,transcriber's ,notes3 ,italic text is denoted by underscores and bold text by equal signs4 ,small uppercase have been replaced with regular uppercase4 ,blank pages have been eliminated4 ,variations in spelling and hyphenation have been left as in the original4 ,a few typographical errors have been corrected4 ,illustration3 ,marilla ,m4 ,ricker4 ,i ,,don',t ,,know1 ,,do ,,you8 ,,by ,,marilla ,m4 ,,ricker ,illustration ,,done ,,into ,a ,,printed ,,book ,,by ,,the ,,roycrofters ,,at ,,their ,,shops1 ,,which ,,are ,,in ,,east ,,aurora1 ,,new ,,york ,,mcmxvi ,copyright1 #aiaf ,by ,marilla ,m4 ,ricker ,you are what you think1 and to believe in a ,hell for other people is literally to go to ,hell yourself4--,elbert ,hubbard4 ,a religious man is a man scared4 ,,foreword ,there is in the city of ,boston a memorial building to ,thomas ,paine4 ,this ,paine ,memorial was finished and dedicated forty-two years ago4 ,it is the finest monument to ,thomas ,paine on the earth4 ,for twenty years ,ralph ,washburn ,chainey has been the ,manager of this building and the ,treasurer of the ,paine ,memorial ,corporation4 ,under his wise and prudent management the building was freed from debt1 and today it is a monument to the energy and devotion of its ,manager as much as to the genius and labors of ,thomas ,paine4 ,ralph ,washburn ,chainey is only forty-two1 and as great an example of thrift as ,ben ,franklin was4 ,very early in life he acquired the habit of thrift--which is the basis of all virtues4 ,he learned early that time was money and he is always at work4 ,he is not only able to take care of himself1 but he can and does take care of others4 ,he is sufficient unto himself1 and when one is right with himself he is right with all the world4 ,i have known him intimately for more than a quarter of a century1 and if he has faults ,i have yet to learn what they are4 ,in appreciation1 therefore1 of his great service to the cause of ,freethought1 ,i dedicate this volume to ,,ralph ,,washburn ,,chainey --,marilla ,m4 ,ricker4 ,dover1 ,new ,hampshire ,december1 ,nineteen ,hundred ,fifteen ,as man advances1 as his intellect enlarges1 as his knowledge increases1 as his ideals become nobler1 the ,bibles and creeds will lose their authority1 the miraculous will be classed with the impossible1 and the idea of special providence will be discarded4 ,thousands of religions have perished1 innumerable gods have died1 and why should the religion of our time be exempt from the common fate8 --,robert ,ingersoll4 ,,contents ,,foreword #g ,,creeds ,,against ,,civilization #aa ,,what ,i ,,know ,,about ,,some ,,churches1 ,,and ,,why ,i ,,am ,,an ,,agnostic #cc ,a ,,letter ,,and ,,the ,,rejoinder #ee ,,the ,,holy ,,ghost #fe ,,how ,,can ,,we ,,take ,,christ8 #ga ,,colonel ,,robert ,g4 ,,ingersoll #ha ,,mark ,,twain',s ,,best ,,thought #he ,,an ,,irreligious ,,discourse ,,on ,,religion #hi ,,decay ,,of ,,christian ,,morality #ajg ,i know of no other book that so fully teaches the subjection and degradation of woman as the ,bible4 --,elizabeth ,cady ,stanton4 ,that ,god had to come to earth to find a mother for his son reveals the poverty of ,heaven4 ,,creeds ,,against ,,civilization ,any system of religion that shocks the mind of a child can not be a true system4 --,thomas ,paine4 ,hell is a place invented by priests and parsons for the sake of being supported4 ,illustration ,,creeds ,,against ,,civilization ,one hundred fifty years ago1 there was not a single white man in what is now ,kentucky1 ,ohio1 ,indiana and ,illinois4 ,what is now the most flourishing part of the ,united ,states was then as little known as the country in the heart of ,africa itself4 ,it was not until ,seventeen ,hundred ,seventy-six that ,boone left his home in ,north ,carolina to become the first settler in ,kentucky2 and the pioneers of ,ohio did not settle that territory until twenty years later4 ,canada belonged to ,france one hundred fifty-three years ago1 and ,washington was a modest ,virginia ,colonel1 and the ,united ,states was the most loyal part of the ,british ,empire1 and scarcely a speck on the political horizon indicated the struggle that in a few years was to lay the foundation of the greatest republic in the world4 ,one hundred fifty years ago there were but four small newspapers in ,america2 steam-engines had not been imagined2 and locomotives and railroads1 and telegraphs and postal cards1 and friction-matches1 and revolvers and percussion-caps1 and breechloading-guns and ,mauser rifles1 and stoves and furnaces1 and gas and electricity and rubber shoes1 and ,spaulding's glue1 and sewing-machines and anthracite coal1 and photographs1 and kerosene-oil1 free schools1 and spring-beds and hair-mattresses1 and lever-watches and greenbacks were unknown4 ,the spinning-wheel was in almost every family1 and clothing was spun and woven and made up in the family2 and the printing-press was a cumbrous machine worked by hand4 ,down to ,eighteen ,hundred ,fourteen every paper in the world was printed one side at a time1 on an ordinary hand-press2 and a nail1 or a brick1 or a knife1 or a pair of shears or scissors1 or a razor1 or a woven pair of stockings1 or an ax or a hoe or a shovel1 or a lock and key1 or a plate of glass of any size1 was not made in what is now the ,united ,states4 ,in ,seventeen ,hundred ,ninety1 there were only seventy-five post-offices in the country1 and the whole extent of our post-routes was less than nineteen hundred miles2 cheap postage was unheard of2 so were envelopes2 and had any one suggested the transmission of messages with lightning speed1 he would have been thought insane4 ,the microscope on the one hand and the telescope on the other were in their infancy as instruments of science2 and geology and chemistry were almost unknown1 to say nothing of the telephone and all the other various phones1 and the ,x-rays1 and hundreds of other new things4 ,in ,seventeen ,hundred ,sixty-two there were only six stagecoaches running in all ,england1 and these were a novelty4 ,a man named ,john ,crosset thought they were so dangerous an innovation that he wrote a pamphlet against them4 ,these coaches1 he wrote1 make gentlemen come to ,london upon every small occasion which otherwise they would not do1 except upon urgent necessity4 ,the conveniency of the passage makes their wives come often up1 who1 rather than come such long journeys on horseback1 would stay at home4 ,then when they come to town they must be in the 'wade' probably that is where the word swim comes in now1 get fine clothes1 go to plays1 and treats1 and by these means get such a habit of idleness and love of pleasure that they are uneasy ever after4 99 99 99 99 99 ,we can all see how much improvement there has been in all things but creeds4 ,improvements can come1 and old things go1 but creeds go on forever6 ,a creed implies something fixed and immovable4 ,in other words1 it means you have a heel-rope on4 ,the word creed is from credo1 ,i believe4 ,we have had a great deal of compulsion of belief1 and a thousand years of almost absolute unanimity4 ,liberty was dead and the ages were dark4 ,we call them the ,middle ,ages because they were the death between the life that was before and the life that came after4 ,then came a new birth of thought--a ,renaissance--and after this1 some reformation in the form of a ,protestantism4 ,since then1 the ,protestants have continued to protest1 not only against the old1 but against each other4 ,and this is the best thing they have done4 ,thus liberty has been saved1 for each would have coerced its fellow organization1 as did their infamous mother1 the ,roman ,catholic ,church1 before them4 ,from creed comes credulous and credulity4 ,and they have filled the world with their kind4 ,in the ,united ,states alone1 there are about one hundred forty types4 ,each is a system of credulity pitted against a hundred and thirty-nine others4 ,they all rest on authority4 ,they all denounce investigation--unless it has for its end the support of their authority4 ,hence1 with the exception of two or three denominations1 to become a professed ,christian means to accept credulously and without question a system of belief about ,nature and man and the world which you would deny in toto if you reasoned as you do about other things1 and which you do practically deny by re-explaining and refining it into anything but what is stated4 ,down deep in your heart you do not1 and never did1 believe it in the same honest way in which you form your other opinions4 ,think for a moment of the ,christian idea of the world1 its origin1 its shape1 place1 importance1 and its final end4 ,does any man or woman who has been through a common-school geography believe the ideas implied in the common ,christian dogmas regarding the world8 ,we must remember that the world taught in the geography is not the ,christian world4 ,the world taught in the ,christian dogmas is beneath the heavens--not a rolling sphere flying through space4 ,it is flat1 and the sun and stars pass over it daily4 ,it is the chief object of ,god's creation on which to place man4 ,it is ,god's footstool1 and his throne is ,heaven above4 ,he created it just four thousand and four years before the ,christian era began4 ,now we all know that this is not true2 that there is no up nor down2 that the earth is not the center2 that it is not flat2 that the sun does not go round it2 that it is a very insignificant little orb2 that up in ,heaven is an utterly meaningless expression2 and that the world is not a creation1 but an evolution4 ,and yet thousands of people credulously cling to creeds which embody the notions of barbarous or uncivilized ages4 ,take the dogma of revelation4 ,it tells us that the ,bible is a revelation of the will and wisdom of an omniscient ,god2 that it is a perfect and sufficient rule of faith and practise4 ,what1 in the name of humanity1 causes people to make such statements today8 ,it is like trying to light the house with a saucer of tallow in which a rag is immersed1 instead of using gas or electricity4 ,take an example of this ,bible4 ,in ,deuteronomy xiv3 #ba1 we read1 ,ye shall not eat of anything that dieth of itself3 thou mayest give it unto the sojourner that is within thy gates1 that he may eat it2 or thou mayest sell it unto a foreigner3 for thou art a holy people unto ,jehovah thy ,god4 ,in ,matthew vii3 #ab1 we read1 ,whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you1 even so do ye also unto them4 ,why do you talk about the infallibility1 the inerrancy1 or even the moral unity of a volume written by many hands at widely different times8 ,are such people so ignorant that they have not read the ,book they are swearing by8 ,are they moral idiots and do not know the plainest right and wrong8 ,are they scoundrels and have some deceitful reason for urging such a book as an authority8 ,or are they the dupes of their own credulity1 clinging without thought to the beliefs in which they have been reared8 ,they are evidently not using commonsense in an honest way4 ,i often hear the ,bible spoken of as a holy book1 full of a holy spirit4 ,i sometimes reply3 ,have you read the conduct of ,moses1 ,joshua1 ,samuel1 ,david1 ,solomon1 and other ancient worthies1 who were said to be men after the heart of the bloodthirsty and avenging ,jehovah8 ,how long would you keep out of prison if you took them for your models8 ,have you read the ,thirty-fifth1 ,fifty-eighth1 ,sixty-ninth and ,one ,hundred ,ninth ,psalms8 ,if not1 read them1 and tell me what you think of them4 ,there never was any intrinsic reason for believing the ,bible except that a designing priesthood said so1 and stupid people trusted them4 ,here1 by common consent1 people agree to be duped4 ,ages and ages ago1 they began to make admissions that two and two might be six1 or even sixteen1 in religion4 ,they had sense enough to say that two and two are four in other things4 ,in ,divine ,revelation they shut their eyes to all mistakes and wilful lies4 ,if people should deceive in other matters as the priests1 parsons and teachers do in religion1 they would not escape arrest4 ,another central doctrine is that of the ,atonement4 ,this is derived from the moral character of the ,jewish ,god2 he governed the world of humanity on the principle of primitive society4 ,men were responsible to him in everything4 ,any infraction of his supposed laws rendered them subject to his vengeance4 ,that is why the ,jew thought that ,god sent a thunderstorm to punish him for eating pork4 ,what explanation besides credulity can be suggested for the continuation of this belief century after century8 ,preachers shout it from the pulpits1 and ,salvation ,army people hawk it through the streets4 ,not one of them knows what he is talking about4 ,each learned it from some one who told him to say it4 ,they all do it because it is a part of a system which they have inherited1 but the reason for which they do not know1 and have never allowed themselves to seek4 ,this cringing credulity keeps the masses from using their powers4 ,they seem to believe that if they should lose these superstitions they would be lost4 99 99 99 99 99 ,and the dogma regarding ,jesus is inextricably mixed up in ,christian theology with that of the ,atonement4 ,one assumption bolsters the other4 ,he is made to occupy the central place in this scheme of blood-redemption through that other highly rational fable of the immaculate conception4 ,if ,jesus was not immaculately conceived1 then ,matthew and ,luke have deceived2 then ,jesus is not ,god2 then he is a mere man2 and if so1 he is not the ,redeemer4 ,man could not redeem himself according to the first premise of the scheme4 ,man has been and is redeeming himself by learning ,nature's laws and through them rising to a higher life ever since he reached the stage of humanity4 ,take the theory of the ,resurrection4 ,the account of it was written long after the assumed occurrence1 and by credulous men with superstitious inclinations4 ,men and women of these days1 understanding the laws of ,nature1 can not give assent to the crude beliefs which easily commanded the minds of ancient times4 ,both ,protestantism and ,catholicism are systems built on essentially the same foundation4 ,remove any of these stones1 and the systems will have to be rebuilt4 ,if there is no special revelation1 there is no special scheme of salvation4 ,if there is no vengeful1 blood-seeking ,god1 there is no theological reconciliation4 ,if there was no fall1 there is no hopeless depravity4 ,if there was no immaculate conception1 there is no ,redeemer in a special ecclesiastical sense4 ,if there is no total depravity1 there is no lost world4 ,if there is no lost world1 there is no yawning ,hell4 ,one and all1 these fictions have their only ground for continuance in a selfish and unreasoning priesthood and clergy1 and a credulous people4 ,in the place of the fall1 science has put the rise of man4 ,it finds the ,garden of ,eden to have been a jungle4 ,it finds the mythical perfect ,adam to have been a savage4 ,it finds the ,biblical origin of evil to have been a puerile legend4 ,it finds that sin and evil are made by the seeing of higher states4 ,it finds that there was no bad until the better was reached4 ,it finds that it is the advancing good which makes the existing bad4 ,it finds that among the worst of sinners are those who live in and propagate outworn doctrines upon their own and others' credulity4 ,in the olden times1 ,god was made a king--the world was his kingdom4 ,his powers1 virtues and vices were simply those of earthly kings exaggerated4 ,jewish and ,christian liturgies are full of expressions showing the attitude of slaves and serfs to a tyrant4 ,sin has been manufactured as heresy and disobedience to the so-called orthodox system instead of to the laws of ,nature4 ,science has shown that the bottomless pit did not even have a top4 ,columbus sailed over the ,western edge of the flat ,christian world on which all this ,christian system depended1 and found that the material ,heaven and ,hell were unfounded myths2 but the preachers and priests still threaten hell to the most ignorant and credulous1 but they tell some of us that there is a final judgment4 99 99 99 99 99 ,in the old days1 we used to hear a great deal about judgments4 ,a certain honest1 good-natured1 old farmer in ,new ,hampshire1 who was a freethinker1 but had a very pious wife1 lost many cattle when the black tongue was an epidemic in the ,state4 ,one day the hired man came in and told him the red oxen were dead4 ,are they8 said the old man4 ,well1 they were 'breechy cusses4' ,take off their hides and carry them down to ,fletcher's4 ,they will bring the cash4 ,an hour or so later the man came back with the news that ,lineback and his mate were both dead4 ,are they8 said the old man4 ,well1 ,i took them of ,b---- to save a bad debt that ,i never expected to get4 ,take the hides down to ,fletcher's4 ,they will bring the cash4 ,after the lapse of another hour the man came back to tell him that the nigh brindle was dead4 ,is he8 said the old man4 ,well1 he was a very old ox4 ,take off his hide and send it down to ,fletcher's4 ,it is worth cash and will bring more than two of the others4 ,hereupon his wife reminded him that his loss was a judgment of ,heaven upon him4 ,is it8 said the old chap4 ,well1 if they will take the judgment in cattle1 it is the easiest way ,i can pay it4 ,but they know no more about final judgments than they did about the lake of fire and