prince1 unless by a supreme effort he gives up all4 ,this is from the ,fourteenth ,edict3 ,piyadasi1 the friend of the ,devas1 values alone the harvest of the next world4 ,for this alone has this inscription been chiselled1 that our sons and our grandsons should make no new conquests4 ,let them not think that conquests by the sword merit the name of conquests4 ,let them see their ruin1 confusion1 and violence4 ,true conquests alone are the conquests of ,dharma4 ,rock ,edict ,no4 #a has3 ,formerly in the great refectory and temple of ,king ,piyadasi1 the friend of the ,devas1 many hundred thousand animals were daily sacrificed for the sake of food meat444 but now the joyful chorus resounds again and again that henceforward not a single animal shall be put to death4 ,the ,second ,edict has3 ,in committing the least possible harm1 in doing abundance of good1 in the practice of pity1 love1 truth1 and likewise purity of life1 religion consists4 ,the ,ninth ,edict has3 ,not superstitious rites1 but kindness to slaves and servants1 reverence towards venerable persons1 self-control with respect to living creatures444 these and similar virtuous actions are the rites which ought indeed to be performed4 ,the ,eighth ,edict has3 ,the acts and the practice of religion1 to wit1 sympathy1 charity1 truthfulness1 purity1 gentleness1 kindness4 ,the ,sixth ,edict has3 ,i consider the welfare of all people as something for which ,i must work4 ,the ,dhauli ,edict has3 ,if a man is subject to slavery and ill-treatment1 from this moment he shall be delivered by the king from this and other captivity4 ,many men in this country suffer in captivity1 therefore the stupa containing the commands of the king has been a great want4 ,is it reasonable to suppose that a people possessing so much wisdom1 mercy1 and purity two centuries before ,christ was born could need to borrow from the ,christian ethics8 ,mr4 ,lillie says of ,king ,asoka3 ,he antedates ,wilberforce in the matter of slavery4 ,he antedates ,howard in his humanity towards prisoners4 ,he antedates ,tolstoy in his desire to turn the sword into a pruning-hook4 ,he antedates ,rousseau1 ,st4 ,martin1 ,fichte in their wish to make interior religion the all in all4 ,king ,asoka abolished slavery1 denounced war1 taught spiritual religion and purity of life1 founded hospitals1 forbade blood sacrifices1 and inculcated religious toleration1 two centuries before the birth of ,christ4 ,centuries before ,king ,asoka the ,buddhists sent out missionaries all over the world4 ,which religion was the borrower from the other--,buddhism or ,christianity8 ,two centuries before ,christ1 ,king ,asoka had cut upon the rocks these words3 ,i pray with every variety of prayer for those who differ with me in creed1 that they1 following after my example1 may with me attain unto eternal salvation4 ,and whoso doeth this is blessed of the inhabitants of this world2 and in the next world endless moral merit resulteth from such religious charity --,edict ,,xi4 ,how many centuries did it take the ,christians to rise to that level of wisdom and charity8 ,how many ,christians have reached it yet8 ,but the altruistic idea is very much older than ,buddha1 for it existed among forms of life very much earlier and lower than the human1 and has1 indeed1 been a powerful factor in evolution4 ,speaking of ,the ,golden ,rule in his ,confessions of ,faith of a ,man of ,science1 ,haeckel says3 ,in the human family this maxim has always been accepted as self-evident2 as ethical instinct it was an inheritance derived from our animal ancestors4 ,it had already found a place among the herds of apes and other social mammals2 in a similar manner1 but with wider scope1 it was already present in the most primitive communities and among the hordes of the least advanced savages4 ,brotherly love--mutual support1 succour1 protection1 and the like--had already made its appearance among gregarious animals as a social duty2 for without it the continued existence of such societies is impossible4 ,although at a later period1 in the case of man1 these moral foundations of society came to be much more highly developed1 their oldest prehistoric source1 as ,darwin has shown1 is to be sought in the social instincts of animals4 ,among the higher vertebrates 7dogs1 horses1 elephants1 etc471 as among the higher articulates 7ants1 bees1 termites1 etc471 also1 the development of social relations and duties is the indispensable condition of their living together in orderly societies4 ,such societies have for man also been the most important instrument of intellectual and moral progress4 ,it is not to revelation that we owe the ideal of human brotherhood1 but to evolution4 ,it is because altruism is better than selfishness that it has survived4 ,it is because love is stronger and sweeter than greed that its influence has deepened and spread4 ,from the love of the animal for its mate1 from the love of parents for their young1 sprang the ties of kindred and the loyalty of friendship2 and these in time developed into tribal1 and thence into national patriotism4 ,and these stages of altruistic evolution may be seen among the brutes4 ,it remained for ,man to take the grand step of embracing all humanity as one brotherhood and one nation4 ,but the root idea of fraternity and mutual loyalty was not planted by any priest or prophet4 ,for countless ages universal brotherhood has existed among the bison1 the swallow1 and the deer1 in a perfection to which humanity has not yet attained4 ,for a fuller account of this animal origin of fraternity ,i recommend the reader to two excellent books1 ,the ,martyrdom of ,man1 by ,winwood ,reade 7,kegan ,paul71 and ,mutual ,aid1 by ,prince ,kropotkin 7,heinemann74 ,but the ,christian claims that ,christ taught a new gospel of love1 and mercy1 and goodwill to men4 ,that is a great mistake4 ,christ did not originate one single new ethic4 ,the ,golden ,rule was old4 ,the ,lord's ,prayer was old4 ,the ,sermon on the ,mount was old4 ,with the latter ,i will deal briefly4 ,for a fuller statement1 please see the ,r4,p4,a4 sixpenny edition of ,huxley's ,lectures and ,essays1 and ,christianity and ,mythology1 by ,j4 ,m4 ,robertson4 ,shortly stated1 ,huxley's argument was to the following effect3 ,that ,mark's ,gospel is the oldest of the ,synoptic ,gospels1 and that ,mark's ,gospel does not contain1 nor even mention1 the ,sermon on the ,mount4 ,that ,luke gives no ,sermon on the ,mount1 but gives what may be called a ,sermon on the ,plain4 ,that ,luke's sermon differs materially from the sermon given by ,matthew4 ,that the ,matthew version contains one hundred and seven verses1 and the ,luke version twenty-nine verses4 ,huxley's conclusion is as follows3 ,matthew1 having a cento of sayings attributed--rightly or wrongly it is impossible to say--to ,jesus among his materials1 thought they were1 or might be1 records of a continuous discourse and put them in a place he thought likeliest4 ,ancient historians of the highest character saw no harm in composing long speeches which never were spoken1 and putting them into the mouths of statesmen and warriors2 and ,i presume that whoever is represented by ,matthew would have been grievously astonished to find that any one objected to his following the example of the best models accessible to him4 ,but since ,huxley wrote those words more evidence has been produced4 ,from the ,old ,testament1 from the ,talmud1 and from the recently-discovered ,teaching of the ,twelve ,apostles 7a pre-,christian work7 the origins of the ,sermon on the ,mount have been fully traced4 ,agnostic criticism now takes an attitude towards this sermon which may be thus expressed3 #a4 ,the sermon never was preached at all4 ,it is a written compilation4 #b4 ,the story of the mount is a myth4 ,the name of the mount is not given4 ,it is not reasonable to suppose that ,jesus would lead a multitude up a mountain to speak to them for a few minutes4 ,the mountain is an old sun-myth of the ,sun ,god on his hill1 and the twelve apostles are another sun-myth1 and represent the signs of the ,zodiac4 #c4 ,there is nothing in the alleged sermon that was new at the time of its alleged utterance4 ,of course1 it may be claimed that the arrangement of old texts in a new form constitutes a kind of originality2 as one might say that he who took flowers from a score of gardens and arranged them into one bouquet produced a new effect of harmony and beauty4 ,but this credit must be given to the compilers of the gospels' version of the ,sermon on the ,mount4 ,let us take a few pre-,christian morals4 ,sextus said3 ,what you wish your neighbours to be to you1 such be also to them4 ,isocrates said3 ,act towards others as you desire others to act towards you4 ,lao-tze said3 ,the good ,i would meet with goodness1 the not-good ,i would also meet with goodness4 ,buddha said3 ,hatred does not cease by hatred at any time3 hatred ceases by love4 ,and again3 ,let us live happily1 