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1821 lines
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Reproducible Electronic Publishing can defeat censorship.
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Contents of this file page
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A REPLY TO REV'D DRS. THOMAS AND LORIMER. 1882 1
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A REPLY TO REV. JOHN HALL AND WARNER VAN NORDEN. 1892 11
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A REPLY TO THE REV. DR. PLUMB. 1898 15
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A REPLY TO THE NEW YORK CLERGY ON SUPERSTITION. 1898 19
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**** ****
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This file, its printout, or copies of either
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are to be copied and given away, but NOT sold.
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Bank of Wisdom, Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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The Works of ROBERT G. INGERSOLL
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**** ****
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A REPLY TO REV'D DRS. THOMAS AND LORIMER.
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Whenever I lecture, as a rule, some ministers think it their
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duty to reply for the purpose of showing either that I am unfair,
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or that I am blasphemous, or that I laugh. And laughing has always
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been considered by theologians as a crime. Ministers have always
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said you will have no respect for our ideas unless you are solemn.
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Solemnity is a condition precedent to believing anything without
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evidence. And if you can only get a man solemn enough, awed enough,
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he will believe anything.
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In this city the Rev. Dr. Thomas has made a few remarks, and
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I may say by way of preface that I have always held him in the
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highest esteem. He struggles, according to his statement, with the
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problem of my sincerity, and he about half concludes that I am not
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sincere. There is a little of the minister left in Dr. Thomas.
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Ministers always account for a difference of opinion by attacking
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the motive. Now, to him, it makes no difference whether I am
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sincere or insincere; the question is, Can my argument be answered?
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Suppose you could prove that the maker of the multiplication table
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held mathematics in contempt; what of it? Ten times ten would be a
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hundred still.
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My sincerity has nothing to do with the force of the argument
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-- not the slightest. But this gentleman begins to suspect that I
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am doing what I do for the sake of applause. What a commentary on
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the Christian religion, that, after they have been preaching it for
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sixteen or eighteen hundred years, a man attacks it for the sake of
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popularity -- a man attacks it for the purpose of winning applause!
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When I commenced to speak upon this subject there was no
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appreciable applause; most of my fellow-citizens differed with me;
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and I was denounced as though I had been a wild beast. But I have
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lived to see the majority of the men and women of intellect in the
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United States on my side; I have lived to see the church deny her
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creed; I have lived to see ministers apologize in public for what
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they preached; and a great and glorious work is going on until, in
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a little while, you will not find one of them, unless it is some
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old petrifaction of the red-stone period, who will admit that he
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ever believed in the Trinity, in the Atonement, or in the doctrine
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of Eternal Agony. The religion preached in the pulpits does not
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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1
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A REPLY TO REV'D DRS. THOMAS AND LORIMER.
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satisfy the intellect of America, and if Dr. Thomas wishes to know
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why people go to hear infidelity it is this: Because they are not
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satisfied with the orthodox Christianity of the day. That is the
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reason. They are beginning to hold it in contempt.
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But this gentleman imagines that I am insincere because I
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attacked certain doctrines of the Bible. I attacked the doctrine of
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eternal pain. I hold it in infinite and utter abhorrence. And if
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there be a God in this universe who made a hell; if there be a God
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in this universe who denies to any human being the right of
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reformation, then that God is not good, that God is not just, and
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the future of man is infinitely dark. I despise that doctrine, and
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I have done what little I could to get that horror from the cradle,
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that horror from the hearts of mothers, that horror from the hearts
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of husbands and fathers, and sons, and brothers, and sisters. It is
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a doctrine that turns to ashes all the humanities of life and all
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the hopes of mankind. I despise it.
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And the gentleman also charges that I am wanting in reverence.
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I admit here to-day that I have no reverence for a falsehood. I do
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not care how old it is, and I do not care who told it, whether the
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men were inspired or not. I have no reverence for what I believe to
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be false, and in determining what is false I go by my reason. And
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whenever another man gives me an argument I examine it. If it is
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good I follow it. If it is bad I throw it away. I have no reverence
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for any book that upholds human slavery. I despise such a book. I
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have no reverence for any book that upholds or palliates the
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infamous institution of polygamy. I have no reverence for any book
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that tells a husband to kill his wife if she differs with him upon
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the subject of religion. I have no reverence for any book that
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defends wars of conquest and extermination. I have no reverence for
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a God that orders his legions to slay the old and helpless, and to
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whet the edge of the sword with the blood of mothers and babes. I
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have no reverence for such a book; neither have I any reverence for
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the author of that book. No matter whether he be God or man, I have
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no reverence. I have no reverence for the miracles of the Bible. I
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have no reverence for the story that God allowed bears to tear
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children in pieces. I have no reverence for the miraculous, but I
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have reverence for the truth, for justice, for charity, for
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humanity, for intellectual liberty, and for human progress.
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I have the right to do my own thinking. I am going to do it.
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I have never met any minister that I thought had brain enough to
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think for himself and for me too. I do my own. I have no reverence
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for barbarism, no matter how ancient it may be, and no reverence
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for the savagery of the Old Testament; no reverence for the malice
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of the New. And let me tell you here to-night that the Old
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Testament is a thousand times better than the New. The Old
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Testament threatened no vengeance beyond the grave. God was
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satisfied when his enemy was dead. It was reserved for the New
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Testament -- it was reserved for universal benevolence -- to rend
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the veil between time and eternity and fix the horrified gaze of
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man upon the abyss of hell. The New Testament is just as much worse
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than the Old, as hell is worse than sleep. And yet it is the
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fashion to say that the Old Testament is bad and that the New
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Testament is good. I have no reverence for any book that teaches a
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doctrine contrary to my reason; no reverence for any book that
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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2
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A REPLY TO REV'D DRS. THOMAS AND LORIMER.
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teaches a doctrine contrary to my heart; and, no matter how old it
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is, no matter how many have believed it, no matter how many have
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died on account of it, no matter how many live for it, I have no
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reverence for that book, and I am glad of it.
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Dr. Thomas seems to think that I should approach these things
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with infinite care, that I should not attack slavery, or polygamy,
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or religious persecution, but that I should "mildly suggest" --
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mildly, -- should not hurt anybody's feelings. When I go to church
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the ministers tell me I am going to hell. When I meet one I tell
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him, "There is no hell," and he says: "What do you want to hurt our
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feelings for? "He wishes me mildly to suggest that the sun and moon
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did not stop, that may be the bears only frightened the children,
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and that, after all. Lot's wife was only scared. Why, there was a
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minister in this city of Chicago who imagined that his congregation
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were progressive, and, in his pulpit, he said that he did not
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believe the story of Lot's wife -- said that he did not think that
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any sensible man would believe that a woman was changed into salt;
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and they tried him, and the congregation thought he was entirely
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too fresh. And finally he went before that church and admitted that
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he was mistaken, and owned up to the chloride of sodium. and said:
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"I not only take the Bible cum grano salis, but with a whole
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barrel-full."
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My doctrine is, if you do not believe a thing, say so; no need
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of going away around the bush and suggesting may be, perhaps,
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possibly, peradventure. That is the ministerial way, but I do not
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like it. I am also charged with making an onslaught upon the good
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as well as the bad. I say here today that never in my life have I
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said one word against honesty, one word against liberty, one word
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against charity, one word against any institution that is good. I
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attack the bad, not the good, and I would like to have some
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minister point out in some lecture or speech that I have delivered,
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one word against the good, against the highest happiness of the
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human race.
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I have said all I was able to say in favor of Justice, in
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favor of liberty, in favor of home, in favor of wife and children,
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in favor of progress, and in favor of universal kindness; but not
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one word in favor of the bad, and I never expect to.
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Dr. Thomas also attacks my statement that the brain thinks in
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spite of us.
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Doesn't it? Can any man tell what he is going to think
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to-morrow? You see, you hear, you taste, you feel, you smell --
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these are the avenues by which Nature approaches the brain, the
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consequence of this is thought, and you cannot by any possibility
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help thinking.
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Neither can you determine what you will think. These
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impressions are made independently of your will. "But," says this
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reverend doctor, "Whence comes this conception of space?" I can
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tell him. There is such a thing as matter. We conceive that matter
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occupies room -- space -- and, in our minds, space is simply the
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opposite of matter. And it comes naturally -- not supernaturally.
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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3
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A REPLY TO REV'D DRS. THOMAS AND LORIMER.
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Does the gentleman contend there had to be a revelation of God
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for us to conceive of a place where there is nothing? We know there
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is something. We can think of the opposite of something, and
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therefore we say space. "But," says this gentleman, "Where do we
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get the idea of good and bad?" I can tell him; no trouble about
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that. Every man has the capacity to enjoy and the capacity to
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suffer -- every man. Whenever a man enjoys himself he calls that
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good; whenever he suffers he calls that bad. The animals that are
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useful to him he calls good; the poisonous, the hurtful, he calls
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bad. The vegetables that he can eat and use he calls good; those
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that are of no use except to choke the growth of the good ones, he
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calls bad. When the sun shines, when everything in nature is out
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that ministers to him, he says "this is good;" when the storm comes
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and blows down his hut, when the frost comes and lays down his
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crop, he says "this is bad." And all phenomena that affect men well
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he calls good; all that affect him ill he calls bad.
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Now, then, the foundation of the idea of right and wrong is
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the effect in nature that we are capable of enjoying or capable of
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suffering. That is the foundation of conscience; and if man could
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not suffer, if man could not enjoy, we never would have dreamed of
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the word conscience; and the words right and wrong never could have
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passed human lips. There are no supernatural fields. We get our
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ideas from experience -- some of them from our forefathers, many
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from experience. A man works -- food does not come of itself. A man
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works to raise it, and, after he has worked in the sun and heat, do
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you think it is necessary that he should have a revelation from
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heaven before he thinks that he has a better right to it than the
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man who did not work? And yet, according to these gentlemen, we
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never would have known it was wrong to steal had not the Ten
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Commandments been given from Mount Sinai.
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You go into a savage country where they never heard of the
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Bible, and let a man hunt all day for game, and finally get one
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little bird, and the hungry man that staid at home endeavor to take
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it from him, and you would see whether he would need a direct
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revelation from God in order to make up his mind who had the better
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right to that bird. Our ideas of right and wrong are born of our
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surroundings, and if a man will think for a moment he will see it.
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But they deny that the mind thinks in spite of us. I heard a story
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of a man who said, "No man can think of one thing a minute, he will
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think of something else." Well, there was a little Methodist
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preacher. He said he could think of a thing a minute -- that he
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could say the Lord's Prayer and never think of another thing.
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"Well," said the man, "I'll tell you what I will do. There is the
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best road-horse in the country. I will give you that horse if you
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will just say the Lord's Prayer, and not think of another thing."
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And the little fellow shut up his eyes: "Our Father which art in
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Heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done --
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I suppose you will throw in the saddle and bridle?"
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I have always insisted, and I shall always insist, until I
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find some fact in Nature correcting the statement, that Nature sows
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the seeds of thought -- that every brain is a kind of field where
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the seeds are sown, and that some are very poor. and some are very
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barren, and some are very rich. That is my opinion.
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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4
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A REPLY TO REV'D DRS. THOMAS AND LORIMER.