brimstone which commenced to drain off in ,columbus' day4 ,science has vaporized the notion of a future judgment by the same method it has that of a past ,creation4 ,from the facts1 it has learned laws4 ,but credulity is always half-hearted with facts4 ,it does not know enough of truth to love it4 ,it is ever glowing over and setting up as a dogma the little it knows1 or assumes to know1 of the truth of former times4 ,it has no faith in the newly discovered1 because it knows nothing of it4 ,hence1 age after age we see the spectacle of men who have not studied the science of their own day denouncing it in pulpit and councils2 of men who have steeped themselves in the traditions of the past pronouncing shallow invectives against the demonstrations of 7science7 the present4 99 99 99 99 99 ,many church people say immortality must be true1 or the great majority would not believe in it4 ,but do they8 ,they do not talk or write as if they did4 ,if language means anything1 ,i think the majority believe in annihilation4 ,most people speak of the dead body of a man as though it were the man4 ,they say1 ,he was buried at ,greenwood1 or1 ,she was cremated at ,forest ,hills4 ,and we hear the late ,mr4 ,smith left an immense fortune4 ,if ,mr4 ,smith still exists1 why do they say the late ,mr4 ,smith8 ,if people didn't believe that the soul and body are one1 and that life ceases and mind expires when the body dies1 why do they say1 ,they were8 ,what little the ,church has learned has been by main force so to speak4 ,a friend of mine many years ago was a college student4 ,at that time they were all compelled to attend the college church4 ,on one occasion he heard the preacher1 who was also a college professor1 make these statements3 ,first1 that the elect alone would be saved4 ,second1 that among those who by the world were called ,christians1 probably not more than one in a hundred belonged really and truly to the elect4 ,third1 that the others1 by reason of their ,christian privileges1 would suffer more hereafter than the heathen1 who had never heard the ,gospel at all4 ,the young man made a note of these propositions1 and on the strength of them drew up a petition to the ,faculty soliciting exemption from further attendance at church1 as only preparing for himself a more terrible future4 ,he said3 ,the congregation here amounts to six hundred persons1 and nine of these are the college professors4 ,now if only one in a hundred is to be saved1 it follows that three even of the professors must be damned1 and ,i1 being a mere student1 could not expect to be saved in preference to a professor4 ,far1 he said1 be it from him to cherish so presumptuous a hope4 ,nothing remained for him1 therefore1 but perdition4 ,in this melancholy state of affairs he was anxious to abstain from anything that might aggravate his future punishment2 and as church attendance had been shown to have this influence on the non-elect1 he trusted that the ,faculty would for all time exempt him from it4 ,the result was he came very near being expelled from the college--simply by heeding their sermons4 ,the professors of some colleges have learned something1 and do not insist on the students attending church4 99 99 99 99 99 ,ponder for a moment on the many dishonest ways churches have for raising money4 ,think of the amount of money they can raise at a church-fair--alias1 a confidence-game4 ,a young man from ,kentucky told me that he attended one at ,chicago4 ,first he went to the table where refreshments were sold4 ,a beautiful siren with big black eyes and small white hands spread the edibles before him4 ,when he arose from the table he handed her a five-dollar bill4 ,she put it in a little box and forgot to give him any change4 ,she smiled sweetly at him1 and asked him if he would like to walk about the room and look at the fancy articles1 all to be sold for the good of the church4 ,she took his arm and murmured1 ,we are not strangers2 we both feel interested in the church4 ,we soon came1 said the young man in telling me the story1 to a silver tea-set that was to be 'raffled off4' ,would ,i take a chance8 ,of course ,i did4 ,then came a cake with a valuable ring concealed in it4 ,would ,i take a chance in that8 ,of course ,i did4 ,so things glided on until ,i concluded if ,i took many more chances1 my chances for getting home would be slim4 ,so ,i refused to tempt fortune any further1 until the little black-eyed scoundrel took me on a new tack4 ,leaning heavily on my arm1 and resting her cheek on my shoulder1 she said1 ',please take a chance for me4' ,it is needless to add that ,i took the chance1 and kept on taking chances for the beautiful and unprincipled wretch that had me in tow1 until ,i had not a dollar left4 ,yes1 ,i was penniless1 and then it began to dawn on me that she was working me for the success of the church4 ,there ,i was1 bankrupt in money and self-respect4 ,i had been robbed--yes1 robbed1 for where is the difference between a pair of pistols and a pair of black eyes in a robbery8 ,you part with your money because you can not help it4 ,i know that ,society looks with lenient eyes upon church-fairs1 but it is my opinion that all robbers will take sentence1 and when that little ,chicago robber receives her sentence1 she will take her place by the side of ,jack ,sheppard6 ,you see he still believes in ,judgments4 ,he is learning by main force4 ,a very pious woman whose father was a missionary1 now living in ,hawaii1 wrote not long ago that professional men flocking to the ,islands will be disappointed unless they are friends of old families2 and the old families are descendants of missionaries who went there in the early days and took lands and everything else from the natives4 ,there seems to be nothing like being a descendant from a missionary family4 ,these people1 equally pious and provident1 thought it a good scheme to cheat the sinful savages out of all their worldly possessions1 in order that they might be taught humility and holiness through the chastening influence of poverty4 ,so they robbed the unregenerate to the glory of ,god4 ,who says it doesn't pay to save the heathen8 ,think of the ignorance and superstition of the majority of the preachers of the present day4 99 99 99 99 99 ,up in ,northern ,minnesota1 less than fifty years ago1 an old ,baptist was preaching on the death of ,moses on the ,mount1 and his not being permitted to go over into the ,promised ,land4 ,the preacher said3 ,i have always felt sorry for ,moses4 ,it has seemed so hard to me that he could not go over with ,caleb and ,joshua1 the only two of the host which he had led out of ,egypt1 and enjoy with his people the good country towards which they had been so long traveling4 ,when as a boy ,i read that in the ,bible for the first time1 ,i sat down and cried for sympathy with him4 ,but ,moses had a hard time from the first4 ,he was no sooner born than his life was threatened4 ,his mother had to hide him to save it4 ,after three months she could hide him no longer1 and so she made an ark of bulrushes and set him afloat on the river4 ,indeed1 it seemed as though the ,lord had all he could do to raise ,moses4 ,but the people of this generation do not take the story of ,moses so seriously4 ,a bright young girl of ten1 on being asked by her ,sabbath ,school teacher1 ,where did ,pharaoh's daughter get ,moses8 replied1 with the accent on the said1 ,she said she 'found him in the bulrushes4' ,i attended a campmeeting in ,north ,carolina4 ,the exhortations and prayers would cause a graven image to smile audibly4 ,one old ,baptist preacher said he always felt so sorry to think that ,ingine corn didn't grow in ,palestine1 because he would like to think that the little ,jesus had a good time playing with cob-houses4 ,but those preachers compare favorably with the ,reverend ,george ,f4 ,hall1 of ,decatur1 ,illinois1 and the ,reverend ,doctor ,john ,p4 ,d4 ,john1 and the ,reverend ,doctor ,frederick ,bell1 late of the ,metropolitan ,temple of ,san ,francisco1 ,california1 who at various times challenged ,robert ,g4 ,ingersoll to debate with them4 ,it shows what ignorance1 superstition and egotism combined can do4 ,darwin said the herding instinct in animals has its base in fear4 ,sheep and cattle go in droves1 while a lion simply flocks with his mate4 ,those who wish to lead have always fostered fear1 encouraging this tendency to herd1 promising protection1 and offering what they call knowledge in return for a luxurious living4 ,in other words1 the men who preach and pray1 always want the people who work to divide with them4 ,they work on the line that fear will compel men to join churches4 ,this joining instinct is a manifestation of weakness4 ,by going with a gang they hope to get to ,heaven4 ,but the moment you eliminate the ,devil from ,christianity1 there is nothing left4 ,you can not have a revival1 alias an epidemic1 of religion1 without the ,devil4 ,if there were no ,devil1 there would be nothing to pray about1 and all these people who are gifted in prayer would be without a job4 ,think of the chaplains of the ,army and ,navy1 in ,congress and in the ,legislatures being turned out to browse for themselves4 ,think of their being obliged to earn an honest living4 ,they could not do it4 ,i am amused when ,i think of the prayers that are exchanged in war times4 ,one side will pray that the wrath of ,heaven will descend on the other1 and the other side will return the compliment with ten per cent interest4 ,i remember when ,i was a child of reading the prayer of a ,hungarian officer4 ,he said3 ,o ,lord1 ,i will not ask thee to help us1 and ,i know that thou wilt not help the ,austrians4 ,but if thou wilt sit on yonder hill1 thou shalt not be ashamed of thy children4 ,the famous ,bishop ,leslie prayed before a battle in ,ireland1 ,o ,god1 for our unworthiness we are not fit to claim thy help1 but if we are bad1 our enemies are worse1 and if thou seest not meet to help us1 we pray thee help them not1 but stand thou neutral this day1 and leave it to the arm of flesh4 ,all this dramatic power would be lost without the ,devil4 ,so it behooves the ,christian churches to hold fast to the ,devil4 ,get a good grip on his hoofs1 horns and tail1 for without him they would be relegated to innocuous desuetude4 ,he should be incorporated as the fourth person in the ,orthodox ,godhead1 and respectfully addressed as ,holy ,devil4 ,there is no truth in the dogma of the divinity of ,jesus1 no sense in it1 no religion in it4 ,it is the product of mythology and has no claim upon this age4 ,this is my doctrine3 ,give every other human being every right you claim for yourself4 ,keep your mind open to the influences of ,nature4 ,receive new thoughts with hospitality4 ,let us advance4 ,the man who does not do his own thinking is a slave1 and is a traitor to himself and to his fellowmen4 ,as far as ,i am concerned1 ,i wish to be out on the high seas4 ,i wish to take my chances with wind and wave and star4 ,and ,i had rather go down in the glory and grandeur of the storm1 than to rot in any orthodox harbor whatever4 --,robert ,ingersoll4 ,,what ,i ,,know ,,about ,,some ,,churches ,,and ,,why ,i ,,am ,,an ,,agnostic ,the ignorance of the masses insures abundant contributions to the clergy and to religion4--,ralph ,w4 ,chainey4 ,the mother who teaches her child to pray makes a mistake4 ,illustration ,,why ,i ,,am ,,an ,,agnostic ,the ,millerites--or ,second ,adventists1 as they now call themselves--are the first sect that ,i remember4 ,they are a people of remarkable vigor3 they have been at work for seventy years to bring this world to an end1 and although they have been wrong in their arithmetic all these years1 they rub out the slate and begin again4 ,and they prove everything by the ,bible1 as all other denominations do4 ,the time has been set at least twenty times since ,i can remember4 ,i recollect having awful palpitations in the kneepans upon one of the eventful days1 and crawling under the barn so as not to be in the way4 ,they used to congregate on the height of land near my father's1 to go up1 and one man climbed upon an old shed1 and fell and broke his hip2 he fainted1 and they thought he was dead4 ,as soon as he had revived a little1 they asked him if he had any requests to make before he died4 ,he replied1 ,i want you to work in 'durn fool' somewhere on my tombstone4 ,he recovered1 and lived many years1 but he was cured of ,millerism4 ,a large share of the students of the ,second ,advent doctrine came into this world1 not only naked1 but without any brains1 nor any place suitable to put any2 and the first business they do is to wonder about their souls and talk about being born again4 ,they never seem to realize that to be well born is much more essential than to be born again4 ,i never knew immortality to be secured at the second birth4 ,i attended one of their meetings this year1 and asked one of the sisters for their creed4 ,she said1 ,our creed is the whole ,bible1 from the first book of ,genesis to the last word of the last chapter of ,revelations4 ,i thought of what a boy said when the ,baptist ,elder came and took tea at his home1 and asked a blessing4 ,the boy said3 ,is that the way you ask a blessing8 ,my father doesn't ask it that way4 ,how does he ask it8 ,oh1 he sat down to the table the other evening1 and looked it all over1 and said1 ',my ,god1 what a supper6' ,and ,i thought1 ,my ,god1 what a creed6 ,i was tempted to ask the ,millerite sister what she thought of the discrepancy between the first and the second chapter of ,genesis4 ,in the first chapter ,man and ,woman were a simultaneous creation4 ,in the second chapter1 ,woman was an afterthought4 ,but ,i had the deep sagacity to hold my tongue1 and leave her and her creed in peace4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the second church that ,i remember anything about is the ,free-,will ,baptist4 ,my mother was a devout member of that church4 ,i have heard thousands of times1 ,except a man be born of water and of the ,spirit1 he can not enter into the ,kingdom of ,god4 ,and man included woman--it always did1 so far as pains and penalties were concerned4 ,i remember distinctly a sermon ,i heard on ,hell4 ,you younger people can not have the faintest idea of the terrific sermons that were preached in those days4 ,that sermon commenced in this wise3 ,now we will look into ,hell and see what we can see4 ,it is all red-hot like red-hot iron4 ,streams of burning pitch and sulphur run through it4 ,the floor blazes up to the roof4 ,look at the walls--the enormous stones are red-hot4 ,sparks of fire are always falling down from them4 ,lift up your eyes to the roof of ,hell4 ,it is like a sheet of blazing fire4 ,hell is filled with a fog of fire4 ,in ,hell1 torrents not of water1 but of fire and brimstone1 are rained down4 ,you may have seen a house on fire1 but you never saw a house made of fire4 ,hell is a house made of fire4 ,the fire of ,hell burns the devils1 who are spirits1 for it was prepared for them4 ,but it will burn the body as well as the soul4 ,take a little spark out of ,hell--less than the size of a pin-head--and throw it into the ocean1 and it will not go out4 ,in one moment it would dry up all the waters of the ocean1 and set the whole world in a blaze6 ,listen to the terrific noise of ,hell--to the horrible uproar of countless millions of tormented creatures1 mad with the fury of ,hell6 ,oh1 the screams of fear1 the groanings of horror1 the yells of rage1 the cries of pain1 the shouts of agony1 the shrieks of despair1 from millions on millions4 ,you hear them roaring like lions1 hissing like serpents1 howling like dogs1 and wailing like dragons6 ,and above all1 you hear the roaring of the thunder of ,god's anger1 which shakes ,hell to its foundations4 ,little children1 if you go to ,hell1 there will be a devil at your side to strike you4 ,how will you feel after you have been struck every minute for a hundred millions of years8 ,look into this inner room of ,hell1 and see a girl of about sixteen4 ,she stands in the middle of a red-hot floor2 her feet are bare2 sleep can never come to her2 she can never forget for one moment in all the eternity of years4 ,and so this description of ,hell went on for nearly two hours4 ,do you wonder that ,i1 a child of ten years1 said to my father1 who was a freethinker1 infidel1 atheist1 or whatever else you please to call him3 ,i hate my mother's church4 ,i will not go there again6 99 99 99 99 99 ,the next church ,i became acquainted with was the ,calvin ,baptist ,church4 ,that church seemed to think that the most of us were born to be damned anyway6 ,the great ,ingersoll had it right when he said it was the damned-if-you-do-and-the-damned-if-you-d on't church4 ,the only difference between the ,free-,will ,baptists and the ,calvin ,baptists that ,i can see1 is1 that you are allowed to exercise your will4 ,the ,free-,will ,baptists will damn you if you wish to be1 and the ,calvinists will damn you anyway6 ,the next church to which ,i was introduced was the ,congregationalist1 alias the ,orthodox4 ,their creed is rather complex from a mathematical standpoint4 ,they seem to think that three ,gods are one ,god1 and one ,god is three ,gods4 ,i1 having been taught that figures don't lie1 couldn't understand it1 until ,i thought of a boy who said to his teacher when she explained to him that figures didn't lie3 ,you should see my sisters at home1 and then on the street4 ,you will find that figures do lie4 99 99 99 99 99 ,i then went to ,italy1 and became conversant with the outside doings of the ,roman ,catholic ,church4 ,i visited many of them1 saw the beggars eating crusts at the doors1 and the well-fed priests saying masses inside2 saw the white hand of famine always extended1 in bitter contrast to the magnificent cathedrals2 saw well-dressed1 intelligent-looking men and women going upstairs on their hands and knees1 and saw hundreds of them kissing the toe of the bronze statue of ,saint ,peter2 saw monks of every shade and description2 and all begging for the ,holy ,catholic ,church6 ,i attended a church festival at ,rome at the ,ara ,cli1 where the most ,holy ,bambino is kept1 a little wooden doll about two feet long4 ,it is said to be the image of ,jesus4 ,it had a crown of gold on its head and was fairly ablaze with diamonds4 ,it has great power to heal the sick4 ,it is taken to visit patients in great style--that is1 if the patients are rich4 ,the ,bambino is placed in a coach accompanied by priests in full dress4 ,the ,great ,festival of the ,bambino is celebrated annually4 ,military bands and the ,soldiers of the ,guard dance attendance4 ,saint ,gennaro is held to be the guardian saint of ,naples4 ,the alleged miracle by which the blood of this holy person1 contained in a glass tube1 changes from a solid to a liquid state1 is well known4 ,thousands go to see the miracle performed4 ,when the priest first held up the sacred vial with its clotted contents we could hear all about us3 ,holy ,gennaro1 save and protect us6 ,bless the ,city of ,naples1 and keep it free from plagues and earthquakes and other ills4 ,do this miracle so that we can see that thy power and thy favor are still with us4 ,and so it went on for an hour or more1 until the great throng was nearly hysterical4 ,at last the priest stepped forward1 showing that the blood flowed freely in the tube1 and then such a shout went up from the big crowd as one hears only in ,southern climes4 99 99 99 99 99 ,i have never been introduced to the ,church of ,england1 alias1 the ,episcopalian1 but ,i've always thought if a man had a good voice1 and understood the mysteries of the corkscrew1 he would make a good rector4 ,i became acquainted with a ,high-,church ,episcopalian woman not long ago1 and she showed me a prayer-rug and praying-costume imported from ,paris4 ,i told her that she looked like an angel in it1 as she ought after going to all that expense and trouble2 if she didn't1 dressmakers might as well give it up and wait for ,gabriel4 ,the attitude of prayer threw the back breadths of the skirt into graceful prominence1 and hence the necessity 7which will be at once recognized by all the truly pious7 of increased attention to the frills and embroidery required by the religious attitude of prayer4 ,an old farmer in ,indiana said he was a ,piscopal4 ,to what parish do you belong8 ,i don't know nothing about parishes4 ,who confirmed you8 ,nobody4 ,then how do you belong to the ,episcopalian ,church8 ,well1 last ,winter ,i went down to ,arkansas visiting1 and while ,i was there1 ,i went to a church and it was called ',piscopal1' and ,i heard them say that they had done the things they ought not to have done1 and left undone the things they ought to have done1 and ,i says to myself1 ',that is my fix exactly1' and ever since then ,i've considered myself a ',piscopal'6 ,and ,i came to the conclusion that that is why the membership of that church is so large6 99 99 99 99 99 ,i know but little about the ,methodists1 but ,i do know that ,john ,wesley1 one of the founders of that church1 believed in witchcraft1 and was one of the latest of its supporters4 ,history tells us that ,brother ,wesley preached a sermon entitled1 ,the ,cause and ,cure of ,earthquakes4 ,he said that earthquakes were caused by sin1 and the only way to stop them was to believe in his theology and teachings1 thus showing great knowledge of seismology2 but people who bank on gullibility are usually safe4 ,i know the ,methodists make a great hullabaloo about their religion1 and appear to think their ,god is deaf4 ,the ,methodist ,conference has refused to allow women to be delegates to the ,general ,conference4 ,the ,methodist sisters should discipline the ,church4 99 99 99 99 99 ,what ,i know about the ,universalists ,i like4 ,they seem to think that we are all in the same boat1 and that one stands as good a chance as another1 of which ,i approve4 ,when ,i was a child1 ,sylvanus ,cobb1 at that time the great ,universalist preacher1 preached in the adjoining town4 ,one ,sunday1 my father and ,i went to hear him4 ,his sermon caused a great commotion1 and the ,baptist who preached that terrific sermon about ,hell said to my mother1 ,there is a wicked man about here preaching that everybody is to be saved2 but1 ,sister ,young1 let us hope for better things6 99 99 99 99 99 ,i believe that the ,unitarians1 as a class1 think for themselves4 ,i approve of that1 and the ,evangelical ,alliance disapproves of them4 ,that is in their favor4 ,i taught school at ,lee1 ,new ,hampshire1 fifty years ago4 ,one of the committee was a ,unitarian1 and one was a ,quaker4 ,i was tired of selecting suitable reading matter from that obscene old book1 the ,bible1 and ,i suggested that we read from some other book1 which we did for two mornings1 when the ,unitarian materialized at the schoolhouse1 and with much suavity suggested that we read from the ,bible every morning1 and recite the ,lord's ,prayer2 and ,i1 teaching school for my bread and butter1 bowed to the suggestion1 and the next morning said3 ,pupils1 ,mr4 ,smith prefers that we read from the ,bible4 ,therefore1 we will this morning read the startling and authentic account of ,jonah whilst he was stopping at the submarine hotel4 ,that is the most narrow-minded thing ,i ever knew about a ,unitarian2 but ,i always thought ,mr4 ,smith voiced the opinion of the parents of the pupils rather than his own4 ,i am somewhat acquainted with the ,church of the ,latter-,day ,saints1 alias the ,mormons4 ,they are a prudent1 industrious1 painstaking people1 and only about two per cent of them ever did practise polygamy1 and that is a very small proportion for any ,christian church4 ,brigham ,young never did have but seventeen wives1 but ,solomon had five hundred wives1 and one thousand other lady friends1 and ,david1 whose honor and humility show greater in his psalms than in the history of his ordinary1 every-day life1 was1 as the ,bible says1 a man after ,god's own heart4 ,i am sure that ,brigham ,young compared favorably with ,david4 ,and if ,god interviewed ,moses1 why shouldn't he have interviewed ,joe ,smith8 ,there are more than one thousand religions4 ,they are founded mostly on fraud4 ,all their saviors had virgins for mothers1 and gods for fathers4 ,the churches own more than thirteen billions of property1 and they are all too dishonest to pay honest taxes4 ,many of the churches couldn't be run three weeks without the women4 ,they do all the work1 for which they get no credit4 ,the churches claim all the distinguished people1 especially after they are dead and hence can not deny their claims4 ,they have many times claimed that ,abraham ,lincoln was a churchman4 ,the ,honorable ,h4 ,c4 ,deming1 of ,connecticut1 an old friend of ,lincoln1 said it is false4 ,lincoln belonged to no church1 and at one time said1 ,i have never united myself to any church1 because ,i have found difficulty in giving my assent without mental reservation to the long1 complicated statements of ,christian doctrine1 which characterize their articles of belief1 and confessions of faith4 ,but still they claim him4 ,honest1 very6 99 99 99 99 99 ,no institution in modern civilization is so tyrannical and so unjust to women as is the ,christian church4 ,the history of the ,church does not contain a single suggestion for the equality of woman with man1 and still the ,church claims that woman owes her advancement to the ,bible4 ,she owes it much more to the dictionary4 ,history1 both ancient and modern1 tells us that the condition of women is most degraded in those countries where ,church and ,state are in closest affiliation 7such as1 ,spain1 ,italy1 ,russia and ,ireland71 and most advanced in nations where the power of ecclesiasticism is markedly on the wane4 ,it has been proved that1 whatever progress woman has made in any department of effort1 she has accomplished independent of1 and in opposition to1 the so-called inspired and infallible ,word of ,god2 and that the ,bible has been of more injury to her than has any other book ever written in the history of the world4 ,william ,root ,bliss1 in his ,side ,glimpses ,from the ,colonial ,meetinghouse1 tells us many startling truths concerning the ,puritans1 and reminds me of what ,chauncey ,m4 ,depew said--that the first thing the ,puritans did1 after they landed at ,plymouth1 was to fall on their knees1 and the second thing was to fall on the ,aborigines4 ,the business of trading in slaves was not immoral by the estimate of public opinion in ,colonial times4 ,a deacon of the church in ,newport esteemed the slave trade1 with its rum accessories1 as home missionary work4 ,it is said that on the first ,sunday after the arrival of his slaves he was accustomed to offer thanks that an overruling ,providence had been pleased to bring to this land of freedom another cargo of benighted heathen to enjoy the blessings of a ,gospel dispensation4 ,at a ,bridgewater town meeting of the year ,sixteen ,hundred ,seventy-six1 a vote was called to see what should be done with the money that was made from selling the ,indians4 ,john ,bacon of ,barnstable directed in his will that his ,indian slave ,dinah be sold and the proceeds used by my executors in buying ,bibles4 ,by men who sat in the ,colonial meetinghouse1 the first fugitive-slave law was formed4 ,this law became a part of the ,articles of ,confederation between all the ,new ,england ,colonies4 ,the affinity between rum and the religion of ,colonial times was exemplified in the license granted ,john ,vyall to keep a house of entertainment in ,boston4 ,he must keep it near the meetinghouse of the ,second ,church1 where he extended his invitation to thirsty sinners who were going to hear ,john ,mayo or ,increase ,mather preach4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the importation of slaves began early4 ,the first arrival at ,boston was by the ship ,desire1 on ,february ,twenty-sixth1 ,sixteen ,hundred ,thirty-seven1 bringing negroes1 tobacco and cotton from ,barbados4 ,she had sailed from ,boston eleven months before1 carrying ,indian captives to the ,bermudas to be sold as slaves1 and thus she became noted as the first ,new ,england slave-ship4 ,in time1 slaves were brought to ,boston direct from ,africa4 ,advertisements of just-arrived negroes to be sold may be seen in the ,boston ,news ,letter of the years ,seventeen ,hundred ,twenty-six and ,seventeen ,hundred ,twenty-seven4 ,the pious ,puritans did not hesitate to sell slaves on the auction-block4 ,i find in the ,boston ,news ,letter of ,september ,nineteenth1 ,seventeen ,hundred ,fifteen1 a notice of an auction-sale at ,newport1 ,rhode ,island1 of several ,indians1 men and boys1 and a very likely negro man4 ,they were treated in all respects as merchandise1 and were rated with horses and cattle4 ,peter ,faneuil1 to whom ,boston is indebted for its ,cradle of ,liberty1 was deep in the business4 ,in an inventory of the property of ,parson ,williams of ,deerfield1 in ,seventeen ,hundred ,twenty-nine1 his slaves were rated with his horses and cows4 ,believe and be baptized is all that was essential4 ,i think many of them would have been improved by anchoring them out overnight4 ,a negro preacher whom ,i knew came to me when ,i was in ,florida1 and said3 ,what shall ,i preach about tomorrow8 ,i'se done preached myself 'plumb out4' ,i'se worked on election sanctification and damnation predestination till ,i can't say another word to save my life4 ,i said1 ,preach a sermon on ',thou shalt not steal' for a text4 ,yes1 he said1 that certainly is a good text1 but ,i am monstros 'fraid it will produce a coolness in my congregation6 ,doubtless it would produce a coolness in many a congregation today4 99 99 99 99 99 ,now ,i want to talk a little about law and its penalty4 ,we want to consider the invariable laws of ,nature4 ,let us look at it in the way in which we became acquainted with it--through experience4 ,to the child1 law is an educator2 he plays with fire and is burned4 ,law and its penalty have done their work4 ,a burnt child dreads the fire4 ,on that point his education is complete4 ,he cuts himself with a knife2 again the law works4 ,do not play with edged tools is the lesson4 ,and so1 whenever he comes in contact with external objects1 he learns something very definite from them2 and if he has any sense1 he soon conforms to the order which he sees in force all around him4 ,he does what he can to act in such a way as not to run counter to ,nature's laws2 or1 at least1 ,nature teaches him to do so by repeated suffering when he acts otherwise4 ,the law thus far is all in favor of life1 and is teaching the child to preserve it4 ,he must eat not to starve2 he must be clothed not to freeze2 he must not be burned1 or cut1 or crushed4 ,in one word1 he must take care of himself1 and be careful of external objects1 or he must be hurt4 ,but his education has another connection with law4 ,if he has proper parents he learns that he can not lie1 or steal1 or do many other things without suffering a penalty4 ,if he has no home education in this matter1 the reform-school and the jail step in and take up the lesson4 ,and so the law teaches him that his actions must be of a certain quality1 both with respect to external ,nature and his fellowmen1 or that he must pay a penalty4 ,thus he comes to man's estate1 and law has been to him an educator and a good one4 ,he has learned that ,nature's law means punishment every time it is violated1 and that man's law1 whatever it may attain to1 aims at the same object as ,nature's law4 ,but neither his education nor his contact with law ends with his youth4 ,hitherto he has obeyed blindly for fear of the penalty4 ,he now obeys intelligently1 and connected with the penalty to be incurred by disobedience is the reward to be obtained through obedience4 ,he finds that every act1 every thought1 of his brings him in direct contact with law4 ,he can not elude it by standing still1 for no man can stand still4 ,he must go forward1 or backward4 ,this is an inexorable law2 with progress1 improvement2 without progress1 what8 ,rest8 ,repose8 ,no6 ,deterioration4 ,no man can stand still in this universe for a day without losing something4 ,the man who means to do anything in life must go forward2 if he falters1 another goes ahead2 and then he learns that the penalty of faltering is failure4 ,nature works no special miracles in any one's favor4 ,nature works no miracles1 anyway4 ,the sun and the moon did not stand still at ,joshua's command6 ,no riches and influence can buy exemption from ,nature4 ,law says to the poor man who is dependent on his daily toil3 ,you have only yourself to rely upon4 ,take care of your health2 be temperate1 honest and industrious1 for sickness1 imprisonment1 idleness1 mean to you death4 ,it says to the rich man3 ,inherited wealth has exempted you from daily labor of body1 but it has not earned for you rest4 ,go to work2 do something1 or your mind and body will be enfeebled2 your sympathies will disappear2 you will become dry as the summer's dust2 you will sink into a nonentity4 ,the whole cry of ,nature's law is onward and upward4 ,evolution is the word--there is no ,god about it4 ,it is not alone the survival of the fittest--that is only a part of the process4 ,it is the fittest of one generation becoming something better and higher for the next4 ,it is the fashion now to say that the struggle for existence becomes yearly more fierce1 but that is not so4 ,the truth is that those who struggle become with each survival fitter to struggle1 and that for which they struggle is placed one step forward4 ,men used to want thousands and hundreds of thousands2 now1 they want millions and hundreds of millions4 ,they used to want general knowledge2 now1 they are all specialists1 and cry out that life is too short4 ,steam used to content them2 now1 electricity does not satisfy them1 and they are grasping at the possibilities of the mighty currents of air caused by the revolutions of the earth itself4 ,the law of progress is not limited to the mind4 ,the body shares in it4 ,men are stronger1 larger1 longer-lived than they have ever been4 ,even with the animals1 finer1 better breeds are constantly producing themselves under law4 ,this law of the survival of the fittest and the elevation of the type of the fittest pronounced against slavery1 and a nation paid the penalty in blood1 as ,spain has1 and other nations will pay it4 ,it has pronounced against the subjection of women1 and let those who stand in the way1 beware1 lest some ruin crush them as it falls6 ,the type of sympathy has become higher and tenderer4 ,sweet hands of mercy are now stretched down even to the brutes4 ,let those lovers of the past who can see no progress in the present1 who would question this onward tendency1 and the result of law1 let them remember that they must run rapidly to keep from being overwhelmed by the expansionists4 ,nature's law teaches us that like begets like4 ,you plant a grain of wheat1 