not hating those who hate us4 ,in the ,talmud occur the following ,jewish anticipations of ,christian morals3 ,love peace1 and seek it at any price4 ,remember that it is better to be persecuted than persecutor4 ,to whom does ,god pardon sins8--,to him who himself forgives injuries4 ,those who undergo injuries without returning it1 those who hear themselves vilified and do not reply1 who have no motive but love1 who accept evils with joy2 it is of them that the prophet speaks when he says the friends of ,god shall shine one day as the sun in all his splendour4 ,it is not the wicked we should hate1 but wickedness4 ,be like ,god1 compassionate1 merciful4 ,judge not your neighbour when you have not been in his place4 ,he who charitably judges his neighbour shall be charitably judged by ,god4 ,do not unto others that which it would be disagreeable to you to suffer yourself1 that is the main part of the law2 all the rest is only commentary4 ,from the ,old ,testament come such morals as3 ,let him give his cheek to him that smiteth him 7,lam4 iii4 #cj74 ,thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself 7,lev4 xix4 #ah74 ,he that is of a lowly spirit shall obtain honour 7,prov4 xxix4 #bc7 ,the meek shall inherit the land 7,ps4 xxxvii #aa74 ,history and ancient literature prove that ,christianity did not bring a new moral code1 did not inaugurate peace1 nor purity1 nor universal brotherhood1 did not originate the ideal human character3 but checked civilisation1 resisted all enlightenment1 and deluged the earth with innocent blood in the endeavour to compel mankind to drink old moral wine out of new theological bottles4 ,three of the greatest blessings men can have are freedom1 liberty of conscience1 and knowledge4 ,these blessings ,christianity has not given1 but has opposed4 ,it is largely to the ancient ,greeks and ,romans1 to the ,arabs and the ,indians1 to patriots1 heroes1 statesmen1 scholars1 scientists1 travellers1 inventors1 discoverers1 authors1 poets1 philanthropists1 rebels1 sceptics1 and reformers that the world owes such advance as it has made towards liberty and happiness and universal loving-kindness4 ,this advance has been made in defiance of ,christian envy1 hatred1 and malice1 and in defiance of ,christian tyranny and persecution4 ,after fighting fiercely to defeat the advance of humanity1 after slaying and cursing the noblest sons and daughters of the ages1 the defeated ,christians now claim to have conquered the fields they have lost1 to have bestowed the benefits they have denied1 to have evolved the civilisation they have maimed and damned4 ,as a ,democrat1 a ,humanist1 and a ,socialist1 ,i join my voice to the indignant chorus which denies those claims4 ,,the ,,success ,,of ,,christianity ,we are told that the divine origin and truth of ,christianity are proved by the marvellous success of that religion4 ,but it seems to me that the reverse is proved by its failure4 ,christianity owed its magnificent opportunities 7which it has wasted7 to several accidental circumstances4 ,just as the rise of ,buddhism was made possible by the act of ,king ,asoka in adopting it as the ,state ,religion of his vast ,indian kingdom1 was the rise of ,christianity made possible by the act of the ,emperor ,constantine in adopting it as the ,state religion of the far-stretched ,roman ,empire4 ,christianity spread rapidly because the ,roman ,empire was ripe for a new religion4 ,it conquered because it threw in its lot with the ruling powers4 ,it throve because it came with the tempting bribe of ,heaven in one hand1 and the withering threat of ,hell in the other4 ,the older religions1 grey in their senility1 had no such bribe or threat to conjure with4 ,christianity overcame opposition by murdering or cursing all who resisted its advance4 ,it exterminated scepticism by stifling knowledge1 and putting a merciless veto on free thought and free speech1 and by rewarding philosophers and discoverers with the faggot and the chain4 ,it held its power for centuries by force of hell-fire1 and ignorance1 and the sword2 and the greatest of these was ignorance4 ,nor must it be supposed that the persecution and the slaughter of ,heretics and ,infidels was the exception4 ,it was the rule4 ,motley1 the ,american historian1 states that ,torquemada1 during eighteen years' command of the ,inquisition1 burnt more than ten thousand people alive1 and punished nearly a hundred thousand with infamy1 confiscation of property1 or perpetual imprisonment4 ,to be a ,jew1 a ,moslem1 a ,lutheran1 a wizard1 a sceptic1 a heretic was to merit death and torture4 ,one order of ,philip of ,spain condemned to death as heretics the entire population of the ,netherlands4 ,wherever the ,christian religion was successful the martyrs' fires burned1 and the devilish instruments of torture were in use4 ,for some twelve centuries the ,holy ,church carried out this inhuman policy4 ,and to this day the term free thought is a term of reproach4 ,the shadow of the fanatical priest1 that half-demented coward1 sneak1 and assassin1 still blights us4 ,although that holy monster1 with his lurking spies1 his villainous casuistries1 his flames and devils1 and red-hot pincers1 and whips of steel1 has been defeated by the humanity he scorned and the knowledge he feared1 yet he has left a taint behind him4 ,it is still held that it ought to be an unpleasant thing to be an ,infidel4 ,and1 yes1 there were other factors in the success of ,christianity4 ,the story of the herald angels1 the wise men from the east1 the manger1 the child ,god1 the cross1 and the gospel of mercy and atonement1 and of universal brotherhood and peace amongst the earthly children of a ,heavenly ,father1 whose attribute was love--this story1 possessed a certain homely beauty and sentimental glamour which won the allegiance of many golden-hearted and sweet-souled men and women4 ,these lovely natures assimilated from the chaotic welter of beauty and ashes called the ,christian religion all that was pure1 and rejected all that was foul4 ,it was the light of such sovereign souls as ,joan of ,arc and ,francis of ,assisi that saved ,christianity from darkness and the pit2 and how much does that religion owe to the genius of ,wyclif and ,tyndale1 of ,milton and ,handel1 of ,mozart and ,thomas a ,kempis1 of ,michael ,angelo and ,rafael1 and the compilers of the ,book of ,common ,prayer8 ,there are good men and good women by millions in the ,christian ranks to-day1 and it is their virtue1 and their zeal1 and their illumination of its better qualities1 and charitable and loyal shelter of its follies and its crimes1 that keep the ,christian religion still alive4 ,christianity has been for fifteen hundred years the religion of the brilliant1 brave1 and strenuous races in the world4 ,and what has it accomplished8 ,and how does it stand to-day8 ,is ,christianity the rule of life in ,america and ,europe8 ,are the masses of people who accept it peaceful1 virtuous1 chaste1 spiritually minded1 prosperous1 happy8 ,are their national laws based on its ethics8 ,are their international politics guided by the ,sermon on the ,mount8 ,are their noblest and most ,christlike men and women most revered and honoured8 ,is the ,christian religion loved and respected by those outside its pale8 ,are ,london and ,paris1 ,new ,york and ,st4 ,petersburg1 ,berlin1 ,vienna1 ,brussels1 and ,rome centres of holiness and of sweetness and light8 ,from ,glasgow to ,johannesburg1 from ,bombay to ,san ,francisco is ,god or ,mammon king8 ,if a tree should be known by its fruit1 the ,christian religion has small right to boast of its success4 ,but the ,christian will say1 ,this is not ,christianity1 but its caricature4 ,where1 then1 is the saving grace1 the compelling power1 of this divine religion1 which1 planted by ,god ,himself1 is found after nineteen centuries to yield nothing but leaves8 ,after all these sad ages of heroism and crime1 of war and massacre1 of preaching and praying1 of blustering and trimming2 after all this prodigal waste of blood and tears1 and labour and treasure1 and genius and sacrifice1 we have nothing better to show for ,christianity than ,european and ,american ,society to-day4 ,and this ghastly heart-breaking failure proves the ,christian religion to be the ,divine ,revelation of ,god6 ,,the ,,prophecies ,another alleged proof of the divine verity of the ,christian religion is the ,prophecies4 ,hundreds of books--perhaps ,i might say thousands of books--have been written upon these prophecies4 ,wonderful books1 wonderful prophecies1 wonderful religion1 wonderful people4 ,if religious folk did not think by moonlight those books on the prophecies would never have been written4 ,there are the prophecies of ,christ's coming which are pointed out in the ,old ,testament4 ,that the ,jews had many prophecies of a ,jewish ,messiah is certain4 ,but these are indefinite4 ,there is not one of them which unmistakably applies to ,jesus ,christ2 and