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Bank of Wisdom, Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
The Works of ROBERT G. INGERSOLL
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THE DEVIL.
1899
IF THE DEVIL SHOULD DIE WOULD GOD MAKE ANOTHER?
A little
while ago I delivered a lecture on "Superstition," in
which, among other things, I said
that the Christian world could
not deny the existence of the Devil;
that the Devil was really the
keystone of the arch, and that
to take him away was to destroy the
entire system.
A great
many clergymen answered or criticized this statement.
Some of these ministers avowed
their belief in the existence of his
Satanic Majesty, while others actually
denied his existence; but
some, without stating their own
position, said that others
believed, not in the existence
of a personal devil, but in the
personification of evil, and that
all references to the Devil in
the Scriptures could be explained
on the hypothesis that the Devil
thus alluded to was simply a personification
of evil.
When I
read these answers I thought of this line from Heine:
"Christ rode on an ass, but now
asses ride on Christ."
Now, the
questions are, first, whether the Devil does really
exist; second, whether the sacred
Scriptures teach the existence of
the Devil and of unclean spirits,
and third, whether this belief in
devils is a necessary part of what
is known as "orthodox
Christianity."
Now, where
did the idea that a Devil exists come from? How was
it produced?
Fear is
an artist -- a sculptor -- a painter. All tribes and
nations, having suffered, having
been the sport and prey of natural
phenomena, having been struck by
lightning, poisoned by weeds,
overwhelmed by volcanoes, destroyed
by earthquakes, believed in the
existence of a Devil, who was the
king -- the ruler -- of
innumerable smaller devils, and
all these devils have been from
time immemorial regarded as the
enemies of men.
Along the
banks of the Ganges wandered the Asuras, the most
powerful of evil spirits. Their
business was to war against the
Devas -- that is to say, the gods
-- and at the same time against
human beings. There, too, were
the ogres, the Jakshas and many
others who killed and devoured
human beings.
The Persians
turned this around, and with them the Asuras were
good and the Devas bad. Ormuzd
was the good -- the god -- Ahriman
the evil -- the devil -- and between
the god and the devil was
waged a perpetual war. Some of
the Persians thought that the evil
would finally triumph, but others
insisted that the good would be
the victor.
In Egypt
the devil was Set -- or, as usually called, Typhon --
and the good god was Osiris. Set
and his legions fought against
Osiris and against the human race.
Among the
Greeks, the Titans were the enemies of the gods. Ate
was the spirit that tempted, and
such was her power that at one
time she tempted and misled the
god of gods, even Zeus himself.
These ideas
about gods and devils often changed, because in
the days of Socrates a demon was
not a devil, but a guardian angel.
We obtain
our Devil from the Jews, and they got him from
Babylon. The Jews cultivated the
science of Demonology, and at one
time it was believed that there
were nine kinds of demons:
Beelzebub, prince of the false
gods of the other nations; the
Pythian Apollo, prince of liars;
Belial, prince of mischief makers.
Asmodeus, prince of revengeful
devils; Satan, prince of witches and
magicians; Meresin, prince of aerial
devils, who caused
thunderstorms and plagues; Abaddon,
who caused wars, tumults and
combustions; Diabolus, who drives
to despair, and Mammon, prince of
the tempters.
It was
believed that demons and sorcerers frequently came
together and held what were called
"Sabbats;" that is to say,
orgies. It was also known that
sorcerers and witches had marks on
their bodies that had been imprinted
by the Devil.
Of course
these devils were all made by the people, and in
these devils we find the prejudices
of their makers. The Europeans
always represent their devils as
black, while the Africans believed
that theirs were white.
So, it
was believed that people by the aid of the Devil could
assume any shape they wished. Witches
and wizards were changed into
wolves, dogs, cats and serpents.
This change to animal form was
exceedingly common.
Within
two years, between 1598 and 1600, in one district of
France, the district of Jura, more
than six hundred men and women
were tried and convicted before
one judge of having changed
themselves into wolves, and all
were put to death.
This is only one instance. There are thousands.
There is
no time to give the history of this belief in devils.
It has been universal. The consequences
have been terrible beyond
the imagination. Millions and millions
of men, women and children,
of fathers and mothers, have been
sacrificed upon the altar of this
ignorant and idiotic belief.
Of course,
the Christians of to-day do not believe that the
devils of the Hindus, Egyptians,
Persians or Babylonians existed.
They think that those nations created
their own devils, precisely
the same as they did their own
gods. But the Christians of to-day
admit that for many centuries Christians
did believe in the
existence of countless devils;
that the Fathers of the church
believed as sincerely in the Devil
and his demons as in God and his
angels; that they were just as
sure about hell as heaven.
I admit
that people did the best they could to account for
what they saw, for what they experienced.
I admit that the devils
as well as the gods were naturally
produced -- the effect of nature
upon the human brain. The cause
of phenomena filled our ancestors
not only with wonder, but with
terror. The miraculous, the
supernatural, was not only believed
in, but was always expected.
A man walking
in the woods at night -- just a glimmering of
the moon -- everything uncertain
and shadowy -- sees a monstrous
form. One arm is raised. His blood
grows cold, his hair lifts. In
the gloom he sees the eyes of an
ogre -- eyes that flame with
malice. He feels that the something
is approaching. He turns, and
with a cry of horror takes to his
heels. He is afraid to look back.
Spent, out of breath, shaking with
fear, he reaches his hut and
falls at the door. When he regains
consciousness, he tells his
story and, of course, the children
believe. When they become men
and women they tell father's story
of having seen the Devil to
their children, and so the children
and grandchildren not only
believe, but think they know, that
their father -- their
grandfather -- actually saw a devil.
An old
woman sitting by the fire at night -- a storm raging
without -- hears the mournful sough
of the wind. To her it becomes
a voice. Her imagination is touched,
and the voice seems to utter
words. Out of these words she constructs
a message or a warning
from the unseen world. If the words
are good, she has heard an
angel; if they are threatening
and malicious, she has heard a
devil. She tells this to her children
and they believe. They say
that mother's religion is good
enough for them. A girl suffering
from hysteria falls into a trance
-- has visions of the infernal
world. The priest sprinkles holy
water on her pallid face, saying:
"She hath a devil." A man utters
a terrible cry; falls to the
ground; foam and blood issue from
his mouth; his limbs are
convulsed. The spectators say:
"This is the Devils work."
Through
all the ages people have mistaken dreams and visions
of fear for realities. To them
the insane were inspired; epileptics
were possessed by devils; apoplexy
was the work of an unclean
spirit. For many centuries people
believed that they had actually
seen the malicious phantoms of
the night, and so thorough was this
belief -- so vivid -- that they
made pictures of them. They knew
how they looked. They drew and
chiseled their hoofs, their horns --
all their malicious deformities.
Now, I
admit that all these monsters were naturally produced.