and you reap wheat4 ,you breed ,morgan stock and the foal is of ,morgan blood4 ,the child is the offspring of certain parents1 and it inherits their blood4 ,if parents choose to unfit themselves to be healthy parents1 who shall be blamed8 99 99 99 99 99 ,shall gravitation cease as ,i go by8 ,teach children that no amount of so-called religion will compensate for rheumatism2 that ,christianity has nothing to do with morality2 that vicarious atonement is a fraud1 and a lie2 that to be born well and strong is the highest birth2 that to be honest and pay one's debts spells peace of mind2 that the ,bible is no more inspired than the dictionary2 that sin is a transgression of the laws of life1 and that the blood of all the bulls and goats and lambs of ancient times1 and the blood of ,christ or any other man1 never had1 and never can have1 the least effect in making a life what it would have been had it obeyed the laws of life4 ,if you have marred your life1 you must bear the consequences4 ,if you have made a mistake1 be more careful in the future4 ,let the thought that the past is irretrievable make you more careful in the present and for the future4 ,and1 above all1 teach children that prayer is idiotic4 ,there may be one ,god or twenty4 ,i do not know or care4 ,i am not afraid1 and no priest or parson can make me believe that my title to a future life1 if there be one1 is defective4 ,and the great and good man ,thomas ,paine1 who wrote the ,age of ,reason1 and said1 ,the world is my country1 and to do good my religion1 is a good enough god for me4 ,and the great ,ingersoll1 who said1 ,i belong to the great ,church that holds the world within its starlit aisles2 that claims the great and good of every race and clime2 that finds with joy the grain of gold in every creed and floods with light and love the germs of good in every soul1 is in my opinion an excellent god--as good as any that ever lived1 from ,confucius to ,christ4 ,a friend of mine said to me1 ,ingersoll should have been a ,christian4 ,i replied1 ,the dog-collar of ,christianity did not belong on his neck3 he preached the truth2 he preferred that to the ,bible4 ,i can not imagine the great ,ingersoll preaching from ,,ii ,kings xiv3 #ce4 ,when ,i was a child ,i heard very little about ,christmas and nothing about ,lent and ,easter4 ,i was taught to be honest and truthful and to pay one hundred cents on a dollar4 ,in my opinion there is no ,bible extant so good as ,ingersoll's ,complete ,works4 ,a ,,letter ,,and ,,the ,,rejoinder ,fear paralyzes the brain4 ,progress is born of courage4 ,fear believes--courage doubts4 ,fear falls upon the earth and prays--courage stands erect and thinks4 ,fear retreats--courage advances4 ,fear is barbarism--courage is civilization4 ,fear believes in witchcraft1 in devils and in ghosts4 ,fear is religion--courage is science4 ,there are real crimes enough without creating artificial ones4 ,all progress in legislation has for centuries consisted in repealing the laws of the ghosts4 --,robert ,ingersoll4 ,illustration ,a ,,letter ,,and ,,the ,,rejoinder ,a ,,labor ,,of ,,folly ,from the ,portsmouth ,times ,our old friend1 ,marilla ,m4 ,ricker1 of ,dover1 lifelong advocate of woman's rights1 zealous champion of freethought1 admirer of ,bob ,ingersoll1 worshiper of ,tom ,paine1 and collaborator of ,elbert ,hubbard1 who fears neither ,god1 man nor the ,devil1 because she does not believe particularly in any of them1 is engaged in a labor of folly1 in that she is fighting the doctrine of the immortality of the human soul4 ,in the prosecution of her warfare she has gone into print and issued a pamphlet in which she takes issue1 primarily1 with one ,elder ,e4 ,a4 ,kenyon upon his proposition of a universal consciousness that if a man die he shall live again1 and even goes so far as to assert that the majority of mankind believe in annihilation4 ,moreover1 she pronounces the doctrine of personal immortality a most selfish and harmful one1 pernicious in its results1 and operating for the enslavement of mankind1 filling the world with gloom and making of man a crawling coward4 ,we invite no controversy with ,marilla1 and will have none4 ,we concede her right to believe anything1 or nothing1 to say what she thinks1 write what she pleases1 get it printed where she may1 and circulate it as she can2 but our advice to the dear sister is to let up on this contention1 wherein she is out-,ingersolling ,ingersoll4 ,he did not believe in immortality1 but he did not deny it4 ,he claimed that he did not know1 and that no man could know it to be a fact2 but he never sought to blot out hope4 ,and the truth is that but for this hope of immortal existence1 entertained by the vast majority of the race1 in all lands and ages1 life would not be worth living1 and men and women everywhere would lie down and perish in despair4 ,it is this hope1 or faith1 or consciousness--however we may express it--of life beyond the grave1 or the immortality of the soul1 that inspires mankind to all that is noble and heroic in the great struggle for progress and development here4 ,without it there would be no incentive effort beyond that which impels the brute4 ,without it1 in fact1 man would be mere brute1 and nothing else4 ,that the horrid doctrines of ,calvinism were dinned into ,mrs4 ,ricker's ears in childhood1 and the fear of eternal torment held up before her1 instead of the infinite love of a ,god of ,mercy and ,justice1 may have impelled her to repudiate all idea of ,god or ,justice1 or life to come2 but she ought to be intelligent enough to sift the error from the truth and cling to the latter4 ,if not1 she should at least be willing to allow others to do so4 ,she may repudiate the old ,calvinism1 or even ,christianity itself4 ,she may become a ,mohammedan1 a ,buddhist1 an ,agnostic or an out-and-out heathen if she will4 ,she may accept annihilation as the universal fate of humanity2 but she should be willing to allow mankind in general its indulgence in that one ,great ,hope1 which has illumined with immortal splendor the darkest passages of human life1 and sustains the soul of man and woman in the severest trials and conflicts of earth4 ,,the ,,rejoinder 7,from the ,portsmouth ,times7 ,i was amused when ,i read in the ,portsmouth ,times an article from my friend ,metcalf1 entitled1 ,a ,labor of ,folly4 ,the genial ,henry said ,i was a lifelong advocate of woman's rights1 which is true4 ,and an admirer of ,ingersoll4 ,could any one help admire that great and good man8 ,and a worshiper of ,thomas ,paine4 ,worship is rather a strong word to apply to me1 but ,i think the man who said1 ,the world is my country1 and to do good my religion1 and who did more than any other man to put the stars on our flag and to give that flag to the breeze1 should be loved and respected4 ,he1 the aforesaid ,henry1 said ,i collaborated with ,elbert ,hubbard4 ,i am proud of that1 whether it is true or not4 ,i consider ,hubbard the most brilliant writer in this country4 ,henry also said ,i feared neither ,god1 man nor the ,devil1 because ,i did not believe particularly in any of them4 ,if he would add an o to ,god and make it good1 take the d from devil and make it evil1 then ,i would have something tangible to write about besides man1 in whom ,i believe4 ,henry also said that ,i was engaged in a labor of folly1 fighting the doctrine of the immortality of the soul4 ,i simply expressed my opinion on the subject4 ,my friend ,henry wrote me not long ago that there was no earthly need of a ,freethought paper2 that thought was as free as air always and everywhere4 ,i take issue with him there1 and ,i call his attention to the ,little ,journey to the home of ,copernicus--of ,january1 ,nineteen ,hundred ,five--by ,elbert ,hubbard4 ,copernicus was the founder of modern astronomy4 ,if ,henry will read his life he can see what freethought meant at that time4 ,i also call his attention to ,giordano ,bruno4 ,he can see what happened to him and how free thought was at that time4 ,henry said ,i could write what ,i pleased1 and get it printed where ,i could4 ,that was well added1 for ,i could not in the year ,nineteen ,hundred ,nine1 in the city of ,dover1 ,new ,hampshire1 get my article on ,immortality printed in the only paper in the city2 so you see how freethought is up to date4 ,i certainly take issue with ,henry1 ,that the hope or consciousness of life beyond the grave1 or immortality of the soul1 inspires mankind to all that is noble and heroic in the great struggle for progress and development here4 ,robert ,ingersoll did not believe in immortality1 but he was a great1 tender-hearted man1 full of kindness1 full of generous impulses4 ,no man ever loved the true1 the good and the beautiful more than he4 ,he would take the case of a poor man into court without pay2 he would give a young reporter an interview when he could sell every word he spoke for a dollar2 he would present the proceeds of a lecture to some worthy object as though he were throwing a nickel to an organ-grinder2 and when there was persecution he was on the side of the persecuted4 ,i do not believe in individual immortality1 but ,i do the best ,i can1 pay one hundred cents on the dollar1 and ,i am not afraid to die4 ,i know thousands who believe as ,i do4 ,john ,wesley1 the founder of ,methodism1 believed in the immortality of the soul--so do his followers4 ,he also believed that sin was the cause of earthquakes1 and the only way to stop them was to believe in the ,lord ,jesus ,christ4 ,he didn't know much about seismology1 but he certainly had faith1 plus4 ,john ,calvin founded the ,presbyterian ,church2 he believed in the immortality of the soul4 ,so do his followers2 but ,calvin was a murderer4 ,henry1 it is absurd to say that without hope of immortality we should be degraded to brutes2 in my opinion it is not true4 ,what we want is a religion that will pay debts2 that will practise honesty in business life2 that will treat employees with justice and consideration2 that will render employers full and faithful work2 that will keep bank-cashiers true1 officeholders patriotic1 and reliable citizens interested in the purity of politics 7and the woman citizen will be7--such a religion is real1 vital and effective4 ,but a religion that embraces vicarious atonement1 miraculous conception1 regeneration by faith1 baptism1 individual immortality and other monkey business is1 in my opinion1 degrading1 absurd and unworthy4 ,henry1 you say you want no controversy with me4 ,i enjoy controversy1 but if you are averse to it ,i'll stop and we will unite in singing one stanza of that ,christian hymn3 ,king ,david and ,king ,solomon ,led merry1 merry lives ,with their many1 many lady friends ,and their many1 many wives2 ,but when old age came o'er them ,with its many1 many qualms1 7,it was said7 ,king ,solomon wrote the ,proverbs ,and ,king ,david wrote the ,psalms4 ,but did they8 ,illustration ,where religion is afraid of liberty1 liberty should be afraid of religion4--,lemuel ,k4 ,washburn4 ,so long as man believes that he has an immortal soul1 he will fear the future4 ,,the ,,holy ,,ghost ,for ages1 a deadly conflict has been waged between a few brave men and women of thought and genius upon the one side1 and the great ignorant religious mass on the other4 ,this is the war between ,science and ,faith4 ,the few have appealed to reason1 to honor1 to law1 to freedom1 to the known1 and to happiness here in this world4 ,the many have appealed to prejudice1 to fear1 to miracle1 to slavery1 to the unknown1 and to misery hereafter4 ,the few have said1 ,think6 ,the many have said1 ,believe6 --,robert ,ingersoll4 ,illustration ,,the ,,holy ,,ghost ,of all the weird1 fanciful and fabulous stories appertaining to the gods and other pious frauds1 that concerning the ,holy ,ghost ranks them all6 ,now listen to what the ,bible has to say about that mythical personage--alias1 the ,holy ,ghost4 ,you will see that scarcely any two references to it agree in assigning it the same character or attributes4 7,it reminds me of what an old lady said at a prayer-meeting3 ,dear brothers and sisters1 it seems to me that there are no two of a mind here tonight1 nor hardly one67 ,in ,john xiv3 #bf1 the ,holy ,ghost is spoken of as a person or personal ,god4 ,in ,luke iii3 #bb1 the ,holy ,ghost changes and assumes the form of a dove4 ,in ,matthew xiii3 #af1 the ,holy ,ghost becomes a spirit4 ,in ,john i3 #cb1 the ,holy ,ghost is presented as an inanimate senseless object4 ,in ,i ,john v3 #g1 the ,holy ,ghost becomes a ,god--the third member of the ,trinity4 ,in ,acts ii3 #a1 the ,holy ,ghost is averred to be a mighty rushing wind4 ,in ,acts x3 #ch1 the ,holy ,ghost1 we infer from its mode of application1 is an ointment4 ,in ,john xx3 #bb1 the ,holy ,ghost is the breath1 as we legitimately infer by its being breathed into the mouth of the recipient after the ancient ,oriental custom4 ,in ,acts ii3 #c1 we learn the ,holy ,ghost sat upon each of them4 ,in ,acts ii3 #a1 the ,holy ,ghost appears as cloven tongues of fire4 ,in ,luke ii3 #bf1 the ,holy ,ghost is the author of a revelation or inspiration4 ,in ,mark i3 #h1 the ,holy ,ghost is a medium or element for baptism4 ,in ,acts xxviii3 #be1 the ,holy ,ghost appears with vocal organs and speaks4 ,in ,hebrews vi3 #d1 the ,holy ,ghost is dealt out or imparted by measure4 ,in ,luke iii3 #bb the ,holy ,ghost appears with a tangible body4 ,in ,luke i3 #e1 we are taught that people are filled with the ,holy ,ghost4 ,in ,matthew xi3 #ae1 the ,holy ,ghost falls upon the people as a ponderable substance4 ,in ,luke iv3 #a1 the ,holy ,ghost is a ,god within a ,god--,jesus being full of the ,holy ,ghost4 ,these are only a few quotations4 ,there are many more1 but we can all see what a multifarious personage1 or rather he1 she1 or it the ,holy ,ghost is4 99 99 99 99 99 ,i remember hearing much about the unpardonable sin against the ,holy ,ghost4 ,the sin against the ,holy ,ghost consisted in resisting its operations in the second birth--that is1 the regeneration of the heart or soul by the ,holy ,ghost4 ,and it was considered unpardonable simply because as the pardoning and cleansing process consisted in1 or was at least always accompanied with1 baptism by water1 in which operation the ,holy ,ghost was the agent in effecting the new birth1 therefore1 when the ministrations or operations of this indispensable agent were resisted or rejected1 there was no channel1 no means1 no possible mode left for the sinner to find a renewed acceptance with ,god4 ,when a person sinned against the ,father or the ,son1 he could find a door of forgiveness through the baptizing processes1 spiritual or elementary1 of the ,holy ,ghost4 ,but an offense committed against this third limb of the ,godhead had the effect of closing and barring the door so that there could be no forgiveness1 either in this life or in that which is to come4 ,to sin against the ,holy ,ghost was to tear down the scaffold by which the door of ,heaven was to be reached4 ,this sin against the ,holy ,ghost has caused thousands of the disciples of the ,christian faith the most agonizing hours of alarm and despair4 ,it has always been my opinion that many people who thought they had sinned against the ,holy ,ghost simply had dyspepsia4 ,if people should deceive in other matters as the priests1 parsons and teachers do in religion1 they would not escape arrest4 ,the destruction of religions and superstition means the upbuilding of charity and ethics4--,ralph ,w4 ,chainey4 ,superstition is nothing but a misplaced fear of some fancied supernatural phantasm of divinity4 ,,how ,,can ,,we ,,take ,,christ8 ,all that is good in our civilization is the result of commerce1 climate1 soil1 geographical position1 industry1 invention1 discovery1 art and science4 ,the ,church has been the enemy of progress1 for the reason that it has endeavored to prevent man from thinking for himself4 ,to prevent thought is to prevent all advancement except in the direction of faith4 --,robert ,ingersoll4 ,illustration ,,how ,,can ,,we ,,take ,,christ8 ,i receive many letters from various people telling me that ,christ is mine if ,i will only take him4 ,i am always amused at the solicitations of these people and feel as ,president ,taft did when ,peary laid the ,pole at his feet4 ,taft replied he had no idea what he should do with it4 ,i should not know what to do with ,christ if ,i took him4 ,what can they mean by taking ,christ8 ,the word ,christ is used to designate a certain individual who died1 if he ever lived1 nearly two thousand years ago4 ,now to take this person we should have to take him from the earth where he was buried4 ,i am at a loss to comprehend what ,christians mean when they offer ,christ to any one4 ,what right has an individual today to offer another a person who has been dead two thousand years8 ,i fail to see any sense in such an offer4 ,certain men and women go about the world asking people to come to ,christ1 to accept ,christ4 ,what do they mean--do they know8 ,in my opinion the supreme dogma of ,christianity is the divinity of ,jesus4 ,if ,jesus was a man1 all that was related of his divine acts in the four ,gospels is false4 ,how would a person like the ,nazarene peasant be accepted today were he to play the part of a god8 ,suppose a person who had lived in our neighborhood should come to us and say1 ,i am ,god1 and ,i want you to help me save the world2 quit your work and follow me4 ,what would you think of him8 ,would any one pay the least attention