the ,jews1 who should surely understand their own prophets and their own ,scriptures1 deny that ,christ was the ,messiah whose coming the ,scriptures foretold4 ,then1 we have the explicit prophecy of ,christ ,himself as to ,his second coming4 ,that prophecy at least is definite2 and that has never been fulfilled4 ,for ,christ declared in the plainest and most solemn manner that ,he would return from ,heaven with power and glory within the lifetime of those to whom ,he spoke3 ,verily1 ,i say unto you1 this generation shall not pass1 till all these things be fulfilled4 ,these prophecies by ,christ of ,his return to earth may be read in the ,gospels of ,matthew and ,luke4 ,they are distinct1 and definite1 and solemn1 and--untrue4 ,i could fill many pages with unfulfilled prophecies from the ,old and ,new ,testaments4 ,i think the one ,i give is enough4 ,jesus ,christ distinctly says that ,he will come in glory with all ,his angels before this generation all have passed away4 ,this is the year #aijc4 ,christ uttered ,his prophecy about the year #ca4 ,,the ,,universality ,,of ,,religious ,,belief ,christians declare the religious sentiment to be universal4 ,even if it were so1 that would show a universal spiritual hunger2 but would not prove the ,christian religion to be its only food4 ,but the religious sentiment is not universal4 ,i know many young people who have never been taught religion of any kind1 who have never read ,bible nor ,gospel1 who never attended any place of worship2 and they are virtuous and courteous and compassionate and happy1 and feel no more need of spiritual comfort or religious consolation than ,i do4 ,they are as gentle1 sweet1 and merry1 and do their duty as faithfully as any ,christian1 yet to them ,heaven and ,hell are meaningless abstractions2 ,god and the soul are problems they1 with quiet cheerfulness1 leave time to solve4 ,if the craving for religion were universal these young folk would not be free from spiritual hunger4 ,as they are free from spiritual hunger1 ,i conclude that the craving for religion is not born in us1 but must be inculcated4 ,many good men and women will look blank at such heresy4 ,what6 they will exclaim1 take away the belief in the ,bible1 and the service of ,god8 ,why1 our lives would be empty4 ,what would you give us in exchange8 ,to which ,i answer1 ,the belief in yourselves1 and the belief in your fellow-creatures1 and the service of ,man4 ,such belief and such service will certainly increase the sum of happiness on earth4 ,and as for the ,hereafter--no man knoweth4 ,no man knoweth4 ,,is ,,christianity ,,the ,,only ,,hope8 ,christians tell us that their religion is our only refuge1 that ,christ is our only saviour4 ,from the wild ,salvation ,army captain1 thundering and beseeching under his banner of blood and fire1 to the academic ,bishop reconciling science and transfiguring crude translations in the dim religious light of a cathedral1 all the apostles of the ,nazarene carpenter insist that ,he is the only way4 ,in this the ,christian resembles the ,hindu1 the ,parsee1 the ,buddhist1 and the ,mohammedan4 ,there is but one true religion1 and it is his4 ,the ,rationalist locks on with a rueful smile1 and wonders4 ,he sees nothing in any one of these religions to justify its claim to infallibility or pre-eminence4 ,it seems to him unreasonable to assert that any theology or any saviour is indispensable4 ,he realises that a man may be good and happy in any church1 or outside any church4 ,he cannot admit that only those who follow ,jesus1 or ,buddha1 or ,mahomet1 or ,moses can be saved1 nor that all those who fail to believe in the divine mission of one1 or all of these will be lost4 ,let us consider the ,christian claim4 ,if the ,christian claim be valid1 men cannot be good1 nor happy1 cannot be saved1 except through ,christ4 ,is this position supported by the facts8 ,one ,christian tells me that ,it is in the solemn realities of life that one gets his final evidence that ,christianity is true4 ,another tells me that ,in ,christ alone is peace2 another1 that ,without ,christ there is neither health nor holiness4 ,if these statements mean anything1 they mean that none but true ,christians can live well1 nor die well1 nor bear sorrow and pain with fortitude1 do their whole duty manfully1 nor find happiness here and bliss hereafter4 ,but ,i submit that ,christianity does not make men lead better lives than others lead who are not ,christians1 and there are none so abjectly afraid of death as ,christians are4 ,the ,pagan1 the ,buddhist1 the ,mohammedan1 and the ,agnostic do not fear death nearly so much as do the ,christians4 ,the words of many of the greatest ,christians are gloomy with the fears of death1 of ,hell1 and of the wrath of ,god4 ,the ,roman soldier1 the ,spartan soldier1 the ,mohammedan soldier did not fear death4 ,the ,greek1 the ,buddhist1 the ,moslem1 the ,viking went to death as to a reward1 or as to the arms of a bride4 ,compare the writings of ,marcus ,aurelius and of ,jeremy ,taylor1 of ,epictetus and ,john ,bunyan1 and then ask yourself whether the ,christian religion makes it easier for men to die4 ,there are millions of ,europeans--not to speak of ,buddhists and ,jews--there are millions of men and women to-day who are not ,christians4 ,do they live worse or die worse1 or bear trouble worse1 than those who accept the ,christian faith8 ,some of us have come through the solemn realities of life1 and have not realised that ,christianity is true4 ,we do not believe the ,bible2 we do not believe in the divinity of ,christ2 we do not pray1 nor feel the need of prayer2 we do not fear ,god1 nor ,hell1 nor death4 ,we are as happy as our even ,christian2 we are as good as our even ,christian2 we are as benevolent as our even ,christian3 what has ,christianity to offer us8 ,there are in the world some four hundred and fifty millions of ,buddhists4 ,how do they bear themselves in the solemn realities of life8 ,i suggest that consolation1 and fortitude1 and cheerfulness1 and loving-kindness are not in the exclusive gift of the ,christian religion1 but may be found by good men in all religions4 ,as to the effects of ,christianity on life4 ,did ,buddha1 and ,king ,asoka1 and ,socrates1 and ,aristides lead happy1 and pure1 and useful lives8 ,were there no virtuous1 nor happy1 nor noble men and women during all the millions of years before the ,crucifixion8 ,was there neither love1 nor honour1 nor wisdom1 nor valour1 nor peace in the world until ,paul turned ,christian8 ,history tells us no such gloomy story4 ,are there no good1 nor happy1 nor worthy men and women to-day outside the pale of the ,christian churches8 ,amongst the eight hundred millions of human beings who do not know or do not follow ,christ1 are there none as happy and as worthy as any who follow ,him8 ,are we ,rationalists so wicked1 so miserable1 so useless in the world1 so terrified of the shadow of death8 ,i beg to say we are nothing of the kind4 ,we are quite easy and contented4 ,there is no despair in our hearts4 ,we are not afraid of bogeys1 nor do we dread the silence and the dark4 ,friend ,christian1 you are deceived in this matter4 ,when you say that ,christ is the only true teacher1 that ,he is the only hope of mankind1 that ,he is the only ,saviour1 ,i must answer sharply that ,i do not believe that1 and ,i do not think you believe it deep down in your heart4 ,for if ,christ is the only ,saviour1 then thousands of millions of ,buddhists have died unsaved1 and you know you do not believe that4 ,jeremy ,taylor believed that2 but you know better4 ,do you not know1 as a matter of fact1 that it is as well in this world1 and shall be as well hereafter1 with a good ,buddhist1 or ,jew1 or ,agnostic1 as with a good ,christian8 ,do you deny that8 ,if you deny it1 tell me what punishment you think will be inflicted1 here or hereafter on a good man who does not accept ,christianity4 ,if you do not deny it1 then on what grounds do you claim that ,christ is the ,saviour of all mankind1 and that only in ,christ we are made whole8 ,you speak of the spiritual value of your religion4 ,what can it give you more than ,socrates or ,buddha possessed8 ,these men had wisdom1 courage1 morality1 fortitude1 love1 mercy4 ,can you find in all the world to-day two men as wise1 as good1 as gentle1 as happy8 ,yet these men died centuries before ,christ was born4 ,if you believe that none but ,christians can be happy or good2 or if you believe that none but ,christians can escape extinction or punishment1 then there is some logic in your belief that ,christ is our only ,saviour4 ,but that is to believe that there never was a good man before ,christ died1 and that ,socrates and ,buddha1 and many thousands of millions of men1 and women1 and children1 before ,christ and after1 have been lost4 ,such a belief is monstrous and absurd4 ,but ,i see no escape from the dilemma it places us in4 ,if only ,christ can save1 about twelve hundred