The people believed that hell was
their native land; that the Devil
was a king, and that he and his
imps waged war against the children
of men. Curiously enough some of
these devils were made out of
degraded gods, and, naturally enough,
many devils were made out of
the gods of other nations. So that
frequently the gods of one
people were the devils of another.
In nature
there are opposing forces. Some of the forces work
for what man calls good; some for
what he calls evil. Back of these
forces our ancestors put will,
intelligence and design. They could
not believe that the good and evil
came from the same being. So
back of the good they put God;
back of the evil, the Devil.
II
THE ATLAS OF CHRISTIANITY IS THE DEVIL.
The religion
known as "Christianity" was invented by God
himself to repair in part the wreck
and ruin that had resulted from
the Devil's work.
Take the
Devil from the scheme of salvation -- from the
atonement -- from the dogma of
eternal pain -- and the foundation
is gone.
The Devil is the keystone of the arch.
He inflicted
the wounds that Christ came to heal. He corrupted
the human race.
The question
now is: Does the Old Testament teach the
existence of the Devil?
If the
Old Testament teaches anything, it does teach the
existence of the Devil, of Satan,
of the Serpent, of the enemy of
God and man, the deceiver of men
and women.
Those who
believe the Scriptures are compelled to say that
this Devil was created by God,
and that God knew when he created
him just what he would do -- the
exact measure of his success; knew
that he would be a successful rival;
knew that he would deceive and
corrupt the children of men; knew
that, by reason of this Devil,
countless millions of human beings
would suffer eternal torment in
the prison of pain. And this God
also knew when he created the
Devil, that he, God, would be compelled
to leave his throne, to be
born a babe in Palestine, and to
suffer a cruel death. All this he
knew when he created the Devil.
Why did he create him?
It is no
answer to say that this Devil was once an angel of
light and fell from his high estate
because he was free. God knew
what he would do with his freedom
when he made him and gave him
liberty of action, and as a matter
of fact must have made him with
the intention that he should rebel;
that he should fall; that he
should become a devil; that he
should tempt and corrupt the father
and mother of the human race; that
he should make hell a necessity,
and that, in consequence of his
creation, countless millions of the
children of men would suffer eternal
pain. Why did he create him?
Admit that
God is infinitely wise. Has he ingenuity enough to
frame an excuse for the creation
of the Devil?
Does the
Old Testament teach the existence of a real, living
Devil?
The first
account of this being is found in Genesis, and in
that account he is called the "Serpent."
He is declared to have
been more subtle than any beast
of the field. According to the
account, this Serpent had a conversation
with Eve, the first woman.
We are not told in what language
they conversed, or how they
understood each other, as this
was the first time they had met.
Where did Eve get her language?
Where did the Serpent get his? Of
course, such questions are impudent,
but at the same time they are
natural.
The result
of this conversation was that Eve ate the forbidden
fruit and induced Adam to do the
same. This is what is called the
"Fall," and for this they were
expelled from the Garden of Eden.
On account
of this, God cursed the earth with weeds and thorns
and brambles, cursed man with toil,
made woman a slave, and cursed
maternity with pain and sorrow.
How men -- good men -- can worship
this God; how women -- good women
-- can love this Jehovah, is
beyond my imagination.
In addition
to the other curses the Serpent was cursed --
condemned to crawl on his belly
and to eat dust. We do not know by
what means, before that time, he
moved from place to place --
whether he walked or flew; neither
do we know on what food he
lived; all we know is that after
that time he crawled and lived on
dust. Jehovah told him that this
he should do all the days of his
life. It would seem from this that
the Serpent was not at that time
immortal -- that there was somewhere
in the future a milepost at
which the life of this Serpent
stopped. Whether he is living yet or
not, I am not certain.
It will
not do to say that this is allegory, or a poem,
because this proves too much. If
the Serpent did not in fact exist,
how do we know that Adam and Eve
existed? Is all that is said about
God allegory, and poetic, or mythical?
Is the whole account, after
all, an ignorant dream?
Neither
will it do to say that the Devil -- the Serpent -- was
a personification of evil. Do personifications
of evil talk? Can a
personification of evil crawl on
its belly? Can a personification
of evil eat dust? If we say that
the Devil was a personification of
evil, are we not at the same time
compelled to say that Jehovah was
a personification of good; that
the Garden of Eden was the
personification of a place, and
that the whole story is a
personification of something that
did not happen? Maybe that Adam
and Eve were not driven out of
the Garden; they may have suffered
only the personification of exile.
And maybe the cherubim placed at
the gate of Eden, with flaming
swords, were only personifications
of policemen.
There is
no escape. If the Old Testament is true, the Devil
does exist, and it is impossible
to explain him away without at the
same time explaining God away.
So there
are many references to devils, and spirits of
divination and of evil which I
have not the time to call attention
to; but, in the Book of Job, Satan,
the Devil has a conversation
with God. It is this Devil that
brings the sorrows and losses on
the upright man. It is this Devil
that raises the storm that wrecks
the homes of Job's children. It
is this Devil that kills the
children of Job. -- Take this Devil
from that book, and all
meaning, plot and purpose fade
away.
Is it possible
to say that the Devil in Job was only a
personification of evil?
In Chronicles
we are told that Satan provoked David to number
Israel. For this act of David,
caused by the Devil, God did not
smite the Devil, did not punish
David, but he killed 70,000 poor
innocent Jews who had done nothing
but stand up and be counted.
Was this
Devil who tempted David a personification of evil, or
was Jehovah a personification of
the devilish?
In Zachariah
we are told that Joshua stood before the angel of
the Lord, and that Satan stood
at his right hand to resist him, and
that the Lord rebuked Satan.
If words
convey any meaning, the Old Testament teaches the
existence of the Devil.
All the
passages about witches and those having familiar spits
were born of a belief in the Devil.
When a man who loved Jehovah
wanted revenge on his enemy he
fell on his holy knees, and from a
heart full of religion he cried;
"Let Satan stand at his right
hand."
III
TAKE THE DEVIL FROM THE DRAMA OF CHRISTIANITY
AND THE PLOT IS GONE.
The next
question is: Does the New Testament teach the
existence of the Devil?
As a matter
of fact, the New Testament is far more explicit
than the Old. The Jews, believing
that Jehovah was God, had very
little business for a devil. Jehovah
was wicked enough and
malicious enough to take the Devil's
place.
The first
reference in the New Testament to the Devil is in
the fourth chapter of Matthew.
We are told that Jesus was led by
the Spirit into the wilderness
to be tempted of the Devil.
It seems
that he was not led by the Devil into the wilderness,
but by the Spirit; that the Spirit
and the Devil were acting
together in a kind of pious conspiracy.
In the
wilderness Jesus fasted forty days, and then the Devil
asked him to turn stones into bread.
The Devil also took him to
Jerusalem and set him on a pinnacle
of the temple, and tried to
induce him to leap to the earth.
The Devil also took him to the top
of a mountain and showed him all
the kingdoms of the world and
offered them all to him in exchange
for his worship. Jesus refused.