to him1 except to think he was insane and have him placed in an asylum for safety8 ,the people who are preaching the divinity of ,jesus know nothing about him except what they read in a book that was written by unknown authors4 ,jesus is the last hope of ,christian theology4 ,he is the only solution of the divine problem that ,christianity has to offer4 ,is not the direction of the world's most rational thought away from the ,christian notion of ,jesus8 ,in my opinion it is4 99 99 99 99 99 ,let us look at the once famous stronghold of ,new ,england ,orthodoxy1 the ,andover ,theological ,seminary1 which was chartered on ,june ,nineteenth1 ,eighteen ,hundred ,seven1 and opened for instruction on ,september ,twenty-eighth1 ,eighteen ,hundred ,eight4 ,i think it was about seven years ago that it was transferred to ,cambridge and became a part of ,harvard ,university4 ,at that time the school consisted of seven instructors1 twelve students and a library of sixty-five thousand books1 with an endowment of eight hundred fifty thousand dollars in productive funds and an annual income of thirty-five thousand dollars4 ,it has been said that the highways were scoured every ,summer for students1 and enticing scholarships held out1 but to no avail4 ,no students materialized4 ,why is this8 ,in my opinion it is the rising generation's dissatisfaction with traditional theology2 they have outgrown it4 ,ingersoll said that once in five years the ,president of the ,seminary summoned his professors before him to make oath that they had learned absolutely nothing during the preceding five years and would not learn anything for the next five years4 ,and that promise was not subject to recall4 ,but even ,andover couldn't remain in that condition4 ,in ,eighteen ,hundred ,eighty-six it announced its new system of progressive orthodoxy4 ,this created a division between the ,old ,school and the ,new1 and marked the beginning of the end of ,andover2 and after much litigation it consented to be gathered in by ,harvard or swallowed1 or perhaps they would say merged4 ,they have now a new building located upon land adjacent to that of ,harvard ,university1 and the last account from the ,great ,seminary was that they had twenty-four pupils4 ,the library of the ,seminary and that of the ,harvard ,divinity ,school have been combined and are housed together in ,bartlett ,hall4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the defenders of the ,gospel of ,christ don't seem to be increasing2 on the contrary1 there seems to be great depression in matters ecclesiastical these days1 even in puritanical ,new ,england4 ,it plainly shows that the young men of the present day are not anxious to wear the ,dog-,collar of ,christianity1 and as far as ,i've heard no ,christian arose to remark that the morals of the ,reverend ,clarence ,richeson were contaminated by reading the words of ,thomas ,paine1 ,robert ,ingersoll1 ,elbert ,hubbard or ,lemuel ,k4 ,washburn4 ,the ,reverend ,clarence seemed to be a product of the ,christian ,bible1 and talked to the last of his ,god and his ,bible4 ,what is left of ,christianity8 ,who wrote the ,christian ,bible8 ,the smallest child in a ,sunday ,school would answer the question by saying ,god1 but the most learned person on the globe would say1 ,i do not know4 ,it is being admitted by thinking persons that answers to religious questions possess nothing more than a religious value4 ,when a person is graduated from a ,sunday ,school he is wiser than he will be after he has lived forty years1 provided he learns anything by living4 ,god is a term used to express what man does not know1 but it does not seem to me necessary to assign to the ,bible divine authorship1 as it can be accounted for on other grounds4 ,it is certain that men and women have written books4 ,it is not certain that there is a ,god and1 if so1 that he has written a book4 ,if man could write the ,bible1 there seems to be no need for ,god to do so4 ,it is a fact that no one knows who wrote a word of the ,bible1 and yet it will require many more years to kill the foolish superstition that ,god inspired certain men to write this book4 ,nothing grows slower than truth1 and nothing faster than superstition4 ,falsehood was never known to commit suicide4 ,unknown men wrote the ,christian ,bible1 not an unknown ,god4 99 99 99 99 99 ,not many years ago ,i saw that a teacher in the ,holyoke 7,massachusetts7 ,high ,school was dismissed for saying that ,jesus was one of a family of ten4 ,jesus is a word that paralyzes the mental faculties4 ,as to the accuracy of the statement we have only the ,gospels for authority4 ,at any rate1 if ,matthew and ,mark are reliable he had four brothers and sisters4 ,in ,matthew xiii3 #ed we read3 ,is not this the carpenter's son8 ,is not his mother called ,mary1 and his brethren1 ,james1 and ,joseph1 and ,simon1 and ,judas8 ,and his sisters1 are they not all with us8 ,mark confirms ,matthew about the size of ,mary's family4 ,i tried to learn something concerning this case1 but silence a yard wide lay all about it4 ,i fancy the teacher was silenced in some way4 ,leastwise ,i could learn nothing4 ,it doesn't take much to silence a teacher1 or it didn't fifty years ago1 especially if she were dependent upon teaching for her bread and butter1 which ,i was4 ,i1 at one time1 tried to substitute one of ,ralph ,waldo ,emerson's books to be read in school in the morning instead of the ,christian ,bible4 ,i was informed by one of the committee that the ,bible must be read every morning and the ,ten ,commandments repeated4 ,the next morning ,i selected the truthful and startling account of ,jonah whilst he was sojourning at the ,submarine ,hotel4 ,i at that time made up my mind that if ,i were ever financially independent ,i'd say what ,i thought concerning the ,christian religion1 and no one doubts that ,i've done so4 99 99 99 99 99 ,jesus is the last hope of ,christian theology4 ,it can be but a few years at most when faith in ,jesus as ,god will be the mark of intellectual stupidity4 ,it seems to me that mankind will soon be sensible enough to dismiss this dogma to eternal oblivion4 ,it is the last relic of heathen mythology that clings to modern civilization4 ,the ,christian church is put to its utmost ingenuity to hide the absurdity in this dogma4 ,the dogma of the divinity of ,jesus rests upon fictitious events1 and hence its fate is sealed4 ,many persons regard any one that calls ,jesus a man as a blasphemer4 ,there is a great amount of pious nonsense in the world1 and there is more connected with ,jesus than with any other character whom ,christendom honors4 ,the reverence paid to ,jesus by ,christians is the homage of idolatry4 ,the first thing for people to do is to get rid of the silly notion that there is anything holy in the name of ,jesus any more than in the name of ,hercules1 ,bacchus or ,adonis4 ,all the gods of the past are myths to the present4 ,jesus stands in the way of the world's advancement4 ,the path of civilization is over his grave4 ,the mind has been fettered by worship of this myth4 ,we want to get rid of the ,christian superstition4 ,isn't it astonishing that many children should be taught about the resurrection before they can spell cat8 ,whenever a man believes that he has the exact truth from ,god1 there is in that man no spirit of compromise4 ,he has not the modesty born of the imperfections of human nature2 he has the arrogance of theological certainty and the tyranny born of ignorant assurance4 ,believing himself to be the slave of ,god1 he imitates his master1 and of all tyrants the worst is a slave in power4 ,when a man really believes that it is necessary to do a certain thing to be happy forever1 or that a certain belief is necessary to insure eternal joy1 there is in that man no spirit of concession4 ,he divides the whole world into saints and sinners1 into believers and unbelievers1 into ,god's sheep and ,devil's goats1 into people who will be glorified and people who will be damned4 --,robert ,ingersoll4 ,,colonel ,,robert ,g4 ,,ingersoll ,we need no myths1 no miracles1 no gods1 no devils4--,robert ,ingersoll4 ,the world is my country and to do good is my religion4--,thomas ,paine4 ,the presence of a hypocrite is a sure indication that there is a ,bible and a prayer-book not very far away4 ,illustration ,,colonel ,,robert ,g4 ,,ingersoll ,it is difficult to sketch this many-sided man4 ,he was full of pity and sympathy for the poor and unfortunate4 ,he was great enough to applaud the good1 and good enough to forgive the erring4 ,he could charm a child with his speech1 or sway thousands by his magic words4 ,he was the supreme philosopher of commonsense4 ,he knew how to answer a fool1 but he never forgot to be courteous to an opponent4 ,he would take the case of a poor man into court without pay2 he would give a young reporter an interview when he could sell every word he spoke for a dollar2 he would present the proceeds of a lecture to some worthy object as though he were throwing a nickel to an organ-grinder2 he would lead a reform with a dozen workers if he believed them in the right1 just as if he had a million followers2 and where there was persecution he was on the side of the persecuted4 ,ingersoll was the truest ,american that ,america ever bore4 ,he was the orator of her rivers and mountains1 of her hills and dales1 of her forests and flowers1 of her struggles and victories1 of her free institutions1 of her ,stars and ,stripes--the orator of the home1 of wife and child1 of love and liberty4 ,the head1 heart and hand of ,ingersoll were perfectly united and worked together4 ,as he thought he acted2 when he had anything to say1 he said it aloud4 ,he was not ashamed of his thoughts4 ,he did not hide or go around the corner1 or beat about the bush4 ,he spoke honestly what he saw1 what he thought1 what he knew4 ,illustration ,,mark ,,twain',s ,,best ,,thought ,the entire ,new ,testament is the work of ,catholic ,churchmen4--,lemuel ,k4 ,washburn4 ,god is not a fact2 nothing that can be seen1 heard or felt2 nothing that can be found out or in4 ,god is a verbal content4 ,illustration ,,mark ,,twain',s ,,best ,,thought ,the best thing ,mark ,twain ever said was1 ,i should like to see the ballot in the hands of every woman4 ,freethinkers should also remember him with gratitude2 he said enough from our point of view to warrant that4 ,give me my glasses1 were his last words4 ,it will be but a short time before some pious evangelical hypocrite will add1 ,i want to read my ,bible6 ,they are already writing about his highest sphere of thought1 namely1 his religious thought4 ,i remember when a ,presbyterian deacon said of him1 ,i would rather bury a daughter of mine than have her marry such a fellow4 ,the church people are all anxious to avoid their own history concerning ,mark ,twain and many other people4 ,the ,reverend ,doctor ,twitchell said at ,mark's funeral that a simple soul had gone trustingly to the beyond4 ,he didn't mention where the beyond was1 and he prayed to the ,christian ,god that courage in the faith of immortality be given to those who mourn4 ,through all these ,christian notices runs an undercurrent that ,mark ,twain was only secondarily a humorist4 ,i knew him somewhat in the old days and have heard him lecture4 ,he certainly laughed superstition from the minds of thousands1 and the most of his books bear witness to his broad and liberal views4 ,the ,reverend ,doctor ,van ,dyke mixed much religious sophistry with his remarks at the funeral of ,twain1 but the reverend doctor is a theological acrobat4 ,he preached once on the ,atonement1 and said there are a thousand true doctrines of the ,atonement1 which is saying substantially that no doctrine specifically is true--for instance1 the doctrine of the ,westminster ,confession1 to which ,van ,dyke pledged loyalty when he was ordained a ,presbyterian minister4 ,he at that time ripped up the ,westminster settlement1 and reopened the whole question for discussion4 ,any preacher who believes in the geology of ,moses1 the astronomy of ,joshua1 and the mathematics of the ,trinity1 must do an immense amount of side-stepping4 ,christianity is only a bubble of superstition1 and ,jesus is reduced to a toy god of the ,sunday ,school4 ,,an ,,irreligious ,,discourse ,,on ,,religion ,religion is inherited fear4--,lemuel ,k4 ,washburn4 ,in my opinion a steeple is no more to be excluded from taxation than a smokestack4 ,faith is the cross on which man crucifies his liberty4 ,illustration ,,an ,,irreligious ,,discourse ,we are living in the ,twentieth ,century of what is called the ,christian ,era1 and we have not outgrown the superstitions of the ,first ,century4 ,and worse than this1 we have not had the courage to abandon the fictions of the ,book of ,genesis for the truths of modern science4 ,just what the world is afraid of1 that it fears to trust its senses1 its reason1 its knowledge1 surpasses my understanding4 ,one of the first things that men and women should learn is1 that there is nothing in the universe to be afraid of2 that all the malignant deities are dead2 that the ancient gods that presided over the destiny of earth and of earthly things have all fallen from the sky2 that in the realm of ,nature everything is natural1 and that no man is pursued by a god of wrath and vengeance who would punish him for his unbelief4 ,every god that can not hear the truth without getting mad should be dethroned4 ,every priest who can not join in singing the songs of civilization should be warned to look out for the engine while the bell rings4 ,this world of ours is a world to be enjoyed1 but it can not be enjoyed if we fear every manifestation of ,nature and if we put a cruel god behind every cloud4 ,let us live without fear1 without superstition1 without religion4 99 99 99 99 99 ,there is nothing above1 beneath or around you that cares whether you are a ,christian or an unbeliever4 ,the real reason why a priest hates an unbeliever is that he can not get a dollar out of him4 ,he damns those who know better than to swallow his say-sos4 ,but it still remains a fact that an infidel can raise as many bushels of potatoes to the acre as can the ,roman ,catholic4 ,the sun will not wrong an honest man4 ,the stars will not punish a single human being for telling the truth4 ,the sky will not persecute a person who gives his thoughts1 his talents1 his time1 to finding ways to help mankind4 ,everything that man believes in that can not be found1 that can not be proved1 that can not stand the test of commonsense3 everything that contradicts ,nature1 that is opposed to established facts1 that is contrary to the laws of the universe1 must be given up4 ,we must have a new man3 the man born of woman1 not the man made by ,god2 the man who has been growing better ever since his advent on earth1 not the man who has been growing worse2 the man who started with nothing and has conquered the earth1 the sea and the air2 not the man who began perfect and has not got halfway back2 the man who made the telescope1 the steam-engine1 the power-loom1 the telephone and the wireless telegraph2 not the man who made the thumbscrew1 the rack1 the ducking-stool and the stocks2 the man who has carried the torch of liberty to enlighten the world1 not the man who has carried the crucifix to enslave mankind4 99 99 99 99 99 ,it is quite common to be told what ,moses said or what ,jesus said4 ,now1 if all that these two ,hebrew gentlemen 7who in my opinion never lived7 said1 is preserved in the ,bible1 ,i appeal from what they said to those who know more4 ,i assert that ,moses said a lot of stuff that isn't so1 and a lot more that never was so1 and that all that ,jesus is said to have said is practically worthless to the world today2 that there is not in all of his utterances a single word that will help man to get a living1 a single word that will aid man in his struggle for knowledge2 that there is not a statement of a single scientific fact1 or a plea for human liberty in all his language4 ,he told his generation nothing that was not already known1 except a mess of superstitious nonsense about angels and devils1 heavens and hells4 ,his so-called gospel of salvation was to follow him1 and he landed on a cross4 ,the truth is this3 the world has outgrown ,moses and ,jesus4 ,it does not take commands from either4 ,this age believes in work1 not worship2 in deeds1 not prayers2 in men1 not monks2 in liberty1 not in pious obedience2 in human rights1 not in submission2 in knowledge1 not in revelation4 ,for hundreds of years man was bound by a religious faith1 and the priest was his cruel master4 ,he dared not doubt2 he dared not rebel2 he dared not dream of freedom2 but there came a time when religious tyranny could no longer be borne4 ,then ,mankind cried out to the ,church3 ,give back man's brain to man2 restore to him the mind you have robbed him of2 take from his head and heart the paralyzing fear that makes him a coward and a slave1 and leave to him the liberty with which ,nature dowered him1 that his mind may discover and preserve those mighty thoughts which make man brave1 honest1 free and happy4 ,that cry was heard far4 ,it was heard by glad ears1 and liberty sprang from the ground like the warriors from the fabled dragon-teeth of ,cadmus4 ,the war between liberty and tyranny1 between fact and fable1 between truth and falsehood1 between man and priest1 was on1 and for centuries this war has raged1 nor is it yet over4 ,freedom still lies bleeding1 