millions of our fellow-creatures will be lost4 ,if men can be saved without ,christ1 then ,christ is not our only ,saviour4 ,christianity seems to be a composite religion1 made up of fragments of religions of far greater antiquity4 ,it is alleged to have originated some two thousand years ago4 ,it has never been the religion of more than one-third of the human race1 and of those professing it only ten per cent at any time have thoroughly understood1 or sincerely followed1 its teachings4 ,it was not indispensable to the human race during the thousands 7,i say millions7 of years before its advent4 ,it is not now indispensable to some eight hundred millions of human beings4 ,it had no place in the ancient civilisations of ,egypt1 ,assyria1 and ,greece4 ,it was unknown to ,socrates1 to ,epicurus1 to ,aristides1 to ,marcus ,aurelius1 to ,king ,asoka1 and to ,buddha4 ,it has opposed science and liberty almost from the first4 ,it has committed the most awful crimes and atrocities4 ,it has upheld the grossest errors and the most fiendish theories as the special revelations of ,god4 ,it has been defeated in argument and confounded by facts over and over again1 and has been steadily driven back and back1 abandoning one essential position after another1 until there is hardly anything left of its original pretensions4 ,it is losing more and more every day its hold upon the obedience and confidence of the masses1 and has only retained the suffrages of a minority of educated minds by accepting as truths the very theories which in the past it punished as deadly sins4 ,are these the signs of a triumphant and indispensable religion8 ,one would think1 to read the ,christian apologists1 that before the advent of ,christianity the world had neither virtue nor wisdom4 ,but the world very old4 ,civilisation is very old4 ,the ,christian religion is but a new thing1 is a mere episode in the history of human development1 and has passed the zenith of its power4 ,,spiritual ,,discernment ,christians say that only those who are naturally religious can understand religion1 or1 as ,archdeacon ,wilson puts it1 ,spiritual truths must be spiritually discerned4 ,this seems to amount to a claim that religious people possess an extra sense or faculty4 ,when a man talks about spiritual discernment1 he makes a tacit assertion which ought not to be allowed to pass unchallenged4 ,what is that assertion or implication8 ,it is the implication that there is a spiritual discernment which is distinct from mental discernment4 ,what does that mean8 ,it means that man has other means of understanding besides his reason4 ,this spiritual discernment is a metaphysical myth4 ,man feels1 sees1 and reasons with his brain4 ,his brain may be more emotional or less emotional1 more acute or less acute2 but to invent a faculty of reason distinct from reason1 or to suggest that man can feel or think otherwise than with his brain1 is to darken counsel with a multitude of words4 ,there is no ground for the assertion that a spiritual faculty exists apart from the reason4 ,but the ,christian first invents this faculty1 and then tells us that by this faculty religion is to be judged4 ,spiritual truths are to be spiritually discerned4 ,what is a spiritual truth8 ,it is neither more nor less than a mental idea4 ,it is an idea originating in the brain1 and it can only be discerned1 or judged1 or understood1 by an act of reason performed by the brain4 ,the word spiritual1 as used in this connection1 is a mere affectation4 ,it implies that the idea 7which ,archdeacon ,wilson calmly dubs a truth7 is so exalted1 or so refined1 that the reason is too gross to appreciate it4 ,john says3 ,i know that my ,redeemer liveth4 ,thomas asks3 ,how do you know8 ,john says3 ,because ,i feel it4 ,thomas answers3 ,but that is only a rhapsodical expression of a woman's reason3 ',i know because ,i know4' ,you say your religion is true because you feel it is true4 ,i might as well say it is not true because ,i feel that it is not true4 ,then ,john becomes mystical4 ,he says3 ,spiritual truths must be spiritually discerned4 ,thomas1 who believes that all truths1 and all errors1 must be tried by the reason1 shrugs his shoulders irreverently1 and departs4 ,now1 this mystical jargon has always been a favourite weapon of theologians1 and it is a very effective weapon against weak-minded1 or ignorant1 or superstitious1 or very emotional men4 ,we must deal with this deception sternly4 ,we must deny that the human reason1 which we know to be a fact1 is inferior to a postulated spiritual faculty which has no existence4 ,we must insist that to make the brain the slave of a brain-created idea is as foolish as to subordinate the substance to the shadow4 ,john declares that ,god is love4 ,thomas asks him how he knows4 ,john replies that it is a spiritual truth1 which must be spiritually discerned4 ,thomas says3 ,it is not spiritual1 and it is not true4 ,it is a mere figment of the brain4 ,john replies3 ,you are incapable of judging3 you are spiritually blind4 ,thomas says3 ,my friend1 you are incapable of reasoning3 you are mentally halt and lame4 ,john says ,thomas is a fellow of no delicacy4 ,i think there is much to be said in excuse for ,thomas4 ,i think it is rather cool of ,john to invent a faculty of spiritual discernment1 and then to tell ,thomas that he 7,thomas7 does not possess that faculty4 ,that is how ,archdeacon ,wilson uses me4 ,in a sermon at ,rochdale he is reported to have spoken as follows3 ,as regards the first axiom1 the archdeacon reaffirmed his declaration as to ,mr4 ,blatchford's disqualification for such a controversy444 ,whether ,mr4 ,blatchford recognised the fact or not1 it was true that there was a faculty among men which1 in its developed state1 was as distinct1 as unequally distributed1 as mysterious in its origin and in its distribution1 as was the faculty for pure mathematics1 for music1 for metaphysics1 or for research4 ,they might call it the devotional or religious faculty4 ,just as there were men whose faculties of insight amounted to genius in other regions of mental activity1 so there were spiritual geniuses1 geniuses in the region in which man holds communion with ,god1 and from this region these who had never developed the faculty were debarred4 ,one who was not devotional1 not humble1 not gentle in his treatment of the beliefs of others1 one who could lightly ridicule the elementary forms of belief which had corresponded to the lower stages of culture1 past and present1 was not likely to do good in a religious controversy4 ,here is the tyranny of language1 indeed6 ,here is a farrago of myths and symbols4 ,there is a faculty--we may call it the devotional or religious faculty--there are geniuses in the region in which man holds communion with ,god6 ,why the good archdeacon talks of the region in which man holds communion with ,god as if he were talking of the telephone exchange4 ,he talks of ,god as if he were talking of the ,postmaster-,general4 ,he postulates a ,god1 and he postulates a region1 and he postulates a communication1 and then talks about all these postulates as if they were facts4 ,i protest against this mystical1 transcendental rhetoric4 ,it is not argument4 ,who has seen ,god8 ,who has entered that region8 ,who has communicated with ,god8 ,there is in most men a desire1 in some men a passion1 for what is good4 ,in some men this desire is weak1 in others it is strong4 ,in some it takes the form of devotion to ,god1 in others it takes the form of devotion to men4 ,in some it is coloured by imagination1 or distorted by a love of the marvellous2 in others it is lighted by reason1 and directed by love of truth4 ,but whether a man devotes himself to ,god and to prayer1 or devotes himself to man and to politics or science1 he is actuated by the same impulse--by the desire for what is good4 ,john says3 ,i feel that there is a ,god1 and ,i worship ,him4 ,thomas says3 ,i do not know whether or not there is a ,god1 and if there is1 ,he does not need my adoration4 ,but ,i know there are men in darkness and women in trouble1 and children in pain1 and ,i know they do need my love and my help4 ,i therefore will not pray2 but ,i will work4 ,to him says ,john3 ,you are a fellow of no delicacy4 ,you lack spiritual discernment4 ,you are disqualified for the expression of any opinion on spiritual truths4 ,this is what ,john calls humility1 and gentle treatment of the beliefs of others4 ,but ,thomas calls it unconscious humour4 ,really1 ,archdeacon ,wilson's claim that only those possessing spiritual discernment can discern spiritual truths means no more than that those who cannot believe in religion do not believe in religion1 or that a man whose reason tells him religion is not true is incapable of believing religion is true4 ,but what he means it to mean is that a man whose reason rejects religion is unfit to criticise religion1 and that only those who accept religion as true are qualified to