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Again he asks; If one is not responsible for his thought, why
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is any one blamed for thinking as he does? "It is not a question of
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blame, it is a question of who is right -- a question of who is
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wrong. Admit that every one thinks exactly as he must, that does
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not show that his thought is right; that does not show that his
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thought is the highest thought. Admit that every piece of land in
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the world produces what it must; that does not prove that the land
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covered with barren rocks and a little moss is just as good as the
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land covered with wheat or corn; neither does it prove that the
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mind has to act as the wheat or the corn; neither does it prove
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that the land had any choice as to what it would produce. I hold
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men responsible not for their thoughts; I hold men responsible for
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their actions. And I have said a thousand times: Physical liberty
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is this -- the right to do anything that does not interfere with
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another -- in other words, to act right; and intellectual liberty
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is this -- the right to think right, and the right to think wrong,
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provided you do your best to think right. I have always said it,
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and I expect to say it always.
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The reverend gentleman is also afflicted with the gradual
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theory. I believe in that theory.
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If you will leave out inspiration, if you will leave out the
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direct interference of an infinite God, the gradual theory is
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right. It is a theory of evolution.
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I admit that astronomy has been born of astrology, that
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chemistry came from the black art; and I also contend that religion
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will be lost in science. I believe in evolution. I believe in the
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budding of the seed, the shining of the sun, the dropping of the
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rain; I believe in the spreading and the growing; and that is as
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true in every other department of the world as it is in vegetation.
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I believe it; but that does not account for the Bible doctrine. We
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are told we have a book absolutely inspired, and it will not do to
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say God gradually grows. If he is infinite now, he knows as much as
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he ever will. If he has been always infinite, he knew as much at
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the time he wrote the Bible as he knows to-day; and, consequently,
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whatever he said then must be as true now as it was then. You see
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they mix up now a little bit of philosophy with religion -- a
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little bit of science with the shreds and patches of the
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supernatural.
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Hear this: I said in my lecture the other day that all the
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clergymen in the world could not get one drop of rain out of the
|
|||
|
|
sky. I insist on it. All the prayers on earth cannot produce one
|
|||
|
|
drop of rain. I also said all the clergymen of the world could not
|
|||
|
|
save one human life. They tried it last year. They tried it in the
|
|||
|
|
United States. The Christian world upon its knees implored God to
|
|||
|
|
save one life, and the man died. The man died! Had the man
|
|||
|
|
recovered the whole church would have claimed that it was in answer
|
|||
|
|
to prayer. The man having died, what does the church say now? What
|
|||
|
|
is the answer to this? The Rev. Dr. Thomas says: "There is prayer
|
|||
|
|
and there is rain." Good. "Can he that is himself or any one else
|
|||
|
|
say there is no possible relation between one and the other?" I do.
|
|||
|
|
Let us put it another way. There is rain and there is infidelity;
|
|||
|
|
can any one say there is no possible relation between the two? How
|
|||
|
|
does Dr. Thomas know that he is not indebted to me for this year's
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
5
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A REPLY TO REV'D DRS. THOMAS AND LORIMER.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
crops? And yet this gentleman really throws out the idea that there
|
|||
|
|
is some possible relation between prayer and rain, between rain and
|
|||
|
|
health; and he tells us that he would have died twenty-five years
|
|||
|
|
ago had it not been for prayer. I doubt it. prayer is not a
|
|||
|
|
medicine. Life depends upon certain facts -- not upon prayer. All
|
|||
|
|
the prayer in the world cannot take the place of the circulation of
|
|||
|
|
the blood. All the prayer in the world is no substitute for
|
|||
|
|
digestion. All the prayer in the world cannot take the place of
|
|||
|
|
food; and whenever a man lives by prayer you will find that he eats
|
|||
|
|
considerable besides. It will not do. Again: This reverend Doctor
|
|||
|
|
says: "Shall we say that all the love of the unseen world" -- how
|
|||
|
|
does he know there is any love in the unseen world? "and the love
|
|||
|
|
of God" -- how does he know there is any love in God? "heed not the
|
|||
|
|
cries and tears of earth?"
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
I do not know; but let the gentleman read the history of
|
|||
|
|
religious persecution. Let him read the history of those who were
|
|||
|
|
put in dungeons. of those who lifted their chained hands to God and
|
|||
|
|
mingled prayer with the clank of fetters; men that were in the
|
|||
|
|
dungeons simply for loving this God, simply for worshiping this
|
|||
|
|
God. And what did God do? Nothing. The chains remained upon the
|
|||
|
|
limbs of his worshipers. They remained in the dungeons built by
|
|||
|
|
theology, by malice, and hatred; and what did God do? Nothing.
|
|||
|
|
Thousands of men were taken from their homes, fagots were piled
|
|||
|
|
around their bodies; they were consumed to ashes, and what did God
|
|||
|
|
do? Nothing. The sword of extermination was unsheathed, hundreds
|
|||
|
|
and thousands of men, women and children perished. Women lifted
|
|||
|
|
their hands to God and implored him to protect their children,
|
|||
|
|
their daughters; and what did God do? Nothing. Whole races were
|
|||
|
|
enslaved, and the cruel lash was put upon the naked back of toil.
|
|||
|
|
What did God do? Nothing. Children were sold from the arms of
|
|||
|
|
mothers. All the sweet humanities of life were trodden beneath the
|
|||
|
|
brutal foot of creed; and what did God do? Nothing. Human beings,
|
|||
|
|
his children, were tracked through swamps by bloodhounds; and what
|
|||
|
|
did God do? Nothing. Wild storms sweep over the earth and the
|
|||
|
|
shipwrecked go down in the billows; and what does God do? Nothing.
|
|||
|
|
There come plague and pestilence and famine. What does God do?
|
|||
|
|
Thousands and thousands perish. Little children die upon the
|
|||
|
|
withered breasts of mothers; and what does God do? Nothing.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
What evidence has Dr. Thomas that the cries and tears of man
|
|||
|
|
have ever touched the heart of God? Let us be honest. I appeal to
|
|||
|
|
the history of the world; I appeal to the tears, and blood, and
|
|||
|
|
agony, and imprisonment, and death of hundreds and millions of the
|
|||
|
|
bravest and best. Have they ever touched the heart of the Infinite?
|
|||
|
|
Has the hand of help ever been reached from heaven? I do not know;
|
|||
|
|
but I do not believe it.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Dr. Thomas tells me that is orthodox Christianity. What right
|
|||
|
|
has he to tell what is orthodox Christianity? He is a heretic. He
|
|||
|
|
had too much brain to remain in the Methodist pulpit. He had a
|
|||
|
|
doubt -- and a doubt is born of an idea. And his doctrine has been
|
|||
|
|
declared by his own church to be unorthodox. They have passed on
|
|||
|
|
his case and they have found him unconstitutional. What right has
|
|||
|
|
he to state what is orthodox? And here is what he says:
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
6
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A REPLY TO REV'D DRS. THOMAS AND LORIMER.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"Christianity" -- orthodox Christianity I suppose he means --
|
|||
|
|
"teaches, concerning the future world, that rewards and punishments
|
|||
|
|
are carried over from time to eternity; that the principles of the
|
|||
|
|
government of God are the same there as here; that character, and
|
|||
|
|
not profession determines destiny; and that Humboldt, and Dickens,
|
|||
|
|
and all others who have gone and shall go to that world shall
|
|||
|
|
receive their just rewards; that souls will always be in the place
|
|||
|
|
in which for the time, be it now or a million years hence, they are
|
|||
|
|
fitted. That is what Christianity teaches."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
If it does, never will I have another word to say against
|
|||
|
|
Christianity. It never has taught it. Christianity -- orthodox
|
|||
|
|
Christianity -- teaches that when you draw your last breath you
|
|||
|
|
have lost the last opportunity for reformation. Christianity
|
|||
|
|
teaches that this little world is the eternal line between time and
|
|||
|
|
eternity, and if you do not get religion in this life, you will be
|
|||
|
|
eternally damned in the next. That is Christianity. They say: "Now
|
|||
|
|
is the accepted time." If you put it off until you die, that is too
|
|||
|
|
late; and the doctrine of the Christian world is that there is no
|
|||
|
|
opportunity for reformation in another world. The doctrine of
|
|||
|
|
orthodox Christianity is that you must believe on the Lord Jesus
|
|||
|
|
Christ here in this life, and it will not do to believe on him in
|
|||
|
|
the next world. You must believe on him here and that if you fail
|
|||
|
|
here, God in his infinite wisdom will never give you another
|
|||
|
|
chance. That is orthodox Christianity; and according to orthodox
|
|||
|
|
Christianity, the greatest, the best and the sublimest of the world
|
|||
|
|
are now in hell. And why is it that they say it is not orthodox
|
|||
|
|
Christianity? I have made them ashamed of their doctrine. When I
|
|||
|
|
called to their attention the fact that such men as Darwin, such
|
|||
|
|
men as Emerson, Dickens, Longfellow, Laplace, Shakespeare, and
|
|||
|
|
Humboldt, were in hell, it struck them all at once that the company
|
|||
|
|
in heaven would not be very interesting with such men left out.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
And now they begin to say: "We think the Lord will give those
|
|||
|
|
men another chance." I have succeeded in my mission beyond my most
|
|||
|
|
sanguine expectations. I have made orthodox ministers deny their
|
|||
|
|
creeds; I have made them ashamed of their doctrine -- and that is
|
|||
|
|
glory enough. They will let me in, a few years after I am dead. I
|
|||
|
|
admit that the doctrine that God will treat us as we treat others
|
|||
|
|
-- I admit that is taught by Matthew, Mark, and Luke; but it is not
|
|||
|
|
taught by the Orthodox church. I want that understood. I admit also
|
|||
|
|
that Dr. Thomas is not orthodox, and that he was driven out of the
|
|||
|
|
church because he thought God too good to damn men forever without
|
|||
|
|
giving them the slightest chance. Why, the Catholic Church is a
|
|||
|
|
thousand times better than your Protestant Church upon that
|
|||
|
|
question. The Catholic Church believes in purgatory -- that is, a
|
|||
|
|
place where a fellow can get a chance to make a motion for a new
|
|||
|
|
trial.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Dr. Thomas, all I ask of you is to tell all that you think.
|
|||
|
|
Tell your congregation whether you believe the Bible was written by
|
|||
|
|
divine inspiration. Have the courage and the grandeur to tell your
|
|||
|
|
people whether, in your judgment, God ever upheld slavery. Do not
|
|||
|
|
shrink. Do not shirk. Tell your people whether God ever upheld
|
|||
|
|
polygamy. Do not shrink. Tell them whether God was ever in favor of
|
|||
|
|
religious persecution. Stand right to it. Then tell your people
|
|||
|
|
whether you honestly believe that a good man can suffer for a bad
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
7
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A REPLY TO REV'D DRS. THOMAS AND LORIMER.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
one and the bad one get the credit. Be honor bright. Tell what you
|
|||
|
|
really think and there will not be as much difference between you
|
|||
|
|
and myself as you imagine.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The next gentleman, I believe, is the Rev. Dr. Lorimer. He
|
|||
|
|
comes to the rescue, and I have an idea of his mental capacity from
|
|||
|
|
the fact that he is a Baptist. He believes that the infinite God
|
|||
|
|
has a choice as to the manner in which a man or babe shall be
|
|||
|
|
dampened. This gentleman regards modern infidelity as "pitifully
|
|||
|
|
shallow" as to its intellectual conceptions and as to its
|
|||
|
|
philosophical views of the universe and of the problems regarding
|
|||
|
|
man's place in it and of his destiny. "Pitifully shallow!"