but victory for the right will sooner or later be won4 ,that victory will not be complete until every man will dare to say3 ,let come what will come1 no man1 be he priest1 minister or judge1 shall sit upon the throne of my mind1 and decide for me what is right1 true or good4 ,i am my own master1 my own teacher1 my own guide4 ,i will keep my reason free from control and will never surrender my own convictions to the dictates of another4 ,nature has made every man commander of his own destiny4 99 99 99 99 99 ,but we are yet victims of ecclesiastical villainy4 ,the priest is still the worst enemy of mankind4 ,his church is like that monster of fiction which lived on little children4 ,in the name of the children ,i protest against the action of the ,church in stealing their tender brains1 in making them slaves of superstition before they are old enough to know to what they are doomed4 ,the age of consent to a religious faith should be determined by law1 if necessary4 ,today any boy or girl may be the victim of a designing priest or clergyman1 or of a designing religious system4 ,no person under eighteen years of age should be allowed to join a church or consent to a statement of faith4 ,mental purity should be guarded and protected as well as physical purity4 ,while the ,church is powerful in numbers and while its religion is supported by wealth and fashion1 the world is becoming more and more emancipated from its pernicious influence4 ,the light that truth gives is still ahead of us1 but it is there1 and some day the world will grow warmer under its rays and men become better and kinder to one another4 ,a hundred years ago the ,god worshiped in orthodox churches went about drowning little boys and girls who went skating on ,sundays4 ,those were the good old days when men and women had religion for breakfast1 dinner and supper1 and took it to bed with them4 ,it takes a long time to get such a horrible religion out of the system4 ,men and women still have a mean faith1 a faith which can see others damned with satisfaction if they can only be saved4 ,nothing but a mean religion could make men and women as mean as that4 ,i would rather starve than preach the doctrine of endless pain for a human being--or even for a dog4 ,i believe that this world is hard and dark and cruel enough without borrowing suffering from another world to make darker and harder the road of life and add torture to the nights of pain and misery4 ,a church must be sunk pretty low when it lives on the fears and tears of mankind2 but what lower depths of degradation does it sound when it can deliberately create fears and tears that it may live and thrive in its vile and cruel business6 ,a human being without pity should be shunned and despised2 but a human being who can fill the heart with terror should not be allowed in a civilized community4 ,the mind today wants to get out into the open1 into the free daylight1 wants to walk the earth1 look at the stars and sky1 feel the warmth of the sun and smell the odor of the ground2 it has become tired of being shut up in a faith1 in a creed1 in a church2 tired of being kept in the darkness of the past1 in the tomb of dead thoughts1 in the moldy caskets of unreal things1 and in the dungeon of fear4 ,the mind is striving to break the chains of the priest and be free from the bonds of the ,church4 ,you can not have men free where the priest demands and claims their obedience4 ,the greatest menace to our national institutions is the power that controls men2 that controls their thoughts1 their actions and their destinies4 ,liberty can survive only where men are free3 free to think1 free to read1 free to speak and free to act4 ,the mind must not be bound by any vow of obedience4 ,one man1 no matter what his office1 what his position1 what his rank1 has no right to compel another's obedience4 ,this is the worst oppression on earth4 99 99 99 99 99 ,what is needed in this country is more men who dare think and speak for themselves2 who dare belong to no church2 who dare work for the right as they see it1 and speak the truth as they understand it2 who dare live their own lives independent of fashion's demands or society's usages2 who dare put liberty above conformity1 and who dare defy customs1 law and religion in their zeal to help their fellow-beings4 ,there is more than one liberty--more than the liberty to do right--that is partly won for every civilized being4 ,there is another liberty that is dangerous and that persists even where civilization exists--the liberty to take another's liberty from him4 ,this liberty is usually taken from another in the name of ,god and what is called holy2 but there is nothing on earth so holy as liberty1 and he who takes it from another robs him of the dearest right possessed by man4 ,binding a human being with the chains of faith before that being is old enough to judge whether the faith is reasonable or true is the assassination of freedom4 ,the greatest danger which confronts our nation today is not political but religious1 and the preservation of our free institutions does not depend upon our army and navy1 but upon the emancipation of the human mind from ecclesiastical slavery4 ,as ,thomas ,paine well said1 ,spiritual freedom is the root of political liberty4 ,you can not have free schools1 free speech and a free press where the mind is not free4 ,there is too much faith in this country and too little sense4 ,men have given up about everything they possess to be saved2 but it is more necessary1 and more commendable in the workingmen of this nation1 to save their dollars than to save their souls4 99 99 99 99 99 ,a subject that needs to be investigated quite as much as1 if not more than1 the high cost of living is the high cost of worship4 ,there may be some justice in the criticism of the price of meats4 ,we must remember1 however1 that we do get something for our money when we buy meat1 but let us not forget that we get absolutely nothing for the money spent for worship4 ,money given to the ,church is lost to the world4 ,it is not used to improve homes2 to help the poor and needy2 to alleviate suffering2 to bring hope to the sick or to give a few comforts to old age4 ,it goes into the pocket of ecclesiastical greed4 ,this country just at present is suffering from those twin curses of humanity--religion and ,bull-,mooseism4 ,the priest and ,bull-,mooseism are the two worst trouble-makers in this country4 ,to get rid of this precious pair of knaves would be to bring peace on earth and hasten the dawn4 ,i don't know which is the bigger knave1 the priest or the ,bull-,mooser1 but ,i do know that the priest is engaged in the meaner business of the two4 ,when a man tries to sell me a mouse-trap to catch elephants1 ,i am suspicious of his mental sanity2 and when a man tells me that eternal happiness can be won by enlisting in his salvation army1 ,i question his moral sanity4 ,i know that religion is offered at cut rates1 but there is no discount on morality4 ,you can not have the reward of good behavior unless you behave4 ,you may save your soul by saying1 ,i believe1 but you have to do something to save your body4 ,there is too much of this believe-in-me business4 ,you don't want to believe in any one you know nothing about4 ,the faith of a little child in its parents is beautiful1 but the faith of a grown-up man in a priest is idiotic4 ,faith has ruined more than it has saved4 ,with faith goes obedience1 and he or she who obeys is lost4 ,there is no honest call today to believe1 because there is opportunity to know4 ,faith is hatched in the nest of imposition4 ,he who yields obedience is a fool1 and he who demands it is a scoundrel4 ,in this age1 as in the past1 a lie made holy is allowed to assassinate the truth4 ,nothing is cursing this nation2 nothing is cursing human life2 nothing is cursing honest effort and brave striving so much as what is called holiness4 ,it is holy to believe all you are told2 holy to wear the robes of hypocrisy2 holy to rob the poor in the name of ,god1 and holy to put the poison of faith to the lips of a child4 ,it is holy to repudiate ,nature and make a lie of your body1 your mind1 your life4 ,to purify the dwelling-place of man1 it is necessary to drive from the earth everything that religion has made holy4 ,the only really sacred things were holy before a church was ever built1 before there was a priest on the globe4 ,human love and the home which human love built for its offspring were the first holy things which men and women knew1 and it is this human love of ours which is holier than mosque1 temple or church2 holier than priestly robe or ecclesiastical rite2 holier by far than all the holy things of faith4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the ,church has always lived by robbing the home2 the priest has always lived on the wages of the toiler4 ,the gods of religion have never done aught to lighten the heavy load on the shoulders of labor4 ,the priest has said to mankind that his ,lord left this consolation to the world3 ,come unto me1 all ye that labor and are heavy-laden and ,i will give you rest4 ,what the priest really means is this3 ,come unto me and ,i will do the rest2 and by the time he has done it1 there is nothing of manhood left4 ,the priest also teaches that his ,lord and ,master said1 ,ask and ye shall receive1 and adds1 ,the ,lord will provide4 ,how many poor wretches have believed those words2 but their outstretched hands withered away day by day1 and at last dropped empty by their sides4 ,there they lay white and cold1 holding not the bread they fondly expected1 but holding the hand of death4 ,it may be pious and it may be beautiful to say1 ,the ,lord will provide1 but it is a lie just the same4 ,when1 the other day1 the bodies of a mother and her two children were being carried to the grave with the words1 starved to death1 written on their faces1 but not written on their caskets1 it was a sufficient refutation of the religious teaching that ,the ,lord will provide4 ,it is the plain1 unvarnished truth that the ,lord will not even provide the coffin for the poor victim of such a false1 deceptive1 religious faith4 ,in olden times it was customary for the ,church to say1 ,god's light lights the world4 ,not so today4 ,god's light has gone out4 ,it is man's light that lights the world and the ,church too4 ,our enlightenment is human1 not divine4 ,no altar of religion burns with the fire of truth4 ,science carries the torch of knowledge3 liberty is the way and truth is the goal4 99 99 99 99 99 ,on our earth gods no longer make their homes4 ,it was not safe for them to live any more4 ,their sons may once have married the daughters of men1 but they can not get a license to do so today4 ,parents will not stand for it4 ,so the gods have gone1 bag and baggage4 ,where they have gone1 no one knows4 ,the skies give no sign that they are hiding up there4 ,the telescope has found seventy million stars1 but not one god4 ,it is time for the pulpit to stop repeating the old superstitions about ,god and about what he has done for man4 ,he has never done any more for man than he is doing today2 never spoken to man any more than he is speaking today2 never revealed himself to anybody any more than he stands revealed to you and me and to every human being everywhere4 ,every word that ever came from the mouth of ,god man put in his mouth1 and every book revealed by ,god was written by man4 ,half the work of man for the next one hundred years will be to kill the lies told about what ,god has done4 ,whether there is in all the vast universe a higher and nobler being than man1 ,i don't know4 ,whether there is in all the vast universe a better place for man to live than on this earth1 ,i don't know4 ,and no one knows any more about these matters than ,i do4 ,we have found out much that is not so2 now we want to find out all we can that is so4 ,and it is of no use to go to the ,church to learn anything4 ,the ,church is only a place where falsehoods are kept in cold storage4 ,the man who thinks and studies is the man who is helping the world most1 not the man who preaches and prays4 ,to find the truth one needs to get as far from the ,church as possible4 ,christians of all denominations have lots of pity for the man without a church4 ,let me assure these persons that the man without a church doesn't want one4 ,as a rule1 he is satisfied with what he has4 ,he has a home1 which is better than a church4 ,if those persons who are pitying men and women for not having a church would1 instead1 pity the man without a home1 and pity him enough to help him get one1 they would show much better sense and manifest a truer sympathy with their fellow-beings4 99 99 99 99 99 ,i can not see any good in painting a thing white that is black1 or calling a thing beautiful that is ugly4 ,there are persons who talk as though they believed that a ,northeast storm was sunshine4 ,i am not made that way4 ,i am as ready and as willing as anybody to acknowledge the good in ,nature1 or the good in life1 but ,i do not believe in lying1 in saying that wrong is right1 or that suffering is to be enjoyed4 ,there are lots of hard things in our life1 and it does not alter facts to call them by some other name4 ,a man dying with a cancer can not be made to believe that he is having a good time4 ,the most that any man can do who goes through this earthly existence is to use his fellow-mortals right and square2 to give them an honest day's work when he works for them and an honest day's pay when he hires them2 to say nothing to hurt them and everything he can to assist them2 to help them out of trouble and not get them into trouble4 ,if one does this1 and does no more than this1 he has done what beats every religion on earth4 ,we have got to deal with men and women as they are and where they are4 ,the man who is natural2 the man who has not been made a fool of by a priest or parson2 the man who has not swapped his commonsense for a foolish belief2 the man who has not had his mind stuffed with religious dope1 knows that this life on earth is the important life1 and that it is a higher work to determine his fate here than anywhere else4 ,there is not a person living who would not be well and strong and happy here rather than hereafter4 ,i would rather have the power to make every cripple straight and whole2 every poor1 unfortunate man and woman prosperous and contented2 every sick person well1 every bad person good1 and every slave to vice master of his appetite and passions1 in this life on earth1 than to save the human wrecks1 the human unfortunates1 the human victims of vice and crime1 for another life somewhere else4 99 99 99 99 99 ,what men and women want is happiness1 not ,heaven4 ,they want a good home on this globe1 not a loafing-place in ,abraham's bosom4 ,they want the opportunity to enjoy the good things of this life1 not the promise that they will hear the angels sing4 ,they want better wages for their work1 better treatment from their employers1 and better things to eat and drink and wear4 ,they want better things here1 not hereafter4 ,they want to be happy while they are living on earth1 not have the assurance of happiness after they are dead4 ,if ,i ever attempt to write my creed1 ,i shall say3 ,i believe in so much that ,i can hardly expect to express all of my faith in one statement4 ,i am all the time believing in something new4 ,but there is one thing that ,i most heartily believe in now and have believed in ever since ,i was a child1 and that is1 ,,sunshine--external and internal and eternal sunshine4 ,sunshine is the joy of the universe1 and joy is the sunshine of the human heart4 ,let us be bright and cheerful4 ,let us be happy4 ,let us give to the world the sunshine of our hearts4 ,a male trinity is repulsive2 ,father1 ,mother and ,child is the sacred triad4 ,the ,christian trinity is a monster4 ,,decay ,,of ,,christian ,,morality ,nature has no need of a ,holy ,ghost4--,lemuel ,k4 ,washburn4 ,all progress has been due to the ,devil4 ,he was the first investigator4--,ingersoll4 ,god takes care of the weed4 ,man must take care of the corn4 ,illustration ,,decay ,,of ,,christian ,,morality ,there is a great deal of exaggerated rhetoric employed in praising what is called ,christian ,morality4 ,i have examined with considerable care everything that may justly come within the meaning of this expression1 and ,i am bound to say1 out of respect for the truth1 that such morality does not deserve praise and can not be praised by the honest lips of an honest person4 ,i am perfectly aware that ,i have made a statement which challenges the sincerity of the ,christian pulpit1 but every one knows that there is not a minister in ,christendom whose practise agrees with his preaching4 ,while it is common to hear a clergyman in pious ecstasy exhaust the vocabulary of laudation in his praises of the beautiful morals of the ,sermon on the ,mount1 it is exceedingly rare to see one of these parsons sacrifice his commonsense to the nonsense of ,jesus4 ,we are learning that the theological morality of the ,christian faith is not the right kind of morality to make manhood and womanhood4 ,the great weakness of ,christian morality is this3 ,it depends upon the ,christian idea of ,jesus1 and when the world has outgrown the superstition about this person1 all of his moral precepts will lose their value and their splendor4 ,men and women of any intellectual penetration know that the ,new ,testament story is founded upon unreliable