The Devil went away and angels
came and ministered to Christ.
Now, the
question is: Did the author of this account believe
in the existence of the Devil,
or did he regard this Devil as a
personification of evil, and did
he intend that his account should
be understood as an allegory, or
as a poem, or as a myth.
Was Jesus
tempted? If he was tempted, who tempted him? Did
anybody offer him the kingdoms
of the world?
Did the
writer of the account try to convey to the reader the
thought that Christ was tempted
by the Devil?
If Christ
was not tempted by the Devil, then the temptation
was born in his own heart. If that
be true, can it be said that he
was divine? If these adders, these
vipers, were coiled in his
bosom, was he the son of God? Was
he pure?
In the
same chapter we are told that Christ healed "those
which were possessed of devils,
and those which were lunatic, and
those that had the palsy."
From this
it is evident that a distinction was made between
those possessed with devils and
those whose minds were affected and
those who were afflicted with diseases.
In the
eighth chapter we are told that people brought unto
Christ many that were possessed
with devils, and that he cast out
the spirits with his word. Now,
can we say that these people were
possessed with personifications
of evil, and that these
personifications of evil were cast
out? Are these personifications
entities? Have they form and shape?
Do they occupy space?
Then comes
the story of the two men possessed with devils who
came from the tombs, and were exceeding
fierce. It is said that
when they saw Jesus they cried
out: "What have we to do with thee,
Jesus, thou Son of God? Art thou
come hither to torment us before
the time?"
If these
were simply personifications of evil, how did they
know that Jesus was the Son of
God, and how can a personification
of evil be tormented?
We are
told that at the same time, a good way off, many swine
were feeding, and that the devils
besought Christ, saying: "If thou
cast us out, suffer us to go away
into the herd of swine." And he
said unto them: "Go."
Is it possible
that personifications of evil would desire to
enter the bodies of swine, and
is it possible that it was necessary
for them to have the consent of
Christ before they could enter the
swine? The question naturally arises:
How did they enter into the
body of the man? Did they do that
without Christ's consent, and is
it a fact that Christ protects
swine and neglects human beings? Can
personifications have desires?
In the
ninth chapter of Matthew there was a dumb man brought
to Jesus, possessed with a devil.
Jesus cast out the devil and the
dumb man spoke.
Did a personification
of evil prevent the dumb man from
talking? Did it in some way paralyze
his organs of speech? Could it
have done this had it only been
a personification of evil?
In the
tenth chapter Jesus gives his twelve disciples power to
cast out unclean spirits. What
were unclean spirits supposed to be?
Did they really exist? Were they
shadows, impersonations,
allegories?
When Jesus
sent his disciples forth on the great mission to
convert the world, among other
things he told them to heal the
sick, to raise the dead and to
cast out devils. Here a distinction
is made between the sick and those
who were possessed by evil
spirits.
Now, what did Christ mean by devils?
In the
twelfth chapter we are told of a very remarkable case.
There was brought unto Jesus one
possessed with a devil, blind and
dumb, and Jesus healed him. The
blind and dumb both spoke and saw.
Thereupon the Pharisees said: "This
fellow doth not cast out devils
but by Beelzebub, the prince of
devils."
Jesus answered
by saying: "Every kingdom divided against
itself is brought to desolation.
If Satan cast out Satan, he is
divided against himself."
Why did
not Christ tell the Pharisees that he did not cast out
devils -- only personifications
of evil; and that with these
personifications Beelzebub had
nothing to do?
Another
question: Did the Pharisees believe in the existence
of devils, or had they the personification
idea?
At the
same time Christ said: "If I cast out devils by the
Spirit of God, then the kingdom
of God is come unto you."
If he meant
anything by these words he certainly intended to
convey the idea that what he did
demonstrated the superiority of
God over the Devil.
Did Christ
believe in the existence of the Devil? In the
fifteenth chapter is the account
of the woman of Canaan who cried
unto Jesus, saying: "Have mercy
on me, O Lord, thou son of David.
My daughter is sorely vexed with
a devil." On account of her faith
Christ made the daughter whole.
In the
sixteenth chapter a man brought his son to Jesus. The
boy was a lunatic, sore vexed,
oftentimes falling in the fire and
water. The disciples had tried
to cure him and had failed. Jesus
rebuked the devil, and the devil departed out of him and the boy
was cured. Was the devil in this
case a personification of evil?
The disciples
then asked Jesus why they could not cast that
devil out. Jesus told them that
it was because of their unbelief,
and then added: "Howbeit this kind
goeth not out but by prayer and
fasting" From this it would seem
that some personifications were
easier to expel than others.
The first
chapter of Mark throws a little light on the story
of the temptation of Christ. Matthew
tells us that Jesus was led up
of the Spirit into the wilderness
to be tempted of the Devil. In
Mark we are told who this Spirit
was:
"And straightway
coming up out of the water he saw the heavens
opened, and the Spirit like a dove
descending upon him.
"And there
came a voice from heaven, saying: 'Thou art my
beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased.'
"And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness."
Why the
Holy Ghost should hand Christ over to the tender
mercies of the Devil is not explained.
And it is all the more
wonderful when we remember that
the Holy Ghost was the third person
in the Trinity and Christ the second,
and that this Holy Ghost was,
in fact, God, and that Christ also
was, in fact, God, so that God
led God into the wilderness to
be tempted of the Devil.
We are
told that Christ was in the wilderness forty days
tempted of Satan, and was with
the wild beasts, and that the angels
ministered unto him.
Were these
angels real angels, or were they personifications
of good, of comfort?
So we see
that the same Spirit that came out of heaven, the
same Spirit that said "This is
my beloved son," drove Christ into
the wilderness to be tempted of
Satan.
Was this
Devil a real being? Was this Spirit who claimed to be
the father of Christ a real being,
or was he a personification? Are
the heavens a real place? Are they
a personification? Did the wild
beasts live and did the angels
minister unto Christ? In other
words, is the story true, or is
it poetry, or metaphor, or mistake,
or falsehood?
It might
be asked: Why did God wish to be tempted by the
Devil? Was God ambitious to obtain
a victory over Satan? Was Satan
foolish enough to think that he
could mislead God, and is it
possible that the Devil offered
to give the world as a bribe to its
creator and owner, knowing at the
same time that Christ was the
creator and owner, and also knowing
that he (Christ) knew that he
(the Devil) knew that he (Christ)
was the creator and owner?
Is not
the whole story absurdly idiotic? The Devil knew that
Christ was God, and knew that Christ
knew that the tempter was the
Devil.
It may be asked how I know that the Devil knew that Christ was
God. My answer is found in the
same chapter. There is an account of
what a devil said to Christ:
"Let us
alone. What have we to do with thee thou Jesus of
Nazareth? An thou come to destroy
us? I know thee. Thou art the
holy one of God.