express an opinion as to its truth4 ,he might as well claim that the only person qualified to criticise the ,tory ,party is the person who has the faculty for discerning ,tory truth4 ,my claim is that ideas relating to spiritual things must be weighed by the same faculties as ideas relating to material things4 ,that is to say1 man can only judge in religious matters as he judges in all other matters1 by his reason4 ,i do not say that all men have the same kind or quantity of reason4 ,what ,i say is1 that a man with a good intellect is a better judge on religious matters than a man1 with an inferior intellect2 and that by reason1 and by reason alone1 can truth of any kind be discerned4 ,the archdeacon speaks of spiritual geniuses1 geniuses in the region in which man holds communion with ,god4 ,the ,saints1 for example4 ,well1 if the ,saints were geniuses in matters religious1 the ,saints ought to have been better judges of spiritual truth than other men4 ,but was it so8 ,the ,saints believed in angels1 and devils1 and witches1 and hell-fire and ,jonah1 and the ,flood2 in demoniacal possession1 in the working of miracles by the bones of dead martyrs2 the ,saints accepted ,david and ,abraham and ,moses as men after ,god's own heart4 ,many of the most spiritually gifted ,christians do not believe in these things any longer4 ,the ,saints1 then1 were mistaken4 ,they were mistaken about these spiritual matters in which they are alleged to have been specially gifted4 ,we do not believe in sorcerers1 in witches1 in miracle-working relics1 in devils1 and eternal fire and brimstone4 ,why8 ,because science has killed those errors4 ,what is science8 ,it is reason applied to knowledge4 ,the faculty of reason1 then1 has excelled this boasted faculty of spiritual discernment in its own religious sphere4 ,it would be easy to multiply examples4 ,jeremy ,taylor was one of the most brilliant and spiritual of our divines4 ,but his spiritual perception1 as evidenced in his works1 was fearfully at fault4 ,he believed in hell-fire1 and in hell-fire for all outside the pale of the ,christian ,church4 ,and he was afraid of ,god1 and afraid of death4 ,archdeacon ,wilson denies to us this faculty of spiritual perception4 ,very well4 ,but ,i have enough mental acuteness to see that the religion of ,jeremy ,taylor was cowardly1 and gloomy1 and untrue4 ,luther and ,wesley were spiritual geniuses4 ,they both believed in witchcraft4 ,luther believed in burning heretics4 ,wesley said if we gave up belief in witchcraft we must give up belief in the ,bible4 ,luther and ,wesley were mistaken3 their spiritual discernment had led them wrong4 ,their superstition and cruelty were condemned by humanity and common sense4 ,to me it appears that these men of spiritual discernment are really men of abnormally credulous and emotional natures3 men too weak to face the facts4 ,we cannot allow the ,christians to hold this position unchallenged4 ,i regard the religious plane as a lower one than our own4 ,i think the ,christian idea of ,god is even now1 after two thousand years of evolution1 a very mean and weak one4 ,i cannot love nor revere a ,heavenly ,father whose children have to pray to ,him for what they need1 or for pardon for their sins4 ,my children do not need to pray to me for food or forgiveness2 and ,i am a mere earthly father4 ,yet ,christ1 who came direct from ,god--who was ,god--to teach all men ,god's will1 directed us to pray to ,god for our daily bread1 for forgiveness of our trespasses against ,him1 and that ,he would not lead us into temptation6 ,imagine a father leading his children into temptation6 ,what is there so superior or so meritorious in the attitude of a religious man towards ,god8 ,this good man prays3 for what8 ,he prays that something be given to him or forgiven to him4 ,he prays for gain or fear4 ,is that so lofty and so noble8 ,but you will say3 ,it is not all for gain or for fear4 ,he prays for love3 because he loves ,god4 ,but is not this like sending flowers and jewels to the king8 ,the king is so rich already3 but there are many poor outside his gates4 ,god is not in need of our love3 some of ,god's children are in need4 ,truly1 these high ideals are very curious4 ,mr4 ,augustine ,birrell1 in his ,miscellanies1 quotes a passage from ,lux ,mundi2 and although ,i cannot find it in that book1 it is too good to lose3 ,if this be the relation of faith to reason1 we see the explanation of what seems at first sight to the philosopher to be the most irritating and hypocritical characteristic of faith4 ,it is always shifting its intellectual defences4 ,it adopts this or that fashion of philosophical apology1 and then1 when this is shattered by some novel scientific generalisation of faith1 probably after a passionate struggle to retain the old position1 suddenly and gaily abandons it1 and takes up the new formula1 just as if nothing had happened4 ,it discovers that the new formula is admirably adapted for its purposes1 and is1 in fact1 what it always meant1 only it has unfortunately omitted to mention it4 ,so it goes on again and again2 and no wonder that the philosophers growl at those humbugs1 the clergy4 ,that passage has a rather sinister bearing upon the ,christian's claim for spiritual genius4 ,but1 indeed1 the claim is not admissible4 ,the ,churches have taught many errors4 ,those errors have been confuted by scepticism and science4 ,it is no thanks to spiritual discernment that we stand where we do4 ,it is to reason we owe our advance2 and what a great advance it is6 ,we have got rid of ,hell1 we have got rid of the ,devil1 we have got rid of the ,christian championship of slavery1 of witch-murder1 of martyrdom1 persecution1 and torture2 we have destroyed the claims for the infallibility of the ,scriptures1 and have taken the fetters of the ,church from the limbs of ,science and ,thought1 and before long we shall have demolished the belief in miracles4 ,the ,christian religion has defended all these dogmas1 and has done inhuman murder in defence of them2 and has been wrong in every instance1 and has been finally defeated in every instance4 ,steadily and continually the ,church has been driven from its positions4 ,it is still retreating1 and we are not to be persuaded to abandon our attack by the cool assurance that we are mentally unfit to judge in spiritual matters4 ,spiritual ,discernment has been beaten by reason in the past1 and will be beaten by reason in the future4 ,it is facts and logic we want1 not rhetoric4 ,,some ,,other ,,apologies ,christianity1 we are told1 vastly improved the relations of rich and poor4 ,how comes it1 then1 that the treatment of the poor by the rich is better amongst ,jews than amongst ,christians8 ,how did it fare with the poor all over ,europe in the centuries when ,christianity was at the zenith of its power8 ,how is it we have twelve millions of ,christians on the verge of starvation in ,england to-day1 with a ,church rolling in wealth and an aristocracy decadent from luxury and self-indulgence8 ,how is it that the gulf betwixt rich and poor in such ,christian capitals as ,new ,york1 ,london1 and ,paris is so wide and deep8 ,christianity1 we are told1 first gave to mankind the gospel of peace4 ,christianity did not bring peace1 but a sword4 ,the ,crusades were holy wars4 ,the wars in the ,netherlands were holy wars4 ,the ,spanish ,armada was a holy expedition4 ,some of these holy wars lasted for centuries and cost millions of human lives4 ,most of them were remarkable for the barbarities and cruelties of the ,christian priests and soldiers4 ,from the beginning of its power ,christianity has been warlike1 violent1 and ruthless4 ,to-day ,europe is an armed camp1 and it is not long since the ,christian ,kaiser ordered his troops to give no quarter to the ,chinese4 ,there has never been a ,christian nation as peaceful as the ,indians and ,burmese under ,buddhism4 ,it was ,king ,asoka1 and not ,jesus ,christ or ,st4 ,paul1 who first taught and first established a reign of national and international peace4 ,to-day the peace of the world is menaced1 not by the ,buddhists1 the ,parsees1 the ,hindoos1 or the ,confucians1 but by ,christian hunger for territory1 ,christian lust of conquest1 ,christian avarice for the opening up of new markets1 ,christian thirst for military glory1 and jealousy1 and envy amongst the ,christian powers one of another4 ,christianity1 we are told1 originated the ,christ-like type of character4 ,the answer stares us in the face4 ,how can we account for ,king ,asoka1 how can we account for ,buddha8 ,christianity1 we are told1 originated hospitals4 ,hospitals were founded two centuries before ,christ by ,king ,asoka in ,india4 ,christianity1 we are told1 first broke down the barrier between ,jew and ,gentile4 ,how have ,christians treated ,jews for fifteen centuries8 ,how are ,christians treating ,jews to-day in ,holy ,russia8 ,how long is it since ,jews were granted full rights of citizenship