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
What is the modern conception of the universe? The modern
|
|||
|
|
conception is that the universe always has been and forever will
|
|||
|
|
be. The modern conception of the universe is that it embraces
|
|||
|
|
within its infinite arms all matter, all spirit, all forms of
|
|||
|
|
force, all that is, all that has been, all that can be. That is the
|
|||
|
|
modern conception of this universe. And this is called "pitiful."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
What is the Christian conception? It is that all the matter in
|
|||
|
|
the universe is dead, inert, and that back of it is a Jewish
|
|||
|
|
Jehovah who made it, and who is now engaged in managing the affairs
|
|||
|
|
of this world. And they even go so far as to say that that Being
|
|||
|
|
made experiments in which he signally failed. That Being made man
|
|||
|
|
and woman and put them in a garden and allowed them to become
|
|||
|
|
totally depraved. That Being of infinite wisdom made hundreds and
|
|||
|
|
millions of people when he knew he would have to drown them. That
|
|||
|
|
Being peopled a planet like this with men, women and children,
|
|||
|
|
knowing that he would have to consign most of them to eternal fire.
|
|||
|
|
That is a pitiful conception of the universe. That is an infamous
|
|||
|
|
conception of the universe. Give me rather the conception of
|
|||
|
|
Spinoza, the conception of Humboldt, of Darwin, of Huxley, of
|
|||
|
|
Tyndall and of every other man who has thought. I love to think of
|
|||
|
|
the whole universe together as one eternal fact. I love to think
|
|||
|
|
that everything is alive; that crystallization is itself a step
|
|||
|
|
toward joy. I love to think that when a bud bursts into blossom: it
|
|||
|
|
feels a thrill. I love to have the universe full of feeling and
|
|||
|
|
full of joy, and not full of simple dead, inert matter, managed by
|
|||
|
|
an old bachelor for all eternity.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Another thing to which this gentleman objects is that I
|
|||
|
|
propose to banish such awful thoughts as the mystery of our origin
|
|||
|
|
and our relations to the present and to the possible future from
|
|||
|
|
human thought. I have never said so. Never. I have said, One world
|
|||
|
|
at a time. Why? Do not make yourself miserable about another. Why?
|
|||
|
|
Because I do not know anything about it, and it may be good. So do
|
|||
|
|
not worry. That is all. You do not know where you are going to
|
|||
|
|
land. It may be the happy port of heaven. Wait until you get there.
|
|||
|
|
It will be time enough to make trouble then. This is what I have
|
|||
|
|
said. I have said that the golden bridge of life from gloom
|
|||
|
|
emerges, and on shadow rests. I do not know. I admit it. Life is a
|
|||
|
|
shadowy strange and winding road on which we travel for a few short
|
|||
|
|
steps, just a little way from the cradle with its lullaby of love,
|
|||
|
|
to the low and quiet wayside inn where all at last must sleep, and
|
|||
|
|
where the only salutation is "Good-Night!" Whether there is a good
|
|||
|
|
morning I do not know, but I am willing to wait.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
8
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A REPLY TO REV'D DRS. THOMAS AND LORIMER.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Let us think these high and splendid thoughts. Let us build
|
|||
|
|
palaces for the future, but do not let us spend time making
|
|||
|
|
dungeons for men who happen to differ from us. I am willing to take
|
|||
|
|
the conceptions of Humboldt and Darwin, of Haeckel and Spinoza, and
|
|||
|
|
I am willing to compare their splendid conceptions with the
|
|||
|
|
doctrine embraced in the Baptist creed. This gentleman has his
|
|||
|
|
ideas upon a variety of questions, and he tells me that, "No one
|
|||
|
|
has a right to say that Dickens, Longfellow, and Darwin are
|
|||
|
|
castaways." Why not? They were not Christians. They did not believe
|
|||
|
|
in the Lord Jesus Christ. They did not believe in the inspiration
|
|||
|
|
of the Scriptures. And, if orthodox religion be true, they are
|
|||
|
|
castaways. But he says: "No one has the right to say that orthodoxy
|
|||
|
|
condemns to perdition any man who has struggled toward the right,
|
|||
|
|
and who has tried to bless the earth he is raised on." That is what
|
|||
|
|
I say, but that is not what orthodoxy says. Orthodoxy says that the
|
|||
|
|
best man in the world, if he fails to believe in the existence of
|
|||
|
|
God. or in the divinity of Christ, will be eternally lost. Does it
|
|||
|
|
not say it? Is there an orthodox minister in this town now who will
|
|||
|
|
stand up and say that an honest atheist can be saved? He will not.
|
|||
|
|
Let any preacher say it, and he will be tried for heresy.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
I will tell you what orthodoxy is. A man goes to the day of
|
|||
|
|
judgment, and they cross-examine him, and they say to him:
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"Did you believe the Bible?"
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"No."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"Did you belong to the church?"
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"No."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"Did you take care of your wife and children?"
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"Yes?"
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"Pay your debts?"
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"Yes."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"Love your country?"
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"Yes."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"Love the whole world?"
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"Yes."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"Never made anybody unhappy?"
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"Not that I know of. If there is any man or woman that I ever
|
|||
|
|
wronged let them stand up and say so. That is the kind of man I am;
|
|||
|
|
but," said he, "I did not believe the Bible. I did not believe in
|
|||
|
|
the divinity of Jesus Christ, and, to tell you the truth, I did not
|
|||
|
|
believe in the existence of God. I now find I was mistaken; but
|
|||
|
|
that was my doctrine."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
9
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A REPLY TO REV'D DRS. THOMAS AND LORIMER.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Now, I want to know what, according to the orthodox church, is
|
|||
|
|
done with that man? He is sent to hell.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
That is their doctrine.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Then the next fellow comes. He says:
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"Where did you come from?"
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
And he looks off kind of stiffly, with his head on one side
|
|||
|
|
and he says:
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"I came from the gallows. I was just hung."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"What were you hung for?" " Murdering my wife. She wasn't a
|
|||
|
|
Christian either, she got left. The day I was hung I was washed in
|
|||
|
|
the blood of the Lamb."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
That is Christianity. And they say to him: "Come in! Let the
|
|||
|
|
band play!"
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
That is orthodox Christianity. Every man that is hanged --
|
|||
|
|
there is a minister there, and the minister tells him he is all
|
|||
|
|
right. All he has to do is just to believe on the Lord.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Another objection this gentleman has, and that is that I am
|
|||
|
|
scurrilous. Scurrilous! And the gentleman, in order to show that he
|
|||
|
|
is not scurrilous, calls infidels, "donkeys, serpents, buzzards."
|
|||
|
|
That is simply to show that he is not scurrilous.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Dr. Lorimer is also of the opinion that the mind thinks
|
|||
|
|
independently of the will; and I propose to prove by him that it
|
|||
|
|
does. He is the last man in the world to controvert that doctrine
|
|||
|
|
-- the last man. In spite of himself his mind absorbed the sermon
|
|||
|
|
of another man, and he repeated it as his own. I am satisfied he is
|
|||
|
|
an honest man; consequently his mind acted independently of his
|
|||
|
|
will, and he furnishes the strongest evidence in favor of my
|
|||
|
|
position that it is possible to conceive. I am infinitely obliged
|
|||
|
|
to him for the testimony he has unconsciously offered.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
He also takes the ground that infidelity debases a man and
|
|||
|
|
renders him unfit for the discharge of the highest duties
|
|||
|
|
pertaining to life, and that we show the greatest shallowness when
|
|||
|
|
we endeavor to overthrow Calvinism. What is Calvinism? It is the
|
|||
|
|
doctrine that an infinite God made millions of people, knowing that
|
|||
|
|
they would be damned. I have answered that a thousand times. I
|
|||
|
|
answer it again. No God has a right to make a mistake, and then
|
|||
|
|
damn the mistake. No God has a right to make a failure, and a man
|
|||
|
|
who is to be eternally damned is not a conspicuous success. No God
|
|||
|
|
has a right to make an investment that will not finally pay a
|
|||
|
|
dividend.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The world is getting better, and the ministers, all your life
|
|||
|
|
and all mine, have been crying out from the pulpit that we are all
|
|||
|
|
going wrong, that immorality was stalking through the land, that
|
|||
|
|
crime was about to engulf the world, and yet, in spite of all their
|
|||
|
|
prophecies, the world has steadily grown better, and there is more
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
10
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A REPLY TO REV'D DRS. THOMAS AND LORIMER.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
justice, more charity, more kindness, more goodness, and more
|
|||
|
|
liberty in the world to-day than ever before. And there is more
|
|||
|
|
infidelity in the world to-day than ever before.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
END
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
**** ****
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A REPLY TO
|
|||
|
|
REV. JOHN HALL AND WARNER VAN NORDEN.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Question. Have you read the article in the Morning Advertiser
|
|||
|
|
entitled "Workers Starving"?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Answer. I have read it, and was greatly surprised at the
|
|||
|
|
answers made to the reporter of the Advertiser.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Question. What do you think of the remarks of the Rev. John
|
|||
|
|
Hall and by Mr. Warner Van Norden, Treasurer of the "Church
|
|||
|
|
Extension Committee"?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Answer. My opinion is that Dr. Hall must have answered under
|
|||
|
|
some irritation, or that the reporter did not happen to take down
|
|||
|
|
all he said. It hardly seems probable that Dr. Hall should have
|
|||
|
|
said that he had no time to discuss the matter of aiding the needy
|
|||
|
|
poor, giving as a reason that there were so many other things that
|
|||
|
|
demanded his immediate attention. "The church is always insisting
|
|||
|
|
that it is, above all things, a charitable institution; that it
|
|||
|
|
collects and distributes many millions every year for the relief of
|
|||
|
|
the needy, and it is always quoting: "Sell that thou hast and give
|
|||
|
|
to the poor." It is hard to imagine anything of more importance
|
|||
|
|
than to relieve the needy, or to succor the oppressed. Of course,
|
|||
|
|
I know that the church itself produces nothing, and that it lives
|
|||
|
|
on contributions; but its claim is that it receives from those who
|
|||
|
|
are able to give, and gives to those who are in urgent need.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
I have sometimes thought, that the most uncharitable thing in
|
|||
|
|
the world is an organized charity. It seems to have the
|
|||
|
|
peculiarities of a corporation, and becomes as soulless as its
|
|||
|
|
kindred. To use a very old phrase, it generally acts like "a beggar
|
|||
|
|
on horseback."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Probably Dr. Hall, in fact, does a great deal for the poor,
|
|||
|
|
and I imagine that he must have been irritated or annoyed when he
|
|||
|
|
made the answer attributed to him in the Advertiser. The good
|
|||
|
|
Samaritan may have been in a hurry, but he said nothing about it.
|
|||
|
|
The Levites that passed by on the other side seemed to have had
|
|||
|
|
other business. Understand me, I am saying nothing against Dr.
|
|||
|
|
Hall, but it does seem to me that there are few other matters more
|
|||
|
|
important than assisting our needy fellow-men.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Question. What do you think of Mr. Warner Van Norden's
|
|||
|
|
sentiments as expressed to the reporter?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Answer. In the first place, I think he is entirely mistaken.
|
|||
|
|
I do not think the Cloak-makers brought their trouble upon
|
|||
|
|
themselves. The wages they receive were and are insufficient to
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
11
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A REPLY TO REV. JOHN HALL AND WARNER VAN NORDEN.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
support reasonable human beings. They work for almost nothing, and
|
|||
|
|
it is hard for me to understand why they live at all, when life is
|
|||
|
|
so expensive and death so cheap. All they can possibly do is to
|
|||
|
|
earn enough one day to buy food to enable them to work the next.