Certainly,
if the little devils knew this, the Devil himself
must have had like information.
Jesus rebuked this devil and said
to him: "Hold thy peace, and come
out of him." And when the unclean
spirit had torn him and cried with
a loud voice, he came out of
him.
So we are
told that Jesus cast out many devils, and suffered
not the devils to speak because
they knew him. So it is said in the
third chapter that "unclean spirits,
when they saw him, fell down
before him and cried, saying, 'Thou
art the son of God.'"
In the
fifth chapter is an account of casting out the devils
that went into the swine, and we
are told that the devils besought
him saying, 'Send us into the swine.'
And Jesus gave them leave."
Again I
ask: Was it necessary for the devils to get the
permission of Christ before they
could enter swine? Again I ask: By
whose permission did they enter
into the man?
Could personifications
of evil enter a herd of swine, could
personifications of evil make a
bargain with Christ?
In the
sixth chapter we are told that the disciples "cast out
many devils and anointed with oil
many that were sick." Here again
the distinction is made between
those possessed by devils and those
afflicted by disease. It will not
do to say that the devils were
diseases or personifications.
In the
seventh chapter a Greek woman whose daughter was
possessed by a devil besought Christ
to cast this devil out. At
last Christ said: "The devil is
gone out of thy daughter."
In the
ninth chapter one of the multitude said unto Christ: "I
have brought unto thee my son which
hath a dumb spirit. I spoke
unto thy disciples that they should
cast him out, and they could
not."
So they
brought this boy before Christ, and when the boy saw
him, the spirit tare him, and he
fell on the ground and "wallowed,
foaming."
Christ
asked the father: "long is it ago since this came unto
him? "And he answered: "Of a child,
and ofttimes it hath cast him
into the fire and into the waters
to destroy him."
Then Christ
said: "Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee,
come out of him, and enter no more
into him."
"And the
spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him;
and he was as one dead; insomuch
that many said, 'He is dead.'"
Then the
disciples asked Jesus why they could not cast them
out, and Jesus said: "This kind
can come forth by nothing but by
prayer and fasting."
Is there
any doubt about the belief of the man who wrote this
account? Is there any allegory,
or poetry, or myth in this story?
The devil, in this case, was not
an ordinary, every-day devil. He
was dumb and deaf; it was no use
to order him out, because he could
not hear. The only way was to pray
and fast.
Is there
such a thing as a dumb and deaf devil? If so, the
devils must be organized. They
must have ears and organs of speech,
and they must be dumb because there
is something the matter with
the apparatus of speaking, and
they must be deaf because something
is the matter with their ears.
It would seem from this that they
are not simply spiritual beings,
but organized on a physical basis.
Now, we know that the ears do not
hear. It is the brain that hears.
So these devils must have brains;
that is to say, they must have
been what we call "organized beings."
Now, it
is hardly possible that personifications of evil are
dumb or deaf. That is to say, that
they have physical
imperfections.
In the
same chapter John tells Christ that he saw one casting
out devils in Christ's name who
did not follow with them, and Jesus
said: "Forbid him not."
By this
he seemed to admit that some one, not a follower of
his, was casting out devils in
his name, and he was willing that he
should go on, because, as he said:
"For there is no man which shall
do a miracle in my name that can
lightly speak evil of me"
In the
fourth chapter of Luke the story of the temptation of
Christ by the Devil is again told
with a few additions. All the
writers, having been inspired,
did not remember exactly the same
things.
Luke tells
us that the Devil said unto Christ, having shown
him all the kingdoms of the world
in a moment of time: "All this
power will I give thee and the
glory of them, for that is delivered
unto me and to whomsoever I will
I give it. If thou wilt worship
me, all shall be thine."
We are
also told that when the Devil had ended all the
temptation he departed from him
for a season. The date of his
return is not given.
In the
same chapter we are told that a man in the synagogue
had a "spirit of an unclean devil."
This devil recognized Jesus and
admitted that he was the Holy One
of God.
As a matter
of fact, the apostles seemed to have relied upon
the evidence of devils to substantiate
the divinity of their Lord.
Jesus said
to this devil: "Hold thy peace and come out of
him." And the devil, after throwing
the man down, came out.
In the
forty-first verse of the same chapter it is said: "And
devils also came out of many, crying
out and saying, 'Thou art
Christ, the Son of God.'"
It is also
said that Christ rebuked them and suffered them not
to speak, for they knew that he
was Christ. Now, it will not do to
say that these devils were diseases,
because diseases could not
talk, and diseases would not recognize
Christ as the Son of God.
After all, epilepsy is not a theologian.
I admit that lunacy comes
nearer.
In the
eighth chapter is told again the story of the devils
and the swine. In this account,
Jesus asked the devil his name, and
the devil replied "Legion."
In the
ninth chapter is told the story of the devil that the
disciples could not cast out, but
was cast out by Christ, and in
the thirteenth chapter it is said
that the Pharisees came to Jesus,
telling him to go away, because
Herod would kill him, and Jesus
said unto these Pharisees; "Go
ye, and tell that fox, behold, I
cast out devils."
What did
he mean by this? Did he mean that he cured diseases?
No. Because in the same sentence
he says, "And I do cures to-day,"
making a distinction between devils
and diseases.
In the
twenty-second chapter an account of the betrayal of
Christ by Judas is given in these
words:
"Then entered
Satan into Judas Iscariot, being of the number
of the twelve."
"And he
went his way and communed with the chief priests and
captains how he might betray him
unto them.
"And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money."
According
to Christ the little devils knew that he was the Son
of God. Certainly, then, Satan,
king of all the fiends, knew that
Christ was divine. And he not only
knew that, but he knew all about
the scheme of salvation. He knew
that Christ wished to make an
atonement of blood by the sacrifice
of himself.
According
to Christian theologians, the Devil has always done
his utmost to gain possession of
the souls of men. At the time he
entered into Judas, persuading
him to betray Christ, he knew that
if Christ was betrayed he would
be crucified, and that he would
make an atonement for all believers,
and that, as a result, he, the
Devil, would lose all the souls
that Christ gained.
What interest
had the Devil in defeating himself? If he could
have prevented the betrayal, then
Christ would not have been
crucified. No atonement would have
been made, and the whole world
would have gone to hell. The success
of the Devil would have been
complete. But, according to this
story, the Devil outwitted
himself.
How thankful
we should be to his Satanic Majesty. He opened
for us the gates of Paradise and
made it possible for us to obtain
eternal life. Without Satan, without
Judas, not a single human
being could have become an angel
of light. All would have been
wingless devils in the prison of
flame. In Jerusalem, to the extent
of his power, Satan repaired the
wreck and ruin he had wrought in
the Garden of Eden.
Certainly
the writers of the New Testament believed in the
existence of the Devil.
In the
eighth chapter it is said that out of Mary Magdalene
were cast seven devils. To me Mary
Magdalene is the most beautiful
character in the New Testament.