in ,christian ,england8 ,all this1 the ,christian will say1 applies to the false and not to the true ,christianity4 ,let us look1 then1 for an instant1 at the truest and best form of ,christianity1 and ask what it is doing4 ,it is preaching about ,sin1 ,sin1 ,sin4 ,it is praying to ,god to do for ,man what ,man ought to do for himself1 what ,man can do for himself1 what ,man must do for himself2 for ,god has never done it1 and will never do it for him4 ,and this fault in the ,christian--the highest and truest ,christian--attitude towards life does not lie in the ,christians3 it lies in the truest and best form of their religion4 ,it is the belief in ,free ,will1 in ,sin1 and in a ,heavenly ,father1 and a future recompense that leads the ,christian wrong1 and causes him to mistake the shadow for the substance4 ,,counsels ,,of ,,despair ,if you take from us our religion1 say the ,christians1 what have you to offer but counsels of despair8 ,this seems to me rather a commercial way of putting the case1 and not a very moral one4 ,because a moral man would not say3 ,if ,i give up my religion1 what will you pay me8 ,he would say3 ,i will never give1 up my religion unless ,i am convinced it is not true4 ,to a moral man the truth would matter1 but the cost would not4 ,to ask what one may gain is to show an absence of all real religious feeling4 ,the feeling of a truly religious man is the feeling that1 cost what it may1 he must do right4 ,a religiously-minded man could not profess a religion which he did not believe to be true4 ,to him the vital question would be1 not ,what will you give me to desert my colours8 but ,what is the truth8 ,but1 besides being immoral1 the demand is unreasonable4 ,if ,i say that a religion is untrue1 the believer has a perfect right to ask me for proofs of my assertion2 but he has no right to ask me for a new promise4 ,suppose ,i say this thing is not true1 and to believe anything which is untrue is useless4 ,then1 the believer may justly demand my reasons4 ,but he has no right to ask me for a new dream in place of the old one4 ,i am not a prophet1 with promises of crowns and glories in my gift4 ,but yet ,i will answer this queer question as fully as ,i can4 ,i do not say there is no ,god4 ,i do not say there is no ,heaven1 nor that the soul is not immortal4 ,there is not enough evidence to justify me in making such assertions4 ,i only say1 on those subjects1 that ,i do not know4 ,i do not know about those things4 ,there may be a ,god1 there may be a ,heaven1 there may be an immortal soul4 ,and a man might accept all ,i say about religion without giving up any hope his faith may bid him hold as to a future life4 ,as to those counsels of despair the question puzzles me4 ,despair of what8 ,let me put the matter as ,i see it4 ,i think sometimes1 in a dubious way1 that perhaps there may be a life beyond the grave4 ,and that is interesting4 ,but ,i think my stronger1 and deeper1 and more permanent feeling is that when we die we die finally1 and for us there is no more life at all4 ,that is1 ,i suppose1 my real belief--or supposition4 ,but do ,i despair8 ,why should ,i8 ,the idea of immortality does not elate me very much4 ,as ,i said just now1 it is interesting4 ,but ,i am not excited about it4 ,if there is another innings1 we will go in and play our best2 and we hope we shall be very much better and kinder than we have been4 ,but if it is sleep3 well1 sleep is rest1 and as ,i feel that ,i have had a really good time1 on the whole1 ,i should consider it greedy to cry because ,i could not have it all over again4 ,that is how ,i feel about it4 ,despair8 ,i am one of the happiest old fogeys in all ,london4 ,i have found life agreeable and amusing1 and ,i'm glad ,i came4 ,but ,i am not so infatuated with life that ,i should care to go back and begin it all again4 ,and though a new start1 in a new world1 would be--yes1 interesting--,i am not going to howl because old ,daddy ,death says it is bed-time4 ,i think somebody1 or something1 has been very good to allow me to come in and see the fun1 and stay so long1 especially as ,i came in1 so to speak on my face4 ,but to beg for another invitation would be cheeky4 ,some of you want such a lot for nothing4 ,but1 you may say1 the poor1 the failures1 the wretched--what of them8 ,and ,i answer3 ,ah6 that is one of the weak points of your religion1 not of mine4 ,consider these unhappy ones1 what do you offer them8 ,you offer them an everlasting bliss1 not because they were starved or outraged here--not at all4 ,for your religion admits the probability that those who came into this world worst equipped1 who have here been most unfortunate1 and to whom ,god and man have behaved most unjustly1 will stand a far greater chance of a future of woe than of happiness4 ,no4 ,according to your religion1 those of the poor or the weak who get to ,heaven will get there1 not because they have been wronged and must be righted1 but because they believe that ,jesus ,christ can save them4 ,now1 contrast that awful muddle of unreason and injustice with what you call my counsels of despair4 ,i say there may be a future life and there may not be a future life4 ,if there is a future life1 a man will deserve it no less1 and enjoy it no less1 for having been happy here4 ,if there is no future life1 he who has been unhappy here will have lost both earthly happiness and heavenly hope4 ,therefore1 ,i say1 it is our duty to see that all our fellow-creatures are as happy here as we can make them4 ,therefore ,i say to my fellow-creatures1 ,do not consent to suffer1 and to be wronged in this world1 for it is immoral and weak so to submit2 but hold up your heads1 and demand your rights1 here and now1 and leave the rest to ,god1 or to ,fate4 ,you see1 ,i am not trying to rob any man of his hope of ,heaven2 ,i am only trying to inspire his hope on earth4 ,but ,i have been asked whether ,i think it right and wise to shake the faith of the poor working man--the faith that has helped him so long4 ,what has this faith helped him to do8 ,to bear the ills and the wrongs of this life more patiently1 in the hope of a future reward8 ,is that the idea8 ,but ,i do not want the working man to endure patiently the ills and wrongs of this life4 ,i want him1 for his own sake1 his wife's sake1 his children's sake1 and for the sake of right and progress1 to demand justice1 and to help in the work of amending the conditions of life on earth4 ,no1 ,i do not want to rob the working-man of his faith3 ,i want to awaken his faith--in himself4 ,religion promises us a future ,heaven1 where we shall meet once more those whom we have loved long since and lost awhile1 and that is the most potent lure that could be offered to poor humanity4 ,how much of the so-called universal instinct of belief arises from that pathetic human yearning for reunion with dear friends1 sweet wives1 or pretty children lost awhile8 ,it is human love and natural longing for the dead darlings1 whose wish is father to the thought of ,heaven4 ,before that passionate sentiment reason itself would almost stand abashed3 were reason antagonistic to the larger hope--which none can prove4 ,few of us can keep our emotions from overflowing the bounds of reason in such a case4 ,the poor1 tearful desire lays a pale hand on reason's lips and gazes wistfully into the mysterious abyss of the ,great ,silence4 ,so ,i say of that larger hope1 cherish it if you can1 and if you feel it necessary to your peace of mind4 ,but do not mistake a hope for a certainty4 ,no priest1 nor pope1 nor prophet can tell you more about that mystery than you know4 ,it is a riddle1 and your guess or mine may be as near as that of a genius4 ,we can only guess4 ,we do not know4 ,is it wise1 then1 to sell even a fraction of your liberty of thought or deed for a paper promise which the ,bank of ,futurity may fail to honour8 ,is it wise1 is it needful1 to abandon a single right1 to abate one just demand1 to neglect one possibility of happiness here and now1 in order to fulfil the conditions laid down for the attainment of that promised ,heaven by a crowd of contradictory theologians who know no more about ,god or about the future than we know ourselves8 ,death has dropped a curtain of mystery between us and those we love4 ,no theologian knows1 nor ever did know1 what is hidden behind that veil4 ,let us1 then1 do our duty here1 try to be happy here1 try to make others happy here1 and when the curtain lifts for us--we shall see4 ,,conclusion ,,the ,,parting ,,of ,,the ,,ways ,i have been asked why ,i have gone out of my way to attack religion1 why ,i do not confine myself to my own sphere and work for ,socialism1 and what good ,i expect to do by pulling down without building up4 ,in reply ,i beg to say3 #a4 ,that ,i have not gone out of my way to attack religion4 ,it was because ,i found religion in my way that ,i attacked it4 #b4 ,that ,i am working for ,socialism when ,i attack a religion which is hindering ,socialism4 #c4 ,that we must pull down before we can build up1 and that ,i hope to do a little building1 if only on the foundation4 ,but these questions arose from a misconception of my position and purpose4 ,i have been called an ,infidel1 a ,socialist1 and a ,fatalist4 ,now1 ,i am an ,agnostic1 or ,rationalist1 and ,i am a ,determinist1 and ,i am a ,socialist4 ,but if ,i were asked to describe myself in a single word1 ,i should call myself a ,humanist4 ,socialism1 ,determinism1 and ,rationalism are factors in the sum2 and the sum is ,humanism4 ,briefly1 my religion is to do the best ,i can for humanity4 ,i am a ,socialist1 a ,determinist1 and a ,rationalist because ,i believe that ,socialism1 ,determinism1 and ,rationalism will be beneficial to mankind4 ,i oppose the ,christian religion because ,i do not think the ,christian religion is beneficial to mankind1 and because ,i think it is an obstacle in the way of ,humanism4 ,i am rather surprised that men to whom my past work is well known should suspect me of making a wanton and purposeless attack upon religion4 ,my attack is not wanton1 but deliberate2 not purposeless1 but very purposeful and serious4 ,i am not acting irreligiously1 but religiously4 ,i do not oppose ,christianity because it is good1 but because it is not good enough4 ,there are two radical differences between ,humanism and ,christianity4 ,christianity concerns itself with ,god and ,man1 putting ,god first and ,man last4 ,humanism concerns itself solely with ,man1 so that ,man is its first and last care4 ,that is one radical difference4 ,then1 ,christianity accepts the doctrine of ,free ,will1 with its consequent rewards and punishments2 while ,humanism embraces ,determinist doctrines1 with their consequent theories of brotherhood and prevention4 ,and that is another radical difference4 ,because the ,christian regards the hooligan1 the thief1 the wanton1 and the drunkard as men and women who have done wrong4 ,but the ,humanist regards them as men and women who have been wronged4 ,the ,christian remedy is to punish crime and to preach repentance and salvation to sinners4 ,the ,humanist remedy is to remove the causes which lead or drive men into crime1 and so to prevent the manufacture of sinners4 ,let us consider the first difference4 ,christianity concerns itself with the relations of ,man to ,god1 as well as with the relations between man and man4 ,it concerns itself with the future life as well as with the present life4 ,now1 he who serves two causes cannot serve each or both of them as well as he could serve either of them alone4 ,he who serves ,god and ,man will not serve ,man as effectually as he who gives himself wholly to the service of ,man4 ,as the religion of ,humanism concerns itself solely with the good of humanity1 ,i claim that it is more beneficial to humanity than is the ,christian religion1 which divides its service and love between ,man and ,god4 ,moreover1 this division is unequal4 ,for ,christians give a great deal more attention to ,god than to ,man4 ,and on that point ,i have to object1 first1 that although they believe there is a ,god1 they do not know there is a ,god1 nor what ,he is like4 ,whereas they do know very well that there are men1 and what they are like4 ,and1 secondly1 that if there be a ,god1 that ,god does not need their love nor their service2 whereas their fellow-creatures do need their love and their service very sorely4 ,and1 as ,i remarked before1 if there is a ,father in ,heaven1 ,he is likely to be better pleased by our loving and serving our fellow-creatures 7,his children7 than by our singing and praying to ,him1 while our brothers and sisters 7,his children7 are ignorant1 or brutalised1 or hungry1 or in trouble4 ,i speak as a father myself when ,i say that ,i should not like to think that one of my children would be so foolish and so unfeeling as to erect a marble tomb to my memory while the others needed a friend or a meal4 ,and ,i speak in the same spirit when ,i add that to build a cathedral1 and to spend our tears and pity upon a ,saviour who was crucified nearly two thousand years ago1 while women and men and little children are being crucified in our midst1 without pity and without help1 is cant1 and sentimentality1 and a mockery of ,god4 ,please note the words ,i use4 ,i have selected them deliberately and calmly1 because ,i believe that they are true and that they are needed4 ,christians are very eloquent about ,our ,blessed ,lord and ,saviour ,jesus ,christ1 and ,our ,father which is in ,heaven4 ,i know nothing about gods and heavens4 ,but ,i know a good deal about ,manchester and ,london1 and about men and women2 and if ,i did not feel the real shames and wrongs of the world more keenly1 and if ,i did not try more earnestly and strenuously to rescue my fellow-creatures from ignorance1 and sorrow1 and injustice than most ,christians do1 ,i should blush to look death in the face or call myself a man4 ,i choose my words deliberately again when ,i say that to me the most besotted and degraded outcast tramp or harlot matters more than all the gods and angels that humanity ever conjured up out of its imagination4 ,the ,rev4 ,r4 ,f4 ,horton1 in his answer to my question as to the need of ,christ as a ,saviour1 uttered the following remarkable words3 ,but there is a holiness so transcendent that the angels veil their faces in the presence of ,god4 ,i have known a good many men who have rejected ,christ1 and men who are living without ,him1 and1 though ,god forbid that ,i should judge them1 ,i do not know one of them whom ,i would venture to take as my example if ,i wished to appear in the presence of the holy ,god4 ,they do not tremble for themselves1 but ,i tremble for myself if my holiness is not to exceed that of such ,scribes and ,pharisees4 ,oh1 my brothers1 where ,christ is talking of holiness ,he is talking of such a goodness1 such a purity1 such a transcendent and miraculous likeness of ,god in human form1 that ,i believe it is true to say that there is but one name1 as there is but one way1 by which a man can be holy and come into the presence of ,god2 and ,i look1 therefore1 upon this word of ,christ not only as the way of salvation1 but as the revelation of the holiness which ,god demands4 ,i close these answers to the questions with a practical word to everyone that is here4 ,it is my belief that you may be good enough to pass through the grave and to wander in the dark spaces of the world which is still earthly and sensual1 and you may be good enough to escape1 as it were1 the torments of the hell which result from a life of debauchery and cruelty and selfishness2 but if you are to stand in the presence of ,god1 if you are ever to be pure1 complete1 and glad1 all rapture through and through in ,god's most holy sight1 you must believe in the name and in the power of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 the only begotten son of ,god1 who came into the world to save sinners1 and than whose no other name is given in heaven or earth whereby we may be saved4 ,such talk as that makes me feel ill4 ,here is a cultured1 educated1 earnest man rhapsodising about holiness and the glory of a ,god no mortal eye has ever seen1 and of whom no word has ever reached us across the gulf of death4 ,and while he rhapsodised1 with a congregation of honest bread-and-butter citizens under him1 trying hard with their blinkered eyes and blunted souls1 to glimpse that imaginary glamour of ecstatic holiness1 there surged and rolled around them the stunted1 poisoned1 and emaciated life of ,london4 ,holiness6--,holiness in the ,strand1 in ,piccadilly1 in ,houndsditch1 in ,whitechapel1 in ,park ,lane1 in ,somerstown1 and the ,mint4 ,holiness6--,in ,westminster1 and in ,fleet ,street1 and on ',change4 ,holiness6--,in a world given over to robbery1 to conquest1 to vanity1 to ignorance1 to humbug1 to the worship of the golden calf4 ,holiness6--,with twelve millions of our workers on the verge of famine1 with rich fools and richer rogues lording it over nations of untaught and half-fed dupes and drudges4 ,holiness6--,with a recognised establishment of manufactured paupers1 cripples1 criminals1 idlers1 dunces1 and harlots4 ,holiness6--,in a garden of weeds1 a hotbed of lies1 where hypnotised saints sing psalms and worship ghosts1 while dogs and horses are pampered and groomed1 and children are left to rot1 to hunger1 and to sink into crime1 or shame1 or the grave4 ,holiness6 ,for shame4 ,the word is obnoxious4 ,it has stood so long for craven fear1 for exotistical inebriation1 for selfish retirement from the trials and buffets and dirty work of the world4 ,what have we to do with such dreamy1 self-centred1 emotional holiness1 here and now in ,london8 ,what we want is citizenship1 human sympathy1 public spirit1 daring agitators1 stern reformers1 drains1 houses1 schoolmasters1 clean water1 truth-speaking1 soap--and ,socialism4 ,holiness6 ,the people are being robbed4 ,the people