|
|||
|
|
Life with them is a perpetual struggle. They live on the edge of
|
|||
|
|
death. Under their feet they must feel the side of the grave
|
|||
|
|
crumbling, and thus they go through, day by day, month by month,
|
|||
|
|
year by year. They are, I presume, sustained by a hope that is
|
|||
|
|
never realized.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Mr. Van Norden says that he is not in favor of helping the
|
|||
|
|
poor and needy of the city, save in the way employed by the church,
|
|||
|
|
and that the experience of centuries teaches us that the giving of
|
|||
|
|
alms to the poor only encourages them in their idleness and their
|
|||
|
|
crimes.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Is Mr. Van Norden ready to take the ground that when Christ
|
|||
|
|
said: "Sell that thou hast and give to the poor," he intended to
|
|||
|
|
encourage idleness and crime?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Is it possible that when it was said, "It is better to give
|
|||
|
|
than to receive," the real meaning was, It is better to encourage
|
|||
|
|
idleness and crime than to receive assistance?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
For instance, a man falls into the water. Why should one
|
|||
|
|
standing on the shore attempt to rescue him? Could he not properly
|
|||
|
|
say: "If all who fall into the water are rescued, it will only
|
|||
|
|
encourage people to fall into the water; it will make sailors
|
|||
|
|
careless, and persons who stand on wharves, will care very little
|
|||
|
|
whether they fall in or not. Therefore, in order to make people
|
|||
|
|
careful who have not fallen into the water, let those in the water
|
|||
|
|
drown." In other words, why should anybody be assisted, if
|
|||
|
|
assistance encourages carelessness, or idleness, or negligence?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
According to Mr. Van Norden, charity is out of place in this
|
|||
|
|
world, kindness is a mistake, and hospitality springs from a lack
|
|||
|
|
of philosophy. In other words, all should take the consequences of
|
|||
|
|
their acts, not only, but the consequences of the acts of others.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
If I knew this doctrine to be true, I should still insist that
|
|||
|
|
men should be charitable on their own account. A man without pity,
|
|||
|
|
no matter how intelligent he may be, is at best only an
|
|||
|
|
intellectual beast, and if by withholding all assistance we could
|
|||
|
|
finally people the world with those who are actually self-
|
|||
|
|
supporting, we would have a population without sympathy, without
|
|||
|
|
charity -- that is to say, without goodness. In my judgment, it
|
|||
|
|
would be far better that none should exist.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Mr. Van Norden takes the ground that the duty of the church is
|
|||
|
|
to save men's souls, and to minister to their bodies incidentally.
|
|||
|
|
I think that conditions have a vast deal to do with morality and
|
|||
|
|
goodness. If you wish to change the conduct of your fellowmen, the
|
|||
|
|
first thing to do is to change their conditions, their
|
|||
|
|
surroundings; in other words, to help them to help themselves --
|
|||
|
|
help them to get away from bad influences, away from the darkness
|
|||
|
|
of ignorance, away from the temptations of poverty and want, not
|
|||
|
|
only into the light intellectually, but into the climate of
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
12
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A REPLY TO REV. JOHN HALL AND WARNER VAN NORDEN.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
prosperity. It is useless to give a hungry man a religious tract,
|
|||
|
|
and it is almost useless to preach morality to those who are so
|
|||
|
|
situated that the necessity of the present, the hunger of the
|
|||
|
|
moment, overrides every other consideration. There is a vast deal
|
|||
|
|
of sophistry in hunger, and a good deal of persuasion in necessity.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Prosperity is apt to make men selfish. They imagine that
|
|||
|
|
because they have succeeded, others and all others, might or may
|
|||
|
|
succeed. If any man will go over his own life honestly, he will
|
|||
|
|
find that he has not always succeeded because he was good, or that
|
|||
|
|
he has always failed because he was bad. He will find that many
|
|||
|
|
things happened with which he had nothing to do, for his benefit,
|
|||
|
|
and that, after all is said and done, he cannot account for all of
|
|||
|
|
his successes by his absolute goodness. So, if a man will think of
|
|||
|
|
all the bad things he has done -- of all the bad things he wanted
|
|||
|
|
to do -- of all the bad things he would have done had he had the
|
|||
|
|
chance, and had he known that detection was impossible, he will
|
|||
|
|
find but little foundation for egotism.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Question. What do you say to this language of Mr. Van Norden.
|
|||
|
|
"It is best to teach people to rely upon their own resources. If
|
|||
|
|
the poor felt that they could get material help they would want it
|
|||
|
|
always, and in this day, if a man and woman cannot get along, it is
|
|||
|
|
their own fault"?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Answer. All I can say is that I do not agree with him. Often
|
|||
|
|
there are many more men in a certain trade than there is work for
|
|||
|
|
such men. Often great factories shut down, leaving many thousands
|
|||
|
|
out of employment. You may say that it was the fault of these men
|
|||
|
|
that they learned that trade; that they might have known it would
|
|||
|
|
be overcrowded; so you may say it was the fault of the capitalist
|
|||
|
|
to start a factory in that particular line, because he should have
|
|||
|
|
known that it was to be overdone.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
As no man can look very far into the future, the truth is it
|
|||
|
|
was nobody's fault, and without fault thousands and thousands are
|
|||
|
|
thrown out of employment. Competition is so sharp, wages are so
|
|||
|
|
small, that to be out of employment for a few weeks means want. You
|
|||
|
|
cannot say that this is the fault of the man who wants bread. He
|
|||
|
|
certainly did not wish to go hungry; neither did he deliberately
|
|||
|
|
plan a failure. He did the best he could. There are plenty of
|
|||
|
|
bankers who fail in business, not because they wish to fail; so
|
|||
|
|
there are plenty of professional men who cannot make a living, yet
|
|||
|
|
it may not be their fault; and there are others who get rich, and
|
|||
|
|
it may not be by reason of their virtues.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Without doubt, there are many people in the city of New York
|
|||
|
|
who cannot make a living. Competition is too sharp; life is too
|
|||
|
|
complex; consequently the percentage of failures is large. In
|
|||
|
|
savage life there are few failures, but in civilized life there are
|
|||
|
|
many. There are many thousands out of work and out of food in
|
|||
|
|
Berlin to-day. It can hardly be said to be their fault. So there
|
|||
|
|
are many thousands in London, and every other great city of the
|
|||
|
|
world. You cannot account for all this want by saying that the
|
|||
|
|
people who want are entirely to blame.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
13
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A REPLY TO REV. JOHN HALL AND WARNER VAN NORDEN.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A man gets rich, and he is often egotistic enough to think
|
|||
|
|
that his wealth was the result of his own unaided efforts; and he
|
|||
|
|
is sometimes heartless enough to say that others should get rich by
|
|||
|
|
following his example.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Mr. Van Norden states that he has a typewriter who gets two
|
|||
|
|
dollars a day, and that she dresses better than the lords and
|
|||
|
|
ladies did of olden times. He must refer to the times of the Garden
|
|||
|
|
of Eden. Out of two dollars a day one must live, and there is very
|
|||
|
|
little left for gorgeous robes. I hardly think a lady is to be
|
|||
|
|
envied because she receives two dollars a day, and the probability
|
|||
|
|
is that the manner in which she dresses on that sum -- having first
|
|||
|
|
deducted the expenses of living -- is not calculated to excite
|
|||
|
|
envy.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The philosophy of Mr. Van Norden seems to be concentrated into
|
|||
|
|
this line: "Where people are poor it is their own fault." Of course
|
|||
|
|
this is the death of all charity.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
We are then informed by this gentleman that "happiness does
|
|||
|
|
not lie in the enjoyment of material things -- that it is the soul
|
|||
|
|
that makes life worth living."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Is it the soul without pity that makes life worth living? Is
|
|||
|
|
it the soul in which the blossom of charity has never shed its
|
|||
|
|
perfume that makes life so desirable? Is it the soul, having all
|
|||
|
|
material things, wrapped in the robes of prosperity, and that says
|
|||
|
|
to all the poor: It is your own fault; die of hunger if you must --
|
|||
|
|
that makes life worth living? It may be asked whether it is worth
|
|||
|
|
while for such a soul to live.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
If this is the philosophy of Mr. Van Norden, I do not wish to
|
|||
|
|
visit his working girls' club, or to "hear girls who have been
|
|||
|
|
working all day singing hymns and following the leader in prayer."
|
|||
|
|
Why should a soul without pity pray? Why should any one ask God to
|
|||
|
|
be merciful to the poor if he is not merciful himself? For my own
|
|||
|
|
part, I would rather see poor people eat than to hear them pray. I
|
|||
|
|
would rather see them clothed comfortably than to see them
|
|||
|
|
shivering, and at the same time hear them sing hymns.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
It does not seem possible that any man can say that there are
|
|||
|
|
no worthy poor in this city who need material help. Neither does it
|
|||
|
|
seem possible that any man can say to one who is starving that if
|
|||
|
|
he wants money he must work for it. There are hundreds and
|
|||
|
|
thousands in this city willing to work who can find no employment.
|
|||
|
|
There are good and pure women standing between their children and
|
|||
|
|
starvation, living in rooms worse than cells in penitentiaries --
|
|||
|
|
giving their own lives to their children -- hundreds and hundreds
|
|||
|
|
of martyrs bearing the cross of every suffering, worthy of the
|
|||
|
|
reverence and love of mankind. So there are men wandering about
|
|||
|
|
these streets in search of work, willing to do anything to feed the
|
|||
|
|
ones they love.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Mr. Van Norden has not done himself Justice. I do not believe
|
|||
|
|
that he expresses his real sentiments. But, after all, why should
|
|||
|
|
we expect charity in a church that believes in the dogma of eternal
|
|||
|
|
pain? Why cannot the rich be happy here in their palaces, while the
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
14
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A REPLY TO REV. JOHN HALL AND WARNER VAN NORDEN.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
poor suffer and starve in huts, when these same rich expect to
|
|||
|
|
enjoy heaven forever, with all the unbelievers in hell? Why should
|
|||
|
|
the agony of time interfere with their happiness, when the agonies
|
|||
|
|
of eternity will not and cannot affect their joy? But I have
|
|||
|
|
nothing against Dr. John Hall or Mr. Van Norden -- only against
|
|||
|
|
their ideas.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
END
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
**** ****
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A REPLY TO THE REV. DR. PLUMB.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Question. Last Sunday the Rev. Dr. Plumb paid some attention
|
|||
|
|
to the lecture which you delivered here on the 23rd of October.
|
|||
|
|
Have you read a report of it, and what have you to say?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Answer. Dr. Plumb attacks not only myself, but the Rev. Mr.
|
|||
|
|
Mills. I do not know the position that Mr. Mills takes, but from
|
|||
|
|
what Dr. Plumb says, I suppose that he has mingled a little
|
|||
|
|
philosophy with his religion and some science with his
|
|||
|
|
superstition. Dr. Plumb appears to have successfully avoided both.