She is the one true disciple. In
the darkness of the crucifixion
she lingered near. She was the
first at the sepulcher. Defeat,
disaster, disgrace, could not
conquer her love. And yet, according
to the account, when she met
the risen Christ, he said: "Touch
me not." This was the reward of
her infinite devotion.
In the
Gospel of John we are told that John the Baptist said
that he saw the Spirit descending
from heaven like a dove, and that
it abode upon Christ. But in the
Gospel of John nothing is said
about the Spirit driving Christ
into the wilderness to be tempted
by the Devil. Possibly John never
heard of that, or forgot it, or
did not believe it. But in the
thirteenth chapter I find this:
"supper
being ended, the Devil having now put into the heart
of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son,
to betray him." * * *
In John
there are no accounts of the casting out of devils by
Christ or his apostles. On that
subject there is no word. Possibly
John had his doubts.
In the
fifth chapter of Acts we are told that the people
brought the sick and those which
were vexed with unclean spirits to
the apostles, and the apostles
healed them. Here again there is
made a clear distinction between
the sick and those possessed by
devils. And in the eighth chapter
we are told that "unclean
spirits, crying with a loud voice,
came out of them.
In the
thirteen chapter Paul calls Elymas the child of the
Devil, and in the sixteenth chapter
an account is given of "a
damsel possessed with a spirit
of divination, who brought her
masters much gain by soothsaying."
Paul and
Silas, it would seem, cast out this spirit, and by
reason of that suffered great persecution.
In the
nineteenth chapter certain vagabond Jews pronounced
over those who had evil spirits
the name of Jesus, and the evil
spirits answered: "Jesus I know,
and Paul I know, but who are ye?"
"And the
man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them so
that they fled naked and wounded."
Paul, writing to the Corinthians, in the eighth chapter says:
"I would
not that ye should have fellowship with devils. Ye
cannot drink the cup of the Lord
and the cup of devils. Ye cannot
be partakers of the Lord's table
and the table of devils. Do we
provoke the Lord to jealousy?"
In the
eleventh chapter he says that long hair is the glory of
woman, but that she ought to keep
her head covered because of the
angels.
In those
intellectual days people believed in what were called
the Incubi and the Succubi. The
Incubi were male angels and the
Succubi were female angels, and
according to the belief of that
time nothing so attracted the Incubi
as the beautiful hair of
women, and for this reason Paul
said that women should keep their
heads covered. Paul calls the Devil
the "prince of the power of the
air."
So in Jude
we are told "that Michael, the archangel, when
contending with the devil he disputed
about the body of Moses,
durst not bring against him a railing
accusation, but said, 'The
Lord rebuke thee.'"
Was this
devil with whom Michael contended a personification
of evil, or a poem, or a myth?
In First
Peter we are told to be sober, vigilant, "because
your adversary, the Devil, as a
roaring lion, walketh about,
seeking whom he may devour."
Are people
devoured by personifications or myths? Has an
allegory an appetite, or is a poem
a cannibal?
So in Ephesians
we are warned not to give place to the Devil,
and in the same book we are told:
"Put on the whole armor of God,
that ye may be able to stand against
the wiles of the Devil."
And in
Hebrews it is said that "him that had the power of
death -- that is, the Devil;" showing
that the Devil has the power
of death.
And in
James it is said that if we resist the Devil he will
flee from us; and in first John
we are told that he that committeth
sin is of the Devil, for the reason
that the Devil sinneth from the
beginning; and we are also told
that "for this purpose was the Son
of God manifested, that he may
destroy the works of the Devil."
No Devil -- no Christ.
In Revelation,
the insanest of all books, I find the
following: "And there was war in
heaven. Michael and his angels
fought against the dragon, and
the dragon fought and his angels.
"And prevailed
not; neither was their place found any more in
heaven.
"And the
great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called
the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth
the whole world: he was cast
out into the earth, and his angels
were cast out with him.
"Therefore,
rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them.
Woe to the inhibitors of the earth
and of the sea; for the devil is
come down unto you, having great
wrath, because he knoweth that he
hath but a short time."
from this
it would appear that the Devil once lived in heaven,
raised a rebellion, was defeated
and cast out, and the inspired
writer congratulates the angels
that they are rid of him and
commiserates us that we have him.
In the twentieth chapter of Revelation is the following:
"And I
saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of
the bottomless pit and a great
chain in his hand.
"And he
laid hold on the dragon -- that old serpent, which is
the Devil and Satan -- and bound
him a thousand years.
"And cast
him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and
set a seal upon him, that he should
deceive the nations no more
till the thousand years should
be fulfilled; and after he must be
loosed a little season."
It is hard
to understand how one could be confined in a pit
without a bottom, and how a chain
of iron could hold one in eternal
fire, or what use there would be
to lock a bottomless pit; but
these are questions probably suggested
by the Devil.
We are
further told that "when the thousand years are expired
Satan shall be loosed out of his
prison."
"And the
Devil was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone
where the beast and the false prophet
are, and shall be tormented
day and night forever."
In the
light of the passages that I have read we can clearly
see what the writers of the New
Testament believed. About this
there can be no honest difference.
If the gospels teach the
existence of God -- of Christ --
they teach the existence of the
Devil. If the Devil does not exist
-- if little devils do not enter
the bodies of men -- the New Testament
may be inspired, but it is
not true.
The early
Christians proved that Christ was divine because he
cast out devils. The evidence they
offered was more absurd than the
statement they sought to prove.
They were like the old man who said
that he saw a grindstone floating
down the river. Some one said
that a grindstone would not float.
"Ah," said the old man, "but the
one I saw had an iron crank in
it."
Of course,
I do not blame the authors of the gospels. They
lived in a superstitious age, at
a time when Rumor was the
historian, when Gossip corrected
the "proof," and when everything
was believed except the facts.
The apostles, like
their fellows, believed in miracles and
magic. Credulity was regarded as
a virtue.
The Rev.
Mr. Parkhurst denounces the apostles as worthless
cravens. Certainly I do not agree
with him. I think that they were
good men. I do not believe that
any one of them ever tried to
reform Jerusalem on the Parkhurst
plan. I admit that they honestly
believed in devils -- that they
were credulous and superstitious.
There is
one story in the New Testament that illustrates my
meaning.
In the fifth chapter of John is the following:
"Now, there
is at Jerusalem, by the sheep market, a pool,
which is called in the Hebrew tongue
'Bethesda,' having five
porches.
"In these
lay a great multitude of impotent folk -- of blind,
halt, withered -- waiting for the
moving of the water.
"For an
angel went down at a certain season into the pool and
troubled the water: whosoever then
first after the troubling of the
water stepped in was made whole
of whatsoever disease he had.
"And a
certain man was there which had an infirmity thirty and
eight years.
"When Jesus
saw him lie and knew that he had been now a long
time in that case, he saith unto
him: 'Wilt thou be made whole?'