tradition2 that its heart is a myth4 ,where men live independent of the foolish faith of the ,gospels1 there is a character of self-reliance which towers like a mountain-peak above the dead level of ,christian endeavor4 ,the person who accepts the ,christian theology is no more in sympathy with the best thought of the age than is the man who wanders about the streets1 begging his food and sleeping wherever he can1 in harmony with the highest comforts of our civilization4 ,there is a nobler purpose in a train of cars carrying grain and produce across the continent than in a conference of clergymen trying to keep alive a theology which teaches that ,god was born of a ,jewish maiden who lived and died in ,palestine1 and devising ways to make the people believe the ridiculous superstition4 ,truth is born where men are allowed to think and speak their thoughts4 ,error can not be maintained where man is permitted to ask questions4 ,the only way to preserve ,christianity is to put it in a tin can and have it hermetically sealed4 ,we are getting a new examination of the universe as a basis for our philosophy4 ,the telescope has afforded man visions far beyond the seventh heaven of the ,apocalypse4 ,the genesis of things is found to lie millions of years back of the ,genesis of the ,bible4 ,the chaos out of which this world was made has been discovered to be a previous state of existence4 ,science is laying the new foundation for our faith1 and knowledge is building the new temple of the mind4 ,men and women everywhere are stating their opinions1 and the world recognizes that there is to be a religious controversy upon this earth which will shake to its base everything that is not true4 ,not one stone of falsehood will be left standing upon another4 ,every dogma of superstition must find a grave1 and truth alone be reverenced by man4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the world has taken a step forward of ,christianity1 and in its march of advancement has left behind the ,christian ,god1 the ,christian ,savior1 the ,christian ,bible1 and the ,christian ,faith4 ,but the world will not stop here4 ,it must go further4 ,the question which the human mind wants answered today is this3 ,is the decay of ,christian theology to be followed by the decay of ,christian morality8 ,i think that it is1 and ,i also think that this morality is about as near dead now as it can be4 ,it is true that the author of this morality is painted in divine colors for human adoration ,sunday after ,sunday1 and that his other-world ethics are inculcated by the pulpit2 but beyond these attempts to give the peculiar moral teachings of ,jesus the show of life1 there is absolutely no sign of them in the world of man4 ,the morality of the ,christian system is not designed for humanity in its present condition1 nor does it possess the elements necessary to make man into the image of any higher virtue4 ,it is1 in fact1 an unreal1 unnatural morality which ,jesus taught1 and the notion that men and women do not practise it because it is too far above them1 depends upon an estimate of this morality which we are not willing to allow4 ,i do not wish to be misunderstood on this point4 ,i want to say that the general moral duties of man1 as they have been taught for ages by teachers of every race and of every religion1 are not ,christian1 and that ,christian ethics are found in the code of moral duties taught by ,jesus which are different from the recognized standard of morality adopted by mankind generally4 ,christian morals are ,christian only wherein they differ from all other morals4 ,it is because they are peculiar to ,christianity that they are ,christian4 ,because ,i do not believe in ,christianity--in the ,christian theology and in ,christian morals--,i do not wish it said that ,i do not believe in morality1 for ,i do4 ,i believe that man can be good and true and that he can do right1 and ,i believe that he ought to do right4 ,i do not say that every one can reach the same moral altitude4 ,i do not even say that every individual can be good and true4 ,some persons do not seem to be morally adjusted4 ,i think1 however1 that we do not trespass beyond the domain of truth when we predicate the power of man to be moral4 ,the notion that man can not be good has been the apology of half the criminals of the world4 ,it is the creed of all crime4 ,if we affirm the idea of human depravity1 we may as well erase our statutes1 for1 if man can not be good1 it is the height of folly to expect him to be so4 ,the healthy faith of man is faith in man4 ,the theology which has been preached for the past few centuries is not calculated to make men moral4 ,those ministers who have shouted themselves hoarse for the salvation of the soul1 and who have made no account of man's behavior in their scheme to save the race1 are the ones who have rubbed humanity in the dirt and undermined the moral foundations of the world4 99 99 99 99 99 ,every ethical principle that supports our social structure is independent of ecclesiastical relations1 and it is not essential that we recognize any theology in order to comprehend the necessity of moral obedience4 ,there is no sympathy between right1 truth and justice1 and the ,apostles' ,creed4 ,we may go so far as to say that the attempt to establish a perpetual union between ,christianity and morality would result in an absolute divorce of these two forces4 ,i wish to make it plain beyond a question that the ,christian faith1 in itself1 is entirely distinct from all moral effort on the part of man4 ,to believe that ,jesus was the ,christ does not carry any obligation to do right2 does not make it incumbent upon the believer to do a single moral action4 ,it is sufficient to establish our predication that not a single church in ,christendom makes moral character the condition of membership1 or good behavior the way to ,heaven4 ,there is a code of ,christian morals which has been taught1 but never practised4 ,the special duties which ,jesus enjoined upon his followers have never been reduced to conduct4 ,it is not too much to say that the moral precepts of ,jesus1 if carried into action1 would cause social revolutions beyond precedent1 and produce a state of existence compared with which anarchy would be government1 and confusion would be order4 ,but1 before we undertake to examine the ,christian morals1 let us shed a few tears of rejoicing upon the grave of ,orthodox theology4 ,we do not ask to have a coroner's jury decide what caused the death of this theology4 ,we bless the cause1 whatever it was4 ,we only wish to feel assured that it is really1 truly dead1 and the fact that not a single treatise written by a ,new ,england ,puritan is a living and authoritative book seems to prove it beyond a question4 ,the persons who still preach this theology and profess to believe it are only sitting up with the corpse4 ,while it is asserted that a wrong interpretation of this theology sent it out of the world1 it is pretty evident that a right understanding of it inspires no wish to have it back4 ,much of the superstition in morals sprang from fear of ,god1 which the ,christian church has inculcated as the highest incentive to right doing4 ,the truth1 broadly and frankly stated1 is this3 ,god is no longer the inspiration of morality4 ,fear of ,god does not check the actions of man today1 nor is the attempt to make human and divine interests identical sufficient to insure obedience to moral laws4 ,the ancient basis of morals is gone1 and another and better one must be found to inspire a freer life1 a fuller life1 a better life1 and a higher4 ,we who have rejected the ,christian theology are looked upon as orphans4 ,but1 if ,i understand the position of freethinkers1 the question of a supreme power is neither affirmed nor denied by those who wish to have no further business with the ,god of ,orthodoxy4 ,we read that1 the fool hath said in his heart there is no ,god1 but we prefer to say nothing about the matter4 ,theologies may come1 and theologies may go1 but humanity goes on forever1 and so we do not deem it as important to worship the fleeting shadows of the universe which are cast upon the minds of men as it is to hold fast to those realities which make human existence a blessing and a joy forever4 ,we are called infidels and denounced as unbelievers because we will not march in the ranks of hypocrisy1 and dance to the music of ,orthodoxy4 ,we believe no statement which our reason can not approve2 we accept no doctrine which is contrary to commonsense2 we have confidence in human nature2 we believe in truth1 justice and love2 we accept life as a blessing1 and try to make it so2 we believe in taking care of ourselves1 in helping others and in being just and kind to all1 and we say to the ,christian ,church1 ,if this be ,infidelity1 make the most of it4 99 99 99 99 99 ,it is suggested by some that if man's exact relation to the ,deity were understood1 the whole question of morals would be settled at once4 ,but would it not be truer to say that if man's exact relation to his fellowmen were understood and respected1 the highest individual welfare1 no less than the general good1 would dictate the morality which the world needs8 ,and is not this the grand task for the human race1 to rightly interpret the effect of human action upon the individual and the community1 and to deduce from human experience the rules for human conduct8 ,i do not know that ,i owe to ,god any duty4 ,i do know that ,i owe a duty to my neighbor4 ,i plead total indifference to the demands of divine ethics1 but ,i trust that ,i am not completely callous to the wants of my fellow-beings4 ,i owe it to myself to be moral4 ,i owe it to my race1 to every man and woman that ,i meet in life1 to be as honest1 as true1 as upright1 as my nature will permit4 ,i can comprehend and appreciate obligations to humanity1 but moral indebtedness to the ,deity ,i know nothing about4 ,the ,christian morals are founded upon the assumption that the work of man here is to do something that he may escape punishment hereafter1 and hence the morality of the ,christian ,church has had little reference to the concerns of the present life4 ,christian morality is based upon the ,christian faith that the human race is under the curse of ,god1 and that1 to evade the penalty pronounced upon him1 man must perform certain duties--these duties being taught as paramount to all we owe to self1 to family1 to society1 and to the world4 ,but an almost universal disbelief of the ,christian dogmas prevails today1 and1 consequently1 a new morality1 with man's welfare for its supreme object1 is fast supplanting the outworn and valueless performances of ,christian duties4 ,the moral teaching of the ,new ,testament may be the highest and purest of its kind of teaching1 but it is not the kind which is needed today4 ,it is a false morality1 yea1 a dead morality for the most part1 which the ,christian ,church demands of men4 ,the general conviction is that no salvation is needed by man1 and that all the virtues advertised as requisite for such safety as the ,church is prepared to secure1 are spurious virtues4 ,those actions which advance man along the way of general prosperity1 which make it easier to live and get a living on the earth1 which have their value determined by their respect for human beings1 are what the world needs4 ,the generally acknowledged author of ,christian morals offers no salient points for criticism1 as he can not be regarded as a historical person whose career has been carefully followed and marked by the biographer4 ,he is a mythological man1 with a little less of the fabulous and a little more of the real than attaches to the gods and goddesses of ancient ,greece and ,rome4 ,the name of ,jesus adorns an anatomy of words4 ,it pictures a person1 not of flesh and blood1 but of faith and fancy4 ,jesus is a man of the imagination2 but mythical as he is1 certain men and women believe in him in their own way1 and are not over-tolerant of those who are disposed to ask for the proofs of his life and works4 ,this person has left no more marks of his living upon the earth than have the birds the marks of their flight through the air4 ,the ,new ,testament is no more history than is ,bunyan's ,pilgrim's ,progress4 ,we can not make any positive assertions in regard to the life and character of a man when we do not know who was his father1 where or when he was born1 with whom he lived1 nor when he died4 ,the only historical fact connected with ,jesus which is not disputed is that ,mary was his mother4 ,this is a very important point in his history1 but it is not sufficient to constitute a biography4 ,notwithstanding the fact that the entire narrative of ,jesus is without a single chronological date1 and the vastly more significant fact that not a single incident connected with the career of ,jesus is mentioned in contemporaneous history1 we must perforce speak of him as a person whose life was watched and noted from his miraculous advent to his miraculous ascension1 and look upon his disciples as so many ,boswells ready to mirror to the world his every speech and act4 ,we must do this--,why8 ,because the world will not candidly and critically study the gospel-story4 ,for the present1 then1 we will speak of ,jesus as a man1 and accept him as the author of the moral code in the ,new ,testament4 ,but a word or two about the man4 ,the ,christian world sets him apart as the model of the race1 as the masterpiece of ,nature1 as the utmost which earth can produce4 ,every man must here fetch his word of praise1 and every word be a mountain to meet the demand of the ,christian ,church for reverence of ,jesus4 99 99 99 99 99 ,i do not believe in the infallibility of any man1 but ,i believe in the improvability of all men4 ,is man no longer heir to the virtues of life1 that he must erect monuments of praise forever over the name of ,jesus8 ,i shall take the liberty to express my dissent from the common expressions of admiration for this man4 ,i can not praise everything which he did1 nor can ,i think that every word he uttered is a star of wisdom4 ,he said some good things1 but much of what he said is good for nothing4 ,his theology will do for ,sunday ,schools1 but it will not stand half a dozen questions by commonsense4 ,his ,hell is barbarous1 his ,heaven childish1 and his ideas of humanity show but a superficial knowledge of human nature4 ,his life can not be imitated with advantage to the race1 and his notions of human existence are wholly inadequate to the complex1 varied civilization of this age4 ,let us see what he did4 ,he paid no filial respect to his parents2 he refused to acknowledge his mother and his brothers2 he lived a roving1 wandering life2 he paid no heed to the laws of his country2 he placed no value upon industry1 and even went so far as to tell men and women that ,god would feed and clothe them2 he helped himself to the property and possessions of other people without paying for them1 and destroyed what belonged to others without offering an equivalent2 he had no property1 no home1 not a place to lay his head2 he hated the rulers1 yet sought to establish a kingdom for himself2 he failed to reach the throne he sought1 and died upon the malefactor's cross4 ,is this the man for the ,twentieth ,century to honor8 ,is this the man for men to follow in this age8 ,is this the man whose life all should strive to imitate8 ,the man who took the life of ,jesus for a model would hate father and mother1 brother and sister2 he would have neither wife nor child2 he would live from place to place2 he would be a lawbreaker and an idler2 he would live the life of a wanderer and die the death of a criminal4 ,have ,i put a false color in this picture which ,i have painted8 ,have ,i misrepresented the life of ,jesus8 ,read the four ,gospels and see4 ,i find this character sketched in the ,new ,testament1 and it is there called ,jesus1 and it is this character which we are adjured to imitate if we would be perfect4 ,to the man or woman who declares that the life of ,jesus is the way to salvation1 ,i have only this to say1 ,why then do you not imitate it8 ,now1 ,i wish to ask1 ,what kind of morals would such a man as we have sketched naturally teach8 ,you will answer1 ,the morals he lived4 ,at least1 we find such morals taught in the ,new ,testament4 ,my point here is3 ,if the life of ,jesus was an honest1 faithful exponent of his moral teachings1 then such a morality as he practised is not wanted today--and that such a morality is not wanted is shown by the fact that no one practises it4 ,i know that it is considered respectable and pious to profess great admiration for the doctrines taught by ,jesus1 and the world has paid them the outward compliment of profession1 saying that the moral code of the ,new ,testament was the despair of man2 but it has never seriously set to work to reduce this code to practise1 which proves that such profession is only a part of the universal accomplishment of fashionable hypocrisy4 99 99 99 99 99 ,do not understand me as saying that there is no moral precept contained in the ,gospels which is worthy of being practised4 ,i make no such declaration1 and wish no such construction put upon my words4 ,what ,i desire to enforce is this3 ,that the morality of ,jesus sprang from a philosophy which has passed away1 and therefore1 that it is1 for the greater part1 obsolete and worthless4 ,that ,jesus shared the general belief of his age that the world was