|
|||
|
|
His manners do not appear to me to be of the best. Why should he
|
|||
|
|
call an opponent coarse and blasphemous, simply because he does not
|
|||
|
|
happen to believe as he does? Is it blasphemous to say that this
|
|||
|
|
"poor" world never was visited by a Redeemer from Heaven, a
|
|||
|
|
majestic being -- unique -- peculiar -- who "trod the sea and
|
|||
|
|
hushed the storm and raised the dead"? Why does Dr. Plumb call this
|
|||
|
|
world a "poor" world? According to his creed, it was created by
|
|||
|
|
infinite wisdom, infinite goodness and infinite power. How dare he
|
|||
|
|
call the work of such a being "poor"?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Is it not blasphemous for a Boston minister to denounce the
|
|||
|
|
work of the Infinite and say to God that he made a "poor" world? If
|
|||
|
|
I believed this world had been made by an infinitely wise and good
|
|||
|
|
Being, I should certainly insist that this is not a poor world,
|
|||
|
|
but, on the contrary, a perfect world. I would insist that
|
|||
|
|
everything that happens is for the best. Whether it looks wise or
|
|||
|
|
foolish to us, I would insist that the fault we thought we saw,
|
|||
|
|
lies in us and not in the infinitely wise and benevolent Creator.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Dr. Plumb may love God, but he certainly regards him as a poor
|
|||
|
|
mechanic and a failure as a manufacturer. There Dr. Plumb, like all
|
|||
|
|
religious preachers, takes several things for granted; things that
|
|||
|
|
have not been established by evidence, and things which in their
|
|||
|
|
nature cannot be established.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
He tells us that this poor world was visited by a mighty
|
|||
|
|
Redeemer from Heaven. How does he know? Does he know where heaven
|
|||
|
|
is? Does he know that any such place exists? Is he perfectly sure
|
|||
|
|
that an infinite God would be foolish enough to make people who
|
|||
|
|
needed a redeemer?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
He also says that this Being "trod the sea, hushed the storm
|
|||
|
|
and raised the dead." Is there any evidence that this Being trod
|
|||
|
|
the sea? Any more evidence than that Venus rose from the foam of
|
|||
|
|
the ocean? Any evidence that he hushed the storm any more than
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
15
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A REPLY TO THE REV. DR. PLUMB.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
there is that the storm comes from the cave of AEolus? Is there any
|
|||
|
|
evidence that he raised the dead? How would it be possible to prove
|
|||
|
|
that the dead were raised? How could we prove such a thing if it
|
|||
|
|
happened now? Who would believe the evidence? As a matter of fact,
|
|||
|
|
the witnesses themselves would not believe and could not believe
|
|||
|
|
until raising of the dead became so general as to be regarded as
|
|||
|
|
natural.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Dr. Plumb knows, if he knows anything, that gospel gossip is
|
|||
|
|
the only evidence he has, or anybody has, that Christ trod the sea,
|
|||
|
|
hushed the storm and raised the dead. He also knows, if he knows
|
|||
|
|
anything, that these stories were not written until Christ himself
|
|||
|
|
had been dead for at least four generations. He knows also that
|
|||
|
|
these accounts were written at a time when the belief in miracles
|
|||
|
|
was almost universal, and when everything that actually happened
|
|||
|
|
was regarded of no particular importance, and only the things that
|
|||
|
|
did not happen were carefully written out with all the details.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
So Dr. Plumb says that this man who hushed the storm "spake as
|
|||
|
|
never man spake." Did the Doctor ever read Zeno? Zeno, who
|
|||
|
|
denounced human slavery many years before Christ was born? Did he
|
|||
|
|
ever read Epicurus, one of the greatest of the Greeks? Has he read
|
|||
|
|
anything from Buddha? Has he read the dialogues between Ariuna and
|
|||
|
|
Krishna? If he has, he knows that every great and splendid
|
|||
|
|
utterance of Christ was uttered centuries before he lived. Did he
|
|||
|
|
ever read Lao-tsze? If he did -- and this man lived many centuries
|
|||
|
|
before the coming of our Lord -- he knows that Lao-tsze said "we
|
|||
|
|
should render benefits for injuries. We should love our enemies,
|
|||
|
|
and we should not resist evil." So it will hardly do now to say
|
|||
|
|
that Christ spake as never man spake, because he repeated the very
|
|||
|
|
things that other men had said.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
So he says that I am endeavoring to carry people back to a
|
|||
|
|
dimly groping Socrates or a vague Confucius. Did Dr. Plumb ever
|
|||
|
|
read Confucius? Only a little while ago a book was published by Mr.
|
|||
|
|
Forlong showing the origin of the principal religion and the creeds
|
|||
|
|
that have been taught. In this book you will find the cream of
|
|||
|
|
Buddha, of Christ, of Zoroaster, and you will also find a few pages
|
|||
|
|
devoted to the philosophy of Confucius; and after you have read the
|
|||
|
|
others, then read what Confucius says, and you will find that his
|
|||
|
|
philosophy rises like a monolith touching the clouds, while the
|
|||
|
|
creeds and sayings of the others appear like heaps of stone or
|
|||
|
|
piles of rubbish. The reason of this is that Confucius was not
|
|||
|
|
simply a sentimentalist. He was not controlled entirely by feeling,
|
|||
|
|
but he had intelligence -- a great brain in which burned the torch
|
|||
|
|
of reason. Read Confucius, and you will think that he must have
|
|||
|
|
known the sciences of to-day; that is to say, the conclusions that
|
|||
|
|
have been reached by modern thinkers. It could have been easily
|
|||
|
|
said of Confucius in his day that he spake as never man had spoken,
|
|||
|
|
and it may be that after you read him you will change your mind
|
|||
|
|
just a little as to the wisdom and the intelligence contained in
|
|||
|
|
many of the sayings of our Lord.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Dr. Plumb charges that Mr. Mills is trying to reconstruct
|
|||
|
|
theology. Whether he is right in this charge I do not know, but I
|
|||
|
|
do know that I am not trying to reconstruct theology. I am
|
|||
|
|
endeavoring to destroy it. I have no more confidence in theology
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
16
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A REPLY TO THE REV. DR. PLUMB.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
than I have in astrology or in the black art. Theology is a science
|
|||
|
|
that exists wholly independent of facts, and that reaches
|
|||
|
|
conclusions without the assistance of evidence. It also scorns
|
|||
|
|
experience and does what little it can to do away with thought.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
I make a very great distinction between theology and real
|
|||
|
|
religion. I can conceive of no religion except usefulness. Now,
|
|||
|
|
here we are, men and women in this world, and we have certain
|
|||
|
|
faculties, certain senses. There are things that we can ascertain,
|
|||
|
|
and by developing our brain we can avoid mistakes, keep a few
|
|||
|
|
thorns out of our feet, a few thistles out of our hands, a few
|
|||
|
|
diseases from our flesh. In my judgment, we should use all our
|
|||
|
|
senses, gathering information from every possible quarter, and this
|
|||
|
|
information should be only used for the purpose of ascertaining the
|
|||
|
|
facts, for finding out the conditions of well-being, to the end
|
|||
|
|
that we may add to the happiness of ourselves and fellows.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
In other words, I believe in intellectual veracity and also in
|
|||
|
|
mental hospitality. To me reason is the final arbiter, and when I
|
|||
|
|
say reason, I mean my reason. It may be a very poor light, the
|
|||
|
|
flame small and flickering, but, after all, it is the only light I
|
|||
|
|
have, and never with my consent shall any preacher blow it out.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Now, Dr. Plumb thinks that I am trying to despoil my fellow-
|
|||
|
|
men of their greatest inheritance; that is to say, divine Christ.
|
|||
|
|
Why do you call Christ good? Is it because he was merciful? Then
|
|||
|
|
why do you put him above mercy? Why do you call Christ good? Is it
|
|||
|
|
because he was just? Why do you put him before justice? Suppose it
|
|||
|
|
should turn out that no such person as Christ ever lived. What harm
|
|||
|
|
would that do justice or mercy? Wouldn't the tear of pity be as
|
|||
|
|
pure as now, and wouldn't justice, holding aloft her scales, from
|
|||
|
|
which she blows even the dust of prejudice, be as noble, as
|
|||
|
|
admirable as now? Is it not better to love justice and mercy than
|
|||
|
|
to love a name, and when you put a name above justice, above mercy,
|
|||
|
|
are you sure that you are benefiting your fellow-men?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
If Dr. Plumb wanted to answer me, why did he not take my
|
|||
|
|
argument instead of my motive? Why did he not point out my weakness
|
|||
|
|
instead of telling the consequences that would follow from my
|
|||
|
|
action? We have nothing to do with the consequences. I said that to
|
|||
|
|
believe without evidence, or in spite of evidence, was
|
|||
|
|
superstition. If that definition is correct. Dr. Plumb is a
|
|||
|
|
superstitious man, because he believes at least without evidence.
|
|||
|
|
What evidence has he that Christ was God? In the nature of things,
|
|||
|
|
how could he have evidence? The only evidence he pretends to have
|
|||
|
|
is the dream of Joseph, and he does not know that Joseph ever
|
|||
|
|
dreamed the dream, because Joseph did not write an account of his
|
|||
|
|
dream, so that Dr. Plumb has only hearsay for the dream, and the
|
|||
|
|
dream is the foundation of his creed.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Now, when I say that that is superstition, Dr. Plumb charges
|
|||
|
|
me with being a burglar -- a coarse, blasphemous burglar -- who
|
|||
|
|
wishes to rob somebody of some great blessing. Dr. Plumb would not
|
|||
|
|
hesitate to tell a Mohammedan that Mohammed was an impostor. He
|
|||
|
|
would tell a Mormon in Utah that Joseph Smith was a vulgar liar and
|
|||
|
|
that Brigham Young was no better. In other words, if in Turkey, he
|
|||
|
|
would be a coarse and blasphemous burglar, and he would follow the
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
17
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A REPLY TO THE REV. DR. PLUMB.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
same profession in Utah. So probably he would tell the Chinese that
|
|||
|
|
Confucius was an ignorant wretch and that their religion was
|
|||
|
|
idiotic, and the Chinese priest would denounce Dr. Plumb as a very
|
|||
|
|
coarse and blasphemous burglar, and Dr. Plumb would be perfectly
|
|||
|
|
astonished that a priest could be so low, so impudent and
|
|||
|
|
malicious.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Of course my wonder is not excited. I have become used to it.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
If Dr. Plumb would think, if he would exercise his imagination
|
|||
|
|
a little and put himself in the place of others, he would think, in
|
|||
|
|
all probability, better things of his opponents. I do not know Dr.
|
|||
|
|
Plumb, and yet I have no doubt that he is a good and sincere man;
|
|||
|
|
a little superstitious, superficial, and possibly, mingled with his
|
|||
|
|
many virtues, there may be a little righteous malice.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The Rev. Mr. Mills used to believe as Dr. Plumb does now, and
|
|||
|
|
I suppose he has changed for reasons that were sufficient for him.