"The impotent
man answered him: 'Sir, I have no man when the
water is troubled to put me into
the pool; but while I am coming
another steppeth down before me.'
"Jesus saith unto him; 'Rise, take up thy bed and walk.'
"And immediately
the man was made whole and took up his bed
and walked."
Does any
sensible human being now believe this story? Was the
water of Bethesda troubled by an
angel? Where did the angel come
from? Where do angels live? Did
the angel put medicine in the water
-- just enough to cure one? Did
he put in different medicines for
different diseases, or did he have
a medicine, like those that are
patented now, that cured all diseases
Just the same?
Was the
water troubled by an angel? Possibly, what apostles
and theologians call an angel a
scientist knows as carbonic acid
gas.
John does
not say that the people thought the water was
troubled by an angel, but he states
it as a fact. And he tells us,
also, as a fact, that the first
invalid that got in the water after
it had been troubled was cured
of what disease he had.
What is
the evidence of John worth?
Again I
say that if the Devil does not exist the gospels are
not inspired. If devils do not
exist Christ was either honestly
mistaken, insane or an impostor.
If devils
do not exist the fall of man is a mistake and the
atonement an absurdity. If devils
do not exist hell becomes only a
dream of revenge.
Beneath
the structure called "Christianity" are four
cornerstones -- the Father, Son,
Holy Ghost and Devil.
IV
THE EVIDENCE OF THE CHURCH.
All the
fathers of the church believed in devils. All the
saints won their crowns by overcoming
devils. All the popes and
cardinals, bishops and priests,
believed in devils. Most of their
time was occupied in fighting devils.
The whole Catholic world,
from the lowest layman to the highest
priest, believed in devils.
They proved the existence of devils
by the New Testament. They knew
that these devils were citizens
of hell. They knew that Satan was
their king. They knew that hell
was made for the Devil and his
angels.
The founders
of all the Protestant churches -- the makers of
all the orthodox creeds -- all
the leading Protestant theologians,
from Luther to the president of
Princeton College -- were, and are,
firm believers in the Devil. All
the great commentators believed in
the Devil as firmly as they did
in God.
Under the
"Scheme of Salvation" the Devil was a necessity.
Somebody had to be responsible
for the thorns and thistles, for the
cruelties and crimes. Somebody
had to father the mistakes of God.
The Devil was the scapegoat of
Jehovah.
For hundreds
of years, good, honest, zealous Christians
contended against the Devil. They
fought him day and night, and the
thought that they had beaten him
gave to their dying lips the smile
of victory.
For centuries
the church taught that the natural man was
totally depraved; that he was by
nature a child of the Devil, and
that new-born babes were tainted
by unclean spirits.
As late
as the middle of the sixteenth century, every infant
that was baptized was, by that
ceremony, freed from a devil. When
the holy water was applied the
priest said: "I command thee, thou
unclean spirit, in the name of
the Father, of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost, that thou come out
and depart from this infant, whom
our Lord Jesus Christ has vouchsafed
to call to his holy baptism,
to be made a member of his body,
and of his holy congregation." At
that time the fathers -- the theologians,
the commentators --
agreed that unbaptized children,
including those that were born
dead, went to hell.
And these
same fathers -- theologians and commentators --
said: "God is love."
These babes
were pure as Pity's tears, innocent as their
mother's loving smiles, and yet
the makers of our creeds believed
and taught that leering, unclean
fiends inhabited their dimpled
flesh. O, the unscarchable riches
of Christianity!
For many
centuries the church filled the world with devils --
with malicious spirits that caused
storm and tempest, disease,
accident and death -- that filled
the night with visions of
despair; with prophecies that drove
the dreamers mad. These devils
assumed a thousand forms -- countless
disguises in their efforts to
capture souls and destroy the church.
They deceived sometimes the
wisest and the best, made priests
forget their vows. They melted
virtue's snow in passion's fire,
and in cunning ways entrapped and
smirched the innocent and good.
These devils gave witches and
wizards their supernatural powers,
and told them the secrets of the
future.
Millions
of men and women were destroyed because they had sold
themselves to the Devil.
At that
time Christians really believed the New Testament.
They knew it was the inspired word
of God, and so believing, so
knowing -- as they thought -- they
became insane.
No man
has genius enough to describe the agonies that have
been inflicted on innocent men
and women because of this absurd
belief. How it darkened the mind,
hardened the heart, and poisoned
life! It made the Universe a madhouse
presided over by an insane
God.
Think!
Why would a merciful God allow his children to be the
victims of devils? Why would a
decent God allow his worshipers to
believe in devils, and by reason
of that belief to persecute,
torture and burn their fellow-men?
Christians
did not ask these questions. They believed the
Bible; they had confidence in the
words of Christ.
V
PERSONIFICATIONS OF EVIL.
The Orthodox
Ostrich Thrusts His Head into
The Sand.
Many of
the clergy are now ashamed to say that they believe in
devils. The belief has become ignorant
and vulgar. They are ashamed
of the lake of fire and brimstone.
It is too savage.
At the
same time they do not wish to give up the inspiration
of the Bible. They give new meanings
to the inspired words. Now
they say that devils were only
personifications of evil.
If the
devils were only personifications of evil what were the
angels? Was the angel who told
Joseph who the father of Christ was,
a personification? Was the Holy
Ghost only the personification of
a father? Was the angel who told
Joseph that Herod was dead a
personification of news?
Were the
angels who rolled away the stone and sat clothed in
shining garments in the empty sepulcher
of Christ a couple of
personifications? Were all the
angels described in the Old
Testament imaginary shadows --
bodiless personifications? If the
angels of the Bible are real angels,
the devils are real devils.
Let us
be honest with ourselves and each other and give to the
Bible its natural, obvious meaning.
Let us admit that the writers
believed what they wrote. If we
believe that they were mistaken,
let us have the honesty and courage
to say so. Certainly we have no
right to change or avoid their
meaning, or to dishonestly correct
their mistakes. Timid preachers
sully their own souls when they
change what the writers of the
Bible believed to be facts to
allegories, parables, poems and
myths.
It is impossible
for any man who believes in the inspiration
of the Bible to explain away the
Devil.
If the
Bible is true the Devil exists. There is no escape from
this.
If the
Devil does not exist the Bible is not true. There is no
escape from this.
I admit
that the Devil of the Bible is an impossible
contradiction; an impossible being.
This Devil
is the enemy of God and God is his. Now, why should
this Devil, in another world, torment
sinners, who are his friends,
to please God, his enemy?
If the
Devil is a personification, so is hell and the lake of
fire and brimstone. All these horrors
fade into allegories; into
ignorant lies.
Any clergyman
who can read the Bible and then say that devils
are personifications of evil is
himself a personification of
stupidity or hypocrisy.
VI
Does any
intelligent man now, whose brain has not been
deformed by superstition, believe
in the existence of the Devil?
What evidence have we that he exists?
Where does this Devil live?
What does he do for a livelihood?