are being cheated4 ,the people are being lied to4 ,the people are being despised and neglected and ruined body and soul4 ,yes4 ,and you will find some of the greatest rascals and most impudent liars in the ,synagogues and ,high ,places of the cities4 ,holiness6 ,give us common sense1 and common honesty1 and a steady supply of men and women who can be trusted with small sums4 ,your ,christians talk of saving sinners4 ,but our duty is not to save sinners2 but to prevent their regular manufacture3 their systematic manufacture in the interests of holy and respectable and successful and superior persons4 ,holiness6 ,cant1 rant1 and fustian6 ,the nations are rotten with dirty pride1 and dirty greed1 and mean lying1 and petty ambitions1 and sickly sentimentality4 ,holiness6 ,i should be ashamed to show my face at ,heaven's gates and say ,i came from such a contemptible planet4 ,holiness6 ,your religion does not make it--its ethics are too weak1 its theories too unsound1 its transcendentalism is too thin4 ,take as an example this much-admired passage from ,st4 ,james3 ,pure religion and undefiled is this before ,god and the ,father1 to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction1 and to keep oneself unspotted from the world4 ,the widows and the fatherless are our brothers and sisters and our flesh and blood1 and should be at home in our hearts and on our hearths4 ,and who that is a man will work to keep himself unspotted from the world if the service of the world needs him to expose his flesh and his soul to risk8 ,i can fancy a ,reverend ,gentleman going to ,heaven1 unspotted from the world1 to face the awful eyes of a ,heavenly ,father whose gaze has been on ,london4 ,a good man mixes with the world in the rough-and-tumble1 and takes his share of the dangers1 and the falls1 and the temptations4 ,his duty is to work and to help1 and not to shirk and keep his hands white4 ,his business is not to be holy1 but to be useful4 ,in such a world as this1 friend ,christian1 a man has no business reading the ,bible1 singing hymns1 and attending divine worship4 ,he has not time4 ,all the strength and pluck and wit he possesses are needed in the work of real religion1 of real salvation4 ,the rest is all dreams out of the ivory gate1 and visions before midnight4 ,there ought to be no such thing as poverty in the world4 ,the earth is bounteous3 the ingenuity of man is great4 ,he who defends the claims of the individual1 or of a class1 against the rights of the human race is a criminal4 ,a hungry man1 an idle man1 an ignorant man1 a destitute or degraded woman1 a beggar or pauper child is a reproach to ,society and a witness against existing religion and civilisation4 ,war is a crime and a horror4 ,no man is doing his duty when he is not trying his best to abolish war4 ,i have been asked why ,i interfered in things beyond my sphere1 and why ,i made an unprovoked attack upon religion4 ,i am trying to explain4 ,my position is as follows3 ,rightly or wrongly1 ,i am a ,democrat4 ,rightly or wrongly1 ,i am for the rights of the masses as against the privileges of the classes4 ,rightly or wrongly1 ,i am opposed to ,godship1 ,kingship1 ,lordship1 ,priestship4 ,rightly or wrongly1 ,i am opposed to ,imperialism1 ,militarism1 and ,conquest4 ,rightly or wrongly1 ,i am for universal brotherhood and universal freedom4 ,rightly or wrongly1 ,i am for union against disunion1 for collective ownership against private ownership4 ,rightly or wrongly1 ,i am for reason against dogma1 for evolution against revelation2 for humanity always2 for earth1 not ,heaven2 for the holiest ,trinity of all--the ,trinity of ,man1 ,woman1 and ,child4 ,the greatest curse of humanity is ignorance4 ,the only remedy is knowledge4 ,religion1 being based on fixed authority1 is naturally opposed to knowledge4 ,a man may have a university education and be ignorant4 ,a man may be a genius1 like ,plato1 or ,shakespeare1 or ,darwin1 and lack more knowledge4 ,the humblest of unlettered peasants can teach the highest genius something useful4 ,the greatest scientific and philosophical achievements of the most brilliant age are imperfect1 and can be added to and improved by future generations4 ,there is no such thing as human infallibility4 ,there is no finality in human knowledge and human progress4 ,fixed authority in matters of knowledge or belief is an insult to humanity4 ,christianity degrades and restrains humanity with the shackles of original sin4 ,man is not born in sin4 ,there is no such thing as sin4 ,man is innately more prone to good than to evil2 and the path of his destiny is upward4 ,i should be inclined to call him who denies the innate goodness of mankind an ,infidel4 ,heredity breeds different kinds of men4 ,but all are men whom it breeds4 ,and all men are capable of good1 and of yet more good4 ,environment can move mountains4 ,there is a limit to its power for good and for evil1 but that power is almost unimaginably great4 ,the object of life is to improve ourselves and our fellow-creatures1 and to leave the world better and happier than we found it4 ,the great cause of crime and failure is ignorance4 ,the great cause of unhappiness is selfishness4 ,no man can be happy who loves or values himself too much4 ,as all men are what heredity and environment have made them1 no man deserves punishment nor reward4 ,as the sun shines alike upon the evil and the good1 so in the eyes of justice the saint and the sinner are as one4 ,no man has a just excuse for pride1 or anger1 or scorn4 ,spiritual pride1 intellectual pride1 pride of pedigree1 of caste1 of race are all contemptible and mean4 ,the superior person who wraps himself in a cloak of solemn affectations should be laughed at until he learns to be honest4 ,the masterful man who puts on airs of command and leadership insults his fellow-creatures1 and should be gently but firmly lifted down many pegs4 ,genius should not be regarded as a weapon1 but as a tool4 ,a man of genius should not be allowed to command1 but only to serve4 ,the human race would do well to watch jealously and restrain firmly all superior persons4 ,most kings1 jockeys1 generals1 prize-fighters1 priests1 ladies'-maids1 millionaires1 lords1 tenor singers1 authors1 lion-comiques1 artists1 beauties1 statesmen1 and actors are spoiled children who sadly need to be taught their place4 ,they should be treated kindly1 but not allowed too many toys and sweetmeats1 nor too much flattery4 ,such superior persons are like the clever minstrels1 jesters1 clerks1 upholsterers1 storytellers1 horse-breakers1 huntsmen1 stewards1 and officers about a court4 ,they should be fed and praised when they deserve it1 but they cannot be too often reminded that they are retainers and servants1 and that their ,sovereign and ,master is-- ,the ,people4 ,in a really humane and civilised nation3 ,there should be and need be no such thing as poverty4 ,there should be and need be no such thing as ignorance4 ,there should be and need be no such thing as crime4 ,there should be and need be no such thing as idleness4 ,there should be and need be no such thing as war4 ,there should be and need be no such thing as slavery4 ,there should be and need be no such thing as hate4 ,there should be and need be no such thing as envy4 ,there should be and need be no such thing as pride4 ,there should be and need be no such thing as greed4 ,there should be and need be no such thing as gluttony4 ,there should be and need be no such thing as vice4 ,but this is not a humane and civilised nation1 and never will be while it accepts ,christianity as its religion4 ,these are my reasons for opposing ,christianity4 ,if ,i have said anything to give pain to any ,christian1 ,i am sorry1 and ask to be forgiven4 ,i have tried to maintain towards all creatures a bounteous friendly feeling4 ,as to what ,i said about holiness1 ,i cannot take back a word4 ,dr4 ,horton said that without that form of holiness which only a belief in ,christ can give we shall only be good enough to barely escape ,hell1 and1 after passing through the grave1 to wander in the dark spaces of the world1 which is still earthly and sensual4 ,i say earnestly and deliberately that if ,i can only attain to ,heaven and to holiness as one of a few1 if ,i am to go to ,heaven and leave millions of my brothers and sisters to ignorance and misery and crime1 ,i will hope to be sent instead into those dark spaces of the world which is still earthly and sensual and there to be permitted to fight with all my strength against pain and error and injustice and human sorrow4 ,i know ,i shall be happier so4 ,i think ,i was made for that kind of work1 and ,i fervently wish that ,i may be allowed to do my duty as long as ever there is a wrong in the world that ,i can help to right1 a grief ,i can help to soothe1 a truth ,i can help to tell4 ,let the ,holy have their ,heaven4 ,i am a man1 and an ,infidel4 ,and this is my ,apology4 ,besides1 gentlemen1 ,christianity is not true4