|
|||
|
|
So I believe him to be an honest, conscientious man, and so far as
|
|||
|
|
I am concerned, I have no objection to Mr. Mills doing what little
|
|||
|
|
he can to get all the churches to act together. He may never
|
|||
|
|
succeed, but I am not responsible for that.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
So I have no objection to Dr. Plumb preaching what he believes
|
|||
|
|
to be the gospel. I admit that he is honest when he says that an
|
|||
|
|
infinitely good God made a poor world; that he made man and woman
|
|||
|
|
and put them in the Garden of Eden, and that this same God before
|
|||
|
|
that time had manufactured a devil, and that when he manufactured
|
|||
|
|
this devil, he knew that he would corrupt the man and woman that he
|
|||
|
|
had determined to make; that he could have defeated the devil, but
|
|||
|
|
that for a wise purpose, he allowed his Satanic Majesty to succeed;
|
|||
|
|
that at the time he allowed him to succeed, he knew that in
|
|||
|
|
consequence of his success that he (God) in about fifteen or
|
|||
|
|
sixteen hundred years would be compelled to drown the whole world
|
|||
|
|
with the exception of eight people. These eight people he kept for
|
|||
|
|
seed. At the time he kept them for seed, he knew that they were
|
|||
|
|
totally depraved, that they were saturated with the sin of Adam and
|
|||
|
|
Eve, and that their children would be their natural heirs. He also
|
|||
|
|
knew at the time he allowed the devil to succeed, that he (God),
|
|||
|
|
some four thousand years afterward, would be compelled to be born
|
|||
|
|
in Palestine as a babe, to learn the carpenter's trade, and to go
|
|||
|
|
about the country for three years preaching to the people and
|
|||
|
|
discussing with the rabbis of his chosen people, and he also knew
|
|||
|
|
that these chosen people -- these people who had been governed and
|
|||
|
|
educated by him, to whom he had sent a multitude of prophets, would
|
|||
|
|
at that time be so savage that they would crucify him, although he
|
|||
|
|
would be at that time the only sinless being who had ever stood
|
|||
|
|
upon the earth. This he knew would be the effect of his government,
|
|||
|
|
of his education of his chosen people. He also knew at the time he
|
|||
|
|
allowed the devil to succeed, that in consequence of that success
|
|||
|
|
a vast majority of the human race would become eternal convicts in
|
|||
|
|
the prison of hell.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
All this he knew, and yet Dr. Plumb insists that he was and is
|
|||
|
|
infinitely wise, infinitely powerful and infinitely good. What
|
|||
|
|
would this God have done if he had lacked wisdom, or power, or
|
|||
|
|
goodness?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
18
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A REPLY TO THE REV. DR. PLUMB.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Of all the religions that man has produced, of all the creeds
|
|||
|
|
of savagery, there is none more perfectly absurd than Christianity.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
END
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
**** ****
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A REPLY TO THE NEW YORK CLERGY ON SUPERSTITION.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
New York Journal, 1898. An Interview.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Question. Have you followed the controversy, or rather, the
|
|||
|
|
interest manifested in the letters to the Journal which have
|
|||
|
|
followed your lecture of Sunday, and what do you think of them?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Answer. I have read the letters and reports that have been
|
|||
|
|
published in the Journal. Some of them seem to be very sincere,
|
|||
|
|
some not quite honest, and some a little of both.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The Rev. Robert S. MacArthur takes the ground that very many
|
|||
|
|
Christians do not believe in a personal devil, but are still
|
|||
|
|
Christians. He states that they hold that the references in the New
|
|||
|
|
Testament to the devil are simply to personifications of evil. and
|
|||
|
|
do not apply to any personal existence. He says that he could give
|
|||
|
|
the names of a number of pastors who hold such views. He does not
|
|||
|
|
state what his view is. Consequently, I do not know whether he is
|
|||
|
|
a believer in a personal devil or not. The statement that the
|
|||
|
|
references in the New Testament to a devil are simply to
|
|||
|
|
personifications of evil, not applying to any personal existence,
|
|||
|
|
seems to me utterly absurd.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The references to devils in the New Testament are certainly as
|
|||
|
|
good and satisfactory as the references to angels. Now, are the
|
|||
|
|
angels referred to in the New Testament simply personifications of
|
|||
|
|
good, and are there no such personal existences? If devils are only
|
|||
|
|
personifications of evil, how is it that these personifications of
|
|||
|
|
evil could hold arguments with Jesus Christ? How could they talk
|
|||
|
|
back? How could they publicly acknowledge the divinity of Christ?
|
|||
|
|
As a matter of fact, the best evidences of Christ's divinity in the
|
|||
|
|
New Testament are the declarations of devils. These devils were
|
|||
|
|
supposed to be acquainted with supernatural things, and
|
|||
|
|
consequently knew a God when they saw one, whereas the average Jew,
|
|||
|
|
not having been a citizen of the celestial world, was unable to
|
|||
|
|
recognize a deity when he met him.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Now, these personifications of evil, as Dr. MacArthur calls
|
|||
|
|
them, were of various kinds. Some of them were dumb, while others
|
|||
|
|
could talk, and Christ said, speaking of the dumb devils, that they
|
|||
|
|
were very difficult to expel from the bodies of men; that it
|
|||
|
|
required fasting and prayer to get them out. Now, did Christ mean
|
|||
|
|
that these dumb devils did not exist? That they were only
|
|||
|
|
"personifications of evil"?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Now, we are also told in the New Testament that Christ was
|
|||
|
|
tempted by the devil; that is, by a "personification of evil," and
|
|||
|
|
that this personification took him to the pinnacle of the temple
|
|||
|
|
and tried to induce him to jump off. Now, where did his
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
19
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A REPLY TO THE NEW YORK CLERGY ON SUPERSTITION.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
personification of evil come from? Was it an actual existence? Dr.
|
|||
|
|
MacArthur says that it may not have been. Then it did not come from
|
|||
|
|
the outside of Christ. If it existed it came from the inside of
|
|||
|
|
Christ, so that, according to MacArthur, Christ was the creator of
|
|||
|
|
his own devil.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
I do not know that I have a right to say that this is Dr.
|
|||
|
|
MacArthur's opinion, as he has wisely refrained from giving his
|
|||
|
|
opinion. I hope some time he will tell us whether he really
|
|||
|
|
believes in a devil or not, or whether he thinks all allusions and
|
|||
|
|
references to devils in the New Testament can be explained away by
|
|||
|
|
calling the devils "personifications of evil." Then, of course, he
|
|||
|
|
will tell us whether it was a "personification of evil" that
|
|||
|
|
offered Christ all the kingdoms of the world, and whether Christ
|
|||
|
|
expelled seven "personifications of evil" from Mary Magdalene, and
|
|||
|
|
how did they come to count these "personifications of evil"? If the
|
|||
|
|
devils, after all, are only "personifications of evil," then, of
|
|||
|
|
course, they cannot be numbered. They are all one. There may be
|
|||
|
|
different manifestations, but, in fact, there can be but one, and
|
|||
|
|
yet Mary Magdalene had seven.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Dr. MacArthur states that I put up a man of straw, and then
|
|||
|
|
vigorously beat him down. Now, the question is, do I attack a man
|
|||
|
|
of straw? I take it for granted that Christians to some extent, at
|
|||
|
|
least, believe in their creeds. I suppose they regard the Bible as
|
|||
|
|
the inspired word of God; that they believe in the fall of man, in
|
|||
|
|
the atonement, in salvation by faith, in the resurrection and
|
|||
|
|
ascension of Christ. I take it for granted that they believe these
|
|||
|
|
things. Of course, the only evidence I have is what they say.
|
|||
|
|
Possibly that cannot be depended upon. They may be dealing only in
|
|||
|
|
the "personification of truth."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
When I charge the orthodox Christians with believing these
|
|||
|
|
things, I am told that I am far behind the religious thinking of
|
|||
|
|
the hour, but after all, this "man of straw" is quite powerful.
|
|||
|
|
Prof. Briggs attacked this "man of straw," and the straw man turned
|
|||
|
|
on him and put him out. A preacher by the name of Smith, a teacher
|
|||
|
|
in some seminary out in Ohio, challenged this "man of straw," and
|
|||
|
|
the straw man put him out.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Both these reverend gentlemen were defeated by the straw man,
|
|||
|
|
and if the Rev. Dr. MacArthur will explain to his congregation, I
|
|||
|
|
mean only explain what he calls the "religious thinking of the
|
|||
|
|
hour," the "straw man" will put him out too.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Dr. MacArthur finds fault with me because I put into the minds
|
|||
|
|
of representative thinkers of to-day the opinions of medieval
|
|||
|
|
monks, which leading religious teachers long ago discarded. Will
|
|||
|
|
Dr. MacArthur have the goodness to point out one opinion that I
|
|||
|
|
have put into the minds of representative thinkers -- that is, of
|
|||
|
|
orthodox thinkers -- that any orthodox religious teacher of to-day
|
|||
|
|
has discarded? Will he have the kindness to give just one?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
In my lecture on "Superstition" I did say that to deny the
|
|||
|
|
existence of evil spirits, or to deny the existence of the devil,
|
|||
|
|
is to deny the truth of the New Testament; and that to deny the
|
|||
|
|
existence of these imps of darkness is to contradict the words of
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
20
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A REPLY TO THE NEW YORK CLERGY ON SUPERSTITION.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Jesus Christ. I did say that if we give up the belief in devils we
|
|||
|
|
must give up the inspiration of the Old and New Testaments, and we
|
|||
|
|
must give up the divinity of Christ. Upon that declaration I stand,
|
|||
|
|
because if devils do not exist, then Jesus Christ was mistaken, or
|
|||
|
|
we have not in the New Testament a true account of what he said and
|
|||
|
|
of what he pretended to do. If the New Testament gives a true
|
|||
|
|
account of his words and pretended actions, then he did claim to
|
|||
|
|
cast out devils. That was his principal business. That was his
|
|||
|
|
certificate of divinity, casting out devils. That authenticated his
|
|||
|
|
mission and proved that he was superior to the hosts of darkness.
|
|||
|
|
Now, take the devil out of the New Testament, and you also take the
|
|||
|
|
veracity of Christ; with that veracity you take the divinity; with
|
|||
|
|
that divinity you take the atonement, and when you take the
|
|||
|
|
atonement, the great fabric known as Christianity becomes a
|
|||
|
|
shapeless ruin.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Now, let Dr. MacArthur answer this, and answer it not like a
|
|||
|
|
minister, but like a man. Ministers are unconsciously a little
|
|||
|
|
unfair. They have a little tendency to what might be called a
|
|||
|
|
natural crook. They become spiritual when they ought to be candid.
|
|||
|
|
They become a little ingenious and pious when they ought to be
|
|||
|
|
frank; and when really driven into a corner, they clasp their
|
|||
|
|
hands. they look upward, and they cry "Blasphemy" I do not mean by
|
|||
|
|
this that they are dishonest. I simply mean that they are
|
|||
|
|
illogical.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Dr. MacArthur tells us also that Spain is not a representative
|
|||
|
|
of progressive religious teachers. I admit that. There are no
|
|||
|
|
progressive religious teachers in Spain, and right here let me make
|
|||
|
|
a remark. If religion rests on an inspired revelation, it is
|
|||
|
|
incapable of progress. It may be said that year after year we get
|
|||
|
|
to understand it better, but if it is not understood when given,
|
|||
|
|
why is it called a "revelation"? There is no progress in the
|
|||
|
|
multiplication table. Some men are better mathematicians than
|
|||
|
|
others, but the old multiplication table remains the same. So there
|
|||
|
|
can be no progress in a revelation from God.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Now, Spain -- and that is the great mistake, the great
|
|||
|
|
misfortune -- has remained orthodox. That is to say, the Spaniards
|
|||
|
|
have been true to their superstition. Of course the Rev. Dr.
|
|||
|
|
MacArthur will not admit that Catholicism is Christianity, and I
|
|||
|
|
suppose that the pope would hardly admit that a Baptist is a very
|
|||
|
|
successful Christian. The trouble with Spain is, and the trouble
|
|||
|
|
with the Baptist Church is, that neither of them has progressed to
|
|||
|
|
any great extent.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Now, in my judgment, what is called religion must grow better
|
|||
|
|
as man grows better, simply because it was produced by man and the
|
|||
|
|
better man is, the nearer civilized he is, the better, the nearer
|
|||
|
|
civilized, will be what he calls his religion; and if the Baptist
|
|||
|
|
religion has progressed, it is a demonstration that it was not
|
|||
|
|
originally founded on a revelation from God.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
In my lecture I stated that we had no right to make any
|
|||
|
|
distinction between the actions of infinite wisdom and goodness,
|
|||
|
|
and that if God created and governs this world we ought to thank
|
|||
|
|
him, if we thanked him at all, for all that happens; that we should
|
|||
|
|
thank him just as heartily for famine and cyclone as for sunshine
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
21
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A REPLY TO THE NEW YORK CLERGY ON SUPERSTITION.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
and harvest, and that if President McKinley thanked God for the
|
|||
|
|
victory at Santiago, he also should have thanked him for sending
|
|||
|
|
the yellow fever.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
I stand by these words. A finite being has no right to make
|
|||
|
|
any distinction between the actions of the infinitely good and
|
|||
|
|
wise. If God governs this world, then everything that happens is
|
|||
|
|
the very best that could happen. When A murders B, the best thing
|
|||
|
|
that could happen to A is to be a murderer and the best thing that
|
|||
|
|
could have happened to B was to be murdered. There is no escape
|
|||
|
|
from this if the world is governed by infinite wisdom and goodness.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
It will not do to try and dodge by saying that man is free.