soon to be destroyed1 is shown by his estimate of earthly things2 and that a morality founded upon such a belief should survive and outlast the faith which inspired it reveals a condition of things that is not flattering to our intellectual perception or to our moral sense4 ,the morals of the ,new ,testament are founded upon a theory of the universe which is found now only in creeds--those epitaphs of religion4 ,the most superficial observation is sufficient to enable us to perceive that theology can no longer be the basis of morality1 and that the authority of the ,new ,testament can not be accepted on this question4 ,there is nothing more firmly impressed upon the mind of man than the fact of the stability of the universe1 notwithstanding an occasional earthquake2 and the value of earthly things has a higher moral significance consequent upon the assurance of material existence4 ,morality must have a physical basis2 that is1 the moral code which man can practise to his safety and his honor must not contradict human nature4 ,the defeat of the ,new ,testament morals is assured by their antagonism to the nature of man4 ,the morals of ,jesus were designed to fit man for what he called the ,kingdom of ,heaven1 but the only morality which is worth the name is that which fits man for living his life on earth4 ,jesus constantly urged men to the performance of moral duties that they might be rewarded by their ,father in ,heaven4 ,such a motive for good behavior is offensive to the rational mind1 and moral commandments which are enforced with a ,heaven and a ,hell do not spring from an opinion of human nature which deserves our respect4 ,the most comprehensive criticism which one can make upon the morals of the ,new ,testament is1 that they are not practicable4 ,is the character of ,christians fashioned by the power and influence of the words which ,jesus left in the world8 ,this question should be pressed to an answer1 and honesty would answer it in a way which would shake every church-building in the land and tear the mask from the face of every ,christian worshiper on the globe4 ,jesus taught that men and women were to love him more than father or mother1 son or daughter4 ,imagine human beings loving a man whom they know nothing about1 and consequently can care nothing about1 and who has no more claim to their affections than has the ghost in ,hamlet1 better than they love parent or child6 ,such morality as this is not fit for a ,hottentot4 ,if any command is implanted in our nature and is a part of the bone and fiber of our very being1 it is to love beyond all else those who have borne us and cared for us through infancy and childhood1 and those whose existence depends upon us1 and to whom we stand pledged by the holiest ties of our beings1 to watch over and protect1 to care for and love1 to the last days of our lives4 ,it is love of parent and child which is alike the supreme obligation and the supreme benefaction of our humanity4 ,no being has walked this earth who had the moral right to demand a greater love than is due to father and mother1 son and daughter2 and if ,jesus claimed such affection1 his claim is an impertinence which we are bound to treat with indignation and scorn4 99 99 99 99 99 ,for the ,christian ,church to make of the words of ,jesus commands to the world is to deserve the severest condemnation4 ,jesus taught that men were not to make for themselves a home1 not to cultivate those virtues which blossom into the family1 and not to save the fruits of their toil to make old age with its tottering form and feeble limbs less liable to the hardships of the world1 but he summed up all the duties of life in these words3 ,sell what thou hast and give to the poor1 and come follow me4 ,to obey such teaching as this would overturn every monument of prosperity upon the earth1 blight every feeling of happiness that gladdens the heart of man1 and convert the busy1 working1 loving world into one vast army of tramps1 following a king without a kingdom1 a leader without a purpose1 a commander with nothing to give those who followed his command4 ,jesus taught that we were not to resist evil2 that is1 that if a thief stole our watch and chain1 we were bound to run after him and give him our purse also2 that if a man took away our coat1 we should wrong him if we did not send him the balance of the suit2 that if a man struck us on one side of the face1 we were to invite him to strike us on the other side also2 that if1 as it were1 the armies of some foreign powers were to invade our land1 and burn and destroy our cities and towns1 pillage our homes and murder our families1 we were in duty bound to look upon them as benefactors and thank them for their work of destruction1 and ask them to come and do it again4 ,such moral teaching as this would make a nation of cowards and slaves4 ,it is our duty to punish thieves and robbers1 not to reward them2 to resist wrong and injustice1 not to submit to them like cravens2 to protect our country from foes1 even though we are obliged to shed their blood and our own in so doing4 ,is there a ,christian on the globe who pays the least heed to a single one of the moral commands of ,jesus8 ,you all know there is not4 ,i need not tell the ,christian ,church that the morality taught by ,jesus is decaying when every church is its coffin1 and every minister its grave-digger4 ,if you wish to see how much respect for the moral teachings of ,jesus one of his professed followers has1 just steal his coat1 and if he gives you his cloak also1 as he is commanded to do by his ,lord and ,master1 please publish his name in the daily papers--for the benefit of others who wish to get a cloak4 ,we find among the express commands of ,jesus this advice3 ,lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth4 ,the most liberal translation of this counsel can not make it anything but poor advice4 ,every material blessing of mankind has come from the savings of human labor1 and the value of laying up treasures upon earth is more evident than that of laying up treasures in ,heaven1 whatever this saying may mean4 ,when every ,christian tries as hard to be poor as he tries now to get rich1 we shall think that he has some regard for the moral teachings of ,jesus4 99 99 99 99 99 ,it must be apparent to all that what may be claimed as ,christian morality is not only decaying1 but that it ought to decay4 ,there is no sense in it4 ,imagine a man telling people in the ,twentieth ,century to take no thought for your life1 what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink1 nor yet for your body1 what ye shall put on1 and endeavoring to prove that because the fowls of the air do not have to broil a beefsteak for their breakfast or make biscuit for tea1 human beings will be fed whether they provide anything for their appetites or not4 ,jesus tells us that our ,heavenly ,father will feed us because we are better than the fowls of the air1 and that he will clothe us because he clothes the grass of the field4 ,our earthly fathers seem to have done more in the way of providing food and clothing for us before we were able to take care of ourselves than any ,heavenly ,father4 ,others may put their trust in ,god for something to eat and drink and wear1 if they wish to1 but ,i prefer to give the matter a little thought myself4 ,jesus concludes these admonitions by saying1 ,take no thought for the morrow4 ,this is bad counsel1 and it shows the good sense of mankind that it has never been followed4 ,the whole world lives in what one of our poets called1 ,the bright tomorrow of the mind4 ,we will refer to only one more of the peculiar moral injunctions of ,jesus4 ,in the fifth chapter of ,matthew1 in the forty-fourth verse1 we read1 ,love your enemies1 bless them that curse you1 do good to them that hate you1 and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you4 ,if we were to do as herein commanded1 we should have an inverted morality which would place the crown of virtue upon the forehead of vice4 ,let us see if the preacher of this doctrine practised it4 ,did ,jesus bless the ,scribes and ,pharisees when they refused to acknowledge his claim to be the ,messiah8 ,this is the blessing which he pronounced upon them3 ,woe unto you1 ,scribes and ,pharisees1 hypocrites1 for ye devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers2 therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation4 ,ye serpents1 ye generation of vipers1 how can ye escape the damnation of ,hell8 ,that is not a very sweet blessing6 ,and these men did not curse ,jesus4 ,they only did not agree with his opinions4 ,jesus1 also1 in his wrath against his enemies1 calls them1 in the seventeenth and nineteenth verses of the twenty-third chapter of ,matthew1 ,ye fools and blind1 forgetting1 doubtless1 that he had previously declared1 when preaching on the ,mount1 ,whosoever shall say1 ',thou ,fool1' shall be in danger of hell-fire4 ,the moral teachings of ,jesus were inspired by a false estimate of all earthly things4 ,there is no doubt that ,jesus believed the world was coming to an end in his generation4 ,how to get into the ,kingdom of ,heaven was of more consequence than how to reform mankind1 or improve the world1 since the end of earthly things was near at hand4 ,this appears to have been the thought of ,jesus1 and explains much of his language4 ,but today we do not believe that the earth has run its course1 and that the end of all material things is near at hand4 ,we are living without fear of failure on the part of the universe1 and are giving our attention more to human wants than to divine commands4 ,not fear of offending ,god1 but fear of wronging man1 is the highest basis of morals4 ,we have reached a time when apologies are not respected1 when repentance is looked upon as the mask of villainy1 when the stature of life is most shorn of manliness by prancing in the garb of humility1 when a brave facing of life's trials and demands counts for more than cowardly surrender in the name of ,god4 ,in fact1 we have come to say to the world of humanity1 ,be moral1 and you need not be religious4 ,work for man is coming to be a sufficient excuse for neglect of ,god4 99 99 99 99 99 ,but we want no cheap moral duties held up for man to perform4 ,it is serious business to live this life of ours and live it well1 and it is hard work to do it4 ,morality sets us as high a task as we are able to perform1 and a higher task than has yet been performed by most of mankind4 ,the effort of this age is to expose the sham of what is called holiness1 and make sacred the surroundings of human beings4 ,we must throw off the past1 and stand upon that sunlit height where we can feel that somehow life is bigger after all than any painted angel1 could we see the man that is within us4 ,this is the moral duty of the world3 to respect the man that is within us4 ,we ought to rear on the earth a range of moral ,alps that would stand and command the admiration of the world as long as eye could see and heart could feel4 ,we need a rational hope and a burning purpose in this century1 something noble to live for and the courage of nobility to work and win it4 ,the improvement of the world is the only object of life worthy of man4 ,do and say nothing that will not improve mankind4 ,were this simple admonition heeded1 we should have the key to the kingdom of the only heaven that man needs in our own pocket4 ,it is time for the reign of commonsense to begin on earth2 time for men to elevate morality above religion2 and time for us to say1 ,millions for the world1 not a cent for the ,church4 ,the battle between ,freedom and ,christianity has begun1 and ,i believe that when it ends ,christianity will be buried beneath the ruins of its own dogmas1 there to remain forever4 ,it possesses no spirit that can rise again from its ashes and mount on wings of flame to a higher life4 ,when superstition dies1 it dies to the root4 ,the ,christian minister can not arrest the march of liberty by crying1 ,infidelity6 and threatening with everlasting cremation all those who refuse to heed his words4 ,but let there be no base understanding of freedom4 ,the new ,john the ,baptist must not be a cowboy1 saying1 ,the kingdom of highwaymen is at hand4 ,as a person when in perfect bodily health knows not from any intimation from the respective parts that he has a stomach1 a brain1 or a heart1 so a person when living in perfect freedom is unconscious of law1 of creed1 of custom4 ,the healthy man physically is the free man physically2 the healthy man mentally is the free man mentally2 the healthy man morally is the free man morally2 liberty of the individual is health of the individual1 and a free man means a man who is true and obedient to all natural laws4 99 99 99 99 99 ,there is a misunderstanding of freedom upon the one side1 and a misrepresentation of it upon the other1 that make it hazardous for one to employ the word4 ,to connect this word with morality in the eyes of many is to confound the ,madonna with ,mary ,magdalene4 ,it is to start the ghost of ,don ,juan4 ,the conservatism of society has ever regarded liberty as the black flag of the moral marauder1 the emblem of a piratical intention upon the casket of the world that contains the jewels of honor1 justice1 virtue and social order4 ,so persistently and malignantly has freedom been represented as a wrecker's light1 kindled only to lure to destruction1 that to represent it as worthy to be trusted is to arouse the spirit which pursued ,voltaire to his grave with a lie1 erected a shaft of calumny over the tomb of ,paine1 and which now1 with the coward's weapon of slander1 attacks the living who refuse to acknowledge that the voice of the ,church is the voice of ,god4 ,but nevertheless we believe with ,burns that3 ,upo' this tree there grows sic fruit1 ,its virtues a' can tell1 man2 ,it raises man aboon the brute1 ,it maks him ken himsel'1 man2 ,gif ance the peasant taste a bite1 ,he's greater than a lord1 man1 ,and ni' the beggar shares a mite ,of a' he can afford1 man4 ,and so we exclaim in the words of one of our own true poets3 ,always in thine eyes1 ,o ,liberty6 ,shines that high light whereby the world is saved1 ,and though thou slay us1 we will trust in thee4 ,you have all heard of the man who refused to open his eyes for a year1 and who declared that during that time nothing could be seen on account of the darkness4 ,but the endeavor to perpetuate old errors by keeping the eyes closed to the facts of science1 the truths of philosophy1 and the progress of the human race1 has not been crowned with success4 ,the further attempt to convert the world to what ,james ,parton calls a kitchen religion is merely waste of power4 ,the preaching of ,christianity is making much ado about nothing4 ,what we want is manhood and womanhood4 ,it is said by the ,church that the man who lives for his family and brings all that he can win of what is fair and bright and glad to those he loves1 may be a good man1 but he is not a ,christian1 and therefore has no religion4 ,give me then the man who is not a ,christian1 and who has no religion1 for if the man who loves his wife and children1 who gives to them the strength of his arm1 the thought of his brain1 the warmth of his heart1 has not religion1 the world is better off without it1 for these are the highest and holiest things which man can do4 ,illustration ,there is only one thing worth praying for3 to be in the line of evolution4--,elbert ,hubbard4 ,jesus as ,savior of the world is a theological creation1 and not a historical character4 ,,so ,,here ,,then ,,endeth ,,that ,,great ,,and ,,good ,,book ,i ,,don',t ,,know--,,do ,,you8 ,,written ,,by ,,marilla ,m4 ,,ricker1 ,,and ,,printed ,,and ,,bound ,,for ,,her ,,by ,,the ,,roycrofters ,,at ,,their ,,shop1 ,,which ,,is ,,in ,,east ,,aurora1 ,,erie ,,county ,,and ,,state ,,of ,,new ,,york1 ,,mcmxvi4 ,,thomas ,,paine ,born ,jan #bi1 #agcg4 ,friend and adviser of ,washington1 ,jefferson1 ,franklin1 ,monroe1 etc41 etc4 ,author of ,common ,sense1 ,the ,crisis1 ,rights of ,man1 and ,the ,age of ,reason2 ,editor of ,pennsylvania ,magazine2 ,enlisted in ,continental ,army2 appointed ,aide-de-,camp to ,general ,nathaniel ,greene2 ,secretary of ,committee on ,foreign ,affairs1 ,congress and ,pennsylvania ,assembly2 ,by his writings did more for the ,american cause in the ,revolution than any other one person2 ,first proposed ,american ,independence2 ,first suggested the ,federal ,union of ,states2 ,first proposed the abolition of ,negro slavery2 ,first suggested protection for dumb animals2 ,first proposed arbitration and international peace2 ,first suggested justice to women2 ,first pointed out the reality of human brotherhood2 ,first pointed out the folly of hereditary succession and monarchical government2 ,first proposed old-age pensions2 ,first suggested international copyright2 ,first proposed the education of the children of the poor at public expense2 ,first suggested a great republic of all the nations of the world2 ,first proposed the land for the people2 ,first suggested the religion of humanity2 ,first proposed and first wrote the words1 ,united ,states of ,america2 ,founder of the first ,ethical ,society2 ,proposed the purchase of the ,louisiana ,territory2 ,inventor of the iron bridge1 the hollow candle--principle of the modern central-draft burner1 etc41 etc4 ,died ,june #i1 #ahji4 ,this is history4 ,but this great and good man was called a filthy little atheist by a hyphenated ,dutch-,american4