What does he eat? If he does not
eat, he cannot think. He cannot
think without the expenditure of
force. He cannot create force;
he must borrow it -- that is to say,
he must eat. How does he move from
place to place? Does he walk or
does he fly, or has he invented
some machine? What object has he in
life? What idea of success? This
Devil, according to the Bible,
knows that he is to be defeated;
knows that the end is absolute and
eternal failure; knows that every
step he takes leads to the
infinite catastrophe. Why does
he act as he does?
Our fathers
thought that everything in this world came from
some other realm; that all ideas
of right and wrong came from
above; that conscience dropped
from the clouds; that the darkness
was filled with imps from perdition,
and the day with angels from
heaven; that souls had been breathed
into man by Jehovah.
What there
is in this world that lives and breathes was
produced here. Life was not imported.
Mind is not an exotic. Of
this planet man is a native. This
world is his mother. The maker
did not descend from the heavens.
The maker was and is here. Matter
and force in their countless forms,
affinities and repulsions
produced the living, breathing
world.
How can
we account for devils? Is it possible that they creep
into the bodies of men and swine?
Do they stay in the stomach or
brain, in the heart or liver?
Are these
devils immortal or do they multiply and die? Were
they all created at the same time
or did they spring from a single
pair? If they are subject to death
what becomes of them after
death? Do they go to some other
world, are they annihilated, or can
they get to heaven by believing
on Christ?
In the
brain of science the devils have never lived. There you
will find no goblins, ghosts, wraiths
or imps -- no witches, spooks
or sorcerers. There the supernatural
does not exist. No man of
sense in the whole world believes
in devils any more than he does
in mermaids, vampires, gorgons,
hydras, naiads, dryads, nymphs,
fairies or the anthropophagi --
any more than he does in the
Fountain of Youth, the Philosopher's
Stone, Perpetual Motion or
Fiat Money.
There is
the same difference between religion and science that
there is between a madhouse and
a university -- between a fortune
teller and a mathematician -- between
emotion and philosophy --
between guess and demonstration.
The devils
have gone, and with them they have taken the
miracles of Christ. They have carried
away our Lord. They have
taken away the inspiration of the
Bible, and we are left in the
darkness of nature without the
consolation of hell.
But let
me ask the clergy a few questions: How did your Devil,
who was at one time an angel of
light, come to sin? There was no
other devil to tempt him. He was
in perfectly good society -- in
the company of God -- of the Trinity.
All of his associates were
perfect. How did he fall? He knew
that God was infinite, and yet he
waged war against him and induced
about a third of the angels to
volunteer. He knew that he could
not succeed; knew that he would be
defeated and cast out; knew that
he was fighting for failure.
Why was God so unpopular? Why were the angels so bad?
According
to the Christens, these angels were spirits. They
had never been corrupted by flesh,
by the passion of love. Why were
they so wicked?
Why did
God create those angels, knowing that they would
rebel? Why did he deliberately
sow the seeds of discord in heaven,
knowing that he would cast them
into the lake of eternal fire --
knowing that for them he would
create the eternal prison, whose
dungeons would echo forever the
sobs and shrieks of endless pain?
How foolish is infinite wisdom!
How malicious is mercy!
How revengeful is boundless love!
Again,
I say that no sensible man in all the world believes in
devils.
Why does
God allow these devils to enjoy themselves at the
expense of his ignorant children?
Why does he allow them to leave
their prison? Does he give them
furloughs or tickets-of-leave?
Does he
want his children misled and corrupted so that he can
have the pleasure of damning their
souls?
VII
THE MAN OF STRAW.
Some of
the preachers who have answered me say that I am
fighting a man of straw.
I am fighting
the supernatural -- the dogma of inspiration --
the belief in devils -- the atonement,
salvation by faith -- the
forgiveness of sins and the savagery
of eternal pain. I am fighting
the absurd, the monstrous, the
cruel.
The ministers
pretend that they have advanced -- that they do
not believe the things that I attack.
In this they are not honest.
Who is the "man of straw"?
The man
of straw is their master. In every orthodox pulpit
stands this man of straw -- stands
beside the preacher -- stands
with a club, called a "creed,"
in his upraised hand. The shadow of
this club falls athwart the open
Bible -- falls upon the preacher's
brain, darkens the light of his
reason and compels him to betray
himself.
The man
of straw rules every sectarian school and college --
very orthodox church. He is the
censor who passes on every sermon.
Now and then some minister puts
a little sense in his discourse --
tries to take a forward step. Down
comes the club, and the man of
straw demands an explanation --
a retraction. If the minister takes
it back -- good. If he does not,
he is brought to book. The man of
straw put the plaster of silence
on the lips of Prof. Briggs, and
he was forced to leave the church
or remain dumb.
The man
of straw closed the mouth of Prof. Smith, and he has
not opened it since.
The man
of straw would not allow the Presbyterian creed to be
changed.
The man
of straw took Father McGlynn by the collar, forced him
to his knees, made him take back
his words and ask forgiveness for
having been abused.
The man
of straw pitched Prof. Swing out of the pulpit and
drove the Rev. Mr. Thomas from
the Methodist Church.
Let me
tell the orthodox ministers that they are trying to
cover their retreat.
You have
given up the geology and astronomy of the Bible. You
have admitted that its history
is untrue. You are retreating still.
You are giving up the dogma of
inspiration; you have your doubts
about the flood and Babel; you
have given up the witches and
wizards; you are beginning to throw
away the miraculous; you have
killed the little devils and in
a little while you will murder the
Devil himself.
In a few
years you will take the Bible for what it is worth.
The good and true will be treasured
in the heart; the foolish, the
infamous, will be thrown away.
The man of straw will then be dead.
Of course,
the real old petrified, orthodox Christian will
cling to the Devil. He expects
to have all his sins charged to the
Devil, and at the same time he
will be credited with all the
virtues of Christ. Upon this showing
on the books, upon this
balance, he will be entitled to
his halo and harp. What a glorious,
what an equitable, transaction!
The sorcerer Superstition changes
debt to credit. He waves his wand,
and he who deserves the tortures
of hell receives an eternal reward.
But if
a man lacks faith the scheme is exactly reversed. While
in one case a soul is rewarded
for the virtues of another, in the
other case a soul is damned for
the sins of another. This is
justice when it blossoms in mercy.
Beyond this idiocy cannot go.
VIII
KEEP THE DEVIL OUT OF CHILDREN.
William
Kingdon Clifford, one of the greatest men of this
century, said: "If there is one
lesson that history forces upon us
in every page, it is this: Keep
your children away from the priest,
or he will make them the enemies
of mankind."
In every
orthodox Sunday school children are taught to believe
in devils. Every little brain becomes
a menagerie, filled with wild
beasts from hell. The imagination
is polluted with the deformed,
the monstrous and malicious. To
fill the minds of children with
leering fiends -- with mocking
devils -- is one of the meanest and
basest of crimes. In these pious
prisons -- these divine dungeons
-- these Protestant
and Catholic inquisitions -- children are
tortured with these cruel lies.