|
|||
|
|
This God who made man and made him free knew exactly how he would
|
|||
|
|
use his freedom, and consequently this God cannot escape the
|
|||
|
|
responsibility for the actions of men. He made them. He knew
|
|||
|
|
exactly what they would do. He is responsible.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
If I could turn a piece of wood into a human being, and I knew
|
|||
|
|
that he would murder a man, who is the real murderer? But if Dr.
|
|||
|
|
MacArthur would think as much as he preaches, he would come much
|
|||
|
|
nearer agreeing with me.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The Rev. Dr. J. Lewis Parks is very sorry that he cannot
|
|||
|
|
discuss Ingersoll's address, because to do so would be dignifying
|
|||
|
|
Ingersoll. Of course I deeply regret the refusal of Dr. J. Lewis
|
|||
|
|
Parks to discuss the address. I dislike to be compelled to go to
|
|||
|
|
the end of my life without being dignified. At the same time I will
|
|||
|
|
forgive the Rev. Dr. J. Lewis Parks for not answering me, because
|
|||
|
|
I know that he cannot.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The Rev. Dr. Moldehnke, whose name seems chiefly made of
|
|||
|
|
consonants, denounces me as a scoffer and as illogical, and says
|
|||
|
|
that Christianity is not founded upon the devil, but upon Christ.
|
|||
|
|
He further says that we do not believe in such a thing as a devil
|
|||
|
|
in human form, but we know that there is evil, and that evil we
|
|||
|
|
call the devil. He hides his head under the same leaf with Dr.
|
|||
|
|
MacArthur by calling the devil evil.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Now, is this gentleman willing to say that all the allusions
|
|||
|
|
to the devil in the Old and New Testaments can be harmonized with
|
|||
|
|
the idea that the devil is simply a personification of evil? Can he
|
|||
|
|
say this and say it honestly?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
But the Rev. Dr. Moldehnke, I think, seems to be consistent;
|
|||
|
|
seems to go along with the logic of his creed. He says that the
|
|||
|
|
yellow fever, if it visited our soldiers, came from God, and that
|
|||
|
|
we should thank God for it. He does not say the soldiers should
|
|||
|
|
thank God for it, or that those who had it should thank God for it.
|
|||
|
|
but that we should thank God for it, and there is this wonderful
|
|||
|
|
thing about Christianity. It enables us to bear with great
|
|||
|
|
fortitude, with a kind of sublime patience, the misfortunes of
|
|||
|
|
others.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
He says that this yellow fever works out God's purposes. Of
|
|||
|
|
course I am not as well acquainted with the Deity as the Rev.
|
|||
|
|
Moldehnke appears to be. I have not the faintest idea of what God's
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
22
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A REPLY TO THE NEW YORK CLERGY ON SUPERSTITION.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
purposes are. He works, even according to his messengers, in such
|
|||
|
|
a mysterious way, that with the little reason I have I find it
|
|||
|
|
impossible to follow him. Why God should have any purpose that
|
|||
|
|
could be worked out with yellow fever, or cholera, or why he should
|
|||
|
|
ever ask the assistance of tapeworms, or go in partnership with
|
|||
|
|
cancers, or take in the plague as an assistant, I have never been
|
|||
|
|
able to understand. I do not pretend to know. I admit my ignorance,
|
|||
|
|
and after all, the Rev. Dr. Moldehnke may be right. It may be that
|
|||
|
|
everything that happens is for the best. At the same time, I do not
|
|||
|
|
believe it.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
There is a little old story on this subject that throws some
|
|||
|
|
light on the workings of the average orthodox mind.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
One morning the son of an old farmer came in and said to his
|
|||
|
|
father, "One of the ewe lambs is dead."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"Well," said the father; "that is all for the best. Twins
|
|||
|
|
never do very well, any how."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The next morning the son reported the death of the other lamb,
|
|||
|
|
and the old man said, "Well, that is all for the best; the old ewe
|
|||
|
|
will have more wool."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The next morning the son said, "The old ewe is dead."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"Well," replied the old man; "that may be for the best, but I
|
|||
|
|
don't see it this morning."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The Rev. Mr. Hamlin has the goodness to say that my influence
|
|||
|
|
is on the wane. This is an admission that I have some, for which I
|
|||
|
|
am greatly obliged to him. He further states that all my arguments
|
|||
|
|
are easily refuted, but fails to refute them on the ground that
|
|||
|
|
such refutation might be an advertisement for me.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Now, if Mr. Hamlin would think a little, he would see that
|
|||
|
|
there are some things in the lecture on "Superstition" worth the
|
|||
|
|
while even of a Methodist minister to answer.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Does Mr. Hamlin believe in the existence of the devil? If he
|
|||
|
|
does, will he have the goodness to say who created the devil? He
|
|||
|
|
may say that God created him, as he is the creator of all. Then I
|
|||
|
|
ask Mr. Hamlin this question: Why did God create a successful
|
|||
|
|
rival? When God created the devil, did he not know at that time
|
|||
|
|
that he was to make this world? That he was to create Adam and Eve
|
|||
|
|
and put them in the Garden of Eden, and did he not know that this
|
|||
|
|
devil would tempt this Adam and Eve? That in consequence of that
|
|||
|
|
they would fall? That in consequence of that he would have to drown
|
|||
|
|
all their descendants except eight? That in consequence of that he
|
|||
|
|
himself would have to be born into this world as a Judean peasant?
|
|||
|
|
That he would have to be crucified and suffer for the sins of these
|
|||
|
|
people who had been misled by this devil that he deliberately
|
|||
|
|
created, and that after all he would be able only to save a few
|
|||
|
|
Methodists?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Will the Rev. Mr. Hamlin have the goodness to answer this? He
|
|||
|
|
can answer it as mildly as he pleases, so that in any event it will
|
|||
|
|
be no advertisement for him.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
23
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A REPLY TO THE NEW YORK CLERGY ON SUPERSTITION.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The Rev. Mr. F.J. Belcher pays me a great compliment, for
|
|||
|
|
which I now return my thanks. He has the goodness to say,
|
|||
|
|
"Ingersoll in many respects is like Voltaire." I think no finer
|
|||
|
|
compliment has been paid me by any gentleman occupying a pulpit,
|
|||
|
|
for many years, and again I thank the Rev. Mr. Belcher.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The Rev. W.D. Buchanan, does not seem to be quite fair. He
|
|||
|
|
says that every utterance of mine impresses men with my
|
|||
|
|
insincerity, and that every argument I bring forward is specious,
|
|||
|
|
and that I spend my time in ringing the changes on arguments that
|
|||
|
|
have been answered over and over again for hundreds of years.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Now, Dr. Buchanan should remember that he ought not to attack
|
|||
|
|
motives; that you cannot answer an argument by vilifying the man
|
|||
|
|
who makes it. You must answer not the man, but the argument.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Another thing this reverend gentleman should remember, and
|
|||
|
|
that is that no argument is old until it has been answered. An
|
|||
|
|
argument that has not been answered, although it has been put
|
|||
|
|
forward for many centuries, is still as fresh as a flower with the
|
|||
|
|
dew on its breast. It never is old until it has been answered.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
It is well enough for this gentleman to say that these
|
|||
|
|
arguments have been answered, and if they have and he knows that
|
|||
|
|
they have, of course it will be but a little trouble to him to
|
|||
|
|
repeat these answers.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Now, my dear Dr. Buchanan, I wish to ask you some questions.
|
|||
|
|
Do you believe in a personal devil? Do you believe that the bodies
|
|||
|
|
of men and women become tenements for little imps and goblins and
|
|||
|
|
demons? Do you believe that the devil used to lead men and women
|
|||
|
|
astray? Do you believe the stories about devils that you find in
|
|||
|
|
the Old and New Testaments?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Now, do not tell me that these questions have been answered
|
|||
|
|
long ago. Answer them now. And if you say the devil does exist,
|
|||
|
|
that he is a person, that he is an enemy of God, then let me ask
|
|||
|
|
you another question: Why should this devil punish souls in hell
|
|||
|
|
for rebelling against God? Why should the devil, who is an enemy of
|
|||
|
|
God, help punish God's enemies? This may have been answered many
|
|||
|
|
times, but one more repetition will do but little harm.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Another thing: Do you believe in the eternity of punishment?
|
|||
|
|
Do you believe that God is the keeper of an eternal prison. the
|
|||
|
|
doors of which open only to receive sinners, and do you believe
|
|||
|
|
that eternal punishment is the highest expression of justice and
|
|||
|
|
mercy?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
If you had the power to change a stone into a human being, and
|
|||
|
|
you knew that that human being would be a sinner and finally go to
|
|||
|
|
hell and suffer eternal torture, would you not leave it stone? And
|
|||
|
|
if, knowing this, you changed the stone into a man, would you not
|
|||
|
|
be a fiend? Now, answer this fairly. I want nothing spiritual;
|
|||
|
|
nothing with the Presbyterian flavor; just good, honest talk, and
|
|||
|
|
tell us how that is.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
24
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A REPLY TO THE NEW YORK CLERGY ON SUPERSTITION.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
I say to you that if there is a place of eternal torment or
|
|||
|
|
misery for any of the children of men -- I say to you that your God
|
|||
|
|
is a wild beast, an insane fiend, whom I abhor and despise with
|
|||
|
|
every drop of my blood.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
At the same time you may say whether you are up, according to
|
|||
|
|
Dr. MacArthur, with the religious thinking of the hour.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The Rev. J.W. Campbell I rather like. He appears to be
|
|||
|
|
absolutely sincere. He is orthodox -- true blue. He believes in a
|
|||
|
|
devil; in an acting, thinking devil, and a clever devil. Of course
|
|||
|
|
he does not think this devil is as stout as God, but he is quicker;
|
|||
|
|
not quite as wise, but a little more cunning.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
According to Mr. Campbell, the devil is the bunco steerer of
|
|||
|
|
the universe -- king of the green goods men; but, after all, Mr.
|
|||
|
|
Campbell will not admit that if this devil does not exist the
|
|||
|
|
Christian creeds all crumble, but I think he will admit that if the
|
|||
|
|
devil does not exist, then Christ was mistaken, or that the writers
|
|||
|
|
of the New Testament did not truthfully give us his utterances.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Now, if Christ was mistaken about the existence of the devil,
|
|||
|
|
maybe he was mistaken about the existence of God. In other words,
|
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|
|
if Christ made a mistake, then he was ignorant. Then we cannot say
|
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|
|
he was divine, although ignorance has generally believed in
|
|||
|
|
divinity. So I do not see exactly how Mr. Campbell can say that if
|
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|
|
the devil does not exist the Christian creeds do not crumble, and
|
|||
|
|
when I say Christian creeds I mean orthodox creeds. Is there any
|
|||
|
|
orthodox Christian creed without the devil in it?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Now, if we throw away the devil we throw away original sin,
|
|||
|
|
the fall of man, and we throw away the atonement. Of this arch the
|
|||
|
|
devil is the keystone. Remove him, the arch falls.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Now, how can you say that an orthodox Christian creed remains
|
|||
|
|
intact without crumbling when original sin, the fall of man, the
|
|||
|
|
atonement and the existence of the devil are all thrown aside?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Of course if you mean by Christianity, acting like Christ,
|
|||
|
|
being good, forgiving, that is another matter, but that is not
|
|||
|
|
Christianity. Orthodox Christians say that a man must believe on
|
|||
|
|
Christ, must have faith, and that to act as Christ did, is not
|
|||
|
|
enough; that a man who acts exactly as Christ did, dying without
|
|||
|
|
faith, would go to hell. So when Mr. Campbell speaks of a
|
|||
|
|
Christian, I suppose he means an orthodox Christian.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Now, Dr. Campbell not only knows that the devil exists, but he
|
|||
|
|
knows a good deal about him. He knows that he can assume every
|
|||
|
|
conceivable disguise or shape; that he can go about like a roaring
|
|||
|
|
lion; that at another time he is a god of this world; on another
|
|||
|
|
occasion a dragon, and in the afternoon of the same day may be
|
|||
|
|
Lucifer, an angel of light, and all the time, I guess, a prince of
|
|||
|
|
lies. So he often assumes the disguise of the serpent.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
So the Doctor thinks that when the devil invited Christ into
|
|||
|
|
the wilderness to tempt him, that he adopted some disguise that
|
|||
|
|
made him more than usually attractive. Does the Doctor think that
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
25
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A REPLY TO THE NEW YORK CLERGY ON SUPERSTITION.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Christ could not see through the disguise? Was it possible for the
|
|||
|
|
devil with a mask to fool God, his creator? Was it possible for the
|
|||
|
|
devil to tempt Christ by offering him the kingdoms of the earth
|
|||
|
|
when they already belonged to Christ, and when Christ knew that the
|
|||
|
|
devil had no title, and when the devil knew that Christ knew that
|
|||
|
|
he had no title, and when the devil knew that Christ knew that he
|
|||
|
|
was the devil, and when the devil knew that he was Christ? Does the
|
|||
|
|
reverend gentleman still think that it was the disguise of the
|
|||
|
|
devil that tempted Christ?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
I would like some of these questions answered, because I have
|
|||
|
|
a very inquiring mind.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
So Mr. Campbell tells us -- and it is very good and comforting
|
|||
|
|
of him -- that there is a time coming when the devil shall deceive
|
|||
|
|
the nations no more. He also tells us that God is more powerful
|
|||
|
|
than the devil, and that he is going to put an end to him.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Will Mr. Campbell have the goodness to tell me why God made
|
|||
|
|
the devil? If he is going to put an end to him why did he start
|
|||
|
|
him? Was it not a waste of raw material to make him? Was it not
|
|||
|
|
unfair to let this devil, so powerful, so cunning, so attractive,
|
|||
|
|
into the Garden of Eden, and put Adam and Eve, who were then
|
|||
|
|
scarcely half dry, within his power, and not only Adam and Eve
|
|||
|
|
within his power, but their descendants, so that the slime of the
|
|||
|
|
serpent has been on every babe, and so that, in consequence of what
|
|||
|
|
happened in the Garden of Eden, flames will surround countless
|
|||
|
|
millions in the presence of the most merciful God?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Now, it may be that the Rev. Dr. Campbell can explain all
|
|||
|
|
these things. He may not care to do it for my benefit, but let him
|
|||
|
|
think of his own congregation; of the lambs he is protecting from
|
|||
|
|
the wolves of doubt and thought.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The Rev. Henry Frank appears to be a man of exceedingly good
|
|||
|
|
sense; one who thinks for himself, and who has the courage of his
|
|||
|
|
convictions. Of course I am sorry that he does not agree with me,
|
|||
|
|
but I have become used to that, and so I thank him for the truths
|
|||
|
|
he utters.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
He does not believe in the existence of a personal devil, and
|
|||
|
|
I guess by following him up we would find that he did not believe
|
|||
|
|
in the existence of a personal God, or in the inspiration of the
|
|||
|
|
Scriptures. In fact. he tells us that he has given up the
|
|||
|
|
infallibility of the Bible. At the same time he says it is the most
|
|||
|
|
perfect compendium of religious and moral thought. In that I think
|
|||
|
|
he is a little mistaken. There is a vast deal of irreligion in the
|
|||
|
|
Bible, and there is a good deal of immoral thought in the Bible;
|
|||
|
|
but I agree with him that it is neither inspired nor infallible.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The Rev. E.C.J. Kraeling, pastor of the Zion Lutheran Church,
|
|||
|
|
declares that those who do not believe in a personal God do not
|
|||
|
|
believe in a personal Satan, and vice versa. The one, he says,
|
|||
|
|
necessitates the other. In this I do not think he is quite correct.
|
|||
|
|
I think many people believe in a personal God who do not believe in
|
|||
|
|
a personal devil, but I know of none who do believe in a personal
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
26
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A REPLY TO THE NEW YORK CLERGY ON SUPERSTITION.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
devil who do not also believe in a personal God. The orthodox
|
|||
|
|
generally believe in both of them, and for many centuries
|
|||
|
|
Christians spoke with great respect of the devil. They were afraid
|
|||
|
|
of him.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
But I agree with the Rev. Mr. Kraeling when he says that to
|
|||
|
|
deny a personal Satan is to deny the infallibility of God's word.
|
|||
|
|
I agree with this because I suppose by "God's word" he means the
|
|||
|
|
Bible.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
He further says, and I agree with him, that a "Christian"
|
|||
|
|
needs no scientific argument on which to base his belief in the
|
|||
|
|
personality of Satan. That certainly is true, and if a Christian
|
|||
|
|
does need a scientific argument it is equally true that he never
|
|||
|
|
will have one.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
You see this word "Science" means something that somebody
|
|||
|
|
knows; not something that somebody guesses, or wishes, or hopes, or
|
|||
|
|
believes, but something that somebody knows.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Of course there cannot be any scientific argument proving the
|
|||
|
|
existence of the devil. At the same time I admit, as the Rev. Mr.
|
|||
|
|
Kraeling says. and I thank him for his candor, that the Bible does
|
|||
|
|
prove the existence of the devil from Genesis to the Apocalypse,
|
|||
|
|
and I do agree with him that the "revealed word" teaches the
|
|||
|
|
existence of a personal devil, and that all truly orthodox
|
|||
|
|
Christians believe that there is a personal devil, and the Rev. Mr.
|
|||
|
|
Kraeling proves this by the fall of man, and he proves that without
|
|||
|
|
this devil there could be no redemption for the evil spirits; so he
|
|||
|
|
brings forward the temptation of Christ in the wilderness. At the
|
|||
|
|
same time that Mr. Kraeling agrees with me as to what the Bible
|
|||
|
|
says, he insists that I bring no arguments, that I blaspheme, and
|
|||
|
|
then he drops into humor and says that if any further arguments are
|
|||
|
|
needed to prove the existence of the devil, that I furnish them.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
How a man believing the creed of the orthodox Mr. Kraeling can
|
|||
|
|
have anything like a sense of humor is beyond even my imagination.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Now, I want to ask Mr. Kraeling a few questions, and I will
|
|||
|
|
ask him the same questions that I ask all orthodox people in my
|
|||
|
|
lecture on "Superstition."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Now, Mr. Kraeling believes that this world was created by a
|
|||
|
|
being of infinite wisdom, power and goodness, and that the world he
|
|||
|
|
created has been governed by him.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Now, let me ask the reverend gentleman a few plain questions,
|
|||
|
|
with the request that he answer them without mist or mystery. If
|
|||
|
|
you, Mr. Kraeling, had the power to make a world, would you make an
|
|||
|
|
exact copy of this? Would you make a man and woman, put them in a
|
|||
|
|
garden, knowing that they would be deceived, knowing that they
|
|||
|
|
would fall? Knowing that all the consequences believed in by
|
|||
|
|
orthodox Christians would follow from, that fall? Would you do it?
|
|||
|
|
And would you make your world so as to provide for earthquakes and
|
|||
|
|
cyclones? Would you create the seeds of disease and scatter them in
|
|||
|
|
the air and water? Would you so arrange matters as to produce
|
|||
|
|
cancers? Would you provide for plague and pestilence? Would you so
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
27
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A REPLY TO THE NEW YORK CLERGY ON SUPERSTITION.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
make your world that life should feed on life, that the quivering
|
|||
|
|
flesh should be torn by tooth and beak and claw? Would you?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Now, answer fairly. Do not quote Scripture; just answer, and
|
|||
|
|
be honest.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Would you make different races of men? Would you make them of
|
|||
|
|
different colors, and would you so make them that they would
|
|||
|
|
persecute and enslave each other? Would you so arrange matters that
|
|||
|
|
millions and millions should toil through many generations, paid
|
|||
|
|
only by the lash on the back? Would you have it so that millions
|
|||
|
|
and millions of babes would be sold from the breasts of mothers? Be
|
|||
|
|
honest.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Would you provide for religious persecution? For the invention
|
|||
|
|
and use of instruments of torture? Would you see to it that the
|
|||
|
|
rack was not forgotten, and that the fagot was not overlooked or
|
|||
|
|
unlighted? Would you make a world in which the wrong would triumph?
|
|||
|
|
Would you make a world in which innocence would not be a shield?
|
|||
|
|
Would you make a world where the best would be loaded with chains?
|
|||
|
|
Where the best would die in the darkness of dungeons? Where the
|
|||
|
|
best would make scaffolds sacred with their blood?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Would you make a world where hypocrisy and cunning and fraud
|
|||
|
|
should represent God, and where meanness would suck the blood of
|
|||
|
|
honest credulity?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Would you provide for the settlement of all difficulties by
|
|||
|
|
war? Would you so make your world that the weak would bear the
|
|||
|
|
burdens, so that woman would be a slave, so that children would be
|
|||
|
|
trampled upon as though they were poisonous reptiles? Would you
|
|||
|
|
fill the woods with wild beasts? Would you make a few volcanoes to
|
|||
|
|
overwhelm your children? Would you provide for earthquakes that
|
|||
|
|
would swallow them? Would you make them ignorant, savage, and fill
|
|||
|
|
their minds with all the phantoms of horror? Would you?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Now, it will only take you a few moments to answer these
|
|||
|
|
questions, and if you say you would, then I shall be satisfied that
|
|||
|
|
you believe in the orthodox God, and that you are as bad as he. If
|
|||
|
|
you say you would not, I will admit that there is a little dawn of
|
|||
|
|
intelligence in your brain.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
At the same time I want it understood with regard to all these
|
|||
|
|
ministers that I am a friend of theirs. I am trying to civilize
|
|||
|
|
their congregations, so that the congregations may allow the
|
|||
|
|
ministers to develop, to grow, to become really and truly
|
|||
|
|
intelligent. The process is slow, but it is sure.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
**** ****
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Reproducible Electronic Publishing can defeat censorship.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The Bank of Wisdom is always looking for more of these old,
|
|||
|
|
hidden, suppressed and forgotten books that contain needed facts
|
|||
|
|
and information for today. If you have such books please contact
|
|||
|
|
us, we need to give them back to America.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
|
28
|
|||
|
|
|