Here they are taught that to really
think is wicked; that to express
your honest thought is blasphemy;
and that to live a free and joyous
life, depending on fact instead
of faith, is the sin against the
Holy Ghost.
Children
thus taught -- thus corrupted and deformed become the
enemies of investigation -- of
progress. They are no longer true to
themselves. They have lost the
veracity of the soul. In the
language of Prof. Clifford, "they
are the enemies of the human
race."
So I say
to all fathers and mothers, keep your children away
from priests; away from orthodox
Sunday schools; away from the
slaves of superstition.
They will
teach them to believe in the Devil; in hell in the
prison of God; in the eternal dungeon,
where the souls of men are
to suffer forever. These frightful
things are a part of
Christianity. Take these lies from
the creed and the whole scheme
falls into shapeless ruin. This
dogma of hell is the infinite of
savagery -- the dream of insane
revenge. It makes God a wild beast
-- an infinite hyena. It makes
Christ as merciless as the fangs of
a viper. Save poor children from
the pollution of this horror.
Protect them from this infinite
lie.
IX
CONCLUSION.
I admit
that there are many good and beautiful passages in the
Old and New Testament; that from
the lips of Christ dropped many
pearls of kindness -- of love.
Every verse that is true and tender
I treasure in my heart. Every thought,
behind which is the tear of
pity, I appreciate and love. But
I cannot accept it all. Many
utterances attributed to Christ
shock my brain and heart. They are
absurd and cruel.
Take from
the New Testament the infinite savagery, the
shoreless malevolence of eternal
pain, the absurdity of salvation
by faith, the ignorant belief in
the existence of devils, the
immorality and cruelty of the atonement,
the doctrine of non-
resistance that denies to virtue
the right of self-defence, and how
glorious it would be to know that
the remainder is true! Compared
with this knowledge, how everything
else in nature would shrink and
shrivel! What ecstasy it would
be to know that God exists; that he
is our father and that he loves
and cares for the children of men!
To know that all the paths that
human beings travel, turn and wind
as they may, lead to the gates
of stainless peace! How the heart
would thrill and throb to know
that Christ was the conquer of
Death; that at his grave the all-devouring
monster was baffled and
beaten forever; that from that
moment the tomb became the door that
opens on eternal life! To know
this would change all sorrow into
gladness. Poverty, failure, disaster,
defeat, power, place and
wealth would become meaningless
sounds. To take your babe upon your
knee and say: "Mine and mine forever!"
What joy! To clasp the woman
you love in your arms and to know
that she is yours and forever --
yours though suns darken and constellations
vanish! This is enough:
To know that the loved and dead
are not lost; that they still live
and love and wait for you. To know
that Christ dispelled the
darkness of death and filled the
grave with eternal light. To know
this would be all that the heart
could bear. Beyond this joy cannot
go. Beyond this there is no place
for hope.
How beautiful,
how enchanting, Death would be! How we would
long to see his fleshless skull!
What rays of glory would stream
from his sightless sockets, and
how the heart would long for the
touch of his stilling hand! The
shroud would become a robe of
glory, the funeral procession a
harvest home, and the grave would
mark the end of sorrow, the beginning
of eternal Joy.
And yet
it were better far that all this should be false than
that: all of the New Testament
should be true.
It is far
better to have no heaven than to have heaven and
hell; better to have no God than
God and Devil. better to rest in
eternal sleep than to be an angel
and know that the ones you love
are suffering eternal pain; better
to live a free and loving life
-- a life that ends forever at
the grave -- than to be an immortal
slave.
The master
cannot be great enough to make slavery sweet. I
have no ambition to become a winged
servant, a winged slave. Better
eternal sleep. But they say, "If
you give up these superstitions,
what have you left?"
Let me now give you the declaration of a creed.
DECLARATION OF THE FREE.
We have no falsehoods to defend
We want the facts;
Our force, our thought, we do not spend
In vain attacks.
And we will never meanly try
To save some fair and pleasing lie.
The simple truth is what we ask,
Not the ideal;
We've set ourselves the noble task
To find the real.
If all there is naught but dross,
We want to know and bear our loss.
We will not willingly be fooled,
By fables nursed;
Our hearts, by earnest thought, are schooled
To bear the worst;
And we can stand erect and dare
All things. all facts that really are.
We have no God to serve or fear,
No hell to shun,
No devil with malicious leer.
When life is done
An endless sleep may close our eyes.
A sleep with neither dreams nor sighs.
We have no master on the land --
No king in air --
Without a manacle we stand,
Without a prayer,
Without a fear of coming night,
We seek the truth, we love the light.
We do not bow before a guess,
A vague unknown;
A senseless force we do not bless
In solemn tone.
When evil comes we do not curse,
Or thank because it is no worse.
When cyclones rend -- when lightning blights,
'Tis naught but fate;
There is no God of wrath who smites
In heartless hate.
Behind the things that injure man
There is no purpose, thought, or plan.
We waste no time in useless dread,
In trembling fear;
The present lives, the past is dead,
And we are here,
All welcome guests at life's great feast --
We need no help from ghost or priest.
Our life is joyous, jocund, free --
Not one a slave
Who bends in fear the trembling knee,
And seeks to save
A coward soul from future pain;
Not one will cringe or crawl for gain.
The jeweled cup of love we drain,
And friendship's wine
Now swiftly flows in every vein
With warmth divine.
And so we love and hope and dream
That in death's sky there is a gleam.
We walk according to our light,
Pursue the path
That leads to honor's stainless height,
Careless of wrath
Or curse of God, or priestly spite,
Longing to know and do the right.
We love our fellow-man, our kind,
Wife, child, and friend.
To phantoms we are deaf and blind,
But we extend
The helping hand to the distressed;
By lifting others we are blessed.
Love's sacred flame within the heart
And friendship's glow;
While all the miracles of art
Their wealth bestow
Upon the thrilled and joyous brain,
And present raptures banish pain.
We love no phantoms of the skies,
But living flesh,
With passion's soft and soulful eyes,
Lips warm and fresh,
And cheeks with health's red flag unfurled,
The breathing angels of this world.
The hands that help are better far
Than lips that pray.
Love is the ever gleaming star
That leads the way,
That shines, not on vague worlds of bliss,
But on a paradise in this.
We do not pray, or weep, or wail;
We have no dread,
No fear to pass beyond the veil
That hides the dead.
And yet we question, dream, and guess,
But knowledge we do not possess.
We ask, yet nothing seems to know;
We cry in vain.
There is no "master of the show"
Who will explain,
Or from the future tear the mask;
And yet we dream, and still we ask
Is there beyond the silent night
An endless day;
Is death a door that leads to light?
We cannot say.
The tongueless secret locked in fate
We do not know. -- We hope and wait.
**** ****
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